I Was Reincarnated as a Marquis in Another World- Chapter 18

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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“Alright, who is the leader?”

Then the guy who looked like the leader answered in a subdued voice.

“It’s me, young master… Please spare my life.”

It looked pathetic to see these crazy bastards, who raped women who seemed weaker than them like that, asking to be spared.

No, some great person once said, “Only those who are prepared to be killed are qualified to kill.”

It’s really annoying that these crazy things lived as bandits without such resolve.

“I will decide that.

So, why did you start living as bandits?”

“We were… peasants living in a village ruled by Marquis Hindenburg next to Windheim.

As peasants, we ran away because they told us to pay too much tax.

Our wives and children were about to starve to death.”

I tried to put down my anger for a moment and make an expression as if I wasn’t angry.

Fortunately, it seemed to have an effect, as the bandit leader looked at me with a desperate expression and said,

“So we settled in this mountain stronghold, thinking we wouldn’t starve to death if we lived here.
At first, it was bearable, but… as we started to run out of food, we had no choice but to become bandits.

We kidnapped peasants from nearby villages and sold them to slave traders.”

Hearing those words, I felt a very small amount of sympathy for these guys.

Because the process of how these guys came here after being heavily taxed reminded me of Windheim in those days when I picked up Ella.

Now, Windheim is a really good place for peasants to live, but back then, it was a hell where people couldn’t possibly live.

Therefore, the ant-sized tear that they had no choice but to engage in crime in order to survive in such a village was somewhat persuasive.

“……”

As I listened to this story without saying anything, hope began to appear on the faces of the other bandits.

These guys probably think that since I personally listened to this story, I won’t at least kill them.

But I had no intention of sparing their lives from the beginning…

Then, the bandit leader bowed his head so hard that it bled even while being tied up in front of me.

Following this, all the bandits and the women thought to be the bandits’ wives bowed their heads.

“Sir, no, young master.

Please spare us just once…

If you accept us as peasants there, we will really live diligently…”

“Please spare us!

This is all because of Marquis Hindenburg.

We admit we were wrong, but we don’t think we committed a crime deserving death.”

“What do you want us to do if we die, with our children and wives?

I became a bandit to save my rabbit-like children… Please forgive us.”

Looking at these guys, only one thought crossed my mind.

‘Disgusting’

These things are truly disgusting.

If they had said they would acknowledge all their crimes, so please at least save the children…

There would have been some room for consideration.

Because the children would have been dragged by their parents and wouldn’t have participated in banditry, so they could be accepted in terms of population growth.

However, these evil people don’t think at all about the women and other people they hurt, and have the audacity to say with their own mouths that they will live diligently again.

Such beings should not be allowed to live, as a lord, no, just as a person I will never allow it.

“Alright. I heard you well.”

Hearing those words, the bandits’ faces began to brighten as if they thought they could live now.

I said with a sneer Towards them.

“Helmut, Varso.

Prepare to behead all the women presumed to be the bandits’ wives and take them to the territory, and execute the men by the ‘breaking wheel.

‘ Originally, it should be Varso’s job, but I will extend your contract, so can you help?”

Helmut quietly nodded his head.

“Imprison these guys in the basement of my mansion in the territory.

Give them good food so they will have more energy and feel more pain when they die.

On the evening before the execution, feed them their fill with the leftover meat and bread from the festival.”

“Yes, understood, young master.”

**

After finishing all the work such as cleaning up the bandit stronghold and calculating the spoils, I held a festival for the mercenaries as I promised them.

A rough conversion of the spoils amounted to 100 gold coins.

I gave a suitable reward to the peasants, bought pigs raised in the village, and ate and drank together with the mercenaries…

The mercenaries’ reaction was surprisingly great.

‘Usually, when we finish such a request, they just arrange a little meat for us to eat, but this lord even had the villagers participate, so he provided a lot of food.

Thanks to that, we, who were active in the battle, were able to receive praise from the villagers, so it was really nice.’

They went around saying this, so when I seriously think about it, I wonder if a few of them will settle down?

If those guys become soldiers of this village, no, of Kreutel that I will rule, I can treat them to that extent.

And at the same time, I couldn’t execute dozens of bandits, if it was just one or two of them I could with my authority, so I had to send a letter to the Marquis.

That letter was unexpectedly replied to within a few days.

[I acknowledge the death penalty, but behead everyone except the bandit leader. ]

As expected of the Marquis, who has a side that cherishes peasants unlike nobles of this era, it’s a letter he would likely write.

Since they had a desperate story, he didn’t sentence everyone to the punishment of crushing bones and internal organs by putting them on a breaking wheel.

And finally, I summoned the peasants to the village square and ordered the execution of the bandits.

**

I gathered the peasants on the outskirts of the village, and before long, the bandits and the bandits’ wives in shackles began to scream.

“Please spare us!!”

“Young master, please…

Please spare our lives!!”

“I don’t want to die!!”

The desperate screams were so loud that my ears hurt, but I pretended not to hear and signaled the mercenaries to line them up and put them on the execution platform.

When the bandits who had tried to harass them got on the execution platform, the peasants began to cheer.

“Kill them!”

“That’s right, long live the lord!”

“How dare those worse-than-dog things kidnap women like that?

They should all be killed!”

As they got on the execution platform in order, the bandit leader who was sentenced to the long-awaited breaking wheel finally got on the platform.

As the bandit leader got on the execution platform, two mercenaries followed him with large iron maces.

The leader shouted.

“Please spare me, no, just kill me painlessly at least!! Young master!!

I was wrong!!”

Far from pitying the shouting bandit leader, the peasants of our territory openly began to laugh, saying the dying bastard is dying well.

When the atmosphere was sufficiently ripe, Varso, who was standing next to me, said,

“Young master, it’s time.”

I quietly opened my mouth, which had somehow become heavy, and said.

“Execute.”

With those words, the mercenaries raised their hammers high to execute the bandit leader, who was placed on the breaking wheel first.

Then, with a “bang” sound, they shattered his feet.

Next were the calves, thighs, pelvis, waist, etc… They gradually began to shatter the upper body.

Every time they hammered like that, the bandit leader occasionally lost consciousness, but…

“Splash water.”

Whenever he lost consciousness, they splashed water to wake him up, trying to make him suffer more.

After about 10 minutes of hammering and crushing bones and organs, the bandit leader finally died.

Next, the mercenaries lifted the bandit leader with a wheel and put him in a pit dug in advance.

And the mercenaries who took on the role of executioners struck down the necks of the bandits who got on the execution platform, regardless of gender, with axes.

Every time there was a “thud” sound, the head of a bandit’s wife or a bandit fell, splattering blood almost to the end of the pit.

The executions alone continued for an hour.

As soon as the executions ended, I felt slightly, no, quite dizzy, perhaps because I had seen too much blood.

Nevertheless, as the lord, I gave orders for at least minimal cleanup and returned to my mansion.

“Put all their corpses in the pit, wipe off as much blood as possible and throw it into the pit.

Then sprinkle all the lime powder I bought.

After about 4 hours, cover it with soil so that wild dogs or beasts can’t flock.”

…. I think I did what I had to do, but I really feel like throwing up.

What kind of mindset did the politicians of the past have to carry out such massacres…

**

And a few months had passed since the executions were carried out.

After that, no particularly notable criminals appeared, and the farming went really well.

Thanks to the farming tools I had made in advance and the cows and horses I had bought, the harvest in our territory increased by nearly 2 times compared to the previous year.

As a result, whenever the peasants saw me, they greeted me, saying, “Now we can eat bread mixed with rye and wheat even when it’s not a festival,” and left.

In the past, they could only eat like that on festival days in a year of good harvest, but now hearing that they can eat like a feast day on a regular basis, the feeling was really new.

I heard a little about other territories of Kreutel, and they are screaming with joy because they have to build new warehouses to store the harvested food as the harvest increased by about 5 times.

The Marquis’ letter said,

[I never thought I would have to even mobilize soldiers to build warehouses due to the unbelievable harvest.

There will be no one starving to death this year.]

As I was sitting in the office, feeling satisfied and continuing to review paperwork, Helmut came in and said,

“Young master, they said they finally harvested the radish you mentioned.”

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