The Founding Monarch Became the Mastermind

Chapter 107

In this world, it was common for nobles to mess with women.

Their targets weren’t limited to just commoners; even fellow nobles weren’t spared.

Of course, noblewomen from prominent families weren’t to be touched lightly.

If one were to mistakenly lay a hand on the daughter of a family with a higher status and greater influence, it wasn’t just the head that would roll, but other parts of the body might be at risk too.

But, who in their right mind, especially those who get aroused all year round and raise their crotch at the slightest provocation, would be cautious about that?

If they were, then there wouldn’t be any rapists in the world.

That’s why, more often than not, you’d hear stories of noble families being ruined after someone from a high-ranking noble family messed with the wrong lady.

It’s the same everywhere—ruin follows those who play carelessly with their lower halves.

But no matter where you go, there are always those who, regardless of what they do with their lower halves, bear no responsibility and face no consequences.

And these people are usually those who hold tremendous ‘power.’

In this world, the great noble families were such people.

The direct descendants of great noble families could carelessly swing their lower halves at any woman, except for the few from families of similar ‘rank.’

Even if a man assaulted another man, or a woman did the same to another woman, the worst that would happen would be a hit to their reputation for unintentional coming out—there would be no other consequences.

However, Zaitz Garen, who had attempted to violate Stella, had been caught in the act and ended up with multiple fractures and temporary hearing loss.

That was a truly ‘major’ issue in this world.

As a result, after being beaten to the point of unconsciousness while drunk and lying in a coma for a day and a half, Zaitz Garen finally woke up, furious.

“I’ll kill them all! I’ll kill them all!”

The moment Zaitz regained consciousness, he shouted with tears streaming down his face, writhing in pain.

“Ugh! Inform Souden immediately! How dare they… How dare they do this to me, a direct descendant of the Garen family and the acting lord of Souden? I’ll make them regret this until their dying breath. No, I’ll make them regret it even after death!”

Zaitz, wrapped head to toe in linen bandages, ground his teeth in anger.

But something felt off.

The nobles of Souden who surrounded him weren’t responding with the expected agreement or concern.

Instead, they remained silent and expressionless.

“What’s wrong with all of you? No matter how much you usually look down on me, this is too much! I’m the acting lord of Souden! I represent you, and I represent Souden!”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Then why—”

“Because you idiot! You represent us and Souden, that’s why!”

A thunderous shout drowned out Zaitz’s voice.

Zaitz, startled, widened his eyes in shock. Pedro, veins bulging in his eyes, shouted, spitting as he spoke.

“Your actions have made us, and Souden, responsible! You moron!”

“Wha-what, what… what are you doing…”

SLAP!

Ignoring the stammering Zaitz, Pedro yanked back the curtain of the window beside the bed where Zaitz lay.

Then, he grabbed Zaitz by the collar, forcibly lifting his upper body, growling through gritted teeth.

“Idiot, look outside. See what happened because of the mess you caused, representing Souden.”

“Ugh! Kugh!”

Despite Zaitz’s severe injuries, Pedro pulled his face toward the window without a care.

“Ugh! Th-this… Oh…?”

The pain distorted Zaitz’s face, but in the next moment, his expression went blank.

Anyone would react the same.

If you suddenly saw countless black coffins laid out across a vast courtyard, you’d be stunned too.

“They’re all dead. Every single soldier we brought from Souden is dead. All of them died because the knights, who couldn’t handle the situation you caused, were incited to act. They all died because of you.”

“Yes, it was because of the acting lord.”

“It all happened because of Sir Zaitz Garen.”

The other nobles added their voices one by one, each in a heavy tone, as if they’d been waiting for this moment.

“Ugh… ugh… I… this… this is…”

Confronted with a reality that didn’t feel real, Zaitz’s mind momentarily shut down.

All he could hear in his head were the words ‘because of you’ echoing endlessly, spoken by the people around him.

‘Seems like it’s working.’

‘Probably. Phew, what a relief.’

Seeing the situation unfold as they had planned, Pedro and the nobles exchanged silent glances of relief.

That demon was right.

If there are no witnesses, it’s a perfect crime.

In this case, there were a few witnesses (and survivors), but they were all on the same side.

That meant all the blame could be shifted onto the most idiotic culprit who started the whole mess.

The perfect crime, completed.

“Thanks to the mayor of Flandre and the deputy representative of the Si-on Duchy, we’re being sent back to Souden. You’ll have to take responsibility for this disaster, Acting Lord Zaitz Garen.”

Step, step, step.

After coldly delivering their message, Pedro and the nobles of Souden left the room without looking back.

“Heeeuh, heueeuh… uuuuh…”

The only sound left in the bedroom was the beast-like groaning of Zaitz, overwhelmed by panic as he faced an unfamiliar situation for the first time in his life.

* * *

“You go to Souden.”

“Me!? M-Me?”

At Si-on’s words, Blaho was startled.

Stelman, who had gone to Sionia for a brief mission to transport monster by-products, had received a messenger from Si-on and immediately arrived in Flandre with Blaho and a force of about 500 soldiers.

Blaho, who had been brimming with killing intent on his way, was left speechless upon seeing the more than 100 coffins laid in the basement of Flandre’s main fortress.

He never imagined that all of Souden’s ‘sword-wielders’ would be dead.

But this was clearly an act of legitimate self-defense, no matter how you looked at it.

The fact that a foreign nation had sent troops to a city without permission (nobody believed Zaitz’s flimsy excuse about receiving permission) was already a serious issue, but the representative’s appalling actions, followed by an attempt to cover it up by trying to seize the fortress, made matters even worse.

Once word got out, both Souden and the Garen Count’s family were guaranteed to face the greatest disgrace in their history, and they might even be expelled from the Kingdom of Guslander altogether.

In return for quietly covering up the incident, Si-on had decided to make a few demands from Souden and the Garen Count’s family.

No one questioned Si-on’s decision, as he always produced the best outcomes.

However, someone still had to go to Souden and lead the negotiations, and there weren’t many who could do that.

Si-on believed that Blaho was the perfect person for the task.

“Uh, pardon me, but I’m just a knight, and I don’t really have a talent for negotiations.”

Blaho didn’t want to go to Souden.

It wasn’t that he hated the idea; he simply wanted to remain by Si-on’s side.

When training and sparring with Si-on, Blaho grew stronger in real-time!

Even when his body was bruised blue or when his bones cracked, he would fully recover within three or four days now!

For a knight born and bred like Blaho, staying by Si-on’s side was no different from heaven.

He had even wanted to follow Si-on on his monster-hunting expedition to the southern part of the duchy.

But, after being appointed captain of the Peregrine Division, the workload became overwhelming, and Blaho had to give up, holding back tears.

However, now that most of his urgent tasks were taken care of (he managed to offload the work to two knights he used to push around as his aides during his time as the Black Eagle Regiment Commander, half as a favor, half as a threat), he was eagerly anticipating fighting alongside his admired Hero.

But now this thunderbolt struck!

“There’s no one else who can go. No, you’re the only one who can go and handle it properly.”

“May I ask why? No matter how I think about it, I’m really not suited for negotiations.”

“Hah! Look at this guy! I heard all about how you handled Piotr when you first met him, so what are you talking about?”

“Ah.”

There was no way Blaho could now say, “Actually, I was running my brain at full capacity back then. It still hurts,” so he had to keep his mouth shut.

“And I think you’re misunderstanding something. You’re not going to Souden to negotiate.”

“Pardon…?”

“You’re going there to deliver our demands and ensure they’re enforced exactly as we’ve outlined. No need for any negotiations or nonsense.”

“But wouldn’t the heads of Souden’s noble families, including the Garen Count family, resist?”

“Sure, they will. But the people you’ll be taking with you will handle that.”

“Ah…”

Blaho would be taking Pedro Piel and the few surviving members of Souden with him.

According to the staff of the annex, those survivors were so terrified of Si-on that they referred to him as the ‘Demon King’ when speaking amongst themselves.

Even after returning to Souden, they were so consumed with fear that they wouldn’t even think of seeking revenge.

They would deliver vivid accounts of the ‘Flandre Massacre.’

There was no way they’d want to experience that horror again.

“There’s only one potential variable in this mission.”

“They may try to subdue us… is that it?”

“Exactly. They might attempt to hold us hostage and then try to negotiate, probably making all sorts of excuses for the mess caused by Zaitz Garen and those three fools.”

“But considering all the forces they sent to Flandre were wiped out, do you really think they’d try something so reckless, Grandfather?”

Piotr cautiously offered his opinion.

Si-on let out a small laugh.

“Piotr, by now you should’ve learned how ignorant and narrow-minded nobles are—especially those who’ve spent their entire lives within their own little backyards.”

“…I was foolish.”

“The old fools of Souden are almost certainly not going to take what happened here at face value. They’ll think something shady happened, or that we used underhanded tricks, or that they were caught in a conspiracy. And when they think like that, they’ll only have one option left. Which is why—”

Si-on looked at Blaho, whose face had turned into that of a seasoned knight and Swordmaster at his peak.

“You’re the second-strongest person in our duchy, after me, so you’re the one who needs to go.”

“Indeed, your words are wise. I, Jorden Blaho, who is the strongest after Si-on, will make sure the demands are enforced and return!”

As a Swordmaster who had already reached level 51 on his way to the level cap of 99, Blaho replied with utmost solemnity, trying hard to suppress the grin creeping onto his lips.

* * *

“Board the ship.”

At Blaho’s command, Pedro, who had become emaciated within just a few days and looked half-dead, as well as the Souden nobles—who were no better off—climbed one after another onto the boat.

On one of the two boats docked at the small cove behind the main fortress, ten carefully selected members of the Peregrine Division boarded separately.

The boat slowly drifted away from the cove, and about ten minutes later, they boarded the ship that had come from Souden.

Hooooot! Hooooot! Hooooot!

The deep sound of the ship’s horn echoed three times.

The fleet of five ships that had arrived from Souden was now reduced to one as it returned home.

From the tall tower of Flandre’s main fortress, Si-on watched as the Flandre ship (something between a caravel and a carrack, though Si-on didn’t know the exact type) grew smaller and smaller in the distance, and twisted his lips into a smirk.

“I wonder how the Souden lot will react. Either way, they’ll have to hand over their ships and shipbuilding technology.”