Reincarnated as the fourth son of a noble and tamed an SS-rank dragon-Chapter 24: The Duke’s Feast

Darius was just finishing arranging the presents, he didn’t care as much about the organization as Kaly did, but that didn’t mean he would leave it anyhow. The delivery had to be pleasant, men like the Duke receive a lot of presents, so the presentation should also be elaborate.

While arranging the gift he remembered the conversation between Kaly and his father about whose side Lucian was on, Darius thought his father would hesitate to answer. But he was quick to say that he was defending the Duke. Darius remembered the King from his baptism, so he assumed that the two were friends, in fact it was something everyone thought. But no, the King was taking action and diminishing the economic influence of some nobles and favoring others, which made him change sides. Or he had always been on the other side and it was all just a political game, the usual kind played by nobles.

They were standing in front of the carriage, two of which would take the family to the party. Kaly was wearing a blue dress; she wanted to change her outfit that day. She decided to choose the color that the Lestor family wore.

In addition to the dress, she wore a pendant with black diamonds and a mythril gauntlet, the symbol of Drakonia’s nobility.

It took them almost an hour to reach the Duke’s mansion, and it was a long way from one mansion to the next.

There they were greeted by a man who was wearing a butler’s outfit, but it was very well made and some gold threads were apparent, done on purpose so that everyone would notice that they didn’t skimp on anything.

"House Lestor, represented by Viscount Lucian Lestor and his family," another man announced the family as they entered the hall.

Kaly looked around, and Darius also watched.

Lucian stared at Count Albert Kingsle, the man who had sent an assassin to his mansion. Kaly took care of her, then tortured her slightly and forced the Count not to do it anymore and to fulfill a request to Lucian, which was never carried out. So that the agreement wouldn’t be broken, she used contract magic; if one of the parties broke the agreement, she could die. If he was lucky, he would only be seriously injured, but alive.

The Count looked away.

Arnold, Count Frostmourne’s second son, approached the family. Kaly watched the boy, but he soon began to offend Darius, saying that he was weak and that was why he was hiding in the mansion. That’s partly true, but he hides for a reason - only after the baptism do the children start taking part in the events. But before that he really did hide, always staying in his house and avoiding any interaction with other people.

"We can solve this another way," Kaly said.

"How?"

"With a duel, the two of you can duel, if he’s weak he loses and can do something you want, or just give you money. But if he wins you would get down on your knees and apologize for insulting him."

"Sounds like a good deal. Let’s duel with swords," he said, pulling out a sword, just as Kaly had predicted. In fact, she had planned to create a situation, but it came without any effort on her part.

Kael approached the group and asked everyone to give him space. He seemed excited, as hard as that was to say. His beard covered part of his mouth and his expressions were confused.

"What are the rules of engagement?"

"Until one side surrenders."

Count Frostmourne laughed, this would be his chance to humiliate Lucian.

"I accept the terms," Darius said as he received a wooden sword from Kaly’s hands.

"Wood? Are you kidding?"

"What do you mean?"

"We’ll use real swords."

"All right, you can use that sword in your hand, I’ll use this one. I don’t want to hurt you."

"Hurt me? I’m first in my class, I’m one of the best in the Academy."

Kael gave a signal and Arnold went for Darius, but he dodged every attack, they were slow, at least from Darius’ point of view. After a few seconds of dodging, he made an attack on Arnold’s arm, a scream echoed in the ballroom, his left arm was pierced.

"You leave a point for me to attack, with each attack you create a large field. Even an amateur would know how to attack you," Darius didn’t know the terms, but he wanted to provoke.

Arnold went into a rage and Darius made another attack, this one causing his arm to be cut off.

"I give up," he said as he fell to the ground.

Kaly approached and took out a potion from her bag, little by little the arm was regenerating and she said loudly that the potion could be found in the Guild and was an exclusive recipe with 100% purity, this last part caught the attention of some nobles.

"What is this potion?" Kael asked.

"Sage root potion." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"You used a rather expensive potion on him, was that correct?"

"That potion costs less than 1 silver coin at the Adventurer’s Guild. We make the cheapest and highest quality potion you can get."

"I bet that potion is just water," an elderly nobleman said.

"If you have alchemists, you can buy it from the Guild and ask them to test it."

While some nobles spoke to Kaly, Count Frostmourne hid his face, he was furious at yet another embarrassment he had suffered.

"I apologize for what I said," Arnold was kneeling in front of Darius.

People thought that Arnold wasn’t all that they thought he was, the thought that Darius was talented hadn’t crossed their minds. The Count realized this and considered it worse, it was better for his talented son to lose to someone with more talent than for him to have a weak son who lost to someone with no talent.

The attack was his idea, his son just followed his father’s orders. Which was a big mistake.

Darius said everything was fine and went over to Kaly.

"I apologize for my lack of respect," he said to the Duke.

"It’s okay, at your age I did worse."

"I was about to forget. But I have a company, we currently sell potions for the Guild, but we want to expand. That’s why I want to give you our new product, for now, only these pieces exist. In other words, it’s an exclusive item and will remain so for at least a month."

Kaly took out a wooden box, it was adorned with some drawings and in the center was a drawing of an eagle. She opened the box and showed the contents to the Duke.

"What are these?"

"They’re pens, but not just any pens. They’re lighter, which reduces fatigue after hours of signing documents, and they’re practical, they don’t need to be refilled, and the ink that comes with them lasts a long time, it’s unlikely that you’ll use up all the ink before you’ve written at least 100 sheets of paper. I’m not just talking about signing, I’m talking about writing. Another interesting part of this creation is that the signature comes out thinner, which shows more refinement in your writing."

As she spoke, the Duke showed more interest in this invention, he paid attention to every word she said, and he was attentive, as were the other nobles.

"When will you start selling?" asked one of the nobles standing nearby.

"We don’t have any plans yet, we’re thinking of a way to sell, as well as a place to do it. For the time being, we’re only selling potions, with an exclusive contract for the Guild, because it can buy all our daily production and we don’t have to worry about small sales."

"I’m very happy to accept your gift, I’m sure I’ll make good use of it and I’ll look forward to buying more in the future," two words were kind, he really seemed grateful, he was very different from his brother, who would surely disdain the gift and find fault with it.

The feast continued, they were drinking and eating, from time to time a servant appeared and offered more food, another offered drink. This still wasn’t the main food, just for them to chat for a while as they discussed various business matters.

In a moment the Duke disappeared, a nobleman left a room and then another entered. Kaly was watching this, she knew that the Duke only held the party to get closer to people who could help him with what he wanted, he couldn’t just say he wanted the throne and attack. That would cost him his life.

But organizing a coup d’état and using military forces to kill the King wouldn’t cause his death, unless he failed. That’s why they would only attack if everyone agreed to the terms and they were aware of the risks. If the attack went wrong, not only would the Duke pay with his life, but so would all the nobles involved, for a crime against the Crown.

Lucian’s turn came, he was calm, but you could tell he was just pretending, but he pretended very well, only Kaly and Orphelia noticed that he was worried.

A short man was approaching Darius, he was walking slowly and Kaly recognized him from afar.

"I didn’t expect to find you here."

"I didn’t expect to find you here either, Shiva."