[Raul POV]
Following the death of Duke Alvaro, I have no choice but to manage the affairs of our family's domain, the Duchy of Toledo. Alfred informed me that the Duke's body is still in the Slavic Tsardom and has not yet been brought home.
To be honest, I want to perform an autopsy on the corpse to look for anything suspicious. I am certain this is merely one of his tricks.
Currently, I am in Duke Alvaro's study, reading reports regarding the territory and drafts of project layouts to be executed in the future. The Slavic Tsardom Investment Project, the Grand Duchy of Vienna horse-drawn carriage rail project, and many other overseas projects are being developed by this family.
I don't have the time to handle all of this.
— Knock! Knock! Knock!
The sound of knocking echoed in the room.
"Enter."
The door opened, revealing an old man and a young girl with shoulder-length black hair. It was Alfred—the family's Head Butler—and Akane Ashina, the assassin from the Ashina Clan who had previously entered into a Blood Pact with me.
"Master Raul, did you summon me?" Alfred asked.
"Indeed, Alfred. I want you to find a Steward to manage this territory," I commanded him. "Do you have any good options in mind?"
"A Steward? Does this mean you will be going personally to the Slavic Tsardom to retrieve Duke Alvaro's remains?" Alfred inquired.
"Exactly. Therefore, I don't have the time to deal with these matters," I replied.
"In that case, there are three candidates I believe are well-suited for this position, Master Raul," Alfred said, pausing for a moment.
He then mentioned several names, including Deron de Alterna—the second son of Count Delamore de Alterna; Alrena de Amber—the first daughter of Count Berengar de Amber; and finally, Countess Renata de Fortuna—the head of the Fortuna family.
Hearing these names made it difficult to choose. This is because these three names did not appear in the game I previously created. It's understandable, as we created no more than 200 NPCs for a continent that likely has a population of 40 million.
"Who do you recommend out of these three, Alfred?" I asked.
"In my opinion, Lady Alrena is very suitable for this position, my Lord," Alfred said while stroking his beard. "She is currently 19 years old, the same as you, Master Raul. Despite her youth, Lady Alrena has experience serving as a Regent while her father, Count Berengar, was gravely ill."
Hm... the same age as me, is it? I suppose I can give her a trial run. If I judge her work to be poor, I can replace her at my discretion later on.
"Very well, I will go with your recommendation, Alfred."
"Thank you for trusting your servant, my Lord," Alfred said with a bow.
He turned to head for the door but suddenly stopped, turned back, and approached me while pulling out a sealed letter.
"My Lord, His Majesty the Emperor has decreed that your oath of fealty ceremony will be held once you have graduated from the academy," Alfred said, handing me the letter.
I took the letter and opened it.
Raul de Garcia, in connection with the passing of Duke Alvaro—the previous ruler of the Duchy of Toledo—I hereby command you to come to the Imperial Palace to pledge your noble oath of fealty to this land and to officially appoint you as the next Duke of the Garcia family and Ruler of the Duchy of Toledo.
Ruler of the Aragon Empire
Emperor Philip de Aragon
There are only a few months left before I graduate from the academy. Generally, a noble heir is sworn in by their leader one month after the death of the predecessor. However, the Emperor is delaying my ceremony until my graduation.
This means the Empire also smells something fishy in Duke Alvaro's death. I suspect they will conduct an investigation over these next few months to verify the truth behind the Duke's passing.
"If there is nothing else I can assist with, then your servant shall take his leave, Master," Alfred said, exiting the room and closing the door.
Now, only Akane and I remained. She stared at me with her blood-red eyes.
"I... have no clues regarding his death," Akane said, opening her mouth after having been silent. "My father, who accompanied him there, also knows nothing. At the time, he was guarding the Duke near the building where he was located. However, he said a Barrier suddenly formed, sealing off the area around the building. When the Barrier shattered, all he found were the two corpses of Duke Alvaro and Tsar Feodor."
Hmm... a Barrier, was it?
Just as I suspected, there are inconsistencies in this event. I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking about my next steps and the possibilities that might occur in the future following this event.
First, in the game, Duke Alvaro collaborated with a Demon to open a massive dimensional portal so the Demon King's army could enter this world. However, I don't know with whom he made this deal. My primary suspect is Lilith ur Luciferus. She is the only member of the Demon King's family who can enter this world without using a special Portal. She possesses the power to mimic both the appearance and strength of creatures from races lower than hers. This allowed the Princess of Demons to deceive the Barrier created by the Goddess Diana.
In the plan to open the Dimensional Portal, Duke Alvaro sacrificed one million citizens of the Empire as offerings for a specific ritual magic. At least, that is what happened in the game.
However, due to my arrival in this world, the plot from the game has shifted. This means there is a possibility Duke Alvaro canceled his plan to sacrifice a million Imperial citizens.
After the Survival Exam, Duke Alvaro suddenly betrothed me to Alisha Romanova—the Princess of the Slavic nation in the North—in exchange for our family investing in the Slavic Tsardom. At the time, I wondered about his motive. But then I remembered that a monster incursion disaster was happening in that northern country. This opens the possibility that Duke Alvaro moved his plan to harvest one million souls from the Empire's territory to the Slavic Tsardom.
This means the agreement was merely a front so that Duke Alvaro's activity of harvesting souls from the monster attack victims would not be suspected by the Slavic authorities.
But the casualties from the monster disaster alone shouldn't be enough to satisfy the sacrifice needed to open the Dimensional Portal. That means they need more deaths in that country.
Of the family leading the Slavic Tsardom, only Alisha and her younger sister remain after Tsar Feodor's death. As for Alisha... her time is short, and she is merely waiting for the day she dies. If that happens, only her sister from the Romanova family will be left to lead the northern land.
Anastasia Romanova is a gentle woman, unfit to lead a nation. Furthermore, as the sole survivor of the Romanova line, other nobles will surely scramble to marry their family members to her. However, if Anastasia is also killed in the chaos, there will be a power vacuum. This could trigger a civil war if the nobles cannot reach an agreement to choose a new leading family. If war breaks out, mass casualties will follow, fulfilling Duke Alvaro and Princess Lilith's plan.
That means... I have two objectives for going to that country.
First, to protect the Romanova family so they remain in power until the chaos subsiding in that land ends. Second, to investigate what truly happened in this earth-shaking event.
To that end, I am lucky to have a card I can play to ensure the success of this plan easily. However, I won't play it unless that woman is honest with me regarding this false agreement.
I suppose it is time to see those three elf children again.
After mapping out the strategy in my head, I opened my eyes and looked at Akane, who had been watching me.
"Ah, I thought you had fallen asleep," Akane said.
"No, I was just thinking of a plan," I said, smiling at her. "Akane, come with me to the Slavic Tsardom."
Alright, let's do this perfectly.
Duke Alvaro...
You think you can deceive me with these cunning schemes you've laid out? I will show you a reality where a creation can never outsmart its Creator.
***
[Egwyn POV]
I don't know how long we have been away from home.
At the time, we deeply regretted frequently playing on the beach without the adults' knowledge. Although they had forbidden it, we still wanted to play there because being in the forest all day was boring. However, that was when we were kidnapped by a group of humans. They took us to places we didn't recognize. I could feel the greed in the way they stared at the three of us.
Long story short, a person suddenly approached us. It was a black-haired man. The way he looked at us was different from other humans. There was no greed or specific lust in his eyes.
Airyn, Cait, and I ended up following that man.
We are currently in a place where humans are working on something. I don't know what they are making, but they are certainly working on an Artifact, judging by the Rune attached to the object.
"Olen! Olen! What are you making?" Airyn asked a human male.
We know his name is Olen from Raul—the black-haired man who brought us.
"Hmmm... You three came here again, apparently. I'm working on boss Raul's request," Olen said in a language I didn't understand.
The three of us still can't speak the human tongue at all. The others and I just nodded while he worked.
— Crash!
Suddenly, I heard the door to the room open. I turned and saw a black-haired human entering. It was the man who brought us here.
"Olen, how is the progress of your work?" the man said, speaking to Olen.
"It's going pretty well. I think it will be finished within two months," Olen replied in the human language.
"Alright then." Raul then turned his gaze toward the three of us. "Egwyn, Airyn, Cait, let's chat outside for a bit."
The others and I nodded. Lately, Raul has become increasingly fluent in the elven language, even though we only taught him briefly. However, he said that the concept of time for a human and an elf is different. This is because elves live much longer than humans. Actually, I didn't quite understand what Raul meant by that.
We سپس walked out of Olen Musk's workshop. There were so many humans working in this place. Before long, we reached a forest full of trees. Raul sat leaning against one of the trees and pulled out some chocolate.
"Sit down and eat this chocolate here," Raul told us.
Airyn quickly grabbed the chocolate and sat leaning against Raul's thigh.
"So delicious... I hope we can still eat this chocolate at home!" Airyn said, her mouth now messy with chocolate.
"Hm, hm, Caitlin agrees... Chocolate is very tasty and sweet..." The Dark Elf sucked on the chocolate Raul had given her.
I also took a piece of chocolate from him and began to taste the sweetness of the food.
"If you like it, then I will bring some to your home," Raul said, stroking Airyn's head. "However, the Elves at your home will surely reject my gift."
"Huh? Why? Wouldn't they be happy that Brother Raul is sharing delicious food?" Airyn asked innocently.
This child... has she forgotten that we were once kidnapped by humans?
"Don't worry, Brother Raul! The three of us will tell them that you were the one who saved us!" I tried to reassure him.
"Very well then. I plan to take you home before long."
Hearing Raul's words, the three of us became overjoyed. Honestly, we have been away from home for a long time. I am starting to miss my mother and Sister Arwen—Cait's sister, who always looked after us back then.
"That's good; I hope you enjoy the journey home," Raul told us. "However, you must promise not to leave the carriage without my permission during the trip, understood?"
Hearing Raul's words, the three of us nodded in unison. I know why he said this. Not all humans are kind like him. Some of them who see us later might have evil thoughts about kidnapping us again.