"Mikael, I was just leaving. I have important business to attend to!"

"Little cousin, if I don"t straighten you out you"ll really create a calamity for our Hudson clan one day. Now accept your beating as always. After wards focus on improving your devilry instead of flouting your mother"s followers around. One who lives off his family and does not work hard is doomed to be mediocre in the devil world."

~No he started monologuing again. James screamed internally. Stop always telling me about hard work and such. This young master was born to be arrogant and flout his arrogance! What hard work I only need to work hard enough to have enough fel resources to hire the strongest followers. Then they can ruthlessly thrash all who come my way.~

~If one comes one falls. If two comes two fall. This young master will always be an arrogant young master. Working hard and improving ones devilry is for common devils like you!~

James quickly became pigheaded. His combat proficiency had improved remarkably since fighting with his mother. He was already at the mid level of the Esquire realm. But in these past few months Mikael did not slack off at all, he had already cleanly broken into the completion level of the Esquire realm.

That was two minor levels above James, and he wasn"t nice enough to have an even fight with James like his mother. He used his superior devilry to teach James the rewards of hard work and effort.

"If I see you around the Hudson City again shamelessly flouting your mother"s followers before reaching the Knight realm you"ll receive several more beatings. Leave 100 medium fel shards here for this inn to be repaired. Second Baron Duking worked hard to have such a nice inn for visitors to our humble Hudson City. You just came and destroyed it like some kind of savage with no home training. Our first lineage is better than that and you know it."

~Oh G.o.d can he just stop monologuing and leave. d.a.m.n you Mikael… I"ll definitely become stronger than you one day and then you won"t be able to bully me anymore. This young master worked hard even learning blacksmithing and I"m still 2 steps behind.~

~Looks like Devil Ancestor was right, trying to learn multiple Daos slows down your progress considerably. I"ll learn the Soul Dao with the stupid book then I"ll show you Mikael! When this young master becomes a Devil Knight you won"t be able to bully me!~

James kept all his cursing internal as he finished receiving his beating. The entirely pigheaded James laid on the ground. It looks like ones devilry was always the final decider. Even when he had improved his level of combat prowess Mikael still beat him because he had much more Devil qi to work with.

Azon walked up beside him like a loyal butler.

"Do you want me to carry you home young lord?"

"Yes, that would be for best Azon."

Neither of them brought up the beating he just received. James returned to his room and spent the next week slowly recovering in his bed. He was only given normal healing pills, his father thought he should slowly digest his beating and think over his actions while recovering.

His mother was out of town. His father thought Mikael was completely right to teach James a lesson. He didn"t raise such an unruly brat, as the patriarch of the Hudson clan he had to show a neutral stance to clan affairs. James was completely in the wrong for tras.h.i.+ng another clan members inn. ~If you didn"t ruin Second Baron Duking"s inn I could bat for you but you just had to be so overbearing.~

Word finally got back to the Devil Ancestor about the incident a week later. Yezzesa Marquess clan heir dare be that unbridled on my estate? Doesn"t that stupid heir know what a Devil Duke smith signifies. This Devil Ancestor makes weapons for Devil Dukes! Clearly I could have a few of my Marquess level followers to have your Marquess clan exterminated.

Everyone knows any good craftsman has stronger followers than themselves. They have not taught their heirs properly. When he gets back to his clan he won"t cause any more trouble here if he knows whats good for his clan. James clearly is taking the trash young master role too far.

"Johnson pa.s.s down my order. For recklessly destroying the property of another clan member James is to be punished with two years of mandatory service in the Wesser Forest. Until he completes the service he is not allowed to step foot back into Hudson City. The clan will think of it as a heavy punishment, but that brat needs direction. If I don"t force him to do things the only thing he would do is be a wastrel."

"Yes, Devil Ancestor." replied Johnson.

"And go demand some compensation from the Yezzesa clan for sullying my dignity. If they don"t offer you enough restructure their territory to be a part of [Mountain Shadow]."

The clan exploded when they heard the Devil Ancestor"s punishment.

"He must have really p.i.s.sed off the Devil Ancestor by offending the heir to a Marquess clan"

"Shows him right! For his stupid slum tavern he wants to cause fights with stronger clans?"

"That taverns pretty popular though, they have some good stuff."

When Jaffil returned to his clan and demanded his clan take action against the Hudson clan he was quickly locked up and educated.

"Are you really stupid enough to think our Marquess clan can offend a Devil Duke smith? [Mountain Shadow] is a Duke level organization you stupid unfilial descendant."

"Why would a person who can create good weapons for Devil Dukes not be able to recruit Duke level followers? Devils might not set aside their pride to follow them, but other races in the Abyss will."

"Devils are only the ruling cla.s.s at the top level of the Abyss. He"s going to demand a lot of compensation from us for causing a mess in his territory."

"There"s a good reason the Hudson clan can sit on such a fat piece of meat as the Wesser Forest without being hara.s.sed by other n.o.ble families of the Rez"gal Empire."

"For one they allow anyone in the Empire to try their luck in it. If everyone can farm the resources of the forest without having to fight the Hudson Clan why would they?"

"The second reason is Count Hudson has several Duke level followers. There is a short list of people that can cross him in the Rez"gal Empire without paying due compensation. And we are not on that short list."

"But what about James, he"s trash in that family!"

"The younger generation will be the younger generation. His Ancestor already punished him with 2 years of mandatory missions in the Wesser Forest. That"s much worse than you could do on your best day. The official reason he was punished was clan infighting, daring to destroy another clan members property."

"You should know better though, its to set an example for other members of the clan not to recklessly create clan vs. clan grudges. Your biggest mistake though was not getting all the information of who you dared to offend."

"James is the son of Diana Rossen, the princess of the Rossen Kingdom. Even the Rez"gal Empire heirs would take two steps before offending her. She"s known to be completely overbearing and she"s not a weakling like Kogthoz."

"Last I heard she was a Devil Duke but she might have become a Devil Arch Duke. If you really p.i.s.sed off her our clan would swiftly be exterminated so its good you paid compensation. Dealing with a madwoman like Diana is not in our clans best interests. Do not go creating more fights with James!"

Jaffil was angry and indignant. He definitely would find a chance to take care of James in the Wesser forest when he got out of confinement. ~If no one knows why he died how will they tie it to our clan?~ If his Ancestor knew what he was thinking he would have locked him up longer than a year. Daring to kill a Devil Dukes son was asking for your Marquess clan to be exterminated.