Chapter 50: The Deepening Confusion

Durratun from Fulance.

At nearly forty years old, he was a commander of the siege forces in Rosel’s domain, a man with a fearsome appearance and a massive build.

Rosel’s domain was home to many successful commoners.

Among them, Durratun stood out as the brightest star.

Especially considering that he had been the leader of a band of thieves who had raided Rosel’s small domain when it was still a minor territory, his rise could be seen as a rather unusual success.

The raid, however, was not for the purpose of raping, arson, or killing the villagers.

With a mere twenty or so thieves, they had no strength to invade a small domain.

The raid was merely an attempt to steal food from Rosel’s small territory because hunting had become increasingly difficult due to the appearance of monsters.

At that time, survival seemed impossible without raids, as caravans between territories were incredibly rare due to the monsters.

So, they had planned to steal only food and then escape, but it was soon discovered, and all of the bandits were captured.

It was then that Durratun first saw Rosel.

Born into a bandit family and having lived a turbulent and difficult life, Durratun saw the young Baron Rosel as little more than a fresh-faced noble, weak and fragile.

Although he was a newly risen noble, Rosel’s low birth as a commoner made him seem like an easy target to Durratun.

He decided to attack Rosel, take him hostage, and escape.

However, he could not even approach Rosel, who had been so fragile-looking, and instead, he ended up with a large scar across his back.

Durratun, who had lived by the sword all his life, was humiliated by the overwhelming swordsmanship displayed by Rosel, receiving a back scar that was a shame for anyone who made a living with a sword.

[Ugh…! Kill me!]

[…Ten silver coins per head.]

[What?]

[I’ll give you two alternatives to survive.]

[What alternatives?]

[Not everyone will survive. You can sell your band members as slaves for ten silver coins per person, and you can escape alone, or if one of you kills your leader, I’ll spare your band members.]

[…What?]

Durratun, who was taken aback by the offer of survival, realized that they had no right to question it. They were merely thieves with no noble status.

There was no need to deliberate over the two alternatives.

[Hey! Lenos! You kill me!]

Durratun shouted this loudly.

He pointed to Lenos because Lenos was someone who resembled him—someone who could make a firm decision when needed.

Of course, no band of thieves would talk about such noble ideas, but at least the “Crimson Lotus Band” led by Durratun wasn’t like other bands of thieves that committed heinous acts like arson, rape, and murder.

They simply didn’t know how to live wisely, which is why they had gathered together.

There was no place that would accept those born as thieves, so they had to live by raiding only when necessary.

But with the advent of the Demon King, trade between territories had decreased, and they were starving to death.

Even wild animals had all been consumed by monsters, so they were surviving on plants, eventually making their way into Rosel’s small domain.

But they were discovered, and Durratun decided to choose death rather than sell his band members into slavery for ten silver coins.

[If I die, will you truly save everyone?]

[We’ll promise to punish them lightly and spare their lives.]

[…Fine. Lenos! Come out and kill me!]

Lenos came out, holding an axe with a grim expression.

[W-Wait, Leader…]

[Stop talking nonsense and kill me already! We are bandits! Drop your ridiculous sense of justice and save yourselves, hurry up!]

After shouting this, Durratun lowered his head, and Lenos tightened his grip on the axe handle.

[Then… I’m sorry, Leader!]

Then, with his eyes tightly closed, Lenos swung the axe down with all his might.

But at that moment, with a loud clang, the axe slipped from Lenos’s hand and flew upwards.

-Whirr!

-Thud!

The axe, having been propelled upward, spun in the air and crashed into the dirt beside Durratun.

Rosel had deflected Lenos’s axe with his sword.

He looked down at the stunned Durratun with fierce eyes.

[This is the first time you’ve failed after the tenth trial.]

[T-Tenth? What do you mean?]

Rosel sheathed his sword and glanced at the other band members.

[From now on, I will teach you how to live like human beings. I will feed you and let you sleep, but I won’t reward you until you’ve paid your debt. Do you have any objections?]

[….]

[Good. From now on, two of you will be paired up, and one will monitor the other to prevent any foolish behavior. If one of your partners commits a crime, the other will be punished as well. Depending on the crime, the penalty could be death, so remember that.]

[….]

The band members remained silent. None of them objected to his words or showed any signs of attempting to escape.

Durratun, with his charcoal-black eyebrows twitching, looked at Rosel.

Somehow, Rosel’s presence had grown even larger than his own.

[W-What do you mean?]

[The tenth trial is the first time any of you have passed. So, I’m giving you the opportunity to live like human beings.]

[…Live like human beings?]

With the increase in monsters, bandit and thief raids had become more frequent.

While every other domain was focused on punishing criminals, Rosel saw them as workers to help expand his domain, but of course, he didn’t take just anyone.

That’s why the Crimson Lotus Band passed the tenth trial.

[Please don’t disappoint me, Durratun.]

[….]

Rosel finished speaking and turned to leave.

Gelion, with a worried expression, approached and whispered,

[My Lord, are you sure about this?]

[They just don’t know how to live wisely. In an era where manpower is power, where else can we find workers like them?]

[But they are criminals…]

[That’s why I’ve paired them up. They will monitor each other. Of course, for the first week, we’ll place knights to watch over them.]

[…Understood.]

To expand the domain, Rosel needed more hands.

Since the surrounding noble families rejected him because of his commoner origins, he couldn’t request manpower from them.

After a glance at his band members, Durratun bowed his head and saluted Rosel from behind.

[Th-thank you!]

That was the first meeting between Durraton and Rosel.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

Rosel, who had been admiring Choi Yun-seo’s self-portrait for a while, hurriedly put the papers in the drawer at the sound of a knock and sat in the upper seat of the sofa.

It was Durraton.

He respectfully greeted Rosel and then sat on the sofa.

“Did you have a good conversation with Duke Lucillan?”

“He will depart in a week.”

“A week later? That’s later than I expected.”

“Duke Lucillan intends to take Roden with him.”

“Roden? Why…?”

“It seems that he is quite fond of Roden. Also, by taking Roden as a hostage, he likely wants to prevent me from doing anything foolish.”

Durraton nodded, agreeing with the reasoning.

That was the reason why engagement treaties between allied families were successful.

It was about taking hostages to create a shield. But it was somewhat surprising that they chose Roden as the hostage.

Rosel then asked him.

“You said you had something to report, didn’t you?”

“Ah, yes. There’s a rumor circulating within the territory.”

“What kind of rumor?”

Currently, not only in Rosel’s territory, but also in other territories, strange rumors were circulating.

The number of monsters was not decreasing.

Each territory had sent adventurers and subjugation forces to hunt monsters in the nearby monster-infested areas. However, strangely, it seemed that the number of monsters was not decreasing.

“Moreover, the subjugation forces of Count Shullan’s domain reportedly witnessed monsters being newly generated the day before yesterday.”

Rosel nodded.

Despite Durraton’s serious expression, Rosel’s expression didn’t change much.

The creation of new monsters. This meant that either the Demon King was not dead, or some other event was happening.

Seeing that his lord’s expression did not change, Durraton asked, puzzled.

“…Did you know about this?”

“New monsters being created… There is only one reason for that.”

“What’s that?”

“The Demon King has not been destroyed. That’s the only reason, isn’t it?”

Unlike Rosel, who said this nonchalantly, Durraton raised his charcoal eyebrows in surprise.

There were already rumors circulating among the common folk.

The Demon King was not dead, and that was why the number of monsters was not decreasing.

However, until now, he had considered it to be nothing more than a delusional theory of the Demon King’s fanatics. But the moment Rosel, the Duke, said it, the story no longer seemed like a baseless conspiracy theory to him.

“The Demon King has not perished…? Is that really possible? Didn’t the Hero Party subjugate the Demon King, and didn’t the Saint acknowledge it?”

It was true that the Hero Party had defeated the Demon King.

The only thing was that after that, the Saint, who had lost her divine power, could not see into the future.

Rosel, thinking of Saint Yuria, spoke.

“When the Saint loses her divine power, she cannot see the future.”

“…The Saint lost her divine power? But hasn’t there been talk of a new Saint being sent by the Holy Church…?!”

Durraton’s large mouth opened wide in disbelief.

His thick black beard trembled slightly.

When a Saint’s divine power was exhausted, the kingdom would announce it, and the Holy Church would send a new Saint.

This was a long-standing system, and it was only natural.

But hearing his lord deny that, Durraton was left wondering if he was hearing things.

“Make the world better through the Saints, establish a church, and send Saints to the kingdoms.”

Hundreds of years ago, due to the prophecy of the first Saint Celcia of the Holy Empire, the Holy Church was founded. Since then, the Holy Empire had been sending Saints to each kingdom, following the will of the main god.

And after the Saints were sent, the responsibility of managing them was left to the kingdoms.

The Holy Church did not interfere directly, as there were concerns that such intervention could lead to indirect rule or meddling in internal affairs.

Thus, the Holy Empire’s role was limited to checking the Saints’ divine power every six months.

This system had been maintained for centuries without issue.

This was because when a Saint’s divine power was exhausted, she would return to the Holy Church and live a prosperous and comfortable life.

The king did not need to keep a Saint whose divine power was gone, so even if the system was a bit flawed, it had been solidly maintained.

Of course, the Empire was aware of the shortcomings of this system. In the barbaric Middle Ages, such flaws were common. However, the Empire did not seek to improve the system.

They left it to tradition. Besides, if a kingdom ever misused a Saint, the Empire could use it as an excuse to intervene and take control.

It was an excellent excuse for the Empire to turn a kingdom into a vassal.

And the kingdoms had no choice but to accept this situation.

After all, when the divine power of a Saint was exhausted, it would become known in six months, and there was no way to hide it.

And most importantly, once it was discovered, the Saint would be immediately executed for blasphemy, and the royal family would fall. What kind of fool of a king would make such a decision?

Abusing a Saint would only bring chaos to the kingdom and lead to self-destruction.

That’s why Durraton could not believe it.

“So, this is why they spread the false prophecy about the Hero betraying?”

“No, no. There’s no reason for that kind of decision, is there? What kind of fool and ignorant king would think of abusing a Saint?”

A foolish and ignorant king.

Rosel thought of Brikal, who by now would be bedridden, half-mad.

“…If a king wanted to throw the kingdom into chaos, it would be possible.”

At Rosel’s words, Durraton’s confusion only deepened.