Chapter 52
I attacked Klaus for three main reasons.
First, like us, they did not belong to any faction.
They seemed to be in contact with the Northern Grand Duke, but they had not formally joined him yet, so they did not need to worry about how things looked to those around them.
Second, they were fucking weak.
When I played World Archive, I saw Klaus and remembered the name of its lord, Lois Klaus.
I had no choice but to remember it.
His stats were so low that he was one of the 『The Under-Hundred Four (the four whose combined stats totaled less than 100)』, a group that had become popular as gag characters.
Honestly, I had mobilized all our forces to minimize casualties through overwhelming strength, but Klaus was weak enough that Dreihart’s warriors alone could have conquered it.
The third and final reason was that I needed an example.
Although I had brought Hadem down, if people were asked whom they feared more—me or Hadem—most would still say Hadem.
His power, violence, and unpredictable savagery frightened people.
By contrast, I would look like an easy target.
I had no special blessing, and since people said I had won through strategy, I must have seemed weak somehow.
Because of that, some people would think that they, too, could beat me if they only got a chance and used their heads a little. That apparent weakness would invite challenges and create pointless conflicts.
This time was no different.
Places like the western Black Rose family, which seemed to have properly gathered accurate information about me, were very quiet.
On the other hand, fools who knew little and had no proper information were pulling stunts like this food attack.
This was something I had learned while working at a company in my previous life, but you had to make people understand it clearly right from the start.
We had to show them that Kron was not kind but just, and was not a pushover but a beast capable of grinding an ill-prepared territory into dust overnight if angered.
Only then would our enemies fear us and stop picking fights so carelessly.
So, for now, I decided not to be a beloved ally,
but to become 『a violent enemy』.
* * *
The office in Klaus Mansion,
Someone unlike the usual occupant was sitting in the seat of honor.
Beside Calix’s seat of honor, Lord Lois and Steward Beric had been forced to sit, while Rana and the Kron knights stood around them.
In that frozen atmosphere, Beric shouted boldly, trying to seize the initiative.
“Lord Calix! What do you think you’re doing, leading an army here without even declaring war first! The Platinum Council will not stand idly by!!”
The Calix Beric knew was a man who obeyed the Platinum Council and the law.
Beric thought that Calix would know what his words meant.
And Calix answered him very calmly.
“Steward Beric, you’re saying something rather strange.”
Calix looked at him with a cold gaze.
Then he casually tossed out a remark.
“There are no witnesses and no one to report it, so how would the Platinum Council ever find out?”
“Wh-What are you talking about!!”
The Platinum Council possessed great power, but it was not absolute.
They were like a chimera made up of countless dinosaurs, and for that very reason, they needed a political center of gravity.
An incident in some remote provincial town, where both the witnesses and informants had been killed, would not attract their attention.
Beric’s face turned white as he understood that Calix intended to kill everyone if angered and bury the matter.
Calix ignored Beric and looked at the trembling Lord Lois.
“Lord Lois, let me ask you one thing… Why didn’t you fulfill the contract?”
Calix looked at him with undisguised murderous intent.
Lois could do nothing but tremble, unable to meet Calix’s eyes.
“We clearly signed a contract for wheat. We even paid for it. So why? Why didn’t you fulfill the contract?”
“Th-That is… Well…”
Lois seemed to have gone into complete panic, sweating profusely and unable to say a word.
Unable to bear watching any longer, Beric stepped in.
“Lord Calix! I already explained everything about that. We’re sorry we couldn’t deliver the wheat because of our circumstances. But we had absolutely no such intention or motive in failing to deliver wheat to Dreihart!!”
The advantage of a food attack was that it could be morally defended until actual damage occurred.
Killing people with spears and bows was clear-cut. But with a food attack, no resulting harm occurred before the consequences appeared, making it difficult to hold anyone responsible.
Beric had deliberately chosen this method for that very reason.
At Beric’s words, Calix made an incredulous face and spoke.
“I see. Then as long as you have no such intention or motive, you can do anything…“
Calix rose from his seat.
Then the Kron knights moved, seized Beric, and hauled him to his feet.
“What! What are you people doing!? Let go!”
“Be-Beric!!”
They led Beric to a pillar at the far end of the room, about ten paces from Calix, and tied him to it.
Then Calix rose and walked to a spot where he could see Beric clearly.
“Rana, my bow…”
“Yes, my lord.”
At Calix’s words, Rana politely handed him a bow and arrows.
Watching this, Beric screamed in terror.
“W-What are you doing!!? Mmph! Mmph!!”
A Kron knight shoved an apple into the shouting Beric’s mouth.
Then Calix drew the bowstring.
Creeeeak-
“Don’t worry. Steward Beric, I have absolutely no 『intention』 of hitting you.”
Calix drew the bow and aimed it at Beric.
The sight of the bow pointed at him filled Beric with terror, and he tried to scream.
“I’m going to hit the apple in your mouth, so rest easy.”
“Mmph! Mmph! Mmmph!!!”
Calix’s bow was aimed at Beric.
Beric could not tell whether Calix was truly aiming at the apple in his mouth or at his head.
One thing was certain: there was nothing strange about the look in Calix’s eyes if he shot and killed someone.
Kiiiiiiik- Twang-!
“Mmmph!!!”
“Beric!”
Thunk-!
An arrow shot from Calix’s hand.
The arrow, carrying Calix’s murderous intent, flew toward Beric and struck only the apple in his mouth with pinpoint accuracy.
The arrow stopped in the apple just short of piercing his mouth. Beric sighed in relief, then began urinating himself right there.
After handing the bow back to Rana, Calix simply sat down again in the seat of honor.
“Well, Lord Lois? Did you feel my 『intention』?”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Lord Calix!!! Beric made me do all of this!!! I never had any such thoughts! I’m sorry! Please spare my life! Please!!”
Lois was utterly terrified.
The Calix Lois had heard about was a righteous and benevolent man.
But the man before his eyes was a psychotic lord who was even more unhinged than Lois himself, taking pleasure in playing with Beric’s life.
He could not tell which was the real Calix, but one thing was certain.
He had picked the wrong person to cross.
As Lois sat frozen in terror, Calix addressed him kindly.
“What is the matter, Lord Lois?”
Then, all at once, Calix spoke in a gentle, benevolent voice.
The change sent an even greater chill down Lois’s spine.
“We have no intention of harming you, Lord Lois. We came here only to take our goods and collect the penalty for your breach of the contract, exactly as agreed.”
As he spoke, Calix accepted an apple from Rana.
Then he took out a paring knife and began peeling the apple.
“But… I’m not sure myself. I don’t know how I might act if I sense such misguided intentions and thoughts again.”
Lois was bewildered as Calix peeled an apple with a paring knife.
A paring knife? Why all of a sudden?
Sensing Lois’s gaze, Calix spoke to him.
“Ah! This is my favorite paring knife. I use it to eat an apple every morning.”
“Th-That couldn’t possibly mean…”
Calix’s words brought a memory back to Lois.
He distinctly remembered hearing that Calix had once slaughtered three assassins with a paring knife.
He had thought it was a baseless rumor, but given Calix’s archery, it seemed his martial prowess was anything but ordinary.
The fact that Calix had brought out such a knife right in front of him made Lois even more uneasy.
“Lord Lois, you should get into the habit of eating an apple in the morning too. Who knows? It might even help in a sudden fight with assassins…”
“A-Assassins!”
At Calix’s words, Lois remembered hearing that there had been many recent assassination incidents involving the Blood Kin.
Could Calix have been behind those assassinations too!?
No! Surely not! Even so, he couldn’t have joined hands with the Blood Kin to do something that insane…
Yet he could disguise the deaths as the Blood Kin’s work and eliminate a lord or two he disliked…
Overcome by his growing fear of Calix, Lois imagined countless worst-case scenarios.
All those imaginings magnified his fear of Calix, and that fear made him imagine even greater nightmares.
At that moment, Lois’s heart utterly crumbled under his fear of Calix.