Baron Rückner

Baron Rückner is a baron and the finance auditor of the Helmut Kingdom. He is also the biological father of Rhodrich.

Appearance
Rückner is a chubby middle-aged man with dirty blonde hair, dark yellow eyes, and a big nose. He always shown with a sinister and greedy look on his face and is very well-dressed.

Personality
Rückner is shown to be very selfish, greedy, and power-hungry. He's very manipulative and will stop at nothing to become richer.

Background
It is revealed that he had an affair with Rhodrich's mother who was the daughter of a merchant before Rhodrich's birth. Unfortunately, due to social differences, he wouldn't take her as his wife or mistress leading to Rhodrich being ostracized from nobility.

Plot
Five days after Wendelin and his group were venturing into the ancient underground ruins, Baron Rückner spreads a rumor stating that Wendelin and his group died. Hoping that he was dead, the Baron sends a messenger to the Baumeister family telling them of Wendelin's supposed death and recommending that the head of the Baumeister family let the eldest son become the new head of Wendelin's house. Unfortunately, his plan failed due to Wendelin surviving, but the Baron was not frustrated as it was part of his plan all along. When he thought that his plan was working, a rumor was spread about him conspiring to have Wendelin killed in the ruins. After the rumor was spread, the king summoned him to the palace, but he was never charged.

The Baron somehow knew the the eldest son of the Baumeister, Kurt harbors jealously and a grudge against Wendelin, so he took advantage of that by secretly giving Kurt a flute known as the Dragon Flute that would help with killing Wendelin. It was actually a flute called the Flute of Grudges. When the user plays it, it builds up all the hated from the user and others and turns into miasma, and when that miasma touches someone, they die immediately and turn into zombies. Unfortunately, this plan backfires as Kurt is killed by the flute and becomes a zombie. Afterwards, the zombies that the flute created ransacked Baron Rückner's home killing him and his entire family.