Chapter 151: Brazen, Lin Wei! What Are You Planning to Do to the Princess?

Translation by: Weebsread👹

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“What are you up to? What exactly are you planning?” Iresha mused.

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Suspicion flickered in Princess Iresha’s eyes as she fixed Lin Wei with a chilly gaze, her brows drawing together in open challenge.

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He didn’t even bother with the formality of “Your Highness.” To address a princess by name so brazenly—such insolence would usually demand swift, bloody retribution.

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Yet, because it was Lin Wei, she let it slide. At least for now.

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“Wait—are you actually telling me this isn’t the work of the Demons at all?”

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Kinson’s incredulous outburst shattered the mental calculations Iresha’d been running just moments before.

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Lin Wei’s words were uncompromising, unvarnished—each spoken without a trace of subtlety. He wielded the truth with the sharpness of a dagger, his suspicions landing directly on one man: Duke Ous.

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When the village physician, Dr. Kinson, pressed him, Lin Wei simply nodded, his expression grave and unwavering.

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“That’s right. Exactly as I said. Every detail about what’s happened here is far too suspicious.”

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“All the causes, the motivations, the so-called coincidences—they reek of someone’s deliberate handiwork. Especially these so-called battle marks. Sure, the style fits, but the more I examine them, the more staged they appear. Frankly, there’s only one plausible explanation: Duke Ous orchestrated this entire show. No second guess about it.”

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Honestly, if someone had claimed that one of the Empire’s top nobles would stoop to such crude, ham-handed tactics, Lin Wei would never have believed it. He might not have considered Ous a true adversary, but at the very least, he’d assumed the man was the equal of the notorious Four Heavenly Kings.

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Looking back, perhaps he’d been far too generous in his estimations.

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These nobles… they don’t wield subtlety as a blade. No, they club their enemies with it—blunt and brazen. Why bother dressing up their machinations when their targets are mere peasants? Nuance is wasted on the powerless.

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Or maybe it was something else entirely. Perhaps Duke Ous fancied himself clever, but every new “scheme” only made his incompetence more obvious.

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Those from outlying regions always blunder into the capital in garish displays—brutish upstarts, every last one.

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“This is…”

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With those few pointed words, Lin Wei had already defined the scene, dispensed his verdict, and closed the case.

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Of course Dr. Kinson, ever the astute village healer, knew exactly who Duke Ous was.

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But to realize that his own lord had disguised himself as a demon and attacked his own subjects—his own villagers?

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“Why… why would he go so far?” Kinson whispered, horror dawning in his eyes. “Just for a bit of tax money?”

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Lin Wei’s voice was cool, carrying the chill of steel.

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“To an imperial nobleman, a peasant who can’t pay tax isn’t a person—they’re dead weight, property with no value. That seventy-percent tax is outrageous, sure, but so long as you stay alive, you’ll claw enough together for them in the end, won’t you?”

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Kinson’s face blanched. He didn’t need to speak—the look in his eyes made it clear Lin Wei’s guess had struck home.

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“Nobles aren’t moral,” Lin Wei continued. “But they rarely do business at a loss.”

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“If they have the gall to impose a tax this high, it means they’ve already calculated things in advance. They know that, as long as they squeeze tight enough, you’ll dig out the damn coins—even if you starve doing it.”

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His gaze bore into the physician, unflinching.

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“And if you truly can’t pay? Then you’re not even worth keeping alive. Find some men, dress them as demons, stir up trouble in a few villages—let that serve as a warning to the rest. If that’s not enough, burn a village or two to the ground. Let blood speak where words fail.”

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“One village may mean little in lost revenue. But if several go up in flames, it’s not something any neighboring lord can ignore.”

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“But even if you added them all together…” Iresha muttered from the sidelines, frowning in thought, “it wouldn’t amount to much at all. Even if you stripped every last coin from dozens of villages, it’d still only equal my monthly pocket money…”

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“Oh, spare me,” Lin Wei cut in mercilessly. “The tragically generous little heiress funding the Heroes’ Party has no place in this conversation.”

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Once, the Silver Harbor Kingdom had stood at the very apex of worldly wealth. Back then, the land boasted not only the greatest reserves of mana crystals, but all the world’s maritime trade routes as well.

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But after the kingdom was trampled by the demon army, those fabled crystal mines were obliterated—one cataclysmic explosion after another, until nothing but a sunken, water-logged wasteland remained where untold glory once reigned.

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“So you mean, the ones who attacked tonight—the lord orchestrated it, and his men will return?” Dr. Kinson managed, voice trembling.

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Accepting Lin Wei’s explanation, the truth was suddenly both terrible and simple. The fear remained, raw and real.

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“Of course,” Lin Wei replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “This is the kind of thing nobles do. No real mystery about it.”

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“But,” he continued, his voice softening just barely, “as fate would have it, your village had the peculiar fortune of our passing through. This ends tonight—one way or another.”

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Kinson gaped at him—unsure whether to feel hope or greater dread. Kindness from strangers was one thing, but this ran deeper, riskier. Why would someone of noble blood go so far for a backwater village?

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“You… you and Her Highness intend to help us? Truly?”

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They were outsiders, bound only by accident. Could this be about some bitter vendetta against Duke Ous?

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“That’s right,” Lin Wei said flatly. “Her Highness and I are here for one reason: to gather evidence and bring Duke Ous to justice.”

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He paused, glancing meaningfully at the startled villagers. “You might not have heard—the news is new. Just last night, Duke Ous of the Empire was arrested. The charges are dire: colluding with the Cult of the Evil God, conspiring to murder the Holy See’s chief secretary, tampering with frontline logistics… the list goes on.”

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“As for me, I’m no adventurer, nor am I a noble. I am a special envoy—personally dispatched by Pope Selena.”

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Shock rooted Kinson where he stood—he wasn’t alone; even Iresha was taken aback. So Lin Wei had been hiding this identity all along?

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“I’d been wracking my brains for a way to collect damning evidence. But at the Border Wall, I got wind of demon attacks in this very village, and realized the mastermind was Duke Ous himself.”

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“That simplifies everything. A massacre staged to squeeze peasants for tax—add that to the mountain of cultist conspiracies and murders, and not even the gods could save him now.”

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“So when you told me about your plan to save the village… in truth, you mean to use tonight as bait. Let his henchmen walk into a trap—and catch them red-handed?”

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A sudden clarity lit Iresha’s expression. The puzzle pieces fell into place, and she understood Lin Wei’s intentions at last.

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Her eyes shone, excitement unconcealed—she’d always looked down on petty upstarts like Duke Ous, and now, justice could be restored while boosting her beloved Hero’s Party’s reputation. It was a cause she’d champion with relish.

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…Though since when did Lin Wei have these ties to the Holy See? Wasn’t he just some obscure resident of Aurens Town, the sort who needed written permits just to visit Lotai? Wait. Had he forged this “special envoy” identity at the last moment?

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“Exactly,” Lin Wei nodded. “Unless something goes awry, those guards will be back tonight to stir up more trouble.”

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“But there’s no need for warnings or elaborate defenses. Carry on just as you always would—the Light of Alicia will watch over every one of her faithful.”

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He glanced at the princess. “I’ll be gone for several hours. In my absence, the village’s safety is in your hands… Is that all right, Your Highness?”

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At this point, what else could Princess Iresha do but nod? She agreed without hesitation, meeting Lin Wei’s eyes. The sincerity in his smile reassured her, and he continued quietly:

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“In that case, I’ll be taking Her Highness with me for a while. If we disappear, the tax inspector won’t dare risk sending in the butchers—the fools wouldn’t lay a hand on a princess. She won’t go far. She’ll watch over the village until we return.”

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“And one more thing—do not speak a word of what we’ve discussed to anyone. If this leaks and Duke Ous razes the village to the ground, even I won’t be able to save you.”

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As Iresha listened, Lin Wei quietly sent a pulse of magic into the hem of her sleeve—a subtle sensing spell, delicate and easily missed.

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Not that he had any intention of chatting with outsiders anyway—secrets like these were meant for safekeeping. Still, if his Veya ever hoped to earn true respect, she’d need a local ally—someone to vouch for her, someone the villagers would trust if the Holy See’s armies came and delivered justice.

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Let them believe that one among their own had foreseen what was coming. If staging such things was an art, Lin Wei thought wryly, he’d already mastered it.

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Now, it was time to make judgment day truly spectacular—and for that, he’d need reinforcements from home. Not from his demonfolk kin, of course; they were simply the family he’d left behind.

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“I swear—I won’t tell a soul!” Kinson promised, his resolve suddenly steel-hard.

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The Holy See, the nobility—colluding with the Cult of the Evil God. The scope of these conspiracies was unimaginable to a commoner like him.

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But Lin Wei’s certainty left no room for doubt or idle speculation.

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Perhaps this was the village’s only chance to slip free from their lord’s grip.

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And if, at a moment like this, he betrayed their trust for the sake of unburdening his own fear—it would be unforgivable. Even if threatened with death, Kinson resolved, he’d never let a word slip.

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“Good,” Lin Wei murmured. “Then let’s meet tonight.”

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He turned to Iresha, eyes flickering. “Come closer, Your Highness.”

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“Huh?”

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Why was he suddenly beckoning her? Though puzzled, Iresha found her trust in Lin Wei stronger than her suspicion, and she stepped forward without hesitation.

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“What are you planning?”

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His fingers, warm and sure, brushed softly against her neck. A subtle current of magic surged through her, tickling her skin and coaxing out a faint, involuntary smile.

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Is he about to show me a magic trick right out of nowhere?

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Before she could ask, reality twisted.

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Magic truly was miraculous.

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Without warning, the world spun and reeled. Lin Wei seized her by the scruff of the neck, and in the next heartbeat, his silhouette blurred into a streak of light that erupted skyward at impossible speed.

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The ground fell away, an indistinct smear far below, and nausea threatened to tear her senses apart. Only then, white-faced and near panic, did Iresha manage to part her lips.

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At first, terror locked her throat. After several heartbeats, she finally managed a shriek of pure distress:

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“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

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Several minutes later.

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On a windswept hillside, not far from the village—

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Hidden among the brush, plainclothes city guards scrutinized the settlement, waiting. The moment they glimpsed Lin Wei and Iresha soar from the village with the Flight spell, one of the watchers broke cover, sprinting back toward the city.

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“The princess and her hanger-on have left the village!”

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“Report to the Governor at once. The operation proceeds as planned!”