He's My Real Brother, Duke

The Duke of Anais and Lord Retro were standing beside Miles.

“If you conspire, you will have to pay the penalty.”

Miles was brought to hunt monsters in exchange for giving Duke Anais information he did not want to know.

‘Why– why the hell did we come here to hunt monsters on the day of the swordsmanship competition!’

Duke Anais, who looked at the alarmed Miles, smiled happily.

“You will fight a monster’s war with me,” said Duke Anais.

“Mo? Mo— Monster?! Me? The war will definitely come next spring… There are no flags, weapons, or knights here…” Miles answered.

“You can become a knight.”

Duke Anais tilted his head as he looked at him as if Miles was out of breath.

“Astel said she wanted the shells of thirty mammoths.”

Like that happy expression on his face, Duke Anais came to this place with a proud heart.

Of course, the fact that the aide took the head of the treatment center alive also contributed to the Duke’s joy.

‘Astel’s asking me to do something… Isn’t this actually the first time?’

Sir Retro, who was standing next to the inspired Duke, kept up to the beat.

“After all, Astel knows something. The skin of a monster mammoth is perfect to wear for cold weather instead of fur.”

The Duke smiled mildly as he looked at Lord Retro, who was unbecoming.

“That’s right.”

On the other hand, at their conversation, Miles was astonished.

‘Crazy, even Astel is out of her mind!’

Miles thought to himself, making his shriveled shoulders even more hunched over.

‘I’m the only one who’s sane here, like an old man with a hump who lives in snobbery.’

“Sir, I think a day or two will suffice!”

Looking at Sir Retro stood confidently, Miles clicked his tongue inwardly.

In fact, it takes a normal knight about three or four days to catch ‘one mammoth’. For a knight with good physical strength, it takes one day, and a half day for a magic swordsman.

“No way.”

The head of the treatment center also agreed to it,  ‘Although the Duke was like a monster, how can he catch 30 mammoths in a day or two?’

However, the words from the Duke’s lips far exceeded the expectations of the director of the treatment center.

“Let’s finish it in exactly six hours from now. I can’t wait to see you…” said Duke Anais referring to Astel.

As soon as those words were spilled, the wilderness soon echoed with the dreadful screams of Miles, which were mixed with mammoths being slashed everywhere.

Exactly six hours later…

The corpses of thirty mammoths were scattered across the plain. The Duke of Anais was smiling merrily with his leather-sheathed sword, and Sir Retro hummed along.

Even then, Miles, who had managed to stay alive, was still in shock, experiencing all these situations alongside the monstrous Duke Anais.

“I will collect the shells right away, Sir.”

Unlike Miles, Retro seemed very familiar with their situation.

Duke Anais slightly nodded at Retro’s loyal words.

“Tear off the monster’s skin so that it doesn’t leave any scars from the shells.”

The Duke laughed like a demon returning from hell and added, “Finish it immediately.”

The Duke, who had been peeling the mammoth’s skin for a while, wiped the blood off his face and sprayed perfume on his wrist while looking in a mirror he had prepared in advance.

Not only Miles as well as Sir Retro was startled at the Duke’s behavior.

‘Hah… Am I not the crazy one to frame myself and catch the eyes of such a beast… ?’  Miles thought inwardly.

Miles, regretting his past actions 50,000 times, already clenched his teeth again. He vowed to himself to live safely in the northern treatment center and make sure to lead a decent, quiet life from this day on.

“Oh, so you were still alive?”

It was only after the plains became calm again that Duke Anais approached the chief of the treatment center with an indifferent, cold expression on his face.

“Good. I have something left to ask you.” said the Duke.

Wouldn’t it be possible to hear the word ‘ask’ and understood it as ‘torture’?

… Miles, the ambitious treatment center director, now just wanted to survive and escape from his dire situation.

Of course, Miles doesn’t know if that would be even possible…

Finally, the first dawn of the swordsmanship competition came.

At sunrise, Astel woke up from an early sleep and rose solemnly.

Unfortunately, to her, the Duke was also a suspect of being the most likely to be the final villain.

Having sent the Duke to the northernmost tip of the territory, it was now time for Astel to thoroughly inspect the things she had been preparing while carefully walking inside the Duke’s Castle.

First, I smelled the medicinal herbs inside the arena where the knights trained.

‘Even the grass at the swordsmanship arena was well planned.’

The Meili herb has been used well. And… I stared down at the bottom of the《 Magic Contract 》. 

The contract of the Silver Fox family brought by Bell was special.

Because the real name of the person who tried to figure out the contents of this contract and forcibly used such dirty tricks to know the contents of the contract was written down.

I took a deep breath as I stared at the name with a calm gaze.

‘… I can definitely catch him.’

So far, my plan has been running flawlessly. However, one more supplement was needed for it to be perfect.

After returning from a walk and taking off my bonnet, I implicitly spoke to Jenny, who helped me change.

“Jenny.”

“Yes? What is it?” asked Jenny.

Astel continued, “Well, I have one last favor to ask of you.”

I whispered in Jenny’s ear, handing her over a hundred flyers I worked hard on yesterday.

“By the time I tell you, be sure to put it in the arena,” Astel added.

“Yes? Why is this…”

“That’s…”

I leaned again to whisper in Jenny’s ear. Jenny, who was puzzled by my ambiguous instructions, as soon as she heard my explanation, nodded her head and gave applause.

“Astel, that’s a great idea!”

“Yes, it’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

It was something that had to be prepared without loopholes.

I was very nervous, but Jenny and I glanced at each other and smiled brightly.

As for the announcement, the swordsmanship competition starts at 2 pm when the sun was bright.

As a result, I had some time left after lunch and was enjoying tea time of a harmonious afternoon with some maids and healers I used to be with.

Ricardo joined in the middle, but fortunately, not everyone felt very uncomfortable. Jenny, who had been tidying up my hair, has already made a fuss for the 10th time.

“It must be very heartbreaking for the knights to hear that the Duke has expressed his intention not to participate in the swordsmanship contest!”

“Ah…”

“How urgent is it that he can’t shine in the swordsmanship competition?”

“… Hahaha.”

I changed the subject with an awkward smile, “Oh, by the way.”

I went to the treatment center today, and there was something I was curious about.

“Where is the director of the treatment center?”

The youngest healer spoke out,  “The director had been absent without notice since yesterday.”

“It’s clear even if you don’t look for him. He was taken alive while trying to make a naughty ploy again!”

Ricardo’s face crumpled even scarier and spoke,

“That guy, I knew it would happen! I was contemplating on where to take him if I caught him working behind and backstabbing people again.”

Ricardo especially hated the head of the treatment center.

Of course, Director Miles was the typical villain who tormented me, but…

Then Jenny tilted her head and said, “Aren’t there a lot of people who are absent today?”

“Lord Retro also isn’t here.”

I laughed awkwardly and adjusted the rhythm of the conversation.

“It’s such a busy time these days, so maybe everyone has something to do?”

“I guess so, As expected, Astel is smart.”

Astel’s lips gape slightly and nodded as she looked at Sally’s glistening eyes.

By the way…

Where did the real chief of the treatment center go? I thought he was trying his best to catch the eyes of his superiors, at the swordsmanship competition.

Furthermore, I tilted my head in a rather unpleasant situation and drank a cup of tea with rosemary leaves.

Finally, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the day of the decisive battle dawned.

I entered the swordsmanship arena.

In the past, the site of the swordsmanship competition, which renovated the Colosseum of the Beasts, consisted of a huge flat stage where a gladiatorial play took place under a round dome-shaped roof, and a grandstand.

Besides, as it was a place where the previous Duke who had an extraordinary talent for not only swords but also magic, devoted himself to it, no magic worked here.

‘You can’t use the magic itself here. Except for the magic potion I had taken beforehand.’

Since the effects of the magic potions taken in advance could not be prevented, the doping test was more thorough only for the knights participating in the competition.

Of course, Bazel also knows that the power of the Artifact doesn’t work in this place.

But since he took the Meili herb, he felt safe entering the competition with confidence, thinking that the transformation would never fade.

I sat down and looked ahead.

The Sword Competition was to begin soon.

The swordsmanship competition consisted of the first, second part, and final rounds.

Between the preliminary and the finals, there was a sword dance similar to a kind of talent show, where the successors of each family showed how to handle swords in front of all knights.

Since the four vassal families have often had invisible conflicts, the four successors representing the family have been diligently preparing for this sword dance by hiring a teacher.

Bell, a close friend of mine which was a baby silver fox, would also participate in the sword dance.

While I was looking forward to the sword dance, I was planning to watch the first part of the swordsmanship competition with moderate tension.

However, the swordsmanship competition was too exciting to overlook.

“What is that?” 

“That swordsmanship was created by a swordsman named Dritney himself, and he called it ‘cloud sword’ because you had to have a calm mind like a cloud when using that sword.”

I nodded and followed the sword that cut through the air with my eyes.

There were some who used flashy swordsmanship as if they were dancing rather than fighting, while others were using multiple swords at the same time.

A wonderful swordsmanship match that literally makes you sweat.

However, even among the great swordsmen, there was a degree of military service.

A person who destroyed everything with one swing of the sword, and created a unique method by mixing swordsmanship with fighting.

He was said to have even an ego sword, but despite his fame, he was a swordsman whose identity was shrouded in a veil…

“Certainly Sir Mayer is overwhelming.”

“Is that Sir Mayer?”

“Miss Astel, come to think of it, don’t you know who Lord Mayer is, do you?”

I shrugged at the sight of a lone wolf-like knight performing a splendid sword dance in front of my eyes.

Why don’t I know him? I knew him well.