Doesn't he know what he did in Lagug?
Or does he know everything but just wants to fulfill his own wish?
Dick was indeed a little confused, but it was not appropriate to ask too many questions at this time. Since this enthronement was what he needed, he had no reason not to accept it.
"Thank you for your cultivation, father."
"Remember to say thank you to our wise and powerful emperor outside."
"My child will keep this in mind."
"Go ahead. It's rare for you to return to the glamorous world of the imperial capital. Relax for a while. Your enthronement ceremony will be held in five days at the earliest. During this time, if you don't want to stay at home, you can go to the St. Mary's Hotel on Maple Street. I have a private room there. The conditions are... not bad."
Looking at the old duke who suddenly seemed like a "real father", Dick was really confused at the moment. When he left the duke's study, he still didn't understand the reasons.
Honestly speaking, in the first eighteen years of Dick's life, he hardly felt the fatherly love from Rune. He had always lived in a small courtyard in a corner of the Duke's Mansion and was raised by the two maids who suffocated his biological mother to death. During this period, the old Duke seldom came to visit him. It was not until he became a magician that he finally had a certain status and was allowed to dine with other family members, but he could only sit at the end of the table.
As a result, this indifferent father suddenly became nice to him, which inevitably made Dick feel a little uneasy.
"Are you trying to set me up?"
With this doubt, Dick looked at the old butler who had been guarding the door of the study and asked him to arrange a carriage for him. He wanted to go to the Magic Academy to visit his mentor.
The old butler immediately said that there was always a carriage on standby at the mansion for him to use.
But just as Dick was walking downstairs and out the door, he ran into his third sister Finny in the lobby.
After not seeing her for a year, the third sister is still as charming as ever. She is always at the forefront of the imperial capital's fashion with her gorgeous clothes, and it seems like she just came back from some noble lady's salon. Unfortunately, her figure, appearance and temperament all seriously drag down her fashion sense.
Seeing Dick coming down from upstairs, Finny's expression was startled at first, and then immediately became gloomy. He made no attempt to hide his disgust for Dick.
"Weren't you exiled? Who asked you to come back? "
"Third sister, I am back to report on my work. I will leave in a few days. Also, let me remind you that I am the Governor of Laguge appointed by my father himself, not exiled."
After Dick finished speaking, he gracefully performed an aristocratic chest-touching salute to the third sister, but because he was standing on the stairs, he was looking down at her. Finny, who was less than meters tall and had always been anxious about his appearance because of his short stature, suddenly felt insulted. He slapped the lady with his hands until she made a crackling sound, but he didn't dare to get angry immediately.
Because Finny knew that she was good for nothing, she was like a person who inherited the shortcomings of both her parents. She had no martial arts and did not understand magic. However, her annoying younger brother was a magician and a well-known duelist in the Magic Academy. So while she looked down on Dick, she was also always afraid of him.
The phrase "outwardly fierce but actually weak" is used to describe people like Finny.
Ignoring his twisted third sister, Dick walked out of the hall. Rita and Hongye were waiting outside the door. They got into the carriage with Dick and went to the Magic Academy.
At the window of the study in the Duke's Mansion, Duke Rune kept staring at the carriage that Dick was riding in, and he did not take his eyes off it until the carriage left his sight.
Then he spoke as if talking to himself.
"Arrange for the child to meet Prince Heinz. Do it naturally and don't let the old man in the palace notice."
After Rune finished speaking, a shadow moved in the corner of the room behind him, and then everything returned to normal. The old duke returned to his desk and sat down, picked up the "Record of the Land of Laguge" and started reading it again, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up, and finally he laughed out loud.
At the same time, on the edge of the royal hunting ground in the southern suburbs of the imperial capital, there was a huge royal manor. A black-haired young man was also looking at the same report. After reading it, he blew gently at the report, and the whole booklet instantly turned into ashes and flew away with the wind.
He glanced at the scenery outside the window and talked to himself with a smile.
"I can't wait to meet him."
The author says:
Author's words: 2023 is about to end.
Hello, 2024!
097, Road to Breakthrough
On the way to the college, Dick kept thinking about what was going on with this earldom that was suddenly given to him.
He believed that the most likely reason was related to the royal family's policy of division.
Since the founding of the empire, the royal family has been committed to breaking up the country's aristocratic families, breaking up those powerful big families into a bunch of small families, and then scattering them all over the country. It would be even better if some conflicts could be created so that they could not unite with each other.
To put it bluntly, in order to consolidate their supreme ruling position, the royal family does not want to see any existence in the country that can pose a threat to them.
Therefore, in the eyes of the emperor, the Best family, as the leader of the southern noble group, is undoubtedly one of the local tyrants he most wants to dismantle.
The great nobles will also try every possible means to resist the royal family's split policy.
Of course! This confrontation between the royal family and the nobility is a power struggle among the ruling class, and they can compromise with each other on some issues. After all, both sides have common class interests, so unless it is absolutely necessary, they will not go to the point of fighting each other and starting a civil war.
The carriage traveled for more than half an hour and finally arrived at the Magic Academy.
The full name of this place is the Hessen Empire National Magic Academy, which consists of the Magic Academy responsible for talent education and the Research Institute responsible for technology development. The two academies have a series of affiliated institutions, but outsiders who don't know the inside story usually can't distinguish them clearly and use general terms such as magic school and wizard school, which are not entirely accurate.
The entire Magic Academy covers an area of nearly one-fifth of the inner ring area of the imperial capital, and is right next to the foot of the holy mountain where the imperial palace is located. Standing in the academy, one can see the palace on the mountain as soon as he looks up, and the emperor can also overlook the entire academy from the observation deck in the palace.
After returning to school after a year away, Dick did not feel too emotional, but went straight to the research institute.
He came back this time to find out something about "bloodline talent".
Before his death, Hamuradi revealed a lot of "big news" to Dick, but what he wanted to know most in detail was how the succubus race could break through the holy level, and what kind of talent bonuses they could get after breaking through the holy level?
But Hamuradi only said that after Lilith broke through the Saint level, her ability to break curses was greatly improved, helping him break the curse cast by the demigod-level sorcerer, and also gained a very amazing talent bonus. But just when Dick was about to ask what this talent was, she tilted her head and tried to pretend to be dead to trick them into breaking the barrier, but was then broken by Dick's caution, so she was so angry that she never spoke again until her death.
In desperation, Dick could only find a solution on his own.
According to common sense, if a magician wants to break through to the Saint level, the two basic conditions are to fully open the spirit veins and break through the state of mind. In addition to these two basic conditions, each race has some different special conditions that need to be met.
Among these, as the representative of "balance", the special conditions that humans need to achieve are the simplest, that is, no special conditions.
However, since humans have the shortest lifespan of all intelligent races, with a theoretical upper limit of only a hundred years, and physiologically they start to decline after the age of thirty-five, if there are any special conditions for humans to break through, it is that they have to rely on their talent to outrun time. If they cannot reach a high level before the age of thirty, there is no need to expect to reach the saint level.
Dick's current strength dilemma is largely related to his bloodline. He is a hybrid of humans, elves and succubi. He became a high-level magician at the age of seventeen. Later, he was blessed by the God of Winter and his spiritual veins were fully opened. In theory, he has already stepped half a foot into the realm of the saint, but the other half foot cannot step forward.
He felt that he had reached the bottleneck, but he still had no idea how to get past it. This made Dick feel very troubled, but he also knew how extravagant this kind of trouble was!
After many twists and turns, Dick arrived at a small building in the research institute area and knocked on the door. After waiting for a while, a female magician who looked to be over fifty years old opened the door.
"Excuse me, is this Professor Britt?"
"It's me. You are...Grandol's little apprentice?"
"It's me! Professor, I heard that you are a master in studying alien races. I have some questions about racial talents and I hope to ask you. Is it convenient for you now?"
After looking Dick over, the female magician, who was respectfully called "Professor Britt", nodded and motioned for Dick to come in.
The two of them came to the living room. Dick looked around and felt like he was in a library. There were bookshelves all around and various research manuscripts were scattered everywhere. Professor Britt's living environment was simply a stereotype of a research scholar.
Professor Britt had average talent in magic and his personal strength was only at an intermediate level, but he was an unquestionable authority in the academic field of magical creatures. Therefore, when Grandol learned that Dick had to return to the imperial capital, he suggested that he go to Professor Britt for consultation.
Without mentioning his succubus bloodline, Dick described to Professor Britt the problems he encountered in his practice, especially the part affected by his bloodline.
After listening to this, Britt said that she had investigated some half-blood magicians before, and their situations were roughly similar to Dick's. Especially the half-elf half-bloods, they all showed a strong early advantage and could reach the middle and high levels faster than their peers. The eggs were trapped after reaching a certain node and could not move forward even half a step.
Britt believed that this was a conflict between different bloodlines. While mixed-race children gained the advantages of multiple bloodlines, they also had to bear the corresponding defects. When multiple small defects interacted with each other, they would most likely become incurable terminal illnesses.
Of course! The theoretical solution is to achieve the special conditions required for each bloodline breakthrough at the same time as much as possible. It may not be 100% effective, but it is at least worth a try.
At this point in the conversation, Dick pretended to be curious and asked, what are the breakthrough conditions for each of the advanced intelligent races known in the world?
"The condition for the elves is to go to the Moon Spring. In the spring water, the elves can temporarily transform into spirits and communicate with the elemental forces of this world on a spiritual level, thereby gaining the recognition of the elements. The dwarves must go through the caves left by their ancestors and go to the Molten Land deep in the center of the earth to allow their bodies to be tempered by the spirit of fire. However, this is the breakthrough path for dwarf warriors, while their magicians are the same as those of humans. This is the situation for the three major races, and the other alien races are similar. To become a saint, they must inevitably accept the test from the gods."
"Then...what about succubi? Rumor has it that succubi are creatures from another world that came from across the subspace. Unlike humans on Earth, they can also learn magic and martial arts, but I don't think there are any saint-level succubi."
"Succubus? This is indeed a very special race. Although I have never heard of a Saint-level strongman from the Succubus clan going abroad, I guess the Succubus's breakthrough path should be related to their unique sex magic. Sex magic also had another name in the Middle Ages... It's called Domination Magic!"
098. Willows and Flowers
When talking about succubus, Professor Britt's tone was obviously filled with excitement.
She told Dick that among the many highly intelligent races known in the world, succubus were definitely the "most interesting existence" and were extremely valuable for research.
Succubi, like the giant dragons that once lived in this world for a period of time in ancient times, are extra-dimensional creatures from other worlds. Therefore, their existence itself is contrary to the basic laws of this world.
For example, all creatures native to this world need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate if they want to live well, but dragons and succubi can violate this common sense.
The former has a heart that can generate infinite magic power, which can be called a biological perpetual motion machine, while the latter has a unique skill called sexual magic, which allows him to gain energy from lust.
So even though there are always those moralists among humans who stand on the moral high ground and criticize succubi, saying that this race has no shame and is a group of evil demons who are extremely promiscuous, in their hearts they actually envy succubi very much for having a physique that will never feel "incapable".
In addition, regarding the rumor that "succubus will absorb human essence", the root cause is actually a rumor deliberately spread by human prostitutes because they were jealous that succubus had taken away their business.
In fact, you will not be sucked in by having sex with a succubus, as most of their sex magic has a positive effect. After absorbing lust, a succubus will instinctively share part of the converted energy with her bed partner in order to strengthen the other's physique and speed up recovery, so that they can "play" with her longer. What matters is sustainable juicing.
Moreover, while the succubus obtains energy from lust, it also absorbs the negative emotions of the target, whether it is psychological trauma or depression, which can be effectively alleviated.
So apart from the addictive nature of the succubus' body fluids, having sex with a succubus really has only benefits and only harm.
It can be seen that Professor Britt seems to be a "succubus enthusiast". He talks endlessly when talking about related topics, as if he wants to preach to Dick and win him over to become a succubus enthusiast.
But after hearing this, Dick couldn't help but wonder. If the succubus's sex magic has so many benefits, why was it called "dominant magic" in the distant medieval times?
Professor Britt said that she had seen the talk about domination magic in some ancient books, but they were only some vague fragments. She suspected that it was related to the addictive body fluids of the succubus, and the effect of sexual magic in absorbing negative emotions would indeed make some people who have suffered severe mental trauma feel attached to the succubus who helped them relieve their pain.
The two chatted until the evening, and Dick left Professor Britt's residence.
Before leaving, the professor gave Dick a copy of her book, The Book of Succubus.
This book is the life's work of Professor Britt, but unfortunately it just can't be sold. Because the orthodox academic community thinks her book is too vulgar, while the erotic literature community thinks it's not pornographic enough, which directly led to the professor printing 2,000 books at her own expense, and almost all of them were wasted. Therefore, whenever someone comes to visit, Professor Britt will give a book for free.
On the way back, Dick casually glanced through it and thought that this professor's research was indeed very in-depth. There were many things about the ecological habits of succubi that even he, who actually had succubus bloodline, didn't know.
According to the book, pure-blooded succubi are all females, and after mating with other races, they can give birth to hybrid offspring that look exactly like the male race. Among these hybrids, there is only a very low probability of producing a male hybrid succubus, accounting for only about one in twenty to one in thirty, so it is very rare.
After four to five generations of reproduction, these mixed-blood succubi have a chance to trigger atavism and give birth to pure-blooded female succubi.
The succubus rely on this method of reproduction to secretly integrate their blood into other races. Many people may not even know that they actually have succubus bloodline.
According to legend, when the dragons left this world, the ancient succubus followed them under the leadership of the high-level leaders. The succubus that exist in this world are actually the descendants of the human race who have returned to their ancestors. Therefore, these new generations of succubus have actually had a cultural gap with the ancient succubus. They can use some basic applications of sexual magic, but they do not understand the essence of this innate ability in their blood.
"So my quarter succubus bloodline is so awesome?"
After reading for a while, Dick saw that the carriage was about to return to the Duke's Mansion, so he stuffed the book back into the space bracelet and waited until he had time in the evening to continue reading.
After all, it was the first day after returning to the imperial capital from afar. Even if Dick did not live in the Duke's Mansion, he would definitely have dinner at home with his "family".
It was just a meal, and Dick thought he could just bear with it.
After returning to the Duke's Mansion, Dick took Rita and Hongye into the mansion. As soon as they entered the door, they ran into a scene full of romance in the corridor. Nora, the second daughter of the Duke's family, was teasing a petite and cute maid.
The little maid was pressed against the wall in the corridor by the second young lady, who was a whole head taller than her. Her face was flushed with shyness, and she seemed to be reluctant but also reluctant.
The second daughter, Nora, was a tall woman with a fair face and an androgynous beauty. She had short hair and always wore men's clothes, so she was very popular among young noble ladies. Later, she came out as expected, which gave the old Duke a headache about this rebellious daughter.
In the Best family, Nora was the only one among her peers who had never bullied Dick, but she had never stopped other brothers and sisters from doing evil, and she simply didn't care about Dick, her illegitimate brother.
Accidentally discovering her second sister's "good deed", the little maid was so scared that she ran away. Nora looked at her running back and rubbed her fingers that had just touched the maid's face with some regret, as if she was missing the touch just now, and then she looked towards Dick.
"Oh, you're back?"
"I came back today. Long time no see, second sister."
Nora looked Dick up and down, then smiled and said.
"It's a pity that you weren't born a girl."
"Haha, my second sister is really good at joking."
Because their past relationship was not bad, Dick walked to the restaurant with his second sister Nora. When they got there, they saw that other members of the Duke's Mansion had arrived, and everyone looked at Dick with different eyes.
The old Duke Rune had a gentle expression, while the three ladies all had poker faces, and it was impossible to tell whether they were happy or sad from their eyes. Among the brothers and sisters, the eldest brother Reinhard had a complicated expression, the eldest sister Dulis seemed to be preoccupied and didn't notice Dick at all, the third sister Finnie was full of hostility, and the rest of the brothers generally showed the same contempt.
Dick took it all in, bowed politely to everyone, and then quietly sat down in the seat that belonged to him as the youngest in the family.
Halfway through dinner, the old Duke announced publicly that Dick would be conferred the title of Count of Lagouge.
Among the four brothers, the eldest brother Reinhard should have known about this for a long time, so his expression was calm throughout, without any obvious fluctuations. The other three brothers were all surprised, but the first one to jump out and object was the third sister Finny.
"Father, why should he be made an earl? He is just a little bastard who brings disgrace to our family..."
"Finny, watch your words! It's true that your fifth brother is half-elf, but his half human blood comes from me, his father! He is also my child, my offspring!"
After being glared at by the old duke, the third sister Finny immediately became obedient, and her biological mother, the second wife, was also speechless about her brainless daughter.
Among the eight children in the family, she is the dumbest!
However, Dick's title to earldom was of no consequence to most people in the family.
After all, Dick is the youngest son born out of wedlock. Although he nominally has the right to inherit the title of Duke, he is last in line, with not only his four older brothers but also several uncles ahead of him.
