Chapter 305 The Truth Behind the Proxy’s Disappearance Political Intrigue in the Frontier
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”…I’m sorry?”
Viscount Pelant’s proxy had run away from the frontier settlement. The news was so utterly unexpected that the meaning of the words kept swimming in my head, and all I could finally manage was a blank, drawn-out question.
”Can’t you grasp it, boy?” Marquis Rubal sneered. “The man decided it was simply impossible to carry out the Viscount’s desires, so he cut his losses and retreated.”
”H-hold on a minute,” I protested, suddenly defensive. “How can you be so certain, just from hearing about it? Maybe he just went for a stroll to clear his head, you know?”
”While one cannot entirely dismiss that possibility,” the Marquis replied, his voice dripping with authority, “considering the proxy’s true nature, concluding that he fled is the only reasonable assumption.”
”Are you saying, Marquis Rubal, that he was a fake proxy?” I asked, confused.
”A fake? No, he was certainly the proxy,” he corrected, condescendingly. “It’s just that his true identity was an outsider hired for cash.”
A hired outsider?
”You mean the Viscount handed his power of attorney to someone who wasn’t even a servant?” I asked, astonished.
”You know the Viscount’s terrible reputation, don’t you? His tenants and even his own servants think the worst of him, and he knows it,” the Marquis explained, impatiently. “So, he likely felt he could trust a paid stranger more than anyone who already harbored ill will toward him. Narsht gave me some details on the way here. That man, the proxy, supposedly visited about five weeks ago. Now, truly, if he were a servant, do you believe he could have returned all the way from Viscount Pelant’s territory in just five weeks?”
”Was it a lie, then, that one can make a round trip in five weeks by taking a shortcut?” I questioned.
”Whether it’s possible depends entirely on the season.”
”The season? …Ah!”
That hint was all it took for me to finally understand. I’d completely forgotten, being comfortable in the frontier settlement where Wen regulated the temperature. It was the end of the Ice Star period, the time of the heaviest snowfall. While the main town roads were cleared by magic and maintained, there was no way a path only passable on foot could be used during this season.
”That fool probably just waited around in a nearby town for five weeks, forgetting that such a route would be impossible right now. He was nothing but a hired gun with no real loyalty. It’s no surprise he ran off the moment he realized he couldn’t complete the job and might incur the Viscount’s wrath.” the Marquis concluded, a faint harrumph escaping him.
Listening to the Marquis made everything click into place. Why was I so suspicious of a man holding a genuine power of attorney? The answer was that he was the real proxy but a fake servant.
”So, he lied about being a servant just so he could…”
”He likely thought a servant being harassed by his master’s ridiculous orders would inspire more sympathy than a paid outsider,” the Marquis affirmed, his tone dry.
”A-ahahaha… I guess that’s what it comes down to, huh?” I chuckled, a nervous habit.
”You seem to have been completely taken in, boy, but if the proxy fled, you must have believed that, yet you still didn’t agree to the deal, did you?” the Marquis challenged, shifting his stance.
”I didn’t refuse, I just postponed my answer. I was ready to accept it right then, thinking I only needed to make sure the Dhru Wheat didn’t leave the settlement, and if it did, the only thing I’d lose was money. But Diana absolutely insisted I wait a day.”
Diana has been respecting my opinions lately, and she’s not as meddlesome as she used to be. For example, when we helped Betty, she didn’t interfere until I brought up the idea of hiring her. Though she scolded me later, if Diana had been serious, she could have broken free from Lewya’s grasp and wouldn’t have been so easily taken from the room.
Yet, this time, she asked for permission to speak twice, and when I was about to make an easy decision, she powerfully called out my name right in front of the other person to stop me. The Betty incident was undoubtedly more politically sticky, but Diana’s focus now seems to be on respecting my wishes rather than the Count Atmira house’s profit. Because of that, she reacts sensitively to anyone trying to take advantage of my gentle side, making up for my own inability to doubt others.
”I see. You have a dependable attendant, it seems,” the Marquis mused. “By the way, is that crumpled paper the document the proxy brought? What exactly did it demand?”
”It demanded that I not sell the Dhru Wheat. If our Wheat caused the value of their Dhru Wheat to drop, they’d demand compensation,” I explained, holding up the paper.
”Such a selfish request, so typical of the Viscount… What else was in it?” he inquired, his voice low with suspicion.
”Nothing else. That was the only thing written there.”
”What?! There’s no way that’s all from that Viscount! I suppose I’ll have to check it myself.” he proclaimed.
”Oh, I don’t think that’s appropriate. Even though I’ve told you the contents verbally, showing a sworn document to an outsider is…” I trailed off, hesitant.
”There’s no secrecy in a negotiation that’s already failed, boy. That Viscount is bound to have something hidden in there!” he boomed, with certainty.
It was true the negotiation had basically collapsed, which was why I’d told him the contents out loud. Still, I was torn about showing an official document like a sworn agreement to an outsider. The Marquis Rubal, however, simply pressed me with silent, immense pressure.
Finally, I yielded to his force and passed the sworn agreement to him via the Item Box.
”So that’s the way of it,” he murmured, scanning the paper. “You just said you were ‘fine with making sure the Dhru Wheat didn’t leak out’ and that ‘you’d only lose money’ as if it were a minor thing. This is far more complex than that, boy.”
”Why do you say that?”
”Even if you took the utmost care to prevent the Dhru Wheat from leaving your area, the Viscount plans to sell his own harvested Dhru Wheat on the market, then make it look like yours was the source of the leak, and demand compensation!” he announced, his voice dark with revelation.
”Seriously? Well, I guess that’s not impossible, but isn’t that going about it in an incredibly roundabout way?” I asked, confused.
I could understand his intent.
The price wasn’t the same every year, and a price drop was normal. Marquis Rubal was saying the Viscount planned to intentionally flood the market, drop the price, and then demand compensation based on an ideal average price, arguing, “If you hadn’t sold your Dhru Wheat, the price might have exceeded previous years!” I understood that this method was more certain to bring in a large sum than an unpredictable auction, but it seemed too complicated to intentionally devalue his own region’s specialty just for that—
”Ah!”
”You finally see it,” the Marquis drawled. “The value drop of the Dhru Wheat isn’t just for one year. If Dhru Wheat is known to have flooded the market from a different source in the past, everyone will naturally think it might happen again. This will cause a severe drop in the purchasing appetite of Viscount Pelant’s own customers. To restore that lost enthusiasm would take at least five years, perhaps as long as ten.”
”So, Viscount Pelant is aiming for years of compensation? While that would certainly add up to a substantial amount, demanding that much is just unreasonable, isn’t it?”
I had been overly optimistic, thinking the only loss would be money, but if it stretched out for years, it would be hard to call it ‘just’ money. The contract did say he’d claim compensation for the damage incurred, and there was no mention of a set number of years.
However, this entire situation wasn’t a fair transaction; it was a unilateral demand from Viscount Pelant. If I simply rejected his demand and sold my Dhru Wheat outside, I couldn’t be punished for it.
”Even with a sworn document, the country would likely intervene and invalidate such a contract, as it lacks common sense and legality,” I reasoned.
”Precisely. It wouldn’t be good for the nation to set a precedent that legally acknowledges such an outrageous claim. If he demanded five years’ worth of compensation on this, he would certainly invite national intervention. That’s why the Viscount will compromise, or rather, make it look like he’s compromising.”
”What do you mean?”
”Surely you’ve heard the rumors about the Viscount? He doesn’t care about his territory five or ten years from now. If he can just increase the money he has available to him, even just for one or two years of compensation from you, that’s enough for him,” the Marquis stated, his voice now flat with cynical realization.
”…I see.”
Even I, who was clueless about most of the gossip among the Empire Nobles, knew what kind of person Viscount Pelant was. He was an oddity even among the eccentric nobles, and Harmon-san, who came from Pelant’s territory, had often spoken ill of him.
I’ll keep the full details short, but the Marquis Rubal was right: the Viscount’s goal was just to increase his disposable income.
If that meant saddling the future Pelant territory with debt, he didn’t care, because he wouldn’t be the Lord then. It was hard to feel anything positive towards Viscount Pelant, thinking of the people of his territory who’d be tormented by their Lord’s selfishness.
”Thank you so much. If you hadn’t been here, Marquis Rubal, I would have fallen right into Viscount Pelant’s trap.”
”The plan failed the moment the proxy ran away. My silence wouldn’t have changed anything,” the Marquis stated, dismissively. “And let me be clear: I didn’t help you. I believe people learn most from failure, more than success; I certainly did. I’m only doing this because the outcome was already decided. If the proxy hadn’t given up, I would have just watched.”
”Even so, please let me thank you. At the very least, you’ve saved me a lot of unnecessary worry by telling me all this.”
”Hmph… You are too sweet. What would you do if everything I told you was a lie, a scheme to deceive you? I could have even kidnapped the Viscount’s proxy, having anticipated his movements, and made it look like he fled!” he challenged, testing me.
”You’re right. Against an Empire Noble, I should naturally be on my guard. But I believe in you, Marquis Rubal.”
”Believe in me? How can you so easily believe in someone you barely know? I use the Item Box frequently to connect to the frontier settlement, but only with Narsht. You have absolutely no basis to have built any trust in me,” he demanded, his sharp blue eyes seeming to pierce through the Item Box’s connection.
Apart from this, the only time I’d truly spoken with the Marquis Rubal was when he came to the frontier settlement looking for Shiown. He was right; there was no history between us to build that trust.
”That’s true. That’s why I don’t ‘trust’ you; I rely on you.”
”Rely on me? That’s even harder to understand. Relying on an Empire Noble instead of merely trusting one is enough to make people question your sanity! On what basis can you utter such a crazy notion?” he exclaimed, indignant.
”That’s…” I hesitated, wondering if I should say it, but I felt the atmosphere from the Marquis demanded an answer. I slowly opened my mouth.
”Marquis Rubal, you really like Narsht-san’s cooking, don’t you?”
”I do. I won’t pretend otherwise, since I’ve been sampling it daily. What’s your point?” he inquired, still condescending.
”If our relationship gets bad, you won’t be able to enjoy Narsht’s cooking as easily as you do now. I figured you’d want to avoid that.”
”……”
Stunned. A word that couldn’t even begin to describe the frozen, astonished look on Marquis Rubal’s face.
”…You, you absolute fool! There’s a limit to how ridiculously honest you can be! I know you don’t mean any harm, but that comment could easily be taken as accusing me of being a greedy pig only driven by food!” the Marquis roared, his composure completely shattered.
”Y-you’re right… wait a minute?” I stammered.
Now that he mentioned it, had I ever discussed my ‘ridiculously honest’ nature with Marquis Rubal before?
We’d only spoken properly once, and that was just about Shiown. Before I could interrupt with my question, the Marquis’s furious lecture continued.
”I’ll admit I’m a gourmand with a strong devotion to food, but I am an Empire Noble first! If you truly believe I would forget my duty as an Empire Noble, then we need to have a long, face-to-face discussion…”
—GrrrruuUUUMMPPH!
A loud, rumbling sound abruptly drowned out the Marquis’s words, echoing through the office.
Hearing it, I remembered a similar incident the day we helped Betty. I’d laughed then, but I couldn’t now.
Because the sound—an even bigger growl of a stomach—had come from Marquis Rubal’s side of the Item Box connection. The Marquis Rubal only connects to the frontier settlement for one reason: to eat Narsht-san’s cooking.
He must have been hungry when he connected the Item Box, then confirmed the proxy’s disappearance, came to the office, and had been talking until now. It was completely understandable that his stomach would revolt.
”…I just remembered an urgent errand. I must take my leave.”
”Oh… Yes, thank you very much.”
Embarrassed that his stomach had betrayed him, the Marquis closed the Item Box connection.
”Well then, I’ll be going now too. I’ve left the dining hall unattended for quite a while.”
”Yes, thank you, Narsht-san.”
After seeing Narsht off, I let out a deep sigh of relief, the tension finally leaving me in the office where only Diana and I remained.
”Whew… Back-to-back unexpected visitors, from the proxy to Marquis Rubal, has me completely worn out,” I admitted to Diana.
”Indeed, you’ve worked hard, Master Wend. But before you relax completely, there’s one more thing I must inform you about.” she said, her voice filled with quiet urgency.
”Really? Is there still more? My energy levels are practically zero after the Viscount’s proxy and the Marquis. Don’t tell me we have more unexpected visitors?” I groaned.
”No, not a visitor. When I saw Espera-sama and Reinele-sama off, I ran into Betty.”
”Oh, is that all… Wait, you ran into her?! Was she okay?!”
I knew she wouldn’t be this calm if anything serious had happened, but I couldn’t help but ask.
”Yes. For the time being, no issues arose.”
”‘For the time being’… Does that mean something’s bothering you?”
”There was clear hostility in Espera-sama’s gaze when she saw Betty. However, that hostility suddenly vanished, and she simply walked away as if she had lost interest.”
”If she lost interest, then isn’t that a good thing?” I asked, hopeful.
”If her emotion had remained at a level of suspicion, I would agree. But Espera-sama’s feelings briefly reached clear hostility, meaning she had reached something close to certainty and yet chose to overlook it. That is what concerns me, desuno.”
”Hmm… I see.”
It would be easy to dismiss this as Diana being over-anxious, but given the circumstances, I couldn’t just dismiss it. We only knew about the Theocracy’s Inquisitors from rumors.
Before I make a judgment based on my own assumptions, it might be best to ask someone who knows more about the Theocracy and its Inquisitors than we do. With that thought, after I finished my evening bath, I headed towards the dining hall to talk to someone more knowledgeable.
—
Summary:
In the wake of a political ploy, Lord Wend of the frontier settlement finally uncovers the true, mercenary identity of Viscount Pelant’s fleeing proxy, thanks to the cynical wisdom of Marquis Rubal. The Empire Noble reveals that the Viscount’s compensation scheme was a long-term political trap, intended to devalue his own region’s Dhru Wheat for years of illegal payments.
Though initially taken aback by Wend’s naive trust, the Marquis’s authoritarian facade is hilariously shattered by his rumbling stomach, a testament to his obsession with Narsht’s specialty cooking, which Wend leverages as his only political shield. The day ends not with relief, but with fresh anxiety as attendant Diana warns Wend about the chilling, inexplicable encounter between the powerful Theocracy Inquisitor Espera and the new settlement resident, Betty, hinting at a new, dangerous mystery for the frontier lord to solve.
—
Character Insight:
Marquis Rubal’s character is complex; despite his superior and politically ruthless exterior, his dedication to the pleasure of Narsht’s exquisite cooking is his biggest vulnerability, and Wend’s simple recognition of this makes the Marquis’s pride, and thus his political power, strangely susceptible to the frontier lord’s pure, if naive, honesty. This moment confirms that personal obsession can override noble politics.
—
Behind the Scene:
This chapter resolves the mystery of the proxy’s suspicious behavior—he was a mercenary paid to execute a flawed political scheme, which he abandoned due to the impracticality of the winter travel and the risk of the Viscount’s inevitable rage. The Marquis Rubal’s timely intervention exposes the depth of the Viscount’s plan, shifting the political threat from a direct attack on the frontier’s economy to a warning about the character of the corrupt nobility.
The final scene sets up the next arc by reintroducing the Theocracy and the imminent threat from the Inquisitor Espera, forcing Wend to seek outside expertise to protect his people.
Notes:
• Marquis Rubal – Another noble, who is famous as gourmet.
• Harmon – An experienced hunter and guard who came to the settlement and stayed. He is part of a hunting group with Demar, Dominic, Jott, Victor and Kilk. He knows Nick and Lewya, and discusses business ideas with Nick. He first appears in Chapter 220.
• Narsht-san – MC’s chef.
• Espera – An Inquisitor (middle clergy rank) of the Pentis faith from the Theocracy, serving as the official point of contact. She is characterized by her crisp tone and brutal honesty, defending the necessity of charging high fees (“fair compensation”) to maintain their resources and aid the suffering. She possesses a cool, assessing gaze and is highly perceptive, noticing Bearty and closely examining her distinctive features before choosing to leave without incident.
• Reinele – A High Priestess (higher clergy rank than Espera) of the Pentis faith. She is highly nervous, timid, and fidgety, nearly knocking something over in her stress in Lord Neil’s presence. She is visually distinct among the clergy as her robes strain under “gravity-defying architecture,” suggesting a very large figure. She is uncomfortable with Espera’s open discussion of money and compensation for healing services.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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