#5. 1. Something is strange (4)
The night was deep.
But Karnak, lying on his bed, could not sleep.
“ha…….”
I sigh as I look up at the bedroom ceiling covered in colorful wallpaper.
“How much is that? Why is that thing hanging on my ceiling?”
It’s not just the wallpaper. The furniture, the beds, and even the candles are all high-quality.
It wasn’t that he was saying that it was too luxurious and he couldn’t get used to it. When he was the commander, he was surrounded by much more luxurious things.
But it’s very different from the bedroom in my memories.
“This wasn’t my original plan… … .”
I have no more illusions about the power of the Commander King. But I have no intention of living in a state of incompetence either.
In theory, I have created a way to increase your power while erasing the side effects of sorcery.
We also made other plans in case things didn’t work out.
He is no longer the young and immature child he used to be, so he gets along well with his parents and siblings. No matter how much his family hates him, if you give them a lot of money, their attitude will definitely change.
How do you earn that money?
This has also been prepared.
It is a collection of all kinds of historical materials, such as when and where wars broke out in which country, when droughts and crop failures occurred, and where treasures were discovered.
I also planned how to invest and how to increase my wealth using that future information.
The goal is to live a life that is moderately full and warm, without being ignored or standing out.
“A life in a house of just this size, with just this level of status.”
Karnak looked around at the house that had become his, the mansion that had become his, and felt a sense of emptiness.
“But you’re already living like that?”
You just went back in time and didn’t do anything, but your life goals were achieved?
In this situation, he was not such a stupid person that he could comfortably say, ‘Wow, life was easy!’
“I guess I need to understand the situation first… … .”
Karnak grumbled as he rolled around on the bed.
“Why isn’t this guy Baros here? Is he sleeping?”
After a long time, the long-awaited knock was heard.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty.”
Karnak smiled brightly and called out to his attendant in a low voice.
“Come in.”
The door opened quietly, and Baros entered the room, looking around.
Karnak asked, getting up from bed.
“Is everyone asleep?”
“yes.”
“I guess I can finally move around a bit.”
“Are you going to do a mind search on the butler’s inspiration?”
“That’s right. But with my current abilities, it’s difficult to start a mental search right away.”
A catalyst is needed. There must also be a drug that can reduce the target’s mental power.
You can achieve what you want only by putting it to sleep and exploring while it’s sleeping.
“So, here are some things to prepare first. Delas petals, Jescho, Palel essence, and Lapart grass. They are all weeds that grow naturally in the garden, so they are easy to obtain… … .”
Before he could finish speaking, Baros held out his pocket.
“Here it is.”
The bag already contained the weeds he had requested.
“Huh? Did you prepare it yourself?”
“I’ve been with you for over 100 years. How could you not have this much sense?”
Barros shrugged.
“I’m late because I was collecting these. The garden is so well maintained that it’s hard to find.”
“I see. I left the garden alone in the past, so it was overgrown with weeds.”
But now that they’ve all been pulled out, it might be hard to find them.
“If you had come here now and started looking for it, you would have just wasted the night. Good job.”
Karnak gestured as he left the room.
“Let’s move.”
“What if the servants find out?”
“I can just say I can’t sleep and am going for a walk. Judging by the atmosphere, it seems like no one will say anything about me doing whatever I want.”
“Well, you are my lord now, aren’t you?”
“okay.”
Karnak let out a hollow laugh, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Me, the lord? Me, an illegitimate child and a scoundrel?”
***
Crush and mix the Delas petals, Jescho, Palel essence, and Laphat grass in a bowl. Then use necromancy to light it.
Hurrruk!
The fire burned for a moment and then went out.
All that remains is a long, billowing plume of black smoke.
The smoke moved through the air like a living thing, controlled by Karnak’s magic.
Black smoke slowly seeps into the nostrils of the old man lying on the bed. After shivering for a moment, the old butler opens his eyes, revealing the whites of his eyes.
“Okay, I put it to sleep perfectly.”
After checking the butler’s condition, Karnak gave the order.
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“Rise, my servant.”
The words in his voice gave off a force, and the old man immediately raised his upper body from the bed.
“Yes, master.”
Now, the old butler is in a state where he answers honestly no matter what is asked.
‘But what should I ask first?’
Karnak hesitated for a moment.
‘I have so many questions that I can’t seem to organize them.’
First, I need to check the thing I’m most curious about.
“How did your father pass away?”
The answer came right away.
“Three years ago, he was killed by the blade of the wicked Lord Randolph.”
Karnak and Baros looked at each other.
“Randolph? Who is that?”
“Are you by any chance a knight of Deventer? Why, the one from the neighboring territory… … .”
Since you cut out all the context and only heard the conclusion, I don’t understand at all.
“Then what about Baroness Isabella?”
“He was in bed, suffering from grief over the loss of his Baron and his eldest son. He eventually was unable to get up… … .”
“Oh, is that the order of death?”
Karnak continued his questioning.
“Then what happened to Brother Tesil?”
“First of all, my lord… … .”
***
I kept asking questions over and over again.
Every time, the old butler, Tafel, answered faithfully, his mind blank.
Thanks to that, I was able to understand the situation to some extent.
“Well, nothing much happened until I turned 16.”
The fact that the territory was on the verge of destruction, that his family despised Karnak, who was an illegitimate child, and that he was looked down upon by the people as a scoundrel were all the same as before.
The change occurred in the year 683 of the Kingdom of Yustil, four years ago.
The second eldest brother, Paralt, who usually went up and down the mountains to practice martial arts, accidentally discovered a large vein of copper ore in a cave in the north.
“A copper vein?”
Karnak frowned.
“I don’t remember hearing that there was a copper mine in our territory.”
Baros shrugged.
“You might not have noticed it before. It was discovered by chance.”
“Still, that’s too artificial a story.”
The discovery of a mine in one’s domain is one of the common fantasies of every local nobleman.
Of course, this rarely becomes reality.
If veins were that common, it wouldn’t have been a huge hit in the first place.
So when a noble family announces that they have discovered a mine, this is what we usually think.
Those guys, they’re making money in some shady way and using mining as an excuse!
“But this time it’s real?”
In the wake of this amazing stroke of luck, the House of Jestrad quickly developed the mine.
It is said that because it was a very high-quality copper mine, they were able to produce some results in just one year.
Of course, we didn’t develop it ourselves.
Mining development is a business that requires advanced mining technology and civil engineering. Since copper ingots do not just pop out when you dig the ground, technology to separate and refine copper from the mineral is also necessary.
How could the Baron of Jestrad, who only did farming, develop a copper mine on his own in just one year?
So, he entrusted the mining business to Tekas Trading Company, the largest merchant in the Kingdom of Yustel with technology and manpower, and managed it by sharing the profits.
The problem was this:
The neighboring fief, the Deventer Viscounts, who had always been keeping the Jestrad family in check, had started a quarrel.
The content can be roughly summarized as follows.
『The copper vein was originally discovered by the Deventer Viscount.
Also, the location of the copper mine is a neutral area adjacent to both families.
However, the generous Viscount Deventer proposed that the two houses jointly develop and own the mine, and Baron Jestrad also accepted.
However, the baron, who realized the size of the mine, broke the contract and changed his words.
How can we forgive them for this, when they are spreading the truth as if they had discovered it from the beginning?
We will reclaim our rights even if it means shedding blood!
Baros said in disbelief.
“Wow, they’re so shameless. Well, they were originally shameless, weren’t they?”
“But… … .”
Karnak shook his head.
“It’s not like it’s a completely baseless story.”
The copper mine was located in the north of the territory, on a tributary of the Jaden Mountains. Judging by its location alone, it is clearly part of the territory of Jestrad.
But originally, if there was a mountain, the territory would not be divided into your land and mine as if cut with a knife.
Farmland touched by human hands may have clear ownership rights, but what about forests or mountains?
It is common for people to just vaguely fill out their own maps and move on.
Since it is a useless land, there are few cases where money is spent on surveying it.
“It is certainly true that it is near our territory, but at the same time, it is also true that it is a place that our hands have not touched.”
If the Deventer family had discovered the copper mine first, they would have been in a position to claim joint management rights, although it would have been difficult to claim ownership.
“That is, if they really discovered the mine first.”
“Is there any chance it could be real, Young Master?”
“I can’t say there isn’t any at all… … .”
Karnak scratched his head as he recalled memories of the past.
“Honestly, I don’t think that’s very likely.”
“why?”
“Because Deventer is much stronger than us.”
Unlike the Baronial House of Jestrad, which was on the verge of collapse, the Viscount Deventer had been steadily building up his power since his predecessors.
Both his military power and his wealth far surpass those of the Baron.
“If we had decided to develop it jointly from the beginning, no one in their right mind would have crossed such a dangerous bridge, right?”
Because of this, the relationship between the two families became extremely bad.
It is human nature to say that when words don’t work, fists will be exchanged, and when fists don’t work, knives will be exchanged.
Inevitably, the two families entered into a land war.
There were several bloody battles, most of which resulted in defeats for House Zestrad.
As expected, the Deventer family’s ability to steadily build up its power since its ancestors was no ordinary one.
A year later, a tragedy occurred where the head of the family, Baron Kraput, was killed by Lord Randolph, the strongest knight in Deventer.
While the soldiers were retreating, even the successor, Prince Tesil, was killed by an arrow shot by Randolph, so the Baron Jestrad family was faced with the situation of losing both their head and successor at once.
Baroness Isabella, who had lost her beloved husband and son, became bedridden, and her second son, Prince Faralt, became the head of the household.
Although Paralt tried hard to gather the remaining troops and fight against the bard, he could not turn the tide of the situation.
The following year, he too was eventually sacrificed to the Deventers, losing both his legs to Randolph in another clash of battles.
He barely managed to survive thanks to his regular training, but he was disabled and could no longer work as a knight. The shock of being disabled led to him becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs, which in turn led to his health deteriorating significantly.
Eventually, even Paralt died of illness, and it was around that time that Baroness Isabella, who had been suffering from infirmity, also passed away.
“Wow, our family was completely wiped out by this one guy, Randolph? Was there someone this strong in the territory next to ours?”
“It’s not that Randolph was strong, it’s just that our family was too weak.”
“So who the hell is this Randolph?”
“I can barely remember the name… … .”
“Well, it’s no use trying to become famous in a rural area like this.”
Would Karnak and Baros, who had fought against the Four Great Kings, the Three Great Wizards, and the Legendary Dragon Emperor, remember a country village knight like this?
Karnak continued to question the old butler, passing over the matter briefly.
“So, what next?”
Now the only remaining descendant of the Baron family is his illegitimate son, Karnak.
The position of successor was passed to him. It was also decided that he would officially ascend to the throne when he turned 20, an adult.
Then the House of Deventer declared that they would cease fighting for a while and wait until Karnak became their lord.
It was a truly noble and dignified response.
“Of course, it’s just a pretext, but in reality, they waited until they found a trading partner.”
The Deventer family’s goal is not to destroy the Baronial House of Jestrad and swallow up the entire territory. They simply want to take over the copper mines and collect the war reparations.
“Then we’ll need someone to formally sign the contract.”
At that time, there was a lot of opposition to Karnak, who was a scoundrel, becoming a lord.
But after two years, when he became the head of the household, it is said that everyone recognized and respected him.
“You respected me? Why?”
The old butler’s eyes suddenly turned red at Karnak’s question.
“Who could not respect a lord who risks his life to protect his territory?”
‘What the heck? You’re still shedding tears while under mental suppression? How sincere are you?’
I was about to move on to the next question, feeling bewildered.
“Wait, life?”
Karnak’s face hardened.
“What are you talking about? Why would I risk my life?”
