My Duke Won't Die!

For a few days, it was a march where no sounds were heard except the sound of horseshoes.

It was a very strange thing.

Even though it was said to be a principle to not speak when marching, if the march lasted for this length of time, conversations would take place to at least get rid of boredom.

However, in the fairly large order of knights now passing through Baron Berkrum’s estate, no one spoke.

Instead, there were only envious eyes looking at a man riding a horse in the middle of the procession.

The man’s eyes and forehead were hard to see. It was because he had deeply pressed the hat attached to his cloak to block the sand carried by the winds of the wilderness.

However, the tight mouth over the sharp and sharp jawline, the smooth nose bridge, and the wrinkle-free black suit with a black cloak on top of it were enough to show the serious and thorough character of the man.

The man looked like he didn’t even care about the gaze of the knights around him.

He may have already gotten used to these gazes, or maybe it was because he was thinking so deeply about something that he couldn’t even notice them.

Whatever the reason, the man was looking straight ahead without moving, and the march was still quiet.

Until a small squeak next to him was heard.

“Duke, we will arrive at the village soon.”

The Knight Commander, who came down from the front of the procession to the center, took off his helmet and put it on his side.

His brown hair mixed with gray strands was fluttering in the unpleasant heat of the wind.

“I see.”

The man answered. It was a rather young voice compared to his calm behavior. The knight commander asked with a cautious attitude towards such a man.

“Duke, are you really planning to hire only one hunter as the guide?”

“Yes.”

There was no further explanation. It was as if he had decided that way and would not accept any further objections.

“…….”

Seeing such a man, the knight commander let out an inaudible sigh.

Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t understand why the man had made that decision.

Usually, in the march of the knights, it was the principle to select only one guide.

In order to recruit other necessary mercenaries, it was possible only after clarifying the reason for the recruitment and obtaining permission from the imperial family. It was a law made so that the hired help would not be used as a shield for the nobles in case of danger.

And the ones who know best about the characteristics of monsters were monster hunters who made money by hunting such monsters, so it was correct that the hired guide should be a hunter.

The only thing that bothered the commander was that monster hunters were not very polite people.

It was clear that hunters, people who were among the lower classes, did not even know basic manners.

In addition, there was no guarantee that the hunter would not be tempted by other nobles and engage in blasphemous acts in a situation where numerous nobles already restrained the Duke.

Dying while hunting monsters was a good excuse that did not give suspicions, and above all else, the anxiety was even greater because they had already experienced a similar situation on the way to this place.

It might have been better to hire several hunters than to blindly obey the law. If there was a guide that could be replaced at any time, they will not be able to act hastily.

However, the man he was serving would never betray the principle of selecting only one. He was a man who valued his honor and duty as an aristocrat above all else. 

The knight commander, who looked at the man with his mouth firmly shut, eventually gave a silent nod instead of answering.

However, he was only worried about the countless thoughts that were overflowing under the man’s indifferent expression.

‘I wish he would share a little more.’

The knight commander, who let out a short sigh without the man’s knowledge, continued with a carefully decorated cheerful voice.

“Looks like that is the entrance to the village. Hopefully, we will be able to find a decent hunter.”

Instead of answering, the man briefly nodded his head and then slowly took off the hat he was wearing according to the custom that he must show his face when visiting.

“Oh, my……”

“Wow……”

At that moment, what burst out from the still quiet knights was an instinctive admiration.

But the man was still unaware of it, and he merely looked straight ahead in thought.

* * *

The town square was noisy with people waiting for the coming of the capital nobles.

“……Tsk.”

And in the meantime, Ella, holding an ax that had recovered its color to the extent that it seemed to be used for wood cutting, angrily clicked her tongue.

It was because the village chief, Rob Gleason, was passionately winking next to the podium in the square.

Of course, she was well aware that wink meant, ‘You remember our deal, right? You didn’t forget, right?’.

But she couldn’t shake the thought that it would be nice if he could stop doing it. It was because he looked too ugly that she wanted to pretend not to know.

“What’s wrong with Mr. Gleason?”

Moria that was standing next to her also noticed how strange Rob was behaving.

Ella clenched her teeth and answered Moria’s question, who frowned as if he had seen something terrible.

“It’s because he’s going senile.”

“Isn’t he doing that only to you?”

“Looks like he’s only going senile at me. Damn old man.”

“……”

“Well, enough of that. Have you heard anything about the nobles that are coming this time?”

At Ella’s question, Moria quickly nodded his head.

He wanted to talk about the rumors related to that, but Moria had only been walking on eggshells. 

“Of course, I heard! The person coming this time must be a very high noble. It seems that he had received the order to complete the ‘Monster Encyclopedia’ directly from the Crown Prince.”

“No way……‘That’ Monster Encyclopedia?”

“Yes! ‘That’ Monster encyclopedia!”

Ella shook her head in disbelief at Moria’s words.

It seems that the ‘research on monsters’ that Rob was referring to was to write a book about the monsters.

The Encyclopedia of Monsters was one of the most famous rumors circulating in this town a long time ago.

The rumor that a book containing all types of monsters, their characteristics, and their laws of destruction would come out was the most welcomed news for hunters who made a living by hunting.

But soon the rumors faded. Because no one ever appeared to write it.

Well, it was natural. Finding the law of destruction of monsters was literally life-threatening work.

If you break the magic stone, the monster dies.

If you don’t break the Mana Stone, the monster will not die and move on no matter how much damage it takes.

Monster hunting consisted of a very simple causal rule, but the monster hunters died or lived according to that causal rule.

To hunt a monster that everyone knew what the law of destruction was, they had to devise a strategy to hunt it.

However, if a monster no one knew where the mana stone was located appeared, the risk of hunting sharply increased. It was because it was very difficult to find the mana stone in living monsters.

The mana stone was a dark red bead the size of a thumbnail and did not even reflect light.

It was very difficult to find the place where such a small bead was lodged in a large monster without dissecting it.

Of course, there was no way to kill a monster without breaking the magic stone.

However, if the method of finding it was to cut off the monster’s head, the story was different.

But, In the end, it meant that it would be impossible for a single nobleman to find a way to the law of destruction unless he had the skills to cleanly cut the monster’s head off right after meeting a higher-level monster for the first time.

Leaving behind a number of questions that came to mind, this was the first thing Ella asked. 

“So how long are they staying here?”

“Well, maybe until they find all the laws of destruction. He must have been ordered to come back only after finishing writing it.”

“Wow.”

As soon as she heard Moria’s answer, Ella was sure of two things. 

One was that the noble who was coming now was deeply hated by the Crown Prince, and the other was that the Crown Prince was obviously working on a way to send someone he didn’t like to his death without being questioned by anyone.

Otherwise, the curse of ‘Go to the western border and become monster food’ would not have been changed into the noble command of ‘Go and write an illustrated book about monsters’.

At that moment, Ella frowned at the faint feeling that crossed her head again.

“Ah, this story is so familiar……”

The name that had been running around in her mind for days, but not popping out, was tickling the tip of her tongue.

It was Ella who remembered not only the schemes of the crazy but beautiful Male Lead but also the feelings of the Female Lead, whose mental breakdown was caused by the death of her family, Ella even remembered the structure of the palace, which was roughly mentioned.

However, she could not remember the name of the ‘noble who died while going to the border at the orders of the Crown Prince’.

‘I’m sure he’s not a very important person…… The problem is that I have a faint memory. This means that the incident was mentioned in the novel……’

No matter how much I thought about it, it was the starting point of the plot.

Around the time Ella let out a short sigh at the unresolved question, a horn sounded from over the hill. It was the sound announcing the march of nobles.

“……let’s quit. I’m not even going to get involved in the plot anyway, why I should care.”

Ella stopped her thoughts and lifted her head.

The knights would arrive soon, so it was enough if she could see the face of a handsome nobleman and go back.

No, actually, she wasn’t even looking forward to it. No matter how noble he was, he can’t keep up with the beauty of the crazy pretty, ex-favorite Gerard Acelanus.

‘He’s a piece of garbage, but his face was the best… ‘

“Here they come!”

While Ella regretted not being able to see Gerard’s appearance, someone shouted. His fingertips were pointing at two knights on large horses that appeared on the road to the village.

The villagers and hunters who had been waiting since morning lifted their heads.

“It’s finally coming!”

“It’s a nobleman’s procession. It’ll be cool, right?”

This was one of the small villages near the border.

Although Baron Berkrum used to visit often, it was only natural that the visit of a capital noble would be a big event, as this march was not “applied” to riding in a small wagon with only one servant and one knight.

The knights who took the lead of the march wore silver-colored armor and held a large flag in their hands.

On the flag with the coat of arms of the traveling noble, black rocky mountains and white winter trees were strangely harmonized in the shape of a shield. 

After that, eight knights with swords followed, followed by a small black double-headed carriage with a wizard pattern and four knights escorting the carriage.

And finally, the moment when dozens of knights lined up in rows and columns, the head of this order and the nobleman of the capital who was clearly hated by the Crown Prince appeared.

“Wow.”

Moria sighed in admiration without knowing it.

It was because the appearance of the nobleman was beyond what he had imagined.

His face, whose forehead was exposed through his jet-black hair, was in perfect harmony.

The straight and neat eyebrows, sharp yet moist eyes, a tall nose, and tightly closed lips matched perfectly, and the angular and sharp jawline underneath completed the excellent features.

Moria truly had never seen such a handsome good-looking figure in his life.

The man’s dark amber eyes showed a cold yet determined character.

The straight back made the tall man look taller, and his solid and reliable body was revealed at first glance under the black robe adorned with a silver collar.

He had some unusually deeply sunken eyes, nonetheless, the man’s attitude toward the villagers was so dignified that no one could refute the fact that he was a leader of a big and old family.

“A-Are the Capital nobles supposed to be that handsome? Somehow, very……he looks like a true aristocrat.”

It was when Moria, who tried his best to portray the man’s face in words, turned his head to see Ella’s reaction.

Moria was perplexed.

“……Lane?”

The three years he had known Ella wasn’t a very long time, but it wasn’t a very short time either. And he guarantees that in those three years he’s never seen Ella Lane make a face like this.

“Nonsense….”

Ella had a face filled with great shock.