NOVEL NEXT chapter 22
22 – Letter
Boom!
Thump!
“Huuh…”
“You’ve improved quite a lot.”
Master Gerard praised me as he saw the neatly chopped firewood from my swung sword.
“Well, if you couldn’t do just this after training like crazy for two months, that would be pathetic.”
“Lord Viscount, perhaps you didn’t know because you always had incredible strength, but normally it takes at least half a year to a year to build up your body.
“What about this?”
“While chopping firewood itself is continuously practiced in between, it will take at least a year until you can cleanly cut like Lord Viscount. Technique is the most important, but the physical training has to keep up to a certain level for you to learn it properly.”
“I see…”
I replied vaguely to my master’s words and wiped the sweat on my forehead with my sleeve, intending to sit down and rest.
But suddenly, my master grabbed my arm as I was about to sit.
“Why are you doing that?”
“Have you forgotten? We don’t have time to sit and rest now. Hurry back to the castle, wash up, and change clothes.”
“Ah…!”
Only then did I recall what I had forgotten.
Today is the day when my great-grandfather, Duke Lurain, returns to the Lurain Duchy.
I can’t go meeting my great-grandfather all sweaty. He might say, “My grandson is working hard in his training,” but others won’t think the same way.
As his grandson, I should show some respect. It takes more time than I thought to wash up and dress properly, so I need to prepare quickly before it gets late.
Finally, I straightened up and turned my buttocks firmly, then said to my master.
“Let’s hurry. Grandfather must be waiting for his grandson.”
**
In fact, it was already late for Duke Lurain to return to his own territory.
Duke Lurain also had many affairs to attend to and plenty of tasks to manage in his territory.
Yet he stayed in this rural viscounty for a little over two months. I can’t imagine how impatient his companions must have been inside.
There were several reasons why my great-grandfather ended up spending two months in our territory.
First, it was due to the dramatic reconciliation with my mother, Laila.
Normally, because of “Leon,” that wretched bastard who caused trouble under my great-grandfather’s nose, even if he loved his daughter, my great-grandfather couldn’t fully take care of her since being kind to her meant benefiting “that bastard” he despised. And he couldn’t improve the relationship between his wife and her husband, who kept favoring their beloved son-in-law.
But now, with “that damn bastard” gone because of the war, there was no longer someone to worsen their relationship, and they were able to restore a harmonious family bond.
Grandfather would have wanted to enjoy his cherished relationship with his recovered daughter of decades as much as possible. As the second reason, to help reconstruct Silverwood Viscountcy.
Since Silverwood was completely devastated by the Kamusnom, in fact it felt like building from scratch rather than reconstruction. There were not just one or two things that needed to be prepared from scratch, but grandfather had stayed here until now to take care of this. Sobbing… choked with gratitude for the warm grace of Lady Lureine…
Rebuilding a single Viscounty required spending numerous resources, so the financial officials of Lady Lureine’s Viscountcy might have been stressed to the extent that they might have lost their hair. They meditated on this…
Anyway, in fact, Lord Lureine has enough wealth to easily build ten such rural viscountcies (excluding castles), so I didn’t feel sorry, just grateful.
Thirdly, it was to confirm if I was receiving proper lessons from Schubert Rankevicz.
I couldn’t thank him for this even though he did everything else well … Why did my damn grandfather bring that insane man when all he had to do was bring someone reasonably intelligent and of appropriate status to be a tutor? The teaching quality was high because he was a scholar who made a name for himself on the continent, but the teaching method was straight out of the Middle Ages, making it too painful …
Because of that crazy man, I have seizures at the sound of thumping lately thinking it is the sound of staff hitting the table.
Anyway, because of the reasons mentioned above, he stayed in Silverwood Viscounty for more than 2 months, but now he seems to have reached his limit.
Recently, letters sent to Silverwood from Lady Lureine’s Viscountcy have been increasing. Perhaps the people who manage the vicariate instead of grandfather sent them, but in the end, grandfather couldn’t stand the plea for a return of these spam letters mixed with desperate shouts. If it were normal, there would not have been much problem even if he stayed for more than half a year, but he suddenly ended up supporting West Berun and even leading the suppression so things became tangled in every way.
Grandfather seemed very dissatisfied that he had to leave earlier than he had thought, but he couldn’t just abandon his territory and keep pressing down in Silverwood. That’s why he’s returning to Lady Lureine’s Viscountcy today.
“I would like to stay with you and your mother in Silverwood for about a year to take care of both your studies and territorial business, but my duty won’t allow me to do so.”
‘What if he had taken care of that nonsense for a year?’
“hahahaha. What can I do? It’s true that I’m more focused on your grandfather’s territory than ours. Even just what he did for our territory over the past means a lot.”
“You little..”
Grandfather, while patting me on the head, let me go.
“Don’t stop studying just because your old man ain’t here. Train hard under Gerald Kyeong. Got it?”
“Yes…”
“Dad. It’s a shame to meet you after a long time and see you leaving already…”
“I’m very sorry too… Laila. Reply to my frequent letters. Don’t just take pocket money and brush me off like before.”
“Father is always…”
That’s how Grandfather Hayden left with the remaining Lady Lureine troops he had left behind in Silverwood.
Mother and I saw him off until his group disappeared into the distance.
Until now, I thought I wouldn’t see my great-grandfather again for a long time. The status of a duke is not an easy one to budge. So, it was very unusual for him to behave so. Even if I said it was because of my father, I wouldn’t have seen the duke of Silverwood barely ten times in fifteen years of life. I would see him at every holiday in Rurain, but I didn’t expect to spend this long with him.
But for some reason, all my expectations were shattered by one letter. It had been just a week since my great-grandfather left Silverwood and returned to Rurain.
“What, what is this?”
“The king wants to see you, Edric.”
‘Edric. It may be sudden, but our king, Richard, wants to see you. I know you are busy with rebuilding your territory, studying, and training, so I politely suggested meeting at a later date, but unfortunately, the king did not accept my words.
Personally, I wanted you to meet the king after you educated and cultured yourself a bit more, but the situation does not allow it.
Still, meeting the king is a great honor, so it’s not bad for you. Thankfully, the king has given you a month’s time, so spend that time learning court etiquette from my gift to you, Lady Nirsela. Put the knight training on hold for 20 days and prioritize Lady Nirsela’s lessons. Then, visit our Rurain dukedom within 5 days.
Just in case, it’s probably best for you to come with me to meet the king, in case there are other issues, this uncle will handle them. You just focus on impressing the king. Also, send your regards to your mother.
Your uncle.’
**
In the magnificent stone palace, King Richard of Yurmania was sipping wine and smiling at a document.
“Foolish son… but not completely useless.”
The document was a report on Edric, who had just been appointed as the new duke of Silverwood.
Richard was very interested in Edric, who had managed to protect the residents from barbarians until the end, despite not having proper military power due to his parents and brothers dying in the war at the age of 15.
In fact, the fact that Edric was the grandson of the Rurain duke was the main reason for Richard’s interest.
Regardless, the fact that Edric had achieved such a great feat made him want to meet him, if only for that reason.
“My son-in-law couldn’t use his power, but is he really the grandson of a duke…”
The former duke of Silverwood, Leon Silverwood, was infamous in the kingdom. Being called the duke of Silverwood was enough to strike fear across the kingdom. The fact that a duke like him, but of a lower rank, dared to invade Westbourne was unthinkable to anyone with a sense of normalcy. The fact that Leon declared war on Westbourne due to a single border dispute was enough for others to think, “Here he comes,” and just let it go, showing how infamous Leon was.
But the fact that someone like Edric was under the infamous Leon was not surprising at all.
“My daughter is about the same age, they’d be a good match.”
The king wanted to meet this little duke as soon as possible and see what kind of person he was.