“But Your Highness, wasn’t this success closer to a coincidence? This territory has fluctuating climate conditions and four distinct seasons; there is no way the territory is going to stay warm all year-round…”

“Don’t worry about that and keep going. And we are not going to expand for the time being. I will cultivate a different land and give it to you as farmland.”

“Pardon? Oh… Yes, sir!” Amy and the others nodded. They said nothing more at Davey’s orders.

‘Becoming greedy isn’t a good thing.’ Davey knew that the balance between supply and demand was important.

“Monmider, discuss with Royal Attendant Bernile and fix some of the buildings in the territory. Just repair them so that they are usable. We will do major reforms once I’m back.”

“As you wish.”

“Since I can’t ignore the summon from the royal palace, let’s go.” Davey immediately rose from his desk and tied his travel pouch around his waist.

“Who would you like to bring with you, Your Highness?” Royal Attendant Bernile asked Davey.

“I’m going alone.”

“Pardon?” Bernile was about to respond to Davey’s ridiculous response before staying silent. This was an odd situation, but there wasn’t anything that he could do.

* * *

Davey thought back to the memories Surtr, the thousand-day blacksmith, left him. He knew Surtr’s dungeon was definitely located somewhere between the Heins Territory and the capital.

However, it couldn’t be pinpointed exactly since Surtr lived thousands of years ago. Ten years was an epoch; there was no way of knowing whether his legacy was still remaining thousands of years later. It wouldn’t be strange if someone had already robbed the ancient ruins and had taken everything. Even the most extraordinary seals were bound to weaken over time.

‘An example of a weakened seal is right in front of my eyes.’

-You. You’re looking at me with a weird gaze.

“It’s nothing. Hm…”

Feeling a little discomfort from Davey’s gaze, Perserque squinted and glared at him.

-You didn’t think of anything weird, did you?

‘I see you as the living proof of the broken seal.’

“Yeah, yeah.”

-……

Perserque kept looking at Davey with distrust, but he just chuckled and looked around. He commented, “We’re here.

-Isn’t this Valhalashad?

“It is.”

Davey had stopped at Valhalashad before going to the palace. It was pretty famous in the continent, being one of the few tourist destinations of the Rowane Kingdom. The territory was also meticulously researched and conserved by the Continental Union. And…it was the family home of Queen Lynesse, Davey’s enemy. The territory was under the jurisdiction of Duke Bariatta.

-You probably aren’t too fond of this place.

“I guess the nobility were pretty shaken up. The atmosphere does feel quite serious.”

No one recognized Davey, because he was visiting under the guise of a mercenary. The situation would be completely different if the nobles recognized him, but there wasn’t anyone. As a result, he could sense just how grave the entire territory’s atmosphere was upon entering.

“ID.”

“Here it is.”

“Hm… Davey.”

He was Davey, the Class F free mercenary. This was the identity he had prepared to come here. It was the same name, but it wasn’t like this name was exclusive to him as the First Prince.

The royal guard glared at Davey without a word, then glanced at his class. He was Class F, the class given to newbie mercenaries. As he read the class, he smirked slightly. “Ha! No. Go back.”

“What?”

“It seems like you are here to explore the newly discovered labyrinth. Don’t even think about exploring this area. Get lost!” The royal guard roughly shoved Davey and shouted. Surprisingly, no one thought that the guard’s actions were strange; it was as if this was a normal occurrence. Feeling rather annoyed, Davey scoffed at the absurd situation.

“Ha. What is this?” The royal guard just leered at Davey and shouted. He was seemingly done with Davey. “Next!”

“…”

‘Even if this is the land of Duke Bariatta…’ Davey knew the kingdom was crumbling to the point where serious reformation was needed because of how strong the nobility’s influence was, but it was far worse than he had thought.

“Excuse me.” As Davey vacantly stared at the palace gate, an elderly man approached him and said, “Did you come from far away?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Tsk tsk. You don’t know yet.”

“Is there a problem in the territory?”

“No, not really.” The elderly man sighed and shook his head. “Look at that.”

As Davey glanced over to where the elderly man said…

-That’s crooked.

Davey could see the people going past the gates handing the guards money, as if they were paying a toll fee. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was definitely against the law. It had been a while since the law related to toll fees was amended.

As he just silently watched the guards, the elderly man patted Davey on the shoulder and gave him a small pouch from his pocket. “Ha… You are terrifyingly emotionless.” The elderly man clicked his tongue. “Well, what can you do? Give them this and go in.”

“Mister?”

“It might be a little less than what they want, but they’ll still let you in. Don’t get beat trying to fight them and just take it.”

Davey currently had a fake identity as a commoner; if he were to enter as the prince, Duke Bariatta would keep an eye on him. He wanted to just take care of it without attracting any attention, but he thought this was utter nonsense.

“Why the money…?” Davey asked.

“Haha. It’s just because you remind me of my grandson back home. Don’t cause a problem and just take it.”

The elderly man wasn’t lying, since his sincerity could be seen by [Check Information], which Davey had used almost reflexively. As much as he felt gratitude, Davey felt a strong anger consume him. ‘Wow, this…’

-Do as you please.

Davey could hear Perserque’s devil-like whispers. Well, it really was a devilish whisper because she was a demon. Either way, Davey gladly accepted her proposal.

-Yes, the person I am contracted to is someone who cuts to the chase.

Ignoring Perserque’s whispering, Davey gave the pouch of money back to the elderly man. He said, “Thank you for your kindness, but keep this money and buy your grandson a present or something.”

The elderly man was confused. “You…?”

“I don’t think I’ll be needing it.” Davey slowly stood up. Then, he dusted off the dirt on his body and walked over to the guards.

“Hm? You’re still here?” As Davey stood in front of him, the royal guard put his hand out with an irritated expression. “Give it.” He was asking Davey for the toll fee. It looked like second nature to him.

“Unless they are from another nation or a large party moving for trade, a toll fee is not accepted.”

“What?”

The royal guard slightly frowned at Davey, who simply continued saying, “Accepting a toll fee from an individual is a violation of the law and is strictly controlled by the national law.”

“Sigh… What is this ass saying?” As the royal guard began laughing at Davey, the others who stood nearby began laughing as well. It made sense for them to laugh because all they saw was a newbie mercenary acting all serious and talking nonsense.

“So.” The guard standing in front of Davey threatened, “What do you want us to do? Should we have a funeral right he…”

“I’m warning you before I take care of this by the law. Return all the money you have collected so far and plead guilty. If you do, I’ll take that into consideration.” Davey used intimidation. He sounded like he was in a play, but it didn’t matter. None of that mattered since this was just like the [Miranda Warning].

‘It’s just that famous, “You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney…” thing that detectives say.’

“Hahahahaha!!”

“This guy! Hahaha!”

The guards all burst into laughter. At the same time, those who realized that something was wrong began panicking. Among them, the elderly man who had tried to help Davey looked as pale as a ghost since Davey could be struck by the guards’ swords at any given moment.

Shing!! And, as the others expected, one of the guards pulled out their sword and held it at Davey’s throat. “Hey, newbie. Why don’t you mind your own business? You think you dying will change anything?”

“You have no intention of abiding by the law?” Davey asked.

“Ha! We are the law here! And in this territory, Duke Bariatta is the law!” The guards shouted shamelessly.

‘That’s enough for me.’

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“What?”

“You asshole!”

The surroundings suddenly became rowdy as the guards, ticked off by Davey’s comment, raised their voice. The elderly man quickly tried to step up and ease the situation, but Davey reached out his hand and acted first; he didn’t want to complicate things by letting the elderly man get involved.

Whack! As soon as the guard finished his sentence, Davey forcefully hit the hand of the guard who was holding a sword. The guard lost his grip on the sword, which Davey quickly seized.

‘This sword’s center of gravity is really off. The material is absolutely awful.’

Davey’s actions were impossible without a certain amount of technique or strength, but he had the strength to pull someone’s head and body apart with his bare hands. ‘Swordmasters’ were said to be non-human for a reason.

“Huh?”

Slice!!! As soon as Davey caught the longsword with the worst grip he had ever felt, a blaze of white light flashed and something circular cut through the air. The action wasn’t fast because Davey swung the heavy blade without bringing out [Auror] or [Auror Blade], but that alone was already fast enough for regular people to miss it.

Everyone suddenly fell silent. After staring at the circular object that fell on the ground, Davey glanced over at the other guards and declared, “The crime of forcibly collecting a harsh fee on the subjects of the kingdom is directly related to the embezzlement of kingdom funds, and the punishment is an immediate beheading. This responsibility falls on those who condoned the situation and on everyone who knew about it.”

The guards’ trial would be under the jurisdiction of Duke Bariatta, to be exact, but lèse-majesté was already unfairly established. Even if it wasn’t, Davey wasn’t one to care. Rather, all he wanted to do was see the face of the nobility under Duke Bariatta who was managing the territory on behalf of him. 

“These commoners are already having a hard time, and you guys, who receive a stipend as the employees of this kingdom, do this kind of shit?” As Davey spoke, the atmosphere of the palace gate at Valhalashad Territory grew cold. Davey then demanded fiercely, “Get me the administrator of the territory, you worthless assholes.”