The Northern Grand Duke's Mad Son-in-Law - Chapter 60

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

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◈ The Northern Grand Duke’s Mad Son-in-Law ◈

Chapter 60: Gift

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“Where have you been?”

Gilbert asked in a slightly excited voice. Steam rose from beneath his thick armor.

The sun was only just beginning to rise, yet he was training so diligently. He truly was an excellent knight.

“I went for a night walk.”

“What kind of walk lasts all night?”

“You’re awfully interested in me. I’m already promised to a woman. Even if I weren’t, I can’t stand men.”

Galahad answered firmly, and Gilbert tilted his head.

Leaving the foolish-looking Gilbert behind, Galahad went inside.

The Fifth Battalion commander was seated as if it were only natural. Galahad sat across from him and gave him a rough explanation of the situation.

He broadly explained that the Dark Magic Society had become a gathering of Magic Stone Mine workers.

“Understood. Then I’ll deploy more troops to the Magic Stone Mine.”

Unlike most northerners, Mark was quick-witted.

Just then, a rough scream came from outside. The door was flung open, and Gilbert entered.

“Damn it!”

Mark’s eyes widened at Gilbert’s violent entrance. Gilbert gave Mark a small bow, then spoke to Galahad again.

“I like that woman!”

“So you’re a womanizer.”

“...What?”

“Commander Mark, Sir Gilbert says he likes women very much.”

“Sir Gilbert, what do you think of Lumian? Her temper has gotten even worse lately.”

“Oh, excellent. Let’s bind our alliance with blood ties, Sir Gilbert.”

“Th-that Lumian is a little...”

“My, you’re ugly and picky too.”

Galahad chuckled as Gilbert’s face crumpled and put a cigarette in his mouth.

“I’m not ugly.”

“No, you’re definitely ugly. At least you have a likable face, but you’re ugly.”

“I agree.”

“By majority vote, your ugliness has been officially certified.”

“What? What does certified mean?”

Galahad flicked ash from his cigarette while Mark organized the documents. After a moment, Gilbert spoke urgently.

“No, I mean, Lumian’s temper is too sharp. And the freckles...”

Gilbert went on and on about why he disliked Lumian.

“Sir Gilbert.”

“There’s more. And her eyes are so fierce...”

“Sir Gilbert?”

“Why do you keep calling me? I’m not finished yet.”

Galahad clicked his tongue softly at Gilbert’s confident answer.

“When Commander Mark is sitting here, his adjutant Lumian is usually somewhere nearby.”

“What?”

Gilbert turned his head.

Lumian stood there with an even fiercer glare than Gilbert had described. Gilbert’s face went pale.

“I dislike Sir Gilbert too. He’s ugly.”

“My, three out of four agree.”

Gilbert tried to explain himself, but Lumian left first.

Gilbert shut his mouth tightly.

“The reaction wasn’t bad, was it?”

“I suppose not. Lumian didn’t curse at him.”

“My, Sir Gilbert is quite a sinful man.”

As Galahad and Mark took turns needling Gilbert, Gilbert cautiously opened his mouth.

“...Really?”

“You were born to be a knight.”

Mark nodded at Galahad’s words.

Around then, a savory scent drifted over from somewhere. Galahad flicked ash from his cigarette and stood.

Upstairs, Tom was vigorously stirring a pot. Beside him, Gwen was sweating heavily as she poured out fire.

“Ah, you’re back. It’s almost done.”

“Fiiiiire!”

“Gwen, once you cast the spell, you don’t need to keep chanting it.”

“It helps me focus better this way!”

Galahad nodded at Gwen’s answer.

Every mage had a different path to magic. There were countless paths.

Galahad was certain his own method was the proper one, but he did not point it out.

That sort of stubbornness was proof that she was becoming a mage.

Soon, Tom took the finished pot of stew off the heat and filled bowls.

“Serve two more bowls. There are diligent people downstairs.”

“Ah, I already prepared them.”

Galahad ordered Gilbert to take the stew downstairs.

Gilbert smoothed his hair, made a strange expression, then took the bowls down.

Once he finished serving the others, Tom set down the remaining pot. Damian immediately plunged his head into it.

Galahad clicked his tongue, and Damian raised his head again.

“Use a spoon.”

“It’s uncomfortable.”

“Ahem.”

Damian scooped stew from the pot with a spoon.

As always, the stew tasted incredible. Galahad was sincerely impressed.

Tom saw that Galahad’s coat was torn and stood, saying he would make him a new one.

Tom ate and slept the least, yet worked the most. Galahad nodded in satisfaction.

“It says it’s hungry too.”

“Who does?”

“There.”

Gwen pointed at Galahad’s chest.

“It’s become more fluent than before?!”

“Has it? What does it say?”

“It, um... What? It’s a secret? It says it’s a secret!”

Gwen covered her mouth in shock, and Galahad frowned.

“That’s an order.”

“An... order!”

“Disobeying orders is punishable by death and a pay cut.”

“...A pay cut! I’ll tell you!”

Gwen’s expression hardened. With a serious face, she spoke in a low voice.

“Heh heh... With this much power, even I’m afraid.”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

It was quite a grand declaration for a low-grade egg.

Thump! Thump!

Perhaps because it had met Gwen, someone it could communicate with, the thing kept beating insistently.

“We’re invincible. Together...”

“That’s enough. You can stop.”

“Ah! Yes! It says it’s disappointed!”

“Tell it to be quiet.”

“Be quiet!”

Near the end of the meal, Tom returned. He carried a sleek black coat.

Its quality and shape were better than the previous one. It seemed to have been made from the hide of the enormous Monster caught in the Seventh Battalion.

To think Tom had collected the hide amid all that chaos. Galahad was quietly impressed.

“It wasn’t very effective at releasing heat, so I lined the inside with mole cricket hide.”

“Good.”

Galahad took off his ragged coat. Tom helped him into the new one like a tailor.

“It would be even better if you paid attention to the collar and sleeve finishes.”

“Ah, I see. Is there anywhere else that feels uncomfortable?”

Tom asked for more feedback, so Galahad told him what needed changing. Tom wrote it all down carefully.

Gilbert, who had returned late, drained his stew as if drinking it.

Once Gilbert finished eating as well, Galahad stood.

“Everyone, get ready. The Sixth Battalion is next. We’ll continue inspecting the gaps in the front line that His Grace the Grand Duke ordered us to check.”

“Everything’s ready!”

As always, Tom answered brightly.

“Didn’t you just come in?”

Gilbert asked, looking at Galahad strangely.

“I did.”

“Shouldn’t you sleep?”

“It’s fine. I’m not much of a sleeper.”

Gilbert frowned at Galahad’s answer.

Silence lingered for a moment. Galahad thought about everything he needed to do.

House Proxel, the high-ranking Demonkin, Dawn, Adrianna... There was too much piled up.

Then Gilbert spoke.

“Commander, you always seem like you’re being chased by something.”

Gilbert spoke bluntly.

At that familiar question, various voices came to mind.

[There is no Demon King.]

[Why are you in such a hurry?]

[What a strange obsession.]

He had heard it often.

No matter how Galahad explained it, no one understood the Demon King.

Everyone denied the Demon King.

They stupidly insisted that such a thing did not exist.

Still, truth did not become false just because everyone denied it.

Galahad was certain he was right.

“Chased? I’m the one doing the chasing. What a stupid thing to say.”

Galahad clicked his tongue softly at Gilbert’s twitching face. Without realizing it, his voice had turned sharp.

Still, Gilbert would not understand anyway, so he did not bother explaining.

Tom came out at that moment.

“Let’s go.”

Galahad put a cigarette between his lips as he spoke.

Then the window shattered violently. Gilbert hurriedly drew his sword.

A red hawk had flown in.

No, was it a Monster?

“It’s His Grace the Grand Duke’s hawk.”

Even without Gilbert’s explanation, Galahad knew it belonged to the Grand Duke.

Who else but the Grand Duke would raise a hawk that looked no different from a Monster?

The hawk tossed down a piece of paper and immediately flew away.

Damian picked it up and held it out to Galahad.

“Thank you, Damian.”

Galahad silently examined the paper.

“Hmm.”

A quiet sound escaped Galahad.

Then...

Gilbert saw Galahad without a smile for the first time.

His face was chilling.

* * *

‘Why Demonkin blood...’

Lunabirn, Adrianna’s adjutant, frowned at the pile of canteens.

Demonkin blood smelled incomparably worse than human blood.

Sealing it in canteens helped a little, but collecting Demonkin blood still made no sense.

It was Adrianna’s order.

‘A request from Commander Galahad of the Special Operations Unit...’

Lunabirn clicked their tongue quietly at the thought of him drinking Demonkin blood.

Mages were impossible to understand.

At first, Lunabirn thought he would disappear soon enough.

Yet he had not disappeared. Instead, he kept earning merit.

Even within the First Battalion, good things were being said about him.

He could no longer be ignored.

And besides...

‘Lady Adrianna has become strangely brighter.’

Lunabirn glanced at Adrianna as she counted the canteens.

Her face remained indifferent, but Lunabirn had served Adrianna for a long time and could recognize the change.

Before, Adrianna had focused only on Demonkin and shown no interest in anything else.

For Adrianna to take even the slightest interest in something else was an enormous change.

Change was not always good.

Lunabirn thought of Galahad.

He was a man who looked noble from any angle. Handsome and always full of confidence and ease, he clearly seemed experienced.

Adrianna was a hero of the north, but she was completely innocent about romance. Her tendency to burn mana made her awkward not only in romance, but even in relationships with others.

Innocent Adrianna might be taken advantage of by him.

Of course, that would never happen...

Then a white hawk flew over and landed on Adrianna’s shoulder. Adrianna carefully unfolded the paper tied to its leg.

Adrianna casually read the letter. Lunabirn silently watched her.

For some reason, she took quite a long time to read it.

After staring at the paper for a while, Adrianna looked at Lunabirn.

Whenever Adrianna looked at Lunabirn, her expression softened slightly. It was Lunabirn’s greatest pride.

But Adrianna’s face was now more serious than ever.

Something major had clearly happened.

Had the front line assigned to the Second Battalion collapsed? Or were those imperial bastards advancing north? Various worries passed through Lunabirn’s mind.

Then Adrianna spoke.

“Am I cute?”

Lunabirn’s thoughts stopped at Adrianna’s serious question.

Adrianna, asking with a serious face whether she was cute...

It would have been more believable if the Empire had invaded.

More than that...

Serious Adrianna seemed a little cute.

Still, Lunabirn could not possibly dare say she was cute.

“Not at all. Lady Adrianna is noble, splendid, and beautiful.”

“So it was a joke after all. Damn it...”

Adrianna’s brows twitched slightly.

Then a massive red bird flew over. It was closer in size to a Monster than a bird. It was the Grand Duke’s hawk.

The red bird landed on Adrianna’s other shoulder. The hawks cried as they looked at each other.

Adrianna unfolded the thick paper tied to the red hawk’s leg.

Her face stiffened even more than before.

“What is it?”

“The imperial Princess has requested a friendly exchange duel. His Grace the Grand Duke has accepted.”

...A friendly exchange?

Long ago, people built friendships through duels, but it was now an obsolete tradition.

Their ties with the Empire had also been severed long ago.

To suddenly bring up such an obsolete custom now...

“His Grace the Grand Duke has designated me, the Second Battalion commander, and the Special Operations Unit commander. We will depart at once.”

The chosen participants for the duel were somewhat strange.

Adrianna and the Second Battalion commander made sense.

They were both powerful figures in the north.

But...

‘...Why the Special Operations Unit commander?’

“We will go to the Seventh Battalion first. We’ll join Commander Galahad there.”

“Why the Special Operations Unit commander... Ah, is it His Grace the Grand Duke’s order?”

Adrianna did not answer.

‘A Princess? Why is the Princess involved all of a sudden...’

The Princess’s involvement had come from nowhere.

* * *

Princess Lucienne was an intelligent woman.

In a situation where survival itself had seemed impossible, Lucienne had not merely survived. She had also risen in the line of succession.

Her knight, Deban, knew that she had not survived simply because she was intelligent.

‘Galahad...’

If Lucienne was the most beautiful woman Deban had ever seen, then Galahad was the most capable person.

He was capable. No further explanation was needed.

In the imperial family, where several people died silently every day, Galahad had protected Lucienne when she was hanging over a cliff’s edge.

As if that were not enough, he had also raised her in the line of succession.

Deban had thought anything was possible with him.

Until that happened.

Galahad had disappeared without a word, as suddenly as he had arrived.

The next thing they heard was that he would marry the Northern Grand Duke’s daughter.

Neither Deban nor the Princess believed it.

He was not someone with the leisure to marry anyone.

Galahad had even rejected the Princess’s seduction. Deban was certain he was impotent.

In any case, such a rumor suddenly began to circulate.

At first, they naturally assumed it was a mission.

But the rumor continued.

The Princess created an excuse to meet Galahad.

Her fiancé, the prince of the Kingdom Alliance, had recently died, and rumors said he had been poisoned.

In that situation, leaving the imperial palace was both difficult and dangerous.

So the Princess came up with a brilliant excuse.

A friendly exchange duel with the Grand Duke.

Good heavens...

Deban shut his eyes tightly.

Building a friendship with the Grand Duke would surely be a great help.

The problem was that the method was a duel.

The Princess proposed three matches. There was no avoiding winners and losers.

The Princess was already in a precarious position. If she lost the duel, it would give her enemies something to tear into.

Even winning would be a problem. The Grand Duke’s hostility toward the Empire was well known.

He would surely not let them leave alive if they won.

It was a proposal that would bring fatal consequences whether they won or lost.

There was only one reason the Princess had made such a move.

‘She must have trusted Galahad.’

The Princess believed Galahad had gone north for her sake.

Deban thought a little differently, but he was a knight, not a strategist.

Then the curtain was drawn back. The Princess emerged.

Her large, blood-red eyes resembled jewels carved with care by a master artisan, and her hair, falling below her waist, looked softer than the finest silk.

There was a reason for the rumor that she had survived the imperial family because she was its most beautiful flower.

“Is everything ready?”

She asked with the corners of her red lips raised.

Her smile was like a brilliant flower in full bloom.

There was not a single flaw in her manners, smile, or actions.

Still, Deban knew.

The most beautiful rose had the sharpest thorns.

“Yes. As you expected, Sir Paul Verian accepted the proposal. But the Master of the Twilight Magic Tower expressed the intention to refuse. The reason given was that the research was unfinished.”

“Is that so?”

Deban swallowed dryly.

“Instead, Bunch, an upper-ranking mage of the White Magic Tower, said he would participate. He is Galahad’s senior from the Academy, and he is confident of victory, saying Galahad learned from him.”

“I see. It’s Galahad, after all.”

Lucienne softly rolled Galahad’s name around in her mouth.

As if she were eating candy.

After a moment, Lucienne asked as though she had remembered something.

“Sir Deban.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think of me?”

Lucienne asked with a bright smile.

The Princess’s question...

It was a famous story within the imperial family.

Unless someone was blind, they would naturally answer that she was beautiful.

Still, as always, there were madmen.