Chapter 150

Three hours after receiving word from Shia that the situation had been successfully wrapped up.

“For now, I have gathered all the knight orders in front of the castle. I suppose it is time to persuade them, yes?”

“Why ask me that? That’s for you to handle. They’re your knights, and it’s your territory, isn’t it? You are the one who will eventually become the master of the countdom.”

“And all of that is part of your grand plan, isn’t it? I am merely a pawn on your chessboard.”

“Look, stop trying to frame me as some kind of mastermind or final boss. I’m helping you out of pure, genuine goodwill, alright? It’s more than enough for me if you just look after my back once you become a Count-King. Oh, and one more thing. If I ever cause a massive accident and get thrown out of the marquisate, just make sure to provide a place for me to live. That is literally all I need.”

“…Thrown out? You, my lord? From the Kesala Marquisate?”

“I might be a law-abiding citizen, but you never know, right? What if I crack the skull of some passing punk, and it turns out to be the Marquis’s son traveling incognito…?”

“No, if a situation like that ever occurs, wouldn’t it be far easier for you to simply drive out the Marquis of Kesala and take the marquisate for yourself? Why on earth would you go through such unnecessary trouble…?”

“Hey. That doesn’t make any se… actually, wait, it does.”

Come to think of it, with my current abilities, it would probably be fully possible even with the seals in place.

It would be fully possible, but still…

“I won’t do it. I told you, I’m a person who likes to live quietly like a loafer. King? Emperor? I wouldn’t do it even if you handed it to me on a silver platter. Why should I take on such a massive hassle?”

“It isn’t as much of a hassle as you think.”

“Huh?”

“The position of a king or an emperor is endlessly busy if you resolve to be busy, but it can also be endlessly leisurely if you resolve to play around.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

“Yes. You can simply dump all the work onto your ministers. Of course, dumping work means sharing power as well… which usually results in becoming a mere puppet or getting kicked out of the position entirely. However, you are different, my lord. You can reclaim that absolute authority at any time through your sheer raw martial power. Treachery? Rebellion? They wouldn’t even dare dream of it. What could they possibly achieve against an Emperor who is a Grand Master? Therefore, you can simply pick up talented individuals and aggressively order them to work. The rest of your time is spent enjoying yourself.”

“Uh… mmm.”

“And if you’re going to play, shouldn’t you play properly? Once you become an emperor, you will be able to execute almost anything you have ever imagined.”

“Mmm, hmmm….”

“You mentioned that you went through a lot of trouble to secure a mansion in a place with clean water and beautiful scenery, yes? Once you become the emperor, you can conversely reshape the surrounding environment to fit your mansion instead. A mountain? If it blocks your view, you can simply level it. A river? If you need it, you can dig through the earth and draw it right to your doorstep.”

Listening to her… it actually sounds incredibly alluring. An, an emperor might not be such a bad gig after all…?

Sensing my internal conflict, Carmen narrowed her eyes and flashed a captivating, alluring smile, looking exactly like a succubus tempting a mortal.

“What do you think? If you desire it, my lord, I, Carmen Sonya Kiadran, will assist you with everything I have. I shall claim the countdom, and you shall strike down Kesala to seize the marquisate. Then, pretending to keep each other in check, we can expand our respective influences a bit further, before ultimately unifying the two nations to declare an empire. Next, we slice off the heads of the Baran Emperor and the Crown Prince, marching directly into the imperial capital while the empire is divided by succession issues… Within five years, you will be the Emperor of a Great Empire, my lord.”

“Hey! Stop tempting me! I won’t do it. I said I won’t do it! Enough! More importantly, why are you so desperately intent on pushing me up the ladder anyway? Do you realize it hasn’t even been a single day since we met?”

She replied immediately, as if she had fully anticipated such a question from the start.

“How could a relationship between individuals be measured solely by time? I believe there are relationships where even a thousand years spent together cannot equal a single day, and conversely, there are relationships where a thousand years’ worth of depth is built within a single day.”

“…….”

“And above all… it was the very first time.”

“What was?”

“…That I met a powerhouse whom I could genuinely revere and look up to.”

“Hmm? You’ve never met someone stronger than you before?”

“No. It is not that. Within the United Kingdom alone, there were three or four individuals stronger than myself. However, the difference between us was barely half a step to a single step at most. I possessed full confidence that once I reached their age, I would become far stronger than them. However… you, my lord, are entirely distant. It felt as if you were standing on a completely different boundary than myself. As a martial artist, how could my heart not race upon witnessing such an existence? As a knight, how could I not wish to pledge my absolute loyalty to such an existence and conquer the world together?”

“So, because you want to conquer the world, I should target the world?”

“Uh, when you put it like that, it makes it sound entirely like I am using you, my lord….”

I scratched my head, then waved my hand dismissively.

“Enough, just get out there and quickly sort out your knight orders. I can hear the commotion from your kids all the way in here.”

At my words, she let out a soft, regretful smile and bowed her head low to me.

“Safe travels, my lord.”

“Don’t come back. My business here is done, so I’m heading home now too. Ah, I’ll send the Inquisitors over within three days.”

“Then I shall come visit you once my work here is finished.”

“…Yeah, fine. Sure.”

And exactly ten days later.

“My lord. I have missed you.”

“…I told you that you could visit, but I didn’t mean for you to come this frequently.”

I put on a thoroughly troubled expression as I stared at the dragonkin woman in golden armor who was currently kneeling on one knee before me.

“For now, as you commanded, I have taken complete control of Count Evas’s domain.”

“I-Is that so? Then you’re officially the lord of the domain now, huh?”

“Yes. Well, it wasn’t as if there was zero resistance… but the evidence was simply entirely too clear. On top of the core individuals who got cozy with the heretics, I have the actual avatar of the Outer God that wore the second son’s shell directly in my hands. The moment the knights saw its severed head wriggling and reattaching itself, everyone was left completely speechless.”

“Ah… I bet they were.”

“Above all, the role played by the priests and Inquisitors you sent over was massive, my lord. If they hadn’t swiftly recognized my achievements and drawn a clear line between me and the scum of the count’s family, it would have been considerably more problematic.”

“That’s good. That’s great, but….”

“Now, I am looking to completely subjugate the Viscounty of Iden and wrap up the Count of Harpun’s domain, which is barely hanging onto its breath… by any chance, would you be willing to give me a hand?”

“No, you should handle that on your own.”

“The thing is, Harpun’s resistance is unexpectedly fierce. The former lord of this domain was so thoroughly incompetent that even with all this military power, he only skirted around the edges, meaning Harpun’s core forces are still fully preserved without a scratch.”

“Even so, isn’t their force less than half of Evas’s original strength? You should be able to just steamroll them. Above all, the Evas side has you.”

“Ah, of course that is true… but wouldn’t those forces eventually fall into my hands anyway? If possible, I want to secure them while keeping their military strength intact… but that is proving to be quite difficult.”

“So you want me to help?”

“Yes. If you lend a hand, my lord, wouldn’t it be something achieved within a single evening?”

“Look, I loosely understand what you’re trying to say, but… did you really need to come all the way out here to make this request so blatantly in public?”

I broke into a heavy cold sweat from the intense stares piercing into me from every direction.

For the record, this location happened to be the outdoor swimming pool (the lake), which was the most popular facility among the residents of the mansion.

And right now, my surroundings were packed with the guests and employees who were hanging out and enjoying themselves in the lake to celebrate their rare day off (the mansion operates on a six-day workweek).

Furthermore, those guests and employees were all young, beautiful women, and over ninety percent of them were currently splashing around in the water wearing nothing but swimsuits.

In the midst of all this, suddenly, out of nowhere, a fully armed knight in golden armor appears and drops down on one knee right in front of me while I’m busy inflating a tube, speaking of such grave matters…

‘…Just imagine how the atmosphere feels.’

Sure enough, all sorts of whispering could be heard from every direction.

The guests who roughly knew the before and after of the situation, like Sodin and Chel, were…

“Wow, she’s here again.”

“This is already the third time, right?”

“She is definitely trying to seduce him, right?”

“It’s not like the count’s domain is next door… Seeing how a woman who is a whole lord chooses to come all this way in person instead of just sending someone to deliver the message tells you everything. It’s glaringly obvious. I mean, really.”

“What’s with her outfit anyway? She was in plain clothes last time.”

“It’s a concept. Since there’s too much competition, she decided to firmly carve out her position as the dependable, loyal subordinate.”

“Didn’t they say she’s going to become a Count-King soon? Why would a Count-King act as some loafer’s subordinate?”

“Well, what about you? Are you a swan or something, sticking so tightly to him here in a swimsuit that barely qualifies as one? Didn’t you say the kids you teach were begging and crying for you to look over their theses and return to the Magic Tower?”

“They’re fine. If they miss me that much, they should come here themselves. Where do they get off trying to summon their master?”

“By the way, Orabeoni brings someone back every single time he goes anywhere. And every single one of them is a giant figure. Good grief… It’s not like he’s picking up stray cats. It feels like just yesterday he brought back that Shadow Saintess girl, and now here he is adding another one…”

“The fact that he has absolutely no intention of doing it makes it even worse.”

“Seriously, it’s so annoying I could die. Look, look, look at that! A woman who is literally a lord, shooting eye-smiles at an older guy! Chel unnie! Din unnie! Are you just going to leave that be?! We need to kill her!”

“Mng….”

“Mnggg….”

“I mean, why are you guys lacking spirit so much? Just because she’s Master-class, does that mean she’s everything?! If we combine Chel unnie, Din unnie, and Kel unnie, we definitely stand a chance! If push comes to shove, I can even summon my lion and—”

“I, I have no intention of getting involved in that…. I mean, why am I even wearing a swimsuit and doing this here in the first place….”

“So, what, you want to gang up on her four-to-one and take her down?”

“We have to pull her out by the roots! We need to make an example out of her! Don’t you know the maids have been testing the waters and throwing themselves at him lately too?!”

“Being entirely too incredible is a problem in itself, isn’t it?”

“Ailet unnie, this isn’t the time for you to be talking like it’s someone else’s business either. Don’t you realize you barely have any presence these days? If a woman like that moves in, you’re just going to get treated like a non-entity, just like that sidekick trio over there.”

“What do you mean, sidekick trio?!”

“W-Who is a s-sidekick?”

“To dare treat this Scala, Miss Shia’s closest confidant, as a mere sidekick…”

“Anyway. I’m against adding any more to the headcount here.”

“Mm. I’m against it too.”

“Me too.”

“Did anyone even want this to happen in the first place?”

“Still, since she’s a lord, and later a Count-King, wouldn’t she barely have any time to come here?”

“And what about you? Are you not busy? You literally abandoned the guild you were running and have been idling on a whole different continent for close to a month.”

“Ugh….”

This was roughly the conversation taking place in real-time right behind my back….

And the conversation among the employees (mostly maids), who were hanging out a bit further away after being pushed back by the territorial nature of the guests, was even more spectacular.

“Wow, it increased again.”

“Just how many people is that now?”

“Look at that armor. Anyone can tell at a glance that it’s an artifact, right?”

“I heard rumors that she’s Master-class.”

“They said she’s a lord.”

“There are even talks that she’s a widow…”

“You guys are completely out of the loop. Don’t you know Count Evas’s domain got completely flipped on its head this time? Apparently… that’s what happened.”

“Something like that actually happened?”

“Oh my god. And our employer played a part in it?”

“Played a part? I heard he did the whole thing entirely by himself.”

“Oh my god… So he overthrew a whole domain, a count’s domain at that, just to get his hands on a pretty widow?”

“Just a few days ago, he seduced a priest and brought her home… and now it’s a widow. Incredible.”

“Every single woman he brings in is no joke. A lord, a Master, a Magic Tower professor, two Blaster-class elves whom even the Head Maid defers to, a tamer who can summon a nine-star monster… Wow, at this point, couldn’t they seriously overthrow a whole country?”

“On top of that, every single one of them is insanely beautiful. We aren’t exactly lacking in the looks department ourselves, but… where on earth does he pick and choose women like that…”

“And the crowning glory of it all is Miss Shia.”

“Ah… agreed. She’s insane.”

“She’s out of her mind.”

“I literally wondered what kind of creature she was. Is she even a living being of this mortal earth to begin with?”

“But… there’s just one thing I’m really curious about.”

“Yeah?”

“Our employer… he hasn’t actually laid a finger on any of them yet, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“You can tell just by looking. He hasn’t. None of them.”

“Just in case, what about among the maids?”

“He hasn’t even touched that lineup, you think he’d lay a hand on a maid?”

“…Could it be that he’s, you know, ga…”

“Shh! Keep your mouth shut before you bring disaster upon yourself!”

“Sigh… You didn’t see it, did you?”

“See what?”

“No, never mind. To begin with, would such a handsome, pleasant man really be ga…”

“True…”

“Then g…”

“A person like that wouldn’t be gathering women like this in the first place.”

“Then what is it?”

“If you ask me… I think he might be a collector.”

“A collector?”

“Yeah. You know how some people are like that. They have absolutely no intention of swinging a sword or a shield, but they just collect them to display in a glass case and feel satisfied looking at them.”

“Ah… So this mansion is the display case, and those ladies are the showpieces inside it?”

“Exactly! Otherwise, none of this makes any sense, right?”

“Then what about us?”

“Uh… The sidekicks who didn’t quite fit into the display case, so we got arranged on the side table next to it?”

“That’s a bit miserable in its own way…”

“In any case, if he’s just gathering them without any intention of touching them, isn’t he the absolute worst villain under the sun?”

“Seriously…”

“Mm. I suppose… that’s true, right?”

“He’s a bad man.”

“Exactly. He really is a bad man.”

I let out a long sigh at the conversation drifting over on the wind from a distance.

“What is the matter, my lord?”

“…I’ll help you. I’ll help you, so please just go home for today.”

“Ah, is that so? As expected of my lord. This Carmen is genuinely deeply moved by your kindness in not abandoning your favorite subordinate.”

“Favorite my ass. I’ll go over to help you around the day after tomorrow, so please just leave quickly today. Before I get pierced to death by these glares.”

“I shall be waiting with a joyful heart.”

“Wow, isn’t that basically a date promise?”

“She’s a fox. A fox. A sly old fox.”

…Damn it. It’s not like that.