Chapter 71 - 71 Cameron Parent and Child
The next day, Steve and the others, having obtained permission from Margrave Remington, were strolling around Remington Land. The weather was clear, the wind weak and gentle. It was a perfect day for a stroll.
Everyone was walking dressed as commoners, but the composition of Steve and four women stood out. Moreover, since they were beauties and beautiful girls, it was even more conspicuous.
Feeling the curious gazes of the surroundings, Steve and the others looked around the market. Many fish that couldn't be seen in the inland Archibalt Territory were displayed, and Steve bought them as if it were his chance and secretly stored them in subspace with Storage Magic.
Furthermore, what made Steve happy was that the Hand Lifts developed by the Royal Research Institute were being used everywhere in the market. Seeing the cargo placed on wooden pallets being carried by Hand Lifts was the fulfillment of the developers' efforts.
It was convenient to be able to float the pallet with hydraulics and pull heavy objects, so it was useful for work in ports and markets, and spread throughout the country in the blink of an eye, but Steve had rarely had the opportunity to see it with his own eyes.
"It seems Hand Lifts have spread even in Remington Land."
"That's convenient, isn't it."
Sherry said that while watching the scene of someone pulling a Hand Lift. Archibalt Territory's Hand Lifts were things made by Steve's magic, so their performance is better than those made with this technology.
Also, as is common in Japanese factories, there were people playing with Hand Lifts like kickboards.
Sherry's convenience leaned more towards that, and it deviated from the original usage.
It was Steve's fate not to end just by happily wandering the market, and after walking for a while, they bumped into a crowd. Even though it was called a crowd, they were just watching from a distance with quite a bit of space.
Steve and the others passed between those people and came out to the front.
Then, there was a luxurious carriage that seemed to belong to a noble stopped there, a fat young man wearing expensive clothes, four soldiers who seemed to be guards, a young woman being held by the fat man, and a young man lying on the ground.
The fat man felt like the expression "a pig wearing clothes" fit perfectly.
"Did a commoner commit rudeness?"
Nancy judged the situation that way.
"Let's take a look at the situation for a bit."
Steve had a premonition of trouble, so he decided to watch the situation.
If a commoner had been rude to a noble, there was no room for Steve to interfere. Emotionally, he wanted to help the commoner, but regarding the absolute difference in status, there was nothing Steve could do about it.
The man lying on the ground, upon closer inspection, was covered in scars, but he was bowing his head to the fat man and begging to return the woman.
"Please. Return Maria."
"Because you came out in front of the carriage, the horse was startled, went wild, and the vase being carried broke. I want to make you compensate for the ancestral valuable vase, but how much money does a commoner like you have? This woman isn't enough, but as a token of compensation, I'll take her."
Listening to the fat man's argument, Steve understood the situation.
The shards of the vase that man was holding looked like cheap stuff no matter how you looked at it. However, that was something commoners wouldn't know. Taking advantage of that, it was a scene where they tried to take the woman away.
It was suspicious whether the vase really broke just now.
"Can't you do something? That vase is cheap stuff, there's no such thing as valuable."
Christina also spotted that the vase was cheap stuff, and pulled Steve's sleeve to whisper.
"That's right. That's a bit too much. We need to teach them a lesson."
Steve said that and stepped forward in front of the fat man. Christina and the others followed him.
"Is it okay for a moment?"
"What are you guys?"
The fat man glared at Steve. Steve scoffed at that glare as if provoking.
"Fufu, not worth introducing myself."
At Steve's line, the fat man misunderstood something and started laughing.
"Commoner, you're scared of this Lord Billy Cameron and can't introduce your name. You don't want to cause trouble for your family, do you?"
"I don't think it will cause trouble for my family."
"No, I am the legitimate son of House Cameron. Doing such an attitude to me is sufficient reason to kill you here. And your family is also guilty."
Steve understood that the man named Billy before his eyes seemed to misunderstand that Steve couldn't introduce himself because he would be punished along with his family.
The truth was, he wasn't introducing himself because it would cause trouble later on.
When Steve remained silent, Billy became even more emboldened.
"The women you are leading, looking at them, all have faces that don't seem like commoners. I'll specially spoil them."
Billy said that and showed a posture of licking his lips. The women shown that showed disgust.
"Disgusting."
"Ugh."
"Can I cut them?"
"Sir, let me cut them."
Those were the words of Christina, Sherry, Bella, and Nancy. Especially Bella and Nancy were in a mood to slash at any moment, and Steve felt it was bad.
"If you release those women right now, this place will be ignored, but if you refuse, we will have to use force. If that cheap vase is valuable, it will only tarnish your family name."
At Steve's words, Billy got a twitch. His eyes were bloodshot, and it was clear he was angry. It was a hit on the mark, so he had to get angry and deceive, but the fact that he was actually angry rather than pretending showed Billy's immaturity.
"What does a mere commoner know. You guys, chop off that brat's limbs and bring the women."
At Billy's order, the soldiers approached Steve. No one showed any guilt, and Steve sighed that these guys were also the same kind.
After that, he punched and knocked out the soldiers in an instant.
"Nnngh!"
Billy screamed in surprise.
"Quiet."
Steve punched the left cheek of Billy who was screaming.
"Gyahfun."
Saving the woman from Billy's hand who fell down after being hit, he returned her to the man lying on the ground. After that, he stepped on Billy and glared.
"Learn from this and don't do evil again."
"You don't know what will happen when Papa comes!"
Even though Billy was rolled over, stepped on, and glared at, he showed no signs of repentance. At that attitude, Steve thought he needed to re-educate including the father, and ordered the soldiers.
"Well, go call that Papa of yours. Say your precious son is being beaten. The number of times I beat you will increase as time passes."
Told by Steve, all the soldiers ran somewhere.
The man who was lying down spoke to Steve while watching such Steve's appearance.
"I was saved. But you shouldn't run away or you'll get in big trouble. No matter how strong you are, you can't beat the Viscount's soldiers."
I wanted to use healing magic for the man who truly worried about Steve, but if I used healing magic here, it might cause various commotions, so I judged that there was no life-threatening condition and skipped treating the man.
Steve said to such a man.
"Thanks for worrying. But you have to knock out the root of all evil. The soldiers just now and this guy also seem used to it, I don't think this is the first time. If the Viscount is also in on it, I can't leave it alone even more."
"However, no matter how hard a commoner tries, they can't against nobles."
Hearing that, Billy, who was on the ground, laughed gufu gufu while crawling.
"That's right. You commoners will be crushed like insects."
"Even if you say big words, if you look at your current figure, you might know which one is the insect."
Steve gave Billy a look of pity.
While having such a conversation, the crowd that was there until just now had disappeared. Everyone left because they didn't want to get involved.
The man and woman Steve saved also left from Steve's side, though they felt reluctant to part.
While doing so, a high-class carriage and about 20 soldiers came.
Getting off the carriage was another middle-aged man fat like a pig. Seeing that man, Billy rejoiced.
The man was Viscount Cameron.
"Pig parent."
"Pfft."
Bella muttered those words, and Steve couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Not entering his ears such conversation, Billy called his father.
"Papa!"
"Billy! I heard you were beaten by a commoner, but you are being stepped on. I'll save you now. You guys, save your son quickly."
Soldiers approached at the Viscount's order, but Steve first released his foot from Billy and let him free. Billy immediately ran to his father.
With the sense of relief that he escaped to a safe zone, Billy laughed gufu gufu.
"Papa, let's kill that guy and take the women. I can't stand it anymore."
"That's right. But, Papa wants that girl."
Viscount Cameron pointed his finger at Christina. Viscount Cameron looking at Christina with glittering eyes made Steve feel disgust.
Seeing that, Steve accepted that like father like son.
"It's better not to touch her. Her parent won't stay silent."
Steve advised that, but Viscount Cameron and Billy didn't listen.
"What does parent mean. I'll chop up that person's parent."
The Viscount replied vigorously to Steve. Of course, he didn't know who Christina's father was.
"Heh. Then I'll look forward to that."
"Shut your mouth! You guys shut that guy up!"
At Billy's order, soldiers approached Steve again.
However, just before the weapons reached, everyone became unable to move from that spot. Earthen chains made by Steve's magic restrained the soldiers.
"Mage!?"
The Viscount and his son were surprised. Stone pillars created by Steve's magic pierced into the bellies of the two covered in fat.
"Gueeee!"
"It hurts!"
The two raised voices in pain. Even so, somehow enduring the pain, Viscount Cameron glared at Steve.
"Do you think a mere mage can attack a noble and get away with it?"
"Then shall we go to war?"
"You're saying you'll fight against my army which is a Viscount with just one mage?"
"No. I will also move an army. First, I will report to Lord Mackintosh, my father-in-law, that you tried to capture my fiancée. I'll ask for 100,000 troops from the north. Also, I'll ask Lord Sowell to send about 50,000 from the west. Shall I also send troops from my home?"
The names Steve spoke were naturally known to Viscount Cameron. And he questioned Steve's attitude of calling great nobles without titles.
Looking closely at Steve, there was a memory of seeing him somewhere.
Tracing that memory, the Viscount turned blue.
"The mage who is engaged to the daughter of Marquess Mackintosh should be Your Excellency Dragon Head Medal."
"You know well. Most of all, you should have seen my face at the two victory ceremonies."
With that, Viscount Cameron confirmed that the child before his eyes was Steve Archibalt.
Billy who couldn't grasp the situation asked his father.
"Papa, what is this guy?"
"Idiot! This person is Your Excellency Dragon Head Medal Archibalt!"
Viscount Cameron shouted at his son and forcibly rubbed his head against the ground.
Even so, Billy didn't understand the situation and asked.
"Is he an important person?"
"He is the most important among nobles except the royal family. Also, the Marquess Mackintosh's daughter is with him."
"Eeeeeee!"
With this explanation, Billy understood the situation he was in.
Furthermore, the people watching from afar also realized Steve was an important noble.
At first, they thought the child would be killed by Viscount Cameron, but at the same time as relief that it seems higher than the Viscount, there was also anxiety about what if they did worse things than the Viscount.
The representative of that was the man saved just now.
Although he left Steve's side, he was still worried and hiding to watch the situation.
"I didn't know, but I'm sorry for just now."
"What?"
Steve was confused by the sudden apology.
"That I mistook Your Excellency for a commoner."
"Ah, I'm not angry about that."
"However, you seem very angry at the Viscount."
"That's because they are doing unreasonable things using the status of nobles. It's not because I was treated as a commoner. Also, since the Viscount brought up the title, I just used the names of Marquess and Margrave to counter that. For those who rely on power, silencing them with power is best."
"Then what about me?"
"Nothing. Just wish you happiness with her. Ah!"
Steve smiled as if he had thought of something good, pointing at Billy.
"How much compensation do you want? Say any amount you like. I'll collect it responsibly."
The man was confused at Steve's proposal.
"However, I can't take it from a noble."
While the man was hesitating, the woman called Maria came from behind.
"Jill, since he's saying so nicely, take it."
"Maria, but..."
"No buts. Then I'll say it. Please 10 gold coins."
Watching that exchange, Steve smiled bitterly. It was easy to imagine that Jill would be under her thumb in the future.
"Understood. I'll advance it for now."
"Thank you."
Maria happily received the gold coin from Steve.
From the people watching, applause naturally occurred. At the timing the applause stopped, guards who heard the commotion rushed over. At first, they suspected Steve and the others because Viscount Cameron and the others who looked like nobles were injured, but when Steve revealed his identity, Viscount Cameron was restrained.
"There seems to be more crimes, so I need to confirm it."
"Steve's such a part will get involved in trouble."
Sherry was dumbfounded but didn't oppose.