novelraw Chapter 123 : Chapter 123
Chapter 123 : Chapter 123
Chapter 123
Sara stared blankly at the spectacle unfolding before her eyes.
‘How did it come to this?’
She would rather believe it was a dream.
‘I-I absolutely had no intention of doing this…….’
Growing up with Haitry since childhood, she had naturally engraved the Viscount family’s motto into her body.
[Thin and long.]
Clearly, until just last week, she and the Viscount’s domain were spending a peaceful time following the motto.
A life so peaceful that the biggest event in the past few years was Jackson’s cow giving birth to twins.
Even when she first heard the Young Lord's plan, she could only snort.
‘Haitry, who has the most fear in the world, is going to shout at the Count in front of this many nobles?’
It was impossible.
Because Haitry found nobles so difficult that he couldn’t exchange more than three words with other nobles even if she held onto his pant leg and begged and shouted.
She believed that even if a Duke held a knife to his throat, he wouldn’t be able to open that coward’s mouth.
Until she heard the shout that was close to a scream.
[If! The Knight Order! Directly! Confirms! The enemy’s traces! The misunderstanding will be resolved!]
‘…Crazy, he’s crazy!’
Her wish to live peacefully without any trouble crumbled right before her eyes.
Now everyone here would associate Haitry with Moner.
‘Damn it, he said he’d change his fate!’
The Young Lord, seeing the situation, stepped up and spoke, but she couldn't hear a thing.
‘What do I do? At this rate, all the families that expressed interest in marriage will pull out.’
Moner’s interest is poison. An extreme poison with no antidote.
Unlike the name of a Ducal family, it is a family in name only with no influence in politics or high society.
So Moner’s interest can only be an interest in name only.
If it were a nearby northern domain, maybe, but there’s no way Moner would intervene even if a problem arose in a Viscount family in the corner of the south.
‘Then the domain will truly be isolated…….’
Just as she was thinking that.
The man with a stupid face filled her vision.
“I’m back.”
Sara, clenching her fists, looked at him with burning eyes.
“…How on earth.”
That was what she was most curious about.
How on earth did this coward muster up the courage?
Is Moner’s Young Lord really a dark wizard?
Haitry, looking at her, grinned silly and said.
“The Duke promised to give me a gift if I help this time.”
Grind.
Sara gritted her teeth as if to crush them.
No matter what gift he gives, it wouldn't compare to this situation.
Just as Sara was about to shout something, a soldier approached Haitry's side.
“Ah! My Lord! Lady Sara!”
Sara crumpled her face and glared at the soldier.
‘Stop calling me Lady, I said!’
Reading that gaze, the soldier awkwardly scratched the back of his head and said.
“Oh my, I apologize. Lady Sara.”
“Not Lady either, just Sara. Call me Sara.”
She was just a mere clerk.
“Ah, haha……! Yes!”
The soldier, who answered playfully, hesitated and approached, speaking to the Viscount.
“That… The Special Mission Commander told me to overturn the sack as coolly as possible, but I thought the Lord and Sara might dislike it.”
Then, putting down the sack he had proudly carried, he shouted.
“Here, these are the Orcs I hunted!”
Simultaneously, screams rang out from all directions, and Orc heads rolled on the ground.
“Aaaaaah!”
“Wh-what is that!”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“It-It’s a monster!”
Startled, Sara looked at the soldier and the banquet hall that had turned into chaos with round eyes.
“Oh my… Come to think of it, you have no choice but to see it.”
Sara nodded silently.
Just looking at the Orc heads rolling on the banquet hall floor, there were at least over a hundred, so unless one was blind, they couldn't help but see it.
‘Just what is this…….’
A series of scenes flashed through her mind like a kaleidoscope.
The Young Lord hiding in the darkness covering his body with a robe.
The Viscount shouting like a shill.
The Orc heads rolling on the beautiful marble and the soldiers chatting excitedly.
‘This is a stage. A stage prepared thoroughly for this moment alone.’
Far away, she saw the arrogantly smiling figure of the Young Lord.
‘It’s not a stage made just to quell rumors.’
The face of the Young Lord must have been imprinted on the minds of the nobles who saw this sight.
And also how absurd the things Moner can do are.
‘In just a few months, soldiers who were no different from a ragtag group became strong enough to hunt over a hundred Orcs directly.’
The important thing is that the soldiers here are soldiers sent from each domain.
Each noble and knight would know.
How nonsensical it is for a soldier to catch an Orc alone.
Actually, some nobles were grabbing their soldiers’ shoulders and shouting at them to tell the truth.
‘Now they have no choice but to think.’
If external soldiers became that strong in just a few months, just how strong are Moner’s elite soldiers?
‘This is a stage to show that! Because the soldiers themselves are witnesses and evidence!’
Having finished her thoughts, Sara trembled.
The role of those soldiers wasn't simply witnesses to prove the existence of Orcs.
They were evidence that the soldiers in Moner were becoming stronger day by day.
‘Now no one can pull out their soldiers.’
Right at that moment, Count Saite’s shout, breaking the silence, was heard.
“Duke! Seeing it now, aren't the soldiers from other domains unnecessary?!”
As the nobles, flustered by the sudden shout, looked at the Count, he raised his voice with a serious face.
“How long do you intend to ignore the demands of other nobles who cherish their soldiers so much! Before demanding the Royal family’s support, you must send back the soldiers of each noble family first!”
At that shout, she shook her head.
‘Stupid bastard, a guy like that is a Count.’
After today, there won’t be any noble family demanding the return of soldiers.
Current Moner is practically an opportunity to gain soldiers worth ten each, so why would they give that up.
“Baron Kundel! You speak up! Didn’t you say a Goblin pack appeared in your domain?!”
The Baron pointed out by the Count looked around with a reluctant expression and twitched his lips.
‘He can’t give it up. If he misses this opportunity, he will become two or three times weaker than the surrounding domains.’
While he stagnates, the opponent advances.
He can’t even declare a domain war in the meantime.
Since an enemy threatening the Kingdom has appeared, domain wars will be strictly prohibited.
“Uh… Th-that is.”
Just as the flustered Baron was twitching his lips, a booming voice was heard from beside Sara.
“Then I will support more troops equivalent to the Baron’s forces!”
That was the beginning.
“No! I, I will support!”
“Didn’t you say Kobolds appeared in your domain! I will support!”
“Where would the troops of a Baron or Viscount be of use? I will support directly!”
Nobles, who had clearly gathered to get their troops back before being misunderstood, were now shouting competitively that they would support troops, causing Baron Kundel, who was called first, to clench his teeth and shout.
“That cannot be! The Barony will not take back the troops until Moner kills the last Orc!”
Sara, who was staring blankly at that scene, slowly turned her head to look at Haitry.
“This too?”
Haitry, with a silly smile, nodded silently.
“What were you going to do if that didn’t work……!”
If they didn't move as thought?
To replace the Baron’s troops, they would have had to send not only the security forces but also the domain residents armed with farming tools!
Sara, glaring at the grinning Viscount, only then became curious.
Just what was the gift the Duke promised that made this coward go to such lengths?
“So, what on earth is that great gift?”
If it’s not something like a magic cloth, I’ll get really angry.
I’ll nag him for three days and nights without letting him breathe. Then he might come to his senses.
While thinking that, Haitry’s voice, full of excitement, reached her ears.
“A Barony.”
What?
Looking at her with a furrowed brow, Haitry smiled brightly.
‘…Did he finally go crazy? Or is it the aftereffect of dark magic?’
She had no choice but to think that.
A gift for a Viscount being a Barony, which is lower than a Viscount.
And what is that stupid face grinning after receiving it?
“Well, if you sell it, it would be quite some money.”
Since all titles appointed by a Ducal family are hereditary, selling it to a wealthy merchant guild would fetch quite a high price.
Maybe it could earn several years’ worth of the domain’s income at once.
‘Then first organize the road… No, the farmers said they needed a waterway last time.’
Haitry, who was blankly watching her stop worrying and busily making urban plans, spoke urgently.
“No. I’m absolutely not selling it.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I’m absolutely not selling that Barony.”
As Sara’s face distorted, the Viscount’s body flinched on its own.
Sara, sighing at the gaze that still didn’t give up, asked again.
“What are you going to do with a useless title?”
“Why is it useless.”
Haitry’s finger pointed at her.
“I’m going to use it on you.”
“…Pardon?”
“Sara, you said I absolutely must marry a noble.”
Haitry’s voice trembled.
“But you said you couldn’t marry me because you aren’t a noble, Sara.”
“My Lord! That’s exactly it! Finally, finally!”
Sara, glaring at the soldier sitting on the sack and cheering for Haitry with clenched fists, put her hand on her forehead.
‘Well, because I thought it was a joke…….’
She had heard similar questions a few times.
Whenever she introduced nearby young ladies to somehow get Haitry married, the Viscount asked if the marriage partner really had to be a noble.
Then Sara answered that the partner absolutely had to be a noble.
‘No. What the domain needs isn’t just a noble. It’s a hill to lean on that possesses a domain.’
Just as she suppressed her heart that was beating as if to burst from the sudden situation and calmed her breathing to say something, the Viscount spoke playfully.
“Earlier, Ian told me. What kind of fate I was born with.”
Haitry, sitting in the corner of the banquet hall where shouts never ceased and looking at Sara, giggled.
“He said it’s a fate where I can’t marry until I die.”
“What does that……!”
“Because I like you too much, I can’t marry, and even after you die, I can’t forget you.”
“The Young Lord’s joke was excessive. You don’t need to mind such words.”
When Sara spoke with a feigned unpleasant face, Haitry, who was giggling, answered in a playful voice.
“But thinking about it, it really seemed like it. So instead of helping the Young Lord, I asked him to help me win your heart.”
Whatever other nobles talked about wasn’t important at all.
Haitry loved the domain because Sara loved the domain, and he was sitting in the office because she wanted it.
Following Ian at the words that he would change his fate was also due to a greedy hope.
If it’s the bloodline of a great Ducal family, maybe he could change his pathetic self too.
“When I said that, Ian said this.”
- How can you obtain again what you have already obtained?
“Asking if I didn’t know seeing how you didn’t move even when he, a Duke, called you.”
The reason Haitry received the Barony was to gain courage.
The courage to somehow open his mouth and convey his heart.
“So.”
Sara, who was barely suppressing her heart, eventually hugged the Viscount.
* * *
“Ah, fortunately, it seems resolved well.”
To Ian, who stopped by briefly thinking Haitry might still be spacing out, the soldier hugged the sack and shouted.
“Special Mission Commander! My lifelong wish has come true just now! Thank you!”
“R-Right. That…….”
No matter how one looked at it, the one who should be worried about romance was the young soldier with the shining head, but Ian smiled and nodded.