Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The NTR Lord's Grievances
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"What's the matter?"
Of course, I had no intention of apologizing for this issue. As I'd learned plenty from my time in society, apologizing meant defeat. Apologizing only led to more demands with nothing gained in return. So, I played innocent. No matter how much logical evidence the lord threw at me, I planned to weasel out of it with everything I had. Even if he pushed back with personnel transfer regulations, there was no way this lord could take Sieri from me.
"Do you have any idea what you've done? How dare you steal away someone else's territory folk like this?"
The lord was trembling with rage at having one of his territory's people snatched away. I didn't even need to check his status window to know—"The lord is angry!" floated right into my head. He really did look like a fat, blond, tanned grizzly bear.
"Oh, are you referring to Sieri's personnel transfer?"
"Yes, exactly. Why did you take our Sieri? That's what this is about!"
Lords don't usually memorize the names of individual nuns. Hell, I didn't even know the names of half the servants in my own mansion or church staff. I didn't even call the head maid by name—I just said "head maid."
In other words, the fact that this guy knew Sieri's name meant he'd been paying her some attention. And if an NTR freak was paying attention, it meant he was plotting an NTR angle. Even if he nitpicked later, I'd have to kill this bastard eventually, but right now, the lack of justification was a pain.
"Since when does a lord interfere with the Great Heavenly God Church's personnel transfers? As the Southern Priest Leader, I've been granted authority over all nuns and priests in the southern region."
Of course, that didn't mean I had nothing to say to the lord's protests. As I'd mentioned before, Lucius was the Southern Priest Leader. Among the southern priests, I was king. Unless I was throwing orgy parties with them, no one could challenge my personnel decisions.
"Well... that's true, but Sieri's parents are lifelong natives of my land. Why take her parents along for the transfer of just one nun? The people raised in a territory are the territory's assets. This is..."
Why take them? Because you're holding her family hostage to set up your NTR play, that's why. But there was no need to spell that out. I said,
"So it's really about taxes in the end, huh. Truth be told, when transferring Sieri, I felt bad leaving her parents behind in another territory, so I brought them along on my own initiative. Looks like that was a mistake. As a religious man at heart, I'm not well-versed in territorial customs. Thank you for pointing out such an important issue."
"Oh, no, not at all. Then..."
"Rather than sending the two back to our territory, how about we apply your lordship's tax rate and send the taxes directly to you?"
"Pardon?"
"We can't just leave the transferred girl alone in a foreign land, so it's only right she stays with her parents. But bringing them outright would deplete another territory's assets, as you said. We'll take custody of the folk, pay taxes to your side, and even designate land right on the border between our territories."
"Is that really necessary?"
From the lord's perspective, going this far for her parents didn't make sense. Honestly, if it was this much hassle, just sending the parents back home would've been easier—which made his doubt reasonable. But if I sent Sieri's parents back, it'd give her a reason to return to that golden-tanned lord's territory. I couldn't follow her there, so I'd be unable to intervene in whatever happened.
The lord shook his head and pressed again.
"There are other issues too. For starters, Sieri's parents owe me a massive debt..."
"I'll cover that debt."
As I'd said before, I received maintenance funds and donations from the southern churches. Paying off two old folks' debts was nothing. They had quite the sum for their age, but it still wasn't a big deal for me. The wealth gap between a lord and common farmers was that vast.
"That way, you're not depleting territorial assets—in fact, with one less field to tend, if you manage it well, your income even increases a bit, right?"
"That's true, but..."
The lord trailed off. Even after I paid their debt, handled taxes, and gave him land near his territory for easy visits, he still seemed dissatisfied. After all these concessions, he wouldn't let go?
This boiled down to one of two things: either he wanted to bang Sieri's parents, or he wanted to use them to bang Sieri.
"Is there some special reason you're taking such good care of Sieri's parents?"
"Oh, nothing like that. But forcing them to repay debts like this could have a bad influence on the territory folk..."
"Speaking of debts, mind telling me how Sieri's parents racked up such a huge one?"
Sieri's parents' debt was pocket change to me, but it wasn't an amount a common farmer borrowed lightly. Even Karl, the gambler, only owed a few gold—and they were sitting on about 50 gold.
"Ah, that's... territory business, so it's hard to say."
"I see. Then I guess we're done here?"
"Pardon?"
"Anything else? It seems we've both gotten what we wanted."
"Y-yeah. The debt's paid, the transfer's... done. Heh heh heh..."
The lord laughed unpleasantly and slowly backed away. I had Robin escort him out, then sat in my office, lost in thought.
No matter how I looked at it, that neighboring lord was unsettling. He wouldn't do anything rash right away, but unease was unease. What pissed me off most was lacking any pretext to kill him outright.
Without justification, I'd just be a murderer. Even the Great Heavenly God Church wouldn't protect a killer. I clicked my tongue and glanced at Aira. She blushed and asked,
"Um... are you going to do it?"
"Yeah. Have to."
I smiled back. Aira had been assigned a new role. The nominal reason for punishing her was "Aira's rehabilitation," so we needed proof she'd reformed. Using my position as Southern Priest Leader, I appointed her a novice nun of the Great Heavenly God Church.
On the surface, what could be more heartwarming? A con artist who infiltrated to loot the territory, reformed by the wise lord, and joined the church. It boosted the church's reputation and mine.
Good deeds don't always pay off, but a good image does. Think of villain actors in dramas—donate all they want, but aunties at restaurants still curse them out. Good deeds and good image are different beasts.
Aira becoming a church nun made things convenient in many ways. As a novice, she needed doctrine lessons, which Sieri and I took turns teaching. During Sieri's time, she learned proper teachings; during mine, she learned firsthand how people are "made."
These irregular "Creation Doctrine" sessions were great for relieving my stress and lust for Sieri, and they confirmed my tastes ran to big breasts and hips over small chests.
Speaking of Sieri, I hadn't had time to see her amid my lordly duties. She'd just moved into the mansion and was overwhelmed, plus she kept stepping out to help her parents.
On top of that, I'd delegated the mansion's accounting to her, so she was swamped getting up to speed. Even with accounting aptitude, handling another territory's books at once would make her a computer, not a person.
Forcing her to stay during handover and month-end settlements would tank her favorability. So, I could only admire Sieri's graceful waist and slender shoulders from afar with my eyes, then fuck Aira while picturing her instead.
Aira forgave me for calling out Sieri's name during sex, after all.
Days passed like this. Once the busiest quarterly settlements ended, Sieri would have breathing room. I was waiting for that moment—the quiet time before the neighbor lord stirred or the Demon King revived.
The time when innocent Sieri's favorability toward me was high, no one targeted the mansion, and the local bandit gangs were unusually silent.
The perfect window to conquer Sieri.
Sieri still looked at me oblivious as ever. When I grinned, she'd fidget and turn away, her shy smile adorable. It overlapped perfectly with her "Naivety" trait from the status window, ramping up my arousal.
I grabbed Sieri's shoulders. She startled and dropped a few documents.
"Ah, sorry, my lord."
"Sieri."
"Yes, my lord."
"Call me Lucius."
I hadn't done anything special, but her favorability was at 89 now. Time to drop the formalities, right? Sieri hesitated, then spoke.
"I-is that really okay?"
"Of course."
"Lu... Lucius..."
Sieri flushed crimson and bowed her head. A smile spread across my face. Was this what they called a dad's smile?
"My lord!"
Knight Captain Robin, living the sweetest life in our mansion, came rushing up panting. When he ran like this, it meant something urgent. Normally docile like a guide dog for the blind, he turned into a border collie herding frisbees when duty called for strength or responsibility. I stroked Sieri's head and asked,
"What is it, Robin?"
"The guards caught a bandit gang."
"Bandits?"
If there was one force in this territory that opposed me, it was the bandits. Somehow staking multiple lives, they kept popping up at the borders to harass folk, their raids serious enough that Lucius often dispatched guards for patrols.
They'd been quiet lately, but now combat flared up again. They really lived with spare lives—or maybe because Lucius had let some go before.
"Any guard casualties?"
With our small numbers, every person was an asset. Losses in this fight would be devastating. Compensation, funerals—all costly. Replacing and retraining ate money too. Money, money. To a lord, territory folk were money.
"Ah, no... no deaths this time. The bandits weren't that strong..."
"All captured alive?"
"Yes. Guards spotted a bandit squad that came down to the village, killed three in street combat, and brought in five who surrendered."
"Reward the commander, and behead every last bandit thief. Hang their heads in the streets."
"M-my l-Lu... L-my lord?"
Sieri jumped in at my words. She clutched my collar, peering at my face cautiously. Her tone betrayed her quick dilemma—lord or Lucius? I smiled at her and asked,
"What's wrong, Sieri?"
"Um... the Great Heavenly God Church doctrine teaches forgiveness even for sinners, so punishments should focus more on rehabilitation..."