Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Before Stella's Death
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Before his wife Stella died.
Zion had traveled to many places with her.
Stella was a lively and active woman, unlike a princess of a nation.
But during the Demon Dragon War, they couldn't dream of wandering anywhere, and after marrying Zion and coming down to the Dukedom, she hardly ever left Sionia.
It was Stella who managed all internal affairs while Zion led the knights to drive out the monsters.
Stella had an extraordinarily sharp mind.
Moreover, most of the people handling the Dukedom's administrative duties or assisting Stella at the time were personnel from the royal capital who had followed her down to Sionia.
With her keen intellect combined with the authority of being the lady of the Dukedom and the Hero King's only sister, the Dukedom and the family grew rapidly around her even when Zion was away.
In the early days, the population was small, so once something started, things progressed smoothly, accelerating the Dukedom's development and stability even further.
And so, twenty years passed as she bore and raised children out of love with Zion.
She was still beautiful, but now wrinkles had begun to show.
It was then that Zion realized.
He had worked his wife too hard all these years.
More than half the reason Zion decided to pass the title to his eldest son Theo and retire was because of Stella.
The once vibrant, curious, travel-loving beautiful maiden had followed him to this countryside and spent her entire youth there.
Upon realizing this, Zion proposed staying just three more years to fully prepare handing over the ducal position to Theo, then leaving. Stella accepted with a bright smile.
And so, the couple, having passed everything to their children, traveled freely.
They had inherited only the ducal family's wealth, but the couple (especially the fortune Stella had grown through investments since her princess days) had plenty of money, so they lacked for nothing.
The only annoyance was the information guild scouts shadowing them like shadows, but since the couple never actually encountered them, and it had gone on so long, they eventually stopped caring.
In this way, the couple traveled for over ten years—sometimes as knight and lady, sometimes as aunt and nephew, sometimes as a happily married pair with faces veiled.
Among the places they visited was Yajan, which was growing into a major city, exerting influence on the surroundings and in the process of regionalization.
'Had we stayed half a year?'
They had originally planned to stay just ten days or so, but unexpectedly ended up staying long-term and went through quite a few events.
And staying half a year in one city while going through 'various events' was tantamount to saying they had formed connections with 'various people.'
Among the people Zion met while staying in Yajan with Stella was a young, ambitious councilman named Theodor. He was elected mayor a year after Zion left the city.
Yajan's first and last four-term mayor.
He served for a full twenty years before dying of illness just before attempting a fifth term.
Of course, they didn't attend Theodor's funeral separately.
No matter how Theodor felt about Zion (Zion had a rough idea but deliberately cut off interest), Zion didn't consider him a close friend.
In truth, they had been fairly close. Zion had done something for him.
But that closeness wasn't enough to cross multiple kingdoms and territories for over a month, then sail several days to Yajan for the funeral.
So Zion lived for several years after Theodor's death, forgetting about him.
Until he returned to Yajan to inquire about Eltis Island in the middle of the inner sea and learned of the malicious(?) gift he had left for him.
* * *
"Hey, wake up."
"Huh!? Ack…."
The skill 'Intimidation' was convenient at times like this.
Having witnessed Zion's absurdly overwhelming force up close, Bellin shed her usual arrogant and haughty demeanor, scrambling awkwardly to her feet.
"Ugh…."
Zion spoke coldly to her as she glanced at her unconscious lover sprawled on the floor in an unsightly position with his rear raised.
"If he's your companion, you know his bones are tough. He'll come to soon enough, so come over here and sit. Oh, and the mayor."
"Yes, yes!"
Zion put a finger to his lips toward Calvert, who had been sitting on the sofa but shot up like he'd been jolted.
Understanding it as a command to keep his true identity secret, Calvert nodded vigorously and sat back down.
"You all came from Yajan, right?"
"Y-Yes…."
Bellin meekly answered, sensing the force Zion had displayed and the unique aura possessed only by true 'powerhouses' or those in power.
No matter what happened later, for now, even Rozin's mayor had been reduced to that state before this man, so she had to bow low.
"This idiot… no, Rozin's mayor made a wrong judgment. The contacts from Handler and the ministers in Sionia were a bit delayed, so I can understand that much.
But we had our circumstances too. My troops' and my training wasn't finished.
Plus, as you know, sending out support troops to face not dozens but hundreds or thousands of monsters without any plan or preparation doesn't make sense, right?"
"Y-Yes, it does."
"Yajan girl, what about you?"
"I-It seems correct."
Like hell it was—Bellin could have rattled off five or more reasons to refute Zion's words.
But right now, she had to shut up.
The top priority was escaping this situation unscathed.
Then, from a safe place, accurately assess the situation, and once the mercenaries arrived in Rozin…
"However."
"…!"
At the low, cold voice identical to the one from their first meeting, Bellin felt her legs go weak despite herself and straightened her back.
"Upon looking into it, it seems you Yajan folk played quite a significant role in Rozin's mayor making those wrong judgments and decisions?"
"Wh…."
Who the hell said that bullshit! The retort died in her throat.
Bellin had never killed anyone herself, but she had kept close those who made murder their trade and even had them by her side.
Thus, she knew all too well the nature of the aura emanating from Zion's expression and gaze.
Killing intent.
Not the low-grade murderer's intent of petty pirates who mainly killed the weak, but the intent only someone who had slain countless on the battlefield could emit—it constricted Bellin's entire body.
Of course, Zion did have such experience in reality, but in this case, it was the skill 'Killing Intent.'
"Hnng…."
As Bellin froze solid, on the verge of soiling herself if it lasted much longer, Zion held something out to her.
"From the look of it, you seem to hold considerable status in Yajan, so you'd recognize this, right?"
"Uh…?"
Bellin's trembling eyes turned toward the small object Zion proffered.
Instantly, her pupils dilated.
It was a palm-sized metal hexagram.
"Th-This, this is…!"
"Yes. Yajan's Star."
"To think… this actually existed…."
For a fleeting moment, she wondered if it was fake, but Bellin dismissed it immediately.
Few even knew of the existence of Yajan's Star, or Hexagram.
Moreover, any Yajanite who knew of the Hexagram, upon seeing someone possessing it, no matter who…
"I greet the Saint!"
Amid the suffocating killing intent, Bellin slammed her forehead to the ground.
No prominent family in Yajan was unaware of Yajan's Star, the Hexagram.
Though their number was only a few dozen, they were the core and true owners of the city-state Yajan.
And they had no choice but to bow their heads to the one who had saved Yajan from its greatest crisis in city history when legendary mayor Theodor was just a mere councilman, investing thousands of gold coins into each merchant house.
The true savior of Yajan, their benefactor and Saint, who was simultaneously the largest shareholder in each merchant house.
'Damn bastard.'
Zion wanted to dig up Theodor from his grave and beat him for creating this item laced with malicious ingenuity.
Far in the future, it would greatly aid Zion and the ducal family's descendants, so at his wife Stella's urging, Zion had saved Yajan from real peril and poured in nearly half his fortune at the time, investing in several pivotal merchant houses of the city.
Naturally, the investments were documented in proper contracts: one copy with Zion, one with each merchant house, and the rest held by Yajan city.
Thus, Zion could prove at any time his rights as a shareholder entitled to 30-49% stake exercise and dividends in each house.
Was he a bit miffed that the Saint and great figure who achieved such feats never returned to the city even decades after leaving?
In his will, Theodor instructed the creation of this peculiar item, the Hexagram.
With the seals of Yajan's six leading merchant houses stamped on the six triangles forming the star, and the Yajan mayor's seal in the center, the Hexagram served as the Saint's token. Theodor's will directed that it be delivered whenever he or his descendants returned.
And it was thus delivered to Zion, who decades later visited Yajan to inquire about Eltis Island and, incidentally, check how much 'profit' his past investments had yielded.
'It'll be helpful someday? That guy's cunning was truly unmatched.'
At this point, it wasn't just cunning—it was prophecy.
Zion chuckled, recalling the ambitious young councilman full of grit.
In any case, Theodor's will had proven spot on.
Even with her massive boyfriend (bodyguard? lover?) knocked out in one hit and battered by killing intent, the girl who had been shooting venomous glares now bowed her head—the Hexagram had demonstrated its worth.
'But that's that.'
"Raise your head."
"Yes."
As Bellin cautiously lifted her head, her venomous glare gone, Zion spoke impassively.
"The reason I showed you this is simple. First, don't spout nonsense in front of me. Second, I want to know why Yajan is trying to exert influence over Sion Dukedom."
"I'll tell you right away. It's because…"
Before the maximum shareholder and de facto owner holding 49% of her family business and workplace, Spio Merchant House, there were no secrets to hide.
At the time the Hexagram was made, Spio Merchant House had held 51% shares, but over the long years, it had dropped to 30%.
In other words, if the owner of the Hexagram before her willed it…
'He could replace the president and all the top executives. And he even has some connection to Obla Kingdom's king? Screw this up, and we're done for.'
Bellin Spio was a woman who revered and feared the power of 'money' more than force or physical pain.