Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 180

There is just one more thing.

Now that Lord Berlichingen has nobly admitted his defeat, there is just one more thing.

In Lady Sabine’s plan, to sacrifice Lord Berlichingen and the Cologne Sect and achieve complete success, there remains one final hurdle.

How to persuade my beloved Valiere-sama.

How to provide the necessary justifications to abandon those unnecessary people.

In this hellish world, how do we shatter the radiant goodness that shines so brightly?

There is absolutely no need to give anything to such trash; everything should be given to us.

That’s all there is to it.

“Lady Sabine…”

A trembling voice echoed.

It was a voice as clear and delicate as a blooming flower.

If Valiere-sama were to command me to do this or that, I would sever my own head right then and there, without hesitation.

No matter how much others insult or hate me, I feel nothing.

Ultimately, as long as Valiere-sama, the royal guard, and my beloved Faust are happy, then nothing else in this world matters.

“My counsel is complete. Now, in the negotiations, we must simply protect the Cologne Sect allied with Anhalt, and bring along the knights and soldiers who have already achieved merit, even safeguarding the wealth of the poor merchants who have followed us this far.”

Nothing else is needed.

In this campaign, I have fulfilled all the promises made in Anhalt and maximized the benefits for Valiere-sama.

The purpose of our journey has already been fully accomplished at this stage.

“The honor of Duchess Valiere is thus perfectly preserved.”

Having achieved our profit goals, the rest will be handled by the Archbishop of Mainz.

To tell the truth, it makes me laugh.

“That was the agreement.”

Valiere-sama murmured softly.

Yes, that’s right, Valiere-sama.

“That was the agreement.”

In the Virendorf way—a legitimate promise or contract is a sacred act made between oneself, one’s soul, and the soul of another, and breaking it is an affront to both souls.

I understand that.

Therefore, let’s keep the promises we made to those who left Anhalt until the end.

Recently, like in a popular play, I’m not some beggar-like judge who twists promises and contracts to spout disgusting injustices, push through absurdities, and then takes bribes later.

Valiere-sama and I have promised nothing to anyone else besides the first 1,000 people who came with us from Anhalt, and we are indeed fulfilling the terms of that contract faithfully.

So…

“Abandon them. Abandon everyone except those who came with us from Anhalt.”

I deliberately spoke with cynicism.

Of course, since all promises were kept, it’s not wrong, but I understand that.

The problem starts here.

“Now, beloved Lord Faust von Polydoro.”

I steered the conversation toward the difficult subject.

A man who keeps promises, loves people, does not pass the sins of parents to their children, and whose responsibilities and irrational love as a feudal knight are intertwined.

To a beloved person…

“Why not take off that bucket helmet for a start?”

“That’s right.”

Faust agreed easily.

He reached for his neck, unfastened the fixture that held his helmet in place, and then…

Revealed his face to only me and Valiere-sama.

Although said to be ugly in Anhalt, his appearance only evokes fondness in his fiancée Valiere-sama and Lady Sabine.

A man with short, crew-cut black hair, red eyes, and a face that exuded an aura of iris flowers.

“Allow me to express my opinion. That’s what you desire, Lady Sabine.”

“That’s right.”

Faust appeared slightly displeased.

Yet, I do not intend to change my stance.

“I was displeased, yes, but it seemed that Lady Sabine and Duchess Valiere could understand.”

Faust is rough, but not incompetent.

He acts based on reason and reality, and even when his emotions flare, he acts recklessly only because he has made up his mind when there is no other option.

The honor of Lord Faust von Polydoro is entangled in a recklessness born of this consciousness.

No, it is because he has come to think so little of himself that he runs rampant endlessly.

Lady Sabine fully understood this!

“Forgive me. Lady Sabine, too, thought of Duchess Valiere’s greatest benefit. I couldn’t realize it immediately and directed unnecessary hostility toward you.”

Thus, Lady Sabine believed she would ultimately gain Polydoro’s understanding.

I kept my promise; my beloved Valiere-sama adhered to all contracts in this world.

I never intended to be ashamed before anyone.

“Let me say this first. Lady Sabine’s actions are correct. They are correct. I, too, would do exactly the same if I were in your position.”

Lord Faust von Polydoro now affirmed my actions.

But.

Lady Sabine understands his uncontrollably turbulent emotions.

“However, it would be the same if I understood the information as you do. Because of that difference, I cannot support you.”

“Will you not help me persuade Valiere-sama together?”

To fully persuade Valiere-sama, one more push is needed.

I know that my words alone are weak.

Thus, the persuasion of her fiancé seemed necessary.

“I cannot do that. I’ve said it many times, but from Lady Sabine’s standpoint, I understand there’s no issue with her actions.”

Even Faust, as the advisor to the Second Princess, had not forgotten his role.

As he muttered this, he tapped his bucket helmet lightly.

Though he remembered his role as an advisor, he had forgotten his place as Lord Polydoro and even called himself Lord Biggus.

Despite this bravado, I wondered if he was aware of how it appeared to others.

Well then, let’s hear it.

The reasons Lord Faust von Polydoro has for criticizing the current situation.

“First, I will express the will of Lord Polydoro. At the same time, this represents the opinion of 300 subjects of the Polydoro domain. Since the foundation of our home and the beginning of our domain, we have followed the Cologne Sect and have never considered converting to another faith.”

In the future, as Lord Faust’s fiancée and the ruling lord, Duchess Valiere will inevitably take over the Polydoro domain.

Therefore, this is an opinion that cannot be ignored.

“Change to a different sect if necessary. Religion is merely a tool for human happiness. If it’s in the way, we can trample and erase even the holy seals. It’s fine to trample on paintings of the Redeemer.”

“Do not equate the Polydoro subjects with mere believers. It is fine to view religion as a tool. However, for us, it is a sacrament.”

What sacrament is this?

Clergymen in this world think only of their position and rights as clergy.

Everyone tramples on faith, serving not God, but their own power.

Everything about them is purely evil, as far as Lady Sabine is concerned.

“I should have told Lady Sabine before that the origin of our Polydoro domain began with thirty poor settlers.”

“I know.”

If anything, Lady Sabine alone knows that they couldn’t even be called blessed settlers.

As the former head of the Wesperman family, even the foolish former heads and my sister Marina don’t understand what I do, having access to all the heraldic records of the Royal House of Anhalt.

The origin of the Polydoro domain was a group of thirty exiles.

Speaking harshly, their origins were nothing more than that of serfs, the bottom of society.

“…Lady Sabine seems to know everything.”

Faust harbored doubts.

I decided to answer honestly.

I understood that he would easily see through any lies.

“I know. At the same time, that’s why I respect the first Lord Polydoro.”

He gathered people from nothing, traveled, tilled the land, and became a feudal knight.

What else could there be but respect?

If anyone mocks Polydoro along the way, I’m willing to kill them in his stead.

This is no lie.

The exiles who settled the Polydoro domain undoubtedly served their first lord desperately, harboring a dependency even as they saw him as their sun.

“But you probably don’t know how the Polydoro domain views the Cologne Sect. We’ve never once thought of it as merely a tool. Perhaps even Lady Sabine doesn’t know this.”

“Are you referring to recognizing a young girl who memorized the Cologne Sect’s precepts and verses as a missionary?”

I knew that.

If that were the case—if the Cologne Sect had merely acknowledged her without demanding a pound of her flesh.

Lady Sabine could have persuaded Faust.

She mentally assembled an array of arguments to persuade him.

But, perhaps—it’s different, she thought.

“No, it’s different. It’s about when a Holy Mother from the Cologne Sect visited the Polydoro domain. She brought many old farming tools, worn ostraca (potsherds), tattered books, and seeds…”

Faust was at a loss for words.

He tried to say something but couldn’t.

The air paused, and Polydoro, not usually much of a talker, finally spoke.

“The Holy Mother from the Cologne Sect indeed recognized one of her group as a missionary and visited our Polydoro domain, saying, ‘I have come to build a church here.'”

Lady Sabine sensed her defeat but couldn’t refrain from letting him speak to the end.

“It was a blessing. In the harsh times when they were tilling the land with their hands and sticks, our Polydoro domain needed farming tools, needed to pass orders and communications not by word but by handing over potsherds. For those seeking education or entertainment, it was necessary for the Holy Mother to open a book and read it to them. There were even those who would give their lives for seeds.”

A bad feeling surged.

Faust wasn’t merely trying to convince her because his domain was like this.

“Polydoro had nothing. What gave us something was the Cologne Sect of that time—not the somewhat wealthier sect now funded by gunpowder. It was much poorer, had nothing, and it was the Cologne Sect of that time that helped the nothingness of Polydoro by selling a pound of its own flesh.”

He seemed about to reveal a terrible secret unknown even to Lady Sabine.

I was beginning to understand.

“The first Lord Polydoro had no education. He just muttered his thanks, eating the benefits given by the Cologne Sect. He didn’t know etiquette because he lacked food and clothing. And the next Lord Polydoro, who could somewhat groom himself, was the first to be asked for a donation by the Cologne Sect, and then he realized.”

If it were a legitimate Pope, unlike me who is not a specialist, he would know a lot about religion.

“The donations requested by the Cologne Sect were the old farming tools, the used potsherds, the tattered books, and the many seeds grown on our own land. They were things we had once been given, had repaired or improved, but no longer needed.”

Therefore, I understand what it means to conduct a heresy inquiry against the Cologne Sect.

“The second Lord Polydoro then knew everything. Ah, so it is. The sect called the Cologne Sect has always been connecting relief in this way. The minimum necessities for poor people to fill their stomachs, the neighborly love, the agape, continuing to ask others to give as we had been given.”

For a long time, the Cologne Sect has been conducting such enlightening activities for impoverished domains like that of Lord Polydoro.

Why, then, is the legitimate Pope conducting a heresy inquiry?

“The second lord wept and knelt down, dedicating all his future prayers to the Cologne Sect, according to the records of the Polydoro family. And here, in front of us, is the Archbishop pushing for her conversion and gathering forces to break and insult what is deemed heretical.”

This isn’t just about Polydoro’s outrage.

Villages that have received the grace of the Cologne Sect exist all over the Holy Gusten Empire, and they hold this kind of fanatical reverence.

This is no joke.

Complaints seem endless.

It’s against the heresy-inquired Cologne Sect and the Archbishop of Mainz who has gathered forces.

“It’s an insult to all of us who have continued to connect agape. A grand insult to the Polydoro family and its subjects. It’s like spitting on my ancestors. A knight kills when insulted. Lady Sabine, you must understand how desperately feudal nobles try to maintain their dignity in their independent territories.”

Involving Valiere-sama in such a chaotic situation in the Holy Gusten Empire are “Cannibal Anastasia,” “Butt-touching Astarte,” and Queen Liesenlotte, who knew the situation to some extent yet said nothing.

“Kill them. Kill the Archbishop of Mainz. Kill the Pope. When one’s faith, ancestors, land, and all that constitutes oneself are insulted, one must make the Pope realize how people furiously wreck those who insult them.”

Before her stood Polydoro, quietly fierce—not against the manipulated Archbishop of Mainz, nor against Lady Sabine and Valiere-sama who knew nothing—but against the Pope, who knew everything yet insulted them.

I felt something boiling like molten lava toward Lord Polydoro.

“Please, explain the situation before you act!”

I screamed that plea in my heart, facing the utterly infuriated Lord Polydoro.

Persuading an enraged Lord Polydoro was impossible for Lady Sabine.