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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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No matter how medieval the era, it has been forbidden for anyone but the ruler or a representative delegated with their authority to arbitrarily kill people, even if they are mere “nobles.”
This is because a society that allows people to “arbitrarily” kill others will become completely uncontrollable.
If this were permitted, nobles would be able to exploit peasants by using the “deprivation of life” as a means of exploitation, leading to unimaginable levels of exploitation.
There are records of how the crazy Belgian Emperor Leopold pondered how to legally exploit the people of the Congo when the Belgians ruled it.
As a result, the kind Leopold presented absurd quotas and exploited the people by instilling fear, cutting off arms, legs, and necks if they failed to meet them.
And thanks to that, the Congo paid an enormous amount of wealth to Leopold.
If the deprivation of life is legalized in this way, such exploitation becomes possible at any time.
Therefore, in most cases, even nobles are allowed to deprive the lives of peasants or citizens through the “act of suing peasants in court.”
So, the fact that I, as the successor, am thinking of killing the bailiff without going through the process of reporting, trial, and approval is an act that ignores all these implicit rules of governance.
At first, I also intended to report to Marquis Kreutel and dispatch an “inspector” to investigate the incident.
Then, after the inspector’s investigation, that bailiff’s head would have been cut off.
However, this territory only has a few years left, and that corrupt official friend even tried to throw a female peasant owned by Marquis Kreutel to me as a plaything.
Moreover, since he committed the crazy act of deliberately making Ella’s younger brother work harshly to death…
I can kill that bastard on the grounds that he tarnished the honor of a noble by giving me a peasant owned by the Marquis as a plaything.
At the same time, if I show such decisive action, the Marquis won’t be able to tell me to go to the academy now.
The eradication of corruption is a tremendous achievement.
Ah, but if the Marquis suspects my intentions, saying I ignored the procedure, I could be politically purged.
But based on the memory of the Marquis left in this body, he wouldn’t purge me over such an issue, so it should be fine.
First, I gathered the peasants from the surrounding villages in front of the bailiff’s house.
And I just said one thing to them.
No, the memory and emotions of the original owner remaining in my body began to cry out.
His regret, obsession, resentment, and incompetence.
Was it my imagination that I felt the gratitude he sent to me for freeing him from such shackles?
Leaving those emotions behind, I solemnly said,
“I, Ciel von Kreutel, as the legitimate successor of the territory, while inspecting the territory, heard from a peasant named Zachary that the bailiff of this village is illegally seizing the property of the peasants.
So, until a moment ago, I went to the bailiff’s house to confirm if it was really true.”
As I finished those words, the peasants began to murmur.
After raising my hand to calm the murmuring, I spoke again.
“As a result, I found out that that guy had embezzled the crops containing your blood, sweat, and effort, and your precious livestock.”
As I finished saying that, a friendly atmosphere began to circulate among the peasants who had been creating a heavy atmosphere until a moment ago.
The expression of anxiety about what I, the son of the lord, would do had somehow changed to an expression of expectation.
Like that, I gave them a brief moment to anticipate my next words and said,
“Although I am a noble with red blood flowing through my veins, I am noble because there is a contract to protect you.
That contract must be kept, and therefore, the bailiff who broke this promise will be purged.
And the crops and livestock that were unjustly taken from you will be returned.”
As those words ended, silence flowed among the peasants. Among them, someone raised their hand.
“Excuse me, young master.”
“Oh, yes, go ahead and speak.”
The man who had raised his hand hesitated for a moment and then said,
“Will you really return everything?”
“Everything, without leaving anything behind. Because that’s what Ciel von Kreutel has to do.”
After those words ended and a brief silence passed, the peasants let out a cheer full of joy.
“Hooray!!”
“I don’t know how much grain and livestock will be returned, but this is amazing!!”
“Long live His Excellency Marquis Kreutel, long live the young master!”
The sight of the peasants rejoicing made me feel proud.
When I first came to this village, I had no choice but to come to find a way to avoid going to the academy.
However, in the process, I saw the miserable reality of peasants being exploited by a corrupt bailiff, and now I am about to wield the blade of punishment for corruption that I can swing.
And the sight of the peasants rejoicing so purely felt truly beautiful.
And the fact that all of this was the result of my own thoughts and actions was not only purely joyful but also filled my heart with a sense of pride and fulfillment.
Ella looked at me with sparkling eyes as I did so.
Would I already appear as an object of admiration to this child, as a noble who moves for exploited people like herself?
Is it a delusion of grandeur to think that I may look like a prince from a fairy tale?
Then, I looked at the peasants in front of me and said in a loud voice,
“Follow me, we will go and reclaim your stolen property!”
***
As soon as we arrived at the bailiff’s house, the peasants instantly smashed the main gate of the bailiff’s house.
Next, they dragged the bailiff and his family out to the courtyard of his house.
The bailiff, who had been living in luxury and acting high and mighty with the wealth he had earned through unjust means until a moment ago, now began to tremble like a wet duckling in front of me.
The bailiff’s daughter and wife beside him also signaled with their eyes, looking at the bailiff and me, “We will do anything if you just spare our lives.”
Of course, I ignored such things and said,
“Ella, go with Varso and search together the places where the bailiff might have hidden things.
Half of the peasants stay here, and the other half, find the location of the warehouse and report back.”
At those words, the bailiff seemed to sense his end, and he just lowered his head and started looking at the ground.
Only then, whether he regretted what he had been doing or felt wronged, he ended up in a state of apologizing to the peasants he had harmed while shedding tears.
This was also funny because it looked like a scene from a historical drama where a vassal, who was dragged before the king to face death, shouted, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please spare my life!!”
And a little while later, Ella, Varso, and the peasants I had sent to find the warehouse returned.
Ella and Varso brought back a handful of documents that the bailiff might have hidden.
The documents recorded truly unimaginable contents.
Selling widows or orphans who couldn’t pay the nonexistent death tax as playthings to mercenary troops, or openly paying tribute to some nobles.
He also deliberately made some of them indebted, then turned them into slaves of his own house,
made them cultivate the lord’s directly managed land, and embezzled 30% of the harvest from there.
And under the pretext of the lord’s orders, he collected one chicken per person from the peasants every year, and so on…
Simply lending farming tools, allowing the use of watermills, and embezzling grain couldn’t even be considered crimes compared to these crimes.
I was going to have Varso kill him with a sword if possible, but no, that won’t do. Such trash should be killed as painfully as possible.
Since he did these things, wouldn’t he pay for his sins at least a little if he died as painfully as possible?
But that aside, the first thing I have to do now is return the property to the peasants.
“Attention, everyone.”
At those words, the attention of all the peasants was focused on me, and they had expectant expressions.
“It was revealed that 90% of the property owned by Bailiff Mars was unjustly exploited from you.
This property belongs entirely to you, so naturally, it will be returned to you.
Also, the crime of exploiting you using the authority of my father, the lord, is truly heavy. Therefore, Bailiff Mars will be…”
I couldn’t continue speaking for a moment.
Because even though he deserved to die, I had never killed a single person with my own hands while living in Korea.
Because I felt a slight, no, a great hesitation in saying, “Executed.”
However, in any case, I am a person who has to live here from now on, and this command is a process I must go through while living.
Therefore, I spoke in the most solemn voice possible.
“He will be executed by stoning on the spot.
And his wife Bes and daughter Bella will have their crimes revealed through a thorough investigation at the Marquisate’s court and will be punished according to the Marquis’ orders.
Does anyone have any objections?”
At those words, none of the peasants answered.
Instead, they quietly picked up the stones at their feet, expressing their lack of objection.
“Tie Bailiff Mars to that pillar over there and stone him to death.”
The peasants quickly grabbed Mars’ feet, dragged him away, and tied him to the pillar.
After being tied up, silence flowed for a while, and no one dared to throw a stone.
It must be because they also have an aversion to the act of stoning someone to death.
Then, I have to throw the first stone so that they can start, and at the same time, with the sense of responsibility I have to bear to live in this world.
As I was about to throw the stone like that, I already saw a stone flying from behind me.
The stone didn’t hit hard, but it flew towards the bailiff’s forehead and fell after hitting it. Looking in the direction the stone was thrown from, there was Ella, shedding tears.
“Zack!! Zack died because of you! You evil”
This time, someone else threw a stone.
Looking back, it was an old man who looked to be about 60 years old.
“Because of you, because of you, Bailiff Mars!! My son died.
My son died of starvation because you took all the wheat he had painstakingly harvested!”
And now, stones began to fly towards the bailiff like a floodgate opening.
Every time the bailiff was hit by a stone, he shouted, “Please spare me. I’m sorry. Young master,” but no one paid attention to him.
The stones just flew, hit him, and they only hoped that he would pay for his wrongdoings with death.
After throwing stones for 30 minutes like that, the bailiff showed no reaction to the flying stones.
To check if he was dead, I put my finger under his nose, and this bastard was still breathing, albeit faintly.
I got some cold water and splashed it on the bailiff’s face to wake him up.
He was trembling in front of my eyes as if he wanted to live, but of course, I couldn’t let him live.
I just woke him up to make him suffer as much as possible until he died. Just as I was about to signal to throw stones again, Varso approached me and said,
“Young master, that bastard will die soon.
However, the one who should punish a corrupt official who disturbs the territory of His Excellency the Marquis in the end should be a ‘noble.’ So, young master.”
Varso handed me the sword he was wearing. I drew that sword and hesitated for a moment, but soon made up my mind.
Yes, to survive here, there’s no choice, thinking of killing a human trash who is a violent sex offender and human trafficker…
I lifted the sword that felt as heavy as a thousand tons.
And with one slash, I separated the bailiff’s head from his shoulders.
A tremendous amount of blood spurted from the severed neck of the bailiff, soaking my face and clothes.
The blood of the evil man who had been alive until a moment ago was much hotter than I thought.
Yes, it was as hot as if it would burn, was this searing heat the will to live of this man?
But I couldn’t ask the already dead guy.
***
The next day, I declared to the peasants that I would return the extorted property to them and immediately returned to the Marquis’ mansion.
On the way back, I had many thoughts.
I was afraid of being scolded by the Marquis when I returned, and I felt lost about how I should adapt to this world in the future.
Sometimes, the sense of ethics I felt in modern times caught my ankles, and these were the moments that were quite painful.
Because it was as if another me kept tormenting me, saying,
“What right do you have to take a person’s life,”
and “Then, is it legal for anyone to take your life?”
Anyway, I finished the short but seemingly very long schedule and returned to the mansion.
Upon returning to the mansion, the Marquis’ steward delivered a letter to me. The letter had only one line written on it.
[Report to the office tomorrow early afternoon]
It was a bland sentence, but it seemed to carry a lot of meaning.
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