The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (6)

When I see someone like this, I always want to give an impressive reply.

But a thought hits me.

‘If I borrow lines from elsewhere to dress myself up, can I really fool the person in front of me? Can I truly make this person mine?’

I probably can’t.

The one who asked me that question is my talented recruit. A talent I genuinely need on my side.

They say she’s S-rank… shouldn’t I be holding on to her?

I can’t weave a net of lies to catch someone like that.

But telling the truth is always harder than lying.

Still, I have to bring it out… the words inside me, exactly as they are.

I pierce through my hesitation and speak.

“…I would like you to trust me.”

I can’t say, “You can trust me.”

How could I, when my own nose is three spans long? (I have too much on my conscience.)

I don’t know if this ends in ruin or survival.

All I can do is my best.

That’s all.

A low, shy laugh comes back… the same laugh as always.

“Ahahaha…”

“…?”

“I’m sorry, young master. Asking if it’s okay to trust you… that must’ve been too presumptuous.”

Then she says:

“But you’ve already given us trust, young master.”

“I… gave you trust?”

“You forgave the chief administrator. You didn’t press others further either. At first we couldn’t understand why you acted that way. But now I think I know. You gave us trust.”

“That is…”

“So this time I think it’s my turn to return that trust to you.”

She smiles… a pleasant smile.

But I don’t have the leisure to enjoy it.

No, this line at this timing…

It’s touching, but it’s also loaded with meaning, isn’t it?

‘Return trust? How exactly are you going to return it…?’

Was she hiding something?

I suspected as much, but honestly, I was flustered.

‘New recruit, what are you saying right now? Are you also embezzling?’

Restless, I can only listen.

“I grew up in the lower district. I’m lucky to live in the upper district now, but I still don’t think of myself as someone from the upper district. I don’t feel like I serve the lord of Denabi Castle. So… I didn’t tell you until now.”

She looks up with a strange light in her eyes.

“Young master, you knew, didn’t you? That’s why you came to the lower district, right?”

‘Knew what?!’

I don’t know what she thinks I know, but I decide to act like I do. I hurry to set a poker face…

… and her secret crushes it flat.

“I’m sorry for making you toil in vain until now. They’re right in front of you. The moonshiner you were looking for.”

“!?”

No, wait.

Did I recruit an S-rank brewery?

---

Luckily (?), that wasn’t the case.

Ronari leads me to her house.

As she said, her home sits at the edge of the lower district: dim even in daylight, the usual tang of horse urine drifting from somewhere… a quintessential lower-district dwelling.

“It’s a bit embarrassing to invite such an esteemed person into a shabby place. Ahahaha…”

“Ah, no. But is it true that you sell moonshine? I mean, I knew in theory, but I can’t believe it.”

“My family has sold moonshine since my grandfather’s generation. With that, my grandfather paid for his granddaughter’s tuition and an upper-district boarding room. So you could say I’m an accomplice too.”

Ah. So that’s what she meant.

Somehow I’m relieved.

I don’t even know exactly why.

Then she asks:

“Are you… going to take me away?”

‘Huh? What? Take away? Whom?’

By sheer luck, I don’t blurt out the wrong thing. I manage a halfway witty line.

“Yes, I’ll take you. I’ll take you and put you to work properly.”

“What is this? That’s not what you promised.”

“It was a mistake to trust me.”

“You were the one who asked me to trust you earlier. Hehe.”

She giggles at my joke, then bows her head.

“…Thank you.”

Thanks, my foot.

‘You’ve made me this anxious… I’ll bury you in extra shifts and overtime pay until retirement so you can’t even breathe…’

Whether she senses my sinister plan or not, Ronari guides me to a corner of her room… a quiet space with a carpeted floor. She lifts the carpet, slides her hand into a gap in the wooden planks beneath, and pries it up.

“…!”

A scene straight out of a movie.

Stairs descend into a cellar.

“Follow me.”

There’s already light below… no lantern needed. Our footing is clear.

‘It’s much bigger than I thought…!’

Hard to believe this is the basement of a small lower-district house.

Large stills, oak barrels, space enough for four adults with room to spare.

Why four adults, you ask?

Because two more figures step out of the cellar’s shadows.

“…Ronari?”

A bearded old man flicks his gaze between me and her.

“Grandfather, Father,” Ronari says. “Say hello. This is Young Master Shane… the lord’s third son.”

“…!?”

I’m not the only one startled.

The old man’s gaze turns ominous… as if he’s considering braining me with the nearby shovel.

‘Uh, I need to say something first?!’

Hello. Lee Jungwoo… no, I mean Shane. I won’t punish you, so please become the manager of the Denabi-authorized brewery…

A dozen ideas churn together like mala-jjamppong-carbonara.

“Hello. I’ll make you filthy rich.”

It sounds appetizing and suicidal.

‘Heh. I’m dead.’

“…?”

The absurdity of my line freezes their faces. Ronari’s glare says, ‘Young master, what in the world… ?’

I have nothing to say.

Sorry I kicked away the perfect setup you gave me!

But I’m flustered too! Who prepares for this?

‘Anyway, how do I salvage this terrible first impression?’

The old man speaks first.

“…Did Alejandro send you?”

‘Who is Alejandro?’ I almost ask, but reason tackles me.

‘It’s the lord’s name, you idiot!’

Still… why assume my father sent me?

‘If the lord’s son shows up at their secret workshop, what else would they think?!’

Right.

Reason saves me twice. I finally get a grip.

“I wasn’t sent by my father. I came to talk business… Ronari?”

My plea for help is not subtle.

She nods. “I brought the young master. The lord doesn’t know about this at all. Won’t you at least hear him out?”

I could cry with gratitude.

But not yet… because she adds:

“…So, Grandfather, put that shovel down.”

Long live talent.

Long live S-rank.

---

“So you’re telling us to become the young master’s brewers… and you’ll make us rich if we do?” the old man asks after hearing me out.

I don’t get to answer.

“No. We don’t need more money. Father, there’s nothing more to hear.”

Ronari’s father speaks instead… Izack… springing up to snap at me.

“You might have fooled my daughter with lies… she’s an innocent fool, desperate to believe upper-district people. But I’m not.”

“…Izack!”

The old man stops him.

There’s a shovel in Izack’s hand.

‘A minute ago it was placed in “Grandfather”’s hands, now in “Father’s”?’

I didn’t know a shovel could be so terrifying.

Save me. That thing is scary.

‘Ronari… can you please persuade your father?’

I expected resistance. They’re lower-district folk.

I said Denabi’s administration doesn’t reach the lower district well. Some might think that’s great… no taxes.

‘But that’s not how it works…’

When authority doesn’t reach you, neither does aid.

So the lower district falls behind… security, living standards, everything. Resentment grows; strife with the upper district becomes inevitable.

When Ronari revealed her secret, I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opening. I thought I could overcome the lower-district resistance and connect with the moonshiners.

Things aren’t that simple.

Izack’s hostility is stronger than I expected… several times stronger.

‘So what now?’

Let myself get pulped by that shovel?

Not appealing.

I sigh inwardly.

’…There’s no choice.’

The shovel terrifies me, but I have to use this.

In the end, I speak.

“You don’t trust me.”

“Of course not. I can see your intentions. Alejandro’s wet-behind-the-ears son. You lot from the upper district only know money. You promise you won’t punish us if we cooperate? Don’t make me laugh. You never had the right to judge us in the first place.”

“Father!”

Ronari tugs at his sleeve. I’m grateful, but it’s not working.

I curse myself for having no gentler way.

I harden my resolve.

“But if you don’t trust me, what will you do?”

“…What did you say?”

Even Ronari turns, startled.

I continue, voice low.

“Besides trusting me, what can you do?”

“Do I have to show you what I can do to convince you…?”

He grabs my collar and hauls me up. Tremendous strength.

‘And he grabbed the lord’s son by the collar? What nerve…’

Is he really a moonshiner?

I’d sooner believe he’s a veteran warrior.

But that’s all he can do.

“Alright,” I say evenly. “You’ve got my collar. What now? Beat me into custody? Kill me with the shovel?”

“Do you think we can’t…?!”

“You can. And afterward, everyone dies.”

“What?”

Izack’s brow knots.

I roll up my sleeve.

They flinch.

But what else can they do now? In the end, they have to look.

A mana crystal sprouts from my wrist.

“If nothing is done now, this territory will soon be a field of mana crystals. You won’t deny it. Your daughter bears the same sign of destruction.”

My gaze falls to Ronari’s wrist… she has the same creeping mark of the Mana Plague.

“You refuse to admit it? Fine. Suppose absurd luck grants you no new dungeon ever again. After killing me, what then? Do you want to make your daughter the child of a murderer and have you both hanged in the upper-district square?”

Harsh words spill out.

I surprise even myself.

“You…”

“Forgive me for speaking like this. But even if the dead me tries to stop them, my two elder brothers and my father will chase you to the ends of the earth and hang you with a rope.”

Izack’s face flushes; his grip tightens. It hurts.

But I can’t stop.

It’s not that I enjoy cruelty. If gentle words could persuade, I’d choose them.

When they can’t, you must intimidate… especially those who can’t grasp reality.

Even before I was possessed, there were plenty like that. They probably thought me evil then… maybe they were disappointed.

But if there’s no other way…

I have to walk it.

Then and now.

“Make your choice. Trust me… or sink together with that distrust.”