Chapter 3:
Duke Astarte
MY MOTHER WAS AN ODDBALL, TO SAY THE least. In this world where gender roles were flipped, she taught a man like me to wield the sword and the spear. I grew up mastering martial arts. I didn’t mind being taught how to run and control the fief when I was young; it was my duty to learn these important concepts. When I came of age, I was set to marry a noblewoman who would take on the title of “Lord Polidoro,” and I would support my powerful wife.
What use was there for me to learn martial arts and other fighting methods? I was confused when, at fifteen, I learned that only a single male knight had emerged from the village because men didn’t usually go out to battle. Ever since I was young, I began to recall memories of my past life and thought it was normal for the heir of the family to be taught some military skills. Not once did I assume that my mother was unusual.
Polidoro Fief had 30 men and 270 women. With such a clear difference in numbers, polygamy was natural, and prejudiced thoughts such as assuming that this world was filled with idiotic logic had never entered my mind yet.
“What did you bastards just say?” I growled. “You can laugh at me all you want, but you dared to mock my mother as well.”
I stormed toward the table where the two page boys drank tea, and hot liquid spilled from their cups. They hadn’t expected me to confront them. The tea fell onto their pants, which made it look like they’d pissed themselves as they frantically stood up to make excuses.
“I-I said no such thing!” one stammered.
Again, my mother was an oddball. A lung disease took my father when he was still young. She was greatly encouraged by relatives, the fief’s village chief, and nobles around her to take on a new husband, but she refused them all. In lieu of the daughter that she never gave birth to, she taught me martial arts and fighting tactics.
Thinking back, my mom was probably fighting desperately in her own way. She was frail herself. Did she think that it would be difficult to give birth a second time? Or did she love my late father very deeply? She was sickly and weak, yet she forced herself to get out of bed every day to teach me everything she knew about land management. My mother continued to do so for twenty years after my birth until she passed away at the young age of thirty-five due to illness. In her final years, her body became so slender and frail, like a small piece of thread, as she took her last breath. Now, I finally understood what she had tried to do.
“You dare to ridicule my mother?” I growled.
She tried to teach me everything she knew—it was the only thing she could leave behind for me. She knew that she wouldn’t live long. And so, she used what little time she had to provide me with everything she could until I became an adult. When I was a kid, I viewed my mother as a bit strange and nothing more. She became bedridden when I turned fifteen, and I took on the role of military service in her stead, but I wasn’t sure if this small gesture was enough to repay her. No, it probably wasn’t. I’d only realized what her true intentions were when she had passed. I may have been a human who was reincarnated from Earth, but even so…
“You dare insult my mother, ancestors, citizens, and land? You dare scorn the entirety of the Polidoro fief?” I rumbled.
Ever since I turned five, she did her best to teach me the ways of the world—to ensure that I could survive in this place—even if it meant cutting her own lifespan short.
“I’ll kill you both,” I snarled.
My mother was an irreplaceable existence. She meant the world to me. I didn’t mind if I was insulted; I knew that muscular men were unpopular in this society. Unfortunately, I wasn’t blessed with the kind of appearance that was favored in this nation, and I was accustomed to the condescending words that were hurled at me. But my mother? I would forgive no person who dared to mock her. I grabbed the collar of the nearer guy and lifted him into the air.
“I-I’m related to Duke Astarte, the advisor of the crown princess!” he gasped.
I see, I see. Which is why you thought you could talk shit about me, the advisor to the younger princess. Did he seriously assume that he had some kind of immunity just because he had someone to back him up? What a delusional ass.
“So what?” I asked. I shoved my index finger into his nostril.
“W-wait! I’ll apologi—” the man shrieked.
But it was too late for that. I shoved my index finger deeper up his nose until the entirety of my finger was inside. He let out a loud wail, a howl that was unfitting for his petite frame.
“Huh, so you can let out a manly voice that isn’t so frail and feeble,” I remarked. My lips curled up to form a malicious grin.
I pushed my finger deep inside until it reached his throat before I slid my finger right out of his nose, completely soaked in his blood. He fell to the ground with a thud, red foam frothing at his lips. One down, another to go. I wiped off the blood on my index finger with my handkerchief and turned to the next guy.
“Don’t run, all right?” I warned.
Not like he’s got a chance in hell to escape. The man fell on his butt, shit and piss leaking from his pants. He must have been literally scared shitless.
“You guys are so helpless,” I said.
I wasn’t going to kill him, but he wouldn’t walk away unscathed from this ordeal. Emotionally, I was sticking up only for my mother, but I also needed to preserve my dignity as a noble. I shouldered the honor of everyone in my land—that was my duty as Lord Faust von Polidoro. I couldn’t let nasty insults slide, even if that meant that I’d be up against a duke who had more land and manpower than I did.
“What’s going on here?!” a familiar voice echoed.
I’d heard this tone hundreds of times on the battlefield; I turned around to greet the newcomer.
“Ah, Duke Astarte,” I said. “How are you on this fine day?”
“Well, right now I feel awful,” she replied.
Duke Astarte served as Princess Anastasia’s advisor. She commanded enough land to house tens of thousands of citizens and even had a standing army of five hundred that could be mobilized at a moment’s notice. Her personal force alone outnumbered the citizens in my fief. But that didn’t matter to me.