Private Tutor to the Duke's Daughter: Volume 5 (eBook)

Riku Nanano (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8606-8 (ISBN)

Infos

After thwarting a nascent rebellion and restoring peace to the eastern capital, Allen prepares for some long-overdue rest. His students have returned to their respective homes, leaving the convalescent tutor in his family's care...but the lazy days of summer are only the calm before the storm. Sinister forces are at work in the east, and they threaten to shake the kingdom to its very core. Shadowy conspiracy erupts into open war, separating Allen from his powerful companions and-worse yet-his trusty partner Lydia. The young sorcerer must turn to his fiercely protective sister Caren, his friend Richard, and a small band of knights in a battle for all he holds dear. But how much can so few accomplish against an army of unexpected foes wielding mysterious and devastating magic?

Textauszug

Prologue

“Gentlemen, you honor me with your presence today. I am Grant Algren.”

The men seated at the massive, round table straightened when I announced my name from the seat of honor. Tonight, in this secret chamber beneath my house’s mountain villa on the forested outskirts of the eastern capital, the mightiest lords of the east were assembled—earls, viscounts, barons, and our own Algren knights. Every available nobleman under our banner was in attendance. The eminent assembly wanted only Haag Harclay and our martial aristocracy to make it unquestionably the mightiest force in the kingdom...yet they were currently biding their time in the royal capital under the pretext of a military exercise—with our elite Violet Order under their command.

Only when Greck, the eldest of my younger brothers, tapped his fingers on the table from his seat beside me was I snapped out of my ecstasy.

I cleared my throat before addressing my comrades. “I appreciate your response to my abrupt summons. We are here assembled to discuss none other than”—I paused for effect—“the Great Cause.”

A thrill shot through the room. The Great Cause—our rebellion against our current royal dynasty, which had incessantly stripped the aristocracy of its rights—was the fruit of years of meticulous planning.

On the other side of Greck, Earl Raymond Despenser raised a hand. He was my brother’s trusted confidant, and both of them would be embarking for the royal capital after this night’s meeting.

“Your Highness, Duke Algren,” he said hesitantly, “do you mean that you are canceling our plans due to the recent incident in the eastern capital?”

“No, I do not,” I replied. “Greck.”

“Yes, my duke!” my brother shouted, rising on my signal.

The deep violet uniform that Greck wore accentuated his frame—slender, yet well-muscled after his days commanding troops near the royal capital. I had not seen him in some time, and I could not but marvel at the majestic figure that he cut. Truly, here stood a legitimate heir to the Algren name—a far cry from our younger brothers Gregory and Gil, in whose veins ran lesser blood.

“Are you all listening?” Greck prefaced his explanation in a clear, carrying voice. “Gerard refused to await our orders and charged ahead alone. He fell at the hands of the knights of the royal guard and the Lady of the Sword!”

Gloom filled the air. Gerard Wainwright, once the second prince of our kingdom, had been a thoroughgoing fool. Yet when my witless father, Guido Algren, had ordered the prince confined in a house near the Four Heroes Sea, I had hoped that the royal buffoon might prove useful. Even the poorest excuse for a Wainwright was still an asset.

And so, we had clandestinely reached out to Gerard and searched out his former subordinate, the Black Knight, to guard him. The prince had agreed to be our puppet king once our plans reached fruition. To seal the pact, we had provided him with the Dagger of Fiery Serpents and a surreptitiously obtained formula for the great spell Blazing Qilin, copied from the diary of the Fire Fiend, history’s most vicious sorceress. Both relics, we had believed, were far beyond his ability to wield...but Gerard had defied our expectations by embarking on a rampage and somehow casting Blazing Qilin, with the destruction of the eastern and then the royal capital as his outrageous goal. The man had truly been mad.

The only mystery was where he had procured the funds to hire so many mercenaries.

“And in order to subdue Gerard,” Greck continued in hushed tones, “not only the Lady of the Sword and the commander of the royal guard, but the Archmage Lord Rodde Foudre and the professor assembled in the eastern capital.”

A shock ran through the highborn company. Some even teetered on the brink of terror. The likes of the Lady of the Sword and the Archmage had long been deemed freaks capable of single-handedly turning the tide of battle. Even so, the former was a mere girl; when we eventually met on the field, my victory was assured. The last two names that my brother had mentioned were the real threats—if either of them got wind of our plans, the Great Cause would likely end in failure.

“Have no fear!” Greck confidently proclaimed. “The main force of the royal guard suffered heavy losses and has already returned to the royal capital! They haven’t an inkling of the link between Gerard and ourselves! My brother promised them that, once our father recovers from his illness, the two of them will personally address the matter at the royal palace in early autumn. The knights believed him and resumed their summer routine. The Lady of the Sword will leave to vacation in the south, as will the Archmage in the west and the professor in the north. They all consider this incident to be at an end.”

I delivered the conclusion: “Once they have gone their separate ways, no foes will stand between us and the royal capital.”

Strictly speaking, my word alone had not convinced the knights of the royal guard; I had given them a guarantee that the kingdom’s elders were certain to trust. Both the professor and the Archmage had accepted it without complaint. The Church of the Holy Spirit must have been magnificently skilled at forging documents if not even the kingdom’s finest sorcerers could penetrate their handiwork.

Gerard had given us only one thing—an opening. Our oafish foes believed that all was over. We would teach them their error!

The main force of the knights of the royal guard had escorted the prince to the royal capital, but his foray into great magic had scrambled his wits. He couldn’t possibly reveal our secret pact. Yet there was cause for concern—a search of Earl Rupert’s former residence had failed to reveal Gerard’s correspondence with us, and the bodies of the Black Knight and his men were likewise unaccounted for. It seemed safe to surmise that they had escaped, and, if so, there was every chance that they would approach the central authorities, using the missing documents as leverage to secure their master’s position as well as their own. If they reached the royal capital, we were doomed. Thus, before that could happen...

I drew in a deep breath and said, “We will fight for the Great Cause.”

The room fell silent. Then the assembled nobles rose with a chorus of cries.

“Just what I was hoping Your Highness would say!”

“Down with the Wainwrights! No more meritocracy at the expense of order!”

“If we let their agenda go on unchecked, we might be forced to answer to commoners, immigrants from nameless families, or even those dirt-crawling beastfolk!”

“We won’t let them trample on the history of our forefathers!”

Morale was extremely high. Greck and I nodded to each other, acknowledging that we were on firm footing.

The next instant, a man sitting to my right, a quarter of the way around the table from me, put up his hand. Despite his gray hair and advanced years, he had a piercing, hawklike stare and a presence that cowed all before him. “Your Highness, Lord Grant, may I speak?” he asked as a nervous atmosphere filled the room once more.

“Yes, Lord Hayden?” Greck responded.

Haig Hayden, one of fewer than ten grand knights in the kingdom and one of my house’s Two Wings, the leader of our elite guard, fixed us with a glare. “Our forces are adapted for the defense of the eastern border. We have not mounted an aggressive campaign in two hundred years—not since the War of the Dark Lord, in fact. As a result, we must take exceptional care to maintain our supply lines if we hope to launch one now. I believe that I have already requested as much of Your Highness. Moreover, given the great distance to the royal capital, I have concerns about the reliability of our communication network.”

My fool of a father had trained Haag and Haig. Both old men merited careful scrutiny. They claimed to have thrown in their lot with us because they opposed the royal family’s ongoing promotion of lesser nobles, commoners, and—below the surface—even immigrants and beastfolk under the guise of meritocracy. But I found their explanation difficult to swallow. Most tellingly, the dotards refused to acknowledge my succession to the dukedom.

“Lord Grant”? Bah!

Greck shot me a meaning look; we hadn’t intended to unveil our plans here, but needs must. “Naturally, we have taken that into account,” my brother said. “Grant.”

“Old Haig, your concerns are quite reasonable,” I continued, “but I promise you that they shall pose no issue.”

“What do you mean by that?” the old knight demanded, leveling his stern gaze on my brother and me.

You’ve never known your place, old man! I’ll teach you that your day is done, as is Haag’s and my father’s!

“Conditions have changed since the War of the Dark Lord,” I said, surveying the round table. “Railroads connect every major city in the kingdom. We will use trains for troop transport and supply! Great mercantile houses support our cause, and they are already stockpiling provisions. Furthermore, we will maintain close contact through the widespread adoption of long-distance magical communications. Such stratagems know no precedent anywhere on the continent. Our Great Cause shall herald a new age of warfare! Are you satisfied now, Old Haig? And need I remind you...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.10.2022
• Reihe/Serie: Private Tutor to the Duke's Daughter
• Reihe/Serie: Private Tutor to the Duke's Daughter
• Reihe/Serie: Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter
• Illustrationen: Cura
• Übersetzer: William Varteresian
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: Academy • action • aristocrats • Comedy • Harem • Light Novel • Magic
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8606-0 / 1718386060
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8606-8 / 9781718386068