Chapter 46: Greed
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 46: Greed
A banquet was held in the great hall where I had first met the Baron. It was a banquet to celebrate my investiture.
The Baron and his family had yet to make an appearance. They would need time to prepare for the ceremony, which had been planned so suddenly. The banquet was likely just a pretext for that.
No one approached me, the guest of honor. I was still an awkward presence to the vassals who had stood by and watched my father’s death and the Baron’s seizure of my estate.
Moreover, I had just killed three knights with whom they had likely built considerable rapport. I supposed I should be grateful that no one was stepping forward to seek revenge.
And so, I was an outcast. At least, until someone found me.
“Allen.”
The only person who would approach me so casually was Zaenbold. But he didn't look pleased. It seemed to be because of the man following a step behind him. I gestured with my eyes and asked.
“Zaenbold. Who is this?”
“This is Sir Joang Conrad. He wished to see you.”
Joang Conrad was a middle-aged man with a short beard that started from his sideburns. His rat-tail mustache and small eyes gave him a cunning impression.
This was the Baron’s strategist. After the Baron himself, he was the person most deeply involved in the conspiracy to murder my father and seize his estate.
Hiding my true thoughts, I extended my hand.
“I’ve heard a great deal about you. The Baron’s key vassal, a man of unparalleled strategy, I hear?”
Joang Conrad simply stared down at my outstretched hand, refusing to take it, and glared at me. The atmosphere was tense.
Only after I lowered my awkward hand did he speak.
“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me?”
The Baron’s key vassal began our very first meeting with a reproachful tone. An inexperienced greenhorn would have been flustered and taken a submissive stance. He was coming on strong, deliberately trying to establish dominance.
Of course, I was no greenhorn.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
Joang Conrad’s brow twitched. It seemed he intended to continue his ploy, as his expression hardened and he spat out more aggressive words.
“Hah, right. You can slice knights’ throats because you know nothing. This is why I hate knights. They don’t understand that weakening our forces puts us at a disadvantage in truce negotiations.”
Joang Conrad was trying to pin the blame on me for potential losses in truce negotiations I couldn't possibly have known about. It was also a provocation to size me up. A transparently shallow ploy.
I decided to play along. The character I was meant to be playing was skilled but arrogant, and therefore easy to manipulate.
I let out a smirk.
“Then why did you lose?”
“What…?”
He could never have imagined I would be so brazen. He was at a loss for words, staring at me blankly.
For one of the Baron’s key vassals, wasn’t his poker face breaking a little too easily?
“Truce negotiations? What a disgrace! This is a disaster brought about by the incompetence of the vassals serving the Baron. It is disloyalty. Tsk, tsk.”
“A-are you insulting me now?”
Having regained his senses, Joang Conrad glared at me fiercely. The way he trembled suggested he’d never expected to be treated like this.
The man had no shame. What was that phrase? The pot calling the kettle black?
I scoffed at him.
“So, is the renowned Sir Joang, the Baron’s great strategist, claiming he has no fault in this humiliating incident? Tsk, before you blame others, you should recognize your own incompetence and strive to improve. If I had been here, the Baron would never have suffered such a disgrace.”
“What kind of bastard is this…?”
People panic when faced with a stimulus that far exceeds their expectations. That was Joang Conrad right now. Encountering someone like me for the first time, he had lost his window to get angry.
Zaenbold, who had been watching anxiously from behind, paled and mouthed silently.
‘You madman.’
I gave him a grin and moved away before Joang Conrad could recover. The Baron was entering the banquet hall. Following him were his two sons of contrasting appearance and a mother and daughter who looked like sisters.
Now that I had saved my life, it was time to make my move. I took in the two brothers and the mother-daughter pair at a glance.
The investiture ceremony was a complex and lengthy affair. The one being knighted was to have his hair neatly trimmed the day before, bathe himself clean, change into new clothes, and spend the night in prayer at a church.
On the day of the ceremony, he would don a red cloak, signifying that he would uphold his oath with his blood, and a gray belt, symbolizing purity. The ceremony itself was also held in a church.
Of course, that was all for a formal investiture. As we were in the midst of war and my knighting had been unplanned, my ceremony was an abbreviated one held in the lord’s castle.
Shing.
The Baron drew his sword and placed it on my shoulder. I was kneeling before him on one knee, my head bowed. The once-boisterous hall had fallen silent.
The Baron spoke.
“Fear not before the enemy, always act with courage, speak only the truth to your lord, and protect the weak. That is the calling of a knight. Now, rise as a knight.”
The sword that had tapped my shoulder with each word was returned to an attendant at the Baron’s side. The Baron then received another sword from the attendant and bestowed it upon me.
It was a magnificent weapon, many times better than the temporary one I had received before the match, with a sleek blade and a mesmerizing wavy pattern.
Although the one conducting the investiture is obligated to bestow equipment upon the new knight, considering this Baron was stingy even with his own vassals, it was easy to guess how high his expectations for me were.
I felt no pressure. On the contrary, this was what I had wanted more than anyone, and I felt a slight thrill of excitement.
Accepting the sword with both hands, I said, “I swear to be true and faithful to my lord, according to the laws of the Lord and the order of the world, and I will refrain from any act, word, or deed that would displease my lord.”
The Baron nodded and took a light blue surcoat from an attendant, handing it to me. Embroidered on the chest was a golden eagle, the symbol of House Tobalts.
As I had requested, the golden eagle’s wings were spread wide, and its haughty gaze as it looked down upon the earth resembled my own eyes.
“With this, I have become a fortunate lord who has received the loyalty of the son after the father. Welcome under my banner.”
“I shall serve you with courtesy and honesty, honor and generosity, excellence and courage, loyalty and wisdom, and patience.”
The Baron gave a satisfied smile. He seemed to be happily contemplating how to use this unexpected prize that had fallen into his lap.
‘I wonder who’s the one being used.’
Of course, the Baron had to know I had ulterior motives. And that keeping me by his side was dangerous. But his greed would prevent him from getting rid of me. This very situation was proof of that.
Moreover, I would faithfully satisfy the Baron’s greed. I would feed it and feed it until his belly was about to burst, and then I would slice it open and make everything he owned mine.
This was merely the prelude.
The ceremony was drawing to a close. Joang Conrad, who had been glaring at me with a perpetual scowl, approached the Baron.
The Baron’s eyes widened slightly as he listened to the whisper, then curved into a smile.
After finishing, Joang Conrad stepped behind the Baron and gave me a meaningful smile.
The Baron spoke.
“Ah, but you have committed a sin, have you not? Until you have performed a service befitting that sin, you shall be my knight, yet not a knight.”
It was a pretext for not giving me a fief or a salary, citing my killing of the messenger, Jude Horn. The abstract phrase “a service befitting” told me that he would decide the timing as he pleased.
It was one of Joang Conrad’s petty tricks.
For a so-called strategist, his skill at scratching the Baron’s most sensitive itch was truly a work of art.
However, to call him a master schemer was laughable. If it were me, I would not have given my opponent an opportunity to gain justification in front of everyone. I smiled and replied.
“You are correct, my lord. Which is why I must bring this up, but I heard my father’s body has not been returned.”
The Baron and Joang Conrad glanced at each other. Both were clearly flustered. Joang Conrad made an excuse on the Baron’s behalf.
“Baron Debussy is a man who knows no honor. He declared he wouldn’t return the body even for a thousand gold pieces. He surely intends to desecrate Sir Maxim’s corpse to vent his anger over his losses. But do not worry. We will get it back, no matter what.”
It was a lie. I knew from torturing Jude Horn that neither the Baron nor Joang Conrad had even asked for my father’s body back.
I played along.
“There is no need for you, my lord, to bow your head to a man who knows no honor. My father would not wish for it either. If you permit me, I will retrieve my father’s body with my own hands.”
“Now, now, do not act rashly.”
This time it was the Baron who urgently tried to stop me. He was afraid that if I went myself and Baron Debussy readily handed over the body, his lie would be exposed and he would lose face.
Joang Conrad also added a word.
“Baron Debussy will never hand it over willingly. So leave this matter to the Baron and me and…”
I cut him off, exclaiming.
“Willingly? What are you talking about? Of course we must take it back by punishing that shameless man who knows no honor with the sword!”
“What?”
Leaving the once-again-stunned Joang Conrad behind, I continued speaking to the Baron, who looked just as flustered.
“If you are pushed into truce negotiations like this, what will everyone think of you, my lord? I will not tolerate such a disgrace. If you permit me, I will use my entire family fortune to hire mercenaries, punish Baron Debussy, and restore your honor, thereby atoning for the sin I have committed.”
The declaration from a newly knighted knight was preposterous. Joang Conrad didn’t bother to hide his look of disbelief.
“What nonsense…”
But the Baron’s thoughts would be different.
“Enough.”
The Baron raised a hand, cutting Joang Conrad off. Joang Conrad turned to the Baron urgently.
“My lord?”
The Baron did not answer. He simply stood in silent contemplation.
It was an offer the Baron had to consider. The only risk was potentially losing me—a rather useful pawn—and the fine sword he had just given me, without getting to use me properly.
On the other hand, if I succeeded as I had boasted, wasn't this a chance to restore his tarnished reputation?
It was a low-risk, high-return proposal.
Furthermore, the awkwardness surrounding the disappearance of Sophia and Roland and the death of Jude Horn still lingered.
The Baron had no choice but to accept. After all, things easily gained are easily spent.
“Knight Allen, are you serious?”
As expected, the Baron’s face showed that his interest was piqued. I placed a hand on my chest, once again showing my respect.
“I have already sworn to speak only the truth to my lord.”
“My lord—”
Joang Conrad seemed to have sensed the Baron’s change of heart. But the Baron simply fell silent again, lost in thought. His calculations were finished after about the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
“This is not a matter to be decided lightly. However, as a lord, I cannot simply refuse a knight’s request. If your resolve is that firm, then I see no reason not to concede.”
After a long deliberation, the Baron gave his permission.
“I will repay your generosity with results.”
“I will trust you.”
The Baron and I wore the same smile, though our thoughts were different. Only Joang Conrad’s face was a sight to behold as he clung like a leech to the Baron, who was now leaving the hall.
“My lord. The negotiations are already halfway complete…”
Joang Conrad’s pleading voice slowly faded into the distance. I watched until the two of them were completely out of sight.
‘The war must not end.’
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao is described as a capable minister in times of peace and a cunning hero in times of chaos. If it hadn’t been for the chaotic times, Cao Cao would have ended his life as a mere subject.
For me to swallow the Rasino barony whole, it was far more advantageous for the war, and the chaos it brought, to continue.