Devoting Myself to My Duties at Anel Castle

Rebellion.

It meant an act in which a vassal entrusted with a castle raised arms against their sovereign for some reason or another.

In the course of a rebellion, the retainers stationed at the castle would either join the uprising or be driven back to their original faction, depending on where their loyalties lay — but resources like troops, gold, and food could be swallowed whole by the rebels as they stood.

Whatever the case, a rebellion would crack a fissure through the Serpina Army's formidable ranks. And if we used that opening — whether by striking the rebel castle itself or one of its neighbors — our forces could seize the advantage. Was that the idea?

But for the Brans Army to actually turn this situation to its favor, it would inevitably need to station sufficient troops at Jeiland Castle the moment the rebellion broke out.

In the immediate chaos of a coup, even the Serpina Army would scramble — but they were a nation with the depth to crush a rebellion swiftly and re-form their lines before long.

Which meant I had arrived at this conclusion almost entirely by chance, thanks to Airen.

If she hadn't offered her opinion — something close to a warrior's instinct — that the north needed defending, I never would have seen this path at this stage. Of course, if Lin had asked me directly, I would have produced the same answer. But Lin was no Lunarien. She was not a lord who entrusted me with everything, who asked me what ought to be done and believed in me absolutely.

Besides, I had only been able to reach this conclusion by reasoning through it step by step. If she had simply asked me outright, the prediction would have dropped into my mind like a stone — Invade the northern territories of the Serpina Army — and I would have been left scrambling for the right words to persuade her.

At any rate, the course was set.

If things continued as they were, even if a rebellion did break out, the Brans Army would be too preoccupied with the Asius Army to act on it properly — and in the end, they would fail to plant their banner ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the north.

Well. Even so—

I suppose that's just how fate has it.

Lin Brans was not destined to become the unifier of the continent. And from my position — a man who needed to serve under that unifier — there was no need to pour my heart into persuading her.

For the time being, all I had to do was work the markets on commercial business and spend my days with Airen.

Having decided as much, I finished arranging the maps and turned my head.

Airen was asleep, back against the wall, crouched down where she sat.

I approached her slowly, careful not to make a sound.

She was beautiful.

Long red hair. A finely shaped nose, and skin so pale it hardly seemed to belong to someone who lived by the sword. She had the kind of beauty that could have carried her through a life of quiet privilege — a little etiquette training, a marriage into some suitable noble house, and a peaceful existence. But she had been born into an age of chaos, and the blood that ran through her veins was not of high birth.

A little foolish in her steadfastness, perhaps — yet she had refused the easy road, carrying her father's dying will close against her chest as she fought her hard way forward.

A knight. A specialist in siege warfare. The sole surviving heir of House Juliette, which served House Brans. Beyond all those titles, she was simply a woman named Airen.

She bore far too much on her shoulders, alone, with no one to acknowledge the weight.

I had no intention of letting this woman die.

She would be of great use to Luna — the woman who would one day be my lord again — in completing the unified nation.

I'll keep you alive somehow, Lady Airen.

I drew slowly away from her again. After extinguishing the lantern that had been casting its dim light across the room, I lay down on the bed.

Lying there, all manner of thoughts drifted through my mind.

Wearing clothes stamped with the Brans Army's crest. Attending councils for the Brans Army. Hearing Airen's private circumstances…

And yet, even through all of that, one woman still occupied a place in my mind.

Lunarien Iniang.

The lord who would unify the continent.

Come to think of it.

A question I hadn't asked myself in some time.

Could Lunarien Iniang become the lord who unifies the continent?

Before sleep took me, I fed the question into my mind without much thought, just to check again.

…And then.

…Huh?

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

"Ahaha! Catch me if you can!"

Children's shouts and laughter.

"This is a bit… Are you sure this price is right?"

"Ah, of course it is. Anel Castle's got better supply than most, so it's cheap. Try the next town over — see what they charge you."

Customers haggling over goods, merchants fielding their complaints.

And right in the middle of this thoroughly peaceful marketplace, what I was doing was—

"Welcome."

—astonishingly enough, working the counter as a greeter.

"Ah, you're from the Brans Army. We'll be counting on you again this time."

Judging by the shopkeeper's words, it seemed common enough for officers to be sent out to help like this.

This month alone, the Brans Army had assigned commercial duties to dozens of officers. The most capable among them — the one with the highest Politics stat, I assumed — had taken the lead and distributed the work. And the job that fell to me was customer service.

The venue was a tavern.

A place where undiscovered talent gathered, where rumors from every corner of the continent drifted through the air. I had spent my own jobless days in taverns just like this one, hoping someone — anyone — would take me on.

Perhaps the idea was that if a tavern thrived as a hub for talent and adventurers taking on commissions, commerce itself would flourish in turn.

Anel Castle's tavern was enormous, so there were several other staff members besides me. Among them, apparently, were other C-rank officers who had been ordered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to work here just as I had.

Being posted somewhere like this told me one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thing, at least.

My Politics stat must not be particularly high.

That was probably why they'd stuck me in a relatively low-skill position. Of course, customer service could be refined into a bottomless craft if you wanted it to be — but given how much free time I currently had, it was clear I wasn't in any critical role.

Without a status window to consult, I had to estimate my own stats as best I could.

Still, it wasn't a bad arrangement. All that spare time meant I could test a few things.

First of all—

The question I had asked myself before falling asleep last night: Can Lunarien Iniang become the lord who unifies the continent?

The answer to that was — nothing.

Not even something like "unknown." I simply couldn't extract an answer at all. It felt almost the same as when I hadn't received a question in the first place.

Once a question had been put to me, I had always been able to ask it of myself again as many times as I liked. But for some reason, this one was blocked.

Sensing something off, I immediately put several more questions to myself — all of them ones I had received when I first met Lunarien.

Of the three, only the last — the question about Lin — produced an answer.

Fundamentally, I could not put questions to myself directly. To make a prediction, I needed to hear the question from someone else's mouth. Once I had heard it from another person, I could ask and answer it of myself as many times as I wished.

But here I was — unable to produce answers to questions I had clearly received in the past.

From that, I could roughly guess at a rule I hadn't known before.

Namely—

The questions I've received are reset the moment the lord I serve changes…?

If that was correct, the reason only the question about Lin still worked was simple. It was the very first question Lin had put to me when she took me into her service.

In that case, did my questions — being a strategist's predictions — prioritize matters related to the army I currently belonged to?

That didn't quite fit either, though. Being able to foresee the futures of other lords still bothered me a little.

Of course, this wasn't a perfect answer. The reset itself seemed real enough, but it could be time-based… or triggered by some other factor I simply hadn't noticed yet.

Either way, I can't know right now.

If I grabbed someone and said, "Could you just ask me whether Lunarien Iniang is the lord who will unify the continent?" I could easily check the result again. But without Luna — who had always taken my every word at face value — wandering around asking strange questions like that would only draw unwanted attention.

I had Airen, true, but we weren't close enough yet for something like that.

An opportunity to check again will come eventually.

And so I spent my time at the tavern doing whatever was asked of me, dealing with people in a halfhearted sort of way.

Whether this really counted as "contributing" to commerce was debatable… but then again, in the realm of internal administration, Politics mattered far more than Intelligence.

Not that I particularly disliked the work. If anything, having to cook up ideas for developing the market would have been more of a hassle.

I was part of the Brans Army anyway. Why go all out?

Just do the job.

And so I passed the time working without any particular passion.

A week had passed since the mission began.

On the way back from the market, I bought some of the snacks the local children all seemed to carry around. A typical sweet bun, with something like jam tucked inside the bread.

"I'm back."

"Mm. Well done."

When I got home, Airen greeted me warmly — still in that absurdly revealing training outfit of hers, soaked in sweat as she rested.

"Have you been swinging your sword all this time again today?"

"I have."

Those firm little muscles clinging to her waist were no doubt the fruit of that hard road.

It felt a little awkward under the circumstances, but I spread what I'd bought out on the table. Airen came over, curious about my purchase.

"What's that?"

"A snack. The children of Anel Castle all walk around eating them."

"Ahh… Swen. Do you have a sweet tooth?"

"Not exactly. It's just that you always make tea for me, Lady Airen. I thought they might go well together."

Airen's house did have tea snacks, but they tended toward the plain and mild rather than the sweet. If we were going to brew tea anyway, something sweet alongside it couldn't hurt.

"I see… I've been devoted to my training, so I've been avoiding sweets as much as possible."

Well. That tracked.

Someone who put that much care into building her body was hardly going to ignore her diet. Aside from the time she'd grilled meat for me as a sort of welcome feast, her meals were generally simple and modest.

"Well, if you're deep in training and prefer to abstain from sweets, I suppose it can't be helped—"

I started to put the snacks away as I said it.

And then — tap — her hand settled on my wrist.

"…"

"?"

"…Ahem."

She cleared her throat pointlessly, unable to get a word out. When I tried to pull my hand free, her grip was so strong I couldn't move either way.

"…Lady Airen."

"What is it?"

"Would you like some?"

"…!"

The way her face flushed in an instant told me I'd hit the mark.

Living with her, I'd come to realize she was surprisingly bad at hiding her feelings. But the food didn't fit her routine, so she was clearly wrestling with herself over it.

In moments like these, a little push was all it took.

"If you'd like, we can share them. A few won't hurt."

Oblivious to the fact that my words might as well have been a devil's whisper, she covered her mouth with her hand and gave a stiff little nod.

"…Well, it's not that I particularly want any… but you went to the trouble of buying them, Swen."

She said it with the faintest upward curl at the corner of her mouth.

Why was that? Hearing a lie so thoroughly in Airen's style made me want to tease her.

"No, I'm fine. If you're only eating them because I bought them, you don't have to. I'll finish them myself. Please ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠don't feel obligated."

"Wha…!"

"I don't want you forcing yourself. Really, no need to feel pressured."

"Ah… th-that's…"

The moment her grip loosened, I slid the buns aside. She leaned in after them like a cat eyeing a treat, bending at the waist, her violet eyes flickering with unmistakable longing.

She really was terrible at lying.

That was enough teasing.

I laughed lightly, nodded, and said, "I'm joking. Let's eat them together, Lady Airen. That's why I bought them in the first place."

She looked faintly indignant, her expression turning sulky.

"…Swen. Sometimes I truly cannot tell what you're thinking."

"I hear that a lot."

"…Heh."

She laughed briefly, as if she'd enjoyed that — then rose and headed for the kitchen.

"I'll wash up quickly and bring the tea. Just wait a moment."

"As you command."

Nearly ten days had passed since I'd started living under the same roof as Airen.

I was growing used to her, little by little.

That news arrived roughly two and a half weeks into the commercial mission.

"I'm to suspend the mission and report to the royal castle at once?"

I asked the soldier who had come to fetch me.

"Yes. Our lord is calling for you, Lord Swen. She said the mission may be paused for now."

Lin wants me?

What for? I couldn't imagine what would bring her to summon me at this particular moment — but then again.

I'll find out when I get there.

"Understood. I'll wrap things up and head to the royal castle immediately."

"Yes. I've delivered the message. That will be all."

I exchanged a brief farewell with the soldier, explained the situation to the people I worked with, left the tavern, and made straight for the royal castle of Anel Castle.