Episode 102: Want to make a bet with me? (2)
The rumor that the governor had made a bet with the lord quickly spread.
Everyone who heard the details shook their heads and clicked their tongues.
“Tsk tsk, your lordship is being too pushy.”
“The general has a temper. But he is the lord, so he should at least pretend to give in. The lord’s aides are really holding out.”
“Since the lord told us not to touch him, now even his aides can’t touch him. If something happens to the general, the lord’s reputation will only fall further. Then who will trust and work for the lord?”
As people said, Belinda couldn’t bring herself to lay a hand on Claude and spent the whole day beating her pillow to vent her anger.
“Ah! Why did you make such a bet, Master! You don’t know anything about farming, so what are you talking about! When will you ever get over that temper?”
As Claude said, it was a problem that no one had been able to solve for hundreds of years.
There was no way that Jiselle, who knew nothing about such problems, could solve them.
You can ask a wizard or priest to temporarily increase your intellect, but the effect will not last long.
It would have been cheaper to just buy food with that money.
“Ahhh! I’m so pissed! That gambler is like that too. He should give in when the lord leaves! And he’s just accepting it? He’s so happy to see you that he even asks for personal protection… … You pathetic bastard!”
Belinda slammed the innocent pillow.
When Belinda, the head steward, took it out on the governor, the atmosphere in the castle became chaotic.
Vanessa looked around, lost in thought.
‘The lord must win. Should I raise my intellect with magic for a moment? It’s impossible for me to manage that vast land by myself. I’ll have to pour in a lot of magic power to maintain it… … I have no mana… … and no runestones… … .’
Vanessa’s magical power was not enough to cover even a small patch of land, let alone the entire reclamation area that Giselle had planned.
‘Can I steal the magic power of Alpoy and the other wizards?’
She thought about attacking the wizards while they were sleeping, but it was impossible for her to subdue them alone.
‘I’m sorry, my lord. I’m a useless person… … .’
Vanessa, who was becoming more and more anxious as the days went by, was a cause for concern for those around her.
On the other hand, Kaoru’s face became more shiny as the days passed.
It was because Belinda took advantage of the time when she was out of the house to drink with the members of the Cerberus mercenary group.
“Huh, it’ll be fun even if the lord loses… … and it’ll be even more fun if the general loses. But that won’t happen, though.”
“Yeah, I’m really curious to see what kind of expression that monstrous lord will make when he loses.”
Kaor snorted at something one of the members said.
“This time, the lord made a mistake. It was a bet that was bound to be lost. I knew that stubbornness would become a problem someday.”
Giselle has always challenged what everyone has opposed and said is impossible.
And every time, it worked.
With his excellent sense and strong strength, he forced the impossible to happen.
Every time she did that, the people around her usually followed whatever Jiselle said, but this time they couldn’t.
“This time, it’s something that requires professional knowledge rather than strength.”
Kaor, who had been giggling, suddenly hardened her expression.
Gillian was approaching from a distance.
“Oh, here comes the old man. Hey, disperse! Move quickly, kids!”
Ever since Giselle started making a bet with Claude, Gillian has been walking around with a grumpy expression on her face.
Claude thought that he had deliberately provoked Giselle by bringing up the subject of the casino.
Since I was in such a bad mood, I knew that if I got caught drinking like this and got nitpicked, I would get all sorts of complaints from Gillian.
Kaor and the mercenaries quickly cleaned up the area, then slowly left the place while keeping an eye on Gillian.
* * *
As the atmosphere in the castle grew more intense, Claude worked more passionately.
Strangely, I felt strong even though I didn’t sleep.
“Hahaha, I’ll be free soon.”
The work is still horribly overwhelming, but when I think about how I only have to hold out for three months, it suddenly becomes doable.
There is such a difference between something that has no end in sight and something that has an end in sight.
“Before you go, you have to finish your work neatly. You don’t want to get caught for no reason.”
It wasn’t at all because I was scared of Wendy pulling out a dagger from behind and swinging it around.
“You’re not going to suddenly stab me in the back or anything, are you? Or put poison in my food?”
Wendy was startled by the sudden words and put the dagger into her bosom.
“I don’t do that.”
“If I die, the lord will be even more embarrassed. Do you understand?”
“… … I know.”
“Yeah, so watch out for me. It seems like there are some people after me these days.”
Claude warned for the twenty-third time and started working with a relieved face.
It wasn’t long before Wendy pulled out her dagger again and Claude repeated the same question for the twenty-fourth time.
* * *
Giselle looked over the work Claude had done and called up the mercenaries. It was faster for him to find the slash-and-burn farmers and bring them back.
“Gillian, get the help of the surrounding territories to find the runaway people. Kaor, search the north. Find all the hidden slash-and-burn people and bring them back. I will go south.”
The people of the estate were shaking with anxiety because Claude was wandering around here and there.
With armed soldiers prowling around, he thought something big would happen soon.
But now, the lord himself is leading the troops to capture them.
At this, the people of Yeongji trembled in fear. Public sentiment hit rock bottom, and Jiselle’s popularity fell without end.
Rumors spread that the new lord was more vicious and fearsome than the previous lord.
Although the managers were concerned and suggested that they proceed slowly, Jiselle did not even blink.
“It doesn’t matter. There’s no time to take it slow. Go as fast as you can, even if it means being forced to.”
Jiselle quickly found the slash-and-burn farmers hiding in the mountains.
Of course, the people who were discovered would not follow him obediently.
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“My lord, please let me stay here. Or just give me a few days to sort things out.”
“Yes, I will pay the taxes somehow.”
“There is no land when you go down. There is no food to live on.”
Although people were complaining, Jiselle shook her head coldly.
If you give it time, it will definitely run away to another place.
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you food and work. I don’t have time, so I’ll go down right away.”
The taxes that would come out of here would be nothing more than a pittance.
I came here because I was short on workers, not to extort a few pennies.
At Jiselle’s firm attitude, the farmers looked at each other and winked.
Attempts to buy time didn’t work. It seemed like the lord had already come with a plan.
The number of troops that came to find them was only ten, including the lord. It seemed like a number that could be dealt with.
A middle-aged man shouted while holding a club.
“f*ck! If I go down there, they’ll just rip me off like before!”
“I’m not that kind of person. I’m such a good person. People around me say that there’s no one in the world who’s as non-violent and pacifist as me.”
It was something that would have made people around them tilt their heads in confusion if they had heard it.
Even the mercenaries who came with Jiselle had expressions on their faces as if they had heard something they shouldn’t have heard.
The people of Hwajeon couldn’t believe it.
“No! Just leave us alone!”
Some of the angry farmers began to incite others.
“Everyone, let’s just fight! It’s going to be hell anyway!”
“Then! Give me freedom!”
“We’re just going to live here among ourselves!”
Jiselle laughed heartily despite the people’s heated reactions.
He is not a man of long and drawn-out speeches. He has never tried to persuade anyone.
He nodded to the mercenaries.
“Just arrest them all.”
The mercenaries charged at the farmers with a look of ‘well then’.
“I knew it! What kind of non-violence are you!”
“Everyone, take up arms!”
“Wow! I won’t be exploited any longer!”
The spirit of the Hwajeon people was surprisingly ferocious.
People who fled to escape exploitation were unlikely to follow coercive orders obediently.
“Give me liberty or give me death!”
The Hwajeon people were prepared to kill all who came and run away.
Whether I get captured by the lord and slowly wither to death, or rebel now and get stabbed to death, I’ll die anyway.
The number of slash-and-burn farmers was more than twice that of the mercenaries who had come, so he thought it was worth a try.
But it didn’t take long for their hopes to be dashed.
“Eww!”
As the mercenaries passed by, knocking them down one by one, the farmers all fell to the ground like puppets whose strings had snapped.
“Ugh… … .”
A mercenary asked Jisel as he stood before the groans of pain from the Hwajeon people.
“What should we do?”
Those who attack the lord are usually charged with treason and killed.
However, the mercenaries could not take action right away because they knew why Jiselle had come to find the Hwajeonmin.
Jiselle slowly looked around.
Children, women, and old people, seemingly the families of the fallen men, were sitting there shivering.
“Doesn’t this make me sound like a total villain lord?”
Jiselle let out a hearty laugh and gestured to the people.
“Don’t be afraid, I won’t kill you. I’m a non-violent pacifist. I’ll go down to the territory right away, so just pack what you absolutely need.”
The slash-and-burn farmers, who had lost the will to resist, got up one by one and packed their bags.
As people gathered together, roughly packing their bags, Giselle gave orders to the mercenaries.
“Destroy all the houses. Criminals and spies might be hiding there.”
The mercenaries immediately moved with axes in hand.
The shacks that the slash-and-burn farmers had built clumsily could not withstand the strong force and quickly began to crumble.
The faces of the slash-and-burn farmers who had just watched their village being destroyed with their own eyes darkened.
Now I realize once again that I can never return to this place again.
Giselle spoke gently to the crying child.
“Don’t worry. There is no other lord in the world as kind and gentle as me. Look, no one died even though they attacked the lord.”
Of course, the seeds didn’t work either.
To the child, Giselle was nothing more than a vicious lord who had beaten his father, destroyed his house, and dragged them away by force.
The child couldn’t say anything and just clenched his teeth with reddened eyes.
Jiselle shrugged her shoulders at the sight.
It was no use explaining it in detail to those who were already full of distrust. I had no choice but to show them directly.
“Okay, if everything’s done, let’s go down. It’s cold at night.”
Today, Jiselle, who had destroyed a village again, turned around with a proud smile.
Those who had attacked Giselle were dragged away, tied up like fish.
The rest of the family followed them, bowing their heads with expressions of despair.
The slash-and-burn farmers cried all the way down the mountain, worried about their future lives.
If I had known this would happen, I would have run a little farther.
I really didn’t know that they would search so hard in such a rugged and deep mountain.
“There were quite a few people today. I didn’t expect there to be more than forty people gathered.”
The farmers ground their teeth as they watched the excited Jiselle, but there was nothing they could do.
After a while, upon arriving at the castle, Giselle whistled at the sight she saw.
“Oh, there are quite a lot.”
The people of Hwajeon were shocked.
