V1C1

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Chapter 1

“This is the territory we’ll be living in from now on. Just as I dreamt. I’m so happy I could puke, isn’t that right, Matilda?”

“It’s exactly as you say, Noain-sama.”

Noain Arkvist threw away his reserved emotions in front of the deep, never ending forest.

The one who showed agreement with him was Matilda, a rabbit woman who was a slave owned by him, and also his only follower as of now.

“No point in lamenting about what has already occurred then. Let’s take our first steps into this lovely fucking territory right away, Matilda.”

“Yes, I will serve you to my fullest extent, Noein-sama.”

That said, there wasn’t even a beast train in this untouched forest, let alone any humans.

It wasn’t Noein who took the first step though, but the wood golem that he controlled. A wooden doll.

There were two dolls that were over two meters tall and had the strength to match their size. They stood in front of him, pulling out bushes and snapping off branches that got in their way. Large footsteps appeared on the grass as the dolls walked forward.

Behind them was Noein, and behind him, Matilda. At the end was another wood golem that imitated a horse pulling a small wagon.

・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・

Three months ago, in the southern part of the Kingdom of Lordberg. In the territory of Count Kivileft, Noein confronted the current head of house Kivileft and his own father, Count Maximillian Kivileft.

There was no ease or familiarity between them as between a father and his son, but a rather tense atmosphere which could be described as ‘confrontational’.

“It’s been a long time, Noein.”

“Yes, father… No, his excellency Count Kivileft.”

“Although you were born to a servant, you still share my blood. It’s really annoying… That’s why I fed you until now. Now that you are 15, this is the last time I shall see your hateful face.

Noein kept a nervous smile in front of the man, who wore a bitter expression. The count continued.

“… But for the time being, you’re also a blood-split son. I’m not sure if you’ve seen it before, but I’m going to give you a small enclave of land that was given to our House by the king and the Title of Baron Knighthood with it. You can do whatever you want with it now.” The count said while a slight smirk was planted firmly on his face.

The words ‘Enclave of land and a knighthood’ sounded good to the ear, but in reality, this land was just a piece of forest on the outskirts of the kingdom and a curse to be tied to.

This was the land that the House Kivileft had been holding on to because they couldn’t leave the land given to them by the king. They also didn’t want to get involved in a vast project, such as developing an enclave, which required immense resources and wouldn’t reap them many benefits.

If he gave it to Noein and severed his relations with him, he could dispose of his son and the land at once. The count at least thought so.

Of course, Noein knew this situation was quite complex and not as simple as the Count made it.

“I’ll give you some money for your troubles and that’s it… is that clear?”

“I only have one more quest… May I have a slave from the Count’s family?” Noein said.

・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・

Noein’s father was Count Kivileft, who ruled one of the best territories in the southern part of the kingdom. But his mother was a poor commoner.

His mother, who worked for the Count’s family as a servant, was a good-looking woman in her own right. Maximillian Kivileft, who was younger and more thoughtless than he was now, tried his hand at the woman intending to snack on her.

And the boy that was born between them was Noein.

Normally, even if a child is born to a servant, it is usually just a matter of paying a small fee or consolation money to get rid of the relationship.

Noein’s mother, however, was brilliant. As soon as she was pregnant with the Count’s child, she spread rumors about it within the house and the Count’s territory. Thus, creating a situation where the Count had no choice but to recognize Noein as his bastard child.

His mother, who had become a concubine, lived a life of luxury, a significant improvement for a woman who came from a poor background. Although she showed no affection for her child Noein, who was nothing more than a tool to become a concubine of a great aristocrat. She died in an epidemic when Noein was nine years old. Leaving Noein to live an extremely boring life.

The Count was an anxious man, as his son Noein would say.

Although he felt Noein was a hindrance to him, he did not have the guts to commit to killing his own blood child with his own hands, a child who is known to everyone around him as a bastard child.

However, he couldn’t ignore the complaint of his wife, the Countess, who told him to keep the concubine’s child far away from their family.

Because of this, Noein was confined to a remote house built on the edge of the count’s property. He was given a small allowance, and kept as a tame child, spending the next six years of his adult life without seeing his immediate family.

Books and Golems helped to ease some of the boredom of those days.

Noein sent his slave Matilda, who had become his caretaker, on errands to borrow books from the Count’s study and he learned various things from them – knowledge that would be useful after he grew up and was kicked out of the Count’s house.

He also received a blessing at the church when he was ten years old, as all royal citizens do, and learned that he had a not-so-pleasant ability called “puppet magic talent”.

In order to make the most of his magical talent, he always saved up whatever allowance his father gave him to create a golem and became obsessed with learning to control it.

On his fifteenth birthday, his father visited him at his remote house built on the edge of the property of the count. And for the first time in six years, the father and son met face to face which led to their tense confrontation.

・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・

It’s not that Noein was not grateful to his father, who fed him until he reached adulthood, even if it was for some twisted reasons.

At the very least, he could say that his father did a much better job as a parent than his mother, who was greedy and thought only of her own amusement.

He also harbored some resentment towards his father, who took away all his freedom as a child for reasons that were beyond Noein’s control, such as the fact that he was the ‘child of a concubine’.

He also despised his father’s petty and anxious nature, who simply lacked the dignity and sense of responsibility as the head of a large noble family.

In addition, at the time of farewell, the tone of gratitude and graciousness was used to impose Noein on the title and to chain him to that remote forest.

(Noein’s Perspective)

Even though I owe him for keeping me alive and feeding me for all these years, I hate him so much more.

Anyway, now that I have nothing to do with that house, I would never have to feel the existence of my father again.

About three months had passed since I left home and had arrived at the northwestern edge of the Kingdom of Lordberg, in the territory of Viscount Konitz.

Dividing the King of Lordberg and its neighboring country to the west was the great forest of Bezel, which stretched out a long way in the north-south direction.

A piece of it, just west of the Viscount Konitz’s territory, was the land given to Baron Noein Arkvist.

After greeting the current Viscount Konitz, who was to be my “neighbor”, I went into the forest that I owned,

As Noein traced the path made by the golem, Noein was determined to “Live a happier and more fulfilling life than that father of his”.

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