Chapter 1

His lord was dead.

That thought ran through Wilhelm's head in an unending loop, again and again. Taunting him with the knowledge that he failed the man he owed everything to.

He could still remember the day he had met Alaric Mansour, a rather eccentric young noble who had decided to join the war against Siltvelt on the frontlines instead of just sitting back in some mansion like all the other nobles did.

Wilhelm on the other hand was a monster that lived simply in order to kill. To kill the soldiers of Siltvelt that had killed his beloved Theresia, nothing else had mattered back then. It was his meeting with Alaric, who had been almost as kind as Theresia had been, and seeing the atrocities Aultcray committed that brought him back to his senses; that stopped him from being the Sword Demon.

After the war ended, Wilhelm swore his sword to Alaric; his lord, and spent any and all of his free time to learn manners that he had once scoffed at. He had been there when his lord had married lady Zahra. He had been there when they had turned their domain into a paradise. He had ben there when their son, young Kyros, was born.

Yet he hadn't been there when his lord had needed him the most.

Both his lord and his lady had been murdered on their way back to their domain from the capital. If he hadn't known Aultcray for years then Wilhelm would have suspected the king for having them murdered and then blaming it on bandits, but he did knew Aultcray and knew that he wouldn't do such a thing. No matter how much of a monster the king had been in the war and how much he detested the way Alaric viewed the world, the king still saw him as a fellow soldier in the war. No, it was someone other than the king who was to blame. But Wilhelm could not even investigate it properly.

After all, the son of his lord needed him and every other help he could get. Wilhelm may have lost two friends, but young Kyros had lost both of his parents.

"My lord." Wilhelm said as he knocked on the door of his new lord, wondering if the young man was even coherent enough to get out of bed.

"Enter." Apparently he was, as his voice sounded rather clear and strong; stronger than ever Wilhelm had heard him anyway.

When Wilhelm entered the room, he was met with the sight of Kyros looking out of the window with his cloak covering his back.

"Wilhelm." And nothing else, as the old butler realized when Kyros turned to face him with his bare chest. "Is there something you wished to talk about?"

"I am merely here to check up on you, my lord." He said with a sad look in his eyes; not liking how serious, the once carefree, young man was now.

"...thank you Wilhelm." But at least he still seemed to be the kind Kyros he knew from the way he smiled. "I am fine, but there is something I want you to do."

"Anything my lord."

"Gather everyone in the meeting room, I believe that I have rested enough."

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"It is nice to see you in good health, my lord." Gazef Stronoff, a former commoner that had been given the rank of a military commander in my lands by my father due to his talents. Also a character that belonged to a far different isekai story than Rising of the Shield Hero. Though that could also be said about Wilhelm and the other man sitting in the meeting room.

"It is as Gazef says, my lord." Matal Mogamett, the head mage of the lands and a man recognized as a former war hero in the battle against Siltvelt. He looked quite like what an average person would think a wizard as, wrinkly and in old robes with a cone hat. He kind of looked like how Dumbledore was described to be, except with a bigger and wartier nose along with black markings on his face.

"It is nice to see you all." I said with a smile, my new memories supplying me with knowledge about my past with these three men that my father trusted above anyone except my mother. "But I am sad to say that this isn't a social meeting." I sighed.

"I... can imagine that the passing of my parents have affected the people rather negatively. So I wish to know how bad things are." I said and the smiles on their faces were replaced with frowns.

"It is... not good." Mogamett said with a sigh. "The loss of lord Alaric and lady Zahra has damaged the moral of pretty much everyone. There are those who are already moving away due to..." He trailed off, looking like he wasn't sure how to phrase what he wanted to say in a nice way.

"They don't trust your abilities." Gazef on the other hand didn't seem to have such a problem.

"Gazef!" Much to Wilhelm's ire.

"There is no meaning trying to sugarcoat it." The youngest of the trio said with a shrug. "People know that most of the administrative duties of this domain was done by lady Zahra while lord Alaric had been more of a morale raiser. But now they are both dead and people do not know lord Kyros."

"Leading them to moving away and leaving the economy, among other things, in shambles." I completed his words with a sigh. This was looking more and more like a disaster with each passing moment.

People were not sure about the future of the lands, their morale go low, people leave, remaining people become even more unsure and the cycle repeats. It was like an annoying sound in your head, the ending just made it begin again.

There was a possible solution to it but... I was not sure if I could do it. Not sure if I could make a decision that needed me to throw my values away like that. But I knew that if I did not do it, then the people would starve and my parents' legacy would be destroyed.

"There is a possible stopgap measure until we can find a more permanent solution." So I steeled my heart and made the decision. "Slaves."

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