Chapter 79: Earl Deolus
Surrounded by Guards, I was taken behind the guardhouse, where a shabby carriage was waiting, and I was made to board it.
After being kept waiting for a while, it started moving, but it was so awful, no different from a freight wagon, that I nearly bit my tongue.
“We were summoned before we could even learn the address, weren’t we?”
“Well, yeah. It might happen again, so you should probably memorize it. If they get too annoying, I’ll just leave this country, but until then, I think it’ll be useful.”
“Why didn’t you show them that Identification?”
“Well, it’d be a pain if it didn’t work on the underlings, and it’s most effective to shove it in the master’s face.”
“I don’t want to get hit. Maybe I should just kneel as soon as I see the lord’s face.”
Even before we arrived at the lord’s mansion, I was getting so fed up with the carriage kicking my butt that I was starting to think about running away, when it finally stopped.
“Get out! We’re taking you to Butler Goblan-dono now. Be careful not to be rude!”
We entered through the back entrance of the mansion and were taken to a place like a waiting room.
A man who was sizing us up intently was probably a tradesman; it wasn’t a place young Adventurers usually came to, so he looked very curious.
After being kept waiting for a long, long time, just as I was getting thoroughly fed up, we were called into the next room.
We were made to stand before a difficult-looking man, the very picture of a butler, who was facing a desk and looking over documents.
“We have brought the Adventurers Shinya and Fran.”
Oh-ho, that expression of his, looking us up and down and sneering, is just lovely.
“Shinya, I shall deign to add you to the ranks of the Earl Haynes Deolus family’s knightly order. Fran, you shall work in a manner befitting a member of the Magic Squad.”
“Is that a decided matter?”
“Insolent fool! Accept it humbly!”
That feeling of something hitting my back wasn’t just my imagination, was it?
When I turned around, a mansion Guard was standing there with a furious expression, gripping a staff about his own height.
Since Fran is here, I won’t use Killing Intent or King’s Pressure; I’ll try out King Tiger’s Glare.
He just managed to utter 《Wha-》 before his face twitched, he broke out in a cold sweat, and stood frozen.
“You’ll die if you try any funny business,” I warned the Guard, then turned to the butler, maintaining the glare.
The butler said nothing, didn’t move, just stared at me, but he had goosebumps and was trembling minutely.
Just when I thought, ‘This is more convenient than King’s Pressure,’ I heard Fran’s trembling voice, “Shinya-san, this is really scary…”
When I dispelled the glare and turned to Fran, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, “It felt like being glared at by a King Tiger or a Red Bear.”
“Sorry, this idiot hit me from behind, so I just reacted.”
I slapped down the Guard, who was frozen and drenched in a cold sweat. “My apologies,” I said.
“You said your name was Butler Goblan, right? Who said anything about serving Earl Deolus, and when? ‘Work in a manner befitting,’ you say? Are you underestimating Adventurers?!”
“Y-y-you… you dare to defy the Earl-sama’s wishes?”
“Adventurers are treated as wanderers. As long as we don’t commit crimes, we can go to any land, and there’s no reason for nobles to order us around. As a butler, you should know at least that much, right?”
“But, as long as you are in this Florence territory, you are not permitted to defy Earl-sama’s orders!”
“‘Not permitted,’ you say? Are you an idiot? There’s no talking to you. You know what this is, right?”
I shoved the Identification I received from the Queen-sama right under the butler’s nose.
He stared blankly at what was thrust before his eyes, as if unable to comprehend what it was.
“You’re a butler of an Earl’s household, and you don’t recognize the Royal Family Crest?”
“A lie… this… this is… impossible!”
“But I have it, don’t I? By the way, the flower beneath the crest signifies service to the Queen-sama. I’m entrusting this to you, so go to your master and tell him I said I want to see him!”
I reached across the desk, grabbed the butler’s collar, yanked him out of his chair, made him stand in front of me, and shoved the Identification into his hand.
He hesitated, looking at the Identification in his hand, so I grabbed his shoulders, spun him around, and yelled, “Hurry up and go report!” then kicked his butt.
Clutching the Royal Family’s Identification, he left jerkily and didn’t come back.
Watching the exchange between me and the butler, the Guard pressed himself against the wall and said nothing.
Tired of waiting, I dragged out a chair lined up against the wall and sat down, and Fran promptly sat down next to me.
I was getting pretty bored and thought about leaving, but I couldn’t go home without getting the Identification back.
While we were doing that, I sensed a large group of people approaching.
“Shinya-san, it seems they’ve come…”
“The atmosphere seems a bit nasty.”
“Indeed. Shouldn’t you call Bee-chan?”
“I’ve already called him. If anything happens, I’ll break the window glass, so stay down.”
“Of course!”
A group of knights arrived with heavy footsteps. “Shinya and Fran, come out! The Earl-sama summons you!”
“You’re not going to suddenly attack us, right?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll avenge you,” I said.
“I don’t like this~ Please don’t kill me.”
“What are you muttering about? Hurry up and come out!”
Yeah, yeah. It seems the Queen-sama’s Identification isn’t much use either, so I guess we’ll go, being wary of surprise attacks.
I walked in front, with Fran behind me, in a formation to guard against attacks from the rear.
There were knights walking in front and behind us, so a sudden slash as I turned… I wonder if I can dodge it with my agility.
Thinking such pointless thoughts, we went up to the second floor and arrived in front of a door where a knight stood.
When the lead knight nodded, the guarding knight faced the room and announced loudly, “We have brought the two Adventurers.”
This is even more exaggerated than at Earl Lingan’s place in the town of Holm, I almost laughed.
When the heavy door was pulled open, I was pushed from behind with a “Get in!” and stepped into the room. There were three knights on each side just inside the door.
Five knights stood along each wall, six by the window, and five knights stood behind a man who looked like an Earl, sitting on a sofa in the center.
It’s a bit over-the-top, but if he’s heard about us from the Guild, I guess this means he’s being cautious.
“This is His Excellency, Earl Haynes Deolus. Kneel!”
I was nudged from behind again, which was a little irritating.
Fran quickly knelt towards the sofa, but I just stared blankly at the old guy leaning back and swirling his glass.
“Didn’t you understand when I told you to kneel?!”
Sensing him about to strike along with the angry shout, I took a single step to stand before the Earl and unleashed my Killing Intent and King’s Pressure.
Simultaneously, I glared at the knights waiting behind the Earl with King Tiger’s Glare.
After immobilizing the knights, I kicked the desk in front of the Earl sideways.
Seeing the guy who was behind me and the knights by the wall desperately trying to draw their swords, I warned them, “If you attack us, this guy’s head will fly.”
“Y-you…”
“You’ve got some nerve, abducting Adventurers using Guards without even issuing a Designated Request. If you call yourself an Earl, you should know the agreement between the Kingdom and the Adventurers Guild, right?”
“I-insolent fool!”
He somehow managed to utter a sound. As a guy attacked from behind, I grabbed his arm and, using his own momentum, threw him.
He flew over the head of the Earl sitting on the sofa, taking three knights standing behind him along, and crashed into the wall.
As a bonus, two knights standing by the wall were caught in the mess and remained down, unable to get up.
“On top of forcibly bringing us here, that bastard butler, Goblan, had the gall to say, ‘Shinya, I shall deign to add you to the ranks of the Earl Haynes Deolus family’s knightly order. Fran, you shall work in a manner befitting a member of the Magic Squad.’ Don’t you know the circumstances of how Earl Maurice Halewood, the former lord of this land, died, and his house was demoted and its territory changed?”
“W-w-what… What are you dissatisfied about? I was going to elevate you from mere wanderers…”
When I slapped him across the face, he collapsed onto the sofa and bounced back.
“I told you earlier, didn’t I? About the agreement between the Kingdom and the Adventurers Guild.”
This time, someone attacked from behind without even a sound, so I spun around and gave him a slap.
His face contorted and he crumpled to the ground, so I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him towards the doorway.
Peerless Strength is convenient.
“It seems your loyal subordinates prioritize attacking me over your life.”
I pulled a Short Spear from my Magic Pouch and slammed its butt onto the floor.
Seeing the Short Spear embedded in the floor, the Earl trembled.
Looking at Fran, she was still kneeling, looking down and trembling.
This is her first rough encounter with nobles, so I guess it can’t be helped.
I beckoned to Goblan, who was trembling in the shadow of the doorway, and asked him where my Identification was.
“T-to the Earl-sama…”
“Hey, give me back my Identification.”
“F-f-falsifying your identity is a serious crime! You, who assaulted me, an Earl, and impersonated a member of the Royal Family—”
I delivered a merciless slap, silencing him forever.
“Hey, you Goblin bastard, I’m entrusting my Identification to you, so report Earl Deolus’s death to the Royal Castle.”
“Huh?”
“I’m telling you to report Earl Deolus’s death and the circumstances surrounding it to the Royal Castle. I’m the one who killed the Earl, and attach the Identification entrusted to me by Her Majesty the Queen as proof.”
I could hear the sound of many footsteps rushing over from a distance. Protecting a frightened Fran while rampaging would be a pain, so I threw the table I had kicked aside earlier at the window.
The door burst open as if kicked down, and knights rushed in.
“Father, what’s going on…?”
Unleashing my King’s Pressure to its fullest, I glared at the knights who had rushed in, but the one who had yelled “Father” flinched yet turned to face me with a desperate look.
“This… Did you do this?”
“That’s right. I punished a man unworthy of being a noble. If you want to know why, ask that Goblin over there.”
“Goblin?”
“The Butler trembling over there.”