I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 67

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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 067

67. Diplomacy

Baron Berkheim was a simple person.

When he received gifts from Cliff, it was obvious he was pleased despite pretending otherwise. This meant he had become that much more favorable.

‘How simple.’

Adolf’s assessment came to mind.

This was why the entire domain had been swayed by a single person like Belgur.

Speaking of Belgur.

The man Baron Berkheim had been waiting for was no longer in this world.

Jaide entered his room.

“As per your orders, my lord, we have transferred the supplies we had to the Berkheim family.”

“Are you curious why I gave such an order?”

“Yes.”

Jaide’s brief answer.

Cliff raised the corners of his mouth.

Right now, Jaide wasn’t curious because he didn’t know the answer. He was checking to see if the answer he had thought of matched Cliff’s own answer.

‘What a model student.’

Cliff was happy to tell him.

“Right now, there’s a rumor spreading around this area. Do you know what it is?”

“The rumor that you, my lord… are planning serious territorial expansion starting this year.”

As expected of a merchant.

And Jaide was competent.

He knew exactly what was being asked and answered accordingly. Cliff nodded and asked him.

“That’s right. So a certain trend has formed among the neighboring domains. What would that be?”

“…The Anti-Elimis Alliance?”

Jaide was accurate as always.

When Cliff affirmed with a smile, Jaide spoke this time.

“Are you trying to make the Berkheim family pro-Elimis rather than part of that Anti-Elimis Alliance?”

“That’s right. That’s right, but… the Berkheim family was probably already part of the Anti-Elimis Alliance originally.”

“…!”

“That’s why they attacked you this time.”

“Are you saying it was the Berkheim family that attacked me? I naturally thought…”

“You thought it was Renheim?”

“…Yes.”

Hearing Jaide’s agreement, Cliff continued.

The Renheim family.

If the Berkheim family was a family without distinctive features, the Renheim family was thoroughly military.

All the soldiers there were known to be elite.

‘Even so, it seems they couldn’t win in a fight against the Dark Elves.’

However, the Dark Elf who had fought Mons at that time had said.

Three senior warriors had struggled against just one Mons.

-If we had fought head-on, or if both sides had been at full strength, we might have been the ones to lose.

Those were the direct words of one of them.

Even with three senior warriors attacking together, they had to sustain injuries in the end. And that was against an opponent who wasn’t even in perfect condition.

With such a knight, they had reason to be confident.

‘Even if they ended up fighting us over that incident, they could win.’

The Renheim family had other knights besides Mons.

And if war broke out, it wouldn’t just be the Renheim family participating. Since the Platys family was already seeking advancement to the capital, direct help would be difficult.

Setting that aside, summarizing this gave an answer.

“It was probably the Renheim family that attacked you. But that doesn’t mean only the Renheim family was involved in this incident, right?”

Jaide’s pupils shook upon hearing Cliff’s words.

“…So that’s why you had supplies distributed here?”

Now he completely understood.

It was different from simply trying to win over the Berkheim family. Cliff smiled slyly.

“That’s right.”

Cliff nodded.

Jaide looked at Cliff with an impressed expression.

Cliff’s action was to break trust between the opposing alliance.

‘And this was all made possible by Belgur’s actions as the actual operator.’

Belgur had not informed Baron Berkheim about the existence of the Anti-Elimis Alliance.

To be precise, he might have mentioned the Anti-Elimis Alliance. But he probably didn’t say that the Berkheim family was also included in it.

‘If he knew… did he think they would oppose it instead?’

Baron Berkheim was a coward.

No matter how much those beside him said there was a chance of victory, he might not accept it.

He was someone who disliked fighting.

So he felt sorry.

“We’ll see as time goes on. From this incident, the Renheim family will surely think that Berkheim joined hands with us and led them into a trap.”

“They’ll react. Even if not… the Renheim family won’t trust the Berkheim family anymore.”

“That’s right.”

Cliff nodded.

That was exactly why he had distributed supplies here.

‘Originally, the Renheim family was planning to swallow up our supplies, right?’

Cliff raised the corners of his mouth.

If they had planned to take those supplies, but instead they went to the Berkheim family, what kind of reaction would they show?

Especially the Renheim family, who had even lost innocent troops.

“What happened, you say?”

Baron Renheim asked with an incredulous expression.

The knight making the report also had a gloomy expression.

“…All 20 soldiers who went on the patrol operation with Count Mons have died.”

“That’s absolutely ridiculous…”

Though they used the expression “patrol operation,” both the reporter and Baron Renheim knew what that operation really was.

It was the operation to attack the Elimis Merchant Guild led by Jaide.

“Sigh. What happened to that suspicious group?”

However, both Baron Renheim and the reporter continued to use euphemistic expressions to the end.

“That suspicious group… no, the Elimis Merchant Guild entered Baron Berkheim’s territory, and it seems they were also attacked by bandits.”

“The bandits who attacked them… might have also harmed our soldiers?”

“…Yes.”

They couldn’t reveal that they had attacked the Elimis Merchant Guild.

Baron Renheim’s expression hardened.

He seemed to be pondering how to handle this situation. After deliberating, he finally spoke.

“Since we need to investigate this matter, ask the Elimis Merchant Guild to appear… no, never mind.”

Baron Renheim had been considering whether to continue the incident in some way.

But he shook his head.

The trusted knight Mons was dead.

‘Was there a strong warrior hidden in the Elimis Merchant Guild who could defeat Count Mons?’

If so, the power of the Elimis Domain might be stronger than they had thought.

Continuing to provoke the Elimis Domain like this would be unwise. He decided to cover up this incident.

Soon, news arrived that made him think he had made the right choice.

“…The Elimis family has a cavalry unit?”

“Dozens of cavalry visited from the Elimis Domain to the Berkheim Domain. And… they were all riding Shadow Wolves.”

Each carrying crossbows on their backs and wielding charging spears, these were powerful Wolf Riders.

Just hearing about them made Baron Renheim terrified.

As the head of the Renheim Family that ran a mercenary business, he knew the terror of cavalry.

‘And cavalry riding Shadow Wolves at that…’

Dozens of such cavalry.

You couldn’t dismiss just dozens. The surrounding estates, excluding the Platys Family and Serpal Family, would find it difficult to mobilize even a hundred troops.

Even if that were possible, it would be impossible for 100-200 conscripts to face dozens of cavalry.

“When on earth did they create such powerful military strength? Even when fighting Baron Ballard, it wasn’t to that extent, was it?”

“That’s right. Certainly at that time, there was only one knight, one spirit mage, and dozens of infantry.”

That had changed so suddenly.

‘Are you saying they converted those soldiers into cavalry in the meantime?’

And he had heard that Adolf, a knight of the Ballard Family, and his daughter had become knights of the Elimis Domain.

Also, there was the strong warrior who had killed Mons, whose identity had not yet been determined.

“We could never defeat the Elimis Domain on our own.”

Baron Renheim wore a dejected expression.

‘Far from fighting, we’d have to prostrate ourselves flat.’

That was Baron Renheim’s judgment.

The more he thought about it, the more his pride was hurt in this matter.

But he wasn’t foolish enough to ruin his family over pride.

“Sigh. This matter… we too shall express our regret. There was a suspicious group at the estate boundary, and I also sent my proud knights to investigate them, but in the end they couldn’t find out and my army was defeated.”

It would be troublesome if the Elimis Family pressed this matter.

Still, should this be considered fortunate? Since Baron Renheim’s army had actually marched out and died, Baron Elimis wouldn’t press further either.

“Send appropriate condolences to the Elimis Merchant Guild.”

“I shall do so. However…”

“Hmm? Do you still have more to say?”

Baron Renheim asked with a slightly tired face.

With a dark expression, the reporter also nodded.

“Yes.”

“Looking at your expression, it’s not good news. Sigh. Ever since I accepted that proposal from Belgur… there’s been no good news.”

“I apologize.”

“No. How could that be your fault? Go ahead and speak. It’s better to take a beating all at once.”

At Baron Renheim’s words, the reporter felt pity inside.

‘Such an excellent person…’

The Renheim Estate was originally a poor estate too.

There were no resources except people. However, instead of selling people as slaves, Baron Renheim sold them as mercenaries.

And he used that money to feed the estate.

“…There’s something strange, they say.”

“Something strange?”

“They say the Elimis Merchant Guild handed over part of their supplies to Baron Berkheim.”

“What?”

Certainly the Elimis Merchant Guild’s actions were incomprehensible.

‘Why?’

Something illogical had happened.

“On the surface, it appears to be because Baron Elimis sent troops into his estate to escort the Elimis Merchant Guild.”

“If that’s the surface reason…?”

“There might be other reasons as well.”

Baron Renheim’s eyes glinted menacingly.

The person who planned this operation was Belgur.

In other words, it was the Berkheim Family.

‘But they seemed to be pulling out completely… and now they’re receiving supplies from the Elimis Family?’

It wasn’t a gift without justification.

But no matter how he thought about it, it was excessive.

“Belgur… what about him?”

“That is… it seems he’s recently disappeared. It’s known that he vanished when the Elimis Merchant Guild arrived at the village.”

“Are you saying now…”

“We suspect he may have fled. Or he’s hiding.”

Either reason didn’t matter.

Baron Renheim found the Berkheim Family detestable.

“They lured us into a trap by tempting us to take those supplies, and then they took them themselves?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever seen such cunning bastards!”

Bang.

Baron Renheim’s anger exploded.

His body trembled as he struck the desk.

“…Still, still stay quiet for now. First find Belgur’s whereabouts.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll have to ask him about everything.”

All of this was ultimately his scheme.

It meant he held the key to the incident.

“If this is… if that fox joined hands with the Elimis Family to trap us…”

Fire blazed in Baron Renheim’s eyes.

“I will never forgive them.”

His stern words.

The knight before Baron Renheim also answered with a resolute face.

“Yes!”

A desire for revenge.

The moment had come for the Renheim Family to harbor this.

“They say in diplomacy there are no eternal enemies or eternal allies. And there’s another saying to keep in mind.”

“What is that?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

This was that famous distant diplomacy, close attack strategy.

But the current situation was a bit different from distant diplomacy, close attack.

‘If I had to say…’

Something similar to a jealousy-inducing strategy in romance.

Cliff smiled.

There was another reason he couldn’t help but smile.

“More than that, you’re really flawless, aren’t you?”

“This level of minor technique is basic among basics for us shadows.”

“Even so, it’s really spine-chilling.”

“Still, I can barely maintain it for about a month.”

“That’s enough.”

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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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