Chapter 31
The die is cast.
The duke's ability is dangerous.
Moreover, his ability is highly specialized in assassination and ambushes rather than attacking head-on.
That's why I came here in person.
Because if I faced the duke first, face-to-face and while declaring war, what followed would be easier.
In fact, that was why I had deliberately spoken in a half-provocative tone.
'Now then, how will he respond...'
I have enough smoke inside my body.
The duke had suffered internal injuries in our previous fight, and his condition appeared to have deteriorated rapidly,
while I hadn't slept for about three days because of the illegitimate children's attacks before coming here, so we were evenly matched in terms of condition.
"..."
"..."
The duke and I silently stared at each other for dozens of seconds.
"Puhahahahaha!!"
Suddenly, the duke began roaring with laughter loud enough to shake the room.
Painful groans leaked out between his laughter, but he didn't seem to care.
"...?"
'Is he insane?'
Ah, well, he was insane.
"Hahaha. Cough! Kheh-heh-heh... Cough..."
Watching the man before me laugh uproariously while coughing up blood and still unable to stop laughing, if he wasn't insane, what was he?
About a minute later.
"Hahaha. Yes. You're going to devour the Nebula ducal family?"
The duke looked at me with a bright smile.
He ignored the blood gathered at the corners of his mouth.
For the moment, I had no time to worry about such things; I had to focus on what the duke would say next.
"I don't mind."
"What...?"
He didn't mind?
Wondering for an instant if I'd misheard him, I reflexively released mana to check whether the duke's hallucination had activated.
"I said I don't mind. However."
The duke barely reacted to my actions as he slowly raised a finger that seemed to have nothing left but skin.
"I don't mind you devouring it, but before that, there's a condition you must fulfill."
"...Defeating all the illegitimate children?"
"No. Do whatever you want with them."
The duke waved his hand dismissively and spoke in a calm voice, as though he didn't particularly care.
"[Dark Shadow]."
"[Dark Shadow]?"
"Yes. Obtain their recognition."
"...[Dark Shadow] really exists?"
Having lived in the underworld, I had heard of the Nebula ducal family's [Dark Shadow].
But to everyone else, it was little more than an unfounded rumor dismissed as half a city legend.
"Yes. It exists."
The duke answered lightly in the affirmative.
"The sharpest blade of the Nebula ducal family. And its most closely guarded secret. To claim the ducal family, you must obtain their recognition."
This was a tradition established long ago—no, from around the time the Nebula ducal family was founded.
"Even if you defeat all the other illegitimate children, things will become quite difficult if you fail to win [Dark Shadow]'s recognition."
The duke said this and gave a light laugh.
As the conversation progressed, I couldn't help but realize it, whether I liked it or not.
The duke actually thought rather highly of me.
'...Good grief.'
Common sense dictated that I was the one who had left him half in this state.
On top of his internal injuries, judging by the duke's current condition, he was so miserable that I'd consider it an achievement if he lasted three years.
He seemed to be artificially prolonging the life of an already-collapsed body with the power known as mana.
The only difference from when we'd first met was that prolonging his life with mana hadn't been as painful then as it was now.
It was no different from pouring water into a bottomless jar.
I was the one who had put his body in this condition, and he felt favorably toward me?
"Ask Mist, the girl who swore allegiance to you, for the details."
The duke continued speaking calmly, paying no attention to my appalled gaze.
"..."
I suppose I should have expected it.
That was the first reaction that came to mind as soon as I heard the duke's words.
I'd thought from the beginning that she wasn't ordinary.
It had been obvious that even Lena of [White Shadow] found Mist difficult to deal with.
And in that moment, I recalled when I had met Bella.
The maid who had silently watched me from behind that woman.
"Don't tell me you assigned [Dark Shadow] to the other illegitimate children as well?"
The sixth sense that had been sharpened to its limit by my fight with the duke—the maid was what that sixth sense had warned me about.
I had thought she was extraordinary even then, but since it wasn't my business, I quickly pushed it out of my mind. Thinking back on it now, everything fit.
The duke didn't answer me; he simply looked at me.
A silent affirmation.
"...Fine. Then I won't put off earning [Dark Shadow]'s recognition."
There were priorities.
Or should I call it a prior commitment?
"I'll deal with those illegitimate children first, then meet with [Dark Shadow]."
"...Yes. Do as you please."
At the duke's words, I immediately rose and, for the first time, took the cigar from my mouth and exhaled a thin stream of smoke.
A small wisp of smoke hovered before the duke.
"Then I'll be going."
After seeing the smoke, I immediately left the duke's room.
It was nice that he thought highly of me, but no matter how I looked at it, I wasn't thick-skinned enough to converse with the duke so casually.
"I look forward to it."
Creeeeak.
Thud.
The duke's words reached me just before I left the room.
He looked forward to it?
"Phew..."
Look forward to it, huh? Well, from the duke's perspective, what I was about to do would indeed be rather interesting.
Fwooooooosh.
I slowly exhaled the cigar smoke I'd inhaled in a long, thin stream.
My smoke slowly began spreading throughout the entire ducal estate.
It wasn't a technique I normally used.
No, rather than saying I didn't use it, it was closer to saying that I had no particular reason to use it and didn't bother because it was easy to destroy.
A thin haze of smoke enveloped the Nebula ducal estate.
It was so weak that it could neither launch an attack nor withstand even the slightest mana strike without scattering.
"Ahem..."
This wasn't an attack. It was even less of a defense.
I began consciously linking the smoke spread throughout the ducal estate with the voice coming from my vocal cords.
The smoke trembled slightly. Once I had finished tuning it, like adjusting audio equipment, I quietly uttered a word.
[Ah, testing.]
Then my voice began bursting forth from the smoke surrounding the estate.
***
"..."
The duke, staring quietly at the spot where Abel had left, couldn't contain the laughter welling up inside him.
Things had gone far better than he'd imagined.
He had already realized that Abel wasn't interested in becoming head of the ducal family.
"Kheh-heh..."
That was why he had agonized over it.
He had wondered how he could make Abel take an interest in becoming head of the ducal family.
Creating a connection with the saint this time had been part of that effort as well.
If Abel maintained his connection with the saint and became entangled with powerful figures or people of comparable standing, then whether he liked it or not, he would maintain ties with the nobility.
Nobles were tenacious, and those in power even more so.
In such a situation, what if Abel, who had a connection to such a useful person as the saint, were to appear?
It would cause his name to keep circulating in noble society, whether people realized it or not.
That was the duke's objective.
It was best to start with something small.
But the duke's objective had pleasantly backfired.
Abel had personally issued a declaration of war, saying in his own words that he would devour everything the duke had built and become head of the ducal family.
"..."
Yes, exactly!
Anyone who wanted to become head of the Nebula ducal family naturally needed that much spirit!
"Hwahahaha!!"
If another illegitimate child had issued this declaration of war, he wouldn't have felt this way.
He would certainly have dismissed it as the bravado of the weak, or the croaking of a frog in a well.
But Abel was different.
It wasn't the bravado of the weak, and he was even less a frog in a well.
Rather, it was closer to saying that Abel had declared war on him as the result of an extremely practical calculation.
Knowing the duke's ability and how troublesome it was, he had chosen to confront him head-on first.
How could that be mere bravado?
"..."
After laughing for quite some time, the duke looked at the smoke Abel had left behind.
Smoke faintly wavering.
The power contained within it was exceedingly weak.
Even if there was another motive, it was such fragile smoke, with so little mana in it, that it would be difficult to carry out any proper covert maneuvering.
[Ah, testing.]
Then, when Abel's voice burst forth from the smoke, the duke began smiling so broadly that his mouth seemed about to split.
"Haha"
[My name is Abel. I'm one of the illegitimate children currently in the ducal family.]
...
"Hmm?"
Charon, who assisted Kaizen, looked up at the ceiling when Abel's voice suddenly rang out throughout the entire ducal estate.
A small patch of smoke was wavering in one corner of the ceiling. Abel's voice was flowing from it.
...
[I haven't slept or gotten any proper rest during the approximately three days of continuous attacks I've endured on my way here to the Nebula ducal family.]
"Huh...?"
Nella, who had been drinking a beverage so sweet it made her tongue ache from all the sugar dumped into it, looked toward a corner of the dining room at the sudden voice.
"What is this?"
Abel was revealing his own weakness, announcing that he was currently in an exhausted state.
Watching this, Nella naturally thought of a particular tactic.
Burning the bridges.
...
"Hahaha. He really is a man beyond my imagination."
Chief butler Sebastian chuckled lightly at Abel's voice suddenly echoing throughout the estate.
[If you don't believe that I haven't been able to get any proper rest, I swear by the name of the God of Contracts that it is the truth.]
He was voluntarily revealing his current physical condition, which could be called his weakness.
There was only one reason.
[Therefore, I have a proposal. From this moment on, I won't sleep a wink.]
"Hahahaha."
[So, Kaizen and Bella. Let us fight over the position of heir to the ducal family.]
What would happen if they refused this proposal?
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't imagine anything good coming of it.
"Heh-heh-heh."
Sleep was an extremely important part of human life.
No matter how powerful a master-level fighter was, going several days without sleep would drastically reduce their combat effectiveness.
He had revealed that disadvantageous fact first, then issued his declaration of war in that state.
But what if they ignored that declaration of war?
It would provide more than enough grounds for the support networks Kaizen and Bella had painstakingly built to collapse.
[It doesn't matter if it's right now or tomorrow. Ah, though two days from now would be a little difficult.]
In a playful, comical tone, Abel provoked the other two illegitimate children.
...
"Kwahahahaha!!!!!"
The duke laughed.
Even if that laughter came with the pain of coughing up blood, how could he stop laughing?
He had never heard such a satisfying declaration of war in his life.
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Thus, laughter continued to ring out in the duke's room for some time.
...
"Now, then."
Mist quietly looked at Abel, who was speaking before her.
"The location will be the Nebula ducal family's knight order training grounds!"
There had indeed been many attacks, but with Abel's combat power, he could have gotten sufficient rest by setting up a smoke clone as a sentry.
But Abel hadn't rested.
He had forcibly shaken off the encroaching drowsiness using mana.
As far as Mist could tell, the only time Abel had taken even a brief rest was when he closed his eyes for a moment after finally arriving at this ducal estate.
"If you don't come to the training grounds by 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, I'll consider it running away because you were afraid to face me in this exhausted state."
Mist quietly closed her eyes and savored Abel's voice.
'Ah, just as I thought.'
"That's all. Broadcast over."
'...'
"All right, then, let's go... Mist. Your eyes."
'...'
"Your eyes. Hey, your eyes. Hurry up and return them to normal."
But it took about thirty minutes for Mist's eyes to return to normal.
All the while, she resented her own body for twitching due to the restriction.