♦
For a moment, I wondered if my ears were playing tricks on me. Technically, he’s right since the demons attacked this village to use Mazell’s family as a hostage but how did he know that?
Ignoring me, the old man continued to shout at Mazell’s family like condemning criminals.
“We became powerless when the demons attacked the village because you let Mazell go to the capital!”
…The heck
I, no, not just me but Neurath, Schunzel, and the rest of the knights were also speechless. What is that logic?
“Isn’t Mazell a [Hero]!? If he was here, we could’ve made him fight! The village was destroyed because you let him go to the capital!”
“The village head is right! If Mazell was here, we could have let him fight!! We should not have allowed him to go to the capital!!”
“It’s your fault that the village is destroyed!”
They ignored us and continued to berate Mazell’s family. I could hear what they were saying but it was so idiotic that I became stunned. I lost my chance to interfere.“Careful!!”
“Dad!!”
What- Those idiots started to throw rocks!! When the injured Mazell’s father got his shoulder hit by a fist-sized rock to protect Lily, I panicked.
“You all stop!! Stop them!!”
“Yes, sir!”
The knights returned to their senses and rushed to get between us and the angry villagers. Because of that, they directed their anger toward us.
“You might be knights but you’re outsiders so shut your mouth! This village’s chief is ME! My words are absolute here!”
Ah, right. People like him who truly believed that their wishes were above everything else also existed in my previous life. People like the president of a black company or a corrupt local government leader.
(T/N: Black companies in Japan are companies that exploit their employees with poor working conditions like forcing them to work extreme hours with below minimum wage and no overtime pay.)
Wait, Mazell is a person that came to the capital under the royal family’s wish. If you’re the village chief, you should’ve received the explanation, right?
“Mazell is from this village! It’s only natural that he lives in this village! He should’ve worked for the sake of this village!”
“The chief is right! Mazell belongs to this village! It was you who let him leave!”
As I listened to their selfish demands, I began to get angry. I now understand why Mazell hesitated back then. It’s not that he doesn’t want to meet his family. He just doesn’t want to return to this village.
In my previous life, I heard that sometimes a person that sits in power for far too long ends up becoming stubborn but I never knew it could get this bad.
They probably thought that our silence meant we were scared of them so the village chief continued, “If you guys understand then get out of our way!”
“He’s right! Get out of our way!”
“If you understand then hand those traitors to us!!”
“If I handed them over to you, what are you planning to do?”
Maybe he misunderstood my question as an agreement so the chief answered in an extremely arrogant voice, “Of course, we will punish them. Right, everyone!?”
“Right!!”
Then, a young man raised his ax. That’s not a battle ax so it’s probably an ax for woodcutting. Are you seriously going to fight us with that?
“Even if they’re traitors, they still have their own use so at most I will give them injuries that will scar them for life…”
I won’t and have no intention to let that sadistic old man continue his words.
With a speed faster than any of my previous battles, I thrust my spear and break the handle of the woodcutter ex that the young man is holding in front of his chest. But I still have my self-control so the spear only created a hole in the young man’s clothes.
“*Gasp*”
With a pale face, the young man staggered a few steps back and slumped to the ground. The villagers went silent. Really, I understand that your village was just attacked so you guys are blinded with anger, but don’t you realize that you’re trying to pick a fight with an armed group? Not to mention that arrogant attitude of yours. You do realize that acting like that against knights is punishable under the law, right?
I looked toward the knights to silently give them the message that I’m going to stop holding back but it seems like I don’t need to do that. They all look as frustrated as me, so yeah, I will stop holding myself back.
“Wha…What are you..”
“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!”
I cut off the old man’s words with a shout. Since the outbreak, I’ve been constantly shouting to give my orders to the army so I’m confident that I can make mere villagers cower with just my shout.
“You’ve all crossed the line! My name is Welner von Zeavert! By the grace of His Majesty, I have been allowed to proclaim myself as a viscount!”
“A… noble!?”
I can see blood draining from the faces of these idiotic villagers. I guess since I look young and dirty they never expected that I’m a noble. They probably thought that I’m just a normal knight. Well, that’s not my fault.
Even if I was just a normal knight, their attitude has still crossed the line. Nobles have the right to punish the commoners, that’s the law. Well, it is an obsolete law which is very rarely imposed now. Since they shouted ‘get out of our way’ to me, a noble, I have the right to punish them right in this place.
But as much as I wanted to, I won’t punish them here. In the first place, I violated military law by coming here so I will get into trouble if I, who’s not supposed to be here, punished others. Still, I’m going to make sure these villagers understand thoroughly that their attitude has crossed the line.
I turned my body toward Mazell’s family. Oh, come on, don’t act scared like that. I might be a noble but I won’t eat you, you know?
Well, let’s ignore their reaction and do what I want. I went on one knee, a posture of the highest respect that should be shown to the royal family.
“…!”
I can feel everyone’s surprised gaze but I don’t care. I mean, it’s a show. As a noble, I can put on a convincing show. Then, with a loud enough voice so that villagers can hear me clearly, I said, “Honorable members of the Hearthing family, it is the first time we have met each other. I am Welner von Zeavert who by the grace of His Majesty has been allowed to proclaim myself as a viscount.”
This was no different than what I said to the villagers earlier, but the next words are the important one. I strengthened my voice.
“As the noble of Bain Kingdom, do allow me to express my deepest gratitude for the great contribution of your son, Mazell Hearthing, in recapturing our kingdom’s stronghold, the Veritza Fortress.”
I can hear the surprised voices of the villagers even from here. I’m not finished.
“His contribution in defeating the general of the Demon Army who has, unfortunately, slain His Excellency Marquis Knap has also received the highest praise from His Majesty himself. Although due to His Majesty’s consideration of the fact that he’s still a student, his reward of a peerage has been temporarily suspended.”
“His…His Majesty has..”
“The..The King praised…”
“A…A peerage…?”
Oh… I can hear the villagers’ stifled voices. I won’t stop though.
“His Highness the Crown Prince has also put great expectation upon Mazell-dono and has personally instructed me to help him.”
I’m not lying. It’s true that the Crown Prince has great expectations of Mazell and he had asked me to help him by cooperating with him although it was cooperating by helping him get away from nobles. Well, it’s not my fault if anyone misunderstands the word help.
I glanced at the old man who looked pale. Of course, he would. To berate the family of a hero who received praises from the King and expectations of the Crown Prince is the same as slapping the royal family’s face.
I thought that at the very least the news about Mazell’s achievement in the Veritza Fortress should’ve reached here but I guess that this kind of people would only hear what they wanted to hear. Though now, I’ve stuffed their eardrums forcefully with facts.
“From the looks of it, this incident has unfortunately caused your house to be burned down. As His Highness has instructed me to help Mazell, under the name of the Zeavert house, I would like to invite the honorable Hearthing family to stay in the capital temporarily.”
In other words, I will ask the Hearthing family about the treatment they have received in the village and the news of that treatment will reach the ear of the royal family, or to be more precise, I will tell the royal family about it.
I think I heard some of the villagers screaming but why should I care?
It’s true that it’s the job of those in power to protect the citizens as long as those citizens are good. However, these villagers have clearly gone too far. Their words border on treason. I admit that because of my fatigue and lack of sleep, I currently don’t have a good temper.
“The patriarch of the Hearthing family is injured. There must be at least a cart in this village. Go take it under the name of Zeavert house.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s use our spare horses to pull the cart. I will bring the horses here.”
Neurath and Schunzel both moved fast. It seems like both of them have long since treated the villagers as air. Me too though.
“Um… Viscount-sama…”
“Mrs. Hearthing. Please check if there is anything you wish to take along with you among the ruins of the fire. I will let 2 knights accompany you.”
“Y..Yes..”
“Leave the heavy lifting to us!”
The knights also moved. The knights probably have some kind of goodwill toward Mazell that has defeated the general of our enemy, Dreax and after seeing what the villagers did earlier, they must dislike the villagers.
I’m tired but I think it’s best for my mental health to leave this village as soon as possible. We will leave tonight, though I feel bad for Mazell’s family since I’m going to let them camp outside. I just blurted out a bunch of stuff that these villagers can be killed for doing, but I didn’t plan to do so. Well, I’m surely going to leave them hanging though.
I get a feeling that shitty old man is saying something but I’m going to pretend I don’t hear anything.
♦
T/N: Can I just… torture and then kill the entire village?
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