Time for Real Work
…I should get to margrave work.
It went without saying, but the absolute top priority for Aria's first baking challenge was safety.
If she'd been an adult, it might have been different — but she was still a little kid.
Some people might wonder: Is baking really that dangerous? Cooking with knives, sure — but baking doesn't even use knives, does it?
Well, whether you're baking bread or cookies or anything else, you need high heat. So safety was non-negotiable.
Of course, there were desserts that didn't require baking… but from what I'd heard, recipes that actually involved an oven overwhelmingly outnumbered the rest. Dodging them entirely wasn't a real solution.
Besides, the maids would be right there helping her, so there was no need to steer clear of those recipes anyway.
And so, with safety in mind, I gave the maids who would bake with Aria strict instructions: make absolutely sure she didn't get hurt.
Wasn't I supposed to be watching from the sidelines?
…I would have, if I didn't have a competent margrave image to maintain.
Sure, I could always go earn back whatever image I spent by fighting on the front lines — but even that had its limits.
And honestly, the maids would probably do a much more natural job of shamelessly hyping Aria up if I weren't there.
If I were a maid, that's how I'd feel about it.
With the Margrave standing right there watching, it'd look like he was monitoring whether they were hyping her up properly the way he'd ordered. Could they really pull off natural shameless hype while being watched by the Margrave? Every little move of mine would make them self-conscious and second-guess themselves.
So the right call was to entrust the maids with teaching Aria to bake and naturally hyping her up, and just trust them to handle it well.
Which left me with one question: now that I'd handed off Aria's shameless hype to the maids, what was I supposed to do?
"The Magic Tower has developed a new agricultural spell, I hear. Does it look effective?"
"It doesn't look bad, My Lord. However, when approached from a cost-effectiveness standpoint compared to existing magic, there are some regrettable shortcomings. And… we must also consider the unique characteristics of our territory."
"You mean it could be affected by the Ancient Dungeons?"
"Yes. Unlike conventional agricultural magic applied directly to crops, this spell utilizes the mana present in the soil itself."
"So caution is warranted before implementing it."
…I should get to margrave work.
"Is there room for improvement?"
"The developer himself stated that there is ample room for improvement on the cost-effectiveness front."
"And while saying so, he no doubt requested research funding as well."
"That is correct."
Would investing research funds actually yield a return…?
I considered it briefly, then concluded there was no need to invest.
In another territory, maybe — but in ours, the possibility of side effects couldn't be ruled out.
"We won't invest. Instead, make sure any new information is reported to me immediately."
"Understood."
"Anything new on the combat magic side?"
"Regrettably, nothing."
"Asking about results from the projects we've already funded would be… pointless, I suppose."
I'd received a report that results would take until at least next year, and not nearly enough time had passed since then.
"Very well. Keep your senses sharp regarding anything related to the Magic Tower."
"Understood."
"You may go."
…I supposed I should be glad there wasn't much new information.
If there had been, it all would have translated directly into more work for me.
Was I done with work now?
…No.
Now it was time for the real thing.
"My Lord."
…Here it came. Real work.
"Commander. You've arrived."
Margrave.
A ruler who governed a territory pressed up against foreign enemies.
As a noble charged with defending the borderlands, a margrave held authority far beyond that of ordinary aristocracy.
Independent command of a large knight order? Fully within their power.
Naturally, their rank and treatment were in a different league from a typical count's.
So then — who exactly were the foreign enemies bordering our territory? Foreign tribes? Heretics? The holdings of another nation?
None of the above.
The foreign enemy was… monsters.
Someone unfamiliar with the Kaisis Empire might well raise an eyebrow.
Monsters dangerous enough to require a margrave? Monsters on par with foreign tribes, heretics, or rival nations?
Couldn't you just wipe them all out and reclaim the land?
…The Kaisis Empire wasn't stupid. Of course they'd thought of that.
These weren't ordinary monsters — that was precisely why no one dared try to wipe them out.
And it wasn't just monsters, either.
What else existed in the neighboring region?
Ancient Dungeons.
Ancient Dungeons. Simply put, dungeons that had existed since distant antiquity.
Of course, if they'd merely been old, they would have been conquered and erased long ago.
These Ancient Dungeons were impregnable fortresses that had never once been cleared — from ancient times right up to the present day.
There was a reason people said that what survived was strong.
If the Ancient Dungeons had simply sat there, it wouldn't have been much of a problem. Leave them alone, keep people from wandering in, and that would be that.
The problem was that the monsters inhabiting these Ancient Dungeons didn't always stay quietly inside. From time to time, they came out.
And when they did, they didn't just stand around. They moved — and if they found a human settlement nearby, they attacked without hesitation.
And unfortunately… the monster specimens that lived in Ancient Dungeons were extremely, extraordinarily powerful.
In the early days after the Kaisis Empire was founded, when the existence of Ancient Dungeons was still poorly understood, a single monster that emerged from one wasn't dealt with quickly enough. The resulting damage was beyond imagination.
The losses from that incident severely weakened imperial authority — and with the throne weakened, rebellion and civil war followed.
From that point on, the Empire began calling these exceptionally powerful monsters that emerged from Ancient Dungeons — specimens capable of posing a serious threat to imperial security — Ancient Monsters.
From the Empire's perspective, the regions around Ancient Dungeons were a genuine headache. The surrounding lands happened to be extraordinarily rich in resources, and they also happened to be the Empire's greatest granary.
It was far too valuable a region to abandon simply because an Ancient Dungeon sat nearby.
And so this region became a margravate.
So. We now knew that the foreign enemy this territory faced was Ancient Monsters.
What, then, was the single most important duty of the margrave who ruled it?
That's right. Ancient Monster-related work.
Even the investment in combat magic had ultimately been about securing means to deal with Ancient Monsters.
And the person who served as middle manager for all Ancient Monster-related affairs — the one who reported that work to me — was none other than the Commander of the Knights of our territory.
…In short, when the Commander of the Knights showed up, the odds that real work was about to find me were extremely high.
The chance that a matter the Commander personally came to report was something ordinary? …Was there any?
"Movement from an Ancient Monster has been detected."
And our Commander of the Knights did not betray that expectation.
…I really wish he had.
"Have its exact location and projected path been identified?"
"Location and path are still unknown."
"Movement detected, yet location and path still unknown… A creature that knows how to move with considerable stealth."
"We are also considering the possibility that its abilities fall into that category."
"Or it could simply be one with exceptional intelligence. …Either way, it's equally troublesome."
The brutishly strong ones were actually easier to deal with. At least those had no chance of slipping into the territory itself.
If an Ancient Monster somehow breached the surveillance net and got inside the territory? …I didn't even want to imagine it.
I could take it down, of course.
The problem was the damage that would occur the moment an Ancient Monster entered the territory.
Any chance of getting through unscathed? Absolutely none.
Significant casualties and property damage would be inevitable.
And with a competent margrave image to maintain, if something like that happened?
No. That absolutely could not be allowed to happen.
According to Ivan Cloers's memories, the surveillance net had been reinforced as a precaution — and still an Ancient Monster capable of slipping through it had appeared…
My head was starting to hurt.
Why, of all times, did an Ancient Monster like this have to show up right when I became Ivan Cloers?
It looked like my plan to head to the front lines, personally thrash Ancient Monsters, and earn back image points would have to be shelved.
This was not a situation that left room for leisure.
If anything, it was extremely serious.
"As a precaution, we should begin preparing so that nearby residents can evacuate immediately, Commander."
"I shall carry out your orders."
"Given that its location and path remain unidentified, it appears to be a solitary specimen. Be prepared to deploy soldiers for civilian evacuation as well."
"Understood."
Still, the best outcome would be finding it in advance…
"Can we increase the number of knights on search duty?"
"…That would be difficult at present. Knights with exceptional search capabilities are, for the most part—"
"—a considerable number of them fell during the previous margrave's expedition. I shouldn't have asked. And the training of the new recruits?"
"Exceeding expectations. However… I believe it is still too early to deploy them in actual combat."
I understood the Commander's concern.
"Deploy them carelessly and we could lose precious talent. Still, give it consideration. If we hold back out of caution and an Ancient Monster gets into the territory, it'll be too late for regrets."
"I will keep that in mind."
"Is that the end of your report?"
"It is, My Lord."
"Then you may go. Well done."
The Commander of the Knights bowed once and left the room.
The moment I was alone, I let out a long, heavy sigh.
…I was already starting to miss those moments of laughing and playing board games with Aria.