We followed Head Steward Fernandez and passed through the inner wall.Once we crossed the wall, soldiers walking in neat ranks and prisoners being dragged along with their arms and legs bound in chains came into view.Clank, clank-.“Move it!”All we’d done was cross a single wall, yet unlike the bustling, lively city center, a cold, refined atmosphere washed over us.'The western front is made up of three walls in total.'The first you encounter is the inner wall.It’s the innermost wall that protects Dvralis’s city and its hundreds of thousands of citizens—what I’d just passed through.Next is the central wall.It sits between the outer and inner walls and serves as a buffer zone between them.Right now, the place I’d stepped into was also the buffer zone between the inner wall and the central wall.Here were the barracks where the Dvralis Knight Order, famed across the continent, and the most elite troops hardened in real combat lived, along with the prisons holding prisoners transported from every land.“……”Unlike the city guards who had murmured and stared, the soldiers and knights here gave me a cold look, then immediately turned their eyes away.They consistently ignored me without so much as a perfunctory greeting.'Unlike the city guard, these guys are elite troops who fight beasts on the very front line.'They went back and forth between the third wall—the outer wall—and the central wall, constantly rotating in and out of battles.For people who stared death in the face every day, the visit of someone like Loen wasn’t something worth paying attention to.In their eyes, Loen was just a brainless punk who strutted around, an idiot who had inherited the blood of House Dvralis and still hadn’t achieved anything on his own.As I quietly watched them, Fernandez smiled gently and tried to dissuade me.“Lord Loen, please do not take their attitude too much to heart. They’ve just returned from fighting at the outer wall yesterday and are tired, that is all.”“It’s fine, I don’t mind.”I knew all too well what they thought of me anyway.When I didn’t show any particular reaction, Fernandez said,“It seems you’ve grown a bit. In the past, you would have flown into a rage.”“Time changes a lot of things.”When I answered appropriately, Fernandez replied with a smile instead of words.Following behind him, we arrived at the fortress built on the central wall.House Dvralis’s fortress, which bridged the massive triple walls encircling the western front like a single continuous bridge.Commonly called the Black Keep.This enormous fortress, built atop the arch-shaped bridge connecting the walls, exuded an oppressive presence like a fortress floating in the sky.'Magnificent.'Seeing in reality the sight I’d only ever seen inside the game felt strangely moving.We climbed stairs as high as the wall itself and entered the inside of the fortress, built of rough black brick.When we followed Fernandez into the audience chamber, I saw a woman sitting on a chair decorated with a carved lion’s head.“Lord, I have brought the guests.”She saw us following behind Fernandez and broke into a broad grin.“You’re here!”Bang-.Slamming down the cup she’d been drinking from, the woman strode toward us with long, confident steps.Eyes full of confidence, a clear fighting aura blazing from her whole body.A tall frame and a physique honed by actual combat.Her long, poorly kept, rough black hair looked almost like a lion’s mane.She was the current head of House Dvralis and Loen’s older sister.'Aslan Dvralis.'She opened both arms wide to welcome me.“You’ve grown a lot, you little brat!”Squeeze-.Then she came right up to me and wrapped both arms around me in a crushing hug.“Ghk.”Her strength was so great that I felt a brutal pressure like my whole body was going to be crushed.Crack-.Her monstrous strength pierced even the suit with physical resistance; it felt like a giant sea serpent was coiling around me.'So this is about the level of a Swordmaster, huh.'Aslan widened her eyes when she saw how long I held out.“Ho, you’ve put on some muscle. Been working out, huh? Yeah?”“……Let go.”When I tried to break free with all my strength, Aslan looked over at Fernandez and burst into a hearty laugh.“Fernandez, did you hear that? He’s telling me to let go. Cack cack.”“It seems Lord Loen has grown quite a bit, daring to talk back to the head, my lord.”“I was wondering when he’d ever grow up, but I guess his head’s finally starting to harden? All right. I’ll let you go like you wanted.”“Kh.”Only then was I able to escape Aslan’s arms, gasping for breath.'Thought I was gonna die.'I get hit with an assassination attempt as soon as I come home, and my so-called sister greets her little brother this roughly, great.Rubbing my aching arms, I spoke with a bit of defiance.“With how rough you are, who’s ever going to marry you?”“What did you just say, you little bastard?”Whack-.Aslan smacked me so hard my skull felt like it might split.While I worriedly rubbed my head to check if it hadn’t actually cracked open, she immediately started looking for her next prey.“Ciel, you get over here too.”Having just watched me get manhandled with no resistance, Ciel swallowed dryly and bowed her head to Aslan.“……I must decline.”But—“Decline, my ass, get over here!”In the end, even Ciel struggled helplessly under Aslan’s monstrous strength.“Ugh.”Even Ciel, it seemed, wasn’t able to resist Aslan’s power, which was on a whole different level.After finishing her warm hug, Aslan’s gaze landed this time on Freya.“It’s been a while, Freya. You got way prettier since I last saw you. Make sure you visit often.”“Thank you.”Aslan looked ready to open her arms as usual, then smirked and lowered them.“You’re not one of my house’s people, so I’ll let you off. Ah, or do you want a hug from this big sister?”At those words, Freya’s face hardened coldly as she answered at once,“I’ll politely refuse.”After that boisterous round of greetings ended, Ciel asked in a curious voice,“Lord, but how did you know we were coming?”Aslan spent most of the year outside the outer wall in the disputed zone, destroying monster habitats.It was rare for her to be at the Black Keep like this, and yet she’d timed her presence perfectly with our arrival.“Ah, the Director told me beforehand. Said he’d send you earlier than scheduled. I’m sure Lord Wodanaz knows as well.”Aslan rested her hand on my head and grinned.“Then how about we hold a banquet to celebrate the prodigal son’s return?”***The banquet held to commemorate my return and Freya’s visit drew many figures of the house.Most of them were house members who were all built like boulders and were warriors.There were a few faces I recognized from the game, but most were strangers.“……”“Ahem.”“Tsk tsk.”They didn’t say it out loud, but the attendees openly had discontent written on their faces.They’d come because it was Aslan’s order and because Freya was visiting, but it was clear they all harbored displeasure toward me.'Well, I get it.'There’s no way they’d look kindly on Loen, who’d been smearing filth on the honored name of House Dvralis, respected by the people of the continent.On top of that, they’d probably had to clean up plenty of the messes Loen had made over the years, so it was perfectly understandable they held resentment toward me.Seeing the uneasy mood at a supposed banquet, Aslan finally stepped in to mediate.Clap, clap-.“Everyone, relax your faces. It’s a happy day, so you should all enjoy yourselves, shouldn’t you? We’ve got an esteemed guest, too.”With Freya in attendance as well, this kind of atmosphere wouldn’t do anything good for Aslan’s dignity.“……”At her persuasion, some of them loosened their expressions and reacted appropriately, but others still sat there with sullen looks.Most of those were the older elders of the house.They clearly hated the idea of throwing a banquet for me.“Haa.”Seeing that, Aslan let out a quiet sigh, then lowered her voice in warning.“Smile.”Fwoosh-.At that single word from Aslan, a chilling fighting aura spread through the air.Her sharp eyes swept across the banquet hall, and in the end everyone forced themselves to rile up a convivial mood.“Hahaha.”“Y-yes, yes. The lord is right.”“Well, can’t be helped.”“Since Lady Freya is here, let’s all toast.”Only then did Aslan let her grim expression relax and flash a grin.“Yeah, that’s more like it. All right, everyone raise your cups—cheers!”There were no long-winded toasts or florid phrases.At Aslan’s shout, everyone raised their cups high together.Since they all fought on the very front lines against monsters, no one merely sipped; they drained their cups in one go.And so the banquet began.As the food and drink flowed and pleasant music filled the air, the stiff atmosphere gradually loosened.Before long, the hall was filled with lively chatter.Ciel sat quietly by my side, cutting and eating her meat, while Freya beside her was struggling under a barrage of questions from the house elders.Whether the engagement was back on, when they were going to get married, whether she was really okay getting engaged again to a guy like Loen—They were getting way ahead of themselves and drinking their kimchi soup by the gallon.Looking pleased, Aslan, a bit deliberately drunk, slung an arm around my shoulder.“Ke-ke, anyway, this big sister is in a good mood. The Director praised you a lot, you know.”“……”“He may have a tendency to butter people up, but I can at least tell for myself whether it’s true or not. Looks like you finally stopped acting like a punk and got your head on straight?”“Well, yeah.”It seemed not all of my exploits at Union had made it here, but Aslan had heard enough to have an idea.“It’s a good change. Anyway, you’ll have to start heir training, right? You agreed to that much.”“……”Aslan suddenly brought up heir training. When I tilted my head, she frowned.“Why are you acting like you don’t know? You agreed to take heir training in exchange for being made Student Council President.”'So there was that kind of behind-the-scenes deal.'I knew Loen had gotten the Student Council President seat thanks to Aslan’s pull, but I hadn’t known there was this kind of bargain attached.But heir training, huh.'By default, succession of a title goes to the direct legitimate heir.'House Dvralis would eventually be inherited by Aslan’s offspring.If she truly had no heir, then I’d end up taking over, but was there really any need to start lessons now?Noting that my reaction wasn’t exactly enthusiastic, Aslan let out a deep sigh.“Loen. I’m living a life where I could die any day. The battlefield, where life and death flip with a single sword stroke or misstep, is my home. That’s what it means to fight on the very front lines against monsters. I need to have a successor chosen in advance.”Clack-.I put my cup down and asked her,“Then couldn’t you just not go to the front line?”I knew full well that Aslan took the lead and fought at the front.But what kind of commander goes out there every single day to fight personally.Just like she’d said, the battlefield was the line between life and death. A dangerous place where you never knew what could happen.Even if it was to boost the troops’ morale, there were limits. Honestly, it was a miracle she was still alive.Aslan shrugged.“If the commander doesn’t go out, who’s going to follow them? At the very least, House Dvralis has no need for a lord who only hides in the rear trying to protect their own life.”Glug glug-.Pouring wine into my cup, Aslan went on.“You’ll understand someday. You have to. But before that, there are a few things you need to learn. Crosen.”“Yes, my lord.”At Aslan’s command, a knight with a loyal look stepped forward.“During this vacation, put Loen under you and work him hard. At least until he qualifies as a centurion. The final goal is to grow him enough to be able to ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) take charge of guarding a section of the wall.”“By your command.”“You weren’t expecting some stuffy theory lessons just because I said heir training, were you?”At Aslan’s question, I slowly nodded.“Of course not.”Generally, a lord needed to understand tasks like the territory’s tax income and resource output, food production and troop mustering, administration, and so on.Depending on the situation, political ability to exert influence over subordinate minor houses and maintain good relations with neighboring powers would also be important.But for the head of House Dvralis, being a capable war commander, with the abilities and qualities that implied, was far more crucial than those things.House Dvralis was constantly at war with monsters, after all.'Well, from my perspective, this is better anyway.'Rather than sitting at a desk listening to boring heir lessons, I preferred moving myself and fighting directly.“I prefer practical combat to theory too.”When I accepted readily, Aslan grinned.“Good, that’s the spirit. Crosen, test Loen’s skills first thing tomorrow and assign him to your unit. Work him hard.”“Understood, my lord.”Just as the knight called Crosen bowed and answered Aslan—Clack-.I put down my fork and knife and wiped my mouth with a napkin.“There’s no need to wait until tomorrow.”“Hm?”I smiled at Aslan, who tilted her head.“A skill test. I don’t mind taking it right now. I’ll fight that knight Crosen or whatever right away.”

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