chapter_0036

36 – Deliver Us from Evil

36 – Deliver Us from Evil

After the incident with the evil spirits, I focused even more on diplomacy to become a ‘beloved ally.’

Although my profits decreased slightly, I arranged a spice contract with Lord Zelas for the sake of the relationship between the princess and the neighboring territory, and I sent a considerable amount of spices and salt as a tribute to the prince who sent Azel as a gesture of gratitude.

However, despite such efforts, there was one family whose relationship never improved: the Lion Family.

These people were so dissatisfied that they returned the compensation sent to Dreyhart and, more thoroughly than before, drew a line with us.

If it were just a matter of drawing a line with us, I could somewhat understand.

The Lion Family not only hunted down the slaves fleeing to our territory but also captured free citizens, which forced the Krone Knights to be dispatched to the border of our territory to protect them, or else we would have witnessed a scene filled with corpses in the fields.

In fact, I had known for some time that the Lion territory was going increasingly insane through the merchant informants Noah had set loose.

However, I never expected that they would publicly execute even the most noble of their free citizens, including administrators, not by ‘judgement of law’ but by the archaic ‘judgement of God.’

A few days after that incident, a letter arrived.

It was sent by Bara, the son of Hadem, whom I had met only once in the past.

The letter urgently requested that I come to a secretly agreed-upon location, stating that there was something he really wanted to tell me.

It could be a trap, but feeling the desperation in the letter, I went to the promised place with Azel, and here we are now.

Before I could be shocked by the son’s shocking statement that he wanted his father dead, I responded as a lord.

“Do you understand what it means to ask me to use my power to kill your father?”

“Yes! I understand. I know better than anyone!”

No matter how crazy Hadem had acted, he was still a lord and a father.

For a son to request that I, the lord of a neighboring territory, kill such a being was an incredible act of filial impiety, even by the moral standards of this place, which lacked Confucianism.

“But this is the only way! If we leave it as it is, that mad lion will continue this madness until we are all dead!!”

Bara, as I remembered from Calix’s memories, was a slender but cheerful and lively child.

What had happened to him over the past ten years? His face was filled with wrinkles, and his hair was thinning in patches, suggesting he had experienced severe stress.

I could somewhat understand the painful time he must have endured over the last decade.

“Have you not asked for help from the prince?”

“Ha! Brother! Do you think the prince, who intends to use my father, would throw away his axe for something like this!? He will never intervene for something like this!”

So it was… The prince I had encountered in the game was not evil, but it was hard to say he was entirely just either; he was a pragmatist.

Hadem’s act of killing free citizens by ‘judgement of God’ was insane and would not be looked upon favorably by the prince.

However, depending on the interpretation, that action precariously touched upon the lord’s governing authority.

Would the prince discard one of his power cards, Hadem, because of this incident and act in a way that would diminish his influence in the southern region?

As Bara said, the probability of him not intervening was high.

“Then what about asking for help from the princess?”

“I tried to ask for help indirectly! But I received a reply saying that family matters should be handled by the family!!”

It would not be easy for Lord Zelas, with only the power of the princess faction, to defeat Lord Hadem.

Ultimately, to strike against Hadem, the power of another lord from the princess faction would be needed, and that would inevitably turn it into a proxy battle between the prince and the princess, regardless of the justification created.

In that case, even if Hadem was in the wrong, the prince could not afford to lose, and he would undoubtedly provide support, leading to a war that could determine the fate of the southern region.

It seemed that both the princess and Lord Zelas would have found this burdensome and refused.

“Brother! You are our only hope. Only you, the Silver Dragon of Crone, can save the people of our Lion territory!! If this is our fate, I would rather become your slave!!!”

“………”

I had a headache.

I felt pity for the people of the Lion territory, and I wanted to help them.

But if I recklessly engaged in a full-scale war with Hadem, it would become a headache.

Defeating Hadem was not the problem.

If I publicized Hadem’s crimes, it would politically attack the prince, who had known about them and done nothing.

Then, the princess faction would eagerly begin to attack the prince faction, and I would be swept into the princess faction, making it impossible to turn back.

That would be an action that deviated from my goal of becoming a ‘beloved ally’ to all factions.

“I understand your pain and that of your people.”

“Brother!!”

“But this matter seems too significant to decide here. I will contact you later, so you must wait.”

“I will wait! Please… save the people of our Lion territory.”

Bara bowed his head to me and earnestly pleaded.

It was truly heartbreaking to see the heir of a territory reduced to such a state, losing his pride and bowing his head to me.

With that heavy task on my shoulders, I returned to my territory.

Upon returning to my territory, I asked Azel to keep this matter a secret between us for now.

Azel nodded vigorously, understanding that it was for a righteous choice.

The reason I did not immediately tell my vassals about this matter was that I needed time.

Until now, many of the incidents had been unavoidable.

Monsters had invaded, and a rebellion had already begun due to someone’s conspiracy.

I had not started it; I was merely resolving something that had already begun.

But this time was different.

No matter how crazy Hadem had acted,

even though it was for Bara’s plea and to save the people of the Lion territory,

if I fought Hadem now, it would become ‘something I started.’

It was not something someone else had ordered or something unavoidable.

It was something that arose because I thought, judged, and commanded.

No matter how small the matter, when a battle occurs, people die.

No matter how much I try to minimize the damage, if war breaks out, someone will die.

The responsibility of ordering someone to die to save someone else felt overwhelmingly heavy.

Compared to that, the political issues between the prince and princess were truly minor matters.

As I was pondering, I saw a crowd gathered in the central square.

The people in the square were covered in wounds, kneeling and starting to shout.

“Lord! Please save our father!!”

“Our son is over there! Lord! Please save our son!!”

Their voices reached even my office.

I had no choice but to ask what was going on.

“There are vassals gathered in the square… what is happening?”

At my words, Hart replied with a troubled expression.

“They are immigrants who escaped from the Lion territory. They are pleading with you to save their families who could not escape.”

“Immigrants who escaped? Usually, families flee together, don’t they?”

Noah looked at them sadly and said, “Recently, the surveillance in the Lion territory has become extremely severe. So, in order to have even one more person come to our territory, families are scattering and fleeing.”

“As a result, while some people arrive in our territory, many are dying or being captured back to the Lion territory.”

Hearing the situation, I was dumbfounded.

I never imagined I would see separated families here, just like in my past life.

I saw them from my office.

They were all covered in wounds.

Their bodies were riddled with small injuries, and their clothes were in tatters.

No matter how many immigrants we had in our territory, it was not that we could not provide treatment and clothing to the wounded immigrants.

However, if they were gathered there in such rags and wounds, there was only one reason.

They were gathered there out of concern for their families rather than coming here to receive treatment and clothing.

The separated families from the Lion territory continued to shout.

Even without a response, they just kept shouting with all their might.

“Please save our families from evil!”

“Lord! I’m sorry! I’m sorry that I can only beg like this! If I can just meet my family safely, I will give up all my possessions. I will become a slave. So… please save our families… please…”

An older man shouted while crying.

He was crying just like the man I had seen in the separated family program in my past life.

As that image came to mind, I could no longer bear to watch.

And I felt like my insides were boiling.

I was frustrated with Hadem, who created this situation, the prince who stood by and did nothing, and myself for not being able to act immediately.

That evening, I found it hard to sleep.

As I wandered the castle walls, looking at the dark horizon, a shadow approached.

“Lord, is this where you are?”

It was Ricain, the commander of the Krone Knights, who had served the Crones Family since the previous generation.

Feeling troubled, I spoke to Ricain.

“I just want to be alone… Ricain.”

At my words, Ricain did not leave.

Instead, he approached me as if he understood my inner turmoil.

“Why are you so troubled? My lord, just give the order. Just command them to save them, as you did in Dreyhart.”

“Do you not understand that this is different from then…”

I looked toward the direction of Dreyhart.

The battle in that desert beyond the horizon was still vividly remembered.

“The battle of Dreyhart was an unavoidable fight. But the battle with Hadem is different. If we want, we can avoid a fight with Hadem.”

“But if that happens, the vassals of the Lion territory will continue to die.”

“How many of our soldiers died during the Deep Rock incident? How many of our knights died during the Dreyhart incident!! How many will die if we fight Hadem!!!”

After every battle, I always received reports about the casualties.

There had never been a battle without casualties until now.

All those deaths felt like my responsibility.

“That is a glorious death.”

“There is no such thing as a glorious death!”

“No! There is!!”

Ricain shouted.

In Calix’s memories, Ricain had never shouted before.

But this time, he shouted as if to teach me for the first time.

“I have thought several times that I might die while cleaning up the nobles’ mess. I knew it was an unjust thing, but everyone took it for granted, so I followed along as if it were natural.”

It was common for knights in this era to torment the people in the name of justice.

Ricain had also received such dirty orders from the previous lord of the Crones Family.

“It is you, my lord, who has given us the righteous order to save the people and free the slaves. How can it not be honorable to die fighting for that?”

Ricain recalled that day.

He remembered the slaves rejoicing and cheering as they became free with the delphinium flowers, with his lord at the center.

It was a long-held dream of Ricain, who thought it could never be realized.

The long-held dream of Ricain to fight honorably under the command of a just lord to save the people was being fulfilled there.

“It’s not just me. All the Krone Knights will be proud to fight for you, my lord.”

“……..”

Ricain went before Calix and knelt.

And he sincerely begged Calix for his lord.

“So please think of our honor rather than our lives. Participating in the glorious battle to become your strength and save the people from evil is our wish.”

Calix could not say anything in response to Ricain’s words.

He felt as if he were being admonished for trying to escape responsibility by using their lives as an excuse, and he could not speak.

And the next day, Calix resolved to strike against Hadem.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you for reading today!!!!

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(I have slightly revised it so that Bara and the vassals of the Lion Family provide proper compensation!!!)