The double life of a count’s bastard

EPISODE 1

An endless expanse of land, a gigantic roar above it, and the vibration of the ground.

Kung! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!!!

Over two meter tall.

Muscles are like hard stones.

Cloudy green skin.

They stamped the ground with the weapons in their hands and shouted.

“Qui Yi Yi!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“Kurrrrrrr!”

Each shout was different, but they all carry a sense of destructive menace that taps into human instinct.

‘It never ends.’

Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?

Maybe millions.

“Ooooooooooooooo!”

Hundreds of ogres, each over eight meter tall, each with chains around their necks, roared under their control.

“Keeeeeeeeeeee!”

The wyvern horde, the so-called Tyrant of the Sky, also roared as they were carried, their long necks raised as they lay on the ground.

“Ooooooooooooooo!”

“Trourrrrrrr!”

A minotaur as large as an ogre and a group of trolls that healed instantly from wounds large and small all over their bodies did as they were told.

Many other monsters were either completely submissive to them, or in a state of submission, acting as if they were watching an army of humans.

Chuck!

Their king, who was twice the height and bulk of my kind, raised a huge two-handed sword in his hand.

I don’t know how many of my people have died on that two-handed sword, beyond recognition.

He moved, and the earth-shaking, sky-shattering roar of the shouts, the roar of the monsters, stopped like a lie.

The absolute authority of a king.

Millions of pairs of green eyes and monsters’ gazes focused on him.

Thump- thump- thump- thump- thump- thump-.

The ground vibrated with every step he took.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!

With each step, the crimson blood that had pooled on the ground splashed everywhere.

“……Slater.”

The halting creature muttered incoherently.

His pronunciation was muffled to the point of being unlistenable, but the words flowing from his mouth were unmistakably human.

“Cuck! Kulluck! Kuluk!!!”

A mountain of corpses lay before him, spitting up blood even as they gasped for breath.

I managed to lift my head.

No, I thought I heard it, but there was no change in my vision.

I did.

His left eye, with its broken spearhead, had long since disappeared; his right arm, cleanly severed below the elbow; his abdomen, gaping open to reveal his entrails; his legs, crushed and unrecognizable…….

Amazingly, he was still breathing at all.

“Chew! Kuluk! Ugh!”

He coughs up blood as he tries to raise his upper body with his left arm, which was now covered in blood from the wound.

I didn’t even have the strength to sit up anymore.

I spat out a mouthful of fishy, lukewarm blood and managed to turn over.

‘Fucking…….’

It was the worst time of my life, but the sky was so clear and sunny.

I never thought that the fiercest and most desperate battle of my life would have such a tragic ending..

‘You knew it from the beginning.’

I forced myself to turn my head and look to my right.

The figure of my eldest brother, his head so brutally crushed that I could never recognize his handsome face again.

The younger brother, his arms and legs severed, a spear pierced through both collarbones in an X-shape.

Where else?

The loyal and proud knights of my family, the steadfast and strong mercenaries, the ones who were willing to give everything they had to help me, even when the world abandoned them.

They were all dead.

All of them are dead.

Not a single survivor.

I looked at the dead first, then glanced to my left.

‘Lily.’

I wanted to protect her, I tried to protect her, but in the end, I couldn’t.

I can still hear her desperate screams, her voice echoing in my ears.

I didn’t even feel the need to be angry, hateful, or vengeful.

Because it was over.

A shadow loomed over my head.

A hideous face stared down at me, a face I could never forget, even in death.

The emotions of anger and hatred that had faded quickly returned as I looked at his emotionless face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Why are you looking at me like that? You’re supposed to look triumphant, accomplished, superior!

I glared at him with reddened eyes, and then my gaze naturally shifted to his waist.

A man’s head, hanging proudly from his waist as if it were a trophy.

‘Father…….’

Tears of blood welled in his eyes at the thought of his father, the most reliable person in the world, the one who had lived a life more fierce than any other, being humiliated even in death.

“You are the last Slater human.”

The last Slater?

Me?

I snorted and laughed.

“Cut the bullshit and get on with it, because I’ll be waiting for you to come and hang yourself!”

At my frown, he slowly twitched his mouth, still emotionless.

“I do not forget you. My kind never forgets.”

He raised his massive two-handed sword above his head.

A moment.

A whirlwind of a myriad of emotions rushed through me: frustration, anger, regret, and resentment.

If only I hadn’t neglected the talent I had.

If I’d just tweaked my narrow-minded, skewed thinking.

Would it have been different?

I wouldn’t have changed everything on my own but at the very least.

“I wouldn’t have let you stand there like that!”

What’s the point now?

Hindsight is 20/20.

“Slater you were our greatest enemy!”

With those words, a giant two-handed sword came crashing down toward my body.

Kwajik!!!!

* * * *

It was a terrible fever.

Even famous doctors and pious priests were forced to withdraw with their hands and feet from the raging fever.

Ten days.

For ten days, the Third Master of the House of Slater was forced to bear the fever alone, without access to even the most cursory treatment.

A few people were concerned for the feverish Third, but the majority of the people spoke in unison.

God’s punishment for the rascal who had been gnawing away at the honor of the great Slater family.

Some even said it was for the best, that it was for the good of the Slaters that the wretch should die of the fever.

After ten days of this.

“Lou, Master Russo?!!”

Jason, the butler in charge, turned to see the third Russo of the Slater family sitting upright with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“Jason?”

“Yes, Master!!!”

“……And the orcs?”

“What do you mean, orcs?”

Russo’s casual search for orcs beyond the mountain range convinced Jason that the wretch was not yet in his right mind.

On the other hand, after what seemed like an eternity of blank stares, he finally said.

“All of that was a dream? All of that was a dream?!”

Mumbling something unintelligible, Russo once again fell unconscious and collapsed.

“D-do, d-do!”

Luckily, Russo regained his senses after a few moments, and he scrambled to his feet as if he’d just had a fever.

The news of the awakening of Count Slater’s cripple Russo quickly spread throughout the estate.

Many shook their heads in disbelief that he had woken up so well after such a terrible fever.

“I would have felt at least a little sorry for him if he’d gone clean.”

“That’s true.”

“But do you know, do you think he’ll even try to pretend to be human now that he’s had such a bad fever?”

“You asshole, people don’t change that easily.”

“You’re right, but sometimes a person can change completely based on some trigger, right?”

“That’s true, but will he change?”

“We’ll see.”

“Yeah, but he’s a Slater, and I heard he was a genius when he was younger, so we’ll see!”

Some were hopeful.

But then again, it was two days.

Two days.

In just two days, the Earl of Slater’s wretch had proven to everyone in the manor that he hadn’t changed at all.