Chapter 29: 29. Duke Nightshade

Damien couldn't believe the meeting went so well. He knew the King dotes on his daughter heavily and therefore used it to his advantage. Asking for her hand in marriage was a simple way to set the bar high, and appear reluctant to receive anything less. Since the king valued his daughter's marriage so highly it was a fatal weakness, allowing Damien to bully the King into such a ridiculous deal. To become a Duke and acquire a car worth more than a mansion, all because he saved a cousin of the Princess? This might be considered the most one-sided deal in history. It only went so well because of his mysterious capabilities and the threat of marriage.

 

“It's a deal!” Damien quickly stood up and clapped his hands. Usually, a handshake would be common courtesy to seal a deal, but Damien didn’t like the idea of touching hands so just gave a smile instead.

 

Although he acted like the assassin's attempts to harm him were meaningless, he was lucky the King dismissed them when he did, a few seconds longer and a dagger would be in his back. He could barely stand at the moment due to his empty mana reserves giving him an awful headache. Luckily his Noble Aura kept up his graceful appearance. 

 

The King gave a weary smile back and then began to explain to Damien the details of their deal. 

 

“I hereby grant Damien Nightshade the honorary title of Duke, as you are a royal from another ‘kingdom’ I cannot grant you true nobility without a marriage agreement, but since I was the one who refused the marriage, I will still grant you some land and property befitting of your position.”

 

Damien gave the old king a knowing smile “You wish to hand me the wasteland to the north and let me deal with the vampires right?”

 

The King who was apprehensive of revealing this matter was glad that Damien brought it up himself, “Yes since you are only an honorary noble and not a true noble I cannot gift you useful land as you may use to it stage a takeover of Kassinki, however, the northern wasteland is useless for raising an army and is devoid over any natural resources.”

 

“There is also an abandoned castle that you may use as a personal residence if you desire, there is a village nearby called Blackthorn village and has a population of 500 people. You may decide how you tax them, since it's such a small population I won’t demand any tax from you.”

 

The King took a look at Emilia who still had stars in her eyes from the enlightenment, “The car and driver will also be provided as part of the deal you made with my daughter. Dukes usually have a house in the capital, do you want a house here or would you rather its value in money?”

 

Damien had been expecting everything else but this last statement from the king caught him off guard. Does he need a house in the capital? He had a duel tomorrow and planned to use the living space provided to the head librarian or head professor.

 

If he was given his own house by the King he would need to hire staff to cook and clean the house and security guards to make sure it's safe. He had just been given a lot of land and an abandoned castle that would need a lot of renovations done to it. Money was far more important to him right now. Also, the king might scam him and give him a trashy house here in the capital that also needs renovations or is in a bad part of the city.

 

Damien gave the King an appreciative glance and replied with his calm voice “The money would be greatly appreciated.”

 

The King nodded and called over a man, the butler presented a wooden box that contained 100 platinum coins, the equivalent of a million gold coins. Judging by this amount of money the King did indeed intend to give Damien a rather useless house.

 

A million gold is a lot of money for regular spending but for purchasing a mansion in the noble district within the center of the city, well it wouldn't even buy the smallest house. 

One of Damien's favourite pastimes was buying and decorating houses once he reached the ‘end game’. Once all the storyline is finished the player is free to do anything and for Damien collecting wealth and real estate was his favourite. Levelling up from diving into S grade dungeons was only fun for the first hundred times but after playing for 5 years those repetitive dungeon crawls became dull to him.

 

Damien took the box containing the platinum coins and put the coins in the pocket of his suit. When he unlocked the Spatial Inventory skill he would feel a lot more secure carrying so much money around.

 

The King nodded and then spoke again, “For the honorary title of Duke, gifted territory and wealth I, as the King of Kassinki, expect Damien Nightshade to protect the region from the threat of vampires and impart his magical knowledge to the people of Kassinki.”

 

“Do you accept these conditions?” 

 

Damien nodded without a second thought, he could break these conditions when he became powerful enough in the future anyway. Damien knew the vampires had no plan to invade in the next few years at least. Also, he was a university lecturer in a magic school, of course, he would impart some of his magical knowledge.

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He still needed the job at the university as these platinum coins would quickly be spent on renovations, clothes, new weapons, and more. Also, he still needed the protection of the Mage Tower to survive his brother's assassins that will be after him in a year's time. Blackthorn village's taxes should only net him a platinum a month, hardly enough to hire enough guards to stand against the vampire assassins.

 

There were many hidden powerhouses amongst the vampires, some are even touching the realm of S tier. They have been alive for hundreds of years after all. If Damien killed the first group of assassins the vampires would see that as a direct challenge to their authority and they would come after him in full force. Even if he raised his Psychic magic and space magic to A grade he still felt his chances of survival were slim.

 

The king took a step back and Emilia stepped forward, “For the gift of the car and the driver I expect at least one private magic lesson a week for a few hours. It’s also compensation for my negligence with your security today.”

 

Damien gave a charming and appreciative smile towards the Princess and nodded to her demands, “I will be in your care then Princess.”

 

After signing some legal documents Damien had officially become a Duke. He felt today was very productive considering he woke up at midday. 

 

He fought a necromancer and army of zombies and after arriving at the city he acquired many useful things for his future plans.

 

The Dukedom of Nightshade has officially begun, and Damien planned to use both the village and castle to stage his defence against Prince August.

 

Not only will his elder brother try to assassinate him but the first Prince is a massive human supremacist who also craves the vampire's secret to immortality. Once he acquires the throne in a year's time he will hunt down all the vampires while turning the beastkin into slaves and use their dead bodies to raise an undead army.

 

Although Damien just defeated a necromancer it was a close battle which he barely won, not to mention he had a team of elves that wore down the necromancer's mana supply and the necromancer himself was only B grade.

 

Prince August is the final boss of the Kassinki storyline, not only is he A grade in necromancy but he’s also B grade in Wind Magic. Not only is he an incredibly powerful mage but he has a vast intelligence network at his disposal and many strong servants.

 

Damien's current plan was to safely scale up his power while staying under the protection of the university. He would then acquire enough wealth to fully develop his Dukedom and train some guards. He would then use his territory to retake the throne once Prince August seizes it in a year's time.

 

Damien gave a bow to his ‘King’ and left the palace. He found his car waiting outside and an incredibly nervous Walter in the driving seat. Damien gave him a smile as he entered the back seat.

 

“Walter, you are now one of my people, so long as you do your job and don’t disappoint me, then we shall get along just fine.”

 

Walter swallowed his saliva and nodded in appreciation “I hope to live up to your expectations young master, where do you wish to go?”

 

Damien thought for a while and decided getting his weapons made would take the longest so he should get that sought out before the duel tomorrow. He turned to Fay and asked, “Do you know the location of a blacksmith?”

 

Fay thought for a moment and then responded, “Oh yea I met this really funny dwarf the other day… he seemed competent and friendly enough.” Fay then gave directions to Walter and he began moving the car with his water jets.

 

Damien leaned back and let out a deep sigh. He still had so much to do.