Chapter 143: The Girl’s Indentity

Chapter 143

The Girl’s Identity

"L-Lord of the Setter family!"

As soon as the newcomers appeared, many people exclaimed immediately. Even the over 100 soldiers in front had to step aside, bowing their heads respectfully to the family head. The expression on the newly arrived man’s face was stern and furious. Upon hearing that the girl to whom he owed a debt of gratitude was being bullied by the people of Set City, the family head felt deeply embarrassed.

He had always tried to protect this girl. If she didn’t want to meet someone, he would prevent that person from approaching. If Ellie wanted some private time, he would have the family’s students guard around the Botanic Building to ensure no one disturbed her. Despite these efforts, how could it be that when this girl came to a city under his jurisdiction, she was so easily bullied!?

It would be one thing if there were outside enemies targeting Ellie, but this was Set City! A city they ruled. Allowing Ellie to be insulted and forced to defend herself, how could they still call themselves members of the Setter family!?

Of course, Steven’s thoughts remained unknown to others. The villagers of Set City all bowed their heads to the family head. For them, even though they were treated differently from the upper or middle classes, their living conditions in Set City were much better than in other cities. Just stepping into nearby towns, they would experience much worse class oppression.

Many cities had high rates of people becoming slaves. Some cities had almost no ordinary villagers left; everyone had become slaves to nobles and merchants. The Setter family was the only one that opposed forced slavery, enacting rules to prevent the upper class from falsely accusing commoners and punishing them into slavery. Not only that...but in other cities, issues never reached a justice court. They only cared about who held a higher status; the higher-status individual would always be deemed right, and the person with less power and wealth would be wrong.

In Set City, that wasn’t the case. If an issue was significant enough to reach the justice court, it would be judged by royal representatives directly controlled by the kingdom, ensuring no bias toward the guilty party. Because of this, villagers dared to set up their stalls and trade, unlike in other cities where only those noble or merchant with power could sell goods.

The benefits provided by the Setter family were enough to earn their respect, not to mention the negligible protection fees, and the aid provided during winter, drought, and others. During such times, the Setter family helped with food and supplies for the needy without charging them, considering it covered by the annual protection fees they collected.

Regarding the taxes that needed to be paid as city’s governor, the Setter family covered the costs entirely. They said they could earn money a million times more than all the villagers combined; just hunting a few beasts provided enough funds to pay the tribute to the palace. Because of this, the townsfolk only paid small protection fees, which were returned to them as significant benefits.

In contrast, villagers in other towns struggled under heavy taxes imposed on commoners. No city’s governor would pay out of their own pocket for the commoners, especially since many city’s governors lacked the hunting abilities of the Setter family. It was no surprise they couldn’t generate enough profit. Some cities even had to borrow money from merchants to pay their dues despite heavily taxing the villagers.

It’s no wonder the Setter family was regarded as the kingdom’s top nobility. Previously, villagers had petitioned the palace, requesting the Setter family to oversee more than 1 city. While other nobles wanted more cities to collect more tribute from villagers, the Setter family declined, stating they didn’t have enough people to manage more cities. Their ultimate goal was to conquer the cities within the Tower of Eternity!

"M-My lord," the Setter family security officer stammered, saluting. He had hurriedly brought the other soldiers here to plead for Lady Ellie’s mercy. Who would have thought that before he could say anything, the family head would arrive?

Earlier, he had some time. If he hadn’t wasted it listening to the thugs’ nonsense...he could have already begged Lady Ellie for mercy, avoiding reporting their poor performance to the family head.

If anyone should be blamed, it’s the thugs for causing such chaos!!

"Ellie, I apologize for this. It seems my people haven’t managed Set City well enough, putting you in danger." The Setter family head completely ignored the squad leader. He checked on the girl surrounded by the crowd and felt somewhat relieved to see she was unharmed.

In truth, he knew Ellie had powerful decomposition skill, but she wanted to keep this a secret. In a situation with so many nobles around, she couldn’t use that power. This meant she only had her tracking abilities, which were useless in a fight. As soon as he heard someone was causing trouble for the girl, he almost abandoned all his work to come and protect her.

Fortunately, Ellie wasn’t injured before he arrived. Otherwise, when his son returned home, he might have been publicly reprimanded.

"M-My lord, I-I..." The squad leader wanted to defend himself, but Steven’s glare silenced him immediately.

Ellie noticed the middle-aged man was still sweating profusely, indicating how urgently he had rushed here. Seeing Steven’s and the Setter family’s concern, much of Ellie’s anger dissipated.

The girl walked over to the middle-aged vendor who had tried to defend her, even when the soldiers surrounded them, this woman still said that Ellie had done no wrong, while others remained silent. Because of her kindness and sense of responsibility...Ellie felt she deserved her attention.

"Please take this potion. It will help with your bruises." Ellie offered a low-level potion. Although it was low-level, few commoners could afford it.

Seeing Ellie offer her the precious potion, the middle-aged vendor waved her hands in refusal. She now realized Ellie was no ordinary person. A girl protected by soldiers despite having killed someone, a girl who made the governor of Set City come personally, was not someone she could get involved with.

Initially, the vendor had tried to help Ellie, treating her like a distant relative. Now, she wouldn’t dare do that. She didn’t even dare speak to Ellie, nor look her in the eye.

"I-I can’t accept this, my lady," she said, trying to support herself as she stepped back, unwilling to stay in the girl’s embrace. No matter how bruised her body was, she couldn’t let such a high-status girl help her.

"Please, take it. It’s not worth much."

Ellie understood what the woman was thinking. If it were the heroine in a novel who helped people without expecting anything in return, Nara would try to persuade the villagers to accept her kindness. Sometimes she would lament, sometimes she would shed tears until the villagers saw how sincere Nara was. Later, they would talk about how Nara was like a goddess, despite her poor background, giving them such precious gifts.

Of course, the story never mentioned the origin of those low-level potions to the villagers. In reality, they were provided by the wealthy heroes. Nara was merely the one who received and passed them on, creating an image of nobility for herself, both to the villagers and the heroes who gave the potions.

But Ellie was too lazy to do that. She bluntly said that the potion wasn’t very valuable to her. It could be bought for a few silver coins, while she still had more than half of her gold coins left. If she ever ran out of money, she could just sell herbs to others. There was nothing wrong with saying it was just a cheap item.

However, this image she portrayed was a bit too harsh. Some understood her intentions, but many who heard felt quite displeased. The words "not worth much" came off as belittling the poor. Ellie’s attitude made many poor people resent her.

Ah...saying they resented her solely because of her words wouldn’t be accurate. Their resentment stemmed from envy.

Fortunately, many weren’t foolish enough to speak ill of this girl. They saw how the Setter family’s soldiers behaved around Ellie and heard the family head speaking to her with familiarity. This leader was strong and rarely showed respect to anyone, highlighting the girl’s significance.

Not just the villagers, but the thugs felt as if death had come knocking at their door. They wished they could disappear right then. The question the Big Brother had asked initially didn’t need to be answered by bringing the family head himself!

"Just accept it. Since Ellie wants to give it, you shouldn’t reject her kindness," the Setter family head said casually, but it was clearly a threat.

It seemed wise not to upset this girl. The middle-aged woman’s hands trembled as she nodded vigorously, not daring to look Ellie in the eye. She accepted the potion and quickly drank it in front of Ellie to show she wouldn’t misuse it.

"I-I drank it all, my lady," she said, bowing her head to her chest. Ellie realized that continuing the conversation was impossible. The woman was too tense to even breathe normally. So, she stepped back, not forcing the woman to do anything she didn’t want.

"Lord Steven," Ellie called to the Setter family head, who responded almost immediately.

If the villagers saw his behavior now...many might imagine they could see a wagging tail!

In truth, this girl’s importance was already immense. After she easily provided him with the roots and flowers of Tezetrons, her abilities were indispensable, no matter what. However, that was purely for benefits. But as soon as his eldest son’s abilities emerged, Ellie’s status changed completely.

She wasn’t just a benefactor to Owen. His son’s statements showed how crucial the girl was to him.

Upon seizing the city, the first thing Owen did was instruct him to take the utmost care of Ellie. If she wanted anything, it had to be given to her. If it wasn’t available within the Setter family, he was to be informed, and he would find it. If it wasn’t in the 6h floor, she was to wait a bit while he ventured to the 7th, even the 8th floor, to bring it to her!

This strong determination made the father tremble with fear. He wasn’t sure if the Setter family would now be driven by the desires of this girl. He could only hope that the girl in front of him would be a bit greedier...

"Is there anything else you need?" The middle-aged man smiled happily. As long as Ellie requested it, he was ready to pass on her desires to Owen.

But unfortunately, the girl’s request wasn’t as grand as Steven expected.

"I think the Setter family should have some dishes made from “cabbage” today. What do you think?"

"Hmm? What? What cabbage?" Steven’s smile faded slightly, leaving only a performative grin.

Ellie knew Steven didn’t understand, as her request seemed quite strange. So, she helped him understand by pointing to a nearby stall. There were cabbages and other vegetables for sale. These cabbages looked fresh, but they weren’t the high-quality type that nobles usually ate. So, under normal circumstances, he believed these cabbages wouldn’t sell for a high price.

But since it was cabbage the girl wanted to buy, even if it wasn’t anything special or just scraps of cabbage, do you think the great leader of the Setter family would refuse?

Of course not!

"Indeed. The chef will be preparing dishes with cabbage today. In that case, I’ll buy all the cabbage. 1 gold coin should be enough, right?"

As the head of the Setter family spoke nonchalantly, the faces of the thugs turned deathly pale...Oh, well. Steven might not understand the situation because he had just arrived, but everyone who had heard the entire story from the beginning understood perfectly well what was happening!

The thugs had said they wanted to buy all the cabbage for 1 silver coin, but the great family head offered 1 gold coin instead. This difference wasn’t just a slap in the face to the thugs; it was a declaration of their doom!!

With this incident, the merchants could now accuse the thugs. They had tried to buy the vegetables at a low price by claiming they were of poor quality, but now the Setter family head valued them at 1 gold coin!! Could they still claim the vegetables were of poor quality?