Cleaning Up the Surroundings (1)
Cleaning Up the Surroundings (1)
"I suppose I can call you an adult now."
Miguel seemed incredibly pleased to be setting out on the road with me.
Miguel had been the one training me since I was a child. It made sense that he, more than anyone else, would be delighted by my growth.
But contrary to his words, I wasn't fully grown yet.
There were quite a few soldiers built similarly to me, but I still couldn't compare to the knights' physiques.
Thanks to mana reinforcing their bodies, knights were, on average, a head taller than ordinary people. The nobles who had awakened physical abilities were no different.
"No complaints about being led by a young brat?"
"Haha, of course not. Besides, didn't you leave the actual practical work to me anyway?"
Miguel was now a senior knight as well—one of only three in the order.
As the youngest senior knight, he was still only in his mid-thirties, but he now exuded a dignity that hadn't been apparent in his youth.
With a portion of the Duke's estate's knights remaining in the capital, the rest split into four groups and departed alongside the soldiers.
Knight Commander Alonso led a large force of knights and soldiers toward the Northern Mountain Range; the Vice Commander headed east, while Sir Hugo led his knights and soldiers west.
Normally, Simon, the heir to the Duke's estate, would have accompanied Knight Commander Alonso, but a groom with a wedding coming up couldn't very well be deployed.
Instead, my brother Manuel ended up going with Alonso.
If he was headed to the north of the territory, the hardships must be no joke... I offered Manuel my silent condolences.
As for the south, I was put in charge alongside Miguel, the senior knight.
They had probably paired us up because Miguel had been in charge of my training.
Fortunately, Juan ended up coming along as well.
Juan had volunteered to attend to my needs.
Many knights traveled with squires.
Traveling on horseback while wearing plate armor came with all sorts of inconveniences.
A squire was a sort of apprentice who took care of those inconveniences and, in return, learned the knight's swordsmanship.
Independent knights or academy knights who couldn't afford to pay a squire's wages rarely traveled with one, but most knights from noble families or the Royal Knights brought their squires along.
To noble families, a knight's squire was just another soldier anyway.
But I had no need for a squire.
Since all my weapons were relic weapons, they required far less maintenance and upkeep than ordinary weapons.
The greatsword wouldn't break, nor would it chip or scratch. All I had to do was wipe it down well with a cloth.
The dagger had been gleaming ever since it received relic repairs from the Grand Archduchess.
Admittedly, I had trashed the academy-issued swords multiple times, but I could easily get another with Katrin's backing.
The same went for my armor.
I wore my academy uniform and, occasionally, leather armor.
Though they wore out quickly, they were much easier to maintain and repair than plate armor.
If they got ruined, I could simply change into other clothes or leather armor stored inside my relic pouch.
Even now, I was wearing a steel breastplate over my leather armor, covering only my chest.
The steel breastplate was nothing but a nuisance, but I had no choice because of the eyes of those around me.
Traveling on horseback wasn't particularly difficult, either. It was just slightly more tedious.
But when traveling with knights, it wouldn't look good for the Duke's son to be running around feeding the horses.
It was amusing that they whispered about me being a bastard but would still look down on behavior like that. But that was just the vanity of nobility.
"With your skills, Juan, you could have easily become another knight's squire..."
"I know my place, young lord. Once you succeed someday, just making me a squad leader of ten will be enough."
Juan was already more than capable of leading a squad of ten.
When I had entered the dungeon with Katrin, Juan had worked himself to the bone after being thoroughly beaten by the Royal Knights while waiting at the well.
Though he couldn't face knights because he lacked mana, he was hands down the best among the soldiers.
But it seemed Juan hadn't taken on any official position just so he could attend to me.
I rode the fine steed Juan had led up for me, advancing along the road with the knights.
I carried my greatsword on my back, wore my dagger at my waist, and even wore my necklace and ring, just in case.
"If we're heading south, we must be going all the way to the Lansarot Viscountcy, right?"
When I said that, Miguel nodded grimly.
The instruction that we could cross into another territory if monsters or bandits fled there was, in other words, no different from telling us to cross the domain border.
Ultimately, it meant picking a fight with the neighboring territory.
The north was fine, since it involved dealing with the monsters of the mountain range, but the other three directions were bound to spark conflicts with other territories.
Though they claimed it was to show off the marriage of the heir, Simon, it was clearly excessive.
To pick such a fight in times as turbulent as these...
Yet no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't fathom the Duke's true objective right now.
"In the worst-case scenario, we might end up fighting knights from other territories, not just monsters or bandits. It's not that I doubt your skills, young lord, but if we clash with knights, I think it would be best for you to step back at first."
The last time Miguel had assessed my skills was several years ago. It was when he stopped training me, saying he had nothing left to teach.
Though we'd sparred a few times since then, he hadn't seen my true capabilities.
He had only heard rumors of my real combat experience, and even this time, since I had diligently avoided the knights after sparring with the Duke, they remained unaware of the strength I'd developed over the past year.
"Don't worry. I'm good at reading the situation. But I hope you don't forget that I am the commander here."
I knew he didn't fully grasp my strength, and I appreciated his concern, but it would be troublesome if he overstepped too much.
At my words, Miguel looked as though he'd just realized something.
"My apologies. That was an overstep. I will be more careful in the future."
He said it in a loud voice.
He was making his apology known to the surrounding knights and soldiers.
After he spoke, I could see the knights and soldiers treating me with significantly more caution.
"Don't tell me you were testing my reaction?"
"Of course not."
When I asked him about the day's events while we were at camp, Miguel vehemently denied it.
"It is true that I made a mistake. You put it well and made me realize it, young lord."
But seeing him smile as he spoke, it was hard to believe him.
I had thought about this before, but just because I remembered my past life and had lived a complex, futuristic modern life didn't make me any better than the people around me.
When I was young, I had tried to act like a genius, but I had simply matured a bit earlier and possessed a bit more knowledge.
In this world, there were countless people with far greater wisdom and enlightenment than I had.
'If remembering my past life made me a genius, there's no way I would have died so many times.'
Watching Miguel today, I was able to realize this once again.
Traveling with the taciturn soldiers, it took quite a long time to reach the domain border.
I couldn't help sighing inwardly as my vacation, which was supposed to be a time of rest, slipped away like this, but I didn't let it show.
After traveling for several days, we finally met up with the soldiers patrolling the domain border.
"We have been waiting for you."
A squad of ten soldiers was waiting for us in a small village.
The squad leader stepped forward as their representative and explained the situation to Miguel.
"Even without this, the situation was likely to become a problem soon. Previously, they only caused trouble on the Lansarot side, but lately, they've been crossing the domain border frequently."
He wasn't talking only about bandits. The monsters were moving in much the same way.
"The monsters around here are incredibly clever. They've roughly figured out how our security is arranged and are only attacking the weak spots."
"To be honest, the Lansarot Viscountcy was in such a state that it could barely be considered functional, so we weren't too worried. But things must have gotten so difficult for them lately that they're eyeing our territory as well."
Even powerful territories were struggling to gather their strength, so small territories were in an even worse position.
To think they were trying to cross into our territory because there was nothing left to devour. Just how ruined was their territory for such talk to arise?
"At that rate, they might as well have asked our territory for help."
At my question, both Miguel and the soldier shook their heads.
"Of course not. How dishonorable is it to receive help because you can't manage your own territory properly?"
That damn useless honor. It would be utterly useless once the territory went to ruin.
Another knight, who had been listening closely, spoke up.
"More than that, could it be because Viscount Lansarot supports the Second Prince...?"
Although the Duke of Gracia maintained neutrality, as befitted a grand duchy, he was still closer to the First Prince's faction.
The Duke of Gracia had always quietly supported the royal family.
Since the First Prince was the official successor, everyone assumed that the Duke, as a supporter of the royal family, would naturally back the First Prince.
That was how they viewed it in the capital as well.
But recalling the Duke's demeanor, I tilted my head.
The image of the Duke following the First Prince simply didn't fit.
It seemed far more plausible that the Duke would simply cut down the First Prince instead. That wouldn't actually happen, of course, but...
Rather, if that was the reason, it actually made sense.
If they had aligned themselves with the Second Prince so openly that even the knights knew about it, it was obvious they would find it difficult to ask the Duke for help.
We were able to obtain a map from the soldiers showing the bandits' movement routes and the territories of the monsters.
Since most of the activity was taking place in another territory, it wasn't a detailed map.
But it showed us where we needed to look.
Without this map, attending Simon's wedding would have been utterly impossible, and I might not have been able to return to the capital by the start of the academy term.
Thus, right from the start, we ended up crossing into another territory.
After taking a final rest in the village, we immediately set off toward the south.
It was an ordinary road, but the moment we crossed the signpost marking the border, the atmosphere shifted drastically.
"It really looks like a ruined territory."
Broken carriages and abandoned corpses.
Even the village we passed through lay in ruins.
It was in much worse shape than I had expected. Trade with a territory this devastated seemed entirely out of the question.
Since it wasn't a major trade route, the Duke's territory wasn't particularly affected, but it was hard to imagine how the residents of this territory were managing to survive.
As we ventured deeper into the territory, we encountered our first group of people.
As expected, the first people we ran into were bandits—knights and soldiers wearing filthy plate armor.
"Deserters?"
Though I had seen mercenaries turn to banditry in the Baron's territory, this was the first time I had seen actual knights and soldiers become bandits.
"Bandits?! I am a knight of Viscount Lansarot! The Viscount will not forgive the soldiers of the Duke of Gracia for crossing the border without a word!"
At Miguel's words, the knight made an unexpected claim.
Huh? Had I misjudged them? No, even so, there was no way proper knights and soldiers would go around looking that filthy.
While Miguel was flustered by the unexpected response, I stepped forward.
"We have come at the request of Viscount Lansarot!"
It was a lie, of course, but let's see how they responded.
"T-That can't be..."
"Then this is bad. We must report this immediately."
The knight frowned, and the soldiers began murmuring anxiously.
They'd fallen for a lie like that—they were definitely deserters.
I raised my hand.
"Attack! Clean up these bandits!"
At my command, the knights charged forward.