The Heroines Are After My Fortune

30 – I Made a Secret Sub-Character

“A spar, you say…?”

A slap in Jongno, they say you’ll glare at it by the Han River.

Thanks to the elixir’s energy still coursing through me, I healed quick and went straight to Casano.

‘…That Caesar, he can’t control his strength, no way. Never sparring with that human again.’

It’s not like I didn’t feel a little like a kid who’d just gotten the toy they’d always wanted, but first, I desperately needed intel on what kind of opponent I could face.

“Ahem, it’s the Baron’s command, nothing to be done. Let’s make it quick.”

Casano cleared his throat, acting like this was just another day at the office. I pulled out Chartre and handed over control of my body to the beast.

‘…Chartre, get ready.’

[Got it.]

Wooong—!

“Ah, wh-what…?!”

Casano looked shocked as I, who he thought was a regular joe, suddenly unleashed a blade aura. Chartre, now possessing my body, the so-called ‘Shayden,’ lunged at Casano with a nasty smirk.

“Don’t let your guard down, Knight—!!”

Clang—!

The long-awaited first clash,

Casano’s blade was pushed back hard.

He looked flustered, raised his own aura to try and block the onslaught, but he was driven back, one step, then two.

“…Watch carefully, Master. This is the Chartre Sword Style.”

Shayden whispered quietly, then pulled his body back, gathering energy in his blade, before powerfully unleashing it.

“hhhup!”

[Ooh…!?]

Clang, ka-thunk, ka-rang! An onslaught like a storm, a deluge of attacks. The domineering power befitting the name ‘Conqueror’s Swordsmanship’ was felt in each and every movement. It was undeniably, distinctly different, I was thinking just that when—,

“…That’s enough for now.”

Shayden ended the spar.

Just when it seemed like he’d show me something, he ends it like this?

[What, is it already over?]

“You’ll know why soon enough.”

With those words, Chart yielded control back to me. I regained my body and was immediately slammed by an insane muscle ache.

‘Ughhh…fuck, I get it now.’

My entire body was screaming already. When Caesar had decimated me before, the impact had been so severe I hadn’t noticed, but now, Chart’s words that ‘my body was too weak’ resonated deep in my bones.

“Baron Aiden, truly magnificent! To think you were concealing such swordsmanship…!”

Suddenly, Casano came rushing in with a surprise worship session, clearly impressed by the way he’d been pushed back even in that brief moment. Explaining every step of how I’d gotten stronger was a hassle, so I decided to just go with the ‘newly rich Baron concealing his strength’ concept.

“I just met a benefactor while living in the outskirts, and learned a thing or two in my spare time.”

“Ohh, I’ve heard there are many hidden masters out in the outskirts, I see it was true.”

He had been with me during the Caesar incident, so it seemed he simply believed it. He was becoming closer to the obedient knight I’d hoped for, so I was starting to quite like him.

“Sir Casano, would you be so kind as to elaborate on your detailed impressions of our sword exchange?”

[What in the world are you doing! Does some expert-level punk think he can pass judgment on my swordsmanship…!]

‘You gonna be quiet before I fry you with electricity?’

[………….]

Hmm, the effect’s solid, alright.

“I reckon that ‘honored guest’ must’ve been a formidable master. Just a brief exchange with their sword, and I could feel the pure strength behind their swordsmanship.”

[Ahem, an expert, though he’s one who knows a thing or two about swords.]

The praise shifted Scharrt’s demeanor at once, but Cassano’s assessment wasn’t done.

“However, in the final strike, the power transmitted to me felt lacking compared to the overbearing form of the blade. I suspect it might be because Baron Aiden, himself, was short on strength or stamina? Am I correct in this assumption?”

“…You are.”

[Hmph, that one pierced right through to the core.]

“Indeed. Given this imbalance, it makes sense why you didn’t intervene in the previous battle.”

Though the real reason he couldn’t get involved when recruiting Caesar was because he was genuinely too weak.

Ultimately, one conclusion arises:

To properly utilize the gifts crammed into my body, I need to train my physique.

[No matter how many tricks you use to obtain the mana of a swordmaster, wield a famed sword like me, and have me fight in your stead, this untrained body of yours is ultimately limited.]

If my body were a car, it’s like shoving a Bugatti engine into a compact – it might hold out for a bit, but it would strain the chassis and never achieve its full potential.

‘Scharrt, there’s no way around this, is there?’

My knack for cutting corners was rearing its head again.

I asked just on the off chance-,

[Is there ever? You just gotta tough it out, hehe.]

Scharrt was snickering with glee at my inevitable suffering.

His laughter has reason; this kind of basic training is notoriously hellish.

I’ll probably need to repeat countless strength and stamina training sessions that demand an extreme mental fortitude before I get a body that’s even usable. This is one thing money can’t just fix. Money might assist, sure, but *I* have to be the one to execute it.

That damned laugh echoed in my head all the way back to my room, but I couldn’t find a retort, so I just forced a smile and trembled with suppressed rage. But then, right then, a brilliant idea, one even Yul-father would admire, flashed through my mind.

“Wait a sec, do I even need to work out myself?”

[What kind of crap is that…? You can’t be… no, surely not.]

“You guessed it.”

[Y-you crazy master…!! I won’t do it, I said I won’t!]

Stamina training, strength training – all I had to do was possess Chart with my body and make *him* do it. He tried desperately to resist, but thanks to our contract, he had no choice but to do as I said.

“Alright, Chart, I’m lending you my body, go work out for three hours. Got it?”

[I don’t want to, I don’t want to…! I don’t, uhhk!]

Shut up, Chart, and go work out.

####

[…In the hundreds of years I’ve lived, I’ve never seen anyone more devilish than you.]

“Yeah, thanks.”

[That wasn’t a compliment…!]

Whenever I had free time, I’d possess Chart with my body and force him to work out, and now he’s grumbling like this. There was a big reason behind making *him* do the training for me. It just made more sense for someone with experience in being strong to train directly, right?

‘Mmhmm, anyway, it’s totally not because I’m lazy.’

Still, if he keeps complaining like that, it’ll stress me out too, so I decided to throw him a bit of a carrot.

“If you’ve gone through all that trouble, you deserve a reward, too. I’ll lend you my body sometimes when I want to eat something delicious.”

[Really…!?]

“I don’t go back on my word.”

Actually, I do it all the time, but Chart seemed pretty hooked.

[Ahem, well then….]

And with that, Ego Sword’s grievances were quelled.

My power-up scheme was pretty much finalized, so now it was truly time to focus on the film.

‘The movie preparations are going splendidly.’

I’d sprinkled bits of the script I’d written in my free moments to folks in the industry for casting. The response, as expected, was explosive. Not because the content was amazing, but because the terms were just that good. Nothing beats money when it comes to things like this.

“…This script is even more daring than the last one,”

Renee commented after reading the movie script I wrote.

Well, yeah, the very essence of the sentiments in my script weren’t exactly something that would be found in the medieval era.

“Is this going to be alright? This content, well…, it might be seen as an attempt to shake the class system.”

I was well aware of Renee’s concerns. The film’s theme was ‘the impossible love between a commoner knight and a noble lady’.

It was a frequent topic to see commoner women becoming concubines of noble men but never the opposite. Like she said, if the imperial family misinterpreted my intentions, things could get quite bothersome.

But in order to truly flip public opinion, this kind of daring attempt was necessary.

“Nothing will come of it. The love we depict in the movie doesn’t end up working out, after all.”

If I “dared” to write a story in which a noble lady and a commoner knight overcame the barriers of their social standing and were together, I might “mysteriously” disappear without a trace. This was, in the end, an absolute monarchy ruled by an ‘emperor.’ A knight under the direct command of the imperial family would probably come for my head.

Of course, to prepare for the eventuality, it was necessary to sprinkle in some provocative side stories, slick action sequences, and some great music to dilute the parts that were causing concern.

‘Hoo, I have to whip all that up in just one month.’

Considering the normal production time for feature films, that was maybe less than a tenth of the usual time. I had to reduce production time as much as possible in areas that were available with money.

‘I’ve thought about it endlessly, but I need to direct this myself.’

Theatre is pretty much the same regardless of whether it’s modern or medieval, so I could leave that to a professional. But when it came to film, there was a level difference like heaven and earth, so no matter how busy I was, I couldn’t compromise on that.

If the film wasn’t properly made and the message I wanted to convey to the audience wasn’t properly delivered, all my plans would be for shit.

“Ah, Baron Aiden. There’s something I wanted to ask.”

Renee, as if struck by a sudden thought, posed the question.

I nodded, telling her to go ahead.

“Who is the director going to be for this film?”

“…………Uh, well.”

That’s me, I thought.

I almost said it, but held back.

When directing this film, I had to thoroughly conceal my identity. I needed to maintain the position of ‘I just provided the money, but the director made the film however the hell they wanted…!’ so I could keep a step removed.

I’d tell Renee eventually, but if she knew my identity beforehand, it could leak out somewhere. So I decided to create a suitable alter ego, something like ‘Van Goth’.

“…Starfield.”

“Pardon?”

“Director Steven Starfield, it is.”

I’d combined the name of a director I liked with the name of the shopping mall near my home, creating a ‘vaguely master-like’ director’s name.

“I consider myself quite the movie buff, but I’ve never heard of that person before?”

She wore a bewildered expression, as though it were indeed a name unheard of.

“That’s understandable. He’s a faceless director, one whose existence is known to only a very few people involved.”

“What do you mean, ‘faceless’?”

“He always wears a mask, so no one has ever seen his real face. It’s said he’s only ever made films for the private collections of the highest nobility, but his genius is second to none.”

“How did you manage to secure him? Aiden-nim is… hmmm, hmmm.”

Renee, as if about to say something, suddenly turned her head away and feigned looking at something else.

Probably thinking, ‘But you’re just a Baron, how could you…’ That sort of thing.

Tsk, this young lady’s got no clue.

“I sent him my script on a whim, and he said he liked it so much, he absolutely had to make it into a film.”

“Ah, is that so…?”

“Renee, be prepared. Director Starfield doesn’t give special treatment just because you’re a Duke’s daughter, mind you.”

“Hmph, that’s what I’m hoping for.”

Referring to myself in the third person as ‘an unparalleled genius’ and ‘a director of iron will who doesn’t even show leniency to a Duke’s daughter’ made me want to crawl into a rat hole, but I barely held it together.

Watching Renee more or less buy my story, I finally breathed a sigh of relief, but at that moment, I didn’t know.

That the half-assed setup I was spouting would become the foundation for the fame of Steven Starfield, a genius director who shook the Empire.