Chapter 4-35 : My Sister Is Not Suited To Be A Messenger (part 4)
「Anyway, it’s an honor to have you in my mansion, Lady Mylia. Let’s take a seat and talk while enjoying tea together, shall we?」(Baron Hansen)
「……」(Mylia)
Without waiting for Mylia’s reply, Baron Hansen clapped his hands twice, telling the maid in the room to bring tea.
Mylia wanted to bring her sister back home as soon as possible, but she remembered she had to ask Baron Hansen about the toll tax he charged to the immigrants without her knowing, so she reluctantly sat next to Chloe on the sofa while Baron Hansen and his sons sat on the other sofa facing Mylia and Chloe.
After the maid came back and served everyone tea, Baron Hansen started the conversation.
「Lady Mylia, you might have known that I once tried to propose to Lady Chloe a few years ago, but I decided to cancel it because your foolish father mocked me in the letter he sent to me.」(Baron Hansen)
(He doesn’t know that I rewrote the letter with magic. He said Aaron was foolish but he’s not better than him.)
「Yeah, I remember. So?」(Mylia)
「I made a big mistake back then. This time, I want to propose to your sister once again. I want to marry Lady Chloe.」(Baron Hansen)
「Huh?」(Mylia)
「Hey, Father, this is not fair!」(first son)
「Yeah, you’re not the only one who wants to marry her!」(second son)
「Shut up! I’m talking to Lady Chloe!」(Baron Hansen)
「……..」(first son)
「……..」(second son)
Unlike when they were arguing with each other, for some reason, the two sons fell silent as soon as their father yelled at them.
Baron Hansen seemed to be so passionate about marrying Chloe.
Seeing the fat pig in front of her, Chloe couldn’t help but squint, making a disgusted face.
She left like digging a hole and hiding there for a while.
「Baron Hansen, I’ve told you so many times. I don’t want to marry either you and your sons! I came as Mylia’s messenger to talk with you about the tax toll, not to look for a husband!」(Chloe)
「Lady Chloe, the reason you came here doesn’t matter. You are a smart woman, so you should know how the aristocratic society in this kingdom works. The best way to build strong relationships between territories, especially with the neighboring ones, is through marriage.」(Baron Hansen)
Saying that, Baron Hansen smiled at Chloe, trying to act like a good guy, but still, he was nothing more than a perverted pig in Chloe’s eyes.
Of course, Chloe knew how things worked in aristocratic society.
Baron Hansen made a huge amount of wealth from his farm, mostly from raising sheep and cows, so despite his ugly and perverted personality, he was a capable businessman. He could be a big help for the development of the Atwood Territory without a doubt, but there was no way she would marry him. She knew that Mylia wouldn’t let that happen either.
Mylia smacked the table and shouted at Baron Hansen.
「I will never let you marry my sister no matter what!」(Mylia)
「Mylia…」(Chloe)
Seeing Mylia’s angry face, Baron Hansen squinted.
「…Lady Mylia, having a good relationship with me, the lord of the neighboring territory, will benefit you a lot. For example, if I marry Lady Chloe, I will let the immigrants pass through my territory for free. Not only that, I will provide them with hundreds of carriages to take them to your territory safely.」(Baron Hansen)
Baron Hansen thought it was not a bad deal, but Mylia thought the opposite.
She wanted her older sister to be happy, and marrying the fat pig in front of her was definitely not the happiness Chloe wanted.
Baron Hansen seemed to be good at negotiating, but his sweet words didn’t work on Mylia. It only made her more and more angry.
「…If you want to marry my sister, you have to step over my dead body first!!」(Mylia)
She was so angry that she spat out those words without realizing it.
「Hoo…」(Baron Hansen)
Baron Hansen looked at Mylia with one eyebrow raised.
「By stepping over your dead body, do you mean that I have to defeat you in a duel or something?」(Baron Hansen)
「Yeah, whatever. I have no intention of letting you marry Chloe onee-chan!」(Mylia)
「Even though you know that the problem will be solved once Lady Chloe becomes my wife?」(Baron Hansen)
「Don’t you dare treat my sister like an object! She’s not a replacement for the toll tax!」(Mylia)
「Nobles gain their power through strong relationships with other nobles, especially with the ones who rule the neighboring territories. It’s only natural that I want to marry Lady Chloe since it will benefit both of us. Lady Mylia, you should learn more about aristocratic society.」(Baron Hansen)
Baron Hansen talked to Mylia as if he was lecturing an ignorant child.
In fact, what he said was true that nobles gain power by building relationships with other nobles through marriage.
However, his personal desire to have more wives was stronger than building relationships for the sake of territory development. The entire kingdom knew that he was a lustful man after all.
「You might be right about nobles, powers, and stuff, but still, you can’t marry my sister unless you defeat me!」(Mylia)
Mylia stood up and glared at Baron Hansen.
「M, Mylia, please calm down…」(Chloe)
「Don’t worry, Onee-chan. I won’t let this pig take you away from me.」(Mylia)
Mylia was so mad that she didn’t care about anything anymore except her precious older sister.
(Who cares about building a relationship with this pig!? He’s able to act tough in front of me just because the only road connecting the Atwood Territory to the royal capital is through his town, Hamanulle. If Chloe onee-chan refuses to marry him, he will likely close the road so that we no longer have access to the royal capital, but does he really think that I care? He has the power to close the road. So, what!? I can just build roads to the royal capital through other territories. I will use magic to build them, so it won’t be a long project. He’s been looking down on me as if I will never be a successful lord without his help, but I’ll show him that he’s wrong!)
Mylia’s eyes filled with determination as she glared at Baron Hansen.
Her determined face showed him that she was ready to accept the dual at anytime.
「Hmphh…! Hmphh…!!」(Mylia)
「Mylia, your breathing is getting rough. Are you really sure about the duel?」(Chloe)
「Hmphh!! Of course! I’m ready!」(Mylia)
Seeing Mylia who was expanding her nostrils as she breathed, Chloe sighed, thinking that she might not be able to stop her.
The first son and the second son, who had been silently listening to the conversation, began to break out a cold sweat as they felt mysterious power flowing from Mylia.
Baron Hansen was the only one who could still smile relaxedly.
「Lady Mylia, as you can see, I’m no magician. I can’t use magic, so allow me to ask someone else to fight you in a duel in my stead.」(Baron Hansen)
「…I don’t mind.」(Mylia)
(I want to punch him in the face so badly, but I knew he wouldn’t fight me himself.)
「Don’t worry, I know someone who can ‘entertain’ you. Just like you, he is also a Dragon Slayer, so it won’t be an easy fight for you, but if you win, I will let the immigrants pass through my town for free and I will consider helping you develop your territory unconditionally. Well… IF you win, of course.」(Baron Hansen)
Baron Hansen smirked at Mylia as he said that with confidence.
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I bet this dragon slayer only defeat weakest dragon out of all, or he just conman who lie that he slay one
I’m sure he must be somewhat skilled, but they have no idea how out of norm she is, to the point of being recognized by the queen herself. I don’t know if they think she only got her rank through sheer luck or some minor achievements but they’re going to find out they were very wrong.
The other dragon slayers probably didn’t ever fight any elder dragons.
those girls still don’t know how to behave like nobles… as a noble, they should investigate the dark side of other noble and use it as a weapon, instead of just handle everything with strength…
I disagree with you regarding Mylia and Chloe’s motive. They are criticizing the Hansens for abusing the sanctity of marriage as a means to invoke the legality of property rights. That’s not noble, and worse, not love like wedded couples are supposed to be. Ergo, the ladies’ anger is justified.
I completely agree about the method though. Mylia has been pretty lost in anger lately which is VERY understandable (Robin, Aaron, Alex, now the Hansens). It’s just that she doesn’t know how to confide in her noble rank as well as she can in her magic when it comes to solving problems.
Well it’s normal, they’re young and inexperienced. And even if they do investigate him and go to court over what they find or threaten him with it there is no guarantee they will win against an experienced noble. So the quickest and easiest solution is to show their might. Honorable duels are also a noble way of settling disputes.
he cant win a court case over the tax, since hes impeding a Royal Decree and doing it on a highway that he neither owns nor maintains.
if he was actually a businessman, he should also be aware that actual explicit taxes in this case are detrimental for him. He should have just been annoying the shit out of Mylia and the Immigrants by holding them up in his town to organize formal convoys for security. Make them pay upkeep for a technically unnecessary time on pretense so he gets the money, because the forest is known to be insecure. even if Mylia and Chloe were annoyed theres not much they can argue about organizing immigrant convoys because Mylia is having to murder swarms of monsters as she handles deforestation.