Emperor of Steel - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Heading to Lamer 1

Luke instructed the administrators to bring in all the documents along with the documented assets and the expenditure of the estates.
He looked at the documents one after the other with a distorted expression.
“This is shit. We are on the verge of bankruptcy!”
The account books which recorded the income and expenses of the estate wasn’t so bad.
The money was borrowed and then paid back, and it was good enough to the extent of never ruining the nobility they had.
“The ever bright bloodline of the warrior family who had struck down the Devil King has no hidden legends or treasures.”
No matter how hard he tried, he could not find even a drop of the warrior family’s assets.
At the same time, the extra funds that were placed for the operating expenses of the permanent residence and the maintenance of the permanent residence were to a bare minimum, almost less than a hundredth of the 30,000 pesos that he had to pay.
“Is this really the family of a legendary warrior? Even a goblin who’s just passing by will laugh at them.”
From what he had learned on the genealogy after Rakan killed him, Rakan was given the title of Marquis and the vast territory in the southernmost part of the Libiya Kingdom.
Considering the fact that Rakan’s family was one of the lowest within nobles, the upgrade in his status could be considered a great success.
However, it didn’t seem like this scenario would last long.
The ambitious Baroque Duke rebelled.
Rakan, who couldn’t tolerate the rebellion and injustice fought against him, but as he was suffering from an incurable disease at that time, he was defeated.
Baroque couldn’t execute Rakan since he was a renowned knight in the entire continent during that time.
Which was why he decided to relegate the title of Rakan to a lowly one and deprived them of the territory they held to the fringes of the Devil King’s castle.
When this happened, Rakan became depressed and reportedly passed away a year later.
And so the later generation began to think that Rakan had been cursed by the Devil King himself.
‘So you killed me after hearing the words of the same men?’
Looking outside the window, Luke asked himself as he saw the statue of Rakan which was standing tall in the garden.
The statue of Rakan was sparkling gold and had a great pose, but it said nothing.
That statue was called a memorial built by the youngest of his grandfathers 50 years ago.
The descendants of Rakan, including Rakan, struggled to make their family recover.
But of course, most of his descendants suffered from sickness and succumbed from it, or went to war and never came back.
And so, rather than prospering, the family barely managed to preserve their heritage, and their manors and estates continued to deteriorate.
And the most adverse effect was in Luke’s generation.
In the midst of all those crises, Luke, a seventeen-year-old boy, tried to somehow develop and revitalize the family name.
He had gone through numerous books and found ways to develop the estates. Despite the weak body he possessed, he took on a sword and learned the martial arts of his ancestors.
Not long ago, he tried to control a Gigant but had an accident due to engine congestion.
He was declared brain dead due to Mana reflux, but he somehow regained his consciousness after a day.
‘No, he was definitely dead, and that was why my soul could enter his body.’
Saymon just sighed as he recollected the genealogy and the stories he heard from the servants.
He was feeling regretful about what happened to Luke.
Rakan was his object of resentment, he couldn’t have such feelings to his descendant Luke.
Luke was just a poor boy who was getting crushed by the fading glory of his ancestors and took on the burdensome responsibility of reviving his family’s glory even though he could have chosen to live easily. 1
Nevertheless, instead of resenting his destiny, the boy was sincere enough to try and fulfill his responsibilities as a temporary titleholder.
‘And it’s not like he was just somebody else. I wasn’t an orphan and a suffering child, and we have the same childhood name.’
Saymon’s original name was Luke.
But the teacher who was teaching him magic told him that his name didn’t sound like a name that a warlock was supposed to have and gave him a new name after an old sage.
“That is true, but, isn’t there any kind of treasure or money of some sort hidden in the house?”
There was no way for such things to not be in the house of nobles.
The estate was in a difficult situation because of the tributes and taxes which were being sent to the king who was filling his stomach by sucking up the blood of the people from all the regions.
However, the family of Rakan was the kind of noble which was poverty-stricken, only a few of the nobles belonged to that category.
If a knight with a sense of justice came across them, they would shout ‘The family of the brave warrior’, and Luke too would have shouted those words out loud.
“What a mess. He should have at least have the money to look after the house!”
What was worse was that Rakan had completely ruined all the treasure and military funds that were in the vault of the Devil King’s Castle.
Although he had used them to suppress the ambitions of the rebels, Luke didn’t seem to be impressed with his actions.
If only that money was left behind, then things wouldn’t turn into such a mess.
“All because of that thoughtless stupid Rakan… Phew, this can’t be. I need to calm myself down. Once I calm myself down something good will pop into my head.”
Even though he was trying to calm down, the situation was too hectic to stay calm.
Being revived into a young body seemed to have made him be filled with rage. Rage which he never had trouble controlling in the days he was referred to as the Devil King. The situation seemed too dire. 2
The situation was surely exciting, but that wasn’t going to change the annoying reality that he was stuck in. He had no work.
“No matter what it is, I’ll have to go somewhere or call someone…”
The amount on the paper was now short of 30,000 pesos.
“I’m going to sell off one Gigant or something… ah!”
Thinking about the Gigant, Luke jumped up from his seat.
Things that could be used for money just struck his mind.
Luke, who looked to his side, had a sneaky smile on his lips.
“Yeah! Those things can be of use!”