Chapter 221: The Destruction of Two Territories
Leobold returned to his territory with a Bephar-class Goliath.
The people of the territory rushed out to welcome him.
They had not heard from their lord since the war broke out.
And he came back with a strange Goliath.
Carson, the administrative officer, ran barefoot to him and Leobold declared as he got off the Goliath.
“The war is over. Viscount Ohmel died from our attack and his territory was occupied by my subordinates. Not only that, but I also subdued a High Knight from Zaium. This Goliath is the proof.”
The Goliath standing next to him was clearly different from the models that could be seen in Bagran.
It was obvious that it was a high-end product that was in a different dimension from the Jagan or Raum classes, which added credibility to his declaration.
Soon, outsiders who ran out of the hall poured out questions.
“Baron! How did you carry a Goliath on Altemaho? Even Elvrande couldn’t do that!”
“Isn’t there still a Goliath unit that left from the barony? What are you going to do with them?”
“And how did you locate the High Knight? It’s supposed to be a top-secret information!”
“Did he follow you obediently?”
They seemed to have a lot of curiosity by looking at how they swarmed like bees.
Leobold frowned and said.
“I have no obligation to tell you anything. You can imagine whatever you want. Just like you’ve been talking nonsense so far.”
The people who had been spreading rumors about Leobold and his territory in the hall felt embarrassed.
Technically, their behavior was not even proper etiquette towards a noble.
If this was Lantis county, they wouldn’t have dared to ask questions.
Leobold knew that well.
“You are free to stay in my territory, but I won’t say anything about the consequences of spreading false rumors. So be careful with your mouth.”
“…”
Everyone was speechless and looked at the sky and the ground.
Carson, the administrative officer, who had been suffering a lot, was overjoyed.
He had to deal with the hall and the inn often because of his position, and he had to listen to nonsense that his territory was doomed and his lord was insane.
Now that his lord had won the war, he wouldn’t have to hear such nonsense anymore.
That was enough for Carson.
“And administrative officer, Arma.”
“Yes, my lord.”
They bowed their heads and Leobold ordered.
“You’ll be busy from now on, so focus on your work. I have something to tell you right away, so follow me to the mansion.”
When they disappeared, the outsiders looked at the Bephar-class Goliath with burning eyes.
“My goodness… It’s really a Bephar-class…”
“I heard it’s the symbol of Zaium’s High Knight. Could it be…”
“Don’t you still believe it? The High Knight lost to Baron Vandus, no, Baron Leobold.”
“But how? The only ones in this territory were Jagan and Raum at best!”
“I’d rather believe that a kobold beat an ogre.”
A kobold was a synonym for a weak monster and an ogre was a powerful monster that boasted its strength until Goliath was developed.
The Jagan or Raum class Goliaths were considered worse than kobolds by the outsiders’ eyes.
Not that they were weak because they were Goliaths, but because they were inferior compared to the standard models of various powerful countries.
But one of the merchants with good eyesight noticed that the cloth covering the Bephar-class Goliath was empty.
“Is that missing its shoulder and arm? It looks a bit empty.”
“Now that you say it, it does look like that…”
“What did they cut it with? It’s a medium armor if it’s a Bephar-class.”
But there was no one brave enough to approach and examine it closely.
Not only did the people of the territory glare at them with fire in their eyes, but also soldiers came with golems and moved the Goliath.
Then Altemaho 3 appeared and captured their attention.
The knights who knew well about Goliaths were shocked to see a Jagan-class coming out of the hangar.
“They really flew in the sky with a Goliath? How did they do that?”
“Looking at how some armor plates are replaced, they must have achieved an incredible weight reduction…”
“What kind of metal did they use?”
Among the outsiders, sailors brought in one man as a hostage.
Some merchants recognized him as he had long hair and whispered.
“It’s Emil, Zaium’s High Knight!”
“Did they really capture him?”
“I want to say it’s impossible, but he’s right here…”
Emil, who was taken hostage, closed his eyes in frustration.
He couldn’t move at all because his ether was completely blocked by some artifact.
The sailors took him to the mansion and the people finally realized the situation.
Amazingly, the alliance of Count Lantis, Princess Eolin, and Duke Prozan was shattered.
They didn’t use all their power, but it was an impossible thing to happen and they didn’t have any spare power.
Killing Baron Vandus with Viscount Ohmel was the only solution, but it backfired and it was a pity.
“Now Princess Eolin has no say until she gets married. She’s just a hostage.”
“TheCount Lantis’s family must be shaken in their loyalty too. They couldn’t help Viscount Ohmel when he died like that.”
“What if Prince Ruad interferes? He’s already frustrated that he couldn’t defend Baron Vandus.”
“With the High Knight captured, Duke Prozan won’t be able to intervene anymore.”
“Damn, I bet money on Baron Vandus dying.”
The merchant who said that had to lower his voice as he received the sharp eyes of the people of the territory.
The knights also left and the only one left was Tiren from Elvrande.
He was more interested in Baron Vandus’ skill than Bagran’s situation.
‘Bephar-class is not that great of a Goliath, but it’s a medium armor… The martial arts of the baron who cut off the shoulder and arm of such a Goliath are…’
It meant that he could use ether as a weapon at least and he might be an obstacle for him in the future.
‘Should I kill him here?’
Tiren looked at the direction of the mansion where the lord was, but he relaxed his eyes.
No matter how strong an individual’s power was, it couldn’t stop the present and future of Elvrande.
They were trying to obtain the legacy of the forgotten god.
If the dragon revival plan was properly executed, then the power of a mere baron would mean nothing.
‘It doesn’t matter if you hide some suspicious power. We will have more than that.’
And that was the only way to bring true peace to Astera.
Tiren believed without doubt that he was doing justice.
‘Don’t resist. Accept us. That’s the way for you humans to live peacefully.’
***
Most of the territorial wars ended with the death of the lord.
The lord was an indispensable and important force in battle as he had ether bloodline and this increased the mortality rate significantly.
As a result, many cases of surrendering the entire territory followed by the death of the lord were common.
They lost their most important force, so they saw no possibility.
Viscount Ohmel was quite young, so his heir was also young and he didn’t have many relatives.
It meant that he had no one to fight for him.
So as soon as he died from the attack of two Goliaths, most of the bureaucrats surrendered without continuing the resistance.
What was the point of resisting when the lord was dead and the mercenaries were outside the territory?
Katina and Elwin accepted their surrender and mobilized the soldiers to occupy the lord’s mansion and other official buildings.
But they didn’t occupy the whole territory.
Beyond the high fence made of iron, the people of the territory gathered and looked at them with curiosity and wariness.
Katina sweated nervously.
“They won’t rise up, will they? Leobold should hurry up…”
“It depends on how the lord acted normally. Judging by how quiet they are, he wasn’t a very good lord.”
This place was known as one of the territories with high taxes in eastern Bagran.
Viscount Ohmel was also a typical noble who squeezed his people by claiming his ether bloodline.
That was the basic quality of a noble in Bagran.
The clothes of the people beyond the iron fence were much poorer than those of Vandus barony.
“This iron fence tells us the psychological distance between Viscount Ohmel and his people. It’s very high and sturdy, right? He didn’t even recognize his people as his own.”
“You’re very knowledgeable. How do you know that?”
“I used to be a noble too.”
“Oh, right. Come to think of it, we don’t have a fence in our territory.”
There was only the lord’s mansion in the middle and nothing to prevent the access of the people.
There were no guards either and the people freely visited the mansion whenever they had something to do.
It was a radical move considering that the previous lords had soldiers at the entrance even in their difficult situation.
That move was also reflected in his meals.
Baron Vandus went to a restaurant or a hall and ate with people when he was hungry.
It was a very unusual thing to do considering that Bagran’s traditional etiquette required a strict separation between a noble’s space and a commoner’s space.
The people of the territory thought that his move was a show at first, but soon they realized that he was like that from the beginning.
He was a noble who slashed his enemies mercilessly with his sword, but embraced his people warmly.
Of course, Leobold was not a tender person.
He was bulky and above average looking, his expression was almost nonexistent, and his tone was stiff.
But his attitude towards developing his territory and treating his people was clearly different from other nobles.
Thanks to the great development of Vandus barony, various rumors spread around neighboring territories.
Elwin looked at the people outside the fence and said.
“I see some curiosity mixed with wariness. They are hoping. They wish Baron Vandus would rule us, you know.”
“Well, Leobold won’t discriminate them anyway.”
“We also have to make a decision soon. The lord will appoint us as knights.”
“Us as knights? What are you talking about?”
“We can’t keep playing as mercenaries forever, can we? It’s better for the lord to appoint us as knights and keep us.”
“But I don’t have an ether bloodline.”
Unlike Elwin, Katina was not from a noble family.
But that wasn’t a problem at all.
“Being a knight only requires the lord’s permission. Of course, whether other lords or nobles recognize it or not is another matter, but anyway, there is no problem. If you get a title after earning enough merits, you become a noble.”
“I can become a noble too…”
“Well, that doesn’t mean that the lord will look at you differently.”
“Die! I’m already lonely at night!”
They chatted until they heard that their lord was coming this way.
Soon, an airship arrived above the lord’s mansion and Leobold came down.
“The lord is here!”
“He seems to have done well.”
Leobold looked around and asked Katina and Elwin.
“Did you lock up the nobles and bureaucrats of this territory?”
“Yeah. There was a separate prison. We put them there for now.”
“Bring them here.”
The people were dragged out and Leobold stood in front of them and declared.
“Viscount Ohmel is dead and his territory is in my hands. He was seduced by Count Lantis’s scheme and declared war on me, and moved his troops. You must not feel wronged by this.”
“From now on, Viscount Ohmel’s territory will be incorporated into mine. Your lives are also up to me. Make your choice now. Swear allegiance to me or die.”
Some closed their eyes as if they sensed their fate.
They were mostly nobles and relatives.
There was no reason for the baron to spare them when the earl was dead.
On the other hand, most of the bureaucrats threw hopeful eyes at him.
“Are you going to spare us?”
“That depends on your actions from now on. Swear allegiance to me. Bring me all the property lists of Viscount Ohmel.”
“We swear allegiance to you!”
“Search the office and bring the documents! Don’t miss a single sheet!”
It was the moment when the winner and the loser switched.
The bureaucrats who had been flattering the viscount until a while ago bowed to the baron.
The nobles and relatives glared at them as if they would remember their faces, but they had to close their eyes at the next voice of Baron Vandus.
“The rest will be executed, so lock them up in prison. But I won’t tolerate any excessive violence.”
That’s how Leobold got Viscount Ohmel’s territory, but it wasn’t over yet.
There were other territories that participated in the war and there were mercenaries who were returning here in a hurry.
Above all, the pressure from Count Lantis and Eolin Princess would increase.
The latter was a powerless puppet, but the former had lost his noble and territory and his anger was not mild.
‘I hope he doesn’t get robbed by Duke Prozan.’
Thinking about it, Count Lantis was in a corner now.
He ignored the royal family and brought in a noble from Zaium, which was fine, but the High Knight was captured by Leobold.
It wasn’t Count Lantis’s mistake, but it didn’t matter to Duke Prozan who was angry.
He would do anything to get the High Knight back and Leobold just had to wait forCount Lantis to give up completely.
‘But I can’t give back the Goliath.’
Duke Prozan was also in a position where he couldn’t go against the Bagran royal family, so he would probably end the matter there.
‘The only thing left is Denova. I wonder if Zion is doing well.’
He didn’t send Zion to settle things peacefully.
The victory was certain and Denova had to pay more than a million gold.
That Philip mayor wouldn’t give it up easily, so he had to rip his belly open.
‘Zigarion, who lacks patience, will rip his belly open.’
And the money he would bring would be the fertilizer for the development of the territory.
Leobold walked to the lord’s mansion with the escort of his soldiers.
His foot stepped on a sign that was lying on the ground.
Viscount Ohmel’s territory was destroyed like that.
***
Zion didn’t know why Leobold sent him here.
There were bureaucrats in the territory who could handle this kind of work.
Also, it was a problem that there were various kinds of magical defenses in Denova.
He managed to get through them with the artifact that Lucia made, but he almost revealed that he was not an ordinary being.
But Zion thought it wasn’t bad.
He only glanced at Denova city, so it was a decent amusement to see places where people were bustling, such as the central exchange.
‘Maybe Leobold is trying to assign me this kind of work from now on.’
Dragons were generally known to be ferocious and greedy, and Zigarion was exactly like that.
He liked all kinds of valuable minerals and jewels, but his favorite was gold and silver, especially gold.
In that respect, Zigarion didn’t mind being sent here.
He wanted to blow a breath at the bastards who invaded his territory, but Leobold said he would take care of it, so what could he do?
‘But… I was going to take the money…’
Philip, the mayor who was responsible for all the transactions, declared in front of him that he would not pay 1.4 million gold.
He made excuses by saying something about the due date, but Zigarion thought it was no different from saying that he would rip him off, and it was actually like that.
He thought it was better than going bankrupt, but he could no longer be called a merchant based on trust.
Zigarion was furious.
‘How dare this bastard rip off my money!’
He took a step forward and shouted loudly, and the attention of the surroundings was focused on him.
Philip stopped and glanced back briefly.
“You have a loud voice. Who said I wouldn’t pay you? I’ll pay you. Later.”
Only he knew when that would be.
Philip hurried his steps again and a small laugh broke out among his staff.
He couldn’t stand it anymore.
Zigarion unleashed his anger from deep inside his chest and cast a polymorph spell.
There were all kinds of defensive magic circles inside the central exchange, but they couldn’t stop the ether from the dragon heart.
A human disappeared and a blue gate opened, revealing a huge dragon.
“Wha, what?”
“It’s a dragon! It’s a dragon!”
The staff were horrified and the investors stopped their movements at his majesty.
His size was so big that his tail pierced through the wall and his head was already lifting the roof.
Zigarion checked their terrified faces and spat out ether and breath at the same time.
―Give me my money!
Kwaaaa!
A thick stream of lightning shot forward and collided with the defensive magic circle, causing a huge explosion.
The blast spread in all directions, blowing away everything in the central exchange.
The only thing that withstood its power was the dragon’s sturdy body.
―Give me my money back!
Zigarion used levitation and wing beats to float in the air.
He saw the central exchange that had almost become ruins, but his anger didn’t subside.
―You scammers!
He spat out another lightning breath and indiscriminately poured out various spells as well.
All the buildings around the central exchange, including the central exchange itself, turned into ashes in an instant.
There were hardly any people running away, because they died instantly from the breath and magic.
Zigarion looked down at his work for a moment and then grabbed his head in regret.
He did it because he was angry, but he was afraid of how to deal with it later.
‘The lord won’t kill me, right?’
Even if he didn’t do that, he would surely get beaten up if he couldn’t take the money with him.
‘I need to secure some money.’
He went down and used levitation magic to dig through the debris.
Fortunately, he saw some half-broken safes and threw them into his pocket space.
‘This is my money anyway. He won’t complain if I take it.’
Denova was ruined and Elbrande and others were in trouble, but Zigarion flew up without much thought and headed for his territory.
His gravity sensor was tracked by Siberi satellite, which sent a warning.
Arma immediately sent an exploration ship and an ether blocker to erase his traces.
Thanks to that, Denova city’s mercenaries who arrived late couldn’t track down his ether.
“What? What happened?”
“The financial district, including the central exchange, blew up at once! Magician, bring a magician!”
“We should do the rescue first, not that! Find the mayor Philip!”
But they couldn’t find Philip or the core leaders, including the mayor.
They were neatly vaporized by Zigarion’s first lightning breath, leaving no corpses.
Philip was an elf who had lived a long time and had considerable knowledge of magic, but he never imagined that a debtor would transform into a dragon and blow a breath.
The mercenaries turned over the debris with Goliaths and grumbled.
“Are all the people who owe us money dead?”
“Damn, then we should get something too. Where are the safes?”
“That’s not the point. Denova is completely ruined…”
It wasn’t all gone, but the core district was completely destroyed, and most of the records were lost.
Also, Zigarion stole the precious metals and jewels that were stored in the central exchange, so there was nothing left but debris.
It would be hard to start over again, and the trust of the merchants would not be the same as before.
Denova was destroyed like that.
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