The Whip and the Carrot

"By the way — that Anke's Dew. What if those tears had laid your own trail bare? That item tracks a person's killing intent, doesn't it? Which means the moment you betrayed Count Valte might have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠played out for everyone to see."

I put the question to Rienner after Viodelant had gone. She answered with a faint, knowing smile.

"Have you forgotten who I am?"

Ah. Right. She was the finest alchemist in Coulon County, and alchemists were specialists in elixirs. For all I knew, she had already anticipated that they would reach for Anke's Dew.

"Well. The situation has settled — publicly, at least."

"As long as House Valte still stands, I wouldn't call the weeds fully pulled. But moving against them right now would be a stretch."

I wanted to strike House Valte immediately, but the circumstances wouldn't allow it. The thing that mattered most right now was swallowing House Coulon whole.

Count Coulon's funeral ran for a full week. Rienner played the part of the devastated lady of the house to perfection. The Reiss Knights seethed as if they might march on House Valte at any moment, but she soothed them down. Stabilizing the family came first.

The instant the funeral ended, Rienner Coulon announced her engagement to me. For all practical purposes, Coulon County had fallen into my hands.

The announcement came so quickly that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the backlash was hardly small. We had a ready-made justification, though: the territory needed to be steadied, and as the wealthiest merchant in Coulon County, I was more than qualified to take Rienner's hand.

"Arme. Draw up a list of the ones making noise. Deal with them when the timing's right."

"You've got some twisted hobbies, Master."

The moment the engagement was announced, the quest finally cleared. This one had been to kill Count Coulon and seize Coulon Territory — high difficulty, which meant the reward ought to be worth looking forward to.

An S-rank item. The description's awfully thin, though.

For something calling itself armor, the BM Armor looked like a smartwatch — a bracelet, nothing more. But it was S-rank. However modest the shape, the effect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would be anything but.

I put it on at once. The moment the bracelet settled around my wrist, a small concentric-circle icon bloomed on the display. I tapped it.

S-rank or not, I couldn't use it yet. It felt like I'd been suckered by one of those shitty publishers that carves a single game into DLC and sells the pieces separately. My excitement went cold on the spot.

"Still, it's S-rank. Once I can actually use the thing, it'll be a jackpot. Hmm. I'll stash it for now."

I had no idea how the dedicated software was supposed to turn up, but I had a feeling it would find its way into my hands eventually.

News of my engagement to Rienner spread through Coulon County like a grassfire.

The announcement had come far too soon, but Rienner had spent years tending her public image, and the criticism was thinner than it might have been. There were even voices that pitied her. The opposite of Count Valte, who had been pointed at and spat on even after he was in the ground.

"She's always conducted herself so well — and now the Countess is already engaged? Losing her husband must have hit her terribly hard."

"That's how it is, isn't it? The better the marriage, the bigger the hole they leave. But what's going to become of House Coulon? Both sons dead, and now the head of the house too. They're in a real mess."

"I heard the man marrying in as a live-in son-in-law is that pig merchant."

"What? Why would the Countess take up with a lout like that? The man's notorious for his lechery — there's even a noble who stopped being a regular customer because of that godawful laugh of his. How did a match like that even happen?"

"They need the money, obviously. The last territorial war drained the family coffers, and the mythril mine development isn't going anywhere. Looking at it this way, it's like the Countess is being sold off."

From the outside, that was exactly what it looked like: Rienner being sold to me. It might have seemed strange that the lady of a house with such broad, wealthy lands would be sold at all — but House Coulon had recently spent a great deal of both strength and coin.

I preferred it that way. The blame that would have fallen on her could fall on me instead. To the people of the territory, Rienner had to remain an angel. I would be the devil.

Coulon County can grow several times over. Raise the taxes, expand the army, invade the neighboring fiefs. I'll wring the people dry and use them to develop this land.

From now on, the people of the territory would be parts in a machine built for its advancement. They would work themselves to death to pay their taxes, and they would take up spear and sword. Things had been too peaceful for too long.

Rienner needs to stay the angel, so she can soothe them. Publicly, the one exploiting them is me.

Angel and devil. Stick and carrot. Rienner would be the angel and the carrot. I would be the devil and the stick.

In truth, the entire plan to squeeze the people and develop the territory had been Rienner's. She had been drafting it for a long time.

"He was never the kind of lord who could have ruled that way. No matter how efficient a development plan I came up with, I could never say it out loud."

Her plan was vicious, and it was perfect — the product of years spent watching the territory as its lady.

The first step was a territorial restructuring: discard without mercy whatever was unnecessary, and take without fail whatever was required.

"From this moment on, Coulon Territory goes on a serious diet."

I was still only Rienner's fiancé, but in practice I already ruled the place. I was already giving orders to the castle servants as I pleased.

Not everyone in the castle obeyed, of course. Discontent spread in particular from the Reiss Knights — men long famous for mediocre skill and upright loyalty.

Time to make an example.

I summoned the Reiss Knights to their training grounds.

Knight Commander Paves came out with every man under his command. The Reiss Knights numbered twenty in all, Paves included. They gathered in the yard in full armor, and they looked at me with hard, sharp eyes.

Paves was a middle-aged knight with white hair streaming at his temples — a face I had seen more than once during the territorial war. He stepped forward on behalf of the order.

"It's been a while, Sir Paves."

"Lord Walker. We are sincerely grateful that you extended a hand when Coulon was in crisis. The Reiss Knights have not forgotten the debt we owe you from that time."

"For men who haven't forgotten, your attitude has been remarkably impure. I've heard that lately you've been stirring up the household and encouraging them to raise a banner against me."

"It is not a banner. We have merely spoken as knights, according to our convictions. The present head of House Coulon is Lady Rienner. And yet you have been issuing orders to the castle servants as if you were already master of the house. That is a grave overreach of authority."

"I am Rienner's husband. As you say, I will be master of this castle soon enough."

"That remains to be seen. And even if it were so…"

Paves looked at me with a fierce, unblinking gaze. There was not a trace of intimidation in him.

"The Reiss Knights are Count Coulon's knights. We are not Lord Walker's knights."

"You are the house's knights. When the master changes, the object of your loyalty changes with him — isn't that obvious? I like a dog that wags its tail for me. A mad dog I can't control is the last thing I want."

I dropped into informal speech with him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His brow twitched hard. His hand looked ready to find the hilt of his sword.

"In my judgment, Lord Walker, you are not qualified to become master of a house as storied as Coulon."

The words had barely left his mouth before the knights standing behind him raised their voices as one.

"He's right! The Count was a just and righteous lord. You're nothing but a merchant who cares only for coin!"

"The servants are already talking. There are even testimonies that you've been going around the castle forcing yourself on the maids!"

"I will not kneel to a commoner without a drop of noble blood — and a slave trader, at that!"

Not forcing. They were willing.

I looked over the knights airing their grievances. Well. I had been planning to replace the Reiss Knights eventually anyway.

These bastards weren't even particularly strong. Most of them were Sword User class. Paves, the commander, was a Sword Expert — which, put simply, meant even he could be cleaned up at Sera's level. I pointed at the three knights who had spoken against me.

"You three. Step forward."

"Ugh! We will not take your orders! A merchant of dubious origin—!"

"I don't know what trick you used to bewitch the lady of the house, but we are Coulon's loyal swords! We are not some outsider's weapons!"

"If you won't come out, I'll handle it myself."

I stretched out a hand toward them.

Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.

Three arrows of darkness punched through their skulls. The distance was too short to dodge, and more than that, it was a surprise attack. The three knights died in an instant. The color drained from the faces of the others.

"W-what is this—!"

"He really is a madman!"

"Draw your swords!"

The knights pulled steel on me. I had no use for a dog that bit its master. I clapped my hands.

"Sera."

"Yeees~"

Sera dropped out of the sky with a thud. She had been waiting in the trees for my order the entire time. Paves leveled his blade at me, biting down on his lip.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"When a dog bites its master, you slaughter it. A knight's duty is loyalty to his lord. You don't need to think about anything complicated. You just need to take my orders."

"You're insane! Do you think you'll walk away from this unharmed?"

"The knight order was on the chopping block anyway. Trash who became knights through connections and never had a shred of ambition. You were so pathetically weak that Count Coulon had to bow his head to an outsider like me just to keep his own territory."

"You madman! To insult our lord—! Even if I'm punished for treason, I cannot forgive this! You will regret this in hell!"

Count Coulon must have been a decent man, if he still had knights willing to throw their lives away for him after he was dead.

I wasn't envious in the slightest, though. For one thing, these bastards were far too weak. Or rather — the growth of me and my women had simply left them in another dimension.

"Sera. Handle it."

"Can I just kill them? Won't that make things worse?"

"I was going to get rid of all of them anyway. Rienner wants a stronger knight order too."

"Well, if that's what Master wants."

Sera, still in her maid uniform, raised her claws. Blue mana gathered along the blades.

"That maid! She's no ordinary opponent! Watch her!"

A sphere of darkness, packed tight as a rubber ball into a single point, launched toward the knights. It detonated in their midst and smashed the bodies of the five nearest men apart like stale crackers. The knights around them took damage as well.

"Ghk—!"

"Gyaaah! This movement— what the hell is she!?"

"Swords up! That maid is fast!"

It took Sera less than ten minutes to butcher them. I was reminded, all over again, of just how much she had grown.

At this rate, tearing down House Valte would be easy too.

Coulon was a backwater even within the Myles Kingdom, which was itself a backwater of the continent. I had grown strong enough, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quickly enough, to take a territory of this size. A considerable achievement — but our final goal was the Moon Clan, a people on a different plane from the humans of this continent. Growth like this was nothing to be satisfied with.

"Good. Let's head back."

I called Rienner and told her the Reiss Knights had been dealt with. She nodded as if she had just received a routine report.

"That saves me the trouble. Their skill wasn't worth the salary. I was hoping to clear them out sooner rather than later."

"The knight order will be vacant for a while, though. Anyone in mind?"

"There are a few candidates, but none of them are quite to my taste. I'd like to choose the next order as carefully as possible. I'll need to think on it."

"And what do we tell the dead knights' families?"

"We'll fabricate it as deaths in a monster subjugation. The regular culling season happens to be now."

"If the entire order died on a subjugation, people will get suspicious."

"We say they encountered a Blue Ogre during the hunt and fought it."

The Blue Ogre was the field boss in this area — a monster strong enough that Sera and I would have to work together to bring it down. If we said a Blue Ogre had wiped out the knight order, it wouldn't sound too strange.

And even if it did sound strange, money and power would paper it over. Thanks to me, House Coulon had filled the hole in its coffers, and within Coulon County it now wielded power without limit.

"Good. Everything's falling into place."

"I've been working so very hard, you know. So… give me a reward."

Rienner flushed like a maiden and bowed her head toward me. I took hold of her hair and shoved my cock into her mouth the way you'd use an onahole. She loved it when I was this rough with her.