System vs Rebirth

Chapter 339 Facts

One week later.

The commander was sitting in front of Earl Lawrence. He crossed his arms while staring at the Earl coldly.

The Earl wasnʼt aware of what happened in his fort. He asked with a calm expression. ”I wonder whatʼs the purpose of your visit today, Mr. Oscar… I can safely assume itʼs not to drink some tea, right?”

The Earl glanced to the window as if looking at the people he brought into his residence before continuing, ”Especially after bringing those people.”

Oscar also didnʼt plan to beat around the bush. He was already too busy with his work, so he immediately stated, ”Itʼs simple. I want to ask whether the Earl doesnʼt put us in your eye or something.”

”Mhm?” The Earl felt something wrong with that statement. He had been doing business with the Demon Banner Army this whole time, so of course, he wouldnʼt want to offend the Demon Banner Army for no reason.

He furrowed his eyebrows and asked, ”Can you explain what do you mean by those words?”

”To put it simply, your second son, Hagen Lawrence, has threatened my Demon Relief Squad. As the Earl, you should know the circumstances of your fort, right?”

”Of course. Iʼve received a report that there was an attack from the demons and my son had splendidly destroyed them…” Upon saying it, he began connecting the dots. His expression was gradually distorted as if the more he realized things, the more he was afraid of the consequence.

”Your second son has forced my Demon Relief Squad, specifically the Zero Squad…” The commander paused for a moment. When he heard the commander mentioning the ʼZero Squad,ʼ his face became pale because every noble knew what it meant to be the Zero Squad.

It was basically the pinnacle of existence of the fifteen squads of the Demon Banner Army. And Demon Relief Squad was among the top five squads, so he knew the importance of that zero squad.

That was where the commander butchered the earl with his words. ”Your son has forced my Demon Relief Squad to stay in his mansion after theyʼve rejected it.”

”Thatʼs… thatʼs must be his way to be polite. Your Demon Relief Squad has gone all the way to the fort to help my son, so he should at least offer you place to stay and let you rest before doing your mission.” The earl tried to explain, avoiding the blame.

Unfortunately, the commander had prepared for everything. He added, ”Of course, my Demon Relief Squad would love to stay in that mansion if the situation allowed it. Sadly, the fort situation is a mess.

”If Iʼm not wrong, there are granary and food storage in your fort that can last for a whole month even if you have to feed the whole city.”

”Yes, thatʼs correct. One month should be enough to arrange a large-scale reinforcement.” The Earl nodded, confirming their existence.

”Yet, what the people said about the situation was vastly different. The fort looked like a slum. The gloomy atmosphere and the preying gaze made my people uncomfortable. Iʼve brought a few commoners from that fort to testify the situation on how your second son didnʼt open the food storage and let the people suffer.

”It seems they could barely eat from the meat that the soldiers brought back for them. This is quite an unfortunate thing, isnʼt it…” The commander narrowed his eyes.

The earl gulped down, but before he could explain, the commander had continued, ”Our Demon Banner Army acts for the people, so our Demon Relief Squad would like to move immediately to restore the fort.

”However, the moment they met the lord, they were forced to stay. My squad had smelt alcohol and sweet perfume in their meeting… I donʼt have any plan to teach Earl Lawrence how a noble should act. But Iʼve heard that your son has been forcing the women on that fort to satisfy his need in order to feed their family. Of course, that didnʼt really matter to my Demon Relief Squad.

”Itʼs just… with how your son acted, I felt unsafe to leave my Demon Relief Squad in your sonʼs hand, especially with the fact he forced them to stay. Weʼve three beautiful ladies in our squad after all… I presume you understand what I mean.”

The Earl didnʼt say anything this whole time. But he was already raging inside, cursing his son for making this mess. Fortunately, this action could still be tolerable. As long as he gave a bit of compensation, the commander wouldnʼt mind ignoring this problem.

Unfortunately for him, the commander had just started.

”Well, letʼs ignore that problem for the time being. Letʼs talk about how he insulted my people. We might have different squads, but it doesnʼt mean weʼre not solid. Ask your soldier what they think about their comrade and youʼll understand what it feels to have your comrade being insulted when the one who insulted them was actually asking them to help him. Really shameless…”

”Thatʼs… You canʼt just make up things, Mr. Oscar. There is no witness. If you claim everything without a witness, I can consider it as you making things up!” The Earl gritted his teeth.

”Of course.” The commander rolled his eyes as if he had expected it. He continued, ”Iʼm telling you about that reason not to pressure you but to let you know why my Demon Relief Squad has to leave the mansion.

”After that insult, our Demon Relief Squad left the mansion, but I already told you that our Demon Banner Army acted for the people, right? Despite being insulted, we only left the mansion but didnʼt abandon our mission. We wanted to leave to finish the mission as soon as possible.

”Yet, before leaving that mansion, your son stopped them and pointed his sword at them…” The commander became even colder as there was even a trace of killing intent emanating from his eyes. He asked with a cold tone. ”Say, Earl Lawrence… are you trying to pick a fight with us?”