The Rotten Count
“Wh-what is thiiiiiiiiis!?”
Count Oswald let out a shriek at the sight that greeted him when he stepped into the mansion.
There was nothing. Almost nothing at all.
The paintings, vases, and suits of armor that had decorated the entrance hall.
His younger brother had never liked flashy decorations to begin with, but there had at least been a minimum amount of furnishing. As profits from the gold mine stabilized, the number of high-quality items had gradually increased as well.
And yet… all of it was gone.
“D-Dear, what in the world is going on here?”
“H-How should I know!?”
Several carriages had carried his brother’s family away, but with all the mansion staff riding in them, there hadn’t seemed to be any room left for cargo.
Then where had all the furnishings gone?
“T-The second floor! We’re going to the second floor!”
“W-Wait for me, dear!”
“Papaaa!”
He stomped upstairs and headed straight for his younger brother’s bedroom.
There it was. No, “still there” would be more accurate.
There were oddly empty spaces throughout the room, and furniture that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.
Only a large bed and a chair sat there by themselves.
And both the bed and chair had red notices pasted onto them.
“What is this?”
The Count reached out to peel one off, but his hand froze.
Written on the paper was…
“Dear, what is it? Wait... Seized Property!? W-What is going on!?”
“Why... why is there a royal crest on a seizure notice!?”
“A royal crest!?”
Sure enough, the crest of the Olfonse Royal Family was emblazoned upon it.
The Count hurried into another room. The same thing. A bed bearing a red notice. No other furniture.
“Hey, you! Who are you!?”
There was a man in the room.
He was holding a binder and seemed to be checking off a list.
“Me? Ah, yes. My name is Fitcher, from the Filerix Trading Company. We do business with the Royal Palace.”
The man turned around.
Narrow eyes behind glasses.
Mid-twenties, perhaps.
“A-A merchant!? Who gave you permission to enter my mansion!?”
“Huh? We received permission from the former Count. Besides, this is work commissioned by the Royal Family.”
“W-Work!?”
“Yes. Apparently the former Count suffered a business failure for some reason. Goodness me. The books were in the black until about ten years ago. Come to think of it, wasn’t it around the time the former Count retired that they started operating at a loss?”
Without the slightest trace of guilt, Fitcher adjusted his glasses and spoke casually.
Whether he knew or didn’t know that the man responsible for those losses was standing right in front of him.
“And because of that, His Majesty was kind enough to cover part of the debt.”
“W-What!? H-He borrowed money from His Majesty!?”
Oswald had run enormous deficits in his business ventures, but in the beginning he had pinned the blame on his father.
Never once had he imagined money had supposedly been borrowed from the king.
“S-So this means...”
Everywhere he looked, there were red notices.
There was hardly a single item that didn’t have one.
“Yes. Since the baron’s household apparently possesses quite a number of valuable assets, His Majesty ordered all of them seized.”
“A-All of them!?”
“Indeed. Otherwise there’d be no way to recover the amount His Majesty lent to the former Count.”
“W-What did you say, you bastard!? E-Everything in this mansion belongs to me!”
He reached for a nearby chair and grabbed the red notice attached to it.
But he couldn’t bring himself to peel it off.
“Oh? Are you going to remove it? Really? Huh? Can’t you see the royal crest? You can’t see this emblem? Reeeally?”
“Ghk...”
“D-Dear, stop! If you remove that, the Count’s family could be branded traitors!”
The Countess spoke with a deathly pale face.
At that moment…
CRASH!
Something shattered out in the hallway.
“W-What was that?”
The Count rushed out.
There stood Landfas, leaning back proudly in front of the remains of something that had been smashed to pieces.
“Hiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!”
The one who screamed was Fitcher.
He dashed forward so fast his glasses nearly flew off and dropped to his knees before the shattered object.
“W-What have you done!? A vase with a royal seizure notice on it! Hooooow am I supposed to explain this to His Majesty!? The moment that notice was attached, it became royal property!?”
The next screams came from the Count and Countess.
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
“Nooooooooooooooooooooo!”
Hearing them, Landfas tilted his head.
“What’s wrong, Papa? Mama? It’s just some lame vase from that crappy baron family. Who cares if I break it?”
“Y-You foooooool! L-Land, what have you done!?”
“Land, honestly! Don’t you recognize the crest on that notice!?”
“Huh? This ugly bird picture?”
“D-D-D-D-D-D-Don’t call it ugly! Th-That is…”
“The royal crest, yes. Ahhh, children really are invincible, huh? Hahahahahahaha... haaah...”
Fitcher let out an exaggerated sigh.
Inside, however, he was laughing.
The sight of the panicking Count and Countess was simply too entertaining.
And he was equally amused that their son had behaved exactly as he’d been told he would.
(Just like the young master of the baron’s family predicted. A completely ordinary vase the boy had prepared. Put it somewhere within that brat’s reach, and he’d definitely break it. Wouldn’t even spare a glance for the notice.)
[Landfas probably doesn’t even know what the royal crest is.] [He’ll probably call it “an ugly bird picture.](Every word, dead on the mark.)
Fitcher was impressed.
That level of insight was hard to believe from an eight-year-old child.
And it had also been that same boy who came up with the plan to seize everything in the baron’s household under the authority of the Royal Family.
Anything that could be carried away quickly had already been removed by Fitcher’s employees.
In reality, while the former Count had indeed fallen into debt because of Oswald, he had never borrowed money from the Royal Family.
More than that, the debt had already been fully repaid by the Baron.
As for the seized items, Fitcher himself would be purchasing them.
The Baron was no longer here to receive the payment, but the money would be quietly distributed among the local residents.
Everything had been arranged by the Baron and his son.
(So they’re heading to the frontier region of Zenas. I wonder what kind of territory that family will build there. Can’t wait to find out.)
The Count pounding his foolish son with his fist.
The foolish son bawling his eyes out.
The Countess looking ready to faint at any moment.
Watching the scene unfold, Fitcher found himself increasingly excited about the departed baronial family.
And then—...
(Still, what a waste. It’s only been a little over a decade since the gold vein was discovered.)
His gaze drifted toward the mountains visible through the window.
What a waste. Even as he thought that, Fitcher could barely contain his excitement for what was about to happen.
“Damn it! We’re going to town! To town! There was an ore sorting facility there, wasn’t there!?”
“The sorting facility! The sorting facility!”
Seeing the son merely parroting his father’s words, Fitcher smirked.
(Heh, heh. This looks fun. Guess I’ll tag along.)
What do you think about this chapter?
