3.

Another month quickly passed by and the thing that I'm waiting for... arrived. The letter of summon from the emperor of Hebrion Empire.

Gilltian Jedgar F. Rougepalace

The current Emperor holding the reins and fate of the Empire. He is a friend of my father, a sworn brother.

And now, that emperor sent a letter of summon towards me, the current Duke of Blackwood territory.

Looking at the letter in my hand, Wilhelm looked at me with worry.

"Young Lord, let me go to the palace and let me do the talking." Wilhelm said to me.

"Uncle, I told you to call me by my name. After all you're like a family to me." I said while looking at Wilhelm, not answering his question.

"Please, Young Lord, at least this old bag of bones still has his influence within the empire." Wilhelm insisted me.

"Uncle, I'll go. If you go, who'll manage the territory? Besides, its just a summon." I said carelessly.

"Aegis, let me warn you, don't underestimate the nobles, especially the emperor, one wrong move and everything will be gone." Wilhelm said with a solemn tone.

'Of course I know that. Nobles are more than hyenas, they're bloodsuckers, no... its too light to call them bloodsuckers, because they will gnaw down even the bones for the sake of profits, influence, and power. They will surely pressure the Emperor to take back the title of Duke and the territory bestowed to our family. Considering that he just sat down on the throne, he can't make a rash move either.' I thought to myself.

"See? Calling me by my name isn't hard at all, right, Uncle?" I said with a chuckle.

Wilhelm sighed, looking at Aegis, he didn't know what to feel, sometimes he is mature but sometimes always acts like a child without a care in the world.

"Aegis, take this seriously. Let me go instead." Wilhelm continued insisting.

"Uncle, you're mistaking something." I said as Wilhelm felt the change coming from my tone.

"I'm not underestimating anyone. Not the Emperor, not the nobles, and not even the commoners. We've learned it the hard way because we underestimated the commoners too much." I said with a solemn voice.

'You also died because I overestimated myself while underestimating the enemy.' I thought as I looked at Wilhelm.

Seeing the blue eyes staring at him, Wilhelm felt like a beast was staring at him from the shadows.

"Wilhelm, obeys." Wilhelm said as a slight smile emerged from my lips.

"Don't worry about me, Uncle. Hold down the fort while I'm gone." I said but Wilhelm shook his head.

"Let me accompany you, Young Lord. The officials can handle the territory for a month without me. You can be rest assured about the territory. Let this old man accompany you." Wilhelm said and I pondered about it.

'Hmmm. Its not like I'll be gone for a month. At most, it will take weeks.' I thought of the pros and cons of the situation.

"What about the security of the territory while you're gone, won't we be attacked again?" I asked Wilhelm.

"Yes, we're going to be fine even if an army invade us... unless, they bring a 6th circle mage. The Captain of the duke territory can fight against a 5th circle mage and possibly kill them if given a chance." Wilhelm explained the current Duke's army strength to me.

'So it means that, quite a number of 6th circle mages and swordsman surrounded my father to assassinate him quickly.' I suddenly thought about the assassination that took place at the manor.

'How did they fail in finding me then? A 6th circle mage have plenty of means to find me who was hiding in the secret room.' I thought as I question myself. Shaking my head, I shook it off my mind and answered Wilhelm.

"Fine, the sooner we leave, the sooner we return. Prepare the carriage." I said as Wilhelm bowed his head and left the room.

I went to take a shower, at first, the maids offered to help me clean my body but I forbid them from doing so. The shower was the only place where I can cool my head.

'Although I've been through a lot in the previous run, there's still a lot of things that I don't know about.' I thought as the cold water brushed through my skin. After cleaning myself up, I went to my wardrobe and started dressing formally. A light blue suit and a crest that symbolizes our family, a tower shield, representing the deeds of my ancestors as well as my father's.

I brushed the silvery-white hair that I inherited from my mother and styled it to a formal one. Looking at the blue eyes that I inherited from my father, I smiled. Others might call it overly handsome but in my eyes, its just because of the uniqueness of the color of my hair that always catches the attention of the others. Compared to Lucifer, he's miles ahead from me in terms of charm.

I finished wearing my tie when I heard a soft knock.

"Young Lord, the head butler have already prepared the carriage and is waiting for you." I recognized the voice of the head maid.

I slowly walked over and opened the door. I saw the old lady who served my family for ages. I've heard he even took care of my father when he was young.

"Thank you, Aunt Lisa. I'll be coming down." I said as Lisa bowed her head.

"Its a pleasure, Young Lord." Lisa then stepped aside to make way. The maids, butlers, and servants, lined up in front of the manor as I walked towards the carriage Wilhelm prepared.

"May your journey be successful, Young Lord." They all knelt with their heads bowed.

"Rise. We will return in a few days." I said as they rose from the ground and entered the carriage. Wilhelm is going to be the carriage driver.

I looked at the fading manor one last time before fixing my eyes ahead of the road.

During the month, Wilhelm taught me everything once more. He, with the help of Lisa, taught me the noble etiquette. He then started lecturing me on how to run the territory properly. I listened to their lectures properly.

I have also started going hard on training the spear. Wilhelm merely gave an advice from time to time because the spear is not his specialty. He invited the vice-captain of the Duke's army to teach me the basics of Imperial Spearmanship. I already knew them but I just decided to follow it to stop Uncle Wilhelm from nagging at me for stabbing the space with a spear more than a thousand times.

Some of the Imperial Spearmanship's moves were very practical in my opinion, but they are mostly straying away from the essence of spearmanship because there are too many ornamental moves within and the style was not polished enough.

"Young Lord, its going to take us quite a while to reach the capital." Wilhelm said as I opened a book about this world's past historical events.

"Uncle Wilhelm, just take the shorter route. I want to get back home as fast as possible. I still have a lot of things to do." I replied making Wilhelm chuckle as he made the horses run faster.