114 – Strike-15

“You were so confident that you failed in the end. There’s no way you’ll succeed because the lowly people gathered the lowly guys.”

Weather Aaron gnashed his teeth, but couldn’t bear to refute.

Despite her lack of pedigree, the only things she could differentiate herself from were ability and success.

And now that it had failed, she had no right to say anything.

“But, shouldn’t we at least spend more time?

The empire is strong.

The empire is reeling from the princess’ fake warrior scandal and the invasion of the demon king’s army, but it is an empire that has endured even greater crises.

If there is anyone who thinks that it will collapse easily, it must be a flower garden in the head or a person who lives in an illusion.

“I bet you don’t know how much effort the Emperor puts into peace and control.”

And its strength comes from its overwhelming size.

Naturally, control over the local lords was the most important value for the emperor and the empire.

“Do you really think you can occupy a territory this way?”

That is why it is necessary. Even if you do something cowardly and do something irrational to claim territory, at least you have to invent a lie that the Weather family allies can believe.

One day it will be discovered that the territory was annexed in such a coercive way, and it will be a very interesting weakness for other rival nobles.

“Once the word ‘unhonorable’ spreads, no one can reverse it, even if you become the head of household.”

The empire is vast, and news spreads slowly. A place like the Weather family, which has not entered the central political world, will not be able to escape its weaknesses even if the new head donates a lot of money to the church and shows a righteous appearance for the rest of his life.

“whatever?”

“…yes?”

“It doesn’t matter what happens to our family, the illegitimate son.”

The eldest son let out a fishy laugh.

“Isn’t it okay if I kill them all? After I become the head of household and kill all the humans in Aldguild. After that, it doesn’t matter what your reputation is.”

“Are you thinking of destroying the family’s honor?”

“As long as Aldguild exists, there is no honor in the family!”

The eldest son adamantly cut her off.

“Even if you go out to the brothel to sell your body right now, even if I get mad and cut down everyone in the city!

Although he did not have much credit, he is the eldest son who managed to build up a reputation in many matches and fights. It was enough to intimidate a woman who had no talent for fighting.

“If you bring any of the family elders, they’ll have the same thoughts as me. If you’re a lowly person who’s hung out with lowly people, it’s only natural that you have fantasies about honor!”

“It’s not realistic! Can we fight the Empire and win? Can we convince the Empire of the circumstances of the Weather family?”

“I ask the other way around. If we act, how quickly can the Empire overwhelm us?”

Aaron kept his mouth shut. Even if the truth was revealed ‘someday’, the imperial family was in a precarious situation to increase enemies immediately.

The same goes for other nobles. There were few noble families that could exert influence on this side right away.

Twenty or thirty years from now this issue will hold the Weather family back, but right now they can do whatever they want to do.

“No matter how much we gather soldiers, it won’t be so overwhelming, right?”

“I hired wizards.”

“Where’s the money for that… Are they, registered wizards?”

“What are you going to do with that?”

Wizards are very valuable and rare people. This was especially true for wizards who could exert influence in war.

Unsurprisingly, it would take a lot of money to move them. However, there was a limit to the amount of money the eldest son could move.

“No way, you…”

Even if it is an unlicensed wizard, a wizard who can use forbidden magic without restrictions.

“I gave you the information in good faith. I believed that even with that humble origin, the Weather family blood was in it.

Even for such an evil warlock, the cost of hiring was not cheap. However, their employment could be paid in a way other than simply gold coins.

“no way.”

They were like hippos devouring expensive magic ingredients. However, when it comes to the successor of the lord, there were magic materials that could be obtained at ridiculously low prices.

“It’s just the bodies of the dead. What’s the value there? If the plan is realized, it will increase innumerable anyway? They say that things that will rot in the ground are useful, but I have to admit that much.”

Aaron conceded. His plan was quite reasonable. Under normal circumstances, it would have worked. However.

“Have you ever heard of how I failed?”

“I don’t know. Well, I heard that the hired mercenaries were wiped out without being able to subdue a single guard properly? The others are also acting distrustfully.”

The eldest son laughed contentedly and blamed her failure.

“Is there anything else I need to know here? I’ll go over it calmly when I’m done. It’ll be fun to reflect on the illegitimate child’s failures, since you’ll no longer have a chance.”

“…okay.”

Aaron let out a sigh of relief.

The eldest son’s plan was brilliant.

It was a plan that would have succeeded, of course, if it weren’t for the ridiculous fact that the princess and the hero were wandering around this area and trying to prevent a war.

“I wish you good luck.”

“You shouldn’t be begging.”

Ignoring the eldest son’s ridicule, Aaron quietly left.

/////

Asking people was surprisingly not difficult. Digging a pit could be done in one go with this body.

Even seeing a dead person, it was more tolerable than I thought. It was sad and painful, but it wasn’t so depressing that I couldn’t bear to touch it.

“Get some rest. No one will blame you.”

“I do it because I need it.”

Meals are the same, and this kind of work is the same.

I had to tie them up somehow. Just as Eleanor went through a declaration ceremony to be recognized as one of the knights, somehow they have to create memories to share.

They must not hold grudges against each other, even if they are ordered or attacked first.

“Because I need…”

However, the local residents were left as corpses. Although few survivors were seen, they were infinitely few for such a large village.

And for their deaths, I was responsible. At least there was a chance to stop it.

“I see.”

I thought he would scratch my insides with his unique tone, but Farseer stuck to my side and dragged the corpse with his small body.

It didn’t look easy. Maybe if I used a lot of mana, the usual Farseer had the strength of a girl of that age.

I thought she’d say something like that, but she kept moving the body next to me. They searched for the corpses that had fallen throughout the village and buried them in a huge pit dug in the center.

It had been a long time since I had seen her use her body without magic. Of course, it wasn’t really an emergency, so he probably didn’t want to use magic.

“Ugh…”

Even so, I never thought that they would bury the body without saying anything.

I thought this would be useless.

“Hey, Parseer.”

“Ew, hu, tell me.”

“What do you think you would have done?”

She might have had a better plan. Maybe they died because I made a foolish decision.

“From the moment I decided to follow you, I didn’t want to make any plans. But, if you think about it, yes. I wouldn’t have cared at all.”

It wasn’t a surprising answer. It was not at all different from the Farsi language I remembered.

“But, that’s strange. Why are you asking the loser’s opinion?”

“What?”

“I ended up failing.”

I had never thought of it like that.

“Are you short on magic ingredients?”

“It’s not such a problem. From now on, you can resume your research as much as you want. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a failure.”

“why?”

“Because I survived by luck. If your heart had changed even slightly, I would have died. I survived only because you persevered at the end and because Celia’s prayers were miraculous.”

At that time, I was angry with no choice. Because it was when the return had just failed.

“Isn’t that because of me?”

“It’s my personality that made you like that. The reason I couldn’t let you go is because of my incompetence. That’s why I gave up everything and followed you around. Atonement is also atonement, but to learn.”

Farseer’s small eyes were twinkling. She was a wizard, and despite her many years she was moving forward.

“What are you trying to learn? I failed too.”

No, apart from failure, I didn’t even know what the goal was.

I want to go back. I want to forget everything and leave.

“Can’t be? It was interesting. At least your actions changed a lot of people and saved a lot of lives.”

“However…”

I silently looked at the face of the dead man lying on the ground.

A person who shouldn’t have died.

“Yes, tea.”

Farseer instead grabbed the man’s arm and began to whimper as he walked toward the pit.

I was staring blankly at it.