Dunan von Auslese

Dunan von Auslese (デュナン・フォン・アウスレーゼ) is a member of the Liberlian Royal Family. He is the nephew of Queen Alicia von Auslese and Klaudia von Auslese's uncle, placing him the line of succession for the royal throne.

Appearance
Duke Dunan is a portly man with brown hair in a bowl cut style and a wispy moustache and soul patch. Dunan dresses extremely flamboyantly and with extravagance, with many vivid colours such as bright reds, gold and purple.

He wears a very frilly white shirt with a ruffled collar, gold trimmed purple coat with lacy spikes along the hem, a red sleeveless long coat with gold patterns and a long white scarf. he also wears orange leggings and white stockings with brown shoes complete with little purple bows. the Duke also has lots of jewellery such as rings and earrings, and a brooch on his neck wear.

Personality
Dunan is initially a pampered, lazy, cowardly, dull-witted, self-centered and bigoted aristocrat. His attitude towards the lower classes in society ranges from patronising to contemptuous, and he has expressed vehemently misogynistic opinions. He will often times take stuff that doesn't belong to him, and can be quite selfish and stubborn in doing so (due to his inherent belief that he will be the next king). As such he thinks that due to his noble lineage, he should be automatically given anything he wants (such as when he steals Estelle's and Joshua's hotel room in Ruan and when he tries to rent out all of the rooms and the kitchen at Air-Letten Pass), much to the grievances of his butler, Phillip Runall, but made him an ideal puppet for Alan Richard and his plans for a coup d'etat.

However, after Estelle rescued him from a second coup attempt by Kanone Almathea, he starts to become a more responsible person. He is seen to be engaging with the Grancel citizens to address their concerns during the orbal shutdown caused by the Aureole's reappearance, which caused widespread panic as well as standing against the Enforcers of Ouroboros when they attacked Grancel Castle, however futile resistance was. It was in this latter moment that his Butler, former captain the Royal Guard, Philip expressed his pride at the former's character development.

He has a habit of voicing his opinions openly and has also proven to be very gullible on multiple occasions.

Background
Dunan von Auslese is a member of the Liberlian Royal Family. Growing up as a child, Dunan was given everything that he wanted, so he was raised to be rather spoilt.

In S.1202, Dunan had heard from Queen Alicia that she had intended to make Klaudia, her heir apparent. Believing himself to be the better choice and having concerns with having another female ruler, Dunan sided with the Intelligence Division (not realizing that they intended to make him a pawn).

In his first appearance, Dunan sequesters Estelle and Joshua's penthouse room for himself at Hotel Blanche, out of a desire for a room with a ocean view rather than staying at the Mayor's house as planned. Estelle and Joshua do protest, however his butler pleads with them on his behalf and they reluctantly agree. He is later seen when Dunan tries to rent out all of the traveler rooms and the dining hall at Air-Letten Border Pass, because he wants to take in the view of the waterfall. However, Estelle convinces him to go back to Ruan. He watches the jenis performance but can't help but make rude comments. Mayor Morris Dalmore tries ton get him to buy up some property but this doesn't go through as a confused Dunan watches him unleash two monsters.

After Queen Alicia is placed under house arrest by the Intelligence division, Duke Dunan takes over as proxy regent. However rather than doing his duty, the Duke ends up spending most of his days celebrating, drinking and eating in the Banquet Hall with Alan Richard seeing to all matters of government affairs.

To entertain himself, Dunan took over as host for the Martial Arts Tournaments and announced a reward of an invite to his banquet. During the attack to take back Grancel palace, Dunan appears again as a boss. He initially doesn't recognize his own niece, Klaudia/Kloe outside of her official appearance, but even so Klaudia/Kloe pleads with him to stop this mess. Dunan then becomes upset for being deceived by her appearance and battles Estelle and co, but knocks himself out. His butler Phillip comes in and runs to his master's aide. Phillip then deeply apologizes for his master's actions and asks to be punished for them instead due to blaming himself for allowing the Duke to become like this. He is then held in Princess Klaudia's room for the duration of the Coup.

After the Coup d'etat is thwarted, Queen Alicia spoke with Dunan and harshly scolded him for his actions. Taking her words to heart, Dunan isolated himself in the Erbe Royal Villa and reflected on her words.

A couple of months later, Duke Dunan reappears again still under house arrest. On one day, he sends Phillip off to get some magazines and donuts and encounters Estelle and co. while impatiently pacing about his room. Dunan then starts blaming the two of them for being forced to be placed under house arrest. Duke Dunan admits that he may've been out of line by imprisoning the queen. Dunan expresses his love for the Queen, but anger at losing out on the throne, chiding Klaudia's efforts.

A couple of days later, Dunan gets a letter from the Queen permitting him to return to Grancel Castle, but he is angered at only three men being sent to escort him. Estelle moves him along and speaks to Phillip, telling him to drop the hammer on him a bit more, and further implies that the Duke became this way because no-one scolded and that he may be a decent guy underneath. Phillip totally agrees with Estelle and gets called away by the Duke.

Later that evening, Duke Dunan is drunkenly walking around the city cursing his butler Phillip who has taken Estelle's words to heart and has started scolding him. Suddenly, Dunan hears a woman's voice calling him and Kanone Amalthea appears and forcibly escorts him away with two Intelligence Division agents.

When Ouroboros decides to attack Grancel, Dunan orders Alicia and Klaudia to head to the royal chambers, stating that he is a scion of the von Auslese family and that he will not let brigands destroy their land and authority, taking command of the Royal Guard as Julia is absent, aware of the society's goals. He is confident that he would be able to defeat the brigands with ease.

As Alicia, Klaudia and Hilda leave for the royal chambers, Phillip states that he is proud to serve Dunan, impressed by his speech. By this time, the Enforcers arrive. Phillip goes down to confront them, telling Dunan to flee if he is bested. Dunan fights alongside Phillip and the Royal Guard, but is bested by the Enforcers, being knocked out when Estelle and her group arrive. Both Bleublanc and Luciola were surprised with Dunan, as he was not the cowardly and selfish man they had expected based on his reputation, although the latter was amused by how fast he was knocked out.

Dunan is present at the banquet held in Grancel Castle. he speaks with Joshua for a moment, praising his efforts, before leaving with Phillip, stating that there is work to be done. He seems much more responsible and less self-absorbed.

On August 26th, S1206, Duke Dunan attended the West Zemuria Trade Conference being held in Erebonia before the start of the Great War as the representative of Liberl.