The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (15)

‘31 people!? No… including the Steward that’s 32!’

Why all of a sudden!?

I was already flustered, so what on earth is this situation.

I feel like something similar happened last time.

Being treated like a lunatic and then the trust information gets unlocked or something.

‘Was the achievement condition this time to whine in front of my father…?’

What kind of system is this?

‘I really have no idea what’s going on…’

Just as I couldn’t recover from the Status Window’s onslaught, someone broke the silence.

“…I told you from the start to trust me, to please trust me…“

Everyone turned to the person who broke the silence.

“Ronari…?”

I looked at her too.

She was staring right back at me.

Her eyes were red-rimmed.

She spoke.

“Young master. You were curious last time, weren’t you.”

“Yes…?”

What is this, she’s talking to me, right?

There’s not two people here who could be called young master.

“When you went to the site with me, you said then. Everyone is risking their lives, and you wondered if you were fit to be the person in charge.”

Come to think of it, I did say something like that back then…

But isn’t this a terrible time for that kind of conversation?

‘The lord is in front of us and the mood is bad!?’

Is this right?

But she paid it no mind and spoke.

“It can be done.”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying yes. You can be the person in charge. I think it has to be you, young master.”

“Th…thank you?”

“You’re welcome.”

She gave a small smile.

At that moment the Status Window popped up another message.

The flood of information hitting me again nearly made me faint.

‘What is a regular contract…? Talent aptitude what the hell?!’

But I didn’t have time to make sense of the situation.

Because Ronari’s voice was heard again.

This time she wasn’t looking at me.

“My lord.”

“You are…”

Ronari bowed her head before Alejandro.

“I’m new Administrator Ronari Arenta. Pardon my impertinence in saying this. We will not go against the lord’s judgment.”

What?

“Furthermore, all of Denabi Castle’s managers including myself and everyone who participated in this project will immediately cease all actions related to this project.”

Wha-what.

Did I just get betrayed right after recruiting talent?

‘Ronari! Are you seriously doing this!?’

But Ronari soon revealed her true colors.

Alejandro spoke.

“…Thank you for saying you’ll cooperate.“

“No. It’s too early to say that. We will resume the project the moment the lord departs for the expedition.”

“What did you say?”

“Try to stop us if you can. There are many ways. You could split your already short forces in two: half to watch us and half to go to the orchard’s Dungeon. Or you could imprison all of Denabi Castle’s management. Both choices are hardly better than suicide.”

“You…”

Alejandro couldn’t even find words.

On the other hand, Ronari was unflinching.

“This territory will be destroyed if the orchard conquest fails anyway. And none of us intend to leave that burden only to the lord and the soldiers. Correct?”

Saying that, she turned to look at me.

Wait, did this girl always speak this well?

‘Th-that’s not the important thing right now!’

In any case, Ronari passed the baton to me.

My turn had come.

I hurriedly took up her words.

“As Administrator Ronari said. Whatever my father’s intentions, we will carry out our will. We will save this territory in our own way.”

“And in the end the lord will have no choice but to trust the young master.”

I nodded.

Just then, a commotion rose behind a flustered Alejandro.

Crash-!

Suddenly the sound of someone bursting in was heard.

“Your Excellency!”

‘Tandel!?’

It was Tandel who shoved past Alejandro’s soldiers and entered.

He prostrated himself and battered his forehead against the floor in supplication.

“Please reconsider your decision! Trust the young master!”

Alejandro looked down at Tandel.

His gaze was complicated.

“…You joined Shane’s project as well, I hear.“

“Yes! For that I will accept punishment a hundred or a thousand times! But the project cannot be stopped! As Administrator Ronari said, we will make the young master’s plan succeed even if we risk our lives!”

No sooner had Tandel finished than others pushed into the antechamber.

“…my lord!“

“…Your Excellency!“

There wasn’t a single unfamiliar face.

They were all people who had helped me with my work.

Denabi people with spouses, children, or parents and siblings.

They prostrated themselves in a row and pleaded with Alejandro.

“It would be right to punish our foolishness. But please acknowledge the young master’s efforts! He worked thinking of the lord and the older young masters, even skipping sleep!”

No.

I didn’t particularly think much about those people…

‘I’m grateful they’re dressing it up, but it makes me feel strangely guilty.’

I sometimes felt sorry for not being able to help those suffering horribly in the Dungeon.

From the possessed me’s perspective they were complete strangers…

Work was just work in front of me, and since everyone was suffering I just joined in.

It wasn’t something done from some noble motive.

‘But for now, shut up and stay put…!’

People were helping me for once; it’s rude to stick my nose in and dig my own grave!

And above all, I didn’t have the strength to say much more.

I’m in pretty bad shape.

With the nosebleeds I’ve had over the last ten days, I might even be able to bathe.

Once the tension loosened, my grip on reality slackened.

Ah, I shouldn’t be like this yet.

This isn’t the time to faint.

My vision was getting blurrier.

People were helping me for once…

I can’t fall asleep like this…

Then Alejandro’s voice was heard.

“…Pietro?“

“Long time no see. Have you been well, young master, no… Lord.”

’Elder Pietro…?’

Why is the old man here?

Isn’t this a very important moment?

I wanted to open my eyes and see the scene properly.

But my body wouldn’t obey.

Even my thin eyelids refused me.

The last voice I heard was Ronari’s.

“It’s okay.”

“…?“

“It’s really okay now. Sleep well, young master.”

And so I did.

---

So many talents.

Names I knew.

I scrolled the Status Window.

And stopped at the most mysterious entry.

“…“

“…Hey, Status Window.“

Lying in my bedroom, I called up the Status Window.

“What is a [regular contracted talent]? If you tell me I don’t have viewing rights again, I’ll really get angry.”

What the hell.

It answered surprisingly earnestly.

“They won’t betray me and will voluntarily help me…”

Was Ronari’s sudden defense of me in front of Alejandro because of this?

I was starting to get a grasp of it.

I could roughly guess what this ‘blooming’ was.

Ronari, who had a current rank of C+, suddenly becoming B+ must be thanks to this ‘bloom’.

But my real question lay elsewhere.

It was half.

About half of the maximum.

If 200 is considered full trust, I had bought half of Ronari’s trust.

What does it mean to trust a person halfway?

I thought about it.

“…Heh.“

It was foolish.

‘You think asking like that will make it come to you, huh.’

You’d have to have experienced total trust before to know that feeling.

How long has it been since someone trusted me?

I remembered having the same thought not long ago.

Before the expedition, when I said I’d prove myself to Alejandro, he gave me trust.

‘But that wasn’t trust toward me. That was trust toward Shane, not Lee Jungwoo.’

I was far from being someone who received pure trust.

‘I myself am not good at trusting others.’

Even in school days,

In college,

Even after getting a job.

I continually doubted others.

Because I was a coward.

I lived trembling with the suspicion that others might think ill of me.

Someone like that couldn’t possibly receive trust.

If they did, it would be out of necessity.

I used to think that way, and that thought was mostly correct.

But the Status Window said otherwise.

Someone who truly trusted me, even halfway, had appeared.

‘Could it be a lie?’

I even doubted this.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.

The idea that I was receiving someone’s trust.

It seemed devoid of realism.

So I asked.

“Do you really trust me?”

“…You sound like some cult leader.“

Ronari, who had just entered through the door, answered.

“Hah…”

Yeah, even I thought it was a ridiculous question.

I’m not some follower; asking if they believe in me is absurd.

Faith and all that…

What’s the point of that?

It was too sentimental.

“Pretend you didn’t hear that. So what happened?”

“How much do you know?”

“I even saw old man Pietro suddenly appear.”

“Wow. You slept from the start. It was totally dramatic. Grandpa would be disappointed to hear it.”

“No, you’ve been told by Administrator Ronari to sleep, haven’t you?”

“Hahaha… I didn’t think you’d actually fall asleep because you were told to.”

I didn’t sleep because I wanted to sleep either!

It’s because of this shitty physical spec!

“Turns out Grandpa knew the lord. Apparently Dad did too.”

“So Administrator Ronari didn’t know either, I see.”

“Uh, yes. I knew that both my dad and grandpa were soldiers in the past… but it’s not common sense that all soldiers know the lord, right?”

That would make sense.

If those people were ordinary people governed by common sense.

“I’ll just gesture at empty air for a moment, so don’t be surprised.”

“Yes?”

I summoned the Status Window and went back to the part I was looking at earlier.

The ranks were side by side: A and A-.

I thought he was just a strong-armed moonshiner…

’…They were really Denabi warriors. Damn.’

I sensed something formidable.

It seems they used to be officers in the Denabi battalion.

What a rotten territory this is.

The randomly chosen new Administrator’s family turned out to be a house of military officers?

Is this some kind of warrior people or what?

‘And this stuff doesn’t even appear in the original work!’

I closed the Status Window.

Ronari tilted her head at my action.

“What are you doing?”

“I just think you’re a little crazy. I said that last time too.”

“Ah.”

I was thankful she accepted it so easily, yet felt conflicted.

“Anyway, what happened next?”

“Grandpa and Dad persuaded the lord. At first the atmosphere was tense though…”

Wait a second.

“It was tense?”

“Apparently there are some stories; they weren’t particularly close. Dad never liked people from the Upper Quarter… maybe it’s because of Mom.”

Like before, it was a story I genuinely didn’t want to touch.

‘The more you dig, the more you sink into a swamp…’

I decided to just pretend I didn’t know about this part.

I’ll find out when the time comes.

“So, how was that tense atmosphere resolved?”

“Hahaha… not at all.”

“What! You said they were persuaded!”

“They attempted persuasion, not that it succeeded…”

“Ugh! Then this isn’t the time to be sitting around like this!”