I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 64

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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 064

64. The Purpose Behind

Awoooooo!

Making an eerie howling sound, a black mass pounced on Rick.

Rick, who had been confronting Adolf, was caught in that manner. Once Rick was subdued, it was only a matter of moments before Reton found himself in danger.

Clang.

Reton was barely managing to block Teobaldt’s sword strikes. Adolf appeared behind him.

“Why don’t you give up here.”

Was it because of the last remaining loyalty to the Ballard Family?

Adolf raised his sword and shield as he made the proposal. Naturally, Reton did not accept it.

He too knew the situation was precarious.

‘Marcos. What are you doing!’

The only thing Reton could rely on was Marcos.

But that hope was quickly shattered as well.

“…Father.”

Marcos had also been subdued and dragged over.

The moment he saw the young blonde youth appearing behind him, Reton had no choice but to lower his sword toward the ground.

Instead, he raised his voice in apparent injustice, shouting angrily.

“Ellemis Baron! I am a noble! How can you persecute a noble like me and brand me as a bandit!”

Here, Reton could not give up.

Somehow he had to push through as he had originally planned. Cliff also roughly caught on to what he was thinking.

‘That won’t work.’

He shouldn’t be here as a noble.

To the end, he had to treat him as a bandit.

Anyway, there was no one to guarantee the status of this man who had been expelled from the already fallen Ballard Family.

“Lord Adolf.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Has any noble ever notified us of visiting our estate?”

“No.”

“So you’re saying this bandit dared to impersonate a noble as well.”

At Cliff’s conclusion, Reton raised his voice even higher.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you subduing that noisy bandit leader.”

“Do you think I’ll be taken down so easily!”

Reton raised his sword again. But their side’s response was faster.

Teobaldt rushed in and struck Reton’s sword. Reton finally lost his grip on his sword. At that moment, Adolf also charged and struck Reton’s back with his shield.

“Kugh!”

“…Father!”

Reton coughed up blood as his body fell forward.

Unable to absorb the shock, he was roughly subdued by Teobaldt and the others.

“…How shall we deal with them?”

Belgimov, who had been hiding in the shadows, came out and asked.

“They’ll have to spend their lives fighting goblins.”

Cliff smiled as he spoke.

If they were prisoners of war, if they were knights of confirmed status, he would have to release them for ransom.

Also, he must not insult their honor.

‘But there’s no one like that here.’

The Ballard Family, their foundation, had already fallen.

The mercenary company was annihilated.

And these people were caught by him not as mercenaries but as criminals.

“Have the Shadows keep a close watch on them. I’ll take them to the city soon to have them branded.”

With this, he had gained three important knight-level forces.

‘It’s strange how every knight that joins ends up getting branded.’

There wasn’t a single knight of free status.

But this wouldn’t be a problem either. Rather, as the master-servant command relationship became stronger, the surrounding areas would fear the Elimis Family even more.

As he had discussed with Belgimov earlier, the knight forces in the estate had increased.

“This is good news.”

Cliff tilted his head as he said that.

The Quest was completed as well.

-Military category level increases

-Physical Training (Lv. 4)

-Morale Maintenance (Lv. 2)

-Fighting Spirit (Lv. 3)

-Guardian Will (Lv. 3)

The points he could choose were 3.

‘First, I’ll aim for Max.’

Cliff’s eyes gleamed.

The next skill that appears when reaching Max.

When ‘Assistant Mage’ reached level 5, Max appeared. But the blessing didn’t change at that time.

‘I wonder how it’ll be with Military.’

His choice was Physical Training.

It was the moment it went up once.

-Physical Training (Lv. Max)

The level became Max.

Instead of the skill that could no longer be raised, a new skill appeared.

-Marching (Lv. 0)

A newly appeared skill.

‘Does this make marching better?’

He first raised the new skill.

1 point to Marching.

And 1 point to Guardian Will for the future.

Everything was good.

When he returned, Anton also greeted Cliff with a welcoming tone.

“I never expected you to resolve this troublesome problem so swiftly. When word of this spreads, those who would cause trouble for our estate will decrease accordingly.”

Such rapid movement.

And resolution.

Furthermore, he had captured three knight-level forces alive. Reton might have diminished value as a fighting force due to his age, but the other two were in their prime.

They were at the best age for work.

A time when they had accumulated adequate experience and their bodies were healthy.

‘Normally it would be difficult to make captured knights into slaves, but these are criminals anyway.’

What could be the problem?

Anton wore a satisfied expression.

It wasn’t just the three knights. Other mercenaries were also captured and put in prison.

“Make them all slaves. I’ll use them as combat slaves.”

He had gained about 30 experienced mercenaries this time.

‘They’ll be perfect for fighting goblins.’

Cliff thought of building a village in the north with them as the core.

Usually he’d have them do logging, and meanwhile they’d form their own militia to protect the village.

“The timber from Platys is certainly excellent. It’s especially outstanding for construction and such. To transport that to where you reside, my lord… then this Ballard Village could serve as an intermediate base.”

Building storehouses to store timber,

And the role of transporting that timber again to Elimis Village.

‘Hmm. We’ll need to handle the distribution from our village.’

They would also need to send workers and carts to Platys to collect the timber.

Division of roles.

This wasn’t just about Platys’s timber alone.

“Since winter roads are blocked, we’ll need to store the goods Jaide brings from outside here for a while. And the moment winter ends and the roads open, we’ll transport the supplies accumulated during winter to Elimis.”

“I understand what you mean.”

It felt like things were falling into place one by one.

‘I never thought an estate that had absolutely nothing would grow this much.’

It had grown considerably.

At this level, it had become something that couldn’t be ignored even without the status window.

‘Still, without the status window, I wouldn’t have met Kyuung or Hades, so that wouldn’t really be the case.’

He finished his conversation with Anton.

After he left, Cliff’s shadow rose up. A dark elf who had yet to show himself to Anton.

He was quite the secret weapon of the Elimis family.

“My lord.”

This was also Belgimov, who took upon himself the role of Cliff’s strategist.

“After interrogating the captured bandits, they said they received a ‘commission.'”

Cliff frowned.

“…Commission?”

“Yes. They accepted what’s called a ‘black commission’ – a suspicious mission where the client’s identity cannot be confirmed.”

“What was the commission about?”

“To roam around Ballard Village and cause bandit disturbances.”

Playing the role of bandits.

By claiming this was a commission, Reton and the others desperately wanted to shed their criminal status.

Though it would be difficult to completely escape, they would have to pay ransom to get out.

‘They want to claim they’re prisoners of war, right?’

Naturally, that wouldn’t happen.

Cliff had no intention of releasing them, especially Reton and his son.

However, what he said was concerning.

“So what I thought was the head turned out to be just the tail…”

Cliff looked at Belgimov.

“Do you think what the bandits said is true?”

“If you’re asking me… I believe it’s more than eighty percent likely.”

An 80% probability.

That was quite a high level.

“Hah. So I shouldn’t have been happy about catching the tail. So Elder, if there really is someone behind this, what do you think their desired goal is?”

“I also heard the judgment made by the lord’s retainers here.”

Anton and Adolf.

The two officials thought the bandits’ true identity was either Reton’s mercenary group or nobles from Platice Count’s territory.

“The opponent wouldn’t have wanted their identity revealed. If they used Reton’s mercenary group in the process…”

“They hoped we’d capture Reton and mistake him for being the mastermind?”

Then was the real mastermind a noble from Platys rather than Reton?

‘But I’ve already thought about them.’

Instead of answering, Belgimov looked at him.

He seemed to be waiting to see how he would judge.

“It wouldn’t be the Count’s house, would it?”

Cliff asked him.

Belgimov shook his head.

“We must always keep possibilities open.”

“That also means the possibility is low.”

It wasn’t someone from Platice Count’s house.

“The mastermind probably anticipated the case where Reton would be captured. Then they would confess to us that they moved on commission…”

So it would be troublesome if they were nobles from Platice Count’s territory.

If they had given such a commission to the mercenary group, it would greatly damage Count Platice’s prestige.

‘And in any case, I’m also the Count’s adopted son.’

Nobles were quite cunning, but they couldn’t afford to be caught.

“It could be the work of someone who wants me to become distant from the Count’s house.”

So Cliff said this.

Hearing those words, Belgimov nodded.

“That’s my judgment as well. And there’s another possibility.”

This complicated world.

Belgimov said the mastermind behind this bandit disturbance had a purpose other than sowing discord.

Hearing this, Cliff tilted his head.

“What would that be?”

“To divert our attention. While we’re fighting bandits or focusing on that… they’re targeting somewhere else we’re missing.”

A diversionary operation aimed at the real target.

“Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west?”

Expressed as a four-character idiom, this phrase came to mind.

A tactic from the stratagems of victory among the 36 stratagems, mistakenly attributed to Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

‘If this is indeed a diversion…’

Where would the opponent’s target be?

Cliff pondered.

“…Ah!”

An exclamation escaped Cliff’s lips.

“Elder! How many shadows can move immediately right now?”

-Since winter roads are blocked, we’ll need to store the goods Jaide brings from outside here for a while.

Jaide, the name he had just mentioned.

The time had passed when he, who had been doing business outside, should visit the estate with various supplies.

Jaide.

Like Cliff, he was also gradually becoming known through rumors.

Baron Ellemis, who had rapidly gained recognition by occupying Ballard Barony and becoming Count Platice’s adopted son.

As his closest confidant, that is.

Originally, Jaide was known as a promising young merchant in the trading city of Serfal.

“…I should gradually expand the trading guild’s scale. Increase the escorts too.”

The Elimis Merchant Guild, which initially had only one or two cargo wagons at most.

Now this scale had grown considerably.

Nine cargo wagons alone.

Each wagon had three workers, male and female, and at least one horse or donkey to pull it.

That trading guild had entered Berkheim Domain, which was adjacent to Ballard Domain.

And there were those waiting for Jaide’s trading guild to move like this.

“The target has finally crossed the domain boundary.”

“Phew. We must capture all of them without fail.”

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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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