chapter_0053

53 – A Good Neighbor

53 – A Good Neighbor

After a peaceful (?) meeting with Lord Royce, Calix headed to the next room.

Calix had asked Lana to take care of Lord Royce and Berick.

One was foaming at the mouth, and the other seemed half-mad, but he thought Lana would be able to handle it well.

When Calix entered the next room, an old man with a long beard was sitting there.

Calix spoke to him, who was sitting calmly at the head of the table.

“I apologize for causing a disturbance late in the evening, Elder Roan.”

His name was Roan Klaus.

He was the former lord of Klaus and the head of the Crones Family.

Roan, the head of the family, calmly replied to Calix’s words.

“Rather, I am sorry that this old man has failed to educate his son properly, Lord Calix.”

“Not at all, Elder.”

Roan had a son at a very late age.

As a result, he raised his son preciously, indulging him in everything, and as a result, Royce grew up to be an arrogant young nobleman.

Thinking that he would ruin the family and the territory if he inherited them as he was, he handed over the position of lord to him a little earlier and stepped down as the head of the family himself.

This was because he thought that if he directly felt how difficult it was to manage the territory, he would grow up a little.

And in order to prevent him from going on a rampage after gaining power without any countermeasures, he took charge of managing some of the defenses himself to prevent Royce from doing anything wrong.

That’s what he thought… Roan never expected that he would do such crazy things behind his back.

Royce’s chief retainer, Berick, played a big role in Roan’s late realization.

Knowing that he had to deceive his father first in order to start the food attack, Royce ordered Berick to manipulate the news and documents going to his father.

Berick had an excellent talent for forging official documents and manipulating information, and he manipulated the documents that Roan saw, mixing truth and lies, to make them look perfectly fine.

As a result, Roan didn’t realize that something was wrong until after the desert flood began, but by then it was already too late.

“So… what are you going to do with our Klaus Family now?”

Roan was in a complicated mood.

Calix was treating him as an elder now, but it was Calix who held the Klaus Family’s lifeline in his hands.

Although the Platinum Council prohibited invasions without a declaration of war, it was not absolute.

If they did something worthy of being attacked, like Klaus, and had a reason to invade and enough bribes, like Cron, the Platinum Council would likely stand by and watch.

Calix could do anything now, except for the worst-case scenario of exterminating the family.

He could threaten Roan to strip Royce of his position as lord in the form of the head of the family’s order, and put a descendant of the Klaus Family who listened to Cron as a puppet lord.

Or he could make them pay an unimaginable amount of compensation and turn them into an economic vassal state.

Roan recalled the countless endings he had seen in his life and worried about what Calix would do to them.

But the words that came out of Calix’s mouth were completely unexpected.

Calix…

“I will not do anything.”

“…Are you saying that sincerely?”

Roan couldn’t believe Calix’s words.

He occupied the main castle and said he wouldn’t do anything?

Just as he was thinking that he was talking nonsense, Calix continued.

“To be exact, I will only take the promised wheat and the penalty for breach of contract and return. There will be no looting of the people.”

“Is that possible? No matter how good and righteous you are, the soldiers will not be.”

“We can do it.”

At that moment, the Krone Knights were maintaining order in downtown Klaus.

They were orderly in their positions and did not commit any looting or harm.

Because she was at the center of them.

“If you do anything unjust, you’ll die by my hand! Do you understand?!”

[“Yes! I understand!”]

Azel, emitting green energy from her sword, was commanding the Krone Knights.

She was affiliated with the Golden Knights, but she was treated as the vice-commander of the Krone Knights.

She was put in charge of managing the Krone Knights at Calix’s strong recommendation, and she was doing a very good job.

She was the type of person who could stab her lord in the chest if she witnessed something unjust and got angry.

It was obvious what would happen to unjust subordinates, and the Krone Knights knew that from living with Azel.

So Calix continued his conversation with Roan without worry.

“Head of the Klaus Family, Roan, it is very unfortunate that things have turned out this way, but we will sincerely return. And I would like to be good neighbors with the Klaus Family in the future.”

Roan’s eyebrows twitched at Calix’s words.

Roan was sure that Calix had some kind of plan.

‘He will never return without any reason.’

Head of the Roan Family had been watching the Empire for the past few decades.

There was no action without meaning, and there was always a dark motive behind it.

As he sorted out the situation, he came to one conclusion.

‘Could it be… Lord Calix intends to make our Klaus a buffer zone!?’

If you go north of Klaus, you will find the territory ruled by the family of the Northern Grand Duke.

If Cron directly eats the Klaus Family as it is, a confrontation will be created between the Northern Grand Duke, who is trying to move south, and Cron, who is trying to move north, and they will directly clash.

In addition, occupying the Klaus Family by force for the sake of expansion could lead to a bad relationship with the Platinum Council.

But if they returned as they were, this incident could end as a minor conflict between families.

On the surface, that is.

From the Klaus Family’s point of view, their main castle had already been occupied by Cron once.

He heard that there was a traitor who opened the castle gates, and due to the habit of people following the strong, there was a high probability that more people would collude with Cron.

Trying to deal with them would require a major purge, but in that case, Cron would surely invade under the pretext of dealing with a corrupt lord under the name of a prince or princess, just like when he dealt with Hadem, and this time he would appoint a noble from another Klaus Family as a puppet lord.

If they tried to surrender to the Northern Grand Duke or other forces, they didn’t know what the internal traitors would do to them.

The Dreyhart Family was said to have been massacred by assassins overnight.

At first, Roan thought that it was really the work of the Blood Clan’s assassins, but now it seemed likely that Cron was involved.

In order to obtain Dreyhart, he sent assassins to create a situation and announced that he himself had been attacked by the Blood Clan’s assassins.

There could be no more perfect alibi than this.

After sorting out all the situations, Roan realized that there was only one path left for him, and he felt a chill down his spine for the second time in his life.

“Lord Calix… do you know our family’s motto?”

“I know, Elder. A good family…”

“Has good neighbors. If we become good neighbors, will Cron help Klaus?”

Roan asked Calix.

Even if it was just a verbal agreement, even if he had no choice, he wanted to hear the answer from Calix with his own ears.

“Of course, Elder. Cron does not abandon friends.”

Calix answered without hesitation to Roan’s question.

Roan could not feel any selfish motives in Calix’s voice, and it was sincere.

Even if the Cron Family became a buffer zone, Roan would try to resist even if Klaus was destroyed if it meant meaningless sacrifice.

But if that wasn’t the case, if they could receive benefits as good neighbors of Cron, like Dreyhart and Lion, Roan thought that it wouldn’t be bad to join hands with Cron this time.

“I understand, and thank you for giving Klaus another chance.”

Roan bowed his head to Calix.

Calix panicked and shouted, as if the Confucian dragon in his heart had raised its head.

“Raise your head, Elder.”

“I will educate my son properly. Don’t worry.”

Calix was embarrassed to see the determined look in Roan’s eyes.

Why is he reacting so strongly to the words that we should just be good neighbors?

What a strange elder?

Although there was a small (?) misunderstanding, the story of the two families ended well in a good way.

As Calix was about to leave the room after finishing the story, Roan said.

“By the way, Lord Calix… have you ever heard that you resemble someone?”

“I have never heard such a story. Who do I resemble?”

“I see… it’s just an old man’s memory, you don’t need to pay attention to it.”

Roan was reminded of one person while talking to Calix.

He was the one who cut off all his escape routes with thorough tactics and then threw a lifeline with a warm voice.

He didn’t know if the lifeline was rotten or strong, but Roan had no choice but to grab it.

He was the current emperor of the Empire, the first being to make his spine tingle.

In Roan’s eyes, Calix looked a lot like the emperor when he was young.

Author’s words (Author’s afterword)

Thank you for enjoying it today!!!

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