Chương 272: 268. Scheming

Levalas wished there was a way for him to escape this pitiful life, having had more than enough of doing the dirty work of the gluttonous baron. That was why he had even dared to take an assassination mission on the new baron of Tiranat before the winter, not that he had any idea at the time that Baron Kivamus was actually a Ralokaar, a son of the Duke.

But despite failing in it, he had still continued to serve Zoricus after that - even with his heart saying that if he continued on this path the Goddess would make sure he would end up in the deepest pits of hell - just because he still hoped that one day he would be able to scrounge up enough coin to buy a passage on a ship going far away from Cilaria... and yet, here he was, even today. It was like the goddess didn't want him to leave Southern Reslinor at all!

Soon, he reached the outer door of the elaborate mansion, and thankfully he didn't have to introduce himself, since the guards recognised him by now as a regular visitor to Baron Zoricus. Giving the guards a nod of thanks, he walked through the wooden floored corridor, with paintings hanging on both sides, until he reached the door he was dreading. Another pair of guards standing there gave him entry after verifying who he was, and he entered the room.

As expected, Zoricus had a mountainload of food kept in front of him on the table, with the man busy eating with both of his hands, one after another. Like the food would fly away if he wasted time in stuffing it into his mouth! A servant was standing nearby with a carafe of wine, ready to fill the wine glass on the table when it emptied.

The other servants and grooms in the mansion, including Levalas himself had never eaten such a luxurious meal - knowing they were lowly commoners - and yet, seeing this bastard eat such a huge amount of food without a worry, when some people inside Cinran were nearly starving these days was making him angry. The fact that he hadn't eaten anything since the morning wasn't helping either.

The baron glanced at him, and gestured to him to wait with a hand dripping with gravy, as he chewed on a slice of delicious looking meat. Levalas had to wait for quite a while, before Zoricus began with a smirk, "You are on time for once, Levalo." Levalas simmered inside on hearing himself being called by the commoner's name Levalo, but kept his mouth shut for now. The baron still held all the power here, and saying something to anger the fat bastard wouldn't end well for him.

"Now listen, the Count is going to send his tax collector with some knights and guards to Tiranat in a day or two. You will join the group as a guard as well." Just as Levalas opened his mouth to protest, Zoricus lifted his hand to stop him.

"Don't worry, I've talked with the knight commander," he added with a smirk, "and he gratefully agreed that I could send one of my guards to ease the load on his men. That will be you." Levalas was already getting a bad feeling about this, but waited for the baron to finish. Zoricus smiled dangerously, and pointed at him.

"You probably understand what you need to do already, but I'll still spell it out for you. Make sure that this wannabe baron of that coal mining village doesn't live in this world any longer than he has to. That means he needs to die as soon as you can manage it after reaching there." He glared at Levalas.

"Do not miss your task this time, or it really won't end well for you!" Levalas gulped and gave an uncertain nod, not trusting himself to speak. What was wrong with this bastard? Ordering people to be killed without any remorse! Then again, this was Zoricus, and a single person's life was hardly a moment's thought for him. But how was he supposed to kill a damned son of the Duke! And right in his own home!

It was a different fact when Zoricus had told him that a young man would be travelling alone on the southern road with just an older attendant, without telling him who that man was. Levalas had still hesitated, but it was just another job at that time. However, now that he knew that Baron Kivamus was a son of the Duke of Ulriga, it was a completely different matter altogether! How could he kill Baron Kivamus and expect to live long in this world?

Not that it would be easy at all, now that the new baron has had the whole winter to settle in. If anything, it was more likely that Baron Kivamus had much better connections in Ulriga than Zoricus, and Levalas would probably have had more chances of earning enough coin to escape from Cilaria by working under him. Hah... Like any noble would ever agree to employ someone who tried to kill them! Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Apart from all that, he still kept thinking about the fact that Baron Kivamus had spared his life when no other noble would have. It had haunted his mind the whole winter, and by now he was fairly sure that it wasn't because of any preplanned calculations. Most likely, Baron Kivamus was just a really kind and benevolent person - likely far more benevolent than he should be - as weird as that sounded for a noble. Why couldn't he have met Baron Kivamus before meeting this fat bastard?

Maybe his life would have been much better in that case, and he wouldn't even be thinking of escaping from Cilaria if that was true... Interrupting his thoughts, Zoricus continued with a full mouth after taking another bite of meat, "Once you have killed that boy Kivamus - and make sure nobody finds out how he died - then the knights who have gone with you would have no choice other than to take command of the barony and hold down the fort - rather, the village." He grinned.

"Just to maintain order, of course. Then you should suggest one of the knights to send a guard back here after that to ask for help from the Count, and offer yourself as the messenger. By that time I'll have talked with the Count and will be ready to leave for Tiranat with my own guards as soon as I get the word of your success. There needs to be a noble there to run a barony, after all!"

"Why would the Count even agree to give you the command of Tiranat?" Levalas blurted out before he could stop himself. Zoricus grinned.

"Why? I'll convince him, of course! With Binpaazi knights getting more and more daring these days, we can't afford to leave any barony without a baron for long. Of course, even without me saying anything, the Count wouldn't want to wait too long this time, which might give another chance to the Duke to send one of his own people as the baron, which would further erode the power of the Count in his men's eyes, and Ebirtas doesn't want that anymore than I would." He smirked.

"If everything goes well, I'll add another barony to my land holdings, and you will finally get the hundred gold you were promised in return for this." Levalas wanted to deny this job immediately, throwing back the promise of that coin back at this bastard's face, but if he really could get a hundred gold, he really might be able to leave Cilaria... But could he even trust this bastard?

Instead of Zoricus rewarding him with gold for something this sensitive - which could make the fat bastard's influence fall sharply if any other nobles found out about it and with the Count even having to punish him heavily in that case - it felt more likely that Zoricus would have already arranged to have him killed by one of the knights or another guard in some kind of accident after he had killed that baron.

It simply meant that most likely, he wasn't ever going to see that hundred gold in his hands, whether he succeeded or not.

"Now leave!" Zoricus ordered before glaring at him.

"Do not fail this time!" Levalas kept his mouth shut and gave a nod, still not knowing what he was going to do, and exited the room. He had a lot to think about.

~ Ustaimo ~ ~ Count Ebirtas' Mansion, Cinran ~ Ustaimo looked up from the ledger he had been working on, and stretched his hands in front of him, the cracking sound coming from his fingers and wrist reminding him of his age again. Well, at least he was done with all the tax accounting he had been working diligently on for the past two weeks.

If only Tiranat would pay the overdue tax soon, everything would be right in his world, which mostly revolved around making sure all the zeros and decimals were in the right places in that ledger. He slowly walked to the window and opened it, and welcomed the fresh gust of air inside. Now that all the snow had already melted, the air didn't have that bite in it anymore. Taking a few deep breaths, he turned around and started walking towards the meeting hall of Count Ebirtas.

With all the accounting in his tax ledger completed, and the snow fully melted by now, the southern road to Tiranat would be open once again. That meant it was time for a trip, as much as he disliked travelling anywhere outside Cinran. He wasn't young anymore, and all his joints ached after sitting in a bumpy carriage for days at a time. Thinking about Tiranat reminded Ustaimo of the previous baron of the village, who came every autumn with the taxes due by his village.

That was better for Ustaimo since he didn't have to waste time travelling there. But alas, that man was dead now, for reasons better not spoken out loud, and this new baron of Tiranat didn't seem inclined to come to Cinran to pay the taxes, or he already would have. That meant Ustaimo really did have to travel to Tiranat now.