Episode 19
* * *
After the uproar subsided and the Emperor’s men returned, peace returned to the Duchy of Saxony.
“Confucius.”
As evidence of that peace, the voice of Eve, the maid, can be heard waking Dale up early in the morning as usual.
“Prince Dale, it’s time to wake up.”
Hearing a voice softer than usual, I got up from my pillow filled with feathers. The early morning sunlight streaming through the window was so thin that the room was still dark.
However, the knights of the Duke’s castle will have already finished their training and are busy with their training.
“Thanks for waking me up.”
“yes.”
Eve bowed her head silently after hearing Dale’s words. As a maid, her role for now was limited to this. However, after bowing her head, Eve hesitated without leaving her seat as if she had something to say.
Dale smiled quietly as he understood the meaning.
“Do you have anything you want to say?”
“That’s it, over there… … .”
The young maid Eve was unable to answer right away and trailed off.
A seventeen-year-old girl is respectful to a ten-year-old child, and Dale speaks to her without hesitation. They come from different backgrounds. That’s the world we live in.
A person’s innate nobility is determined, and no one doubts that class.
So, to people like Petro, she is nothing more than a ‘lowly thing’ that they can manipulate as they please.
“……thank you.”
After hesitating, Eve mustered up her courage and opened her mouth.
“I am truly honored that someone like me can serve Confucius.”
Why did I hesitate so much just to say those words? I have spent quite a bit of my life in this world, but I am still not used to that way of thinking.
Still, you have no choice but to get used to it.
Eldest son of the Duke of Saxony.
Understand the weight of that name, and use everything you can. Otherwise, you will never be able to bring down the empire.
“huh.”
So Dale just smiled quietly. That was the end of the conversation.
* * *
That day, instead of crossing swords with the knights, Dale was summoned by his father and went to the duke’s office.
The top floor of the castle, the office of the Duke of Saxony, his father.
“That was a very risky move, Dale.”
As soon as Dale entered, his father, Black Knight, opened his mouth, recalling the events of that day.
A clash with the Zodiac Nobles. Is this an attempt to reproach oneself?
“… … I have no doubt that you are a smart child.”
But the black ball’s next words were a little different.
“Why did you choose to do that?”
It was just a question, a test of Dale’s potency.
‘The time has finally come.’
After hearing that question, Dale didn’t hesitate.
No, rather, how long have I been waiting for this day?
──When I am treated as a full-fledged member of the Duke’s family, not as a ten-year-old child.
So Dale answered. The political implications of his actions that day.
“That’s not all.”
But Dale’s story didn’t end there.
“──Perhaps the ‘Warrior of the Other World’ had not died in the fight with the divine sword Lord Badel.”
Dale continued speaking calmly. The true nature of the ‘country called the Empire’ that he realized while being raised as a hunting dog of the Empire in his previous life. A truth that even the Black Knight could not realize.
“The next enemy the warrior’s sword will swing against will be the Duchy of Saxony.”
“… … !”
Because Dale in his previous life had clearly heard about the secret plot that the imperial family had been plotting to keep a close watch on the House of Saxony.
But the Empire feared the might of the warrior even more than the Duke of Saxony. The leash of the golden name would be broken, and their hunting dogs would be out of control.
That is why, immediately after defeating Lord Badel, a tornado broke out on the spot, and the Empire’s plan to suppress the Black Lord through the warriors ended in failure.
“… … What blasphemous words you speak.”
The Duke of Saxony asked with a mock stern tone.
“How can you be so sure?”
It’s not something you can just say you heard it in a past life.
“Even though the warrior from the other world defeated the Demon King in the past, the empire did not completely eradicate the darkness of the Demon King’s territory.”
Dale continued.
“Rather, they defeated their large army and unilaterally forced bleeding on our Saxon family.”
With only suspicion and evidence within the realm of what can be thought of ‘rationally’.
“With an almost unreasonable order to reclaim the Demon King’s territory as imperial territory──.”
“… … .”
Monsters that continue to plunder endlessly across the mountain range. And high-ranking demons that hold their breath in the darkness, waiting for the time of resurrection.
“Our bleeding will not stop until the darkness that dwells in that land is completely removed.”
Although it is called the Demon King’s Territory, it is merely a name used for the convenience of humans.
There is a slightly deeper darkness in that land.
Even the Demon King he defeated was nothing more than a part of that darkness.
“The royal family, who knew this fact better than anyone else, granted the Demon King’s Decree to my father.”
There can be no more definitive evidence that the Imperial House was wary of the House of Saxony.
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“Moreover, people outside the North point fingers at our Duke and refer to him as the ‘dark clan.’”
The Dark Clan. The Duke of Saxony smiled bitterly at those words.
“People outside the Empire and the North clearly fear our power.”
After saying that, Dale took out his secret weapon.
“That is why, just like they abandoned the warriors early on, they will try to eliminate the ‘internal risks’ that threaten them.”
“You abandoned the warrior… …?”
The Black Duke gasped in surprise at those words. Of course, the Duke of Saxony was one of the few who knew the ‘truth of the warrior’. He was the one who knew that the warrior’s words were nothing more than a scapegoat for the empire.
But it wasn’t Dale.
How does this child know such facts?
Officially, the warrior was said to have chosen the new sword Lord Badel and the same sword for the Empire. Therefore, the truth of that day was one of the most secret scandals that the Empire could never reveal.
“This is just my guess based on reading the books in the library.”
Dale answered, drawing on his own experience and the reasonable doubts he could deduce from the historical record.
“Because when you think about it rationally, it doesn’t make sense.”
Dragged into a world I knew nothing about, forced to take up arms for a country I knew nothing about, while undergoing unimaginably horrific physical modifications.
In such a situation, is there really any room for feeling patriotic towards the empire?
“Fortunately, the warrior died, and the Empire still has not recovered from the aftermath of the Unification War. The aftermath is more serious than the Empire initially imagined.”
There is no doubt about Dale’s talent for swordsmanship and magic.
“And yet… … the Empire will not stop until it achieves its desired ambitions.”
But the ability to so accurately see into this country, where desires are intricately intertwined beyond measure, is a separate story.
‘Is it possible that this child has been given the wisdom of the years that cannot be compensated for by talent?’
After a moment of silence, the black ball asked back.
“Are you trying to deny the justice of the empire?”
“Father, do you really believe that the justice pursued by the Empire is right?”
Dale asked back, thinking back on the countless people who had died at his hands in the past.
“… … .”
It was something that didn’t even need an answer.
Just as Dale was the ‘son of the Duke of Saxony’, the Duke of Saxony was ‘Dale’s father’. And his father, who had watched him until he was ten years old, was never a man who would affirm imperial justice.
“In my father’s library, I read countless books that recorded the history of the empire.”
Dale opened his mouth.
“Imperial justice is ultimately the justice of an oppressor who uses violence to take away and trample on a powerless country.”
By cleverly changing the experiences of one’s past life into ‘historical records’ written in a book.
The Black Lord is also one who understands this fact more deeply than anyone else. In the past, the Saxon family was able to justify its existence as the shield of the empire against the Demon King’s territory.
However, now that the Demon King has been defeated by the warrior and the shield has lost its value, the power held by the Black Gong and the Black Tower is too dangerous for the empire.
After all, it is the ruler’s power that controls the military.
A powerful wizard can single-handedly sweep away an entire army.
A sorcerer of the same level can raise an army on his own.
What’s more, the Black Gong, who is said to have reached the pinnacle of sorcery…
“Then, in your opinion, what direction should our House of Saxony take?”
That’s why the black ball opened its mouth.
“We, the House of Saxony, can never coexist with the Empire.”
Dale answered.
“At this point, our Saxon Empire is the ‘greatest danger’ that exists.”
The Black Duke would not be unaware of this either. No, rather, it is the Duke of Saxony who understands this fact most truly in the Empire.
“The Empire’s ambitions will not cease, and after the war it will seek to purge the threats within.”
I endured and endured for ten long years for this moment.
“That’s why.”
To say these words in your own voice.
“──We must destroy the empire.”
Creepy.
“… … .”
For a moment, it felt like the air around me was electrified.
An ominous dark magic rushes through the room.
“Do you know what you are saying right now?”
The Duke of Saxony asked with a stiff expression, dismissing Dale’s words as childish recklessness.
“I’m not saying that we should raise an army with our own hands and start a rebellion right now.”
But Dale shook his head quietly.
“It’s been 10 years.”
After stirring, Dale said.
“10 years?”
“Until the Empire overcomes the aftermath of the War of Unification and turns its sword against our House of Saxony.”
Even now, there are resistance groups all over the continent who have declared separatism for the independence of their country.
Princes who, like the Duke of Saxony, fear that the Empire will turn its sword against them.
The economy is shrinking, the people are suffering from the disasters of war, and the number of bandits who have lost their homes and are continuing to pillage is increasing by the day.
Even though many years have passed since the unification of the continent, the aftereffects of the war are only getting worse.
“Until then, we will build up the strength to defend our family against the Empire.”
──Can these really come out of the mouth of a ten-year-old child?
“We must help the resistance forces active in various places, unite the nobles, and furthermore, win over the urban bourgeoisie to take control of the empire’s economy.”
And Dale told us his vision in detail.
From the dawn’s twilight to the noonday sunlight hanging in the middle of the sky, and then to the setting sun in the western sky. From the very day I was born as an infant, I have been agonizing over and over again with plans to bring down this country.
A way to protect the House of Saxony against the clutches of the Empire.
“… … What do you think?”
At the end of the story, Dale asked. Outside the window, the purple night sky had spread out. It was a deep night.
The Duke of Saxony remained silent.
“Really.”
After a moment of silence, the Duke of Saxony suddenly burst into laughter.
“The talent you possess is limitless.”
As if he was having a lot of fun.
“It seems that you are seeing a landscape beyond that even I cannot see.”
Even a glimmer of joy is visible.
“I am so proud that you are my son.”
Without hiding his father’s joy.
“Because I am my father’s son.”
Dale also smiled softly.
“From now on, you are neither the eldest son of a duke nor a mere ten-year-old child.”
The Duke of Saxony nodded.
“From now on, I will treat you with respect as the future head of the Saxon family.”
The Duke of Saxony said.
“Your age is not important, nor is the fact that you are the eldest son of a duke.”
“……father.”
“I will simply listen to and respect your words as an equal head of our family in leading our clan.”
Dale bowed his head, realizing the weight of those words.
The right to speak as an equal to his father, the Duke of Saxony, as a person to person, as a head of household to a head of household.
“Therefore your word will soon become the word of the House of Saxony.”
I’ve been waiting for this very day.
“Your actions will soon become the actions of the House of Saxony.”
The day when I will be treated as a proper heir to a ducal family, not as a ten-year-old child.
“Your will will soon become the will of the Duke of Saxony.”
──The qualification to directly move the power of the Saxon Duke’s House with one’s own hands.
For that reason, he hung up the signboard of a prodigy and endlessly displayed his talents. His activities, his actions, his words, they were all steps waiting for this very moment.
But who would have thought that time would come so quickly?
“Don’t hesitate, just tell me, Dale.”
A feeling like stopped gears were meshing ran down my spine.
“At this very moment, what decision will you make for our family?”
“My father said that he would treat me as an equal and worthy head of the household.”
So there was absolutely no room for hesitation.
“Then, please allow me to take the ‘Tower Trial’ in the Necropolis.”
The Test of the Tower. A slight wave of agitation passed over the expression of the Duke of Saxony as he pondered the meaning of those words.
“Not as the son of the Duke of Saxony, but as a ‘disciple who continues the Black Duke’s legacy’──.”
The greatest black magician on the continent broke his oath and took a young genius as his disciple.
“I will prove to everyone that I am the most legitimate successor to the ‘Black Prince’s Territory.’”
