Chapter 121 - 121 Entertainment
Late at night, the sound of the fire bell echoed through the Royal Capital's night. Steve and Bella, sleeping in the townhouse, woke to that sound.
Bella immediately ran to Steve's bedroom. Since Bella did not need permission to enter, she went straight into Steve's bedroom.
What entered Bella's eyes was Steve's back, looking up at the sky from the window.
"It's a fire."
"Yes. It's worrying that the direction where the sky is turning red is the direction of the orphanage."
"You're going, right? I'll go change."
Bella returned quickly after changing. By then, Steve had also finished changing, and the two of them teleported to the orphanage.
There, it was a sea of fire.
"Hot."
Steve immediately teleported to a nearby spot.
Because he teleported in an instant, his clothes didn't catch fire, but if he had taken one step wrong, he would have died.
"Summer insects flying into the fire, huh?"
"We don't need insecticide."
Steve had no words to retort to Bella.
Viewing it from close range, the orphanage was already engulfed in flames, making it understandable why the sky was dyed red. Hurrying to find Mary, he saw her watching the fire from a place not so far away.
"Hello, Teacher. Were there any children left behind who couldn't escape?"
"Yes. Fortunately, we discovered it early. We were too busy escaping to put out the fire ourselves."
He learned that the older children had carried the younger ones and escaped. Besides Mary, there was one other live-in teacher, but she was also a woman and did not have the strength to carry many people at once.
And the first discoverer was Amber.
First, they put out the fire. After extinguishing it with water magic, Steve called out to Amber.
"You did well. But you found the fire quite well."
"I thought I'd pick as many flowers as possible, so I went out into the garden alone at night to pick them."
Amber had wanted to buy Steve many flowers, so she had secretly gone out into the garden at night to pick flowers alone when she saw the fire.
"You saw the fire from outside?"
"Yes. And I also saw a bad person."
With those words, Steve realized the possibility of arson was high. Mary also snapped to attention at Amber's statement.
And Steve asked Mary.
"Teacher Mary, is there a possibility of negligence with the fire?"
"There is none. I checked the stove fire before going to sleep. Also, regarding the flowers we promised to sell to Your Excellency, the ones I picked were inside the building, so they burned. I am sorry."
Mary bowed deeply.
"No, that's fine. I will find the culprit and make them pay. Amber, how did you know that person was a bad person?"
"Because they pointed a sword at Big Brother. The fire made it bright, so I could see their face clearly."
Even while crouching and hiding, Amber had been trying to memorize the culprit's face, watching them.
"Just one?"
"Yeah."
Mary had seen, and Steve could imagine it was August. Steve used Illusion Magic on Amber to show her August.
"Is this definitely him?"
"Yeah."
The culprit was identified. However, the burning orphanage could not be returned to its original state. The night was not yet cold, but they could not sleep outside forever. And there was no capital to rebuild. Even if Steve provided the funds, the building wouldn't be erected immediately.
Steve instructed Mary to wait here for a while, then teleported somewhere else.
And returned.
"I got permission for acceptance at the church. Since it's a church in the Noble District, there will be restrictions on going out, but it's an emergency, so please endure it."
"A church?"
Mary's eyes widened.
Steve had gone to Eaton, explained the situation, and secured his agreement to accept the orphans. For Eaton, there was no reason to refuse since it was the Apostle-sama's request.
However, since it was in the Noble District, commoners could not go out freely.
Furthermore, Steve continued.
"Teacher Mary, why not come to my territory? Then we can build an orphanage with the territory's funds. I can also provide operating funds."
"Is that alright?"
At Steve's proposal, Mary was surprised again.
In fact, the orphanage in the Royal Capital is under the King's management, so Steve cannot provide funds directly. Buying flowers is fine, but providing operating funds is legally problematic. It would cause disputes over rights when a mage is found.
So, Steve would take over the orphanage and operate it in his territory.
"Well, there are merits for us too."
What Steve was thinking was securing manpower. If the Mosquito Coil business gets on track, there will be a labor shortage. After all, if existing farmers are diverted to flower cultivation and harvesting, food production within the territory will decrease. If the orphans grow up, they will become labor, so it was an investment looking ahead.
Mary understood hearing that story. However, her face showed confusion.
Steve noticed that too.
"Is there a problem?"
"Yes. If I leave the Royal Capital, people who relied on the orphanage will be in trouble. The burden on other orphanages will increase."
"In that case, let's have the church accept those who are in trouble raising children."
"Is that alright?"
"The burden on the receiving side wasn't equal to begin with. Originally, the state should do it, but it takes time to create that system. Since the church is cooperative now, we will have them accept them temporarily at the church, then distribute them equally to the orphanages."
Steve also intended to take in orphans from the Royal Capital to continuously increase the number of people. He thought of something like this as a system for that.
"In that case, there is no problem."
Hearing Steve's plan, Mary decided to relocate.
When the conversation ended, Steve teleported Mary and the children to the church. Despite the late hour, Eaton had given orders and the reception system was ready. Bedding was prepared for the number of people, and they could sleep under a roof.
Steve confirmed this and returned home.
Bella smiled at Steve, who had returned to the townhouse.
"You went beyond just buying flowers. Did you target this from the start?"
"No way. I didn't know the orphanage would burn. Besides, I only thought about having them cultivate it in the Royal Capital. I need to get Father's permission from now on."
"It's not permission, it's a report. There's no way I'd oppose what Steve decided."
Bella could imagine Brian's figure, troubled by adjusting with the residents of the village accepting them. Even the Third Village, which only had migrants, was in a state where they took pride based on the order of migration.
Steve didn't know where he intended to build the orphanage, but it couldn't be in a remote place, so he thought there would be friction with the original residents.
Steve thought the same. The planned relocation was the former Baron Curtis Territory, and he thought there would be land there suitable for cultivating flowers. In the original Archibalt Territory, the land was barren, so there was no guarantee it would grow properly.
Steve also thought about leaving the adjustment to his father.
"So, what are we going to do about the arsonist?"
"Make them pay for their crime."
"Are we going to raid them now and take action?"
"No, I won't go that far myself. He will become an example, though."
"Tomorrow, or maybe today. Let's show our faces at the induction ceremony too."
In Steve's mind, a method to corner August was already formed.
And when morning came, Steve and Bella headed to the venue to attend the induction ceremony for former members of the Snake Head Knights Order. About 30 members came to the induction ceremony. August was among them.
Seeing Steve's face, he made a disgusted expression and then looked away.
Since the situation had been explained to the captain, Steve and the others participated in the induction ceremony and listened to the greeting.
And when the greeting ended, Steve stepped forward.
"There was a fire at the Royal Capital orphanage yesterday."
When Steve said that, August laughed with a grin.
Steve watched that, but continued calmly.
"This is an orphanage with deep entanglements with you lot, so the culprit might be among you. If you come forward honestly now, I intend to lighten your punishment."
Arson is a capital offense. That does not change even for nobles. And those present now are not nobles.
Told by Steve, the members looked at each other's faces. But August was not like that. Of course, he did not come forward claiming to be the culprit himself either.
After some time passed and no one came forward, Steve gave up and moved to the next stage.
"Now, I will use a magic to force a confession."
That's right, Steve had ordered them to confess using a command-compulsion magic.
Everyone said they didn't do it in unison.
But one person screamed.
Naturally, it was August.
Steve looked at August with a gaze of pity.
"If you disobey the order, you will be attacked by excruciating pain that could kill you. However, if you confess, it is a capital offense. You can choose either."
Death awaited August. Either die from the magical pain of ignoring the order, or admit to the crime of arson and receive the death penalty. This time, Steve had no intention of forgiving him. If he had taken one step wrong, many people could have died.
That included not only the orphans but also those who would have been caught in the spreading fire.
August confessed to the arson in less than a minute.
"I did it. Save me."
With his face smeared with tears and snot, he clung to Steve.
But as soon as the confession was made and the excruciating pain vanished, he immediately returned to his original surly attitude.
"You just forced a false confession with magic! I didn't do it!"
At this point, the effect of the magic had already worn off, so there was no excruciating pain.
Steve was dumbfounded and sighed.
"My magic is recognized even by the King. Shall we do it again before His Majesty?"
Told to do it again, August flinched.
"That's a lie. The King wouldn't go to the trouble of doing something like that just for a commoner's, let alone an orphanage's, fire."
"That's not necessarily true. I still have various rewards I haven't received from His Majesty. I can also have him attend for your trial."
"What's the point of doing something like that?"
August also knew of Steve's achievements and thought it was true that there were rewards he hadn't received from the King. So, thinking there would be no benefit for Steve, he tried to prevent the King from attending.
Steve did not answer August's question and forced the command again.
"I will ask too. What benefit did you gain by setting fire to the orphanage? Answer."
"That's because you were no match for me, so I thought I'd burn the brats to death out of spite. I found out the ones selling flowers were brats from the orphanage."
At August's answer, Bella also made an expression as if she had seen something dirty.
"He's scum."
"Well, I thought it was about that."
And Steve turned toward Bella. Then he turned back toward August.
August desperately tried to justify his actions.
"Nobles have the right to do whatever they want with commoners, right?"
"There is no such right, and you aren't a noble to begin with, are you?"
Steve was overflowing with anger, visible to anyone.
"Are you going to turn a blind eye to nobles killing commoners for entertainment? Am I the only one who is bad?"
"Then name that noble. I will punish them just like you. Besides, if nobles can kill commoners for entertainment, I will enjoy killing you."
Told by Steve, August fell silent.
Thinking there was no point in talking to August any further, Steve ordered the captain.
"Execute this guy by stoning. Until the formal procedures are finished, please lock him up in the military jail."
"Understood."
The captain saluted.
Hearing "stoning," August's face turned pale.
"Why stoning? Are you a demon?"
Called a demon, Steve sneered at August.
"It's entertainment. Since ancient times, executions have been entertainment for the common people. Especially when it comes to throwing stones at someone who has oppressed commoners, everyone will happily participate."
Public executions also had an entertainment aspect. As Steve said, this time it would be legally throwing stones at an enemy of the common people, so it was certain to be a huge crowd.
It was easily understood that it would be a fun execution.
"If you do something like that to me, my old man won't stay quiet!"
"Here you come, still only able to use your parents' power as a negotiation tool, and you don't realize it's ineffective. Do you think a power level of a Viscount can overturn my decision, the Dragon Head Medal holder?"
Told by Steve, the ferocity disappeared from August's face. He understood that the person before him was someone whose methods of threatening with his parents' status, which he had used until now, would not work.
And once that happened, there was nothing left but to cry.
"Please forgive me. I will change my heart from now on. I will live seriously."
Watching August beg while crying and prostrating himself, Steve sighed for the umpteenth time.
"If you had done that without setting fire, I would have shortened the period until discharge. You're slow to realize it. That's enough, take him away."
By Steve's order, two soldiers grabbed August on both sides and dragged him away.
For a while, August's screams of "Save me" could be heard, but gradually they became smaller and then disappeared.
Later, August's execution was carried out.
A plea for clemency was sent to the King from Viscount Brennan, but the King had no intention of saving the arsonist even if it meant offending Steve and the commoners, and did not grant the plea for clemency.
Steve did not attend the execution, but later received a report that the people were happily throwing stones at August while showering him with insults.
Thank you always for your typo reports.