Theodore was dragged to that place exactly one hour later. His face was
terribly haggard, as though he had suffered bitter hardships. It did not seem he had been tortured, but perhaps from severe mental anguish, his hair had
turned white.
Bound tightly with a rope, Theodore was dragged in by Krovitz and swept his gaze
around the room. When he spotted Damon and Duke Ferstein seated amicably at the dining table,
sparks flew from his eyes. A sneer forced its way past his lips.
“Judging by appearances, it seems you have already joined hands. What business could you possibly have with me? Or perhaps
you intend to vent your anger on me?”
Duke Ferstein frowned and looked at Krovitz.
“Untie him, then step outside for a while.”
“A-are you sure that will be all right?”
“He’s a civil official who doesn’t even have the strength to wring a chicken’s neck. There’s no need to worry.”
“Understood.”
Krovitz tilted his head as though he could not understand what was going on and untied Theodore.
“Then I will take my leave.”
After Krovitz left, Damon strode quickly toward Theodore. Theodore, who had been rubbing his numb body as if in great pain,
glared fiercely at Damon. He must have been tied so tightly that his blood had not been circulating properly.
“If you wish to vent your anger over nearly dying by my hand, I will accept it as much as you like,
Lord Black Mage.”
Damon looked at Theodore with troubled eyes.
“There is one thing I wish to ask.”
“Ask anything you like. But do not expect a proper answer.”
Theodore continued to jeer, but Damon did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“Is your surname Brokenheart?”
“………”
When the other man suddenly asked his surname, bewilderment appeared on Theodore’s face. The voice Damon spoke in next
was tinged with sorrow.
“This is extremely important to me. So please, answer me sincerely. Is your
surname truly Brokenheart?”
“I-it is.”
The moment he finished answering, Damon’s body collapsed on the spot. Tears streamed down
his face, which was filled with emotion.
“M-Master. At last, I have found your descendant. This unworthy disciple has finally
become able to carry on your will. How could I not be overjoyed?”
Damon sat down where he was and cried out again and again. Duke Ferstein and Theodore could only
stare blankly at him, dumbfounded. After shedding tears for a long while,
Damon staggered to his feet. He first looked at Duke Ferstein.
“When I heard your son’s surname from Krovitz, I was greatly troubled. I had no way of knowing
whether the Helpfrain family I heard of from my master and your family were one and the same. But
only yesterday, I was able to realize that the two families were indeed the same.”
After finishing his words, Damon looked at Theodore. An indescribable light
dwelt in his eyes.
“I am someone with a truly close connection to your family, that is, the Brokenheart family. So
you have not the slightest need to be wary of me. Do you understand?”
“………”
Theodore remained quietly silent. He could not help but feel wary
at the other man’s sudden change in attitude. Damon’s questions continued.
“Do you perhaps know who the founder of the Brokenheart family was?”
After hesitating for a moment, Theodore opened his mouth as though he had made up his mind.
“It was Jonathan Brokenheart. Jonathan, who crossed over to Arcadia alone five hundred years ago,
was the founder of the Brokenheart family.”
Damon shook his head as though that was not it.
“That is not so. The true founder of the Brokenheart family ended his life in Truvenia.
Have you never heard that Jonathan Brokenheart had a father? I mean
Doyle Brokenheart, the father who gave Jonathan the surname Brokenheart.”
Theodore’s eyes flew wide open. He could not help being shocked that an outsider knew
a secret history that had long been passed down privately within the family.
Of course, he knew well of Doyle Brokenheart. It was simply that, because he was a figure who could be called
a disgrace to the family, they had never revealed him to outsiders at all. There was no helping it, for Doyle
Brokenheart was a black mage who had stood on the side of the Demon King’s army and fought against humanity during the Dark War.
Because of that, to the members of the Brokenheart family, the name Doyle was a shame
that could not be carelessly revealed. Yet an outsider had suddenly brought up that Doyle……
Curiosity slowly spread around Theodore’s eyes.
“Do you perhaps know… him?”
Damon nodded without hesitation.
“Of course. How could I, who was that person’s disciple, not know my master?”
“Is, is that true?”
As though recalling the past, Damon’s gaze suddenly grew distant.
“It is true, and more than true. I learned magic from him. And in addition, I received life itself.
During the Race War, he chose the path of death without the slightest hesitation in order to save me.”
“………”
“Master Doyle was, in a word, no different from a father to me. He bestowed an enormous grace upon me.”
After finishing, Damon looked at Theodore.
“At the moment he died in my place, Master entrusted one thing to me. It was
a request that I look after the son he had left alone for so long. Having been imprisoned
for thirty years, he could never meet his son. But regrettably, I
could not fulfill that request. In the Battle of Northwood that followed, I was captured by a dragon
and forced to become a lich. Afterward, five hundred years passed, and though I escaped
the state of being a dragon’s slave, I never forgot Master’s request for even a single moment.
Since Brokenheart is by no means a common surname, I thought that looking after even his descendants
would be the proper way to honor my duty to Master, and so I tried to make inquiries whenever I could.”
“………”
“And now, through such an unexpected chance, I have come to meet Master’s descendant, so I cannot possibly
contain my joy. From now on, I intend to look after you. As if you were Master’s son.
Do you understand?”
Tears were already streaming from Theodore’s eyes as well.
“My, my heavens……”
It was a moment when, in a word, he had given up everything. He had thought that before long, the Brokenheart family would
vanish completely from the world, yet now a savior he had never even imagined
had suddenly appeared and said he would look after him. He could not hold back the tears welling up within him.
Having fought a lonely struggle alone for so long, Theodore’s body and mind were
extremely weakened. Unable to endure any longer, Theodore embraced Damon and burst into loud sobs.
“I-I am sorry. I did not know……”
Damon gently stroked Theodore’s back as they embraced.
“No. Even if you had killed me, I could have accepted it fully. My life was
given to me by Master, after all.”
Thud.
Something dropped with a thud inside Duke Ferstein’s chest as he listened. Only now
did he understand why the black mage had made him a slave. In short, the black mage was
no different from a member of the Brokenheart family. He was the disciple of the Brokenheart family’s founder,
after all. But the duke could only stare blankly at the scene. His body and
mind had already become completely enslaved to Damon.
A short while later, Theodore, having stopped crying, looked at Duke Ferstein.
“But how did you persuade Duke Ferstein……”
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Damon’s mouth.
“Duke Ferstein has already fallen into the state of being my slave.”
“Wh-what do you mean by that?”
“You still do not know that my specialty is black magic? Duke Ferstein is currently
infected with the Bloodworm of Subordination that I implanted.”
Shock surged into Theodore’s eyes. Of course, there was no way he, who had once been the regent
of a nation, would not know what the Bloodworm of Subordination was.
“Is, is that true?”
“It is. Duke Ferstein can never refuse my commands. Of course, the same goes
for his subordinates, does it not?”
After speaking, Damon looked at Theodore with a serious expression.
“Now, I intend to grant whatever it is you desire. The forces I possess are not
to be underestimated, and with Duke Ferstein’s power added to them, I believe there is nothing in this world we cannot achieve.
Now, Theodore Brokenheart. What do you want? If you wish, I can even place you
on the throne of the Krosen Empire. Is that what you desire?”
Theodore shook his head with a bitter smile.
“No. I already offer sincere loyalty to the Krosen imperial family. What I desire
is only the continuation of the Krosen imperial line. That is precisely why I have opposed
Duke Ferstein until now.”
Damon silently shook his head.
“Admirable, but foolish. Are kings, queens, generals, and ministers born of some separate seed?
If only you agree, the imperial throne of the Krosen Empire can be passed down through the Brokenheart family for generations.”
Theodore shook his head with a smile.
“I am grateful for your consideration, but I do not wish for that. Just as you received
grace from Ancestor Doyle, I too received great grace from His Majesty Emperor Valensius. I sincerely wish to
repay that grace. So I ask you. Please help me place Crown Prince Dviers
on the throne.”
Damon let out a long sigh.
“If that is the case, then it cannot be helped. Very well. I shall grant what you desire.
Since you said you want the Krosen imperial family to continue, that will surely be accomplished.”
After speaking, Damon looked at Duke Ferstein.
“I will leave Duke Ferstein’s disposition to you. With a single word from you, the duke
will become an imbecile within the day. However, if we are to absorb the duke’s forces in stages,
it would be best to leave him as he is for the time being. From now on, I entrust his life and death to you.”
“How could I ever repay this grace?”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Theodore did not know what to do. Then he turned his head and looked at Duke Ferstein.
Perhaps unable to adapt to the situation that had reversed in a single morning, the duke was trembling
all over. Theodore spoke quietly to him.
“I did not imagine the situation would change like this either. Your thoughts must be very complicated.”
“Indeed. Guest and host have been completely reversed.”
The restless light in Duke Ferstein’s eyes grew noticeably calmer. It seemed he had made
some sort of decision. He turned his head and glared at Damon.
“Guaaah……”
With a desperate scream, Duke Ferstein’s body collapsed powerlessly on the spot. Seeing his body
twist violently, it seemed as though he might stop breathing at any moment.
Even after falling to the floor, the duke continued to writhe ceaselessly. He looked as if he were
suffering tremendous agony. Theodore was startled.
“Wh-what is happening?”
Damon answered him.
“The fool is resisting the Bloodworm of Subordination. But it is futile. With human
will alone, one can never reject the Bloodworm of Subordination.”
“I-is that so?”
At that moment, Duke Ferstein, who had been thrashing on the floor, suddenly raised his head. Thin streams of blood
flowed from his nose and mouth, and in his bloodshot red eyes, not a trace of white
could be seen.
“S-sorry, but d-do you think I will be defeated so e-easily? I, I would rather choose
to become an imbecile. Would that not be far better than playing the part of a p-puppet?”
“………”
“A-at the very least, I pride myself on being a h-hero of ambition. Th-therefore, rather than a miserable life,
I will choose death.”
“D-Duke Ferstein.”
Theodore kept fidgeting uneasily. He had never imagined that the duke would react like this.
As if to reassure him, Damon’s voice was heard.
“Do not worry about anything. Even if he becomes an imbecile, there is a way to get through it.
I am a master of the Ninth Circle. Even if he becomes an imbecile, I can control him as I please.
Even if that does not go smoothly, there is another solution. It will take a little time, but if we gather all of his close retainers
and administer the Bloodworm of Subordination to them, the matter can be resolved.”
However, Theodore did not seem particularly convinced by Damon’s words. A short while later, as though
he had decided on something, he turned his head and looked at Damon.
“Can you perhaps calm the Bloodworm of Subordination for a short while?”
“It is possible, but why do you ask?”
“There is something I must discuss with the duke in private.”
Damon gazed at Theodore for a moment, then silently nodded.
“I shall do so. I will place the Bloodworm of Subordination lodged in Duke Ferstein’s head
into a temporary state of suspended animation.”
The moment his words ended, Duke Ferstein’s thrashing body went limp.