Chapter 82

To appease the citizens' discontent, Leon offered Albe and the Corsini family as a sacrifice.

It was all Albe's fault, he said; Fasa burned because of the traitors.

That method was certainly effective.

“Albe sold us out? No wonder he suddenly dispatched the navy fleet, it was because he was a traitor!”

“My house burned down because of that son of a bitch!”

“My father died because of Albe!”

The anger of the citizens who had suffered from this battle exploded.

The citizens flocked to the Corsini residence and threw stones at it.

The fury was so intense that dozens of casualties occurred.

But the Corsini people could not even protest.

With Albe Corsini branded a traitor, the Corsini family's reputation had hit rock bottom.

On the other hand, the public's assessment of Leon soared.

The hero who saved Fasa from crisis!

Of course, the real reason for his popularity was that Leon had put forward populist policies.

“Everyone! Since I put down roots in Fasa, many of you have treated me like family. To repay that kindness, I will donate my personal fortune to the work of restoring the city's damages!”

“Lord Gryph! Thank you for saving the city!”

“Long live Leon Gryph!”

“I love you, Leon Gryph!”

Due to the characteristic of most citizens being engaged in trade, the people of Fasa were generally equipped with a merchant's spirit.

For a merchant, there is never anything for free.

The citizens sent cheers to Leon in return for the material compensation.

In fact, for Leon, it didn't matter how much money it took.

The money going into Fasa's restoration was scheduled to come from Corsini and his friends anyway.

The amount that Leon and the Signori family gained just from taking control of the state from the Corsini family was already beyond imagination.

“How much did these bastards make off with?”

“There’s no end to how much they’ve illicitly accumulated. At this rate, it would be several years' worth of the government budget, wouldn't it?”

“Randolfo will have to suffer. Oh well.”

“?”

Although Randolfo was shedding tears of blood inside, no one opposed the decision.

The Corsini family themselves had mostly died or fled amidst the chaos.

With no central figure, no one dared to raise a rebellion.

The citizens, too, had no intention of staying loyal to the Corsini family if the money wasn't coming out of their own pockets.

The world was originally this cold.

“No, no matter how you look at it, isn't something strange? As bad as the Corsini gang was, they weren't the type to betray the state. Could it be……”

“Hey, you there! What did you just say?”

“Nothing, I didn't say anything.”

“I don't think so. You're a traitor too! Arrest this man!”

“Please spare me!”

Still, clueless people popped up from time to time, but they would quiet down after seeing the gate of truth.

While controlling the city like this on the surface, Leon was working behind the scenes to fill the administrative vacuum in the city.

“Mayor Rapacio's end is a regrettable matter, but the position of mayor cannot be left vacant.”

“That is true, but.”

“Of course, I will not offer any opinion on that matter. I am a foreigner. The city's affairs should be handled by the citizens themselves.”

“We thank you for your consideration, Lord Gryph.”

“However.”

“Yes?”

“You know, right?”

“……”

Leon took the opportunity to dispel any concerns that he might become a usurper, taking on the appearance of an outsider observing.

Of course, that was nonsense.

Power and military force are not synonymous.

But it is common sense that military force is necessary to create power.

What's more, Leon had just stained his hands with a lot of the Corsini family's blood.

In times like these, even a joke is not heard as a joke.

After a formal election where everyone was reading the room, Emilio of the Signori family was elected as the next mayor.

“Erm, but isn't Emilio too young? There's such a thing as experience……”

“Hmm, are you opposing this?”

“No, no, no! I approve! Please let me approve!”

There were some dissenters, but the situation was settled with a single word from Leon.

Of course, people who didn't know the situation well thought that Leon was the figurehead and that the Signori family was actually leading the situation.

Everyone knew that the Signori family was deeply involved in the establishment of the company.

It wasn't particularly strange for them to exercise their rights as its sponsor.

Furthermore, when none of the company's executives were recommended as city administrative officials, the hypothesis that the Signori family was controlling Leon and the company gained strength.

Now, people spoke of how much patience the Signori family had shown to eliminate the Corsini family and were afraid.

“The Signori family is truly cunning. We should have known when they said they were establishing a company.”

“Have they been waiting all this time just to eliminate Corsini? What incredible patience.”

As a result, the Signori family gained a reputation and infamy for being insidious.

Of course, Matriarch Costanza didn't care about one or two bits of infamy and acted boldly.

“For a family to soar, it must have that kind of reputation. Rather, it is now that we can say we have earned the right to rule Fasa. Whatever it is, it is a good thing.”

Leon Gryph also benefited greatly from this defense of Fasa.

Not only did he weed out Corsini, an internal element of instability, but he also gained the people's trust and succeeded in inflicting great damage on the coalition forces.

Just as the internal situation of the city was being sorted out.

Unexpected news reached Fasa.

***

“Urgent news, urgent news! It is said that Pescara and Messina have invaded Urdino.”

“What, what kind of bullshit is that? Aren't the three of them allies?”

“It's probably a groundless rumor. Let's cross-verify the information and confirm the facts. It could be a mass hallucination or delirium. Or maybe someone smoked some drugs……”

“It's true, though?”

Surprisingly, the fact that it was true was confirmed through the little mage postman, Esil.

The Mage Guild was, as expected, the fastest with this kind of news.

After a short negotiation, the smart kid received a raise in pay to ten candies in exchange for finding out the detailed news.

“They were fighting over who would take responsibility for the defeat? Then they agreed to invade Urdino.”

“This is crazy, seriously.”

A place where even a person who has seen the future cannot predict one step ahead.

A pandemonium on earth.

That was Apennia.

***

The repercussions became larger than expected because Fasa had publicly announced that the Corsini family had colluded with the Messina-Pescara coalition.

Although it was nothing but fabrication and incitement, the Messina-Pescara coalition took this seriously as their own incompetence.

“An insider opened the gates for us, and we still couldn't take it?”

“What on earth did you do? I heard you lost the entire army and only the navy escaped?”

“Honestly, it's Pescara's fault. If they hadn't abandoned our allies and fled first.”

“Who are you Messina bastards grabbing by the hair?”

In fact, from Pescara's and Messina's perspectives, being blamed for something they didn't even do must have been dumbfounding and absurd.

In reality, there was no such thing as collusion.

But the media campaign launched by Leon made them think, ‘Really? Could that be?’

The circumstances seemed plausible, which made it even more so.

After fighting and grabbing each other's hair for a while, Messina and Pescara reached the same conclusion.

“……Enough, let's just say the responsibility for this defeat lies with Urdino.”

“Right. That's more productive than us fighting amongst ourselves.”

It is effective to turn internal dissatisfaction outwards.

But the target did not necessarily have to be an enemy.

Coincidentally, there was a nation in a vegetative state right next to them.

Thus, to quell internal dissatisfaction, Pescara and Messina committed the absurd act of invading Urdino.

“Humans really are political creatures. Even in this situation, they start by talking about who will take responsibility. Do they want to fight among themselves that much?”

“We did that too……”

“Shh. Seal your trap.”

I gave Theo a scolding for his thoughtless retort, then slightly turned my head away from reality.

Anyway, my head was throbbing because of the ridiculous things that were happening.

Look at yesterday's ally betraying and stabbing them in the back today.

It was truly nothing short of a savage jungle.

However, such an action was not incomprehensible.

They were probably thinking a lot about getting their money's worth.

When people suffer a loss, they tend to lose their minds.

There were many such people in the stock market as well.

Besides, Urdino was in a state where it had been plundered this way and that and had no strength to resist, so it wouldn't have been difficult to invade.

“Nothing under the sky is eternal. The coalition ultimately couldn't win the war, so it's a judgment to secure something more practical.”

“Even so, one doesn't normally think of plundering an ally, do they?”

Amidst the turmoil, Eleonor looked at me.

“Lord Gryph, the situation has changed, so I believe we need to alter our policy. What will you do? Shall we proceed as originally planned? Or?”

“It seems we'll have to change the plan.”

While most of the coalition had lost its initial momentum and a salty atmosphere was brewing, Fasa, which had succeeded in its defense, felt it was still doable.

The citizens, who had seen a lot of blood, wanted to retaliate against the enemies for more than what they had lost.

But even though we had annihilated the armies of Pescara and Messina, the 2:1 situation remained unchanged.

In the end, we had to annihilate the coalition's navy to achieve a decisive victory.

The pirates?

They weren't a card that could be played openly.

If it became known that we were acting together openly, we would inevitably be criticized.

So, is there any way to change this game?

Just as I was contemplating, a good idea flashed through my mind.

“Dame Eleonor. There's someone I need to meet before the meeting.”

“Now? Who? Is it an important person?”

“It's someone who can turn the current situation around. Will you come with me?”

“There's someone like that? Then we must go and meet them right away.”

Eleonor, her historian's curiosity piqued, gladly followed.

But she was soon flustered when she realized the place I was heading to was the underground prison.

“This place, don't tell me?”

“That's right. I came to meet ‘him’.”

“Isn't it too dangerous?”

Although Eleonor tried to stop me, I pushed ahead with the plan.

I had no intention of returning empty-handed.

“Open the gate.”

“Are you really doing this?”

“Yes. Hurry.”

The guards hesitated, but at my urging, they finally opened the gate.

Kiiik—.

With an ominous sound, the gate of the underground prison opened, revealing the dark and damp interior.

The torches hanging on the passage walls flickered, but the gloomy shadows remained, as if it were a cursed space.

“Are we really going inside here?”

“Of course.”

I walked down the passage without hesitation.

Jeobeok, jeobeok.

My footsteps echoed in the endlessly stretching passage.

“Where is the prisoner?”

The guard who followed behind bowed his head.

“My apologies, Captain. The prisoner kept trying to escape, so we had no choice but to move him to the innermost part.”

“Escape? How many times?”

“We counted up to five and then stopped counting.”

“He's got guts.”

“To the point of being very annoying. You never know what might happen.”

I thought I knew the reason.

Escape was a crime, but it was also something to be proud of.

In , successfully escaping gave a bonus to fame, and there was even an achievement for escaping a labyrinth.

However, in this prisoner's case, since he rarely ended up in a prison like this, a successful escape would be something to brag about for the rest of his life.

So it seemed his desire for showing off was stimulated.

He probably also had the intention of going back and reorganizing his army while he was at it.

Eventually, our steps stopped in front of a certain cell.

The guards carefully shone a light on the bars.

The figure of a form, crouched and lying in the darkness, was revealed.

The form spoke in a hoarse voice without looking back.

“What is it? It's not mealtime yet, is it?”

“The time has come.”

“What do you mean? Has my execution been decided?”

“No. I mean it's time for you to return to Urdino.”

The person who had been lying down got up.

The surrounding guards flinched upon seeing him.

The crazed glint in his eyes, sharp between his overgrown hair and beard, was enough to make one believe he was a demon from hell.

He approached the iron bars, emanating a terrible stench from his body.

“Explain it slowly. What happened.”

“You will be very surprised when you hear it.”

I explained to him, one by one, the events that had transpired.

That day, the demon named Cavaldi of Urdino was released from the prison where he had been sealed.

To carry out the death sentence on Messina and Pescara.

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