In Little
Lorist noticed that
Sedekamp said, "Young master, you still remember where the dining hall was?"
"Of course I do. I've only been gone ten years—my childhood memories are all still there, naturally I remember," Lorist said.
"Young master, we're not going to the main dining hall. After the master passed away, the main dining hall hasn't been used. We're going to the small dining hall," Sedekamp explained.
The small dining hall that Sedekamp mentioned was a wooden structure built in the courtyard outside the kitchen, with walls and floors made of raw logs. A long wooden table ran down the center, with room for about ten people on each side. Behind the table stood a stone fireplace, its fire burning bright, with several large cuts of meat sizzling on long iron spits over the flames...
A plump cook carried a large basin to the table. Inside was a steaming hot loaf of bread with a long, serrated knife stuck into it. Sedekamp pulled out the knife and began slicing, first cutting three thick slices of bread and placing them on a wooden plate, which he handed to Lorist. "Young master, eat while it's hot. It tastes pretty good. Salt and honey are on the table—help yourself."
The cook then brought out a large pot of beans and spareribs, lifted the iron spits of roasted meat from the fire, and set a generous platter of sliced meat on the table. Finally, she set down a large pot of stewed apples drizzled with maple syrup.
"Food's ready," the cook said coldly, then turned and left with a displeased expression on her face.
"What's wrong with her? Did we offend her somehow?" Sedekamp looked towards Pat, a bit bewildered.
Pat shook his head.
"You didn't offend her, but you brought back the Young Master. She's very displeased." The voice of Young Lady Sha came from the doorway, and the red-haired female knight strode into the room.
"Why is she displeased that we brought the Young Master back?" Sedekamp pressed for details.
"She used to be the old Lord's maidservant and bore him a son. Even though he's an illegitimate child, he still carries Norton Family blood. If the Young Master hadn't returned today, maybe her son could have competed with the other bastards for the seat of the Norton Family head in a day or two." The red-haired female knight pulled out the small knife stuck in the bread, speared an apple dripping with maple syrup onto a wooden plate, and used the knife to cut the apple into small pieces...
"She's daydreaming," Pat commented curtly.
"Little Rock, what rank is your combat force?" the female knight asked casually, spearing a small piece of apple into her mouth with the knife.
"
"You spent ten years in
"Young Lady, you don't understand, the Young Master he..." Sedekamp wanted to say something.
"Shut your mouth! You have no right to speak here!" the female knight snapped angrily.
Lorist gave a slight nod.
The female knight looked as though she had won a great victory, letting out a satisfied "hmph" before strutting out with her head held high.
"The Young Lady is far too full of herself," said Sedekamp.
"A frog at the bottom of a well," remarked Pat.
Lorist said, "Sedekamp, Pat, the two of you finish eating, then go and make some inquiries. Find out what exactly is going on in the castle. I have a very bad feeling about this place — it seems like none of the people here are welcoming our arrival."
……
"Young Master, we're here." Pat took out the key that old Steward Kreis had given him and unlocked the door to the study.
A thick musty smell filled the room from having been sealed up for so long. Pat hurried over and pushed open the windows, letting the cool, fresh breeze blow in and fill the entire space of the study.
After busying himself for quite a while, Pat said, "Young Master, I'll step out first. If you need anything, just call me — I'll be right at the top of the staircase."
Lorist nodded and sat down behind the desk.
In Little Rock's memories, his father Baron Norton had sat behind this very desk, issuing one command and directive after another, keeping his subordinates scrambling to keep up.
He pulled open the drawers. Inside were some account ledgers and notes, and at the very back sat an iron-bound box. Lorist remembered that the family's secret combat force manual was kept inside this box. He opened it, and a thick book bound in beast hide appeared before his eyes. Four archaic characters were inscribed on its cover — "Crimson Blood
Lorist froze. Wasn't the family's passed-down combat force manual supposed to be Blazing Flame Combat Force? When had it become Crimson Blood Combat Force?
He rummaged through Little Rock's memories and finally uncovered this scene: Little Rock was copying out the manual, and as he copied, he asked his older brother, "What are you doing?"
His brother replied, "I'm making a book cover for Baisha's combat force manual. The cover she carries around has completely worn through, so I'm making her a new one."
Rock said, "I want a book cover too. You can't play favorites, brother."
His brother answered, "Don't worry, I wrote two copies — here, the one with the smaller characters is yours."
A book cover inscribed with "Blazing Flame Combat Force" was tossed in front of Little Rock, and Little Rock promptly used it as the cover for his own hand-copied Crimson Blood Combat Force — the first two stages of cultivation methods…
What a scam! That little brat had screwed his own brother over. Lorist didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It turned out the boy had just grabbed someone else's book cover to use as his own, making Lorist believe the family's inherited combat force was fire-attribute. All that time and effort had been completely wasted, and in the end he'd had no choice but to cultivate the ancestral "Metal-Water Art" from his previous life.
If he had known earlier that the family's combat force manual was the Crimson Blood Combat Force, Lorist would have gone straight to the Mercenary Guild in Morant City and purchased that copy of the Burning Blood Combat Force manual on display. It too was a high-grade blood-attribute combat force manual — one the Mercenary Guild treasured as a priceless collection piece, tagged at the outrageous price of fifteen thousand gold Fordes.
The biggest difference between blood-attribute combat force and other types lay in its ability to assimilate the practitioner's original attribute. No matter whether you were fire-attribute or water-attribute, light-attribute or dark-attribute, once you cultivated blood-attribute combat force, your attribute would be permanently converted to blood-attribute, with no way to revert. This was precisely why Lorist had vigorously collected combat force manuals of various attributes in Morant City for study but never once considered going after a blood-attribute manual. Other than that one copy held by the Mercenary Guild, no blood-attribute combat force manual had ever appeared on the market — you couldn't buy one even if you wanted to.
Opening the Crimson Blood Combat Force, the first two chapters contained the familiar cultivation diagram of the hexagram blood grand circulation. Flipping past that brought him to the Silver-rank cultivation chapters. Lorist read through every key point of the cultivation method carefully, committing to memory the positions and differences of each node in the Silver-rank and Black Iron-rank blood grand circulation patterns. Then he channeled his combat force and began practicing the Silver-rank blood grand circulation…
Lorist drew his sword, and the blade surged with brilliant sword qi. He let out a bitter laugh — he supposed this technically counted as advancing to Silver-rank, but the sword qi couldn't be sustained. Just like during Black Iron-rank, the combat force in his blood vessels kept rushing toward his meridians and dantian, and without combat force remaining in the blood, it was impossible to maintain the sword aura for long like others could. Forget it — he'd just keep being a Black Iron-ranker. Using hidden force to take people down actually worked pretty well.
A knock came at the door.
"Come in," Lorist said.
A girl in a white maid's dress entered the study timidly. She stole a quick glance at Lorist before lowering her head. "Second Young Master, your bedroom has been prepared. It's upstairs — just follow the staircase around the corner and go up. Your bedding has also been changed to fresh sets. If you'd like a bath, please pull the blue bell cord beside the bed, and we'll have everything ready for you shortly…"
The girl's voice grew quieter and quieter until it was barely more than a mosquito's hum…
Lorist found it amusing — he had no idea why this girl was so afraid of him. He waved his hand and said, "You may go. I'll call for you if I need anything."
The girl looked as though she had been granted a reprieve. She bowed her head, turned, and hurried out — nearly colliding with Sedekamp as he was coming in through the doorway.
Sedekamp glanced at the girl in surprise: "Irīna, is that you?"
Once Sedekamp had entered the study and closed the door, Lorist asked him, "Do you know that girl who was just here?"
"Yes, her name is Irīna. She was originally Third Young Master's personal maid, a year older than him. When Third Young Master passed away, she was the one most heartbroken—she wailed herself half to death," Sedekamp replied.
"Did you uncover any intelligence?" Lorist asked.
"Indeed, my Lord, you wouldn't believe how hectic things have been here these past few months. To vie for the position of family head, the various factions have been at each other's throats. Then you, Second Young Master, returned, and they all lost steam—the fun's over now." Sedekamp was grinning from ear to ear, as if something tremendously amusing had occurred.
"Oh? Something amusing? Do tell."
"My Lord, Young Mistress Baisha has been with the Eldest Young Master for years, yet she hasn't produced a single child. Instead, she found a maid, and after the Eldest Young Master favored her twice, she bore a son. Young Mistress originally intended to push this boy into the position of family head, but she faced opposition from everyone. She was in quite a bind, and your return, Second Young Master, gave her a way to save face."
"Why is everyone against that child becoming the family head?" Lorist asked.
"My Lord, the child is only four years old, and his generation is one level below. So even though Young Mistress wields considerable power in the family, everyone remains firmly opposed."
"Who are the ones opposed?"
"Yes, Young Master, you should be careful of that one named Morosing. He is your father's first illegitimate son, the eldest, and I hear he has gained the support of several families who lead the garrison in Beiyecheng. It's precisely because of this that Morosing has also drawn opposition from the others. Also, half a year ago when Viscount Kelmis led troops to attack our family castle, there was one named Willigsan who performed very bravely. He is your father's seventh illegitimate son, and many of the old servants in the castle are quite fond of him. As for the rest, there's the cook's son. She gathered many servants to unanimously support her son as the family head. In the end, two former handmaidens of your father also felt their own sons were qualified and sought help, so those servants split into three factions, fighting amongst themselves…"
"Stop… Sedekamp, tell me clearly first—just how many illegitimate children did my father have?" Lorist felt a splitting headache. In his previous life, watching those television dramas about wealthy family feuds, even one illegitimate son would cause a massive uproar. He never imagined that in this life, his own illegitimate brothers would form a full squad.
"In total, eleven."
"All male?"
"No, My Lord. Four are female. Two are already married, and two are still young, only about ten years or so."
"So, the surviving males among them have all joined the contest for family head?"
"Yes, My Lord."
"I understand." Lorist said. "I always found it strange why Viscount Kelmis was freely building projects within our family's territory, yet the Norton Family showed no reaction whatsoever. It turns out we were shutting the door and acting like turtles, not bothering with the outside world until the head turtle was decided, even ignoring the family members trapped at the copper mine. What utter absurdity."
Sedekamp found this puzzling: "My Lord, why did the old Steward Kreis also ignore them and allow this chaos?"
"Simple. The old Steward also had to consider the possibility that I might not return to inherit the title and family lands. What if you couldn't find me? What if something happened to me? It was better to let them fight amongst themselves, a way of picking the tallest among dwarves. That way, continuing the Norton Family bloodline could be managed with more certainty." Lorist explained.
"Thank goodness you've returned, My Lord. Now they have no room to argue." Sedekamp said with relief.
"That's why I had the feeling no one in the castle was particularly pleased to see me back. I've gone and spoiled their fun, with no drama left to watch. It's getting late, Sedekamp. Where will you and Patten be sleeping tonight?" Lorist asked.
"Right here in the guest room at the top of the stairs, My Lord. Patten and I will be taking turns keeping night watch. You can rest easy." Sedekamp said.