The young baron, who had become quite serious, quickly returned a smile to his face.

“Let’s just say it’s repaying a debt.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

A debt?

“Thanks to you, I’ve become this close to Duke Lester.”

Eclas smiled gently.

Come to think of it, Louise Ideana was at the beginning of Duke Sched Lester’s story.

And it was Louise who inserted the Bitel family into that history.

“Since I couldn’t properly pay for the Lupus slave back then, consider this paying for it now.”

Riana recalled the memory of the day she handed Sched over to Eclas.

She had sold Sched to the Bitel merchant group and returned the money to Eclas.

She had even given him the ring she was wearing, asking him to send Sched to the Lester territory…

“I’m a businessman, not a con artist. Back then, I was a fool who didn’t know what was what, so I took the money you gave me.”

Eclas remembered that day’s events more specifically than Riana thought.

Perhaps he remembered even more than she did.

“That had been weighing on my mind. When the Ideana earldom disappeared due to treason, the way to repay also vanished…”

Eclas leaned back comfortably as he recalled that day.

Is he really going to pretend not to know the secret because of that past incident?

Riana couldn’t believe Eclas’s enigmatic eyes.

“I heard that Bitel never puts weights on just one side of the scale.”

Riana didn’t fall for his sweet temptation.

Eclas nodded with a smile.

“Of course, I don’t mean I’ll just sit back and watch stupidly.”

As expected, he surely had other intentions.

“Since we’re in the same boat, I should get involved in your affairs a bit.”

Eclas smiled again, his eyes crinkling.

Riana’s lips tightened with tension.

But Eclas continued calmly.

“If you stay here, it’s only a matter of time before you’re exposed. Then it might become known that I knew your secret and hid it, and wouldn’t that put me in danger too?”

Louise Ideana returning here was like a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.

Moreover, Dietrich, who was well-versed in heresy trials, was here.

There were far too many risk factors to hide the crime.

“So, I’d like you to leave this place as soon as possible.”

The price Eclas asked for hiding her identity was for her to leave this place.

Riana frowned at his request.

‘Is leaving Paradel all he wants in exchange for hiding my identity?’

It seemed too light a proposal for keeping such a big secret.

What benefit would he gain from her leaving this place?

Besides.

“As you know, leaving here isn’t something I can decide on my own.”

Riana said.

She hadn’t come here because she wanted to.

She had tried refusing to come here, and even tried running away.

But with just an immortal body, it wasn’t easy to escape from Sched.

Eclas nodded lightly with a smile.

“I can help you with that.”

“…You’ll help me?”

“I’m quite capable, you see.”

The clever merchant finally revealed the purpose he had kept hidden deep inside.

“Duke Sched Lester is a good person, of course, but he’s an unfortunate person to be with you.”

Back in her room, Riana pondered over Eclas’s words.

“I could help you escape from here. Money can do a lot more than you might think.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in Eclas Bitel’s abilities.

Surely, he would find a way to help her escape from here, from Sched, forever.

“Think carefully about which choice is wiser.”

The answer was clear.

Following Eclas Bitel would be the wise choice.

He could probably even create a perfect disguise identity for her.

But the reason she couldn’t readily agree to his proposal was because of a few things that bothered her.

One was the heretic remaining here.

Though the priests were tracking him, they hadn’t even found his whereabouts yet.

Was it right to leave Ideana behind and pretend not to know?

The heretic was the remnant of Ideana’s sin.

Was it okay to irresponsibly run away, leaving the resolution of that remnant to others?

And if they failed to catch that heretic…

‘…Ideana’s territory would remain the heretic’s hunting ground forever.’

Riana moistened her dry lips.

Though there might be nothing she could do, she wanted to at least confirm that the heretic issue was resolved before leaving this place.

If possible, she wanted to lend her strength too.

And another thing weighing down her steps was… Sched.

If she left with Eclas, she would probably never see Sched again.

‘Surely that shouldn’t matter. No, that’s how it should be.’

After all, she had been living well without seeing him before meeting him.

She had tried to run away several times.

But now that she was actually about to leave, her heart felt strangely heavy.

‘It’s just old memories coming back unnecessarily…’

It was because memories of the past were overlapping with his current image.

Though there were always many people around him now that he had become a duke, somehow Sched seemed to not get too close to them beyond a certain point.

His loyal knights and admiring servants only served him as their lord and master.

The kind light he hadn’t lost even as a slave in his childhood was no longer visible.

Maybe that’s why she kept looking at him.

Because she couldn’t ignore the dry emptiness that flashed in his eyes.

Because she could see the deep, pitch-black hole inside him.

Because it felt like it was all her sin that had made him that way.

“I’m thinking of exempting those settling in Ideana from taxes this year.”

At Sched’s declaration, the faces of those present subtly stiffened.

“You’re completely exempting taxes? You said you’d give settlement support funds too…”

“That’s right. We’ve already gathered nearly three hundred people after hearing that news.”

The vassals and priests who had accompanied him hastily added.

As they said, people had already started gathering in Paradel.

Though the nobles who were here had all been executed or fled due to the Ideana earldom’s treason, ordinary people couldn’t abandon the land where they were born and raised.

That’s how the residents of Ideana, who had been hiding somewhere unknown, started coming to Paradel with its protective barrier.

The speed at which people gathered was faster than expected, to the point where they were busy just preparing the necessary houses and goods.

“Anyway, if there’s a protective barrier, they’ll flock here even if we collect a lot of taxes. Is money more important than their lives?”

People nodded at the priest’s words.

They would probably pay the money without a peep even if additional taxes were levied for the protective barrier.

But Sched frowned at those words.

“Priest, have you seen the appearance of the people gathered at this castle?”

“I have.”

“Do you want to squeeze donations even from their pockets?”

“Ahem, donations are an expression of worship and gratitude towards God that comes from the heart.”

The priest cleared his throat awkwardly.

They must have seen it too.

That those gathering in Paradel had only light bundles in their hands.

Living in this land that lost its leader and was branded with treason, having to live in isolation amidst collapsed social systems and a ruined economy, that’s what it meant.

In a land where even heretics ran rampant, the society they could form was at the level of small clans or tribes of ancient times.

And they abandoned the homes they had made with their own hands and came here empty-handed.

To survive.

“But my lord. At this rate, nearly a thousand people will gather in a month.”

“Do you think a city is made with just a thousand people?”

“…”

“What Paradel needs is people. We’re already struggling with lack of manpower just to renovate this mansion. Aren’t you all complaining about the lack of workforce to rebuild the temple?”

Sched turned his eyes to the priest who had just spoken.

Everyone else just avoided his gaze without saying a word.

As he said, Paradel lacked people.

Though the Lester family had brought knights, vassals, servants, and workers, it was far from enough to look after this vast land.

The same was true for the stonemasons, carpenters, and craftsmen that Dietrich and the priests had brought, and those who came at Eclas’s invitation. It wasn’t a city that could be managed with just a few craftsmen.

“To make someone live in this cursed land, you need that level of incentive.”

While skilled labor was needed, securing a minimum population to form the foundation was also urgent.

Moreover, Paradel couldn’t provide a good environment for those settling here right now.

Collapsed houses, poor infrastructure, unsettled systems.

If they collected taxes on top of that, discontent would only grow.

Some might say the protective barrier alone is enough, but Sched thought they couldn’t rely solely on the barrier.

“But the cost of rebuilding this place is enormous. How will we cover those costs if we don’t collect taxes?”

One vassal complained discontentedly.

There were things that needed repair right before their eyes.

Not just this mansion, but the collapsed city walls and temple, buildings to become basic government offices, roads, bridges, and more all needed attention.

Even the water and sewage systems and wells all needed to be completely overhauled.

How could they cover those massive costs without collecting taxes?

“…Didn’t I say? What’s needed here is people.”

Not money.

Sched emphasized once again to the vassal who didn’t seem to understand his words.