The Main Character is the Villain

EP 11 - House of 20 Bodies(1)

“Isn’t this too much?”

Here he comes. Or rather, the pig came. The fat blonde tanned lord had finally arrived, sweating profusely in my office. I had sent Sieri downstairs to avoid an encounter with this lord, and Aira was attending to me by my side.

He complained that three of his serfs just left, saying it was sudden and unjustified. And he had a point.

In a fief, every serf was a valuable asset, representing labor and military strength. Naturally, there would be complaints if a neighboring young blonde brat took three of his serfs without any consultation.

"What's the matter?"

Of course, I had no intention of apologizing for this matter. From my experience in society, I knew that apologizing meant losing. Apologizing only increased the demands for compensation without gaining anything. So, I played dumb. No matter how logical his argument was, I planned to deny everything. After all, if I framed this as a personnel transfer issue, he had no way of taking Sieri.

“'What’s the matter'? How can you just take someone else's serfs like this?”

The lord was trembling with rage at having his serfs taken away. Without even checking his status window, I could imagine the message, "The lord is angry!" He really did look like a f*cking tanned, blonde bear.

“Ah, are you talking about Sieri’s personnel transfer?”

"Yes, that's exactly it. Why did you take our Sieri!?"

Typically, a lord wouldn't bother remembering the names of nuns. Even I didn't know the names of more than half of the employees working at our estate or the church members. I only call the head maid "Head Maid" and never by her name.

This meant that if this guy knew Sieri's name, he had been keeping an eye on her to some extent. The fact this NTR pig had been eyeing her meant that he was looking for an opportunity to take her. While it was a shame that I had no justification to kill him right now, I'll find a way to deal with him later.

"Since when did a lord have a say in the personnel transfers of the Great Celestial Church? As the Southern High Priest, I was delegated with the personnel transfers of all nuns and priests in the South."

Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't respond to the lord's protest. As I mentioned earlier, Lucius was the High Priest of the South. Among the Southern priests, I was the king. Unless I was summoning priests for an orgy, no one could challenge my personnel decisions.

"That’s... but Sieri's parents are natives who grew up on my land. How could you take them along with her? The people born and raised in the estate are its assets. This is..."

Why did I take them? Because you might hold her family hostage and attempt that damned NTR. However, there was no need to say this outright. Instead, I said.

“So, it boils down to a tax issue. When I decided to transfer Sieri, I thought it would be inappropriate for her parents to live in a different estate, so I arbitrarily brought them over. But it seems I overlooked that part. As a religious person, I'm not well-versed in the logistics of estate management. Thank you for pointing out this important issue.”

“Aigo~, not at all. Then...”

“Then, rather than sending the two back to your estate, how about we apply your estate's tax rate to them and send you the taxes accordingly?”

“Yes?”

“It wouldn’t be right to leave the child in a personnel transfer alone in a foreign land, so isn't it only proper that her parents be with her? However, as you mentioned, simply bringing them would be taking your estate's resources. Therefore, we will take care of the residents and pay you the taxes. We will also allocate land on the border between our estates.”

“Do you really need to go that far?”

The lord seemed unconvinced by this treatment of the parents. In fact, it would be easier to just send them back home. However, if I sent Sieri’s parents back, it would give a reason for Sieri to return to this tanned-blonde f*cker’s estate. Since I couldn’t follow her there, I wouldn't be able to intervene if something happened.

The lord shook his head and pressed further.

“There’s another problem. First of all, Sieri’s parents owe me a huge debt…”

“I will cover that debt.”

As I said before, I receive additional funds for maintaining my dignity and donations from the Southern Church. Paying off their debt was nothing. They had a considerable amount of debt for two old people, but it wasn't a big problem for me. The wealth of a lord and an ordinary farmer couldn't be compared.

“So, it’s not like you’re losing any resources from your estate. Rather, you’ll now have a vacant plot that if managed well, might even increase your income, right?”

“That’s true, but...”

The lord trailed off. Despite me offering to pay off the debt, cover the taxes, and provide land near his estate for convenience, this bas†ard was still dissatisfied. Even after all this compromise, he didn't know how to give up, does he?

This meant one of two things: either he wanted to f*ck over Sieri’s parents or he wanted to use them to f*ck over Sieri.

“Is there a reason why you're taking such good care of Sieri’s parents?”

“Ah, no particular reason. But paying off such a large debt like this could negatively affect the other residents...”

“Speaking of the debt, could you tell me why Sieri’s parents have incurred such a substantial amount?”

Although the debt owed by Sieri’s parents was nothing to me, it was an amount far beyond what an ordinary farmer could casually borrow. Even Karl, who gambled, had only a few gold coins in debt, whereas Sieri’s parents owed around 50 gold coins.

“Ah, that... It’s a matter concerning the estate, so it's difficult to explain.”

“I see. Then, I suppose our conversation is over.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have anything else to discuss? It seems like we’ve both gotten what we wanted.”

“Y-yes, that's true. I’ve been repaid, and the personnel transfer is... well... complete. Hehehe...”

The lord laughed unpleasantly and slowly backed away. I had Robin send the lord away and then sat in my office, lost in thought.

No matter how I looked at it, the neighboring lord made me uneasy. Although he wouldn’t likely do anything drastic immediately, his existence was annoying. The most frustrating part was that I had no justifiable reason to get rid of him at the moment.

Without cause, you're just a murderer. Even the Great Celestial Church doesn't protect murderers. I clicked my tongue and looked at Aira. Her face was flushed, asking.

“A... are you going to do that?”

“Yes, I have to.”

I responded with a smile. Aira was given a new position. The nominal reason for punishing her was 'Aira's rehabilitation,' so there had to be evidence that she had indeed reformed. Thus, using my position as the Southern High Priest, I decided to appoint Aira as a nun of the Great Celestial Church.

Could there be a more beautiful story than this? A swindler who had infiltrated the estate to steal was reformed by the wise lord, and joined the Great Celestial Church. A very touching tale that would improve the Church's reputation and enhance my own.

Doing good doesn't always equate good things, but there were many benefits to having a good image. Consider how actors who play villains in dramas get scolded by restaurant aunties, regardless of how much they donate because of their villainous image. Good deeds and a good image were distinctly different.

With Aira becoming a nun of the Great Celestial Church, many things became more convenient. Since she was still an apprentice, someone had to teach her the doctrines, a task that Sieri and I took turns handling. During Sieri's sessions, Aira learned proper doctrine, while my sessions involved more hands-on lessons on how people were made.

These irregular 'Creationism' sessions greatly helped me relieve stress and satisfy my desires for Sieri, and it also reinforced my preference for larger breasts and hips over smaller ones.

Speaking of Sieri, I hadn't had much time to spend with her amid my duties as the lord.

Sieri had just moved into the manor and was still adjusting while frequently being absent to help her parents.

On top of that, I had delegated the estate's accounting work to her, so she was extremely busy familiarizing herself with the task. No matter how adept one was at accounting, tackling multiple estates' finances in one go would be a job for a computer, not a person.

Forcing a busy Sieri, who was already swamped with the handover and month-end reconciliations as she takes on a new accounting position, would only diminish any positive rapport we had. In the end, I could only admire Sieri's graceful figure and delicate shoulders as they sway in front of me, substituting her image while f*cking Aira.

Aira forgave me for calling Sieri’s name during sex.

Days passed like this. After the busiest quarterly reconciliation, Sieri has more free time. I was eagerly awaiting this. The neighboring lord was quiet, and the Demon King had not yet been resurrected.

The innocent Sieri had a high level of favorability for me, and no one was attempting to rob the estate.

The bandit groups in the area were unusually quiet.

This was the perfect time to make my move.

Sieri still looked at me with an innocent face that knew nothing. When I smiled at her, she got flustered and turned away, not knowing what to do. Her innocent smile was adorable—overlapping with the 'naivety' trait I saw in her status window, which only intensified my desire.

I placed my hand on Sieri's shoulder. She was startled and dropped a few documents.

“Ah, I'm sorry, My Lord.”

“Sieri.”

“Yes, My Lord?”

“Call me Lucius.”

I hadn't done anything, but her favorability was already at 89. It was about time we started addressing each other comfortably. Sieri hesitated before speaking.

“That, I, is it really okay?”

“Of course.”

“L-Lucius...”

Sieri blushed deeply and bowed her head. A smile spread across my face. Was this what they call a 'dad smile'?

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