CH 98

The next morning.

A trial of the royalists was held in the city square. According to custom, someone needed to serve as a lawyer for the royalists, but unsurprisingly, no one came to their defense. In addition, a great majority of Maren’s nobles and dignitaries were witnesses of yesterday’s incident. As such, the fates of the royalists were as good as decided.

“I sentence Sir Viol Shiranosa and the seven others to be imprisoned indefinitely with no parole, and for all of their properties and possessions to be confiscated!” The panel of judges, which consisted of Maren’s mayor, Jevin Evergrove, and Maren’s parish, came to an agreement with an iron fist.

“This is all a setup!”

“This was a trap! We were lured into a trap!” The royalists shouted desperately after falling from their positions overnight, but only the jeers of the citizens greeted them. Thus, the trial concluded in less than ten minutes, and Eugene had a brief conversation with Jevin before he returned to the Evergrove territory.

“I trust that you will keep your promise,” Eugene said.

“I swore on my honor and the honor of my family in front of all those people. You should know well how strong that shackle is, Sir Eugene.” Jevin responded bitterly. Even if he succeeded the county in the near future, yesterday’s oath would still be valid.

If he were to violate his promise, Jevin Evergrove would be ridiculed and criticized by all the attendees of yesterday’s banquet, including the mayor of Maren. Moreover, that wouldn’t be the end of it. Eugene’s splendid connections, including Count Winslon and Marquis Archivold, would never sit still, and such an outcome would represent the end for the Evergrove County in the aristocratic world.

‘I poked my stick into the wrong hole.’

As he climbed onto his saddle, Jevin Evergrove was determined never to cross Eugene ever again until he heard the news of the knight’s death.

“Those slaves are my gift to you, so do as you would like with them. Feel free to use them or sell them. Goodbye,” Jevin bid farewell.

“Take care,” Eugene responded.

Jevin departed with his knights.

“Master, what shall I do with them?” Luke asked while pointing at the slaves. There were seven men and three women, and all of them appeared to be in their mid-teens to early twenties. Both their appearance and physique were excellent. It seemed Jevin had selected and brought along only those with the highest value among his slaves.

“Hmm.” Eugene glanced at the slaves. The slaves attempted to smile in front of their new master. But they could still clearly remember the bloody events of yesterday. All of them had clearly seen how strong and merciless their beautiful master was.

‘I have to smile. If I don’t want to die, I must smile.’

‘I can only pray he doesn’t torture me.’

‘What if he drags me to the evil lands and throws me to the monsters as bait?’

“The women will work as maids in my castle. You will receive one silver coin every month as your pay,” Eugene declared.

“...?!”

The eyes of the female slaves became filled with shock. 

Eugene turned toward the male slaves before continuing. “Does anyone know how to fight or hunt? No, rather, it doesn’t matter what it is. If you have any specialties, speak.”

The slaves couldn’t answer the sudden question. Rather, they warily stole glances at Eugene and at each other. Luke stepped forward with a frown. “The master asked you a question. Hurry and answer.”

The slaves mistook Luke for Eugene’s aide and hastily answered.

“M-my pop was a hunter.”

“I know how to read and write letters and numbers.”

“I am able to trim leather. I can make candles as well.”

“I…”

The slaves started to answer one after another, and Eugene nodded with satisfaction. Not only were the slaves well-built and handsome, but all of them also possessed at least one special skill.

“Good. All of you will be paid one silver every month as your wage. Luke, educate them well before we arrive at the territory,” Eugene said.

“Yes, Master!” Luke answered vigorously before walking over to the slaves.

“Excuse me, should we address you as Sir Luke from now on?” One of the older slaves asked carefully. Luke responded with a grin. “And why would you need to? I am a slave as well.”

“What?” All of the slaves were astonished by Luke’s answer. What kind of a slave was equipped in such fine armor and wielded a sword and a shield?

“Just call me Luke. I… have forgotten my last name. I have been with our master for about half a year, and I am fighting alongside him because I was trained as a knight in the past,” Luke explained.

“I-I see…” However, the slaves still felt rather uneasy toward Luke. Since he was trained as a knight and even had a last name, though he claimed to have forgotten it, he was different from them. Moreover, they knew that a knight would never arm a slave with weapons unless the knight had great trust in them.

“Excuse me, Luke. I-is it true that master will pay us a… wage?” One of the slaves asked politely.

“It is true. I will receive more than the lot of you because I participate in evil land subjugations and various expeditions,” Luke responded.

“T-then did you save up to buy your armor and… weapon?” One of the other slaves asked.

“No. Master himself purchased these and gave them to me. Master Eugene is the most merciful man in the world,” Luke said.

Oooh…

The expressions of the slaves instantly cleared up, but Luke glanced coldly at them before speaking. “However, you will lose your head if you get ahead of yourself and forget your place. You saw it clearly yesterday, right? Master shows no mercy to those who attempt to harm him. And…” Luke tapped on his shortsword before continuing, “I won’t forgive anyone who acts impudently toward Master Eugene.”

“...” The slaves gulped loudly while vigorously nodding.

“Whew~ Slave Number One is pretty decent,” Mirian commented. Eugene agreed with the spirit. He was satisfied that Luke was properly educating the new slaves from the get-go.

“Lanslo,” Eugene called out.

“Yes, yes. Then, farewell, ladies.”

Kiyaaah!

Lanslo had been secretly flirting with the women who came out to watch the trial. He winked at the group before following after Eugene.

“Kie, kieeeh... Kieeewahwah.” Mirian was about to blurt out some nonsense but stopped herself after gazing at Lanslo and voluntarily jumped into her leather pocket. If nothing else, Eugene was satisfied that Lanslo was useful as a spirit suppressor.

“Oh, Sir Eugene,” The mayor and the other guild leaders welcomed Eugene. They were in a festive mood, and it seemed as if they wanted to immediately head to the pub to toast.

“Maren will be more peaceful from now on,” Eugene said.

“Haha! It’s all thanks to you, Sir Eugene. Sir Eugene is a true hero of our city. I am thinking of setting up your statue as a sign of respect after asking for the opinion of the citizens. What do you think about that?” The mayor asked. Eugene could tell that he was being sincere and that he would immediately erect a statue with Eugene's permission. 

But Eugene shook his head in a humble gesture. “That would be too much for me. I only did what I had to do, and it’s clear that God is personally looking after the City of Maren,” Eugene said.

“Oohh…”

“How could he be so humble!?” The mayor and the guild leaders shared an emotional gaze. Eugene glanced over their faces before speaking nonchalantly, “By the way, gentlemen. I have a suggestion. Would you like to hear it?”

“Anything. If it’s a request from Sir Eugene I will even take off the balls of a giant living in White Noble!”

“There will be no need for that. However, I am planning an expedition in the near future. Could I ask for support from the City of Maren?” Eugene said.

“An… expedition?” The mayor responded. Eugene quickly noticed that the mayor’s expression was a little stiff, and he continued without giving them time to think. “Yes. I’m afraid I will need to head to Brantia.”

“...!”

***

Eugene’s plan to travel to Brantia drew full support from the mayor and the various guild leaders of the city. If anyone else had spoken similar words, they would have been dismissed as a crazy individual, but the mayor and the guild leaders judged that it would be possible with Eugene.

One needed to travel for more than five days by boat to go to Brantia, and it wasn’t a journey through the sea routes of the continental nations, which mainly consisted of traveling near the coastline. Rather, one had to travel across the open sea in a dangerous journey to reach Brantia.

Moreover, there were numerous, small islands scattered across the sea on the route leading to Brantia, and they were brimming with pirates. In addition, there was a powerful orc tribe called the Kite Tribe on the northern part of the sea.

As such, an expedition to Brantia was incredibly dangerous, but at the same time, it was very alluring and promising. Although it was an island, Brantia was very large. There were dozens of evil lands in Brantia, as well as numerous mines and vast, fertile land.

The most promising aspect of Brantia was the fact that most royal families of the land had declined steadily in the past. As such, there had been no proper king for the past decade.

If that was the case, then why had the kingdoms of the continent not intervened? After all, it was a lovely piece of morsel waiting to be claimed.

It was because everyone was in quite a dire situation. In order to send thousands of troops to Brantia, they needed to possess astronomical funds, a noble, dignified status to rally various nobles, and above all else, ‘justification.’

Only ‘kings’ were capable of meeting all the qualifications. However, the kings of the continent were occupied with monitoring and keeping their own great nobles in check, and as such, it was impossible for them to even make an attempt in occupying Brantia. Even if the conditions were met, they knew that they would be placing themselves in a risky position by leaving their nation undefended, and there weren’t any kings who were foolish enough to take such a risk.

As a result, the ‘church’ took the lead in all three expeditions of Brantia throughout history. The Church of Brantia accommodated the native faith and walked a different path from the denominations of the continent, which provided a perfect cause for invasion.

Jan Eugene had Winslon and Archivold as his supporters, and even though he wasn’t a holy knight, he was a man of faith capable of purifying the undead. He walked the path of sublime faith.

Most importantly, Eugene was a tremendously strong knight, and it wasn’t just his brute strength either. He displayed his prowess in politics by solving the dispute of the Archivold family in the Carls Baggins Peninsula, and he also proved his ability as a commander in the mock battle of Count Winslon’s knight competition.

“Who else could possibly attempt an expedition to Brantia but Sir Eugene?”

“That’s right! If we, the City of Maren, could establish a proper trade with Brantia, we could become the best city on the continent. We could even surpass kingdoms.”

“But an expedition calls for a massive investment. Where will we get the funds?”

“Are you a fool? What are you planning to do with the property we confiscated from the royalists?”

“Aha!”

Thus, the City of Maren unanimously supported Eugene’s expedition to Brantia.

***

A few days later…

Rather than a merchant ship of the Palin Association, Eugene arrived in Moffern on a military ship provided by the City of Maren. The stories regarding Eugene’s accomplishments in the knight competition had yet to spread in Moffern, but numerous leaders of the city, including Gardye, welcomed Eugene with open arms.

“Welcome back, Sir Eugene!”

“Kiek? The rich halibut has another chin.” As Mirian said, Gardye had gained more weight and now had a triple chin. He smiled and personally guided Eugene to the sitting room after greeting him. 

“Have you been injured anywhere, Sir Eugene? Are you doing all right?” Gardye asked.

“No, I’m fine,” Eugene responded.

“Ah! Pardon me for being rude. There’s no way that a knight as outstanding as Sir Eugene would have been injured in a knight competition,” Gardye said. It appeared his flattery had grown as large as his fat belly. Gardye continued in a husky voice, “With all due respect… how did you perform in the competition, Sir Eugene?”

“Twin crown. And I won the mock battle as the captain,” Eugene responded.

“Oooh!” Gardye expressed his astonishment. Unfortunately, the City of Maren was involved in the matter and they were Moffern’s rival. Nevertheless, Gardye was overjoyed after hearing that Eugene had dominated a competition held by a great noble like Count Winslon.

“Sir Eugene! Give me the word, and I will use my own money to erect your statue in front of Moffern’s port…” Gardye started. Eugene had been wondering when the merchant would mention it. It was just what he would expect from merchants.

“Thank you, but I will politely decline. Anyway, what is the progress on the construction of my castle and the status of my territory?” Eugene asked.

“Everything is proceeding smoothly. According to a report we received a few days ago, the castle is set to be completed in three or four months. And regarding the silver mine…” Befitting his status as the merchant guild leader, Gardye gave a concise, but detailed report regarding Eugene’s territory.

‘Hmm. Something’s a little strange. Why does he seem so wary?’

Gardye had always acted a little cautiously in front of Eugene, but this was different. He felt different from the past. Eugene wasn’t sure why, but it was as if the merchant was afraid of him.

“…As such! All the guilds in Moffern and myself have been working tirelessly for Sir Eugene and the territory. It’s a little weird for me to say it with my own lips, but we really have been working hard, squeezing out the last drops of our tears and blood in our bodies. So, Sir Eugene,” Gardye paused before continuing in a quieter, more subtle voice. “Could I ask you to relay our efforts and sacrifices properly and clearly to your cousin, or rather, the administrator of the territory, Sir Delmondo? I beg of you” Gardye bowed deeply.

“...”

Eugene misunderstood.

Gardye wasn’t afraid of him. Rather, he was afraid of Delmondo.

Favorite