“Oh,” I said and gently sat down with sadness all over my face. While in my mind, I am raging in anger at whoever killed him.

He shouldn’t have died. It was too easy for him.

I wanted him to live so I could take revenge on him. Make him feel what he did to me. I had so many plans to make those bastards regret what they have done to me, and now I will not get a chance.

Speaking of which, I wonder. Which bastard it is?

Lancel had said my brother was dead. He did not say which one. There are three of them and I hate all of them but at a different level.

“May I know who it is?” I asked him. “It is Baron Edwin,” he replied, and I wanted to hit the table hard and curse with everything I have.

I hated that bastard with every cell of my body. The cause for all my misery. If there was anyone of my blood relative, I truly wanted to kill, then it would be Edwin.

“How did he die?” I asked.

This time, Lancel could not maintain the somberness on his face, and the smile slipped through the cracks.

“It was a glorious death,” said Lancel, but I kept looking at him.

“The baronies, forces from the Mirador Hold, and the mercenaries all forged the united force and attacked the hidden base of Golag bandits; it was a massive battle that lasted till the morning,”

“It was an annihilation,” he said and by the end, he was smiling tooth to tooth. Even on my face, a slight relief appeared.

Golag bandits had become a pain in the ass; they looted merchants and kidnapped nobles. They have even looted the keeps and would disappear after doing the deed.

They were a menace for half a year and, due to audaciousness, other bandit groups also became daring. Creating chaos within the baronies.

Forces of Mirador hold, have hunted for them, but have never been able to find their base.

The failure was a great embarrassment to the mirador hold.

“I am glad. It was time, we wiped those pests, and I am glad my brother played a part in it,” I said.

Edwin was more of a nuisance than a help to the hunting parties. He can use a sword, but was not that great at it, and had problems with following orders. Some nobles have come to Greltheaven, and they were more than happy to tell me how he continued to make fun of himself.

They had only tolerated him, because he had a sufficiently strong force at his disposal.

“They have wiped the bandits, but not all. The leader and his three lieutenants were able to escape,”

“That’s when they killed your brother. He was part of the outer perimeter,” he explained, and my expression couldn’t help but turn bad, because it is bad news.

It means we had just delayed the problem. Golag bandits will come back, as long as the leader is alive.

It had happened already; Oksall had wiped out his band, but he could escape and gather another band before starting looting. One more time they did that, and he escaped, only to return a year later, with a bigger band.

“We will be prepared for his return. We will not let your brother’s death go in vain,” Lancel added after a second of silence.

“Thank you, my lord,” I said.

The bastard, he couldn’t even die quietly. He died like a martyr, which he did not deserve. He should have died like a dog, with people spitting on his grave.

Now, even I will be forced to say a kind word to him.

“Today is for you to grief; we will postpone the negotiations for tomorrow,” said Lancel.

“No, it would not be wise to delay the negotiations. We have the momentum, and we should not let it go to waste,” I said, with my expression becoming firm, with grief lingering in my eyes.

“But your brother had just died. You should grieve,” Lancel said with concern all over his face, but I could also see the focus.

He is looking at my reaction; seeing how I will react.

“We were not close, but he was my brother and I grieve for him, but negotiations are also important.”

“It will bring huge trade to our city, especially the grains. They will be very helpful in the winter.” I said and Lancel opened his mouth, but I cut him off.

“I will not make the city suffer in my loss,” I finished.

It is common knowledge of what my brothers have done to me. It would not be wise to feign too much grief, but it wouldn’t be wise to not show any emotions at all.

So, I went with the middle path; I showed some grief and commitment to the job.

The trade negotiations are my responsibility. He could not hand it over to the others, including Robin.

As he is not prepared as I am and trade is not his forte.

Lancel understands it, which is why he spoke about postponing the negotiations to tomorrow, rather than handing them to Robin or someone else in my team. Especially when I am bringing great results.

“Since it is what you want, I will not stop you.” Said Lancel. “Thank you, my lord,” I said and gently got up.

“Go and if you want, we can delay the negotiations by a few hours,” he said. To that, I shook my head, despite it feeling painful to do it.

“There is no need for it, my lord. We will be there on time as usual,” I said and walked toward the door slowly.

…

“He took the news better than I had thought,” said Lancel, looking at the door, which had just closed.

“I am surprised. He is even feeling the grief for his brother, seeing they have snatched his inheritance,” said Mage York and Lancel laughed.

“You don’t even know half of it. A few months ago, when they were setting up the territory, they had tried to kill him,” said Lancel and it couldn’t surprise the mage.

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“Well, it seemed like his brother was a real piece of work,” said Mage York finally.

“An annoying piece of work. He had annoyed everyone at the hunting party that they had placed him outer perimeter, where he can’t interfere in battle,”

“Even there, he couldn’t do a proper job and got himself killed idiotically,” said Lancel, and both of them shared a laugh.

A few seconds later, his expression turned serious as he turned to the mage. “Had they found him?” asked Lancel. “No, my lord, they are still searching. Lord Count had even increased the bounty on bandit leaders' heads,” Mage York informed.

“I wish I had been there. With me leading the assault, not a single bandit would have escaped,” said Lancel.

“You are absolutely right, my lord,” said Mage York, while rolling his eyes from behind.

…

“Jon, call Zela to my suit,” I said as I reached my suit. “Ok,” he said and walked toward my room.

It is painful, but I reached the bathroom in my room and added a few drops of healing potion into the jug of water, and begin to massage it across my body.

I could have drunk the potion right after the practice, but I bore the pain. It helps to get used to distract less when I suffer in the battle.

Usually, I use numbing cream, but with the death of Edwin, I have a few things to do, and numbing cream wouldn’t help me with that. The potion is a much better choice.

I stayed naked till nearly all the pain disappeared, along with most red marks, before taking a shower.

I walked out of the shower and changed into a suit before walking out of my room.

As I did, I saw Zela sitting in the living room.

She looked good. All the paleness had disappeared and now, her eyes have a similar vibrant light as Jon's.

“Sorry for calling you while you were resting, but there is an emergency,” I said to her. “It is fine, Mister Silver. I am nearly finished with my rest.” She said, and I smiled gratefully.

“I called you here to send a few messages,” I said and describe messages and within a few seconds, her expression changed. As she got to know about my brother’s death.

In the next hour, I sent a couple of messages and received many in return.

Thankfully, the communication system for Navr is very good. The mages sent and received the messages at top speed.

I had called a couple of places, blain, Mirador Hold, Greltheaven, and a few nobles I know. Thanks to my position as adviser to Lancel, I have got all the information; I needed very quickly.

Even Mirador Hold did not delay it; they don’t want to mess anything further.

It had turned out that the battle began at midnight and ended at dawn. Many people died; the number of bandits had been greater than they had thoughts.

Still, with the preparations, they were able to eliminate and capture all the bandits.

Only a small group was able to escape, the group of the bandit leader. He is injured along with his men and people searching the entire forest for it and even alerted Oksall.

They had increased the patrol on their side and moved their forces close to the extreme magic region, where the bandit’s main hiding hole is.

The only thing I could not find out was how they were able to get to the location of the bandits. The Golag bandits have been extremely careful; never let anyone have a hint about their base.

No method is perfect, no skill offers perfect protection. They might have slipped, and hunters would have the scent.

The funeral would be held in three days; it would be enough time for family members to arrive. Edwin is going to be buried in the keep. If it were up to me, I would have kept his body in the open for animals to eat.

Unfortunately, I will have to attend it. It is going to delay my return to the Greltheaven.

The important question is, who is going to get the title now that Edwin is dead? There are my two brothers and sister; Grandfather might even consider the cousins for the job.

He will definitely be going to do it. Grandfather will not give the titles to my brothers. They are utter idiots and incompetent to handle such responsibility, even with the help of their mother.

Edwin was in the same category, but he could learn. Those two could not.

That only leaves my sister; she is the one my father had asked first. She is his precious daughter, his firstborn. She rejected it and I don’t know what she will do this time.

Among cousins, there are some good candidates.

As for me, I don’t think I will be asked with being a bastard and owner of the brother, but even if they did ask me.

I will reject it.

I have no interest in a barony sitting on hot coals, where I could be killed at any time. There is not much of a future to it unless Oksall starts the trade and that is going to take time, even if it happens.

Even if it had been at a better place, I would have rejected it. The control of the family is too much, and I like the freedom I currently have.

I am happy with my position and my business, which I have taken, beyond what my father would have imagined.

I could see it growing and if it continued to grow, as I had expected it to be. It won’t take long for me to amass a fortune equal to my father's.

I have already set a time limit; it is five years. It will be a challenge to achieve that in five years, which took him fifty years to achieve, but I will do it.