Translator: AkazaTL
Pr/Ed: Sol IX
***
Chapter 53 : We Do Not Beg
"Second Young Master, what do you an by that?"
Redin being frad for treason was surprising enough, but Helkane is a sinner of betrayal?
At the successive claims of the Family Head's sons, the vassals only looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
"Hein, what kind of absurd remark is this! I am Father's eldest son and your only older brother. Yet how dare you!"
Helkane was equally surprised by Hein's attitude.
Helkane tried to press Hein by putting forward his authority as the older brother.
However.
"I must have told you, Helkane. Shut your mouth."
I only snorted, and still, no trace of honorifics could be found in my address.
"Why? Are you flustered because I'm not the person you were waiting for?"
I snapped my fingers.
Then Ismael brought a large leather sack and threw it on the floor.
Squelch.
"Th-that is!"
I cut the entrance of the leather sack, and people let out startled sounds upon seeing the person trembling while curled up inside.
The one inside the leather sack was Bosman, and he was trembling while clutching his severed wrist, covered in blood.
"What kind of act is this! Hein, how dare you do this to the benefactor who ca to save our family!"
"Sir Bosman Alphonse, would you tell us the story you told last night once again?"
I spoke while grabbing Bosman's hair and…….
"I-I will speak. Since I will tell everything……."
Bosman confessed the truth of this treason incident with a trembling voice.
"The-the one who made the plan was Rishu, the Grand-Grand Madam. The Grand Madam said to Fa-Father that Reichart's fa becoming excessively high is no-not a good thing for Zo-Zodiac."
"Hah!"
"The Grand Madam said she would ta-take responsibility for creating the evidence directly. Father brought the evidence the Grand Madam made to H-His Majesty. Since His Majesty was al-already regarding Grand Duke Reichart's fa disapprovingly……."
Bosman ekly confessed what he knew.
Of course, the mont he ca out of the leather sack, he did think about trusting Helkane and holding out.
But to trust Helkane and gamble, the smile I showed last night was too chilly.
And the distance between Axion and himself was incredibly close.
"How can such a thing exist!"
As Bosman's confession progressed, sighs continuously burst out from the mouths of the vassals, and Helkane's complexion beca increasingly dark.
"Fa-Father sent m- here…… and said if I do as Young Master Helkane orders…… ev-everything…… will proceed on its own."
"It is a lie. Hein, you bastard threatened Sir Bosman!"
When his na ca out of Bosman's mouth, Helkane, who could not endure it in the end, shouted abruptly and cut off his words.
"Everyone, look at Sir Bosman's condition! Sir Bosman is receiving a threat to his life from Hein. That is why he is saying such nonsense."
"Threat to his life?"
At Helkane's protest, I snorted once again.
"I'm sorry, but this isn't everything."
When I gestured once again, Ismael went out to the hallway and held out a silk wrapping cloth full of red aura and a bundle of docunts.
"Helkane, you won't say you don't know what this is, right?"
I, having received the silk wrapping cloth from Ismael, threw the wrapping cloth just like that.
Roll.
The contents of the wrapping cloth rolled on the floor just like that and headed to Helkane's feet.
And Helkane's eyes, having confird the contents belatedly, turned huge.
"Sir Lexton!"
Curly blond hair and glaring two eyes.
The owner of the head rolling on the floor with only the neck remaining was 'Lexton Vispon', who was overseeing the Reichart Finance Departnt until yesterday.
"Now, would the people here please take a look at this? These are docunts found in the secret safe of Lexton Vispon's office here. Helkane, you also know the contents here well, right?"
I, having gifted Lexton's head to Helkane, put the bundle of docunts on the eting room table and spoke.
"This is a written pledge stating the specific amount of territory and wealth Vispon will distribute to Alphonse when your dirty conspiracy succeeds. Why don't you take a good look at whose nas are here?"
Beverick Alphonse.
Rishu Vispon.
And…….
"Grand Young Master! Why are the Young Master's signature and seal here?"
Helkane Reichart.
"It is a fabrication. I an it is fabricated evidence. My mother's seals were stolen, and forging a signature is not that difficult a task!"
"So is the Young Master saying right now that the seals and signatures of the Young Master, the Grand Madam, and Duke Alphonse are all forged?"
"That is correct. Stealing a seal is not an easy task, but if it is a person who can exercise influence in both this place and the capital……."
Helkane, who was speaking, bit his lip without realizing it.
What he said right now was exactly the sa as what Bolpar and the vassals said to him a little while ago.
"Right. Helkane. As you say, it could be a fabrication. Just like how Father was frad with fabricated evidence. So I am making one proposal to you, bastard."
"Proposal……."
"I will search you and your family right now. If additional evidence does not co out even after doing so, I will offer my head for the cri of talking nonsense. How about it. Will you accept?"
"……."
Despite Hein's bold proposal to stake his head, Helkane could not accept that proposal.
"In the end, what you and I said are all circumstantial evidence. I do not deny that fact. But the clear truth is."
The atmosphere, which had been tilting toward anyway, crossed over to an irreversible point.
"That Father is in a state of being imprisoned wearing a false charge of injustice, and the noble bastards of the capital are trying to strangle us using that as a pretext. And you bastards are standing at the forefront of that and playing all sorts of tricks to make Reichart a slave."
My gaze, glaring as if I would chew Helkane up right away, headed toward the vassals.
"Please speak. Young Master!"
At the silent gaze, the vassals rose from their seats all at once and responded to my call.
"On behalf of Father, I resolve here to fight a decisive battle against the wicked groups staking the glorious na of Reichart."
"We will follow the Young Master."
"If it were not for the Young Master, we almost committed the felony of empowering those who betrayed the Family Head. We will repay this sin by following the Young Master, risking our lives!"
The vassals swore loyalty to without hesitation.
They were also feeling deep disillusionnt toward the nobles of the capital.
Now that Redin was absent, the only one who could gather their wills together was .
"Listen well. Helkane."
Clang!
I pulled out Axion and aid it at Helkane.
"Reichart does not beg. We will prove our innocence with our own hands."
Helkane examined the hall.
The atmosphere of the hall, which had completely crossed over, did not seem like it would be overturned no matter what he said now.
"……Aspadal!"
He, who eventually decided to rely on military force, sent a signal prepared in advance.
He knew that my martial power was formidable, but he had to find a hole to escape even by using military force.
"Commander, all processing is finished as you ordered."
However, the one who revealed himself in the eting hall was not Helkane's knight order, but a giant man whose bald head was impressive.
"We processed all the rats hiding nearby. We failed to capture so alive, but we captured more than half alive and also received confessions."
Pierce proclaid the end of the situation with a booming voice.
Helkane's face turned white.
Now, neither Harm nor the capital's knight order, which were ambushing in secret, could co.
"Haken Knight Order, bind the sinner right now!"
"Understood, Commander!"
At my order, the Haken Knight Order led by Ismael approached Helkane.
Tight.
Helkane, bound in an instant, glared at with a venomous gaze and then bit his lip.
At that mont.
Flash.
A dazzling light leaked out from Helkane's armor and dyed the eting hall.
After the light disappeared, Helkane's figure could no longer be found.
***
"The investigation regarding the Vispon residence is finished."
"As the Young Master said, a large amount of evidence was discovered that the bastards holding key positions within the family colluded with the nobles of the capital and plotted a conspiracy."
"Those whose cris were heavy were executed by beheading on the spot, and those whose cris were relatively light were all imprisoned."
"We recorded the received confessions as docunts and stored them. We will be able to receive all necessary confessions within a few days."
I sat in the seat prepared in the eting hall and nodded while listening to the reports coming up mont by mont.
Arresting the remnants of Vispon and securing evidence of the cris they committed proceeded smoothly.
Since the difference in military power possessed by both sides was so distinct, the Vispon remnants remaining in the territory were captured without being able to put up a proper resistance even once.
In the first place, the reason Vispon could seize power and exercise influence within the territory was due to the capital's support and the financial ability they possessed.
However, in this ergency situation where military power ruled, Vispon, which lost Helkane and the Harm Knight Order which were their only support, had no choice but to crumble vainly like a sandcastle.
"We secured all the property the bastards hid in warehouses and houses, and also seized all the goods and food of the rchant groups they operate. Haha, these bastards were hiding more property than we imagined."
Writing up the list of property seized from Vispon and offering it to , Bolpar burst into a hollow laugh.
Just by confiscating the property remaining in the territory, finances corresponding to several years' budget were secured.
There was no need to even ntion that these finances would be a great help in the civil war with the capital that would happen in the future.
"It is a fortune amidst misfortune. We must prepare without gaps for what will happen in the future, but there must be no burden on the people of the territory in that process."
Looking at the seizure list which was truly at a trendous level, I smiled a faint smile.
"The resistance against the capital is to regain Father's tarnished honor and subjugate the nobles who commit evil deeds habitually. In the preparation process, nothing that brings even a speck of disgrace to Father's honor must occur."
"Of course we must do so. Second Young Master, no, Acting Family Head."
Bolpar frowned while ntioning the title that did not stick to his mouth yet.
"It is just regrettable that we could not catch Helkane."
Raising Helkane's na directly to his mouth was also sothing unfamiliar to Bolpar. Since it was revealed that Helkane was a sinner who betrayed Redin, there was no need to be polite.
"It couldn't be helped. Who would have known that the armor Helkane was wearing was a high-ranking artifact engraved with spatial movent magic?"
I also expressed agreent with Bolpar's regret and nodded.
Simple spatial movent that does not use a formal magic circle, and if it is magic that can be activated on the spot at that, it is super-high-ranking magic corresponding to at least the realm of the 8th Circle or higher.
'To dress him in a high-grade artifact of that level so casually. Rishu must truly cherish Helkane terribly.'
If it were Alexar in the past, he would have been able to detect the artifact's existence with just the wave of mana, but regrettably, I was in a state where I had not recovered that level of realm yet.
"Since it must be a disposable one that can only be used once, we will not miss him next ti."
"Right, right, of course it must be so. Ah, by the way, Acting Family Head."
"Please speak."
"What do you intend to do now?"
I could detect the anxiety hiding deep in his heart from Bolpar's eyes looking at .
'He is trying to act boldly, but there is no way he isn't anxious. Since it is the sa as declaring an all-out war with Zodiac in the end.'
Although I decided the target as the Nobles' Alliance and not the King.
In the end, the fact that Reichart decided to go directly against the current King's will remained unchanged.
'The King and the noble bastards will clamor that our actions now are evidence of treason. A subjugation force will co down sooner or later.'
I needed to instill confidence in them.
"Isn't that already decided?"
"Do you have sothing in mind?"
Confidence stems from action, not words.
"We must go save Father."
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