Promoted to Duke

Lei Mo's breakthrough brought a ceasefire to the Brunst Fortress front. The Keaton Kingdom's army also had to withdraw most of its forces to support the other fronts.

The border between the two great alliances stretched for thousands upon thousands of kilometers. The ceasefire at Brunst would have little effect on the larger conflict, but for the Keaton Kingdom, it was a tremendous windfall.

What was a Saint Realm? It was the bedrock of a kingdom. As long as a kingdom had a Saint Realm, no matter how bloody the fighting at the front became, the conflict ultimately came down to disputes over territory and honor. Unless they wiped out the other side's Saint Realm, no one dared destroy another kingdom.

Could those Saints just come and go as they pleased? Of course not. Until either side revealed its trump cards, no one knew what other moves their opponent might have up their sleeve.

That was how things had gone for thousands of years: fighting over territory and honor, then honing the strong!

As for ordinary soldiers, they were expendable. In less than twenty years, there would be a fresh crop of them.

Saints were different. What did hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying matter? Every kingdom would choose to sacrifice ten million soldiers if it meant producing one Saint of their own.

That was how cruel and unfair reality was. Such was the law of the jungle.

Lei Mo was still at the front when he received an order from John Keaton, the sole Grand Commander of the Magic Beast Knights. In it, John Keaton extended a gracious invitation.

He invited Lei Mo to lead the Magic Beast Knights, along with the ceremonial troop sent by Marshal Mengba to announce his achievements. Yes, they were there to announce Lei Mo's accomplishments. All the credit for this "victory" went to him.

Lei Mo had also been given advance warning: this whole performance was meant to promote him to the highest rank—duke—and make him the first non-royal duke in the kingdom's history: Duke Franklin.

He would automatically become the founder of a ducal house, with his first and last names combined into one.

The founder of a family was usually of humble birth and had no surname. Franklin, the identity Lei Mo had taken on, was exactly that sort of case.

By continental convention, the first founder of a family combined their given name and surname into one. Franklin would be the family name.

Lei Mo didn't care much about that. He knew what the one thing he truly pursued was!

Still, being a duke—an undying one at that—felt pretty great.

On the way back to Paton Royal Capital, he met a messenger sent by his lovely young housekeeper, Rachel Bella, and learned what was happening in the capital.

The king had already issued an edict promoting Lei Mo to duke. Now they were publicizing his achievements and strength in the capital and the surrounding major cities, even going so far as to use flying magical beasts.

This was treatment on an unprecedented scale. There was no helping it: after thousands of years, the Keaton Kingdom finally had a third Saint!

Though Lei Mo wasn't a member of the royal family, he had no family of his own either. He was absolutely worth winning over.

The royal family wasn't stupid. Wherever Lei Mo went, he would be a duke. Naturally, they would give him the highest honors, in name and in substance.

The arrangements for his promotion to duke had already surpassed those for a new king's coronation. That was understandable. The founding of a ducal house carried greater significance to begin with, especially when its duke was undying.

Who knew how many generations of kings would pass away by then, while he would still be the first duke of his house? The families of the capital made sure to give him all the face he deserved.

If he needed people, they supplied people; if he needed land, they gave him land. Less than three hundred kilometers from the capital lay a river valley with lush grass and abundant water, suitable for both farming and herding. It had mountains and a river, and stretched over a hundred kilometers in every direction.

Lei Mo estimated its size using the math he'd learned in fourth grade. It was over twenty thousand square kilometers, about the size of two prefecture-level cities in east-central China.

The land had originally belonged to several different families. When they heard that Ancestor Tagore was going to enfeoff Lei Mo as a duke and needed to establish a ducal domain there, they all donated their respective portions of the valley.

In the end, the valley and all the surrounding mountains and rivers became Lei Mo's fief. It already exceeded twenty thousand square kilometers.

As for exactly how big it was? Lei Mo's math skills wouldn't let him figure it out. Anyway, it was huge!

King Martin issued an edict to build a new city—Franklin City—which would belong to the Franklin family in perpetuity!

Franklin City would stand in the middle of the valley, backed by mountains and surrounded by a river. Lei Mo was over the moon when he got a look at the map!

"Now that's a foundation fit for an emperor!"

Too bad he'd transmigrated into the wrong world. It was no use! Land wasn't worth much in this world. The strong were the foundation of everything.

His promotion to duke wasn't going to be as casual as the last one. The publicity would take a whole month at minimum, even with flying magical beasts.

Anything less wouldn't be enough to show off the dignity and glory of a royal duke!

Lei Mo traveled onward as the news spread, of course, thanks to the merit-announcement entourage led by Marshal Mengba.

Mengba Erich Keaton was enslaved in the end!

On a dark, windy night, Lei Mo tricked him into a remote mountain wilderness, and Franklin used his Innate Divine Ability.

Sure enough, the moment the Innate Divine Ability took effect, the phantom of a Heaven-Piercing Pillar appeared behind Franklin.

After being enslaved, Marshal Mengba was filled with fervent devotion and admiration for Lei Mo.

"The master's master is incredible! To think he reached the Saint Realm at just twenty. I, Mengba Erich Keaton, truly do have a keen eye!"

Whatever Marshal Mengba was thinking, he took Lei Mo's promotion to duke very seriously. Throughout the journey, Lei Mo didn't have to worry about a single thing. He handled everything perfectly.

At last, Lei Mo no longer had to worry about Marshal Mengba suddenly kicking the bucket!

The souls of those enslaved by Franklin would return to Franklin's Soul Space even after they died!

The moment the enslavement succeeded, Franklin automatically learned of this ability.

There was just one not-so-great thing he learned only after enslaving Mengba Erich: a Lowgod's Innate Divine Ability could enslave only ten souls.

Any more than that, and the souls would be pulled straight into Franklin's Soul Space—in other words, they would die.

Franklin could choose either to detain a soul or enslave it. That meant his Innate Divine Ability had two possible uses.

That was way too overpowered. And Franklin would probably be able to raise the limit once he broke through to Midgod and then Highgod.

Three words said it all: "That's just absurd." How could anyone have such an overpowered Innate Divine Ability? Still, Lei Mo liked it!

Did Franklin count as a divine beast? Could he reproduce?

It seemed he really could. Did those eight pillars count as the product of asexual reproduction?

Could those eight pillars cultivate? Lei Mo was still mulling over one pointless question after another.

The capital was only a little over two thousand kilometers away, yet the journey took more than half a month. When he finally arrived, Lei Mo at last got to admire the capital's magnificence.

Its walls stood thirty meters tall, with magic arrays engraved across them. The Keaton Kingdom wasn't famous for its mages, but it did have them. It just didn't have a Saint-level Magus.

If the people of the Keaton Kingdom knew that Lei Mo was a Saint-level Magus too, who knew how excited every single noble would be?

Ordinary people weren't entitled to get excited. They were all objects of exploitation, though they could still feel proud.

For example, the city's flower-strewn decorations had been arranged by the kingdom.

But all the young women and newlywed brides filling the streets were clearly there of their own accord. Lei Mo was thrilled that he could attract so many young girls.

"That's right! Let all of them be this type. What do we need the men for?" Lei Mo's thoughts were already running wild!