Chapter 633: Reason
A/N: Big thanks to ’HronoSapians’ for gifting a castle worth 5000 coins!
I truly appreciate the support.
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Chapter 633: Reason
When James realized it was really Leo and Lily, he couldn’t hide his smile after seeing them well and good. But he soon realized how bad it was for Leo to be here right now, and his smile died in an instant.
"You shouldn’t be here!" he said sternly as he looked around.
Leo was a bit taken aback, but when he sensed that the words were spoken out of concern, he became a little curious.
"Let’s go inside first," James said before looking back at the third person in the cloak.
"Your friend? I don’t know if it will be alright..." he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
James was referring to Zerek, and it wouldn’t be right to disclose the murder to even a friend.
"Her? Don’t worry about it. She is completely trustworthy," Leo assured as they began walking into the castle’s main building.
"Brother James, the city has flourished greatly under you. It looks really great now," Leo said as he raised his head to look around the surroundings.
Hearing that, James and Sera fell silent. Even Vintage lowered his head.
"Like we guessed, there’s really something going on."
After that, Lily took over.
"Brother James, Sister Sera, do you really think we aren’t even qualified to share your burden?"
"N-no... It would’ve only put you both in needless trouble..." Sera responded softly.
"What trouble is needless in comparison to your importance in our lives? You protected me and Leo when we had no support whatsoever, and now that we are capable of supporting you both, you’re denying us the right to return the favor?" Lily said.
"It will be much more problematic for you two, especially Leo..." James replied.
"Is it related to the Milti family? Trust me, Brother James. When I say this, even if they know I killed Zerek and Zolton with my own hands, they can’t even touch a single hair on my head."
James’ eyes widened as he frantically looked around to make sure nobody had heard him. Thankfully, apart from Vintage and their cloaked friend, no one else was around.
"Idiot! Don’t say things like that out loud!"
But the most shocked person in the room after the scolding was Sylrael. She had never known anyone capable of scolding Leo other than Lily or the professors—especially not a man who barely radiated the strength of a Peak 2-star.
Knowing the discussion would be top secret, they made their way to James and Sera’s private quarters, even Vintage didn’t entered inside.
But Lily allowed Sylrael inside.
"Remove your cloak and show them who you are," she said.
Sylrael did so, and the moment her long ears came into view, both James’ and Sera’s eyes widened.
"An elf!"
"How did she become your friend?!"
Lily then pointed at the collar around Sylrael’s neck.
"We captured their secret realm and took them in as our territory’s people."
James immediately understood.
"A slave..." No wonder Leo was confident the secret wouldn’t be leaked.
After that, James spoke at length about everything that had happened after the Academy selection.
Apparently, someone had secretly sent a message to the Main City of the Milti family regarding the situation in Kendru City. After that, the family dispatched their envoys to investigate.
Through the surviving members of the Milti family—Zerek’s wives and his other children—they learned that Zerek had been missing for a long time. In his place, the Vice Lord, Vintage, had appointed a new Baron as the City Lord and had even proceeded with the final procedures to make him the permanent lord.
The concerned department head of the Milti family cared little that the great-great-grandson of the family head had disappeared under mysterious circumstances—since Zerek really wasn’t that important. He was furious that someone had taken the Milti family’s land, or better, a city under his department, right under his nose, without giving them anything in return and even cutting off the money he regularly received from Zerek.
The concerned department head had initially intended to confront James directly and even kill him. However, after learning that James had connections with someone admitted into Aurelius Beast Academy, he decided on a safer and more legal approach.
He filed a complaint with the Empire officials, claiming that the Milti family’s governing rights over Kendru City had been unlawfully usurped.
Of course, he had to manipulate the reports through bribery, especially regarding Vintage—who actually possessed the authority to appoint someone else as City Lord if the current one disappeared, with his right as the rightful heir of the previous City Lord.
And so, the reports instead portrayed Vintage as someone who had deliberately betrayed the family’s trust by appointing someone outside the Milti family as City Lord without information, effectively wasting all the family’s investment in developing the territory.
A family needed to have ruled a city for over 150 years to make it completely theirs if the previous foreign City Lord heirs were incapable of becoming one—being a Peak 2-star Beast Master—or the heirs couldn’t produce a good heir of their own within the same.
Until then, the Empire still retained the authority to approve or reject changes in succession. And that authority had been given to Vintage by the Empire. And since he had already grown so old without reaching an appropriate strength level to become the City Lord himself, he needed to look for someone else or birth a good heir—another impossibility because Zerek had weakened Vintage too much to try for a child.
In other words, the Milti family didn’t have complete rights to the city, which is why there were such complicated procedures.
And since James had already become the City Lord, they couldn’t simply remove him. Instead, they demanded hefty compensation.
Normally, if the compensation wasn’t paid, the position of City Lord would have been transferred back to someone from the Milti family. But the family head was clever. He wanted to eliminate the root of any future problems in case the city’s people rebelled and demanded James’ return.
So instead of reclaiming the city directly, he signed a Military Support Contract, under which expeditions personally led by James—since he was the strongest in the city—would be conducted to help the Milti family capture new lands, with the value of those lands counting toward repaying the compensation.
A classic trap orchestrated by powerful noble families to eliminate troublesome people.
Because if James died in an "unfortunate accident" during one of those expeditions, the Milti family would naturally regain the rights to control Kendru City while also eliminating the possibility of James becoming a future obstacle if the next City Lord failed to perform his duties. In other words, if another man like Zerek appeared, nobody would be able to remove him.
This trap accomplished three things.
First, it removed the root of a potential future problem.
Second, it ensured the family’s continued control over the city through their newly appointed lord.
Third, it created fear among newly emerging powerhouses who might one day demand the position of City Lord because they possessed sufficient strength.
To achieve this, the first step was almost always the same: force the current lord into debt so he or she had no choice but to submit to the family’s terms.
The very same method had been used to kill Vintage’s father.
Zerek had cleverly befriended him and convinced him to spend a fortune on a fake natural treasure, promising it would grant him greater strength. But the treasure never worked. Without the promised power, he couldn’t repay the borrowed sum by hunting stronger beasts.
Eventually, he was forced to participate in a land-capturing expedition led by the lenders—the Milti family—where he died. Afterwards, Zerek was appointed as the new City Lord by the family as a reward for his ’hard work’.
As a matter of fact, the Milti family was one of those families who received their title personally from the Emperor because of the large amount of captured lands under their name. A notable deed if the underhanded means were overlooked.
Both Leo and Lily listened to the story before looking at each other and then back at James and Sera.
"What is the amount demanded as compensation?" Leo asked.
"According to the ruling, we owe the Milti family 246 Gold Coins."1
Leo deals with thousands of Gold Coins, but that doesn't mean it's the same for a backwater place like Kendru.