Chapter 141: Among them, part 5
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Translator: Denryuu; Editor: Ryunakama
◆King Randolph◆
「…Your Majesty.」
He had chosen to appear at the unholiest of hours.
I stopped arranging my documents for a moment and thanked the heavens that I was not consorting with women this time.
「Why, hello. Have you any information for me?」
Ever since Roland had made the shady dealings of Ferland nobles known to me, I had dispatched spies to every corner of the kingdom. The one in front of me right now had been sent to spy on the fiefdom of Barbatos Guerrera.
「There’s a lot of goods being delivered to the Guerrera fiefdom at a steady rate. True to his word, there’s rations in there, but there’s just as many weapons being amassed.」
「Heavens me, an insurgence…?」
「No… I was about to confirm some things for myself, but that man told me not to act rashly.」
「Not to act rashly?」
「Yes」, continued the spy. 「Was he another person you sent, your Majesty…?」
「I sent naught but one man to each region. That is to say, you are my only pair of eyes in the Guerrera fiefdom.」
「I see. Although he said that your Majesty would understand if I introduced him as ‘he who seeks a normal life’.」
‘He who seeks a normal life’…
Why, yes. I do know that person.
「Ah. I see, I see. In that case, all is well.」
「Is he such a reliable person?」
「Doing too much on our side may only serve as a nuisance to him.」
「He goes by the name of ‘Henri’, and is well-liked by the soldiers of the fiefdom. They even call him ‘sensei’.」
「He should be in the Principality of Vadenhaag at present… he must have smelled a rat and started acting of his own accord.」
「Although he hasn’t been here for long, his charisma is almost devilish. There’s just that je ne sais quoi about him, which makes him popular among the troops he trains.」
「Well, I can see why.」
It’s because Roland’s cool — plain and simple. He’s a man that makes other men like him. Egads, what am I saying? I didn’t mean it that way. I really didn’t.
At any rate, is there something going on in the Guerrera fiefdom that takes precedence over seeing the Vadenhaag guild project to completion…?
「Even if they are planning an uprising, we have Almeria with us. They should be aware of that at the very least.」
「But they may not intend to turn the kingdom upside down. Isn’t it possible that they aim to display their power in front of your Majesty, so that you will let them have their way…?」
「Wellaway, if only they would stop there.」
To tell you the truth, I’m not particularly knowledgeable on the topic of Barbatos Guerrera either. His original family came to ruin, and he was eventually adopted by the Guerrera family. He should be a little over thirty, but that’s essentially the limit of my knowledge — nothing particularly stood out about him, and he was a rather forgettable character.
「What should I do from now on?」
「Right, about that… stick with ‘he who seeks a normal life’ and lend him your assistance whenever possible. Report back at regular intervals with what he plans to do.」
「Aye.」
With that, my spy vanished into thin air.
「Even though we have both Almeria, the strongest person in all the land, and Seraphin, the High Priest…」
I really wish Seraphin would hurry up and go home though, be it to the church or his residence. My wine cellar has pretty much become his personal living space, and is projected to run dry in just half a year…
「…does this mean that they have even stronger warriors?」
Digging up all the records I had of the Guerrera family, I began doing in-depth research about this unremarkable fellow.
◆Roland◆
I had an idea of what to do with the colossal stack of weapons. But in order to do that, I would need to make use of my rest day to return to Vadenhaag. While conducting my secret investigation, I had also managed to win around thirty percent of Guerrera’s troops over.
Word of me had spread by word of mouth at first, and the rumours were proven true when I started training the men. I thus managed to earn their respect. Roughly speaking, there were in total a thousand men from the four villages in the Guerrera fiefdom. We only needed two platoons to become an effective fighting unit, but our numbers had surged for some reason.
A happy little mistake, honestly. Watch —
I rang the bell in my room and sure enough, one of my men ran in.
「Sensei! How may I be of service?」
In this manner, the number of men I had at my beck and call steadily increased. Before long, I had not only attendants and porters, but even people who took care of my personal steed. I’m not a himedere or anything, mind you — I made this happen for a practical reason.
Slowly but surely, these men had become my men, and not Lord Guerrera’s.
「I want to speak to the platoon and company commanders of the following villages. Find out whether they can make it and report back to me.」
「Yes, sir!」
As soon as I told him the names of the villages, he clicked his heels, stood at attention and hurried away.
The men I had summoned, around thirty in total, had assembled in the usual meeting room.
「Why have you called us here today?」, asked a company commander on behalf of his comrades.
「How does getting another taste of battle sound?」
Everyone glanced at the others until a young platoon commander raised his hand.
「I wouldn’t say we want to, but we will do it when absolutely necessary. Sensei has been training us for when that day comes, and we’ve trained for that same reason.」
More than half of those present nodded slowly in agreement.
「I see. What I am about to say involves this kingdom itself. None of the following is a lie in the least.」
I informed them of the underground dealings that Lord Guerrera had with Welger & Co., and produced the letter Bale had stolen as proof.
「His Lordship is planning a civil war…!?」
「That can’t be right…」
「But it’s coming from Sensei…」
The letter had been written in ink that reacts only to moonlight. This major detail spoke for itself, and my subordinates realised the importance of what they were looking at.
I broke the silence created by the speechless commanders.
「I wonder why it is only this fiefdom that has been amassing a large numbers of troops.」
「Isn’t it so we can resolve matters internally without relying on adventurers?」, replied one commander.
「I won’t deny that possibility. But don’t you think a fixed number of troops is enough? The number of troops in the other villages is still increasing. Think about it — troops are needed to keep the peace and stand in for adventurers. But do we need this many?」
I looked around the room and one of my attendants answered, sparking a discussion among the others.
「As of last month, the Guerrera fiefdom has more than 3,300 troops.」
「Th-that’s a lot…」
「The stuff adventurers do, doesn’t it happen like, less than three times a month?」
「I think we need a couple hundred people at most for security purposes.」
「I thought it was for deterrence purposes, but most of us are free all the time… and we just train to kill time.」
They finally realised the situation they were in.
「As you can see, Lord Barbatos Guerrera is amassing troops and resources to start a civil war. That’s why we have rations and weapons coming in by the truckload every month.」
Nobody said a word, and listened intently to me instead. Their eyes burned with righteous indignation, in a manner I saw frequently in Almeria.
「That’s why I’m here — to see that his plans never come to fruition」, I declared.
I lowered my head in front of everyone before continuing.
「I need you. The kingdom needs you. Please lend us your strength.」
The answer came more quickly than I expected.
「Of course. It’s a personal request from Sensei after all.」
「Aye. I’m frankly tired of fighting.」
「So are my men. They’re just here to become stronger after feeling useless during the war.」
「Thank you」, I said.
I looked at them, then lowered my head again.
「I wish to protect the normalcy of my days, as all of you do.」
They nodded one after another. I like their current expressions. For that reason alone, there’s no way I’ll let them throw their lives away under my watch.
「Of course, while I’m here to thwart his plans, we won’t do so through violent means. The ideal course of action is preventing anything from happening in the first place.」
I told everyone my plans.
「…and with that, I hope all of you can relate this to your men. Make it seem like a regular assignment.」
If everything goes according to plan, Barbatos Guerrera will without a doubt end up where I can easily deal with him.
I glanced out of the window at the old castle.
Combining the strength of the trap I was setting and the sentries, I can effectively kill two… no, three birds with one stone. Even against such a powerful enemy, there are plenty of methods at my disposal, even if they take time to carry out. To put it simply —
If your enemy leaves no openings, why not just create one yourself?
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