Chapter : 99

“What? A secret story?”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Margrave.”

“Do I have any secret stories to hear from you? Just tell me here.”

At that, the man who identified himself as a servant showed a very troubled expression.

“W-well, it’s not actually my words, but a request from another person, Your Excellency.”

“Hmm…?”

At those words, I frowned and looked at the servant in front of me. Judging by his shabby clothes, he didn’t seem to be a servant of a high-ranking noble, yet he was relaying a message from someone who wanted to have a secret conversation with me?

I wondered what this was all about. I even suspected it might be a sinister conspiracy.

Could it be an assassination or something like that?

I couldn’t find any point of contact whatsoever.

“Why don’t you meet him? I can see the earnestness in his face.”

“Isn’t it suspicious?”

“You have your own strength, I’m here, and there are knights on standby all around. What are you worried about? At times like this, you seem like a coward.”

“Ahem.”

At Magician Agpiel’s reprimand, I cleared my throat and slowly turned my head. Then I spoke to the servant who was bowing his head before me.

“Alright, well, I’ll meet him. Bring him. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

No, actually, if there was a problem, I planned to just take care of it on the spot. I had enough power to brush things like that aside now.

“Oh, thank you, Your Excellency. I’ll bring him right away.”

“Yes, bring him to my tent.”

And a short while later, the person the servant mentioned was a very shocking individual.

“I-I greet His Excellency, the Margrave of Bellua. I am a servant who serves the Count of Zaragoza.”

“?”

Count of Zaragoza? It was a name I’d never heard before. Why would someone like that come to me?

I tilted my head, not understanding, when Magician Agpiel poked me in the side with a rather surprised look on his face.

“The Count of Zaragoza was on the King of Aragon’s side in this battle. He must have been one of the people who retreated with the king. He wasn’t among the captured nobles.”

“???”

Hearing that made me even more confused.

Why would such a noble come looking for me? My question was soon answered by the words of the servant sent by the Count of Zaragoza.

“E-excuse me, Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua. His Majesty the King has passed away.”

“What?”

“And the four nobles under the Count of Zaragoza who served His Majesty the King until the end request mediation from Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua.”

“……”

***

Don’t they say you become speechless when you hear something unbelievable?

That was me exactly.

The moment I heard the words of the servant sent by the Count of Zaragoza, I forgot everything I was going to say.

The King of Aragon, who I thought was safely escaping, was dead? My head throbbed just thinking about how to handle the aftermath.

“Where is the king’s body?”

“I-it’s nearby.”

“Hmm…”

To think he was nearby when I thought he had gone far. A suspicion arose in me again. Was this a trap to capture me? Then I realized they had no reason to do so and smiled bitterly.

“Then can you guide me there?”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua.”

“Very well. Then let’s go together.”

I said so and immediately selected twenty tight-lipped soldiers and three knights and left the barracks.

“Well… I never thought it would be this close.”

“Indeed.”

The place where the Count of Zaragoza and his remnants were hiding was not far.

Don’t they say it’s darkest under the lamp? I felt like I could understand why they hadn’t found a trace of the King of Aragon until now.

To think they were hiding in the mountain right next to the plain where the battle took place.

“I-I greet His Excellency, the Margrave of Bellua.”

As soon as I arrived, the Count of Zaragoza and the nobles came out and bowed their heads. They too were well aware of the gravity of the situation.

“Where is the King of Aragon’s body?”

“I-it’s over there.”

“Let me have a look.”

The King of Aragon, surprisingly, had no wounds. Neither his clothes nor his exposed skin showed any signs of external force.

‘Hmm? He wasn’t killed?’

I tilted my head at his perfectly fine appearance. I had actually thought they had killed him while fleeing and were trying to sell him off.

Then, as if he had read my thoughts, the Count of Zaragoza cautiously opened his mouth.

“W-well, His Majesty the King suddenly collapsed, unable to overcome his anger. After that, he never woke up like this.”

“Huh? Is that true?”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua. It is true. Please believe us. Why would we assassinate His Majesty the King?”

The Count of Zaragoza and the nobles tearfully pleaded their innocence at my suspicion.

But I couldn’t just believe them.

Wasn’t it too absurd and strange? No matter how much this world was prone to coincidences… if something like this happened in reality, I might have cursed it as nonsense.

‘Hmm… well, the Earth’s author has done some pretty strange things too…’

I glared at them with an uneasy feeling. Then Magician Agpiel, who had been watching quietly from the side, touched the king’s body a few times and said bluntly.

“Their words seem to be true. It looks like he just died of a stroke.”

“What? Is that really true, Agpiel?”

“Yes. I just checked for poison, and there were no traces of it. But the back of his head is a little bruised and soft, so… it seems he collapsed from shock?”

“Hmm. The King of Aragon was a bit old, wasn’t he?”

“That’s right.”

I nodded in agreement at Magician Agpiel’s words. He was old, and he had received a great shock.

It was plausible that he could collapse. Besides, in [Pangea Universalise], didn’t the nobles just eat meat day in and day out?

If his anger had boiled over due to the great shock, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to have a cerebral hemorrhage.

Even in modern times, a cerebral hemorrhage often led to death, so in this medieval-level [Pangea Universalise], it was a foregone conclusion.

“So I understand that you didn’t kill him… but why did you come to me? Did you think I was an easy target?”

Having roughly grasped the situation, I glared at the Count of Zaragoza and the nobles with a cold expression.

What were they thinking, telling me this unless they were insane? Did I look that easy to push around?

But their response was a little unexpected.

“H-how could you think such a thing, Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua.”

“That’s right. That’s absolutely not what we think. It was all because of Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua’s reputation. Please believe us.”

“My reputation?”

“Yes. Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua is famous as the Knight of Faith and the Performer of Miracles, isn’t he? If Your Excellency were to mediate, who would dare to object?”

It was a more unexpected reason than I thought.

So they came to me because of my reputation… but on the other hand, I could understand.

My publicly known reputation was truly beautiful.

Performer of Miracles.

Knight of Faith.

Beloved of God.

Weren’t these nicknames that would make anyone think I was fair and just, helped the poor, and cried out for justice?

Of course, I was not like that at all.

‘Hehe… what a windfall is this?’

It seemed that people should live a good life after all.

I hid my sinister intentions and asked again.

“So what is it that you want? Surely you don’t want an undeserved reward?”

It happened sometimes. Someone who betrays his lord and wants a reward in return. If that was what they wanted, I would have their heads cut off without hesitation.

Fortunately, the Count of Zaragoza and his nobles were not stupid.

Or maybe they sensed the killing intent mixed in my words.

“H-how could we, Your Excellency.”

“We just want to save our lives.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. With the notarization of Your Excellency the Margrave of Bellua, everyone will believe that His Majesty the King died suddenly. Please protect us. We are not traitors.”

“Hmmmm… so that’s it.”

It was not a difficult or particularly troublesome proposal. So I nodded my head.

“Very well. I will notarize it for you.”

Of course, I would provide the notarization.

However, I had no intention of striving to save them. That was a problem they had to solve themselves.

And Magician Agpiel, who heard my inner thoughts, spoke in a tone that suggested I was always the same.

“You are really… a fox, a fox.”

“……”

***

“Hah…”

“Does this make any sense?”

Returning to the barracks, I reported this matter to the Prince-elector of Bohemia and submitted the king’s body as evidence.

At that, the barracks began to stir. Due to the fact that the King of Aragon was dead, and also due to the frustration that they had not been the first to find him.

“Didn’t those guys kill him and are now lying about it?”

“No. Magician Agpiel has confirmed it. And I am notarizing it, so do you dare to insult my honor?”

“Uh, Your Excellency the Margrave, t-that’s not it…”

“Silence!”

As things got noisy, the Elven King Prince-elector of Bohemia shouted.

His head was throbbing.

In any case, the King of Aragon was dead. No matter how much he claimed his innocence, it was hard to believe that the other nobles, especially the nobles of the Kingdom of Aragon, would believe him.

‘Those rotten bastards?’

So the Elven King Prince-elector of Bohemia’s anger boiled over.

At the Count of Zaragoza and his subordinate nobles who had shamelessly failed to protect their lord.

“Imprison all of them. After this matter is settled, they will all be executed tomorrow!”

“P-Prince-elector, Your Excellency! Please spare us!”

“That’s right. We are innocent, Your Excellency!”

But no matter how much they shouted, the angry Elven King Prince-elector of Bohemia seemed to have no intention of changing his mind.

At that, the Count of Zaragoza looked at me urgently and shouted.

“D-didn’t the Margrave of Bellua promise to save us? Please protect us, Your Excellency!”

“Hmm? Did I?”

“No. I only promised to notarize, Your Excellency the Prince-elector.”

“Y-you!”

Only then did the Count of Zaragoza and the nobles realize they had been tricked, but there was nothing they could do.

This was the enemy’s camp, and there was no one to take their side.

In the end, they were dragged to prison with desperate screams.

“Hah… anyway, what should we do about this? Do any of you have any good ideas?”

The Elven King Prince-elector of Bohemia asked the people around him in an annoyed voice.

It was understandable. If the King of Aragon died like this, there was a high possibility that the other nobles would not readily accept the Prince-elector of Bohemia as king.

Instead, the ambitious great nobles who had been watching from the sidelines might rise up, leading to a tedious civil war.

“A-ahem… well, I don’t think there’s anything we can do about this, Your Excellency the Prince-elector.”

And the nobles present here had no intention of fighting a civil war. After all, their goal this time was to depose the excommunicated King of Aragon.

Therefore, they believed they had fulfilled their responsibility.

Anything more than this was an unnecessary fight.

Thanks to that, the one in trouble was the Prince-elector of Bohemia.

At this rate, he would have to fight a civil war by himself.

No, actually, the Prince-elector of Bohemia was not the only one in trouble.

‘Oh crap, does this mean I won’t get the promised Figueres?’

I, who had been promised the city of Figueres in exchange for participating in the war, felt the same way.

Therefore, I racked my brain hard. How could I overcome this situation?

And at that moment, a good idea flashed through my mind.

“Your Excellency the Prince-elector. How about this?”

A good plan that would be good for the Prince-elector of Bohemia and also quell the complaints of the nobles of the Kingdom of Aragon.

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