Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23. The Wandering Duke Aselheit (2)
Blanc, whose injuries on both hands suffered from the battle with the giant centipede were almost healed, was currently stuck in his personal training hall practicing the White Thunderbolt because he could not train due to Edwin's absence.
Although the swordsmanship training with the teacher named Edwin was showing results even in his own eyes, the White Thunderbolt, which had to be constructed within the mental world, was showing no progress lately, making him frustrated.
'Is it the time when the so-called enlightenment is needed...'
He had heard that the aura training of knights grows in steps.
Because rapid growth is achieved through mental awakening.
'Since when did I hang onto something like enlightenment...'
Blanc, frustrated by the wall of enlightenment, realized his position which had changed distinctly compared to his previous life, and soon smirked.
"But why is that brat doing that again. Do you know anything?"
"I, I do not know either?"
Far away, the figure of Isellin hiding behind a tree and peeking out only her head could be seen.
Thanks to that, the maids following her were also scattered here and there, playing hide-and-seek they didn't sign up for.
"If she's going to hide, she should hide properly, what is that."
Isellin had hidden her body but popped her head out as if to say, 'I am hiding, but I want you to find me.'
"Go and ask why she is doing that. I get a headache just looking at her now."
"...Yes, young master."
Rakshar also found Isellin burdensome, but since his young master and Baron ordered it, he obeyed without complaint.
When Rakshar raised his huge bulk and approached Isellin, the maids nearby flinched, but Isellin, the person in question, talked to the large werewolf as if it were nothing.
"What did she say?"
Rakshar, who returned after talking with Isellin.
His expression was so subtle that even the indifferent Blanc became curious about what they talked about.
"That... Lady Isellin said... do not mind her and continue training. That... standing at a distance and supporting so as not to disturb the husband is the duty of a wife..."
Hearing Rakshar's words, Blanc began to rub his eyes with both hands as if tired.
"I'm going crazy..."
She must have picked up the marriage proposal Weird made to Blanc from somewhere.
"I wish Sir Edwin would return quickly... To think I would miss the hellish training."
"Since it has been a week since Lord Edwin left, he will probably return today or tomorrow."
It had been a week today since Edwin led the investigation team and left for the White Claw.
Blanc was sincerely missing the old knight who used to scream at him.
"Baron Blanc! Baron!"
There was a sound desperately calling for Blanc, who was clutching his head because of Isellin.
"It, It is Billy."
"I know too."
In the distance of the training hall, Billy running helter-skelter could be seen.
"B, Baron. Baron... huff huff."
"Yes. Baron Blanc is here. I won't run away anywhere, so speak slowly."
Billy, a butler candidate of the Tolome family, usually maintained a gentle atmosphere, but when unexpected situations occurred, he could not stay calm and had large emotional fluctuations.
'I can't entrust big tasks to him.'
He was a talent just right to keep in the house and make a butler or something.
Blanc was thinking favorably that at least his brain worked a bit so that was something, but soon, at the words coming out of Billy's mouth, he also could not hide his emotional agitation.
"Wandering Duke Aselheit...?"
Why did a figure who appears in history books come out of Billy's mouth?
"He is in Lord Bartomyu's office right now."
"So?"
Even if Wandering Duke Aselheit came to this mansion, what did that have to do with Blanc that he ran helter-skelter like this?
"Lord Aselheit is... looking for Lord Blanc! Right now!"
"Why?"
"That much is..."
Since Billy was just a butler candidate within the Tolome family despite being Blanc's limb, it seemed he did not know the detailed circumstances.
Anyway, the weight the name of Wandering Duke Aselheit carried was not ordinary, so there was no time to dawdle here.
"I'll have to run."
Blanc quickly gathered his belongings scattered nearby and ran toward the mansion.
***
Wandering Duke Aselheit.
If Bartomyu, the Lion of Tolome, and Edwin, the Knight of Godspeed, were knights who exuded majesty in the previous era, Aselheit was a hero who was active in an era prior to that.
That era was a chaotic time when black mages operated in secret.
When demons summoned by them and all sorts of heteromorphic monsters crawled out of hell and dyed the world in evil, a swordsman suddenly appeared.
That was Aselheit.
In the north, there were the braves of the Maximilian family blessed by the Goddess, so they could stand equally against the undead army created by black mages, but there was no way to stop the black mages active in the south.
In such a chaotic situation, Aselheit organized a gathering of knights transcending borders and races.
The Torch Knights.
It was a knight order that gathered knights, the last hope of humanity, and rose up like a torch.
An army made only of knights who could handle aura, not soldiers. Having created the most powerful army in human history, he succeeded in perfectly exterminating the groups of black mages active in the south.
Bartomyu and Edwin were figures appointed as knights at the tail end of that era. They were people who witnessed Aselheit shining brilliantly at the highest torch with their own two eyes.
The three kingdoms of Anton, Felix, and Gartaria competed to bestow dukedoms to hold onto such a brilliantly shining Aselheit, but he refused everything and disappeared into the darkness of the era, shouting that he would 'devote his entire life to sweeping away the remaining remnants of black mages.'
People called such an Aselheit the Duke of the Three Kingdoms and the Wandering Knight, praising him as the Wandering Duke.
Even though his age was now nearing almost a hundred, Aselheit was still wandering aimlessly and sweeping away remaining black mages.
He was a person who could truly be called a hero of humanity.
And Aselheit, for whom the title of great was not awkward at all, was currently sitting in Bartomyu's office.
"I can hand over that much anytime, but may I ask for what reason you are doing this?"
Bartomyu boasted power equivalent to a king within the Tolome family, but now he had no choice but to bow his head before the elderly old man.
"Thank you for saying you will hand it over readily. Count Bartomyu."
Wandering Duke Aselheit expressed his gratitude by making eye contact with each of the figures gathered in Bartomyu's office.
"Since it is a treasure whose value is hard to estimate, I should at least reveal the reason for trying to take it. I will tell you."
The moment Aselheit's mouth was about to open.
"Count, Baron Blanc has arrived."
Word came from outside the office that Blanc had arrived.
"Tell him to wait."
"No. Do not do that and let him enter. Count. I want to see the young hero who caught the giant centipede that is the talk of the town."
"Tell him to come in."
Aselheit naturally grasped the atmosphere inside the office. Bartomyu had no choice but to follow his words.
Soon, the door opened and a black-haired boy entered.
The first thing the boy saw was a scrawny old man sitting at the highest seat of the office.
'Wandering Duke Aselheit...'
Outwardly, he looked like an ordinary old man in a rural corner, but rather that was more amazing.
Figures called masters naturally exude intangible pressure even if they do not intend to.
However, since the swordsman who transcended the era before his eyes was exuding an atmosphere where one could talk comfortably rather than such pressure, Blanc could not even dare to gauge Aselheit's level.
"I offer my greetings. I am Baron Blanc Cadmus."
Blanc bowed his head politely and introduced himself.
Including Aselheit, Bartomyu, Edwin, and even Berger, there was no one who did not feel favor toward the boy in front of their eyes.
Nevertheless, as Blanc stood alone in front of the heroes of the era, he felt his breath choked.
If the one in this place was truly only fourteen-year-old Blanc, it would have been hard to even breathe.
However, regressor Blanc, who had gone back over 30 years, lifted his head as if nothing was wrong and calmly accepted the gazes of the people in front.
Aselheit smiled and nodded seeing that appearance.
"I came after hearing rumors about you, but I did not think a fourteen-year-old boy would have really caught such a big monster. I thought it would be exaggerated rumors."
However, looking at the boy standing while exuding a confident prayer right before his eyes, the thought 'He might have indeed caught that monster' came naturally to Aselheit.
"He is Edwin's disciple. Since he is a timber chosen by that picky knight, the future is even more expected."
"He is a young man who risked danger to save his cousin's life. The spirit he possesses is extraordinary."
"Baron Blanc still has much to learn. I am worried he might be swayed by these praises."
Bartomyu and Berger wanted to clearly imprint Blanc in front of Aselheit, but Edwin, worried that Blanc might get needlessly excited by the current praises, made a grumbling sound.
Edwin was an upright knight who said what needed to be said even in front of one Duke and two Counts.
Aselheit laughed heartily seeing that appearance.
"My, my. As I age, my memory is not what it used to be. Right, where were we in our discussion?"
"You were about to tell us the reason for taking the centipede's essence."
Berger answered while serving tea to Duke Aselheit himself.
"Right, I heard rumors that this centipede was discovered in a cave where a flower called Moonlit Grass was."
"That is correct. I saw it clearly with my two eyes."
Aselheit, who stared blankly for a while at Blanc who answered, continued to speak.
"I heard that the flower called Moonlit Grass grows eating only the energy of pure moonlight and has the property of repelling demons. I came all this way thinking the centipede's essence, which was in the same place as that, might also have such characteristics."
"Are you looking for a divine object that repels demons? Are black mages perhaps becoming active again?"
Bartomyu looked at Aselheit with worried eyes. Because although it was his young and tender days, he knew well how terrible an era that time was.
Aselheit, who drank the tea Berger served, soon put down the tea and answered with a grave expression.
"No. It is not black mages. I have chased them my whole life and was confident I had perfectly exterminated them now. But somewhere in the world, avoiding my eyes, another darkness was growing."
Whether it was coincidence or not, Blanc felt Aselheit's eyes were directed at him.
"It is a new form of calamity. We decided to call it the Void."
'...!'
It was the moment Blanc encountered the Void for the first time in this timeline.