29 Letters

After eating lunch, it was time for another bloodletting session, which proceeded without any trouble. Ackster felt like the Doppelganger Slime in his image finally had enough blood to trick The Hero and all the spectators successfully tomorrow.

But Ackster couldn't relax, even with the clever Doppelganger Slime perfectly imitating the image of the original Ackster he had portrayed while the slime copied and learned from him. By now, its behavioral patterns were practically set, so relaxing a little wouldn't change anything.

There were just too many things that could go wrong, too many places where his plan could falter and collapse, revealing the truth to The Hero. Even if the plan ran its course to perfection, Ackster was still worried that The Hero would see through it.

It was just the beginning of the original story, and The Hero, at this point in time, was just a stronger-than-average Knight. He had a few of his core skills, but they hadn't grown enough to help him unravel Ackster's scheme. He also had yet to learn any proper spells.

The Hero shouldn't discover anything amiss.

But Ackster, who had relatively recently finished reading the original story, remembered vividly what a monstrous bastard The Hero had been at the end. Since Ackster had just been a reader and hadn't experienced it directly, he couldn't say he was traumatized by it.

But The Hero was so strong that he would have been the definition of overpowered if it weren't for the fact that the enemies he faced, especially at the end, were too powerful for him to overwhelm.

With the vivid descriptions and depictions of The Hero's might as he wrecked his enemies and wreaked havoc on his surroundings, Ackster felt like he had seen The Hero's power for himself.

It was the image of The Hero at the finale of the original story that Ackster had in mind while thinking about The Hero that would cut off his head in less than a day.

Ackster somehow managed to convince himself that it would be alright since the current Hero wasn't much of a threat as long as he was on the other side of the country, though it would be even better if he replaced 'country' with 'continent.'

After calming his tired mind, Ackster sat at his desk, pen and paper in hand.

Since he had to take a nap and prepare for the night, Ackster considered postponing writing the two letters he was going to write. But he was worried he would forget about it once he woke up. So, even if the quality would be a little lacking due to his blood loss and tiredness from having been awake for so much the past few days while also doing a bunch of strenuous activity, he still decided to write the letters.

As he began writing them, Ackster was finally happy that he had transmigrated into such a piece of shit like the original Ackster.

There was no way the original Ackster had bothered to learn proper etiquette a noble or up-and-coming noble would use when composing letters. He just had to write them and let the muscle memory in his hands ensure that it was the same handwriting as the original Ackster.

The two letters weren't that different, just slightly different versions, one for his mother, Andrea Phileam, and one for his father, Mikhail Phileam.

The one to Andrea was mostly an apology for being such a bad son and that he had realized it on the doorstep to death. But since it was too late to do anything now, he was going to face his death the same way he had lived his life, as himself.

He also told her to forget about him and the stain upon the Phileam name's honor that he was. That they shouldn't even bother with a funeral, just stuff his body in a coffin and burn it. Let his ashes and spirit roam the world like the free-spirited bully he had been. He also hinted that his letter would serve as nothing but a grim reminder of what the eldest son of the Phileam House could have been and that it would be best to just burn it along with the coffin.

That last part was a clue to Andrea, who had probably sensed already what Ackster was up to. It was so that she wouldn't leave any clues about Ackster's fate behind. With how smart, capable, and full of love for her son, Ackster was sure she would understand and listen.

The letter to Mikhail was similar. He apologized and urged them to burn his body in the coffin they had most likely already prepared. Well, that Mikhail had already prepared since he was realistic enough to know what would happen to Ackster as soon as he heard the news of the duel between Ackster and The Hero.

But instead of the letter, Ackster continued to talk about how he should raise Melissa, the second child of the Phileam House as a great heir. Forget about Ackster and move on, but not without pressing The Hero and those affiliated with The Hero for compensation.

Although it wasn't unprovoked, The Hero had still killed the eldest son of a noble family. Those more familiar with The Hero could probably also guess that The Hero had stoked the flames to dig out any trouble by its roots.

So, Mikhail would be fully in the right if he asked for any kind of compensation, whether that be in money, businesses, or land.

Asking for compensation instead of blaming The Hero and clamoring for revenge would also protect the Phileam House from The Hero's tendency to get rid of any kind of possible trouble before it happens.

It would show The Hero and everyone else that the Phileam House and its Head, Mikhail Phileam, didn't care about Ackster's death. They cared about what they could get for it.

And if they were satisfied, there would be no reason for The Hero to take care of them since they wouldn't hold any thoughts about seeking retribution or revenge for Ackster. They would struggle to rise rough the ranks of nobility with their compensation contentedly.