I rode my horse toward the end of the migrant procession, from where screams were heard.
When I arrived at the end, there were about six knights and more than ten people.
The problem was the appearance of those ten-plus people.
Their hands were bound, and gags were fitted in their mouths.
"You are not knights of our territory. From where have you come, knights!?"
At my words, those knights turned their horses' heads toward me.
Then, vividly visible on the breastplates of their armor, was a lion emblem.
There was only one house that bore the lion emblem.
A house of the Imperial Prince faction located to the east of our house, a house with a Lu Bu-like patriarch who had two fathers.
It was the 'Ryan House.'
They spoke to me with brazen confidence.
"We are knights of the Ryan House. We have come to capture escaped slaves."
"You came to capture escaped slaves?"
"Mmph! Mmph!! Mmph! Mmph!!"
At their words, the gagged people began making noises, as if they wanted to say something.
Seeing that, Noah asked the Ryan House knights,
"Are these people truly escaped slaves?"
"They are."
At their words, Noah glared at them with suspicion.
After glaring at them briefly, Noah spoke without hesitation.
"My lord, they are lying."
Everyone present—not just I—was surprised by Noah's assertion, uttered without a moment's hesitation.
Because even though Noah was my retainer and the successor of the White House, if those people were not slaves, it would become an act of insulting the Ryan House knights.
"This girl's got some nerve!! Who do you think you are, interrupting a conversation between lords!!!"
But there were even more insane bastards.
Did those crazy bastards just insult Noah, my retainer, right in front of me?
Suddenly reminded of a partner company manager who threw his weight around in my previous life, I felt my blood pressure shoot up.
"It's you bastards who've grown bold, isn't it? Did you just insult my subordinate in front of me!?"
When I shouted, they too finally seemed to realize they had made a mistake.
I shouted to Ricain, who was at my side trying to guard me.
"Ricain! Remove their gags!!"
"Yes! My lord!!"
The knights, together with Ricain, removed the people's gags.
Though their gags were removed, they still trembled in fear, and I asked them,
"Are you free people? Or are you slaves?"
"We are.... well.... that is....."
They wanted to tell me something, but they kept glancing toward the Ryan House knights.
That sight looked just like me in my previous life, called to school after being bullied by delinquents.
Recalling a truly annoying memory even now, I stood before the Ryan House knights and spoke.
"I swear by Rupia, the Goddess of Protection. Your safety and persons are guaranteed by me, Kalix, Lord of Cron. You may speak honestly. Are you free people? Or are you slaves?"
Rupia, the goddess who holds her shield before the weakest and protects them.
When I shouted that I swore by her so that all could hear, only then did I see courage—however slight—begin to settle in their eyes.
And they shouted.
"We are!! We are free people!! We wish to migrate to the Cron House! Please accept us!! Lord Kalix!!"
"Please!! Please!!! Accept us!!"
"I accept you. From this very moment, you are all subjects of the Cron House."
At my declaration, they cheered as though liberated from hell.
Leaving the joyous new subjects behind, I glared at the Ryan House knights, whose expressions had turned rotten.
"Did you just attempt to abduct free people possessing the freedom to migrate, as if they were slaves?"
"They may not be slaves, but they are the property of our Ryan House's great lord, Count Hadem."
Free people were not slaves, but naturally, there were wicked lords who ignored such truths.
Hadem Ryan, the current lord of the Ryan House, was also one such wicked lord, and those caught in the act now seemed to have no intention of hiding it any longer.
At the shameless bastards' words, I was dumbfounded and asked Hart.
"Hart!!"
"Yes, my lord."
"Does Imperial Law state that those who are not slaves may be worked as slaves?"
"I have studied it for decades, but no such law has ever existed."
Hart spoke, glaring at the Ryan House knight bastards with the eyes of one looking at disgusting cockroaches.
It seemed old man Hart was also quite furious at the attempt to arbitrarily abduct free people who wished to come to our territory.
"Steward Hart is an expert on Imperial Law. Do you know Imperial Law better than Steward Hart?"
No matter how feudal this world was, and even though the Empire's law had weakened due to the Emperor's illness, the law was still the law.
At my words, a Ryan House knight finally could not endure and shouted.
"Will you truly act this way, Lord Kalix!?"
"You bastards!!!"
At their insolence, Ricain and the knights tried to draw their swords immediately, but I stopped them with a gesture.
And I continued calmly.
"Since I have accepted them into my territory, they are already my subjects. If you wish to reclaim them, make them want to return of their own accord."
The Ryan House knights, having understood my words, wore utterly rotten expressions.
In short, I had just told them to go back and properly look after their own territory, you bastards.
The knights, having understood this, spoke without hiding their rotten expressions.
"The Prince and our lord will remember today's affair."
Honestly, I didn't think the Prince, who kept his eyes on the bigger picture, would concern himself with such things.
However, the lord of the Ryan House was somewhat concerning.
After all, he was one of the lords with top-class martial might even within the Prince faction—a Lu Bu among them.
But looking into the eyes of those ordinary people who had fled here with hope, I simply could not stand idle.
While I was thinking this, they tried to turn their horses' heads with humiliated expressions.
Where did those bastards think they were going?
My reckoning wasn't over yet.
"Where do you think you're going?"
When I shouted, they turned to look at me.
I pointed at Noah and spoke.
"Before you leave, apologize to my subordinate."
"An apology? To that wench?"
"She is not a wench. She is my 'Financial Officer' and my 'retainer.'"
At my words, Noah jumped in surprise, as if hearing something completely unexpected.
And the Ryan House knights made expressions of genuine disbelief.
"We will apologize for the rudeness shown to you, my lord. But we cannot apologize to some wench who interrupted a conversation without permission."
I was the same in my previous life, and I am the same now.
I could endure being cursed at myself, but I could never endure my people—my family—being cursed at, even if I died.
Yet those bastards had casually touched that reverse scale of mine.
"Do you still think I am trying to end this situation with a mere conversation? ...Ricain!!!!!"
-Shing! -Shing! -Chang!
At my shout, Ricain and the knights all drew their swords and surrounded them in an instant.
Truly, humans are fascinating creatures.
Even when standing at the precipice of death, they do not think they will die until the blade is at their neck.
They were no different.
Only now did those bastards seem to understand that I might truly kill them, and terror began to bloom on their faces.
I spoke quietly to them.
"I'll say this one last time...."
A knight-captain, over ten knights, and somehow dozens of subjects had gathered.
Their gazes were literally murderous, to the point where one could feel their will to turn them into minced meat with a single word from me.
"Leave your honor behind, or leave with your heads."
Whether it was my words that frightened them,
Whether it was the knights' swords,
Or perhaps the gazes of the surrounding subjects,
One thing was certain: their eyes were filled with terror, and they chose their lives over honor.
"I... apologize. Nameless Financial Officer... I acted rudely. Please forgive me."
"I accept your apology. Nameless knight, please do not lie henceforth."
Noah accepted the knight's apology with a cold smile, and the Ryan House knights fled in haste amidst the free people's mockery.
And from the next day, a song titled 'The Lord of Cron Who Protected the Free People and His Retainer' began to spread among the bards.
It's not even YouTube; how is the update speed so fast?
I was beginning to find bards a bit frightening.
* * *
Those who see the Ryan House's territory for the first time are surprised by three things.
First, they are surprised by the 'knights' and 'soldiers' visible wherever they look.
Second, they are surprised by the people 'working like slaves' visible wherever they look.
Finally, they are surprised by the 'laughter' that is nowhere to be seen.
The bards who saw the Ryan territory—a fief more suited to being a military base than a lord's estate—described the place thus:
"Innocent subjects have been captured as prisoners by a war-crazed lord."
A territory that existed solely for the coming war.
That was the territory of the Ryan House.
"My lord! We have a report!!"
The knights who had arrived at the Ryan House's castle reported everything that had happened to them, without omission, to their lord, 'Hadem Ryan.'
And he listened to the story while calmly sharpening his axe.
He looked like a being more suited to being a knight—nay, a warrior—than a lord.
With muscles that looked ready to burst, a face covered in scars, and a smooth, hairless head gleaming, he sharpened his axe—larger than his own head—until it shone, all while listening to the knights' report.
"So... the Cron whelp acted that way?"
"Yes! Lord Hadem!! It was truly humiliating!!!"
Hadem listened to the news calmly, examining the condition of his axe.
And after confirming that it had been satisfactorily sharpened, he turned his head toward his knights who had fled back.
"And you lot suffered that humiliation and simply fled back?"
"Yes!? Well... that is..."
Hadem, looking at the fleeing knights indifferently, swung his axe—which was the size of an adult man—as if it were nothing.
Swish-!
He looked just like a middle-aged man testing out a new fishing rod.
Because the action was so natural, the knights couldn't even react.
A moment later, the body and head of the knight-captain at the very front were simply severed.
Thud-!
"Hiiiek!!"
Hadem stood up, calmly wiping the blood from his axe.
And he approached the knights frozen in terror beside the fallen captain, speaking in a low voice.
"Beneath the 'Valiant Lion,' there is no need for 'frightened sheep.'"
With those words, Hadem went into his room.
And a man who appeared to be Hadem's aide-de-camp ordered the remaining knights to dispose of the corpse and followed Hadem into the room.
"What shall we do about the Cron whelp? My lord."
"What is there to do? I am not so narrow-minded as to get angry at a child's antics."
To Hadem, Kalix of the Cron House was truly just a whelp.
A young whelp who had become the successor after the sudden death of the previous lord.
A weak, weak whelp of a lord who relied on petty tricks, like paying laborers—little more than slaves—twice the wages or lowering tariffs.
The very fact that such a Kalix would act so strongly against him was an infuriating situation for Hadem.
"However, I am concerned."
"You have a concern, my lord?"
Hadem downed in one gulp the strong liquor his aide poured him, as if it were nothing.
And he spoke calmly.
"From what I know, escaped free people often become bandits."
Hadem held out his glass for the aide to pour another.
Lagos, Hadem's aide, filled the glass with liquor according to his lord's will.
"That territory of the whelp, who has accepted too many free people, seems like it will have 'bandits appearing'... Are you not worried about bandits appearing in our neighboring territory?"
"...I see. I am worried as well, my lord."
Hadem gave no order.
But Aide Lagos understood his lord's intentions completely.