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Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 7

「Somehow, I cannot believe I have the same feathers as him. 」

Theo sighed deeply.

「「Definitely. 」」

Emma and Luna spoke in unison. In Halusia, they had more than enough time to watch Alexis, who has come to visit Theo’s lodgings while remaining incognito. However, Irvin cleared his throat, and the two hurriedly shut their mouths before they could say anything else.

「A bird is still a bird, even if its wings are different. 」

Siluca tried to encourage Theo, but she clearly chose the wrong words to do so.

「I am not so sure about that. 」

Theo shook his head while Aishela laughed at him mercilessly, and then Priscilla followed everything up by suggesting that maybe he should join The Order of the Crest for no reason in particular.

The twin werewolves then tried to comfort Theo by wrapping around his left and right arms.
And as for Irvin, he just went around refilling everyone’s cups of tea with a perfectly neutral expression.

His Highness seems to have stuffed himself full with pie, and he curled up on Siluca’s lap and drifted off to sleep.

Surrounded by such a lively atmosphere, Siluca felt her heart gradually calming down, but even so, she still could not help it but to worry about what has happened.

「Well, what should we do now? 」

As if sensing that Siluca had changed her mind, Theo asked for her opinion. He was probably watching her the entire time and was waiting for the most opportune moment.

「At the current moment, the thing that Alexis wishes for the most is for the peace talks between the Fantasia Union and the Factory Alliance to succeed, then for the leaders of both sides to be chosen through negotiation, next for all the other Lords to willingly subordinate themselves to them so that he and Marine could finally get married and create an Emperor who will wield a Grancrest out of their union so that he could climb on top of the Grand Cathedral in Elam and start screaming how all people should love each other instead of engaging in wars. 」

「There is… no way that this summary can actually represent the truth, right? 」

Theo let out a dry laugh.

「That is why I don’t like other people all that much. 」

Siluca said expressionlessly.

「The reason Marine asked for the subordination of Stark, Veltava, and Ozer is probably so that she could enlist the help of the Lords from those countries in the war effort aimed against Artuk. If only Lord Vilar decided to help the King of Stark, then he would have a pretty good chance of making allies of Vetlava and Ozer as well, but now… 」

Siluca did not want it to sound as if she was complaining, but the words of dissatisfaction left her mouth before she could reign them in properly.

「Assuming that a battle with the Factory Alliance is inevitable, how should we prepare for it? 」「

「In all likelihood we cannot count on the change of battlefield, so we have no choice but to amass as many soldiers as we possibly can here and keep them fed until the time for battle approaches. 」

「And exactly how many soldiers can this territory support? 」

「It depends on how strict the tax collection is, but at most two hundred should be kept on hand. 」

However, in case of extreme emergency, military service can be imposed on all the people of the territory.

About 100 people gathered in the last battle. Since most of them had abilities unique to the undead, they should have been able to fight evenly against an army that was five times as large as them. However, since Theo surrendered the port city he was in charge of capturing bloodlessly, everything ended without them having to participate in even a single battle.

「Even one hundred is too many for a mere knight. 」

「This forest is about the size of a viscount’s territory. 」

The title is that Theo is holding right now is not enough for him to become an official Lord. Vilar is therefore the nominal Lord of the Forest of Eternal Darkness, and Theo is acting as his representative.

However, he is allowed to quell down the Chaos in the Forest of Eternal Darkness and obtain a peerage, so if he raises his court rank, Theo should become the official lord of this forest.

As a rookie Lord, he received an exceptional treatment, but even the veteran Lords of Artuk respected Theo, who once became the leader of Selvis and fought against the Heavy Knights of Waldrind and made his name known because he bested them in battle. /He also made a name for himself after he managed to resolve the incident that happened in The Forest of Eternal Darkness last year, and above all else, he was probably the only person in Artuk who would willingly accepted ruling over a territory with such notoriously bad reputation.

(There is a Demon Lord sleeping in the depths of the Vampire King’s castle, an there is a possibility that the Vampire King might try to return and reclaim it for himself at any moment, but Lord Theo does not care about any of that. All that he cares about is performing the duty that he was entrusted with, and since he became a Lord, he was devoted to doing that with all his might.)

「This means that we have to do everything steadily, just like we were doing it before. 」
「That is what a proper territory management is all about, after all. 」

Siluca nodded.

「Okay. In that case, I will go around the territory again tomorrow. But this time, I want Siluca to be the only person who is going to be accompanying me. 」

「Eh? 」

Siluca let out a cry of surprise. She could not guess what Theo’s intentions were in deciding something like that.

「You said it yourself, right? That you have been so busy with your work at Castle Unicorn that you did not have the time to properly take care of this territory? Well, since the basis of good governance is to know the people of your own territory, then now would be the perfect chance for you to do so. 」

What Siluca wanted to know was exactly why did Theo wanted to only her specifically instead of anyone else, but in the end she did not have the courage to actually do it.

(It is not normal for a Lord to personally patrol his territory or for just a contracted Mage to accompany him.)

Siluca told herself as such in her mind.

「Understood. I will accompany you if that is what you want, Lord Theo. 」
Hiding her inner turmoil, Siluca placed a hand on her chest and bowed to Theo.

* * *

June 2, 2013 of the Continental Calendar.

It was the morning after they had returned to the castle in the Forest of Eternal Darkness that Theo left on patrol with Siluca.

Aishela saw Siluca off in tears and handed her a dagger in case she needed it for self-defense.

「What… what do you want me to do with this? 」

Siluca asked.

「If anyone… and I mean anyone tries to attack you, just stab them with it a few times until they stop attacking you. 」

Aishela even went as far as to show Siluca exactly what she should do if the need ever arose.

「I’m sorry, but I cannot take it. It would be a waste on me. 」

Siluca returned the dagger to Aishela with an apologetic look.

This time we will be passing through narrow roads, so we will not be riding horses and will be taking a donkey to carry our luggage their luggage. Siluca tried to steer it in the right direction but was not doing a very good job at it, but Theo took the reins because he was more used to working with animals like that.

(It would seem that Lord Theo is accustomed to many things.)

He must have gained that experience while wandering around the world.

When they left the castle, they found themselves in the castle town. It is the largest settlement in The Forest of Eternal Darkness. Dark-skinned townsfolk were coming and going along the reddish-brown brick road, but there were not that many of them, since the folks who lived in The Forest of Eternal Darkness were reluctant to come out of their houses too much, no matter if it was day or night.

There are a lot of Undead who use Arts among the residents.

It is said that they carve Arts imbued with Chaos mainly in their blood. Therefore, the blood also appears on the skin, which turns black as a result.