"Thank you for the invitation." Shirou told Aub Dunkelfelger, not bothering with the entire greeting. They were probably the only ones that Shirou could get away with something like that to, without it being seen as him picking a fight, because they are too distracted with thoughts of how to pick a fight with him.
There was nothing they desired more than another excuse to have yet another rematch with their 'Lord of Evil'.
"Greetings to you too, Ferdinand!" The Aub shouted with a wide grin.
He was sitting at a massive marble table provided for them in the fancy room by the Aub of Klassenberg for their formal visit. A room much nicer than Shirou's own, since they had come as a group of fifty Knights led by their Aub, while Shirou had come only with Justus and Eckhart, who refused to stay home and watch the children for him while he was 'in danger'.
Also, Justus was really curious about the magic circles used for the suppression of the Lord of Autumn and how they were set up.
The Dunkelfelger party was composed of thirteen people, not including attendants and guards, including the Aub himself, a woman who must have been his First Wife, ten Archknights, and a young boy with hair as white as the Aub's, who must have been his son.
The child was around nine years old and had the air of a playground bully, while the First Wife, Sieglinde, was the only one holding herself with the formal etiquette one would expect from a noble at dinner. Her sharp eyes were focused on Shirou, and seemed to be quite annoyed. She was probably upset that her husband had bet a priceless family artifact on a Ditter game.
"Don't stand on ceremony! Come and join us!" He declared, gesturing towards the food on the table.
Shirou didn't even bother to check it for poison.
"Tell me, how have things been in Ehrenfest?" Aub Dunkelfelger asked, seeming to be just trying to make casual conversation, but really trying to dig for information.
"Same as everywhere. Even if we remained neutral during the war, Ehrenfest was in a pretty bad position to begin with, and the loss of Nobles and Blue Priests didn't help any." Shirou said, giving them the information that everyone knew first. "Though if you are asking for current events, our Archbishop has been dismissed due to acts of conspiracy, suspected treason, and the attempted kidnapping of the daughter of a high ranking noble."
"Those are some serious crimes." Aub Dunkelfelger said with mild interest. "Whose daughter was attacked?"
"Mine." Shirou said flatly.
The Knights at the table choked and everyone looked at Shirou in absolute shock. "You have a daughter?" Sieglinde asked with a raised eyebrow.
"One by blood, who was attacked, and two more of common birth who I recently adopted." Shirou explained. "I was planning on claiming Rozemyne during her baptism next Summer, keeping her hidden until then, because of the political unrest in our Duchy, but things happened." Shirou glared at the Aub Dunkelfelger from across the table. "Thanks a lot for getting the Zent to forcibly reinstall me as an official Archduke Candidate. Now all my hard work keeping my daughter safely out of politics has been for nothing."
"I… that is…" Aub Dunkelfelger stammered, not used to people acting so openly annoyed with his antics, other than his wife. Worse yet, they were doing it in front of his son.
"This is why I said to ask for his opinion before you tried to force it through." Sieglinde said to her husband, causing him to blush. "So about this daughter of yours. Is she the one you asked for a book for?"
"Yes. She's as fond of books as your Knights are of Ditter. Maybe more. She is very grateful for the one you had so kindly lent her." Shirou said, glancing back towards Justus, who retrieved a box that they had with them just in case they ran into Dunkelfelger. "In fact, she has finished reading it already and has made a copy of it to keep for herself and wants to know if she can exchange it for another."
"She's read it? All of it?" Sieglinde said, more than a little surprised.
It was the entire recorded history of the oldest Duchy in the country, with many tales in it that had been forgotten by everyone else and written in a language that makes it difficult to understand. It really was a hard and tedious read that all of the Archducial children of Dunkelfelger considered a chore to have to eventually read. They usually only barely finished it all by the time they came of age. For a pre-baptized girl to have read all of it was shocking.
"Like I said, she's fond of books." Shirou said before taking the box from Justus and placing it on the table. "She also wanted to give you this as a thank you present."
Aub Dunkelfelger opened the box to find a stack of papers, lifting them up and reading them with mild curiosity before his eyes started to widen. "This is…" He mumbled before rapidly flipping through the pages.
"What is it, father?" The man's son asked, confused by his father's expression.
"It's a modern translation of our history book. It is… quite easy to read." The man said before reaching the end. "Though it only covers the first three stories."
"You had someone translate the book for your daughter?" Sieglinde asked, very curious as she glanced over at the pages herself, her eyes flashing a bright blue as she enhanced her vision to see from her seat.
"No. Rozemyne translated it herself as a hobby." Shirou explained. "She has final drafts for the first half of the book done already, but was asked to look at some other materials by Lady Elvira, which has delayed her finishing."
"Half of them!" Aub Dunkelfelger shouted before standing up and pointing a finger at Shirou. "Ditter! I challenge you to Ditter for the remaining materials."
"Dear." Sieglinde said in a warning tone, not wanting her husband to get ahead of himself.
In their last exchange with Shirou, they had lost a priceless book while attempting to get back their honor. And given the value of the transcriptions, they stood to lose even more.
"I was afraid this would happen." Shirou said with a sigh. "The translations belong to my daughter. Just like you wouldn't gamble with your wife's ring, I will not talk about trading something that Rozemyne made herself. If you want to ask about it, you would have to bring it up with her."
"I see." The man said, wilting a bit as his wife raised an eyebrow.
What kind of man claims to have no right to something made by their own pre-baptism child? And who pushes said child to have a discussion of ownership right with the Archduke of a Greater Duchy?
"Then I will write a letter of challenge at once!"
"She is an unbaptized child! Even you have to understand that isn't reasonable!" Sieglinde scolded her husband loudly, causing everyone from Dunkelfelger to twitch.
"But… Ditter." The Aub said, pouting in disappointment.
"Even if you want to do Ditter right now, it just isn't reasonable." Shirou intervened with a shake of the head. "Your Knights and I are all scheduled to start hunting Feybeasts from now until the emergence of the Lord of Autumn. Having us compete, draining out supplies and risking injury, now is not the right time."
"Later then? Like, at the Interduchy Tournement?" Aub Dunkelfelger asked.
"If all parties agree to it, but I expect you to behave yourself. Threaten my daughter in any way and I won't let your Knights off as easily as last time." Shirou said, causing one or two of the Knights who had been on the receiving end of his blade to wince.
Aub Dunkelfelger just started laughing.
"Father, why do you allow him to talk to you like that?" His son demanded, fuming because Shirou, an Archduke Candidate from a lower mid-rank Duchy was threatening the Archduke of the second highest rank Duchy.
Dunkelfelger might have been a place where the men were more open about what they wanted, but the weak would always show respect for the strong. By acting the way he did, Shirou was basically declaring that he was stronger than the Archduke of a Duchy that prided itself on its Knights.
"Lestilaut, Ferdinand is a vile man with no sense of honor. There is a reason why he is hailed as the Lord of Evil back home. His noble's smiles used to send shivers up my spine, as if I was facing down the open jaws of the Lord of Summer alone. It used to be that a smile from Ferdinand was a sure sign of misfortune to come." Aub Dunkelfelger chuckled at his son. "This open rebelliousness is an improvement. Your smiles are now arrogant, but are more human than in the old days. I'm glad."
Lestilaut didn't seem happy, but he didn't press the matter. He just glared at Shirou with red eyes that matched his mother's.
"More human, huh? I suppose you may be right." Shirou said with a smile and shrug, highlighting the truth of the man's statement. "Well, competing against each other in Treasure Steal Ditter isn't an option right now, but how about a different sort of battle."
"I'm listening." Aub Dunkelfelger said, leaning forward in his seat.
"Speed Ditter. Only rather than the winner being the first to defeat their target, every single Feybeast in all of Klassenburg is a target, and the winner is whoever defeats the most of them." Shirou suggested.
"Hm… Unlike with Speed Ditter, scouting and endurance will be the name of the game, rather than pure power and chance." Aub Dunkelfelger said with a smile. "I like it. How are we going to count the kills?"
"I'll bring some of your scholars with me to transport them to the castle. We will mark them as we send them back so that we can tell who they belong to and they can be counted here." Shirou suggested.
"Works for me." The man nodded his agreement. "If we win, you return our Duchy's book and the cape. If you win, all of the materials promised to us for participating in the Lord of Autumn hunt are yours."
"Dear…" Sieglinde said, her voice warning.
They had been promised a lot in order to drag their Knights to the other side of the country to participate in the battles. Losing it would be a heavy economic hit for them, and would basically mean that their Knights had been working for free, something that some of them couldn't really afford.
"A generous offer, but I would like something else." Shirou said, turning down the bet as he glanced over at Lestilaut. "As I said earlier, I've adopted two commoner children as my daughters, and they will be entering the Royal Academy a year after your own son."
"Are you suggesting a marriage contract?" Sieglinde said, bristling at the idea of her son taking on a commoner girl from a lower rank Duchy as one of his wives.
"No. I told the girls that they can choose whatever man they like. I won't interfere and try to arrange political marriages for them." Shirou said, denying the accusation. "However, they are technically going to be Archduke Candidates, and being of common birth and from a lower rank Duchy, they will be the targets of harassment, regardless of their own skills and achievements. If I win this Ditter, I want your son to defend their honor while they are at school, even if it means picking a fight against another Greater Duchy."
"That is a steep bet." The Aub hummed, scratching his chin in thought.
It certainly was, considering that it would not only mean that his son would have to openly defend former commoner girls in front of the entire country, it would be seen as their Duchy backing up a lower ranked Duchy, as well as off putting towards potential marriage partners for the boy, which would hurt his own position in trying to become the next Archduke.
"Agreed." Sieglinde said immediately, surprising her husband.
If handled poorly, Lestilaut could end up losing his seat to one of his cousins and jeopardize the entire Duchy's position. …But if handled properly, it could be seen as admirable by those who would back him and would let them build an entire new faction.
And if he got close to the adopted sisters, there was a chance of getting close to this Rozemyne as well. A girl who would doubtlessly have extremely high magic power, like her father, and she might draw Ferdinand to their territory as well if they could get her and Lestilaut to marry.
Ferdinand's child was also intelligent enough to create her own translations for such a difficult to read book at such a young age. Not to mention that there was something odd about the parchment it was written on, and the writing itself was too uniform to have been handwritten. All of it spoke of secrets that Ferdinand had which were not well known by the country overall, things that the man was hinting at as a reason to want to become close.
Sieglinde didn't just want them to take this bet, she wanted them to lose.
"What do you say, Lestilaut?" Aub Dunkelfelger asked his son.
"...I don't care if he is the Lord of Evil, I believe in our Knights to win, and if fate is against us, I will abide by the Ditter." Lestilaut said in the manner of a true man of Dunkelfelger.
"Then you have yourself a bet." Aub Dunkelfelger said proudly.
"I look forward to our little competition." Shirou replied with an arrogant smile which just egged the hot blooded Knights on.
"That went well." Justus said as they returned to their room and tossed down a voice blocking magic tool.
"They noticed the paper, just like we figured they would." Shirou said as he sat down at the table. "Hot blooded as they are, they are observant. They already realize that something is up just from that little tip off. They are so much more competent than my brother is that it's scary."
"Harsh. But I suppose it is true." Eckhart said, nodding his head in understanding. "Dunkelfelger isn't the second rank Duchy for no reason, and their women are forces to be reckoned with on the political stage."
"The First Wife is interested in Rozemyne." Justus stated the obvious.
"Good. If Dunkelfelger is interested in her, then they will protect her while she is at the Academy." Shirou said.
"Do you intend to have her marry into the Dunkelfelger Archducal family?" Eckhart asked.
"Myne can marry whomever she loves." Shirou replied in all honesty.
Though he did suspect that she would marry politically of her own volition someday, in order to get something she personally wanted. Mostly because she didn't care at all for men.
While she was young and it could just be a matter of her age, Shirou had noticed that she paid far more attention to beautiful women than handsome men. Men who would often make women go flush didn't so much as a second glance from Myne, while she went starry eyed over Wilma, Florencia and to a lesser extent, Brigitte.
Myne had already declared that she wasn't interested in men and would marry whatever man would provide her with the largest library, and Shirou was pretty sure she was serious.
Shirou supposed this was a decent enough metric for who was worthy for his daughter, as a library was worth a fortune that even an Aub couldn't easily move. Anyone who wasn't willing to find a way to make that wish come true wasn't good enough for one of his children.
Anyone with high enough status could try to appeal to the Zent to get a royal decree making her marry, but if anyone thought of trying that shit, they would have to deal with one pissed off father.
It was while Shirou was contemplating this that a knock came at the door, a messenger with a letter for them.
Justus took it from them in his gloved hands, letting them go, before checking it for any sort of toxins. Confirming it was clear, he handed it over to Shirou.
"A letter for the Archduke of Klassenberg. It seems he wishes to meet after sixth bell in his office." Shirou hummed.
Sixth bell was sundown, when most people would be going to sleep. Any meeting requested at such time was unusual. And this was just supposed to be a normal greeting before Shirou got to work.
Shirou did not have a good feeling about this.
Shirou is known by Dunkelfelger as the 'Lord of Evil'. And so his children are called the 'Daughters of Evil'.