CH 113

The result of the votes has come in! With just 2 vote difference, the ‘change temple into church’ option won and with a 24 votes, the ‘keep demon and Minor Demon’ option has won! Thank you for your votes!

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“I am probably the first person who became a viscount and a governor despite still being a student.”

“Don’t put on that kind of bitter expression.”

While looking at my face, Grand Duke Seyfart laughed. Grand Duke, this wasn’t a funny thing!

After the meeting finished, the honorable Grand Duke invited me to lunch. He told me I didn’t have to mind my manner here, so I threw all my manners out of the window and let out my complaint without any restraint.

In the noble society, generally this kind of meeting with your superior was an attempt to appease me, who was dissatisfied with the superior’s decision, but I was sure that the Grand Duke would also test me here.

“As you know, Your Excellency, Anheim is a territory that directly borders the former Triot region.”

“Right. What do you think about the reason of decision for appointment as the new viscount and as the governor of Anheim?”

“At least, I understand there is a front reason and a hidden reason for my appointment.”

I thought there might also be a middle reason directly between the front and hidden reason, but let’s not think about that now.

“From Sir’s point of view, what is the front reason?”

Here came the test. That Grand Duke, while I was feeling dejected here, still had time to ask for another glass of wine. Judging from their bearings, the people around us were most likely not waiters, but knights.

“My appointment as an official Viscount was a reward for my achievements in Finnoi. As for my appointment as the governor of Anheim, it was something that the royal family did to appease the nobles dissatisfaction toward me.”

Though, I thought the promotion was more of a reward for all of my past achievements, not only for my achievement in Finnoi. But in order to also pacify the nobles who were dissatisfied with me, the promotion came hand in hand with my appointment as a governor of Anheim.

After all, Anheim was a territory located on the border, so being appointed as the governor there meant I was being chased out from the capital to the border. So, my appointment was virtually a demotion.

Actually, being appointed as an official Viscount as a Count heir was a really good reward. Even when I would succeed my father and become a Count in the future, I would still receive my salary as an official Viscount until I died. For me, it would be like receiving a pension for life.

In fact, this pension for life was often the reason why some Count families were richer than others. The family head of those rich Count families accumulated achievement in their youth that made them being appointed as a Viscount. Because of that, they would receive the Viscount salary for the rest of their life. Well, there were also cases when the family head, who had the Viscount title, died and the family ended up falling into debt because the heirs were unable to adapt to a sudden halt of the Viscount salary.

Normally, a newly appointed Viscount needed to employ servants and knights, so the budget for that was also included in the viscount salary. However, in my case, since I was already the heir of a Count family, I didn’t need to do that, so the whole employment budget went into my pocket.

The money I would receive each month would be roughly equal to 1 million yen in my previous life. Frankly, it still didn’t feel real. Although I was sure that how I would spend this money would be watched, as for by whom, I wouldn’t mention it here.

(T/N: One million yen is about US$7646.46)

But Anheim was a pretty unprofitable region. Because Triot was already destroyed, I wouldn’t be able to do any trade with Triot. All in all, I was sent to a not-so-good location.

I remember that when my appointment as Anheim governor was announced, some nobles looked at me with sympathy. There were also those who looked at me with a satisfied gaze, though. Ever since the battle in Finnoi and the incident with Gezarius, I already knew that many nobles saw the Zeavert house as a competitor, though I couldn’t care less.

By the way, it was an unspoken rule that the territory lord and its governor could pocket ⅓ of the goods circulation tax in their region. That was a huge amount, more than enough to make a living. That was why competition over being governor of a territory with a lot of good circulation was really fierce. After all, money would come pouring in even if you didn’t really do anything.

There was also a tax for using bridges to transport goods besides the goods circulation tax, so for governors who wanted to accumulate wealth, trading with other countries and other territories was important. It didn’t matter to me, though.

“It’s true that many feel jealousy and competitiveness toward Sir. Quite a few of them have even made complaints to His Majesty and officials in the palace.”

“Is that even my fault, though?”

“In addition, Duke Grunding thinks highly of Sir, so Sir is also viewed as a powerful rival for those who wanted to get Princess Laura’s hand in marriage.”

“That sort of thing is just a nuisance for me… and that’s not even my fault!”

I Immediately added that without even thinking, and the Grand Duke laughed. Grudgingly, I threw the meat on the plate into my mouth. All of my actions just now were a violation of noble manners, but who cared about that?!

After I had finished chewing, the Duke asked me again, “How about the hidden reason?”

“The hidden reason was the Demon Generals, Gezarius.”

The Grand Duke probably knew about Gezarius and the reason why the people here were all knights was so we could talk about Gezarius freely.

Because Gezarius had escaped to the former Triot region, the kingdom needed someone who could handle him there. However, the kingdom hadn’t announced about Gezarius’ existence to the general public, so the kingdom couldn’t send a famous general or a large army there.

That was where I came in. The kingdom needed someone who could hold Gezarius at the bay until the reinforcement from the capital came and they judged I would be capable of doing exactly that.

In addition, I thought the kingdom also wanted me to act as bait. Because Gezarius was more likely to attack the place where I was, the other places could relax a bit.

I knew I was being completely used, but I would accept it because it could at least prevent the capital from being attacked by a Demon General and Heavenly Kings in succession.

In the event I succeeded in defending Anheim until the reinforcement from the capital came, I would be called back to the capital with the excuse of ‘look, he’s talented so it would be a waste to let him rot in Anheim!’ No one would object to my return. After all, if anyone still objected, they would be labeled as being a jealous person.

If the opposite happened and I failed to defend Anheim, the royal family would persuade the nobles with ‘his opponent was a Demon General so it couldn’t be helped’ and would call me back to the capital. The reason the kingdom didn’t announce that my opponent would be a Demon General was so they could use this excuse.

As for what would happen if I died in the battle with Gezarius… I didn’t bother to think about it. I didn’t want to and had no intention of dying. I would focus my attention on how I could defend Anheim.

“Both His Highness and I have no intention of letting Sir die. I just hope Sir can believe me in this.”

“Of course, I will.”

I wasn’t afraid of the kingdom letting me die, not because I was confident of my value or anything but because of my relationship with the hero, Mazell. If I died, Mazell would get angry and this could put the country’s future at risk.

The kingdom also had another hidden agenda for sending me to Anheim, that was to show off. For me to win against Gezarius, I would need the reinforcement from the capital. That was to say, I needed the Capital Knights.

On the other hand, if I lose Anheim to the Demon General army, the Capital Knights would retake it. With this, the citizens of the kingdom would know that the power of the Knights and the royal family was needed in order to protect the kingdom. In both cases, my role was to become a ‘stepping stone’ for the Knights and for the royal family.

Other than the kingdom’s hidden agenda, I had another problem. This time, I was appointed as governor in the capacity of an official Viscount, so I couldn’t bring the knights of the Zeavert house with me. I could take Neurath and Schunzel, but Max, Augen, and other knights of Zeavert house were out of the question.

The kingdom probably did this on purpose so that after I had finished my battle with Gezarius, no one could use the excuse that I did it all with the help of Zeavert knights. Although I understood this intention, the fact remained that I was suffering from a lack of staff.

Of course, the royal family would provide me with some knights and soldiers because I was appointed as a governor of the royal family’s land, but these knights and soldiers would be people who would follow me because I was a governor. Who knew if they would stay with me in a desperate life and death situation?

Adding to that, my future neighbor in Anheim, Knap house, had a poor relationship with the Zeavert house. After all, in layman’s terms, I was a brat who took away the position of their former boss. The citizens might not understand anything, but the local mid-level official would treat me with a neutral attitude at best, and no one would support me. I would need to do a defensive battle in these circumstances. Urgh… my stomach hurt.

“I will help you, although I can’t do it directly. There is also another person who will be helping you.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

I see. The Grand Duke’s words meant His Highness would also be supporting me from the shadows. I wouldn’t be reserved in using all that help then. If the kingdom wanted to use me for its hidden agenda, I would have the kingdom cough out all that I needed.

“I would submit the things that I will need for a siege battle at a later date. Other than that…”

Still, this situation was quite ironic. I couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly inside. If it was a few years ago, being appointed as a governor in a rural area would have made me jump in joy. As a governor of a rural area, the chances that I wouldn’t be in the capital when the Heavenly Kings attacked the capital were high. If the worst thing happened, I could just lock myself in that rural area to survive, even if I became poor.

But right now, leaving the capital, or to be more precise leaving my precious people in the capital made me anxious. If the worst thing happened, I would surely blame myself, constantly thinking that if I were in the capital, there must be something that I could have done.

If Mazell was currently fighting with the first Heavenly King, I should still have time to spare. The real countdown for the attack on the capital would begin when Mazell defeated the third Demon General and the second Heavenly Kings.

I needed to return to the capital by then, so I would do anything to drag Gezarius out. I would fight with anyone who got in my way.