Chapter 2

3° Person P.O.V.

It has been two weeks since Omar entered the lord's solar and the books about management and finances were delivered. There weren't that many books since the more expensive and rare ones were all sold by Omar's father and mother to get more cash before they ran away to live a hedonistic life in Zeltbul, but even so, the books left were still enough for Omar to get a comprehensive understanding of what he desired.

They were mostly just general books that most any noble would have, thus they not being sold as they were not that rare or expensive, but, with them in hand, it was enough for Omar to occupy himself as he studied administration, economy, logistics, the map of the world, as well as historical records of the Dukedom's past as both part of Melromark and its time as an independent kingdom. It was honestly tedious work that would normally be spread for several years for the young nobles to fully familiarize themselves with their responsibilities.

There would also normally be tutors to teach the nobility and shadowing the parents to learn from experience what they must know in order to become a proper pilar to society, but Omar did not have the time for that sort of thing so he simply powered through and managed years of education in these two weeks.

Not only that, but he also took this time to verify several documents pertaining to the Dukedom's current conditions and about those responsible and directly involved in each area, identifying problems in several such areas, and found traces of corruption all over the bureaucracy of the Dukedom. It was no surprise things were going this bad, the only thing that managed to keep things afloat right now was the sheer amount of money and riches this Dukedom carried, but it would not be enough if things kept moving along this path for much longer.

After these two weeks of isolation, Omar finally ended his studies and called for a meeting with Brian and the others involved with all the necessary work for the fief. The young Duke did so as to be able to properly meet said subordinates and to see what can be salvaged of this disaster.

In the meeting room, there was a total of six people. First was Brian, the head butler of the Duke house and the one who took care of the internal matters of the Duke castle, he was responsible for the servants and finances related to Omar personally.

The second was Sir Brune, a young knight responsible for the maintenance of the knights of the Dukedom and the Dukedom's security. From what Omar managed to see the man was entirely incompetent and had no outstanding performance or capabilities to validate his position, he also dismissed several of the older knights that actually had the skill for the position of head of the knights. All dismissals under shoddy or weak excuses that even an absolute idiot could see through, but Omar's father didn't see or care about it as he gladly fired them while leaving behind only the barest bones of a knight force and that could not do their work properly at all.

The third was captain Theon, he was the one responsible for the Dukedom's fleet and maritime connections. The man was also useless considering the state of the ships and maritime defenses were just pathetic. After the war, a good amount of funds was sent to him to re-establish the fleet, but there were no results shown beside some overly extravagant vessels that cost too much to build or maintain, being decidedly worth too much for too little actual results. At least the man had a history that showed that he was a capable ship commander as he defeated several pirate ships and the vessels of Siltvelt during the war, but being a good captain and being a good administrator was clearly not one, and the same in this case.

The fourth of those in the room was a fat man by the name of Oleg, he was the one responsible for the finances of the Dukedom. He was capable enough, as a follower only. He lacked a single bone of leadership in him and was incapable of seeing opportunities when they presented themselves in front of him. He was capable of following orders to the letter, and sucking up to his superiors. That last quality was apparently a necessity if one intended to rise in Omar's father's leadership.

The fifth was a woman named Catelyn, she was a redhead responsible for the management of taxes and other such matters. That was honestly the worst option of the bunch in Omar's eyes as she clearly was a human supremacist that despised anything that wasn't humans, and even amongst humans, she looked down at those who weren't nobles like herself. For a woman that was of the lower ends of nobility and only managed to snag that position because of her father's request after the war, she was far too full of herself. It didn't help that she was allowing the faith of the Three Heroes to start creating a foothold in the Dukedom while subtly trying to push the other religions away, which is something forbidden by law as the Dukedom is of free religious choice where you can belong to any religion as long as they don't go against the law.

Basically, she was a prejudiced, zealot, and stupid cunt that only got her position because of circumstances and liked to act as if she was the lady of the house or the de facto ruler while she was just one step above of a peasant and held less worth for Omar than a beggar on the streets.

And the final one in the room, as well as the final one to enter, was Omar who had heavy bags under his eyes and a tired expression despite him having infinite stamina. Even if he could go forever without sleep it was still mentally taxing to cramp so much knowledge at once in his mind nonstop for two weeks in a row, as necessary as those actions might have been.

"Thank you all for coming at such short notice. We have met previously during my birthday, but to reiterate my name is Omar Centurion, the new Duke of Centurion house." Omar introduced himself to the other servants. They all looked at him with mixed emotions on them, Sir Brune narrowed his eyes on him with traces of disdain, Theon looked stoic but on the inside was planning something as far as Omar could see, Oleg was smiling at him with a gaze as if he found a gold mine and, finally, Catelyn who had a glint of something akin to glee on her eyes. Omar ignored those stares and instead continue to speak. "Now as you know, the duke and duchess have decided to leave these lands for their own reason, so now we must consider what our next step should be."

"We have been informed, young Duke, and it gladdens us to see you in good health." Oleg said with a fake glad smile at Omar before he rest his head on his knuckles. "Your parents informed us before they left and it's been two weeks, we feared you might have suffered some unfortunate accident or gotten sick."

"I see, thank you for your considerations, mister Oleg." Omar said with an impassive expression. "However, you should not worry. If I was bedridden or suffering under some conditions I would make sure to warn you all about it, as a proper duke should. It wouldn't be good to let the servants without proper direction and guidance." Omar said as to emphasize that they were his servants, he was not just some kid they could do whatever they wanted with. "What I did during this time was begin my studies as to, at least, have soma basis before calling you all here. I wanted to have enough knowledge as to understand the conditions of my lands properly from you all who help in managing it."

As Omar's words fell an effect was clearly visible. Some showed slightly condescending smiles on their eyes, briefly of course as they did not want others to see through them. The others were impassive or disdainful as none believed he actually understood all that was in those books. It was hard for someone to think that such a small child could ever hope to understand anything about the management of lands as large as the Centurion Dukedom. In truth most of them didn't know enough either, thus their half-backed work that was part of the reason for their complete failure

"It is very good that you did this, my Lord. However, if you intend to truly understand these lands wouldn't it be appropriate to find tutors to help you while you learn? And don't worry, we can find a proper regent. But do not worry, I believe I personally have the necessary qualifications to hold the fort until my lord is old enough to take the reins." Sir Brune said and Omar could only stare as the others started bickering about who should be the regent, not even stopping to see if Omar agreed to this.

'Yeah, no. I don't need a regent, but I seem to need a pest cleaner.' Omar thought with annoyance at how this conversation quickly went from civilized to bickering between these incompetent pests.

///---///

Later

"Ahhh man, that was exhausting." Omar said with a big relief at finally ending that infuriating meeting.

Those people didn't even try to talk about the territory or what they could do to fix the problems they are facing, instead only focused on how to get more power over the territory or trying to act 'nice' with him. Sure, he was a kid, but would it be too much to ask for those who are supposed to administer the dukedom to care more about actually doing their jobs?

"I did warn you, my lord." Brian said to him while bringing a glass of water to him. "This meeting would not be a good idea."

"I know Brian, and I value your counsel quite a lot really. However, I had to make sure with my own eyes what sort of people are dealing with my lands, and I will have to take care of this sooner rather than later it seems." Omar said while shaking his head. "All five of them will have to go, I won't be keeping them around for long. Some will be fired, others demoted, but none of them can stay in their positions later on." Omar said with Brian nodding his head. He was against their indication from start with and, if not for lacking the authority to make this sort of decision, Brian would have just gone ahead and changed those in charge long ago. Omar then continued. "However, I will need capable replacements... Brian, I want you to contact the slave trader. Tell him to come over as I would like to have words with him about buying some merchandise, he can also bring whatever slave he has with him right now as well."

"My lord, you want to replace those five with slaves?" Brian asks with horror. That sort of thing was just not done, slaves were seen normally as inferior living beings so putting them in a position that high was unheard of anywhere.

"Yes, Brian. I will teach them personally if needed but we cannot depend on the current staff considering their sheer incompetence and how most are clearly corrupt beyond redemption or use. The more corrupt ones are more interested in personal growth and their own power than what is best for the dukedom. I know it will cause some friction with other nobles and commoners, but it is better this way as we can at least be sure that the ones we put there would be working for the betterment of the land, not their own pockets." Omar said seriously, making Brian nod reluctantly as their situation was such that they couldn't truly afford to overly worry about matters like those.

"I understand, but my lord our finances would not allow us to buy several extremely high-quality slaves considering what you want them to know. Those are precious and expensive luxury goods and we need all the money we can have if we are to fix our problems." Brian said, fearful that the Dukedom would get in debt due to buying the more expensive slaves out there.

However, his worries were unnecessary.

"No worries, I already have something in mind regarding the costs and I have no need to go out of my way searching for the absurdly expensive or rare slaves. I want as many slaves as possible within our budget, however, and it is not like I want high-quality slaves per se. I am looking for potential, find ways to train them in what areas they excel at, and use the results for our benefits in the end in whatever way we can get. I would rather that over those slaves who already have their own understandings and who already are set in their ways." Omar explained before thinking for a bit and speaking. "Brian, can you find me soldiers who have shown great promise or were in high positions but were demoted during this time while my father ruled?"

"Of course, my Lord. I have some I can think of and even a few who were retired forcefully or otherwise in this period of time. They were my drinking buddies for years, after all, and it is not like I stopped talking with them after they no longer worked for the Dukedom." Brian said and Omar nodded his head. It really doesn't surprise Omar that his incompetent father, during his tenure as Duke, threw out capable personal to instead replace them with ass kissers that would tell him what he wanted to hear, and only that. The man was always vain and didn't like hearing 'no' for an answer or working hard, those responsible old guys would not suit the man's way of (not) doing things.

"Wonderful. Find them and prepare a meeting place for us without allowing others to know. Also, I want you to help me send a letter to the Queen."

"The Queen, my Lord? Do you intend to get help from the Royal Family to deal with the banditry problem plaguing us?"

It would be a viable solution, all things considered. The Dukedom lacked military personal to the extreme due to Omar's parents firing them as much as they could to try and lower the expenses. The pair of idiots.

"Impossible." Omar said with a shrug. "There is no way the Royal Family would be able to help us now. Even with what my parents did and the state of the Dukedom, we received enough spoils of war to fix everything in the Dukedom and prosper if we spent it wisely, thus our military should have been maintained as a matter of course. This is an internal problem for the Dukedom as the Royal Family holds no responsibility for it and the Dukedom is close to being an independent kingdom right now, if we ask for their help the liberties we currently enjoy in the Centurion Dukedom might be removed.

"Besides, Melromark came out of this decades-long war not even seven years ago and many places under the Royal power are still in need of support as the monster issue was not dealt with properly during these decades. They would have their hands full to deal with this situation."

"Then, what is the point of sending this letter if you don't expect a positive response, my lord?" Brian asked in doubt.

"Simple, I want them to deny me as for me to have an excuse for my actions next. Namely, I intend to enter talks with the Hakoku noble clan of Siltvelt." Omar said and instantly there was a sharp intake of air from Brian.

It was a logical reaction, however. The Hakoku were the ones that helped start the war, having led Siltvelt for most of the war, and only during the ending stages did they lose their leadership position. They were historical enemies of Melromark, and the king personally detested them having hunted over 30% of the race down personally.

The king was known as an absolute lunatic when it comes to the Hakoku, he killed them no matter the age, gender, or if they were involved in the war or not. If there was a Hakoku involved he would stop at nothing to kill it, having even once killed several children and babes of that race that were in a mansion deep in their territory, he then put all their heads on spikes before advancing to a stronghold as if he was parading his achievement of killing over a hundred kids under the age of five like if it was a great achievement.

No one was absolutely sure why the king hated the Hakoku so much, but none could deny he was a complete lunatic and fanatic when it comes to this.

Entering in talks with the Hakoku, the king would want lord Omar's head just out of spite regardless of the king being only breeding stock to make the Royal Line of Melromark stronger and the king holding absolutely no political or economical power in these lands. Even if he knew it could cause a civil war if he did attack a Duke, Altrcay Melromark was the kind of lunatic that just might do it anyway.

"The Hakoku, my Lord? Are you sure?" Brian questioned.

"Yes Brian, I know how could I ignore such a great chance." Omar said with a smirk before explaining. "Since falling from power after the war the Hakoku are being squeezed by the other three great noble races, the Shusaku, the Genmu, and the Aotatsu. The Hakoku have plenty of land at their disposal, having as much territory as us, and produce several rare and luxury goods, but they lack grain to feed themselves due to their territory being mostly hard ground and mountains. Normally their lack of self-sustainability wouldn't be an issue, but they currently cannot trade with others through land properly as the other noble races of Siltvelt are stopping them from doing so by every possible means as to weaken them. Normally, while this would be a grave situation, one would just have to find alternative ways to trade like through the sea, but the Hakoku lacks a maritime route for trade as they are firmly on land and they lack a Hero to use teleportation skills to help in trade on other ways. They still have a powerful armed force and many goods to sell, but they lack enemies to face with the end of the war and they lack ways to sell their goods. As such, they can only starve for a fight and starve for real due to the lack of things to eat."

As Omar finished explaining the situation of the Hakoku Brian nodded his head. It was quite an in-depth analysis that he didn't expect of someone so young, but it was still impressive.

"I know that, my Lord. Many say the king laughed happily when he heard stories of children starving in their lands and saying he only regretted not being able to see their starved faces as they died." Brian said, pointing out again how the king was. "My Lord, I don't think entering in talks with them would be smart. The king-"

"Is irrelevant for now, Brian." Omar said while waving his hand. "The Royal family is a pure Matriarchy, unlike the other kingdoms around us or the Dukedom. The Queen holds all the power and the king's job is to give her babies and pose to paintings, nothing more. If he had some land or territory he would have more of a voice as he could use those without the Queen being able to order him, but he threw them all away while running from his prince position in Faubray. By all intents and purposes, the king is just a commoner who happens to be a Hero, nothing more." Omar said dismissively.

Brian had to nod. While the king was very well regarded by many, he really lacked any actual political force to command anyone or rebuke anything if the Queen didn't agree with his words to begin with. This was, after all, why the war managed to end as the Queen wanted peace and the king could only bow his head and accept her commands regardless of what he might wish.

"The king might bluster all he wants but it is the Queen that has the final word in all Royal decisions, and she is known for her desire to ensure another decades-long war doesn't happen. If we enter talks with the Hakoku she would not only not intervene with it, she'd likely help us from the shadows instead. After all, nothing approaches former enemies more than money and mutual interests. Furthermore, nothing would make the current Melromark more likely to start a civil war than a Royal member, especially a consort like the king, killing a Duke just because he disagreed with internal matters of the Duke's territory that are of the Duke's own and exclusive ability to decide as written by law. Basically, if the king actually does come to attack or tries to assassinate me, he would be dooming his entire kingdom to a civil war that could easily end with the destruction of Melromark as the other countries around would take advantage of the conflict to carve these lands like if it was a cake, and the Queen would never allow for such an outcome just because of her lover's bloodlust."

As Omar said this Brian still didn't look fully and absolutely convinced at this gamble. However, Brian had to admit that this was an ingenious solution for their most pressing problems and the chance of problems in the short term was minimal to none. It was just that they would need to use the period of peace wisely as there would eventually be a backlash and they would need to survive it.

As he thought of everything Omar said, Brian was shocked and, truth be told, afraid of his new lord. He had analyzed not only the matters of the Royal Family, but Siltvelt, the situation of the Dukedom, and the feasibility of the plan working in the end. And, even if Brian was still cautious about it, the explanation indeed made sense.

"My Lord, are you sure your plans are truly feasible? Can we trust the Hakoku just like that?" Brian said to confirm the plans one final time and Omar smiled.

"But of course. The Hakoku would not be overly approving of my proposal and would most likely be distrustful of me and my intentions for a time, we were enemies for a very long time after all, but they need our help if they intend to survive, just like we need their help to fix some of our major problems right now. Trust can be developed in time, but the necessity is urgent for both sides."

"... Alright, I will agree with your plan my lord." Brian bowed down to Omar. finally acknowledging his decision. "I will prepare a quill and parchment for your letter to the Queen."

"Thank you Brian." Omar waved him off, maybe after writing a letter to the Queen he'll finally get some rest. He was really tired and exhausted, mentally at any rate.

Just as Brian was about to leave, Omar suddenly remembered something.

"Wait, Brian." Omar stopped him from leaving. The butler turned around and looked questionably at Omar.

"Yes my lord?"

"Just before you leave, I want you to send a notice across our lands about the request for instructors to me. Anyone truly capable in any area is desired, no matter what it is. Those selected would be handsomely rewarded and anyone can come over. And also, besides combat instructors in all regular combat areas, I want people knowledgeable in Hengen Musou as well as the Way of the Dragon Vein." Brian looked baffled at my request and spoke.

"My lord, what you are requesting is very greedy. With how much you will already be learning, wanting to master Hengen Musou and the rest will be hard and expensive. Maybe limit yourself in some areas for now and when you have the time you can expand to the others?"

Omar, however, shook his head in the negative.

"Unfortunately I cannot postpone this for a long period of time. Right now my life is far too fragile and easily taken away. I lack guards I can trust. In time, I hope to rectify that but now it is impossible. Beside you, Brian, I lack anyone I feel I can truly trust."

"M-My lord, I don't deserve such praise." Brian said as he went to his knees in salute.

Omar just gave a sad smile before speaking.

"I understand that it won't be easy, our finances would be hard-pressed to find those capable of teaching me, but it is a necessity for now to at least search for those capable. I am still lacking, so it is my duty to improve to the point where my lands can prosper properly." Omar said making Brian bow his head.

"I understand, you can leave the preparations to this Brian at once." Brian said while standing up with pride in his young lord. He could still remember that the young Lord's grandfather, Lord John, was a great man who had done all he could for the people and managed to let his dukedom prosper even if there was a war going around. The decline of the Dukedom happened only around 5 years ago as the war ended and Lord John passed away from old age.

It was a shame that Lord John's son was lazy, taking only 5 years to ruin this Dukedom and, instead of working to fix it, simply took all that the Dukedom had to offer before running away. But it seemed that Lord Omar was cut from the same cloth as his grandfather and Brian were confident that, with time, the Dukedom might return to its former glory.

"Oh! And before you leave Brian, just a reminder but make sure the letter travels straight to the queen and only her! I don't want the king or the church to make changes to my letter or know about it before it is too late for them to interfere or try something. I can't trust them and their scheming minds and prejudiced thoughts." Omar said and Brian nodded before, with large steps, leaving the room.

There was a lot of work to be done, but it would be worthwhile in the end and Omar was confident in his decision. He now only had to worry about what to do next and find a time to go visit the sea to see which people would be summoned by the Grand Line Essence.

Looking outside he saw the very first fruit he planted, the one he felt the most urgent to create, and that should be ready by the time danger can start appearing.

///---///

In the Royal Palace, Queen Mirelia Melromark was sitting at her work desk thinking about the recent happenings of the kingdom.

Coming out of such a long and dragged-out war like the one that happened between Melromark, and Siltvelt was not easy, especially when Siltvelt was by all accounts the stronger country with richer resources and stronger staff. If not for the lands of Melromark being hard to invade through the mountains and the secretive help of Fabley, Melromark would have been destroyed long ago.

She could still remember her first expedition during the war. She might have been the Crown Princess, but exactly because of it she had tried her best to help in the conflict. The carnage she saw that time and during the whole war was enough to make her break a bit inside. In truth, if she had not found her lover at that time she might have become insane from all the tragedies she experienced.

That is why she swore to make sure another disastrous war would not happen, and that was exactly why she was having a headache right now.

In Melromark, if there was a territory that could either make or break the peace with the Demihumans, it would be the Centurion Dukedom. Bordering both Siltvelt and Shieldfrieden, even if barely, it was the lands that had the most contact with the other side and where the thick of the fighting happened. In all honesty, Mirellia wanted to betroth her Malty or baby Melty to the heir to the Dukedom. The one betrothed being the one who wouldn't inherit the throne as this would be a way to tie the Dukedom and the Royal family closer together again since they were already close by blood with Mirellia herself being the cousin of the Duke Centurion, Omar's father.

Marrying between the two might seem a bit much, but it was a marriage of cousins twice removed so there wouldn't be any actual issues in terms of their progeny. The Queen would make sure to educate the child sent to marry the young Duke in how to make sure that the Dukedom would maintain its peace and not antagonize with either historical enemy, Siltvelt.

If one daughter secured that Dukedom and the other led the country the chances of reigniting the war would be considerably smaller, it was a good plan. However...

"Those damn inbreed imbeciles!" Mirellia cursed at the stupidity of what had happened as she punched a table right through in her anger.

She knew the Centurion Dukedom took grave losses after the war ended, however, to make sure that strategic locations stayed strong she took a large sum of funds that could restore the Dukedom to its former state easily and gave it as 'spoils' to the Centurion family.

She knew the Duke wasn't the best one out there, but if he wasn't a completely stupid idiot he would be able to prosper with the funds given. Instead, the man ran away with the money and let his child of six years old as the Duke to take care of all the problems in that sensitive and vital region.

If she could, she would have sent assassins after the former Duke and that bitch he called a wife, but by the time she heard about it they had run away via ship directly to Zeltobel, the mercenary country, and no one wanted to provoke Zeltobel when they were already preparing for war with the small countries around. It is better to let those rats escape than provoking a beast prepared for war, especially if it was a disgusting country like that one.

Regardless, as soon as the Queen got this news she immediately sent some Shadows to observe the kid and report back to her if he tried anything that could endanger the kingdom. There were treaties that should forbid her from doing such, but if it was between breaking a law made by her grandmother at the time or preventing a possible reignition of the war then the Queen would rather the lesser of two evils.

"My Queen, here are the reports of the shadows in the Centurion Dukedom." A shadow entered the room silently, in his hands was a great amount of parchment that he gave to the Queen who nodded absentmindedly as she started to read.

The more she read the more she grew excited, the ideas the boy had been innovative and a bit dangerous, they would need to be carefully managed and the Queen would need to observe it carefully both for the risk of troubles from the inside and outside of the country, but they would be the best boon she could ask for her plans of lasting peace moving forward.

"Well, the kid has guts to try and use me as an excuse to do this, but he is not stupid. Reckless maybe, but not stupid." The Queen said with an impressed look before a thoughtful expression flashed in her eyes as she spoke to nowhere specific. "Little shadow, he seems to want to recruit tutors for himself, find some of the ones amongst my supporters and those trustworthy and that are capable enough, tell them to go there to serve as his tutors. The Shadows in special have for priority the protection of this kid, no, of Lord Centurion." The Queen said and didn't even bother with listening for a reply as the Shadow left.

They were absolutely loyal to the Queen, she knew it, and she trusted no other than them to protect such a golden egg. A chance for long-term peace was to be cherished, even if the Queen knew her husband would likely want to stop this kind's plans when he hears about it.

But still, the plans were sound and the Queen wanted to see, how would the kingdom change if clear proof of how communication between both sides was possible and not only that, highly lucrative.

///---///

AN:

Thank you all for reading.

About the king and him being so lunatic, do remember that even in CANON he lost count of how many houses and mansions of the Hakoku race he blew up without hesitation, it was to the point he can't even know if he killed his own sister or not when he found out about Atla. Someone who kills indiscriminately, as he himself admitted he did, wouldn't think twice about killing children and babes if they were of the enemy. There IS a reason why he isn't able to use his hero weapon anymore, he is no longer worthy of it thanks to how many atrocities he constantly did for the sake of his bloodlust and rage.

The Queen keeping him is simply because she is extremely in love with him, as proven by her not killing him after he risked destroying the whole kingdom several times over due to his hatred. Honestly, Melromark is lucky to be standing with a king that provokes wars for the sake of hatred, a Queen that can't actually stop her fucktoy (he is a King consort, he has no right to command anything if she says no and his only duty is to fuck the Queen when she wants to), and a princess that fucks anything that she sees and constantly spends the contry's funds in luxuries to make her feel better. If not for Melty this kingdom would not survive much longer, and it only survived after CANON because Melty became one of Naofumi's women.

If you have someone you think would work well for a tutor please tell me, the next chapter comes out only next Sunday so there is time for me to add tutors still. There already is one for magic and one for swordsmanship, but the other possible tutors are mostly open. It can be an OC or a character from some other anime, please make it with as many details as you possibly can as well regarding their background if possible.

The world of Shield Hero has a lot of unique demi-human races, and yes this includes Onis like the ones from Tensei Shittara Slime, Vampires, Werewolves, Harpies, Lamias, Dragonewts, Fishman, and more (it is CANON), so go wild there. The MC wants to study anything he sees, so be free in your choices.

Thank you all for reading and until next time.