A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles

Even after Tristan’s visit, mourners continued to arrive without pause.

The mark that Swordmaster Eisen had left on the world was far too great, and the bonds he had forged were just as varied.

From knights who had exchanged only a few words with him, to acquaintances with whom he had maintained relationships for decades.

If things were left as they were, it seemed the visitors would not stop coming even after an entire year.

But the living cannot cling to the dead forever.

When Lucian judged that the flow of mourners had reached its limit, he formally began the funeral.

“May the great Swordmaster now rest in the bosom of the Eight Gods. May he find peace. May this empire remember him forever. And may all knights follow his legacy and become true knights.”

As the one presiding over the ritual, Lucian spoke a few brief words of farewell and placed the body into the coffin.

The wooden casket, without a single gem inlaid, faithfully reflected the austere personality Eisen had possessed in life.

Amid a solemn atmosphere, the procession and burial concluded, and the commemorative banquet began.

While the attendees recalled the achievements of Swordmaster Eisen, they could not help but glance sideways at Lucian.

Although the official period of mourning had not yet ended, the time for genuine grieving had already come to a close.

From that moment on, the political stage began, with Lucian, the absolute lord of the north, at its center.

‘Now that the imperial family remains silent, the ducal house of Grimaldi is the most powerful unified force after the Roglan Marquisate. And with no nearby enemies, its potential is even greater.’

‘The future of the empire will depend on how Duke Lucian moves from here on. We must understand his intentions clearly.’

The heads of the various houses waited attentively, their eyes shining.

It was not long before Lucian appeared in the banquet hall and announced his future plans.

“I sincerely thank all of you who have come to pay tribute to my master. With this, the funeral rites have concluded. If this were an ordinary funeral, we would continue the festivities for a few days before dispersing. However, I wish to hold a somewhat more special event in his honor.”

“Do you mean the blacksmith competition you mentioned earlier?”

One of the heads of a minor house, with an impatient temperament, interrupted.

Under normal circumstances, everyone would have frowned and reprimanded him, but this time no one said anything. The others were also interested in that point.

Lucian smiled, as if understanding the impatience, and explained kindly.

“That is correct. I wish to offer at his grave a sword forged from fae metal. However, after so many years, the method for refining fae metal has been lost, so we must first select the blacksmiths capable of doing so.”

“Hm.”

Low murmurs spread throughout the hall.

Blacksmiths capable of refining fae metal. If they truly appeared, it would be astonishing, but would they not be useless to them? Even if such blacksmiths existed, they had no fae metal to provide.

In practice, it was an event from which only Lucian would benefit, and the other heads of house felt a bitterness rise within them.

‘Damn it. Since we can’t gain anything from this, Duke Lucian will take all the talent for himself.’

‘Please let him fail. He is already a powerful force; if he grows even stronger, how are we supposed to deal with him?’

Among the heads who secretly wished for Lucian’s misfortune, one stepped forward.

“And what do you plan to do if, in the end, the blacksmiths fail to refine the fae metal? If there is no success at all, wouldn’t the event lose its meaning?”

It was a clumsy and ill-timed question, but the questioner himself appeared confident.

His attitude suggested that he was not speaking out of personal interest, but out of genuine concern that the event might fail.

Despite clearly seeing his intentions, Lucian replied without losing his smile.

“Hahaha! How could all of those blacksmiths fail? Someone is bound to succeed. Besides, anyone without confidence would not even dare to try.”

“There is always that possibility, isn’t there? If people with little skill but excessive confidence attempt to refine fae metal, it could end up being something embarrassing.”

“Well, I don’t see it that way. I have no absolute certainty, but there will probably be success. And I also don’t think we will have to wait very long to see a successful case.”

“What do you mean by…?”

The head of house, who had let out an incredulous laugh, stiffened as he grasped the meaning of Lucian’s words.

He claimed to have no certainty, yet he spoke with complete confidence, without the slightest concern.

That could only mean one thing he had already secured a blacksmith capable of refining fae metal and planned to present him at the competition.

‘First the legacy of the northern royalty, then the barbarians beyond the eternal snows, and now even blacksmiths capable of refining fae metal…’

‘Just how much hidden power does he truly have? No matter how much we dig, it seems to have no bottom.’

The heads of the houses trembled at the power Lucian continued to reveal.

If this was only what he showed openly, how colossal must the forces be that he had yet to reveal? The title of “absolute lord of the north” weighed ever more heavily on his shoulders.

In truth, aside from the royal legacy, most of those forces had been obtained by Lucian at just the right moment, so it was all a misunderstanding.

But unaware of the truth, the pressure they felt toward Lucian only continued to grow.

“The sword forged from fae metal will be offered at the grave by the hand of Lady Felicia, heir of Sir Eisen and the new Swordmaster.”

“…Wait a moment, Your Highness. New Swordmaster? What does that mean?”

Someone frowned, unable to let those words pass.

They accepted that Felicia was Sir Eisen’s heir. But being the heir of a Swordmaster and actually possessing the ability of a Swordmaster were two different things.

Were they intending to grant her the title of Swordmaster without any proven achievements?

“The title of Swordmaster is not inherited from one’s predecessor. It is a noble title obtained only when no one can object that the one who bears it lacks the merit to be called such.”

“Are you saying that Lady Felicia is not worthy of being called Swordmaster?”

“How could I know? She herself has not yet proven anything, so we cannot speak of merit.”

“Ha…”

At the expected reaction, Lucian let out a short laugh.

Those who had not even dared to open their mouths while Eisen was alive were now making a fuss, claiming they could not recognize it.

‘Of course. If they know the weight of the name Swordmaster, they won’t want to hand it over to others.’

Although it did not grant real power, it was a title that, by name alone, could make all the knights of the empire kneel. With such an opportunity, it was only natural that they would want to give it to themselves, their relatives, or their vassals.

“Very well, then let us do it this way. Let the knights compete for the title of Swordmaster. The victor will offer the sword forged from fae metal at the grave of the previous Swordmaster, Sir Eisen, and thus announce the name of the new Swordmaster.”

“A fencing duel? It’s not a bad idea, but I doubt Asagrim can represent the entire empire.”

No matter how sacred Asagrim was in the north, it did not have the authority to represent the whole empire.

Even if there were a victor, he would be nothing more than the champion of a local tournament, insufficient to prove his right to the title of Swordmaster.

Lucian knew that well, but he shrugged as if it did not matter.

“It doesn’t matter whether a mountain is split in some rural corner or in the very center of the capital. A swordsman’s skill does not change. Do you believe that a swordsman who splits a mountain in the countryside is inferior to one who only splits a stone in the capital?”

“That’s not it, but the fame and the number of challengers are not the same. There will surely be those who scoff, saying they would have won.”

“Either way, the position of Swordmaster is one that receives challenges without end. If one loses to another, they simply hand over the title and step down. What kind of Swordmaster would someone be if they were never challenged and comfortably kept the title for life?”

In fact, even Eisen, the previous Swordmaster, had received constant challenges until his final years.

The challengers only disappeared completely ten years ago, and even then it was more out of respect for the aged Eisen than anything else.

Now that Eisen had passed away, no matter who became Swordmaster, challengers would swarm in like moths to a flame.

“That you do not recognize Felicia as Swordmaster, or that you wish to challenge that position, does not concern me. But remember one thing.”

With a cold smile, Lucian addressed the heads of the houses.

“Even if someone manages to be called Swordmaster after a thousand hardships, if they cannot maintain the title and lose it right away, they will go down in history as a fool who did not know their place.”

Faced with those blunt words, the heads of the houses could not respond.

Lucian showed a mocking smile at the reaction he had already anticipated. The very same people who, while Eisen was still alive, had not even dared to open their mouths were now making a fuss, saying they could not accept it.

‘Of course. If you know the weight of the name Swordmaster, it’s only natural that you wouldn’t want to hand it over to someone else.’

Although it did not entail real power, it was a title that, by its name alone, was enough to make all the knights of the Empire kneel.

Now that an opportunity had presented itself, it was only natural that they wanted to give themselves, a relative, or a vassal the chance to challenge for the title of Swordmaster.

Lucian’s words struck right at the mark, and the heads of the families had no choice but to close their mouths.

***

Lucian immediately prepared the fencing duel, right after the blacksmith competition.

Or, to be precise, he pretended to prepare it.

In reality, he had already had everything ready for quite some time, because he had anticipated that something like this would happen.

‘Perfect. Aside from Sir Eisen’s recognition, Felicia had no foundation to proclaim herself Swordmaster. With this tournament, she will at least obtain a minimal justification.’

No matter how minimal, it was always better to appear to have received some recognition than to proclaim herself Swordmaster from the outset. At least this way, the nobodies who did not even have the right to aspire to the title would not be able to mock her.

‘Well, even if they mock her a little, once they learn Felicia’s true strength, they will all end up shutting their mouths.’

After confirming that the controversy surrounding the title of Swordmaster had subsided, Lucian moved on to the competition that had already been scheduled.

They could not build forges for all the blacksmiths at once, so they first set up five provisional forges.

If someone failed to work the fae metal within the allotted time, the turn would pass to the next aspirant.

The news that they would be able to see with their own eyes the legendary forging of fae metal drew a crowd even before the competition began.

Among them were many outsiders who had recently entered as blacksmith apprentices.

“So if someone tries to forge it and fails, the turn goes to the next person? Then the next one doesn’t have an advantage?”

“That’s what I’m saying. If the one before manages to even melt it a bit or change its shape, it’s enough to copy it.”

“Tsk, tsk, such ignorance. Do you think blacksmithing can be solved by imitation? And you want to call yourselves blacksmiths without knowing even the basics of forging?”

At the murmurs of the outsider apprentices, a master blacksmith clicked his tongue and scolded them.

Hearing their master’s rebuke, the burly apprentices scratched the backs of their necks with awkward expressions.

“Still, you can learn something, right? We’re apprentices, but they’re masters.”

“As a reference, perhaps. But what about after copying someone else’s method?”

“After that? …Ah!”

At the master’s remark, the apprentice realized his mistake. If one tried to forge based on one’s own theory from the beginning, there was a possibility of success.

Even if it were one in a billion, the moment the theory fit, everything could go right.

But if one only imitated another’s forging, all they would achieve was advancing one step beyond the point where the previous person had failed.

By copying something on the fly, there was no way to think about what came next.

“Besides, fae metal is a metal that no blacksmith has ever worked before. Even if you copied someone else and managed to forge it, do you think a decent sword would come out? At best, you’d get an iron bar.”

“I-I understand.”

“Well, if someone could see a perfect forging from start to finish, the difficulty would drop a bit but there is no such blacksmith.”

At their master’s words, laden with experience, the apprentices nodded vigorously.

Although the master spoke as if it were nothing special, each of those offhand remarks contained surprisingly valuable lessons.

While the spectators continued talking, the first aspirants, already prepared, headed toward the forges.

Among them was Malcolm, who had recently been appointed Master of the Furnace.