Making a Little Pocket Money
After leaving the royal castle, we moved to Shiranui’s clan house in the royal capital.
When we contacted the South territory, just as expected, the kingdom’s army was heading there.
Thirty thousand strong.
I did tell them to take them alive if possible, but… well, that girl was all fired up. And yeah, I get wanting to clear your name…
By the next day, we got word, those thirty thousand troops were almost entirely captured.
Apparently, that father-daughter duo went on a rampage and couldn’t be stopped. My old man, who’d been commanding in the South, was laughing about it.
So, off we go again, back to the royal castle to make a little pocket money.
Hostile stares came from all directions.
Me, with Yukimi and Charlotte accompanying me, we walked right through like we owned the place.
For us, that level of hostility? Barely even a breeze.
We headed deeper into the castle and entered a room filled with the presence of a whole lot of people.
“So, have you decided on your course of action?”
Inside the conference room, the same bunch from yesterday, plus the Hero’s Party (lol), were in the middle of a heated “discussion,” aka a full-blown blame game.
Might as well give yesterday’s report too.
“Actually, yesterday, the South territory was attacked by an unidentified force… about thirty thousand troops. We managed to capture most of them. Quite a few of them were well-dressed, so I was thinking we could return them… for a price~ If not, maybe turn them into slaves~ Apparently they attacked without even a declaration of war, lost thirty thousand against two thousand, and we barely took any damage. Pretty pathetic, really. But they had some high-quality weapons and armor, so we confiscated everything. We’ll be negotiating over those too, of course.”
The room, which had been buzzing just moments ago, fell deathly silent.
The thing is, many nobles’ heirs had participated in that South territory subjugation force.
And those heirs had been accompanied by their domains’ strongest knights, adventurers, and more.
They’d even brought out heirloom weapons and armor, prized masterpieces.
Well, makes sense, the rewards from the royal family would’ve been huge if they’d succeeded.
Loyalty to the crown, calculated gains, interests tied to the frontier… polishing their heirs’ reputations…
Almost every noble house except the Margrave’s vassals had taken part.
Which means, yeah.
The royal family’s plan to take down the Margrave House had been decided in advance.
“We’ve got about five days left, so we’ve set up a contact point through the Yotsuba General Trading Company. I’d just like to ask that none of you embarrass yourselves by trying to haggle down the ransom for what are essentially thieves who attacked without a declaration of war.
I very much look forward to seeing your seriousness as nobles.
Though, I imagine payment in money alone may be difficult, so we’re also open to accepting goods, rights, positions, even territory. We encourage your enthusiastic participation.”
The nobles scrambled, confirming facts, scrambling for funds…
All the while shooting resentful looks at the royal family and the other noble houses who had orchestrated this.
Then issuing rapid orders to their retainers.
Watching them, Julius spoke again as he turned to leave…
“Oh, right. Last night, dozens of assassins broke into our place… Seems there are still some fools who don’t know their place. Our clan members are currently wiping out that organization… but it’d be annoying if we were the only ones taking hits, right? So we tweaked things a bit, made sure the assassins would go after the clients who put out the hit on us. I wonder if you’ll be attacked next?”
He made a slicing motion across his arm with his hand.
“After all… we took the arms of every single one of their executives. What do you think happens when they start wondering who’s to blame?”
Chairs scraped loudly.
A few people panicked.
“My apologies, I’m feeling unwell, I’ll take my leave here…”
“May I be excused as well!?”
Several nobles hurriedly fled the room.
“… With reactions like that, you might as well be confessing.”
“Charlotte, if we apply that to those nobles just now, any issues?”
“None in particular.”
“Then mark them as specially designated… Oh, right, you all don’t know what that means, do you? It’s basically our internal rating system for doing business. Countries, territories, individuals, we evaluate them all.
For the record, the Titania Kingdom has been at the lowest rating since yesterday. You never know when it might collapse.
And as for those people just now, their rating drops to the lowest as well. We’ll be withdrawing all divisions from territories under the Yotsuba General Trading Company. Stores will be reduced to automated food sales using golems.”
He gave a little what a shame gesture.
“That’s enough, isn’t it? Haven’t you done enough? Just treat them normally already. Don’t you feel sorry for them?”
Finally, the Hero, who’d been nothing but background noise until now, spoke up.
As expected of background noise, light head, light words.
“Ohhh, as expected of Hero Waltz. So when armed forces get sent into your territory without a declaration of war, and you strike back, that’s ‘pitiful,’ huh? Our Hero is truly a magnificent idiot. Starting something yourself and then telling the other side to stop, now that’s impressive. Your courage isn’t just for show. To defend your comrades in this situation…”
“Wow. Amazing.”
I even clapped for him.
“Of course,” he said, grinning, puffing out his chest.
… Seriously amazing.
Is being immune to sarcasm some kind of skill?
“Well then, I suppose Marquis Harmetz will be taking responsibility in your place? As expected of the Hero, truly the embodiment of self-sacrifice. Joint liability, then. We’ll be suspending all transactions with the Hero Party’s families, the Harmetz Marquis territory… and while we’re at it, the royal domain and the Gulf Duchy as well. You don’t seem to want anything to do with me, after all. Charlotte, take care of it.”
The Hero had said something he shouldn’t have…
His parents immediately beat him, leaving him with a bloody nose.
“Well then, time’s short, so you’d better decide on your terms quickly. Even the continent’s largest nation, the Titania Kingdom, can fall, you know. Because of you. Including the Hero’s Party and the royal family.”
I stood up and pointed north, east, and west.
“What do you think, Yukimi?”
“Yes, Master. They will most certainly come.”
“Then we’d better secure the South at least. Alright, shall we go over your terms of surrender?”
What do you think about this chapter?
