By the time I finally returned to the Razgrim domain, having been jostled by the carriage for an entire day since leaving the royal capital, the sky was starting to glow with the colors of sunset.
The moment the familiar roof of the manor came into view, I sank deep into the carriage’s backrest. The ridiculously cavernous great hall of the royal palace, the inscrutable faces of those scheming nobles—none of that was here. Now, I could finally drink some wine and go to sleep.
...With luck, I wouldn’t hear another word about becoming the Queen's husband for a while. Probably.
When the carriage pulled up in front of the manor, Mylene was already waiting at the entrance. She bowed politely.
"Welcome home, Master. You must be exhausted after such a long journey. How were things in the royal capital...?"
Her voice wavered slightly at the end, likely because of the royal guard flying the crown’s banner and the iron-reinforced wagons lined up behind me.
"A lot happened. It’s a long story, so for now, let’s get inside—"
"Hey, Boss! You made it back in one piece!"
Raisa came trotting over from the direction of the training grounds. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with a rag, she raised an eyebrow at the sight behind me.
"That’s quite the grand homecoming. You only went to the capital, right? Don’t tell me you went and started a war?"
"I’m about as tired as if I had..."
"...If you let Vain explain, it’ll only get more confusing. I’ll handle the briefing."
Clarice stepped down from the carriage and stood beside me. Despite spending more than half the journey home lecturing me, she apparently still had the energy to talk.
"First, Lady Alecia was safely crowned and has officially become the Queen."
Mylene placed a hand over her heart in relief, while Raisa nodded with satisfaction. So far, everything was as expected. After all, that was the reason I’d gone to the capital in the first place.
"And as a reward for his service during the Royal Selection, Vain was granted one thousand gold coins."
Both of them froze.
Raisa glanced at the wagons, then turned her gaze back to Clarice to confirm.
"...One thousand? You mean a thousand gold coins? Not a hundred?"
"A thousand. That’s what’s loaded onto those wagons."
This time, even Mylene turned her eyes toward the wagons. I’d shocked them before by giving them thirty gold coins; it was only natural they’d be speechless when the amount was a thousand.
However, Clarice wasn't finished.
"Furthermore, Vain has been promoted from a count to the rank of Duke."
"...Master is now a Duke?" Mylene asked, looking at me timidly.
"That’s how it turned out."
"It most certainly did not just 'turn out' that way! Is that not a title held by only a handful of people in the entire kingdom?!"
"I tried to give it back once, but they wouldn't let me."
"That's part of the 'long story,' so be quiet!" Clarice snapped, glaring at me. Raisa looked back and forth between us, clearly sensing a bad omen.
"And finally... in front of every noble in the kingdom, Lady Alecia declared that she would take Vain as her husband."
Silence fell over the front of the manor.
After a long pause, Mylene spoke up tentatively.
"And, um... how did Master respond?"
"...He turned her down," Clarice said.
Raisa looked at me with a completely flat expression.
"Boss... You got a thousand gold coins, became a Duke, were asked by the Queen herself to be her husband... and you just said no and came home?"
"Well... that’s about the size of it."
"The royal capital is a terrifying place..."
"What a coincidence. I think so too."
Mylene didn't even have the composure to laugh; she took a step closer, her face pale.
"Master... Um, is your head really... safe?"
"If Alecia were the type to chop off heads just because someone turned down her proposal, I wouldn't have helped her become Queen in the first place. Don't worry about that."
When I told her that, Mylene finally relaxed her shoulders. Still, something seemed to be bothering her, and after hesitating for a moment, she spoke again.
"May I... continue to address you as 'Master' as I always have?"
"Do whatever you like. If I’m called 'Your Grace' even in my own home, I’ll never feel like I'm actually resting."
"Yes! Then I shall continue to call you 'Master' just as before."
The usual soft smile returned to Mylene's face.
Whether I was a count or a duke, there was no need to change the atmosphere of this house. Raisa naturally continued to call me "Boss," and I wanted at least that much to stay the same.
◇
After Clarice and Mylene verified the amount and the seals, the chests containing the thousand gold coins were moved into the manor's vault.
I handed the royal guards a signed receipt and provided them with food and wine for their return trip as a gesture of thanks. The captain bowed politely and led his men back down the road toward the capital.
As the royal banner disappeared beyond the gate, I finally felt like I was truly home.
Standing before the last chest, I couldn't help but let a smirk creep onto my face.
One thousand gold coins... huh.
With this much, I could expand the barracks and the warehouses. If there was still money left over after investing in the domain, I could make my personal wine cellar and food stores even more magnificent than they already were.
"With this much, I won't have to work for a—"
"Absolutely not."
I was immediately shut down from behind.
I turned to find Clarice standing there, clutching a ledger.
"Why...? I have more money now than I ever did as a count."
"Your rank went up, too! You’re a Duke now. From now on, your obligations to other ducal and marquis houses will increase, and local lords will be bringing their problems to you for mediation. The royal family will certainly seek your counsel more often than they did before."
"That can't be right... Old man Eldran said the number of people I have to bow to would decrease."
"Of course it will! But in exchange, the number of people coming to bow to you will skyrocket. Even if they were people you could have ignored as a count, you can’t just brush everyone off now that you’re a Duke, can you?"
The more I heard, the more my mood plummeted. The moment I received those thousand gold coins, I thought today was the best day of my life, but it seemed I’d brought home a mountain of trouble along with the riches.
"...Isn't being a Duke supposed to make life easier since I'm higher up the ladder?"
"Where on earth did you get that idea...?"
"It was my dream, mostly."
Clarice let out an exasperated sigh.
◇
After finishing dinner, I was slumped deep into my office chair.
I didn't want to do a single thing today. At the Coronation Ceremony, I’d failed to return the ducal rank, got proposed to by the Queen, turned her down, and then got lectured by Clarice for the entire carriage ride home. My mind was more exhausted than my body.
Opposite me, Clarice was organizing the paperwork we’d brought back from the capital, but she suddenly paused and looked my way.
"Come to think of it, Vain. At the ceremony, you were quite bold about how you wanted to 'play around with women,' but you haven't done any of that, have you?"
"Huh?...What's that supposed to mean?" I sat up abruptly.
"Don't give me that! I couldn't even if I wanted to! Ever since my father died and I took over the house, I've had to purge corrupt vassals, rebuild the domain, hire new people, deal with bandits... and just when I thought I could finally take a breather, the Royal Selection started! When was I supposed to find time to play with women?!"
Rather than being surprised by my outburst, Clarice rested her chin on her hand and looked at me with pity.
"But just recently, you were so happy about taking a seven-day break, weren't you? You should have played around during your vacation."
"That wasn't a vacation, it was medical leave! It was the furthest thing from 'playing around'! I was physically and mentally drained! For the first few days, I just drank wine and slept, and by the time I felt human again, old man Eldran showed up and dumped his daughter on me. Then Alecia came, and finally, I was dragged back for the Coronation Ceremony!"
Just thinking back on it made my blood boil! Every time I managed to get a break, someone would drop a new problem in my lap and my time would vanish. What is wrong with this world?!
Clarice narrowed her eyes slightly.
"So, saying you wanted to play around with women... that wasn't just an excuse to turn down Lady Alecia?"
"Of course not! I'm aiming to be a lord who can live a life of decadence! That’s the whole point!"
"...I see. So you’re serious about that part."
For some reason, her tone felt a little colder.
Clarice immediately returned her attention to the documents, so I decided not to dwell on it.
"Anyway, I’ve got my thousand gold coins now. This time, I’m going to finish my work and finally do whatever I—"
"Before that, check the documents that have been added because you're a Duke. I expect greeting letters from the capital and other domains will start arriving as early as tomorrow."
A fresh stack of paperwork was deposited on the edge of my desk.
"...I want to quit being a Duke."
"I'm tired of hearing that."
I slammed my forehead against the desk. It felt like the path to a life of decadence had actually moved further away now that I’d been promoted.
◇
—Around the same time.
In the office of his own estate, Marquis Perkin was crumpling a report in his hand. Alecia had become Queen, and First Prince Regnard had lost his claim to the throne. That alone was infuriating, but the brat at the center of it all had jumped from a count straight to a Duke and was now even being sought after by the Queen as a husband.
"...That Razgrim. I let him have his way during the Royal Selection, but I won't stand for that boy doing as he pleases any longer!"
Marquis Perkin snorted and looked at the invitation to the Founding Festival sitting on his desk. Every year, the festival was held in the royal capital, and its centerpiece was the Military Tournament, where nobles from across the kingdom sent their finest private soldiers to compete.
Last year's winner was House Eldran. The runner-up was House Perkin. He had spent the entire year training his troops specifically to defeat House Eldran this time around.
"Now that he's a Duke, that boy won't be able to ignore the Founding Festival. I can't have him thinking that just because he’s lucky in politics and domestic affairs, things will go the same way on the battlefield."
The corners of Marquis Perkin's mouth curled.
"I hear he’s even recruited bandits into his ranks? Such a ragtag bunch won't be a match for my men. I'll thoroughly crush them at the Military Tournament and show the entire kingdom exactly where he stands."
Marquis Perkin did not know.
He did not know that the soldiers of House Razgrim, whom he dismissed as a "ragtag bunch of bandits," had been transformed into warriors so formidable that no trace of their criminal past remained.
In addition to the brutal training from the battle-hardened Raisa, Lydia—who was effectively studying military science at House Eldran—had hammered into them everything from unit formations and commands to complex group tactics. Furthermore, these men held a loyalty to Vain, the man who had treated them like human beings, that far exceeded any typical bond between lord and servant.
And these private soldiers were led by Raisa and Lydia.
But more than anything—Vain himself still believed his own soldiers were just "weak former bandits."
Vain, at this moment, had no way of knowing that the man who was supposed to be chasing a life of decadence would eventually be remembered as the "Duke with the strongest private army in the kingdom."