Visiting the Young Lady
By the time it felt polite enough to pay a visit, I had finished enjoying Larilura's devoted oral service and headed off to see Lady Henesis. Franc and Veronica had already returned, and Dana was at the laboratory. Now that the construction was complete, the lab had decent defenses, so I didn't need to worry about her. I went alone. If anyone was targeting us, they were far more likely to go after my wives than me. And even if they did come for me, if the enemy was strong enough to put me in real danger, it was better that my wives weren't around.
'Fucking hell. I did a good deed and ended up making enemies anyway.'
It was incredibly unfair, but what could I do? Criminal bastards who, even as they were getting stabbed and dying, still believed the whole world revolved around them would never listen to appeals based on basic human decency or morality. Logic didn't work on them.
'Whatever. Let's stop being so paranoid.'
I shifted my mindset. If I kept living like a hedgehog with its quills constantly raised, my vigilance would hit rock bottom in no time. If Immortalis decided to retaliate, they would wait until I was exhausted and complacent before launching their attack. Weren't there plenty of inmates who spent their entire sentences plotting revenge? This was another world with low psychological resistance to crime and recidivism, so the only thing that really bothered me was not having properly tied up all the loose ends.
Letting those bastards eat away at my life and sanity was a waste of time.
“Good day. I’m the adventurer Norde.”
“Ah, Sir Norde. We received your message.”
That was how I met the young lady at the mansion, all while staying wary of potential enemies. The guard, who seemed to have received handover instructions, let me through immediately. In truth, there were many people I needed to meet, and it did feel a bit strange to visit the lord’s daughter before the lord himself. But thinking rationally, the lord was either genuinely busy or had to act like he was. Meeting other connections first would be the same as undermining the young lady’s authority.
It was like a company employee going out for a meal with the assistant manager before reporting business trip results to the boss, or a soldier returning from leave skipping the operations officer and company commander to hand a Maxim coffee packet to his senior first. In a hierarchical society, going from top to bottom was always the safest route.
Satisfied with my social skills, I waited leisurely for several dozen minutes before the young lady appeared. I greeted her with proper etiquette.
“Welcome. You’ve worked hard.”
Was it thanks to the report I’d sent via messenger pigeon and the few words she’d heard from Tirsi? Lady Henesis welcomed my visit with a satisfied expression. She might have realized just how capable I was after I overcame numerous obstacles and brought Tirsi back safe and sound. It was rare to find a noble in this world who wasn’t desperate for talent.
To be completely honest, luck had played a much bigger role than skill in Tirsi’s rescue, but undermining my own evaluation would have been a terrible move. I made some small talk before delivering my report.
“……That group of black mages will likely target Tirsi again.”
Lady Henesis, who had been listening attentively, frowned. This was information I hadn’t included in the letter. Because there was too great a risk of leaks even with encryption, I had come in person to explain the complicated details.
I tilted my head. “Tirsi, you mean?”
“They have more than enough reason to target Sargadis. I am here. My father is here. My father’s subordinates are here. And you are here.”
She counted on her fingers as she spoke, lifting them clearly so I could see. When she put it that way, it made sense. The influential figures of this city had all been involved in the subjugation of the unicorn black mages.
“The notoriety of Immortalis stems from how vile and massive the original sins they committed truly are. From what I’ve investigated, their behavior resembles less a solid organization and more of an alliance. Or rather, less an alliance and more of a simple interest group.”
“That’s right.”
Even Nefertiti, who was chasing them out of personal grudge, had said those bastards were highly individualistic.
'She also said they don’t get too worked up about revenge.'
But according to ‘Equinox’—who had openly taken Diabolo right in front of us, and who I suspected was the Queen of the Underworld herself—their lax attitude had caused them to lose a ton of members, so they were now trying to change their management policy. There was more than enough possibility they would use us as an example and launch retaliatory strikes.
“As the ruler of Sargadis, as Tirsi’s friend, and as your sponsor, this is a matter I absolutely cannot ignore.”
—This is a problem I can never overlook—
—Clench!
Lady Henesis spread the fingers she had been counting, then dramatically clenched them into a fist.
“However…… defending a castle is only easier than attacking one when the gates are firmly shut.”
“Exactly. Trying to single out black mages from the daily crowds of people would be nothing but a reckless waste of manpower.”
It was absurd to demand that every soldier be able to see through a black mage’s disguise. The ones capable of that weren’t the type to work as ordinary guards or soldiers.
'If the world’s top black mages seriously decide to infiltrate, it’s impossible for underqualified soldiers to root them out.'
I finally understood why powerful people were so desperate for talent. From the perspective of someone with a lot to protect, the existence of these motherfuckers who lived without restraint and possessed disgustingly overwhelming power was incredibly infuriating.
That said, the countermeasures that came to mind—things like magical defenses or expanding the city walls—were either unrealistic or far too expensive. It wasn’t as if the people of this world were idiots who hadn’t thought of such measures before. The war on terror was also a war of budgets and technological capability.
“But tightening security and establishing closer cooperation with the adventurer guilds is certainly possible.”
Lady Henesis nodded as if she approved of my cold conclusion, but she had already prepared her own measures.
“I will suggest to my father that we issue regular patrol requests to each adventurer guild and strengthen the guards’ inspections.”
……Adventurer guilds, huh.
As I narrowed my eyes in thought, the young lady added a footnote.
“However, I can only guarantee the effectiveness of this measure until spring.”
“I understand. Human concentration has its limits, after all.”
It was currently winter. The guilds might welcome it as extra work for now, but once the seasons changed, it would become routine.
'Besides, it’s not like I don’t know how adventurers operate.'
They could be worked hard through winter, but after that they would definitely start slacking. Investing in pointless patrols would be a waste of the budget. I fired up my elite brain and spoke.
“And even so, having the lord or someone with equivalent authority publicly announce that we don’t know when the black mages might attack would……”
“……Be even more damaging in many ways.”
“Yes. Beyond the financial aspect, if the wealthy or the general population start leaving the territory, the entire region’s military strength and balance will collapse. If they’re planning long-term revenge, that would be a viable option for them.”
They could simply write ‘Fuck Sargadis when I have time’ on their bucket list and leave it alone for ten years.
'Will they launch a surprise attack without giving us time to prepare, or will they patiently wait for us to drop our guard?'
Or maybe, like those unicorn bastards, they would prepare outside the city and then strike. Each approach had its pros and cons. That was assuming they actually planned to retaliate, of course.
“It’s nice that you catch on so quickly. If even half my subordinates inside the territory were as sharp as you, how wonderful that would be.”
Lady Henesis sighed after hearing my answer. She seemed to have quite a lot on her plate as well.
'But from what I can see, finding talent in a king’s world without even compulsory education seems nearly impossible, doesn’t it?'
People who rose from nothing usually had sky-high pride and meritocratic beliefs. There was no way they would willingly come work under some rural lord. It was like telling someone who had passed the bar exam to take a job at a rural village office where buses only came once every three hours. Even setting regional discrimination aside, nine out of ten would probably vanish using teleportation magic the moment the offer was made.
“……I have also considered some regular security measures.”
I spoke in a way that tickled the young lady’s desperate hunger for talent. Her eyes sparkled.
“What kind of method?”
“I don’t want to disappoint your expectations, so I will report again once I have results. If you could simply send word to the branch head of the Mage Guild—no, to the sorcerer—it would speed things up considerably.”
“……Since I already offered to sponsor you, that much is no trouble at all. And from what I’ve heard from other sponsors, it seems you wouldn’t have any financial difficulties even without me.”
Wait, where the hell did she hear that from? Did Tirsi say something? No, that didn’t seem likely.
I suddenly felt uncomfortable, like lying down in a jjimjilbang sleeping room only to find a gangster had taken the spot next to me. I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet I suddenly wanted to run away. But running would also feel awkward. The analogy I just thought of felt disturbingly accurate.
“……I’m sorry. You agreed to become my sponsor before anyone else.”
“I’m not blaming you. For me, having fewer expenses to cover isn’t a bad thing. If you had turned down other sponsors because of me, that would have been more uncomfortable. And it’s not as if I have enough authority to replace a great noble just to repay your loyalty.”
Was she forgiving me? Or was there simply nothing to forgive in the first place? It seemed I had been the only one jumping to conclusions and feeling awkward. It was perfectly normal in both this world and my home world on Earth for talented researchers or athletes to have multiple sponsors.
'Still, I’m glad the young lady is so broad-minded.'
I couldn’t openly show my relief, but I accepted her handwritten letter and took my leave.
'I should find another route for making Veronica’s identification papers.'
Once I left the mansion, I walked down the street and thought to myself. Asking the ruler to forge documents felt a bit much, didn’t it? It would be better to ask around through Cromwell at the Mage Guild.
With that in mind, I glanced down at the young lady’s handwritten letter.
For the maintenance of public order in the city, please provide full cooperation to the bearer of this letter.
That was what was written on the document. The young lady would probably explain the details to the guild herself. She had claimed she didn’t have much authority, but having the next lord of the territory watching my back in my hometown was incredibly convenient. It was more than enough compensation for rescuing Tirsi.
'Officializing the cat drone project would be good too. Analyzing the surveillance cameras I installed at home and mass-producing them is also an option. Ah, but if I make the surveillance cameras public, it’ll become a hassle.'
Turning into a CCTV heaven like South Korea had its downsides. The biggest problem was that I couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen if such technology spread in this barbaric, human-rights-nonexistent world.
'It would be best if I just asked for the method and then produced and installed them privately.'
Oh, shit. Come to think of it, I had completely forgotten to check the cameras I installed at home. I still hadn’t looked at the footage.
As for the cat drones, Tirsi had mentioned something called Animal Conversation magic before. If I looked into that and came up with a decent cover story, making it public shouldn’t be too difficult.
'Just thinking about it is already such a pain in the ass.'
I scratched my head and clicked my tongue.
“Damn it. This is exactly why you’re supposed to handle the cleanup properly and on time so there are no loose ends.”
I had complained until my mouth was sore that cleaning up after a fight was always more annoying than the fight itself. Just like brushing your teeth or exercising, it was best to do it immediately. Because I had put it off saying it was annoying, it had now become this much of a mess. Living as a decent person was seriously hard.
—Roll, roll.
I rolled up the handwritten letter, put it away, and headed to Clara’s forge, which I always visited.
'I should take care of other business before news from the young lady reaches them.'
If I suddenly showed up, shoved the young lady’s letter in their face, and demanded cooperation for free, how pissed off would Cromwell be? If a business partner’s acquaintance used the power of a large corporation to apply pressure and dump work on them, even existing friendships would shatter.
“Excuse me~.”
“Ah…… Mr. Norde?”
Clara seemed to have no work and was taking it easy. I chatted a bit with the hungry-looking blacksmith before asking my question.
“I’d like to commission some custom leather armor. Do you happen to know any skilled artisans at the Blacksmith Guild?”
The giant’s leather I had looted was also going to be used for my other wives’ equipment. With proper magical processing, it could be made as soft as cloth, or even layered inside like a bulletproof vest.
'But I can’t just hand it over to some random hack.'
Since my wives would be wearing it, I couldn’t afford to have it made sloppily. In that sense, Clara—the metal fetishist—was an absurdly skilled blacksmith for someone living in Sargadis. If she acknowledged someone as a proper artisan, I could probably trust them.
'Of course, unless they have business sense on par with this person, they probably wouldn’t come all the way to a backwater like this……'
Did that mean I had to go into the city? If I had stayed longer at the elder’s mansion, I could have had it made there. But making multiple sets would take at least a month, and the thought of sitting around at the Arma Shunas mansion for that long made me feel like I would get beaten to death by the knight commander first. Lady Henesis had also been waiting for me.
“A leather artisan?”
Clara, who had been checking her catalog, set it aside and stroked her chin for a moment.
“……I heard an artisan arrived from Romania a few days ago. They barely speak the Britannia language, but their skills are supposedly decent. Making leather armor itself isn’t that difficult.”
“Really?”
Clara looked down on anything that wasn’t metal equipment, but she wasn’t someone lacking in artisan spirit. Even if I took her comment that leather armor was easy with a grain of salt, she wouldn’t have mentioned them at all if they were truly incompetent. It might be worth checking out.
“Their metalworking was completely hopeless, though. Looking at their projects, they have fast hands and talent for assembly and creativity. They’re probably an amateur who gave up halfway through learning, but they have a promising future.”
“Can you please decide whether you’re praising or insulting them?”
I wrote down a few names she gave me and left. It was my first time visiting the Blacksmith Guild in Sargadis, but it couldn’t compare to Germania. I offered a silent prayer for my hometown, which had been completely outclassed in both building size and ostentatious splendor.
“I’d like to place a custom order.”
“Ah, yes.”
I approached the counter. Fortunately, the person at the counter wasn’t some useless, breathy, pathetic blacksmith but a normal employee. I asked for the person who was most likely to be free—the newbie.
“That person should be at the first-floor processing workshop.”
“Thank you.”
Clara hadn’t known the newbie’s name, but the employee understood who I meant from my description alone. I bowed politely and headed to where the novice blacksmith was supposed to be.
And then my mouth fell open without me realizing it.
It was that unexpected.
“Ah, hellooo!! I’m Audrey Heswald!! What can I help you wi…… Fuck?”
Her Britannia pronunciation was a complete disaster, about as bad as it could get. Audrey Heswald, who had awkwardly spat out a greeting that sounded like she had learned it less than a month ago, recognized me and immediately cursed in her native tongue.
Who the hell was she calling a bastard, you thieving wench?