Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Derbal's Friends
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'I'll build a fortress here.'
He finalized the site for the most important fortress on the Neruman Plains.
A small hill located about ten kilometers from the border with the Habis Kingdom.
This spot, where everything was visible in all directions, was ideal for a fortress.
'It's far from the roads, so it won't be visible. If we gather the materials and complete it all at once, they'll never notice.'
It had been a week since he received the elves' help.
The elves, who returned to their village at sunset, were incredibly diligent.
As dawn broke, they somehow found him unerringly, like ghosts.
When he asked Narumias about it, she shyly bowed her head and couldn't answer.
She probably had some kind of telepathic ability.
'I won't forgive anyone who invades my territory.'
With the fortress site selected, a surge of heroic spirit welled up in him.
A small population and scarce resources, but an unyielding pride that refused to yield.
The majestic presence of the distant Rual Mountains across the plains seemed to reach him.
Sara-ra-ra-ra-rak.
A fairly chilly wind blew in.
The warm breezes had completely retreated within that week.
The wave of red autumn leaves that began at the mountaintops had now draped the lower slopes in a multicolored skirt.
'Harvest season is soon. Once the harvest is done well, the territory will stabilize.'
With the elves' help, they had completed about thirty kilometers of road in just a week.
They could have done more, but there were limits to transporting materials by cart.
He could have mobilized the wyverns, but he couldn't use them recklessly with enemies who might attack at any moment.
'In about two months, the road from Denfos to here will be complete.'
The elves had no complaints.
Despite repeating the same task every day, it seemed like a joy to these elves who had been confined within a few kilometers for over a century.
Some elves even shed tears of joy upon tasting the chewy wheat bread.
'I wonder how Rosiatte is doing?'
He knew from passing merchants that there had been no upheavals in the Habis Kingdom yet.
But merchants' knowledge had its limits.
His heart ached slightly at the thought of that frail woman enduring the harsh nobility with what strength.
'Hang in there just a little longer until we meet soon.'
There wasn't much he could do for her.
All he could do was diligently build his strength and sweep away the Habis Kingdom's troublemakers all at once next spring.
"Let's head back."
Kuo-oooooo!
Bebeto, who had grown even more imposing lately.
Bebeto, a size and a half larger than the other wyverns, spread his massive wings and took off from the fortress site.
'I knew the monsters' movements were suspicious.'
He had no time to focus on road construction and the impending harvest.
Amid that, he received reports that monsters driven toward the Rual Mountains from Siaris Fortress had been appearing more frequently lately.
Monsters were also becoming more active in other regions where subjugation operations hadn't been carried out.
They seemed to know it too.
That it was time for humans to harvest their crops.
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"If we continue like this, the royal finances will go bankrupt this year too."
"Bankrupt? I heard this year was a bumper crop, with taxes being collected well from each territory. Bankrupt, you say!"
"Ah, of course, some territories are like that. But as the princess knows, our Habis Kingdom's territories have so many expenses, don't they? We can't rely on the royal army to defend the borders, and the royal direct territories aren't vast either."
"....."
In the regular conference hall of the Habis Kingdom's royal castle.
Despite the bumper crop, Princess Rosiatte, acting as regent for the king, could only clutch the hem of her dress at Duke Hanskain's talk of royal bankruptcy.
"Our territory can't pay much in national taxes this year either. The summer floods damaged a significant amount of crops. We'd be grateful if you consider that."
"Doesn't Count Arken's land have no river!"
"No river, but when it rains, that damn water swells up, and there's nothing we can do."
The nobles, sneering at the princess and bloodthirsty for tax reductions.
Even the taxes recorded in the ledgers were meager, yet they sought to shave off more.
"Quiet down. Only with solid royal finances can your territories be safe. Pay ten percent of taxes from each territory, like last year."
With the perfectly capable princess acting as regent right there, Duke Hanskain issued commands to the nobles.
Ever since Duke Sapidan, who supported the king, had been confined to his mansion due to illness for years, he had been acting like he owned the place.
"Princess, let's move to the next item."
Rosiatte was nothing more than a figurehead princess.
She bit her lip and endured the humiliation.
If she broke here, all the degradation she had endured and held back would be for naught.
"P-please speak."
"The next item is compensation regarding Neruman Territory."
"Wasn't it decided to exercise force next spring for that matter?"
"Of course. However, according to merchants and mercenaries who visited Neruman, they say Neruman had an enormous harvest this year. So, once this harvest is done, we plan to raise soldiers immediately to resolve the compensation issue."
"N-no, raising troops without even consulting the royals! Isn't that too much!"
Rosiatte, who had held back until now, shot up from her seat and glared at Duke Hanskain and the nobles.
"Please calm down, princess. His Majesty the King has already permitted the expedition, hasn't he? And this military action for the compensation issue will be a pure allied force of lords, without royal knights or soldiers participating. So I think there's no need for the princess to intervene this much."
"....."
Duke Hanskain, seasoned deeply in politics and risen to prominence.
It was insufficient for the young Rosiatte to block such a duke with words.
The royal family's authority had long since crumbled anyway.
'Kayer asked me to hold out until spring.'
Rosiatte's heart burned black.
If Hanskain and the nobles came out like this, she had no pretext to stop them.
The king's permission for the expedition had been granted long ago anyway.
"Wait. I absolutely will not permit mobilization until the harvest is complete. This is the command in the name of Rosiatte von Habis."
Rosiatte issued a stern command with resolute determination.
But not a single noble responded.
They looked at Rosiatte, who was commanding them, with eyes that said, what is this?
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"Derbal, what of the monsters' and Temir bastards' movements?"
"The Temir have been quiet since the last battle. But the monsters' movements are unusual. The ones retreating from Siaris have hidden in the Rual Mountains and are crawling out again, and from other sides, they're gradually approaching Denfos in an encirclement formation."
'I'd love to sweep them all away.'
He wanted to drive the monsters out of Neruman with full force, like during the monster subjugation.
But it was impossible now.
Though wyverns and Sky Knights had been reinforced, the current forces were barely enough for defense.
For safe commerce, soldiers had to be stationed at Siaris Fortress and key fortresses leading to Habis, and the remaining troops had to be on constant alert for Temir provocations and monster attacks from all sides.
"We're forming a swift cavalry unit with the purchased warhorses for now. With Sky Knights, we can launch multidimensional attacks, so there shouldn't be any issues protecting the territory."
Looking at the Neruman map, Derbal said it would be fine.
'In theory, yes, but I have this ominous, nagging feeling.'
What was it? An indescribable sticky heaviness.
Like having an unripe banana in his mouth.
"How far along is the harvest?"
"The land reclaimed by Dravilt is all around Denfos. So we're harvesting methodically from the surroundings. Where labor is short, per the lord's orders, we've given soldiers leave, so the harvest is proceeding smoothly without issues."
"Once the harvest is complete, collect all taxes in grain like wheat and distribute them to Denfos and each fortress for storage."
"Understood."
The territory was stabilizing bit by bit, rapidly.
The soldiers were becoming elite, and development was going smoothly.
Once the harvest was done, there would be no food worries until next year.
They were also catching substantial amounts of fish from the sea and rivers.
'It's too quiet. Like the calm before a storm.....'
He wondered if it was okay for the enemies surrounding them to be this silent.
'Damn it, whoever it is, just come. I'll strip you down to your underwear!'
He burned with battle spirit toward the invisible foes.
He had to endure with an indomitable spirit.
Until the day Neruman's power accumulated.
"Lord! People outside wish to see you."
'Who is it this time?'
"I'll go check."
"Yes, see who it is and report back."
He couldn't meet just anyone amid the chaos.
'The most dangerous are the Rabiter guys.'
He kept regretting kicking away the offered rice cake, especially after brushing off the gold wyvern.
If that second prince hadn't been so rude, things wouldn't have escalated this far.
'I need to bolster the wyverns more—should I just loot them?'
He had never bought wyverns with his own money before.
"My lord, it's Derbal."
"Hm? Come in."
Derbal, who had gone to meet the visitors seeking him, returned.
Kkiiik.
Derbal entered the office.
'Hm? Who are those guys?'
"Let me introduce them. This is the one and only lord I serve in this world."
"Pleased to meet you. Count Kayer. I'm Andriaf."
"It's an honor. I'm Tebedian."
'Friends Derbal knows?'
Derbal, unable to hide his joy, grinning ear to ear since entering.
"They're my classmates from the Imperial Administrative Academy."
"Oh! Haha, nice to meet you. I'm Kayer, lord of Neruman."
'Oh! The talents I've been waiting for.'
True elites of the Bazran Empire, graduates of the Imperial Administrative Academy.
Handsome young men in their mid-twenties, like Derbal.
Especially Andriaf, with heterochromia—one blue eye and one brown.
"Sorry for coming so late."
"You know you're sorry? My one and only friend in the world wrote page after page in his letters, and yet you only show up now—I'm truly disappointed in you. To think you trusted this Derbal so little."
"I have no face to show you. I couldn't help it while sorting family affairs."
They seemed like real friends.
Even under Derbal's playful interrogation, the two expressed genuine remorse.
"What do you mean by sorting family affairs?"
"Well....."
Andriaf trailed off at his question.
"Upon receiving Derbal's letter, we tried to come right away. But with the bad rumors about the lord, the crown prince, and the nobles, we hesitated a bit."
Tebedian, tall and looking like an honest young man, spoke up.
"As the lord knows, due to Neruman's location, once we make a decision, there's no turning back. But increasingly bad news reached our ears. If it were a lord worth devoting our lives to like Derbal, we'd come naturally, but for us, it's a gamble."
Andriaf continued in a calm tone.
'Ah, I would have done the same.'
Who would quit a stable job, leave family, and serve an unknown lord on just a friend's letter?
And Neruman wasn't easy to reach, even though it was Bazran Empire territory.
"I understand."
"Thank you for understanding."
"So, what about your families? Your parents?"
Derbal asked hurriedly with a worried expression.
"We just informed them and came. You said to hurry, but we still ended up late."
Come to think of it, Derbal had family too.
"If you've come this far, you've made up your minds. Will you work for me and Neruman Territory?"
"We will serve you as our lord. Derbal and we two swore at the Imperial Academy. If we find a true lord, we will all serve that one together."
"My lord! I, Andriaf, swear to you."
"I, Tebedian, will devote my life in loyalty to my lord!"
'They said something about near-literal ink-black loyalty. As expected of Derbal's friends.'
Beautiful friendship—trusting a friend enough to trust the lord he chose.
They must have solidified their resolve on the way here.
"Thank you. I will be a lord who never disappoints you."
For such sincere men, flowery words were unnecessary.
Opening their hearts to each other was enough.
"Derbal, announce that I'm appointing Sir Andriaf and Sir Tebedian as knights."
"K-knights, my lord?"
The two were startled by the word knights.
Few in imperial history would appoint administrative academy graduates as knights instead of officials.
"Don't you want to?"
"No! We are grateful for the lord's grace."
Immediately knighted upon meeting, the two were thrilled.
On this continent, talents with dreams but bound by status couldn't even unfold their aspirations.
He would embrace as many such people into his fold as possible.
"Derbal, contact the Rubis Merchant Guild."
"What message, my lord....."
"Have them bring all your families here to Neruman."
"......"
"There will be no safer place than here from now on."
"My lord....."
"Come on! Everyone, let's move. Remember, every drop of your sweat is a drop of Neruman citizens' blood—give it your all!"
"Yes, sir!!!"
'Perfect!'
He felt proud.
Like a thousand pieces forming a garment, Neruman Territory was taking shape piece by piece.
Today too, he resolved to run until his soles sweated.
For the weight of every drop of his sweat would be the joyful tears of all Neruman's people.