The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (13)

“It’s over… done… finally…”

Thud,

Ronari melted down into her chair.

She slumped down onto the floor.

She had just taken the invoice for the last batch of returned raw materials.

I watched her and felt admiration.

“Wow. How did you do that just now? You looked like ice that almost melted.”

“As for you, young master, you look like water that’s already completely melted.”

“Hehehehehe*. Is that so?”*

“Ahahaha. I said so.”

A crazy conversation.

It’s enough to make me lose my mind.

I nearly forgot where I was lying facedown.

How many days have I been sleeping in the office?

That aside, what day is it today?

I can’t remember.

My muscles and joints feel like they’re all melting away.

‘Hehe. At this rate I’ll die from overwork, not crystallization.’

At that moment, Avenger walked into the office.

Dark shadows hung heavily under his eyes too.

“Young master. Ugh… you have to go out.”

“Ah. Has it already come to that time? Let’s go! Ronari!”

“Yes! Let’s go, young master!”

Despite the lively declarations, our pace wasn’t very fast.

We were practically slimes.

I dragged my body, mashed like mashed potatoes, following Avenger.

Ronari followed like a ghost.

Because that day had dawned.

“Since I couldn’t walk anymore, Avenger dragged me up onto the platform.”

“Oooh.”

All those who worked at Denabi Castle had already gathered in the courtyard.

Morning assembly.

My employees, like pickles soaked in fatigue.

They were all waiting only for my words.

The first thing I said from the platform was this.

“You all look terrible.”

Hehehehe***—***

Weak laughter could be heard here and there.

It wasn’t just Ronari and me suffering from endless overtime.

Most of the people in the courtyard hadn’t been able to go home for days.

“I’m sorry for making you suffer, everyone.”

Someone answered my white lie.

“It’s fine. Thanks to this I felt like I was fighting alongside my enlisted son.”

“What, you felt that way too?”

“…Pfft.“

Once again, the employees’ silly laughter passed.

An endless stretch of night shifts that could have gone on for days.

It had created a strange bond among us.

It wasn’t because of any great charisma of mine.

My employees shared one thing in common.

Overtime? Ah, that too.

But aside from that.

The reason they had to work.

‘These people are all working tirelessly to save their families.’

Perhaps in a way much more desperate than reality.

That fact had also been revealed in the incident related to Izack.

‘So they have no choice but to get along. It’s truly something to be thankful for, even if the situation is a tragedy.’

At that moment, Ronari below the platform pointed at my face.

“Young master. Eye gunk.”

“…Thank you.“

I brushed my rumpled face and began to speak.

“Thank you all for working so hard on tasks that aren’t even your primary duties. Thanks to you, I won’t be ashamed to face my brothers out fighting or my father. I promise to comply with Denabi’s labor laws and pay you overtime wages…”

“Ooh. Keep it short and you go get some sleep, young master.”

Hehehehe*—*

The employees’ jeers cut off my words.

I laughed along and barely continued.

“Alright. Forget it. Anyway, I’ll give you the money, so don’t worry… What I really want to say is this.”

I spoke in the strongest voice I could muster.

“…Ready…! Now… bu…! Ah… once I start…! Ah… I really have no energy. Just a moment. Ha, ha… if I do…! It will beee…!“

“…Ooh… Waaaah…“

Good. Very lively.

“…They say it’s the start, not the end…“

“…Anyway, we’ll be on overtime again tomorrow! Hehehe*…“*

“…If we work like this every day, dying sooner than the son who went to fight wouldn’t be a dream…“

“…Then that’s an honorable death!“

Hehehehe*—*

Whether it was jeers or cheers, I couldn’t tell.

With an enthusiastic response that wrung every ounce of energy from Denabi Castle’s staff, the start of work was finally declared.

Amid that exhausting commotion, I finally remembered.

Now I remembered.

What day it was.

It was the tenth day since the first meeting at Ronari’s family’s house.

And very coincidentally… another tired person had returned to the castle in time for our start of work (though not intentionally).

-Clop, clop

The sound of hooves.

Everyone in the courtyard, including me, turned to look at the returning person.

Judging by their appearance, he and his party had also gone through quite the hardship.

Well, they’d just come back from the battlefield, so of course.

But even seeing our faces, it would have been hard for them to complain about their own hardships.

Instead, the Lord of Denabi, who had returned from the battlefield, said this.

“Shane, you lot… why do you look like that…?”

Shane’s father… well, that is…

‘There really were a lot of things.’

It was truly exhausting.

“…So that’s how you rambled to the lord who returned about the young master. It seemed like you were trying to explain what you’d been doing, but you fainted again right after.“

“…Who?“

Ronari pointed at me.

“…Me?“

Ronari nodded.

“…“

I asked her.

“What happened after that?”

“I fainted too, so I don’t know.”

I was at a loss for words.

“Ahahaha…”

It was a conversation we had while lying side by side in Denabi Castle’s infirmary.

‘Ahh. A strange ceiling.’

According to Ronari, I apparently fainted right after Alejandro’s return.

Avenger the Steward had moved me to the infirmary, and I opened my eyes only half a day later.

It wasn’t especially good news.

‘This is bad.’

The business was in danger.

It wasn’t something I had tried to do secretly from Alejandro.

It couldn’t be hidden in the first place.

Everyone in Denabi had made a fuss and found out.

‘The exact business details are confidential, but if they interrogate me, I’ll have to spill everything anyway…’

So I had to explain first.

Calmly, concisely, logically, by myself, before anyone else.

I was supposed to, but…

‘I fainted in the middle of explaining. What a catastrophe…’

If at least Ronari had been awake, maybe she could have handled it somehow.

‘But she fainted with me.’

Of course it’s not her fault.

It’s because I collapsed.

‘Anyway, what to do…’

Did Avenger explain things properly?

Now that I think about it, I seem to have made the castle officials suffer too much.

What if they spoke badly about my plan?

No, seriously, that probably won’t happen!

Still, I’m anxious!

Half a day is plenty of time for Alejandro to form a bad impression of what I did.

“Damn…! I can’t let this stand!”

“Young master?”

“I have to go. Ronari. If I don’t meet my father right now to discuss the liquor business, everything will… ugh.”

Everything will collapse.

No, is it me who’s collapsing?

I looked down at my limbs sprawled on the floor.

Hehe*. I look like a skeleton beaten with a club, all my joints broken.*

“What are you doing?”

“I was trying to get up.”

“You tried?”

“It’s not going well.”

“Oh my.”

She got up from the bed.

She staggered over.

Her arms wrapped around me and she hoisted me up.

“You’re lighter than I thought.”

“…“

Remarkable strength.

‘How did they live normally that made the whole family so strong?’

Scary. These bundles of muscle.

In this crummy fief, is this level of strength necessary to survive?

Just as I was lost in foolish thoughts while held by her, someone flung the door open and entered the infirmary.

With Ronari’s help I had just managed to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Shane!”

The person who appeared was Alejandro.

What perfect timing.

“…Father.“

I hadn’t even finished the opening of an excuse—what was I supposed to say?

I was dumbfounded.

Alejandro strode up to me.

Ronari bowed her head and stepped back.

Alejandro’s firm hand grabbed my shoulder.

But he wasn’t speaking to me.

“Doctor.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Is my son all right?”

“It seems he overexerted himself from work and was very tired. There’s no danger to his life whatsoever…”

“I’ll trust you this time, but if you fail in your duties as our family’s physician again, I won’t let it go.”

“M-my lord…?”

Alejandro turned and said sternly.

“You knew my son was sickly, didn’t you? From now on, watch my son thoroughly. Make sure he never overexerts himself like this again. Steward! You must help with this matter as well.”

“Ah, understood.”

What the—

They decide everything among themselves without involving the person concerned?

I opened my mouth.

“But Father…”

“I’ve heard about the work you’re pursuing.”

Alejandro cut me off sharply.

“You’ve undertaken quite a bold endeavor. The Steward has told me all the details.”

No matter what he says, I don’t know if he actually heard it properly!

“Pull the underground liquor market hidden among the lower quarter to the surface to boost tax revenue, seize the market through official, government-sanctioned alcohol sales… and then use that money to raid the Orchard Dungeon. That’s a pretty creative strategy.”

’…He heard it properly?’

My eyes snapped open.

What the—there was nothing to worry about!

‘Right! The Lord who survived in this shitty fief can’t be an idiot! Besides, this man is the protagonist’s dad!’

Long live Father!

Long live the lord!

“But I cannot permit your venture.”

“…What?“

The kimchi soup I was sipping spilled all over.

Did I mishear something?

Please tell me I did.

“Alcohol will surely make money quickly. I concede that. But Denabi has neither the time nor the grain to waste on liquor. Do you not understand why I am so strict about the alcohol tax?”

I hurriedly answered Alejandro’s question.

“Ah, I know. You’re worried that liquor will deplete supplies for the troops and undermine order within the fief, aren’t you?”

Of course I’d thought about that.

The success of the business depended on how I could persuade Alejandro.

“Right. Knowing that, you still went ahead with this?”

“But Father, if it can be used in moderation, alcohol can greatly boost the morale of soldiers and commoners.”

Isn’t that right! This guy!

‘If they win a battle, you give them liquor and meat; that’s how soldiers fight well!’

But an unexpected answer came back to my words.

“No, morale boosting is unnecessary.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’re mistaken. Do you think Denabi’s soldiers will fight for alcohol? I’m disappointed to hear such nonsense from my son. Denabi’s children do not fight for liquor. They do not fight for honor, advancement, or power either. Son, do you understand?”

He stroked my head.

It was a pitying touch.

Like trying to grasp fine sand, like trying to scoop up spilled water.

“Denabi’s soldiers fight not for alcohol but for their homeland and their families.”

At his words, the soldiers bowed their heads solemnly.

My heart dropped.

‘Damn…! If he says something so noble at this point, how am I supposed to counter?!’

This is maddening.

Of course he’s a major character—his words are devastatingly effective.

“Making alcohol the motive would be an affront to the noble purpose of Denabi’s warriors. If that is truly your intent, I must deny it a thousand, ten thousand times over.”

‘Wow! What am I really going to do now!?’

My mind went completely blank.

All the hardships I’d gone through were at risk of becoming worthless.