The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 13: The Three Great Ducal Houses

“A party hosted by the imperial family, you say?”

I repeated Father Lucius’s words. Lucius nodded.

“That’s right. It will be held at the imperial capital’s inner palace in two weeks. I’ll take you and several others there. The members of the three great ducal houses will also show their faces. You must never be looked down upon.”

“The three great ducal houses… understood.”

Speaking of the remaining three great ducal houses excluding the Salvatore family: The magic prestigious family ‘Morgan.’ The wealth and craftsmen ‘Ymir.’

So those guys who also appeared in the original would participate in the party.

“It will be a good debut for you. I’m looking forward to it.”

Saying only that, Lucius dismissed me. If I probably couldn’t meet expectations, there was even the possibility that everything I had built up until now would come to nothing.

I forcibly suppressed my racing heart while lifting the corners of my mouth.

[Hehe. Luka is smiling.]

“Because I’m looking forward to it—the party hosted by the imperial family.”

[Will there be something interesting? It’s just important people gathering, right?]

“Since we’re close in age, she might be there—that woman.”

[That woman?]

“The youngest of the Morgan family. The genius magician Lucia.”

[So meeting that girl is your objective.]

“That’s how it is.”

Lucia, the future sage who accomplished numerous great feats in the original work. If I could meet her and see even a tiny fraction of her abilities, I’d be fortunate.

But… that woman has a bad personality.

While walking down the hallway, I recalled my previous life’s memories.

☆

A week and several days later. I and three sisters left the mansion for the party hosted by the imperial family held in the imperial capital.

“Hey hey, this is Luka’s first time going to a party, right? Are you excited or anything?”

Right after passing through the entrance door, one of the sisters participating in the party, Lynette Salvatore, spoke to me.

Beneath white hair, ferociously narrowed red eyes captured me with interest. What an energetic one.

“That’s right. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Hmm. I’m bored though. Rather than parties, killing monsters or cutting people is more fun. I wonder if I could do some criminal hunting~?”

She made a somewhat eerie smile and laughed.. Behavior that didn’t suit her childlike appearance. Another sister standing beside her scolded her for it.

“What are you saying? If you cause a disturbance in the imperial capital, Father will be the one who’s embarrassed. Stay quiet.”

Another white-haired girl, Remiliera Salvatore. She and Lynette looked very similar. Because they were born from the same mother at the same time. What you’d call twins.

Lynette had the qualities of a pleasure killer, and since awakening her aura, she occasionally slashed servants to death during training. The servants should have had decent skills too, but terrifying was the blood of the Salvatore family.

Among them, Lynette was apparently quite skilled with aura.

“Boo. Remiliera always just gets in my way, it’s boring. You play with monsters a lot too.”

“I’m fine. The opponents are monsters, and monsters don’t have the right to live. Besides, that sight of them suffering in agony… is irresistible.”

Saying that, Remiliera’s cheeks flushed slightly red. She was just as much of a madwoman as her sister Lynette.

Mainly a sadist. An extreme sadist who, when fighting monsters, tended to avoid fatal wounds so as not to kill her opponents immediately. She said it felt good to slowly torment them to death.

“It’s the same thing!”

“It’s completely different. Right, Luka?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah. That’s right. Different, different.”

To be honest, they were pretty much the same. In the one respect that they were both insane.

“You two, refrain from idle chatter. Your stupidity will rub off on Luka.”

The last sister who scolded the psychopath and sadist. Yeah. The muscle-brain Norn-nee-san.

She pulled my arm and drew me close. As if to say “Luka belongs to me.”

“Isn’t calling us stupid mean? I’m pretty good at studying.”

“Lie. Lynette made the teacher give up.”

“That incompetent was the problem. Speaking of which, are you smart, Remiliera?!”

“I’m fine. Rather, Norn=nee-sama is more of an idiot.”

“There it is~. Remiliera’s conceit. What matters is ability.”

“A child who lost to me through trickery says something different.”

“Mmm! Then I’ll take down Remiliera right here—”

“Lynette, Remiliera.”

“!”

The two stiffened their faces at Norn=nee-san’s single word. Dense bloodlust was being released from her body.

“Don’t make me say it repeatedly. I’ll kill you.”

“…Yes ma’am.”

“Understood.”

Both of them were overwhelmed by her presence and closed their mouths. Meanwhile, Norn-nee-san patted my head as I broke out in sweat.

She’s like this all the time when she’s at home, you know? Am I a doll or what?

But I couldn’t complain. If Norn-nee-san went on a rampage carelessly, just the aftershock could kill me and Lynette and the others.

She was a genuine powerhouse who had even killed dragon species—one of the most dangerous creatures in this world.

You could say Norn-nee-san herself was a dragon. So it was a case of “let sleeping dogs lie.” I got into the carriage while being embraced by her.

There were three carriages. The lead carriage where father and mothers rode, the middle carriage with Lynette & Remiliera. The final rear carriage had me and Norn-nee-san.

…The worst.

During the journey to the imperial capital, I was constantly doted on by Nee-san. I couldn’t escape the restraints, of course.

☆

We rode the carriage and traversed the long road. Eventually we arrived at the imperial capital.

The Salvatore ducal family carriage headed straight to the mansion in the imperial capital. After resting there for a day, the next day was the day of the party hosted by the imperial family.

When night came, we headed to the inner palace by carriage again. Once we entered the inner palace grounds, movement was on foot from there.

“So this is… the inner palace.”

I stepped into the brilliant palace.

This was my first time entering the inner palace since reincarnation. As expected of where the imperial family lived, it was magnificent. They were using wealth to an incredible degree.

“How is it, Luka? The inner palace.”

“It’s a beautiful place, Norn-nee-san.”

“It’s only beautiful. Wealth is just vanity.”

“You can’t say that here. It would be terrible if the imperial family heard.”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s no one who can stop us, the Salvatore ducal family.”

“—I cannot let that pass, member of the Salvatore family.”

A response came from behind to Norn-nee-san’s words. Both Norn-nee-san and I, as well as Lucius and the others, turned around. In our line of sight stood a woman with long ears.

A refined face. And even just standing there, I could sense vast amounts of—magical power. It was a face I had seen in the original work. This person was…

“So you were here, Duke Morgan.”

The elf Duke Morgan.

A descendant of Titania Morgan, one of the three heroes who helped found the empire. A clan born with magical talent.

“The empire doesn’t belong to you Salvatore family. Please don’t forget that.”

“Then does it belong to you Morgans?”

“…I won’t deny that.”

Ugh. Really, the Morgans are finished too. They’re a good match for the arrogant and crazy Salvatore family. But as I thought, you came here too… Lucia Morgan!

Next to Duke Morgan stood the youngest daughter Lucia. I grinned and stared at her.

Lucia was also staring at me as if glaring.