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Chapter 32

Although Hariba was of his blood, he sometimes felt he was looking at a monster.

It was as if Hariba was missing a few pieces that would make him a whole human.

Hariba hadn’t always been like this.

The first time Reagan had seen his son in a different light was at the Birthday Banquet of the second imperial prince two years ago.

Afterward, Hariba had said that he had something he needed to study and left for Ulca.

I shouldn’t have sent him there.

Although Ulca was famous for being the holy land of alchemy, the city was not viewed in a good light by society.

It was only natural since the place was filled with alchemists who would not hesitate to commit all sorts of acts for their research.

A few people even called Ulca the worst city imaginable.

Considering the general atmosphere of the city and its public order, it wasn’t completely wrong to say that either.

In any case, upon returning from the land of alchemy, Hariba had stopped hiding his urges.

There were rumors that he mingled with a dangerous crowd as well.

After a few moments, Reagan spoke.

“What does killing her have to do with the Blessing Ceremony? He might join the Blessing Ceremony even if Lucia is dead. The funeral could be planned after the Blessing Ceremony.”

“From what I’ve heard, Luan Bednicker isn’t that mentally resilient.”

“Still, this is too difficult. More importantly, it’s too likely that this act would be discovered. Don’t you know where we are?”

Although the Lord of Blood and Iron was away right now, it didn’t change the fact that they were at the Bednicker main house.

The House’s Council of Elders, the knight orders, and even the grand masters were present.

Although there were countless ways to assassinate a single woman, he wasn’t confident it could be done without being caught.

Reagan looked at his son.

“Hariba.”

“Yes.”

“Control yourself.”

“...”

That advice came from his heart.

Although Reagan believed that some brutality was needed to become the best, Hariba was too excessive.

Hariba stayed quiet for a moment before lowering his head.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to worry about Luan. From the last report I received, he is but a rat in a poisoned barrel. Death is merely a matter of time.”

Reagan rose from his seat and opened the curtains.

Fwoosh

Bright sunlight filled the room.

With narrowed eyes, Reagan said, “There is no possibility that a brat without a single blessing can escape the Gem Mountains, so do not worry so needlessly.”

“...I understand.”

“Go.”

Hariba lowered his head once more before quietly leaving the room.

Reagan looked out the window.

He saw a beautiful garden and, beyond it, a dense forest.

Only the chosen ones could enter the main house of Bednicker.

Although he was here as a guest for the Blessing Ceremony and his stay was only temporary...

If Hariba became a member of House Bednicker, Reagan would be able to see this beautiful scene every single day.

Four more days until the Blessing Ceremony.

Reagan decided to relax a little and wait for the time.

***

Of course, it wasn’t just the blood of Bednicker that was attending the Blessing Ceremony.

For the Blessing Ceremony, all the famous houses of The Empire had gathered.

They were so famous that even a country bumpkin would’ve heard of them.

Of course, most of them couldn’t even try to contest with Bednicker.

...Most of them.

House Goodspring: the only other house in The Empire that could stand shoulder to shoulder with House Bednicker.

“...I’m going to die of boredom.”

The third daughter of House Goodspring, Sellen Goodspring, didn’t try to hide her frown at all.

It had been nearly two weeks since she’d come to this damned mansion.

It would be a lie to say she hadn’t looked forward to seeing how fancy the main house of the esteemed House Bednicker was.

At first, she’d been surprised. Seeing this beautiful mansion situated in the middle of a dream-like forest, Sellen had felt—for the first time in a while—as if she’d entered a fairy tale.

Even on her second and third day here, that mystical feeling hadn’t left her.

But she’d reached her limit about a week in.

After getting used to the beautiful scenery, the downsides had begun to stand out.

The city is too far away.

Forget the city, she couldn’t even go into the forest.

Sellen knew about the Forest of the Butterfly. Anyone who wasn’t of Bednicker blood would be lost forever within that place.

She had also heard that many different and dangerous monsters lurked within the deep forest.

At this point, Sellen couldn’t tell this mansion from a prison cell.

Also, this Exchange was so long that she’d started to get sick of the music being played.

“...Why am I here?”

How great would it be if the Blessing Ceremony was being held at Goodspring instead?

Sellen’s house was one of the three houses—including House Bednicker and the imperial family—that could host the Blessing Ceremony.

With a little luck, Sellen could have attended the Blessing Ceremony from her own home.

...Of course, it had been Sellen’s decision that led to the Blessing Ceremony being held at House Bednicker this time.

The Blessing Ceremony wasn’t the end of it. Sellen’s true goal was to attend the Bednicker training camp that would take place after the Blessing Ceremony.

That infamous Bednicker training camp, also known as the Six Weeks of Despair...

If one could endure those six weeks and complete the training, they would become an excellent talent even if they had entered as useless trash.

Honestly, the people around her couldn’t understand why Sellen wanted to join the training camp.

Sellen was a Goodspring.

Goodspring had countless heroes who had received blessings, and their education wasn’t any worse than Bednicker’s.

So why was she trying to enter Bednicker’s training camp?

...Hmm.

Sellen subtly glanced around.

In this huge hall, many boys and girls of differing ages rustled around.

Today was the final day of preparation.

Today was the final process of checking the members who would attend the Blessing Ceremony tomorrow.

Because of that, everyone attending the Blessing Ceremony had gathered here early in the morning.

Even the kids who stayed in their rooms for two weeks are showing themselves.

At every Blessing Ceremony, there existed a “main character.”

The main character was naturally decided by how many blessings they could receive...

And naturally, the more talented the individual was, the more likely they would receive multiple blessings.

Sellen was confident that she would be the main character of this Blessing Ceremony.

Just looking around, she did acknowledge that there were a few talented individuals...

The eldest son of House Dosreta, the third son of House Helvin, the youngest daughter of House Rubyeta...

There was also the only son of Hyde Woodjack, the greatest ranger in The Empire.

In any case, although they were each quite famous in their own right, there were other people that Sellen was worried about.

Sellen’s gaze turned toward them.

* * * * *

* * * * *

She saw two annoyingly good-looking boys, one with black hair and one with red hair.

These hair colors were difficult to find in The Empire, but they were also the colors that represented their houses.

The flat black hair was Bednicker.

The flowing and burning red was the Imperial House.

Indeed.

These two were the second son of House Bednicker and the fourth imperial prince of The Empire.

Posh bastards...

Sellen cursed the two boys in her heart, but she couldn’t deny the fact that most of the attention was directed toward them.

It was natural.

Those precious faces wouldn’t have been seen before today.

The two of them had stayed in their rooms every day.

Superstitious, maybe?

Then, the black-haired boy turned toward her, and an annoying smile appeared on his face.

“I was wondering who it was, but it’s the esteemed daughter of House Goodspring.”

“...”

Sellen held back from cursing him out on the spot.

“It’s an honor for the famous Young Master Hector to recognize me.”

“Haha. You don’t have to use that awkward tone, so come here. Have you met Lantus yet?”

She didn’t like how he naturally adopted the tone of a superior.

In truth, she didn’t even want to get closer to him, but there were no excuses she could make when the imperial prince was included in the conversation.

Even if someone had no idea about politics, they would still be able to tell that he was acting close with the imperial prince just to flaunt his influence...

And the imperial prince was looking at her with a warm smile as well.

As Sellen tried to reply with a blank smile...

Clack.

The door to the hall opened quite harshly as a man appeared.

He had an ordinary body, face, and outfit, but the young heroes in the hall all became nervous upon his entrance.

The man climbed the platform and began to speak.

“Welcome. It is an honor for me to be able to see all you young heroes. I am Rook.”

His name was ordinary as well.

His identity, however, was far from ordinary.

The captain of one of the two knight orders that represented Bednicker, the Iron Blood Knight Order...

Knight Captain Rook.

By blood, he was also the younger brother of the Lord of Blood and Iron.

“Thank you for gathering here this morning. Today is just a simple member confirmation, so it won’t take long.”

In any case, he was a very ordinary man in most regards, but his voice was quite peculiar.

It was as if listening to him speak was enough to make one depressed.

Sellen became nervous as she continued to listen.

...Amazing.

This was a house that, less than a hundred years ago, hadn’t been able to even look in House Goodspring’s direction.

To be precise, before the Lord of Blood and Iron had become the family head, Bednicker hadn’t been this mighty.

Although they’d been one of the Great Houses that represented The Empire, they had lacked in many aspects compared to Goodspring.

But now?

If one grabbed a random person on the street and asked them whether Bednicker or Goodspring was better, how many would choose the latter?

While she was busy thinking, Rook’s monotone speech resumed.

“As this event was declared three days ago, anyone who is missing today will not be able to attend the Blessing Ceremony. The process is simple. Please reply when I say your name. If there is no reply even after I repeat your name three times, then you will be marked as not attending the Blessing Ceremony, so please pay attention. Also, I will omit any honorifics, so I ask for your understanding. Now then, I will start. Komun of House Tenfield.”

“Here.”

Naturally, nobody here would be foolish enough to choose to not attend the ceremony.

The Blessing Ceremony was a major opportunity.

Although most problems in this world could be solved with enough money and authority, there were a few exceptions.

“Lionis of House Tramon.”

“Here.”

The Blessing Ceremony was one of them.

Only those who possessed the blood of the heroes, those who possessed the aptitude of the Demon Hunters were allowed.

And this Blessing Ceremony was the only way to completely awaken the blood of the hero.

“Sellen of House Goodspring.”

Her name was called, and she answered, “Here.”

As she did, she felt attention directed to her from those around her.

A few children started to whisper rudely amongst themselves.

“That’s the third daughter of House Goodspring?”

“Her hair color is peculiar.”

“She looks fine on the outside, but I heard she’s rotten on the inside...”

Sellen was used to these reactions and maintained her expression...

But then she heard something that nearly made her snap.

“Her personality worsened after her marriage talks with House Bednicker broke off.”

What marriage?

The marriage talk had happened without her consent, nor had she ever been able to see her marriage candidate.

Honestly, she couldn’t even remember his name.

Was it the idiot who sold the sword of House Bednicker?

In truth, marriage talks between the Great Houses did not occur as often as people thought.

Even though House Bednicker and House Goodspring were the two houses that represented The Empire, the marriage had nearly been confirmed.

The reason for this was simple: there were some flaws in the people being discussed.

It was a traditional way for a house to get rid of a troublesome person in the family.

Anyway, the marriage talk had only happened in the first place because the young master from Bednicker had become infamously troublesome.

Due to this, due to the idiot’s idiotic actions, Sellen had been put up for offer.

Although she wanted to be of help to her house, this wasn’t the way she wanted to do it.

Also, what was his name?

She had heard it before, but she couldn’t remember right now.

It was something like Lu...

“Luan of House Bednicker.”

That’s right. Luan Bednicker.

Huh?

Only now did Sellen raise her head.

Was he attending this Blessing Ceremony as well?

She hadn’t known.

A lot of things had changed since Sellen Goodspring was confirmed to attend the Blessing Ceremony.

However...

From what I heard, he attended the First Blessing Ceremony at the start of the year and was unable to receive a single blessing.

It was unprecedented for a member of a Great House to not receive a single blessing.

Of course, Sellen had heard about this.

After all, this was the final straw that had ended the talk of marriage.

Rook’s dry voice once more echoed throughout the hall.

“Luan of House Bednicker.”

Now that she thought about it, if there was no reply until the third call, he wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony, right?

It seemed that coward wasn’t planning on attending even though he had been picked by the House...

But that’s understandable.

Humiliation on that scale didn’t need to be repeated.

Honestly, Sellen couldn’t understand the Bednicker’s decision to give Luan another chance.

“Luan of House Bedni—”

Bang!

At that moment, the doors swung open.

The attention of all those in the hall, including Sellen and even Rook on the platform, turned to the door...

Many of them furrowed their brow as they saw the person standing there.

“...”

It was some bum.

He clearly was wearing something dirty and smelled terrible.

“What the...” Sellen said in surprise.

Although she had insulted Bednicker as a backwater place before, she had never truly meant it.

In particular, the land on which the main house was built was as safe as the imperial palace.

The knights who were protecting the entrance spoke up.

“Stop right there.”

“This isn’t a place you can enter as you please.”

It was amazing that the knights could maintain their decency in this situation, but unlike their polite words, they were very threatening.

But the more surprising thing was the bum’s reply.

“Really? My butler told me I should be here.”

Only then did the knights begin to feel that something was off.

“My apologies, but may I know who you are...?”

At that, the dirty-looking guy looked around for a moment before...

“I’m the youngest son of this house,” he replied.