The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 77

Looking at the user restriction part, it was clear that only the descendants of the Underlord, the Florence royal family, could wear it.

But he had no idea why it was bound to him.

‘Is it you who is the most plausible reason?’

-That would probably be the case. Since I am with you, haven’t you been able to manifest the power? If this pendant reacts to the trace of the Underlord, it is a plausible story.

A divine artifact was a symbolic item containing the authority of a power, much like the imperial jade seal of the empire.

Therefore, it was said to be the item she was looking for.

‘I ended up taking something unexpected.’

But there was no way to return it.

Aden recalled Niketa’s appearance before he left.

She looked as excited as a child meeting a knight they admired.

It was the first time he had seen such an expression.

-I’ll say it again, but she was quite expressionless, Dragon Slayer.

“Shut up, you creature without eyes.”

He decided to think positively.

Since she mistook him for the Underlord, she would support him wholeheartedly.

Even though it felt like deceiving her, Aden was confident.

After all, it was her mistake first.

‘Come to think of it, it’s not bad at all.’

The Silver Witch was the head of the information organization White Moon.

Getting her help without any deal was a significant advantage.

With her information network and power, Aden could grow even faster.

He smiled satisfactorily.

‘If they come out like this first, I have no choice but to use it properly.’

Curse asked in an uneasy voice after reading Aden’s thoughts.

-What kind of sinister thought are you harboring this time, Dragon Slayer?

It’s nothing much, just something good for her and better for me.

‘Not so good for the empire, though.’

* * *

The next day after Aden returned to the Duke’s house.

There was something he had not expected.

After Niketa visited, the aftermath stirred up the Duke’s household for a while.

“Did you see that young lady?”

“Of course, I saw her. She seemed quite impressive.”

The servants of the Duke’s house whispered to each other in hushed voices.

For those working in the Duke’s house, the only enjoyment was talking about the masters they served.

“I have a friend who works as a maid at the imperial mansion, and she said that she also visited there personally.”

“They say they even danced a waltz together, and according to that friend, their eye contact was unusual….”

And there was nothing as provocative as a story about men and women.

Especially when the story spread that they had danced together in the capital and that she had visited the mansion, it was like pouring oil on fire, heating up even more.

Some even started to believe they were already in a relationship, drinking kimchi soup* in anticipation.

However, it was not entirely baseless.

They whispered with mischievous smiles.

“Master Aden was wearing an unfamiliar pendant around his neck?”

“He even wears it when showering or eating, as if it were precious…. Perhaps…?”

“You silly girl, don’t jump to conclusions.”

Of course, the fact that Niketa’s disguised status was a baroness bothered them, but they didn’t care much.

“The Duchess herself was originally from a baron family. The Duke did it, so there’s no reason Master Aden can’t.”

Because Aden became infamous in the social circles as a rogue prince, no noble ladies approached him.

The Duke and Duchess were also romantics who married for love, so there wasn’t even a common political marriage partner for their children.

As a result, rumors about Lady Flora and Aden spread among the servants like fish in water.

To the servants, the truth of the rumors didn’t matter.

They just enjoyed and found it amusing that such stories were circulating.

“Crazy….”

Of course, from Aden’s perspective, it was absurd.

As with most rumors, it would lose interest and quiet down soon enough.

He knew well from a similar experience when he brought alchemist Cassie to the Duke’s house.

However, the gazes of the servants following him were bothersome, so he took a carriage and went out of the mansion to escape.

As they moved, Aden’s personal attendant, Philip, cautiously asked him.

“Master Aden, the rumors you hear….”

“If you want your mouth to be ripped open, keep talking. I’d like you to keep talking.”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

The carriage headed to the new temple of the Sacred Fire Order’s Remes branch, which was under construction near the Duke’s house.

“Heave ho, heave ho!”

“Hey, move that marble over there!”

Workers and priests were busily moving, constructing the temple.

Seeing the temple, more than half completed, Philip exclaimed.

“Oh! I can’t believe a temple is being built in our territory! It’s unbelievable! You did an amazing job, Master!”

“It’s being built quite quickly.”

“That’s because Master Carl and the Duke have been prioritizing it and handling it diligently. They gathered the best artisans in the territory.”

Once the temple of the order was built, the residents of the territory could receive treatment with holy power.

This would significantly reduce the death toll even if a plague broke out.

The fewer deaths, the more prosperous the territory would become.

Aden met Elise, who was blessing the tired workers as the saintess of the Sacred Fire Order.

Seeing Aden, Elise brightened up and greeted him.

“Oh! Aden, you’re back! Welcome!”

“Yeah, it’s been a while.”

Since it had been a while since they parted in Yulican City, Aden was quite pleased.

However, he felt more perplexed than pleased.

“…I need to ask you something.”

“Huh? What is it?”

-Bark bark!

“What is that?”

Aden pointed at a black-haired dog.

Elise puffed her cheeks as if asking what kind of silly question that was and shouted.

“What do you mean? That’s obviously our Choco!”

Choco was originally the name of the search dog Elise raised.

Aden knew that very well.

The problem was that Choco had grown to the size of a bull, and Elise was riding on its back.

Aden was speechless as he looked at the abnormally large Choco.

He finally managed to speak after a moment of silence.

“…It’s grown quite a bit.”

“Hehe, right? I was also surprised when I first saw it! It must still be growing.”

-Pant pant.

Choco panted, its eyes meeting Aden’s at the same height.

The dog was so huge that they looked at each other at the same level.

“….”

No, this was beyond the range of just growing.

After a while, he met Joseph, who gave him a detailed explanation.

Joseph looked at the gigantic Choco with an awkward smile and said.

“After checking, it seems its mana core has awakened. It must have eaten some spirit herb somewhere.”

-Bark.

“…Thanks to that, its intelligence seems to have increased, and it can understand words.”

-Bark bark!

Choco nodded as if agreeing.

‘Crazy, it really understands words.’

It was rare, but when a beast awakened its mana core, it could transcend its species and become a magic beast or a spirit beast.

Fortunately, it seemed to have eaten a spirit herb with pure energy, so it awakened as a spirit beast rather than a magic beast.

Joseph scratched his head and said.

“Actually, it has always been a bit unusual. It was so smart that it immediately understood Elise’s words. It was also picky with its food, only eating meat.”

“Heh.”

Aden chuckled.

He couldn’t understand how a search dog raised by the Duke’s soldiers ended up eating a spirit herb.

Typically, spirit herbs grew in secluded places in deep mountains where no one had found them for hundreds of years.

The fact that a dog ate such a precious thing was absurd.

Beyond absurdity, it was a mystery how it found the spirit herb.

Then Curse spoke to Aden.

-I had a suspicion, but isn’t that creature the one from back then?

‘Hmm? What do you mean?’

-The dog you shoved a potion into its mouth when you were looking for your brother.

‘What the… oh.’

At Curse’s words, Aden recalled a memory he had forgotten.

When Karl was kidnapped by goblins, Aden had fed a search dog a potion to enhance its sense of smell.

‘How do you know that?’

-The scar on its left ear matches that of the creature. That’s how I recognized it.

Curse’s eye for detail was remarkable, despite not having eyes.

Anyway, combining Curse’s information gave him a rough idea of the situation.

The potion temporarily enhanced the sense of smell by thousands of times.

While the knights and goblins were fighting, no one cared about the dog.

Spirit herbs, filled with nature’s energy, attracted any living creature.

That’s why genuine spirit herbs grew undisturbed in places untouched by humans.

The search dog Choco, having escaped into the forest, would have sensed the lingering scent of the spirit herb with its enhanced sense of smell.

And it would have eagerly devoured it.

The absorbed energy would have slowly settled into its body, causing changes over several months.

Ta-da, it became a giant Choco who understood human speech.

‘Ridiculous.’

His one action caused a butterfly effect, turning an ordinary mutt into a spirit beast.

It was an astonishing story.

Elise petted Choco’s back, smiling brightly.

“It’s a shame I can’t hold it anymore, but I love being able to ride it like this! Choco, you like it too, right?”

-Bark, bark!

A little saintess riding a giant dog….

If bards saw this, they would come up with dozens of interesting stories.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

‘Wait, if it’s a spirit beast, does it have a spirit core?’

When Aden

sent a peculiar look, Choco shivered, feeling a chill.

-…I know you’re more vicious than my kin, but please hold back.

‘What do you think I am? I won’t eat it, I won’t eat it.’

Fortunately, Aden wasn’t cruel enough to destroy a child’s innocence, so Choco’s belly stayed intact.

But he did smack his lips in regret.

* * *

About a week passed.

Aden, along with Elise, moved to a forest designated to be given to the Ents.

They were going to give them an appropriate place among the monster-infested mountains in the Remes territory.

Duke Fried gave Aden a certain degree of autonomy, allowing him to decide on this matter.

Thanks to the large-scale subjugation after the troll incident, the monsters in the area had been thoroughly cleared.

Since it was originally a restricted area for ordinary people, there was no friction with the residents.

When they arrived at the monster-infested mountain, Elise’s eyes sparkled as she marveled at the Ents.

“Wow, it’s my first time seeing fairies! Amazing! They all have leaves on their heads!”

The Ents were busy building their village in the forest.

Several huts were built above and below the trees.

Although only a few days had passed, the village had taken a rough shape.

The Ents’ method of weaving their dwellings from dead branches and soil was simple.

At Elise’s shout, the Ents finally noticed them.

“Ah, Chief! You’ve come!”

“Chief Aden, welcome!”

When he arrived, all the Ents stopped their work and welcomed him enthusiastically.

They looked like a pack of dogs greeting their owner.

The young Ent, Ets, appeared among them and greeted him politely.

“Hello, Chief.”

“Yes, Ets. Do you like the forest?”

Ets’s face lit up with joy at his question and nodded vigorously.

“Yes! The trees and the ground are healthy, so I really like this forest! Everyone is satisfied! It’s all thanks to you, Chief!”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

At Ets calling him chief, Elise tilted her head, puzzled, and looked at him curiously.

“Chief?”

“…It’s nothing, don’t mind it. Got it?”

“Okay!”

“Let’s start with introductions. Elise, this young Ent is Ets. Ets, this is Elise, the saintess of the Sacred Fire Order.”

“Hello? Nice to meet you!”

“Uh, y-yes. Me too.”

When Elise warmly greeted him and shook hands, Ets was flustered but did not pull away.

Ents naturally feared humans, having lost many of their kin to them.

But Elise was still young, and perhaps due to her saintly aura, he didn’t seem uncomfortable.

Aden asked Ets.

“Where is Ehad?”

“If you go over there, he’s inside the hut.”

“Alright. Elise, stay with Ets for a bit.”

“Okay, got it.”

Leaving Elise with Ets, Aden walked towards the hut.

Inside, Ehad greeted him.

“Greetings, Chief.”

“How is the task I asked you to do?”

Ehad’s face lit up with pride.

“I just finished deciphering the ancient text. I also finished analyzing the egg.”

“Good. You did well.”

Ehad was originally the chief of the Ent tribe, and the only one among the survivors who had learned the fairy language.

He also possessed extensive knowledge about the fairy tribe.

Aden had asked him to analyze a mysterious black egg and a book.

‘It’s fortunate that he survived.’

If Ehad had been sacrificed by the warlocks, saving the Ent tribe would have been in vain.

Ehad picked up the black egg and explained.

“First, about this egg, it appears to be an egg of a mythical beast.”

“A mythical beast’s egg?”

Aden’s eyes widened in surprise.