I Was Reincarnated as a Marquis in Another World

“Okay, who is the boss?”

Then, the guy who looked like the boss replied in a crawling voice.

“That’s me, young master… please spare me.”

It was quite irritating to see these madmen begging for their lives while they had ruthlessly preyed on women who looked weaker than themselves.

No, even a great person once said, “Only those who are prepared to be shot can bear the qualification to shoot.”

It really annoyed me that these fools lived as bandits without that readiness.

“I decide that. So, why did you start living as bandits?”

“We… were serfs living in a village ruled by Baron Heidenburg next to Windheim. We were serfs, but we ran away because they demanded too much in taxes. Our wives and children were on the verge of starving to death.”

I set aside my anger for a moment and tried to put on a facade that I wasn’t angry.

Fortunately, it seemed to work, as the bandit leader looked at me with a heartfelt expression and spoke.

“So, we settled here in this mountain hut, thinking we wouldn’t starve to death if we lived here. At first, we managed okay, but… as food started running out, we had no choice but to resort to banditry. We kidnapped the serfs from the surrounding villages and sold them to slave traders.”

Hearing that made me feel a bit of sympathy for these guys.

Because their process of coming here due to heavy taxation reminded me of the Windheim of my past when I picked up Ela.

Now, Windheim is truly a good place for serfs, but back then, it was a hell where no one could live.

Therefore, it was somewhat convincing that they inevitably turned to crime to survive in such a place.

“……”

As I listened in silence, hope began to dawn on the faces of the other bandits.

These fools must be thinking that at least we won’t kill them since I’m personally listening to their story.

But I never intended to spare them from the beginning…

Then, the bandit leader managed to bow his head so hard in front of me that he started bleeding.

Following him, all the bandits and the women, presumably the bandits’ wives, bowed their heads.

“Please, sir, no… young master, please spare us just this once… if you accept us as serfs, we will live honestly…”

“Spare us! It’s all Baron Heidenburg’s fault. Yes, we made mistakes, but we don’t think we committed a crime deserving of death.”

“What will happen to our children and wives if we die? We became bandits to save our children like rabbits… please forgive us.”

Looking at these guys, only one thought crossed my mind.

“Disgusting.”

These truly are disgusting creatures. They should have just admitted their crimes and begged for their children’s lives…

That would have had at least some room for consideration.

The children were likely dragged along by their parents and shouldn’t be held accountable, so they could be accepted from a population growth perspective.

However, these vile people thought nothing of the women and others they had harmed and shamelessly stated they would live honestly again.

Such beings should not be allowed to live, not as a lord, nor simply as human beings.

“Well. I heard you well.”

Upon hearing that, the bandits began to brighten up, thinking they might survive.

To them, I said with a sneer.

“Helmut, Balt. Take all the women presumed to be the bandits’ wives to the territory and prepare to behead them. The men will be executed ‘by the wheel.’ Normally, it would be Balt’s job, but I’ll extend your contract, so would you help?”

Helmut nodded quietly.

“Lock these guys in the underground basement of my mansion. If they lack energy, they may feel less pain when they die, so ensure they get enough food. On the evening before their execution, let them feast on the leftover meat and bread from the festival.”

“Yes, understood, young master.”

**

After finishing up the cleanup of the bandit stronghold and settling the loots, I threw a festival for the mercenaries as promised.

After roughly estimating the loot, it was worth about 100 gold coins.

I provided a suitable reward to the serfs and bought pigs raised in the village to eat and drink together with the mercenaries…

The reaction from the mercenaries was better than expected.

“Usually, after completing such a request, all we get is a small amount of meat to eat, but this young lord even included the villagers, so we were treated generously. Thanks to that, we, who fought in the war, were given a chance to be praised by the villagers, which was really nice.”

Saying things like this, perhaps a few of them would seriously consider settling down?

I could treat them like that if they became soldiers of this village, or rather of Croilet that I would govern.

And at the same time, since I could not execute dozens of bandits solely on my authority, I sent a letter to the baron.

Unexpectedly, I received a reply just a few days later.

[Recognize the execution, except for the bandit leader, behead everyone else. Those guys can be sold as slaves.]

As expected, this letter had the tone of a baron who was somewhat compassionate towards the serfs, unlike the nobility of this era.

Since the situation was dire, it was fitting that I did not seek a punishment that would crush their bones and insides for everyone.

Finally, I gathered the serfs in the village square and ordered the execution of the bandits.

**

Gathering the serfs on the outskirts of the village, it wasn’t long before the bandits and their wives, shackled, began to scream.

“Please spare us!!”

“Young master, please… please spare us!!”

“I don’t want to die!!”

The desperate screams made my ears hurt, but I pretended not to hear and signaled the mercenaries to line them up for execution.

As the bandits climbed the gallows, the serfs began to cheer.

“Kill them!”

“Long live the young lord!”

“How dare these scum kidnap women? They should all be killed!”

One by one, they marched to the gallows, and soon the highly anticipated bandit leader stood on the platform.

As the bandit leader climbed the gallows, two mercenaries followed behind him, wielding large iron hammers.

The leader shouted.

“Please save me, or just kill me quickly!! Young master!! I was wrong!!”

Rather than pitying the shouting bandit leader, our serfs began to openly laugh, saying that a dying man was doing well to die.

As the atmosphere simmered to a degree, Balt, who was standing beside me, spoke.

“Young master, it’s time.”

My mouth, which had been tightly shut, quietly opened.

“Execution.”

With that word, the mercenaries raised their hammers high to carry out the first execution on the bandit leader on the wheel.

Then, with a loud ‘bang,’ they smashed his foot.

Next, they broke his calf, thigh, pelvis, waist, and so on… gradually starting to crush the upper parts of his body.

With every strike of the hammer, the bandit leader lost consciousness at times…

“Throw water on him.”

Each time he lost consciousness, they splashed water on him to wake him up, causing him even more pain.

After about ten minutes of hammering, as his bones and organs were crushed, the bandit leader finally died.

Afterwards, the mercenaries carried the bandit leader by the wheel and placed him into a pre-dug pit.

Then, for the bandits on the gallows, the mercenaries, taking the role of executioners, swung their axes at their necks.

With every ‘thud’ sound, blood splattered almost to the bottom of the pit as the heads of the bandits’ wives or the bandits themselves fell.

Thus, the execution continued for an hour.

Once the executions were finished, perhaps due to seeing too much blood, I felt slightly, no, quite dizzy.

Nonetheless, as a lord, I commanded a minimal cleanup and returned to my mansion.

“Put all those corpses in the pit, and clean up as much blood as possible and throw it in the pit. Then, sprinkle all the lime powder I bought. After about four hours, cover it with dirt so that wild dogs or beasts don’t gather.”

…I thought I had done my duty, but I really felt like vomiting.

What on earth was going through the minds of the politicians of old to conduct such a massacre…

**

Months passed since the executions were carried out.

After that, no particular noticeable criminals appeared, and farming thrived remarkably.

Thanks to the farming tools I had prepared in advance and the cows and horses I had bought, the harvest nearly doubled compared to the previous year.

Because of that, every time the serfs saw me, they greeted me saying, “Now we can eat bread mixed with rye and wheat, even without a festival.”

Previously, they could only eat like that on the festival day of a bountiful year, but now hearing they could eat like it on ordinary days felt truly refreshing.

I heard from other regions of Croilet that their harvest had increased fivefold, and they were happily screaming as they had to create new storage because they had nowhere to store the harvested food.

In a letter sent by the baron, it was written:

[Due to the unbelievable harvest, I didn’t even expect to have to mobilize soldiers to build storage. This year, no one will die of starvation.]

Sitting in my office with a satisfied expression, continuing my paperwork, Helmut came in and said.

“Young master, finally, we have harvested the turnips you mentioned.”

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