94. Shatran’s Shame (8)
As I followed Camilla, a lot of things that could be used as materials for weapons came out.
They gathered all sorts of odds and ends to make weapons, and when they handed them over, the people of Rusmeyer were able to make up for their lack of attack power and defeat the demons.
Just then.
This message popped up.
-Ting!
▶The achievement rate has increased significantly!◀
[ Current Achievement Rate: 76% ]
▶You have succeeded in bringing about a result that is beyond the choices!◀
I was prepared for the achievement rate to drop, as the villagers would be harmed in the process.
However, the system accepted my judgment as correct.
▶The villagers who received the weapons succeeded in eliminating the first demon on their own!◀
▶The morale of the villagers rises even higher!◀
As they were now able to deal with those demons more efficiently, the system quickly displayed this window to acknowledge that my answer was correct.
As expected, I didn’t need to step up.
How rough and harsh their lives must have been.
If I thought about it carefully, they might not have been able to deal with those demons not because of a lack of information, but because they were simply terrified.
And back to the present.
As I watched the villagers defeat the demons on their own, status windows popped up one after another.
-Ting!
▶Episode II. You have cleared the Repelling Hand!◀
▶The achievement rate has exceeded 80%!◀
▶This is a result that could not be achieved with the existing development!◀
▶You have achieved a hidden condition. You will be rewarded for a result beyond the choices!◀
…
…
■Reward
[ The loyalty of the Territorian has greatly increased. ]
[ Lusmier has become able to create a security system on its own. ]
[ The affinity of the Territorian towards Carsein has increased. ]
…
…
Some things that were not there originally have been added.
I had somewhat expected that Lusmier would be able to eliminate the demons on its own and that the loyalty would increase.
The rest is nothing major, but it has once again shortened the time by eliminating the need to raise their affinity through another sub-episode.
‘In that case… I can proceed with the plan right now.’
Once Carsein fully takes control of Lusmier’s effectiveness, it will become Carsein’s land, not Bargrand’s. The significance of that is enormous, so shortening the time is of utmost importance to me right now.
‘Alright. I’ll have to stay one more day today.’
There was no way an option would appear to kick me out of this situation.
Just then.
“You bastards! You won’t greet me now that I’m here!?”
-Ting!
A man’s voice rang out from behind me, and the status window turned on again.
▶Episode III. Proving Yourself as a Lord is in progress!◀
▶Protect Lusmier from other nobles and make it prosper!◀
Link to the next episode.
It meant protecting Lusmier, which had become my territory, as a lord.
But why is this appearing now?
The fact that it’s appearing means that there are enemies around me right now.
‘…No way.’
I turn my head towards the direction the voice came from.
“You there, in the black hood! Who are you to be trespassing in this territory!?”
I could immediately see the bastard glaring at me.
‘That bastard showed up here?’
***
It’s a face I’ve seen before.
Not me, but Carsein.
Hemnen Modric.
I remember his name because I saw him at the memorial.
He was the guy Carsein beat to death as an example to those who would pick a fight with Arina Bargrand on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony. But why is that bastard showing up here now?
Then the status window gave me the answer.
-Ting!
▶There is a target showing hostility nearby!◀
▶Target: Hemnen Modric◀
‘Aha. That’s what this is about?’
Currently, I’m playing Episode III and am in the position of having to rebuild the territory as the Lord of Rusmayer.
However, there’s someone who has shown hostility towards me at a perfect time like this, and the reason for this is obviously because of their dissatisfaction with this situation.
They don’t want Rusmayer, who has dealt with those demons with their own power, to revive.
They don’t want Rusmayer, who has the potential to greatly influence the culture of the nobles, to prosper.
That’s why they are showing hostility towards me, the one who brought about this change.
I haven’t reached this part when playing the game, but perhaps the reason why my intimacy level has been decreasing little by little every time I visit is because Count Modric’s family has been causing problems like this.
‘I’ll have to grab them and put pressure on them someday.’
And if the other party is someone that I already know and Karsein also knows, then I can act as boldly as I want.
“Get lost! How dare you barge into this place and…!”
-Clang! Swish!
“W-what?!”
“Master Hemnan!”
“You bastard! How dare you point your sword at Master Hemnan right now!!”
“How dare you! How dare you do this to meee!!”
Oh. He has a hairstyle that suits him quite well.
Since his family’s knights used to be bandits, I guess this much is to be expected?
Then, the man shouted like a toad.
“Immediately show your face that’s hidden in that hood and tell me your name! I need to see your face before I can decide what punishment to give you!”
I removed my hood as if I had been waiting for him to say that.
“I don’t think introductions are necessary, do you? Hemnan Modric.”
“Y-you’re…! Karsein, Vagrant…!”
It seems that he recognized me too.
From Noble mtl dot com
That’s even better. I don’t need to go through the trouble of them not knowing who I am like the other knights.
“Well, I guess it’s fine that you remember me. But don’t forget this.”
“U-ugh!”
As I pushed my sword against his neck, the toad-like man’s face turned pale.
“You dared to ask me how I could enter this territory without permission? You’re trespassing on someone else’s territory and you’re saying something like that?”
“Someone else’s territory? This is Rusmayer. What’s going on…”
Stab.
“It’s my territory, as certified by the Imperial Family. If you check the time, it should be past the time the official document arrived.”
“S-surely you’re not saying that the Vagrant Dukedom bought this place?!”
Hemnan’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
He knows very well that it’s not a fake. Since it’s not some other place, but a place that was directly approved by the Imperial Family.
However, Hemnan said the same thing as those knights.
“Hmm. Wait. I’m reading it slowly, but it says your territory, not the Vagrant Dukedom?”
His pale face started to regain its color.
His eyes narrowed sharply into crescents, and he immediately grabbed the book.
“The shame of Shatran is something that all the people of the Empire clearly remember. And you’re going to become the lord here?”
He shrugged his shoulders mockingly.
“The Imperial Family might have given you permission, but you’re saying that you’re the lord? hahahahaha, what a ridiculous thing to say! It looks like another territory is going to be destroyed this time too?”
The sneering man shouted to the Rusmayer estate’s people.
“You all know about Shatran’s disgrace, right? How a prosperous estate was ruined by a single person’s intervention in an instant. And yet, you’re going to accept this man as your lord? You might want to think about that again?”
It was a blatant attempt.
What did it mean to mention Shatran’s disgrace to the people of the estate?
He was clearly trying to sow distrust by questioning my qualifications as lord and threatening the position.
I had already prepared myself for this, and it was a line I had seen many times in the game.
I knew that they would be shaken to some extent.
So I planned to ignore it and wait for the choices.
Until just now.
“That’s ridiculous! I’d rather have a child like you manage our village!”
“And what management? You barely come and, when you do, you’re always late!”
“You even took the extermination fee from our poor village. How is that helping?!”
“You even hurt the people of our village and didn’t apologize!”
-Ting!
▶The favorability of certain estate residents has exceeded a certain level, so they will help!◀
▶The words related to Shatran’s disgrace do not cause unrest among the Rusmayer estate residents!◀
‘…So that’s how it is.’
It wasn’t my intention, but there was no need for me to step in.
They were on my side now. No, to be exact…
‘The entire Rusmayer estate is defending me.’
Was it because of favorability?
If so, this situation. It’s not so bad.
Hernen began to panic as the three boys, including Kian, and Daina shouted.
“W-what is this insolence! You dare to insult me now! You there! Throw those guys out of here right now!”
““Yes!””
-Clang!
“Who do you think you’re ordering around? I’m the lord here.”
“Kugh…!”
“Withdraw your soldiers. If you try to use force, I won’t stand idly by either.”
Although it was Karsen’s estate, the moment I drew my sword, I would be at odds with the Vagrant as well.
Hernen would have been well aware of this fact, so he had no choice but to click his tongue and tell them to back down.
He knew that he couldn’t mess with those who had already turned their backs, so this time he turned the conversation to Rusmayer.
“I understand that Rusmayer has become your land. So I can speak openly now. I want you to pay me compensation.”
“What compensation?”
“I, Hernen Modric, have been managing this estate, which had no owner, on your behalf. I even came here with my knights to deal with those demons. No matter how much they try to deceive you, I have the documents to prove that I managed this place!”
Hernen proudly handed me the documents.
Thanks to that, I was able to obtain one more piece of information that I couldn’t get in the game.
‘So this bastard took everything he could from the village, leaving nothing behind?’
Not only the extermination fee, but he also took the bodies of the demons. Moreover, he turned the estate into a dead-end by preventing its development, leaving nothing behind.
When I played the game, it was just empty and useless, but now I came early and it was still there.
I just can’t let this slide.
-Ting!
‘Oh?’
I didn’t think I’d get a choice like this.
This is really convenient.
“Humph. So I should receive at least 50,000 Pesel as compensation… Argh!”
As if he didn’t want to listen any further, I grabbed Hemnen by the collar and dragged him to the ground.
“You fool…! How dare you treat someone who helped your village like this!!”
[ 1. (Grabbing Hemnen by the collar and dragging him down) Shouldn’t I be the one receiving compensation? ]
“If we were to go into detail like that, I should be the one receiving compensation. So shouldn’t you get off your horse?”
“What, what?!”
“Kiyan!”
“Yes! Lord!”
“Melik, go with Tony and bring those guys over here.”
At those words, the expressions of the three boys lit up.
The villagers were still bewildered, but so were they. They had expectant looks on their faces as they watched the three men being dragged over, tied up with ropes.
In contrast, Hemnen’s expression hardened. It seems that these knights were acting on his orders after all.
In that case, I had no reason to hold back.
-Thud!
“Ugh!”
I kicked him in the stomach, and he let out a pig-like squeal.
“W-what is the meaning of this! Are you trying to stir up trouble between our families!”
“The knights of the Count’s family caused a disturbance in my territory. The fact that they didn’t even ask for a toll, and instead picked a fight and wouldn’t let us pass, is not a family matter, but a one-sided fault of the Count’s family.”
“E-even if that’s true, I don’t know anything about it! That’s their…! Ugh!”
“Aren’t they knights of the Modric County? If they caused damage to another territory, shouldn’t they pay compensation? Or is that the law of the Modric County?”
When I threw his words back at him, he held up two fingers.
“Kuk, Kekek! I’ll knock off 20,000 Pesel. Is that okay?!”
-Ting!
▶20,000 Pesel has been deducted from the compensation amount!
▶You can now select additional actions from the choices.
[ 1. Is that all? The damage those guys did was much greater. Knock off more. ]
[ 2. (Lifting my foot from where it was on Hemnen) I’ll let you off with this. ]
[ 3. Deduct the compensation in a different way. ]
Of course, the correct answer is 3.
Even 50,000 Pesel was already ridiculous, but the remaining 30,000 Pesel was also a considerable sum of money. I had to knock it down if I didn’t want to do something crazy like extorting the rest of it.
If I thought about it carefully, there were plenty of hints.
“How are you going to explain the fact that those knights were actually bandits who were looting Rusmayer? Does the Modric County use bandits instead of knights for escorts?”
Hemnen Modric’s expression twisted instantly.
The knights of the Modric County were actually bandits. Even if he cut off their tails, he couldn’t let such an unsavory rumor spread.
Realizing that he had to pay compensation to keep this news from spreading, he held up two fingers again.
“I’ll reduce it by another 20,000 pesels! And for the record, I don’t know anything about this!”
-Tiring!
＞ 20,000 pesels have been deducted from the compensation, for a total of 40,000 pesels deducted!
＞ You may now select an additional action from the list of options.
“Is that all?”
The list of options appears again.
I chose option 3 again this time.
10,000 pesels isn’t all there is.
After all, the goal here isn’t to reduce the compensation but to squeeze out more.
“Again, what else is there?”
“There’s a record in those documents of your continued use of this territory. Can you guess what that means?”
“Continued use…?”
Hemnen’s mouth slowly opened and then dropped wide open.
Yes, there was no way he couldn’t guess.
He had been using this territory for free, but he had tried to charge the knights a toll when the people of the Lüsmair territory wanted to use the road.
That was a contradiction in itself.
“But that’s the territory people’s…!”
“Barak, representative of the Lüsmair territory. We follow the will of the lord.”
“Ugh..!”
With that, the lord and the territory people became one and paid off Hemnen’s compensation in full.
“Ah, I see! Consider that compensation fully paid!”
Pressured like that, Hemnen’s tail droops.
There was nothing left for the knights to do, so they tried to make their escape.
The list of options had already ended here and wasn’t coming up again, so it seemed like this episode would be resolved like this.
But no matter how I thought about it, I had the feeling that it couldn’t end like this.
I blocked Hemnen’s path once more.
“Hey. Where do you think you’re going? We’re not done yet.”
“Isn’t this really the end this time!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. The tolls you’ve collected up until now easily exceed 10,000 pesels.”
“That’s absurd! No matter how expensive the toll, it couldn’t possibly be that much… Uwaaagh!”
I stomp on his foot again, and the sound of a pig squealing rings out.
“Wasn’t it you who said that you managed this rugged terrain? And you’re going to charge a toll for using the only flat road through such a place?”
“Ah, I see! I’ll pay the amount you suggested. I’ll pay that amount!”
Unable to withstand the pressure on his stomach, Hemnen struggles and orders the knights to quickly bring him a bag of gold.
It was money I had extorted from him, but it was enough to be used for the village’s recovery.
“Is, is this really the end?”
“No?”
I pointed my index finger at the ground.
“Today’s toll. There are six of you, so you’ll have to pay the toll for six people.”
Hemnen’s teeth could be heard grinding.
“I strongly recommend that you pay the toll from now on, since you’re going to be passing through here from now on,” I said. His face turned red. He must’ve been angry since he was the one who had told me to do it in the first place, but he couldn’t say anything about it.
The man obediently paid the toll and left. I had charged him quite a hefty sum, which was enough to make the villagers gasp in surprise.
-Ting!
▶Count Modric’s forces can no longer invade the Rusmayer Territory!◀
▶The power of the nobles who were harassing Rusmayer has been reduced!◀
▶Two out of four episode clear conditions have been achieved!◀
[Remaining conditions: 2/4]
‘Only two left.’
The reason why the Rusmayer Territory is being ostracized by the nobles is a multifaceted one.
Not only are there the attacks by the mazoku and the pressure from the nobles, but the financial situation is also dire, and this needs to be addressed in a different way.
In order to put my full plan into action here, I need to carry out several sub-episodes to gain their trust and increase my affinity with them.
However, I don’t think that will be necessary.
“What should we do now, master?”
-Ting!
▶The reputation of Rusmayer Territory has risen to Rank B!◀
▶The residents will follow Karsein’s orders. Their performance will vary depending on the difficulty.◀
This territory is already prepared to accept my orders.