Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The Wayward Southern Cities
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The Sion Dukedom is incredibly vast.
In the past, Sion had spent nearly three years roaming the entire dukedom with his knight order—later renamed the beggar band—to drive out the monsters.
It wasn't perfectly precise, but from what Sion had confirmed at the time, it was about three or four times the size of Jeju Island, or more than half of a typical province like South Gyeongsang or South Jeolla?
In terms of the capital region, it would include not just Seoul and adjacent cities like Incheon, Goyang, and Seongnam, but also southern Gyeonggi areas a bit farther out like Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong, and Yeoju—probably about that scale.
Moreover, the Sion Dukedom was a protruding peninsula.
The distance from the northernmost point, the Silent Forest, to the southernmost, Belgot Cape, exceeded 100 kilometers.
Things were much better now, but when Sion first arrived, there were no proper roads, so crossing from one end to the other took over ten days.
That was why Sion had driven the monsters toward the mountains, stabilized the northern and central regions around Sioania, left governance to his wife and eldest son, Grand Theo, and personally pioneered the south with his second and third sons.
And on the day he planted the Three-Headed Eagle flag at Belgot Cape, where the sea came into view, declaring the dukedom fully pacified, Sion decided to entrust the newly pioneered south to his second and third sons. (It was too far and bothersome for him to oversee personally.)
That was how Rozin and Fland were born—now the third- and fourth-largest cities in the dukedom.
* * *
Fland and Rozin were the central cities of counties with the same names, and including their urban and county territories, they had populations in the tens of thousands.
Precisely, Fland County had around 20,000, and Rozin County about 27,000.
During this rebellion, the two cities had taken a step back (munching popcorn) and adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
In Sion's view, it was a profoundly wise yet foolish choice.
For starters, not joining either Gede or Blint's factions and maintaining neutrality was wise.
If those two cities had gotten involved, the dukedom would have been utter chaos.
But it was also foolish.
If they were going to stay neutral, they should have done so to the end. Instead, the two cities used the conflict between Gede and Blint as an excuse to skip the quarterly "taxes" sent to Three-Headed Eagle Castle.
At first, the castle's ministers let it slide on behalf of the Three-Headed Eagle Castle.
But when it happened two or three times (clearly deliberately), it became a problem.
And in Sion's eyes, it wasn't neutrality—it was slyly signaling "independence."
Anyway, the two cities, which had pulled the exact same stunt in perfect sync, flipped their stance the moment news arrived that Gede's rebellion had fizzled out and that something had gone down in Sioania, Paloma, and the Pamell County.
"Big brother, I hope your health has been in perfect condition all this time. Your little brother has been so tied up with affairs that he's been remiss in his duties to you—please accept my sincerest apologies."
"Ahh! It's been a full year since this youngest brother has laid eyes on big brother's noble form! I'll rush back to the main house and kowtow like mad!"
Unlike the two cities, the dukedom's army—which had truly stayed neutral (solely loyal to the ducal house)—fully assembled under the Three-Headed Eagle banner raised by Handler Yonas and the ministers. That was the decisive blow.
Even if one of Gede or Blint had claimed the ducal seat, both were problematic, so they had assumed the army would remain dissatisfied. That was their mistake.
But that didn't happen, and both ended up erased from the ducal family registry.
So, like the unfilial sons and the Pamell Count family and Augst Territory who feared getting thrashed, the two younger brother cities immediately bowed their heads to big brother.
Or rather, they tried to.
"We were just watching the big house down the road collapse!"
"But the big house didn't collapse, and while we were spectating, our own house nearly crumbled! Waaah!"
The peninsula-shaped Sion Dukedom narrowed gradually toward the south.
And the Brandin Mountains, which stretched north-south across the dukedom, extended all the way to Belgot Cape at the southern tip.
So, when the monsters that had once been beaten back by Sion into the Brandin highlands and the basin beyond suddenly multiplied while he was back pacifying the dukedom and driving out the unfilial ones—where do you think they'd head first?
The east-west width was only about 20-30 kilometers, and Fland and Rozin in the south were barely 10 kilometers from the mountain's end.
"Kyaaah! Save us! Help! Big brother!"
"Goblin and kobold packs keep raiding villages near the cities! Just recently, a rock troll family came down to our farmlands with boar bento boxes for a picnic!"
"With monsters suddenly surging, even the beasts are coming down from the mountains! They're not mountain lions anymore—they're field lions now!"
The tax collector sent to Fland and Rozin, confident he could collect this time, came racing back with half the overdue taxes (not the full amount due to circumstances) and reported news that left Handler and the ministers aghast.
Of course it did.
"These bastards dodged taxes for five quarters and only sent two?!"
"And now what? Help us? Save us?"
Yonas and the ministers were furious at the shameless, loathsome attitude of the two younger brother cities they'd barely seen lately.
The situation itself was understandable.
The only forces the two cities had were a few hundred guards tasked with maintaining public order.
Combined, maybe 600-700?
From the start, when pioneering the cities, they'd been given administrative authority but not military command.
Normally, at the first sign of such an emergency—or even before—the dukedom's regular army would have deployed.
But they'd been slyly dodging visits, overlooking what was brewing south of the Brandin Mountains, and now faced this mess.
"Tch! Infuriating, but we have no choice but to help. No matter their past behavior, Fland and Rozin are still part of our dukedom family."
"Indeed. Plus, if those cities become unstable, the merchants sailing back via Belgot Bay will get spooked too."
"Huh? These bastards... aren't they threatening us? Like, by only sending two quarters' worth, if we don't help, it'll be hard for them to pay the arrears and future taxes too?"
"Eh?"
"Ah! Aah...."
The atmosphere instantly shifted to one where those sly younger brother cities were fully capable of such a thing.
Hadn't their actions over the past year shown exactly that?
"Those sneaky little...."
Enraged, Yonas's eyes flashed murderously. The ministers, too, suddenly wanted to make them suffer more, military aid be damned.
But their fury had to pause.
Clunk!
"Ah! Your Grace!"
The ministers shot to their feet as Sion burst into the conference hall without knocking.
The face of the dukedom's alpha and omega, the old monster, was hard as stone.
* * *
"So, not only did these punks test the waters, they paid the back taxes while testing them too?"
"Yes!"
"And you think if we don't help those two, merchant ships will skip docking there and head straight to Paloma or take other sea routes? Then they'll use that as an excuse to delay taxes and whine?"
"Yes!"
Crack!
Sion cracked his knuckles with a icy expression.
He then slammed his clenched fist down on the stone conference table he had made—the one with the fist mark still unbuffed.
Gulp!
Under the murderous aura, Handler—who some saw as the Demon King's castle boss—and the mid-boss ministers (the ministers) swallowed dryly.
"Go tell them this."
"Yes!"
"I'm coming right now with chariots—no, the army—to blow all the monsters' heads off."
"Yes!"
"And after that, it's their heads—so have them stick 'em out and wait."
"Yes! Ye...?"
To the flustered Yonas and ministers, Sion gave a cold smile.
"Fland and Rozin. They're my kids, but their descendants have been feeding fat for a long time, haven't they?"
"Y-Yes."
It had been over 60 years since Fland and Rozin were founded.
Fland had gone through three generations, Rozin four, with descendants of Sion's second and third sons serving as mayors and governors.
Out of respect for the founding line, they'd turned a blind eye to a certain degree of profiteering—but the problem was no one knew just how far that "degree" had gone.
"I was going to leave them be until this generation, as long as they didn't screw up big."
Back when they were first pioneered, it took too long to travel from Sioania, and there was plenty else to do (i.e., it was a hassle), so he'd handed them to his second and third sons. But not now—not for decades.
Proper highways had been built, and over ten counties and villages served as relay stations along the way.
Even walking diligently by day and resting in villages at night, round trips from Sioania to the two cities took only about ten days.
Sending a messenger? One way took just a day, as the tax collector who'd rushed back this time had shown.
Compared to over twice that in the past, it was a massive improvement.
So there was no more need to treat the two cities like children married off to distant lands.
"No good. Depending on the situation, let's clean house there while we're at it."
"Y-Your meaning is...."
"Cut off their heads and install our own people."
"......!"
"Not all bad, actually. I was planning to send the Monster Hunting Corps on their first hunt soon. Was going to clear Sioania region and central first, then head south—let's do that side first instead.
Monsters' heads first, city heads later. Sound good?"
"Y-Yes! A most wise decision, Your Grace!"
They were slightly unsure if, like with Pamell County or Augst Territory, it meant literally chopping heads.
Or just replacing the ruling class in the two cities.
Either way, the sneaky, vile punks were getting divine retribution, so Yonas and the ministers responded vigorously.
And two days later, 60-plus members of two companies from the Monster Hunting Corps rode south on horseback and gaus.
The unit's official name was the Goshawk Corps.
They used a banner and crest depicting a brave hawk with elongated swords at the tips of both wings, stylized simply.
But it was an open secret that most members interpreted it as giving monsters a "goshawk thrashing" with two clubs.
(To be continued)