CH 197

“Nice to meet you. I am Duke Jan Eugene Batla.”

“…?!” Both the real prince disguised as the servant and the servant disguised as the prince frowned after seeing Eugene.

“Uh… It’s an honor to meet you like this, Duke Batla. By the way, sir, haven’t we met somewhere?” the fake prince asked.

“Hmm? I have never been to the Roman Empire,” Eugene answered.

“No, it’s not that. I think we have met in Brantia,” the fake prince hesitantly mumbled.

“I think you have the wrong person,” Eugene replied, brazenly feigning ignorance while looking directly into the eyes of the fake prince. The fake prince’s gaze was filled with suspicion.

“No, think carefully. I’m certain that—” the fake prince started.

“Your Highness, they say that there are at least two people in the world who look exactly like each other, right? I think we must be mistaken,” the real prince interrupted him and drew a conclusion on behalf of the fake prince.

“We encountered a knight the other day. We hired him as a guide on our way to the royal castle. The knight’s appearance was slightly, or rather, quite similar to your own, Your Excellency. His Highness must have mistaken you for that knight,” the real prince explained.

“Oh, is that so? Well, I guess he must have looked a lot like me,” Eugene said.

“Hmm. Now that I see it, your voice is very similar as well.” The fake prince pointed out.

“Well, my voice is rather ordinary.” Eugene countered.

“…” Eugene boldly feigned ignorance until the end. The fake prince looked at Eugene with disbelief, and the real prince looked at him with suspicious eyes.

“Huh! How could there be someone who looks like the duke?” Pranbow took on a serious expression and spoke, “Your Excellency, if there’s someone out there pretending to be you with evil intentions, it could result in a disaster. I think we need to send someone to take care of it as soon as possible.”

“How dare they impersonate the duke? This is a crime that has to be paid for by tying the testicles of the criminal, as well as their child and their grandchildren, with rope and having them hang from a spire. We must dig their eyes out with a dagger, grind away their noses and mouths with basalt, then drown them in the waters of the Gulf of Elfin,” Princess Lilisain said, outraged.

It made sense for Pranbow to say such things without knowing the reality of the situation. Princess Lilisain was dazzlingly beautiful—beautiful enough for others to mistake her as an angel of the gods. However, the words that spewed out of the elven princess’s mouth completely shattered the expectations set by her otherworldly beauty.

Even Eugene thought that she had gone a little too far.

‘No, in the first place, they’re talking about me, right?’

There was no such thing as an impersonator—it was him.

Princess Lilisain felt a chill from Eugene’s burning gaze.

“Ehem! Ah, I must have been mistaken. I apologize for this, Lord Batla,” the fake prince stated.

“It’s fine.” Eugene nodded. The eyes of the imperial knights turned slightly fierce at Eugene’s attitude, which was rather rude and irreverent to be directed toward the imperial prince. However, Eugene had no intention of showing courtesy to the servant, who was still pretending to be the prince for whatever reason.

He judged that Prince Localope had come to Brantia to meet him. But the prince and the servant were still faking it. The thirsty one should be the one digging the well. If they were disappointed by the treatment they received from Eugene, then they had to reflect and repent. However, judging from the strange gaze that the real prince had, it looked like they would keep the façade going for the time being.

“However…” Eugene turned his gaze away from Prince Localope’s group. He spoke while looking at Lord Fransil and the other nobles, who were standing around awkwardly as if they needed to poo.

“Why are you sirs here?”

The nobles flinched and turned their eyes to Lord Fransil like ducklings looking for their mother.

‘I think we’re fucked, but please cheer up!’

‘We only have you to count on, Lord Fransil!’

The nobles looked at Lord Fransil with mournful, pitiful eyes. As soon as they arrived at Lord Leadwell’s manor, they noticed that there were orcs bound like simple livestock. It was then that they realized they were fucked.

The attack of the northern orcs had actually been true! The simple truth overturned the essence of the argument they had prepared against Duke Batla.

‘Whatever you can! Please show us your honor!’

Even so, it was still true that the duke had enlisted troops and had taken funds and supplies without Lord Fransil’s permission. Thus, the nobles held onto their last bit of hope.

“Your Excellency Batla,” Lord Fransil called out in a dignified manner. The expressions of the nobles brightened.

“Speak,” Eugene responded.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Lord Fransil stretched out his shoulders and took several proud steps toward Eugene. As expected, he was a great, self-made man who had conquered western Brantia in a few years and had climbed to the seat of a great noble. He was definitely different from—

“I heard that some of my followers had made a huge mistake against Your Excellency.”

“…?!”

The nobles were startled by Lord Fransil’s unexpected words.

Lord Fransil continued, “The responsibility for the mistake of my vassals falls on me. I came to see Your Excellency personally to atone for that mistake and dishonor.”

“Hooh. A mistake?” Eugene responded as his eyes narrowed.

Lord Fransil hurriedly responded as beaded sweat formed on his forehead, “Yes. My first mistake was that I was unaware of the impending crisis the kingdom was facing as its lord. My second mistake was that I wasn’t more active in cooperating to deal with the crisis. My third mistake was that my vassals were too loyal to myself that they failed to listen to His Majesty’s cries…”

“My lord…” the nobles muttered dejectedly. He was openly naming their faults and blaming them in front of Duke Batla. They had never expected the great noble to backstab them like this.

“Hmph! Sirs, did you not understand why I agreed to see His Excellency Batla after hearing your complaints?” Lord Farnsil asked.

“C-Complaints?”

“Lord Fransil, you don’t mean…”

The nobles hurried to make excuses. They knew well that they were screwed if things continued at this rate. However, Lord Fransil was above them when it came to being quick-witted.

“Shut your mouths! What else could I call them if not complaints? Blasphemy? Nonsense?! You lot have really stunned me speechless!”

“…”

Just who was it that should be stunned speechless?!

“I cannot believe I had such people under me as my vassals! Ha! How lamentable! Well, who do I have to blame but myself? It’s all due to my carelessness and failure as their lord…” Lord Fransil did not stop after blaming the nobles, but he even put on a show displaying how regretful he was and that he was reflecting. He turned his mournful eyes toward Eugene.

He was very skillful in the art of changing expressions.

“Your Excellency Batla. Originally, my humble self should have taken sole responsibility in asking for forgiveness for my wrongdoings, but I realized that the matter had been extremely serious. As such, I brought along the involved parties while risking complicating matters,” Lord Fransil concluded while bowing his head with a determined expression.

‘Amazing…’

Eugene was honestly impressed. Fransil’s acting was outstanding, but he was also impressed by the man’s wit and political foresight. The ones responsible for the complaints were vassals of the Fransil family. As such, it didn’t make sense for the Fransil family to take responsibility for their deeds.

Lord Fransil should know this truth better than anyone else. However, he took the initiative and confessed fault on behalf of his vassals and asked for leniency and generosity for them. Unfortunately, the nobles weren’t aware of his true intentions and were standing around with dumb expressions.

‘I can leave the west in his hands.’

Eugene came to a decision before speaking, “Since you put it that way, it would be inappropriate for me to pursue this even further.”

“Thank you for your lenient disposition, Your Excellency—”

“However…” Eugene muttered.

Lord Fransil paused and raised his head.

Eugene continued, “If those men had been quicker and more cooperative, I wouldn’t have had to make unnecessary sacrifices with my troops. The battle against the lizardmen was unexpected, and it was only due to the slow supply of troops.”

“That’s—”

“If I had received the troops as originally planned, or even just a day earlier, I could have dealt with the orcs sooner. However, those men were uncooperative and delayed the troops for more than a day, which forced me to destroy the lizardmen while sacrificing my precious troops,” Eugene concluded.

This was a lie.

If he had discovered that a monster with a possible red mana stone was with the lizardmen, he would have fought the lizardmen anyway.

‘But we only suffered four casualties, and no one was seriously injured or killed, right? Wow~ That’s amazing. He’s screwing them over even in this situation.’

‘Kuhahaha! Good! It’s only right to treat shitheads like shit.’

‘Sir Eugene is truly the demon king!’

At the least, Romari, Galfredik, and the spirit were certain…

‘A reasonable argument! It could be called a tactically appropriate assumption!’

‘Phew! I don’t even know anymore.’

Meanwhile, Princess Lilisain and Pranbow were even more convinced in their respective impressions of the vampire duke. However, there was no way that Lord Fransil and his nobles knew the truth after having just arrived at the Leadwell territory.

Lord Fransil once again praised Eugene while breaking out into cold sweat, “I-I see. Once again, I sincerely apologize for the matter. Your Excellency’s honor and chivalry are truly praiseworthy to not have simply passed by the monsters and—”

“Sir. If the Bayman Orcs had landed as planned, who do you think would have been the first to be destroyed?” Eugene asked.

“…”

Eugene continued amidst the silence of the nobles, “And the lizardmen had an evolved high-ranking monster as their leader. Do you think they would have continued residing downstream of the river and on the coast?”

“…”

“What do you sirs think?” Eugene asked while turning his gaze to the other nobles.

“…!” The nobles were startled as they shared gazes. Anyone who wasn’t a fool could understand exactly what Eugene was saying.

The atmosphere transformed as he had intended, and Eugene muttered nonchalantly as if he was talking to himself, “It almost feels like I’m protecting the kingdom by myself. Peace comes with a price.”

Lord Fransil and the nobles finally understood exactly what Eugene was asking for.

“That… How much will suffice?” Lord Fransil asked on behalf of everyone.

“Hmm. It feels slightly wrong to calculate pure chivalry for the kingdom's safety and convert it into money, but…” Eugene muttered.

The nobles were nervous. It felt as if a cold dagger was pressed against their hearts. The nobles anxiously waited for the duke to continue. Eugene grinned and answered. It was an answer that anyone with some familiarity with Eugene could have guessed.

“Well, let’s just see how sincere all of you are.”

***

“Kieeeeeeeng! Kieeeeng!”

The evil spirit screamed in a half-crazed state while floundering around in a box filled to the brim with gold and silver. Princess Lilisain breathed raggedly on the side. It was hard to tell whether her gaze was fixated on the treasure or the spirit, but it was likely on the latter.

“Haha.” Pranbow chuckled vainly like he found the entire situation ridiculous. He turned and spoke to the wizard, who was busily flipping through documents and was immersed in calculations.

“How much is there in total?”

Romari responded, “I haven’t finished my calculations yet. However, it’ll be enough money to purchase three or four small territories.”

“Huh!”

There were seven nobles who had issued complaints against Eugene, and about half of their entire wealth had been robbed, or rather, presented as a ‘token of sincerity.’ There was nothing wrong with the situation, and it could be called cause-and-effect from an objective standpoint. However, as a swordmaster who had lived his life with honor, Pranbow couldn’t help but feel slightly bitter. In addition, he felt even more embarrassed to be under the imperial prince’s eyes. For some reason, the prince had been staring at him for a while.

Where could a noble prince witness such a horrendous situation? Moreover, the person responsible for the situation was none other than a duke of Brantia, and he was glaring at the gold and silver with pleased eyes. Even worse, the one breathing raggedly while looking alternatingly at the duke and the evil spirit was Eland’s princess! Pranbow felt remorse, shame, and despair all at the same time.

He couldn’t help but speak to the prince, “Your Highness Localope. You may find it a bit odd, but Duke Batla had made the best choice in consideration of the new royal family’s finances. It’s a decision he had made as the guardian of the king and the royal family rather than as an honorable knight.”

“Hmm. Is that so?” the prince doubtfully responded.

‘He’s suspicious. Anyone can tell he’s suspicious.’

Pranbow had to bear all the shame from seeing the prince’s reaction. Suddenly, the prince’s servant whispered into the prince’s ears. Then, the prince coughed before speaking, “Ehem. Duke Batla.”

“…?” Eugene turned his head.

“This may come as a surprise, but I have a proposal for you,” the prince continued.

“Go for it,” Eugene responded. Their conversation drew everyone’s eyes. Just as the prince had said, the proposal had come out of the blue.

“Why don’t you come with me to the empire? Of course, I am not attempting to make you, a duke of Brantia and the king’s guardian, a servant of the empire. I’m just asking for temporary help,” the prince asked.

“I don’t want to,” Eugene refused without hesitation.

‘You said you were being chased by the crown prince, right? Why would I follow a prince who might be clobbered to death when he returns?’

The decision was only natural. Eugene had already come to an understanding of the prince’s situation by eavesdropping on the conversation the group had in the empire’s language.