บท 1: My Beloved Territory
"So, this is the territory where we'll be living from now on. A place full of dreams. I'm so happy I could puke. Right, Matilda?"
"Indeed, Master Noein."
Noein Arkwright spat out his impressions as he faced the forest that stretched on and on and on and on, stupidly deep.
Agreeing with him from the side was Matilda, a rabbit-eared woman who was his slave and, for now, his only follower.
"Well, there's no point in lamenting. Let's take our first step into this beloved, shitty territory, Matilda."
"Yes, I will serve you to the end, Master Noein."
That being said, there wasn't even an animal trail in the untouched forest.
So, the one who actually took the first step wasn't Noein, but the wood golems he controlled—in other words, wooden puppets.
Two puppets, over two meters tall and possessing strength to match, stood before him. They walked, pulling out bushes, snapping off obstructive branches, and trampling down the grass.
Noein followed behind them, Matilda behind him, and at the very back, a horse-shaped wood golem pulled a small cart.
...
A little over three months ago, in the capital of the Kivileft Earldom, located in the southern part of the Lordberg Kingdom, Noein was confronting Maximilian Kivileft, the current head of the Kivileft family and his own father.
There was no familiarity or affection between them as father and son. A desolate atmosphere, truly befitting the word "confrontation," hung in the air.
"...It's been a while, Noein."
"Yes, Father... No, Earl Kivileft."
"Even though you're a bastard born between a servant and me, you're known to be my blood relative. It's truly troublesome... That's why I've fed you until you turned 15. But that ends now. This is the last time I'll see your hateful face."
Noein maintained a smile in front of the nervous-looking man who spat those words with a bitter expression.
"...However, you are still my son, after all. I'll give you a small, detached territory that our Earldom once received from His Majesty the King, along with the attached barony of Arkwright. You can do whatever you want with it, develop it, or whatever."
Maximilian smirked as he spoke in a condescending tone.
"A detached territory and a barony" sounded good, but in reality, it was just a piece of forest on the outskirts of the kingdom and a curse that bound him to it.
The Earldom couldn't leave the land granted by the King untouched forever, but they couldn't bring themselves to invest in the development of a detached territory, which was costly and yielded little profit.
By giving it to Noein and severing ties, Maximilian could get rid of both the troublesome son and the land at once. That's what he thought.
Of course, Noein could guess that such twisted circumstances were behind it.
"I'll give you some severance pay as well... Is that alright?"
"Just one more thing... Could I take one of the Earldom's slaves with me?"
...
Noein's father was the Earl of Kivileft, who ruled one of the largest territories in the southern part of the kingdom, but his mother was a poor commoner woman.
At the time, his mother, who worked as a servant in the Earldom, was reasonably attractive. Maximilian Kivileft, younger and more reckless then, had a fling with her.
And the boy who was born as a result was Noein.
Normally, even if a child was born from a relationship with a servant, it was common to settle the matter by paying some compensation or severance pay and cutting ties.
However, Noein's mother was cunning. As soon as she became pregnant with the Earl's child, she spread the news within the mansion and throughout the Earldom by hook or by crook, creating a situation where the Earl had no choice but to acknowledge Noein as his illegitimate son.
Having successfully secured her position as a concubine, his mother lived a luxurious life, a great success for a woman from a poor background. On the other hand, she showed no affection for her son Noein, who was nothing more than a "tool to become a nobleman's concubine," and died easily from an epidemic when Noein was nine years old.
The life that awaited Noein after that was extremely boring.
It might be inappropriate for Noein, as his son, to say this, but Earl Kivileft was a small-minded man.
Although he found Noein to be a nuisance, he didn't have the guts to commit the taboo of "killing his own blood-related child, a child known to be his illegitimate son, with his own hands."
However, he couldn't defy the Countess, his legal wife, who complained, "Don't let that concubine's child near our family."
As a result of his small-mindedness, Noein was confined to a detached house on the edge of the Earldom's estate, given a small allowance, and essentially kept as a pet. He spent the six years until he reached adulthood without seeing his father, stepmother, or half-siblings.
What helped him get through the boredom of these days were books and golems.
Noein had Matilda, the slave who became his caretaker, run errands for him and borrow books from the Earldom's library. He absorbed various kinds of knowledge from these books—knowledge that would be useful after he was kicked out of the Earldom upon reaching adulthood.
Also, like everyone in the kingdom, he underwent the "Blessing Ceremony" at the church when he was ten years old and learned that he possessed the "Talent for Puppet Magic," a not-so-desirable ability.
After that, he saved the allowance his father gave him to make use of his magical talent, bought golems, and became engrossed in learning how to control them.
And on his fifteenth birthday, his father visited the detached house where Noein lived. The father and son met face-to-face for the first time in six years, and the story jumps back to the previous scene.
...
Whether it was for twisted reasons or not, Noein wasn't ungrateful to his father for feeding him until he reached adulthood.
His father had at least fulfilled his duties as a parent far better than his mother, who was only interested in her own desires and pleasures.
On the other hand, he also resented his father for harboring ill feelings towards him for the reason that he was "a concubine's child," a reason that Noein himself couldn't do anything about, and for robbing him of all his freedom during his boyhood.
He also simply despised his father's small-mindedness, his lack of dignity and sense of responsibility as the head of a noble family.
On top of that, when they parted, his father spoke in a condescending tone as if he was doing him a favor by forcing a peerage on him, which was like a chain to a remote place.
Even if he felt some gratitude for being kept alive and fed, the resentment he felt towards his father was far greater.
However, his ties with that family were now severed. He would never have to feel his father's presence again.
About three months after leaving home, he arrived at the northwestern edge of the Lordberg Kingdom, the Viscountcy of Konitz.
The Bezel Great Forest stretched long from north to south, as if dividing the Lordberg Kingdom and its western neighbor.
A piece of it, located just west of the Viscountcy of Konitz, was the territory granted to Baron Noein Arkwright.
After greeting Viscount Konitz, who was technically his "noble neighbor," he finally entered the forest he owned.
Following the path trampled by the golems, Noein held a determination, almost like spite, to "live a happier and more love-filled life than that shitty father of mine."
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