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Vol 01 Chapter 22-2: Tetra

「By the way, may I ask you something? If the child of King Ferme’s predecessor… Ragou-san, was it? If his child were still alive, what would you do?」

「If that’s the case… I would protect them. Ragou-dono was an important  ally. We can identify if that child is truly Ragou-dono offspring by the sacred text on their back and the family crest.」

「And what if that child wanted to reclaim their territory and asked you for soldiers?」

「That would depend… If victory seems plausible, I might consider lending support …Don’t tell me, are you Ragou’s child?」

「Not at all. It’s not me.」

It would be easier if that were the case.

「…May I ask something as well?」

「What is it?」

「Who is that woman?」

Before I could answer, Tetra clung to me and declared.

「I am Almus’s wife.」

I don’t remember getting married, though…

Well, I suppose that’s fine. This arrangement might actually work out better.

「What she says.」

「I see…」

King Rosais scrutinized Tetra’s face intently. I looked at Tetra’s face. Tetra nodded emphatically.

「She is the daughter of Ragou Aris, Tetra Aris.」

「I see. I thought I had seen her face before. She looks just like her mother.」

「Do you need to confirm?」

To Tetra’s question, King Rosais shook his head vigorously.

「There’s no need for that. The resemblance is too striking for you not to be his daughter. Besides, Almus-kun is not the type to tell such trivial lies. More importantly, it’s not about whether you’re the real deal or not. The crucial point is whether you can fulfill the role as effectively as the real one.」

In other words, as long as those around her recognize her as the daughter of Ragou Aris, it doesn’t matter whether she’s the real one or a lookalike. That’s typical of him.

「Nevertheless, you’ve thought this through well. If you succeed in giving King Ferme a hard time, we’ll strike him from behind and elevate you to the status of patrician.」

「Ha ha. Thank you. Well, if I’m going to give King Ferme a hard time, it would be when he attacks us.」

Nothing is set in stone yet. Power isn’t particularly what I’m after. I just want to make use of whatever I can. Should King Ferme prove to be more reasonable than the rumors suggest, then no action will be necessary.

「Well, I should be going soon. I’ll go see King Ferme’s Country.」

「Ah. Be careful.」

We left King Rosais.

◇

「Hey, Almus.」

「What is it?」

「It seems I’ve been recognized as your wife, but is that really okay? Are you not forcing yourself?」

Tetra voiced her concern with a troubled expression.

「Why are you bringing this up now? I’m not forcing myself. Besides, you’re quite cute. In fact, I’m actually quite happy about it. After all the hints you’ve been dropping up until now, why are you saying this all of a sudden?」

In truth, I do like Tetra quite a bit. I may not fully understand what love is, but… well, if it’s Tetra, it feels right.

That’s what I believe.

「What about Julia?」

「…She and I are of different statuses, after all.」

She is the only daughter of King Rosais. She’s bound to marry someone from one of the main Families someday. She’s beyond my reach.

I’m not so oblivious as to miss Julia’s strong feelings for me. I like her about as much as I like Tetra. She’s also my type, appearance-wise… Though it feels odd to consider this now, after accepting Tetra.

Would I want to marry her? If you ask me, yes, I would. But in the end, the difference in our statuses is too big of a wall.

◇

「So, how do we get into the country of King Ferme?」

「Let’s go under the guise of merchants from the south. We happened to come across an empty village, so we got curious and asked for the reason… If someone asks, this should be a good cover.」

Our current attire should suffice, given we’ve just had an audience with King Rosais. We should be able to pass off as wealthy merchants.

「By the way, do you have any acquaintances who could help us out?」

「Hmm, all of my relatives are dead except for me… so probably not. Plus, I was only ten years old at that time.」

「I see. It’s been five years already, hasn’t it?」

It feels both long and short when I look back. It seems like such a distant past.

「Then, for today, let’s just gather information and call it a day.」

We need to think about how to deal with those thirty people. That’s our priority right now.

◇

「Excuse me… This village seems deserted, and there are many soldiers around… Is there an epidemic or something?」

I inquired, feigning a look of fear.

「No, it’s not that. The residents fled in the night. We are currently forming a search party to bring them back. It’s really troublesome. Well, this time King Ferme is leading the army, so it’s dubious whether they’ll just bring them back or not.」

「They fled? Why?」

「Well, you see…」

The soldier cast a furtive glance around before whispering in my ear.

「It’s the heavy taxes. They couldn’t pay anymore. I, actually, want to quit being a soldier. But if I don’t work, I can’t send my relatives money to pay for the heavy taxes.」

That’s tough. There seems to be a lot of discontent.

「By the way, why did you folks stop by here?」

「We’re merchants. We were passing through this country on our way north and became curious when we saw the soldiers gathered in this village.」

I lied casually.

「Wow, having horses must be nice. Is the woman behind you your wife?」

Tetra, blushing slightly, nodded in response to the soldier’s question.

「We’re here to look for things to sell. Is there anything in this area that might sell well? Local specialties are fine too.」

「There’s nothing like that here. Well, maybe food would sell. Everyone’s starving. But the only thing we have to offer in exchange is people.」

The soldier laughed self-deprecatingly. We forced a smile in response.

This country seems dangerous. But are you sure it’s okay to be so loose-lipped?

「So how do you plan to bring them back? If I were a resident, I would escape to King Rosais’ Country. I think they must have already reached there.」

「No, it seems they are not in King Rosais’ Country. Probably even King Rosais doesn’t want such a burden. We don’t want them either. Sigh. They’re probably wandering in the forest. There were rumors about a utopia protected by Griffon-sama there. They must have believed in that and gone there. How utterly foolish.」

Unbeknownst to us, we have become residents of a utopia. Was our success too extravagant? Or did we flaunt the authority of the Griffon too casually? Or perhaps, to starving people, it appears sufficiently utopian?

「Isn’t it going to be tough to search in the forest?」

「Not at all. Even in our country, though few, we have magicians. With the help of dogs, it’ll be a breeze… Sigh, I’d be happier if those magicians were working on maintaining the barrier.」

Constantly maintaining a barrier consumes significant magic power. King Ferme, always ready for war, is conserving the magic power of his magicians.

Incidentally, the reason Julia doesn’t mind extending a barrier over our fields is due to her overflowing magic power. If the magic power of a normal magician is a cup, hers is like five baths. She is a rare gem: a genius magician who is  beautiful and young, and also a princess. They say that heaven doesn’t give two blessings, but with Julia, God must have felt really generous. 

By the way, the person behind me is also the “World’s First Mage” (self-proclaimed) and a beautiful young girl from a great Family. There are too many around me who have been given more than one blessing.

「I heard that Griffon-sama resides there… Is it really safe?」

「About that… I’m also worried. But if it’s about two hundred people, King Ferme said it should be fine… It’s scarier to defy King Ferme than a possibly non-existent Griffon-sama.」

It appears that Griffon-sama’s authority doesn’t hold much sway here. Or maybe King Ferme is simply fearless. Or perhaps he is well-informed about Griffon.

「Almus, this is a problem. They’re coming to our village.」

「Two hundred people, huh? That’s going to be a problem.」

I scratched my head. 

At least it’s clear that those thirty people are innocent.

I guess we should hurry back.

「Then we’ll part here. Take care.」

「Yeah! You guys too, live well together.」

I hurried back to the village.