Chapter 268 (1/2)
Then, after leaving Bless behind,
A group of mercenaries led by Luke reached the border of Albertville territory.
Since the previous lord had participated in the rebellion, it was bound for the land to give out a terrible atmosphere.
The farmers who worked in their fields ran away in anger at the sight of the mercenaries.
In addition, the fort and the guard posts where the soldiers had to stand vigilantly were all empty.
The good news was that since everyone was feeling anxious, there was no more confusion.
The worst case of the towns and cities being empty, or them being looted hadn’t happened.
“Tch, it will take time for the people to trust us.”
“But it will end much sooner than we expect.”
Luke, who crossed the territory arrived at Laval, where the permanent residence was located.
Laval was the place where the administrative center of the estate was located and surrounded by thick infrastructure.
Unlike the other places, the soldiers were still there, but they were the voluntary group of men who decided to take the role for the purpose of securing their city.
As a result, they could help but feel hesitant when Luke appeared there with a group of 10,000 mercenaries and Gigants.
“Could that be the permanent manor?”
“Who might you be?”
At the question of Philip, Luke stared at the elderly man who was standing at the gate. His neat outfit and the straight question made it sure that he wasn’t a commoner.
The lord man bowed politely as Luke approached.
“I see you are the new Lord. I am Baron Vante, the butler and the deputy lord of the Albertville estate.”
“A retainer of the former lord? Then you must be the remnant of the rebels. Why didn’t you run away?”
When Luke asked with suspicion, Vante responded with a bitter smile.
“Wouldn’t someone have to stay over till a new person takes over the valuable estate? I managed to live enough to look after it.”
It was plausible, if every retainer had run away, then the state of the manor was bound to be destroyed.
In other words, there could have been looting and arson of maybe stealing, and the soldiers would have deserted their positions so the innocent men in the land would have had to suffer.
Concerned about that, the retainers decided that one of them would stay back and remain in charge until the end, and Baron Vante, the eldest of them all, volunteered to take that role.
“Seeing the retainers, it looks like the former Lord was a pretty fine fellow.” Said Luke.
“Yes, even though Marquis Suleiman made the wrong choice because of his acquaintance with the other Lords, he still had a great virtue when it came to governance and his retainers.”
“I see.”
Vante was very active in designating where the mercenaries and their families would stay, and handed over the related documents regarding the management of the estate and the expenditure.
All that greatly reduced Luke’s work to get the estate back on track.
When everything related to the estate takeover was done, Vante pleaded.
“Now, I have done all the work. Kill this old man who sent the Lord into rebellion and to the capital without overseeing the situation.”
“That is enough. I’ll pretend like I never saw you, just live in the estate.”
“Sorry?”
Seeing that the new Lord had no intention of punishing him, the butler looked shocked.
“The rebellion is already over and most of the instigators have been executed. Is there going to be anything different if I kill one or two of the men in here? If you can live silently, I don’t mind covering for you.” Said Luke.
“Really, do you really mean that?”
“Yes, I do. The Pope has stated that anyone who can reflect on their sins will be forgiven.”
Luke said that the story of how men in the Jackson estate who were termed to be rebels, hadn’t been punished after they surrendered.
Realizing that Luke’s words weren’t lies, Vante went out of the manor’s office bowing his head and thanking again and again.
“Tch, that was a waste. Why didn’t you hire him?”
After Vante left the room, Philip who was listening to their conversation asked Luke.
“Because he wasn’t the kind of man who would serve two lords. For whatever reason, we are the men who punished his first lord. There was no way he would forgive us for that.”
“That sounds plausible.”
Nodding his head, Philip went out of the room saying that it was time to train his mercenaries.
Luke, who was left alone, called Hwang Bo-sung at the night after reviewing all the documents.
“Called for me, Lord?”
“Yes, are all your injuries recovered?”
Hwang Bo-sung nodded his head with a bright expression.
Luke had made a special request to Reina before leaving the capital. It was that someone had to be healed, and asked her to make a healing potion with divine properties if possible.
The potion was done by an extremely high leveled priest and was effective, it was faster than a wizard’s making process and held no side effects.
All thanks to Aether, which could exert incredible divinity compared with the bishops and cardinals, Reina herself created a highly effective healing potion.
Luke had given that completed potion to Hwang Bo-sung and told him that his injuries would heal.
Thanks to that, Hwang Bo-sung was able to recover from his injuries, his scars on both legs were healed.
All that was left was the curse placed on him by the magic soldier.
“To remove the curse on your body.”
Gulp.
At the words of Luke, Hwang Bo-sung’s expression changed.
The matter had bothered him the most over the past 1 year, it wasn’t the loss of power that bothered him.