Chapter 196

Translator: Willia

Mercenary work and prostitution were among the oldest professions in the world. Perhaps they had existed ever since humanity first conceived of the idea of ‘trade’.

Here, mercenary referred to an armed organization paid substantial sums to provide military support, or to someone belonging to such an organization.

Adventurers and mercenaries were essentially no different in that both took money to solve problems by force, though adventurers were somewhat more accessible to the general public.

They were not hired only by nations or lords. Even a poor village could pool its money and pay them to resolve certain problems.

Adventurers of that sort formed the foundation of the Master Alliance. Put simply, it was an organization that provided private armed services to anyone, noble or commoner, for the appropriate price.

Armed individuals and organizations invariably became strangely corrupted with time, so an institution was needed to manage, supervise, and direct them. That was the role of the Master Alliance.

Ordinary people knew little about the Master Alliance or the Council of Six, so they simply called them adventurers or the Adventurers' Guild, and the names stuck.

It did not matter what they were called. What mattered was reliable work and maintaining trust.

Like thread following a needle, the Benicio Trading Company always followed wherever the Master Alliance extended its reach. What the union of force and money brought forth was power.

The leader of that formidable organization was currently a woman. A pregnant woman, at that. Martellia von Nibelinger, the thirty-second princess and queen of Adeloron.

Marie ran the organization without hesitation or leniency, and often threatened nobles as well. She was the exact opposite of Ricardt, who had walked a political tightrope with subtlety and care in his own way.

What that meant could only be known after enough time had passed. Its meaning would become clear only once it had been recorded in history and examined by later generations.

Those living through the present age were as good as blindfolded, able only to feel firsthand all its growing pains and the confusion brought about by something new.

“Huff, huff, huff, huff......”

There really was a man kneeling there blindfolded. It was the height of summer, the hottest time of year.

They seemed to be somewhere on a wooded hill, but even the coolness peculiar to the mountains could not temper the heat, and sweat was pouring off him.

Nearby came the heavy thuds of a shovel biting into the earth. It was hot enough already, and the man digging shirtless had his face screwed into a terrible scowl.

They appeared to be taking turns, for another two men stood nearby, also shirtless and leaning on their shovels.

“If it isn't here, you fucking son of a bitch, we'll bury you alive.”

Tempers always flared easily on hot days. Having to dig as well had stoked their irritation into something close to murderous rage.

It was unclear what could possibly be buried in the bare earth, but just as the man digging grew tired enough to consider changing places with someone, he felt the tip of his shovel strike something.

Then came the sound of metal.

Clang!

“What is it? Did you find it?”

The two waiting men asked eagerly. The man with the shovel did not answer. As if pouring all his remaining strength into the task, he repeatedly drove the blade into the earth around the spot where the metallic sound had come from. An outline gradually emerged.

It was a small rectangular chest. The man roughly dug it free and tossed it out of the hole, then flung aside his shovel, walked straight into the shade, and dropped heavily to the ground.

The other two men opened the chest and inspected its contents. Inside were parchment documents and money. There was not a single silver or copper coin, only gold.

Far from being distracted by the money, they examined the documents first. Once they unfolded them, it was not difficult to guess what the chest represented or what they had been searching for.

There were waivers surrendering bodily rights, contracts transferring ownership of people, lists of debtors, inventories of property, and other such documents. Even a cursory glance at the titles revealed that they concerned moneylending at extortionate rates.

One document, however, was unusual. It bore none other than Duke Frederia's official seal.

It temporarily transferred the right to collect taxes and ordered the recipient to use any means necessary to collect them within the stated period and deliver the proceeds to him. It also specified that the collector would receive thirty percent.

The problem was that it did not grant collection rights over his own direct domain. It ordered taxes to be collected at will from a vassal's territory.

In other words, the recipient was to violate the vassal's rights, secretly steal his property, and bring the proceeds to the duke.

This was plainly illegal and an act of betrayal by a liege against his vassal.

The men who had dug the hole immediately rolled up the document, tied it with cord, and placed it in a document case. What remained were the various illegal contracts and the money.

That had not been their original objective, but since the documents had fallen into their hands, one man unfolded them and carefully looked them over.

“Well, this bastard really was a total piece of shit.”

He spoke while looking at the blindfolded man kneeling and trembling. The man appeared to have taken several blows before coming here, for his cheekbone was dark with bruises and dried blood crusted beneath his nose.

He looked profoundly pitiable, but the three men felt no sympathy whatsoever. What he had done in the past was too revolting.

Threats, extortion, destruction of property, human trafficking, murder, rape. There was no vile act he had not committed.

“I, I-I-I only did what I was told! I only did what I was told, sirs.”

“Don't know about that. We're just doing what we were ordered to do. Even with trash like you, there's nothing personal in it. Hey, take off his blindfold.”

The man reading the documents gestured with his chin. One of his companions approached the piece of trash who only looked pitiable and removed his blindfold.

The man squeezed his eyes shut against the fierce sunlight. While he remained unable to open them, someone unfolded a fresh sheet of parchment and began reading.

“In the name of Martellia von Nibelinger, member of the Imperial House and queen of Adeloron, chairman of the Master Alliance and head of the Council of Six, we execute you to uphold justice. This judgment is founded upon the appeals, testimony, and evidence of the people of Alret village, and we hereby declare this execution lawful.”

“What? Wh-what are you talking about? Y-you're going to kill me!? I work for His Excellency the Duke! I'm not just some moneylender! W-wait! Wait!”

At the news that he was going to die, the bound man kneeling before them felt his heart pound wildly.

Regardless of his reaction, one of the three walked over to the equipment they had set aside nearby, picked up a dagger, and drew it. These men had been dispatched by the Master Alliance.

To anyone unfamiliar with the situation, the Master Alliance men would have looked like thugs and the kneeling man like an innocent victim, but the truth was rather different.

The man about to die was a secret agent of Duke Frederia. He stopped at nothing and had committed horrific crimes, even indulging his own filthy desires in the process.

From the duke's perspective, only the results mattered, not what the man did to obtain them. That was why such things happened. In truth, the duke did not care at all.

“W-wait! Waittttt!”

The man lay almost on his side and tried to escape by writhing along the ground like an insect.

That was never going to work. The Alliance man slowly approached, seized him by the hair, and pulled his chin up. He thrust the sharp dagger into the man's throat, then sawed it across. Blood gushed out.

“Cough! Cough! Grrrk, grrk......”

The man's body shook violently. His own blood clogged his throat, leaving him unable even to scream. Only a wet bubbling sound emerged.

Once the man breathed his last, the Alliance blade-for-hire wiped the bloody dagger on the dead man's clothes.

Silence settled over the wooded hill. The man who had killed the moneylender pushed the corpse into the hole with his foot. He did not bother covering it afterward. It was too much trouble and hard work.

“Next time, let's not do the digging ourselves. We should make bastards like this dig.”

“Yeah, let's do that.”

“Still, are we going to be all right?”

“About what?”

“They said he worked for the duke.”

This was the difference between Ricardt and Marie. Ricardt had been scrupulous about leaving anyone connected to a lord untouched. Marie, on the other hand, had ordered that criminals simply be killed, whether they had ties to a lord or not.

It was justified, of course, and it upheld justice, but realistically, the lords could hardly be pleased. They might even take it as a challenge to their authority.

Someone connected to a duke was harder still to take action against.

“Who knows? That's not for us to decide.”

“I like how decisive the queen is. The work may be hard, but at least it doesn't piss you off. It feels worthwhile, that's what I'm saying.”

“That's true.”

As they spoke, one of the three scooped the gold coins out of the chest. There seemed to be several dozen at least. All of it was illicit money.

Funnily enough, now that it had fallen into the Alliance's hands, it was no longer illicit money. They had killed a criminal and claimed it as spoils.

“Thirty percent goes back to the villagers, thirty percent goes to the Alliance, and we keep the rest, right?”

The man resting in the shade and the one wiping his bare torso with a towel both nodded. Such a large sum could easily have stirred their greed, but it did not. They took pride in their work.

Besides, their pay was quite generous once their basic allowances, commission fees, and shares of the spoils were all added together.

“The queen is the fucking best.”

The three men threw on their equipment with little care and headed down the mountain.

If Ricardt was someone people revered, Marie was someone everyone loved. Her enemies would have disagreed, of course.

Perhaps transcending womanhood meant transcending shame along with it, for much of Marie's maidenly modesty had vanished. She was still only nineteen.

With her body somewhat fuller, she strapped a sword to her waist and waddled briskly wherever she pleased. Roy and Beka were the ones who attended and guarded her most closely.

Since the Alliance headquarters lay on the outskirts of Stormhertz, she often took a carriage to Stormhertz Castle in the morning to meet her father-in-law, Abelich. She returned before noon to handle her routine duties and continued holding meetings of the Council of Six, even when not everyone could attend, revising existing guidelines or establishing new ones.

Marie herself pursued the work enthusiastically, and all the swordsmen under her command liked her, but the senior leadership appeared somewhat concerned.

Ice, true to his nature, paid little attention either way. Bori went with the flow and handled whatever work came his way. It was mainly Volka and Karllich who worried. Paolo did as well.

Perhaps because she was pregnant and had been so active lately, Marie seemed to need a great deal of energy. Setting decorum aside, she carved up meat she had roasted herself and chewed away heartily.

Paolo silently watched her for a time before speaking with care.

“Your Majesty, forgive me for interrupting your meal, but may I say something?”

“I've told you to speak freely whenever you wish.”

“Then I will. It is good that you are acting with such enthusiasm, but your due date is not far off. Moreover, with your due date so near, it is unwise to make so many enemies. You never know who might suddenly come after you, or from where. Duke Frederia has remained neutral since the beginning of the war, so to make an enemy of him without need is......”

Paolo was referring to Marie's recent acquisition of Duke Frederia's illegal document and her delivery of it, unaltered, to the lord who had been wronged. The duke was indisputably at fault, but the act could be seen as interference in another domain's affairs or as an unmistakably hostile action.

Put simply, Duke Frederia had ample reason to think, So, you want a fight with me?

“I appreciate your concern, but if I make every allowance and weigh every consideration, I won't get anything done. I believe I made my course perfectly clear. I intend to become emperor.”

Marie cut Paolo off and spoke firmly. In this respect, she certainly resembled Ricardt, though she did not possess his wisdom.

“You would be wise to refrain from saying that as well. The conflict between the Second Prince and the Fifth Prince was strictly a matter between the two of them. If a third party enters the fray, however, they may join forces for a time. If they coordinate their plans and invade simultaneously, could you stop them?”

“Then Adeloron's armored knights will take the field.”

“......It may not prove so simple. Duke Frederia could block their advance while the Second Prince or the Fifth Prince invaded, could he not? They may not coordinate so effectively, but you must exercise caution when dealing with matters of such magnitude.”

“I give my decisions ample and careful thought. They may not satisfy you, but I do not believe it is my concern whether I live up to the chancellor's expectations.”

“......”

Paolo closed his mouth. Marie was exceptionally clever and possessed both decisiveness and courage, but she was somewhat hysterical at present.

Paolo was not trying to say that her decision had been wrong. He only wanted her to moderate her pace, but Marie would not listen.

Of course, no one else could force the queen to listen to a subject.

This was where the Council of Six needed to intervene, but Karllich was uncomfortable around Marie, Volka was completely occupied with caring for his own clan, and Ice and Bori were frequently dispatched elsewhere. The problem was that no one was currently in a position to keep her properly in check.

“You should eat too, Chancellor. This is meat from a freshly slaughtered calf, and it is wonderfully tender. Here. Have some.”

Marie understood Paolo's intentions perfectly well, but deliberately pretended otherwise and merely offered him meat.

Paolo declined, saying he was fine. He made only one earnest request.

“Then please promise me one thing.”

“Go ahead. I'll hear it before I decide.”

“If anything happens, do not take up your sword. Please promise me that you will seek refuge in the safest place available.”

Marie could in truth have answered at once, but out of courtesy, she pretended to consider it briefly before responding.

“......Hmm, I cannot do that either. I'm sorry, Chancellor.”

“Oh, for fuck's sake.”

“Pardon?”

“My apologies. That slipped out.”

At Paolo's little slip of the tongue, Marie merely threw back her head in delight and cackled like a middle-aged woman.

After all, even she knew she did not listen to a damn thing anyone told her. Yet for that very reason, it also felt liberating. This was a kind of power she could never have enjoyed in the royal castle.

Perhaps because she herself was a Sword Master, her confidence and self-assurance went far beyond those of an ordinary person. When it came to running a nation or an organization, however, such a disposition was a double-edged sword.

Paolo's presence at least softened the impact of her aggressive expansion as much as possible, but at last, something even he could do nothing about came to pass.

Without so much as a declaration of war, the Fifth Prince launched a surprise invasion of Stormhertz. The devious man seemed to have scented an opportunity. This was his chance.

While Ricardt was away, while Marie was pregnant, and while the Alliance itself had made enemies of so many nobles. Right now.

Marie had originally been made chairman so that she could maintain good relations with the nobles, but events had unfolded in precisely the opposite direction.

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