I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Inheriting a Beautiful Wife and Estate Episode 011

11. Bellman’s Death

Aren, who had been hired by Bellman, was a D-rank mercenary.

He was confident he could easily defeat ragtag soldiers.

But the person standing before him was burdensome.

‘Why is the Lord’s representative here…’

First of all, the opponent’s status was burdensome.

A noble, no less.

Even if he could win, this was someone he shouldn’t defeat. If possible, he should flee before his face was seen.

Otherwise, he might face terrible consequences for the crime of insulting nobility.

“What are you doing lying there? You’re that guard who was beside that fellow Bellman, right?”

Wrong.

The opponent had already seen his face.

From this alone, Aren, who had lived as a mercenary, could guess. To make matters worse, the opponent was stronger than him.

‘Damn.’

This was the terrifying aspect of nobles.

A noble who had learned to use mana shouldn’t be challenged based on appearance alone, no matter how frail they looked. Still, there was one fortunate thing.

He hadn’t committed any wrongdoing yet.

“Yes, that’s correct. I am Aren, hired by one called Bellman to serve as his guard.”

He didn’t raise his body, which had originally been prone for crawling.

Aren came from outside. He knew well how arrogant nobles could be. The type who wouldn’t hesitate to swing a sword just for standing up without permission.

If at all possible, nobles were disasters that shouldn’t be encountered.

“I know. But why is someone who should be beside Bellman here?”

Cliff asked while looking at his opponent.

Saliva going down his throat.

Aren frantically worked his mind. Here, he wondered how he could shift responsibility for this incident onto Bellman.

In the worst case, he would have to do that.

The moment he had that thought, Cliff opened his mouth.

“Shall I guess?”

A leisurely attitude as if he knew all of Aren’s thoughts.

Cliff spoke in that state.

“Just now, there was a commotion at the estate prison. That would draw our forces’ attention there, right?”

A flinch.

“At that time, if you burned down this storehouse completely, you thought you could tie my hands. That without resources, I’d have no choice but to rely on him, right?”

“Th-that is…”

Right now was the moment of choice.

Aren hesitated but made his decision. Here, he had to side with Cliff.

That way, his chances of preserving his life were greater.

Cliff continued speaking.

“Tsk tsk. That fellow doesn’t know his place either. He must have lived like a king here for too long. It seems our father-in-law turned a blind eye to him appropriately too.”

There was likely a high probability there had been no direct conflicts.

So Bellman became arrogant.

It was clear he had made his move.

“There’s probably already support outside the estate too. So in the worst case, he thought he just needed to escape. Looking at our estate’s military condition, he probably thought fleeing would be easy, right?”

Aren, who had guarded Bellman for a long period, unconsciously nodded.

It was all correct.

Cliff opened his mouth.

“So he won’t do. He dared to try challenging me.”

“I definitely said that shouldn’t be done. But that fellow Bellman…”

The underworld code of taking all the blame.

Cliff listened to all of Aren’s story as he reported everything in detail.

Cliff put his finger to his lips.

“Shh.”

Gulp.

“Follow me.”

At Cliff’s words, he moved his feet.

And was immediately flustered. About ten soldiers were gathered beside the storehouse.

Cliff had brought him to such a place.

Cliff said.

“Light the fire.”

At those words, one of the soldiers went to the center.

Now he could see hay and firewood piled up. At Cliff’s instruction, sparks flew there and acrid smoke soon began rising.

“Wh-what is this…”

“If Bellman thinks the operation failed, won’t he try to flee?”

Cliff asked the surprised Aren as if it were nothing.

Aren looked at Cliff with a stunned expression.

‘He’s playing with someone like Bellman in the palm of his hand.’

Gulp.

He swallowed his saliva.

The thought that he could never defeat Cliff was newly etched in his mind. Cliff also glanced at him and grasped that much of his thinking.

‘That’s fortunate.’

And he felt relieved inside.

Actually, though he was pretending to be calm, Cliff couldn’t fight.

Though he had become a mana user, he was evaluated as dull in physical work and the swordsmanship he had learned.

At best, there might be a chance he could defeat someone like Aren, but…

‘The moment all my mana is depleted, it’s over.’

If Cliff had talent, he would have either been assassinated at the Duke’s mansion or lived there as a knight.

But Cliff corresponded to neither. Eventually, he came here and was playing the role of Lord’s representative.

He had little mana.

Too little at that.

He possessed even less mana than ordinary people, commoners who hadn’t trained. Also, he had no real combat experience.

‘Killing people is still frightening after all.’

Then he might hesitate at crucial moments like in novels.

The moment he stopped, an experienced mercenary would certainly not miss the opportunity. Let’s avoid dangerous situations. Thinking this way, Cliff took Aren aside again.

“I have a proposal for you.”

“Eh?”

Aren expressed bewilderment after hearing Cliff’s words.

“I have no intention of eliminating the dark aspects of the estate. More precisely, it would be correct to say I think they’ll arise again even if eliminated.”

Gulp.

“What do you mean…?”

“But Bellman won’t do. He dared to throw down a challenge to me. Doing business in the estate is fine, and even if there’s some lawbreaking involved, it’s okay. Rather… it wouldn’t be bad to have someone to assign such dirty work for me occasionally.”

The role of handling the lord’s dirty work.

The lord had no intention of eliminating the organization. Beyond that, he wanted complete coexistence with the organization.

This might make more stable business possible than now.

Just one thing.

If only Bellman disappeared.

“Just don’t think of challenging me. Daring to challenge the class system, and baring fangs at nobility – dogs should live like dogs, they shouldn’t do such things, right?”

“Gulp. Y-yes, that’s right.”

He understood Cliff’s words.

‘He’s telling us to become his dogs.’

And one more thing.

‘Betray Bellman…’

Betray Bellman.

And pledge loyalty to Cliff himself.

Then you can sit in Bellman’s position. Aren understood this meaning.

“The storehouse is on fire!”

Commotion broke out.

Hearing that commotion, Bellman felt the corners of his mouth rising.

‘Phew. Unless the Lord’s representative loses control of his anger and strikes me, this place is now my world!’

The tactic he used had worked.

He had prepared to flee in case of emergency, but first he needed to receive a report.

“Aren has returned.”

The report came in.

Bellman smiled.

“Yes, yes. Tell him to come in quickly.”

Aren came before Bellman with a stern face.

Step by step, the distance between them narrowed. Since Aren had always guarded by Bellman’s side, neither Bellman nor the surrounding guards found anything suspicious.

Aren looked around.

His eyes checking who was nearby.

‘Well, it is true that it would be burdensome to report this plan where others can hear.’

From the beginning, Bellman was fully prepared to abandon Aren depending on the situation.

It would be difficult to get through this incident without bloodshed.

So he had assigned this task to the person among his hired guards who would be easiest to discard.

‘This guy is too cowardly, that’s his problem. Because of that, it wouldn’t be strange if he betrayed me at any time.’

True to Bellman’s nature of being ready to betray, he felt a kinship with Aren.

The scent of betrayal.

But there was something even he didn’t know.

Could that betrayal possibly be today?

Stab.

“Gah. You, why are you…?”

Clang. Claaang. Clang.

“Aren, you bastard!”

Aren precisely stabbed Bellman’s vital spot with a dagger he had hidden in his sleeve.

The other guards couldn’t even react to the sudden assault. The problem was that they had allowed the distance between the two to be too close from the start.

At this distance, they absolutely couldn’t stop it with their skills.

Thud.

Bellman’s body collapsed.

“It would be best to drop your weapons. This bastard Bellman is dead anyway.”

There was no loyalty worth keeping to Bellman.

Aren looked around at the surrounding guards like that. They were still in shock. But the bloody smell stimulating their noses helped them make up their minds.

That was why they didn’t attack Aren.

“What the hell are you thinking?”

Jerno, who acted as their eldest brother, asked about Aren’s intentions.

He still didn’t understand.

Why betray Bellman at this moment? If he was going to do it, it should have been before setting fire to the estate warehouse.

Aren grinned and answered.

“The Lord’s representative made me the next boss of the organization.”

“…!”

Their eyes widened.

They turned their heads to make eye contact with each other.

While they were pondering how to resolve this situation, it became noisy outside.

“B-big trouble! The Lord’s representative has led soldiers and is attacking this place!”

“Gasp!”

The organization members who were about to come in and report hesitated.

The atmosphere inside was strange.

And Bellman collapsed on the floor.

‘Wh-what is this…’

Jerno sighed.

“…We’ve been had.”

The situation where the lord had even brought soldiers.

Fighting with Aren here would be pointless.

Now the organization had essentially fallen into the lord’s hands.

‘The lord will try to establish his authority through this incident.’

Jerno let out a sigh.

“…Sheathe your swords.”

“Big brother!”

“Even if we kill Aren here, our dead employer won’t come back. Right now, the situation outside is more worrying.”

“Haha. You made a good choice.”

Aren laughed and acted arrogantly.

He knew how powerfully Bellman had lived.

‘Now all of that is mine, right?’

For this, he needed to hurry to the lord.

And he had to hand over Bellman’s corpse to pin all the blame on the dead man.

“Don’t resist the Lord’s representative! I killed Bellman, who was committing crimes!”

Aren, who had completely severed his head and went out holding it in one hand, shouted.

The organization members who had been blocking and hesitating at the soldiers’ entry all stepped back in a rush.

Aren knelt down with Bellman’s head in front of him.

“Everything that dared to bare fangs at the Lord’s representative was all under the orders of this Bellman here. I have killed him, so please, with the Lord’s representative’s great magnanimity, forgive the wrongs of us who were his subordinates.”

“…Remove that hideous thing.”

At Cliff’s command, Bellman’s head was taken away.

Nigel advised from the side.

“Hang Bellman’s head at the village entrance to show people how great a wrong it is to rebel against the Lord’s representative.”

Cliff frowned.

He didn’t particularly want to see such a cruel sight. But he agreed it was a necessary process.

“One day. Hang his head from tomorrow morning for one day, and when evening comes, take it down and burn his corpse together.”

“Understood.”

With this, Bellman’s organization was destroyed.

There were still his remnants and Aren who led them, but that was fine.

He had put a leash on Aren. Of course, that didn’t mean he trusted him.

‘He still has zero loyalty.’

He was someone who would betray.

But he intended to retreat here. Of course, he should collect the spoils of war before that.

“I will confiscate all the wealth that Bellman possessed.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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