Chapter 37 : Chapter 37
Chapter 37
After the meeting, Ian returned to his room and wrote a letter of command to be sent to Lier.
He had to issue the command in advance to prevent the three guild masters in Lier from ever leaving Lier, and at the same time, to prepare for a surprise attack from the three domains.
“Will the Security Department and the garrison really follow your orders?”
Reina asked as she watched him write the letter of command.
“They won't know if I sent it or the Regent sent it unless they check.
And since the atmosphere is chaotic right now, they'll probably think there's some reason for it.”
No soldier questions the reason after receiving a command.
Isn't the military a profession where you just do as you're told?
Even if it was revealed to be the command of a ruffian, they would have no choice but to follow.
No matter what anyone said, it was the command of the noble with the highest rank in this domain.
“…Are you going to just leave the Regent be?”
I looked at Reina at the sudden question.
With her usual bright smile, she continued.
“Ah, it's not for any other reason, but since you've recovered from the poison, I thought you, Young Lord, would directly manage the domain……”
At those words, Ian shook his head.
“Not yet.
No matter how much I say I'm fine, people won't believe me.
Besides, if I start managing the domain, I won't be able to handle anything else.”
I did not know the Regent's exact level, but seeing as Count Mogul was not wary of him, he was probably not above the 4th class.
I might be able to kill him with a surprise attack now.
Even if not, it was not difficult to request the royal family to replace the Regent, or even to forcibly advance the succession ceremony and inherit the dukedom.
The problem was whether I could handle the turmoil that would follow.
Unless it was a legitimate succession ceremony, the knights would surely be discontented, and the people would tremble in anxiety at the sudden rule of a ruffian.
No matter how much time was a healer, causing problems internally while there was an external enemy was not a good choice.
“I understand, Young Lord.”
Reina nodded with a somewhat disappointed expression.
Had Reina also accumulated a lot of resentment towards the Regent while nursing Ian?
“Don't worry.
I have to go to the Front Hold after this is over, so I plan to deal with him before that.
I can just hold the succession ceremony as soon as I return.”
After sealing the letter of command with the lord's seal, he handed it to Reina.
“For now, let's focus on the enemies in front of us.”
The Regent was Ian's enemy, but the three domains were the enemies of Moner.
I had to break them for good when I could, so they could never rise again.
* * *
A month passed.
The first to notice the change were the merchant guilds that traveled between the three domains.
“Something seems to have changed here too……”
“My good man, isn't that new Moner merchant guild taking in every single beggar?”
“Really?
What for?”
“How should I know?
These days, with the slave trader caravans being called bandits and whatnot, maybe they're just using a few beggars instead of slaves.”
Rylae did not put up notices to gather people.
She thought that no matter if they were beggars, the other domains would not look kindly on a merchant guild from another domain taking their people.
Instead, every time she went on a trade route to each domain, she gathered the begging children and took those who wanted to go with her.
When a friend who had been begging on the streets together just a few days ago returned with plump cheeks and wearing decent clothes with the merchant guild, more children joined after seeing that, and the rumor about the new Moner merchant guild that hired beggars spread from the most remote corners of the domain.
“Alright!
Those who wish to go with us today, please stand over there!
We'll give you a change of clothes and a simple meal, so please wait quietly!”
Rick, who was so busy he could have used two bodies, was handing out clothes to the beggars in rags when he stopped in front of a man in decent clothes.
“You don't look like a beggar.”
“…Are you only hiring beggars?”
“No, well, that's not it……”
Rick, who had glanced at Rylae's side for a moment, continued.
“The work is rough, so it's not easy.
Once you're hired, you might not be able to come back here.
You'll see when you read the contract later, but if you have family here, it would be better to just stay……”
Even though Rick gave him a subtle piece of advice, the man did not bend his will.
“…I, I want to live like a human too.”
A tenant farmer of the Obsol domain.
A life where even if he worked all year round to grow crops, it would all be taken by the lord, and he would barely be able to make ends meet.
A human with nothing, who could hardly be said to be alive even if he was living.
“No, my good man.
You might be happy to go now, but you might never see your family again.”
“I don't mind as long as I can send some money.”
“Ugh… alright, alright, wear this and go stand over there.”
And so, even the tenant farmers of the three domains began to flow into the Moner domain, one by one, following the Golden Goblin Merchant Guild.
* * *
Bang!
Bang!
“They, they said they won't buy again?!”
Count Obsol repeatedly slammed the table with a fist trembling in anger.
“It's been a month already!
What about the Lyt domain?
What did those traitors say?!”
When the young lord first demanded compensation, he had planned to pay it off by raising food prices.
However, as soon as Moner demanded compensation, they abruptly stopped accepting goods from Obsol and Merchen.
“They have no intention of buying even if we lower the price… they're not going to budge unless the Lyt domain moves with them.”
Bang!
The table he finally slammed down collapsed, but the Count's anger did not subside in the slightest.
“Why on earth!
Why isn't that fool Merchen even answering my calls!”
Since the Lyt domain was supplying food exclusively to Moner, he had to pressure Lyt together with Merchen, but Merchen was intentionally ignoring Obsol's calls.
“Aaaaargh!”
He did not know what kind of bad luck he was cursed with, but nothing was going right.
The merchant guild that accounted for most of the domain's income was trapped in Moner and could not move, Moner was only trading food through the Lyt domain, and in the midst of all that, even Merchen had turned its back.
“Send another telegram to that stupid bastard Merchen.
They wouldn't want to starve to death either.
And send a few well-behaved merchant guilds to Lyt to find out how much they're selling for.”
The Moner officials who had been groveling for the past few years were nowhere to be found, and Rojin, who had been dispatched to Central Hold, had disappeared after his last contact.
“I think Rojin is dead.”
“Sir?
No way.
Even though he pretended to be an association member, everyone knows that Rojin is a vassal of Obsol.”
“That's why I'm saying it.
It's possible that not just Lyt, but Moner is also planning to make a move.”
“Tha-that……”
The adjutant showed a troubled expression at the Count's words.
‘Moner, having lost its center, will not move.’
For Obsol, who had planned everything based on this one belief, Moner's sudden movement was nothing short of a death sentence.
“…If Moner is moving, we won't be able to stop them.
I'll write a personal letter, so have a few fast knights deliver it to the royal capital.”
“The royal capital?”
“I need to request mediation from the royal palace.”
If Moner had really started to move, the only one who could stop their solo run would be the royal palace.
After finishing his words, the Count let out a frustrated sigh and looked down at the broken table.
“We have no choice but to give them whatever the royal palace demands.
If Moner cuts off trade like this, it might not be Moner, but us, who will wither and die.”
It was impossible to feed the entire Moner domain with just the food from the Lyt domain.
He did not know for sure, but they must have found another source of supply.
“Ha… for now, let's decide on a response after contacting the capital about the Moner side.
What's next?”
The adjutant reported to the Count, who was pressing his temples with his hand as if his head ached, in a troubled voice.
“The slave trader caravan that was coming to the domain was attacked by bandits again.”
Bang!
The table that had been broken in half turned to dust, and a hazy mist filled the room.
“What bandits, for crying out loud!
I've told you countless times that there isn't a single mountain around here!”
“B-but the merchants who came to report all said they were attacked by bandits……”
The Count, who had not received a proper explanation from Treci in the Lier domain, could not even imagine that the Black Noble Troop, with a force comparable to a small-to-medium-sized knightly order, would be playing bandits to get slaves.
“What the hell are those bastards doing!
What about the knightly order?
Release the entire knightly order and arrest them immediately!”
“Th-that… we've sent everyone except for the knightly order stationed at the domain's border, but they say they run away like ghosts as soon as they see the knightly order.”
“What?
Phew… you stupid bastards, what kind of mo… no, what kind of robber would attack a knightly order!”
Thwack!
Thud!
The pen thrown by the Count hit the adjutant's forehead and then rolled on the floor.
“Tell the knightly order to remove their crests.
No, tell them to take off their armor and look like mercenaries, like mercenaries.
If I don't teach them everything one by one, they can't even do the basics, those morons… tsk.”
The adjutant spoke to the Count, who was frowning and fuming, in an apologetic voice.
“We, we told them to thoroughly hide the fact that they are knights from the start of the mission, but somehow they knew, and they only avoid the merchant guilds where the knightly order is hiding……”
At those words, the Count glared at the adjutant.
“What?
If they're wearing leather armor and holding a spear, how can you tell if they're a knight or a mercenary?”
“The knights are in an uproar saying they don't know either.
It's not just a day or two, but they haven't had any results even after weeks of being on assignment……”
Hearing the story, the Count fell into deep thought.
“Then that means the story has leaked… do I have to catch a spy in the midst of all this?”
With difficult problems piled up on all sides, a headache seemed to be coming on.
“Let's focus on the bigger problem for now.”
Now that trade with Moner had been cut off, the various taxes and bribes paid by the slave trader caravans were by no means a small amount, but in a crisis, priorities had to be set straight.
* * *
“Let's just go back today too.”
Rick shivered as he saw a merchant guild approaching from a distance and said.
“Today too?
We've been going back too often these days.”
Lina asked with a flash in her eyes, but Rick, who had been playing bandit with her for a month already, did not flinch and spoke nonchalantly.
“Miss Lina, look here.
I got goosebumps as soon as I saw that.
There's definitely something there.”
“Hmm……”
Lina stared at the distant merchant guild for a long time.
Several members of the Black Noble Troop had already checked the number of soldiers in the guild multiple times.
About ten of the guild master's soldiers and about ten more mercenaries they had hired on the way.
It was a force that the Black Noble Troop could defeat without any damage.
However, Ian's command was resolute.
“Return.”
Follow Rick's instinct.
It was fine even if there were no results, but do not touch any merchant guild that Rick did not want to.
Since the slave trader caravans were associated with outstanding mercenary groups and the lords of each domain, they were using Rick's trait of reacting sensitively to danger to plunder the slave trader caravans in the safest way possible.
Of course, it was a command that was difficult for Lina, who did not know of Rick's ability, to understand, but she, who had unconsciously realized that following Ian would bring the best results, turned around without any lingering feelings.
“There's a merchant guild heading to Merchen tonight, so let's aim for that one.”
The Golden Goblin Merchant Guild, which had rapidly absorbed the beggars and vagrants of the three domains, was more knowledgeable about the rumors spreading on the streets than any other guild.
It was because they had gathered those who had no choice but to pay attention to the floating rumors in order to survive.
And those rumors spread to Ian and the Black Noble Troop and became an important means of plundering the appropriate slave trader caravans.
“Did he plan all of this too?”
Just as a sense of awe for Ian, who had planned all of this, was about to arise, an annoying voice was heard from the side.
“Who?
The Young Lord?
Huh, what are you talking about?
My boss says that too, it's a disease, a disease.”
Rick did not keep his mouth shut for a moment even while riding his horse.
“If there's a person who planned all this in the world, they're a god, a god.
The Young Lord is probably just doing this because he doesn't like the slave traders, without much thought.”
Hearing that, it seemed plausible, so Lina narrowed her brows and rode her horse.
“If there's such a lucky person, wouldn't they be someone loved by God?”
Either a god or a human loved by God.
In that they both possessed an unapproachable extraordinariness, there seemed to be no difference to Lina.