Expecting to Fall into Ruin, I Aim to Become a Blacksmith Chapter 169

Botsuraku 138

I received a letter from what appears to be the 'Kudan Kingdom Noble Society'.

There was quite a lot of stuff written in it but to sum it up in a gal-like fashion, it basically said — 'Ya think yer some hot stuff? Come meet us at Starbucks next week 'cause you got some listening to do. You're done for if you make a run for it. '

The contents were so vulgar that it made me want to translate it gal-like. It's terrific how much of it is just false accusations and slander. I could have torn it apart right then and there and not given a damn about it but I felt like it should be okay to hear them out once. So I sent a reply with my consent. Hmm, their ulterior motive is as plain as day but I guess I have no choice. Even if I were to shred and ignore it, such callouts would probably have continued. Might as well get this settled once and for all right now. The old nobles and the new nobles who will lead the upcoming generation. Let's settle this and make it clear who should survive.

On that day, I headed towards the meeting place, the Matsukuto mansion, by reserving the magic train. The Matsukuto family has quite a long history but they have been suffering from recession for a while now. However, they have boarded the magic train tides and have carried out restoration. In other words, this family should even be thankful to me but judging from the fact that their place is being used as the meeting grounds, he might be a victim of the old nobles who missed the opportunity.

The Matsukuto residence is right next to one of the ten stations throughout the country. It's the third station from Helan territory. As such, I had quite the convenience of access by rail.

While wondering how long it would have taken me to get here before the train, I stepped off the magic train and proceeded towards the place of verdict, Starbucks.

I have no idea when this 'Kudan Kingdom Noble Society' was founded but I went and sat on a seat at the very back of the table to attend this meeting, which was most definitely brought forth from prejudice and jealousy. All the nobles were already seated at the long table prepared in this wide room. All of them looked clearly nervous and there were also some who broke out in a cold sweat.

I am sure there's a chairperson of this meeting but nobody's saying anything even though I have arrived.

"Why are you all so quiet? This is a meeting to judge me, is it not? The treat has delivered itself to you. Come on, feel free to indulge yourself."

"You bastard! How impudent!"

The man on the other side of the table who was glaring at me shouted out. Seems to be the representative for the meeting.

"Oh, you got something to say? I have gone to all the trouble to come all the way here ignoring all the curses the letter was filled with, you know? Now, go ahead, curse at me all you want! Come on!"

And so they went on, grinding their teeth, raising voices of anguish but not a single one of them said anything specific. To think thirty of these big-shot, coward nobles gathered and not one of them can say anything to me. What a laughing stock.

As no one really did anything, I just silently continued drinking the coffee in front of me.

Finally after a while, the representative spoke up again.

"You're fooling around! For what reason have you brought hundreds of your private army?!"

So they finally touch on that, eh?

"Fool! There's no way I would come stark naked to the enemy territory after being called by nobles who don't think well of me! You couldn't even predict that I would bring along a portion of my Iron Heat corps, which amounts to more than a thousand soldiers? There's a damn limit to being complacent about peace! Seriously, this is why you lot are not even in my sight!"

That's right, I have actually brought half of the Iron Heat corps — 500 soldiers on the magic train. These people want to judge me — who knows what they may say or do if I were to come alone? Even I am not soft-hearted enough to go through with that willingly. After all, I have been training this private army of mine with great effort — need to have them work a little every once in a while.

"500 of my private soldiers and 3 watering devices. I also brought a week's worth of food supply. Mr. Matsukuto, I will be guarding your mansion for a while! You people arranged about 5 assassins, I assume? The ones hiding in the roof. Those are some frugal equipment. Now then, don't make me repeat myself, you want to judge me, right? Speak up, say what you want."

I laughed internally and looked down on them.

I won. I just felt the satisfaction from dealing a counter blow to these guys, who were trying to strike me.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say? If not, I will be leaving."

When the room was filled with silence who knows for how many times now, the representative was just about to open his mouth. I cut him off without a moment's delay.

"I am quite short-tempered, you see. I explode even from the little things. The other day, I bought stuff from a cart and immediately ate 'em. After all, I feel like having junk food too every once in a while. The shopkeeper there gave me more sauce than normal as a service. I was just about to explode there, you see. You need just the right amount of sauce, otherwise it doesn't taste good. I was this close to calling the Iron Heat corps."

The representative's mouth shut right there.

It seems they take stuff like these stupid seriously here.

Ultimately, no one said anything after that and the meeting came to a close.

"You remember the Dartanel family, right? They were very annoying and everything but at least they had the guts to come directly pick a fight. People like you who can't say a single thing even after gathering like this are no more than insects. You should reflect on yourselves. You could even ride the wave like Mr. Matsukuto here. Or survive by making new stuff like the Gap company. Or better yet, break new ground like the Helan family. The era of being just nobles and receiving perks is over."

I left these idiots in their silence with a loud laughter. When heading out, I received a present from Mr. Matsukuto, and returned to the Helan territory with the Iron Heat corps.

Chapter end