CH 66

“She’s a heroine. A heroine!”

Galfredik expressed his admiration after hearing about Eugene’s conversation with Essandra.

“It seems like Lord Essandra should already have succeeded the family from what you are telling me about her. I guess her siblings must be quite formidable as well, right?”

“It seems that Lord Essandra wants to take Lord Gabriel with her, but Lord Gabriel is refusing it. Apparently, he has connections in the royal castle, so he’s trying to grab a title for himself.”

“Is there a problem with that? Can’t they just go their own ways?”

Galfredik didn’t seem to understand the issue, which was expected of a knight. Eugene had reacted similarly when he first heard the story as well. He wasn’t sure what the problem was. However, the story of the Carls Baggins Peninsula was incredibly complex, and Essandra mentioned how there were innumerable issues to consider if they decided to split their territory.

“Maintaining the family? Lord Essandra described it as a sense of duty, saying that the issues of the peninsula had to be dealt with by the people of the peninsula and that the royal family should not intervene. She also mentioned how the Archivold family must stand at the center of the peninsula.”

“Ah, the situation will become quite bizarre if Lord Gabriel accepts a separate title of nobility from the royal city. So that is what Lord Essandra wants to prevent.”

Eugene never knew the inner workings of a kingdom during his past life.

Knights and commoners devoted their loyalty to their lord, and the lords did the same to their superior lords or to the king.

Including Eugene’s past self, most commoners had a simple, hierarchical understanding of the world. Even most knights were similar in their perceptions.

However, the reality was vastly different from their imaginations.

A king wasn’t the object of loyalty for numerous lords. Rather, he was only a contractual representative. In particular, a king had no control over the various cities and great nobles with immense power, vast land, and great wealth.

As such, the royal family constantly devised ways to weaken the influence of the cities and the great nobles in order to expand their own influence in the territories.

Gabriel was the target of the royal family’s scheme in the Carls Baggins Peninsula.

“Even if Lord Essandra succeeds the family as the new marquis, she will only retain half of the family if Lord Gabriel receives a title from the king and goes his own way. In addition, she would have to live under constant threat from the royal family. She would essentially have a dagger pressed against her throat at all times.”

“So she cannot possibly leave him be.”

“I think so. She wants to win him over somehow, but Lord Gabriel seems to be a little greedy.”

“Hehe. I get it. He wants ownership of the evil lands, right?”

“Correct. He wants the ownership of one of the marquisate’s dungeons. It’s a condition that Lord Essandra would never agree to.”

In addition, Gabriel had many other demands, including agricultural land. However, Eugene had not felt the need to remember all the details of Essandra’s complaints.

The important thing was that there were two evil lands in the marquisate.

Eugene figured that Essandra could immediately rise as the new marquis if she so desired, but she continued this dance with Gabriel because of the evil lands.

“Then have you decided to stand on the side of Lord Essandra, Master? You will be handing over the bandit boss?”

“Well, I didn’t think that there would be much use if I took Balmong to Lord Gabriel.”

“That is true. Even though Master has been recognized as a lord by the surrounding nobles, the direct descendants of the marquis would simply consider you to be a lucky knight. Even if both of them decided to vouch for you, Lord Essandra would have a stronger say. Ah! You’re not offended, are you?”

“Hmm? Is there any reason I should be? You are only telling the truth.”

“Kuhahahaha!”

Galfredik shook with laughter. Even after becoming a lord, his master’s attitude remained the same. But Eugene sincerely thought this way. 

His hope in this life was to become stronger to avoid a miserable, vain death like in his previous life. But he was constantly met with many surprises. Naturally, he always tried his best, but Eugene didn’t deny that much of his success was due to pure luck.

“Excuse me, Sir Eugene.”

The merchant, Magat, spoke cautiously after silently watching the two along with the squad leaders.

“What is it?”

“If you decided to stand under the flag of Lord Essandra, don’t you think you should be preparing for a territorial war?”

“I was thinking about it, but I figured things would work out easier if I took care of the other siblings instead of Lord Gabriel.”

“What?”

“It’s a bit too complicated for me to explain. Anyways, we will be heading to the territory of Lord Edrique. A dungeon owned by Lord Essandra lies beyond it. We will be subjugating it.”

“All of us? The toll you mentioned earlier would be enormous. Since it will be ten silver coins per person…”

“No, not all of us will be going. All of you can wait at the border of the territory. I will be the only one crossing the Edrique territory into the dungeon.”

“What!?”

***

“Take another moment and think about it again, sir.”

“I am grateful that you are worried about me, but I will be fine, so stop asking me, will you?” Eugene answered with a deep frown. Geko was following him as a guide and an agent for Essandra. This was already the third time that the knight had asked the same question.

“Your decision is not brave, but foolhardy, sir. Since Lord Essandra has recognized you as a lord, I will also follow her will, but honestly, I still cannot recognize you as a knight…”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Geko even dared to send subtle provocations. Eugene wanted to pummel him into a pulp to shut him up, but he could not. As long as he was sailing these waters with Essandra, he could not possibly injure one of her valued knights. As such, he answered while nodding half-heartedly.

“Let’s assume it will be fine for you to enter the dungeon alone. Then who will dismantle the corpses and carry the by-products? Sir, I fully understand that you want to appeal to Lord Essandra, but…”

“Over there, those men. Do they not belong to Lord Edrique?”

Eugene asked while pointing at a group of troops watching them from across the narrow bridge.

“I think so. Phew~ Anyways, remember that I tried my best to dissuade you, sir. And I will not be waiting for more than three days, so…”

“I understand, so go convey Lord Essandra’s words.”

“….”

He gazed at Eugene with a displeased expression before turning his horse. While he conveyed Essandra’s message to Edrique’s troops, Eugene called for Galfredik and the squad leaders. 

“Wait here while I am away. However, never cross the bridge. You cannot give them an excuse.”

“Don’t worry about that. If anyone tries anything, I’ll make sure to bash in their skull,” Galfredik answered with a grin, and the squad leaders flinched before nodding at once. They knew Eugene to be more skilled than Galfredik, but they also knew that Galfredik was better at tormenting and beating people.

Moreover, Galfredik was superior to Eugene in terms of military arts regarding group battles. The knight Galfredik perfectly filled the shortcomings of Lord Eugene.

‘How could these two have possibly met?’

‘If that’s luck as well, Sir Eugene will surely go on to become an unrivaled figure.’

The squad leaders returned to their respective positions while having such thoughts. However, they were unaware that there was another figure with as much loyalty as Galfredik.

“Veron, wait a minute.”

“What’s going on, Brother Partec?”

Veron stopped and turned his head while returning with the other squad leaders.

“Call some guys. Those who are bigmouthed and glib-tongued.”

“Huh? What do you need them for?” Veron asked with genuine curiosity. 

Partec answered while clicking his tongue as if he were frustrated. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. What were your first thoughts when you heard that Sir Eugene was heading into the dungeon by himself?”

“Well, Sir Eugene’s about to be Sir Eugene again?”

Partec chortled at the novel expression and continued. “Right? You would think so since you saw Sir Eugene take care of Balmong and the Hounds, right? That he’s simply about to go on another slaughter. Right?”

“Ah, of course. To be honest, it will be much easier to head into a dungeon and deal with monsters than climbing a mountain on a rainy night to confront criminals. I saw Sir Eugene personally flogging monsters at the ruin as well.”

“Okay. But what about the others? Those who didn’t actually see Sir Eugene pulling off a ridiculous, impossible feat with their own eyes?”

“…Ah!”

It seemed that Veron had finally realized the crux of the matter.

“Go and tell them. Let them know what it means for Sir Eugene to be Sir Eugene. We will prevent any of them from complaining. It would be better for you to do it rather than me, right? Since I’m an outsider.”

“Leave it to me! Hey! You bastards!”

Veron walked away while calling his men.

“Kyah! Just what I might expect from you, brother.”

“When did you wheedle Veron as well?”

Glade and Lavan approached Partec with a smirk.

“Everyone has their own part to play. How could I boast that I was the first to serve Sir Eugene if I can’t even do this?”

Lavan grinned in response, then sneakily turned his head before speaking. “But even if we do this, what about those knights over there? They look like they have a fucking lot to complain about.”

Their gazes turned to the group of knights in the distance. It was clear that they had been immersed in sweet imaginations about fighting glorious battles and raising their reputation. They appeared quite upset by Eugene’s decision to enter the dungeon alone.

“Hmm… I’m not sure.”

Partec responded while narrowing his eyes. There wasn’t much he could do about the knights. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of Eugene riding Silion toward the knights.

The knights stole glances at Eugene with displeased looks. Eugene spoke in a polite, kind manner. “Sirs. I wanted to say how grateful I am that all of you have listened to my requests until now. You must be quite sore. It has been of great help.”

“Ehem! It’s only natural for us since Sir Eugene asked us personally. However, to be frank, I am a little disappointed that you will enter a dungeon by yourself.”

“That’s right. I understand why you might want to leave the mercenaries behind, but I thought that us knight would fight alongside you, Sir Eugene.”

“Are we perhaps not to your liking, sir?”

Unfortunately, a knight was forever a knight. The seven men were covertly expressing their dissatisfaction. Eugene wanted nothing more than to beat them into obedience.

But…

“Nonsense! How could that be?! Any sensible lord would be honored to be accompanied by knights as talented and dignified knights such as yourselves. So how could I have any other thoughts?”

He could feel Galfredik sniggering in the distance, but Eugene tried his best to maintain a calm, soft attitude. Even a small-time lord like Camara Tywin was capable of thoroughly hiding his inner thoughts at times, so Eugene would need to do better.

“Oh!”

“I cannot believe you would think so highly of us! Please forgive us for doubting you, even for a moment, sir.”

“We were insolent, Sir Eugene.”

The atmosphere was instantly soothed by Eugene’s praise. He continued in an even more tender voice. “What is there to forgive? Anyways, sirs, could I ask you to watch the situation here for three or four days? I have great expectations for all of you, and so does Lord Essandra.”

“Even Lord Essandra?”

“Is that really true?”

“I’m telling you the truth. She could not spare any praise for how all of you followed me with determination, even without being officially hired. She also mentioned how she would not forget any of you if she became the next marquis.”

It was naturally a lie. Eugene could tell such lies because he knew the knights would never have a chance to speak with Essandra alone.

“Now, this is not much, but it is a token of sincerity from Lord Essandra and myself.”

Eugene beckoned, and Mark brought forth pouches filled with 50 silver coins and presented them to the knights. Of course, all the money stemmed from Essandra’s vault.

“Ohhh!”

However, the knights rejoiced without knowing the truth. Although it wasn’t a very large sum, some of them still trembled as if they were greatly touched. Many of them were free knights. Although they possessed some skill, they had never been sworn in by a noble. As such, they were weak to praise and gifts from nobles.

“And that’s not the end. These are just my personal thoughts, but in three or four days…”

Although Eugene had no way of knowing whether his predictions would come true or not, it didn’t really matter. He would be satisfied if it happened, but he wouldn’t lose anything if it didn’t.

The knights were completely mesmerized by his words and their hips seemed to bounce off their saddles with excitement. It seemed that they would be fine staying put for even ten days, never mind three.

“…What do you all think? I think it would be an excellent opportunity to show Lord Essandra the skills and chivalries of you sirs.”

“Please leave it to me!”

“I will do my best not to betray the trust of Sir Eugene and Lord Essandra!”

“Just what I might expect from you sirs! You are all so trustworthy.”

“Haha! You flatter us. Hahahaha!”

Eugene died a little inside after saying these things that he didn’t truly mean. Nevertheless, he was satisfied with having increased the working hours of the volunteers.