Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Slaughter in the Lord's Office
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Cicada-like vassals and officials clung to the corridor walls on either side as Sion passed by without a glance. Ahead of him appeared a few knights who were already drunk on liquor in broad daylight.
"Hey? Haven't seen you around, sir?"
"Where'd you come from? If you're new, you gotta have a drink with us!"
Sion immediately recognized them as knights from the royal castle brought by Baron Botan. They wore fairly luxurious padded armor reinforced with fine chainmail at the armpits and elbow joints.
Knights from minor domains strapped for cash or wandering free blades couldn't afford such high-end gambesons; they just wandered around indoors in a shirt.
"Hey."
Sion approached the knights—who fancied themselves proper knights with shortswords belted at their waists—raising one hand in greeting.
The knights, who had been looking at him with smiling faces, grew slightly puzzled.
"Sir, why do you have your sword out?"
That was the end of it.
As he walked, Sion dipped his body slightly and unleashed a sword strike. All three knights had their throats slashed or pierced and collapsed on the spot.
"Kerruk! Kyaa...."
Sion indifferently stepped past the writhing pre-cadavers clutching their necks.
Then, from behind, one of the brave officials who had been trembling while watching Sion dashed forward and dragged away the knights on the verge of death with grunts of effort.
Noticing this, Sion turned back with a smirk.
"Quick on the uptake. I'll remember you, sir."
"Th-thank you."
Overlooking it out of consideration still meant starting from zero.
And the brave official, who had just experienced Sion up close—even if briefly—immediately grasped that while he might escape blame, his career was likely over. So he moved without hesitation.
Even in a situation like this, the successful ones succeed.
"Sir Seilun! Baron Botan is in the lord's office with Lady Baretti. There's also one from the information guild and a few local notables present."
"Oh, thanks for the intel. I'll really remember you this time."
"No, sir. After all you've done for our Augers Domain."
Look at that.
Good deeds come back around like this.
Entertaining such nonsense, Sion lightly ascended the stairs toward the lord's office.
* * *
"Is that really true?"
"Y-yes. We just received it via urgent dispatch."
Jens's face looked urgent as he answered the probing Baron Botan.
"Duke Sion's house surrendered to the Pamell Count family without even fighting? And they can't utter a peep because it came out that the Pamells were involved in poisoning the previous duke? Are they total idiots?"
"......"
"And what kind of morons wrap up the aftermath this fast? Usually, it'd take a couple months of bickering, right? Just like you expect from country bumpkins—they don't even know the basics of negotiation. Right?"
*'Why ask me? I'm not even involved. How should I know? I'm from the capital too, damn it...'*
It had been a stroke of luck connecting with Count Rundle, the crown prince's uncle and one of the real powers in the royal castle.
Until then, Jens had thought he'd tough it out in the field for a few months and then pave his way to glory.
But the moment he saw Baron Botan, whom the crown prince had sent to Augers Domain, Jens's hopes vanished, and he seriously wondered if he'd backed the wrong horse.
"Anyway, it's bizarre. But why tell me this?"
The words "stupid pig bastard" rose to his throat, but Jens forced a maximum smile and spoke.
"Baron, this Augers Domain is the front yard of Duke Sion's territory. If word of this has spread, the troops from Duke Sion's domain—who mobilized against the Pamell Counts—might head this way."
"What? Ha...! Haha! Hahaha!"
As Baron Botan's belly jiggled with sudden laughter, Jens's brow furrowed deeper.
*Is he insane? Is this really something to laugh about?*
"You're supposed to be an information guild aggregator, but what a letdown. Well, you're just a commoner at the end of the day—what would you know? Listen up: no matter what happens here, Duke Sion's house can't turn their troops this way."
At Baron Botan's words brimming with conviction, Lady Baretti—who had looked haggard and anxious—and the nobles from her maternal family perked up their ears.
"The dispute with the Pamell Counts had right on their side. So it's fine if they slug it out. But what's Augers Domain's justification? They even collaborated in arbitrarily replacing a lord acknowledged by His Majesty the King, all because they fell for an impostor posing as royalty."
"Exactly. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil even now. Sir Botan personally visited to set things right—I'm so grateful."
As Lady Baretti chimed in, Baron Botan subtly took her hand.
"Madam, I was merely conveying Crown Prince Highness's will. And Crown Prince Highness's will is His Majesty the King's will. So thank His Majesty, not me."
"How can you be so humble!"
Even though she was the second wife, the baron's spouse was holding hands and exchanging affectionate glances with an outsider noble, but everyone in the office pretended not to notice.
Because they all knew Lady Baretti and Baron Botan had already been intimate.
Still, with a shred of conscience left, Lady Baretti twisted away and slipped her hand free. Baron Botan shot her a longing look before clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Ahem! Anyway, if Duke Sion's domain has any brains, they can't divert troops here. And if they do swarm this way, all the better."
"All the better... why?"
"Of course we have to punish them for collaborating with a royal impostor, don't we? I'd actually prefer they come. No need to bother trekking out to that backwater."
*'He's a madman. A real, proper lunatic.'*
Jens felt a chill of fear.
Baron Botan's logic seemed flawless at first glance.
But it ignored several crucial facts, cherry-picking only those that suited him.
First, the man Baron Botan had branded a royal impostor was no such thing.
Would someone the information guild classified as top-tier—with a special moniker and utmost care—really be a mere pretender?
Even the crown prince himself would tread carefully around that figure, let alone Baron Botan.
Second, Duke Sion's house was the Obla royal family's staunchest supporter and true "kin."
Even though he hadn't appeared publicly in ages, it was well-known that the current king still revered Duke Sion's founder, Grand Duke Jan Sion's wife, Princess Stella, not as an aunt but as a mother.
In short, the Obla royals and Duke Sion's house remained bound by powerful "blood ties."
Hold them accountable?
Even if the crown prince stepped up personally, he'd likely get screwed—and this guy was just a minor noble under his uncle Count Rundle.
*'No sense of reality at all.'*
Jens despaired.
And he had even more reason to despair: not just Baron Botan, but all the royal castle nobles he'd brought shared the same delusions.
Frogs in a well.
Hothouse flowers.
These idiots, who had spent their lives basking in power in the capital and castle, truly had no inkling what Duke Sion's house signified.
"The intel you brought isn't bad. But as an information guild man, you should know how to analyze it properly. Tsk tsk. A grade-one aggregator, and this is the best you can do...."
Jens wanted to squeeze his eyes shut at Baron Botan's tongue-clicking attitude but desperately held back and smiled.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorely lacking. Please guide me from here on, Baron."
Because in this hopeless reality, Baron Botan was the only one who could get him out of this backwater even a day sooner.
*'I've settled things with that Olrot bitch, so now I just need to butter up this stupid pig and get back to the capital ASAP.'*
"Don't worry—I told you how many times? Just trust me and Crown Prince Highness."
"Yes, yes. That's why I'm saying: it worries me you might get dragged into something troublesome lingering here. Augers Domain seems sorted, so how about returning to the castle now?"
"What are you saying! Justice! Justice hasn't been fully served yet!"
*'Ah, forgot about this crazy bitch.'*
As Lady Baretti jumped in with flashing eyes, Jens felt the world go dark.
"Baron. A wise man like you needs to wrap this up. Give Duke Sion's house a stern word. At minimum, firmly install my son—the legitimate heir—as lord. That way, even if Duke Sion's domain complains...."
BAM!
"Argh!"
"Ah, shit, you scared me!"
The sudden explosion startled everyone in the office. One of the office doors had flown off its hinges and smashed into the wall.
"Wh-what-what is this!?"
Baron Botan, too shocked to stand and stammering from the floor, watched as someone strode boldly into the office.
"Eek!"
"S-S-S-Si-Sir Seilun!"
Lady Baretti and her retainers paled instantly at the sight of the expressionless Sion.
But only for a moment.
Pointing at the approaching Sion without hesitation, Lady Baretti spat venomously.
"Th-that guy's the one! He's the one impersonating royalty and beating my son! Baron!"
Then, one of the knights helping the baron to his feet drew his shortsword.
"You! Royal impostor! By the stern laws of the realm...."
THWACK!
The knight's forehead pierced by a dagger toppled backward like a felled oak.
"......!!!"
Extreme shock freezes the body.
Who could imagine someone bursting into the lord's office in broad daylight and drilling a hole in a noble knight's head without a word?
In that surreal scene, the other knight gaped, frozen solid, and Sion's sword flew at him.
CLANG!
The flat of the blade struck his forehead, and he collapsed backward stiff as a board like his comrade.
The difference? (Luckily) He wasn't dead.
After dispatching the two knights in an instant, Sion glanced at Baron Botan flapping his mouth like a goldfish.
"The one who sent you is Rundle, right?"
"Ah, ack? Hu, th-that...."
"Sending a half-baked nobody like you to test the waters... Those bastards are as slimy as ever, past and present."
"Wh-wh-what are you d-doing right... you...."
"Die first."
THUNK!
The pommel smashed straight into Baron Botan's glistening forehead.
His massive body crumpled with a thud, skull caved in and eyes bulging grotesquely.
"......!"
A slaughter in the blink of an eye.
These were men sent by the crown prince himself—the heart of power and its heir apparent (or so the others sincerely believed).
The other frogs in the well could only tremble, helpless before the unpredictable force that had shattered their world in five seconds.
(To be continued next time)