Chapter: 100
One day, while Duke Anthony Cafeter was juggling his busy official duties, he felt a pain in his chest that felt like an invisible hand was squeezing his heart.
As per usual, he sought a priest’s blessing and drank a potion from the alchemist’s workshop, but it only made him feel better for a moment before his chest tightened again.
“Sleep deprivation… maybe?”
His body had hit its limit.
With a deep sigh, Anthony pulled out a potion from his bag.
– “If I see Duke Cafeter, I’ll be sure to pass on your message.”
– “Thank you!”
– “In return, please accept this. It’s a potion made by an alchemist I know… it’s really good for when you feel overwhelmed and need a break.”
It was a translucent potion, glowing softly with a blue hue.
What the potion actually did was a mystery. Homer had just mentioned that it’d last about a day.
He figured the great author wouldn’t lie.
After a moment’s hesitation, Anthony gulped down the potion in one go.
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[“Do you have a brain?” the Scarecrow asked.]
[“I might. But I’ve never actually seen my own brain before,” the Lion replied.]
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One bustling and chaotic morning, Duke Anthony Cafeter suddenly realized that his body was invisible to others, which was strange because everything looked just fine to him. He could see his clothes, his trembling fingers filled with confusion, and even his own eyes staring back at him in the mirror. Everything was visible.
“…Is this the ‘gift of rest’ that Homer mentioned?”
As a little experiment, he walked past the other servants, but those who would usually bow their heads in greeting were too busy fussing about as if there was no one in front of them.
Anthony was now a ghost to them.
When he tried to go about his business, no coachman, servant, or anyone could see him, leaving him completely helpless. When he tried to talk, they acted like they could hear something, but would tilt their heads in confusion and mumble, “Did the wind just blow?” as if they had no clue what was happening.
“…Deputy Duke, where are you?!”
A servant frantically raced through the duke’s residence looking for Anthony.
After thinking for a moment, Anthony pulled a piece of stationery from a drawer and started writing a letter. He figured he should inform them that he wouldn’t be around for the day. While writing the letter, he thought, “Shouldn’t I tell them what’s going on and that I need to get back to work?” but realized talking wouldn’t help since he couldn’t be heard anyway.
Communicating was impossible.
Eventually, he ended up writing a lame excuse like, “I’m off to Harren for a day to see my father.”
“Huh? Was there a letter here?”
Fortunately, the letter was readable, and the servant nodded after checking its contents, spreading the news to the others.
And so it began.
Anthony’s vacation as an invisible man had started.
“…First, I need to get some sleep. My head is about to explode.”
Time for a little shut-eye.
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Anthony awakened from his light slumber when a servant came in to make the bed. Specifically, he was jolted awake as the servant pushed him (being unseen, of course) while making the bed, nearly sending him crashing to the floor.
Only then could he properly gather his thoughts.
As his throbbing headache eased and clarity returned, a wave of worry washed over him.
“What am I going to do about all the backlog of work?! No, first I need to inform the bureaucrats—”
If Viscount Reinhard discovered that even the acting duke had vanished from the estate, the consequences were entirely unpredictable. Reinhardt was a vassal of the Empire, not tied to the fief.
Most importantly, a vassal can wield nearly the same level of authority as a lord in the lord’s absence.
Even though it was only for a day, it was plenty of time for an able bureaucrat like Viscount Reinhard to snoop through all the confidential documents of the estate. Who knows what kind of mischief an imperial bureaucrat eyeing the duchy might cook up with that power?
Oh, dear.
What have I gotten myself into?!
“Hey, I need to rush to the administrative office—damn it! I can’t be heard!”
Quickly grabbing his family’s seal and a few belongings, Anthony dashed toward the office.
Since he couldn’t take a carriage, he thought about using the magic tower’s car but decided that it would look awfully suspicious to see an unattended car driving around, so running it was.
And so, for the first time in ages, he was drenched in sweat.
After running for a while, he finally made it to the administrative office, only to find Reinhard already directing other officials.
But what he heard was not what Anthony had anticipated.
“Today, His Excellency, the Acting Duke of Cafeter, cannot attend the office due to personal reasons. According to the Imperial Constitution, I, the absent vassal, now have the duty and authority to manage and control you starting now. Understand?”
“Yes!”
“Excellent. Then let’s start by checking how everyone’s duties are divided and what progress has been made on the tasks previously handled by the Acting Duke…. Chancellor Lemierre?”
“Yes!”
“I’d like to delegate all practical matters to the Chancellor. Can you handle that?”
“Absolutely!”
“Let’s ensure that when our Acting Duke of Cafeter returns, everything is complete without a hitch. He has been through so much after all.”
“Yes!”
In the absence of William Reinhardt, he was…
controlling the situation as if he were not a vassal of the Empire, but rather a loyal servant of Cafeter.
At that moment…
Anthony felt his brain freeze.
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Viscount William Reinhardt.
Cafeter’s deputy and Isolde’s father.
He was currently burdened with a petty request from his niece.
– “Duke Cafeter doesn’t seem well, so I’m granting him a day off.”
– “Really? I wouldn’t mind less work, but….”
– “Ah, while the Duke is away, I would like Viscount Reinhardt to oversee the operations of the Cafeter estate. You’re in a position to do so in his absence.”
– “Oh? Me?”
– “Yes.”
– “…I’ve been busy every day since the Duke of Cafeter suddenly disappeared too.”
– “Is that so? Isolde told me that just one hug from her melts all your fatigue away.”
– “Ha-ha, she is my lifeblood.”
Seeing his daughter’s affection after so long made it hard for him to refuse.
Isolde… she has a tendency to act way too mature, but of course, she’s already grown up now. Still, in her father’s eyes, she would always be his little girl.
Perhaps that’s why he just couldn’t refuse her charm.
Ed Frieden… such a scary kid….
Even scarier was that Ed Frieden was also the author of that famous ‘Homer’ tale. So it was tough to say no to such requests.
“Once I promise something, I best follow through.”
After all, he was a dispatched worker for the Empire and also a bureaucrat in the fief.
If the territory didn’t get managed properly, he’d be the one in trouble.
Besides, on a personal level, he had a fondness for the Acting Duke of Cafeter. It was quite heartwarming to see someone younger than him putting in tremendous effort to protect their estate.
He felt a tad sorry for Anthony, who didn’t seem to know how to lean on others and wanted to handle everything on his own.
Unlike the ‘iron-blooded’ Duke Cafeter, who was glaringly aware of how he presented himself—never sleeping, never eating, and working tirelessly without break. The pressure of being the heir loomed heavily, yet he didn’t need to exhaust himself.
Even though he felt a little sympathetic toward Duke Cafeter’s son, he never bothered to offer actual advice since they weren’t really related by blood.
Hmm.
A small favor would be more than enough.
“Come on, everyone! Let’s make sure to finish everything before Acting Duke Cafeter comes back!”
“Yesss—!”
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It all felt like a dream.
Perhaps the potion that Homer had gifted me was a little more than just for sleep deprivation; perhaps it gifted me a sweet daydream for a day.
Anthony wandered through the administrative office the entire day.
Even in his absence, everything was running smoothly. At the very least, he was relieved that his fears of the office falling into chaos didn’t come true.
“…Well, I guess that’s the truth. I can’t be like my father.”
As soon as one worry was alleviated, another negative feeling popped up.
If everything could still work fine without him… then couldn’t it mean he wasn’t really needed at all? It meant he lacked the capability to lead this fief like his father.
When his father declared he was leaving and disappeared, it left everyone confused, and the fief had been total chaos for several months.
He thought he was finally taking on his duties to bring things back in order… only to realize it wasn’t on him. It was purely the competence of the staff and bureaucrats that kept things afloat.
“Geez… If only my father were here…”
“Duke Cafeter—”
“Huh?”
At that moment, he heard a voice calling for his father from somewhere.
With a kind of spellbinding curiosity, he started strolling toward that voice, where a couple of officials handling tax duties were chatting.
“Hey, don’t call him a Duke, it’s the Acting Duke now, remember when Lehen got in trouble last time because someone misnamed him in the meeting?”
“Eh, what does it matter? We’re the only ones here.”
Ah.
The administrators were chatting about him.
Probably gossiping about his sudden disappearance. It tugged at his heartstrings, but he couldn’t look away, so he listened quietly.
“Anyway, thanks to the Duke, it’s been much easier to work. Sure, it was rocky at first… but switching to these straightforward forms has made collaboration with other departments a breeze. It used to be dozens of pages of legal mumbo jumbo and contract formalities.”
Hmm?
“Yup, during that time, the Acting Duke put in the legwork around departments, chatting with staff and organizing the manuals, making onboarding and handovers a lot easier.”
Ah.
Now that he thought about it, he indeed did that when he first started as Acting Duke.
It was solely because he was completely out of his depth.
The language everyday staff used was so different from what the senior bureaucrats were on about, and forms varied from one department to another. Often a single document contained dozens of pages of exceptions because of common laws.
To get adjusted to the workplace, they had to unify the forms and the jargon through countless meetings. If a term or form was vital, it had to be sorted into a manual so anyone could snag it quickly.
If his father had been here, he would have managed all that paperwork single-handedly, but that wasn’t an option for him, so it became a temporary fix.
“When Duke Cafeter was around, it was honestly kind of stifling… but having the Acting Duke here has definitely lightened the mood, hasn’t it?”
“Absolutely. The Duke was more than a little… self-important, to be honest. Standing before him made me feel so small… but with the Acting Duke, any opinions are openly heard and incorporated, no hesitation.”
This, too, was a consequence of his own lack of knowledge that forced him to rely on others.
It wasn’t because he was kinder than his father or more receptive to his subordinate’s ideas.
He just lacked the ability to lead his subordinates, so everything was handed off to them. It wasn’t something praiseworthy.
“Alright, alright, let’s end the chit-chat and get back to work. We can’t let the Duke down when he returns, can we?”
“Yup, yup.”
“Let’s hustle!”
After the administrators wrapped up their banter…
Anthony quietly stepped out of the room, wandering the office like a lost soul.
Voices floated around him here and there.
Many people were talking about ‘Acting Duke Anthony.’ They whispered about their inept, weak, and indecisive lord who kept running into trouble.
Except the content was rather different from what Anthony had expected.
They didn’t lambaste him. No one berated him. They didn’t harbor hatred towards him.
Instead, they held him in respect.
The comparison to his father only seemed to deepen their admiration.
“…….”
Was he really dreaming after all?
Was Homer showing him some vision? Was this just some potion-induced daydream?
But this moment felt too real to merely be a dream.
The faces, the voices, the scents of the bustling office… everything felt vivid.
“…Perhaps I should take a nap.”
The anxiety, the headache, the neuroses, the paranoia, and all the things that were nagging him simply faded away like bubbles bursting.
All he wanted was to go home and crash for a good sleep.
He had a feeling he could indeed sleep deeply tonight. No worries, no pressure to wake up tomorrow, just, peaceful, without a trace of anxiety or self-loathing….
“…….”
And so…
Duke Anthony Cafeter collapsed into bed and fell fast asleep.
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[“Can you give me some courage?” the Lion asked, a bit uneasy.]
[“You’ve already got enough courage.” Oz replied. “What you need is just confidence. No creature ever faces danger without fear. True courage is found in facing danger while you feel afraid, and you’ve got plenty of that.”]
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The moment Acting Duke Anthony Cafeter hit the bed, a lady in the library of Duke Anthony’s official residence sighed as she glimpsed the ‘literary transcendent’ lost in a book.
“So you finally looked this way.”
“Ah.”
“You drop by my house, and yet you’re just sticking around in the library without even a hello?”
“Well, that, um, kinda happened?”
“Ha….”
Isolde Reinhardt lives with her father in the Duchy of Cafeter.
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