Chapter 53

Commotion (2)

"...I don’t recall submitting a résumé."

That was how Aiden snapped back.

...Watching quietly from the side, Noel instinctively brought a hand to her forehead at his razor-sharp attitude.

Well, this was the same man who clashed with the Direct Imperial Prince whenever he got the chance—there was no reason he’d make an exception just because this man was a duke.

What was surprising wasn't Aiden's confrontational tone, but rather the duke's calm response to it.

"I’ve long known that if someone rubs you the wrong way, your attitude turns foul no matter who they are."

The duke said this while straightening his clothes.

"If those kids had been about to die, I’d have stepped in to save them. No need to worry about that."

"..."

Listening silently, Aiden replied in his usual curt tone.

"...I don’t understand why you orchestrated something like that in the first place."

"I was curious. Whether you were just a lucky fool who happened to gain power, or someone with real steel in his spine."

"Excuse me?"

"You were a war orphan, weren’t you? From the slums. Only recently did you start making a name for yourself."

"..."

As Aiden’s expression darkened even further, the duke continued speaking in an indifferent tone.

"When someone’s environment changes suddenly, it’s easy for their essence to get muddled. I just wanted to see if you were that shallow."

"...And you did that by investigating me and goading innocent kids into a dangerous situation?"

Though his voice remained brusque, the duke chuckled without a care.

"Exactly. Worthwhile too—I found someone I like."

"..."

This man was formidable.

Aiden chewed over that impression.

Despite all his barbed remarks, the man let them slide off like water. It made the thought unavoidable.

"...Anyway, this still doesn’t explain anything. What exactly is it you want me to do that you’re claiming to ‘hire’ me for?"

"Do you know why the Aslan Ducal Territory is located in the north?"

Of course he knew.

Geographically, it served as a ‘gate’ that stood against all the evil spirits and beasts that spilled over from the northern Void Zone.

It wasn’t called the shield of the Empire for nothing.

"Good, then this will be easy to explain."

The duke smiled faintly as he continued.

"Once every ten years, that place becomes a living hell—flooded with demons and beasts from beyond. We call it the Night of the Hunt."

"..."

"I want you to help subdue it."

...There was no clearer way to introduce Chapter 2 than this.

"...But Your Grace, don’t you have children of your own? I’ve heard they’re all highly esteemed warriors. This seems like something you could entrust to them—"

"Those halfwits? Don’t make me laugh."

"..."

"I can’t entrust something this crucial to a bunch of fools who scramble for my title the moment I so much as waver."

"...Even so, I’m hardly the better choice."

Despite the harshly biting assessment, when Aiden tried to argue back somehow, the duke scattered a few photographs across the table.

They were filled with things that made both Aiden and Noel flinch simultaneously.

Images of Aiden wielding Pure white qi, Holy Flame, and even Mana Arts. On top of that, there were photos of him using the Knight of Dawn’s techniques during his recent battle with the Warden of the Realm.

"You’re a hot potato right now, consort of the Lionhearted."

"..."

"A multi-ability user, tangled up with the Knight of Dawn—"

The duke shifted his gaze from the photos to Aiden.

"You're the kind of talent people across the continent would be drooling to get their hands on. That damned Emperor is desperately trying to suppress the attention while making sure you don’t slip through his fingers."

He continued in a calm tone.

"So, get your things ready and come over to our territory. I’ve prepared a reward you won’t be able to refuse."

"..."

"A Revelation is approaching, consort of the Lionhearted."

Aiden flinched.

When he dug into his memory, he realized—he’d heard that exact phrase before.

—A Revelation is coming, Mr. Aiden.

...Once before.

He had heard it from the prince.

Before he could even process why those same words were coming from the duke, the man’s voice continued.

"The Empire is going to flip soon. The powder keg’s already full, and someone’s playing with fire right inside it. If the Emperor’s got one unmatched flaw, it’s his terrible parenting skills."

"..."

"The conservative nobles loyal to the Emperor, the radical nobles siding with the prince, and the warriors allied with me—these three factions are currently dividing the Empire. You knew that, right?"

"...I wasn’t really looking for a lecture."

"Doesn’t matter if you didn’t. That lecture was the reward I’m offering."

"Excuse me?"

"You don’t get along with the prince, do you?"

"..."

"I’ll help you fix that."

The duke’s voice remained even.

"Aside from the Emperor and the prince, I lead the largest faction in the Empire."

And the words that followed, without a doubt, meant:

"I’m offering to help you personally slice off that prince’s head."

...It was definitely an offer he couldn’t refuse.

A well-made train—especially its first-class cars—obviously offers a smooth, comfortable ride.

It’s a space made so rich people can travel in peace, after all.

That’s how it should have been.

"..."

"..."

Aiden looked back and forth between the two others seated in the same train car, feeling like he was drying up inside.

Noel and Katya were both staring out the window so intensely it felt unnatural.

‘I can’t breathe.’

Naturally, Aiden was sitting there drenched in cold sweat, that very thought running through his mind.

They hadn’t exactly been the best of friends to begin with, but now the atmosphere was downright suffocating. Neither of them said a word, avoided eye contact, and whenever their gazes did meet by accident, they both turned away so abruptly it felt awkward just watching.

‘They’re both sulking.’

Noel seemed upset that Katya had followed them without saying a word, and Katya seemed upset that the two of them had gone out without telling her.

…Seriously, for people who were more than old enough to know better, they sure were acting childish.

Watching the Empire’s finest knight and a princess behave like this, Aiden couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

Rather than wasting energy on that, he figured it’d be more productive to focus on something useful.

So Aiden turned inward, chewing over his thoughts and arranging the information sparking in his mind.

‘A major branch point in the Main Quest…’

Honestly, it’d be a lie to say the duke’s sudden proposal hadn’t gotten under his skin.

It was basically an admission that he already knew about the final coup—the highlight of Act I, Imperial Capital Fracture.

‘…Why?’

That was the biggest question.

Duke Aslan had no reason to help Aiden. He wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with the Emperor either.

More accurately, he despised all of the Direct Imperial Royals, including the Emperor and the Prince. Considered them useless fools sitting on thrones they didn’t deserve.

A meritocracy zealot. A strategist and ambitious man, with a gift for gathering people.

Wasn’t that who Duke Aslan was?

In fact, the entire reason the original coup even happened in the story stemmed from that very nature of his.

‘…Didn’t he originally start the coup himself?’

In the original story, the final villain of Act I was none other than Duke Aslan himself.

But now, with the Main Scenario tangled beyond recognition, it was the Prince—who should’ve stopped the coup—who was now the most likely to start it. And the original villain, the duke, was offering to help stop it.

"..."

Given all that...

The fact that Duke Aslan was sick, unlike in the original story, and that his children—who should have helped him lead the coup—were instead eyeing his seat… that changed everything. It was highly likely something had gone off track. The duke probably felt betrayed by those he had trusted.

It seemed that the reason he’d approached Aiden so favorably had a lot to do with that betrayal.

‘…That’s the thing.’

Aiden tapped his chin as he sank deeper into thought.

Duke Aslan was a treasure trove of golden skills, on par with Noel or Katya.

Of course, when it came to wielding supernatural powers, few in the entire continent could rival those two. But skills weren’t limited to supernatural abilities alone.

In terms of support skills—those that could help navigate and resolve situations—Duke Aslan’s presence was nearly equal to theirs.

There was absolutely no downside to increasing his Affection Level.

And when Aiden laid out all those traits, the current situation could be summed up like this:

‘Isn’t this the perfect chance to squeeze every last skill out of him?’

...From Aiden’s perspective, it was a golden opportunity.

“We’ve arrived.”

While he was lost in such thoughts, Noel’s calm voice broke in.

“This is the Aslan Ducal Territory.”

The train had just crested a high hill and was beginning its descent.

The elevation gave them a commanding view of the surrounding landscape.

Before long, beyond that wide-open vista, an immense city unfolded like a panoramic painting.

“...Wow.”

It was vast.

Truly, mind-numbingly vast.

That was Aiden’s first impression.

He’d been to the Imperial Palace before, but that place left an impression through its towering structures and majestic presence. It didn’t overwhelm him with sheer scale like this.

A city so large it filled the entire horizon—so vast it was said to be the largest single noble territory on the continent, even in terms of land area.

Along with the Imperial Palace, it was considered the Empire’s second heart. The Empire’s greatest stronghold—Aslan Ducal Territory.

And the setting for Chapter 2—Night of the Hunt.

‘This is insane.’

No wonder they called him the greatest high noble of the Empire.

As that thought passed through Aiden’s mind and he clicked his tongue internally, the train jolted and began its descent down the hill.

Once the ridgeline that had filled their view passed—

“Hm?”

Something strange briefly swept past the edge of his vision.

“What is that—”

Aiden looked up at the sky, tilting his head.

Something dark and murky, unlike anything he’d seen before, was blanketing the sky.

He thought it might just be storm clouds, but upon closer inspection, it clearly wasn’t.

Storm clouds didn’t cut so neatly along “sections” like that, with clear borders.

Nor did they spew a tar-like, blinding black mist continuously from within like that.

“Ah, that must be the Void Zone. It’s my first time seeing it in person.”

Katya muttered in a low voice as she gazed at the faintly visible “black sky” beyond the frozen land.

“I heard no humans living on the continent can ever enter that place. And yet, they built a duchy right next to it.”

The body of Wornil, the God of Devouring and god of demonkind, was sealed there.

It was the very “coffin” where the gods of the Pantheon had combined their powers to imprison him.

Even though centuries had passed since its discovery, the deathly aura that lingered around it still showed no signs of dissipating.

Get too close, and any ordinary human would die 100 percent of the time. Even those with powerful abilities wouldn’t come out of it unharmed.

‘In fact…’

Thinking about it now, the wording felt a little misleading.

The duchy existed because of that place.

That was why so many residents of the duchy had intentionally chosen a lower level of civilization, filling the region with ritualistic and religious architecture.

The Empire’s northern “shield” existed to hold back the effects of that cursed place, which otherwise would seep into every part of life.

“Let’s go.”

Just as Aiden was digesting all that information, Noel’s words landed like a stone.

And with a final rattle, the train’s speed began to slow.

“...”

Aiden took a deep breath.

Alright.

Chapter 2. It all starts now.