Chapter 169

(169)

In the world, there were many things one had to do even if they didn’t want to.

And the saint found themselves in a position where they had no choice but to lend troops at the request to help search for the infiltrators.

“There has been a report that an infiltrator has hidden! Everyone evacuate!”

“The psychic wave could ring at any moment. Everyone, cover your ears and crouch down while running!”

It was a summer evening when the sky was turning a deep blue, accompanied by the sound of crickets.

The purification soldiers led by Angelo and the constables borrowed from Barbatos were moving skillfully.

Weapons and holy water were strapped to their backs and waists, with a torch in one hand and a club in the other.

Bang bang bang!

They knocked on doors with their clubs, dragging people out of their slumber, illuminating the alleys with torches, searching for the infiltrators.

Of course, few among them were aware that they were involved in a deception.

“Don’t you think there are a bit fewer holy knights…?”

“Focus!”

The one orchestrating this deception was the royal family.

Valenciaunos was thinking of solving the few problems presented before him during this opportunity.

The first he met was Jin, who was the cause of his involvement in this matter.

“Jin. Once the space is cleared, the guards the great lords bring will be stationed until this fall. If there’s an army right next door, even the most ferocious university students will be a little intimidated. Then, we’ll build a building with many rooms so it can be used as university dorms. Make sure to publicize it widely and ease their complaints, buying us some time. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The second he encountered was Hadrian, who had both raised the stakes of this situation and suggested a solution.

“Hadrian. When the great lords bring their guards, they must be stationed in this empty lot. Maximize the space we have.”

“Must it really be this empty lot?”

“I can’t allow a heavily armed army to be stationed right in front of the imperial palace. The issues raised by citizens can be handled by the guards and the constables, while the infiltrators or high-level monsters are dealt with by knights, so the absolute number of troops is low. There’s no guarantee that the great lords won’t act on the thought of just charging in.”

“Understood.”

The third was Angelo, presenting the solution Hadrian had brought.

“The Sword of Light, Angelo. Have the people been evacuated?”

“…Yes. The purification soldiers have been deployed for external security.”

“Good. Laugh, Angelo. Smile. You have saved so many today. If you hadn’t acted, I would have been flying in the sky, raining down fireballs.”

“…”

Valenciaunos laughed as if in jest, patting Angelo’s armor back.

With an arrogance both immense and cruel, yet within those bright yellow eyes flickered a strange, fervent conviction.

“Hadrian.”

“Ready.”

The treasury summoned the constables, and the constables moved the local thugs and construction guilds they usually kept in their pocket.

“Push!”

“You can’t get past there!”

“There are wheels still alive here. Get the mobile storages pulled out as much as possible.”

They skillfully dismantled the storage buildings and began to flatten the streets.

Several hours passed, and the moon rose high in the sky.

“The wooden buildings are about to collapse, and both stone and brick buildings have numerous cracks. It’s dangerous if we don’t demolish them immediately.”

The thugs and the head of the construction guild reported back.

Hadrian pushed up his glasses and asked.

“What’s the reason? Storage buildings shouldn’t be this fragile.”

“Essentially, they weren’t built for people to live in. There were problems arising from excessive remodeling and modification, such as cutting pillars to place beds and creating structures that leaned against wall pillars.”

Hadrian nodded and looked at Valenciaunos.

“Your Grace.”

“Yes.”

Valenciaunos tightened the hem of his white uniform and stepped out.

With an arrogant gaze, he looked down at everyone, igniting flames in his left hand.

“It would be better to burn it down and bring it down cleanly. The evacuation of the residents should be over, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The thugs and construction guild members bowed their heads.

Valenciaunos walked amongst them and set a wooden storage building ablaze.

* * *

Jang was a porter who had turned 33 this year.

He had wanted to enter the academy and learn swordsmanship as a child, and borrowed a huge sum of money for tuition, eventually applying for admission.

However, he had no talent and ultimately could not repay his debts.

As if that weren’t enough, his parents passed away from an epidemic, leaving him with four younger siblings and a mountain of debt.

Filled with indignation, he left home and took on the role of a low-level thug on the Street of Learning, but it didn’t last long.

With only malice and brawn, he failed to be knighted and couldn’t survive in the chaotic brawl between thugs and low-tier mages.

After being beaten badly while trying to thug it, he crawled back into the home he had once run away from.

“Hyung? Is that you?”

“Oppa?”

His two younger brothers were hauling goods at the dock, while his two younger sisters worked as maids in someone else’s house.

That day he cried uncontrollably, made up his mind, and stopped being a thug.

He went to the canal dock with his two brothers and began working as a porter.

As he diligently started paying off his debts, the pressure from loan sharks gradually lessened.

Even during this time, the dream of becoming a swordsman remained in him, so he wouldn’t just stand by when his fellow porters tried to smuggle goods.

He stopped a porter from pilfering high-quality tobacco.

It was a bribe that the guild master had painstakingly obtained to present to a certain noble.

The guild master successfully secured a big contract with that bribe and didn’t forget Jang who helped protect it.

The guild master even gave him a bonus equivalent to the tobacco’s value.

He paid off his debts, and his younger siblings stopped their maid jobs.

Though it used to be a storage building, he bought a house, got married, and even set up an employment agency to run a business with his siblings.

The siblings half-forgave him as he cried and apologized.

Then one night, purification soldiers from the church came shouting.

An infiltrator had appeared, and everyone needed to evacuate.

Jang was a knowledge worker who had seen some of the academy.

Originally, the church wouldn’t shout when an infiltrator appeared and would send a small elite squad of holy knights and combat priests instead of common purification soldiers.

Feeling something suspicious, he sent his siblings and family out and stayed behind at home.

Then the Bandit Duke came and set fire.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

Jang opened the door and pleaded, bowing down.

“Your Highness, what have we done wrong?”

From the right end to the left end, from the front to the back.

The whole street was ablaze.

He grabbed a water jug, desperately trying to extinguish the flames, but the fire kindled by mana wouldn’t go out no matter how much water he poured.

Jang kneeled before Valenciaunos.

He had heard countless rumors about Valenciaunos by then.

That arrogant Bandit Duke had kidnapped a saint and monopolized grain.

Recently, it was said that he had murdered Marquis Gremoryus using infiltrators, was deeply involved with thugs from the red-light district, and that every day decadent feasts were held in his villa.

Desperate enough to stand against such a person, Jang asked with a trembling voice.

“Your Highness, why did you set fire to my home?”

Valenciaunos looked down at him indifferently.

“That place is not your home. This land belongs to the imperial family, and I lent it to merchants to build storage, but they left it empty when moving the storages. With what I do on my own land, what does it have to do with you?”

“It’s the house I built over a lifetime of work, Your Highness. I have a newly married wife and younger siblings who have suffered throughout their lives because of me.”

“I need this land immediately.”

“Why is that?”

“I need space for the guards of the great lords to be stationed.”

Jang felt as if he had been struck on the head.

“Don’t they only stay for a month at the most?”

“The decisions made in those 30 days will influence over 300 years to come.”

“If you give me just a little time!”

Valenciaunos closed his eyes and then opened them again.

Seeing his golden eyes, Jang thought the sun was setting and rising again.

“I wish I could get more time to beg from someone, too.”

“Please…”

Jang, prepared for death, clutched Valenciaunos’s feet.

The white leather shoes that expelled wind, ‘Anima Lamentum,’ had a little of Jang’s handprints on them.

“Your courage is commendable.”

Valenciaunos struck the back of his neck with one hand, rendering him unconscious.

He contemplated for a moment whether to kill Jang or spare him.

He saw in Jang wisdom enough to notice his deception and courage to stand in front of him, carrying all sorts of bizarre rumors.

‘I’ll spare you.’

He was someone who was sufficiently qualified to continue living as a subject in this cruel world.

Valenciaunos took three gold coins from his inner pocket and placed them in Jang’s pocket.

He then called the constables to take Jang to the evacuated people.

* * *

“Your Highness Valencia, is everything alright?”

“Yes, Lady Trentia. No problems at all.”

The clearing operation was going very smoothly.

There were hardly any shadows of buildings left on the side touching the city wall, and the side adjacent to the Street of Learning was also neat.

I roamed the streets, accompanied by Rudi and Lady Trentia, assisting in the demolition work.

Setting wooden storage buildings ablaze until only ashes remained, cutting thick beams together with Lady Trentia, and negotiating with high-ranking members of the construction guild who had rushed out since dawn to build for the students on the Street of Learning as potential clients.

Everything was going smoothly.

I was preparing a surprise gift for Jin while having Hadrian and the construction guild leaders summoned.

Lady Trentia knew about this deception I was planning but didn’t give me any admonition.

When I asked out of concern, she responded:

“It is only natural as a knight to do our best to host guests of the same rank who visit my territory.”

It is said that landholding knights put out a feast for visiting knights or barons with such extravagance that the table legs might break.

“Of course, as a human, it’s not exactly comfortable. However, knights follow chivalry to be recognized by other knights. In other words, maintaining the face and dignity of a lord is as important as chivalry itself.”

Rudi didn’t have a delighted expression either, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“You’re discussing the reconstruction inside, aren’t you? You haven’t demolished everything, though. Don’t you plan to rebuild it taller than four stories while you’re at it?”

“When did you hear?”

“I overheard what Hadrian-san was saying earlier. Since stone prices have dropped, you plan to build a building at a low cost first, take in those who used to live in this street at a low rent, and then sell the buildings to court nobles while keeping the contracts intact to make a profit, right?”

I turned away and laughed awkwardly.

“I heard that from Hadrian.”

Rudi smiled brightly and stuck closely to my side.

“Yes, Valencia. I’ll trust you.”

I looked at the thugs and construction guild members who were gathering ashes and debris from the fire and collapse.

The eastern sky was slowly brightening.

Good.

I had made it through another day well.

Now, I would go back to sleep for three hours in the morning, report on the progress to Jeilliris, recommend Hadrian, check the list of high nobles with direct retainers, and prepare carrots and whips to appease them with my memories from before the return… Yes, I should also prepare a gift for Jin.

As I was lost in such thoughts.

A thick green arm emerged from the ashes.

Its skin was charred and the muscles were showing here and there due to the heat, but it was undoubtedly a living being’s arm.

“Keeehh!”

Standing about 4 meters tall, with a slender frame, long arms and legs, and four light green tentacles splitting from the back of its long head.

I despaired at the familiar aura I felt from it.

“World!”

The real infiltrator was here on this street.