The lush green trees, clear lake, and the wildflowers blooming all around were breathtaking beyond words.
“I’ll get down,”
Helping Rose down onto the ground from the bouncing carriage, she immediately started running towards the lakeshore.
“I’ll follow you,”
Louis, Rose’s dedicated maid, said hastily as she chased after her.
Watching Louis hurriedly following Rose, Ian walked at a leisurely pace.
While it was a picnic for Rose, Ian, who hadn’t properly rested in a while, also found himself able to relax and enjoy the scenery.
“Uncle!”
Rose ran excitedly to Ian, as if she had already seen everything.
“Already done sightseeing?”
Rose, who was looking back, shook her head vigorously.
“So?”
“This!”
Rose handed Ian a bunch of purple wildflowers.
“Is this for Uncle?”
“Yes! I picked the prettiest one!”
Ian’s eyes softened at the gesture.
He was grateful that the child who was happy just to be by his side gave him flowers, however he was also so happy that she had chosen the prettiest flower that he felt like crying.
“Thank you.”
As Ian accepted the flower, Rose giggled softly and ran back to the lakeshore.
‘I wonder if there’s something like a camera here.’
Ian briefly pondered if cameras had appeared in the novel.
‘If not, I could invent one.’
Understanding roughly how cameras worked, with the right funding, he could easily create one with the help of an artifact craftsman.
‘It could even be a future business idea.’
Apart from the diamond mine, the remaining mines would benefit the kingdom upon independence, so earning money was always a good thing.
‘Hmm, artifacts.’
Thoughts of artifacts brought the thought of the Tower of Magic to mind.
The Tower of Magic stood in the middle of a barren desert.
Without teleportation magic, it was an environment perfect for starving to death, so the infrastructure was not well-established.
The most powerful magicians had always hoped to establish the Tower of Magic in the empire, but the empire had refused.
This was because the most powerful empire was a nation forged by the sword.
While the empire acknowledged the utility of magic, they had no intention of treating magicians well and seemed wary of their gatherings.
With the empire’s refusal, other kingdoms eagerly sought to harness the power of magic.
They tried to coax magicians into establishing their towers in their own countries.
However, the empire disliked the idea of towers appearing on the lands of other countries.
If a country’s power were to be strengthened by the Tower of Magic, it would undoubtedly pose a threat to the empire.
Therefore, the empire made it clear to each kingdom that if they were to establish towers of magic, they would not sit idly by.
At that time, the empire’s power was immense, so the kingdoms tearfully had no choice but to give up.
Occasionally, small kingdoms would dare to challenge, but the empire sent armies without tolerance, wiping out the royal families without exception.
Due to the empire’s interference, the magicians ultimately could not relocate the towers.
When the towers gave up their relocation plans, the empire extended an olive branch of reconciliation.
They showed their respect by supplying imperial magician through an agreement with the Magic Tower.
In addition, permission was given to allow the Magic Tower to trade monster corpses from the duchy that were originally not permitted.
Although it was merely permission and not a commitment to supply, from the tower’s perspective, as monster carcasses were valuable, they had no choice but to accept the empire’s reconciliation.
Despite a considerable amount of time passing since the death of the former emperor, the towers had still not moved elsewhere.
There was anger at the fact that the kingdoms at the time were saving themselves, but it was also because they were concerned that there would be a problem in the transaction with the duchy that supplied the monsters.
Thus, if it were said that land would be allocated for magicians in a kingdom, it would have been welcomed by the magicians.
Above all, in a kingdom, magicians could readily experiment with the monsters they favored.
‘And that’s when I’ll have them create what I want.’
After all, artifact craftsmen were under the jurisdiction of the towers.
If there were towers in a kingdom, they would also be available to create what they wanted.
Lost in thought, a servant laid a soft carpet under Ian’s old oak tree. They didn’t forget to sprinkle repellent to keep bugs from crawling onto the carpet.
“My lord, please have a seat here.”
As Ian sat on the carpet, someone approached him from behind.
“The young lady is quite charming, my lord.”
It was Logan. Ian nodded with a gentle smile, as if seeing his adorable granddaughter.
“Are you already calling her ‘young lady’?”
“It’s what you desire, my lord.”
“If you can’t even speak, then sit.”
Feeling he had won Ian’s favor with his words, Logan inwardly sighed with relief as he took a seat beside him.
“I heard you’re going to the capital.”
“Yes.”
“Is it because of the young lady?”
Ian’s gaze turned towards Logan.
“Weren’t you originally not planning to go?”
The coronation ceremony.
As it was a major imperial event, attendance was mandatory, but the Loenbaum protected the north.
There wouldn’t be an issue if they were absent.
Both the former Ian and the Ian before meeting Rose had thought the same way.
“Yes. Because of Rose.”
Rose was Marianne’s daughter, but since she wasn’t born from a formal marriage, she couldn’t escape the label of being a bastard until Loenbaum gained independence as a nation.
And that label would be a chain that followed her until Loenbaum gained independence as a nation.
To remove the chain from Rose, her father and Marianne needed to be officially married, but Ian didn’t want that.
Why should he recognize the man who mistreated Rose as her father?
Moreover, as soon as he heard the news of the recognition of the marriage, the scumbag had the audacity to come to the Loenbaum.
In the novel, Rose inherited the dukedom but soon caused trouble in the Loenbaum.
‘I almost forgot about that scumbag. I’ll have to deal with him after returning from the capital.’
Unlike on Earth, here, even if you killed someone, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Since dealing with trash disguised as people was common, Ian didn’t feel any remorse.
“Do you expect recognition from the Emperor?”
Ian nodded.
“Yes. There’s nothing as certain as that.”
In a feudal state, the Emperor’s word was law.
If the Emperor recognized Rose as a direct descendant and the child of the Duke, no one could label her as a bastard.
“But if the Emperor…”
Logan’s words trailed off, but the implication was clear.
The Emperor wouldn’t readily grant such a request.
Currently, the royal family had the most powerful influence in history, thanks to the rise of the Emperor’s faction.
In a situation where the nobles in the capital were wondering whether to grant a request or not, there was no way they would grant the request of Ian, who was a founding noble but had neither power nor wealth.
“It’s fine. They’ll have to listen.”
Just as Logan was momentarily puzzled by Ian’s confident response, he asked something he was genuinely curious about.
“My lord, how do you know about the mines in the northern mountains? And how did you learn about the other mines?”
Ian raised his hand to stop the barrage of questions.
“What’s with all the curiosity?”
“Wouldn’t you be curious if you were in my shoes?”
“Of course, I would.”
Despite giving an affirmative answer, Ian didn’t provide a direct response to the question.
“Are you really not going to tell me?”
“The more secrets, that would be better.”
Ian, with a nonchalant reply, glanced back at Rose with a satisfied smile.
Rose, tapping her head against what Louis was doing, moved her hands hesitantly.
It seemed that bringing her out was the right decision, as Rose had a brighter expression than at home.
The notion that a child needed good food, love, and a moderate amount of sunlight was indeed true.
“My lord, I have one more question.”
“What is it?”
“While financial issues may be resolved, what are your plans for military strength?”
Ian looked at Logan incredulously.
“Why worry about military strength?”
“Even if we use money to establish independence for the principality, wouldn’t it be meaningless if we were to be invaded?”
Ian chuckled.
“It’s the worry about lacking military strength. Isn’t the principality already equipped with military power?”
Logan looked at Ian with a realization dawning on him.
“My lord, I apologize for saying this, but…”
Ian chuckled softly.
“Why? Is the knight order not as good as you expected?”
Logan’s eyes widened.
The knight order of Loenbaum was known to be superior to the imperial knight order to the extent that it was referred to as the Black Wolf Knight Order. Due to the need to combat monsters, as long as one had strength and talent in swordsmanship, anyone, regardless of being commoners, nobles, or even bastards, could join.
However, the current state of the knight order was a mess.
It was surprising how they managed to carry out regular monster hunts.
“That’s an issue, but isn’t it also true that the knight order doesn’t follow you, my lord?”
As Ian said, the current knight order merely revolved around the knight commander and paid no attention to Ian.
However, it was hardly Ian’s fault.
Neglect of the knight order began during the previous Duke’s time and only worsened under Ian’s rule.
Especially since Ian received the title of duke and then went into hiding, rumors circulated among the knight order that frequently spoke ill of Ian.
Hearing Logan’s worried voice, Ian reassured him.
“It’s fine.”
“That’s fine?”
“Yeah. Organizing ranks is what I do best, so it’s fine. Rose, it’s time for lunch.”
‘Organizing ranks?!’
Ian casually threw out a story that would astonish the old man and went off to Rose without a care.
Logan wrapped his head with his hands.
The ranking system of knights was ignorant. It was about testing strength through sparring.
It seemed more credible to simply crush them with power.
Logan hurriedly followed Ian and asked,
“You’re not planning on sparring for ranking, are you?”
“Hmm, that’s would be good too.”
Logan was shocked.
A duke sparring?
But the shock was momentary. Logan relaxed when he realized that Ian was a skilled user of Aura.
However, Ian, as if disliking Logan’s calmness, hugged Rose and said,
“We’ll be going on a monster hunt with the knights in a week.”
“What?!”
Logan was shocked again.
***
In response to the sudden call from the Duke, all the knights gathered in the training ground.
The training ground had no shade, so after the morning training, the tired bodies were further exhausted under the scorching sun, with groans of pain coming from here and there.
Their posture was crooked on top of everything.
“Why are we standing here when we’re about to drop dead tired?”
Claude, carrying a large sword fitting his bear-like stature, grumbled, and the knight beside him nudged his side.
“The Duke is coming.”
“What kind of Duke is scared to go on monster hunts? He’s not even a real Duke.”
The duo, knights Jean and Claude, exchanged words.
“Shhh. The commander might hear you.”
“Did I say something wrong? I bet even the commander thinks the same way deep down. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to give the Duke’s position to the commander? The Duke is supposed to protect this land. How did we end up with an incompetent Duke born with a silver spoon in his mouth? The dead Dukes must be wailing in heaven.”
While the knights gathered in the training ground kept an eye out, they secretly sympathized with Claude’s words.
The Loenbaum family had generations of knights, and the Dukes were always at the forefront of defending the territory from monsters.
Even the earliest Dukes never hesitated to join monster hunts, but what about this Duke? Despite receiving the Duke’s title out of fear, he had never once participated in a monster hunt.
“Well, I heard they’ve been training lately. And for us, this is a good chance to slack off during the afternoon training.”
“True.”
Hearing the knights cynicism about the Duke, Claude grimaced and shouted.
“Ridiculous. Did you lie to the maids about training? A guy who was stuck in his room is training? Even passing dogs would laugh. Damn it. If I knew the next Duke would be like this, I wouldn’t have taken the knight’s oath!”
“Hey! Don’t cross the line!”
Jean rebuked Claude.
“It’s the truth. You regret it too, don’t you? I know you do.”
“……..”
Jean bit his lip and glanced at the ground.
A knight’s oath belonged not to the individual but to the family.
Unless the sworn family perished, a knight could not abandon their family.
To forsake the family meant giving up knighthood, leaving only the path of a lowly mercenary.
How wasteful the time spent striving to become a knight would be if they were to become a mercenary.
“You wretched bastard. You should just drop dead!”
“Claude!”
“Ugh.”
Claude flinched as the commander William’s shout echoed through the training ground.
“C-commander!”
“Is that something a knight of the Duke should say?!”
William’s stern voice reverberated through the training ground.
“But commander! Wasn’t I just speaking the truth? Is that bastard really fit to be a Duke?! Is it right to pledge loyalty to a guy who can’t even wield a sword?!”
“Even so, this bastard—”
It was when the frustrated William raised his hand.
“Interesting.”
William’s hand froze mid-air at the composed voice.
All eyes turned towards the direction of the voice.
“Du… Duke…?”
Clad in a white tunic and black trousers, Ian, with one corner of his mouth upturned, stood there, observing them, as if he had appeared out of nowhere.
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