“Tek here, ‘rewarding the good, and punishing evil’ is an unrealistic ideal--if you try to do this on Earth, you will be arrested as a Vigilante. In a fantasy world, as long as you have power, it’s fine.”

 

Early in the morning the next day, that arsonist noble and his retainers are to be transported to the Duchy Capital by ship. Since they could try and escape, there are 20 guards accompanying them.

 

Now, this is where things get a little more complex.

 

The reason that Baronet Poton both accommodated Marquis Dasles, and allowed him to do whatever he wanted--was because Marquis Dasles carried a letter of introduction from the previous earl Bobi, the one from the Duchy Capital. With that backing, the arsonist noble earned the cooperation of a certain organization in the Duchy Territory.

 

It seems that the son of Baronet Poton, who went to school at the Duchy Capital, admired this organization. There would be no problem if it ended with just that, but this organization was the Wings of Liberty--and he was on the wanted list from the Duke, so it was problematic.

 

Even though his son was put on the wanted list, that didn’t mean that he would be relieved of his duty as a governor, but there were many people who wanted his position, so it was very possible that someone would use it to drag him down.

 

At that time, the fact that the son of Baronet Poton was a part of Wings of Liberty wasn’t well-known. Furthermore, it seems that this son is safe and currently taking shelter in the other hunting mansion of Earl Bobi in the Duchy Capital.

 

Of course, if the authorities of the Duchy Capital find out about the son’s location, he will be arrested--and probably executed later.

 

Thus, Marquis Dasles held both the scandal, and the life of his son, over Baron Poton--forcing his cooperation and submission.

 

Of course, he didn’t openly talk about all of this at first. He told me various excuses, like he had been threatened with Fire Magic, he had a debt to the person who introduced the Marquis, or that he got some bribes--but since all of these stories were full of holes, he finally confessed after I activated my maxed-out Interrogation Skill.

 

I ended up making a deal with him.

 

Normally, I should have reported to the Duke and the King about the remnants of the Wings of Liberty holed up at the hunting mansion, but I decide to leave it to Marquis Lloyd to deal with them. But, I cannot overlook them.

 

Marquis Lloyd might try to hide the scandal of his faction, but I expect him to dispose of the remnants of the Wings of Liberty in the process. Marquis Lloyd will probably remove Baronet Poton as the governor of this town--but at least he can avoid the worst case scenario where this information is used by his political opponents to execute him, or at least deprive him of his Peerage.

 

Since I included all the information in the letter that I sent to Marquis Lloyd, the issue with Baronet Poton will probably gradually subside in time.

 

Now then, I demanded three things from him.

 

First, distribute the fortune of the arsonist noble to his victim as reimbursement.

Second, establish an orphanage in this town.

Third, establish a place for the young Magic Hunters to train under the retired ones.

 

For some reason, he had shown disapproval for the third--but it didn’t matter, I had 3 conditions. He finally agreed in the end, but requested that it would run month long courses, instead of functioning like a school. I agreed to that, but for 6 months - 1 year, then it would become a proper school.

 

I was worried that he would have issues with the second demand, but apparently there was an orphanage that was open until the end of the service of the previous governor, so the building itself still remains at the outskirts of the town. The funds for the orphanage stopped once the governor changed--but since I requested it in the letter for the Marquis Lloyd, it should be alright.

 

Now then, as for everyone else who attacked the inn, they’re all turned into slaves. Of course, this doesn’t apply to the people who I asked to infiltrate the mob.

 

However, if too many of the Magic Hunters were decreased, the towns main speciality of gathering Magic Cores would stagnate--so the ones that didn’t have offenses before the incident were picked from the ones who had crimes, and were turned into common slaves with a time limit instead.

 

The ones who become common slaves are to work under the officials of Puta town, and their terms as slaves get decreased because they have to fight Monsters.

 

I actually got a lot of things from the incident this time.

 

First, I got the equipment confiscated from Marquis Dasles, the money that he used to pay the assailants, moreover, I also got some of the money from selling the crime slaves to the slave trader.

 

The latter aside, I don’t know even the former comes in my direction. When I inquired, it was payment for capturing criminals from the administration.

 

To be honest, I didn’t need the money, but I can just distribute it after, so I accepted it.

 

As rewards, I gave several bottles of diluted Potion, and some silver coins for Kena, Ord, and the others. Kena and the women spent a while pondering whether to sell the Potions for money, but in the end, they decided to keep it.

 

I also intended to split among the victims of Dasles who had their houses burned down, but they refused. Instead, I got several baskets of nuts and Medicinal Plants that they had gathered in the forest--since it seems to be thanks for healing them yesterday--I accept it.

 

Lulu makes some baked sweets from the nuts and fruit, giving it to Pochi and Tama for them to eat, and share it among the children. The two of them came back very happy, but exhausted. Since Nana, who had gone with the two, looked glossy, and had a bit of a smile, there must have been a lot of children.

 

It’s also decided that Baronet Poton is going to pay for the compensations of the villages that Dasles had attack.

 

Also, I don’t know who spread the rumour, but it seems that it has been decided that I like tomatoes--merchants come visit me at the inn while bring a lot of tomatoes as presents.

 

But, at least some good food can be made with them, especially because Arisa, Lulu, and I spent hours working together to figure out the recipes of Pizza, and tomato sauce. Especially since she had figured out how to make chips on her own, which I found quite impressive, she has a natural talent with cooking. She seems to love doing it too, seeing the happy look on the faces of the Beastkin girls and Arisa when they eat it.

 

However, I very firmly refused the suggestion to have them make a bronze statue of them at the harbour. Yeah--I never plan on having any models or statues made of me.

 

They then ask me to at least receive a medal of honour, so I accepted it.

 

Do the people of this world like medals?

 

***

“Oh, it moved! It moved just now right?”

“Yeah, if you keep it up, you’d be able to move it like I’ve displayed earlier, work hard.”

 

“Yes, thank you! Noble.”

 

I made a simple artificial arm, made from wood, metal brackets, wire, and Magic Circuits, for Kon. The artificial arm has a hand section with movable fingers as well. When Magic Power reaches the Magic Circuits, Kon can choose to move the elbow or close and open the fingers.

 

However, the opening and closing response is slow, and the grip is fairly weak, it would probably be impossible to hold a weapon with it. Though it can be manually wound and locked--so he can use it when he runs out of Magic Power, and so he can use it to hold a shield without constantly needing to focus his Magic Power, or so he can use his MP for other things during combat.

 

I also made him, and his team some armour from the shell of Rhinoceros Beetle shell, which is strong--but very light. I expected the girls to complain, and they seemed to be good people--and I made them promise to look after Kon--so I made some for them too.

 

In this world, if there’s an opportunity, and you can survive.

 

I feel a bit like a busybody, but it’s fine, if it’s just this much.

 

That’s why, Arisa, stop that grinning.

 

***

Several days after the night attack, we’re finally able to depart Puta town. The wagon would be buried in nuts, Medicinal Plants, and tomatoes if we stay any longer.

 

“Then, young organisms, we’ll be parting soon.”

 

“Nana, you go? You’re going?”

“Nana, won’t stay together? You can’t?”

“Nana, don’t go.”

 

After saying goodbye to the 3 children, Nana mounts her horse.

 

I thought that she’d want to take 1 - 2 of them, this is unexpected.

 

“They are in a base now. I have judged that the journey is dangerous for young organisms’ lives.”

 

By ‘base’, she probably means the provision orphanage.

 

Although the beds are just only spread mats, it’s better than sleeping under the hanging roof outside people’s houses, or under the trees. There are around 50 orphans, whom Nana has gathered from the downtown, living in the provisional orphanage--there are actually three times that number, but we weren’t able to gather them all.

 

I was going to donate several gold coins to the caretakers of the orphanage, but they declined--there doesn’t seem to be anywhere in the city where gold coins are really used. So, instead I donated 100 kilograms of rice and 100 coins.

 

We leave the town with a grand farewell from the children, the Beastkin, and the Magic Hunters. Several fast children are running in parallel with the wagon, but they quickly become tired, and get left behind.

 

Nana turns her head toward the city several times, almost as if she’s reluctant to part from all the children.

 

The wagon continues on the highway, or more like an animal trail that’s overgrown with grass.

 

First, we go towards the farthest village, then cross the mountain range towards Bornean Forest.