Grand Duke of the Heibern House

＜Episode 16＞

The stronghold, sharp like a knife, and lion flags fluttering everywhere.

A wide training ground, the intermittent sound of fighting spirit.

Beautifully lush gardens, flowers in full bloom.

The scenery of Dane’s family was all the same, but only one was different.

Over there, Ruin, his older brother, was standing under a beautiful tree.

Only one thing had changed in the family.

However, Dane felt as if the world he lived in had changed completely.

pop.

Again, the tears that fell involuntarily.

My older brother knew a lot about my mother.

The older brother who spoke of mother for a while while stroking the backs of the sobbing brothers.

Mother’s unusual gesture.

A face he often made.

The clothes, jewelry, and flowers I liked.

The song that I hummed, the sound of laughter that was nice to hear.

And the nickname she used to call us.

My older brother tried to remember all of these things with calm but infinitely sad eyes.

＜Let’s remember. There is only this much we can do for mothers now, but even so, mothers are the ones who will smile the brightest in the world.＞

Brothers were regarded as more intimate members of the Hibern family.

However, the relationship was not just a simple one with the same surname and the same father.

At some point, I wasn’t ashamed to show tears in front of my older brother and younger siblings.

The heart filled with sadness is an emotion shared by everyone present.

I could feel everyone’s emotions vividly without having to open my mouth to ask the size of the sadness.

Because those hearts won’t be different from yours.

＜Look into each other’s eyes. what do you see Brothers who live under the same memories are people like this. I won’t forget this moment either.＞

The older brother’s eyes as he said that remained so clear even now.

The depth of the sadness, the weight of the unfathomable emotion had weighed it down.

What on earth did he endure, and how much longer did he endure?

however… … .

He acted as if he was only going to live emotionally, and then he returned to being numb again.

As if it never happened, the older brother is training something with an infinitely cold face.

Pot- Pot-

Dane looked at the flames exploding and disappearing around his brother, and suddenly got up from his seat.

It was because I thought that I couldn’t lose to my brother for some reason.

Swoop-

Raise your sword and catch your breath.

A long arc is drawn with a hum.

light down.

Then, suddenly, Dane tilted his head.

It was obviously a simple slap that had been practiced tens of thousands of times, but something became foreign.

But strangely, I couldn’t put into words how and what had changed.

Huung-

Same feeling this time.

Dane was embarrassed because he had never felt anything like this before.

Ruin approached him before he knew it.

“I guess I can lift the real sword now.”

The older brother is looking at himself with a full smile.

There was neither the strength to advance nor the state of enlightenment.

Do you still admit yourself as a knight?

After being treated like a child?

“What are you talking about again?”

Ruin’s calm voice echoes again to Dane, who is frowning.

“The sword contains you, Dane.”

Ruin touched Dane’s wooden sword.

“The four swords in the past were just trajectories and motions. A little faster, a little stronger. That was all.”

He didn’t want to admit it, but Dane couldn’t argue. Because his brother wasn’t wrong.

“But now your sword contains your will. Do you want to protect your younger siblings?”

“… … .”

The words that Dane wants to be like his older brother and not just that, soared in his throat. Then he finally swallowed his voice.

“okay. It would be awkward like wearing clothes that don’t fit yet. It would be quicker to see for yourself. Bring me the wooden sword.”

Ruin, who was handed a wooden sword by Dane, took out a dagger from his chest and began to sharpen the tip of the wooden sword.

Even though it was not for combat, it was a wooden sword for family ceremonies, so the Dane shouted.

“What are you doing bro!”

Regardless, Ruin was only sharpening the tip of his wooden sword.

Eventually, Ruin approached the beautiful tree.

Soon, he dug a dot in the center of the tree with the tip of his wooden sword.

A faint, fine dot like the mark of a needle.

Ruin handed back the wooden sword that had become as thin as an épée to Dane.

“I hit the point with a stab. can you do it?”

Dane, who took the sword, frowned.

Like the slam, the stabbing is also a practice that has been practiced countless times.

The problem was the target.

This is the first time training aimed at such a minute target.

But Dane didn’t want to appear weak, at least in front of his brother.

Pod!

Intense and rapid thrusting action.

If someone had seen it, they would have clapped for that superfluous movement, but Dane didn’t look good. It missed out nicely.

“Try again.”

Dig!

Dane, who had come to the point, continued stabbing again and again.

However, when the tip of the wooden sword accurately touched the target, it was not even half of it.

The tip of the wooden sword stood as sharp as a needle.

“I’ll try, Dane.”

Dane held out his wooden sword while ignoring Ruin’s gaze, as if his pride had been hurt.

Ruin, who was sharpening his end with a dagger, raised his wooden sword.

but then

Suddenly, Dane, who was looking at his brother, unknowingly shuddered and stepped back.

“Tongue, bro?”

There was an unimaginable murderous expression on his brother’s face.

A distorted and twisted expression.

How can a person, with just one expression, reveal such ferocious emotions and desperate anger?

Pak!

Ruin’s wooden sword was fired at once and hit the target.

Perfect without a single error.

Pak!

The second and third stabs are the same.

The tip of a wooden sword that always hits the target accurately.

Dane was dazed as he watched his older brother stab him.

The older brother’s gesture was precarious.

That proves that he never properly trained his sword.

But how can you hit the target accurately every time?

It was not an easy task even for himself, the genius of the kingdom who had lived with the sword since he was born.

Ruin wiped the sweat from his forehead and drew the wooden sword.

“How are you? my sword.”

Luin’s eyes were locked in memories.

The memory of competing with the Sword Master.

Although the path they took was different, his movements, his trajectory, were engraved in my soul like a painter.

“… … .”

Dane, who blankly accepted his brother’s sword, still looked confused.

Power and speed, motion and trajectory.

If you look at them one by one, none of them fell short of their level.

It’s like a clumsy stab from someone who’s never held a sword before.

However, it was only the outer appearance, and I could clearly feel something invisible that could not be expressed in words.

You can’t really see it with your own senses.

“If you were a prosecutor, you would have felt it too. that my actions are very weak. Perhaps everything was lacking compared to you.”

“… … .”

“But Dane. I just assumed that target to be the vital spot of my lifelong enemy.”

What Ruin put into his blow.

It was the resentment of all his comrades, the lifelong will forged by the horrors of darkness.

As long as the target was ‘his’ heart, his will, whether magic or sword, could not miss.

“This is what it means to put your mind and will into something. It doesn’t matter whether the tool is a sword or magic. A knight prioritizes the training of the body, but never forget that the power to move the body is the mind after all, Dane.”

Ruin backed away and opened his mouth again.

“Try again.”

Finally, a virtual enemy formed in Dane’s image.

He sharpened all the senses in his body.

It cooled my beating heart.

I stopped breathing and widened my vision.

When the imaginary enemy, his vital point, was momentarily formed in the image, his wooden sword shot like a ray of light.

The one who dared to take his father’s life!

Pod!

The one who wants to defile the precious chastity of Deash!

Pod!

The one holding Wepon’s slender neck and laughing!

Pod!

And the one who tries to trample on his brother… … !

grasp!

“Heh heh… … !”

It was only a few stabs, but Dane’s breathing quickened at once.

Louin was smiling brightly.

“As expected, you’re a sword genius.”

Dane cried more than anyone praised him.

Like that, he vaguely gazes at the target with emotions that seem to be pouring out.

“and… … !”

Every stab hit without a single miss.

A greater sense of accomplishment enveloped Dane than when he heard that he was the youngest person in the kingdom to reach 3 stars.

“What if you could put this same will into all of your sword tracks from now on?”

In an instant, a shock as if struck by lightning enveloped Dane.

It was an indescribably violent realization.

It was the moment when his world until now was being shattered and reconstructed.

Ruin smiled silently and waited for him for a while.

After a long time passed, Dane slowly opened her eyes.

A look of excitement was evident on his face.

“brother… … ! I! I… … !”

“Congratulations, Dane.”

Like a demonic wall, Dane finally conquered the impenetrable 4-star state.

He was a sergeant of the Hibern family and at the same time a sergeant of the kingdom.

Finally, Ruin realized that what he had longed for had come true.

The swordsman’s life has changed.

Now this family will be different from the past in every way.

At that time, Aguilera, the butler, approached in a panic and bowed to Ruin.

“Meet the Grand Duke. I came to convey the command of the head of the household.”

What he brought was none other than the messenger of the family.

Ruin adjusted his clothes and adopted the manners of a grand duke.

“Speak.”

I could feel the tension in Aguiler’s expression.

“The family lord has declared a Grand Clan Banquet.”

“… … Clan Grand Banquet?”

Ruin hardened.

The grand banquet of blood relatives is not held unless it is time to decide something important enough to determine the fate of the family.

There had never been such a grand banquet held in the past that he could remember.

Once again, history has changed.

‘Have you decided now, Father?’

There were too many to be purged.

If everyone was punished with Gayul, the existence of the family would be in jeopardy.

Ruin was worried about what decision his father would make, but on the other hand, he was intrigued.

“My robes don’t fit me anymore.”

“Even if you don’t, I’ve prepared attendants. Within three days, I will put on a new robe for the Archduke.”

“three days?”

The Heibern family’s robes were not so simple to make.

Since it was a family that lasted for more than a thousand years, countless myths and histories were engraved with intricate embroidery on the ceremonial clothes.

Even the patterns of successive family heads were more than enough to fill the top.

“Did you even make the cloth beforehand? Wouldn’t it be something that could be made so easily?”

There was no way the Heibern family’s robes were out of stock. This is because even at this moment, the family’s achievements are increasing day by day. So, I tended to make one set of ceremonial clothes whenever needed.

“I also want to put more effort into production, but I can’t. The full capacity of the attendants will be mobilized.”

As if realizing it only then, Ruin pursed his forehead.

“Could it be in three days?”

“That’s right. The clan grand banquet will be held in three days.”

“… … .”

The clan banquet is a grand banquet.

Even if you prepare with at least 15 days to spare, it will not be enough.

But three days later.

It seems that your father is in a lot of haste.

Looking at the emaciated Aguiler, Ruin smiled pitifully.

“It must be a lot of trouble.”

Aguilera was silent, stooped.