3 bar menu

Volume 1 Chapter 3 Part 1

CHAPTER 3: The Worst

 

The battle with the Knight of Selvis, Lassic David, was now over.

 

They managed to emerge victorious in this conflict, but it was a much tougher fight than Siluca was originally anticipating. Lassic himself was an excellent warrior, and his soldiers and mercenaries were all elite troops. Moreno, Lassic’s contracted Mage has also managed to surprise Siluca with the unexpected tactic of targeting her instead of Theo, the Lord.

 

Lasik and Moreno were now having dinner together in Theo’s castle’s hall.

 

It was a strange feeling to be sitting at the same table with the people who were trying to kill him only a few hours ago, but that is exactly what a war between the two Lords is like. As a result of today’s battle, Lassic David has become a Knight serving under Theo, and Theo’s peerage increased eve further, allowing him to reach the rank of Baron.

 

Siluca was busy with the processing of the post-war matters, causing ter to not be able to have a moment of genuine rest until a while ago. She was doing literally everything from seeing to the burial of the bodies of the dead, healing those who have been wounded with her magic and making detailed arrangements for the future ahead of them.

 

Aside from Lassic and Moreno, Siluca also suggested to Theo that he should accept Lassic’s soldier named Petr into his service. After all, that young man was someone who was capable of fighting against an Artist with superhuman strength like Aishela without flinching, overdoing it or collapsing, so having someone like that in his ranks would definitely benefit him as well.

 

It has also been agreed that Theo would replace all of  the mercenaries that Lassic hired for himself. He had 5 of them in total, but two were killed in Lassic’s battle against Irvin, which left him with just a Party of 3. They are a group from a famous mercenary squad that has its base of operations in Elam, and the captain of that mercenary group, Grak, was an Artist who used an Art that allowed him to make the skin on his whole body as hard as steel.

Even Irvin, an Artist formerly working for the Archduke Matthias Kreische as his personal bodyguard was unable to completely defeat him in open combat.

 

As for the damage that Captain Grak had suffered, Alvin did gouge his right eye out, but after the battle was over, Siluca managed to find the damaged eyeball, repaired it with Life Magic, and put it back into his eye socket. Currently he still cannot see with it very well, but according to the diagnosis that Siluca made he should be able to fully recover over time.

 

The soldiers who fought under Lassic also stayed outside the castle and were now being served their meal. They need to get used to it, because Siluca intended to keep Lassic, Moreno, and his soldiers here for a while. Her reasoning behind it was as  such: 「We cannot rule out the possibility that yet another Lord might come to attack us after they learn that Lassic David has been defeated in open battle. 」.

 

That is what she said as she finished her meal and drank the tea Irvin made for her.

 

There are only four people around the table: Theo, Siluca, Lassic and Moreno. Irvin cooked dinner and was now busy serving it to everyone. Observing him doing all of that by himself, Theo wondered exactly how many people’s worth of work he was able to do.

 

Aishela was eating outside the castle together with mercenaries and soldiers. Since a master-servant relationship has been established between the Lords, they are all allies now, and they will fight together in the next battle.

 

Balgary of Cait Sith was also forcibly taken away by Aishela. The sight of him with his hair standing on end in fear just like his tail  was the sight that Siluca was probably not going to forget anytime soon.

 

「Then, wouldn’t it be better to have Lord Lasik return to his own territory? 」

 

Theo said in a panic.

 

「No, I guess it might be just as Siluca says, and someone might use this opportunity to attack. No one is probably expecting me to voluntarily become anyone’s subordinate, so the other Lords are probably going tothink that you are keeping me prisoner until you manage to subdue me to your will. In that case, attacking now that the battle between us has just ended would be their best chance to maximize the odds of succeeding. So f anyone’se going to attack, they will either start with my own territory, or they will come straight here. 」

 

「I see… 」

 

Theo nodded and then frowned.

 

「Is it just me, or is every Lord has to be incredibly belligerent? 」

 

「Normally, that would not be the case, because if every single Lord was equally aggressive, then the relative peace that was established after the truce between Fantasia Union and The Factory Alliance has been formed would have crumbled into nothingness. The entire continent was also supposed to be united under a single banner in the not-too-distant-future. However, any chances for peace have been lost after what happened during 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral 」. Now that the momentum of the Great War has changed, the independent Lords of this country are all in turmoil. At times like these, even the tiniest of the most insignificant sparks might be enough to trigger an outbreak of a full-scale war. 」

 

「Isn’t this the time that Lord Lassic has been waiting for? 」

 

Moreno said in a light tone.

 

「I guess you could say that. Originally, if Lord Theo did not arrive, I was planning on attacking and taking the territories of the Medrick family for myself. The current head of the family, Mesut Medrick, was an incompetent man who was nowhere near ready to go to war, and most importantly, he was universally hated by his subjects. If the Great War broke out earlier, there is no way that someone like him would have been able to survive it. 」

 

「It’s a good thing that the incompetent Lords are getting weeded out, but even the capable ones will not be able to survive for long without having some dosage of luck on their side. It can be said that neither Lord Theo nor Lord  Lasik were unlucky in this battle. 」

 

「Yeah, I don’t think so as well. Of course, I might have lost the battle between Lords and my independence along with it, which is not what I wanted, but thanks to that an even better possibility has presented itself to us. This area was dominated by small independent Lords, and conflicts over the kands and titles were pretty much constant around these parts. But now that the situation has developed the way it did, it should no longer be a dream for us to rule the whole area if we manage to play our cards right. In that case, Lord Theo’s rank should increase to that of an Earl. 」

 

「An Earl!? 」

 

Theo gasped.

 

If he were an Earl, he would be counted among the upper echelon of the aristocracy, since there are only a handful of Lords on the entire continent who possess such a title.

 

「Lord Lassic, I believe that I have already told you that territorial expansion is not what Lord Theo is after. 」

 

Siluca said to Lassic, putting the stress on every word.

 

「What is his goal then? 」

 

「Lord Theo is from Sistina. There are many monsters roaming free in his land, and the people are suffering from the tyranny of the current Lord governing the island. Defeating Sistina’s Lord, Viscount Rossini, and saving the people of the island, that is what Lord Theo is aiming to achieve here. 」

 

「Sistina? 」

 

Lassic gave Theo a dubious look.

 

「Sistina is also a member of the Fantasia Union, right? In that case, isn’t it inconvenient to belong to the same Union if your aim is to eventually defeat Viscount Rossini and take the ownership of the island from him? 」

 

「You are right about that. Which is why we are going to eventually break from the Fantasia Union and join forces with the Factory Alliance. After that, we will be free to return to Sistina and confront Viscount Rossini. 」

 

「This is the first time I am ever hearing about this plan! 」

Theo shouted, surprised at the development that he did not see coming.

 

「I’m sorry for not informing you about this any sooner, Lord Theo. I was thinking of making a proposal after it became a little more realistic, and I really wanted Lord Lassic to know what your purpose and goal were before having everything set in stone. In regards to that, I have a suggestion for you, Lord Theo. 」