The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 10

As Raul turned and gestured, greenish blood spurted from the corpses of the surrounding orcs. Whirling through the air, the blood coalesced into a mass before being sucked into the leather pouch he was holding. ‘Psychokinesis…’ Though he had witnessed it countless times over the past three weeks and had grown accustomed to it, it was initially terrifying. Even for the residents of Connect, who were familiar with magic, psychokinesis was a marvel in itself.

After securing the pouch, Raul disappeared among the trees, prompting a deep sigh from Jake.

“Ah, our young master never rests for a moment. This isn’t what I signed up for when I came to Mira!”

“With such dedication, it’s no wonder he has grown so strong in such a short time. If you don’t keep up, you’ll soon be left behind by our lord,” Philip chided, causing Jake to shrug indifferently.

“Ah, never mind. This isn’t guarding or training… Why do I have to deal with monster corpses?”

Despite his complaints, Jake quickly began stripping the skin from an orc’s limb with his wooden sword. ‘Such a foolish boy.’ Philip, hiding a smirk, drew a small wooden dagger from his pocket and swung it at an orc’s torso. Screech. The crescent-shaped energy that flew through the air neatly split the orc’s hide.

‘Halfmoon Slash. Quite useful.’

Practicing with the wooden sword as young master Raul had instructed made it feel increasingly natural.

‘I need to advance my proficiency to intermediate before I can learn the next skill book. What will the other skills feel like?’

Philip’s movements became even faster. The four skill books that Raul had gifted him lingered in his mind.

* * *

“Phew. Does this conclude the quest? I thought I was going to suffocate.” He had been limited to using only his fists for the quest related to the Skill Codex, which not only prolonged the hunt but also increased his fatigue.

‘But I’ve definitely become stronger.’

The Skill Codex came with a remarkably potent passive ability. The overall skills strengthened in proportion to the recorded skills!

Even as a replica, it boasted the grandeur of a mythic item. The current improvement effect on his close-combat skills alone was 15%. If he unlocked more skill books, the thought of how much stronger he could become was exhilarating.

Raul shook off the blood from his fist and looked down. Below lay the corpse of an orc warrior, noticeably larger than the others.

“Let’s see, what did we get? Oh! A C-rank [War Cry] skill book!! And a rare-grade Orc Warrior Gauntlet to boot!”

As a field boss monster, the rewards were far more substantial than those from regular orcs. Although it appeared only once a day, it was quite generous, always dropping D or C-rank skill books.

For the past three weeks, Raul had been fervently hunting field monsters. His first target was the level 20-30 [Red Mane Wolf]. While individually not very strong, their tendency to move in packs made them tricky opponents. After reaching level 30, he hunted Goblin Hunters. These creatures roamed alone but would call for reinforcements by blowing a whistle when engaged in combat. Normally, the strategy was to defeat them quickly before they could summon help, but Raul intentionally allowed them to call allies to eliminate them all at once.

Upon reaching level 40, his next targets were orc soldiers. Despite their inability to use mana, these monsters boasted combat abilities comparable to sword users and presented a tough challenge when they grouped together. However, they were no match for the now stronger Raul. ‘Level 46, huh? Took longer than expected. But I should be able to hit level 50 before leaving. ‘Just as he was about to check the quest log, thinking of the schedule that wasn’t far from ending, it happened.

“Young master Raul, there has been a problem.”

The cold voice of Bernard came through the guild communication.

“What’s the matter? Did a quest get messed up?”

Raul, not recalling any issues that could arise in Mira, asked calmly.

“The guild members have gotten involved in a dispute. It seems the situation is not good.”

“What? Where?? Tell me in detail!!”

Leaving behind the corpse of an orc warrior, Raul started running towards the city.

“In a back alley of the Third Square, members of the Count Randal’s party are beating up our guild members. All three sons of the Count and fifteen of their escorts are present.”

Raul’s face twisted fiercely for a moment.

‘These madmen! I was trying to let it slide, but they’ve gone and caused trouble after all!’

“All members, gather in front of the Third Square immediately!! Do not engage until I arrive!!”

Raul’s angry voice echoed through the guild communication.

* * *

The Count Randal’s household, like the Count Ashton’s household, was one of the five martial families of the Ruben Kingdom.

However, unlike the Ashton household, which was recognized as a prestigious martial family since the foundation of the kingdom, the Randal household had only recently been included among the five great martial families.

This was because the current head, Hudson de Randal, reached the realm of a Young Sword Master, prompting a reorganization from the kingdom’s four to five great martial families.

For a new martial family with a short history to firmly establish itself as prestigious, there were various ways to do so.

It could spend time continually producing outstanding knights, achieve universally recognized feats, or trample down its rivals.

The Randal found their answer in the Ashton household.

A noble household that has recently failed to produce any Young Sword Masters, causing its influence to wane, and among the five martial families, it was seen as the easiest target due to its weak political connections.

Consequently, clashes between the two households occurred throughout the kingdom, most of which were provocations started by the Randal.

Although these issues were, for the time being, being managed without major incidents, it was difficult to believe that this would always be the case.

Moreover, most people anticipated that the Randal would emerge as the victors. The presence or absence of a Young Sword Master made that much of a difference.

This view wasn’t much different among the three young nobles of the Randal household staying in Mira, distant relatives of the main line.

The eldest, Ramon, broke the silence.

“We should’ve dealt with a few of those pretentious Ashton brats earlier. Leaving them be just makes them strut around all arrogant.”

Pshht.

“Agh!!”

A young soldier screamed as he was stabbed in the heart.

As blood splattered on his face, Ramon licked it off and pulled out his sword.

“That’s why you should have listened to me, brother. We could have enjoyed this fun a bit longer.”

Beside him, his cousin Jerry also plunged his sword into another soldier’s forehead, saying,

“Our grandfather warned us to restrain ourselves, didn’t he? The whole reason we ended up here is because of some trouble we caused.”

The youngest, Cale, cautiously spoke up, but his morningstar was already gruesomely covered in someone’s brain matter and blood, clearly showing no sign of remorse as his lips curled into a sneer.

Just then, a squire lying bloodied on the ground raised his voice,

“What is this madness you’re doing?! What wrong have we done to deserve this! Kuhk!”

Cale struck the squire’s head with his morningstar, then crouched down to speak to the shattered skull,

“Your very existence is an annoyance. Why crawl here and be an eyesore? Huh?”

Suddenly, the young soldier whose heart was pierced gasped for air and screamed again,

“You’ll regret this! Our young master will not let you get away with this, grgr.”

Ramon, slicing the young soldier’s throat with a sword, sneered,

“Hahaha. Please, do come quickly. We have business with that 3rd young master anyway. But it’s curious, isn’t it? They keep reviving no matter how often they’re killed.”

“Like I said, let’s kill that little Raul too! They won’t really die anyway,” Jerry exclaimed, excited by the sight of blood.

Cale cautiously added,

“But I heard that within the Free City, the martial families agreed not to draw swords against each other… What if we cause trouble with the direct lineage, and it backfires?”
“What does it matter? If we just deny everything, what can they do about it? Actually, isn’t this a good thing? Now’s our chance to stomp on the shell of what’s left of the Ashton family. We might even get praised by great-grandfather!”

Ramon’s words made his younger siblings think it seemed plausible.

Given the Ashton family’s tendency to step back whenever faced with a conflict, they indeed never had a clear chance to crush them.

This now sparked a hope that perhaps their confinement would be lifted, allowing them to return to their territories.

Initially, their actions were motivated by mere jealousy.

Having arrived in Mira before Raul, they had no choice but to stay in an inn instead of the official residence. It made sense, as they were junior nobles from a count’s household without titles, so the mayor saw no reason to offer them official accommodation.

Their interaction with the mayor had been brief, exchanging greetings upon their first arrival in the city.

But Raul?

From the moment he arrived, he stayed at the best official residence and was rumored to be dining almost daily with the mayor.

Naturally, they felt snubbed.

Moreover, for some reason, his men were seen around the city, fulfilling the requests of Mira’s citizens.

Thanks to that, his reputation soared by the day, a stark contrast to their own, who spent their days in gambling and drinking, troubling the citizens.

“At first, we held back because they outnumbered us….”

But upon receiving reports from their men, they learned that the city was mostly in the hands of young men who went about unarmed.

There was no reason they, with 15 knights among them, could be at a disadvantage.

“We’ve bribed the city guards, too, so we have plenty of time. Maybe it’s time to kill that Raul about thirty times or so, make them tremble at the mention of Randal. Heh, heh.”

Ramon, thinking of tormenting Raul, chuckled again, raising his weapon to strike.

Just then!!

A cracking sound, and Ramon’s head was shattered to pieces.

“……!!”

The bits of his brain scattered around as his body fell lifelessly.

The room was suddenly enveloped in silence.

“Bernard. Take them to the temple. And tell the mayor to block any access to this place from this moment forward. Go!”

Raul, having somehow saved his subordinates, turned away after passing them to Bernard.

He then glared at the trash of the Randal count’s household with a chill in his eyes that seemed to bring a cold wind.

“Philip. From now on, no one leaves this place. You understand what I mean?”

“As you command!”

Philip nodded to Raul’s order and signaled his men. Then, the knights, their capes billowing, swiftly surrounded the area in perfect coordination.

“Draw swords!”

At Philip’s command, the knights uniformly pulled out their large swords from their inventory and aimed them at the enemies.

A palpable, deadly aura pressured the knights of the Randal count’s household.

“They go about unarmed? Where in the world did those swords come from??”

“Is this really the presence of non-knights??”

A realization that something was terribly wrong spread among them.

Yet, as always, there were those who failed to grasp the gravity of the situation.

“This crazy bastard! How dare a green boy lay his hands on the blood relatives of the Randal count’s household!” Jerry pointed and shouted at Raul.

“Does the Ashton count’s household teach you to punch first? Well, it’s the kind of thing cowards do, after all!”

Cale added, loudly accusing, following the same vein of thoughtless bravado.

However, Raul did not even glance at them. He merely took a bastard sword from his inventory, swinging it around casually.

Finally, Raul pointed the greatsword forward and declared, “I’ll handle this myself. Don’t interfere!”

“Are you sure?”

Philip asked calmly, to which Raul responded lightly as if it was the most natural thing.

“There’s no need to dirty multiple hands to clean up the trash.”

(To be continued)