“H-how could this be…?”

Baron Bommel was astounded.

“How could this be—what? Are you going to keep on staying there?” Eugene said. He was planning to give the baron another chance. Naturally, it wasn’t because he wanted to be considerate. He wanted nothing more than to smash the baron’s head before doing anything else, but there were simply too many eyes, including the members of the baron’s family and the direct descendants of the other lords.

Eugene continued, “Get off your horse, and show your lord the courtesy he deserves, sir.”

In the first place, Eugene possessed a beautiful appearance that stood out. When he showed a stern yet confident attitude, it only exemplified his good characteristics.

“He is truly a man fit to be the king.”

“Truly an honorable monarch. Such generosity.”

Eugen could hear the children of the noble lords whispering far behind him.

‘Good.’

Eugene smiled, satisfied. He knew that fear and terror were extremely effective means of governing people, but he had come to realize that awe was even more effective. The royal family of the Caylor Kingdom had come to ruin because the nobles and lords of the kingdom had no admiration and awe toward the king.

‘Even though it’s so simple. Now, then...’

Having successfully displayed his generosity toward the children of the lords of his dukedom, Eugene slowly unsheathed Wolfslaughter and spoke, “Did you not hear what I said?”

“Hiek!”

“U-uah…”

The majority of Baron Bommel’s troops had previously experienced Eugene’s overwhelming power in the past. As such, their expressions rapidly changed, and they retreated as soon as Eugene pulled out his sword. In particular, Pascal looked alternatingly between Eugene and his uncle with a ghastly expression.

“U-u-uncle.”

“U-uaagh…”

When a person was overwhelmingly surprised or shocked, they would often act in strange, uncharacteristic ways. Such was currently the case for Baron Bommel. After coming to realize that his plan was completely unusable from the start, he made the worst choice possible.

He shouted, “S-stop him! Stop him at all costs! Uahhh!”

Immediately after he gave his orders, Baron Bommel frantically beat the reins of his horse.

“M-my lord?! My lord!”

“Clerics! Priests! Priests!”

Baron Bommel and the members of the clergy belonging to the monastery fled toward the castle while ignoring the voices calling out for them anxiously. Eugene watched the scene unfold with a dumbfounded expression. The troops of the territory also stood speechless.

“Oi, are you really going to try and stop me? Sir Pascal?” Eugene called out.

“…!”

Pascal dropped his head as his shoulders trembled.

“No.” Pascal was left with no choice the moment Baron Bommel had chosen to flee. A lord of the dukedom had dared to insult the king to his face before disobeying his orders and fleeing. Moreover, numerous children from various noble families witnessed it.

‘It’s over. It’s all over.’

Baron Bommel had sealed his own fate.

***

The knights of the territory quickly surrendered with Pascal leading them, and Eugene was able to occupy Baron Bommel’s castle with ease. Baron Bommel attempted to mount a defense by locking himself in the castle’s great hall with a handful of troops, but it was futile.

The baron kneeled in front of Eugene while trembling, his hair ruffled and his silver crown removed from his head. The members of his family were also there, and they stared at Eugene with fear-stricken eyes. However, the others—in particular, the direct descendants of the other lords—watched the scene play out with eyes filled with fear and interest. Although the majority of noble families were related to each other by blood after they had established their familial ties through several generations, they were fundamentally competing with each other. There was nothing more entertaining to them than to see a competitor being squashed flat.

“Hmm.”

Eugene looked over Baron Bommel’s family with a solemn expression, then parted his lips. “Insulting one’s lord is a sin that can only be washed away by death.”

“…!!!”

The expressions of Baron Bommel and his family turned ashen when Eugene mentioned death. Anything else could have ended with them paying moderate compensation or receiving a slight penalty, but the current issue was much too severe. Moreover, it had happened in the presence of a large number of ‘nobles.’

Forgiving and condoning such an act would be akin to declaring the king’s authority as nothing more than a pile of shit.

“Y-y-your Majesty. P-please. Please forgive us just this once…” Baron Bommel begged for mercy. His face was already as pale as a corpse's.

Bang!

Eugene slammed the bottom of his sheathe against the floor, then raised his head. The knights and nobles of the barony trembled when Eugene gazed over them with icy eyes.

“Putting Sir Bomel’s disposition aside, I can’t simply let this matter slide,” Eugene declared.

“B-by that, you mean…” The knights and the nobles of the barony were at a loss. Was the king asking them to take responsibility as well? However, such a request couldn’t be called unreasonable, as the fault of the lord was the joint responsibility of the lord’s subordinate nobles.

However, they had never expected Eugene’s following words.

“Do you all consider me to be a vampire?” Eugene asked.

“…” The vessels of the barony could not respond. Instead, they awkwardly stole glances at each other. If they said yes, they would have insulted the king alongside Baron Bommel, but if they denied it, they would be betraying their lord in his face. The relationship between a lord and his vassals wasn’t something built in a single day, but rather strengthened over a long period of time. As such, they were placed in a dilemma.

“Well, fine. Then let’s have a little fun with it,” Eugene said.

He continued with a relaxed tone, “Whoever thinks that they are truly, deeply faithful come forward. Whoever considers themselves to be of true faith. Whoever thinks that they are true priests—those people should come forward.”

However, the priests from the monastery stayed still while only glancing at each other. Eugene continued coldly, “Don’t tell me that none of you have true faith? Does this mean all of you are just false prophets who simply do your roles in the church without any faith?”

When Eugene openly questioned their faith, two priests raised their hands.

“M-my faith is not false.”

“God is watching over this place, e-even at this moment.”

Eugene nodded sternly while holding himself back from snorting.

“It seems that way judging by your courage. Now, come this way,” Eugene said.

The two priests stumbled their way forward, and Eugene threw something toward them.

“Huh…?” One of the priests took on a stupefied expression after receiving the object from Eugene. It was a dagger made of pure silver, and it appeared quite precious and expensive as well.

“It’s something I received as a token of faith from the holy knights of the central church. If you doubt its authenticity, I can let you confirm it right away. Try channeling your divine power into the dagger,” Eugene said.

Given that the two priests had stepped forward despite their fear, their faith wouldn’t be fake. If that were the case, the priests likely possessed some skills, even if they weren’t on the level of a holy knight.

Wooong…

As Eugene had expected, the holy knight’s dagger emanated a dim light.

Eugene gestured to Princess Lilisain. “Princess, bring them here.”

“Honor,” Princess Lilisain answered with a salute, then brought forth the griffon cubs.

Keeee…

The cubs instinctively curled up when they saw the dagger imbued with divine power. It was inevitable. After all, they were already terrified of Eugene, and this was their first time seeing a weapon with divine power.

“Do you see it? This proves that this weapon has great influence over evil, just as it scares the griffon cubs, right?” Eugene said.

“…?”

Everyone still appeared clueless.

“Now, come to me,” Eugene said to the priest while taking off his glove. Then, he dragged the priest’s arm and slashed his own palm without hesitation.

“What?!”

Red blood flowed freely from Eugene’s palm. He raised the hand dripping with blood before continuing, “If I were evil, as Sir Bommel had said, there would be black smoke, and this wound would never heal. As you all know, this is a weapon with divine power. But look. How is it?”

“…!!!”

The onlookers were shocked and speechless. At the least, the knights were well aware of what would happen to monsters and vampires attacked by weapons with divine power. Moreover, the dagger was a holy artifact of the central church. If Eugene were a vampire, he would have been writhing in pain by now.

“Your Majesty, please,” Princess Lilisain said while quickly holding out her handkerchief. Eugene wrapped it around his hand before putting on his glove once more. The bleeding would stop in a minute, and the wound would heal, so he had to hide it quickly. With only a few tattoos remaining on his body, weapons with divine power couldn’t hurt Eugene much anymore.

“I think you all have sufficiently enjoyed my defense and show…” Eugene said while looking around. No one could hide their shock after the clear evidence.

Eugene’s gaze came to rest on Baron Bommel.

“I declare that, immediately, Sir Bommel will renounce his position and hand over his title to his successor.”

“…!!!”

Everyone was surprised by Eugene’s unexpectedly lenient decision.

However…

“I can consider an insult toward me a mistake, but I can’t let go of the fact that a lord had dared to mock and disregard the dukedom. Therefore, I will impose a restriction on the authority of the Bommel Barony to this castle and the Castletown. You will surrender all remaining territories to the dukedom. Any objections?”

“...”

An objection was impossible. The king had shown leniency toward the insult directed toward himself, but he strictly dealt with the contempt shown for the dukedom. It was truly the temperament of a wise and fair king.

“As Your Majesty wishes!”

Baron Bommel, his family, and the vassals of the barony shouted at once while bowing to Eugene. Jan Eugene, the insidious knight who had brought humiliation to the barony in the past, no longer existed. Rather, there was only King Jan Eugene Batla—the honorable and generous monarch of the Dukedom of Maren.

‘Killing an insect isn’t going to make any difference. It’s better to keep him alive, make an example out of him and make a fortune at the same time. Anyway, I will have to talk to the governor and ask him to give me the land I took. I have managed to perfectly kill two birds with one stone. Hohoho.’

Eugene was wearing a solemn, dignified expression, but his inner thoughts were contrasting.

***

The next morning, Eugene left the Bommel territory’s castle. Baron Bommel looked as if he had aged ten years overnight. It was highly likely that he would never set foot outside the castle during his life.

Considering that the children of various lords had witnessed the incident, the story would quickly spread throughout the dukedom. Given that the honor of a noble was ultimately dictated by how others evaluated them, Baron Bommel would most likely spend the rest of his life being mocked and criticized by the other nobles.

His eldest son, Franz, had taken his place as the barony’s master.

“I will be watching you. Do your best,” Eugene said.

“O-o-of course! I will work hard, Your Majesty!” Franz bowed deeply to Eugene’s threat, which was disguised as encouragement. After being captured and humiliated by Eugene a few years ago, he was very much fearful of Eugene. As such, even though nearly seventy percent of his land had been seized, he still couldn’t even breathe properly in front of Eugene, let alone complain.

However, the descendants of the other lords were unaware of the truth. Rather, they had differing thoughts after witnessing the incident from beginning to end.

‘He’s encouraging the child of the person who dared to insult him…’

‘He is an incredibly generous, honorable, and bold man!’

They were once again reminded of the scene where Eugene had fearlessly charged into the enemy camp swarming with knights and mercenaries. Eugene was the perfect, generous, dignified king in their minds.

In addition, it had long been engraved on their souls that their families would be destroyed if they dared to provoke him recklessly. Humans truly had to see and experience to learn.

Eugene’s threat was unknowingly converted to an honorable act, but the person in question reveled in satisfaction in ignorance of this fact.

‘This trip was also a success. It was a great harvest.’

Eugene had achieved all his goals, and he had also reaped an unexpected profit. He returned to Maren perfectly satisfied after joining with Christian midway.

But as always, things would often go in unexpected directions.

***

“Please kill me, Your Majesty!”

Vampire Lord Markus was waiting for Eugene at Maren’s castle—the castle was almost done in Eugene’s absence.

“Kill you? Why are you saying such things all of a sudden? No, in the first place, how did you get here so quickly? Why are you alone?” Eugene asked. He had sent a letter via Maren’s governor through an elven knight, but it should have taken at least fifteen days to reach Mungard. In addition, Eugene had expected Markus to take a couple of months to arrive because preparations had to be done prior to his departure. As such, Eugene was greatly surprised by the current situation.

“I have made a great mistake… I have committed a grave mistake. Keugh!”

“Mistake?” Eugene asked with a frown. He could tell that Markus was genuinely aggrieved and shocked.

Markus responded as he quivered and lay flat on the ground, “M-miss Romari… Miss Romari was kidnapped. It’s my fault! Please punish me!”