I am the Monarch

Chapter 274 – Monster of Purrand (1)

The Great Warring Period.

It referred to the period of a great war with all of the nations of the continent involved. But in truth, there was no-one who clearly remembered the start of the period.

The most convincing theory was that it was due to an increase of recruitments of personnel from the royal families, nobles, the rich and the ones with powers, as well as the consecutive successions of kings and emperors of many countries happening at the same time.

In the previous life, the Great Warring Period knew no end and continued endlessly. A horrible period without an end. But paradoxically, the civilisation of humans had greatly developed at an amazing speed during the Great Warring Period.

It was because countless talents had appeared.

Roan Lancephil stared at the giant in front and made a light smile. The man had a height two times larger than his own with a build resembling an ogre. His head was similarly massive but had an unfittingly innocent countenance. Large eyes, a nose the size of a fist and the enormous mouth made one think of a cow’s face.

This young man was the Monster of Purrand called the executioner of the battlefields. He was one of the talents that had shone brightly during the Great Warring Period.

As soon as the youth’s eyes met Roan’s he quickly lowered his head. It was a shy appearance, unlike his body.

‘Is this young man really the Monster of Purrand, no Urbank…’

It was his first time seeing Urbank like this and the one in his memories was a tyrant roaring through the war.

But he wasn’t surprised.

‘I did hear that he was very obedient and shy during his slavery…’

It was because he had heard several rumours during his previous life already. While Roan was thinking of this and that, an elderly man suddenly approached and tilted his head.

“Who…?”

He was the owner of Urbank who was still a slave, Tian.

“I’m a wandering merchant, called Roel.”

Roan quickly lowered his head with an amiable smile.

“Merchant?”

Tian made a slightly surprised expression and soon looked behind him. A middle-aged man standing next to Urbank walked up with a frown.

“A wandering merchant so wouldn’t be under any Merchant Guilds.”

He had a guarded expression and voice, and suddenly put his right hand out.

“Lard of Siera Merchants.”

“Roel.”

While making a wide smile, Roan grabbed onto Lard’s hand. Even from the light handshake, he could tell Lard’s alertness from within.

‘This man is the future leader of Siera Merchants.’

Roan knew him well.

He had to.

In the previous life, Lard was the leader of Siera Merchants as well as a noble, and a general who had led many battles to victory as the owner of Urbank.

However.

‘The problem is that he is not from the Rinse Kingdom and is from the Byron Kingdom.’

Indeed.

Lard was a merchant of Byron Kingdom and Siera Merchants as well as was a guild under the Byron Kingdom. He was only a leader of a small travelling group within the guild right now but was someone that would later be a leader of the guild.

He led his group between the Byron and Rinse Kingdom as he sold various items, during which he had coincidentally discovered Urbank in Purrand Village and had taken him to Byron Kingdom.

After arriving at the Byron Kingdom, Urbank was trained as a fighting slave, before eventually following Lard into various battles and becoming known as the executioner of battlefields.

The executioner of battlefields, Monster of Purrand, Urbank was from the Rinse Kingdom but had become famous as a general of Byron Kingdom.

‘To the allies he was like a nightmare…’

Roan shook his head as he stared at Urbank who was facing down. In this life, he didn’t want to have him taken.

Then.

“You seemed to have an interest in my belongings.”

Lard had an unamused expression as he stared at Roan. Being a merchant, he was a person with great intuition and knew that Roan was interested in Urbank as soon as he had appeared.

“Your belonging?”

Roan made a curious expression that didn’t seem to follow and looked around as if in search of an object. Lard scoffed and pointed at Urbank.

“I have already purchased this.”

A bold expression and voice.

But as soon as he finished those words.

“Hmm, what do you mean? I don’t remember selling yet?”

Tian made a light cough and interjected.

‘Oho. This wandering merchant seems to be interested in the monster too?’

He made a cunning smile.

‘If there’s a fight between merchants, I should be able to sell it at a higher price.’

His thoughts ran wild. The person who had become urgent due to the unexpected situation was Lard.

“Sir what do you mean by that? Did you not just agree to sell this to me?”

Lard argued in a loud voice but Tian widened his eyes and shook his head.

“Hah, please. I was just negotiating the price. I only said that I would sell anytime if it was a suitable price.”

“But just now you definitely said…”

“Hey look. I have not received a single penny. Look.”

Tian threw his arms wide open and spun around in his spot.

“Mhmm.”

Lard bit down on his lips.

‘Damn a mere countryside old man…’

He quickly understood the old man’s thoughts.

‘This is all because of that wandering merchant. I have to use more money because of him.’

Lard turned around at Urbank. The more he looked, the more appealing he appeared, and his sharp intuition screamed at him.

[Buy! Buy! Buy!]

His body screamed.

‘This is a must buy’

Lard collected his breath and stared at Tian. His previous unhappy expression was changed to a bright smile.

“How much do you want for this?”

“Well that’s something you should be offering…”

Tian rolled his eyes and made a strange expression. He didn’t live through all those years for nothing. Lard had a bitter smile inside and whispered.

“I’ll give you 2 gold.”

Normally, a male slave with a good build would cost around 1 gold.

‘A price unthinkable for a wandering merchant.’

He was planning to kill Roan’s momentum from the get-go. Lard thought this price would be enough to have him walk away.

‘And yet why…’

With a glance towards Roan, he could see an extremely calm and relaxed expression, as if 2 gold was nothing. It somehow made him anxious.

“Hmm…”

On the other hand, Tian showed a slight smile and nodded his head. It was a satisfying price and he would’ve accepted it immediately if it was any other day. However, today was different. There was still another merchant.

He turned over towards Roan.

“Are you also interested in this guy?”

Roan replied with a bright smile and nodded.

“Of course.”

As soon as his words finished, Tian and Lard’ expression both greatly changed. Tian’s face was filled with a bright light, while Lard’s expression was full of discontent.

Tian waved his hands with a wide smile.

“How much do you think this thing is worth?”

His voice was filled with expectation. Lard glared sharply at Roan while even Urbank who had avoided eye contact slightly raised his head.

But Roan shook his head.

“I’m not trying to buy a thing.”

“Hmm?”

Tian had a frown and tilted his head.

“Didn’t you say you were interested in this guy just then?”

“Indeed.”

Roan gave a light nod.

“Indeed? Are you trying to mess around with me? You have interest but won’t buy…”

When Tian was up to that point, Roan gazed at Urbank and continued his next words with power.

“I’m not interested in a thing but I am in that person.”

Not an object,

But a person.

Roan had wanted to properly convey that point, not to Tian nor Lard, but to Urbank.

‘I don’t think of you as a thing.’

The slavery within the kingdom minimising and policies intending to end slavery was due to this way of thinking. Roan turned over towards Tian.

“I will buy that person’s freedom.”

A brave and clear voice.

Tian asked carefully while feeling slightly strange.

“H, how much are you planning to buy it at?”

Roan stared quietly at him before giving a short reply.

“5 gold.”

In that instant.

“5, 5, 5 gold?!”

“5 gold!”

Tian and Lard screamed with their eyes wide open. Even Urbank who had been glancing sideways at Roan made a surprised expression.

“5 gold for one slave. It seems you’re not sane. No, in the first place I question whether a wandering merchant like yourself could readily take out such a sum. Don’t tell me you’re lying?”

Lard faced his doubtful eyes at Roan with a glare. Tian also nodded his head with exaggerated movements and agreed.

“If you’re trying to make fun of me please stop.”

5 gold was a price enough for five able male slaves and was an amount that even a farmer of a huge farm couldn’t use without a second thought. More than anything, it was too large of an amount for a shabby-looking wandering merchant to have.

But Roan shrugged his shoulders with a bright smile.

“It is not a lie, nor am I planning to make fun of anyone.”

He searched for something from within his clothes and soon took out a leather pouch. Untying the string at the very top, he put his fingers into the pouch and soon, a few clean gold coins came out.

It was exactly five.

“Ah…”

Tian let out a cry at a trance. His two hands trembled.

‘I’m in luck! Great luck!’

It felt like his life that had previously been in the dirt was now in the open winds. Tian’s rushed expression faced back at Lard. His eyes questioning whether there would be more negotiations were transparent.

Crack.

Lard turned his hands into large fists and stared at Roan.

“Roel was it?”

“Yes indeed.”

Roan made a light smile and nodded his head, to which Lard replied with a scowl.

“Will be impossible for you to become a good merchant. 5 gold for a slave. That’s not how you should be doing things.”

His low voice dug through the eardrums. Roan gave another smile and whispered in an even softer voice.

“Rather than a good merchant…”

The smile deepened.

“I want to be a good person.”

The wind carried his calm voice across.

“How dare this…”

Lard was angered into spewing profanities but soon closed his mouth. Then, he glared straight at Roan before stepping back.

“I’ll see you later.”

Lard decided to give up on the trade. His sharp instincts still screamed that he must buy Urbank but his pride as a merchant did not allow it. He did not want to dispute with a mere wandering merchant.

“Old man, too much greed brings harm. Be careful from now.”

Lard looked straight at Tian and growled his words out. ‘Sir’ had become ‘old man’ and his tone resembled a blade.

“Mhmm.”

Tian gave a little cough and avoided his eyes and Lard once again glared at Roan before moving his feet. When Lard went far enough, Tian faced Roan and made a subservient smile.

“Kuhum, then shall we continue…”

Then.

“Sir.”

Roan cut his words off with a strange voice and expression. Tian couldn’t continue his words and had to stand still staring at Roan. Roan took in a deep breath.

“Do you know of the announcement made by the palace?”

“Announcement? You mean the various things made under his majesty’s name?”

Tian asked back with a questioning expression, to which Roan replied with a nod. Tian felt the tip of his nose tingling and continued his words.

“Well, I did hear about it. I can’t seem to remember it too well but… why that all of a sudden?”

He still had an uncertain expression. Roan replied with a calm voice and a wide smile.

“Among the various announcements was some details regarding slaves.”

“Slaves?”

Tian asked back and soon nodded his head.

“Right there was that. The slaves that had fought in the war being given the freedom and becoming normal citizens – I think it was something like that?”

“You’re right, but that wasn’t the end.”

Roan scratched his chin and continued.

“People that made an innocent person a slave without proper procedures and people who traded those slaves while knowing that would be punished heavily by the law. It included things like that as well.”

It was a law to stop captives of the war and refugees who had lost their houses from being targeted to slavery.

“W, was there something like that?”

Tian asked while being slightly startled.

Roan slowly nodded his head.

“Indeed there was something like that. Thanks to that there was an increase of people who had used dirty and vile methods to make innocent ones into slaves quickly trying to get rid of those illegal slaves.”

Because of a new law, the original owners of slaves had received large hits. This was something that even Roan and the kingdom had not expected.

“Mhmm.”

Tian murmured with a pale expression and his eyes had nowhere to face. Roan stared quietly at Tian and raised the pouch of coins.

“Will you receive this?”

A calm voice.

Sharp eyes.

Tian looked at both Roan’s face and the coins before eventually lowering his head.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah…”

He couldn’t easily find the next words, but soon, he breathed out a deep sigh and shook his head.

“I, I won’t receive the gold coins.”

His voice trembled towards the end.

Tian picked up the plough that had been on the ground before hurrying back into the village. It was sudden but Roan was not surprised at all and stared at Tian who was getting further away with a bitter smile.

‘At the start, Urbank was not a slave.’

Urbank’s original identity was that of a citizen but when he was 10 years old, his parents had been attacked by monsters and had lost their lives. At this time, Tian who had been close to his parents had picked him up and raised him, but that was not due to pity.

He treated Urbank who had been strong and large since his younger days as a slave, not as his friend’s son, and had made him handle lots of manual labour.

‘He had made an innocent person a slave for over 10 years.’

A friend’s son at that.

During that, Roan’s announcement was made public and he would’ve been nervous before Lard suddenly appeared. This part was different from his previous life but the result was pretty much the same. If Roan had not passed by during this time, Urbank would have followed Lard like the previous life over to the Byron Kingdom and become the executioner of battlefields to have Rinse, no, the Amaranth Kingdom suffer.

“Sigh.”

Roan breathed out a deep sigh. His eyes turned towards Urbank who had been constantly giving glances. Urbank was startled and quickly lowered his head.

“M, m, my name is Urbank.”

A low, heavy voice just like his body. Roan nodded his head.

“I want to start talking immediately but…”

His eyes glanced over beyond Urbank. On the grassland that became empty after Tian had left, there was now a group of another bunch.

‘I knew it.’

A bitter smile appeared on his lips, as he had predicted this would happen.

‘Lard, you were an extremely greedy person in your previous life as well after all.’

The person that had appeared along with the new bunch was none other than Lard. Large mercenaries appeared and lined up behind Lard.

“Roel, I’ve come to take my belonging back.”

A sharp voice dug through his ears but Roan made a bitter smile and shook his head.

“There’s nothing here that belongs to you.”

Lard frowned in response and scoffed.

“Hmph! Rude bastard! Too much greed brings harm to oneself.”

It was the same sentence that he had said to Tian. Roan looked towards Lard and the mercenaries with a whisper and answered back.

“That phrase…”

His two eyes reflected brightly.

“I’ll return it right back at you.”

<Monster of Purrand (1)> End.

Translator: Lunargrasp

Proofreader: Deathwing