Chapter 31: The Noble’s Decision

“Ha!”

“Clang!”

Loud, strong shouts kept coming, and the sound of wooden sticks hitting each other was sharp and unpleasant. Less than ten miles from Borelly City, near the Imperial Royal Family’s summer hunting palace, there was a manor. On its snowy drill ground, two figures were rolling and fighting closely. Dozens of big men, bare-chested, wearing tight leather pants, barefoot and bald, stood solemnly on the side watching the fight. They held shields and short swords.

Suddenly, a loud yell was heard. In the close fight, Black Horse Haus’s long stick was flipped away by his opponent’s spinning force. Then his opponent quickly thrust forward, and the hard ironwood stick stabbed hard into his stomach. Black Horse Haus cried out in pain, held his belly with both hands, and knelt on the ground. He opened his mouth and vomited, even spitting out bitter bile.

“Worthless!” Haulin, who like Black Horse Haus only wore a triangular leather underwear in this freezing season where water turned to ice, snorted coldly. He threw down the ironwood stick, took a long cloak handed to him by a big man, wrapped it around himself, and slowly walked up to Haus. He kicked him, knocking him to the ground.

“A descendant of the Bavell Family, you tempered your body and practiced Combat Qi since childhood. You became a Mortal Knight, the lowest rank, at thirteen. Father taught you various combat skills since you were seven, using real battle examples from the Continent-Island War as your lessons.”

“But you were actually defeated by a ruffian from a commoner family!”

Haulin’s one eye twitched violently. If the person kneeling on the ground vomiting wildly wasn’t his own younger brother, he would have killed him already—just like he once personally cut off the head of a cousin who fled from battle when he was in the army.

“You shamed Father. You brought disgrace upon the whole family.” Haulin said bluntly. “The matter has blown up. Not just the military, but also those in the civil official system, they all know about this shameful incident. The youngest son of the Bavell Family was actually defeated by a group of thugs and ruffians in a student fight. This matter has big implications. Some have already spoken before His Majesty, questioning Father’s ability to lead.”

Black Horse Haus angrily raised his head. Gnashing his teeth, he roared, “This has nothing to do with Father!”

Haulin’s face was dark as he sneered. “But in front of Father’s and the entire military’s political opponents, this matter is related to Father. The youngest son of the Bavell Family, a talent who received proper military education since childhood, a future elite of the Empire’s military, was actually defeated by a bunch of ruffians. Do you know what that means? It means Father’s failure, the Bavell Family’s failure, even the failure of the entire military system.”

Taking a deep breath, Haulin kicked Haus, sending him flying several meters away. He snorted coldly. “Remember these past few days I beat you. Remember all the bruises on your body these days. Remember this shame of yours. You were defeated without even seeing the enemy’s face clearly.”

Haus’s teeth gritted loudly. He slowly rubbed his stomach with his hand. His body was covered in blue and purple bruises. He nodded hard, gnashing his teeth as he said, “Brother, I remember. All of this, I will pay back to them.”

Haulin nodded with a dark face. He waved his hand. “Go wash up. Father wants to see you. Remember, these past few days, because of you, this worthless one, Father and the whole family have endured so much pressure and paid so much price.”

Haulin took a deep breath, narrowed his one eye, and turned to look in the direction of Borelly City.

In the small castle at the center of the manor, there was a study facing the drill ground. The study was large but simply and sturdily furnished. Apart from thirteen sets of armor with many sword marks and dozens of ancient weapons hanging on the wall, there were no other decorations. A huge desk stood squarely in the middle of the study, with a military map of the area near Norman Fortress spread open on it.

The entire wall of the study facing the drill ground had been removed, turned into a large floor-to-ceiling window. Haus and Haulin’s father, the current master of the Bavell Family, Imperial Viscount and Imperial Major General Hausen, stood with his hands behind his back in front of the window, quietly watching the snow falling outside.

After changing into clean, neat clothes, Haus, with his bruised and swollen face, carefully pushed open the door and silently walked up behind Hausen.

After a full half hour of silence, heavy cold sweat seeped from Haus’s forehead. The sweat flowed down his cheeks and dripped continuously from his chin. Hausen, the master of the Bavell Family, even his own son felt a heavy pressure when facing him. The direct source of that pressure was the intense, almost solid killing intent and death aura on Hausen, something that could only gather from countless corpses and blood.

Hausen, not yet sixty, had joined the terrible Continent-Island War at fifteen. He fought bloody battles on the battlefield for over ten years, barely raising the Bavell Family’s noble title from Baron to Viscount. The last ten years of the Hundred-Year Land-Island War were also called the ‘Meat Grinder Battle.’ Millions of soldiers from the Western Continent died directly, and the casualties of the Alien Race from the Five Great Archipelagos were also over a million.

Hausen used the blood of a million Warriors to dye his medals red. The weight of his killing intent had not faded even thirty years after the war ended. Haus, born in the peaceful years after the war and never having truly seen the battlefield, was almost suffocated by the killing intent emanating from Hausen.

Just as Haus was about to collapse under the pressure and faint, Hausen finally turned around. He grimaced, revealing an ugly smile. Like Big Sword Joe, the owner of the Sword and Beauty Tavern, Hausen had taken two cuts to the face. His face was almost chopped off, so his looks were naturally not pleasant. His twisted lips couldn’t completely cover his teeth, and his two rows of broken, yellow teeth were quite frightening.

Smiling slightly, Hausen slowly said, “Failure is not scary. Back in my days on the battlefield, I suffered five major defeats. Each time, I lost almost all the troops under my command. Just from those five defeats, the lost soldiers numbered over a hundred thousand.”

Haus respectfully lowered his head, not daring to make a sound.

Sighing lightly, Hausen curled his lip and sneered. “Failure doesn’t matter. The problem is whether the failure is worth the cost. Your failure this time has put me, the family, and the military forces aligned with our family in a passive position. And you were actually defeated by a bunch of thug students. That is not worth it.”

Hausen gripped Haus’s shoulders tightly. With a dark expression, he said, “You don’t need to understand too much about the storms in the Empire’s upper levels. You just need to know one thing: your failure this time has caused too great a loss to the family. You must make up for it.”

After a moment of thought, Hausen slowly nodded. “I give you one year. You must graduate from the Army Academy with the honor of top comprehensive scores. I will have you join the Northern Sea Border Defense Army. The lost glory must be regained on the battlefield.”

He shook Haus’s body firmly. Hausen narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “As for the person who defeated you.”

“You must use your own strength to defeat him, kill him, and destroy his entire family. Only then can the family’s honor be restored!”