Chapter 7 - I, Too, Am Curious

Ferda was staying in the guest room, studying.

He asked with the look of someone wondering if he had misheard.

“Meet the lords?”

“Yes.”

But Luri nodded.

“Do you know why my lady is called Grand Duchess Valdrova?”

“I do. She killed Godwin, the Black Dragon, and the Arken Empire gave her the title.”

Godwin, the Black Dragon.

The aspect of darkness, and the root of all evil things.

He was true, pure evil, a creature who wished for chaos on this continent so deeply that he had even helped bring about the birth of the Demon King.

The one who had decisively ended his life was none other than Valdrova, the Red Dragon.

“I heard that was how she came to bear the title of Grand Duchess and hold territory on the far eastern front.”

“That is correct. You are more knowledgeable than you look. Do you know how many territories are under Lady Valdrova?”

“Was it not fifteen? If the outlying villages are included, one hundred and eight.”

“... And the total population?”

“I was told it was 5,256,532 altogether, but I have no way of knowing the recent births and deaths, so I cannot say.”

After hearing even that answer, Luri openly frowned.

“You know quite a lot for someone who says he has no interest in power.”

Disgust tinged faintly with Dragon Fear.

Ferda merely shrugged.

“What greater shame could there be than for someone who is to become a spouse not to know what his partner does?”

“You make it sound plausible.”

Of course, Luri did not believe him.

Luri’s suspicion, which had already found him suspicious, was only shifting further toward certainty.

In truth, Ferda had not studied it for that reason either.

'Because I was bored.'

After opening his Circle, he had far too little to do.

When he had been desperately struggling to open his Circle, even using the whole day had not been enough, but now he was far too idle.

There was no need to pointlessly study more of what he already knew.

So, thinking he might study a little more about Valdrova, he had reached for stories about her.

“In any case, what do you think about meeting them?”

“I have no interest. If it is not something I must do, I do not want to go.”

“Even if you have no interest, once you marry my lady, you will officially become her consort. If my lady handles the outside, the consort must handle the inside.”

“So I would become the lady of the house.”

“Yes.”

A man as the lady of the house.

In other words, that meant the man was more incompetent than the woman.

In noble society, it was humiliating enough to be called shameful.

'It is not... something to be humiliated by.'

He would be the spouse of none other than Valdrova, the one called a tyrant.

With her species itself being on another level, the current Ferda had no power to stand as her equal.

Even so, simply becoming her spouse and leading the household affairs would be an incredible thing.

'I have to manage the lords...?'

Ferda pondered it, then gave his answer to her proposal.

“Very well. I will meet them.”

“Then I will summon them.”

Luri gave a polite bow and left.

Ferda was observant to the very end, and he could tell that the look in Luri’s eyes was no ordinary one.

Ferda had long since known her intent.

'As expected, she does not seem to trust me.'

Seeing something breeds desire.

Even someone inherently good would want to grasp power if it lay before their eyes.

And one who has once seized power will never try to let it go again.

That is what humans are.

'But I, too, am curious.'

Just as he did not know Luri, Ferda did not know himself very well either.

When he was not burning with revenge, what choice would he make at a time like this?

So he had decided to test it.

To see what choice he would make on the testing ground she had laid out.

“Very well. I will meet them once.”

* * *

There was a joke about the nobles of the Serdes Continent.

The farther nobles went into the provinces, the more body fat they gave up.

This was because the nobles in the center tended to grow fat, while the nobles on the very front lines tended to stay lean.

With the anxiety that monsters might invade at any moment and the need to enter a battle stance, there was no way to get fat even if they tried.

However, the lords of the far east looked nothing like that joke.

“Sir Bosch! Your belly has grown quite a bit!”

“Ha ha! Perhaps because I have had so many worries these days, my mouth keeps going dry. So I end up eating every time, don’t I?”

The assembly hall of the far eastern front alliance.

There, fifteen lords had gathered in one place, their jowls wobbling.

It had truly been a long time since they had all gathered in one place like this.

“But what is this sudden summons about? Things have been quiet these past few days, so there should be nothing for her to interfere in...”

“Can one afford to be so ignorant of the world? They say the Grand Duchess recently took in a fiancé, do they not? She told us to meet that fiancé.”

“A fiancé?”

The lord who heard that news for the first time was startled.

“What madman in the world would get engaged to the Grand Duchess?”

“Indeed. Unless he is a simpleton, the word engagement cannot possibly mean that sort of thing...”

“It seems they dug up the greatest fool among fools.”

At the same time, they began to wonder who the person who had accepted it was.

“They say that great fool is the third son of House Rosnova.”

“Rosnova? That is the family of the Arken Empire’s guardian knights! I heard anyone born of that bloodline is outstanding...”

“It seems that third son is not. From what I have heard, he is weak even compared to mere soldiers, let alone other houses. It seems even his own father cast him out for it.”

“If he is weaker than an ordinary soldier, is he not truly defective?”

“Hah! To think we must waste time meeting some defective product...”

“And that defective product is even late, no less...”

The elderly lords looked ill-tempered.

The thought of such a green young brat acting arrogant made their anger rise.

“So what will all of you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“If he is the consort of the Grand Duchess... he should still have status, so how will you all respond...?”

Then the oldest lord answered.

“He is destined to be torn apart by Grand Duchess Valdrova anyway. Why should we bow our heads to him?”

“Quite right.”

“Why should we bow our heads?”

The mood seemed to be one of unanimous agreement.

“Lord Ferda Rosnova is entering!”

Everyone straightened their clothes and put on serious, solemn faces.

They were, in their own right, lords who led the residents of the front line.

So they intended to crush the spirit of this outsider at the very beginning.

With the doorkeeper’s shout, the door to the council room opened.

Gray hair and blue eyes.

Befitting the consort of Grand Duchess Valdrova, he wore red ceremonial attire embroidered in gold thread with Valdrova’s emblem.

They had heard that much, and it was within the realm of expectation.

What lay beyond their expectations was, as expected, the feeling Ferda himself gave off.

'They said he was defective...'

'He is a tall, handsome, and intelligent-looking defective product.'

If his body was frail, that was only in comparison to a family of warriors; manners and etiquette were ingrained in the way he walked.

But the thing they all found most impressive was his gaze.

It was not simply the arrogant gaze of a child mixed with defiance.

It was as if a calm lake lay within those eyes.

His bearing and atmosphere did not match his age, and they tensed without meaning to.

Ferda parted his lips.

“Tell me.”

It was the voice of a young adult who had only just passed adolescence.

Yet it released a resonance carrying the weight of a middle-aged man who had crossed harsh years.

“Soon, I will be the man who becomes the consort of Grand Duchess Valdrova.”

Ferda clasped his hands behind his back.

His blue eyes swept over each of them in turn.

It was an extremely rude action, but not a single one of them opened his mouth.

No.

They could not.

'How can a young whelp have eyes like that...'

'What in the world is that man?!'

It felt as if they were facing a single wild beast.

Without exception, they could not resist and were overwhelmed by that gaze.

Only after facing the situation did they realize it.

“If that is so, should I address you respectfully, or should I speak down to you?”

The great fool proceeding with an engagement to Valdrova was not defective at all.

* * *

About thirty minutes earlier.

Ferda had arrived at the assembly hall of the far eastern front alliance.

Because he had moved for official business, Ferda had traveled by carriage.

Ferda checked the clock.

“We are very late.”

Ferda was rather strict about appointments.

Even one minute irritated him, and ten minutes was an act no different from high treason.

However, Luri, the culprit behind this lateness, answered in a businesslike manner.

“You know nothing. Being ten minutes late is standard when seizing the initiative.”

“Is there a need to do that?”

“It is a basic quality of dragons and the most important moment in establishing the pecking order.”

“Even if I have no particular interest?”

“Please always remember whose consort you are becoming.”

Valdrova’s consort.

Once she said it like that, the words reflexively echoed through his mind.

Luri followed one step behind him.

As he walked along the red carpet, Ferda suddenly grew curious.

'If I become Grand Duchess Valdrova’s consort, where does that place me in the hierarchy?'

The world of nobles was complex in its own way.

In the case of central nobles, hierarchy followed official posts.

But once one went to the outskirts, the sword was closer than the law, and those who had served for a long time were treated with respect.

'Because I am the consort, officially I am no different from a king, but that alone will not be enough...'

The current Ferda was eighteen years old.

In other words, from appearances, he was young and inexperienced.

If a fiancé who had appeared out of nowhere suddenly started acting like a king, it was a foregone conclusion that the lords would resist.

As he walked, Ferda arrived at the entrance to the conference hall.

Ferda saw fifteen seats arranged in a circle.

The seat directly connected to the door was empty, and that was Valdrova’s seat.

In other words, it was the place that would become Ferda’s seat.

Instead of going there, Ferda stood in the center and looked up at each of them.

“Tell me. Soon, I will be the man who becomes the consort of Grand Duchess Valdrova.”

It was a truly pure question.

“If that is so, should I address you respectfully, or should I speak down to you?”

Ferda met their eyes one by one and tried to gauge where his own position ought to be.

All the lords looked down at him with tense faces.

They looked at one another and hesitated to answer.

Ferda scratched his head.

“Mm, was my question a difficult one?”

“N-No, it is not...”

“It is just...”

The reason they could not answer was simple.

Answering that he should address them respectfully or speak down to them would itself determine the line here.

Who would have known that the brat who had come as a fiancé would make them line up first?

The oldest lord opened his mouth first.

“We are lords who dwell beneath the light of Grand Duchess Valdrova. It is only right that we speak respectfully to the one who will become her consort.”

“Is that so?”

“However, all the lords here are people who devote their loyalty to the nation and dedicate themselves to the people. It is also right for the consort to treat them with the respect befitting that.”

It sounded like an answer, but in the end, it was no different from passing the question back by saying it depended on how he acted.

After hearing that, Ferda asked him.

“What is your name?”

“I am Ulvera Concillus.”

“I see. Count Concillus, is it? May I call you that?”

“That is correct.”

The old lord gave a slight smile and nodded.

“So.”

“Yes?”

“So, should I address you respectfully, or should I speak down to you? You have not answered my question at all.”

Ferda narrowed his eyes and stared at him.

The old lord answered again with a troubled expression.

“It is right for you to speak down to us.”

“I see. That answers my question. Count Concillus. If I had addressed you respectfully first, it would have made you all greatly uncomfortable, would it not?”

“N-Now that you have spoken to us in this way, there is nothing more we could ask for.”

It was his first time in politics, but he could fully understand what this situation was.

Ferda had seized the initiative against the lords.

'I did not intend to make them submit.'

Thinking that he needed to explain, Ferda said to them.

“Do not worry. Just because I become the Grand Duchess’s consort does not mean much will change. I have no great interest in what you do. So you may do as you see fit. Whether you exploit the people or show them mercy.”

“Exploit the people? What do you mean by saying such a thing?”

A man stood, as if he could not let Ferda’s words pass.

He looked to be in his mid-twenties and had a fierce impression.

He was relatively young, and he wore a mage’s insignia on his chest.

Hearing those words, Ferda thought.

He had misspoken.

“I meant no malice. It simply came out that way as I spoke.”

“From the looks of it, you seem to have grown arrogant because you got engaged to the Grand Duchess, but you had better show some manners, young fiancé! If we stood as mage to mage, you should have prostrated yourself and bowed to me!”

“What!”

“H-How can you say such a thing!”

The old, fat lords sweated profusely as they tried to stop him.

Everyone held their breath as if watching a candle placed before a fuse.

“Hmm...”

Ferda was not particularly angry at that rudeness.

Instead, he only had a question about the man’s words.

'Can I beat that human?'

Because he had awakened as a mage, Ferda could now see mana with his own two eyes.

The amount of mana held by the man named Thessalos was not ordinary.

Ferda, who had been thinking while tapping his head with his index finger, asked him.

“What is your name?”

“I am Thessalos of House Vulture!”

Ferda rolled that name around in his mind.

Thessalos Vulture... it was a name he had heard somewhere.

It was not important right now, so he put it aside for the moment.

“What Circle have you reached?”

“The 4th Circle. I am a mage capable of using fourth-tier magic.”

“Hmm, respectable enough.”

“... Respectable?”

For Thessalos, a 4th Circle mage, it was absurd.

A mage of the 4th Circle alone could receive precious treatment anywhere.

'Consort or whatever, should I just kill him?'

Thessalos felt his blood boiling.

If Ferda had not been the Grand Duchess’s consort, he would already have cursed him out and hurled magic at him.

“I am interested in you. So may I ask one favor?”

“You want something from me after showing such an insolent attitude?!”

His face flushed red, and Ferda nodded after seeing it.

“You will probably like it too. Spar with me.”

He had trained enough, so it was time to experience actual combat.