Chapter 6 — The Bastard of Westphalen (6)
Count Michael, who had suddenly found himself on the verge of divorcing his concubine, remained silent.
If he tried to stop it by saying she was a concubine he cherished, who knew what kind of insults he would receive from his father-in-law?
“But why do you want Head Maid Chloe?”
“I’m an adult now, so I should start looking for marriage prospects. Head Maid Chloe successfully arranged the young lord’s marriage, so I thought I’d ask her to handle mine as well. Is she someone you’re reluctant to part with?”
That wasn’t an excuse.
I really did intend to ask Head Maid Chloe to arrange a political marriage for me so I could secure an alliance.
Of course, after that, I planned to use her as one of my subordinates.
“No. It doesn’t matter. But I’m not sure whether she herself will agree to follow you.”
If Head Maid Chloe refused to come, I would simply bring up the attempted poisoning again.
“She’ll come. Thank you, Count Westphalen.”
I deliberately called the previous count Count Westphalen.
It was also a warning aimed at Count Michael.
You abandoned your wife and child because you wanted the title of count, but you are not worthy of being a count.
Perhaps he understood what I meant, because Count Michael’s expression darkened.
After leaving the count’s office, I was heading back to my room when Young Lord Noah stopped me in the hallway.
“Eric, you’re quick-witted, so you should understand. Don’t try anything foolish, and never set foot on my land again.”
The young lord was already thinking of Westphalen as his own territory.
“I wasn’t planning on coming back even if you didn’t warn me.”
“You bastard. Are you trying to act like we’re equals now? Why are you speaking casually to me?”
“Brother, I’m a lord now too. You’re only the young lord, so technically, I outrank you.”
The royal family hadn’t officially approved it yet, but a lord was still a lord.
However, Noah seemed to be angry about something completely different.
“You lunatic! Don’t call me brother! Never say that again!”
“I’m not Hong Gildong. Why can’t I call my father Father and my brother Brother?”
“Hong Gildong? What kind of bandit’s name is that?”
How did he know?
Anyway, that was the first and last time in my life that I called him Brother.
Even if Noah hadn’t gotten angry about it, I had no intention of calling him that again.
“I won’t be stepping on this land again, so stop worrying about me.”
“I can’t trust you. I heard you were wagging your tail at the Cardinal of Aachen. Weren’t you trying to build your own faction?”
Just as I had suggested, the Westphalen Knights had handed the captured dark mages over to the Cardinal of Aachen.
I heard the cardinal immediately held a grand execution by burning.
Thanks to that incident, his political support had grown so much that people were already saying he might run in the next—or the one after next—papal election.
Even House Pfalz had received a warning from the imperial family, influenced by the cardinal, telling them not to try anything foolish.
In the end, thanks to the plan I had created, the Cardinal of Aachen had become one of the hottest figures in the current Germania Empire.
But how exactly was some lord from a distant border territory supposed to manipulate a cardinal?
Noah was obviously jealous because I had gotten close enough to the cardinal to drink with him.
“Wagging my tail? His girlfriend would be upset if she heard you say that.”
“What?! The cardinal has a girlfriend? I thought he preferred men!”
What the hell is inside this bastard’s head? Why is he so interested in someone else’s sex life?
Anyway, I wanted to change the subject and get rid of the annoying Noah.
“By the way, aren’t you going to send anyone to keep an eye on me? Send three or four competent people.”
There was a one-hundred-percent chance they would plant spies among my people anyway.
If they were going to do it, I would rather take spies who were actually good at their jobs.
“How arrogant. Why would I bother monitoring someone like you?”
You’re obviously going to monitor me, yet you’re pretending otherwise.
Then should I squeeze some more out of him?
Young Lord Noah had an enormous ego and cared deeply about keeping up appearances.
People like him were extremely easy to exploit as long as you gave them a reasonable excuse.
“Then send me plenty of slaves instead. I need workers if I’m going to develop my territory. That way, I won’t have any reason to come back here either.”
I shrugged.
“If my territory collapses, I might come crawling back asking you to guarantee my debts. Imagine how embarrassing that would be.”
“Hmm. You do have a point. Fine. I’ll send you some slaves.”
Because of that ridiculous pride of his, Noah always ended up being an easy mark like this.
I could already imagine the future of the Westphalen territory.
“Send as many as possible in family groups.”
“Are you planning to breed the slaves and make them reproduce? You truly are obsessed with that productivity nonsense.”
When I was young, I had wanted to eat as much pork belly as I liked, so I once tried crossbreeding pigs to develop a new breed.
The reason I gave back then was increased productivity.
But Noah had stopped me, saying it was vulgar and filthy work.
Apparently, that memory had left quite an impression on him, because whenever he talked to me, he always brought up the word productivity.
What is this bastard even talking about? Does he have some kind of perverted demon living inside his head?
I couldn’t be bothered explaining, so I gave him a careless answer.
“Yeah. Productivity is important.”
“Fine. Even if Grandfather opposes it, I’ll take responsibility and send them.”
With that, Noah turned around and walked away.
I raised my fist behind his back and gave him a rude gesture.
While I was packing my belongings in my room with the maids, a visitor arrived.
“Viscount Marcel, it’s the heraldic officer.”
The heraldic officer was one of the administrators I liked.
I greeted him with a smile.
“Do you know you’re the first person to call me Viscount Marcel?”
“Haha! What an honor. Viscount Marcel, may you enjoy long life and prosperity.”
The heraldic officer had come to create the new crest and seal of the Marcel territory.
He opened the thick book he had brought and showed me designs from various regions.
“These days, religious designs are quite popular.”
“Hmm. I believe in religious freedom.”
“In that case, we could include symbols representing the major religions. The sun, moon, stars, earth, and sea. How does that sound?”
I had no intention of favoring any particular religion.
“Let’s include all of them. Keep the design as simple as possible.”
“Haha! Understood. In that case, I’ll make the seal itself a little more elaborate.”
“Do that. And do I need to personally visit the royal family of the Kingdom of Franche?”
The Westphalen territory belonged to the Germania Empire, while the Marcel territory belonged to the Kingdom of Franche.
I was asking whether I had to visit the royal family and officially report—
Hello, I’m Viscount Marcel now.
“If you pay the fee, there’s no need to go personally. I heard the payment was loaded onto a carriage and sent out last week. The approval should arrive soon.”
As expected.
They had already prepared everything.
The plan to dump the Marcel territory onto someone had clearly been prepared long ago.
It seemed that only the decision to make me its lord had been made recently.
“I’ll handle all the other procedures myself. I’ll have about five seal rings made with gold. I’ll also have the crest flags embroidered with gold thread.”
He smiled.
“That should greatly increase the count’s expenses.”
There was someone here who understood that I had stepped in a pile of shit.
He probably didn’t know the exact circumstances, but he had clearly noticed that the count’s family was trying to use me.
“You’re quick to catch on. Any interest in coming to the Marcel territory with me?”
“My relatives all live around here. I’d like to spend a long, long life in this area.”
“Tch. Well, thanks for looking out for me anyway.”
The heraldic officer watched me grumble for a moment before hesitantly speaking.
“If there are people you wish to take with you, now would be the best time to recruit them.”
“Why?”
“Most of them still have no idea what’s really happening.”
“Really? Then I need to hurry to the administrative office. Good work!”
The heraldic officer watched Eric run toward the administrative building and shook his head regretfully.
In his eyes, Eric was both highly capable and compassionate.
Should I send my second son to Marcel?
His eldest son was expected to inherit his position as heraldic officer.
His second son, meanwhile, was still studying at home.
The heraldic officer believed his second son was fairly intelligent.
He thought the boy might even satisfy Eric’s standards.
