Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Secret Meeting (2)
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Last night.
I'd treated Camillia's wounds and ended up heading home late.
Thanks to that, I dozed off briefly in the warden's office first thing in the morning.
In the meantime, an unimaginable change had come to Berryhill.
The prison yard, which was usually deathly quiet.
Dozens of carriages were parked in front of it.
"Have you ever seen carriages like that in your life?"
"No. I've never laid eyes on ones plastered head to toe with gold leaf."
Even the guards, who were former knights themselves, stood there dumbfounded.
But the surprise was only just beginning.
The people stepping out of those carriages were even higher up the ladder.
"What do you have to cry about? Hurry up and get down!"
"B-But it's scary..."
A dignified-looking middle-aged gentleman barked at his sniffling daughter.
As if they were more terrified than their own children.
A few days ago, the great monsters had visited, along with the Swordmaster from the East.
They had crushed all their elite forces and declared it revenge for Derek Minster.
The power gap was so overwhelming that they didn't even feel anger.
The quick-witted nobles had discussed why they'd been spared.
And concluded it meant they should submit willingly—which is why they'd come.
"The warden's office is this way."
Vice Warden Clea greeted them with a cold expression.
She was undeniably beautiful, but her unique icy aura only heightened the tension.
She gave off the vibe of a wicked lieutenant serving some shadowy overlord.
The young ladies and lords, well-versed in that sort of novel trope, were trembling in fear.
"W-Well... We didn't want to come empty-handed, so we prepared a gift for the warden."
The lord of the Ort region, representing the parents, spoke up.
He was the white-haired gentleman who'd yelled at his daughter while getting out of the carriage.
"Ah, a gift."
Clea glanced back with cynical eyes.
Then pointed to the corner of the hallway with her finger.
"Leave them all here. It's too much to carry one by one."
"...I suppose a gift would be a burden. We'll do that."
The nobles set down their gifts with despairing looks.
They'd known from the start that the warden's anger and thirst for revenge wouldn't be easily sated.
"As expected, this level of sincerity won't satisfy him."
From what their kids had said, he'd tormented families that bought their noble titles with money.
Demanding extra for meals, flipping trays as a baseline.
Extorting allowances, and ganging up to beat them if it fell short.
The lord's daughter and the imperial secretary's daughter had been part of that extortion ring.
'Looks tasty. The office is cramped, so I'll move them later.'
Of course, Clea had no such thoughts.
She only eyed the artisan-made cookies among the nobles' gifts.
Ching-ching-ching―――.
Of course, the cookies were just a cute opener.
High-end watches and fountain pens poured onto the old wooden floor.
'What is this, like offering tribute to a dragon in a dungeon...'
Clea watched the scene like a sullen fox from the highlands.
"If you've all set them down, please follow me now."
The high nobles lined up hesitantly.
They advanced cautiously down the worn hallway like it was a dungeon.
"Oh, and by the way, don't touch anything in the cells. No one takes responsibility for accidents here."
Sure enough, eerie killing intent lurked from the passing cells.
Was it the same aura that had razed their territories days ago?
A few nobles collapsed from surging trauma.
"P-Please wait a moment. We've got stragglers."
Clea let out a hollow laugh at their frail sight.
For the empire's key figures to be this weak...
"Um... Has the warden been well?"
While helping up the fallen, a young imperial secretary asked.
"Seeing the facilities, it must have been tough."
"Indeed. It's heartbreaking even for me. He's selflessly fulfilling his noble duty for the empire."
The nobles bowed politely even to a mere demoted vice warden.
Clea answered honestly without much thought.
"I wouldn't know. He's always Dark Circle-ing, with serious eyes every day."
Their jaws dropped.
They knew full well why the warden was so on edge.
"Of course. Because of my worthless child..."
"I-I'm always so sorry!!"
"If there's a chance this time, I'd like to rebuild a close relationship with him."
Clea nodded quietly.
But inwardly, she smirked.
Northern high nobles bowing first.
The warden had reined in the surrounding powers in one fell swoop. Impressive.
'He's building his faction better than I thought. Using his bullied past like this.'
If the weak demand compensation, they get scraps.
But if the strong make demands?
They can extort even more under the pretext of past bullying.
Derek Minster had endured patiently for exactly that.
'Maybe next time I'll praise him more honestly. I found a good dessert place too.'
She was clumsy at compliments by nature.
She mumbled with her smooth, fruit-like lips, practicing a secret smile.
"Um, Vice Warden. Why do you look so serious...?"
"Is the warden that angry?"
The guests trembled even more at Clea's face.
The blue-haired woman vowed to practice smiling later.
"Warden, I've brought the guests."
"......"
"Warden?"
"Let them in."
His voice was even lower than usual.
They entered slowly in a line as the door opened.
And then.
They all froze like ice in unison.
"Come in. I'm Derek Minster."
A man in the dark shadows flashed viper-like eyes.
His story-laden tousled silver hair and hollow gaze.
Derek's appearance wasn't righteous or kind at all.
'He's asleep.'
Only Clea kept her calm fox eyes.
After weeks together, she'd realized he was just tired.
"Daddy, I'm scared..."
"It's okay, dear. Let's try talking to him."
The nobles, meanwhile, acted like they'd faced a great monster.
I frowned slightly at their trembling.
'They're this scared.'
The perpetrator's daughter hid behind her father.
I flashed a wide, reassuring smile at the pitifully shaking girl.
From the deep, dark shadows.
"You all look well. I'm glad to see you've been doing fine."
My bright worldly smile toppled the lined-up guests like dominoes.
The girl hiding behind her parents shook her head, sniffling.
"I-I'm sorry...!! I've regretted it the whole time!!"
"I'm truly sorry. It's my fault for raising my child wrong, so please..."
I blinked at the toppled nobles.
'Did I greet them wrong?'
How badly had Her Highness the Princess tormented them for this reaction?
She really was generous to those she acknowledged.
"Relax, everyone. I don't remember you at all."
Of course, their faces were familiar.
They'd taken quite a sum from me.
But maybe from repeated regressions dulling my emotions.
I'd handed over the money earned from past-life memories and shrugged off the situation.
"You don't remember? Really?"
"Yes, of course..."
As I answered mercifully.
The Ort lord yelled at his daughter.
"Quiet! It means your sincerity is lacking!!"
"Exactly. Show a satisfactory attitude until he remembers."
The imperial secretary scolded the lord's daughter too.
I clutched my forehead.
'This is a mess.'
Already tired from late sleep, what was this now?
I wondered how they'd come to visit me.
How did they track down so many people?
Even the Princess would struggle to find perpetrators I barely remembered.
Unless someone told her.
"No way."
A recent prisoner popped into my mind.
The student council president who knew everyone's addresses.
I glared, picturing that slimy face.
"Clea. Bring prisoner Damas here now."
"Understood."
The vice warden promptly dragged in our golden retriever.
True to his academy heartthrob status, the nobles recognized him instantly.
"Isn't that Damas?"
"He was serving here?"
The whispering nobles.
Damas eyed the room, face saying it was inevitable.
"Prisoner Damas. Do you know these people?"
"......"
The Grand Elder's son, unable to speak.
He knew which mattered more: ties to his peers or his life.
"No, I don't know them."
Only then did the guests realize why their territories had been ransacked.
The student council president had handed everyone's addresses to a venomous snake full of revenge.
"Damas, you bastard. Sold us out for an easy prison life?"
"Ugh... That's too much..."
The blond bit his lip at the direct blame.
Then lifted his head with a resolved expression.
As if he were my close aide.
"You should've lived nicer then."
Sweat trickled down his back.
He glanced at the cells holding disaster-class prisoners.
"Thinking of what you did to the warden, it hurt my heart too."
Even the Grand Elder's son submitting to the warden.
The nobles truly felt the snake's vast influence.
"......"
It wasn't just raw power.
The sturdy backing of the Grand Elder had joined him.
The seasoned middle-aged lord realized it was decision time.
As long as he stayed in the north with the warden, the tide was set.
"Warden Derek."
The father shielding his daughter dropped to both knees.
He was Count Ort, owner of the north's largest granary region.
"Why kneel? The floor's cold."
"No. Compared to your suffering, this is nothing."
Even owning the north's prime golden land, he thrived.
Because he was a shrewd neutral force adept at reading power players.
"I know any comfort from me is too late."
He pulled his daughter firmly.
And made her kneel too.
"So, will you forgive us if we cooperate in a way that helps you now?"
"Sorry, Derek. Please do as my father says..."
Eyes set on joining first to claim inner circle status.
"Please accept this."
The count pulled out an envelope prepared for if I proved even more dangerous.
Berryhill Investment Plan
"Berryhill is barren. Clear limits to building power."
He pointed out the plan with a businessman's eyes.
An ambitious pledge to expand it into a massive force.
"Give me a chance, and I'll reclaim the wastelands here. Ort has plenty of quality seeds."
The white-haired lord proposed boosting agriculture and industry simultaneously.
"Reclaiming needs engineering gear. Use it as cover to secretly bolster military equipment."
"Don't worry about approvals. I'll get them quietly from the palace."
The imperial secretary joined slyly.
His face looked much healthier from the money he'd taken from me.
"I'm grateful, but is this okay for you?"
"Of course. You're that important."
Why these looks?
With Damas sticking to me, did they think I'd bagged the Grand Elder and Princess?
"Derek, I think it's fine to accept. It'd be good for them...?"
Damas chimed in carefully.
Persuading me like his life depended on it.
"Sure, why not. Investments in Berryhill benefit me."
More power never hurt.
The bigger my influence, the safer the prisoner control.
And if needed, I could fend off threats to the extinction inhibitor Princess.
That's why she'd terrorized them into this.
"Understood. With your support, I'll work hard with this one body."
I nodded solemnly like them.
And ordered Damas to help them up.
"......"
The guy now strutting like a close aide, obeying orders.
An old man watching from afar in his cell saw it.
"Damas found his way quicker than expected."
Grand Elder Dark, king of nobles.
He stood leisurely with hands behind his back in his cell.
"Thought he was a frog in a well, but he saw through Derek's ambitions."
His supposedly dim son had a good eye for people.
And proved useful, boarding the train.
"Derek Minster... Might just become the north's overlord at the youngest age."
The blond smiled nobly, like eyeing skyrocketing stocks.
His desk piled with nobles' pleas to save them from the giant snake.
"Yes. To devour the empire, show this much madness."
Absorbing his tormentors under that pretext.
Satisfied with the moves, the Grand Elder ignored the letters.
Now that his own son was his close aide...
He planned to push Derek as his successor.