CH 41

Nilma Argan’s gaze took on a greedy tint for a bit before he raised his chin–he must have reminded himself that the man before him was the Lord of the Solar territory before he was a mage from the labyrinth. “I’m Nilma Argan. I’ve come to deliver a message from Duke Nilma Arbalt, the lord of Bolney and my father.”

In short, Arbalt saw Solar as easy pickings and sent his son out for the latter to build his reputation.

“We have observed that Solar is incapable of paying back the principal, and, as per the contract, ownership of 740 genta of the southern lands along the West Nau River, and the buildings on top of that land will be transferred to Prince Nilma Arbalt as of today.”

Ayra’s face hardened at the extremely one-sided statement. From the moment the young lord saw the 2,000 soldiers in tow, he had already started to expect a situation like this. If one doesn’t have strength, their only future was to be trampled. There was neither justice nor cowardice in infighting–the strong survived and the weak disappeared.

However, as Solar’s Lord, he could not give away his territory without a struggle. “What are you saying? I’m certain the deadline was the month’s end. We’ve already set up the interest payment as well.”

“Hmph! We should have taken the land from the beginning when you couldn’t pay interest. Duke Nimla Arbalt has been generous to you.” Argan snorted and grinned at Ayra. Though Argan, a mere successor to an estate, was acting impudently in front of Ayra, a coronated lord, there was nothing the latter could do. Such was the sorrowful fate of a lord without much land.

It was clear to Ayra that Sobleche and Bolney had conspired against his father and fed him false investment information. Once his father had racked up a huge debt, they would be able to devour his estate. However, there were some odd aspects to all of this.

‘Why did they try to seize Solar in such a complicated way?’

Solar was an objectively trivial and small estate. The surrounding territories might not have seized it due to the low worth of the land, but Bolney and Sobleche could easily take Solar by force. Why would they need engineer this sort of backstabbing? It was as if the two enemy territories were trying to split a bean–the Solar territory–in two.

“Now, open the gates! The area south of the West Nau River is our land–and that gateway belongs to Bolney now!” Argan confidently commanded Ayra.

His attitude didn’t even seem to hold the respect that was afforded to those of similar ages, let alone a Lord of another land. However, the arrogant heir didn’t seem content and went one step further. “Instead of playing Lord over this doomed, palm-sized estate, why don’t you work under Duke Arbalt? He’ll pay you well as a mage from the Labyrinth.”

If Bloom, who was currently working hard to evacuate the people from the immediate area, were to hear these words, the knight would have slit Argan’s throat right away for that provoking remark. However, the provoking words served to calm Ayra’s mind instead of exacerbating his anger.

The mage took a sneaky glance at the back of his hand; Pebble remained motionless, like a tattoo. But, on top of its round head, there was a speech bubble that stated ‘Loading…’ For some reason, Ayra felt like his mana had been sapped for a while, and a large chunk of it was already gone… The mage decided to place his faith in his spirit and decided to stall for time.

“You can’t do this! According to the contract, there’s still some time left. We still have two more days until this month is over.” Taking out the mana stones meant for interest repayment from his dimensional inventory, Ayra shouted indignantly.

Argan burst into laughter at the money the mage placed on the center table. The messenger, who had been wary of Ayra until now, suddenly regained his courage and laughed. “Then, what will you do if you don’t get the required money in time for the deadline?”

Argan laughed and tried to cause a scene as he pretended to open the pouch containing the mana stones. “What if these are fake mana stones? Fake mana stone scams are so frequent in poor territories like this one.”

Then, he dropped the pouch to the ground and ostentatiously stomped on it. How very childish. Ayra kept his head bowed, shoulders trembling, as if the young lord couldn’t endure this humiliation. Honestly, it was a good idea that he hadn’t brought Bloom or anyone else to this meeting. It was a good thing that he had the forethought to handle an insult like this by himself–after all, he hadn’t become very attached to Solar yet.

“Alright, how about this? If you kiss my feet as a gesture of love, I’ll let things go even if these are fake mana stones.”

‘What? What did he want me to do?’

As Ayra raised his head, doubting his ears, Argan pointed towards his groin. “If you think feet are too dirty, you can kiss here instead. You may be a man, but you have a pretty face.”

“Aigoo, that’s right. It would be an honor to do that for our revered Argan.” It seems like the messenger was riding atop Argan’s coattails. The knights in the barracks burst out into laughter as well.

This perverted bastard… Ayra could endure insult towards Solar, but he could not tolerate harassment towards himself. ‘If this territory is damned anyway, I’ll shift every vertebral disc away from your spine and force you to live with chronic herniated disc pain for the rest of your life.’

As Ayra stared at Argan, wondering how many times he should burst that bastard’s spine, a ringing sound cut through his thoughts. Pebble finally manifested a conversation choice window–the second time it had ever done so–in the air.

Ayra squinted at option four. Though he was angry, he endured the humiliation to find a way to escape this situation. Soon, the set of options appeared.

……?

A question mark popped into Ayra’s mind. ‘What is this? So, to summarize… I’m supposed to snitch?’

Prataris was a strong territory in this region, comparable to Bolney in power. It was his family’s destination on the day of the carriage accident. They’d made the journey to secure a political marriage. Of course, the marriage would not be with the main ruling family of Prataris. Instead, it was slated to be with the lord’s foster son–someone who had no right of inheritance.

Now that my older brother is dead and the marriage has been annulled, would Prataris even send help? No, even if brother was married, they wouldn’t have helped much. At best, they would have used the dowry to help pay back the interest. Similarly, the Labyrinth wouldn’t be of much help to Ayra either. Argan would probably laugh before the words even finished leaving the mage’s mouth.

Yet that ridiculous option was the answer. Why?

At that moment, a flash of understanding sparked in Ayra’s mind. Solar must’ve contained something amazing–-something remarkable enough for all territories to want or fear.

Perhaps this was why someone had incited Sobleche and Bolney to quietly overtake the territory like this… Ayra inwardly smiled. He didn’t know what that valuable thing was exactly, but it was easy to tell it must be worth a lot. He adopted a cold, furious expression and asked, “Does Duke Nilma Arbalt plan to ignore the contract and illegally occupy this land?”

“That’s right. We’re ignoring it. What are you going to do? Your soldiers look hungry, and the spears in their hands are all rusty. They might not even be able to hunt properly,” Argan laughed.

Ayra opened his mouth. “Then, I’ll have no choice but to run to Prataris immediately and inform them of this unjust occupation.”

Argan’s laughter immediately stopped. Ayra didn’t stop there; he turned around with a flourish of his robe. Just as the mage was about the leave the barracks, Argan shouted in a rather perplexed tone, “What a foolish thing to do. Do you think Prataris will help you after learning of what happened here?”

“Of course, they won’t help. However, I’ll be able to let many others know of the injustices I and my estate have suffered. In a few days, a messenger from the Labyrinth will come to check on my safety; then, I’ll be able to tell the whole world through that messenger’s lips…That Bolney had unjustly occupied my territory to attain something amazing.” With that said, Ayra glared at Argan. The mage didn’t forget to grind his teeth in order to make his act look sincere. Argan face distorted as he seemed to inwardly debate his situation.

[Nilma Argan’s affection decreased by 1.]

Current Affection: 8

‘Honestly, it only dropped by 1? Why? Because of my face? Should I be happy about this or not…?’ Ayra’s internal dilemma was cut off by a new window that manifested.

<Emergency Quest Complete!>

[The territory/fiefdom in crisis!]

*Let’s defeat Bolney’s Army (Achieved)

* Pursuade Nilma Argan (Achieved)

※ Note: If this quest fails, your right to reside in this fief and the territory management function will be deleted 

Reward: Citizen approval rating has greatly increased.

Argan’s face twitched, and he tried hard to smile. Shooting a meaningful gaze at his escorts, the knights guarding the barracks blocked the entrance so that Ayra could not leave. “Ha. Ha. Ha. Lord Solar seems incredibly angry. This was…just a prank. Of course, you’ll have to pay interest, but we’ll accept that. Contracts are sacred, after all.”