I looked at Raymond, who was kneeling, and thought for a moment.
“Do you respect your father?”
“‘Eh? …… Yes, that’s, you know.”
He was surprised by my question, but there was no doubt that he was proud of his father, and Raymond quickly returned to a straight face and nodded clearly.
“You’ll inherit your father’s title as it is.”
“–! Thank you very much!”
“What I want you to do is to continue to expand your territory.”
“Eh?”
Raymond’s face became puzzled again as he gave me another ‘Eh?’.
He has the bewildered look of a man who has been tossed around.
“I mean that you should act as a bandit and continue to expand your territory.”
“If I may be so presumptuous, …… why do you suggest such a thing?”
“Are you aware that your kind of approach is unusual?”
“…… Yes.”
Raymond glanced at the corpse of his companion that he had cut down, and noticing the gaze, he gave a small nod.
“It’s easy to incorporate you guys into the government army or something, but then your territory becomes a void. The newcomers might do the exact opposite.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why I’d rather have you. Then you can expand your territory by pushing out those who do things differently. ……?”
“I see.”
Raymond nodded, huffing.
It seems that he understands what I’m trying to do.
“We are doing this as a government army, but we are still a bandit organization.”
“Smart, that’s what it is.”
“By your will.”
“And I will give one honorary knighthood a year. You can decide which of your men will receive it.”
“””Ooh!?”””
The minions kneeling behind Raymond were buzzing.
They all looked very happy.
“I’ll supply you with provisions. I won’t say don’t do anything at all, but don’t loot too much.”
“Yes”
“I’ll give you this, too, in case you want to make a direct appeal to me.”
I gave him a Fuwawa box that I had prepared in advance.
As the emperor, I tweaked the exterior of the box a bit.
I used the emperor’s coat of arms and made it a little more luxurious.
“Once it is locked, no one but me can open it. Be careful with it.”
“For giving me such a thing ……, thank you very much!”
Raymond was so overcome with emotion that he rubbed his head against the ground some more.
By all accounts, it was a figure of heartfelt admiration for me.
☆
“It’s amazing. Your Majesty.”
Shirley, who was now alone with me again on the wagon, said in an impressed voice.
Raymond’s case has been settled, but since we’ve come all this way, we decided to look around a bit more surreptitiously, so we parted ways with Raymond and Sheryl, and drove the cart down the street.
Shirley, who had watched the whole thing earlier, was extremely impressed.
“Is that so?”
“Yes! Restoring the honor is one thing, but to have it passed down is as good as it gets.”
“It’s a long-cherished wish of most noblemen, the idea of hereditary succession.”
Aristocrats are not afraid of death (although they can become impatient).
What they fear is losing their honor and status.
The nobleman who has built up his position with his own hands, even if only a little, will wish to inherit that position.
The son of a Prince is usually not a Prince.
The Emperor is the only one who can inherit the throne.
To inherit the throne means to be something equivalent to the Emperor.
I know this very well, having been a Prince.
“I see. That’s why you did it, isn’t it? You are indeed the best, Your Majesty.
” Really, huh”
“He was a clever man, and the way he was acting, he wouldn’t hesitate to give up his life if his majesty ordered it. Your status has risen again, hasn’t it?”[TN: She meant by his stats]
As my first knight, Shirley was also one of those who knew the details of my “+”.
“Yeah, it went up.”
“I knew it! It’s amazing how your power rises with the …… people you follow, and more and more I believe that you were born to be the Emperor.”
It may be so, it may not.
But there is no doubt that I have the aptitude for it.
☆
We drove the carriage for half a day.
When the land was dyed by the sunset, we reached a large village.
“There’s a lot of activities going on here.”
“Yeah, some sort of festival?”
From a distance, it looked like a village, not a city.
In a city, it would be bustling with activity on a daily basis, but in a village, for better or worse, the daily routine is usually peaceful.
However, the villagers were moving around quite noisily.
If it were a village, one would first imagine a harvest festival or something.
“Maybe we’ve come at a good time.”
“It may be.”
I nodded and entered the village.
At the entrance, Shirley stopped a villager and asked,
“Excuse me, do you have an inn here? And if not, is there anywhere else we can stay for the night?”
The person who stopped him was a middle-aged woman.
She took one look at us on the carriage.
“Are you a merchant? I don’t have that much to say. But, there’s an inn about half a day’s ride north of here, you can stay there. If you leave now, you’ll be just in time.”
“Haah, …….”
Shirley was puzzled by what she saw.
It is quite unusual for a village like this to say they have nowhere to stay.
“There is something–“
I opened my mouth, but the woman didn’t even listen to me and walked quickly towards the back of the village.
She seemed to be in a hurry, as if in a dire situation.
“What should we do, Master?”
Not knowing if there would be anyone else around, Shirley changed the way she called me again so that I would not be recognized.
At the same time, she seemed to have noticed something as well.
“What do you want?” That woman had that kind of expression on her face when we asked.
“Let’s see what happens.”
“Yes.”
Shirley nodded and composed herself.
As the carriage continued on, we could vaguely see it in the distance.
A simple platform had been built in the open space of the village and was set up like an altar.
On top of the altar, a young girl lay bound hand and foot, gagged and bedraggled.
The residents of the village are gathered around her.
One of the residents, an old man with a cane and a trembling gait, stepped forward.
“All of you. Today, at this time. I dedicate Raina to our god Kala.”
The villagers were silent, listening to the old man’s speech.
“I’ve known Raina since she was a child. She is like a daughter to me. However, she was violated by a stranger. We cannot leave such an unclean body in the village. Therefore, I offer her to the God Kala to purify her soul.”
The old man said, then turned and faced the altar.
” O God Kala… Please cleanse us of our filth!
“””O God Kala!”””
After the old man’s words, the villagers shouted in unison.