Chapter 23
After the ball ended, Duke and the others returned to the carriage.
“Sir, be careful.”
Before parting with Duke, Hana warned him.
Duke replied with an answer that was somewhat out of context.
“I am one who considers the sound of clashing convictions ringing out to be beautiful. So do not worry, and fulfill your role.”
Hana pondered his meaningful words, then replied with a smile.
“Thank you for your consideration, Sir.”
“Hm. I look forward to seeing you again soon.”
Duke had originally spoken informally to Hana, but only the two of them could know the meaning behind his changed speech.
Thus, Duke ended his dreamlike time with Hana and intended to return to the inn.
But dreams were bound to end someday.
Just before their carriage reached the inn, the situation began to change drastically.
“Duke! Ari! The citizens! The citizens!!”
The citizens Rex had rescued several days earlier were being attacked by knights.
***
A cornered human was capable of anything.
Humans were fundamentally far removed from reason, but those who had nothing left to lose could become even uglier.
“Rex··· You alone···! You alone···!!”
After the banquet ended, the old count brooded alone in his study.
The plan to kill Rex at the banquet and seize his realm had failed spectacularly.
He had never consumed the poison in the first place, and the neighboring lord’s attendance at the party had made assassination impossible.
The count had considered charging straight at Rex to assassinate him then, but soon gave up on the idea.
‘They say it was his maidservant who defeated that fiend.’
That meant Rex’s maidservant was also a monster who had reached the fourth tier.
Considering the knight named Duke as well, even bringing out all the forces of this city would leave the count hard-pressed.
‘And that woman, too.’
The greatest problem of all was the lord of Sneria.
Although she was only fourth tier, she was not a force the count could afford to ignore.
Had that been possible, he would have invaded her domain long ago.
The Viscountess Sneria the count knew was an utterly incomprehensible eccentric.
She pursued meaningless justice, valued etiquette, and strictly honored contracts that were nothing more than scraps of paper.
If he attacked Rex in front of her···
‘That woman would take his side too.’
Inviting someone to a party and then attacking them violated the justice she believed in.
That was why the count had abandoned the assassination.
Considering that she would join the fight as well, the count had no chance of winning.
- Do I really have to obsess over him?
The last fragment of reason in a corner of the count’s mind brought his thoughts to a halt.
But the grim reaper called lifespan, following close behind him, silenced his reason once more.
‘I can’t die like this.’
The trembling in his fingertips had grown worse than a month ago, and the count’s heart began beating even faster.
Judging by the rate at which his symptoms were worsening, he did not seem to have much time left.
“Time. I’m running out of time.”
If he had obtained the dead fiend’s heart, he would not have obsessed over Rex this much.
He could have fed the heart to another fiend and then killed that fiend.
But now that even the heart was gone, only emotion and rage ruled the lord’s mind.
The count recalled Rex smiling at his maidservant as though he knew nothing.
‘Fine, if that’s how you’re going to play it, I’ll use that woman too.’
The count recalled the face of Viscountess Sneria.
He did not know what scheme Rex had concocted, but that viscountess—the woman who had appeared at the party so tactlessly—was utterly hateful to him.
But viewed another way, this was an opportunity for the count.
‘That woman will honor her contract.’
The count recalled the military pact he had recently renewed with her.
It stipulated that if one side was attacked, the other would provide support.
However, even if he looked at every domain in the surrounding area, there was no domain of sufficient size to invade the count’s territory.
In other words, it was essentially a one-sided protection treaty.
That was why he had forged the treaty through lies, hoping to obtain the luxury goods produced in her domain.
But at this very moment, that useless scrap of paper felt useful to the count for the first time.
‘If that bastard Rex attacks me, that woman will have no choice but to help me.’
Regardless of Rex’s circumstances, Hana was a ruler before she was a human being, so she would unquestionably take the count’s side.
‘Then that’s what I’ll do.’
The way to make Rex attack him immediately came to mind.
According to the reports, Rex showed an unusual attachment to trivial things, unbecoming of a superhuman.
If so···
‘Since you broke something precious to me, it’s only fair that you feel that pain too.’
The count curled up the corners of his mouth.
He was certain that Rex would inevitably take the bait.
***
“Duke! Ari! The citizens! The citizens!!”
Those words suddenly came from Rex.
He must have been desperate indeed to shout aloud instead of sending a message as usual.
“What happened, Master?!”
Ari urgently asked what was wrong.
Duke, however, remained as calm as usual.
Rex glanced at the helmet, unable to tell what Duke was thinking, then refocused on the interface spread before his eyes.
“The citizens are being attacked!”
Ari immediately realized which citizens Rex meant.
They were the citizens they had rescued from the city ruled by fiends and who had been staying in a nearby village.
“Who is it?!”
She felt no less responsible for those citizens than Rex did, so her reaction was dramatic.
Duke, by contrast, was still silent.
In the end, the conversation consisted only of Ari and Rex.
“I don’t know who they are! They might be bandits··· I’m not sure.”
Since none of the citizens had signed proper contracts, their location was displayed only as dots.
They could infer the situation only from the red dots surrounding the green ones.
Ari, who had also received the shared minimap, showed her anxiety amid the spectacle of firefly spirits spread out before her eyes.
“What should we do? Even if we ride there now, it’ll take three days!”
“There must be a way to get there quickly···”
At Rex’s mutter, both of them turned their gazes toward Duke.
“A way to get there quickly···”
“A way···”
Could this be why he had seemed strangely relaxed all this time?
The two of them looked at Duke expectantly.
As though responding to their gazes, Duke finally opened his mouth.
“I can get there.”
“As expected!”
“Sir!”
“But I won’t.”
“Why?!”
“Why not?!”
Duke wanted to tease them a little longer because their reactions were amusing, but he felt he would be hit if he continued, so he stopped.
Instead of explaining, he headed toward the nearest stable.
“Let’s go for now. I’ll explain.”
***
Three days passed.
After holding a fan meeting with the bandits, whose absence had now become strangely boring, the group reached the village at the end of their peaceful journey.
There, Rex encountered some unexpected familiar(?) faces.
““We’ve been waiting for you, Your Excellency! My lord!””
The sight of roughly three hundred knights saluting Rex was truly magnificent.
“Guhhh···”
Rex, who had been called my lord in front of everyone, began to writhe, but they were familiar faces all the same.
The Yormungand Knights.
The knights who had once spread throughout the domain for Rex had gathered in this village once again.
““A pleasure to meet you, Lord Rex.””
Somehow, they had even added an unidentified group behind them.
Amid the dizziness closing in on him, Rex demanded an explanation from them.
[How did this··· happen···?]
In response to Rex’s question, the squad leaders began proudly listing their achievements.
“We rescued those who had been unjustly enslaved in this domain.”
“Over the past few months, we preached Lord Rex’s greatness to them—”
“And successfully brainwashed··· I mean, educated them.”
Rex’s lower jaw fell open.
He had looked away for only a moment, yet the number of people he was responsible for had grown from three hundred to a thousand.
Rex looked at Duke with eyes demanding an explanation.
Duke understood how Rex felt, but pretended not to know and replied proudly.
“My lord. At times like this, I believe you should commend your subordinates for their hard work.”
This crazy bastard.
Rex felt as though that message had come from his eyes.
Naturally, Duke continued pretending not to know anything.
‘Ah, then I should have told him how to search for slave traders.’
If someone was supposedly the protagonist of a misunderstanding story, yet handed command authority to someone else and focused only on adventuring, shouldn’t he have to pay the price?
The consequences of handing Duke command authority and deliberately failing to check on things had grown this enormous.
Rex, however, had a slightly different thought.
‘Damn skill!’
=========
Duke Urwick
[Skill]------<
<Rex Carnifex>
- It also partially affects vassals!
=========
Rex felt as though even his status window was mocking him.
Afterward, Rex signed contracts with the additional seven hundred as well.
He had no desire to watch a collective Xun Yu spectacle involving a thousand people.
After barely getting through that bewildering moment, Rex returned to the main issue.
[But why are all of you here?]
In response to Rex’s question, the First Squad Commander—or rather, now the company commander—a dark elf answered.
“His Excellency ordered us. He said there were ruffians bold enough to harm the commoners resting beneath my lord’s shadow. So we came ahead of time to meet them.”
Rex and Ari’s gazes turned toward Duke’s helmet.
‘Well? Pretty impressive, huh?’
Duke chose his position with the sun in mind and slightly puffed out his chest so they could see him clearly.
That was why Duke had remained so relaxed the entire time.
Already knowing the count’s next move, Duke had gathered the knights in this village before the party even began.
When he arrived in the village with Rex, the mysterious red dots attacking the citizens were naturally nowhere to be seen.
“How did you know?”
Only then did Duke explain everything that had happened.
The unidentified group surrounding the Great Chieftain’s corpse in the fiend city,
the count’s true circumstances, which Duke had been investigating personally,
and the regular reports he received from the squad leaders every evening.
He had pieced all of this together and inferred the count’s objective.
“Once you know the objective, it isn’t hard to read the next move.”
Of course, this too came from his knowledge of the original story, but Duke had left his conscience behind two hundred years ago, so he did not care.
‘I can’t let him lay hands on the citizens we rescued too.’
For once, Duke had planned a complete victory over the count.
He had to thwart every one of that old man’s schemes to the very end.
After finishing his explanation of everything that had happened, Duke watched Rex’s reaction.
The response that eventually came was not far from what Duke had expected.
“Why didn’t you tell me until now?”
“I wasn’t certain until this attack.”
In fact, Duke’s words were perfectly reasonable.
The fact that the people who attacked the village this time were knights from another city acting on the count’s orders had provided decisive evidence.
Most of the evidence before that had remained merely circumstantial, insufficient to make the count the prime suspect.
Convinced by Duke’s words, Rex nodded.
“True···”
It made sense.
Rex began to ponder once more.
Duke and the knights waited until Rex spoke again.
Duke in particular was waiting for the answer that would come from Rex’s mouth.
‘Now, what will Rex do?’
The Rex of the original story had endured countless hardships and developed his qualities as a lord.
And during this village attack, he resolved to truly become a lord.
‘Normally, he would plan to assassinate the lord.’
After learning the truth about the lord, Rex eventually took action.
He realized that the knights he had first commanded in the research city were people who had undergone ‘human laundering’ in this domain,
learned that Ari, whom he cherished, was also one of its victims,
and, finally, discovered that even the citizens he had rescued had been harmed.
In the end, the boy who had wanted to remain merely the city’s strategist decided to become a lord after the deaths of those who had placed their hopes in him.
So that people like that could never again be created around him.
But this world was different.
Many of the growing pains Rex had suffered in the original story had been prevented in advance.
What kind of person, then, would this boy become?
This was also a gamble for Duke.
If he made the wrong move, Rex could veer completely away from the original story’s course.
But even though he could force that growth, Duke did not want to make this unfortunate friend suffer for its sake.
‘What kind of person will the Rex of this world become?’
At last, Rex finished pondering and opened his mouth.
“I’m not··· that broad-minded a person.”
“But for the sake of those who followed me, if necessary, I think I have no choice.”
“Let’s bring down the lord. So that wrongful blood will never flow through this land again.”
At Rex’s words, the corners of Duke’s mouth rose.
‘As expected.’
Even if the world changed, people did not.
Even if no one died, the responsibility in Rex’s heart remained unchanged.
Rex was insensitive to insults directed at himself, but for those who trusted him, he was the sort of person who took responsibility to the very end.
Duke defined that as the quality of a ruler.
“This is shameless of me, but I’m asking you. Please help me.”
Having steeled his resolve, Rex asked the knights without letting his voice tremble.
The Rex of the original story had only his adventurer connections and Ari to ask for help.
But here, countless soldiers followed him.
As the lord who was asking for their help, Duke knelt before Rex.
“My lord. Do not ask. You need only command us.”
The knights behind Duke also knelt.
““Command us!!””
Rex gathered his resolve once more and shouted.
“I declare here and now! No more innocent blood shall flow through this land! Those willing to lay down their lives for me, swear your oaths!”
As though they had been waiting for this, the knights rose one by one.
“Commander of the First Company, Hedonius. I swear on my heart. I will establish your will in this land.”
“Commander of the Second Company, Jinaria Sagas. I swear on my blood. I will ensure that true morality is established in this land.”
“Commander of the Third Company, Remesis. I swear upon my name. I will spread your warmth across this barren land.”
With the declarations of the three company commanders, Duke finally rose and placed a hand over his heart.
“Commander of the Yormungand Royal Guard, Duke Urwick. I swear here and now. I will not allow a single enemy of my lord to set foot upon this land.”
As Duke made his declaration, his status window lit up.
But Rex was so captivated by the scene before him that he failed to notice it.
- < Rex Carnifex> ON
‘Bitcoin listing incoming.’