Chapter 68: The Road to King (8)

“Kill me if you must! But you’re finished. I’ve had my revenge!”

“You’ve got it all wrong, I don’t care what Ronen thinks of me anymore.”

“What?”

“I’m rather grateful. Thanks to you, Ronen and Elheat’s relationship has been strained. That’s what I’ve been trying to achieve.”

“You think you can survive in Lunan with Duke Ronen staring at you? My father died a horrible death because Duke Ronen gave up on him.”

Revenge for her father and rebuilding her family. It’s not that I don’t understand her desire to accomplish this, but she used the wrong means.

“Look at the big picture. How long will this rotten Lunan last? I don’t care about Ronen, I’m going to take over the whole world, and the destruction of Bridget was just one part of that. I’ve never been loyal to Ronen so it would be better for you to take a new path. I’ll tell you one thing; soon Narja will begin their re-invasion and Ronen will not be able to stop them, because I have no intention of helping. There are many other ways to rebuild your family, many other ways to take revenge. You don’t need Ronen to favor you, do you?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m saying you need to use your head and think. Your father died a horrible death after being abandoned by Ronen. So why don’t you kill Ronen and get revenge?”

If she showed her anger towards me and targeted me, I would kill her right then but she was still useful.

“Why don’t you direct your revenge at the immediate cause and not at me?”

Yes, it was this very spark, the spark that would lead her to target Ronen. Anyway, I said all I had to say, so I signaled Zint and she was free to go. But she didn’t move, she just stared at me in a daze. I left her to her own devices and we left the mansion. Yurasia, who joined us soon after, suddenly asked me a question.

“By the way, what the hell do you think you’re doing? If Narja’s re-invasion is not so far off…….After all, the people of Lunan are…….”

It seems that she heard everything we said.

“A foolish king and a greedy duke, I don’t care what happens to them, but I’m not going to let my people die in a war.”

“……”

Yulasia didn’t say anything to my answer; she turned her face away when I looked at her.

***

“What, you’re trying to escape?”

Gensema tried to escape and was caught by Zint.

“I did everything you said! Please, let me go!”

“Sorry, I didn’t say I’d let you go.”

“The world is cause and effect, right? You do bad things, you suffer the consequences.”

I said, and handed Gensema over to Zint.

“Do what you want.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded, Zint bit his lip and grabbed Gensema’s hair then dragged him away.

“Help me, please! Please…..! You can have it all. If you need gold, just tell me. I’ve got tons of it!”

Gensema cried and clung to him even more but Zint didn’t say anything. He stared at Gensema and swung his sword at that moment, Gensema’s head flew up into the sky.

“Help……guh……”

The head was detached from the torso while the mouth was still moving. For a few seconds before he lost consciousness he made a lot of noise while he was decapitated. Those few seconds he must have seen his torso with his head in the air. A few seconds of despair might not be enough for the scum who plunged so many people into misery, but it was a fitting end.

After killing Gensema, Zint walked towards me and suddenly kneeled.

“How can I repay you……? How the hell do I……”

His question was really stupid.

“Do you really want to repay me?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then get stronger, that way you can be more useful to me.”

Hurry up and become an S-class. A loyal S-class subordinate, I needed something like that. The stronger he gets, the lower his chance of dying, which is good for Mirine.

“I need to get stronger? Then I’ll have more opportunities to return the favor?”

“That’s the idea.”

“Then I’ll be strong.”

He didn’t speak for long, which was typical of Zint. I understood his enthusiasm though. But there is something else that is more important right now. Even with Gensema’s death, the Doro Trading Company has not yet been destroyed.

Destroying their fortress in Lunan and killing its representative only means that the boss died. The branches all over Lunan and all over Narja were still intact.

It is similar in structure to modern-day criminal organizations such as drug traffickers. It is not easy to know the exact nature of the organization because of its tightly guarded secrecy.

In addition to the general manager of drug trafficking, there are other positions, such as stocking, sorting, storage, transportation, field manager, vendor, watchman, and treasurer. Those at the executive level usually do not appear in public. They have vertical but not horizontal connections, so each member only knows the ones directly above them. In most cases, they only know each other’s faces, but not their names, even if they are doing the same work.

As a result of information obtained from interrogating the prisoners of war at the fortress, it seems that Gensema also operated in secrecy, controlling only the fortress and headquarters in Lunan, and issuing orders without showing his face to the other branches.

In other words the Doro Trading Company is still alive, and I can make it mine.

***

Yurasia went to the fortress first, taking Frill with her. After disposing of Gensema, Zint and I joined her at the fortress later. As soon as we arrived, I got information again from the prisoners I had kept alive.

“So you’re supposed to report back periodically, and people from each branch will be coming soon? They’ll be bringing back more orders?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“Your information was accurate, and thanks to it, I was able to kill Gensema and Luthrie. It’s only accurate information like that that makes it worth keeping alive. Do you know what that means?”

“Yes, of course! I will never……ever lie to you! I’m not like those other guys!”

The prisoners shouted in fear. These people don’t deserve mercy but as long as they’re useful I’ll keep them alive.

“You’re sure that this fortress is the headquarters, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Did Gensema ever show himself to them?”

“No, he’s a skeptic. Especially since the Narja Kingdom is much stricter than Lunan, he doesn’t reveal his face to people from that branch. It’s a good thing that the two branches don’t know each other, because if one of them is destroyed, the others will survive.”

“What I need is that very branch in the Narja Kingdom.”

To be precise, I needed the first-hand information brought by the branch in the Narja Kingdom. Because they are a criminal organization that deals with the nobility, it is easy for them to obtain important information, and they were able to get more information than my spies.

In war, information is more important than money, more information means victory. I was willing to become a representative of the Doro Trading Company for the sake of that information. Of course, I had no intention of condoning acts such as human trafficking and kidnapping.

As soon as I got the information, I was going to round up all the branches of the Doro Chamber of Commerce and destroy them. Information about Narja is more important than anything else at this time, more than the gold beneath Aintorian, no, more than the iron of Berthaquin.

“Then get ready. I will personally meet with the representatives of each branch.”

I announced to the captives I had kept alive.

* * *

“Frill!”

“Hey, sis!”

Lillian hugged Frill and started to cry.

“Don’t worry, I’ll build a village in my territory and you can live there with everyone else. There will be no one to torment you anymore.”

When I said that,

“Frill, hold on a second.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Sis?”

Lillian walked over to me and fell flat, leaving Frill to stare in wonder at her sister’s sudden gesture.

“My Lord!”

“What?”

“I……will do anything! Anything! So please allow me to serve by your side!”

Then she said something outrageous.

“You want to serve me? You don’t have to. Go to the village and live free.”

When I replied to her sudden request she fell flat and suddenly grabbed my leg.

“I want to live for my lord! Please let me repay you. So please forgive me!”

“No, that’s not what I said……”

I’d much rather deal with a scoundrel like Gensema. She didn’t seem to want to leave even though she was being dragged. Her small hands gripped my legs tightly. The more I did so, the more eyes would be on me.

This was a situation that would lead to misunderstandings, and those misunderstandings would lower the people’s spirit. So, I had to resolve this situation well. I decided to make a suggestion to Lillian.

“In that case, why don’t you try working as a maid in my castle? It’s a lot to learn, but working at the lord’s castle means you’ll be serving me.”

“I’ll do it! Please let me do it! I’ll make the lord’s castle the most beautiful castle on the continent!”

Lillian was delighted and started to talk about her strange aspirations. If she wants to, I’ll let her. I’ll just leave the rest to the chamberlain.

“All right, I’m going back and I’ll take care of this, so just get up.”

“I’ll do my best!”

Lillian got excited and clasped her hands together. Of all people, Yurasia suddenly appeared and shook her head.

“Pervert.”

No, wait a minute. What’s so perverted about me now?

“Hey, Yurasia!”

I shouted frantically at her as she walked away, but she didn’t stop.