#When I returned, my family was ruined (18)
They say that if a person is too absurd, they become speechless.
That was exactly the situation now.
Ethan tried to understand the situation.
The given situation was simple.
Some crazy guy suddenly approached me and threw a bag full of gold coins.
It was more than just being ignored, it was being openly insulted to the face.
‘If you live twice, all sorts of things happen.’
It was something I couldn’t even imagine in my past life.
Normally, as soon as I lifted up the pocket with no idea what was in it, my subordinates would have cut off my wrist.
The situation has been roughly figured out.
There wasn’t a single reason why I had to endure it.
Ethan’s new form became blurred.
The moment Ruin blinked his eyes.
Ethan was already right in front of him.
It was only for a moment that our eyes met.
Soon, Ruin’s eyes began to flash. It was an added bonus that I began to feel tremendous pain in my cheek.
“…uh?”
Could it be that I got hit right now?
This Ruin, the third son of Baron Kargath?
I was extremely embarrassed.
At the same time, anger rose up.
“What a dog…”
Ruin, who was about to speak, swallowed his saliva. Not only was he grabbed by the collar in an instant, but his body was lifted up into the air.
“You bastard! Don’t let it go quickly! How dare you, the third son of Baron Kargath…!”
I haven’t come to my senses yet.
I hit the guy in the face with a round trip.
Wow!
Wow!
Wow!
“Stop that!”
Ruin, who was struggling, urgently channeled the mana in his body.
A mana breathing method that my father taught me a long time ago.
Through that, he accumulated quite a lot of mana and achieved a level in his own way. He is a skilled person who can easily beat a 2-star knight.
Ruin, who had gathered a lot of mana, put his hand towards his collar.
I was thinking of smashing his wrists. Ethan, who saw the guy’s mana, laughed lowly.
‘This bastard also learned the Mana breathing method by stealing it.’
It wasn’t a low-level mana breathing method learned by training knights, like the one the leader of the Red Scorpions used last time.
It was a high-level mana breathing method learned only by knights who were considered elite in their families.
‘But something’s a little strange.’
What he learned was clearly the advanced mana breathing technique.
But…
‘I think I learned it too clumsily.’
Why are you dealing with mana like this?
What would you do if your breathing techniques were advanced?
The guy who is actually handling it doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve.
I lightly grabbed his hand.
“Let go of this!”
Although it struggled roughly, it was not difficult to subdue it.
Quantity and quality of mana. And even the ability to control.
There was not a single field in which a fool could keep up with this.
Moreover, the knight who learned the family’s breathing method was no different from prey to his immediate descendants.
This was because direct descendants learned suppression methods suited to the family’s breathing method in case a family member betrayed them. Elena or Myers might not know it, but Ethan was different.
‘If it’s an advanced breathing method.’
When I touched some parts with mana flowing in, the mana in the guy’s body disappeared as if it had been washed away.
“What! “Where’s my mana!”
Could it be that the mana hole was broken?
Ruin urgently examined his body. The mana hole was clearly still there.
But there is no mana?
What kind of harmony is this?
He looked urgently at Ethan.
He was the only one who could give an answer.
Ethan said with a grin.
“It was sealed.”
“…seal?”
“You will no longer be able to use mana without my permission.”
Advanced breathing techniques.
This was a skill given only to knights who had outstanding skills, qualities, and loyalty within their families.
If a knight who properly understood the trick had stretched out his hand, it would not have been easy to seal the mana, even for him.
However, sealing this bastard’s mana was easier than letting out a yawn.
It meant that this guy didn’t know anything about how to manipulate mana.
“…You can’t use mana?”
“Let’s get it right first.”
Bah!
Fists began raining down on Ruin’s body without stopping.
Each blow was so painful that it made my bones ache.
But I couldn’t scream. I don’t know what kind of harmony they were trying to achieve, because their voices didn’t come out.
‘Ugh!’
He screamed in his mind hundreds of times.
Then, my mind gradually became dark.
* * *
Baron Kargath’s third son or something rolled his eyes.
Ethan frowned.
This was because it turned out that his trouser legs had become wet.
I immediately threw him on the floor of the training ground.
Ethan’s eyes naturally turned to the bastard’s servant.
“…Hi! Please save me! Grand Duke!”
“name.”
“This is Shuron. “This is Lu Yin, the third Confucius…”
“Why did you come?”
“The Baron asked me to deliver the support fund along with the invitation.”
Ethan held out his hand.
Shuron, who was looking at the unconscious Ruin and Ethan’s hands in turn, spoke hastily.
“Um… Archduke!”
“why.”
“That’s it! “The amount that the Three Dukes handed over earlier is only one-tenth of the original amount!”
I didn’t know what kind of trouble I would face if I said that the subsidy was 10 gold pieces lying around on the floor.
No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like it would only be acceptable if it was 100 gold.
“A tenth?”
“yes. “That’s actually…”
He started spewing out everything he knew.
“So, that bastard was trying to steal 90 out of 100 gold?”
“Yeah! you’re right!”
At first glance, he looked like trash, but he was just that.
I was so glad that he beat me to the point where I fainted.
“Bring it.”
“yes!”
Soon after, Shuron searched through Ruin’s arms and handed him a piece of paper along with 100 gold.
Ethan, who was reading the contents, chuckled.
To sum it up in one line, it was about getting along well from now on.
He tore the paper.
“Hey… Archduke?”
“what.”
“Are you planning on declining the invitation?”
“That’s not it.”
In any case, in order to take care of the Baron, I had to go to his home base.
If you are planning to visit, it would be a good idea to take an invitation and take a horse-drawn carriage.
“Wait.”
“yes!”
Ethan entered the hunting annex.
Myers and Hans.
The two had already left for Count Pernes.
The only people left in the annex were Elena and her attendants.
I walked towards Elena.
“sister.”
“huh?”
“Are you learning what I taught you well?”
“huh. “Mana gathered faster than expected.”
Recently, Elena has been teaching simple self-defense techniques along with the Breath of the Black Flame. Even if a situation arises where she is left alone, at least she can protect herself.
Perhaps because he received a blessing from the Fire Lord, he was following along with his classes easily.
‘At my current level, I should be able to suppress even a 1-star knight without difficulty.’
It was truly a huge improvement compared to the past, when it seemed difficult to properly suppress even a gangster, let alone a 1-star knight.
“Make sure you practice hard.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going to visit Baron’s.”
“huh? Why all of a sudden?”
“It’s time to collect taxes. “I’m going to go and see if there are any problems.”
“okay? okay. Have a nice trip, Ethan.”
“uh. And soon, my sister will have an escort driver.”
“huh? Escort driver?”
“I got some help from someone I knew.”
Elena’s face became confused.
“A guard knight…”
“My sister is the eldest daughter of the Ardan dukedom. “You have to get used to this now.”
“Yes. “Thank you Ethan.”
“It will take about a week at most to come back.”
“okay.”
After telling the story to Elena, Ethan packed his bags.
All he took was a two-handed sword.
‘I sent a letter to Jayron.’
He was the eldest son of the Marquis of Bessus. The Marquis is one of the merchant families in charge of imports and exports in the Kingdom of Heidern.
Although the trend has declined since the support fifteen years ago.
‘If you are the Marquis of Bessus, you must have enough power to enter the palace.’
I handed over one of the products I already knew about and even heard that it was selling successfully.
Now that you’ve given a helping hand, it’s time to get something in return.
The first thing I asked Jayron to do was to submit an appeal to the king.
A crystal ball engraved with a scene showing the family secret being stolen and a crystal ball engraved with a scene showing a blatant violation of the vassal contract.
A copy of each crystal sphere was made and delivered along with the letter.
What if Jayron uses his family’s power to submit an appeal to the palace?
‘pass.’
What if you can’t?
‘fail.’
It was better to get a passing grade if possible. No matter how much he remembered the past, he couldn’t have an incompetent person as his colleague.
Besides that, I added one more simple request.
It was asking Elena to post the marquis’ article.
Myers, the fourth.
For the collateral forces pushing him, there was nothing good about touching Elena.
It was already well-known that the youngest child followed his older sister well.
Still, you don’t know what’s going on in the world.
There is no harm in preparing for an emergency. Since I couldn’t hire a clumsy mercenary, I asked Jayron for a separate favor.
‘I said it would be attached within three days.’
That was enough to reassure me.
I went out and got into the carriage.
The carriage started towards the Baron.
The place where the Baron was located was the small town of Poet.
It was the most developed place in the barony and also the place where their hometown was located.
Perhaps thanks to the carriage ride, I was able to reach Poet in one day.
As I passed through the gate, I saw a lot of people crowded around the territory.
It was a city too big to be compared to a village. Even after entering the outer castle, I ran for a while.
Only then did the city’s tolerance begin to show.
It was a bigger place than I thought.
‘It’s gorgeous.’
Compared to the hunting annex where my sister and other family members lived, it was a palace-like space.
In my past life and in this life.
Both times, the dukedom sacrificed everything in the family to stop the dragon people.
But the result was….
‘It was to enrich those collaterals who didn’t even play any role.’
I suddenly felt dirty.
Even in my past life, there were plenty of guys like that. These guys grew up by sucking the blood that others shed.
It was nice to at least express gratitude for that fact.
But from what Ethan had seen, it was mostly the opposite.
‘It’s still like that.’
The duchy has maintained low tax rates for its residents for a long time.
But what about now?
Within seven years after the 10th collateral family came to the throne, the duchy’s taxes were raised to a level close to the highest tax rate specified in the contract.
When I first heard it, I was so shocked that I almost exploded with anger.
The reason they were criticized for acting like that was because they had no choice but to become operatives.
This wasn’t their only rampage. From the lower ranks of the family that are spreading throughout the world at this very moment, to the direct descendants who should have benefited, were kicked out to a hunting annex with a poor environment.
Collateral 10.
They have gone far beyond the limit of mercy.
So, from now on, I plan to punish them. The starting point would be Baron Kargath, who is arriving now.
The carriage entered the castle.
“Im here!”
I got off the carriage at the words of the coachman.
I immediately felt the stinging gaze.
‘Did you say Ruin?’
It was a face that looked exactly like that guy.
Soon, the guy who was glaring this way approached Ethan.
“Where is the third one? “Did you, by any chance, move to a gambling den on your way there?”
“Why are you talking informally from the first time you meet me?”
“Just answer the question.”
Not only did their faces resemble each other, but even their arrogant dispositions were exactly the same.
“Is that what the Baron told you to do?”
“what?”
Dexter, the Baron’s second oldest son, frowned. The reason he was so energetic was probably because of Helmut’s politely written invitation.
I suddenly felt worse.
What on earth is that guy so scared that he sends his third child to deliver the invitation?
The Baron’s actions were too timid.
It only takes a day or two to look after a bastard who only believes in his family’s reputation.
Dexter had no intention of acting like Helmut.
He whispered quietly as if warning.
“It looks like you’re all cocky because you received an invitation from your father, so you’d better watch your actions. “You still don’t know where you are right now?”
This is Baron Kargath, one of the headquarters of the 10 collateral families.
Even if that guy ran wild like a thunderbolt outside, here he could be killed without even a rat or a bird noticing.
“This is the extent to which we can only trust one family member and watch him move forward. So just stay quiet and turn off. “Unless you want to have those thin limbs completely torn apart.”
“There’s nothing you can’t say to a direct descendant of the family.”
Dexter said with a sneer, as if he couldn’t stand those words.
“I never imagined that there would still be assholes who practice direct lineage, but I’m really surprised. but. “Is it worth it to be in a coma for ten years?”
Soon after, the guy whispered quietly.
“You have to face reality. Nothing is given to you now. “Ah, do you still have a little bit of the shallow reputation you gained by sacrificing yourself like an idiot?”
The idiotic citizens of the kingdom still died in the name of Ardan. For collaterals, the need for direct descendants ended there.
“What a fake sign. Your usefulness ends there. So, live quietly. Don’t show off without being noticed…”
Dexter couldn’t finish his sentence.
This was because the moment the Archduke’s arm moved, he flew into the air with a tremendous pain felt in his cheek.
dump!
“Wow!”
As soon as he let out a scream, his teeth fell out of his mouth.