The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 133

– “These are definitely traces of ‘slaughter.’ Could it be that that guy is active too…?”

The Demonic Sword Andromalius muttered as if he was sick of it.

“‘Slaughter’? What do you mean?”

Aden asked, and Curse answered.

– “The Lord of Slaughter, Rabolas. This is surely one of his powers, ‘Chasing Death.'”

Chasing Death.

According to Curse’s explanation, it was a power possessed by the Lord of Slaughter, one of the Fallen Lords.

– “Anyone cut by the sword of the Lord of Slaughter will die. No matter what method they use, death will follow them to the end and take their life. That’s why it’s called ‘Chasing Death.’ Well, it’s a much weaker version than what I knew.”

– “Of course, Underground Lord Brother. His main body was already taken out by you… ahem, so this must be the work of his spiritual remnant.”

– “Ho, since when did mere emergency food become my brother?”

– “Hahaha, why are you being so harsh? I’ll be your obedient and loyal brother, so please spare me just this once.”

A Demonic Sword that seemed good at socializing.

Its true identity seemed to be the Count of Survival rather than the Count of Justice.

“The Lord of Slaughter, Rabolas…”

Aden pondered over their conversation.

Currently, there was only one way the power of a Fallen Lord could appear in the earthly realm.

‘The 72 Demonic Swords.’

It was certain that the Border Count Tiried had fallen to a remnant of the Lord of Slaughter, one of the 72 Demonic Swords.

The Iron-Blooded Saint’s sudden usurpation and odd behavior.

The revelation from the God of Massacre and the Priestess Lunia.

The injuries of the Border Count Tiried.

And now, the sudden appearance of one of the 72 Demonic Swords was making Aden’s mind a jumble.

‘I need more information.’

And to obtain crucial information here, he first needed to wake up the Border Count Tiried and hear his story.

The problem was Rabolas’s power, ‘Chasing Death.’

The power to make anyone cut by it inevitably die was too overpowered.

‘…Wait, could it be?’

A sudden thought flashed through Aden’s mind.

‘The Iron-Blooded Saint Spica killed the previous saint. But the gap between a saint and a saint candidate is vast, so normally it would be impossible.’

But that was merely a difference in individual skill.

What if a tool, something external, was used to bridge that skill gap?

‘Like one of the 72 Demonic Swords.’

A terrifying power that could lead an opponent to death with just one cut.

If the former saint Mary had fallen to that power, it would have been difficult for her to survive, even with her skills comparable to a high-level Sword Master.

But it was still just speculation.

To find out the truth, he needed to wake up the Border Count Tiried, who had been struck by the Demonic Sword.

“Curse, is there any way for someone struck by Chasing Death to escape death?”

– “The most certain method is to destroy the spiritual remnant of Rabolas, the owner of the power. If you do that, the power, having lost its master, will lose its strength and disappear.”

But right now, they didn’t know where the Demonic Sword Rabolas was, so they couldn’t use that method.

“Any other methods?”

– “As far as I know, there aren’t any. Although there may be individual differences, in the end, they will be consumed by the power of death. The power is like a law, so it can’t be defied. However…”

“However?”

– “This power of Rabolas is not a complete ‘Chasing Death,’ but a degraded version. Thanks to that, that human was able to resist and hold on. It might be worth trying to remove it. Though I can’t guarantee the result.”

An uncertain method.

But it was the only one they could try immediately.

The rest would be up to Elise.

“May the holy flame of the Lord of Sacred Fire descend upon this place.”

Elise placed her hand on Tiried’s back and recited a prayer.

“We beg you to grant your daughter the light to dispel the darkness!”

It was not the usual, half-hearted prayer, but an official prayer to use sacred arts.

It seemed she had learned it from the Sacred Fire Order.

Hwaaaa!

Elise’s golden sacred power flowed into the body of the Border Count Tiried.

Amazingly, the ‘Chasing Death’ scars that covered Tiried’s entire body, the blackened skin, began to slowly return to its original color.

Elise’s sacred power was pushing back the power of the Demonic Sword.

Goooooo…

As a result, the oppressive presence that had been emanating from Tiried, who was using aura in a half-conscious state, gradually diminished as his rank was hidden again.

“It’s working! He’s healing!”

Taion, sensing this, approached joyfully.

Just as Elise’s sacred power seemed to completely drive out the blackened skin.

After about two-thirds of the blackness had reduced to half, the speed at which it receded slowed down rapidly and then stopped.

Elise was taken aback by this.

“Huh, what? That’s strange. I’ll try again!”

“No. There’s no need for that, Elise.”

Aden stopped Elise and shook his head.

Curse spoke.

– “As expected, completely erasing the power is impossible. Nothing has changed. The sacred power has merely replaced the role that the aura was playing in suppressing it.”

It was a partial success, but it was not entirely hopeless.

For the moment, even half was enough.

“A…”

A sound came from the previously tightly shut mouth of Tiried, who had been unconscious.

The Border Count slowly opened his eyes.

“Oh… I’m terribly hungry.”

His voice was hoarse and somewhat cracked, probably because he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

“Father!”

“Yes, my son. How long have I been asleep?”

“…You’ve been asleep for over four months! How can a lord be so irresponsible and slack off like this! I’ve been working hard, and the family’s been struggling!”

“Haha. You’ll do it in the future anyway, so why not consider it an apprenticeship?”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Guhuhuhu! Alright, alright, my apologies.”

Although his words were harsh, Tyion’s eyes seemed slightly reddened.

Tiried also laughed brightly and exaggeratedly, but it was clear to see that he had become quite gaunt.

“Come now, let’s save the touching father-son reunion for later.”

“Oh, Aden? It’s been a while. And there are a few faces I don’t recognize… Hmm?”

Seeing Aden’s face after a long time since the Battle of Attila Fortress, he was delighted but then surprised and shocked.

“My goodness! How on earth…!”

As a Sword Master, Tiried instantly recognized the level of a fellow superhuman warrior like Aden.

Given that the last information he had was from about three or four months ago, Border Count Tiried remembered Aden as a Sword Aura level swordsman.

He muttered with a rather shocked expression.

“Hoho… How could someone so young… No, wait. Now that I see it, the aura of wounds hasn’t disappeared. But how…?”

Border Count Tiried seemed to have many questions.

Aden shrugged his shoulders.

“It seems we have a lot to discuss, Tiried.”

—

“Guhuhu! So much happened while I was unconscious! A pilgrimage and the legendary Winter Queen! If I had been in my right mind then, I would have loved to fight her. What a pity!”

Plates and dishes were neatly stacked all around the training ground where Tiried was staying.

“Guhuhuhu! Now that I’ve eaten, I feel like I can live again!”

Border Count Tiried, having spent so much time suppressing the energy of his wounds, devoured dozens of servings of bread, meat, soup, and other foods over the past few hours, laughing heartily.

“Kreek! Good!”

Finally, after downing a large bowl of vitality-restoring potion to finish his meal, Tiried bowed his head to Elise.

“I apologize for the late greeting. I am Tiried Sedus, the lord of Sedus County. I sincerely thank you for your help, Lady Elise of the Sacred Fire Order.”

Elise shook her head with a deeply regretful expression.

“No, it’s alright. I couldn’t completely heal your wounds, after all…”

“Guhuhu! What does that matter! Thanks to you, I survived the crisis, and I am indeed indebted to you! Truly, thank you.”

Border Count Tiried then turned to Aden and bowed his head in the same manner.

“Aden Remes, I owe you a great debt as well…”

“Of course. I’ll make sure to collect with interest later, so there’s no need to thank me. Let’s get to the main point.”

At Aden’s words, Border Count Tiried laughed heartily again.

“Hahaha! Alright, understood. So, what do you want to ask first, Aden?”

“What exactly happened at the Slaughter Tower, Lord Tiried?”

“…..”

“Lord Tiried, you went to the Slaughter Tower to investigate the anomalies in the Wasteland of Death, right?”

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

“And you returned with injuries all over your body, inflicted by a terrible curse.”

Border Count Tiried Sedus was a superhuman level swordsman, a Sword Master.

There were very few who could push someone like him to such an extent.

Aden continued.

“Please tell us what happened, Lord Tiried Sedus.”

“…..”

His once cheerful face now turned deeply serious. The wrinkles on his forehead, formed through years of hardships, seemed even deeper.

He began to speak.

“Alright, I’ll tell you what happened.”

Tiried started recounting the events of that day.

“I went to meet the Saintess of Mengaan, Lady Merida, to talk to her. But in the end, I couldn’t meet her.”

“Why not?”

“When I arrived, she had just been murdered by another priestess of the Slaughter Cult.”

Spica Lunius.

As soon as Aden heard, he realized it was her.

“The priestess attacked me as soon as she saw me.”

At first, she used the traditional martial arts of the Slaughter Cult, including punches and kicks.

After exchanging several blows and realizing their skills were evenly matched, Tiried understood that she had become the new Saintess.

“Knowing the traditions of the Slaughter Cult, I tried to resolve the misunderstanding with words. But she wouldn’t listen and kept attacking, so I had no choice but to fight back.”

However, in the midst of their martial arts battle, she suddenly attacked with a strange sword that appeared out of nowhere, and Tiried sustained a slash wound from it.

As Border Count Tiried recalled that moment, he furrowed his brow.

“When I was cut by that sword, I felt an evil energy gnawing at me along with the pain.”

Realizing that he was in grave danger, Tiried chose to flee rather than continue fighting.

He barely escaped from the Slaughter Tower and returned to Sedus County.

“That’s all. The rest is as Tyion told you.”

After hearing Border Count Tiried’s story, Aden fell into silence.

The suspicion he had only considered as a possibility now became a certainty.

‘Spica Lunius, she is the wielder of the cursed sword, Lavolas.’

It seemed that the new Saintess had made a contract with the cursed sword and killed the previous Saintess.

‘What a mess.’

Well, the Slaughter Cult was always a messed-up group, but he couldn’t understand what Spica’s true goal was.

Why was she doing such things?

“Hmm, now that I think about it, there was something strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“The state of the Saintess was odd.”

“Aren’t the priests of the Slaughter Cult always odd?”

“…If you put it that way, I have nothing to say, but this felt different. It’s hard to describe. If I had to say…”

Tiried scratched his head and spoke with a puzzled expression.

“It felt like I was facing one person, but at the same time, it felt like I was facing two. Like she was one, but not one.”