I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 70

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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 070

70. Rumors

Ballard Village.

Armed soldiers rode black wolves through the village, patrolling the area.

The sight of the Shadow Wolves alone made their presence incredibly intimidating.

“What kind of wolves are as big as oxen…”

“No wonder we couldn’t win against them.”

“Even those bandits who were causing trouble recently were quickly subdued once our lord arrived, right?”

When they were enemies, the wave of black wolves was terrifyingly fearsome.

But when they were allies, they were reassuring.

For this reason, the residents of Ballard Village quickly accepted their new lord. The bandit incident was the decisive factor.

And the soldiers patrolling around.

‘This lord can protect us.’

This thought was further solidified by the tribute from the Berkheim Family.

Various furs and silver coins given by the Berkheim Family.

And Berkheim Baron had sent his son, who was distant from succession, to Cliff. This alone made them feel that the Elimis Family held superiority over the Berkheim Family.

‘Truly long live our lord.’

The village of Ballard was busy because of that lord.

Before the harvest, they too were put to work on road construction. The task of connecting the road to the manor that Cliff had received from Platice Count.

Road construction was underway.

And this became yet another reason for people to praise Cliff.

“I heard he pays silver coins to those who work?”

Making the people do forced labor.

This was the lord’s prerogative. A lord could conscript people for work at any time.

And there was no need to pay wages during such times. However, Cliff paid daily wages for the work.

And through this, he had them buy various daily necessities from the Elimis Merchant Guild.

‘Nice.’

Cliff smiled as he surveyed the progress.

It was extremely satisfactory progress. After all, the silver coins being distributed now were all money given by Berkheim Baron.

The pretext was reciprocal gifts.

But as Jaide had been surprised, this time he had gained significant profit.

‘And I plan to gain even more profit in the future.’

Cliff’s eyes gleamed.

The road construction was handled by Berkheim Baron’s son, and the payment came from the reciprocal funds given by Berkheim Baron.

Most importantly, the big money earned this time was because of Belgur.

The man who had been the power behind the Berkheim Family and had earned enormous wealth.

All of his assets had been transferred over intact. All of this was possible for one reason.

‘Because he’s already dead.’

Belgur was already dead.

There was only someone acting in his role. While Cliff wore a pleased expression, Berkheim Baron’s son, who had been supervising the road construction, came running over.

With a pale face, he said.

“M-My lord. The main family… no, the Berkheim Family has made an urgent and earnest request to you.”

“An urgent and earnest request?”

He already had an idea of what the content might be.

But Cliff deliberately feigned ignorance and asked back. To his question, the man poured out the necessary words without any suspicion.

“The Renhein Family has declared war on the main family!”

It meant that a territorial war had broken out right next door.

‘Later than I expected.’

Even with such a major incident, Cliff remained calm.

The Renhein Family.

This time, they had suffered significant losses.

Losing as many as twenty trained elite soldiers. This was critical damage, losing more than half of their territorial forces.

But even so, the Renhein Family was still strong.

The surviving forces were elite soldiers, and most importantly, they had a knight. Also, the Renhein Family’s conscripts were superior to regular soldiers from other territories.

“Damn it. But they dared to humiliate us like this? That Belgur bastard…”

The incident where they suffered losses.

The person who had planned that incident was Belgur. What was that Belgur doing now?

Hadn’t he even handed over his own mansion to the Elimis Family?

‘From the beginning, Belgur and the Elimis Family conspired to trap us.’

Having thought that far, Renheim Baron had to swallow his burning rage.

Originally, Belgur wouldn’t have been able to act like this. But with his cherished knight Mons dead and the twenty soldiers he had taken completely annihilated.

Starting a war or staging a show of force was burdensome.

Belgur had probably calculated this far.

‘That cunning snake!’

He inwardly cursed Belgur’s actions.

And the visitor who came to see him spoke as if he knew all of this.

“Shouldn’t we eliminate the traitor Belgur?”

With those words, the other party pushed a chest of gold coins toward Renheim Baron.

“…What does this mean?”

“I’ll give you all of this funding. How about using it to hire mercenaries?”

“Mercenaries?”

“Yes.”

Renheim Baron’s eyes changed.

‘With this much gold, I could certainly greatly increase our war mercenaries.’

He could fill the shortage of troops with mercenaries.

But Renheim Baron had already fallen into a trap once. He looked at the other party with suspicious eyes.

“What do you want that you would give this to me?”

It was a suspicious visitor.

He had come here without revealing his identity. The reason he could still meet with Renheim Baron was simple.

The Renhein Family was in the mercenary business.

In other words, if you showed money, meeting with Renheim Baron wasn’t impossible.

Still, this visitor was quite suspicious. And he gave off a dangerous scent.

‘I’ve never had such a person come before…’

What he was saying was not ordinary.

The elimination of the traitor Belgur.

From Renheim Baron’s perspective, Belgur was indeed a traitor, but did that apply to the other party as well?

“I was someone who worked with Belgur. Of course… it seems that Belgur has now turned coat.”

From the other party’s words, and seeing the money he had brought, Renheim Baron nodded.

He had an idea of the identity.

Actually, he had already been sensing the other party’s identity.

“Did you come from Serpal?”

“Please understand that I cannot give any answer to that question.”

As expected, he was right.

‘There was a report that Belgur was from Serpal’s Shadowguards.’

When you’re a mercenary, you become sensitive to information, though not as much as merchants.

Especially since Belgur had approached him and even proposed an alliance. Naturally, investigating his background was expected.

What he learned from that.

‘He’s not a person from the Berkheim Family.’

The power behind the scenes who controlled the Berkheim Domain.

But there was someone else behind him. Though it wasn’t clear yet, he quickly came to an answer.

The Serpal Family.

The only power in this region that could compete with the Platys Family in terms of influence.

It was already a time when the Platys Family was eyeing expansion into the mainland. The Serpal Family’s strategy was to check Baron Elimis, who was the adopted son of the Platys Family, during this period when the Platys Family’s forces were stretched thin.

But that plan had crumbled.

And it was due to the betrayal of Belgur, whom they had trusted.

“We deeply regret what happened last time. So this gold also includes our apology for that incident.”

So don’t be too suspicious and accept it.

Baron Renheim finally accepted the money after hearing those words. After all, money itself was innocent.

“It’s true that we suffered losses, so I’ll accept the money. I’ll use this money to restore those damages.”

“Would that really be enough?”

The other party provoked Baron Renheim again.

“Right now, the Berkheim Family is confident that no war will break out.”

Continuously fanning the flames for Baron Renheim.

“They’re that unprepared. Also… there happens to be a mercenary company nearby that you could hire if you so wished, Baron.”

“What?”

“Ten skilled intermediate mercenaries and twenty inexperienced lower-grade mercenaries. Even if they’re not as good as your soldiers, Baron, with them… you could restore your lost military strength.”

Thirty mercenaries.

And the soldiers of the Renheim Family.

Certainly, with this much force, they could even swallow up the Berkheim Domain.

“Wouldn’t it be better for the Renheim Family to rule that place as well, eliminating not only Belgur but also the arrogant Berkheim Baron while we’re at it?”

A territorial war that could bring about the destruction of an entire family.

“…What do you think the Central authority would think of this?”

“It’s a territorial war taking place on the Yusta Peninsula anyway. The neighboring lords will also support Baron Renheim.”

Neighboring lords.

Baron Renheim’s eyes narrowed as he heard those words.

There was still one more troublesome matter remaining.

“…Won’t the Elimis Family help them?”

“They certainly will.”

The other party immediately nodded in agreement with Baron Renheim’s point.

“He probably won’t want to lose the Berkheim Family, which falls under his influence.”

“Then…!”

Recent rumors had spread.

The Wolf Riders of the Elimis Family.

The Elimis Family commanded fifty cavalry units. While it might not matter in wars between great lord families involving hundreds or thousands, such military strength could completely upset the balance in wars between small and medium lords.

‘Even with Count Mons, the Elimis Family would be a difficult enemy.’

Baron Renheim had thought this far.

The exact military strength of the Wolf Riders hadn’t been determined yet. But he had seen the Shadow Wolves directly before.

The black wolves that had pulled Cliff’s carriage.

‘If I think of them not just pulling cargo wagons, but charging with armed soldiers mounted on them…’

Baron Renheim himself wouldn’t feel threatened by such a thing.

But he wasn’t sure if his soldiers would feel the same.

“You don’t need to worry.”

However, the other party spoke in a carefree tone.

“The Elimis Family’s reinforcements will never come to help the Berkheim Family.”

How could he be so confident?

‘It was the same last time.’

Belgur had said something similar.

The bandit disturbance in the Elimis Domain. Because of that, Baron Elimis wouldn’t be able to pay attention to that trading guild.

And by the time he realized it, it would already be too late.

That’s exactly what had happened (not at all).

But there was a different trap mixed in here.

‘That bastard Belgur’s betrayal… Hmm. Anyway, let me hear what he has to say first.’

Baron Renheim glared at the other party and demanded an answer.

The other party opened his mouth.

“All this time… what do you think is the reason why the Platys Family couldn’t expand despite having such strong military power?”

A gleam flashed in Baron Renheim’s eyes at the man’s words.

“…Goblins.”

Goblins.

To keep these creatures in check, the Platys Family had to keep their strength stored internally.

So they could subjugate the goblins whenever they went on a rampage.

“Right now, the Elimis Family is in a similar situation. The Platys soldiers who had been protecting his manor completely withdrew after winter passed.”

Now Cliff had to deploy troops to that manor.

He added:

“And… by now, it’s about time.”

“But will a goblin wave really occur at such a convenient time?”

“It will.”

The other party was certain of this.

Baron Renheim’s expression changed at such deep conviction.

‘Could it be…’

There had been rumors.

Rumors that the Serpal Family was artificially triggering goblin waves in the Platys Domain.

It was a rumor that arose because whenever the Platys Family had disputes with the Serpal Family, goblin waves would break out there.

‘Those perfectly timed waves have occurred twice so far.’

This had spread the rumors.

And now the other party, who seemed to be from Serpal, spoke with certainty.

That it would happen again this time.

“The Elimis Family absolutely cannot send troops here. Rather, they’ll have to gather all their forces and send them north quickly.”

Someone had come.

To his manor in the Platys Domain that he had received.

Goblins had appeared on the roads where people mainly traveled.

This meant only one thing.

A goblin wave.

“At this time?”

It was a report received just before departing for the Berkheim Family.

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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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