Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Sir Seilun's Return to Burgos
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The easternmost edge of the Obran Kingdom's northeast region could be called Burgos.
Though it was nominally a direct territory with an administrator, unlike other direct county towns where the capital dispatched officials, it was such an insignificant place that local notables took turns handling the role.
If not for the famous mystery spot known as the "Dragon's Wasteland" right next door, there probably wouldn't even have been an administrator. They would have just dumped it on some nearby pushover lord.
From ancient times, the Dragon's Wasteland had such a notorious reputation (though there hadn't been any major threats for decades) that no ordinary lord could handle it, so it was kept as a direct territory with annual support from the capital.
The fact that a backwater like Burgos had a population in the thousands was also because it was a relatively low-tax, stable direct territory.
In any case, Burgos didn't see many visitors aside from the rare brave (or insane) knights and adventurers seeking the Dragon's Wasteland.
But last year, Burgos underwent a massive change because of one person.
* * *
"Sir Seilun is coming!"
"Sir Seilun? Who's that?"
"What!? You don't even know the name of the man who paid your salary every month? And now he's about to become His Excellency the Governor of Burgos? Beat this fool senseless!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
One day, a collateral royal who appeared in Burgos and invested more than half of the town's annual budget.
Not only the current administrator but every notable in Burgos who had any say had received investment from Sir Seilun.
Farmlands, breweries, smithies, inns, pubs—money from Sir Seilun poured into every field imaginable.
Sir Seilun, with the true magnanimity of royalty, valued Burgos's businesses at the level of central direct territories.
In Korean terms, it was like appraising a hole-in-the-wall shop in a rural Gangwon-do township as if it were a convenience store in a major city and investing accordingly.
The Burgos notables couldn't help but cry out their loyalty.
Of course, it wasn't as if there were no gutsy idiots in Burgos bold enough to try swallowing Sir Seilun's investment money whole.
However, the monthly reports from the Burgos branch of the intelligence guild acting on Sir Seilun's behalf instantly erased such fools' courage and turned them back into ordinary mortals.
And now, that very Sir Seilun was returning to Burgos.
Not as one of the many collaterals of the royal family (though he had been the grim reaper in Burgos), but as the temporary governor appointed directly by the capital.
Not just Burgos, but the entire northeast region buzzed with excitement.
"Oh! My pride! Burgos's pride! The northeast's...."
"Stop there."
"Yes, sir."
At Sion's single word, Administrator Schwartz, who had been bounding over like a clown, froze in place.
Yet even then, his lips twitched nonstop as he glanced slyly, clearly thrilled to see Sion.
'Well, he's done a decent job, all things considered.'
"How have you been, Administrator Schwartz?"
Sion smiled faintly at the administrator, who had handled exactly as much work as expected—not too much, not too little (in other words, he'd skimmed just the right amount).
At that, Administrator Schwartz's pursed lips split into a wide grin.
"Ugh-huh-huh-huk! Your Excellency the Governor!"
Sion was taken aback by the man's outright sobbing.
"Come now, wipe your tears."
"Sniff! I have no face to show you, Your Excellency. To make such a shameful display the first time we meet in so long. Snort!"
Wiping his tears with the handkerchief Sion offered and even blowing his nose heartily into it, Administrator Schwartz neatly folded it and handed it back.
Sion had zero intention of reusing a handkerchief stained with a middle-aged man's yellow snot, so he pinched it carefully between thumb and forefinger and set it on the edge of the table.
"These things happen to everyone. But has something happened?"
"Sigh! Well, you see...."
Administrator Schwartz began explaining with a sigh of lament.
Just like other regions, monsters had started proliferating more and more in the northeast lately.
Burgos hadn't paid it much mind at first.
As a direct territory at the northeast edge, it had more soldiers and mercenaries than most places, and monsters typically targeted small villages rather than approaching a town of thousands like Burgos.
But as days passed, the situation grew increasingly strange.
Virtually all the minor territories began scrambling for mercenaries, and Burgos couldn't escape the ripple effects.
The mercenaries, sensing a boom and a chance to cash in, left in droves—dozens every few days—and before a month had passed, most of the mercenaries registered in Burgos had scattered to various parts of the northeast.
The mercenaries boomed, but recession hit Burgos.
"That much was fine. With Your Excellency's investments, I figured we could hold out for a few months. But right after sending the official dispatch to the capital in response to Duke Lloyd's message...."
Upon receiving an order from the colossal figure second in line to the throne to report in detail what "Sir Seilun" had done for Burgos, Administrator Schwartz had written the dispatch in a way that puffed Sion up as much as possible.
It was only natural—Burgos's biggest investor was chummy with someone who might become the next king.
Plus, he felt smug thinking he'd snagged a great connection, enough to briefly forget his woes from the downturn.
That was up until exactly ten days ago.
"Ten days ago, the rangers first spotted orcs on the north side of the wasteland. Confirmed warriors from Orcland."
Burgos originally had no rangers.
But one of the conditions Sion had set when investing a fortune was to send search parties of at least eight into the Dragon's Wasteland up to ten kilometers every day, and Administrator Schwartz had faithfully complied.
The reason Sion had insisted on that condition was partly to monitor any increase in monsters in the wasteland ahead of time, but also to prepare in case a "user" appeared in what was clearly a "quest zone."
And now, out of nowhere, orcs had shown up.
"Orcs all the way here?"
"Yes. It was far off, but there were six of them. The moment they spotted our soldiers, they headed back north. Our boys hightailed it back too."
"And then?"
"We immediately doubled the search party size from ten to twenty and sent them out twice a day, morning and afternoon, instead of once. Anyway, we didn't spot any for the next five days after that.
But four days ago, over thirty orcs approached within the ten-kilometer zone. We put all forces on high alert and sent official dispatches to nearby lords right away. But, but...."
"They all ignored it, too busy with their own problems."
"Ugh! Yes! Everyone except Logos Territory! They all ignored it outright!"
A direct territory was like a head office-run branch (the capital), and the administrator was the branch manager.
So, when the branch manager of a head office branch yells "Help!" to subsidiary company CEOs (hole-in-the-wall shops invisible to HQ), they at least had to pretend to listen.
Otherwise, the branch manager might tattle to HQ's chairman, and how an angry chairman would deal with those shops was obvious.
Yet the shop CEOs had collectively snubbed the branch manager.
And now, the head office's special project team leader for that branch—not just anyone, but the branch's top whale client—had appeared before the branch manager.
For Administrator Schwartz, the branch manager, it was only natural that all his pent-up fear and resentment exploded at once.
"Don't worry, Administrator."
"Ah...!"
"The orcs the rangers encountered were probably a tribe pushed out of Orcland. Or... no."
Sion shook his head, deciding it was best not to voice the rest.
From Sion's experience, orcs traveling in groups of twenty or thirty meant one of two things.
As mentioned, a tribe desperately fleeing after losing a competition, or...
'A detachment.'
An independent unit for scouting, no less.
In other words, there might be a large orc horde of at least a thousand somewhere north of the wasteland, capable of deploying scout parties of thirty to fifty.
Of course, the latter was unlikely.
And even if it was the latter, Sion didn't particularly care.
The reason Sion didn't mention the latter was simple sympathy for Administrator Schwartz's hair—his extreme stress had caused large, coin-sized bald spots to sprout where none had been before.
Because...
The first things Sion had killed in droves after falling into this world were monsters, naturally, but the second was not humans—it was orcs.
"Uh, Your Excellency?"
Sion, now his direct superior as well as top investor, lapsed into thought, and Administrator Schwartz cautiously called to him.
"Ah. It's nothing. Just reminiscing for a moment. Anyway, Administrator."
For a second, Sion wondered if the number of orcs he'd slaughtered exceeded a thousand, then smiled.
"Don't worry about the orcs at all. More importantly, it seems the time has come."
"The time... you mean?"
"The reason I invested in Burgos."
"......!"
"Exactly. That's where it begins."
Administrator Schwartz knew why Sion had poured in the money. Sion had told him directly in front of Baron Kilburn, the lord of Logos Territory and Sion's grandson.
But honestly, he'd completely forgotten until seeing Sion again. The sudden recession and fear of orcs had pushed it from his mind.
And above all, Sion had come to Burgos with just a handful of escorts.
"If I may be so bold, Your Excellency... Our mercenaries have mostly left. And the people you brought with you are...."
He nearly blurted out, You're not planning to execute that plan you mentioned before with just those five, are you? But Administrator Schwartz held his tongue.
Sensing the man's inner thoughts, Sion chuckled.
"Forgot? I didn't invest only in Burgos."
"...Ah!"
"The main force is in Logos Territory. And I've already spoken with Baron Kilburn, the lord there."
"T-Then...."
As stress and worry faded from his expression, replaced by anticipation, Sion nodded to Administrator Schwartz.
"They'll arrive in Burgos in three days. Let's start light with three or four hundred for now."
The sparrow unit members and the mercenaries Sion had hired.
Sion had ordered them to clear out Logos Territory's monsters first.
As for the other territories in the northeast? From Sion's perspective, that was their problem. A grandfather prioritizing his grandson's land was only natural.
The other lords?
Let them come running, begging for their lives, pleading for help.
Where to?
To Burgos, where he'd planted his flag.
Here, they could also pay the price for ignoring the desperate pleas for aid from Administrator Schwartz, now his direct subordinate.
(To be continued in the next episode)