Chapter 17
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 17: The Iron-Blooded Duke
Dean Lind couldn’t answer a single question.
Midi didn’t require his response.
"Take him away," Midi said curtly with a sigh.
Objectively speaking, Dean Lind had done nothing wrong. He was always cautious, never daring to offend anyone. But choosing the wrong stance at the wrong time meant only one outcome – stepping down. Midi wouldn’t truly punish the dean; the Hamilton family would likely grant him a comfortable retirement.
Yet this newly Senator’s faction-labeled man became the perfect example to deter others.
Dean Lind offered a bitter smile, submitting silently as chains clamped his limbs. He shuffled away under the mixed gazes of students and teachers, his back bent like an old tree.
Nearby, Fenrir’s teeth ground audibly.
The dean meant little – a mere pawn. But those chains slapped Fenrir’s pride and rattled the Sais family’s authority!
How many years? How many resources? How many backroom deals had the Sais family poured into matching the Hamilton family’s influence at the Royal Magic Academy? Their first openly allied dean removed within five minutes? Right after announcing Fenrir’s victory?
This wasn’t mere faction skirmish. This was a barefaced humiliation!
Feeling Fenrir’s murderous glare, Midi deliberately turned his back, exposing an obvious opening.
Though mobilizing the Knight Order in one day and purging the academy’s Senator’s faction forces showed lightning efficiency, this only caught the Sais family off-guard. Their decades-long power struggle with the Queen’s faction wouldn’t end from one surprise attack.
But if Fenrir attacked now? Midi would gladly counterattack lethally.
"Move out!" Fenrir growled. The Sais heir stormed from the camp with three servants, not sparing a backward glance.
"Great nobles’ offspring do have self-control," Midi thought ruefully. Though Fenrir’s pride bled, the twice-lived Midi felt no triumph. His mind already raced through future possibilities.
"Troubled?" Fina’s voice cut through.
"War approaches… no, war’s overture begins?" Midi glanced at the red-haired girl.
Meeting his gaze, she grinned. "Relax. We’re teammates. I’m with you."
Her firm words pulled Midi from his thoughts, lifting his lips slightly.
Hadn’t this been his goal since rebirth?
"The Nibelungen Dragon Sealing Array needs three days to activate. Any plans before transmutation?" Fina pressed.
Midi’s pulse quickened. An invitation? Though they’d been intimate in his past life, the red-haired girl’s probing still rattled him.
"Just resting," he answered vaguely.
"Good. After the trial’s graduation ceremony, come to Hamilton Manor tomorrow." Fina’s tone turned serious. "Informal, but Grandfather wants to meet you."
Fina’s grandfather: Haidrich Hamilton. Grand Duke. "Queen’s Knight."
In Belmar Duchy, his name echoed through every street. He’d repelled Bantu invaders, brokered treaties in Xuzu alone, slaughtered pirates at Faero Bay – a living legend.
Yet also the duchy’s most terrifying noble.
Rumors told of a minor lord drunkenly doubting the duke’s valor at a feast. Next dawn, the duke sacked his lands, captured his household, and forced father and son to duel to death. When one prevailed, the duke himself beheaded the winner.
Unyielding. Autocratic. Unquestionable. Thus dubbed the Iron-Blooded Duke.
Compared to the Sais family’s Senator’s faction scheming, the Hamilton’s Queen’s faction seemed more brutal. Little wonder the Asreks family chose being the Senator’s cannon fodder over joining the Queen’s side.
In his previous life, Midi had never crossed paths with the Iron-Blooded Duke. His connection with Fina only began after the duchy’s fall. Though Midi had anticipated drawing the duke’s attention by becoming involved in Fina’s life, he never expected to face the man so soon.
Even Midi felt unprepared.
Perhaps the Iron-Blooded Duke had planned it this way, issuing his sudden informal invitation precisely to catch Midi off-guard.
After tending his wounds from the assassin’s attack and dressing formally, Midi rode the Hamilton family carriage to the duke’s mansion at dawn.
Guided by the red-haired girl, the black-haired boy traversed the mansion’s echoing corridors until they reached towering oak doors.
"Though I don’t know what the family head wants," Fina paused, locking eyes with Midi, "remember this—I’m myself, separate from the Hamiltons. Understood?"
Midi nodded, proceeding alone where even Fina couldn’t follow. Only the duke’s invited guests passed these doors.
His knocks echoed sharply.
"Enter." A gravelly voice commanded.
Golden light washed over Midi as he stepped inside.
The cavernous office held red sandalwood shelves crammed with books on magic, military tactics, and even mechanics. Opposite stood battle-worn weapons—notched greatswords, bloodstained axes, scarred war glaives. No decorations, only tools of war.
Behind a half-drawn velvet curtain, a man scribbled furiously at a massive desk. No greetings came, only the scratch of pen on paper. Midi waited silently.
Ten minutes passed before the writer looked up. "Midi Asreks. Skip formalities. Let’s talk plainly."
His chiseled face bore a trimmed beard, white-streaked hair bearing witness to decades of warfare. Though aged, he remained imposing as a mountain—Haidrich Hamilton, the Iron-Blooded Duke.
Even with reincarnated insight, Midi couldn’t gauge the duke’s strength. This suggested parity with Midi’s future self after two awakenings—an Awakened Expert.
"Can you speak for your family?" The duke stabbed to the heart.
"Yes." Midi answered instantly, recognizing the verbal battlefield. Hesitation meant defeat here.
"Good. The Asreks will swear fealty to House Hamilton. You’ll cede territory for my troops." The duke unfurled a map of Arad, Belmar Duchy mere colored parchment among nations.
His thick finger thudded near Forest of Gran—Asreks territory bordering the woodland separating Belmar from Delos Empire. A heavy inkwell pinned the claimed land, the duke’s expression brooking no argument.
So saving Hamilton’s genius heir merely bought territorial demands? White-hot anger surged through Midi.
Suppressing his fury, Midi bit out, "By what right do you claim our land?"
The duke chuckled, stroking his beard. "Reliable reports say Sais family mobilizes against you. A minor Count can’t stop them. My army can."
"So Hamilton ‘aid’ against Senator’s faction nobles costs land? How noble." Sarcasm dripped from Midi’s words.
"Fairness doesn’t exist, boy." The duke’s voice frosted at the challenge.
"True enough." Midi’s nod held icy calm.
"You’ll gain benefits." The duke leaned forward. "After transmutation, top-tier resources. A Knight title to guard my granddaughter. You want that, yes?"
"Fina’s idea?"
"She’ll comply."
Midi finally grasped the duke’s ruthlessness. No gratitude for saving Fina. Just cold exploitation of crisis, even using his granddaughter as bait. To the Iron-Blooded Duke, all had price tags. All were pawns.
Suddenly, Midi understood Fina’s fierce independence—necessary armor against becoming her grandfather’s puppet.
For Fina, Midi would surrender lands, titles, even life. But yielding to this schemer meant nothing.
Fina’s warning echoed: she and the Hamiltons weren’t the same. One his beloved, the other a greedy Behemoth.
With apocalyptic wars looming, Midi couldn’t waste time as the duke’s pawn.
"I decline." Midi stated flatly, his tone mirroring when he’d rejected Fenrir.
