The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

81 The sunken house of the duke and visiting the cultivation village again

That morning, there was a somewhat restless atmosphere around Duke Hartner's castle.

The current Duke Hartner was completely bedridden, conscious for perhaps only a few hours a day.

But the conflict was deepening between the two brothers competing to be the heir who was to act in the duke's stead.

The domestic affairs party advocating that the most important thing was protecting the Hartner Duchy from the Empire and that the duchy's army was nothing more than a shield for that purpose. It was Led by Lord Belton, the duke's second son, born to his legal wife.

The advocates of war arguing that the Amid Empire should be attacked and the Sauron Duchy recovered in order to bring even further prosperity to the Hartner Duchy. They were led by Lord Lucas, the duke's eldest son, born to his concubine.

Normally, Lord Belton would be overwhelmingly favored in this dispute, but with the Hartner Duchy having become the frontline in the war against the Amid Empire, Lord Lucas's influence had grown significantly with the army's support.

Before, the people had thought it ideal if Belton acted as the head of house and made use of his shrewdness for managing domestic affairs while Lucas used his tactical genius to lead the army. But now, though their numbers were still small, there was a growing number of people saying that Lucas should act as the head of house and take bold actions with the army, with Belton staying in the duchy and supporting him.

Normally, it wouldn't matter what the masses said; once the current head of family named his heir, the dispute over who would succeed him would end. But the current Duke Hartner said something different every time he opened his eyes; despite appearing conscious, it was questionable as to whether he hadn't gone senile, so even his vassals were at the end of their wits.

As a result, the duchy was divided into Belton's faction and Lucas's faction, as well as a third faction in the middle comprised of people who simply did their daily work without being concerned, as they didn't stand to gain or lose anything no matter who succeeded the duke.

Of course, this had created a strained atmosphere, but the situation had been ongoing for a long time, so the servants were all completely accustomed to it by now.

"Belton-sama, I have a little something I would like to discuss."

Lord Belton, who had been heading towards the dining hall to eat an early breakfast, was called out by Baron Ikus, one of his trusted confidants. Baron Ikus was an honorary nobleman serving as a civil official. Though he was a subordinate of the finance minister of Lucas's faction who was trying to use the war to stimulate the economy, Ikus himself was on Belton's side.

Of course, this was only true because he was expecting a promotion and an increase in his court rank once Belton became duke.

"What is it, Baron Ikus?" asked Lord Belton.

"It seems that the Mages' Guild has been behaving strangely as of late," Baron Ikus reported. "The Guild Master Kinarp and several of the higher-ranking members are always inattentive no matter what people try, and it appears that several of their guards have gone missing."

"Oh dear," Lord Belton whispered quietly. The Mages' Guild was one of his bases of support. Although each Guild took an official stance of political neutrality, the support of the Mages' Guild, which was developing all kinds of Magic Items and producing exceptional mages in large numbers, couldn't be ignored given the current situation.

Belton's policy was that the maintenance of public order and the extermination of monsters should be left to the guards and knights, so he was particularly unpopular with the Adventurers' Guild. Bribing the Guild Master of the Guild headquarters was proving effective, but it was still true that there were many in the Guild branches of each region who held animosity towards him. Belton did want to maintain his support from the other Guilds and the Churches in order to compensate for this, however.