Adapting to the New Reality
"The trouble that knight caused is ultimately the lord's responsibility. I do not know how much alcohol and food he took, but I will pay for it on his behalf."
I had the money. I also had the power to take political responsibility.
"We will write off the missing soldier as a simple administrative error. I will not pursue this matter further."
"T-Thank you so much!"
"If that knight ever tries to oppress you to keep you quiet, I will personally punish whoever is responsible. Do not worry about that."
"Understood, my lord!"
Knights operating in the field were bound to make mistakes, no matter how benevolent their rule. It was impossible to control the emotions of every single knight in urgent situations.
"Aside from that, have the tax collectors or local administrators forced you to do anything unusual?"
"W-Well, that is..."
"Speak freely. If it is within my power to resolve, I will do whatever it takes."
Under normal circumstances, they would never have trusted a few words from me so blindly, let alone expose the corruption of their superiors. They wouldn't have shared the pain the village was suffering.
But at this very moment, looking at me face-to-face, I was a god to them. I was someone they trusted more than any friend or family member.
For a few hours, I easily resolved the village's problems. I didn't do anything extreme; I simply used common sense and reasonable arguments that anyone could agree with.
Yet, the villagers who received my judgment and mediation looked at me with tears streaming down their faces.
"T-Thank you! I never imagined Hans was going through such a difficult situation..."
"There are things that can only be understood through conversation."
This was a rural village. While I couldn't say there was absolutely zero extreme crime or deep-seated malice that required bloodshed to resolve, most fights and disputes began from petty emotional conflicts.
And I was able to create the kind of ideal resolution a schoolteacher would dream of—one where two fighting parties held hands and reconciled through honest dialogue.
They opened their hearts and understood each other's circumstances. It didn't require complex methods or a long time. It became possible simply because I offered a couple of empty words of empathy.
It was the result of my overwhelming Charm stat—an ability no different from a conditional hypnosis app.
"I must move on to the next village now. There are still many places left to visit."
"M-May you live a long and healthy life, Young Master Edrin!"
"Thank you."
"With a successor like you, Count Wilhelm will surely be able to rest in peace. Truly..."
"Yes. And one last thing..."
I slowly swept my gaze over the villagers, who were looking at me with eyes bordering on worship.
"Another lord's army might march upon this land, or monsters might attack from the forest. But no matter the circumstances, I will never abandon you."
"We believe you!"
They were empty words, but when people believed them, language began to manifest actual power.
Even if the fiefdom fell into danger, these people would not easily side with another lord. They wouldn't surrender unless absolutely forced to, and even if they did, they wouldn't actively cooperate with the enemy.
"Urgh..."
The female knight, Selen, bit her lower lip as she watched my actions.
She might not like it, but she couldn't stop me. I wasn't spreading bad rumors about Irene, nor was I mistreating the villagers.
Although she was a knight Irene had planted to monitor me, as long as I did nothing wrong, she could only watch my actions in helpless silence.
"Thank you. I shall see you all again."
"I-It was an honor, Lord!"
"I am not the lord yet. You may still call me Young Master."
As I climbed into the carriage, the waiting soldiers moved in perfect unison.
I had a lot of work to do. Having been bedridden for a year, quite a few people must have forgotten about me.
It was time to let them know who the next lord would be.
"Uggghhh..."
Irene let out a low groan. A knight wearing a red helmet shouted.
"Sir Irene, you must make a decision! Hasn't that scoundrel foolishly stepped outside the castle walls?"
"Sigh..."
The red-haired female knight's sigh grew deeper. However, the meaning behind it was slightly different.
If her first sigh was close to despair over an 'utterly unsolvable situation,' her next sigh was closer to the grim reality of 'having to work with such fools.'
Shaking her head, Irene looked at the knights before her with a look of affectionate pity.
Right. A knight only needs to be good at fighting. What good does it do to think too much?
Letting out a heavy sigh, Irene began to explain the situation to them.
"What decision do you want me to make? Should we just kill Edrin?"
"I know it is a difficult choice. But if we drag our feet like this, won't that scoundrel end up taking over the fiefdom?"
"Watch your mouth! If what you just said leaks out, what do you think the other vassals will think of us?!"
Edrin was a high-ranking noble. There was a massive gulf between him and an ordinary knight.
But because he had lain bedridden like a corpse for a year, the knights and castle servants had felt free to badmouth him.
They had assumed he was going to die anyway. He was a man who hadn't woken up even after receiving the finest medicine and the healing of devout priests.
But that was no longer the case.
"Do you really not know who Edrin took with him?"
"If it is Sir Selen... isn't she a knight who will ultimately side with you, Sir Irene? She is quite skilled, of course, but if you persuade her personally, she will cooperate."
"That is not the point. Don't tell me you don't know who Sir Selen's father is?"
The knights of the fiefdom were, in a sense, a rising faction that had grown rapidly over the past few years.
Amid the chaotic situation where monsters rose up and rebellions and criminal organizations crossed into Arcteria, Irene had selected the best fighters among the soldiers and appointed them as knights, regardless of their social status.
They were strong, but there was an unbridgeable wall between them and the traditional noble vassals.
"Sir Selen's father... I know he is a man of high standing, but..."
And Selen was one of the few knights who was both highly skilled and from a noble family, all while pledging her loyalty to Irene.
In truth, she was the bridge connecting the vassals and the knights.
"Selen is currently escorting Edrin. No matter how cleanly we succeed, I would have no choice but to hold Selen responsible."
If Edrin had filled his escort with his own men, it wouldn't have been impossible to play crazy, disguise themselves as bandits, and attack them.
But with Selen acting as his escort, they would have to share the blame either way. Selen would be thrown into prison, and while she might respect that decision, her father certainly would not.
The link to the traditional vassals would be severed, and Irene would be left to fight alone.
Since Selen was close to Irene, she might even connect the dots and realize Irene was behind it.
"But... if we just steel our resolve and eliminate Lord Edrin, won't you be the only one left to become the lord, Sir Irene?"
"Is that what you think?"
If the world were just a little more peaceful, Irene might have thought the same.
If she could just get rid of Edrin—whether by killing him, or if not that, by locking him in a tower or sending him away to become a priest—she could take the position of family head, even if she had to suppress some backlash.
"I-Is it not?"
"No. Absolutely not."
She had no regrets. If it weren't for these troubled times, Irene wouldn't have had the opportunity to accumulate such military achievements in the first place, and Edrin would have naturally become the family head.
However, betraying the trust of the vassals right now was a highly dangerous move.
"Would those people still serve the Silverline family if things came to that?"
At Irene's weary question, the knights' expressions turned to shock.
"That is..."
"Those bastards in the Black Armor to the north are watching us. Even if we do nothing, some people will waver. What do you think will happen if rumors spread that we killed Edrin?"
To think, 'Would they really betray the lord they served and do such a thing?' was, in Irene's eyes, far too naive.
"The situation hasn't turned against us just yet, so let's not stress too much."
In the end, it was merely a census. Even if Edrin completed the task perfectly, it wouldn't change the grand scheme of things.
Yet, the reason the knights were acting so hastily was because they knew all too well that if time simply passed peacefully without any incidents, they would ultimately be at a disadvantage.
"Internal power struggles are important, but what is happening outside the fiefdom matters more. If we waste our strength fighting among ourselves, the entire territory will be swallowed whole."
"But..."
"No 'buts'!"
Still, Irene couldn't help but feel tense herself.
What on earth is he plotting...
She knew that the 'changed Edrin' she had met face-to-face was not someone who would be satisfied with just this.