Chapter 72

There's a saying, "you reap what you sow."

It's similar to tripping over one's own feet, and that was exactly Mayor Rapacio's situation right now.

Mayor Rapacio couldn't dare to meet my eyes and was avoiding my gaze.

Seeing a middle-aged man act like that was just unpleasant, so my gaze was nothing but cold.

“Weren't you here to talk, Mr. Mayor?”

“Save me, Lord Gryph! Didn't I help you establish the mercenary company?”

“You have quite the silver tongue for someone who was bought by Corsini and tried to assassinate me.”

“Gasp, how did you?”

“How do you think I knew?”

Mayor Rapacio was startled, but like someone who had been in politics for a long time, he acted shamelessly.

“I truly have no excuse for that. If you want my neck, I will offer it. But please, have pity on the people of this city.”

“Is that so?”

As Theo stroked the blade of his axe beside me, Mayor Rapacio's face turned pale.

It seemed he was worried I'd really cut it.

I guess you need this level of shamelessness to be in politics.

“What should we do? Should I make the cut?”

“He's not some commemorative ribbon, you can't just cut people like that.”

Theo was disappointed, and the mayor's face, which had been contemplating between Ra/pacio and Rapa/cio, lit up.

“Hmm, something about this is unpleasant to watch.”

“Lord Gryph, please!”

“You shouldn't have done that in the first place.”

“I thought it was the best course of action at the time! I was swayed by what Corsini said!”

Mayor Rapacio proved his will to survive.

He bowed his head without hesitation to someone much younger than him.

It was an act difficult to do in old age because of pride.

But, so what?

If you want to live, you have to bow.

“Originally, I was feeling upset and was thinking of canceling the contract and leaving to find another one.”

Mayor Rapacio's face turned pale again.

That's enough teasing.

I spoke as if I had no other choice.

“Still, I'm not unacquainted with the people of the city, so I can't just ignore the current situation.”

“Really?”

Mayor Rapacio quickly raised his head, but when his eyes met the blade of Theo's axe, he bowed his face as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have.

Theo issued a threat.

“I'm against it. A man who betrays once will betray again. Let's just deal with him cleanly, shall we?”

“Theo says so, but what do the rest of you think?”

Looking around, most of the mercenary officers seemed to agree with Theo.

“To be honest, there's no need to leave behind something dangerous.”

“Give me the chance, and I'll send him off in one blow.”

“Whoosh─ Whoosh─.”

“Hey, don't imitate the sound of an axe swinging with your mouth. It's creepy.”

The only one who objected was Eleonor.

“No. Still, he is the mayor of Fasa, in name at least. If we put a leash on him, he can still be useful.”

As expected of a Phoenix Knight.

Among our muscle-bound warriors, Eleonor probably had the best political sense.

She knew how to set conditions, too.

The other guys were useless.

“That's what she says, Mayor Rapacio.”

“Oh, Lord Gryph. I will grant you whatever you wish.”

Mayor Rapacio nodded his head quickly as if he had found a way to survive.

I glared at him and said.

“You must have heard all about the costs from Matriarch Costanza, so I'll keep it simple. I have one condition. Give me full authority over the city.”

“Ah, um. That's, a bit. Could you perhaps ask for something else instead?”

“I'm not asking for it completely. I'm asking you to delegate the authority only for the duration of the war, for the sake of conducting the war.”

“Still……”

Mayor Rapacio, who had been acting as if he would lick my feet just moments ago, immediately showed reluctance when I stated my condition.

That's right.

Humans are beings who want to negotiate even when their feet are on fire.

“Then I can't help it. Theo. Our guest is leaving.”

“Understood. I'll deliver him to the afterlife swiftly.”

“Hic! I'll give it to you! Of course, I'll give it to you!”

“Aww.”

Theo stepped back, looking very disappointed.

I told him to create a scary atmosphere, but what's with him getting so into the acting?

Anyway, Mayor Rapacio wrote an oath, pressed his thumbprint, and made a vow.

Of course, there was no law saying he wouldn't betray me just because he did this, but it would serve as a minimum safety device.

“I'll assign some of our men to guard you, Mr. Mayor. We should avoid you meeting with a mishap on the street, right?”

A few of Selvi's direct subordinates, who had been on standby, stood next to the mayor.

Mayor Rapacio seemed resigned.

“Are these people my leash?”

“We can't fully trust you either, Mr. Mayor. I won't hear any objections. Consider yourself grateful to have been given another chance when trust has already been broken once.”

“That's, true.”

Mayor Rapacio, having escaped the shadow of death, let out a sigh that could have been either relief or sadness.

Seeing that, I felt I should offer a word of comfort.

There's something called the onion experiment.

It's an experiment where you say good things and bad things to onions, and the onion that hears good things grows well while the one that hears bad things rots.

I've never tried it, so I don't know if it's true or not, but Mayor Rapacio seemed like that onion right now.

Still, he's a person, so wouldn't it be better to hear good things?

I placed a hand on Mayor Rapacio's shoulder and comforted him.

“Well, don't think of it too badly. If the Corsini Family finds out we met today, they'll try to silence you. Isn't being monitored better than being dragged into an alley and killed as soon as you leave here?”

“Ah.”

As if he had just realized the situation, Mayor Rapacio's complexion improved slightly.

The onion experiment was real.

The positive words had an effect.

“Don't worry about a thing. The Signori Family will help you from now on. Who is the Signori Family? Aren't they the foremost family in Fasa? Then who would dare look down on you, Mr. Mayor?”

“Th-that's right.”

“Don't worry and return to the city hall. Everything will go back to normal from now on. As long as the Black Company fulfills its contract, Fasa is safe.”

“I will.”

Mayor Rapacio, who had evolved from a mayor to a puppet, left the mercenary headquarters with his shoulders slumped for some reason.

Well, I don't know why.

Isn't it all good if he saved his life and kept his position?

Selvi jeered.

“That man is truly shameless. Siding with this one, then siding with that one. Coming here to beg for his life, yet he can't let go of what's in his hands.”

“That's how people are. Greed blinds the eyes.”

“Now that you have full authority, isn't that old man useless? Should we secretly take care of him at night?”

“No. He still has his uses. Until I step into the forefront, Mr. Rapacio needs to appease the people.”

The citizens of Fasa would never accept this kind of backroom deal.

They would surely rise up if they found out.

If Mayor Rapacio wanted to live, he had to stop that.

Besides, I still had the label of an outsider attached to me.

To remove this label, I needed to become at least a hero who saved the nation.

What must I do to save the nation?

The country must first face a crisis of ruin.

Only when such a danger is right at their doorstep will people look for someone to save them.

Until they cry and beg me to lead them.

In that sense, Mayor Rapacio is useful.

Well, he's like a totem.

“There's no one better for appeasing public sentiment. Since things have turned out this way, he won't be able to have any other thoughts.”

“Aha.”

Considering Mayor Rapacio's personality, he would undoubtedly try to flip his attitude like the back of his hand later, but I wasn't worried.

When that time comes, I'll just sort him out for recycling along with Corsini.

“Truly amazing, Young Master. You have grown splendidly.”

“Krrk, you devilish fellow……”

Theo clapped with a moved expression, Eleonor was writing something in her journal with a fast hand, and Ishmael was trembling with a horrified look.

What's with this atmosphere?

Anyway, since we're on the topic.

“What has the Corsini Family been up to lately?”

“They're holed up in their mansion, doing nothing. The swordsmen they had deployed in the streets have also disappeared. Are they scared by the threat of war?”

“It's better for them to stay quiet and not interfere than to sabotage from behind.”

If they just kept their heads down like scared turtles, everything would become much smoother.

Of course, it probably wasn't because they were truly scared.

Their scheme was likely to position themselves as the peace faction in this war.

If we won the war, that would be good, but if we lost, their plan would be to hold me responsible and politically oust me.

The Corsini Family, being real estate tycoons, would survive just by holding out.

Not a chance.

You all need to become sacrifices for me.

“Continue to monitor them and report immediately if they do anything strange.”

“Still, wouldn't it be better to deal with them beforehand than to leave a danger behind our backs?”

“It's fine. If things go as expected, the Corsini Family will be finished by this war.”

“?”

“I have a plan, so for now, just trust me.”

No matter how old and prestigious a family they were in Fasa, that only held weight within Fasa.

On a global scale, they were nothing more than a minor power.

Naturally, they were bound to lack a broad perspective and experience.

Their current actions also stemmed from that narrow perspective.

Of course, they probably thought it was the best course of action right now, but they wouldn't even imagine that the karma would come back to them inflated later.

When the right time comes, I will gut that belly.

I'm curious.

Just how much gold is the prestigious family of Fasa holding?

“More importantly, let's get back to the topic of war. What is the current situation of the Anti-Fasa Coalition?”

“The Anti-Fasa Coalition, or the Coalition for short, has only three participating neighboring countries so far. The other nations seem to have decided to watch how things unfold. They're a bunch of bats.”

“Prudence is a virtue. Which countries are participating?”

“Urdino, Messina, and Pescara, these three have been confirmed. It is expected that Urdino will advance by land, while Messina and Pescara will advance by sea.”

“Is that so.”

I recalled the geography of Apennia that I had been gathering.

All the mentioned nations were located on the coast, primarily engaged in maritime trade, and were likely countries that had suffered damage from pirates.

Furthermore, they had the commonality of being smaller in stature compared to Levona, but still larger than Fasa.

“Still, this seems manageable, doesn't it?”

“Krrk, what are you talking about? It's still a coalition of three nations. How are you going to face that force? Ah, are you perhaps planning to summon that beast living on Crescent Island? Krrk, if so, we can win.”

“Nope.”

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

“?”

Baffled glances were exchanged.

It seemed there was a misunderstanding.

Ishmael spoke first, flustered.

“Krrk, you mean it wasn't true that you made a beast devour Tospol?”

“Hey, how could I do that? Do you think I'm an animal? That I can talk to them? And you were there too. I was busy trying to survive myself, you know? If I had that kind of ability, I would have summoned them long ago.”

“……”

Ishmael neither confirmed nor denied it.

I glared at Ishmael.

Wait, is this some advanced way of dissing me, implying my intelligence is on an animal's level?

In the first place, if I had the ability to control beasts, I wouldn't have gone to such lengths to swallow Fasa.

I would have just gone around the world collecting beasts, then returned to the Empire and claimed the throne.

Then everyone would have gotten out of my way on their own.

After that, I would have sat on the throne and lived a leisurely life, throwing warlords to the monsters as food.

“Krrk, so the rumor that you feed pirates to deep-sea monsters every night wasn't true? Krrk?”

“There was such a grim rumor going around? Selvi! Why didn't you report it?”

I was aghast and turned to Selvi, who was in charge of information gathering.

Selvi nodded.

“You didn't know? I assumed you already knew.”

“I didn't! If such a rumor was going around, you should have reported it! What will people think of me!”

“That you're manly?”

“Hey!”

This is crazy!

That Caledonian vampire was completely ruining my reputation!

Do you think I'm some bloodthirsty barbarian?

I can't believe I had a guy like this by my side.

This guy, was he actually planning to socially kill me?

Even as I grabbed him by the collar and shook him, Selvi just spouted nonsense.

“Don't worry. The people of Fasa seem to like it, thinking the deep-sea monster is protecting the city.”

“I'm sure they like that very much.”

“It's true. The best-selling item in the market these days is a dancing deep-sea monster sculpture.”

A deep-sea monster is a deep-sea monster, but what's a dancing deep-sea monster?

Ishmael, with a troubled expression, stepped between us to mediate.

“Krrrk, that's enough idle chatter. Captain, just tell us what plan you have. We need to resolve the situation first, don't we.”

Everyone's eyes were on me.

They all had genuinely curious faces.

I cleared my throat for a moment, then confidently stated my plan.

“I'm going to use the pirates.”

At that, Ishmael let out a deep sigh that came from the very bottom of his soul.

“Oh, great prophet. Why do you give me such a trial?”

“You speak quite well now, even without the nasal sound.”

“Oh, prophet……”

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