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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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Although the position of bailiff may seem very impressive, it’s actually not such a high-ranking position.
At best, it refers to an official who plays the role of a village head in a district of Seoul.
Moreover, since they are not nobles who have actually been granted the village as a territory, they simply perform a role similar to that of a “section chief” or “chief assistant” in a company…
However, the majority of nobles such as knights live in cities, aiming for a glamorous and comfortable life or opportunities for success in the city, and noble lords like knights consider it beneath them for an elegant noble to get involved in the lives of peasants.
Therefore, the nobles who own that land as their territory don’t pay much attention to other matters as long as they receive the taxes they are owed.
Consequently, the “village head assistant” bailiff is an entity with absolute power that is rarely interfered with unless there is a serious issue.
That’s why he was able to commit such corruption. And that’s why I’m going to personally punish him.
“Young master, we have almost arrived at the residence of Bailiff Mars.”
Hearing those words, Varso, who was sitting next to me, grumbled and said,
“This is better than the houses where decent knights live, right?
No matter how cheap the land is because it’s the countryside, this is ridiculous.
Isn’t this practically a mansion?”
Just as he said, that house was too big for a mere “village head assistant” bailiff to live in.
It had a red brick wall, the exterior of the house was plastered with lime, the roof was made of thin bricks instead of a pile of straw, and there was even a small garden.
This level of residence was equivalent to the mansions where knights with quite extensive territories lived.
It was not a mansion that a bailiff with a not very high official salary could build through normal means.
“Varso, what do you think about this? Doesn’t it reek of corruption?”
“Yes, I think so too.”
As we were having that conversation, a fat man came running towards us from the main gate of the mansion, shaking his belly fat.
The way he ran while panting in the middle was a bit funny, like a character from a cartoon.
It’s no joke, with that much belly fat, wouldn’t it make a “squish squish” sound even when breathing?
The bailiff, who came running while flapping his belly, bowed his head when he saw me and said,
“Huff, huff… Bailiff Mars greets the young master Ciel, the successor of His Excellency the Marquis of Kreutel, the lord of this land.”
I hid my displeasure and received his greeting with a calm expression and a smile.
Then, the bailiff looked at me with a somewhat relieved expression and said,
“I, Mars, heard the news that the young master was coming and prepared a small banquet.
Ah, this is something I’m offering with a pure heart, so please don’t feel burdened.”
“Is that so? What do you think, Varso?”
Hearing those words, Varso looked at me, blinked his eyes, and said,
“Isn’t it proper to accept it, young master?”
Judging by the signal that guy was sending, it seemed he was telling me to pretend to be fooled.
Well, even secret royal inspectors catch the bad provincial governors when they force village maidens to serve them.
It would be good to do that for a dramatic effect.
“I’ll leave it to you, Bailiff.
Even though I may not look like it, I have quite high standards when it comes to women, so please take good care of it.
We should get along well, shouldn’t we?”
The bailiff heard my words, completely erased the worried expression he had until a moment ago, smiled brightly, and said,
“Leave it to me. I have just brought in a girl who will suit the young master’s tastes very well.”
That evil bastard, I want to kill him.
**
After staying at the bailiff’s place for a few days like that, the night before I was finally leaving arrived.
“Sleep well, Varso.
You’re not going to say you’ll stand guard even in my room, are you?”
“Has the bailiff gone crazy to try to kill the young master?
I’ll just get a good rest too! Ha, by the way, I liked a woman named Chris in the village on the way here… It’s a pity I couldn’t even hold her hand.”
“That’s because you’re a man approaching 30 years old who has set his heart on a widow who just turned 20.”
Hearing those words, Varso made a “hmph” sound and grumbled, and I opened the door to the room assigned to me by the bailiff and went inside.
And I went in to sleep, but for some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep easily today.
No, my head felt dizzy.
No matter how much it was for the sake of digging up the bailiff’s corruption, the things I had done to the peasants while staying in this village for the past few days were unimaginably inconsiderate and tyrannical.
That crazy bailiff bastard issued a summons to the peasants who had to farm, saying that the young master needed to go hunting, and they were suddenly mobilized as beaters.
Next, he treated the wheat flour in the peasants’ houses as if it were his own and had the peasants’ ladies bake bread and bring it to him.
When I said I wanted to drink beer, he took the beer stored in the peasants’ houses.
When one peasant made a resentful expression, the bailiff kicked his shin and stomped on his back.
Even now, the resentful gazes of the peasants towards me and the bailiff are vivid in my eyes.
But how could I possibly fall asleep, ha, should I just cover myself with a cloak and sleep in the carriage, although it’s a bit cramped and uncomfortable?
While I was having such thoughts, suddenly I heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.
Who could it be at this hour, is it that guy Varso?
“Varso, why are you coming at this hour again? Is there something urgent?”
“…”
Like that, even after a minute passed, there was no answer from outside.
It doesn’t seem to be Varso, then could it possibly be an assassin or some other suspicious fellow?
I quickly got dressed and drew the sword that was placed next to my bed. Then I slowly opened the door slightly and looked outside.
When I looked outside, a girl was standing there trembling.
For a moment, I was so dumbfounded that I just stared blankly outside the door crack, and then the girl seemed to notice that I was about to open the door and said, trembling,
“Y-young master. Please let me in.”
Startled by her appearance, I froze for a while, unable to say anything, with the door open.
I couldn’t understand how that bailiff bastard, no matter how crazy he was, could send such a young and small child to my room even though I had never demanded it.
However, I should let her in for now.
And explain the situation and politely send her out.
Anyway, within 2-3 weeks, I’ll send an inspector to cut off the bailiff’s head for corruption and deceiving the lord, so what… Will he do something crazier than this?
“A-alright. Come in.”
Hearing those words, the girl carefully entered my room.
And when I closed the door, she stood in a crouched position slightly away from my bed.
Only then did I get a good look at this girl’s appearance, and to cut to the conclusion, the girl’s appearance was the very embodiment of my ideal type drawn as a picture.
Long brown hair with white skin, large eyes full of cuteness and a small face, a suitable height…
And her breasts, even though she was wearing a quite loose dress, were large enough to make her body line stand out. Her voice, when I listened closely, was also as sweet as a bell swaying in the summer wind.
For a moment, blinded by this beauty and cuteness, I even forgot my anger towards the bailiff who was exploiting people using all sorts of evil methods.
So when I stared blankly at the girl in front of me for a while, the girl spoke in a frightened voice.
“Y-young master… could it be that you don’t like me?”
“No, that’s not it. You’re cute, really.”
“…”
Usually, when a girl receives such a compliment, she would be happy, but given the situation, she must be too scared.
For now, I really want to beat the bailiff to death right away, but… As the current me, it’s not procedurally allowed to beat the bailiff, the administrator of this territory, to death.
First, let’s calm this girl down. And after asking about the situation, it’s best to add it to the bailiff’s list of crimes.
I pointed to the chair I had been sitting in until a little while ago and said,
“First, sit over there. And don’t be too scared, I won’t do anything bad.”
“Yes, young master…”
The girl spoke to me and then sat on the chair I pointed to.
“Alright, what’s your name and how old are you?”
“I… My name is Ella. I’m 13 years old.”
“I see, I’m Ciel von Kreutel. The successor of this Kreutel Marquisate.
Do you happen to not have a mother and father?”
Upon hearing these words, Ella suddenly began to sob.
I hurriedly patted her back to comfort her.
After patting her for quite a long time like that, Ella seemed to have calmed down, stopped sobbing, and said,
“They passed away last winter because there was nothing to eat.
After that, by the order of the Bailiff, they said we had to pay money called a death tax, so they took our house and the remaining cow…”
What? No matter how much a person is blinded by offerings and power, isn’t this too crazy for money? Unlike nobles like us, he is someone who needs to receive at least some support from the villagers.
But he completely ignored that and took all the property of an orphan under the pretext of a death tax? Even to a child who was crying because her parents had just died?
This goes beyond common sense, ethics, and morality, and is just an act of madness at the level of saying “please kill me.”
Regardless of my inner thoughts, the girl’s story continued.
“After that, the Bailiff brought me and my younger brother here and made us work.”
“Made you work? Alright, what kind of work?”
“I cooked as the lady ordered, cleaned, did laundry, and also wove cloth. I also made clothes, but I was beaten a lot for making them poorly.
And my younger brother Zack plowed the Bailiff’s land with other peasant uncles, and worked so hard day and night that…”
While telling the story, Ella seemed to have remembered a terrible memory and started sobbing again in front of me. She didn’t finish her words, but somehow… it must mean he died.
That damn Bailiff Miles would have made a peasant boy, who wouldn’t fetch much money even if sold, work continuously without caring if he died.
“He died…”
“Yes, a few days ago, when I went to see my brother lying on the stable straw, he was lying there helplessly, just breathing heavily.
When I held his hand, he said, ‘Sister, sister… I want to eat the porridge full of wheat that mom made for me,’ and then he died a little later.
When I told the Bailiff while crying that Zack had died, he beat me, saying not to cry because a rice thief had died.”
Even when the Sinan salt farm slave incident broke out in the past, they didn’t kill people in this way, they just made them work like slaves.
This is just beyond evil.
They overworked an 11-12 year old child even more than an adult, deliberately killed the boy, and kept Ella alive because she had good looks and was considered to have commercial value.
No, that bastard might have kept her to use her when making contact with real high-class nobles like me. Then, at some point, the girl approached me, crying and said,
“Young master, why… why do Zack and I… have to suffer like this?
Zack and I, and our mom and dad, always lived gratefully to the lord and the Bailiff… Why on earth? Why…. Zack, Zack, Dad, Mom…”
My heart felt heavy. Of course, strictly speaking, it’s not a “tragedy caused by me,” so I could avoid responsibility by saying, “It’s not my fault.” However, the person named Ciel von Kreutel cannot be free from this responsibility.
Because he is the noble who rules this territory.
Because he is the future lord who has agreed to protect them in exchange for receiving their taxes and enjoying wealth and glory.
At some point, tears began to fall from my eyes, one drop, two drops.
Instantly, Ella, who was startled to see that, hurriedly began to wipe my tears with the sleeves of her dress.
As she came close, her quite well-shaped breasts caught my eye, but… I wasn’t excited at all, nor did I have any lewd thoughts.
I just felt like I wanted to kill that damn Bailiff, that’s all.
No matter how much this is a status-based world with a messed-up judicial order, how can he illegally seize the last remaining property of a child who has become an orphan?
And what’s even more absurd is that he practically openly killed that child’s younger brother.
I tried to endure it as much as possible, but I can’t stand this anymore.
That bastard, who tells me to receive and eat a girl like this, saying “Bailiff, thanks for the tribute,” needs to die as soon as possible, even a minute or a second sooner.
The girl, who had carefully wiped the tears from my eyes like that, went back to her seat and said,
“Thank you. Young master… thank you.”
“What are you thankful for?”
Then Ella said with a dazzlingly bright smile, and at the same time, with a voice that felt sorrowful,
“It’s the first time… that someone has listened to my heart like this after my mom and dad passed away… I tried to show only a strong appearance to Zack, so I couldn’t show this weak side.
Thank you, young master.”
Then, in front of me, Ella tried to take off her clothes and slightly loosened the string of her dress on the right side of her chest.
I quickly grabbed her hand to stop her and said,
Yes, words that may sound foolish in this girl’s world where it’s not easy to protect what is called love.
“You do that with the person you sincerely love.
The person you want to be with for the rest of your life, the person who makes you feel like you can overcome even sickness if you’re together, the person you want to laugh with when you have happy things.
So, you don’t have to do that now.”
Hearing those words, Ella said with eyes brimming with tears,
“Really?”
I placed my hand on her head, gently stroked it, and said with a bitter smile,
“Of course, you can do that. So, rest assured.
Shall we stay together in my room until morning?”
“Yes…”
The expression on Ella’s face as she said that showed no trace of the sadness and sorrow from a little while ago.
She looked peaceful, as if she had gained a moment of rest after a lifetime of suffering. And I stayed up all night, saying words to reassure this child.
I wanted to do that even though we didn’t have that kind of relationship.
Then, Ella on the bed and I on the chair fell asleep, one after the other.
**
The next day, I left for the castle with the Bailiff’s sendoff.
And after another day passed, I returned to the Bailiff’s house again.
To punish that person’s skin-clad, worse-than-a-dog bastard.
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Damn. That hits hard