#699 The Farm Graduates’ Activities – The Humans’ POV (6/7)

“Blerghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Upon being slapped, Saldacase spun around at high speed, spinning in place like a top.

After a while, friction with the ground started to slow his rotation, and his momentum gradually diminished. 

As soon as his spinning ceased, he flopped down on his rear.

“Did you, did you just hit me...? You hit me, your lord...?!”

“You’re overreacting. My palm just brushed against you. If I had hit you with a clenched fist, you would have broken several teeth and fractured your jaw.”

“You impudent little...!!! How dare you hit me, the feudal lordddd! This is a felony! Capture him, capture this foooooool!”

Saldacase is raising hell, but what is he talking about?

In this place, no one would heed his command to capture me. Thanks to his tyranny, all the guards had long since been dismissed, and none remained.

Would he order the butlers and maids still in the mansion, then?

There are hardly any of them left, either.

“Why is nobody coming?! I, the feudal lord, am giving an order!”

“How pitiful of a lord you are, to have no one obeying your commands... Shall I try then?”

“Huh?”

“Capture him.”

At my voice, the men present immediately responded.

They were Zepnio and the other bandits.

At a glance, they look restrained, but the ropes binding them aren’t tied, so they can break free at any time.

It was all a ruse that they were “restrained.”

So now, they have been freed, and Saldacase is surrounded.

“Eeeek?! Aaaaaaaah!!!”

He had returned, thinking it was safe, only to find himself besieged and captured.

He has no chance of winning, outnumbered as he is.

Saldacase has a few lackeys but are weak men who only hang out with the young lord. They can’t compare in strength to the robust former bandits.

“Ritheseus! Ritheseus, you planned this, didn’t you?! You conspired with these criminals to harm me. You traitor!!!”

“No, the real criminal here is you, Saldacase.”

How can he still act so arrogant when he’s surrounded and has no chance of escape?

“You’re a crime in and of yourself. As a feudal lord, you don’t work, let the government stagnate, and deny support to the people. Yet you impose heavy taxes on them and use the money to fund your lavish lifestyle and fill your pockets.”

“You’ve done everything a leader should never do! No one recognizes you as a feudal lord! You’re just an annoying brat!!!”

Zepnio hurls insults at Saldacase upon their first meeting.

He’s a man who fought tyranny even by becoming an outlaw, so his pent-up resentment must be immense.

“S-Silence! I am the feudal lord! Everything in this territory, including the people, belongs to me! What’s wrong with doing as I please with my own possessions?!”

And there was stupid Saldacase, relying solely on his ego to retort.

“You should all be proud to live and die for me! Your only value is in being of use to me! And yet you dare to complain?! What arrogance!!!”

“So, you admit that you failed in your duties as a feudal lord and imposed heavy taxes on the people, causing them great suffering?”

“That’s because it’s my natural job as the... huh?”

Saldacase realized something.

Who asked him that question?

The voice was filled with a dignity different from mine or Zepnio’s.

By the time Saldacase noticed, it was already too late.

“Shame on you, a sinner who fails to fulfill his duties.”

“Gah!”

As the invisibility magic was lifted, revealing the newcomer, Saldacase trembled. And for good reason. The new person was...

The Governor-General of the Demon King’s Occupation Government, Malvastos.

“Stumbling upon a scene like this in response to Ritheseus’ request is quite a spectacle. What a grand fool, admitting his guilt so loudly.”

“You! You’re with the Demon King’s Army, aren’t you?! As the Lord of Sendekyrs, I demand you suppress the rebellion in my domain!”

Saldacase clings desperately to the governor-general.

I doubt he fully comprehends just how influential this man is.

“If it’s your duty to preserve the peace of the Human Kingdom in place of the exterminated royal family, then it’s your responsibility to quell this! My territory is currently occupied by rebels! I demand the execution of these traitors by the Demon King’s Armyyyyy!”

“Fool, you’re the one who should be judged.”

“Hunh?!”

At the stern voice of Governor-General Malvastos, the dimwitted lord shudders.

I mean, the governor-general is always strict... So how can anyone be so brazenly stupid in front of him?

“It’s clear you are at fault in this matter. We have already verified the complaint from Ritheseus. Just now, we heard your own admission of guilt. Your crimes are indisputable.”

“What nonsense! I am the feudal lord! The feudal lord, feudal lord, feudal loooooooooooord!!!”

For some reason, Saldacase keeps repeating that as if being the feudal lord would make everything right as rain.

There’s no logic or arguing with him.

And that’s the troublesome part since it’s hard to refute someone who’s so willfully obtuse.

“If we’re speaking of the duties of the occupation government, it’s to detain and swiftly punish a guilty feudal lord. Saldacase, the corrupt lord, it’s time for you to pay for your iniquity.”

“Stupid, dunce, idiot! Don’t be ridiculous! Your job is to protect me, a feudal lord! If you harm me, the other lords won’t stay silent! Are you fine with that?!”

For some reason, Saldacase threatens with great confidence.

“If I, the feudal lord, am unjustly harmed, the other lords in the Human Kingdom will begin to worry that they could be next! And then the trust between humans and demons will collapse, plunging us back into another era of war! Is that what you want, huh?! If not, then help meeeeeeeee!!!”

What a fool; he’s always good with words when it comes to bizarre stuff.

But it’s not going to work this time.

“No, that won’t happen. We, the human feudal lords, trust the demons and the Demon King’s Army.”

“We find them much more reliable than an incompetent ruler like you. Rather, trust would be lost if you were not punished.”

Two voices emanate from thin air.

As everyone is confused, wondering, “What else is going to happen now?” two people appear, undoing their invisibility spells.

One is Lord Dalkish of the Wallachia frontier, and the other is Lord Osennim of Grandburg.

In other words, both are feudal lords with responsibility, just like Saldacase.

Beside them stands Lady Varlina, Lord Dalkish’s wife.

She’s a former member of the Demon King’s Army, so she was probably the one who used the invisibility spell.

“Speaking as representatives of the human feudal lords, we find Saldacase’s misconduct unacceptable. We kindly ask the Demon Occupation Government for a stern judgment.”

“A feudal lord who doesn’t care for his people is not just worthless but harmful. He shouldn’t exist. If a harsh sentence is handed down, we, the feudal lords, will fully support it!”

I had the privilege to serve and learn from both of them when I was studying at the farm.

I had done some groundwork beforehand to have them as allies in this commotion.

In response, they kindly came here despite their busy schedules.

“You bunch of idiotssssssssss! Why, why, why?! Why is no one on my side?! I am a feudal lord! It’s obvious that I’m in the right, not some servant like Ritheseussssss!!!”

Saldacase, abandoned by so many, still refuses to accept his downfall.

He flails his limbs pathetically, pleading.

“Someone! Anyone! Seize that Ritheseus! Punish him! Kill him! It’s an order from me, the feudal lord! If you obey me, I’ll make you vice lord! Someone! Anyooneeeeeee?!”

Of course, no one answers.

Malvastos, the governor-general who has had enough of him, signals, and a demon soldier, standing by somewhere, firmly restrains Saldacase.

They disappeared instantly.

Saldacase must’ve been transported to the occupation office by teleportation magic. It really is handy in situations like this.

“That man will be put on a fair trial by the occupation office and then appropriately punished.”

“Governor-General, thank you for your trouble,” I reply, bowing deeply.

“No need for thanks. On the contrary, we should be apologizing. It’s our job to ensure things like this don’t happen.”

“We are equally guilty. If it were misdeeds of a fellow lord, one would think the whispers of the wind might carry the news to the neighboring territories,” Lord Dalkish, who hosts Orkubo’s Castle in his territory and whom I got to know through that connection, adds. “The fact is, we didn’t notice until Ritheseus reported it to us. If we can’t collaborate with neighboring territories because we’re too busy with our own, we can’t call ourselves competent lords.”

“I also owe a lot to Ritheseus. If I was able to repay a bit of that debt through my work this time, I’m satisfied.” 

Lord Osenim of Grandburg once rebelled due to being deceived by a bad person.

That rebellion was suppressed by Lord Saint and Orkubo, and I was able to help.

“Thanks to Ritheseus’s quick action, I was able to avoid hurting the people of my territory. I haven’t forgotten that debt.”

“It was all because we did it together, sir.”

As we reminisce, Zepnio, the former leader of the bandits, says, “You really have some incredible connections... How can someone so young have such a network...?!”

Well, the place where I trained was amazing, not me.

Now that the worst problem plaguing this territory has been eliminated, one would think the case is closed, but...!

“There’s still one problem remaining,” Governor Malvastos says. 

Huh? What is it?

“It’s about the future of this territory. We certainly captured the corrupt lord. But it also means that this territory has lost its ruler, however bad he was.”

“We can’t keep the territory going without a lord. We must assign a new lord as soon as possible and start reorganizing things.”

The Governor-General and the other feudal lords are right.

Who should succeed Saldacase?

“Ritheseus, would you become the new lord and lead this territory?” suddenly proposes the governor-general.

----------

finally caught up on all the uploads i missed during my last break!