Chapter 9: I''m Back (3)

    “As you wish.”

    Cassion’s hands, each held a dagger in them.

    Ruel looked at Mineta with determination.

    His journey will begin by using him as his stepping stone.

    This was a world where strength spoke better than the law.

    It was quite common to see people lose their life on a mere command.

    Knowing this, Ruel didn’t turn his eyes away, he watched while pinching his thighs tightly.

    The assassin’s dagger danced.

    With each swing, blood gushed out like a fountain from the knights’ necks at the smooth, swift motions.

    Ruel frowned.

    “Ugh!”

    The scream came from Mineta.

    This was because the sharp blade was aiming at his neck.

    “Never mind, keep going.”

    Ganien did show any intention of stepping in. There was no point in coming forward in the first place.

    There was no one here to beat Cassion.

    Shoosh.

    A knight approaching Ruel was dead before uttering a single sound..

    “It’s over.”

    At those words, Ruel finally relaxed, loosening the hand that held his thigh.

    Only then did he feel the pain.

    Ruel stood up enduring the pain,walkibg with a cane as his support.

    Tak.

    At the sound of the cane getting closer, Mineta trembled violently, as if experiencing a seizure.

    He was desperately wishing this was merely a nightmare.

    All the knights he brought with him were slain in an instant.

    “Slug.”

    A weak sound came out of Ruel’s mouth.

    But the fear in Mineta’s eyes didn’t disappear.

    “You’re just a puppet. Isn’t that right?”

    The slow-witted man was not the one at the top.

    The real culprit was borrowing the slug’s hand and was sucking him like a parasite.

    “So who told you to do this?”

    Ruel said a bunch of random names he knew at the start. And only at the end did Ruel bring out the names of the culprits.

    The real mastermind of the Setiria crisis, which was later revealed in the novel.

    “......my aunt, Carbena Setiria, and your wife, Jane Setiria.”

    Mineta’s face froze.

    Ruel looked at him coldly.

    “Did the people of Setiria, really wanted to kill my parents that badly?”

    “......AAH!”

    At the screaming, Cassion and Ganien gaze hardened at once.

    “Ganien, I want you to be quiet.”

    My head was ringing because of the loud scream.

    He had already been in the worst condition due to the time he spent on the carriage.

    He activated the power of recovery and barely spoke, so he didn’t have the spare energy to focus on anything else.

    Ganien stabbed a sword into Mineta’s thigh, while covering his mouth.

    “You’d better be quiet.”

    The momentary pain brought his sense of reason back.

    Mineta nodded, sweating heavily.

    Ruel grabbed his head and asked.

    “Slug.”

    “.......”

    “Slug, answer me.”

    “......yes, yes.”

    “Do you want to live?”

    Mineta’s eyes were shaking.

    He nodded his head as tears flowed out at the hope that he could live.

    “Answer.”

    “Uck, I want to live! Help me, My Lord! I’ll do anything! Please!”

    “Yeah, there’s something even you who’s an idiot can do. Are you up for it?”

    “I can do it! I can do anything!”

    “For now, you swear by mana. That you’ll do anything I command. Then I will save you.”

    Mineta signed a contract with Ruel and Mana without any hesitation.

    Watching him kneel down, Ruel laughed at Mineta.

    The third way for him to survive, catching slugs.

    Even though he was nothing more than a figurehead, the slug played a very important role.

    Ganien took back his sword at Ruel’s glance.

    Ruel bowed lightly to him.

    “Thank you.”

    “You don’t have to thank me for everything. It wasn’t a big deal.”

    After contemplating whether to say more to him, Ruel stopped.

    He was so tired.

    Now that he had achieved one of his goals, he thought that was enough for today.

    “Dear Ruel-nim.”

    Cassion helped himself next to him and gravely said.

    “It’s dangerous to stack up Mana’s contracts.”

    “I know.”

    “Go have your rest. I will not kill the slugs for now.”

    Tak.

    The sound of the cane stopped for a moment.

    An unmanaged garden was visible.

    “Mineta.”

    When asked to give an explanation at this sight, Mineta looked around and confessed.

    “Well, there’s no money.”

    “You don’t have money to manage the mansion?”

    “That’s right.”

    “Why?”

    Ruel’s eyes stopped on the clothes Mineta wore.

    “No, it’s not about luxury.”

    “Isn’t it because of luxury?”

    After examining Setiria’s financial status through the documents, Ruel also thought that a very large sum of money in the vault was empty.

    Mineta was speechless.

    It was because of the footsteps coming in haste.

    “Welcome, My Lord, and my knight. I’m Carbena Setiria. I am sorry I do not hold a position and I have nothing to introduce myself.”

    A middle-aged woman whose hair turned white greeted them.

    The young woman who immediately followed after, also introduced herself with her head down.

    It was Carbena and Jane.

    ‘Something’s not right.’

    I expected a thrilling confrontation, but I didn’t see any of it here.

    The two women were oddly trembling, their hands shaking, with visible dark circles under their eyes, and were thin.

    Above all, they seemed quite anxious.

    ‘Is it because of the meeting?’

    On the day the barons of Setiria gathered, they must have felt impatient.

    ‘Something’s not still not adding up, though.’

    After a short moment, Ruel noticed that Carbena was looking at him.

    Now that he’s seen himself, he’s proud to show off that he’s capable of walking.

    I ordered.

    “Guide me to the conference room.”

    Two women and Mineta were greatly surprised.

    Ruel laughed as he looked at the two shocked women.

    Anyway, shouldn’t we announce that the lord of the is back?

    ***

    “......No, I mean, it’s no longer possible. If we collect more taxes here, we’ll be in trouble! How long did it take you to get your stomach full!”

    “Did you pass it on to someone stupid? The tax is for protection, you know, for protection.”

    There was a heated meeting going inside the room that can be heard from outside the door.

    Today’s topic is taxes.

    “Open up.”

    At Ruel’s order, Cassion opened the door.

    Everyone’s eyes immediately bolted on Ruel and his companions.

    “Imprudent!!”

    One of the barons shouted fiercely.

    In their eyes, Ruel was just a troublemaker.

    ‘......Ah.’

    It has already been five years since Ruel was sent away.

    Five years was enough time to forget many things.

    No wonder they couldn’t remember themselves because Ruel Setiria, who as far they remember, would still be a little kid.

    But what’s up with their confidence?

    They were supposed to be kicked out anyway.

    Tak.

    The cane hit the floor.

    The strangely clear sound turned everyone’s eyes on Ruel.

    “What are you all doing, without bowing your head?”

    Ruel smiled devilishly.

    And looked down at them with eyes that held no respect for them.

    In the eyes of these barons, Ruel still looked nothing more than a newborn.

    However, the barons were astonished by the words that followed.

    “Hold your head down. This is Lord Ruel Setiria, the head of Setiria.”

    Cassion mentioned Ruel’s name more proudly than any other moment.

    “Ruel Setiria......?”

    The barons pulled out the name they had buried in their memories.

    He fell ill with an unknown disease and was chased away from Setiria under the guise of recuperation.

    Since then, they have forgotten the name Ruel Setiria.

    It’s a name you don’t need to remember.

    And he’s back?

    “Bow your head. I don’t want to see this disgraceful behaviorr anymore.”

    Ruel’s voice, drenched in arrogance, was heard.

    They looked into each other’s eyes.

    I hardly got my head around this nonsense.

    Seeing the still stiff neck, Ruel smiled fiercely.

    Baron.

    It was too much for the aristocracy to manage the territory alone, so they selected people to manage various villages and treated them appropriately.

    In other words, unlike noble aristocrats from birth like himself, a baron’s positions can be changed at any time.

    “All of you.”

    All the authority to cut and seat the barons as they wished came from the family.

    Don’t you think you should use the power you have?

    “You’re discharged!”