Ko-fi Chapter 2/2: Thank you for all your support!
Edited by: bafflinghaze
Lester hated this school.
The people, the ranks, the backhanded remarks, and all the million etiquette rules put into place by people who had nothing better to do than to judge others.
Who cared if he was no better than a low-born commoner? Those in Noble Academy were all hypocrites, anyway. He knew none of their hands were clean, his included, so it was disgusting to watch them act like they were saints and fair-minded people.
He was the first son of the Dartmouth Household. Lester Dartmouth. There was no middle name, as everyone knew that no one of the baron class should ever be given a middle name.
His family ascended into nobility during the Fifty Year War after his grandfather saved the life of Emperor Mavis Alycion Romulus on the bloody battlefield.
In the history books, his grandfather took up five pages, with an inspiring story of how a commoner hailing from a humble fishing town rose to the ranks of a baron within the span of half a year due to his war prowess and took control of the territory to the east of Rhine that was near the coast.
To no one’s surprise when he was first drafted, his grandfather was meant to be fodder on the frontline, but he survived every battle, and with each victory for the Empire, his reputation spread.
Eventually, the enemy soldiers began to call him the Grey Death.
His grandfather had gotten so used to being in the front line that even when he became the captain of his squad, he was always the first to leap into the line of battle and was known to single-handedly obliterate the first wave of troops sent against them.
It could be said that he found his “calling” in the line of action.
As a result, for his merits and achievements, his grandfather was given commandership of the Silver Raven Division, a group of knights loyal solely to the empire and its royal family.
Within half a year, his grandfather took this knight division and turned it into a destructive force by having it specialize in espionage and secret service. The Silver Raven went on to play a major role in gaining Rhine’s victory in the Fifty Year War.
And that was the start of the Dartmouth legacy.
From a lowly pauper to a baron, his family remained in that coastal territory and grew from the ground up through the favors of Emperor Mavis.
His grandfather shed his commoner names and became known as the Dartmouth Baron. Commander Dartmouth. Lord Dartmouth. Head of the Dartmouth Household.
But with no war and no bloodshed, as was common for many soldiers and those who gained status through the military, peace became unbearable.
A title, as many would later find out, was merely a title.
Civilians looked down upon the soldiers of war and those who were rewarded with baron and count titles.
As for those like his grandfather, with a name like Grey Death and the stories told off the battlefield of a nightmarish mess of grey-silver hair and a flash of a blade reflecting the doom and gloom of grim grey eyes before the bloody massacre of enemy soldiers, they looked on with fear and prejudice.
Normal commoners isolated them while the aristocracy hid their sneers behind painted fans and taut smiles.
A lowborn’s blood was still filth in the eyes of true nobility, and they were but a stain within the society of aristocrats.
Who would dare marry their daughters to the Dartmouth family?
Lester’s grandfather and grandmother were both war veterans who came from humble origins, and his father, too, married his mother, who was the daughter of a merchant.
There was no noble blood running through Lester’s veins, and with each day that went in this gods-forsaken school, the future prospect of ever having noble blood in his family was slim.
He had no hopes of ever becoming more when his possible future wife would also be of common blood.
Lester came to this stupid academy for the sake of his family. He wanted to make a name to further the legacy of the Dartmouths, to prove that they were capable of standing with the noble class, deserving of their title, which they fought for and struggled to keep.
Despite the prestige of the Dartmouth’s command of the Silver Raven, he knew deep in his heart that he was seen as nothing more than a lowly brute who could only wave around a sword to get what he wanted.
All these weak noble children with their sharp tongues and mind games were nothing if they couldn’t defend themselves against his parries.
Sword Class was his sanctuary. He could beat up anyone he wanted, and it would be fine.
Who cared if they insulted him? Who cared if they called him names? Smeared his reputation? Splashed filthy water on him?
If it meant he could beat up those rich, spoilt, lily-white, pompous arses into a bloody pulp at the end of the day, then he was satisfied.
And no, he had never discriminated by gender. Boy or girl, he was willing to beat them up with the same amount of viciousness they dared to use with their words to bully him into submission.
Lester took great pleasure in seeing the way his classmates cowered beneath his feet once they got their asses handed to them.
He was no prodigy like his grandfather, but he was well trained and had a more solid foundation than most of the student population.
His fun lasted all the way to about a month into the school year, when he met that fucking bastard from the Deerborn Family.
He was the first to ever knock him down during sword class, and Lester might have forgiven him and seen him as a proper rival if not for that look of distaste smeared across Deerborn’s face.
There was a sickening air of self-righteousness exuding from him that made Lester want to vomit.
Memphis Deerborn, the genius.
He was the son of Baron Deerborn, who was the Commander of the Gold Lion Division, a bunch of military meatheads who only knew how to swing a sword and charge straight first into a warzone.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He was treated like the god of swordsmanship, well-liked, lazy, but stupid. They were both from the baron class, yet, why was Lester treated lower than that bastard?
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Everyone knew of the rivalry between the Silver Raven and the Gold Lion as a rather violent rivalry. After the Fifty Years War, the knight division split into two.
It was not uncommon to see a knight in gold and a knight in silver butting heads in the royal palace. The sight had become quite familiar since the existence of the Dartmouth Baron Household.
Because of this, the reputation of the Dartmouths spiraled into the pits.
After all, without the existence of the Silver Raven, there wouldn’t even be any infighting between the trusted knights of the kingdom in the first place, right?
Without the formation of the Silver Raven, the empire wouldn’t have to fear the dirty tricks of silver knights and all the powerful secret intelligence they held in their archives, right?
They wouldn’t have to be afraid of being watched without the accursed Silver Raven knights patrolling each night, looking through their windows, and depriving them of their privacy, right?!
Lester hated Memphis Deerborn, that arrogant and stubborn arsehole!
And so, he passed the first few years in the academy in this way, isolated from the rest of the students and growing more and more resentful by the day.
Until everything changed that early autumn day in his third and last year of Junior High.
Lester might have continued to linger within his brewing resentment for the rest of his academy years if not for the appearance of him.
Nazareth Everette Odum, the bastard son of the Odum Family, a ducal that held much power within the world of aristocracy.
Perhaps Lester had felt a sense of kinship with this boy when Nazareth first approached him all those months ago.
Of course, he had been initially wary.
Nazareth Odum always looked a sight, with his hair and that scary demeanor. There was anger in his eyes, and so much hate and resentment flashing through his vermillion gaze. For a child of the great Duke family, he was not what Lester had expected.
Lester wasn’t ignorant of the rumors.
He knew Nazareth was a mere bastard. The son of some whore in the red light district, brought back after his mother died, the crazy scummy troublemaker who desired to kill his brother.
Murderer.
Though no one could prove it…
The whole school knew of his terrible deed, but all the evidence never led to him.
This boy was powerful, despite how much everyone despised him.
He couldn’t be touched, so he was feared and hated.
And unlike Lester’s grandfather, who crumbled from the rejection of those ostracizing gaze, Nazareth reveled in it.
Lester was brought away by him and asked to join him in his endeavor to kill Aurelion Odum. Lester should have rejected this offer, rejected the connection that the boy wanted to make, the ties, but he didn’t.
It might not have been bright of him to follow such an evil person, but beneath that cruel and wicked madness was also a boy who desired for something desperately. He had eyes that were ashen, the crazy eyes masking what could be described as desolate and broken.
There was something deeply wrong and sad that twisted Nazareth into the monster everyone saw, and Lester, driven both by the instinct to run away from danger like a normal person and run toward the danger like his grandfather, chose the latter.
Lester never knew what it was that Nazareth wanted from his schemes, but the boy had taken him from his solitude, so he didn’t mind not knowing.
They shared an oath, the four of them. He, along with a couple of other boys, shared their deepest secrets.
That boy from the Moores Earl Family, Elliot Levi Moores, had been so lonely and desperate for an ounce of attention. Then there was Julius Cain Elysium, another Duke’s son with his own troubles. And finally, Nazareth Everette Odum, the known scummy troublemaker, wished his younger brother dead.
And for once, Lester didn’t hate them. He didn’t hate that they were nobility, nor that their lineage was purer than his own. He didn’t even resent that they belonged in the ranks of earls and dukes, nor did he compare them to his lowly baron status.
They were older boys, of course, almost adults. Compared to them, he was a mere boy coming out of the Junior division. He may have been nothing in their eyes until Nazareth approached him and made him into something.
But he had somehow caught Nazareth’s attention, and just like Elliot and his stupid need for attention, Lester realized how addictive it was to have The Nazareth Odum set his eyes on him.
And then—
“Brother Naza…”
It was a slip of the tongue when he said it.
There was a lingering pause between them.
Thankfully, Elliot and Julius had both left the meeting already. Lester had wanted to hang around a little longer and they had fallen into a conversation about classism for some reason and—
“What… did you just call me?”
“Brother… Brother Naza?”
“…”
“Um—” Lester to break that silence, until—
“Why are you calling me this?” Nazareth asked, his voice unusually quiet, “I am no one’s brother…”
“You… you don’t like it?” Was he not worthy of calling him this? Was his blood too dirty—
“I’m going to kill my own little brother,” Nazareth stared him dead in the eye and tilted his head in confusion. “Do you think I’m worthy of a title like that?”
“But… still…”
Lester tried to argue, only to hear a sigh, and then… an awkward pat on his head.
“… I don’t care.”
“Eh?”
Lester watched as Nazareth turned and started to walk away.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but he thought he saw those vermillion jewels, usually darkened to a pasty rust color with its murky despondency, glean with an unusual light.
“Do what you wish.”
The response had been so soft, Lester had thought he was dreaming. Shaking himself from his hallucination, Lester ran after him.
“Brother Naza!”
From then on, Lester followed him like a young chick following its mother. He wanted to stay close to this older boy, who continued to look at him strangely, yet, allowed him to stay no matter what.
Lester sought refuge whenever he could, and when the rumor mill began to spread of his association with Nazareth, the ridicule died down and there was even some fear in the faces of his tormentors.
Brother Naza never judged him, and for that, he was grateful. Screw those three lackeys that insisted on accompanying Brother Naza.
Brother Naza was his one and only.
When the Spring Holiday came around, Lester’s grandfather had grown sick so he went back home to take care of him.
He had promised to write, and on behalf of the rest of the group, Elliot had sent him letters to keep him up to date.
‘—strange behavior with Odum these past few days. He had cut his hair and is avoiding me. Elysium is still bedridden. You know how terrible his constitution is…’
‘—Odum has evaded me for weeks now, and it seems as if he has gotten closer to those lackeys of his. His brother is being a pain in the ass…”
‘—Elysium requests that I keep an eye on him. Odum has still not spoken to me…’
Lester had grown worried.
And then, the formal letter came with an urgent messenger.
‘Forgive me, Lester, but I have taken the time to put into thought the actions you and our cohorts were dragged into unwillingly and would like to bid farewell to the ties we’ve created…’
“…….”
Lester re-read the letter over and over again, searching and scanning for answers that could possibly be between the lines of the overly formal address. There had to have been some sort of sign or symbolic notion. Nazareth must have been testing him. He couldn’t possibly be abandoning them, abandoning him—!
There was nothing.
Nazareth had lost all interest in Lester.
“…….”
Lester hated being an aristocrat but loved the power that came with it. He hated the people in the academy but loved those he called his closest friends. He hated the cutthroat world of the nobility but loved the surprises it brought him.
And at that moment, when he realized he hated Nazareth Odum, bastard of the Odum Family, whoreson, notorious scummy troublemaker, and ultimate trash… he also ultimately loved the way he was allowed to call him brother, and treated him like his own, and took him under his wing, and never ridiculed him because of his blood.
His grandfather had gotten better soon enough. It was perfect timing. Lester packed up his clothes and ordered a carriage to bring him back to the academy the very next day.
Within a single night of non-stop driving, he arrived at the academy by late afternoon.
While students were trickling out of the Academy or heading toward the dormitories, Lester had finished moving his meager belongings into his dorm and got out his sword. In order to prepare his nerves for the inevitable confrontation tomorrow, he had decided to go practice his sword forms behind the school.
Only to see THIS display.
First of all, Brother Nazareth looked GREAT with his new haircut. Elliot could fight him on this. Secondly, who the FUCK was this bastard?
“Get your filthy face out of Brother Naza’s hands!”
Lester grabbed his sword without thinking, primal instincts coming to the forefront of his brain as he bared his teeth at the fucking white-haired bastard who decided to act all cute to his Brother Naza with his grubby little face held all gently like he was some kind of innocent rodent and FUCK HIM!!!
“W-what?!”
The dumb bastard exclaimed like an idiot, but then had the audacity to look at him with his chin pointed to the sky like he was better than him or something.
“No!”
And dragged Brother Naza’s hands back to his face just as Brother Naza was pulling away!!
And Brother Naza? Brother Naza had an expression on his face that Lester had never seen before.
He was obviously uncomfortable!
What the hell did this bastard do to Brother Naza?
Actually, no, what the hell were they doing in the back of the school?!
Was he molesting Brother Naza?!
Lester released a war cry.
“You dare!”
He screeched, just like his grandfather taught him, and got ready to pounce on this white-haired bastard.
—
Well, then. This could only go down spectacularly.
Neo felt like he was going to cry. Lester had appeared at the most unfortunate time and immediately started to insult the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Of course, the moment Lester and Serian physically made contact, it just got worse from there.
The two kids duked it out pretty good at first, Serian with the knife Neo had given him and Lester with his training sword.
Lethality-wise, everything was pretty evened out.
But then, Lester actually tried to lop off Serian’s head, and Serian almost stabbed Lester in a major artery, and Neo, being the hypocrite that he was, drew the line there.
Neo was a strong believer that a healthy dose of violence could mean the beginning of a beautiful friendship, but he couldn’t have two kids dying under his watch, especially since they were the only son and heir of the Silver Raven’s Knight Commander and the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Within moments, Neo found himself trying to separate two healthy teenage boys from maiming each other. Currently, Serian and Lester were rolling around in the dirt and trying to beat each other up with their fists. Well, Lester was. Serian was aiming for the eyes and crotch, but it didn’t look like it was all that effective.
“You fight like a girl!” He heard Lester sneer out.
“Better a girl than a brute! My mother taught me these skills!” Serian retorted, just as fierce.
Both boys had their weapons tossed to the side respectively, because apparently, they both felt like they wanted to “feel the bastard’s face better and break his nose—”
Soon enough, Serian broke away first and ran behind Neo, who was just about to grab the boys by the back of their collars and haul them apart.
“What are you doing?” Lester demanded, his previous protective-puppy glare replaced by something more furious and angry.
Serian ignored him and grabbed Neo’s hand, “Go fight a tree! I’m taking Brother Nazareth home.”
“Actually, I have a theatre rehearsal—”
“Oi! You can’t just leave with him!” Lester yelled, stomping over and grabbing Neo’s other arm and trying to pull him to his side.
“Can too! I’m his brother’s friend, so that makes us closer than friends!” Serian yelled even louder, pulling Neo even more strongly than Lester.
Uh…
Predictably, Lester was now also pulling even harder, “You’re just an interloper! I’ve known him for a year!”
Serian looked positively scandalized, “I’ve known since I was seven!”
“You’re not that important if he’s never talked about you!”
“Take it back!”
“No! Let Brother Naza go!”
There were sleeping draughts in his pocket. No one would know if he put them to sleep. As the boys’ screaming started to grow even louder, Neo really wondered what stopped him from doing it.
When it looked like it would end up as some sort of tug-o-war with him in the middle, Neo had just about enough.
There was terrible, terrible energy radiating from something. It smelled like a crazed need for death and murder and destruction—
—
Meanwhile, Tybalt and the rest of the class, who were now gathered in the school theatre, turned toward the only open window in confusion as they heard an unusual wailing sound echoing from the back of the school. It sounded like a mix between a series of screeching warning bells and the screams of the undead souls in a graveyard.
Professor Rickman, who was looking at his clipboard and wondering where Odum was, raised a brow.
When the wailing continued, he snorted.
“Phelan, please close the windows. The butchers in town must be holding a feast or something.”
Tybalt followed the command and got up to close the windows. As he did, he noticed that the screeching was fading into the background, followed by a human-like cry. He raised a brow. What kind of beast were the butchers slaughtering?
—
Step 29. Make sure that the Crown Prince and your associate do not maul each other to death… Long-term warning that may help you in the long run: Do not pick favorites.
Hm? Could it be the brocon lil brother? Or the lil sister? Hehe. Both are not strong people
That was unexpected
Thanks for the chapter. Wish Neo will stop cutting ties with lester, elliot and other boys.
Aah~ so cute!
I love the detail and the character building in this novel, and I like all this new little brothers materializing from thin air, but the plot has been slowed down considerably by all these new characters and backgrounds and descriptions, and I struggle to remember what is actually happening now with the story. Maybe it’s time to go back to plot development for a while?
Thanks for the chapter ❤️ I love when Neo’s brotherly vibes come out, the vein-bulging, pissed-brother’s ones too 😁
Aww. They were like craving for Neo’s attention 😂. And I’m guessing that the one with looming aura is tybalt?
Haha, that’s hella cute
Thank you for the chapter!
OH MY GOD I AM LITERALLY DYING OF LAUGHTER😂😂
Your story rocks. But I really wish that Neo will not cut his ties with those other 3 boys and would be a real friend to them as they stood by his side and trusted him.
Lolol what cuties but I hope Neo realizes that he can bring his associates down the right path too if their willing since it seems that they just want company
Thank you for the chapters!
Thank you for the chapter!
too cute!!
thanks for the chapter <3
Lmao we gonna have alot of people who has a brocon towards our dear Neo cause he let them call him his brother anyways despite not being related by blood, our ✨O R I G I N A L✨ brocon siblings must be enraged HAHA
I’m not sure weather to laugh or cry that all his minions think of him as their anchor he should prolly explain to them that his real dark secret was not to kill his brother but to die an his bro was his reason for living
Yeah… I wish he would, maybe someday.
I made some fanart 😀
Has this been dropped? 😥
I just want an update😭😭😭😭
If Aurelione saw this scene, the two will be dead because his brother is only his brother and no one else kkkk
It’s actually heartbreaking seeing them cut ties for the good. Knowing Neo, it’s his way of letting them out of the mess. I just hope they will have a bwtter future and have the opportunity to meet or reconcile again in a better situation.
This made me crack tho~ It would me more interesting if Lione join them hahahhsha