Book One: A Baron Knight’s Tale

“The world is mean and ferocious. One needs to possess the strength to protect themselves and to be able to live in a dignified manner. The law of the jungle is king. This is something unchanged since time immemorial. Regardless of whether one is a man or a beast, all of these still apply.”

As all of the troubling situations happen in many territories within the empire, a different problem occurred in one remote fiefdom.

“It is a wise decision, Sire,” an elder adviser gloomily said.

“While he is my son, I have to do what I have to do. Rules of the empire must prevail. While we understand that a hand is at work behind the scenes, punishments must be put in order. Otherwise, our territory shall fall from within.”

Count Augusto of Thorns couldn't help but sigh.

Inside the manor, far in the east of the empire, the count has considerably struggled to make a decision of what to do as he stroke his beard.

In such precarious times, Count Augusto was met with a scandalous incident within his own family.

‘How troublesome.’

Apparently, Marcus Cornelius, his 15-year old second son is found to have an illicit affair with the favorite concubine of the count himself.

Albeit the legitimacy of the story, which everyone believes to be just another plot of the third son and his mother, such incident warrants severe punishment if not death.

The questionable incident and the consequent decision of the count would obviously change the power situation within the territory.

That is because the firstborn son, who is now a true bloom Gold ranked Knight, is currently leading a large army under the banner of the Duke of the East.

At 18 years of age, attaining Gold rank is almost unprecedented even among the ranks of nobles. Such a level of talent is considered a genius in his generation. And given enough time and enough military achievements, it would not be a surprise if the firstborn becomes a count himself out of his own merits.

With such a projected scenario, everyone in the Thorns territory is already convinced that Marcus Cornelius, the second son, shall eventually succeed his father.

But the third son, who was a year younger than Marcus Cornelius and whose mother is concubine herself was aching to snatch the line of succession. In fact, it was the mother who continuously feeds the child's mind of her ambitions. That is especially since Marcus Cornelius himself does not appear to be talented enough to deserve the throne. But since the second son was already the favored next in line, all she could do in her power is to scheme against the current situation.

And apparently, the evidence she devised was deviously strong. Using some hypnosis powder to put Marcus Cornelius into a deep sleep, she deeply executed her designs.

Earlier in the day, Marcus Cornelius was caught red-handed sleeping naked on the said concubine's chamber. And the servant who was surprised at the sight of the naked youth that morning, without waking the youth up, immediately reported the incident to the Count in front of some high ranking personnel of the manor.

The servant was gasping when he arrived at the hall. The count was about to reprimand the servant harshly for suddenly disturbing the morning gathering but the gravity of the report shocked his senses.

Count Augusto was obviously furious. And the matter immediately escalated into a scandal among the nobility. The high ranking personnel was in an uproar upon receiving the news.

“Shameless!”

“Preposterous! What an ingrate.”

Such were the immediate reactions from among those present.

While the count could issue some orders to make the present personnel be tight-lipped, he cannot be too sure if such a solution would be enough to guarantee that the news would not spread.

‘The situation must immediately be controlled.’

The count was in deep thought as he tried to calm down

Besides, even among the high ranking personnel, he was certain that there are factions that might already be privy to the matter. He could already guess that there is more to it than just a simple scandal.

Thus, the count could only try to delicately handle the matter in a way that his own territory would not be internally divided through and through.

Upon thorough investigation, right after rushing to the concubine's chamber, the count, figured out, as expected, that something really is amiss. But then again punishment has to be delivered still.

Marcus Cornelius, was still in a very sorry state when the count arrived. He was still sound asleep, lying naked on the bed. Perhaps, the hypnosis powder was too strong that the youth was not disturbed after the arrival of his father.

Count Augusto immediately dragged his second son towards the main hall after finally succeeding to wake him up. He was already robed when he appeared before the discerningly malicious eyes of the people in the hall.

There, the high ranking personnel immediately raised their opinions in rage while pointing their fingers towards Marcus Cornelius even without the count asking.

It was obviously an audacious attempt by those present, but then the situation really seemed to be on the verge of uncontrollability.

Marcus Cornelius, on the other hand, was oblivious to what had just happened to himself. He heard all the accusations but cannot find in his memory how he ended up naked in somebody else's bedroom.

“This is a setup!”

Marcus Cornelius was furious as he tried to explain.

Right there and then, he recalled how, in his younger days, he had struggled to stay low within the family simply spending most of the time immersed in reading in order to avoid the ire of the greedy eyes of within the family, all to be destroyed by a single ploy.

Marcus Cornelius tried hard to explain his innocence but the supporters of the third son could not be outdone by voicing how scandalous are the things he had just committed.

From the way his third brother's faction reacted, he had some inkling of the underlying scheme—but he had no concrete evidence to point at them.

“Death is too light a punishment!”

The cry was apparently exaggerated. And it came from the mouth of a supporter of the third son.

Some of those present were stunned by the audacity of the remark.

“You..”

Marcus Cornelius practically had no way to retort to the vile words.

The count could only clear his throat in a loud fashion in order to stop the commotion.

“Sire, war is at hand. And it would be bad enough if our own territory will be divided because of this matter. Death among your children would cause even more dire repercussions.”

A person in support of Marcus Cornelius adamantly retorted—much to the relief of the count.

In his frustration of not knowing what was the best course of action, Count Augusto, right there and then, simply decided to strip his second son from the hereditary succession—a decision which satisfied the third son's mother.

However, in order not to anger parties who were more inclined to understand the truth, the count also decided to eventually banish Marcus Cornelius in the form of officially granting the latter the title of Baron and gave him a small barony the size of 3 villages in a very remote place.

As part of the grant, a Silver ranked Knight was assigned to him together with ten other squires that would comprise as his personal army.

Ordinarily, a barony is granted as a reward for military achievements, but Marcus Cornelius' case was not any new either. Granting a small fiefdom to heirs is also seen as a prevailing practice among nobles with several children. That is, of course, to avoid other heirs to covet the throne from the rightful successor.

But then again, some heirs may not be satisfied with such arrangements, so it is also nothing new that rightful heirs sometimes meet an untimely and unexplainable demise.

“The decision is wise indeed.”

Another high ranking member of the personnel stepped forward to appease the count.

“Alright, my decision is final.”

The Count exclaimed as he stood.

“Marcus Cornelius, my son, you shall depart to your fief in three days.”