The Duchy’s Madman

The corners of Holan’s eyes went up.

“You are admitting it so easily?”

Holland had expected him to make excuses, since he was pretending to be a mute.

But instead, he admitted it too easily.

Hollan was taken aback, but he didn’t show it.

The old knight asked a question while closely looking at the expression on Arthur’s face.

“Then I suppose you owe me an explanation. Why are you pretending to be a mute?”

“Well…. I have few circumstances, do I need to tell you?”

” Circumstances? You mean to say that you have a reason for pretending to be mute?”

“Yes. That’s why I want you to pretend like you don’t know.”

Holland laughed at Arthur’s answer.

“Then tell me the reason. Like I told before, I’m like your godfather, so I deserve to hear it.”

“…If you’re my godfather, I can tell you about it, but are you really my godfather?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Arthur shook his head.

“If godfather means what I think it means, then you’re like another father to me, but this is the first time I am meeting Lord Hollan.”

Hollan was left speechless by his sharp remark.

Arthur hadn’t shown any sign of emotion since he had stopped stuttering in front of him, but this time he had given away his emotions.

“…Is that why you’re upset?”

“No. I just don’t want to explain why I’m pretending to be a mute.”

Hollan’s gaze sank.

He fiddles with his fingers, and then, having organized his thoughts, he spoke.

“I see. I can understand how it might seem to you. an old man who showed up out of nowhere is saying he’s your godfather and started exercising his rights, is that how you see it?”

Holland smiled bitterly.

“I have known your father,The Duke of Bavaria for many years and I consider your mother as my little sister, and so to ease the anxiety of my dear little sister, I am going to tell her about this, so what do you think?”

Arthur scratched his head.

“That would be difficult, as I said before….”

“If you don’t like that, then tell me about your situation.”

“That would be difficult, too. Um….”

Saying those words, Arthur thought.

‘What should I do about this situation?’

It’s bad enough that his secret has been discovered, but to think that it’s the Sword Master Holan Leverkusen who found it?

‘He’s also supposed to be my godfather… How am I supposed to keep him quiet?’

The best way to keep the truth from getting out is by killing him, but this time he couldn’t do that because his opponent was the Sword Master.

As Arthur scratched his head, Holan muttered in surprise.

“…Do you possess mana?”

“What?”

“How… Do you possess mana in your body?

His words made Arthur gasp.

‘Oh wow, you’ve noticed that?’

Ever since I got better, I’ve been gathering mana to create circles.

But the reason Hollan hadn’t realised it until now was because Arthur has not completely formed the circle.

The mana that hadn’t been gathered was just  aura.

‘But to notice that… he’s a sword master after all, isn’t he?’

Holan, who had been watching Arthur muttered in a low voice.

“No way… did you gather that mana all by yourself?”

Arthur pondered, then answered.

“Yes.”

“And you learned to do it by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“And what about the sword?”

“I know how to wield a sword.”

“And you did all this on your own, without the help of a teacher?”

Arthur didn’t answer anymore.

Hollan’s gaze narrowed at his silence.

“….”

Hollan turned to look at Arthur’s hands.

They were skinny, bare, and far from the hands of a trained swordsman.

‘Am I supposed to believe this?’

The boy who had been called the ‘Mute Confucius’ until he got here had taught himself how to wield a sword?

It didn’t make any sense.

‘…Since this is the case, I must hear the explanation.’

But it seemed difficult to hear it from him.

The man in front of him was not willing to tell him the truth.

So Holland threw out a bait.

“Would you like to show me your skills then?”

“Skills?”

“You see. Since you’re capable of wielding a sword, why don’t you have a duel. Your opponent will be my granddaughter. She’s out in the town right now, but she’s quite talented.”

Arthur’s eyes twinkled.

“You mean, if I win the duel, you’ll keep my secret?”

“That’s right. And I’ll also grant you a wish.”

“…A wish?”

“If you defeat my granddaughter in a pure, mana-free duel, I will grant you any wish you can think of.”

Arthur gasped at Holan’s offer.

” That sounds too good to be true.”

Holan chided him.

“You have to listen to what people have to say first. If you lose, you will have to explain everything that has happened. Is that okay with you?”

Arthur replied, smiling even more brightly than before.

“Very well, I will accept your offer, Godfather.”

* * *

The Duke of Bavaria’s hunting party began.

Nobles from far and wide have gathered to participate in a time honored tradition that has been a part of the Duke’s family evercsince the founding of the Empire.

It was a dying duchy, some might say, but still it was the Empire’s one and only duchy.

Simply attending such an event was enough to raise a family’s position.

It was a rare occasion when a Bavarian manor was crowded with so many nobles.

“And now, Your Excellency, the great Duke of Bavaria, the duke Yonel Bavaria, will have the first shot!”

The festivities began with that proclamation.

As tradition goes, Yonel walked out to shoot first.

Taking a light, deep breath, she aimed her pistol at the boar that had been captured and released earlier.

BANG!

With a resounding sound, a fountain of blood poured out from the boar’s body.

The nobles’ eyes lit up at the sight of such a clean shot.

It was the same for the Marquis Holan Leverkusen.

The Northern Commander-in-Chief was no different.

“Ohhh…. I wonder when she has been practicing that.”

“What, Grandfather?”

“As far as I know, His Excellency the Duke has only been holding a gun for a week. But it seems that she was quite a bit more talented than I thought.”

At Holan’s words, his granddaughter.Elin Leverkusen blurted out a question.

“But Grandfather, what’s the big deal? You’re not going to ask me to swing the sword at the party, are you?”

“Why, are you embarrassed?”

“Of course I’m embarrassed! After all, when I say I’m from the Northern Snowfields, they call me a barbarian, but if I do something like that, what will the people here think of me?”

Holan chuckled at his granddaughter’s words.

Elin Leverkusen, now 15, is his cute granddaughter you could put in your eye and it wouldn’t even hurt.

With the red hair that symbolized the Leverkusen family, and beautiful features like her mother’s, she was already well known in the capital.

However, like the others in the Leverkusen bloodline, her understanding of the sword was also in the category of ‘genius’.

‘If she grows well like this…. she may not be a sword master, but she will easily reach the level below him.’

In that sense, Arthur Bavaria.

Pitting that child against my granddaughter was unfair, to say the least.

There was no way that Arthur Bayern, who didn’t even have any proper training, could beat my granddaughter.

Nevertheless, I suggested the match because I was curious.

‘What could have changed him? Five years ago, he couldn’t even look at me in the eye….’

When he was younger, he was considered to be a prodigy.

But with the death of his father, he became mute, and now he has become a fool who is looked down upon by others.

However, since he was Holan Leverkusen, who was very close to Arthur Bavaria’s father, he did not stay still.

He brought along many of the famous doctors and medicines.

He sent them to the Duchy every year, and he checked on Arthur whenever he had the time.

It was then that I stumbled upon the poison in Arthur’s body.

“It’s a vicious poison,” they said, “one that first makes you stutter first and then turns you into a fool.”

And there was no cure for it.

What was more troubling, however, was who was who was the one feeding him the poison and how.

‘That kind of effect only happens when it’s fed consistently, which means…the Bavarians have a traitor in their midst.’

So, in addition to searching for an antidote for the poison, I investigated what was going on.

Yonel Bavaria.

I didn’t inform the current head of the family about it.

‘Yonel… she won’t be able to handle this. She’ll act rashly, and then the people who did this will go into hiding, and they’ll target her next, not Arthur.’

So the investigation was conducted in great secrecy, and it was only when the tail was about to be caught that he noticed a change in Arthur.

When I saw him again a year later, the vicious poison was completely gone from his body.

This fact alone is astonishing, but Arthur, who no longer stutters, suddenly shows off his incredible swordsmanship.

‘…Is that even possible in just a year’s time?

Holan couldn’t help but feel deeply intrigued.

His closest friend in the whole world.

What made his son change like this?

“Normally, I would have forced him to tell me the truth, but…. But if I do that, I won’t even be worthy of being called his godfather.”

Determined to protect Yonel, he had already used Arthur as bait.

He was already unworthy of being called Godfather, but the last vestige of his conscience kept him from crossing that last line.

After making his  mind clear, Hollan looked up.

He saw Arthur Bavaria waiting for him.

“…Hello?”

“Yes! Hello!”

Holland broke out in laughter.

Should he match his absurd tune?

He hesitated, then decided to go along with it.

“Yes, my mute Confucius. Are you ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready!”

“Good, then let me introduce your opponent. My granddaughter, Elin Leverkusen, is your opponent for today.”

Holan stepped back, and the flustered Elin walked over.

Arthur smiled broadly and greeted her.

“Hello!”

“…Yes, hi. It’s nice to meet you, but…. Confucius is really my dueling opponent.?”

“Yeah!”

Elin’s gaze turned quickly in response.

At the corner of her eye, Holan nodded.

“No. Are you really sure, Grandpa? You said it was a duel, and I did agree, but do you really…no, you want me to hold my sword against Confucius?”

” It’s a wooden sword, not a real sword.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“You don’t want to do it?”

“I don’t want to, does this make any sense?”

At her granddaughter’s persistence, Holan snapped his fingers.

“If you win this duel, you can stay in the capital for two more days. During that time, I will not interfere with you even when you go out into the city or go shopping.”

Elin’s eyes widened at Holan’s offer.

Her grandfather insisted that she return within a certain period of time, no matter how much she tried to cajole him, had been broken.

“What the hell is this duel for?”

What’s the point of dueling with that mute Confucius in a performance hall with no audience and referee?

After some thought, Elin shrugged her shoulders.

After thinking about it, she thought it didn’t matter.

“There’s no way I’m going to lose to a mute like him, and that means I get to play in the capital for two more days, right?.”

The corner of Elin’s mouth lifted up as she made her decision.

Then she picked up the wooden sword on the training table.

The tip was sharper than a normal wooden sword, and it looked like it could cut through flesh.

Meanwhile, Arthur stood in front of her, holding a wooden sword as well.

After looking at him, Holan spoke up.

“This duel will be fought using no mana, and with only pure swordsmanship. Defeat is at my discretion. Do you have any questions?”

“None.”

“None.”

After hearing the answer, Holan stepped back.

Meanwhile, Elin had stepped back to gauge her opponent’s distance, as she had been taught by the Knights

Arthur, who hadn’t moved, beckoned.

“Come on, Come on~”

“…?”

“You can attack first, because I’m the older one!”

Elin narrows her eyes.

She mumbles in a tone of disbelief.

“Are you saying you’re going to concede the first strike?”

” Yeah~”

“Ha……. I can’t believe it. This is ridiculous. Are you that confident, Confucius?”

“Yup”

Elin tightens her expression.

she’s brilliant, but she was only a 15 year old.

As soon as she realized she’d been mocked, the lighthearted duel had taken on a new meaning.

Holland clicked his tongue as he watched it.

Once enraged, her granddaughter’s sword was a force to be reckoned with, not even northern boys, could withstand it.

‘This might be over sooner than I expected…. This duel.’

With that thought, Holan turned to look at Arthur.

Elin bent her knees as she tightened her grip on her sword.

“Then…. I’ll take the first strike, Confucius.”

With those words, Elin leapt from her seat.

Her movements were swift and her outstretched wooden sword was sharp.

Holan’s expression hardened sharply.

His granddaughter’s strike was more dangerous than he had expected.

If you can’t avoid it, at the very least you’ll get a bruise, but still, she is considerate and is keeping the sword’s trajectory honest.

With that assessment, Holan looked away.

What would Arthur Bavaria do in response to that blow?

His eyes widen at the question.

At the same time, Elin’s eyes go up as well.

A sharpened wooden sword is extended.

With the tip of the wooden sword, Arthur jumped straight into the air.

“…!”

Kwajik-!

With a bizarre sound, Elin’s outstretched sword pierced Arthur’s shoulder.

The blood that spurted out at the same time stopped all of Elin’s thoughts and actions.

At the same time, all of Elin’s thoughts and actions stopped due to the blood that gushed out.

However, not Arthur’s.

With his shoulder still pierced by the wooden sword, he struck Elin’s wrist strongly.

Stunned by the sudden gush of blood, Elin didn’t react quickly enough and let go of her wooden sword.

“Uh, huh?”

Flustered, she takes a step back.

Arthur, on the other hand, moves forward.

Despite being pierced in the shoulder, Arthur’s wooden sword doesn’t lose its strength and strikes her in the head.

Thud!

With a heavy resounding thud, Elin’s body trembled once.

Then, as she was falling to the ground in a stupor, the broken wooden sword flew out and landed at Holan’s feet.

“…!”

The shards of the wooden sword snapped Holan out of his daze.

“You, you?”

Hollan, stuttering, tried to approach Arthur, who was bleeding.

But Arthur’s hand moved first and pulled the shard of wooden sword out of his shoulder.

Chak-chak!

With one more scattering, Holan was at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, Arthur grinned, with his mouth covered in blood.

“Looks like I won, Godfather, so keep your promise.”