Ch.47Bar (3)

“This is absurd!”

“Of course! The Duke has trapped us!”

The nobles of Barr were in complete chaos.

Thanks to Claude’s deliberate negligence, the nobles of Barr had gathered with ease and were now engulfed in madness, each voicing their grievances and opinions.

“Even if the Duke truly sent the goods with good intentions, how can these terms make any sense?!”

“Exactly! To accuse us of embezzlement goes too far!”

“How can those of noble birth bow their heads to commoners?!”

“Above all, demanding we accept the Duke’s supervisors in our territories is a violation of our sovereignty!”

Most of the Barr nobles were fixated on the contents of Claude’s letter.

Give your wealth to commoners, bow your head to those commoners, and accept the Duke’s officials into your territory.

From a feudal noble’s perspective, these demands were utterly unacceptable.

“Ugh…!”

And naturally, some nobles had noticed Claude’s true intentions.

Those who had been uncertain about their judgment until arriving here now realized their suspicions were correct after witnessing this madness.

Claude, or rather Duke Bourgogne, wants us to rise up in rebellion.

Given such firm conditions, it’s clear the Duke has no intention of reaching an agreement with us.

Like a cornered rat biting a cat, the Duke has eliminated all escape routes and is driving us into a corner. He wants us to cross the line.

“Now, now… everyone please calm down. Shouldn’t we first think about solutions?”

The few nobles who had noticed the Duke’s intentions tried to quell the flames of madness.

If this gathering concluded with a decision to violently resist the Duke, it would be catastrophic.

Even if they tried to back out later, they would be seen as traitors by the other nobles, and the Duke would hardly let those who withdrew go free.

Yet accepting all the Duke’s demands was impossible for noble honor, so they needed to somehow dampen these flames—

“Solutions?! What else is there? Judging by this nonsense, that stupid bastard won’t even pretend to listen to whatever we say here!”

“…!!”

The gathering fell into sudden silence.

Neither the aggressive nobles who had considered rebellion nor the conciliatory nobles who sought to resolve the situation dared to speak.

This was natural. Beyond disliking the Duke, that statement offered little gain but much to lose.

The aggressive nobles worried that such radical remarks would cause others to flee, while the conciliatory nobles were terrified that these words might reach the Duke’s ears.

“Watch your tongue!!”

“Why is everyone reacting like this? Did I say something wrong?”

“The words may be harsh… but they’re not wrong.”

“…”

However, both the aggressive and conciliatory nobles were surprised by an unexpected development.

Many nobles, especially the younger ones, were agreeing with those reckless statements.

The seasoned nobles understood the world well enough to anticipate the repercussions of such remarks, but the hot-blooded young nobles did not. They were simply swept up in momentary satisfaction and pleasure.

“Why are you all acting like this?! Didn’t we come here to address the Duke’s atrocities?”

“That’s right!”

“Tch…!”

Even the aggressive nobles hadn’t wanted this. They had hoped to pressure the Duke to get what they wanted, not to make such inflammatory statements.

The reaction of the conciliatory nobles was even more pronounced.

“Your words and actions are completely inconsistent! As you said, we came to condemn the Duke’s wrongdoings, not to insult him!”

The conciliatory nobles were desperately trying to salvage the situation, but it was beyond their control.

They were concerned about bloodshed and wanted to save lives, while the aggressive nobles had already planned to sacrifice the radical nobles if things went wrong.

“Are you the Duke’s spokesperson?!”

“Don’t say such things!!”

Amid the aggressive nobles’ indifference, the conciliatory nobles’ desperate pleas echoed emptily.

“This won’t do. Even now—”

RUMBLE!!

“—What’s that?!”

Just then, a massive tremor shook the banquet hall where the Barr nobles had gathered.

The vibration quickly subsided, but the sound and force were strong enough to halt the ongoing meeting.

“Ugh… what’s happening?”

An earthquake? No, that’s not it.

The pattern of vibration was completely different. It was as if a wall was collapsing—

CRASH!

At that moment, the doors to the banquet hall burst open with the sound of bending hinges.

Despite many nobles being present, and servants outside surely knowing this, someone had violently forced the doors open, almost breaking them.

“What—…!?”

The startled nobles lost their words as they looked toward the door.

There stood masked assailants wrapped in cloth, holding swords.

Their blades appeared well-used, covered in so much blood that they no longer reflected light despite being made of metal.

Drip— Drip—

The sword-wielding assailants approached the nobles slowly, blood dripping from their blades, as if selecting who to kill.

……….

[We condemn Duke Bourgogne’s atrocities!!]

[Blood-thirsty demon!]

[Foolish man who considers noble blood as lowly as dirt!]

“…What is this now?”

I thought I had cornered the nobles of Barr and only needed to wait to catch a big fish.

But… what is this situation?

“Assailants invaded where the Barr nobles had gathered, randomly attacked our noble blood, and were then captured and killed by soldiers who arrived later. And I’m behind these assailants?”

This claim was written in the statement issued by the Barr nobles.

What nonsense is this?

I wanted them to fall into my trap alive, not die like this.

Above all, to accuse me of being behind these assailants without evidence—who would believe such a baseless claim?

“The list of the dead… huh?”

Sighing deeply, I examined the list of nobles killed by the assailants’ swords and noticed something very strange.

The vast majority of the deceased nobles were those with conciliatory attitudes.

“The aggressive nobles were also cut by swords, but most suffered only minor injuries…”

This smells increasingly suspicious.

It’s impossible to suffer only minor injuries when struck by a sword while unarmed. The aggressive nobles should have died just like the conciliatory ones.

“…A staged incident?”

Combining this information, the first thing that came to mind was that this was staged.

If they had decided to rebel, the conciliatory nobles would no longer be allies but sources of instability, so they might be better off eliminated. Moreover, they could use the names of the dead nobles to strengthen their alliance.

…The more I think about it, the more plausible it seems.

“A staged… incident?”

Chloe, who had been massaging the back of my neck, heard my muttering and asked with a puzzled voice.

“Yes, Chloe. It seems they killed their own and are blaming me. They’re making martyrs of the dead nobles to unite the noble alliance.”

“D-dare they frame you, brother… so they’re… bad people?”

“Tch… That’s right. The possibility of this being staged is very high.”

Feeling the need to explain in detail, I shared my thoughts with them.

Chloe expressed her anger through gestures toward the nobles who had framed me, while Ines, with a sinister smile that didn’t match her appearance, agreed with my opinion.

“S-so… brother, what do you plan to do now? If things have become complicated… well…”

“Hmm? Actually, this is even better.”

The Barr noble alliance will begin to act radically. Staging such an incident suggests they’re even considering rebellion.

If they truly intend to rebel, the situation has actually improved.

Small fry gathered together are still just small fry, not particularly threatening, but the potential harvest has increased.

I was only planning to take the lands of those who crossed the line with their words, but if they’re going to act like this, thank you very much. I’ll devour them all.

“Is… that so?”

“…? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing… hehe…”

Chloe’s voice melted into a mushy tone, as if she was pleased about something.

I can hear her giggling behind my head.

Hmm… is she happy that things are unexpectedly going well?

“Fufu, it’s good that things have improved, my lord.”

“Y-yes…”

Ines, who had been rubbing her cheek against my shoulder, turned to look at Chloe with a smirk, then whispered in my ear.

Ines is right, but… I feel like I’m missing something. It’s quite unsettling.

Is it just my imagination? Well, whatever. I should prepare to harvest the Barr nobles.