Chapter 36
Unhappy to Be Together
The usually jovial Eclaus Vittel quickly plastered a smile back on his face after turning serious for a moment.
"Let's just say I'm repaying a debt."
He shrugged.
A debt?
"Thanks to you, I've become so close to Duke Leicester."
Eclaus smiled brightly.
When you think about it, Luise Ideana was at the beginning of Shed Lester's story.
And it was Luise who brought the Vittel Merchant Group into that history.
"I didn't pay the Lupus slave price properly back then, so think of it as paying it now."
Liana recalled the day she handed Shed over to Eclaus.
She sold Shed to the Vittel Merchant Group and returned the money to Eclaus.
She asked him to send Shed to Lester Territory, even giving him the ring she was wearing...
"I'm a merchant, not a swindler. I was just a clueless fool back then, so I took the money you gave me."
Eclaus remembered that day more clearly than Liana thought.
Perhaps he remembered more than she did.
"That matter had been bothering me. But with the Ideana County disappearing due to treason, there was no way to repay it..."
Eclaus leaned back comfortably, recalling that day.
Was he really going to pretend not to know the secret because of that past event?
Liana couldn't trust Eclaus's suspicious eyes.
"I heard that Vittel never puts weights on only one side of the scale."
Liana didn't fall for his sweet talk.
Eclaus smiled and nodded.
"Of course, I don't mean I'm just going to stand by and watch like an idiot."
As expected, he must have had other intentions.
"Since we're in the same boat, I need to get involved in your affairs a little."
Eclaus smiled again, his eyes crinkling.
Liana's lips tightened with tension.
But Eclaus continued nonchalantly.
"If you stay here, it's only a matter of time before you're discovered. Then it might be revealed that I knew your secret and hid it, which would put me in danger, wouldn't it?"
Luise Ideana returning here was like a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.
Moreover, Dietrich, who was skilled in Heresy trials, was here.
There were too many unstable factors to hide her sin.
"So, I'd like you to leave this place as soon as possible."
The price Eclaus wanted for hiding her identity was for her to leave this place.
Liana frowned at his request.
'The price for hiding my identity is just leaving Paradel?'
It was too light of an offer for keeping such a big secret.
What benefit would he get from her leaving this place?
Besides.
"As you know, leaving this place isn't something I can decide."
Liana said.
She didn't want to come here either.
She had tried to refuse to come here, and she had tried to escape.
But with only an immortal body, it wasn't easy to escape from Shed.
Eclaus smiled lightly and nodded.
"I can help you."
"...Help me?"
"I'm quite capable, you see."
The clever merchant finally revealed the purpose he had hidden deep inside.
"Shed Lester is, of course, a good person, but he's an unhappy person to be with you."
Back in her room, Liana pondered Eclaus's words.
"I can get you out of here. Money can do a lot more than you think."
It wasn't that she didn't trust Eclaus Vittel's abilities.
He would surely find a way to help her escape from here, from Shed, forever.
"Think carefully about which is the wiser choice."
The answer was clear.
Following Eclaus Vittel was the wise thing to do.
He could probably even create a perfect cover identity for her.
But the reason she couldn't readily agree was because there were a few things bothering her.
One was the Heretic left here.
The Clerics were tracking him, but they hadn't even found his location yet.
Could she leave Ideana without a word, pretending not to know?
The Heretic was a remnant of the sins Ideana had committed.
Could she irresponsibly run away, leaving the resolution of that remnant to others?
And if they failed to catch the Heretic...
'...Ideana Territory will remain the Heretic's hunting ground.'
Liana bit her dry lips.
There was nothing she could do, but she wanted to at least confirm that the Heretic problem was resolved before leaving this place.
If possible, she wanted to help.
And another thing that weighed heavily on her steps was... Shed.
If she left with Eclaus, she would probably never see Shed again.
'I definitely shouldn't care. No, I shouldn't.'
Before she met him, she had been living well without seeing him.
She had even tried to run away several times.
But strangely, her heart felt heavy when she was about to leave.
'It's just because I'm thinking about the old days...'
It was because the memories of the past were overlapping with his current appearance.
There were always many people around him after he became Duke, but somehow Shed didn't seem to get closer to them beyond a certain point.
The loyal knights and servants who respected him only served him as their lord and master.
The kind light he had never lost while living as a slave in his childhood was no longer visible.
That's why she kept looking at him.
She couldn't ignore the dry emptiness in his eyes.
She could see the black hole drilled deep inside him.
It felt like all of that was her fault.
"I'm thinking of exempting those who settle in Ideana from taxes this year."
The faces of those present subtly hardened at Shed's declaration.
"Completely exempt from taxes? And you said you would provide settlement subsidies...?"
"That's right. Already, nearly three hundred people have gathered after hearing about it."
The vassals and Clerics who accompanied him quickly added.
As they said, people were already starting to gather in Paradel.
With the treason of the Ideana County, all the nobles here were either executed or fled, but the common people could not abandon the land where they were born and raised.
Thus, the residents of Ideana, who had been hiding somewhere, began to come to Paradel, where the Guardian Barrier was located.
The speed at which people gathered was faster than expected, and they were busy just securing the necessary houses and supplies.
"After all, they will flock here even if we collect a lot of taxes as long as there is a Guardian Barrier. Life is more important than money, isn't it?"
The Cleric's words made people nod.
Even if they collected additional taxes for the Guardian Barrier, they would have to pay without complaint.
But Shed frowned at those words.
"Have you seen the state of the people gathered in this castle, Cleric?"
"I have."
"Do you want to squeeze offerings even from their pockets?"
"Ahem, offerings are a sign of reverence and gratitude towards God that comes from the heart."
The Cleric coughed awkwardly.
They must have seen it too.
That all those gathering in Paradel had in their hands were light bundles.
Living in this land, which had lost its leader and was branded with treason, meant living isolated in a collapsed social system and a bankrupt economy.
The society they could form in a land where even Heretics were rampant was at the level of a small clan or tribe in ancient society.
And they abandoned the land they had prepared with their own hands and came here empty-handed.
To live.
"But lord, at this rate, nearly a thousand people will gather in a month."
"Do you think a city can be built with just a thousand people?"
"..."
"What Paradel needs is people. We're already struggling to repair this mansion because we don't have enough manpower. Isn't everyone complaining about the lack of manpower to rebuild the Temple?"
Shed turned his eyes to the Cleric from just now.
Everyone avoided his gaze and said nothing.
As he said, Paradel lacked people.
The Lester family had brought knights, vassals, servants, and workers, but it was woefully insufficient to look after this vast land.
The same was true of the stonemasons, carpenters, and artisans brought by Dietrich and the Clerics, and those who came here at Eclaus's invitation. It wasn't a city that could be solved with just a few artisans.
"If we want someone to live in this cursed land, we need that much incentive."
Good quality manpower was needed, but securing a minimum population to serve as a foundation was also urgent.
Moreover, Paradel couldn't provide a good environment for those settling here right now.
Collapsed houses, poor infrastructure, and unsettled systems.
If they collected taxes in the midst of that, only dissatisfaction would grow.
They might say that the Guardian Barrier alone is enough, but Shed thought that he couldn't simply rely on the barrier.
"But the cost of rebuilding this place is enormous. How will you cover that cost if you don't collect taxes?"
One of the vassals said discontentedly.
There was so much to repair right in front of them.
Not only this mansion, but also the collapsed walls and Temple, the buildings that would become basic government offices, roads, bridges, and so on.
The water and sewage systems and wells all needed to be reorganized.
How could they cover that enormous cost if they didn't collect taxes?
"...Didn't I say? What's needed here is people."
Not money.
Shed emphasized once again to the vassal who didn't understand him.
