“It would be best to begin the full-scale subjugation of the demon race… in ten days.”
Convinced that his opponent believed everything he said, Jake pushed forward with his plan in a more confident tone than before.
“What should I do until then, Hero-nim?”
“I’ll ask you to prepare a festival.”
“A… festival?”
“We need to promote that the Hero has begun his activities, don’t we? Have you forgotten that all of this isn’t for exterminating the demon race, but to widely publicize the greatness of our House of Duke West?”
“Ah, aah. Yes, I’ll prepare it.”
“Yes.”
“……”
“……”
“……Yes.”
Baron Nolson waited for Jake to offer to contribute to the festival expenses, but no answer came.
No matter how hastily prepared a festival might be, he couldn’t carelessly handle something the Duke had directly ordered, so the festival period had to be set for at least a week. To prepare a week-long festival in this small city would break an enormous budget. He’d have to completely drain the emergency funds he’d been secretly hiding away without anyone knowing.
Baron Nolson was visibly disappointed, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t bill Duke West for it. He had no choice but to bear the burden reluctantly, thinking of it as an investment cost.
‘The Duke hasn’t noticed that I’ve been secretly siphoning off territory management funds, has he?’
Baron Nolson grew more tense as unnecessary thoughts crossed his mind.
Money was power. The Duke didn’t tolerate his subordinates building power without permission. Even if it was merely greed for wealth, Duke West would never believe that and would punish harshly. Because if he allowed them to freely build power, that arrow might one day fly toward him.
Perhaps the Duke hadn’t sent the Hero for demon subjugation at all, but had used it as a false pretext to hold a festival and completely drain the funds he’d been hiding?
Or was it a warning that he knew about the embezzled money?
‘Nah, surely not. That can’t be it.’
If it were Duke West, he would have chosen to cleanly kill the Baron rather than use such a complicated method. There was no way he’d deploy the Hero just to drain a mere Baron’s wealth.
Everything the Hero says is true.
The Duke doesn’t know about my crime.
Baron Nolson repeated this to himself, forcibly adding trust to Jake’s words.
If he learned that all of this wasn’t for the House of Duke West but for the fugitive Jake West, he’d pound the ground and wail, but that wasn’t Jake’s problem to worry about.
“Then since I’ve finished what I had to say, I’ll take my leave.”
“W-wait. Hero-nim.”
Baron Nolson urgently grabbed Jake as he was getting up from his seat. His expression was even more serious than moments ago when he’d been on the verge of tears thinking about breaking into his emergency funds for festival expenses.
“What is it?”
“The fact that I didn’t know about the situation… to the Duke……”
“Are you asking me not to report today’s events to Father?”
“Yes, yes!”
Baron Nolson’s face brightened as Jake mentioned first what was difficult to say out loud himself.
Not knowing anything until things had escalated this far was a problem that couldn’t be excused by any means. Even if the reason was that the Duke hadn’t provided any explanation, nothing would change.
“Are you making such a request knowing that if Father learns of this, I’ll be in trouble too?”
“I know. I know, but… Right now, the only one I can trust and rely on is Hero-nim……”
“I understand for now.”
“Hero-nim…! Thank you, thank you!”
At Jake’s answer, as if he were doing a favor, the Baron bowed his head so deeply he seemed about to prostrate himself on the floor. Thanks to that, Jake could hide his twitching lips as he suppressed the urge to laugh.
To think he’d mention first the very issue Jake had been worrying about how to bring up without being caught trying to deceive the Baron. How could he be so lucky? At this point, he was suspicious enough to wonder if the Baron had actually been on their side from the start.
“Ahem.”
Jake cleared his voice to avoid looking suspicious and continued speaking.
“However, you must also cooperate so that it doesn’t become apparent that I helped you, Baron-nim.”
“What should I do, yes? Just tell me.”
“Since our words might get crossed, it would be best if you don’t send reports to Father for the time being.”
“Th-that’s……”
Not sending reports to the Duke, who valued information, was an act close to betrayal. Where had his earlier eagerness to do whatever he was told gone? The Baron looked around nervously with a frightened expression.
Klad found Baron Nolson’s reaction interesting.
‘Fear overcoming fear.’
Klad had been filling the room with faint killing intent from earlier, pressuring the Baron. Because of this, Baron Nolson, feeling extreme pressure and fear, couldn’t make proper judgments and had been dragged along by even Jake’s clumsy bluffs.
Such a Baron had temporarily regained his senses because of his fear of the Duke.
It was quite interesting, and extremely unpleasant. As if he’d been pushed aside by a mere West.
Klad raised the killing intent he’d been releasing in small amounts so as not to affect Jake a bit more.
“Huk!”
The Baron trembled as if having a seizure from the pressure constricting his body.
Since Hero Jake West didn’t have the ability to subdue someone with just his gaze, the source of this killing intent was clearly the black-haired knight he’d brought along. Baron Nolson, who mistook Klad for Duke West’s knight, judged that he was sending a signal to agree with Jake’s words. The opinion of someone sent by the Duke was the Duke’s opinion. He had no choice but to follow that will.
If he thought about it even a little, things didn’t add up, but Baron Nolson had long since lost his judgment.
“I-I’ll do that. I won’t contact the Duke!”
“If you contact him after the festival ends and we’ve achieved results, Father will greet you with a much more lenient attitude.”
“Yes, yes. Thank you.”
Jake desperately suppressed the urge to raise both clenched fists to the sky and shout ‘hooray!’ It was several times more successful than he’d expected.
Though it was a plan he’d made himself, he hadn’t even hoped it would produce results this good. This was enough to dare call it perfect.
“I’ll be going now.”
“W-wait a moment. Please allow me the honor of hosting Hero-nim in my humble castle……”
“That’s all right.”
Thinking the lie might be exposed if the conversation continued, Jake immediately left.
Baron Nolson didn’t suggest staying at the lord’s castle twice either. Being together would only make them both feel like they were being monitored anyway.
“Then I’ll contact you as soon as preparations are ready!”
Jake hurried his steps, leaving Baron Nolson’s greeting behind. Then, as soon as he was far from the lord’s castle, he clutched his chest.
“Whew, I thought my heart was going to burst.”
“The lord is still watching this way. Don’t do anything unnecessary.”
“My legs have no strength, Klad.”
“Do you want me to carry you on my back?”
“I can’t do that. With so many eyes still following us, as the Hero I can’t show weakness.”
Jake walked ahead with trembling legs, desperately suppressing the urge to collapse.
Bluffing as if he had great power and information when he had nothing wasn’t easy. For Jake, who had never needed to put on such a false act in his entire life, it was an even more difficult task.
Still, thanks to putting on the performance of his life, he’d obtained everything he wanted from Baron Nolson.
He felt proud of himself.
“I’m truly fortunate that the lord believed everything I said. Your help was great, Klad.”
“You should thank the Duke for putting someone of that caliber in such an important role because he picked someone easy to manipulate.”
“Father probably didn’t even consider the affairs of this place important. This entire territory was probably a discarded hand.”
Otherwise, there was no way the meticulous Duke would have made such a choice with such poor judgment and short-sightedness.
Unaware that Klad had been spreading his mana throughout the conversation to give the Baron tremendous pressure and burden, Jake attributed this incident to a simple mistake by the Duke and was satisfied.
“What if the Baron changes his mind and reports to the Duke?”
“It doesn’t matter even then. Even if Father immediately grasps the situation, he absolutely can’t tell that man to capture the Hero because my words are lies.”
“That’s right. If it became known that the confined Hero had escaped and was deceiving his subordinates by selling his name, he’d be too ashamed to show his face outside the ducal castle.”
“Instead, he’ll send someone to eliminate me as quickly as possible, so we need to spread rumors and escape this place before then.”
As soon as Jake returned to the inn, he collapsed face-first onto the bed without even removing his cloak. Even if he’d get nagged about how a noble could be so unhygienic, he wanted to grant rest to his muscles that had stiffened from tension.
Had things ever gone this well in his entire life?
Had there ever been a night when he looked forward to tomorrow this much?
At this rate, it felt like he could turn everything he’d aimed for into reality. Even things he’d thought impossible.
That day, Jake fell asleep in comfort for the first time since being appointed Hero.
