Free Web NovelChapter 21: Bribery, huh...
Elisia-san, Erika, and the maids finished preparing and left the mansion. The butler, who had come to the entrance to see us off, bowed his head to us. Elisia-san and Erika looked like they wanted to say something, but they held back and stepped outside the mansion.
The butler served the Deus family. He obeyed the orders of the head of the house, but he still had his own heart. He hadn’t stopped the master from sending Elisia to be embraced by other nobles like a prostitute, but he clearly didn’t approve of it. That’s why, when Elisia was mentally broken, he had slipped her sleeping pills — making her appear sick even though her body was healthy. It was his own form of resistance against the master.
...Well, even so, it seems he had still taken her out once a year.
And this time, the reason the Count had given up on Elisia was probably because this butler had told him some lie — something like "she doesn’t have much time left" or "the doctor has thrown in the towel." Since this was the butler who had always obeyed the Count’s every word, the Count believed him without suspicion. Even the Count couldn’t bring himself to send such a fragile Elisia to be embraced by other nobles. Not out of concern for her, but for his own self-preservation. If Elisia died after being passed around, his own position would be in danger.
Once Elisia became useless, there would be no need to support Erika either. That was why he had abandoned them.
I understood the reasoning, but I couldn’t say he had done well. If he had stopped it earlier, they could have avoided ruin...
I left the mansion without saying anything to the butler, who continued to keep his head bowed.
"Moving... to the Suzuya?"
Erika muttered this because we were approaching the Suzuya. Her mansion was on 9th Street, close to the Suzuya on 8th Street. When she tilted her head and asked, I shook my head and pointed to the building on the opposite side of the Suzuya — across the main avenue.
A long horizontal wall stretched on, with only a single lonely door that looked like the back entrance of some luxury inn. The building was probably more than twice the size of the Suzuya. Smiling, I handed Erika the key. She accepted it with both hands, question marks flying all over her head.
"I’ll rent it to you for one large silver coin per month."
"...Which building?"
Seeing Erika standing there in a daze, I smiled wryly and pointed at the large building again. Since we weren’t getting anywhere, I took her hand and led her to the door, making her open it herself.
When we entered together, it was dark — likely because it was late at night — and smelled of dust. I activated the lighting magic tool near the entrance. Erika stared blankly at the spacious interior. The depth alone was roughly the same as her own mansion. The first floor was wide with rooms along the sides, while the second floor consisted entirely of rooms. Simply put, the second floor was like an apartment complex. There were 6 rooms on the first floor and 18 rooms on the second.
Leaving the stunned Erika alone for a moment, I called out to one of the maids behind us — the one who had suddenly appeared earlier.
"Miss Maid, this building is fine even if you make loud noises. Sorry to ask when you’re busy, but could you clean at least the rooms we’ll sleep in? The cleaning supplies are here."
"...It’s no trouble at all. It shouldn’t take more than two hours."
The maid lightly spread the hem of her skirt with both hands and curtsied.
...Right, that’s called a curtsy. I showed her where the cleaning tools were and told her we’d be waiting at the Suzuya inn until she finished. By the way, Elisia-san had already been guided home by Niemi. She was probably suffering from lack of exercise and malnutrition. In a sense, calling it an "illness" wasn’t entirely a lie.
One of the three adventurers who had been escorting the still-dazed Erika — Minti — spoke up.
"Hey hey, Erika-chan, why don’t you hire us as your guards?"
"...Eh?"
"We really like you, Erika-chan~ So, how about it?"
"U-um, yes..."
"Thank you! We’ll talk about the reward tomorrow! Good night~!"
Minti grabbed both of the dazed Erika’s hands and shook them vigorously, then let go with a big smile and returned to the Suzuya inn. Meanwhile, Satour and Rolle were smiling bitterly the whole time Minti was talking. Even though Satour was the leader, it seemed Minti was the one doing the negotiating...
With Erika’s mind apparently in a light state of shutdown, I princess-carried her back home. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
When I opened the door to the house, Niemi and Elisia were sitting at the table. Elisia was calmly drinking the tea Niemi had served her. When Niemi saw me carrying Erika, she smiled with a troubled expression.
"What happened?"
"Well, a lot happened today... I think it was too much for her to process."
"My my."
I sat Erika down next to Elisia. Almost instinctively, Erika lightly clung to her mother. Elisia smiled with a slightly troubled look but put down her tea and gently hugged her daughter back. I let out a relieved sigh at the sight and turned to Niemi.
"Sorry. I decided to lend that building to Erika."
"...There’s nothing to apologize for. If anything, I’m proud of you as your lover."
I scratched my head in embarrassment at Niemi’s words. That building was something I had bought with future plans in mind — to turn it into the second Suzuya. The price had been 10 gold coins. It should have been worth at least one platinum coin, yet it was surprisingly cheap because the previous owner had died inside the building. It was what you’d call a stigmatized property. I bought it precisely because of the bad history attached to it that lowered the price. In my original world, people would be scared of ghosts, but in this world where ghost-type monsters exist, regular spirits probably don’t exist. And if any appeared, I could just defeat them.
"I’m sorry for showing you such an embarrassing sight."
After some time passed, Erika cleared her throat, looking embarrassed. Elisia, on the other hand, was smiling happily as she gazed at her daughter’s profile. After days of constant tension, she must have been overjoyed by this long-awaited peace. But we still needed to secure that peace.
Smiling, I brought up the topic.
"About bribery... what kind of people do you think receive it?"
Erika put on a serious expression and rested her hand on her chin, thinking carefully. She eventually answered.
"People of high status... nobles, I suppose?"
"...By the way, do you think the royal family would accept bribes?"
"Absolutely not."
Erika declared firmly. Of course she was right. If they accepted something like that, other nobles would simply offer even larger bribes and do whatever they wanted. The kingdom’s peace would crumble. But what if the nobles made "voluntary" donations instead? The kingdom would gladly accept them. A country never has too much money. Besides, it had only been two years since the war ended. The damage from that time couldn’t have been fully recovered yet. The town looked peaceful on the surface, but what about internally?
So I explained to Erika that we would have the nobles make "voluntary" donations to both us and the kingdom. She gave me a stunned look. Niemi and Elisia were smiling wryly too.
"...There are ways to do it, aren’t there?"
"Yeah. Leave it to me."
I nodded with a wicked grin. Though I didn’t show it on my face, my insides were boiling with rage. Among nobles there would naturally be political marriages and backstabbing.
...But I will never forgive them for using my wife like a whore. I won’t let them die easily. I’ll make them suffer and suffer until death itself becomes impossible.
I’ll gift them that kind of life.
The nobles who embraced Elisia and Count Deus — I hope they’re looking forward to it.
I’ll make you devote your lives to the kingdom you belong to.
