I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 156

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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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Chapter 156

 

“What is that?”

 

While being dragged along, I asked upon seeing people hanging from some pillars.

 

They were naked, covered in wounds all over their bodies, bleeding and dying. Perhaps they had hung captured enemies there. It was a frowning sight, but not something I couldn’t understand.

 

However, the answer that came back was different from what I expected.

 

“Ah, those are deserters.”

 

“Deserters?”

 

“Guys who ran away to avoid combat. Deserters get summary execution.”

 

As if warning that I’d end up the same way if I ran, the soldier glared at me once and said.

 

“Normally we don’t go that far, but the Lord has become sensitive after losing the last battle.”

 

I had heard many stories about war from the hunter.

 

But I hadn’t heard stories like this. Mercenaries who jumped into war to make money and soldiers dragged in against their will couldn’t receive the same treatment.

 

I hung my head and was dragged to the training ground. I received an old spear and bloodstained armor and was immediately assigned to a unit.

 

“Hey, this new recruit looks like he’s got some strength at least?”

 

“So what. If he dies before adapting, that’s the end.”

 

“Just take good care of him, man.”

 

Grizzled soldiers spoke to me as I stood there blankly. My body swayed greatly each time they tapped my shoulder. They looked strong, like those who had survived long on the battlefield.

 

In the barracks they told me various stories saying not to be nervous, but rather those things kept me from sleeping. The fear that I might die wouldn’t leave my head.

 

Combat began as soon as dawn broke the next day.

 

“Hey, recruit! Get it together!”

 

Shouts, spears and swords, arrows flying from somewhere, blood and corpses.

 

The first battle ended like that without me even knowing how it flowed. The senior soldiers giggled saying they had somehow survived today too.

 

“What are you so happy about?”

 

I suddenly asked that.

 

It was fortunate to survive that chaos, but combat would start again tomorrow anyway. Nothing changes. Whether you die today or tomorrow. Or the day after that. It’s just about that much difference.

 

“Still, we’re alive, aren’t we.”

 

The senior said with a laugh.

 

“Even if it’s just hard, moldy bread and watery soup, we’re not starving, are we.”

 

He said while tearing at the nauseating food. It was in worse condition than the food the village residents used to throw me in childhood. Having been accustomed to Emma’s cooking skills, it was hard to even put in my mouth.

 

“Look at this.”

 

The senior soldier rummaged through his chest.

 

“Found this while searching corpses today. The pouch was quite full.”

 

It contained a handful of silver coins. The senior soldier giggled as he transferred them to another pouch.

 

“Do you know how much I’ve collected like this already? If I hold out until the end, I won’t have to worry about money for a while after that.”

 

The war was long. It didn’t end the next day, or the day after that either. You could say it was an infinitely short time compared to the history of the two families. But it seemed they intended to pour out all the strength they had recovered over about ten years.

 

The recruitment officer kept bringing new recruits from somewhere, and most of them died.

 

Was it thanks to learning various skills from the hunter? Or was it thanks to referring to the experiences he had told me about? Even when the number of times I was deployed in combat exceeded double digits and I shed my recruit appearance, I was still alive.

 

The senior soldiers all died. One by one, one by one.

 

Each time, the money they had saved was divided among the remaining personnel. Eventually my pouch became quite full.

 

And I worried.

 

The war situation wasn’t very good. Enough that even I, a lowly soldier, could tell. If I stayed like this, it seemed only death like the other senior soldiers would be waiting.

 

So I ran away when I saw the chance.

 

I had already seen enough of what happens when desertion is discovered. I prepared thoroughly. I hid among the corpses and waited until nightfall, then immediately washed my body at the stream. I left wearing a dead mercenary’s sword at my waist.

 

Remaining in Ranvis Domain was dangerous. It would be trouble if someone recognized my face. I headed straight for Medei Territory.

 

I acted as a wandering mercenary looking for a place to make money.

 

The stories I heard from the hunter and the mercenary behavior I observed while serving as a soldier were a great help. Though there were some awkward parts, rather because I acted confidently, no one seemed to think I might be a deserter.

 

And not long after, the war ended. As expected, it was the Medei Family that won.

 

I considered returning to the village but it seemed dangerous. Since I was a deserter. News that I had died would have already reached the village. I didn’t know what the village chief, who had found me disagreeable, might do.

 

I continued the mercenary life. Since I had saved up quite a lot of money, I didn’t take on very dangerous missions. I was wandering here and there looking for a village worth settling in.

 

Then, suddenly, one thought occurred to me.

 

* * *

 

Being deployed in war as part of Ranvis Domain, I heard many stories. The Lord and his family were the most important figures, so I heard plenty of information related to them as well.

 

Of course, that alone might not be of much help.

 

But when the information I heard from the hunter was added, those things gained new value.

 

“So you’re saying…”

 

“My mother always longed for the family.”

 

The reason Lanvis and Medei began their long war.

 

Long ago, the heir of Lanvis, who had unrequited love for a woman of Medei, tried to kidnap her.

 

Though there were problems with the process, the difference in power between the two families wasn’t that great. If the story had been handled well, it might have led to a good relationship.

 

However, the woman of Medei already loved another man and was even pregnant. She barely escaped during the kidnapping attempt and then disappeared completely.

 

The Medei Family was furious, claiming that Lanvis had murdered their family member. The Lanvis Family felt wronged, saying that Medei had deceived them.

 

I pretended to be the child of the woman who had fled at that time.

 

“What was your mother’s name?”

 

“Sila Medei.”

 

The story about the Medei Family that the hunter had told me. The token of love he had boasted about bore the family crest.

 

It might have been problematic if the woman who had given the token to the hunter was still around, but she had already married and left for another family over ten years ago. My lie had considerable credibility.

 

“What happened to her?”

 

“…She passed away peacefully.”

 

“I see. Sila, my sister…”

 

He didn’t believe me easily.

 

It would be strange if someone believed a person who suddenly appeared claiming to be a descendant of nobles.

 

However, the Medei Family had lost all their heirs during the war. Grasping at straws, they accepted me into the family.

 

From then on, my noble life began.

 

It was completely different from what I had imagined. There was no peaceful life of lying around being waited on. As the heir to a baron family, I had to learn many things and change my lifestyle habits.

 

How to eat food, how to use utensils, how to walk, how to speak, even how to open my eyes – I had to learn it all.

 

Whenever I couldn’t adapt quickly, the suspicious glances grew stronger.

 

“No matter how much a woman left the family, she would have taught her child the basics…”

 

“…After my mother passed away, I wandered around a lot.”

 

Every day I thought it would have been better to risk the danger and flee to the village, but there was no way to break through the ironclad barrier protecting the Lord’s Castle.

 

There were many dangerous situations. It seemed like I might be discovered. But even in uncomfortable situations, the lord didn’t cast me out.

 

Then one day.

 

“So, is the search still ongoing?”

 

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

 

“No. It’s fine. I didn’t think it would be easy.”

 

In the late dawn, from beyond the lit library. I obtained information that the lord had sent people out to find the real heir.

 

My heart beat anxiously.

 

What would happen if I was discovered? The crime of impersonating a noble is severe. It would result in punishment incomparable to something like desertion. Death would be natural.

 

After worrying all night, a pouch full of silver coins caught my eye.

 

I used half of it.

 

It was a large amount that would allow a commoner to live comfortably for a year or two. The informant who had been returning without any results took the money and reported exactly what I wanted.

 

“Is it really true…!”

 

“Yes.”

 

A very brief story that a woman who appeared to be Sila Medei had lived in some rural village.

 

The fact that I was a deserter had already been discovered. Which village I had been conscripted from was also about to be revealed.

 

The lord rejoiced and announced me as his heir. Of course, if he had paid just a little more attention, he would have surely noticed that the information was false.

 

A few days later, I became the lord in place of the dead lord.

 

There was considerable opposition. It was natural since the lord who had been healthy until recently had died suddenly.

 

“Don’t you people have any sense!”

 

Instead, I shouted.

 

“It’s only been a few days since the lord designated me as his heir. If I had stayed quiet, I would have definitely inherited the title! What reason would I have to murder the lord!”

 

I shouted boldly.

 

I appealed as if I was wronged, and even shed tears.

 

“Rather, wouldn’t it be more reasonable to think that someone who harbored resentment about me becoming the heir is responsible?”

 

I deflected the suspicion that way.

 

The vassals suspected each other. I actively sowed discord among them. I induced them to fight amongst themselves.

 

The territory’s power weakened, but thanks to that, there was no one who suspected my origins. It had to be that way. I found the informants the lord had employed and eliminated them one by one.

 

Life after becoming a lord was comfortable.

 

I had already learned everything I needed to learn, and I delegated the work to my retainers. Each day was comfortable.

 

The Territory Residents praised me. I didn’t force excessive conscription for war, and the tax rates weren’t that high either.

 

It was natural since the war with the Lanvis Family, which had been the cause of excessive conscription and high tax rates, had ended. However, the Territory Residents didn’t seem to think that way.

 

“Ever since the lord changed, life has become so much better!”

 

“That’s right! This is all thanks to our lord!”

 

They didn’t think deeply about the cause. They just knew that before was hard, and now was easy. That seemed to be everything to them.

 

How foolish.

 

It was terrifying that I too had once been like that. No, perhaps I had been even worse.

 

Beggar, orphan, liar Alde.

 

Uneducated, devoted entirely to begging for daily survival. I had no capacity to think about what the lord was doing.

 

Small hunter Alde.

 

I had a home and went hungry less often, but nothing changed significantly.

 

Inn Owner Alde.

 

I learned to read and had some leisure.

 

Conscript Alde, Mercenary Alde.

 

I was devoted to surviving each day, but every night I couldn’t sleep due to all kinds of thoughts.

 

And Baron Alde Medei.

 

I received systematic education and access to information others didn’t know.

 

But thinking about it, if I hadn’t learned from the hunter, I wouldn’t have been able to marry Emma. I wouldn’t have survived as a conscript either. If I hadn’t married Emma and learned various things, I never would have endured the education of a noble house.

 

Then, greed arose.

 

If my past selves seemed this pathetic, would my current self be any different? What would the world look like from an even higher position?

 

Several years passed.

 

I waged war.

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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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