Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Chapter 49
In the silent meeting room.
The marquess could not open his mouth even at Ian’s question.
The incarnation of the World Tree, which he had thought was just one of the widely spread legends.
No matter who he told this situation to, they would think it was a lie.
No, more than that, there was no way a human would summon the World Tree, which was said to hold the wisdom of the continent, just to solve a crime.
If the young lord had wished for riches and glory, she would have shown him the path to riches and glory.
If he had wished for the family’s independence, she would have shown him the path to independence.
To use that precious opportunity just to ask if the son of a count from a small kingdom was in the forest.
The anger of the World Tree that he had felt just moments before seemed to remain on his skin, sending a warning.
“Ha… haha… hahaha!”
Trimia’s laughter spread through the silent meeting room.
“I promised I would be a witness.”
The prince, who was called the Righteously Mad King , raised his head and looked at Ian.
“I, Trimia de Reime, one of the rightful heirs of the Reime Kingdom and son of the great King Dejun, will be a witness and declare, in the presence of the World Tree and the Holy Empire, that Obsol has invaded Moner.”
Trimia spoke with a low and serious demeanor, as if his usual bright and lighthearted appearance was a lie.
“The Reime royal family wishes for reconciliation between the two domains and the prosperity of the kingdom, but will not force it.
Therefore, the Moner family shall carry out the will of the family.”
If you want to wage war, then wage war.
If you want revenge, then take revenge.
“Your Highness!
You are being too hasty……!”
The marquess, fearing that the Moner family would start a domain war, quickly intervened, but the prince was firm.
“Marquess, as you said, you stood in this place on behalf of my father, King Dejun of Reime, and you said that if the truth could be proven, the Moner family could move as they pleased.
The king’s promise is never light.”
“But if the Moner family starts a domain war!”
If a domain war between Moner and Obsol were to occur, Moner would eventually swallow Obsol.
Then, Moner would gain Obsol’s vast granaries, and the royal family would lose the only means they had of controlling Moner: food.
“Don’t worry.
The Moner family has no intention of starting a domain war.”
The prince looked at Ian calmly.
“You’ve prepared too much.
I had heard rumors that there were Dark Elves in Moner’s territory, but I never thought I would see the World Tree with my own eyes!”
The prince said, as if genuinely impressed.
The meeting had flowed according to Ian’s intentions from beginning to end, like a well-written play.
“But what you want is not war.
If you wanted war, Count Mogul and Count Sven would have been here.”
The rumors about the scoundrel of the Moner family were widespread throughout the kingdom.
The shame of the Moner family, a scoundrel not even recognized by his own family.
Ian, with a crooked smile, opened his mouth.
* * *
No one in the meeting room was wearing a weapon.
It was to protect the official importance and safety of the meeting, as the marquess and the prince, who were representing the king, were present.
However, to Ian, who had learned the martial arts of the Ghost King, weapons were not important.
“Then, since I have finally received both of your permissions……”
In a moment no one expected, Ian moved his hand as if he had been waiting.
Slice-
Thud.
The unpleasant sensation of bone and flesh separating was felt in his mana-clad hand, and the sound of a heavy head falling to the floor echoed.
“One.
The count’s head.”
I had been holding back until now for this moment.
As long as the justification was secured, the royal family would not be able to move easily, no matter what I did here.
I had to widely announce and at the same time imprint on everyone that messing with the Moner family meant preparing for death.
That the scoundrel of the Moner family was not a simple scoundrel, but a real madman.
'There’s no guarantee that a bastard like the marquess won’t show up again someday.'
I had to instill the fear that they might die if they acted condescendingly in front of me.
It was problematic for the name Ian to be a target of disregard and contempt forever.
Just as people showed respect and reverence for the name Moner, yet felt an inexplicable fear for those who protected the Demonic Beast forest, I had to become an object of primal fear.
Therefore, I swung my hand again towards Treon, who was lying on the floor.
“One.
The head of Treon, the eldest son who invaded the western forest.”
Slice-
Thud.
Only after the two heads had fallen to the floor did the marquess, who had grasped the situation, stand up and shout.
“Young Lord!
How dare you, in a place like this!”
“Didn’t you say so yourself, Marquess?
That if it was true that Obsol had invaded, I could do as I pleased.”
Even after seeing the blood dripping from his hand, the marquess shouted.
“Even on the battlefield, it is customary not to see blood in a place of treaty……!”
At those words, Ian chuckled.
“Did you think I would follow such things?
The scoundrel of the Moner family, Ian de Moner?”
No way.
If I had intended to punish them with mere words, I would not have created this situation in the first place.
Everyone gathered here would not forget this incident, and what happened here would spread throughout the kingdom.
This was a kind of showcase.
To show how much of a madman I, Ian de Moner, the scoundrel of the Moner family, was.
“Moner’s demands are not over yet.”
Ian looked at the marquess, who was red in the face, with cold eyes.
“One.
Natasha of Obsol will inherit the title of count and hand over half of the granaries.”
It wouldn’t be able to feed everyone in the Moner family, but just by obtaining the granaries, it would be possible to block the kingdom’s checks.
“One.
Merchen and Lyt will also each pay 100 million gold as compensation for tampering with the food for a long period.”
I couldn’t demand the granaries from the two families, but they would never be able to pay the 100 million gold in damages for breach of contract and the current compensation combined.
Through this, I would be able to lead to favorable negotiations in the future.
“And finally, one.
Having reviewed the problems that have occurred over the past period, it is clear that the regent dispatched by the kingdom has failed to fulfill his duties of regency by neither prospering nor protecting the domain.
Therefore, I, Ian de Moner, wish to end the regency before I turn 18 and officially become the head of the family.”
At Ian’s words, everyone was unable to hide their astonishment.
“If one could achieve things by simply being stubborn, no one would bother to sit at a negotiation table.”
At the marquess’s sharp voice, Ian chuckled.
“Marquess, I have never been stubborn.
The World Tree that supports the continent has proven that I am right, and I have brought the brightest star of the Holy Empire who will testify to that proof.”
Ian’s eyes, as he shook the sticky blood from his hands, gleamed with murderous intent.
“If the truth of my words is doubted because Count Mogul and Count Sven are not here, then just you wait and see.
Whether I, who moved the World Tree and the Holy Empire, cannot move the soldiers of my own family.”
This was my war.
It started that way, and it would end that way.
But if they stubbornly refused to give me what I wanted, I would use every card I had, I would move thousands of soldiers and hundreds of knights to get what I wanted.
Otherwise, the name of Moner would be called without weight, without meaning, and would eventually become prey for other hyenas.
“And if the Moner family rises, you would do well to think about how far that sword will extend.
Just as what could have been ended with the heads of the count and his eldest son has come this far, if the Moner family rises, it will never stop until it has cut the heads of all the humans who have defiled the Moner family.”
What would happen if the Moner family, which could already be compared to the royal family, swallowed the three domains?
The family would represent the kingdom, and soon it would become the kingdom itself.
Just as I had jokingly told Lina, it would be called the Nation of Moner, not the House of Moner.
“Your Highness, please convey the will of Moner to His Majesty the King.
And Marquess.”
At the 『Desire for Blood』 activated by the blood of the count and Treon warming the floor, Ian’s eyes glowed red and his voice sank even colder.
“The moment I saw the people of the domain, clutching their festering stomachs and eating bread mixed with sand.”
More accurately, the day the Dark Elves who lived on my land, weary of fleeing, came to me and blamed me.
“They were dead from that day on.”
The only reason I had spared Merchen and Lyt was out of the selfish desire not to start a war.
They too would pay a price for it.
“So do not be mistaken.
Just as I have never feared you, the Moner family has never, not for a single moment, feared the kingdom.”
To protect the continent, not the kingdom.
To protect humans, not Moner.
This was Moner, standing firm in the Demonic Beast forest.
“So when Moner volunteers to be a guard dog, you’d do well to be careful on your own, pretending not to be able to win.
You might get bitten to death, worse than a dog.”
Ian turned his head again, bowed politely to the prince, and said.
“Then, I shall take my leave now and await the wise decision of the royal family and Obsol.”
The war that had begun quietly.
Just as Ian had wished, ended in everyone’s silence, with no one from the Moner family shedding any blood.
* * *
“Good work.”
Reina walked behind Ian, who had left the meeting room, and behind her, Shendelzar followed, supporting Akasha.
“What do you mean, good work.
Everyone worked hard.”
This was the most trivial and smallest victory among the things to come.
To prevent the ruin as the scoundrel Ian, I could not be content with just this.
“Let’s go back home.”
Now that I had solved the problems outside the house, it was time to start cleaning up inside.
Ian’s steps towards Moner gradually quickened.
* * *
“What did you say……?”
The king’s gaze turned to the marquess, who had urgently requested an audience.
“T-the count and the eldest son are dead.
Not only that, the young lord said……”
“Hah… Marquess, the very reason I sent you in person was to avoid this exact result.”
“I apologize, Your Highness.”
He fell into thought, leaving the bowed marquess behind him.
The Moner family was a giant tree, rotten from the roots, that would fall with time.
How much effort had he put in to make it so.
“Did the young lord really appear in that place?
That scoundrel?”
“Yes.
Seeing as he did not move even when requested to bring the regent, it seems there was another movement within the Moner family.”
That couldn’t be.
All the eyes and ears in the Moner family had said that the young lord was no different from a folding screen.
They had reported his recent strange behavior, but it had only amounted to punishing a few corrupt officials.
Hadn’t there been a report just a month ago that he was busy fooling around with dozens of women he had gathered?
“Hah, I can’t understand.”
Could the regent, who had been selected and dispatched according to the advice of the World Tree, have been swayed by a mere scoundrel?
Or was this situation also part of a plan foreseen by the World Tree?
“You said the World Tree was at that place……”
The Elf delegation that had visited the Reime Kingdom seven years ago after the duke disappeared had offered various pieces of advice for the prosperity of the Reime Kingdom, saying that now that the duke was gone was the only moment to control the Moner family.
Then, the sudden stirring of the Moner family must also be part of the World Tree’s plan.
“For now, let the young lord have his way.
However, he will serve as the temporary head of the family until he turns 18.”
“As you wish.”
The king, who had been stroking his chin for a moment, looked at the marquess again and continued.
“By the way, to give the title of count to the illegitimate daughter of Obsol, what on earth is he thinking?”
If the illegitimate daughter were to receive the title of count, the nobles’ complaints would be endless.
“It would be better to tell the young lord that we will do as he wishes and then kill her.
It’s difficult to move the kingdom’s people, so you take care of it yourself.”
“As Your Majesty wishes.”
As the marquess, who had received the order, bowed deeply and left the royal presence, King Dejun of Reime stood up and went to the window.
“With the Empire on the rise, now Moner has started to move as well.
This is not a good sign.
I’ll have to attach one of the shadows to the young lord.”
A deep, low voice echoed in the empty royal presence.
“I will follow the king’s will.”
While even the shadow that had been protecting him had left its place, the king stroked his deep wrinkles and whispered.
“For that Moner family to move.
I have a bad feeling about this.”
Even though it was a family on its last legs and a situation that couldn't be changed by a single scoundrel, the unpleasant premonition did not go away.