The Hero Becomes the Duke's Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest

Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 198

After concluding various conversations with the Lord of the Sacred Fire, Aden exited the sanctuary.

He awoke, furrowing his brows.

He opened his eyes, puzzled by the sensation of something heavy pressing down on him.

“Nyaaa! You’re awake! Do you recognize me? Are you feeling okay, nya?!”

"...Could you please get off my stomach first?"

“Oh, I didn’t realize, sorry about that.”

The first thing Aden saw was Miao sitting on his stomach, wagging his fiery tail while kneading like a cat making bread.

Despite being a divine beast, a cat was still a cat.

“Dad is awake! Are you alright?”

Leo’s voice, filled with concern and joy, echoed in his mind.

It seemed quite some time had passed since he fainted, as Aden was now in the wooden fort of the Red Cat Tribe's village.

“How long was I unconscious?”

Miao, in the form of a small red kitten, responded with relief.

“You were asleep for three whole days, and everyone was worried, nya.”

"Ha..."

Three days had passed while he was unconscious.

It seemed there was a significant difference in the flow of time between the divine realm and the mortal world.

Aden briefly listened to Miao explain the events of the past three days.

‘So, the war is over.’

The war had ended in victory for the Eastern Forest.

Though the battle had been disrupted midway by Shaura’s intervention, the outcome had already tilted in favor of the Eastern Forest Alliance after Kaan was defeated.

The Eastern Army suffered minimal damage, thanks to the fact that the Western Army bore the brunt of the losses when the skeletal giant arose.

However, this didn’t mean there were no casualties.

The internal war within the Great Forest had resulted in casualties for approximately 30% of the Eastern Army, and more than half of them were injured.

Without the healing priests from the Sacred Fire Order, who had been preemptively stationed by Elise and Priest Bali, many of the injured would have also become casualties.

As a result, everyone was still busily engaged in treating the injured and cleaning up after the battle.

‘Well, it couldn’t be helped.’

To have ended the conflict against a clan chief who was an Advanced Sword Master and dozens of Sword Master warriors with only this level of casualties was a miracle in itself.

‘The real problem lies ahead.’

There was about a year left until Tartarus opened.

Moreover, the revelation that the leader of Chaos was Kalsis was another major issue Aden had to deal with.

‘Curse.’

“What is it?”

‘Did you know about Kalsis’ identity and purpose?’

“...”

‘So you knew.’

“I intended to tell you, Aden.”

‘Then why didn’t you?’

“I, like the gods and dragons, am subject to the remnants of the past, the 'constraints of the world.' Because of this, I could not speak even if I wanted to.”

That damned constraint of the world.

Even though the Lord of the Sacred Fire had explained how powerful this law was, Aden still felt a sense of frustration.

Curse continued, almost as if making an excuse.

“Besides, your goal is to defeat your former comrades, isn’t it? You would have found out eventually.”

‘So, your decision to return with the dragon’s mana...’

“As you suspected.”

Curse’s voice sounded like he was grinning wickedly, as if he had a physical form.

“I am a being who inherited the will of Florence’s ancestor, who fought against the Demon God. Naturally, I cannot tolerate the Lord of Gluttony, the Demon God, and I was inclined to ruin his plans.”

Curse had inherited the soul fragment left by Florence’s ancestor, and it was only natural that he harbored hatred towards the Demon God.

Thus, ever since he gained an independent will, separate from the Demon God, the decision to sever the link with him had been made instinctively, even before he was fully aware of being Florence’s ancestor.

“And I believe that decision was correct. Aden Albireo, I ask you—can you prevent the resurrection of the Demon God?”

‘What a pointless question.’

Aden answered Curse’s question with a hint of murderous intent.

‘I’ve always intended to destroy him.’

The only difference now was that he had a definite reason to do so.

Nothing else had changed.

‘I’ll get my revenge and protect the world while I’m at it.’

Of course, there were still difficult challenges ahead.

There was the issue of how to reveal and deal with the truth about Kalsis, a member of the imperial family.

And there was also the enormous problem that Tartarus, which was supposed to open in ten years, would now open in just one year.

‘But every problem has a solution.’

He hadn’t stayed in the Lord of the Sacred Fire’s sanctuary for three days just to sleep.

The Lord of the Sacred Fire had provided Aden with various pieces of information.

With that, it should be possible to defeat Kalsis and prevent the opening of Tartarus.

“Aden-nim!”

“Aden-oppa!”

“The benefactor has woken up!”

Upon hearing the news that Aden had awakened, his companions and the villagers, who were busy with post-war duties, quickly gathered around him.

Aden, seeing their joyful faces, spoke straightforwardly.

“Let’s return to the Remes Ducal House first.”

There was only one year left until Tartarus opened.

There was much to prepare for the future.

* * *

The countries on the Western Continent each had something special.

For instance, the magic of the Anguis Tower Country, the holy arts of the Ternian Theocracy, and the knights of Syres.

And the Empire, a nation with deep roots in the Western Continent for over 500 years, also had its own unique technology.

Alchemy.

Alchemy was a field that played a significant role in establishing the Empire, and for that reason, they built a tower specifically for alchemists.

The Golden Tower, located in the imperial capital.

The Alchemist’s Tower, known as the Ouroboros Golden Tower.

To ensure that this Ouroboros Golden Tower didn’t become independent of the imperial family, it was customary for one of the imperial bloodlines to succeed it.

“For even Shaura to fail, this is unexpected.”

“...Yes, Kalsis-nim.”

“Hmmm…”

The old man beside him nodded, trying to gauge the mood of the young man with golden hair and golden eyes—a symbol of the imperial family.

The old man, Wagner, was the Vice-Tower Master, serving the young master of this Alchemist Tower.

He was also one of the remaining three Chaos executives.

There was a time when Wagner resented having to bow his head and serve someone so much younger than himself.

‘In retrospect, what a foolish and laughable thought that was.’

But after learning the true nature of the 2nd Prince, he could no longer harbor such thoughts.

Prince Kalsis might have the appearance of a human, but inside, he was a terrifying being that far exceeded human understanding.

He was an eternal and immortal existence that had lived for over a thousand years, influencing the history of the Western Continent.

To him, human life was no more than a fleeting spark, and the word "monster" couldn’t even begin to capture his terrifying and beautiful nature.

The Vice-Tower Master had succumbed to the overwhelming fear, becoming a loyal subordinate—a slave who had pledged his very soul to Kalsis.

Kalsis swirled the crimson wine in his glass, watching as the beautiful reflection of his face distorted on the surface.

“We originally planned to use the power of the southern divine beasts as materials to create the Philosopher's Stone. That would have accelerated my resurrection.”

The resurrection power of the Philosopher’s Stone and the awakening as a Master were merely side effects; its true purpose was to serve as a medium to connect the underground world with the mortal realm.

‘If we had succeeded, I could have regained my original power immediately…’

The consciousness of the Demon God had hidden itself in the minds of humans for a thousand years, dreaming of its complete resurrection.

In the process, the fragments of the Demon God accumulated vast amounts of knowledge and skills.

‘And thus, the Empire was established.’

He became the first emperor, known as the ‘Sage of Alchemy,’ and founded the Empire.

Through his descendants, he continued to pass down his bloodline, accumulating power.

‘Thanks to that, I was able to erase the legacies of those I despised.’

He had no intention of leaving alone those who had dared to reduce him to a parasite, forced to survive in a human body.

He used the Empire to oppress the Fairy Tribe, driving them to the brink of extinction.

He destroyed the Kingdom of Florence, a nation of warlocks who had inherited the will of the ancestor of Florence, who had usurped his place and became the ruler of the underground world, and built the current imperial capital on its ruins.

‘I wish I could have eliminated the Three Great Orders as well.’

The groups that worshiped those who had killed him as gods.

Kalsis, the fragment of the Demon God, found this intolerable.

However, it was a different matter from oppressing the Fairy Tribe or destroying the Kingdom of Florence.

The foolish human psychology that believed darkness was evil and light was good and holy.

The Three Great Orders exploited this psychology, making it difficult to incite the masses against them as he had when destroying the Kingdom of Florence.

And, of course, the gods wouldn’t stand by and watch.

So, for a thousand years, he had left them alone, but the situation had recently changed.

The underground world and the mortal realm had originally been one.

The two worlds were beginning to reconnect.

This presented an opportunity for the fragment of the Demon God.

An opportunity to become the Demon God once more and consume this world!

‘

Topple the Three Great Orders and incite the Dragon Lord to run rampant. Fill the mortal realm with chaos and death to hasten the connection.’

And his goal was to open the gate that connected the underground world to the mortal realm.

But now, all his plans were falling apart.

He asked the Vice-Tower Master, Wagner.

“Have you still not found the Dragon Lord’s whereabouts?”

“My apologies, Your Highness. We are doing our utmost to locate her…”

“She must have caught on.”

He clicked his tongue.

Once, she was one of the great Fallen Lords, but now she had become a traitor who sided with the ‘Guardians’ who protected the world.

The last dragon of this world, now mockingly called the arbiter of the world.

Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, it was clear that she had intentionally gone into hiding, using all available manpower and information networks to avoid being found.

In reality, she was leisurely residing in the Dwarf Kingdom, collaborating with Gustav to create absurd magical engineering projects.

“We’ve failed to weaken the Three Great Orders, and everything we’ve tried has gone awry.”

He wasn’t sure where the Dragon Lord was, but he was certain about the cause of his failures.

Aden Remes.

The eldest son of the Remes Ducal House.

Everything had gone wrong because of him.

“That’s why I resurrected the Nephilim, intending to deal with him if persuasion failed.”

But even that giant was shattered in an instant.

Defeating a lord carried a significant implication.

It meant that the one who defeated the lord was a being with the potential to become a god, a transcendent.

If he were to regain his former power as the ‘Lord’ or the ‘Heavenly One,’ it would be challenging to deal with him.

This was not something that could be taken lightly.

“This is getting interesting.”

“...You seem to be enjoying yourself despite everything.”

“Yes. Things may not be going according to plan, but it’s still entertaining in its own way.”

He smiled, as if he genuinely found the situation amusing.

Indeed, things were not going well for him, but he remained calm.

It was the smile of someone confident in his ultimate victory.

“Wagner, we will now abandon the original plan. We’ll proceed with the alternative.”

“An alternative… Do you mean…?”

Wagner’s face stiffened, and Kalsis nodded.

“A new variable has arisen, so we must take some risks and speed up our plans.”

“But following that method would require a large quantity of Philosopher’s Stones.”

The plan to use the southern divine beasts as materials had failed.

And the supply source for human sacrifices had disappeared with the destruction of the Ternian gambling den.

If things continued like this, it would cause significant delays in the plan.

“What does that matter, Wagner?”

“Pardon?”

Kalsis shrugged as if he didn’t understand Wagner’s concern.

Then he turned his head to look out the window.

The night view of the imperial capital from the high Ouroboros Golden Tower was quite beautiful.

“I didn’t establish this Empire for nothing.”

He smiled a bewitching and chilling smile.