“You seem to remember my face.”
“Ah, no, uh, that’s…!”
In front of the growling Roderick, the village chief opened his mouth like a goldfish. My mind went blank and I couldn’t think of anything.
Other villagers did the same. Some of them collapsed on their knees as their legs gave out, while others trembled all over.
“In my opinion, I don’t want to kill him gracefully, but I don’t have much time, so I can’t do anything.
“A billion, a billion! Hold on! Please forgive me!”
“What are you doing? Hang it!”
“yes!”
The village chief’s pleas did not go unnoticed. At Roderick’s command, the mercenaries grabbed the village chief by the shoulders and pressed him down.
Then he pulled out a rope to hang himself. As the rope tried to wrap around his neck, the village chief had a seizure.
“Ki, knight! It doesn’t matter if you kill me, but please tell the lord at least and kill me!”
“What? Lord?”
Roderick frowned. If it’s a lord, isn’t it that someone is collecting taxes?
That made things a bit of a headache. No matter how cheap they die, it’s a hole for the lord to pay taxes.
Even in a small village, if there were a lot of deaths, there was a high possibility that the lord would protest.
“Yes, yes! This land belongs to the Viscount, Count Ludgar!”
Thinking that he had found his way to live, the village head quickly added his words. Roderick was troubled by the village chief’s words.
Count Ludgar was a nobleman whom even Roderick had seen. An aristocrat who is quite greedy and has a strong sense of authority.
If the execution went ahead like this, it was almost certain that there would be a conflict with the Bernstein family.
‘It’s a pain in the ass. Should I send a letter to get permission to execute?’
Permission itself will be given immediately. They were the ones who tried to kill the nobility. The problem was elsewhere.
‘I can’t keep watching these guys until then.’
To get permission, you have to travel back and forth from Count Ludgar’s castle far away to the town of Brick. Of course, a lot of time is wasted.
We don’t have enough money to keep hiring mercenaries during that time. But if you loosen your guard, you will most likely run away.
Besides, what if they, no matter how great the wrongdoers, were paying taxes to the Count? It is highly likely that they will tell it to end with a few ringleaders.
‘Even if the sky collapses, there’s a hole that will rise!’
Seeing Roderick worried, the village chief shouted hurrah inwardly. I tried it once, but I never thought it would work this well.
After all, I thought that luck must be following me.
“It is a lie.”
“…!”
People’s eyes focused on them all at once. Luke, who spoke out, continued to speak calmly in the midst of numerous gazes.
“There is no lord in this village. Of course, you don’t even need an execution permit.”
“This, this foreign hunter! How dare you lie to a knight!?”
The village headman, who had been pointing, stumbled backwards. It was because Roderick, furious, ran up and kicked him in the jaw.
“this guy! Where are you pointing your finger at the young master!”
“yes? What do you mean by that…?”
“This is the person who inherited the blood of Count Bernstein! Set a straight example!”
The villagers, including the village chief, blinked their eyes in a daze. And after a while, when he understood the circumstances, he exploded in astonishment.
bastard Although it is very rare, when a woman who attends a noble is pregnant, the noble directly recognizes the child as her own and accepts it as her family.
I never thought that such luck would come to Luke!
“Then, if Luke defends us, can we all live?”
“yes! We lived together for over 15 years…”
The faces of the villagers who were chatting with each other became more and more hardened. He remembered what he had done to Luke so far.
They hit the price of meat and hides, were not allowed to live in the village, and worked without any pay whenever needed.
In the end, didn’t he even try to blackmail him with debts he didn’t have? It was fortunate that he didn’t try to kill him, let alone defend himself.
Luke continued talking even as the villagers turned pale.
“This village is a pioneering village created 30 years ago. It is so remote and remote that no one has declared it their land.”
“Then, what did he just say…?”
“As I was in a hurry, I was talking about the most powerful person among the lords around. In any case, if you go to get permission for the execution, the lord over there will of course claim it as his land.”
Although it is a small village, it is a land that can pay taxes. The distance was too far, so it was difficult to manage, so I just left it.
But what if the villagers brought it and offered it by themselves, saying, ‘I don’t need to do anything for you, so I’ll serve the lord and pay the taxes’?
Of course, he liked it, and it was obvious that he would immediately say that his land was right.
“Is it true?”
“No, no! Not that!”
When everything was understood, the village chief trembled all over. Even if I tried to make excuses, I couldn’t come up with any more.
Roderick looked down at the village chief with cold eyes.
“Hang him to the tree. After a day, tear up the body and throw it into the woods.”
“Oh, no! Knight Nari! No, Bocchan! Please save me, Bocchan!”
The village chief belatedly clung to Luke. But Luke only smiled coldly.
“You said you would pay the price.”
“Do, Bocchan! please forgive me! aaagh!”
The mercenaries skillfully wrapped a rope around the headman’s neck. The village headman screamed and resisted, but to no avail.
Soon the rope was caught on the tree, and the village chief rose into the air like a pulley. The body, which had been struggling for a while, stopped shortly after.
All that was left was an old corpse dangling from a tree.
After the village chief hung on, the whole village froze. There was a huge difference between vaguely thinking that he could die and seeing the execution right in front of his eyes.
“Besides the village chief, there are many faces that stand out quite a bit.”
“…!”
At Roderick’s words, the villagers shuddered. Although there are more villagers in numbers, the majority are only farmers.
A mountain of corpses could have been created in this spot with only a handful of mercenaries and one knight.
“Great knight! Please have mercy!”
“Everything the dead village chief said we should do!”
“We just couldn’t win against compulsion!”
The villagers quickly knelt down and claimed their innocence. Roderick and Gaiden, as well as the mercenaries, looked at the residents with an expression of excitement.
If it were a nobleman, what could only one village chief do? It was something that could not have happened without the consent of the entire village.
The disgusting self-defense enraged Roderick to the point that blood pooled in his head.
“My bastards right now…!”
“Sir Roderick. calm down.”
Again, it was Luke who stopped Roderick. The villagers clung to Luke’s feet with bright faces.
In their eyes, Luke was their last hope.
“It’s Luke! No, Bocchan! Help me!”
“Even if you look at the old times, please!”
Luke clicked his tongue at the sound of old love. Did you raid the cabin just a moment ago and forget about it already?
As his eyes widened in fear, he seemed to be spitting it out at will.
Up until now, Roderick had faithfully followed Luke’s words, but he did not back down this time.
“Boss, please don’t stop. This is my revenge.”
“you’re right. However, there is no need to overdo it by using a body that is not yet healed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Leave it to the mercenaries.”
Luke’s gaze turned to the mercenaries. The mercenaries, who had not yet understood what they were talking about, exchanged glances with each other with bewildered expressions.
“Do you remember what I just said?”
“Yes. I remember that.”
“Did you hear about the situation? Bring down the punishment on this evil town. Take care of everything you need.”
“…!”
After the short talk, joy appeared on the faces of the mercenaries, and despair appeared on the faces of the villagers.
Luke’s declaration was permission to plunder.
There are two types of loot. One is looting under the watchful eye of the commander, the aristocrat, and the other is looting in complete neglect.
It’s the same plunder, but you can say what’s different, but in fact, these two were completely different concepts.
From the point of view of the nobles, the occupied land is their own territory. Of course, if you make a mess, it will be difficult to collect taxes later.
However, if rewards are not given to mercenaries or soldiers, dissatisfaction will build up, so looting is allowed at an appropriate level.
In some cases, villagers voluntarily pay taxes with their property. It’s kind of like a squeeze.
From the point of view of the village, safety is guaranteed with a small amount of damage, and the soldiers’ dissatisfaction is suppressed with appropriate money and goods.
However, the story is different if the territory is not intended to be occupied or if the mercenaries’ dissatisfaction is on the verge of an explosion. They completely let go of their hands and aid in looting.
Of course, the mercenaries turn the entire village into a mess and uproot the pillars. Because everything you plunder becomes your property.
The scene that was taking place in Brick Village right now was the looting of the latter.
“Hey, do you like this necklace? It will cost you quite a bit.”
“That, that’s the daughter’s coma later…”
“what? Are you going to give me your daughter now?”
“sorry! Take whatever you want!”
The mercenaries searched every nook and cranny of the town and began to rob the property. The villagers tried their best to hide it, but to no avail.
Did you plunder once or twice while living as a mercenary? The only place to hide was obvious.
Cattle that could not be taken were no exception.
“Are you offering this to eat now? Who do you know as the piglet?”
“Oh, this is the best situation in our village!”
“Are my eyes broken? Do you see that delicious goose over there?”
“That goose is to be sold in the spring… no! I will make it right away!”
All the small and valuable things were swept away, and all the large livestock went into the belly of the mercenaries.
It would have been worth holding on if it had been swept away once, but the mercenaries did not take their ground and go out.
-It’s not long until Sir Roderick is cured, so let’s stay a little longer.
It was because of Luke’s opinion. First of all, treatment was an excuse, but there was no one who didn’t know that it was a deliberate intention to punish the village.
From noble mtl dot com
Of course, Roderick agreed without hesitation, and the mercenaries also ran wild.
“Keuhehehe, I wondered if the client was ripped off, but what kind of rice cake is this?”
“It’s pretty salty for a small town, isn’t it? This should be enough to pay off.”
“Long live the Bocchan! And toast to the stupidity of this village that tried to attack the knight!”
The mercenaries flirted and shoved greasy food into their mouths. Thanks to this, I will be able to enjoy the luxury for the next few days.
A mercenary who was eating and drinking happily looked at Eric, the mercenary commander, who was lost in thought.
“By the way, what are you thinking about, Captain?”
“No matter how you think about it, it’s strange.”
“Is it strange? What do you mean?”
“Isn’t this town pretty rich for being in a corner? In particular, there were quite a lot of oil and leather clothes. How did you get them?”
Several mercenaries nodded at Eric’s words.
“Come to think of it, I was also weird. Oddly enough, he’s pretty good at cooking meat. You wouldn’t know how to cook it unless you eat it often.”
“So that is it. It wouldn’t be possible unless half of the villagers were hunters or someone gave them meat for free.”
“I don’t know. Aren’t there a few skillful hunters who suddenly died all at once? I hope we can get away with it.”
The mercenaries burst into laughter at the trivial joke. Then, as if he had lost interest, he started talking about something else.
Whatever the reason, it was a good thing if there was a lot to shake off.
‘Come to think of it, that young boy seems like a hunter… isn’t it?’