Chapter 6
I am a special human being.
Kaizen, born in the North and raised as a warrior, had always lived with this thought.
A blessed physique. An ability awakened through blessing.
The North's frostbiting winds could have no effect on my body,
and with my awakened ability, I overcame every warrior, challenge, and danger.
'I'm the man who'll become the strongest!'
For someone who had realized his strength, talent, and ability, it was only natural to think this way.
It was while he was living out his usual days in the North like that.
[You are a blood relative of the Nebla Ducal House.]
A butler who had suddenly come looking for him.
Yet Kaizen attacked the butler the instant he heard those words.
He was already on edge after roughly a year of assassination attempts.
How could he remain calm when, while he was already so on edge, someone uttered those words from right behind him without making a sound?
[Are you finished?]
Yet Kaizen's attacks couldn't even touch the hem of the butler's clothes.
The butler gave Kaizen, who was lying there calmly, a strangely unsettling smile.
At that moment, he heard something break inside his heart.
Don't make me laugh.
I didn't lose. I'm telling you, I didn't lose!
This is invalid. I fought after a year of assassination attempts had worn down my mind, so that's why I lost!
Absurd sophistry. Yet Kaizen genuinely thought that way.
It was the pride of a man who believed himself the strongest. Once that pride was damaged, a kind of defense mechanism appeared.
Thus, Kaizen fought the butler in a fierce battle for roughly two days without sleeping.
[Oh my.]
At first, his attacks couldn't reach him, but as time passed, they gradually drew closer to the butler,
and at last, just before collapsing from exhaustion, he managed to inflict a wound near the butler's artery.
A vital point on the human body. If the attack had gone just one centimeter deeper, it would have been fatal.
[Hahaha. Yes, perhaps we do need a head of the family like this. You've passed the test.]
The last voice Kaizen heard as he collapsed from exhaustion was the butler's—calmly saying those words despite Kaizen having nearly died.
Vrooooooom
"What are you thinking about so intently?"
Resting his chin against the window behind the driver's seat with his eyes closed, Kaizen answered the voice calling to him with a growl.
"I believe I told you not to talk to me."
"Ahaha. But don't you think going three whole days without exchanging a word is a bit much?"
Every word, movement, and mannerism of his grated on Kaizen's nerves.
Kaizen looked at the butler driving in front of him.
The man's snickering smile was visible in the rearview mirror.
"However, Lord Kaizen, I have a valid reason for speaking to you."
The butler spoke in an even more irritating tone despite knowing how uncomfortable Kaizen was.
"Shut up."
Bang!
Kaizen fired a revolver at the butler, though it was impossible to tell where he had produced it from.
The position, angle, and timing made it absolutely impossible to dodge.
Everything about it was a perfect surprise attack.
Ting
Yet the revolver's bullet lost its momentum with a feeble sound and fell like a dried maple leaf.
"Ahaha. Please don't attack me. Didn't that startle you?"
"Ha, how amusing. Your mouth sure is lively for someone keeping that damn barrier up all the time."
Kaizen was certain that bastard's mouth would be the only thing floating even if he fell into the water.
Kaizen glared at the butler with his eyes half open.
Seeing Kaizen like that, the butler stopped teasing him and delivered the reason for his business in a slightly serious voice.
"We've arrived."
At the Nebla Ducal House, that is.
***
Creak.
Clack.
"Tch. Being stuck in a car for three days really is uncomfortable."
"I apologize. I should have done my utmost to attend to you, but it seems I've caused you discomfort."
After arriving at the ducal house, Kaizen opened the car door and got out, then glared at the butler standing beside him.
He knew, in fact, that roughly eighty percent of his discomfort was due to that irritating butler.
Whenever they stopped briefly or visited a city for supplies, the butler would irritate him under the pretext of attending to him.
He hadn't been able to get any proper rest because of that bastard.
But if he argued here, that oily tongue would wriggle its way out of the situation somehow.
...
"Oh? Are you ignoring me? Hey, you there?"
Ignoring the butler waving a hand in front of him, Kaizen looked at the elderly man slowly approaching.
A neat suit. Unlike the irritating butler who had been pestering him, this was a truly dignified-looking elderly butler.
"Good day, Lord Kaizen. Thank you for visiting the Nebla Ducal House today."
The elderly butler slowly bowed his head in greeting with an elegant gesture.
"My name is Sebastian Eldra. I am the chief butler of the Nebla Ducal House."
After finishing his brief introduction, Sebastian slowly straightened and said with a smile,
"And this may be sudden, but now that you've arrived, Lord Kaizen, you must immediately meet the head of the family."
"What?"
"It is rude to the heir who has come all this way, but it is the head's order, so I ask that you please follow me."
...
Before coming here, Kaizen had received a rough explanation from that quiet, damnable butler.
The situation of the Nebla Ducal House.
All the direct descendants had already died, and because the family had no collateral branches, it was forced to summon illegitimate children from outside the family.
The fact that his own blood was connected to the Nebla Ducal House.
And lastly.
"The head of the family may die soon, yet he wants to meet me?"
No matter how hasty and hot-tempered Kaizen was, he was still human.
To meet an outsider so abruptly in such an urgent situation?
By Kaizen's common sense, the current situation was difficult to accept.
"Yes."
Yet Sebastian dismissed Kaizen's doubts in an instant.
"It is the head's will, so we can only obey."
"Huh... Fine. Ah, but before that, there's something I want to ask."
"I am listening."
"Besides me, how many illegitimate children have arrived at this ducal house?"
As Kaizen said this, his eyes began to gleam sharply.
An enemy. More specifically, a competitor aiming for the position of head of this ducal house.
To be honest, he wanted to ask that irritating butler, but he hadn't asked because he thought he'd rather kill himself than ask that bastard anything.
"There is one candidate currently in the mansion. And, apart from you, Lord Kaizen, I was told that another person would arrive sometime today."
"Three..."
Many? No, too few. He had thought there would be at least five.
But there was no point in racking his brain any further here.
It wasn't a method suited to him in the first place.
"Well, fine. Let's go."
"Understood. Then please follow me."
Saying that, Sebastian slowly walked into the Nebla Ducal House's mansion, matching Kaizen's pace.
Dazzling—an absolute pinnacle of wealth.
Even he, a warrior who had made a name for himself in the North, was nearly overwhelmed by such staggering riches.
All kinds of precious metals were embedded in the pillars of the mansion, while treasures and works of art adorned its corridors.
It was a sight that showed perfectly why the Nebla Ducal House was called the ruler of the South and the king of the underworld.
"Hmm, what's this?"
As they walked, a sword set into a corner caught his eye.
Kaizen knew little about art or precious metals, but to a warrior's eye, it was clearly a masterwork with an extraordinary edge.
"Ah, are you familiar with this sword?"
"No. I just thought it was a good sword."
"This sword is called the Fall of Secunda. It was once the treasured sword of a fallen kingdom. It is a true masterpiece, enchanted with anti-magic capable of cutting through any spell."
Sebastian explained it as though it were nothing special.
There was not a trace of ostentation in his voice.
'A sword like this.'
Yet that flat emotion overwhelmed Kaizen all the more.
It was a masterpiece. A treasured sword fine enough to be called a nation's greatest blade.
And yet a masterpiece like this was displayed in a corner?
'Hahaha.'
Yet Kaizen was immediately swept up in elation.
If he became the head of this ducal house, all of this would be his.
After hearing the rest of the explanation about the sword, Kaizen arrived at a huge door on the mansion's top floor.
"This is where the head of the family resides. I pray you have a peaceful time."
Creak.
Bang!
After Kaizen entered the head's room, Sebastian, who had bowed in greeting, raised his head and slowly began the countdown.
"3...2...1..."
[Aaaaaaaa!!!!]
Soon, Kaizen's scream rang out.
Although the voice echoed throughout the mansion, Sebastian's face did not move an inch.
Every servant bustling about the mansion heard the scream as well, yet they simply continued doing their jobs.
"Hm? Oh, did he have a private audience with the head of the family?"
The butler who had brought Kaizen to the Nebla Ducal House smiled lightly at the sound of Kaizen's scream.
"The head's tests really are frightening."
***
A short while later.
Another car entered the Nebla Ducal House.
Guessing that the car carried the final candidate to inherit the ducal house, Sebastian slowly straightened his clothes before walking over.
'Come to think of it, Mist said this candidate passed, didn't they?'
Mist.
It was quite a famous name within the ducal house.
A monster who had become the youngest elite assassin and earned recognition for their outstanding skill.
As the chief butler who coordinated and oversaw every affair of the Nebla Ducal House, he knew the name all the better.
'To have passed despite Mist's extremely strict standards.'
How surprised he had been when he first received the information.
The tests for accepting illegitimate children were all conducted by the elite assassins secretly raised by the Nebla Ducal House.
They were the head's shadows and the hidden blades behind his words.
A monstrous group capable of assassinating anyone at a single word from the head—and this candidate had earned the approval of the most demanding among them, Mist.
'This should be interesting.'
Looking at the man who got out of the car parked outside the mansion, Sebastian approached and bowed.
"Good day, Lord Abel. Thank you for visiting the Nebla Ducal House today."
'Is that cigar smoke?'
As he approached, he caught the distinctive fragrance of a cigar.
But it seemed he hadn't smoked much; only the characteristic lingering scent remained.
"Ah, thanks for welcoming me."
Hearing Abel's languid voice, Sebastian slowly raised his head and looked at Abel.
Thus, all three candidates for the position of heir to House Nebla had finally gathered.