The Loser Lord Who Kept Getting Sweet Revenge and Somehow Rose to the Top - Chapter 04: Revenge is Best Served as a Slow Simmer

Chapter 04: Revenge is Best Served as a Slow Simmer

And so, following Linna’s idea, I rode Comet and flew over the highway leading into the count’s territory. Sure enough, I spotted a squad of knights from the Shakara family… driving monsters out of their land.

…Unbelievable. The Shakara Count’s house is absolute garbage.

Instead of taking the losses themselves, they just chased the monsters away—without even killing them. And where did those monsters go? Straight into other people’s lands, straight into neighboring villages. As long as their own territory stayed safe, they didn’t give a damn if others suffered. Classic “as long as I’m fine, screw everyone else” attitude. What a load of crap.

Worse yet, I noticed the herd of monsters they’d driven out was now charging straight toward a pair of kids—a young brother and sister from a nearby village.

Thanks to the boost from riding Comet, my sharpened senses picked up their desperate voices.

“Big Sis Nina—leave me behind and run!”

“No way! We’re going home together! Don’t give up, keep running!”

…Both the siblings were putting each other first. Good kids. Stuff like this always gets to me.

The knights who had driven the monsters out probably couldn’t even hear their desperate cries. Instead, they just pointed at the fleeing siblings, laughing their heads off, before proudly turning back toward their own territory.

…What the hell was that? Knights are supposed to protect those who can’t fight. Cutting down monsters is literally their job! And yet they laughed while children were being chased by monsters? Absolutely disgusting. And they were the ones who caused it in the first place! If the master is trash, then of course the servants are trash too. Looks like those scum knights are gonna need a lesson of their own sometime soon.

Sensing my fury, Comet suddenly tilted his wings and dove straight toward the herd of monsters. My loyal partner—always on point!

“Don’t run into the forest—head for the open plains! That way I can save you!!”

I shouted at the children, my voice amplified with magic. They faltered for just a moment as it reached them. Normally, when monsters attack, the smart move is to run for cover in the forest. But if they did that, Comet and I wouldn’t be able to move freely, and I wouldn’t be able to protect them.

If they ran into the open plains, though—I could wipe out the monsters and keep them safe.

The older sister seemed to understand. She grabbed her little brother’s hand, and together they sprinted straight toward the plains.

…They trusted me. Good kids. Alright then—this guy’s gonna make sure you get home safe!

Gripping a custom-made lance—an oversized cavalry spear built specifically for dragon knights—I aimed at the herd of monsters below and dove straight down from behind.

With one thrust and the shockwave that followed, the entire group of monsters was blown apart, scattered like ragdolls. Yikes… minced meat would’ve looked cleaner than that mess.

Pulling Comet back up immediately, we soared high into the sky again. Below, the siblings glanced around in confusion, not understanding what had just happened. From above, I called out, telling them to head home.

They couldn’t see me from the sky, but they listened to the voice of some unseen stranger and sprinted back toward their village. I circled overhead, keeping watch until they made it home safely—only then did I turn Comet back toward my own lands.

After that, following Linna’s proposal, we began sweeping out monsters around the count’s territory. And on Kiriko’s advice, we also cleared out monsters in other state-owned lands.

“If you only hunt monsters around the count’s domain, it’ll look suspicious. But if you do it in remote areas—where kings and nobles rarely lift a finger—you can pass it off as ‘a noble’s duty, protecting the common folk.’”

Smart girl.

On top of that, we started delivering food to farming villages in the count’s territory, as well as other struggling settlements out in the sticks. Honestly, seeing how dire the food shortages were in areas ravaged by monsters… maybe I should push the kingdom to adopt broader food aid programs.

For a while after that, things stayed pretty calm. My domain had always been stable, and aside from paperwork, there wasn’t much that demanded my attention. So I used the free time to buy and sell spices—or other goods recommended by neighboring countries—and to go around slaying monsters in remote areas and state-owned lands.

The people who had been suffering under those monsters were deeply grateful. Word of my efforts started spreading, not only in nearby towns but even reaching the royal capital.

Of course, my name was already known for crashing the spice market with cheap imports. But now, apparently, I was becoming known as a righteous dragon knight who saved the people.

…Which was hilarious, considering all I was really doing was disguising harassment of the cheating count’s lands as monster-hunting trips.

“If you just line up the facts, though—it does look good. You’ve imported expensive spices cheaply and sold them at fair prices, saved a neighboring country from an epidemic, and rescued villagers in neglected regions by slaying monsters where the royal family or guards wouldn’t bother to go. To everyone else, it just looks like you’re doing nothing but good.”

That comment came from Linna, sprawled out on the office sofa, munching noisily on baked sweets.

“…Really? Huh. I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“Linna, even if it’s break time, you shouldn’t act so shamelessly in front of Lord Sean.”

Kiriko tried to scold her, but Linna just put on her “who, me?” face and kept munching away. Well, I wasn’t the type to nitpick over little things anyway. If she was comfortable, that was fine by me.

“My brother’s been investigating the count’s lands and the surrounding areas. From what he’s reported, most of the dangerous monsters around Shakara’s territory have already been wiped out. And the ones that were driven out? Since they keep getting slain once they leave, they’ve started turning right back around and heading into the count’s domain again. Right now, monsters are basically blocking all access to the territory.”

Huh. That worked out even better than expected.

I mean, come on—it’s their own land, so they should’ve been dealing with their own monsters in the first place. So now? The count’s knights can work their butts off cleaning up the mess. Call it payback for letting their pests spill out and wreak havoc on everyone else.