Episode 20.
The trial came to a splendid end with Viscount Gondor’s social suicide.
Viscount Gondor, animal lover.
Since he’d even earned an epithet like that, wasn’t it a good thing for everyone?
++
[Title: “Savior of Springfield” acquired!]
Effect: The favorability of all individuals belonging to House Springfield is fixed at the “Worship” stage.
A single word from you will hold tremendous influence within the house.
Your once-unknown fame will begin to spread little by little.
The residents of the Artem region will feel goodwill toward you whenever they hear your name.
++
The results of the trial came quickly.
All of Viscount Gondor’s territories were confiscated by the royal family, and within a year, an agent dispatched by the king would take charge of the region’s temporary administration.
However, as compensation for playing a decisive role in uncovering this conspiracy, and as recompense for the damage inflicted by the viscount, half of the ownership rights to the Gondor territory were jointly assigned to Prisia and me.
On the territory transfer documents presented by the royal inspector, half of the shares in the Gondor territory were clearly listed under my name.
While drinking coffee at a nearby restaurant, I signed Prisia’s name with swift strokes, without the slightest hesitation.
“Sir Knight…? What are you doing right now?”
Prisia’s eyes, watching from beside me, trembled widely.
I tossed the bothersome documents into her arms.
“I don’t have time to sit around guarding land. You manage all of this.”
“B-but this is half of the Gondor territory! Land that includes far more fertile fields and mines than Artem….”
“I said it’s fine.”
“Sir Knight, are you truly saying you will entrust all of this to me?”
“Yeah. I’m leaving it to you.”
I moved with utmost efficiency.
Even if I received the territory right now, it would only be temporary anyway. The locals probably wouldn’t acknowledge me all that much, and who knew how long it would take to get through the complicated administrative procedures and receive recognition from the surrounding nobles?
On top of that, selling it would be difficult too.
Too much of a pain.
But if Prisia managed it, then whenever I needed money or resources, it would be convenient to draw from it.
Seeing her staring at me intently, I subtly averted my gaze.
‘How could he…’
Prisia thought.
The tax revenue and resources collected from such a vast territory would be beyond imagination.
And was that all?
Since one could also grasp the food supply routes to the front lines and the merchants’ trade routes, building connections would be easy as well.
In particular, because Viscount Gondor had held only the choicest lands, the taxes collected next year would be no less than those of a central noble.
There was no way he did not know this.
‘Sir Knight…’
To hand this over without a single moment of hesitation.
It was a choice an ordinary person could never make.
He was not entrusting it to House Springfield.
He had said he was entrusting it to her, to Prisia herself.
It must be because he trusted me.
Had there ever been anyone who placed such trust in me?
Not even my parents had done this.
Prisia looked up at me with eyes brimming like dewdrops on grass at dawn.
Her hands trembled faintly.
“…….”
What is this?
Did she notice I dumped it on her?
It was land that would turn into a sea of fire anyway once the eastern front collapsed and the Demon King’s army came.
A shiny but useless prize, in other words.
I hurriedly added something.
“You’ll do well.”
“…Is it because you trust me?”
Her voice grew damp.
Trembling with her delicate hands, she clutched the bundle of documents tightly.
“Uh… hm, yeah. Because I trust you.”
“Sir Knight!! I shall never forget this grace, no, this feeling… for the rest of my life! Even if you were to take me right now…!”
Overcome with emotion, Prisia pressed close, rubbing her face against me.
Horrified, I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away.
“Don’t cling to me.”
Phew, she hadn’t noticed.
Unlike my former party members, she expressed pure gratitude.
It made me feel a little awkward.
Honestly, from my perspective, it felt like I had handed over some useless junk item.
“Hehe! There is no need to feel embarrassed… I shall govern the territory perfectly, so as not to fall short of your expectations, Sir Knight!”
“…….”
In her eyes, something beyond trust now began to flicker—something blazing.
Well, as long as she did the work well, it didn’t matter.
“I shall prepare a grand party, so please be sure to visit!”
When I stepped out of the building, the knights who had pointed their swords at me a few days ago lined up on both sides and bowed their heads.
As soon as I took a step forward, they all dropped to their knees in unison, as though they had agreed on it beforehand, and pressed their heads to the ground.
“Lord Tanas! We apologize for our rudeness the other day. With our lowly judgment, we nearly committed a grave discourtesy against our benefactor. I am ashamed of myself!”
“Thank you for saving House Springfield!”
The effect of the title was stronger than I had expected.
The citizens were the same.
“Tanas! Tanas!”
“Whoa! The real savior is here!”
When I entered Artem Square, people gathered while chanting “Tanas.”
Of course, Viscount Gondor’s infamy played a major role in this as well.
“They say Viscount Gondor planned to grind up the residents and feed them to his horses, leaving only one or two alive to use as slaves.”
“What a terrifying and horrifying thought!”
“So we can sleep with both legs stretched out now, right? Right?”
They placed deep trust in me.
“He likes horses that much?”
“What are you saying right now….”
The citizens of Artem would probably continue debating the viscount’s tastes for some time.
He had brought it on himself.
He should have confessed earlier.
In less than a week, I had become a celebrity in the territory.
‘The first start went well.’
Leaving the surging crowd behind, I walked away lightly.
Prisia was still clutching the documents tightly to her chest, staring intently at me with moist eyes.
I had removed the obstacle called Viscount Gondor without much damage, and my relationship with Prisia was not bad either.
Now, all that remained was to polish that raw gemstone into the strongest vanguard before the Demon King’s army came crashing in.
In that case, what I needed most right now was—
Fame points.
“Shall I get started right away?”
Leaving the commotion behind, I headed for the Adventurers’ Guild.
As it happened, Artem’s main adventurers, who had gone out on a monster expedition, had returned, and the guild was lively once more.
“Oh! Tanas!”
As soon as I entered the guild, Millene was the first to welcome me.
And behind her—
The gazes of countless adventurers turned toward me.
Some looked wary, but most were favorable.
That was only natural, since thanks to the deal with the mercenaries, every hostage had been released safely without a single person being harmed.
“Well now, is this the man currently most famous in Artem?”
“Watch your mouth. If not for him, your little sister might have been sold off somewhere.”
“W-was that so? Then I’m sorry about that. I’m not much good at manners.”
“It’s fine.”
“I’m Gran. As you can see, I’m a swordsman.”
He said this while tapping the sword at his waist.
“Hey, hey, don’t even think about cutting in line. I’m Jack. I hear you saved my wife from the mercenaries while I was away. It’s late, but I sincerely thank you.”
“Um, I’m…”
“My name is…”
For a while, I exchanged greetings with the main adventurers.
I would likely be seeing them from time to time in the future.
A little later,
Second floor of the Adventurers’ Guild.
“You said your name was Tanas?”
The guildmaster asked in a low voice as he skimmed through the documents the receptionist had brought.
“That’s right.”
“A common name.”
It had to be.
Most names given to those from orphanages tended to be taken from the Twelve Gods.
Tanas, taken from Thanatos, the god of death.
Seria, taken from Aseria, the goddess, was a representative example.
In times like these, when orphans were overflowing, there were bound to be many similar names.
“What does that matter? For an adventurer, all that’s needed is skill like this.”
“That’s true.”
“I hear you made a deal with Millene to be allowed to take missions regardless of rank… Is that correct?”
“It is. Is there a problem?”
I took a sip of the tea the receptionist had brought and gave a small nod of thanks. The receptionist smiled faintly and left the room.
“No, there’s no problem. I’ll take care of it right away. Rather, I’d like to ask you myself. F-rank missions and the like would be boring for someone like you. You could start with D-rank…, no, I think C-rank would be fine. My eye for people is fairly decent, so don’t worry.”
Naturally, the guildmaster showed me considerable goodwill.
“Tanas, thanks to you, our Artem guild saved face. If not for you, we might have been thrown out onto the streets the moment we returned from the expedition. We’ve prepared a special reward for you, so be sure to take it! If there’s anything you’d like to exchange for equipment, say the word. We can handle it anytime through the kingdom’s central headquarters.”
“Ah, yes. Well, it was something I did while I was at it. Please don’t worry too much about it. Many others helped as well.”
“Hahaha! And this fellow is modest too… I heard everything from Millene, so there’s no need to be humble.”
Then he smiled as though telling me not to worry.
“I’ll personally vouch for you. From now on, do as you please.”
He handed me his seal.
‘Oh, he’s even giving me this?’
That was a lot of trust.
A guaranteed pass that would work not just in Artem, but in the kingdom—
No, even in the empire.
Should I call it a gym badge you often see in PoXmon?
The guildmaster’s guarantee.
And guarantees weren’t given to just anyone.
Returning to the first floor, I spoke to the receptionist.
“An A-rank mission.”
“Pardon? No, that requires permission…”
I tossed the guildmaster’s seal onto the counter and said,
“An A-rank mission.”
“A-are you sure you’ll be all right…”
“A-rank.”
I should make use of it right away.
*************
One month later.
“Haa….”
Seria irritably set down her teacup.
Ever since the energy that had connected her and Tanas had disappeared, an unfillable, empty void had continued inside her.
‘Tanas, where on earth are you?’
As though denying reality, she picked up the kingdom newspaper lying on the table.
As usual, the front page was occupied by the movements of the Demon King’s army and news from the royal family, while the second page onward contained pieces about the quality of mana stones and the hero party’s achievements.
What caught Seria’s eye was a corner on the very back page, where trivial gossip and minor crime reports were printed.
[Society] “Animal Lover” Viscount Gondor: Taste or Crime?
“What is this…?”
The article’s contents were strange.
It said that Viscount Gondor, an influential noble in the east, had kidnapped his own residents and used them as subjects for experiments involving forbidden tastes, and that certain animal-related preferences no one wanted to know about had been exposed.
Apparently, among the testimonies, he had thrown around the name of the church or something, and he would soon be subjected to an inquisitorial trial.
“What is Lord Thanatos doing? Why hasn’t he taken a bastard like this….”
Just as Seria was about to crumple the newspaper with cold eyes, the final sentence of the article seized her gaze.
“Huh?”
Seria’s hand stopped.
‘Tanas?’
A name so familiar it constricted her heart. But soon, she shook her head.
“No, it’s a common name, isn’t it? And when would Tanas have gone all the way to the east?”
But her heart began pounding.
Over the past month, she had searched the royal capital and the surrounding cities as though hunting for a rat, but she had not seen even Tanas’s shadow.
But what if he had not been hiding in the central region, but had gone to the frontier?
“…….”
Knock, knock.
A servant entered and said,
“Lady Seria, it will soon be time for worship, so you should move. The others are waiting….”
“Ah, I’ll be there soon.”
“Then I shall go ahead and make preparations.”
“Wait a moment.”
“Do you have something else for me to do?”
“Call someone for me. There is something I need to confirm.”
They said to tap even a stone bridge before crossing it.