Chapter 93: The Two Counts
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 93: The Two Counts
Adeleade’s expression was complicated. If what I said came true, her family, House Dresden, could face a crisis that might lead to their downfall.
The problem was that she couldn't simply side with her birth family. If I were to fall, she had no idea what would become of her only remaining child.
“I doubt you have a very affectionate relationship with Count Dresden.”
“Don’t speak so carelessly. You don’t know anything.”
“I know that your marriage was not one you wanted.”
Count Dresden was the epitome of a nobleman. He wouldn’t hesitate to use his own flesh and blood as a bargaining chip for the family’s gain.
Adeleade becoming a baroness was the result of such a deal. It was impossible for genuine familial affection to have formed in a household like that.
“It’s something every daughter of a noble house experiences.”
“Then why did you turn a blind eye when your husband tried to connect with Count Broua? From Count Dresden’s perspective, that would be an act of betrayal.”
“That’s…”
I answered for Adeleade, who trailed off, unable to continue.
“Wasn’t it out of defiance?”
“…!”
Unable to hide her surprise, Adeleade quickly composed herself and offered a rebuttal.
“Even so, he is my father.”
“He’s also the type to sell off his widowed daughter to the highest bidder. If an obstacle like me were to disappear, you would be forced into another unwanted marriage.”
Though she was older, Adeleade possessed a beauty that rivaled women in their twenties. There would be no shortage of suitors.
“It’s something I must endure.”
“Do you intend to let your daughter go through the same experience? You must know that Count Dresden would use his own granddaughter for political gain as well.”
“…!”
Adeleade bit her lower lip. She knew from experience that my words were true.
I stood up, lifting Eusebia, who had fallen asleep in my arms.
“Why not care more for your own happiness than for your family’s? I mean that sincerely.”
“…I will handle my own affairs.”
I shrugged and got up. I had to stop by Baron Debussy’s fief and couldn’t be late for the jousting tournament.
I also had to hurry if I was going to discipline this sly little cat sleeping soundly in my arms.
“Haaah…”
Left alone, Adeleade sighed repeatedly with a conflicted expression. Allen’s parting words stuck with her like a thorn in her side.
“My happiness…?”
Allen was the first person to ever say such a thing to her.
Her blood relatives and even the children she had borne herself had always been indifferent to her happiness.
She covered her face with her hands. She couldn’t decide what the right choice was.
Only Allen’s words echoed in her mind, deepening her turmoil.
After my reunion with Eusebia, I immediately returned to Palanti. Zaenbold and Zant were with me.
Zaenbold had been wearing a sour expression ever since we left Polton.
“Ah, I’m telling you, I was busy! Look at these new wrinkles! And things were just starting to go well with Leah, but my one and only friend has to come and throw cold water on my love life? Do you have any conscience? Do you?!”
“You were the only one I could trust with this.”
“Aish… I can’t even curse you out…”
“I don’t know if this will be any consolation, but all the maids working in the castle at Palanti are beauties.”
“Really…? Wait, no! Damn it! What good is that! They’ll all be trying to kill me!”
In the castle of a baron, not just anyone could work there. They had to be from families of verifiable status or the children of influential city figures.
The problem was that I had sent all the baron’s vassals, who were directly or indirectly connected to such people, to their graves.
“Don’t worry. Sir Zant will protect you.”
“You accepted me, a former enemy, and entrusted me with a great responsibility. How could I not pledge my loyalty? You will not regret placing your trust in me!”
Zant was an essential figure for restoring order within Baron Debussy’s fief.
That was the only reason I had accepted him, but he seemed deeply moved that I had remembered him after his futile defeat and had personally sought him out to entrust him with an important role.
His sparkling eyes were almost burdensome. I clapped him lightly on the shoulder and offered some advice.
“How could I not trust you, Sir Zant? However, the treasurer has a tendency to slack off, so you must not be negligent in your supervision.”
“Will that be alright? He is your friend, after all…”
“It’s not alright!!” Zaenbold, caught in the middle, raised his voice. I ignored him and continued my advice.
“He may look like that, but he’s competent, so he’ll manage somehow.”
“Hey! Are you ignoring me!?”
“I will obey your command.”
I left Zaenbold and Zant in Palanti and headed for Roxwood, the capital of Count Broua’s domain.
I had also left Muel and Dreng behind, so there shouldn’t be much difficulty in sorting out the internal affairs of Baron Debussy’s fief.
Roxwood was situated in a classic, strategically ideal location.
Behind it lay the great mountain range known as the Giant’s Shoulder, and the Rhine River, which originated there, flowed past the front of the city.
The fortress on the mountainside suggested that this territory had been established for military purposes from the very beginning.
Within the fortress was another, smaller city, and closer to the mountain was an inner castle.
Count Broua was waiting for me in a grand hall within the inner castle.
He was an old man with a dignified air, sporting curly white hair cut short and a bushy beard of the same color.
“You are very different from the rumors. I heard you tore a troll apart with your bare hands, so I imagined a hulking man with a grim face, but you are quite the opposite.”
Count Broua glanced around as if to ask for confirmation, and his vassals, lined up on either side, nodded in agreement.
“How could a mere human face a troll with his bare hands?”
“So it’s true that you caught a troll by yourself.”
“I could demonstrate for you right here.”
I suppressed my nervousness and managed a smile. A confident appearance was crucial. Count Broua was under the illusion that the king was backing me.
Count Broua waved his hand.
“We’ll see about that at the jousting tournament. For now, we have more important matters to discuss.”
After a brief pause, Count Broua continued.
“I’ll ask you directly. What does the king want?”
As expected, Count Broua suspected the king was behind me. To persuade him to join my side, I had to turn his suspicion into conviction.
“I don’t know what you mean. The king?”
So, I played dumb. Count Broua chuckled as if he had expected it.
“So there will be no official intervention?”
“If I were the king, I wouldn’t do anything so blatant as to arouse the suspicion of other nobles.”
What I could gain through Eleanor was limited to getting Count Broua to move. Anything more was impossible.
I made a plausible excuse to avoid suspicion. Fortunately, Count Broua didn’t seem to find it strange.
“True… the king has no justification to intervene.”
Although Count Dresden carried the blood of the former dynasty, several generations had already passed.
That alone was not enough justification for an attack.
If he invaded Dresden without a proper cause, the other nobles would not stand idly by.
After all, a feudal king was little more than a greater noble with a larger domain.
If a few powerful grand lords united, even the king would have to fear for his life.
“Still, he can’t just watch as if it’s someone else’s problem. Although Count Dresden’s power is concentrated in his fleet, he is a margrave of a different caliber.”
“If I were the king, I would do nothing that could be faulted.”
Count Broua frowned.
“So, you want me to take all the risk? Ha, isn’t that a case of one man sowing and another man reaping?”
“But wouldn’t the rewards be that much greater?”
“Are you saying it’s fine for me to take Dresden’s rock salt mines?”
Salt was called white gold. Dresden had rock salt mines from which this white gold could be extracted.
Moreover, they were open-pit mines with vast reserves, making them more valuable than most gold mines.
Dresden’s rapid growth was thanks to the synergy between these rock salt mines and the migration of herring habitats.
It was no empty threat when he declared he wouldn’t shy away from war after the herring habitats shifted to Quaran.
“The one who invests the most will gain the most.”
I didn’t hesitate. If I tried to swallow a territory as large as Dresden by myself, I would surely choke on it.
Besides, it wasn’t as if there was no way to reclaim the rock salt mines that were taken this way.
The key was that Count Broua had no heir. He was also an old man with snow-white hair.
I knew from a future that would no longer come to pass that his county would be thrown into chaos over succession issues after his death.
If I didn’t miss that opportunity, I would be able to get the rock salt mines back.
“Hmm… is that so?”
Unaware of my scheme, Count Broua looked quite interested.
His vassals, lined up on either side, also looked at each other and nodded.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming ripe, Count Broua spoke.
“However, there is one problem.”
“What…”
“I will explain.”
A voice cut through from among the vassals. A man soon emerged, parting the line of retainers.
He was a middle-aged knight with skin as white as the Rasino mother and daughter, contrasted by his black hair. I knew him.
“Sir Erik.”
He was Adeleade’s second older brother. At the same time, he was a powerful knight, the pride of Count Dresden.
He was also a named character who, in the future that would no longer be, rebuilt his fallen house with the help of Eleanor’s ability.
I had expected Count Dresden to react to Adeleade’s letter, but for Erik, the count’s favored son, to make a move himself? And in Count Broua’s castle, of all places!
Count Broua spoke to Erik.
“You see that I am not this knight’s backer, don’t you? This is all the king’s scheme.”
It seemed Erik had suspected Count Broua was backing me. Count Broua had brought him here to clear up the misunderstanding.
The problem was that in doing so, I had lost my informational advantage.
What on earth was Count Broua thinking? Did he not know how important an informational advantage was? Or was he planning to switch sides?
I tensed my body, ready to draw my sword at any moment, and looked at Count Broua.
“Would you care to explain what is happening?”
“Do not worry, knight. I have not decided to side with Count Dresden. It’s just that I cannot decide whether it would be more advantageous to side with the king or with Count Dresden…”
Count Broua trailed off with a sly smile. Erik, glancing at me, spoke to Count Broua.
“If the king swallows Dresden, his power will become too great. So great that the nobles alone will not be able to control him.”
Erik warned of the emergence of an absolute monarch. It was an outcome no noble desired, and it wasn’t an outlandish claim.
Bronx II had doubled the size of his domain and his family’s wealth since becoming king. He had often boasted of his ambition to become like the kings of legend and myth.
Erik continued.
“Furthermore, consider what happens after Dresden is conquered. Doesn’t it look as if the king’s forces will be surrounding Broua? Perhaps, after Dresden, Broua will be next.”
“He says that. What do you think?”
Count Broua asked me with a grin.
I was sweating bullets internally. It was true that my next target after swallowing Dresden was Broua.
As expected of a named character. He hadn’t identified the main actor correctly, but he had accurately grasped the flow of events.
I feigned composure.
“That’s absurd. The king is far away and has difficulty projecting his influence. Your power, my lord, will only grow stronger with a new domain and rock salt mines, making any move against you even more difficult. I, for one, don’t understand why you would trust the words of Dresden, your long-standing enemy.”
“Do you think I don’t know Dresden’s true intentions? However, is it not true that his words have merit? For the king’s power to grow any larger here is a bad thing for everyone.”
I turned my gaze to Erik.
“What did you promise him?”
Count Broua was not the type to ignore the many benefits I had offered simply because of a concern.
Erik, who had arrived before me, must have proposed a suitable counteroffer. Erik spoke with a calm face.
“We have agreed to condone your rule over Baron Debussy’s fief. We have also pledged to form a common front if the spurned king attacks directly. It is a conditional alliance of sorts.”
Baron Debussy’s fief was quite prosperous, but it was nothing compared to Dresden’s rock salt mines.
Despite this, Count Broua was being cryptic. Was there another price he wasn’t revealing to me? Or…
“What do you want?”
At my direct question, Count Broua finally broke into a wide grin.
“Isn’t that for you two to figure out?”
For a moment, Erik and I looked at each other. The moment Count Broua referred to us as ‘you two,’ we understood what he wanted.
He realized he held the casting vote and intended to make the king and Dresden compete, siding with whoever guaranteed him the greater profit.
‘The problem is, unlike Dresden, I have nothing more to offer.’
Contrary to Count Broua’s misconception, the king was not my backer. He seemed to interpret my inability to speak in a different way.
“I’ll give you a hint. I need a guarantee that the king won’t do the same to me after conquering Dresden.”
“Do you wish for the promise to be put in writing?”
“Isn’t there a more certain method?”
Count Broua smiled slyly. Something occurred to me. The fact that despite being a white-haired old man, he was quite the lecher.
“Don’t tell me…”
“I will make a promise. If you arrange a marriage between me and the princess, I will follow the king.”
“I assume the rock salt mines are included in this deal?”
“That goes without saying.”
His greed was beyond excessive. He must have judged that I would have no choice but to accept if I wanted to win. After all, you have to be alive to get revenge.
However, Count Broua had made one miscalculation: the king’s true intentions.
He mistakenly believed the king wanted to eliminate House Dresden, when in reality, he was only trying to help me.
That difference was huge.
‘How dare you covet what is mine?’
Count Broua also gave Erik a hint.
“If Dresden wants my help, they will have to cede Quaran.”
Erik’s face was calm, but his eyes burned with a fiery intensity.
As if a powerful margrave, a family with strong pride from their royal bloodline, would meekly accept such a humiliation.
I saw an opportunity in Count Broua’s excessive greed and the discord it created.
“You can’t decide right away, I suppose. Think it over while you participate in the jousting tournament.”
Count Broua dismissed us with a leisurely attitude.
Erik and I didn’t say a word until we left the inner castle. It was only after the servant who had seen us out had turned back that I spoke first.
“If this continues, Count Broua will be the one to profit from our conflict.”
“Isn’t this all because of the king’s greed?”
“To be precise, it’s my greed.”
Erik frowned.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I am the one who wants Dresden. The king is merely trying to help me.”
“How dare you…!”
Erik’s hand went to his sword. His aura was so fierce it seemed he would run me through at any moment.
Frankly, it was impressive he’d restrained himself this long. Was I not the mortal enemy of his sister, Adeleade? He must have been holding back because we were in front of Count Broua.
But I remained calm. Even if Erik was a powerhouse on par with Andrei, I was confident I could win.
Furthermore, Erik was a wise man who thought several times before acting. It meant he was someone I could reason with.
“To put it another way, even if I wanted Broua, the king would still help me.”
“…!”
The murderous intent vanished in an instant. Erik removed his hand from his sword and gave me a peculiar look.
“I would like to hear the details.”