Chapter 15: Epilogue(Volume 1) – Oath

It's been almost a month since the first semester classes ended, I'm enjoying my precious time both in my territory and at home.

Currently my shameless family used some of my money on material things and to improve our home, there is nothing wrong with the latter but the former is a daring that I get very angry, I punish them of course.

I am forcing them to work harder for the duration of the month. I am also worried about Duke Bismarck's response.

He said it would be a few days, but there is less than a week left in the month. I'm scared he didn't make it, in case of something terrible I have everything ready to escape with my family.

They were very angry and furious when they found out, I laughed inside when I saw them. But I laughed even harder when they watched the daughter of an archduke stay in their house for a few days, I could see the fear on their faces.

"A good drink after a hard day's work is the best!"

"How can you be so cynical in saying that?"

I was saying that to my older brother, Bram, who gave me some warm words of his own.

"I'm certainly not doing anything, but whose fault is it to use exclusive money to improve our territory on trivial things?"

"I told you they were vital expenses for us!!!"

"How vital!!! Are you talking about going to enjoy with women in town?"

"I can tell you inherited daddy's genes."

"What do you mean by that!!!?"

"Never mind, keep working on my beloved flowers."

"Ughh.... More importantly, what are you going to do about it?"

Bram, who was bent over stood up to point me with his nose in a certain direction. There were four people there, two of them were maids who were panicking looking at what one of them was doing, and those were....

"Umm!!! Yes it is very difficult to open a hole in the ground without earth magic."

"It seems so, but it will also give you a sense of happiness to have grown something with your own hands."

"Is that so? I think- kyaa!!! Airi, what is this disgusting thing that clung in my hand!!!"

"Hahaha, don't worry it's just an earthworm."

...Alisa and Airi.

After what happened with her ex-fiancé, her father asked me to bring her here to rest. Over time I think the three of us have become close.

Since they have been going where I am going, I have not been able to do much observation or research to keep them busy and entertained.

That's because I can't let them know about Ixion and ancient technology.

But I'm not complaining since I also enjoyed their company very much.

As someone who had almost no friends or female companionship, this makes me very happy. The only downside is that from time to time my family asks me not to dare to lay a finger on Alisa, even for some reason her maids keep an eye on me when we are exploring the island.

I heard footsteps suddenly, I turned to look and it was my cute and angelic little sister, Pola-chan who was bringing a pitcher of ice water for my brother.

Bram came over and gladly took, not the glass, but the pitcher. Both me and Pola were surprised, was this guy that thirsty?

As I watched my brother's bottomless barrel, my sweet little sister called out to me.

"Hey, onii-chan."

"Umm, is something wrong?"

Then she with her innocent little finger pointed towards the girls.

"Onii-chan, which one is your girlfriend?"

At that instant both Bram and I spat in each other's face. It was disgusting.

*cough cough*

"W-What are you talking about, there's no way someone like me could have either of those two as a partner!"

A look of curiosity and mystery came across her little face as she tilted her head sideways.

"Don't you get it? All right I'll tell you the easy way."

I pointed my finger, Bram noticed and tried to hide me, but I pushed him away.

"The pretty girl in plain clothes is a commoner, I could take her as a couple, but she would be treated as a mistress according to the laws of our country. So if we had children they would be treated as commoners and could not inherit our family name."

His face made a big OH.

"Instead, the girl in the fancy dress who is dirty right now and would give our mother a heart attack."

Again, Bram tried to cover for me and I kicked him.

"She's an aristocrat, unlike nobles and country folk like us she must marry someone of higher status or even two ranks below her. That and our middle names are different, the van and von are the same as a mangy cat and a fancy cat."

That was the situation, I can only try to go for a partner who is of a higher rank and have only one wife. If I were a viscount I could have two wives, if I were an earl two along with a concubine, the same formula +1 applies if I were margrave.

On the other hand, the counts can have three wives and several concubines, thus increasing the number of wives up to Duke and King. The latter was something else I will not talk about.

I looked back at my little sister to see if she understood, but her words hurt me very hard.

"But onii-chan, in your room I found a magazine of girls with very big breasts, and they have too, they have very big ones, I thought one of them was you-."

To stop her from talking I covered her mouth and started humming like crazy.

The people around me were giving me pitying looks, they thought maybe I had gone crazy.

In the distance after a while I noticed a galleon. It had the Bismarck family crest all over the front.

◇◇◇

A big ship had come to pick up Alisa and company. It pained me a little to say goodbye to them so quickly, however, a messenger had also come on the ship from the duke. That meant only one thing.

My dad was alone talking to him, it seemed it was something that the head of the family should hear. After a short time I heard a scream, the voice was my father's. I couldn't go in, but I was afraid.

I couldn't go in, but I was afraid to know what was being said to him. After a few seconds of the scream. The same man who came here the first time is here again.

I greeted him politely and he greeted me back. I tried to ask him, but he beat me to it.

With a calm tone and no bad intentions he said to me.

"You should not worry about anything young man, he King did not punish you or anything, I gave your father the letter containing the safe and current situation of you."

I thanked him, but I was uneasy as to why my father's cry if all was well.

When I entered after knocking several times with no response, I found my father lying on the floor foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes with a letter in his left hand.

I rushed over to see if everything was all right.

"Father, what happened to you, are you okay?!"

Then I grabbed the letter, behind it had the mark of the palace and read its contents.

After a short time my face gradually became disfigured and I also ended up unconscious with foam at the mouth.

After a while, my little sister Pola passed by and when she saw us she thought we were playing a game and she also lay down on the floor.

After she lay down she noticed the letter, her reading level was very high thanks to the books I bought her.

"This one, it says..."

"-The King of the Kingdom of Altfode is personally pleased to inform, that no reprisals will be taken against the family of the Bradford barony, nor will he Duke Kingsfort. Moreover, the young baron is thanked for teaching a lesson of modesty and humility to the son of the King and the Duke. He will be rewarded in giving him the title of knight of low rank-"

"O-Onii-chan isn't this unbelievable!!! You will be a knight!!!"

Being still on the floor I replied in my conscience.

(It's not!!! The King wants to reward me for beating his son and also the Duke also agrees to that? Impossible!!! It's clearly a trap so that we won't escape so he can liquidate us!!!"

Pola ran off looking for the other family members, I heard a female scream, it wasn't mom as she was out shopping and the other male besides us here was..... Lyle.

◇◇◇

Some time ago when Rudel was enjoying his happy time in his territory, there was a meeting that took place several days without concluding.

In that meeting there were different people at a big round table.

They were almost all the ministers of the palace, there were two more people there who were not ministers but who also had to do with the meeting.

One of them was a man of a very old age, but his face and body showed that he was just entering maturity; his hair was a platinum color that did not look like gray hair, his eyes were purple and he had an average beard of the same color as his hair, there was a thin and small mustache under his nose, his clothes were so elegant that they made him look like the most important person of the place. His name was... Leonis von Altfode.

To the side far away from him was another man who also did not dress the same as the others. He was one of the three lords of the kingdom, Duke Franz von Kingsfort. A medium-sized man, blond hair slicked back, green eyes, no facial hair and a medium-sized belly like his height.

In the palace, the total number of ministers was seventy-seven, but there were sixty-six. The guards wondered if there was a war emergency for almost all of them to be present.

One of them spoke, he was a man who appeared to have a toucan's beak for a nose, dead eyes, brown hair with wavy eyebrows, a mustache that looked like a toothbrush, and thick barracuda-like lips.

"This has taken a long time to come to a simple conclusion, we must punish with death that family. It is the only solution so that the people of the kingdom and enemy countries will not think that our country is weak and that the royal family is a joke, no offense Your Majesty."

The ministers were silent at what he said as it seemed the most logical thing to do, but one man alone answered him.

"You do sound very keen on wanting to execute that boy, don't you, Marquis Moldred von Balzac?"

After mentioning his name, he turned to the person who said that, he already knew him beforehand, so only pure words of sarcasm came out of his mouth.

"I am very sorry that you are bothered by my humble opinion Duke Bismarck, but we are here to solve a big problem for the country. Perhaps since your daughter was your patron you don't care if, the crown prince was injured by someone we still don't know if he is a spy or a future rebel for our beautiful country."

The ministers began to converse quietly among themselves after hearing this.

" The marquis is right."

"I never heard of a family of barons so far from the borders of the country."

"What if they are associated with the Talis Commonwealth? They have not dealt with anything for some months which is very mysterious to us."

Many voices could be heard in question dialoguing about whether to execute or punish Rudel alone.

A silent person raised his hand to speak.

"If I may, gentlemen."

The ministers turned to the person who had not said a single word in question. It was the other duke present.

"As I had commented from the first day, I am against punishing or executing the baron, the fault is partly mine for not knowing how to discipline my son well, he behaved normally at home, but after entering the academy I never received a single letter from him and I assumed he was having too much fun to write, I would scold him for not writing once when he returned... but this never crossed my mind that it would happen."

The ministers were silent and listened attentively.

"I support duke Bismarck in not punishing him, but in the matter of the prince I leave it to him in all the authority His Majesty decides."

After saying that he sat down as if he were a good child and the people on the sides spoke to him proudly, but only one person looked at him with a cold look of repulsion.

(Damn sly fox.)

He thought strongly, Siegwald more things about him.

(Use a glib excuse that you didn't raise your son right, that his behavior at home was normal and maybe someone influenced him badly, and to top it all off pass the decision to punish him or not to Baron Bradford for laying a hand on his son, he next king.)

His gaze grew more and more intense.

(You never spoke in the whole meeting looking for an opportunity for the Marquis to speak that the time was long extended. But don't think you would press the king.)

A smile formed on Siegwald's face.

"I agree with duke Kingsfort."

All eyes suddenly widened as they looked at the same person. He noticed that there were two people looking at him with looks that said "Why are you opening your damn mouth to say that?!!!!" and he smiled even wider.

"The archduke himself is right, he forgives the baron since it was partly his fault, I also accept part of my daughter's responsibility. But I believe this matter also requires the participation of the prime minister who is absent due to illness, when he returns we must decide this and trust the only person who truly advises for the good of the country to the King."

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Siegwald's words made several ministers agree with him. Even the king himself agreed.

But in his mind he had another answer.

(How hard is it to tell these old geezers that I don't want to punish that boy? My stupid son was partly to blame and deserved that, and the Kingsfort boy was also even more to blame, since he was a child he would sneak in with Liam to spy in my chambers and use my son as a shield to escape my interrogation).

(A King should not beat or discipline his own son with his hands... but that boy sometimes provokes me to beat him with my crown to make him react and get some sense).

The King sighed in his head and closed his eyes to give himself one last relief.

(Please hurry back, Mayer...)

◇◇◇

After being picked up by the Bismarck household ship, Airi was sad after saying goodbye to Rudel he who was crying from the harbor.

Alisa also gave her laughter and sadness to say goodbye. She asked Airi if she wanted to return home and she shyly said no. Alisa had the bright idea to ask Airi if she wanted to return home.

Alisa had the bright idea to ask her if she wanted to go home for the rest of the vacation. Airi was delighted after that and so they went straight to her territory.

From the moment they set foot on the ground, the two of them did not separate for anything. Neither to eat, sleep, much less bathe separately.

It was the first time that the maids and servants saw their lady so spoiled, but for the older people that attitude reminded them of when she was a child, they gave her looks of happiness and nostalgia to see that their lady was again that girl who spoke of greatness when she had such a tiny body.

Currently they were riding horses for practice purposes for Airi who did not know. The latter asked Alisa an extremely surprised question.

"Erhhh!!! Rudel-san will be promoted to knight!!!"

Airi was on her horse galloping a bit awkwardly having Alisa supervising her from behind.

"So it seems. My father told me that the meeting took long until Prime Minister Ritzburg arrived to end the discussion."

"My father was even surprised by the words that man said, not for nothing is he His Majesty the King's right hand man."

"It's thanks to him, to His Majesty the King and..."

A slightly sad look formed on Alisa's face, but then it was back to a stronger smile.

"Klein's father. It is thanks to them that Rudel will not be blamed or punished, he will even return to the academy with us."

The horse stood up on two legs after a movement Airi made out of happiness upon hearing that Rudel would return to the academy.

They managed to reassure the horse and he returned to his slow but sure pace.

"Yes. He will return to classes starting the day after his knighthood qualification."

Alisa looked from behind at Airi's flushed cheeks, a feeling of bitterness showed in her smile as she watched Airi unintentionally mutter Rudel's name.

Suddenly, Airi turned to ask her something.

"Alisa... Why will Rudel-san be a knight if he hit two important sons?"

At Airi's question, Alisa took some time to explain it in a short and simple to understand way.

"I think it's because he showed his determination to do the right thing."

Airi let out an adorable "What?"

"You see, my father contacted me to tell me that he King wanted to reward Rudel for teaching his son humility, I couldn't believe it, but it seems that's how the situation was over there."

The horse was heading to the stables after finishing his route.

"He King said that as punishment for allowing himself to be led astray by evil tongues he punished him by stripping him of his title of heir until further notice."

Again Airi let out an adorable "Whaaaat?"

"Just as you hear it, even Archduke Kingsfort rejoiced at his punishment and did something similar with Klein, it seems he will punish him for a whole season and will not return to the academy at least this year."

Being already inside the stable, Airi blurted out another adorable and comical "Whaaaaaat!"

Alisa burst out laughing at her expression.

She then hugged her for the stomach ache the laughter caused.

(Looks like we'll have a lot of fun this new semester.) -She thought as the maids came to see what was wrong with her.

◇◇◇

One day before the entrance ceremony for the new semester of the academies, the knighthood was held.

I thought maybe they would try to kill me, but they didn't, even took Battler with me.

I thought that since it was just a simple field baron's degree it would be something of seconds, but the reality was otherwise.

"Wh-what the hell is this!!!"

In the largest chamber were gathered an Unimaginable number of people who came.

There were some who wore their uniforms, but the rest were people who dressed gallantly and clothes that only important officials wear.

Rudel was frightened almost squatting in a room after being informed by Ixion.

"Why are there so many people here!!!?"

"I'm supposed to be a baron and moreover it's for the lowest rank of knights, why did all these people come here?"

In the room where I was waiting, my family was with me.

My parents were looking at themselves in a mirror with the best clothes they bought with my money.

Bram was getting Pola all dolled up while Lyle....

"Wait, who the hell are you!!!"

The person I was addressing, glared hatefully at me when I asked.

With narrowed eyes, he spat his words at me.

"Are you a fucking moron or are you trying to be funny by any chance?"

"No, I'm serious, who are you and where is Lyle?"

After saying that the one who backed me up was my sweet little sister.

"That's right!!! I haven't seen Lyle onii-chan for a while."

The mystery person heard that and screamed out of frustration.

"I'm Lyle!!! Don't you recognize your own big brother, I just returned my hair to its natural color and got rid of my contact lenses!!!"

The next person to sound astonished was my own father who let out a "Really!!!! I thought you were just a chaperone."

My mother and another brother gave him a look that said "you don't recognize your own son". My sister was amazed at the possibility of hiding his appearance with a change.

Inside I laughed loudly as they were now arguing. For some reason this chaotic moment was one of the few I could never have with my old family or relatives, it hurt a little, but that person no longer exists in that world.

A few minutes later someone arrived to inform that it was time, I got ready behind my family who left to find their corresponding places.

That day sadly for me, a young gentleman was born.

◇

It's been a week since school started, everything is going extremely well... but there are strange rumors floating around.

Starting with me, the rumors are about how I didn't get away with it after beating and humiliating two important kids, how I bribed the guards not to beat me up and mainly that I extorted the King and the palace officials, thus achieving my title for knighthood.

I would be upset if it were almost all lies. Yes I was victorious after beating up two idiot kids plus paying Alisa's dad to be my lawyer and save my ass. The guards thing was manipulation of his nose so I don't know what to say about that, there are more rumors with worse ridiculous content.

Well, the rumors are just for me since thanks to that now both my class and the other students no longer approach me or pass word with me, rather they fear and avoid me, I don't blame them, but it still hurts.

As for the girls...

Airi has tried to excel in her class thanks to the tutoring Alisa gave her, unlike me she wasn't scared of this girl's innocent, but deadly questions. As expected from an aristocrat.

And speaking of Alisa herself... it would be quicker to say she's been on the run from the stalkers in her new entourage. The previous ones seem to have been obliterated by her father.... Good thing that man is not my enemy as I couldn't live here anymore.

Her father assigned her a new entourage, but she herself has shunned them all, occasionally hiding for hours in my or Airi's room. She seems to desire company from no one but the two of us. I am a little embarrassed, but not uncomfortable.

I find myself now taking a nap in the garden in the center of the academy, it is the free hour for everyone and I take advantage of my valuable time doing nothing, but how important I am.

I only had again a discomfort and that was that yesterday, near a corridor I heard someone, I did not understand very well what he said since his voice was small like a girl, but clearly I heard that he said my name and something about "ruining history".

Just to mention that, my head has been spinning thinking about it.

Suddenly two shadows blocked my view, I had my eyes closed so I couldn't see who they were, but I was going to insult them like they have no idea for disturbing my precious time....

"Geez~, Rudel-san really is lazy."

"It certainly seems that way, it makes me doubt if it's true that he's a man and not an animal."

I recognized that cute voice and that other voice so sharp.

They were my friends. Airi and Alisa.

I opened my eyes to watch them and they had their heads blocking the light and staring at me with two smiles.

"Sorry I'm lazy and don't look human."

The girls replied in order at my vague response.

"If Rudel-san were a cat, your laziness would be cute."

"At least have some hard training, so I'd forgive you for lying in the middle of the garden path."

I made a distressed face at their honest answers, before I asked them what they needed from me, they beat me to it.

"More importantly, we came here so you could treat us to an ice cream cone, a new store opened and they say they are delicious." -Said Alisa extending her hand towards me.

"That's right, we came here for Rudel-san to be our personal gentleman. Oh, you would leave two helpless ladies walking around alone?" -Airi exclaimed smiling extending her hand to me.

Only a few seconds passed, but the figure of these two cheerful girls giving me a hand to stand up made me think how lucky I am right now-no. How lucky I am in this life.

A rare, but happy family.

A personal machine that gives me money and pampers me.

And finally, two girls from two totally different worlds than me.

It made me think that we are a strange triangle that comes together by fate, as that same fate made me reincarnate in a new world with a new life.

I grabbed their hands and standing up I spoke to them with a smile that showed my confidence.

"It can't be helped~ so I, he newly appointed low ranking knight, Rudel van Bradford will be the personal escort for you two."

"Don't you dare think that with just one cone I'll be filled."

"Hoo~ Do you want to have a competition?" -Said Alisa smiling.

"If you're going to compete, then I won't lose to you!!!" -Using her hands as fists, Airi affirmed.

With that said we set off for the ice cream store.

Truly, how fortunate I am in my new life, in a fantasy world.

____________________________________________________

End of the academy arc, inter-school mini arc and volume 1.