Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Great Plucking (1)
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Meursault had won.
The subjugation of the orc horde in the Northern Region.
House Meursault's expedition had been a resounding success.
As the victors marched in triumph, people showered them with flowers.
From the outer walls to the inner citadel, crowds lined the streets in long queues, cheering and blessing the heroes.
But Federback wasn't swept up in the victorious mood.
"How much damage did we take?"
"Not much, from what I've heard. Just a few villages plundered..."
The maid following behind answered.
Her tone suggested it was no big deal.
It wasn't that the maids were heartless. This was simply the mindset of people in the North.
Monster raids and the civilian casualties they caused were commonplace here.
But Federback knew better.
'The petty thieves will start stirring now.'
This incident would spur the North's mangy dogs into action.
'Around five of them, probably.'
Federback quietly ran his hand over the sword at his waist.
It would soon be stained with dog blood.
The expedition passed through the castle gates and returned to the mansion.
The house's knights and soldiers were weary and bloodied, but in this moment, they looked happier than ever.
"Those damn orcs. Must've felt good tearing into our kin."
"We paid them back tenfold. That should suffice."
"Long live Meursault! Long live Patriarch Soleil!"
"This victory is thanks in part to the Young Master sharing intel on the orcs."
"True enough! Long live Young Master Federback!"
But the festive mood faded the deeper they ventured into the castle grounds.
Where merits were being debated.
Sharp voices were already echoing from there.
"Are you satisfied now?"
The atmosphere was grim.
Patriarch Soleil and Meursault's direct kin faced off against Administrator Yuda and the bureaucrats.
"Satisfied?"
"Three hundred tons of grain rations. Ten dead. Thirty wounded. Are you satisfied with that outcome?"
Administrator Yuda spat as he pressed them.
The knights' faces soured.
They hadn't even shed their blood-soaked armor yet.
Soleil sighed and spoke.
"Yuda, the merit debate isn't even over."
"Merit debate? There has to be merit first for that. Didn't I warn you the losses would outweigh the gains? You were so stubborn, and now... tsk tsk."
Yuda scanned the knights as he spoke.
His attitude was like a parent scolding disobedient children.
Soleil's expression hardened.
"Our forces won. We slaughtered over a thousand orcs and took their chieftain's head. Isn't that achievement enough?"
"And you call that a victory? Against mere orcs?"
Yuda smirked bitterly, raising a single finger.
"Ten myriad gold."
"Ten myriad gold?"
Yuda nodded.
"The deficit from this expedition."
"That's an exaggeration. It's absurd. That's our house's entire yearly income."
"Hearing you'd lead the expedition yourself must've worried Viscount Levarb of the neighboring territory. He sent a letter demanding immediate repayment. When we're already struggling to make ends meet, why push for such a reckless venture..."
Yuda clicked his tongue.
Soleil shook his head in disbelief.
"No way. We only borrowed three myriad gold."
"That's why compound interest is so fearsome. I've held it off on my own as long as I could, but it's reached its limit. Tsk tsk. Hunting worthless orcs yields not a single grain of profit. Why won't you heed my advice, Patriarch?"
Yuda pounded his chest in frustration.
Then he bellowed, eyes bulging.
"Come next year, famine victims will swarm the territory! There's only one way to stop it!"
Soleil furrowed his brow as he listened to Yuda.
He hated to admit it, but Yuda was clever.
Skilled in intrigue, he wielded considerable cunning in administration and finance.
The problem was that it served mostly his own interests.
"What's this method?"
At Soleil's question, Yuda bowed his head and replied.
"Lease Meurso Mountain—House Meursault's ancestral gravesite—to House Levarb for ten years."
"What?"
Soleil gaped at Yuda's response.
Meurso Mountain was the Meursaults' ancestral resting place.
Yuda was suggesting they hand over the mountain where their forebears lay—to another house.
"House Levarb wants to clear it entirely and open a new trade route."
House Levarb was renowned for commerce and usury.
They had once been one of the North's sword houses, a vassal to Meursault.
But at some point, they'd traded swords for ledgers.
Even so, to raze their lord's ancestral mountain? What madness.
Soleil asked incredulously.
"Hand over our family's gravesite to another house? To former vassals, no less?"
"When we're starving, who cares about lord and vassal? Such outdated notions went out decades ago. These days, whoever has the money is lord. Status and titles mean nothing before gold. Next you'll trot out the scholar-farmer-artisan-merchant hierarchy."
"That's not the same thing! Speak sense, Administrator Yuda!"
"Then will you just sit back and watch our people starve?"
At that moment.
"Father."
Someone interjected into the conversation.
"It's not even worth debating."
Cardina Meursault.
Yuda flinched briefly at the eldest daughter's entrance.
Then Cardina fixed him with a cold stare from her one remaining eye.
"We can't yield Meurso Mountain. Beyond it being our ancestral site, it's a strategic high ground overlooking the citadel's inner structure."
"Oh? Then does the young lady have a way to procure ten myriad gold?"
"We'll find a way somehow. But yielding the gravesite is out of the question. Don't overstep."
"Young lady, I'm merely doing my utmost for House Meursault. How do you plan to repay House Levarb? You can't counter adult logic with childish tantrums."
"Tantrums? Is that what you just called me?"
Cardina's hand went to her sword hilt.
Yuda sweated coldly but held his ground.
With no realistic way to raise ten myriad gold, she couldn't touch him.
As expected.
"......"
Cardina scowled but didn't draw.
Yuda pressed further, provoking her.
"If Meurso Mountain is truly unacceptable, well... It's not impossible to raise the gold. If the young lady is prepared to sacrifice herself for the house."
"Sacrifice? What kind?"
"I've heard House Levarb has plenty of aging bachelors. A good match could secure a dowry of ten myriad gold easily..."
But he didn't finish.
Unable to endure, Cardina drew her sword.
"So you're saying I should whore myself out for ten myriad gold?"
"Eek!? N-No, young lady, that's not what I meant! Please calm down..."
Yuda, who'd been pushing boundaries, panicked.
Right then.
"Hold."
A cold voice froze everyone.
Thud—thud—thud—
Federback strode forward from the castle gates.
"Patriarch."
All eyes turned to him instantly.
Soleil called out.
"Son, you've come to greet us."
"Yes. I have something to say."
Federback scanned the room.
To the right: Soleil and Cardina at the head of Meursault's direct and collateral kin.
To the left: Administrator Yuda leading the house's parasites.
In this divided standoff, Federback sided with the left.
"This time, Administrator Yuda is right. A debt must be repaid."
"......!"
Everyone's eyes widened.
Cardina shouted.
"What did you just say...!"
"Hold."
Soleil stopped his daughter.
He gestured for Federback to continue.
Federback pressed on.
"While you were on expedition, Patriarch, I used your seal to open the document vault. After closely reviewing the contracts, I confirmed we owe ten myriad gold."
"Heh heh, the Young Master siding with me? Unexpected."
Yuda sidled up to Federback, nodding.
Federback continued.
"A debt must be repaid. Dodging it would be the petty thief's way."
"Petty thief?! And you! What are you saying? Whose side are you...!"
Cardina stepped forward again.
Her face showed shock and betrayal.
Soleil watched Federback silently.
Then Federback spoke again.
"So we must notify House Levarb. Tell them to repay their debt."
"Exactly! House Levarb must repay the...?"
Yuda, nodding beside him, paused in confusion.
"Young Master, repay to House Levarb? You must be mistaken... We owe them. They're the creditors."
"As I said, while you were away, I used the seal to inspect the vault. And found this."
Federback lied.
What he was about to reveal wasn't from the house's document vault.
It was something he'd quietly retrieved from the house's secret vault.
Rustle—
It was a very old sheet of parchment.
Its contents read as follows.
A contract written in ancestral blood and magical ink.
The genuine original, sealed against forgery by Magic Tower mages.
Moreover, it bore the imperial seal affirming the emperor's endorsement.
With the imperial seal, denying it risked charges of treason.
"....... ....... ......"
Administrator Yuda gaped, jaw slack.
Federback stepped forward and declared.
"Now, I'll collect from those petty thieves. With compound interest."