I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 50

I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.

Chapter 50

Titles can be bestowed from the rank Viscount and above.

So currently, there are only three people who can bestow titles within the Eileen Empire.

The Emperor, Viscount Redfield, and the Arch Duke.

Among them, the love call came first from Viscount Redfield.

“But the area where I’m active is not Redfield Province, it’s Wizard Province?”

“You can receive the title from His Grace Viscount Redfield and continue your activities here.”

“Will His Grace Arch Duke approve?”

“The Redfield family will likely resolve that issue. If not, you could always move to Redfield Province.”

Something smells fishy.

Caesar used psychometry.

-We lost many people from the Redfield family in this war.

-So it’s good to recruit even one talented person.

-Plus, being able to insert someone from the Redfield family into Wizard Province is also a huge merit.

So they’re asking me to play the role of a spy again?

Am I crazy?

To do such a thing again?

“Have you thought about it?”

“The Redfield Viscount’s family… It’s good, certainly.”

“Then…”

“But becoming a noble in the current situation doesn’t look very good. Me becoming a noble because I did some good work on the continent during the demon realm war? How would people around me look at me then?”

“The name of the Redfield family will protect you, Lord Caesar.”

“I’m not doubting the status of the Redfield family, I’m saying it looks bad. And it might become troublesome later when sorting out post-war merits. So let’s think about that issue after the demon realm war is over.”

“Hmm… But ‘mercenary’ still sounds a bit off, doesn’t it?”

“We can just attach an appropriate name to it. It doesn’t have to be mercenary, something like guardian or sheriff, you know.”

“Sheriff… It’s not a bad naming, but it might be a bit tricky to legislate. I’ll discuss it for now.”

Miles should have understood by now.

To be honest, Caesar’s value is skyrocketing.

In this situation, joining one faction would be nothing short of putting the brakes on Caesar’s rising value.

There’s no way I would do something to lower my own value.

I believe this isn’t the end point for the character Caesar.

Miles cut his cigar and stood up.

“Then I’ll be going now. Enjoy the party.”

After that, various people came in.

Starting with Ramsky, then Serom, Ren, and everyone who had even a slight connection to Caesar came in, and even people I was seeing for the first time.

What the unfamiliar people said was mostly similar.

They came with requests to insert them somewhere or to connect them with someone.

Caesar pretended to listen to such requests and called Harrison to handle them roughly.

After all, the matter of requests wasn’t Caesar’s domain.

The problem was Inquisitor Tina.

“Viscount Duken is smuggling Night Maker.”

I knew that, of course.

The problem was that Tina found out too early.

Is there really no faster way to make people confess the truth than sticking a stake in their anus?

After throwing a few mafia members and smugglers into Tina’s secret basement, she immediately found out the answer.

“What are you planning to do?”

“We can’t touch a noble recklessly.”

That’s a relief.

At least she’s not reckless.

“So I’m planning to officially request the Royder Order to declare Viscount Duken a heretic.”

Caesar inwardly sighed.

Currently, Viscount Duken is secretly providing artifacts and various secret items to the Royder Order.

From the Royder Order’s perspective, Viscount Duken might be considered a necessary evil.

They might even warn Tina not to mess with him unnecessarily.

“Do you have solid evidence?”

“There are people who will testify.”

“Can those people speak properly?”

Tina thought for a moment before opening her mouth.

“We can finish them with a potion.”

It’s not like you’re plastering with cement, what do you mean ‘finish’?

It sounds even scarier when you say it like that.

“Information obtained through violent methods can easily turn into a big problem if mishandled. Besides, aren’t we trying to catch a big fish now? Why don’t you wait a bit?”

Tina frowned.

“Is there a way?”

“This is information I’m only telling you, so don’t tell anyone else.”

“…What is it?”

“Currently, Viscount Duken has no money.”

Tina tilted her head.

“What do you mean?”

“I burned all of Viscount Duken’s slush funds. It must have been several million Del.”

It doesn’t make sense if he still has enough money after losing all that.

And he had been maintaining his family by receiving lobbying from Gilbert and various mafia groups.

It’s been about 3 months since Gilbert died and the mafia groups disbanded, so his money should be running out by now.

“To overcome this problem, he has no choice but to smuggle. It might be quiet now, but the day will surely come when he’ll have to take risks to make big money.”

“Is that really true?”

“Have I ever lied to you? If you’re curious, try digging into Viscount Duken’s current financial state. It’s not too late to inform the Order after that.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to inform the Order first?”

“Then the Order would quickly capture Viscount Duken. Don’t you want to interrogate Viscount Duken yourself, Tina?”

Tina began to ponder.

-Surely those Order guys might snatch my prey.

-If I lose him without even getting to drive stakes into his holes…

It’s really hard to read Tina’s true thoughts.

I’ve seen all sorts of things on the battlefield, but this is really something else.

I guess being a true heresy inquisitor is not a job a normal person can do.

“I understand for now. I’ll trust you, Lord Caesar.”

“Thank you.”

Tina stood up and opened the door.

At that moment, a man’s scream echoed through the doorway.

Aaaargh!

What on earth is going on?

Caesar stood up and looked outside the door.

In the middle of the gathering crowd, a woman was visible.

“Didn’t you learn that if you get caught playing tricks, you lose your hand?”

Gloria was stomping on a man’s hand with her heel.

Gloria… Are you some kind of Homigraph’s demon?

“Wow. That’s cool.”

Tina exclaimed, apparently impressed by Gloria’s tough appearance.

Sigh… I don’t know.

Why are all the women around me missing a screw or two?

Let’s go and sort this out.

***

Gloria had thought something was off when the man sitting next to her swept three games in a row by a hair’s breadth.

It’s nearly impossible, probability-wise, to win three consecutive games by such a small margin.

Gloria looked at the dealer.

The dealer was someone Gloria knew.

The name of that man who came looking for a job as a dealer in the gambling den run by the Clown Family was ‘Bill’.

He had a young daughter and son, and he had to quit his job at a steel factory after injuring his right leg.

Gloria decided to hire him after hearing his pitiful circumstances, and Bill had worked as a dealer under Gloria for two years.

Despite Gloria knowing Bill’s situation, Bill didn’t recognize Gloria at all.

It wasn’t particularly strange.

One of the iron rules that Gloria had to follow while running the Clown Family was that even employees shouldn’t know each other.

This was partly to conceal Gloria’s identity, but also because not knowing each other allowed them to return to their normal lives with families when they took off their masks, rather than being mafia.

Only Gloria was the exception, knowing all the names and faces of the Clown Family members for the sake of family management and employee supervision.

Another iron rule was that the gambling den must be operated fairly and cleanly without exception.

If any signs of cheating or using techniques were discovered, they would cut off the wrist with a cleaver so that person could never enter the gambling den again.

The cleaner and fairer the gambling den was operated, the more customers gathered, and the better the business did, the more ‘disabled’ and ‘women’ Gloria could employ.

Bill must have known the importance of this rule after working under Gloria for two years.

But now, two months after the collapse of the Clown Family.

Bill was colluding with the man sitting next to Gloria and dirtying the gambling table.

Swish Swish Swish Swish.

Bill’s hands moved busily.

Giving the top card to Gloria and other customers.

Shak.

And giving from the bottom to his accomplice.

Bill’s hand technique was nearly perfect, so no one noticed.

But Gloria could tell he was dealing from the bottom just by listening to the sound.

The cards were dealt again.

As it passed in front of Gloria to the man next to her, Gloria’s lightning-fast left hand grabbed the dealer’s wrist.

And Gloria mercilessly stomped on Bill’s wrist with her shoe that she had already half taken off.

Crunch.

The sensation of hand bones breaking traveled up Gloria’s hand.

“Aaaargh!”

“Didn’t you learn that if you get caught playing tricks, you lose your hand?”

The people sitting around looked at Gloria in shock and backed away.

As the man next to her tried to slip away quietly, Gloria glared at him with a growl.

“Stay still if you don’t want to lose your wrist too.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know you were colluding with the dealer?”

The man laughed loudly instead.

Gloria wasn’t one to not know that this laughter was the foundation to hide the lies that were about to come out.

“Ha, hahaha! I’m meeting this dealer for the first time. And do you have any evidence that I colluded?”

“I do have evidence.”

Gloria tossed Bill aside and turned over the cards one by one.

“The dealer gave a Triple to the person on the far left.”

“The next person got Two Pair.”

“The next person got a Flush.”

“I got a Straight. And let’s see what you got?”

Gloria turned over the man’s hand.

“You already got a Full House. There’s no way such cards could come out from the start before changing hands.”

The man said, sweating profusely.

“I-it was just luck. Right? It’s not like this situation is completely impossible!”

“True. It’s fine if this happens once. But winning by a hair’s breadth three times in a row doesn’t make sense, common sense-wise.”

Gloria approached the man, holding up her blood-stained shoe.

“If you don’t want to die, speak straight. Did you cheat or not?”

“I-I didn’t! Really! I know nothing about this!”

“This guy, until the end…!”

“Gloria!”

Gloria flinched when she heard the familiar voice.

Gloria turned around.

It was Viscount Bellum.

“What are you doing right now?”

Gloria shrank for a moment at her father’s trembling voice.

She had gotten so excited about the gambling fraud that she unconsciously let her mafia-era self slip out.

But Gloria wasn’t wearing a clown mask now, and this wasn’t a gambling den.

This was a party venue.

People were all whispering, looking at Gloria with strange gazes.

“Well…”

Gloria’s eyes lost their way.

This had always been Gloria’s problem.

Whenever she got excited, she would rush in without looking around.

This behavior worked as ‘charisma’ when she wore the clown mask, but without the mask, it was nothing more or less than ‘recklessness’.

Gloria started making small excuses, like a child trying to cover up their mistake.

“These guys were cheating…”

“Even so, you cause this commotion at a party? Now…!”

Viscount Bellum looked around and grabbed Gloria’s wrist.

“Let’s go! We’ll talk separately!”

Gloria almost burst into tears.

She knows well what she did wrong.

But she felt so sorry for disappointing her father, of all people, that she couldn’t raise her head.

Gloria was led away by Viscount Bellum’s hand, not even having put on her shoe.

How on earth did things turn out like this?

Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap.

At that moment, the sound of applause came from somewhere.

Everyone turned their heads towards the sound of the applause.

It was Caesar.

“I overheard that Miss Gloria caught some cheaters?”

Viscount Bellum’s face turned red.

“…I’m sorry about this, Lord Caesar.”

“Not at all, Viscount Bellum. Why are you apologizing?”

Caesar passed by the two and looked at the cheaters.

“Aren’t these guys the ones who ruined the mood of my party? Who would say anything to someone who caught cockroaches that entered the house?”

“But…”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Miss Gloria, please raise your head. How can someone who’s going to be a knight in the future hang their head?”

People’s eyes widened at the word ‘knight’.

“What? A knight?”

“Could it be she’s an aspiring knight?”

Caesar spoke as he passed by Gloria and Viscount Bellum.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

And he approached the cheater and held out his hand.

“Show me your invitation.”

“…Pardon?”

“The invitation. You must have an invitation if you came in here. I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name, you see.”

The man’s eyeballs started to roll around.

“Ah… I threw it away when I came in…”

“You threw it in the trash? Then state your name. You would have written your name in the guest book.”

The man hesitated and then gave a name.

“Arthur Morgan…”

“Are you sure that’s your real name? This isn’t just anywhere, it’s my party venue. If you commit identity fraud here, it won’t end well. Are you really sure?”

The man sweated profusely and finally prostrated himself.

“I-I’m sorry! Lord Caesar! I was having a hard time making a living…”

“I know. I understand. You thought if you made a big score today, you could live without worrying about money for the rest of your life.”

The man, thinking Caesar would forgive him, kept bowing his head, tears streaming down his face.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“What are you thanking me for?”

Caesar’s hand landed on the guy’s right shoulder.

And he gripped it tightly.

Crunch!

“Aaaaaargh!”

People were all startled by Caesar’s violent action.

Some weak-hearted individuals even fainted, their eyes rolling back.

“You don’t seem to understand. You’ve just illegally infiltrated a gathering of nobles and lawmakers. What would have happened to my reputation if you had poisoned the food or drinks here? Huh?!”

Caesar stomped on the guy’s head and beckoned to Harrison.

Harrison bowed his head deeply.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Do you know who this guy is?”

Harrison looked at the man’s face and spoke.

“This person was originally an employee who was supposed to work here. But it seems he changed into prepared clothes and was playing poker.”

“Are you not going to manage these guys properly?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Check if there are any other employees disguised as guests like this guy. And also check if there are any rats who have snuck in.”

Caesar dusted off his hands and approached Gloria, bowing politely.

“Miss Gloria. Thanks to you, we were able to solve the problem early. Thank you.”

“…No. Rather, I should be sorry…”

“If you want to become a knight, don’t apologize so readily, Miss Gloria.”

“Pardon?”

“The world these days is chaotic, and we need knights who can assert their own justice more than knights who know how to apologize. Don’t forget that while you’re measuring this and that and being cautious, innocent citizens and comrades are dying. That’s what I learned on the battlefield.”

Caesar spoke, looking at Viscount Bellum.

“You have a brave daughter. Please don’t leave now and stay until the end of the party so that I can personally express my gratitude. I earnestly request this.”

Viscount Bellum looked around.

People’s gazes had turned favorable.

“…Alright. I’ll do so.”

“Thank you.”

“No, I should be the one thanking you.”

Caesar beckoned to one of the staff and spoke.

“Take these two to the lounge. They seem to need a moment to rest.”

“Understood.”

Caesar bowed one last time.

“Then I’ll be going now. I hope you enjoy the party today.”

Caesar disappeared into the reception room.

TL NOTE:

Schedule: Every {Wed-Sat}

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