Not a Pledge, But Collusion
Not a Pledge, But Collusion
Luna guided me to a plain, ordinary villa.
"This is the secret safe house? When did you get this? Where'd the money come from?"
"Thought it'd be needed for infiltration ops. Funds were procured locally."
"Luna, you're a model soldier."
"Heehee, thank you."
The haggard look from when she was first dragged into the penal unit was nowhere to be seen now.
Still, there seemed to be a shadow that occasionally flickered through her bright expression.
"You can look forward to this."
"But what kind of spoils of war could it be that Hildea-nim shouldn't see?"
"Because if she sees, she'll try to sabotage it somehow. We gotta stamp the seal and make it a confirmed fact before that."
What on earth could it be?
When we opened a large room and entered, a partition screen blocked the view.
Luna stood me in front of it, then gleefully swept the partition aside.
"...!"
For a moment, my breath nearly stopped.
At the utterly surreal sight, my breathing grew ragged and every blood vessel in my body constricted.
"Don't worry. From acquisition to all the prep work, I did it all by myself, alone. No other man's eyes or hands ever touched her."
At first, I thought it was a naked beauty and my heart pounded, then I realized it was a raw chicken with its feathers plucked, and shame surged through my whole body.
"Elenoa Anvelrum! As befits a war hero, you ought to have at least one pretty, busty sex slave! From today on, I'll be the one to soothe the supply officer-nim's lonely nights...!"
"Luna... that's my nuna...."
"Kyaaaak!"
The reunion with my nuna was the absolute worst.
***
I was so shocked that I froze for a while.
Luna, who had screamed, also turned pale and trembled while watching my reaction.
My nuna, gagged, was sobbing with tears streaming down, and only then did I come to my senses and rush over.
"Elenoa nunim!"
Should I untie her bindings first?
Should I cover her body first?
But there are no clothes to cover her with.
Considering taking off my outer clothes, untying her seemed more urgent first.
I removed the gag from her mouth first.
"Idiot! Untie my hands first!"
"I-I'm sorry, nunim."
"'That thing' you said. You called your nuna 'that thing'."
"I-I was so flustered I misspoke."
Even while untying the bindings, my head was a mess.
What about clothes? Should I give her mine? Then what do I wear?
The moment her limbs were finally untied.
Elenoa pulled me into a tight embrace.
"Nunim, first you should put on some clothes...."
My head was swirling thinking how to change this raw chicken mode, but Elenoa held me even tighter.
"You were alive... you were alive...."
"Huh? I've never died, though?"
"I thought, I thought you had died in battle... there was no news at all... I thought it was because Father sent no supplies...."
A sobbing sound as if her breath was cut off.
It was the first time I ever saw Elenoa weep so weakly like this.
So I couldn't do anything, just stood there blankly in her arms, then carefully patted her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I was so focused on adapting to military life, I was out of my mind."
"You should have contacted me. You should have let me know you were doing well. I sent so many letters!"
"I'm truly sorry."
"You bastard. Making your nuna worry...."
A familiar PX item body wash scent wafted from Elenoa. The kind I had supplied to Luna's Airborne Unit.
Which made this situation all the more awkward.
'Ah, please stop crying a bit.'
***
After she stopped crying and composed herself.
Elenoa put on the PX women's military underwear and field uniform I pulled from my Supply Cheat.
"Piel, this clothing is fascinating. I've never seen fabric like this. It's so soft and comfortable."
Luna was crumpled up off to one side.
Elenoa spent a long time after that holding my cheeks, examining my face this way and that for any scars.
"How have you been?"
"Just, fine. Commander-in-Chief Hildea-nim treats me well."
"You always did have exceptional talent for cooking and administration. Sir Valkenhart recognized that."
"Something like that."
"But why does Sir Luna Rosenberg treat you like she's serving a superior officer?"
"It's the penal unit, remember. The Commander-in-Chief ordered Luna to serve me well."
"I see."
Elenoa said she was captured while moving to our maternal family home under the Count's orders.
If she hadn't been captured, I would've had to wait until she heard the news at the maternal home and returned, so this saved a few days.
Although the form of our reunion was the worst possible....
"Nunim, the current territory situation is...."
I explained the current situation to her.
I left out the fact that I am the real power in Ainshuvan.
"Anyway, the interior is the dangerous place now. Come live with me in the North."
"Then who inherits our territory?"
"I'm telling you, this place is the front line now."
"But if we want to supply the North properly, we can't give up the territory."
For a moment, I hesitated, wondering if I should tell her about the Supply Cheat.
But I folded the thought.
'If I ever reveal the Defense Core to someone, the first will be Hildea.'
"If I become the next lord, I can supply even more materials to the army you're in. So how could I follow you?"
I was grateful for the sentiment.
As expected, our nuna has a broad heart.
"If you are favored by Lord Hildea, then rather suggest making me the acting lord, grant me real authority. Then I will supervise it thoroughly, so that what happened before never occurs again."
"That's...."
Elenoa didn't know about the Supply Cheat, so she thought staying behind in the territory and controlling it was the best thing for me.
"Think how rich our territory is. I absolutely can't hand this precious land over to any other sibling."
Elenoa whispered.
"When I become the official lord, I'll give half the territory to you, Piel, as a fief."
"What?
"You need a place to come back to when you're discharged, don't you?"
I already have a territory, though.
With a smaller population than here and poor farming, but much, much bigger.
And then Elenoa revealed something astonishing.
"Actually, I was quietly preparing to bring you back within two or three years. It came to nothing because I thought you'd died in action."
"Is that possible? How?"
"It's a secret."
Suddenly, the words Elenoa said while doing the mana massage the night before I left came to mind.
「Piel, no matter how hard it gets, hold on for just three years. Somehow, your nuna will come get you.」
I thought she just said that to encourage me.
"So don't you worry and do well in your military life. Though it's a relief you seem to be doing well already."
"Nunim, don't do that. I'm telling you, let's go together."
Elenoa's attachment to the territory was stubborn.
Of course, what nobles of this era wouldn't be.
Since the territory is the very foundation of family, house, honor—everything.
Come to think of it, valuing real estate over life itself, that's the same on modern Earth.
"Understood. Then I will advise Lord Hildea and try to make you the acting lord."
"If that happens, Count Anbelrum Territory can show Ainshuvan a sincerity completely different from before."
It seemed less about her attachment to the territory, and more about supplying Ainshuvan.
"All of it goes into our little brother's mouth anyway, so I'll take care of it."
"Thank you."
I couldn't exactly say I have a Supply Cheat so I don't need a territory.
In the end, is this the only way?
To bring my nuna to the North peacefully....
'I'll have to make the county collapse faster.'
When is the third landing of the elven legion? It'd be nice if it could be moved up as fast as possible.
When the crisis hits, I'll deploy the Luna Airborne Unit and extract just my nuna.
If I drag her away by force now, seems like she'll fight me for life.
Once the territory is reduced to worthless ashes, Elenoa will let go of her lingering attachment too.
It's a long-lasting grudge when you lose your fortune, after all.
'I'll destroy the territory to take my nuna.'
That was my sole thought.
***
I quietly returned to our quarters with Elenoa, who wore a cloak over her field uniform.
Hildea genuinely welcomed Elenoa.
Thanks to all the good things I'd always told her.
"I heard that Lieutenant Piel regards you as his only family. It is an honor to meet you, Lady Elenoa."
She was strangely kind and demure, which was slightly surprising.
Elenoa also seemed a bit flustered by Hildea's grandiose welcome.
"It is I who am grateful for taking good care of our Piel. When our house did not properly send supplies...."
"What are you saying. Lieutenant Piel himself is an immensely capable talent."
The mood was amicable, which was good.
I got straight to the main point.
Immediately, the elevation of Elenoa's authority.
Authority so that even the Count could not give her orders, allowing her to wield greater power.
"Don't worry, Lady Elenoa. I will meet the Count tomorrow and nail it down firmly."
"Once I become the acting lord, our Count Anbelrum Territory will spare nothing for the material support of the North."
"Just as expected of Piel Dae— Lieutenant-nim's own sister, you are trustworthy. The blood runs true."
When the inland lords come begging for their lives, I can send Dvil's unit to empty this place, and right in that gap, the third elven landing would be perfect.
I'll hide Hildea somewhere pretending she returned, and watch the county get swept away.
'If all goes well, maybe I can bring my nuna within a month? Elves, hurry up and come.'
"But Lady Elenoa, why did the Count send absolutely nothing? No matter how much I think about it, I simply cannot understand."
"...."
At those words, Elenoa looked at me with a complicated expression and bit her lip.
Seeing that she seemed to know something, Hildea tensed up slightly.
I wasn't really curious anymore, nor did I care, but.
"I don't know the exact details either, but it seems there was some kind of agreement among the great lords."
"An agreement?"
"During a meeting, I heard my father say, 'I will be the first to take the lead.' I didn't know back then that it meant sending only Piel and cutting off all supplies."
Anger settled in Hildea's blue eyes.
I interjected.
"Don't bother looking into why the perpetrator did it. Just be satisfied looking at the compensation you'll rip out."
"Hmm... understood. You are right. It's all done with anyway."
We had already decided the fate of this place and the inland territories.
The path of collapse, controlling events so they are swept up in war and the territory's people flee en masse.
'The reason they played games with supplies is probably all the same. Whether they felt threatened that the Northern army grew too swollen, or they dared to want a political marriage with Hildea.
Or maybe they just wanted to save some rye since they themselves had no problems.'
That was when.
-Knock knock.
"Airborne Unit Commander Luna. May I ask permission to submit a question on whether I may enter?"
"...Enter."
A moment later, Luna entered.
But she wasn't alone; she was three.
One knight of the Airborne Unit was holding a young man. His hands were bound behind his back.
"We caught a suspicious intruder. But he says he's not a suspicious person, but a messenger. Said he came looking for you, Hildea?"
"Me?"
When Hildea looked at him, the nervous young man stammered and opened his mouth.
"I-I am Marquis Oltain."
I remembered. The vineyard marquisate.
They said he lost his land and his father, and was now living with the refugees, sponging off the capital.
'Did he come to ask for help retaking his territory?'
I can't think of any other reason.
"Oh dear, untie him at once."
"Tch, if he was Marquis Oltain, he should've said so sooner. Didn't know you were from the same hometown, sorry."
Luna grumbled as she untied the bindings.
The young Marquis Oltain, seated, trembled as he opened his mouth.
"A certain great noble, one whose identity cannot be revealed, sent me to you, my lord."
"Please reveal who it is first."
When I pressed him firmly, the Marquis shook his head.
"He cannot be revealed. Because I also do not know who it is. I can only guess it is one of the great nobles with a grand territory counted among the top ten."
Don't know who, but thorough indeed.
"I was told that the supplies sent to the North dwindled over time because of a pact made among the great nobles.
And that the person himself, as a party to that pact, wanted to be the first to confess to Lord Valkenhart and beg for forgiveness."
The elf effect is solid.
Internal division is already happening.
I asked.
"What is the content of the pact?"
"The goal is the gradual reduction of material supply, ultimately aiming to redeploy the defensive line to the Dwein River."
Bang!
Unknowingly, I slammed the table, and the Marquis, Hildea, Luna, and even Elenoa all looked at me in shock.
"These sons of bitches...."
"Lieutenant Piel?"
"Piel?"
"Supply Officer-nim?"
"I-I haven't even finished speaking yet...."
"In the end, isn't that it? The defensive line is too wide, requiring too many soldiers and costing too much to maintain, so let's just move it south to the Sogeum River.
That way we greatly reduce maintenance costs and can defend it more easily."
"Y-yes."
Only then did Hildea, as if realizing something, ask with anger in her eyes.
"Piel, then what about my territory? Rebecca's territory? Our territory's people?"
"If the Noble Council talked about relocating the front line, would you have agreed?"
"Not at all! It's telling us to abandon our land, how could I, out of my mind, agree to that?"
"It's because they know you can't give it up that they subtly cornered us into a situation where we have no choice but to give it up.
If the front collapsed from lack of strength, we'd eventually be routed across the river, and in the process, the number of soldiers would naturally thin out to only the elites."
After all, it's not their own land they're losing.
If the defeated remnants form a new front south of the river, it's easy to control, makes them look good, and the supplies they have to grant would decrease too.
"This won't do. Nuna, you should just perform filial piety— no, just become the Count."
In that shitty plan, 'Father' took the lead and spearheaded it, right?
