Worse than an Orc
"Your Majesty. However..."
"Ah, I told you I'm not doing it! Capturing Count Marchetti, threatening his knights and the mercenaries inside to force their surrender, plundering the county's treasures, and then executing the Count..."
"...W-we didn't describe it in that much detail."
The Noble Vanguard was flustered! It was a highly specific scenario, as if he had rehearsed it a hundred times in his head!
The Noble Vanguard's affinity has increased significantly!
Your reputation with the Noble Vanguard has increased significantly!
Emperor Uipoatl will be highly satisfied upon hearing this report.
......
"No, that's not what we meant. If Count Marchetti comes out, shouldn't we shut that demon up first?"
"What? Kill him?"
Tae-hyun looked at the Noble Vanguard with an expression that said, Aren't you guys going too far?
Of course, the Noble Vanguard didn't back down. They stared back at Tae-hyun with expressions that said, Aren't you the one going too far, Your Majesty?
"No, we just meant to make him quiet..."
The Noble Vanguard's affinity has greatly...
......
Carbanog says he can't tell if they are nobles or gangsters.
His affinity and reputation rose steadily whenever he acted like a tyrant! In a way, they were a perfect match. The problem was that he was currently deceiving Uipoatl, so their relationship was bound to sour eventually!
"Ah, right. I should quiet him down."
He couldn't have a conversation with Count Marchetti while a demon was screaming in the background.
— Hey. You'd better shut up.
— Shut up! You defeated piece of trash!
— How dare you? If you met me in the Demon Realm, you wouldn't even be able to lift your head!
Gusion glared at Jukenen in anger. He had given him advice out of goodwill!
Well, he'll break in a few days anyway.
Demons were a race fueled by pride. They wouldn't break just from being beaten a few times or having their blood drawn. They needed a taste of Akisus to snap out of it!
Demons do not surrender. They only get Akisus-ed.
Come to think of it, that's more profitable.
Gusion nodded. If Jukenen struggled more, more energy would be extracted, and Gusion would get to rest in peace!
— Kuaaaah...! Kuaah! You dwarves! Stop this at once! My master, Lord Edaor, will soon return from the Demon Realm! When he does, you are all dead meat!
— Foolish bastard. Not the Demon Realm, but the very bottom of the abyss!
— No! Don't talk nonsense!
— Your master got beaten to a pulp by Akisus! You didn't even know that?
— No! Kuaaaah!
"Why is that guy so energetic?"
"Hmm. Level 3 isn't enough. Raise it to Level 4!"
"Wait! That's a bit much!"
"He's sturdy, so he can handle Level 4."
The dwarves whispered and cranked up the device.
"Your Majesty."
"Count."
"Let's slit his throat!"
"...You guys, go over there."
Tae-hyun waved off the Noble Vanguard. What if Count Marchetti heard them!
Anyway, Tae-hyun and Count Marchetti met in front of the castle.
"Thank you for coming all this way."
"Of course. It was only natural."
Ah. Should I actually capture him?
Since the Noble Vanguard kept tempting him, Tae-hyun was starting to waver. Honestly, it seemed doable!
The public sentiment of the county? It had been at rock bottom ever since Count Marchetti cleared out and burned all the outer villages to block the Guild Alliance. If Tae-hyun took over, the people would immediately pledge absolute loyalty!
The Count's knights and mercenaries? Right now, the Count was riding a horse, facing Tae-hyun up close. He had a few escort knights behind him, but they could easily be subdued.
Carbanog tells you to snap out of it. He says doing that will make you a real tyrant.
'Was I actually a tyrant all along?'
[Slap! Slap!]
Carbanog desperately stopped Tae-hyun. Even to a divine beast, this was crossing the line!
The moment he captured a noble who came out to negotiate and snatched his territory, the other nobles would look at Tae-hyun in absolute horror. He was already struggling to cover up Count Bolone's assassination; this would be completely unmanageable!
"Your Majesty. I have realized one thing."
"What? That you must fight me?"
"No. Your Majesty is the rightful King of the Atali Kingdom!"
"Huh?"
"Even though I behaved rudely, Your Majesty personally led an army to stop the demon! You are indeed the true King!"
"Well, um..."
A statement that slightly pricked his conscience, considering he was thinking about slitting the man's throat just a moment ago!
"Please accept my oath of fealty!"
Count Marchetti pledges his loyalty!
Taxes will now be collected from Marchetti County.
You can mobilize troops from Marchetti County in times of emergency.
You can borrow Count Marchetti's order of knights.
The current economic state of Marchetti County is Low.
The current condition of Marchetti County's residents is Low...
The current public security of Marchetti County is...
The culture is also...
Basically, everything is Low.
'......'
Carbanog suggests just quietly assassinating him.
Tae-hyun and Carbanog were speechless after seeing the state of the territory. What a lunatic...! How could anyone manage a territory like this? He made Dong Zhuo look like a saint! Except for military power, everything was at the lowest grade! Even when Tae-hyun first received his empty territory, it was in better shape than this. The Count had clearly poured all his money into the knights and mercenaries while completely ignoring everything else! That's why he came up with the crazy tactic of burning down his own villages when the Guild Alliance approached!
"Count Marchetti... how... do you manage your citizens?"
"Pardon? Aren't they just creatures who pay taxes on their own if you leave them alone?"
"Like, developing agriculture or commerce..."
"Isn't that something the common rabble should figure out on their own?"
"No, if you don't do those things, it becomes hard to collect taxes..."
"If I raise taxes, the money just magically appears, though?"
"......"
Tae-hyun felt a sense of dread. Was this guy a ticking time bomb?
The Noble Vanguard listening nearby nodded in admiration.
"What a splendid noble."
"I almost regret suggesting we assassinate him."
"Indeed. There are still nobles of true spirit in the Atali Kingdom!"
"...Right. Anyway, thank you for your oath of fealty. Ah. What about the Guild Alliance... I mean, the wicked, disgusting, despicable, and filthy assassins of Count Bolone who colluded with the demon?"
"Some of them broke through our encirclement and escaped, so we are currently pursuing them."
"Oh... they broke through?"
Tae-hyun was surprised. Well, there were so many rankers, so if they pooled their strength, they could easily carve out an escape route!
'Should I suggest they plunder another territory?'
Carbanog says that unless the Guild Alliance is completely insane, they won't accept that proposal.
After suffering such a harsh defeat, if they still lingered in the Atali Kingdom, they really were crazy.
'No, they might accept it out of lingering regret.'
- Hey, Su Ning.
Currently, whispers are blocked...
He had blocked him a long time ago!
'Hmm. I should ask Alcott.'
Tae-hyun immediately contacted Alcott. How's the Guild Alliance doing right now?
Alcott kindly sent a long, detailed summary.
'What? That makes no sense.'
Carbanog is also bewildered.
He expected them to be cursing his ancestors by now. But from the Guild Alliance's perspective, it was only natural. This incident wasn't really Tae-hyun's fault!
They were dragged around because Count Marchetti did something crazy, they fell into a trap because Count Marchetti was waiting for them, and their damage was worsened because of some demon NPC named Jukenen. Tae-hyun's hand wasn't visible in any of this.
'Well, Count Marchetti clearing out his territory wasn't my doing.'
Even though I did everything else!
Thanks to that, despite getting thrashed, the atmosphere in the Guild Alliance wasn't at its absolute worst.
"We couldn't help it this time! We were just too unlucky!"
"At least we weren't tricked by Kim Tae-hyun this time, so let's take comfort in that!"
"We did achieve some results! We secured some gold, so we can manage the immediate aftermath!"
They had gathered some loot before getting wiped out, so the guild wouldn't dissolve immediately. For a giant organization like the Guild Alliance, just maintaining it cost an astronomical amount of money. But they could catch their breath now!
With the western faction splitting off and internal strife brewing, they had somehow managed to stabilize things. They even saved face.
During the escape, the rankers received looks of admiration like, "Wow, the rankers really know what they're doing," and Su Ning also got some credit: "Su Ning did pretty well too."
The guild members' trust, which had hit rock bottom, recovered just a tiny bit!
"By the way, why are there so many Kim Tae-hyun statues?"
"There were so many of them in the territory. They looked expensive, so we had to take them."
"They bring bad luck. Can't we just throw them away?"
"Do you know how much these are worth...? And honestly, I think Kim Tae-hyun statues will sell for a high price. Let's hold onto them."
"True, Kim Tae-hyun-related items are surprisingly expensive on the auction house. There are a lot of weirdos in the world."
"Did you see someone selling 'Silver Arrows Crafted by Kim Tae-hyun' separately?"
"I even saw someone selling 'Bombs Crafted by Kim Tae-hyun' for quadruple the price."
"Then let's hold onto them a bit longer before selling. They might fetch a premium."
"Let's put them in the warehouse. Ugh, they're so damn heavy. What's even inside them?"
"Count Marchetti. First of all... you must not expel the residents just because they cannot pay taxes."
"What!? Why on earth not?!"
Count Marchetti was genuinely shocked!
"...Because if the residents disappear, there won't be anyone left to pay even a small amount next time."
"T-that...! Don't they just spawn on their own?"
'Is this bastard an Orc?'
Tae-hyun was shocked once again. A noble was thinking exactly like an Orc!
Kim Tae-san used to lament at home sometimes:
The Orcs' advantages were sturdy physical abilities and fast reproduction. The disadvantage was... their brains and personalities!
If an Orc could count and read, they were considered extremely intelligent. Such Orcs would join the chieftain's royal guard or be raised as shamans.
Thanks to this, even though Kim Tae-san became the Great Chieftain of Uruk, he managed the region very simply.
He just let the chieftains manage their own clans and let them loose!
No, come to think of it, even the Orc chieftains fed their subordinates when they were hungry and gave them gear when they were naked. In other words, Count Marchetti was worse than an Orc!
Tae-hyun had a headache. Throwing him away was a waste since he was a noble NPC who had pledged fealty, but keeping him was highly worrying.
An incompetent ally is scarier than an enemy!
'Well, it's hard to throw him away anyway...'
Since Count Marchetti had bowed down, assassinating him now would be too risky. Besides, the scapegoats had already fled to the Auston Kingdom!
In the end, there was only one answer.
Turning Count Marchetti into a proper count!
Carbanog says that people don't change.
'Whew, Carbanog. I thought so too... but there is a counterexample.'
...?
'Look at Cain.'
!!!