Chapter 151: Eeeee! I Can’t Take This Anymore!

Eeeeee! I can’t take this anymore!

Feltron was flapping his wings and hopping in place.

The football demonstration matches had been scheduled for three games.

But Shugl’s team had taken two wins, making the third match meaningless.

Of course, losing the last one was not an option.

This was a matter of pride after all.

“I’m sorry, Captain. I didn’t expect there to be such talent among the lumberjacks…….”

“No matter what it takes, recruit some players. If we lose to Shugl’s team again, I’ll dock your pay!”

“Understood!”

The man bowed his head to the tiny white bat.

Seeing him dressed sharply in a suit and observing proper etiquette, he was undoubtedly a noble of at least viscount rank or higher.

It seemed Feltron had properly secured a front office for the club.

“Why the hell are you doing this in my office?”

“It can’t be helped. The club office is still under construction. You told the captain to start with the stadium first, so this is how it turned out.”

“Is it fair that the blame suddenly falls on me?”

Then provide more funding!

“That’s ridiculous. I can clearly see sponsor ads on your uniforms?”

Running a club costs a lot of money, you know.

“Isn’t that just your greed talking too much?”

Ahem, ahem!

Feltron cleared his throat and looked away.

No matter how shameless he was, even he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

After all, I was the one providing almost everything needed for the football matches.

Asking for more funding on top of that was some kind of insane idea.

Knowing this fact, that half-demon had shut his mouth.

Even more absurd was the fact that the manager of the Shugl team he was badmouthing was right here.

Having a rival right next to him, and he makes comments like that?

It was a situation I couldn’t understand at all.

Regardless, Shugl climbed onto my desk and asked.

“Hey. Human duke.”

“What?”

“Your aura has changed a lot since you came back from the southern seas. Did something happen?”

As expected from a senior with experience, Shugl noticed it before Feltron.

Since he had absorbed the authority of a demigod, it was natural that something had changed.

“Oh! Now that I think about it, I’ve become able to do that?”

What is it?

“Absorbing authority.”

For a moment, both half-demons’ expressions turned blank.

It seemed they didn’t understand what I was saying.

So I decided to explain it myself.

“I beat up a demigod called Albanoketus, and his authority got absorbed. Thanks to that, I gained some new abilities.”

I-is that true?

“Why would I lie about something like that? If you don’t believe me, should I show you here?”

“No. Just hearing it is enough. Besides absorbing authority, what other abilities are there?”

“Nothing much. Just causing explosions wherever I want.”

Anywhere?

“Yeah. Anywhere at all.”

Shugl and Feltron stood there with their mouths agape, then slowly backed away.

Then they started whispering among themselves.

Do you know Albanoketus?

Ah, of course. He’s a senior.

What kind of guy is he?

If I was in the north, he was the top in the eastern seas. He was called a sea god.

He’s a demigod? But is his notoriety as high as yours?

Come on, between us, who cares about that? It’s just a difference in disposition.

Even though I could hear all their thoughts, I had no idea why they were acting like this.

Of course, what Feltron said wasn’t far off.

Whether half-demons or demigods, they were beings who found it hard to return to their original dimension anyway.

Having fully adapted to the natural world, they probably had no desire to go back.

Here, they could live freely, but in the heavenly or demonic realms, they’d just get absorbed by higher beings.

Wait a minute, then there’s not much difference even here? Guys like me……. Oh, no, that’s not it.

Honestly, I was a very anomalous existence.

I wasn’t even a person from this world to begin with; only my soul had crossed over.

Since it couldn’t be explained logically, it had to be treated as an exception.

Anyway, after finishing their secret discussion, Shugl and Feltron cautiously approached me.

H-human duke.

“What?”

We’ve built up quite a bond so far. You wouldn’t take our authority too, right?

R-right?

I just silently looked down at the two of them.

Then Feltron, unable to bear the fear, raised the white flag first.

Eeeeng! Say no! I’m serving you as my captain!

What? Cutting in front of this senior? How sly! In terms of connection, I got close first. Right? Human duke!

Trembling like that at the mere mention of authority absorption—it was an utterly ridiculous sight.

Actually, I can’t absorb half-demons, but maybe I should let them misunderstand?

That way, it’d be easier to make use of these guys.

I smirked and said.

“Of course not. As long as you guys don’t do anything useless, why would I have any reason to devour you? It’s much easier to just make you work.”

That’s what I thought! As expected of the human duke.

“Thank you! Captain! Sob sob!”

Shugl and Feltron breathed sighs of relief and hopped around joyfully.

In truth, these guys were quite useful.

Shugl was mobilized for large-scale civil engineering projects, and Feltron was skilled at surveillance.

He often brought information that couldn’t be obtained just from the employee management window.

Moreover, he was extremely serious about his position as football club manager.

He could be said to contribute quite a bit to activating wholesome entertainment.

For half-demons who used to cause trouble all the time, this was excellent.

But then Feltron, who had been rejoicing, suddenly raised his front paw and waved it.

Captain! Captain!

“Why?”

We recruited some youth players for our team, but they say participating in training is hard because of the woodcutting.

“What do you mean?”

The youth players are still growing kids, right?

“That’s right.”

The club provides meals, equipment, and even aura training methods?

“Oh? That’s a pretty good system. So?”

But they have to take wood home, so they don’t have time.

“Huh?”

At first, I didn’t understand what he meant.

But when I recalled the daily life in Perias, I quickly figured it out.

In this era, fuel is always wood.

The lumberyards in the Carius Duchy and Midias weren’t accessible to just anyone.

They were my private property, and only the raw materials for hanji were planted separately.

So Perias citizens had no choice but to go far to gather wood.

From lighting the fireplace to baking bread in the oven.

Wood was essential for human life.

But the problem was that the forests near the city had almost disappeared.

“Hmm. This is tricky.”

The water supply and waste management projects had come together easily.

But the fuel issue was extremely difficult.

Laying gas pipes or delivering LPG metal containers like in modern Korea was out of the question.

“I need to think about this.”

As the mayor of Perias, I couldn’t just ignore such complaints.

Naturally, a new fuel didn’t suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The people living here weren’t fools; there had to be a reason they used wood.

It was because it was relatively easy to obtain and safe.

Let’s handle the backlog first.

A month had passed since my return, but there was still work left.

It was because I held so many positions.

Managing the Carius Duchy, Midias, and the Dapan Group was mostly done.

But as chief justice and mayor, there was still a lot of work.

Let’s leave the fuel-related stuff to Vargas.

Since he was a mage specialized in potions, he might be able to create a new fuel.

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.

With various thoughts in mind, I moved to the chief justice’s office in the court.

“What cases will call for me today?”

Rustle rustle.

I carefully examined the trial documents placed on the desk.

Lately, perhaps because the judges had gained more backbone, there weren’t many cases coming up to me.

But difficult-to-judge matters always arose.

This time, another headache of a case had come in.

“A traffic accident?”

Reading the word at the top, a wry laugh escaped me.

In Korea, it was a common story.

Major accidents often made the news, and videos were uploaded daily to sharing sites.

But in this world, I had never heard of it even once until now.

It was an incident that almost never occurred to begin with.

The roads aren’t good enough to go fast.

Moreover, the problem was that there was no law itself to handle this case.

Of course, the Carius Duchy, Midias, and Delriat had road traffic laws.

But that was only because I had full authority in those regions.

They weren’t provisions that applied elsewhere.

Of course, in Perias, I had issued administrative orders with mayoral authority.

“But it happened to be an incident outside the city.”

It was a headache of a trial in many ways.

That’s why it had come to me.

Carriage door iron, huh. Living long enough, I get to handle even this.

What made this case troublesome was the lack of evidence.

Realistically, there were no CCTVs or black boxes here.

We had to judge based on the degree of carriage damage and statements from the parties or witnesses.

The judges had probably never driven a carriage themselves, so it would be even harder for them to judge.

But I was different.

“Why do you think you can do it?”

No matter how long it had been since I last drove, I had years of driving experience; this was a piece of cake.

I immediately gathered the trial documents and left the office.

Just then, Judge Josef Padiya, who had come to see me, tilted his head.

“It’s not yet time for the afternoon trial, Your Honor.”

“Ah, I’m going out to verify evidence, so don’t worry about it.”

“Still, how……”

“If you’re worried, you can follow me.”

“Yes!”

Of course, he was unnecessary manpower.

He was a pawn of the Sierre noble faction; what help would bringing him provide?

Still, he could at least serve as a porter.

The trial documents were quite thick and bulky.

If we split the load, visibility would be better and it’d be much easier.

“Here?”

Upon arriving at the accident scene, Josef narrowed his eyes.

It seemed he knew something.

“Are you familiar with this place?”

“No. I saw the diagram attached to the trial documents. It looks like a collision between carriages.”

“You got it right. But how did you see the trial documents?”

“Ah, I was originally scheduled to handle it. But I declined because I had too much work.”

As if.

He probably passed it on because he didn’t know how to judge it.

A dispute between nobles would have been very burdensome.

Moreover, it wasn’t even related to the Sierre noble faction.

Learning the inside story, I felt it was despicable.

Ah, I wish I had personnel authority. I could cut out all the useless ones.

With that thought, I carefully examined the accident scene.

Because it was an out-of-the-way place, the carriage wheel tracks were still clearly visible.

So were the damaged parts and torn horse manes.

But just looking at this alone made it hard to figure out what had happened.

A few days had passed, so the traces weren’t that sharp anymore.

New marks were also mixed in with older ones.

I can’t tell from this alone. I need to see the carriages and horses involved in the accident…….

But right then.

Feltron, who had been quietly tucked in my pocket, suddenly popped out.

I know this!