One attendant is enough, and that is Linia.
I do not particularly need escorts either.
That was how I answered Foden.
Yet he stubbornly insisted that the eldest son of a Grand Ducal house could not travel without retainers.
After persuading him again and again—since he annoyingly tried to attach dozens of attendants—I finally settled on a small escort: three elite knights and one coachman.
One of them was Linfred, with whom I was already acquainted; the other two, according to the sheets, were top-tier knights of level 24 and 27 respectively.
In effect, he had assigned men who might one day become knight commanders just to guard me.
“I will send the three of them back to the family once we reach our destination.”
“…Are you sure it won’t be dangerous?”
“I know how to protect my own body. The legitimate successor of the house is Ridle; I, a married-off child, cannot keep such high-quality personnel by my side.”
To be honest, keeping elite knights around any longer would only be cumbersome.
They might be useful right now, but they were not the kind of timber that would fit the extreme small-elite clan I planned to build in the future.
“…If you insist, very well.”
The Grand Duke closed his eyes tightly and said he would respect my will.
One month later.
Chesa, Linia, and I left the mansion with our luggage packed to the brim.
At my request, the send-off ceremony was kept modest.
Several knights who had sparred with me over the past year stood as representatives, and in front of them were the current Grand Duke Foden and his children.
Foden approached me and whispered.
“My relationship with my late first wife was not bad, but it was nothing compared to your mother, Nevia. She was the only woman I ever truly loved in my life, and that is why you, born from her, have always been on my mind.”
“…”
“Every time I saw you causing nothing but trouble inside the domain, I never showed it, but I worried greatly. Yet at some point you changed, grew up so reliably, and now you are even trying to become independent—this feeling is truly something else.”
The rims of Foden’s eyes turned red.
“I do not know how to express this emotion. If it were up to my heart, I would love to see the grandchildren born between you and that child, but seeing off a son who is carving a new path is also a parent’s duty.”
Unlike his usual self, Foden seemed somewhat hurried.
In the original history, he would die soon.
Perhaps he instinctively sensed that this conversation with me might be the last.
“Take this.”
He handed me something.
It was a pair of rings.
“They are wedding rings. They were also your mother Nevia’s keepsakes. I would like to recommend that you and Chesa each wear one if possible, but I will leave that to your discretion. It is fine to keep them as mementos, but if you need money, you may sell them.”
They were not enchanted or possessed any special functions.
However, because extremely expensive jewels were embedded in them, their sheet grade reached B.
I accepted them with gratitude.
“May I hug you for the first time in a long while?”
“Yes.”
When I answered, Foden pulled me into a tight embrace.
His wrinkled hand stroked my back.
For some reason, my body trembled.
I, too, reflexively hugged Foden back with force.
I could feel his heartbeat and warmth.
Soon I realized one thing.
The pig bastard Aiden Stroke.
The instincts remaining in this body were feeling sorrow at parting with his father.
For some reason, my heart ached.
It felt as though something sharp had stabbed my chest.
The “Aiden Stroke” that Foden knew no longer existed anywhere.
Only the “reader Aiden,” who wished to change the ending of a certain novel, remained.
Having finally separated from me, he looked at Chesa who stood behind and opened his mouth.
“You are truly beautiful.”
“…Thank you, Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
“You may call me Father. If you do, I shall treat you not as the daughter of a friend, but as my own daughter.”
“That is…”
Chesa’s face and even her ears instantly flushed red.
She lowered her head deeply and mumbled something, but perhaps because her [Perception] stat was low, I could not hear it from here.
…Ah, more importantly, that appearance just now was so cute I wanted to take a picture and keep it forever.
It was extremely rare for Chesa to show such an intense reaction.
I regretted not buying a camera-like tool with the念寫 function from the black market…
Whatever she had said, a wide grin spread across Foden’s face.
It was a full, genuine smile.
The haggardness that had filled his expression seemed to have lifted somewhat.
“I heard you plan to work in a clan. On that stage, you will experience many things you have never even imagined until now. It will surely be very different from living as nobles of a principality or kingdom. However, if you support each other as husband and wife, you will be able to overcome any trial.”
Having received his blessing, we boarded the small carriage prepared by the family.
The coachman pulled the reins, and the carriage began moving forward.
Inside the carriage, Linia spoke to me.
“His Grace the Grand Duke has become much weaker these past few months, but if he steadily takes the medicine Young Master personally made, I am certain he will improve. So there is no need for such a worried expression. You can meet His Grace again later when he is healthy, yes?”
I had mixed C-grade elixirs obtained from the gacha with Yin-Yang Herbs and other medicinal ingredients to make medicine for Foden to take.
Truthfully, I could not be sure it would help.
In the original work, Foden died soon, but unlike Litton, the cause of his death was never clearly stated.
If he weakened not because of a physical problem but from the mental shock of losing his eldest son, then honestly neither medicine nor holy magic from priests would be of any use.
More than that, something else bothered me.
“…Do I really look that worried?”
“If I may be rude, that is how it appears to this girl.”
Hearing that, I suddenly stuck my head out the window.
The carriage was already far from the mansion, and the people seeing us off were no longer visible.
Yet for some reason, I felt as though Foden’s gaze was still on me.
While traveling by carriage toward our destination, we were attacked by the notorious bandit group.
Such a clichéd event did not occur.
To begin with, public order in the northern part of the Prima continent is quite good.
The criminal tracking method using detection magic is, in some ways, superior even to modern Earth.
The living standard of commoners is decent, so the crime rate is lower than one might think.
At the very least, it is far better than Hell Joseon on Earth.
Of course, there are threats beyond human—like automatons in ancient ruins or wild monsters—but when it comes to crimes between people, there is no great need to worry.
As one can tell from the moving city Talos that reeks of steampunk or the various magical tools, the civilization level of this world is closer to early modern or contemporary times than to the Middle Ages or Renaissance.
It is common to find shower-like devices in the mansions of wealthy nobles, and there are even toilets that utilize the physiology of sewage slimes, so hygiene standards are fairly good.
…I will skip the detailed explanation of the latter since it is a bit disgusting.
Even the capital of the academic nation where the Alpanium Library—the headquarters of alchemists—is located is described in the novel as almost reminiscent of a modern city center.
Of course, that is a rather exceptional case, being the restored legacy of a magical empire that cannot be reproduced with current technology.
Not only that, thanks to the divine magic of church priests, infant mortality is extremely low, minor illnesses can be easily cured, and average lifespan is roughly similar to that of mid-tier nations on modern Earth.
Nevertheless, the reason Reca Chronicles outwardly maintains a medieval fantasy appearance is that most of those convenient magical tools are prohibitively, astronomically expensive—far beyond the dreams of commoners.
That is why, despite the existence of bike-like vehicles called “land rollers,” we are still dragging a carriage.
The fuel efficiency is abysmal.
At dusk.
I asked Linfred, who was preparing camp, for a practice bout, and he gladly accepted.
Then, as he was about to prepare wooden swords as usual, I said,
“Today let us use live steel.”
“…Suddenly?”
“I believe we should get used to it in advance, since we will soon face real battles frequently.”
“Understood.”
I took out a handmade longsword from the carriage.
It was a gift from Foden when I left the mansion.
The mindset changes the moment you hold a real sword and feel its sharpness firsthand.
Even though it was clearly a practice match, it felt as though we were in a life-or-death duel.
Shiiing—
I drew the sword and faced Linfred.
The pressure from a live blade is considerable.
Of course, a wooden sword can also kill if one puts their mind to it.
Yet the world does not revolve on essence alone.
There is always the difference in perception.
Unlike wooden swords designed for training, real swords are fundamentally made for killing.
And from that comes a unique pressure.
The Second—no, the First Prince is finally stepping into that world.
Linfred, standing ready for the bout.
Suddenly his brow narrowed.
‘…What is this?’
The moment his eyes met Aiden’s across from him, he felt an indescribably intense sense of wrongness.
Was it just his imagination?
To get straight to the conclusion—
It was not.
Clang! Cla-clang!
The sound of metal rang through the air.
Having barely parried Aiden’s swiftly stabbing blade, Linfred thought,
‘Is he truly a monster?’
Even as their swords clashed, chills ran down his spine.
It was the first time he felt this while holding a real sword.
In the eyes of this young boy, there was not even a trace of tension or trembling.
What kind of boldness was this?
And it did not end there.
If he thrust, Aiden let it flow,
If he swung wide, Aiden deflected,
If he charged, Aiden retreated,
If he slashed, Aiden closed in.
As calm and masterful as a veteran of decades on the battlefield, Aiden responded to every one of Linfred’s strikes with perfect precision.
Every move was exquisite, the closest possible counter.
Linfred tried desperate variations—changing the flow of his continuous attacks, suddenly exploding with intensified aura—even reckless moves that would normally leave him open.
Yet all of them only led to losses for him, and the gaps thus created were relentlessly exploited.
Finally.
Clang!
Unable to withstand Aiden’s downward cut that turned into a charge, Linfred dropped his sword.
“…I lost.”
He declared his defeat with an expression as if possessed by a ghost.
“…Truly astonishing. There has been no great change in your raw power, yet you have become frighteningly proficient with the forms themselves. Have you perhaps gained some kind of enlightenment recently?”
“Enlightenment… well, I’m not sure.”
Linfred’s way of putting it was, in a sense, correct.
But if I called this enlightenment, I would feel sorry to the monks who reached nirvana through endless ascetic practice and meditation.
It would be more accurate to say knowledge was forcibly injected into my head.
A truly unromantic way of powering up.
Well, that is not my concern—the effect of the newly acquired trait 『Serene Clarity(A)』 was beyond imagination.
I had won against an elite knight like Linfred without using a single bit of vibrational aura.
For starters, during battle my mental flexibility and field of vision became extraordinarily wide.
Naturally, the speed and sharpness of judgment were on a completely different level from before.
It was like an artificial intelligence instantly finding the best possible path in that split second.
“I had heard that Prince Aiden was a talent rivaling Lord Ebel, but this exceeds expectations.”
“To think it has only been a year since you first held a sword… goodness, I prided myself on having decent talent, but this is the first time I feel doubt.”
The two elite knights who watched the bout were also extremely surprised by my performance.
In the order they spoke: Wolfgang Iverk [24/26], and Maximilian Prince [27/30].
Considering that Reichardt, who was Litton’s closest aide and one of the family’s top knights while he lived, was only level [29/32], these men were overflowing talent even for mere escorts.
I extended a hand to the seated Linfred and asked,
“How much longer until we reach our destination, do you think?”
“The coachman says about two more weeks.”
“Hmm…”
We were not heading straight to join a clan right now.
Before that, there were several places we absolutely had to visit to collect elixirs and scout hidden talents, and the place we were heading to now was one of them.
And according to the plan, I was going to experience dramatic growth there.
“About a year ago I heard from the Prince that a place where lightning never stops falling existed, and I was half in disbelief, but… goodness, such a place really exists in the Herus Territory of the Republic. The world is full of wonders.”
“You’ll be even more surprised when you see it in person.”
I answered with a smirk.
Exactly two weeks later, just as the coachman predicted,
we arrived at the lord’s residence in Herus Territory.