Chapter 73 â Villager A Talks to the Villainessâs Father:-
âUghâ
I found myself lying on a bed.
âAre you awake?â
When I opened my eyes, the maid who guided me, looked at me with a worried expression.
âWhere are we?â
âThis is Allen-samaâs room that I showed earlier. Allen-sama had collapsed and had been asleep for about five hours.â
Thank God, itâs not like Iâve been asleep for three days or anything.
âAccording to the doctor, there is a high possibility that the arrow that Allen-sama was hit with was coated with a special magic poison made with the proprietary technology of the Est Empire. The poison is said to take away the life of the victim after a certain amount of time has passed, and there is no antidote for it except in the Empire. The only way to get rid of it is in the empire. So, originally, Allen-sama should not be able to surviveâŠ..â
What, poisoned arrow!?
I hurriedly checked my left hand. As expected, the ăSubstitute ringă I was wearing had shattered into pieces.
I see. So, now I have no more insurance.
âWhat about AnnaâŠ.stasia-sama?â
âSheâs still asleep, but that doesnât mean thereâs anything wrong with her life.â
âIs that so.â
I slowly raise myself up.
âWould you like me to help?â
âNo, itâs okay.â
Just as I was about to stand up, my stomach rumbled loudly.
Oops. By the way, I havenât eaten anything since last night.
Iâm sure I have a subtle expression on my face from embarrassment and subtle awkwardness.
âIâll bring you some food. Also, I will report to the Master, so please wait a while.â
âSorry.â
And the maid left my room. Then she brought me a sandwich and as I was picking it up, I was immediately summoned by the Duke.
Not only the duke but also Elisabeth-san and Friedrich-san are present at the place where I was summoned.
The duke, after confirming that I was seated, waved the others to leave.
âAllen, youâre back on your feet, good.â
Then the duke looked relieved and suddenly thanked me.
âAllen, itâs my fault that my daughter turned out the way she is now. Also, thank you for risking your life to save her. I know Iâm a foolish father who couldnât have done anything for her, but I still want to express my gratitude. Thank you very much. â
âAllen-kun, thank you so much for getting my daughter back.â
I see, itâs not good for the Duke to be seen behaving this way towards the commoners, so he made the others leave.
âNo. Itâs just something I really wanted to do.â
When I said that, the dukes gave me a complicated look like they were troubled or relieved.
Then Friedrich-san also thanked me.
âAllen, Anna is my dear sister. Let me express my gratitude too. Thank you very much.â
âNoâŠâŠâ
âWell. So, you were responsible for the mysterious explosions that occurred only in the Xaus Kingdomâs army today, werenât you?â
ââŠ.Yes. Thatâs right. Well, itâs like my magic. They were a hindrance to Annaâs check-up.â
âAfter all is that soâŠ.â
That was all Friedrich-san said and remain silent.
âAllen, you were supposed to have gone to the Bruseni front alone to fight the Est invasion, werenât you?â
âYes. The entire region of Bruseni is now under the control of the Centraren Kingdom. There may be some resistance, but there shouldnât be any significant bases left.â
âWhat? What happened to Cardassia?â
âI fell, and most of the inhabitants were banished to the Est Empire.â
ââŠ..I see, Fortified city Cardassia, that we havenât been able to recapture for 50 years.â
âYesâ
Then silence reigned over us for a little while.
Itâs probably not fair to say in this situation.
But I decided it was now or never and opened my mouth.
âDuke, I have a request.â
ââŠ.What is it?â
The Duke looked quite cautious, wondering what he would be asked to do.
I think itâs quite rare for a duke to have such an attitude.
âI think Iâve fulfilled my promise. So, please give me your daughter, Anna.â
At that moment, the expressions on the faces of the three people froze. The expression âlike a pigeon eating a peashooterâ could be used to describe the expressions of these three people.
It must have been such an unexpected request.
âEh? A-Allen-kun? Is that okay? If itâs about my daughter, youâve been good to her, and thatâs enough already, you know? Allen, you should look for your own happinessâŠ.â
âI love Anna, I canât think of a woman other than her.â
âBut the doctor also said it was too late.â
âI have faith that Anna will come back. No, Iâll make sure she comes back.â
ââŠ..I see. That muchâŠ..â
When I told her that I was determined to do so, Elisabeth-san said so and kept her mouth shut.
âWell, well, if you say so much, isnât it okay?â
I donât know if Friedrich-san canât find the words or if he has some ideas, but he seems to agree with me anyway.
Itâs a little light for the next duke thoughâŠâŠ
Besides, the way things are going, Elisabeth-san probably wonât object.
âAllen, what do you mean youâve fulfilled your promise?â
But the duke is not going to be swayed. But I am confident that I can make him shake his head.
âPlease have a look at thisâ
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I showed him the order for deployment that I had received from the king. The duke frowned when he saw the contents.
âNo way I didnât expect you to have been given an order like thisâŠ.â
Thatâs right. Lead our country to victory by defeating the Est soldiers, capturing Cardassia, and reclaiming the Bruseni region. If done so, I will be given anything I desire. Thatâs the order Iâve been given.
Moreover, it was properly worded that the reward would be as I wish, and it was an order in the kingâs own handwriting.
Of course, the Jade Seal is also firmly stamped.
âI was the one who destroyed most of the Bruseniâs enemy forces. With the help of the method you saw, and sometimes used a fire attack by dropping a lot of oil from the sky.â
âOh, ohâ
âThen I sneaked into the imperial capital and killed the crown prince and his aide in the palace, and brought back their heads. May I serve you here now?â
âOh, put it out.â
I glanced at Elizaveta and she nodded, so I didnât hesitate to take out two raw heads from my magic bag.
âItâs definitely Igor, the Crown Prince of the Est Empire. AndâŠâŠisnât this guy GĂŒnther, Commander of the Imperial Magic Division!â
âI have defeated my enemies in Bruseni under the name of Allen, a B-rank adventurer receiving the protection of the Duke of Ramslett.â
I told him that Iâm not going to let him down.
The duke crossed his arms, wrinkled his brow and pretended to think long and hard before he opened his mouth.
âOkay, letâs admit. On the honour of my Ramslett Dukedom, I will recognize the marriage of Allen and Anastasia, and the Duke, who protects Allen, will undertake the negotiations with the Royal Family in his name.â
âThank you very much.â
Once I got up from my chair, I knelt down and bowed like a retainer. Then I handed over the raw heads of the hateful men and left.
ïŒïŒïŒïŒ
I went back to the room I was given and sat down on the bed and sighed heavily.
I thought that now was the only time to get him to admit it.
When the duke said he would wait for three years, I assumed that he would be willing to accept it, if necessary.
But on the other hand, he is also cold-hearted enough to use Anna to stabilize his territory without hesitation.
In the first place, I didnât think that my promise to wait three years would be kept. But on the other hand, I also thought that he would wait for me unless something went wrong.
The reason why the Duke accepted my request at that time was because he thought I was powerful enough to present Anna with an epic-grade ring.
In particular, the ăSubstitute ringă is something that any nobleman who fears assassination would want to have.
If you sell it to a source like that, you could probably make at least tens of billions of money, maybe even trillions.
As an adventurer, I found it from the dungeon on my own.
At this point, Iâm sure the dukeâs scales have tipped in my favour over some rich upstart aristocrat or a well-to-do person who just wants the name of the Duke of Ramslett, or some old man with a colour blur problem.
Then, after I took Anna and showed her how to traverse the Dungeon of the Wind Mountain, he would have known that what I was saying was not a lie, and my presence would have become even heavier.
In such a situation, Anna had gone through such conditions.
It is true, of course, that the Duke is saddened by this, as a father who loves his daughter.
Itâs easy to see that the Duke of Ramslett has family ties and affections, unlike the cold aristocratic families that we, the general public, would imagine by hearing just their names.
However, the option of not using Anna as a pawn in a political marriage, no matter how much they bonded and loved each other, would not have existed in the dukeâs mind.
However, after this incident, Anna is completely useless as a pawn in a political marriage.
No man would go out of his way to marry a woman who was bedridden and unconscious, no matter how much he wanted to.
In other words, Annaâs current value as a pawn in a political marriage is zero, or even negative.
There, the man who had single-handedly destroyed the troops of the Est Empire and the Kingdom of Xaus, and assassinated the Crown Prince of the Empire, came to offer a deal in a way that would honour the Duke.
He told me that if he gives me his daughter, who was bedridden and the doctors had given up on her, he would give me all the credit for her and take me under his wing.
It was a bit of his weakness, but this is how I finally got Anna.
I fell backwards and lay down on the soft bed and sighed heavily again.
âBut, more than this, I wanted you to smile âŠ.â