The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess

Chapter 226: An Offer For Ignis

"Why should I serve your lady?" Ignis asked with a frown on his face, "When I could just storm the church and destroy them, releasing the King?"

Adrian looked at the Grand Duke for a while without a single thought, ’perhaps this man was too simple after all.’

Then again, he was Darius’s father, so he wasn’t too surprised.

It was already good enough that he was willing to have a calm conversation on this topic.

"It’s not that simple," Adrian finally answered, "besides, with the king still under their control, you’d just be executed for treason if you tried."

It was the situation Grand Duke Boreas found himself in, in the previous timeline, after the incident with the second ice lotus.

Speaking of which, that one hadn’t been found in this timeline yet...perhaps Cedric would make good use of it?

Well, that was for later; right now, he needed to bring another Grand Duke to their side.

"Besides," Adrian continued, "even if you removed the Archbishop tomorrow, the work he’s done on the King probably wouldn’t simply disappear with him. "

Ignis was silent after that.

He, like Darius, was good at solving things that required fists, and this was an issue that was quite different.

"What do you suggest?" He asked.

There it was.

A small, subtle smile appeared on the butler’s face as he heard the question.

"You could hold on to your loyalty, but by the time you realize it’s useless, it’d be too late," he answered, "after all, it seems the church is preparing for the arrival of something. "

Ignis frowned at that, but he said nothing; instead, he waited for Adrian to continue, and he did.

"Or you could pledge your loyalty to my lady," he said, "and I’ll ensure that you’re prepared for whatever is coming. "

Adrian’s intention, at first, was to somehow remove the Grand Duke and ensure the dukedom fell to Darius.

But he decided otherwise after actually meeting him. Either way, his goal would be achieved.

Ignis silently looked at him for a while, uncertain if the child before him was trying to trick him; still, he was curious.

"Prepared how?" he asked.

"The dragon bloodline," Adrian answered, "though I guess you wouldn’t exactly call it a bloodline, I can provide knowledge for entering the dragon’s realm and stand a chance at awakening it."

Ignis was about to dismiss the claim in anger when an important detail came back to him.

According to Darius, the child standing before him was the one who had helped awaken his bloodline.

The grand duke turned towards Darius, who had been silent all this while.

Darius’s eyes were now reptile-like, and he was resisting the pressure a lot better, but it did remind the Grand Duke to restrain them, though.

The pressure in the room eased considerably as Ignis looked at his son for a long moment.

The kid was just like him, so there was no reason not to believe his words. He let out a sigh and turned back to the butler.

"Not even the first Lionheart to reach that realm knew of the methods," he calmly spoke, "what makes you think you could access it?"

Adrian expected that question, and he already had an answer prepared: "Because I’ve already sent someone there."

Well, he couldn’t explain that he got the techniques from a manhwa, could he? So this was the best explanation he could give.

Besides, the process wasn’t quite clear; after all, the manhwa had only shown a single result, not the exact method.

And the explanation he received was that the candidate needed to be at death’s door whilst still choosing to push forward.

That was it.

That was the entirety of the method the manhwa had provided.

Everything else, the specific conditions, the timing, the precise threshold between near-death and actual death.

The way defiance had to be present and not just desperation had been Adrian’s own construction, built from what he understood about how the dragon realm had selected the first candidate and worked backward from there.

The manhwa’s author, Avera, he guessed, was quite lazy after all.

Just as with Darius, he was willing to take a gamble, and perhaps that 30% chance would rise higher.

"I see," Ignis nodded, accepting the answer. After all, the butler was right; he already had proof of that.

"Unfortunately, I don’t see a reason to serve your Lady instead of my king," Ignis added, "just to get my other son to awaken."

Ah, it seems Ignis was misunderstanding something... It seems he still thought that only the Lionhearts could awaken it.

But the attempts in the manhwa, as much as they only had a 30% success rate, proved otherwise.

"You misunderstand, Grand Duke," Adrian said, "when I said I’d ensure you were prepared for whatever was coming, I meant you and your army. "

"What you’re saying is–"

"I’ll help your army awaken the dragon bloodline," Adrian finished his words, and the room suddenly went completely silent.

Ignis was uncertain that he heard correctly and it took him a while to process the butler’s words.

In other words, the entire South’s army would stand the chance to awaken the dragon bloodline?

The grand duke was still uncertain of what the butler was claiming was coming, but a chance like this was one he was uncertain would come back.

Though in the previous timeline, that opportunity had ended up coming, but the grand duke didn’t need to know that.

Ignis was quiet for a long time

"The entire army," he said finally.

"Those who qualify," Adrian said, "I’m certain you already know this, but the dragon realm has its own selection criteria."

"I can just create the conditions that’ll allow them to take the trial," the butler continued, "I can’t guarantee results for everyone."

Ignis was silent again, this time properly thinking over the offer. On one hand, he was still hesitant to switch his allegiance.

On the other hand, the offer before him could change the entire South’s fighting force permanently.

Even if only half of his army qualified, the result would be something that would put the South above most others.

As much as he didn’t like politics, he still cared for his dukedom and a chance to get them strong enough to protect themselves...especially after what happened today, which was impossible to ignore.

"Half," Ignis finally said, "if half of my army awakens and what you claim about the Church is true, then I’ll pledge my loyalty to your lady. "