Chapter 9
Chapter 9
* * *
The Nozen Grand Duchy, in the west.
In the middle of the night, the Grand Duke of Nozen furrowed his brow.
"What is this?"
The Grand Duke of Nozen, Hilbury Nozen, was a white-haired old man.
He had a stout build and distinct features, but he wore an eyepatch over one eye and had a prosthetic leg.
Holding a densely written report, he pointed at one item.
"Timber to be used for rebuilding homes? Olive wood?"
"Ah, it is not something you need to concern yourself with."
The aide answered respectfully.
"It was timber that came in unexpectedly, so we decided to purchase it from the budget for supporting the territory's residents. Because the wood is sturdy and beautiful, it stands apart from ordinary relief supplies, and in a crisis like this it would do far more to raise the commoners' morale......"
"Hm? It came from Sears."
Stroking his beard, Hilbury narrowed his eyes.
"I understood the new Marquess Sears is currently away?"
House Nozen was a distinguished noble family recognized, together with House Sears, as a meritorious house of the Empire.
However, it was walking a path exactly opposite to that of House Sears, which had continued to decline until its influence had become no better than that of a frontier count's house.
House Nozen had prospered endlessly, bordering the western granary region. So its wealth and honor, and of course its information network as well, were beyond comparison.
"I understand it was ordered by Lady Brisa. When a grain merchant came demanding repayment of a debt, she is said to have offered to pay it in timber."
"Hm."
Hilbury did not know the details of the relationship between a mere grain merchant and the marquisate.
Nor was the purchase of furniture-grade timber to be used for relief a matter worth his attention.
Under ordinary circumstances, he probably would have let it pass.
If not for the name Sears, or for the girl Brisa behind this unexpected timber.
Narrowing his eyes, Hilbury murmured.
"Leopold sent flowers to this child anonymously, didn't he?"
"......He wished to keep it a secret. He kept a very tight lid on the information."
"There is nothing in this land that I do not know. A mere fourteen-year-old cannot hide anything from me."
Hilbury exposed the boy's private affairs.
"Especially when it concerns my only grandchild, who will inherit this duchy."
Leopold Nozen.
The fourteen-year-old heir of the grand ducal house, who closely resembled Hilbury's younger self.
The grand duchy in the west was prosperous, with famous granaries and mines.
But a disaster called the Monster Wave struck every year.
This year's Monster Wave had come earlier than usual, and its scale was greater than any on record.
So Leopold had been deployed to the field immediately, without even attending his academy graduation ceremony.
House Nozen's Special Ability ran especially strong in Leopold, making him an indispensable asset against the Monster Wave.
"In the midst of that chaos, while moving toward the battlefield...... flowers......."
It was a duty that no heir of Nozen could avoid.
Hilbury, too, had lost one eye and one leg in that process. Therefore, Hilbury had no choice but to send his grandson directly to the battlefield.
Even though, ten years ago, the son and daughter-in-law he had sent to the battlefield had returned as cold corpses.
"Well, um...... I wonder. Given the circumstances, he couldn't even attend the late Marquess Sears's funeral, so perhaps he was simply being considerate toward her as an academy classmate?"
The aide was desperately trying to protect the boy's privacy. All the more so because it was the sort of thing Hilbury would disapprove of.
"It's something anyone could do, ahahaha. Hahahahahahaha."
"......."
"Hahahahahahahaha."
"......."
"Haha."
The effort failed.
Instead of laughing it off as trivial, Hilbury raised an eyebrow.
Ordinarily, he would not have paid it any attention at all, even if Leopold had sent flowers to that girl.
'House Nozen is far too busy to concern itself with some unremarkable noble house in the central region.'
But this matter was somewhat interesting.
"The olives of Sears have always gone hand in hand with the family's history. Cutting down those olive trees is not something one does lightly."
Hilbury sifted through his memories.
While at the academy, had Leopold ever spoken of Brisa......?
He remembered a conversation they had shared at the grand ducal residence during last winter's break.
"The teacher in charge praised her a great deal. He said she's especially gifted in the looks department, but objectively, she does everything well. Heh heh, since you never missed first place in any exam, Leopold, of course you'll rank first. Then who do you expect to be second?"
"The same person places second on every exam, so I suspect she'll be second overall."
"Is that so? Who is it?"
"Brisa Sears."
"I understand that child entered two years earlier than the other children. And yet she is second in every exam?"
"Those are the results."
As always, Leopold gave only a dry answer that revealed nothing of what he was thinking.
Instead, Leopold's maternal cousin beside him, Sylvia, chimed in brightly.
"But that girl is in the library all night. Seeing that she still can't beat Leo despite working that hard, I think her raw intelligence is probably about on my level. Right, Leo?"
Then Leopold answered.
"That's an interesting opinion."
That was the aristocratic expression for "that is nonsense."
As befitted the heir of the west, Leopold never said what he was thinking directly.
"She's so haughty and prickly, she has no friends. She's incredibly pretty, like a porcelain doll, but I've never seen her smile or get excited. Her personality is definitely not normal. Right, Leo?"
"That's somewhat debatable."
That meant "I do not agree."
After shooting Leopold a glance, Sylvia chattered on.
"But her jewelry and belongings are all top quality. Most kids couldn't even imagine that House Sears is going completely to ruin. Hm, though she herself doesn't seem to know, either?"
"Sylvia."
Leopold spoke without any change in expression.
"Isn't the pepper too strong on this duck?"
That meant "I don't want to hear any more of your nonsense."
At the time, he had let it pass without a thought, but now that he considered it.......
"I should send an informant to Sears."
Raising an eyebrow, Hilbury gave the order.
"I need to know as well."
The old man's one remaining golden eye gleamed calmly.
"It seems Leopold holds that child in high regard. I wonder whether she is someone I, too, should take the measure of."
* * *
A few days later, in the Sears Marquisate.
"The marquess will probably come today, won't he?"
It was the day Alpheus was scheduled to return.
Philip fidgeted as he planted the remaining seed potatoes.
"As long as he catches the Warp on time, he'll arrive this afternoon."
When I gave no answer, Philip laughed awkwardly and continued.
"That Wendy...... Alpheus will probably scold her harshly."
Wendy had been left out of the potato-field labor.
The punishment I had given her was not being taken seriously by anyone.
"We're not that kind of clueless lot."
Philip seemed to have forgotten how rudely he had talked back to me at first.
"She's just a bit like that. She worships Alpheus so much that she crossed the line."
I looked out over the former Olive Plain, now a seed-potato field, and let out a faint sigh.
Up to this point, I could still pass it all off as something I had done because I was mad.
'I'm just a little crazy, and I wish Alpheus would come back.'
I hoped we could avoid that early hardship from the novel, when everyone began to starve.
But Alpheus did not return that afternoon.
Instead, in the middle of the night, one member of Alpheus's elite unit staggered into the marquess's residence.
"Unexpectedly, it seems the marquess will be quite delayed."
He spoke with a pained face.
"Right now the marquess has...... departed suddenly for the east to save the Second Imperial Prince. He sent only me to convey the situation."
I pressed my forehead and sighed.
Just as expected, it was exactly the same as the future I had come to know.
Rangsi, who had been working late as usual, came running in a fluster and asked.
"The east? Why's everyone suddenly goin' to the east?"
Alpheus's knight spoke, gasping for breath.
"They say a Monster Wave has started in the eastern sea. The one paying our reward—no, the Second Imperial Prince is isolated there...... and the only person who can acknowledge the Marquess's achievements in the Northern Civil War is the Second Imperial Prince."
It matched the flow of the original novel.
I decided to stop doubting now.
It was true that I had come to know the future.
Fortunately, I had been preparing for it accordingly.
"He can't come back empty-handed as things stand, and the two of them are comrades-in-arms besides. So the marquess had no choice but to go there."
"No, but why'd the Second Imperial Prince go there? Ain't he supposed to be in the middle of a victory banquet? Why in the world would someone that high up go there again?"
According to the original novel, the Second Imperial Prince—capable but born of a commoner Imperial Consort—would fall victim to the Crown Prince's scheme at this point and die in the east.
"How would I know? It must be an order from someone even higher, I suppose....... Still, there's the Warp, so won't he be back within three days?"
Three days, my foot. The Warp becoming unstable was only just beginning.
'Even this knight was half a day late already.......'
The Warp runs on magical power. When monsters possessing magical power appear, its operation is inevitably affected.
And so the problem arose the very next morning.
