ALL NOVEL chapter 25
25 – The Duke’s Mission
“Your Grace, please take care of yourself.”
“Yes, make sure Eirendo is doing well too.”
“Edric, shouldn’t you not cause any trouble for His Majesty? And remember to send letters every three days. Please take good care of our son, Lady Nircera.”
“Of course, don’t worry too much…”
“I will take good care of His Grace, so don’t worry, my lady.”
“Your Grace, if you want to arrive at the halfway point before sunset, you should board the carriage now!”
“Did you hear that? We’re really going!”
With farewells from their mother and Eirendo, Nircera and I boarded the carriage.
“Your Grace, shall we depart?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Upon hearing my response, Satria, who was riding outside, gave the command to the subordinates to depart.
Huh? Satria is riding a horse, so why am I in the carriage? Don’t you know how to ride a horse?
Obviously, Satria needs to escort me, so she rides outside while I, as the one being protected, should safely stay inside the carriage.
Is it right for the person who needs to be protected to roam outside on a horse? What if some crazy thief shoots a bullet and kills us? Both Satria and I have our respective roles to fulfill.
“It’s warm inside the carriage, which is nice.”
“? Ah, yes. It was a bit chilly this morning.”
Fortunately, Nircera didn’t understand my complaint, and I felt relieved. Isn’t the carriage shaking too much? It’s fine. I’ve experienced even sh*ttier situations.
Although I woke up startled by the occasional jolts, at some point, I lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.
**
After a few days of travel, our party safely arrived at the duke’s territory.
Well, personally, I secretly expected various events like ambushes by thieves to happen along the way, but the journey ended much smoother than I thought.
By the last day, the army sent to welcome me had joined us, so we were escorted comfortably until we reached the duke’s territory.
I was hoping for situations that I’ve seen in novels or comics to happen… It turned out to be a day spent just sleeping inside the carriage!
Let’s take comfort in the fact that no one in our group got injured or died…
“Your Grace, you can get off now.”
“Uh, uh…”
Upon hearing the soldier’s words, I opened the carriage door and stepped out.
Bright Sunlight
“Whoa, why is the sunlight so bright… ouch! Ouch…”
As soon as I stepped out of the carriage after riding a suspensionless carriage for so long, my back made a creaking sound.
“You’re only 15, why are you making noises like an old man?”
“No, are you alright with your back, sir?”
“I often ride carriages, so this is nothing to me.”
I felt unjustly resentful towards Nircera, who was looking at me pitifully. Sigh…should modern people use cheats? Should I develop springs or something…?
When I was seriously considering just riding a horse to the palace, people came out of the Duke of Lorraine’s castle gate.
“Lurain Duke!”
“Silverwood Viscount.”
The people who came out of the castle were the Duke and his entourage.
To show respect as a devotee to my grandfather, I kneeled on one knee.
“Viscount Silverwood pays respects to Duke Lurain.”
“hehehe, yes. Now you look quite like a viscount.”
Grandfather raised me up with both hands.
“You’ve come a long way, Edric.”
“I didn’t suffer as much as other people. I was just stuck in the carriage…”
“hahahahaha! This guy…!”
Grandfather laughed and patted my back.
While I was laughing along, I noticed a maid standing stiffly around Grandfather.
‘Hmm, she looks familiar.’
“Edric, welcome to the Duke Lurain’s estate. Let’s go quickly. We don’t have time to stand here.”
“Oh, yes.”
As Grandfather said, we didn’t really have much time to spare. Forgetting my daydream for a moment, I followed him and entered the Duke Lurain’s castle with our group.
When we arrived at Grandfather’s office in the castle, he and I sat facing each other across the desk.
“Edric. You probably have a rough idea from reading the letter already, but the King seems to suddenly want to see you.”
“Umm…do you happen to know why the King wants to see me all of a sudden?”
“Well…”
After briefly scratching his head, Grandfather spoke to me after a while.
“Edric, although I’m not entirely sure myself, your story has become quite famous in this country.”
“I heard it indirectly to some extent… just how famous did you become?”
“Minstrels make and perform plays and ballads about you, children fight over who gets to play you during war games?”
How dare these despicable people write about my story without my permission and exploit it for profit? Hmm. If only copyright laws existed, that would have been enough…
Contrary to my thoughts, my grandfather had a rather welcoming feeling about the situation.
“How can this not be a joyful event, all of this has become your glory, is it not a happy thing? Any knight would wish that their exploits be sung and made into poetry by minstrels their whole lives, but you’ve already achieved it at the age of 15, how would this old man not be proud of you?”
“Is that so…”
“Well, it seems that because of that, the princess has taken an interest in you…”
Grandfather scratched his head as he spoke.
“Regardless, like I said in the letter, being acknowledged by the princess is a tremendous honor for us noble people from Urmannia. There’s nothing bad about it for you. You’ve learned enough about court etiquette from the princess, haven’t you?”
“I’ve learned everything I can. But I’m not sure if I’ll do well when I meet the princess in person.”
“It’s fine. In my opinion, you’re a person who’s strong in practice. I think you’ll do well when the time comes. Besides, the princess knows that you’re only 15, even if you make a mistake, would she be strict on you? If she were, she wouldn’t have invited you in the first place.”
“I hope so…”
“There’s no need to be perfect. Just don’t show any big disgrace that would make everyone think you have gone mad. Do you think you can’t even do that?”
“Well, I suppose I can.”
I reluctantly agreed with my grandfather’s words. Yes, as long as I don’t do something stupid enough to attract attention. If I make a few small mistakes, it’s not like anyone is going to say anything about it, right? Then I’ll be more of a child than a king.
“For now, have dinner early today, take a bath and rest, we’re leaving early tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, understood.”
As I was about to end the conversation with my grandfather, someone knocked on the door of the study.
“Your Lordship, tea has been prepared for you.”
“Ah, right. I asked you to prepare it. Take some and go.”
“Yes.”
The maid carefully opened the door and brought in a tray with two teacups on it.
“Is she the maid I saw earlier?”
The person who brought the tea for us was the maid who was next to my grandfather when I first met him at the manor.
“Edric. Do you remember who this girl is?”
“Huh? I… it looks like I’ve seen her somewhere before…”
“You really don’t remember?”
As the grandfather laughed heartily, I looked at the bewildered maid who didn’t know what to do.
“Do you think I’ve been to the Duke’s mansion a few times, so I’d know all the servants, grandfather?”
“Ha… Seriously, you don’t know? You can’t possibly not know…”
“No, stop beating around the bush and tell me quickly. Can’t you see that the maid is in distress next to us?”
“hahahaha, alright, I got it. Go ahead and tell me.”
Grandfather turned the maid toward the direction where I was with his hand and began to speak. The maid seemed embarrassed and lowered her head, hiding her face with an empty tray.
“Do you remember when your family came to celebrate my birthday at the manor before this war?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Do you also remember the incident when a maid accidentally spilled food on you and your siblings at the dining table?”
“…Ah!”
“Yes, this maid is the one who caused the accident back then. Now, greet her.”
When Grandfather lightly touched my back as a signal to greet her, the maid, seemingly embarrassed, stuttered and greeted me.
“Ah, hello, Lord Viscount. My name is Lina.”
“Uh… Yeah. Nice to meet you. Have you been well?”
“Yes, yes! Thanks to your mercy, Lord Viscount, I have been able to live without any problems!”
“Well… as long as you’ve been doing well, that’s good. You’ve worked hard. Be careful going inside.”
“Yes, yes!”
Upon hearing my words, Lina walked out of the study with the empty tray, shuffling along.
Seeing that, Grandfather made an expression that seemed to say, “This isn’t right.”
“No, I heard it from the princess or your mother, but you’re really a strange guy.”
“What do you mean?”
“You haven’t had any thoughts about Lina?”
“Well… she wasn’t driven away and seems to be living well, so that’s good. Other than that, nothing in particular…”
“Lina has become quite attractive compared to back then…”
“Indeed, she has gained some volume since then.”
“Look at this. Judging from the way you’re talking, it seems like you’re not completely ignorant about that matter…”
“What are you talking about…”
“Edric, I’m asking just in case. If it’s a sensitive topic, you don’t have to answer. Whatever your response may be, this grandfather will respect it as much as possible.”
“Yes?”
“Are you by any chance homos*xual?”
I nearly startled Grandfather that day.
It was the day before departing for the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Yurmania.