Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage
Chapter 142: The Burial

Chapter 142: The Burial

CH142 The Burial

***

As much as Alex despised both of them, in the eyes of the public, Kurt and Viscount Lars had died honourably in a recognised duel.

As such, they were given full, befitting burials.

Fortunately, funeral processions in this world—or perhaps just in the Fury family—weren’t drawn out affairs.

Kurt’s coffin—secretly also carrying Joselin’s corpse—as well as the empty coffin honouring Viscount Lars, were carried from the Ashen Castle, through the City of Ashes, and into the Fury Family Cemetery in a sombre procession watched by the citizens.

There were no speeches. No dramatic eulogies.

The bodies were buried swiftly and without fanfare.

There wasn’t even a remembrance feast or gathering afterwards.

The crowd was dismissed, and the day resumed as normal.

Of course, the lack of a formal social function did not suppress the growing speculation surrounding Joselin Holt’s absence.

The retainers of Earl Drake were hard at work quashing various rumours about her whereabouts—rumours which only grew more colourful with time.

Officially, the Earl’s officers claimed that Joselin had gone into seclusion, too grief-stricken by her son’s death to appear in public.

Unofficially, some officers "accidentally" let slip that Joselin had packed her bags and stormed out of the Ashen Castle in anger and sorrow.

With this mix of facts and loose lips, the more imaginative minds among the people concocted a compelling tale—

A mother, devastated by the death of her only child, could no longer bear to live under the same roof as her son’s killer.

Unable to accept the situation, she snuck out, knowing full well that Earl Drake would never allow such a shameful exit as it besmirched his Noble Honour.

When Alex heard this version of events, he nearly spat out his fruit juice.

’I didn’t expect that the little narrative control I suggested to Earl Drake would turn out so well... in a family full of muscleheads, no less.’ He chuckled to himself.

What amused him the most was the claim that Earl Drake would try to stop Joselin from leaving—to preserve his noble honour.

’Noble honour? Please. The man calls himself the Mad Earl. As if someone like him gives a damn about honour. Far from stopping her, I wouldn’t be surprised if he helped her leave faster.’

Alex shook his head in amusement.

To complete the deception, Earl Drake had even ’secretly’ dispatched a few search parties to look for Joselin Holt and ’bring her back.’

He had also written a strongly worded letter condemning her ’shameful disappearance’.

Alex had been present while the letter was written—and he had nearly burst out laughing.

In the letter, Drake claimed that Joselin’s actions disparaged Kurt’s valiant death in battle, and by extension, insulted the Fury name.

Alex affirmed his assessment of the man—

Drake Fury was far more cunning than he let on.

The letter was carefully worded—diplomatic but biting, subtly accusing the Holts of failing to properly raise their daughter.

If Alex didn’t know the truth, he might’ve believed it himself:

That Joselin Holt had simply fled in anguish, and that Earl Drake was a husband seething with righteous indignation.

Aside from ’secretly’ issuing orders for his men to find and bring back Joselin, Earl Drake also dispatched a special unit of trackers to locate and retrieve Viscount Lars’s only son and heir.

This dispatch was made public, with the Earl’s office claiming it was in honour of the Viscount’s valiant death in battle.

That justification was amusing at best.

It was a well-known secret that Viscount Lars had deliberately hidden his son away—

Out of love and fear.

Fear that the young man might die in Alex’s hands during the duel.

Lars had chosen to enter the duel himself—intending to kill Alex—precisely because he didnt want to risk his cherished son’s life...

A son only conceived in hi later years after dedicating his youth to the study of magic.

So now, pretending to honour the Viscount’s death with a noble retrieval mission?

Laughable.

The real reason was simple:

The boy belonged to the Fury family now.

Per the terms of the duel, he would serve the Furies for two decades.

Alex couldn’t help wondering darkly if the boy would even let himself be found.

Being found meant twenty years of indentured service—moving from one battlefield to the next as a glorified pawn of the Fury family.

Remaining hidden meant giving up his title, land, inheritance... and living the rest of his life as a commoner.

But this was the Pangea Plane.

Even the life of a commoner wasn’t guaranteed safety.

War could break out anywhere, at any time.

Ambition was all the reason the nobility needed to spill blood and seize land.

Alex sighed at the cruel irony.

That evening, he mingled through the numerous small private gatherings taking place across the City of Ashes in the aftermath of the burial.

He used the opportunity to familiarise himself with key officials and loyal retainers of House Fury, strengthening his own position as the newly named heir.

It was deep into the night by the time Alex returned to the Back Mountain Lodge.

But instead of heading to bed, he entered his training room and—without hesitation—swapped sleep for meditation and cultivation.

The deaths and removal of Kurt and Viscount Lars hadn’t caused him to relax.

If anything, they only fuelled his determination.

He would not meet their fate—not so easily, not so soon.

After all... death was inevitable.

The only thing that mattered was what you did before it arrived.

For the next two days, Alex dove into full training mode.

Mornings were for intense physical exercise and weapons training under Jared’s guidance.

Afternoons were reserved for mana meditation and bodily recovery.

Evenings brought unarmed sparring matches with Udara, pushing his body and mind to their limits.

And each night ended with deep mana tempering meditation, refining the quality of his magic channels.

On the third day following the burial, Alex made his way to Ashen Castle bright and early.

A new challenge awaited him—

His first official command in the field.

It was time to lead troops into the dangerous Dankrot Forest for a beast-clearing mission.

**