Originally, the crown prince died unexpectedly, and the throne should have been inherited by the third prince who is currently the second in line. However, the third prince's mother was of ordinary birth. Her family was originally nobles of the Maple Kingdom. They defected and joined the empire, so they were looked down upon by many of the empire's old nobles.
On the other hand, although the fifth prince is young, he is deeply loved by the old emperor, and his mother's family is a long-standing and prestigious family in the empire, not a "foreign bloodline". In addition, the civil service group that originally supported the old prince also tended to support the fifth prince after the crown prince was killed, so he had a good chance of winning.
In addition to these two princes, there is actually a "hidden character" who is also qualified to participate in the competition for the throne. He is the only remaining prince of the empire, Prince Heinz, the younger brother of the current Emperor Hesse VII.
It is worth mentioning that Prince Heinz is not very old. The old emperor is 90 years old this year, but his younger brother is only 23 years old, younger than the third prince who is already 28 years old. The previous emperor of the empire, Hesse VI, died 40 years ago.
At first glance, this seems to be a very environmentally friendly story, and even a bit morbid if you think about it carefully, but in this literally magical world, it is a "reasonable" thing.
094, Bloodline and Interests
The human race is a race with very balanced indicators in all aspects.
But having no obvious shortcomings also means having no outstanding advantages.
This balance is the main reason why the human race was able to rise rapidly after the decline of the elves, but for those nobles who are eager to show that they are superior to others, they do not like this mediocre balance.
Therefore, throughout the ages, nobles have been eager to obtain bloodlines that are born with certain advantages, which they consider to be very advanced.
Hundreds of years ago, when the elves were still young, many human nobles fought hard to marry the elves so that their offspring would have innate beauty, magical talents, and a longer lifespan. But unfortunately, times have changed. Since the collapse of the Holy Kingdom of the Elf, the bloodline of the elves has become obsolete in this version, and they have gone from a noble and superior race to an inferior "sub-human race".
After the rise of the human race, in order to demonstrate its dominance in the world, it classified all other races as "sub-humans".
But there is one bloodline that is still highly sought after today.
That is the "Dragon Bloodline"!
Compared to the elves, the dragons are older and more powerful, and the lifespan of pure-blooded dragons is almost infinite. Moreover, they have never been defeated by humans. In ancient times, the entire race migrated to other worlds, leaving behind only many ancient legends from the mythological era and a small amount of remaining bloodlines.
These surviving bloodlines include several giant beasts with dragon bloodlines. They are either sleeping in a forbidden area or are revered as sacred beasts by some religions.
But there are also a very small number of humans who or their ancestors have received gifts from the dragon clan. Because they have obtained the dragon clan's bloodline, they possess unparalleled powerful strength.
The most famous among them is the Longmian Valley clan.
According to legend, this family pledged allegiance to a powerful obsidian dragon in ancient times, and was responsible for standing guard during the dragon's slumber to prevent it from being disturbed by bad guys.
Before the dragon clan migrated, the obsidian dragon gave their family a trace of blood in order to thank this loyal family, allowing them to become sub-dragons.
Several hundred years ago, Hessen I led his army across most of the continent and established the Hessen Empire. It was said that he had the support of the Longmian Valley clan because the queen Hessen I married was from this family.
The Heisen royal family envied the dragon bloodline of the Longmian Valley clan and wanted to merge with them, but was sternly rejected by them. But then they used some unknown means to reach a marriage agreement with them, and the Heisen clan could marry a daughter of the Longmian Valley clan every five generations.
The last Hessen royal family member to marry a member of the Longmian Valley family was the late Emperor Hessen VI.
This queen from the Longmian Valley family gave birth to two children for Heisen VI. The eldest son is the current Heisen VII. However, the dragon bloodline is not obvious in him. He is just stronger and lives a little longer than ordinary people.
However, his younger brother, Prince Heinz, was very unusual. The Queen was pregnant for seven years before giving birth to him. Moreover, when he was born, he was not a human-shaped baby, but a pitch-black egg.
This meant that the child had more blood from the mother's side. Hesse VI was very happy and had high hopes for the child. He even wanted to pass the throne to him. However, the egg was not finally hatched until seventeen years after Hesse VI's death, and his brother had been emperor for nineteen years by then.
Because he was concerned about his biological mother's feelings, the suspicious and power-loving Hesse VII did not "deal with" his younger brother as he did with other princes of the same generation. He simply excluded him from the center of power and made him an idle prince.
But this does not mean that there are no supporters around him.
On the way home, Dick did not encounter any "accidents". When passing through the Marquis of Ulen, he met his old classmate Hughie. Hearing that this guy was tricked back to his hometown by his father pretending to be sick and then forced to go on a blind date, Dick immediately visited him with gifts, just to be able to laugh at his good buddy in person.
Hughie is a serious magic fanatic and has no interest in the title of marquis or billions of wealth, but he is the only son of the family, so the old marquis's attitude has always been very clear, that is, he can support his son's great ideals, but you must also get married and give birth to more children for the family.
So when Huey was tricked here this time, it was no longer a blind date, but forced breeding!
But when Dick saw his good friend's miserable face, he immediately laughed heartily.
"Hahahaha... old classmate, are you being raped?"
"I like being passive, isn't it okay?"
Giving Dick a cold look, Hughie sipped the nourishing soup that his family had carefully prepared for him.
Seeing this, Dick thought that the boy was really tired and didn't even have the energy to argue with him.
So he patted the other person's shoulder sympathetically, and then handed the gift he had prepared to the other person.
"What is this?"
"These are some magic research manuscripts from the Holy Kingdom of Elves. They are unique pieces that I got by chance. I thought you might be interested in them, so I sent them to you on the way."
"Is it true? Foster father!"
"It really couldn't be truer."
When Huey heard that Dick had sent him such a good thing, he immediately grinned happily, and his originally melancholy eyes instantly returned to their former clarity.
But the boy quickly came to his senses and looked at Dick warily.
"You are always courteous, but for the sake of this gift, tell me what you want me to do for you?"
"I would like to borrow your Wulun family's business channels to help me sell some goods."
"What product?"
"this."
As Dick spoke, he took out a heavy pottery jar from the space bracelet. After unsealing it, he revealed a golden viscous liquid inside the jar, which smelled sweet.
“Is this honey?”
"It's syrup, made in Lagog, and tastes sweeter than sugar. How is it? Is this stuff marketable?"
What Dick took out was corn syrup made by Ruby-eye and Lukoa, or to be more precise, fructose syrup made using a modern enzymatic sugar-making method.
The raw material is corn that has been ripened by magic and was harvested as early as the end of June. Ruby Eye provided the process technology and drawings, and Lukeya was responsible for the "hand-rubbing" related equipment. It was secretly put into production in early August, and some samples were produced in small batches first.
When Dick returned to the capital this time, he brought some syrup with him, but he was not going to give it to his family, nor did he plan to tell them that he had built a sugar factory in Laguge.
Based on Dick's understanding of his family members, if they really knew, they would definitely try to snatch it away.
So he chose to find his old classmate on the way home under the pretext of visiting a friend, and met Marquis Ulen directly to discuss the possibility of cooperation.
Marquis Ulen is a well-known merchant noble in the empire. His family's chamber of commerce has a sales network throughout the country and even overseas, which is exactly what Dick does not have now and cannot get in a short period of time.
Cooperating with them is a good choice, and most of the time, vested interests are much more solid than blood ties!
095. A reward from father?
After staying in the territory of the Marquisate of Ulen for two days, Dick negotiated the purchase of syrup and boarded the steam ferry, arriving safely in the imperial capital a week later.
After the ferry entered the capital area of the empire, the scenery on both sides of the river outside the porthole seemed to have accelerated time. In just 200 kilometers, it went from the barbaric and backward medieval style to the gorgeous Victorian era.
Many foreigners who visited the imperial capital for the first time would be amazed at its prosperity, but in Dick's opinion, this scene only showed that the imperial capital's bloodsucking of the entire country had reached an abnormal level.
After the ferry docked at the pier near the imperial capital, Dick and his entourage went ashore.
In accordance with the laws of the imperial capital, the soldiers under his command had temporarily deposited their armor and military-standard weapons there when they left Marquis Uren's territory. Instead, they all wore beautiful but useless ceremonial rapiers and wore uniforms with the Best family emblem printed on them.
As for the three beauties around Dick, Lukoa turned into a mini dragon and hid in Dick's clothes, which was literally "close protection". Rita and Hongye dressed up as ordinary maids, hiding their originally beautiful looks through cross-dressing and disguise.
After the group got ashore, they soon met the people sent by the Duke's Palace to greet them.
To Dick's surprise, considering his unappreciated position as a family brother, the person who came to pick him up would not be of high rank. The most likely person would be the old lady who took care of him growing up, but he didn't expect that it was the butler Nix who came.
This man is the chief steward of the Duke's Palace. He has been Duke Rune's close attendant since he was a child. He grew up with the Duke and served the Best family for almost his entire life.
Therefore, he was able to appear at the ferry terminal, and as soon as he saw Dick and his party disembark, he took the initiative to step forward and respectfully invited Dick to get on the carriage and return home. This was already a very high level of "courtesy".
After all, Duke Best's identity and status are there. Even if the emperor of the empire returns from a tour, he only needs to greet him at the city gate instead of the ferry terminal.
After Dick got on the carriage, it was driving on the wide main road of the imperial capital. At this time, Dick heard the sound of mechanical operation coming from outside, so he opened the curtains and looked out, and actually saw a tram coming from the opposite direction.
Well! Calling this thing a train might not be the right word, because the carriage is not actually powered by electricity, but by magic. Therefore, when this thing starts moving, Dick, as a magician, feels quite concerned.
In the imperial capital, magic technology combined with earth technology is changing with each passing day. The nobles are the promoters of new technologies, but not the promoters. They have created many "wonders" at all costs, but the use of these things is limited to the imperial capital, and has never really benefited the public.
Dick didn't think he was a noble person. If he could just lie down and enjoy himself, he would also like to be a second-generation rich man who eats, drinks and has fun all day. But he didn't like the abnormal prosperity of the imperial capital. Rather than being cruel and ruthless, it was more like a waste of wealth.
The carriage drove for about an hour, and after passing through two towering white walls, it entered the innermost aristocratic district of the imperial capital. This was at the foot of the imperial city, and it was also the community with the highest density of aristocrats and the highest average rank in the entire empire. There were really dukes everywhere and earls were as numerous as dogs.
Most of the people living here are court nobles. These people are different from local nobles. Most of them either have no fiefdoms or their fiefdoms are very small, just a small symbolic piece of land around the imperial capital. However, their titles are very high and most of them hold certain positions in the imperial government.
However, the Best family does not belong to the court nobility. The ancestors of the family were local nobles who supported Hesse I in his uprising and hegemony, and they already had a large fiefdom in the southern part of the empire.
After the establishment of the empire, Hesse I made these good friends the title of Grand Duke, and then "invited" them to live a good life in the imperial capital. Later, a law was gradually formed that while these noble families maintained their rule over their own territories, the core members of the family had to settle in the imperial capital.
Dick's bad luck is that he is a bastard, otherwise he would be trapped in this imperial capital and unable to leave.
Soon, the carriage stopped in front of a huge luxurious manor. After Dick got off the car, he looked at the familiar scenery in front of him. He couldn't help but feel a little dazed for a moment, and some memories that were not good began to surge into his mind unconsciously.
"I'm home."
In the study of the Duke's Mansion, Dick met his father, Duke Rune Best, again after a year. This tall and strong man looked unchanged, still so strong and powerful, exuding the aura of a boss who had been in power for a long time.
Dick, who had adjusted his mentality before entering the door, showed impeccable respect in his attitude and bowed to the other party and greeted him.
"Father, I'm back. I'm glad to see you're in good health."
Hearing Dick's greeting, the old duke smiled noncommittally and put down the document report he was just reading. With Dick's eyesight, he saw the words "Laguge Fiefdom Record" on the cover of the booklet as soon as he entered the door.
Obviously! The old duke was telling Dick that he had not been paying no attention to the northern enclave over the past year, and that Dick's actions were all under his watch.
Dick was not surprised by this. After all, he was there to do something, and it was impossible to hide it from everyone. The only thing he had to do was not to expose his "core secrets".
"You've done a good job this year."
"It is my honor to share the family's worries. Besides... I also hope to prove myself through this."
"Dick, there are only you and me here, so don't be so reserved. I know that you have been doing your duty and living a cautious life all these years. Even if you have talent, you have been hiding it. I have seen all of this. It is precisely because I know that you are capable and want to prove yourself that I appointed you as the Governor of Laguge on the pretext of you taking the blame for my eldest brother."
"I understand your father's good intentions."
"As long as you know."
Cooperating with the old Duke in a play of "loving father and filial son", Dick, whose acting skills have reached perfection, very appropriately bowed with a few crystal tears sliding down from the corners of his eyes, almost perfectly showing the feeling of being touched after his efforts are recognized, as if hard work has paid off.
However, just as Dick was about to take the initiative to express his willingness to continue working hard in the bitter and cold land of Laguge and to continue fighting for the interests of the family, the Duke suddenly changed the subject and said something that Dick, who had anticipated various situations before, was somewhat unexpected.
"Dick, do you want to be a count?"
096. Belated fatherly love?
"Do you want to be a count?"
Seeing Dick's dazed expression, the old Duke Rune repeated his words again, with a hint of smile on his slightly raised mouth.
"You did a good job in Laguge, especially in suppressing bandits. This is real military merit, so your father took the initiative to report this achievement to the Senate. His Majesty the Emperor admired your talent after hearing about it, so he planned to confer you the title of third-class earl."
"Father, this...isn't it inappropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about that?"
"I fought against bandits in Laguge, but I only killed 200 to 300 people and captured less than 1,000 people. I was awarded a third-class earl for this achievement. I'm afraid that if I tell others about it, they will laugh at us."
"It's okay. When I reported it to you, I added a zero to the number of people. That's enough."
"..."
The old duke's words left Dick speechless.
You know, when reporting his military exploits, Dick only reported one-fifth of them in order to conceal his achievements. But the old Duke simply added a zero, which doubled the actual data.
In fact, false reporting of data is common in all areas of the empire, and the greater the background of the person involved, the more severe the super doubling tends to be.
People like Dick who deliberately underreport information in order to keep a low profile are actually outliers.
If the title had been conferred a year ago, Dick would have been very happy. But now he has finally made some achievements in Laguge, and everything is going well. However, he has to move to a new place because of the title, and may even be recalled to the imperial capital to become a useless court noble. How unlucky he would be!
But at this moment, the old duke spoke again, and things took a turn for the better.
"I know you've done a good job in Laguge. If I ask you to move to another place now, you might not be willing to do so. So I negotiated with the old guys above and decided to give Laguge to you, and the empire will compensate our family with other places. What do you think, my child?"
Dick didn't know how to answer for a moment, because this arrangement was exactly what he wanted. Once he became Count Lagouge, he would really have no other worries.
But the problem is, Dick really doesn't understand why the old Duke did this?
