The Shadow Organization Members Raised Through Pay-To-Win Are Too Strong

Brooks’ unpleasant gaze, lecherously staring at Emilia.

I could clear up a few misunderstandings related to him.

First, Brooks was indeed a young master.

And the Hartwell family hadn’t fallen; they still maintained their position as a count family in the duchy.

Then why was the young master of a count family living no differently from a commoner here?

The answer was surprisingly simple.

‘An illegitimate child.’

Brooks was an illegitimate child born between the Count of the Hartwell family and his mistress.

Although I didn’t know why he grew up here, it seems the family had recently become interested in Brooks.

I even knew that knights from the Hartwell family were scheduled to arrive in the village in a few days.

These weren’t things I asked about, but information Brooks himself boasted about.

The village chief approached Emilia and me and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, you two. Give thanks to Young Master Brooks. Without the young master’s permission, I would have thrown you out immediately!”

Everyone nodded at the village chief’s exclamation.

Originally, the villagers were going to drive Emilia and me out. Of course, we weren’t residents of this village.

But Brooks stopped them.

“Don’t be too harsh. It’s also a noble’s duty to take in poor children with nowhere to go.”

Thanks to this, we weren’t driven out of the village and could participate in the village festival.

The guy who said that had put on a solemn air.

“Of course, of course. Young Master’s words are right! As expected, the young master is so generous!”

“Only the young master is fit to succeed the Hartwell family!”

Beside him, people, including the village chief, rubbed their palms together and flattered Brooks.

In this village, Brooks was no different from a king.

Even if he was a noble’s illegitimate child, knights from the family were expected to visit in a few days, so who would dare refuse Brooks’ words?

The villagers just smiled and uttered things like “As expected, Young Master Brooks’ character is the best!” to please him.

I shook my head watching this scene.

‘They’re really putting on airs.’

Strictly speaking, Brooks wasn’t yet officially an illegitimate child of a noble.

More precisely, he was in a position to potentially become an illegitimate child. Still, it hadn’t been officially declared that his bloodline matched.

What this means is that in this world, nobles request paternity tests from magic towers to confirm if the child is truly theirs.

They confirm if it’s their child through the magic tower’s notification, and only then do they acknowledge them as a half-blooded lineage.

In a few days, a mage from the magic tower will probably accompany the knights from the Hartwell family.

Brooks could only be recognized as an illegitimate child with half-blue blood flowing through him after the magic tower’s test confirmed his identity.

Acting so confidently, he must really be an illegitimate child.

But I couldn’t view Brooks in a positive light.

The reason he accepted us into the village was obvious.

He was interested in Emilia.

Even now, he was sending such blatant looks as if he wanted to devour her. How could I not notice?

Above all, Emilia was quick-witted.

There was no way she couldn’t notice Brooks’ blatant gaze.

Of course, Emilia’s expression wasn’t good.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

Even putting it nicely, Brooks had a toad-like appearance.

He looked full of greed at first glance.

Some might find the mix of noble blood appealing, but apparently not Emilia.

If she had shown interest, I would have cheered her on, but if not, why bother?

I slightly nodded after confirming Emilia’s reaction.

Nevertheless, the fact that Brooks had arranged this place for us remained unchanged.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Young Master of the Hartwell family.”

Since expressing gratitude cost nothing, I lifted his mood appropriately.

Then we started eating the food prepared by the village.

“It’s… delicious…!”

Emilia took a bite of meat and smiled with emotion.

Well, how delicious must meat taste after eating only tasteless porridge?

It was the same for me.

It had been a long time since I had eaten meat.

My body tasted the meat and cheered with joy.

‘Let’s eat first for now.’

We need to consume as much nutrition as possible when we have the chance.

Who knows when we can eat like this again if this opportunity flies by.

And this village isn’t the final destination for Emilia and me.

We needed to replenish our strength as much as possible and leave the village as soon as possible.

* * *

The village festival continued until night.

The prepared food was depleted, and the villagers, drunk on alcohol, started returning to their homes.

“We’ll be heading in now, Young Master! Have a peaceful night!”

Of course, the reality was different.

The villagers were leaving Brooks, Emilia, and me alone.

‘Seems they used their heads a bit.’

This must have been arranged beforehand.

I quietly observed the scene.

Then my eyes met Brooks’.

He had also drunk a lot of alcohol, his face flushed red.

“Ahem.”

He unnecessarily coughed and opened his mouth.

“Shall we take a little walk?”

Brooks said that and staggered to his feet.

So Emilia and I walked around the village with Brooks.

The typical rural village tranquility enveloped the night sky.

The chorus of insects was noisy in the darkness, and the wind brushing through the leaves felt chilly.

Taking a deep breath, the smell of grass penetrated deep into my lungs.

“When I was young, I moved around from place to place. Then I settled in this village. At the time, I thought we were moving around because we had no money. My mother never told me anything about my father.”

Brooks started telling his story against the background of insect cries.

I quietly focused on his story.

The insects were so noisy that if I didn’t concentrate, his voice would soon be buried.

“So it was actually quite hard. Without a father, I grew up always being mistreated in the village, and people looked down on my mother. But you know what’s funny? My mother lived such a hard life and then passed away. And now, just now, my family has found me.”

Brooks laughed as if in disbelief.

Up to this point, it might have sounded like a pitiful story.

I might have sympathized with his situation if I hadn’t thought much about it.

But soon after, the tone of Brooks’ words changed.

“Isn’t it foolish? If she had revealed the truth earlier, both my mother and I could have lived comfortably.”

He sneered, saying his mother was foolish.

I couldn’t help but frown a little, but what could I do?

It meant that Brooks’ thoughts only went that far.

Rather, Brooks’ deceased mother was a wise person.

‘How stupid.’

Why would the Hartwell Count family suddenly look for Brooks?

What was the reason for abandoning him until now?

Just because they wanted to find their bloodline?

Nobles were never naive.

And if he had shown signs of being a noble’s illegitimate child, would Brooks have survived?

He would have already died and become food for beasts.

Nobles hate their blood mixing with lowly places.

Of course, there might be cases where they can’t resist their lust and mix, but nobles want to hide the shame of illegitimate children.

I knew this well because I had seen it often enough while playing the game.

Requests to assassinate illegitimate children without anyone knowing, or sending them to enlist in the army instead of the legitimate children, and so on…

‘Come to think of it, the Hailstone Duchy was adjacent to the demon realm.’

The demon realm.

A land crawling with monsters, who some call hell.

This was another reason the Arcadia Empire didn’t bother annexing the duchy.

They wanted the Hailstone Duchy to act as a buffer between the Empire and the demon realm.

Although the Empire was adjacent to the demon realm, the duchy’s share was much larger.

‘Thinking about it, he’s a pitiful guy.’

Suddenly looking for an illegitimate child now?

There was a reason for all this.

Come to think of it, the age difference between Brooks and me didn’t seem that large.

If so, there was only one answer.

‘Looks like they need a son to enlist in their place.’

Being adjacent to the demon realm, officers and soldiers from the Hailstone Duchy serve on the front lines.

Officers for 2 years, soldiers for 5 years.

Of course, children of nobles serve as officers.

Even noble children couldn’t avoid enlistment due to the duchy’s characteristics.

This would be the same for the Hartwell family.

However, the legitimate child of the Count was the heir to the family.

Even if they enlisted as an officer, the front line was where you could die with bad luck.

Ultimately, Brooks’ usefulness was just as a puppet to enlist instead of the heir.

But I didn’t show it.

Anyway, they couldn’t immediately enlist someone who knew nothing.

‘He’ll probably enjoy noble life for about a year under the pretext of studying, so it’s not all bad.’

That was about it.

Still, if Brooks were clever, he might have thought about seizing control of the family, but he didn’t seem like that kind of person.

Just listening to what he was saying now showed that.

“So I know well the hardships of commoners. Because that’s how I grew up.”

Brooks said that and stopped walking.

At the same time, he turned towards me.

More precisely, he was staring at Emilia.

“Did you say your name was Emilia? How about it? Coming with me when the knights arrive in a few days.”

Brooks approached us and spoke.

He suggested that she come to the family with him.

Then he looked at me this time.

“Of course, I’ll compensate you adequately, too. Think about it, isn’t it good? Your sister becomes a member of nobility from a commoner, and you get money.”

I had initially introduced Emilia and myself as siblings.

In short, Brooks meant he would take Emilia and give me money in return.

I couldn’t help but frown while listening to the story.

‘He really was a foolish guy.’

First, Brooks is an illegitimate child.

He’ll have a hard time just adapting. Would he have time to care for Emilia?

Moreover, promises in words meant nothing.

No matter what compensation he promised me, it was obvious that Brooks would receive worse treatment than even the knights coming here soon.

Of course, if Emilia wanted to go, I couldn’t stop her, but her expression was also frozen at the moment.

There was no need to respond, but Brooks interpreted it differently.

“…You dare ignore my words?”

He narrowed his brows and raised his voice.

And with a face of extreme arrogance, he started to make threats.

“You lowborn bastards, I feed you, and you ignore my words?! With one word from me, you’re as good as dead!”

It seems he can’t control his emotions, probably because the alcohol is hitting him more.

He even showed signs of staggering.

“No, I will be a Count in the future, right?”

Now, he was indulging in strange fantasies by himself.

“I don’t need permission from lowborns.”

Saying that, Brooks lunged at Emilia.

At the same time, he struggled to tear her clothes like a beast in heat.

“Kyaak!”

Emilia screamed at the sudden situation.

Her scream spread through the village, but no one paid attention.

There were already no people on the village streets.

Knowing that Brooks was interested in Emilia, they probably pretended not to know.

“What a bunch of trash.”

I felt disgusted.

I took out the dagger tied at my waist and held it to the throat of the lustful Brooks.

“Stop, you bastard.”

It was more for intimidation than to kill the opponent.

Even if he’s an illegitimate child, a noble is still a noble.

Killing a noble was a serious crime.

When the knife came to his throat, Brooks opened his eyes wide and shouted.

“You, you dare put a knife to a noble’s throat? You’ll be executed!”

Even though he was drunk, he seemed to have come to his senses when he felt a threat to his life.

“If you put it away now, I’ll forgive you specially.”

I didn’t want to escalate things anyway.

But I didn’t trust people since coming here.

“Get up.”

I kept the dagger at his throat and stood up.

And I distanced myself from Emilia.

After putting some distance between us, I warned him.

“We’re going to leave now. So you forget what happened here too.”

That was the best option for now.

I was already worried that we might be chased by the duchy because of the mine incident.

If we kill a noble here on top of that, the situation would become complicated.

I slowly put away the dagger and distanced myself from him.

Holding the dagger and staying alert, I slowly moved towards Emilia.

Fortunately, he remained still in his place with his head down.

I whispered to Emilia.

“Let’s leave quietly.”

Emilia nodded slightly too.

It was a dark night, but she also knew that staying here might be more dangerous now.

Just as we were about to move our feet.

“You filthy lowborn scum!”

Brooks, who had been quiet, shouted.

He was shaking so much with anger that it was visible.

“You dare… disobey my words!”

And then he came running towards us with staggering steps.

There was suddenly a small stone in his hand.

He seemed to have lost all sense of judgment.

“Haa. You should have drunk more gracefully.”

I raised the dagger with a hardened expression.

I had already given the other party one chance.

But it was he who threw away that chance.

“Die!”

Brooks ran towards us at an even faster speed, screaming.

But his legs staggered, and eventually, he fell.

Unfortunately, as he fell, his head was hit by the stone he was holding.

Thud-

With a chilling sound, blood flowed from Brooks’ head.

“?”

And so, without even uttering a single scream, he breathed his last.

It was a futile end.