The First Domino
The Valkart Kingdom is a nation of grotesque proportions. The royal family is by no means weak, yet warlord nobles, strong enough to rival the throne, are scattered everywhere just a week’s ride outside the capital. To the south lies an empire three times the size of Valkart—a power that can hardly be called small. Yet, the kingdom has maintained its form, and the reason it has never once been invaded by the empire is singular.
"You may touch any other nation, but do not lay a hand on Valkart."
These were the words left behind by an imperial emperor over a hundred years ago. Even if the empire were to occupy it directly, or force it into vassalage, the losses would far outweigh the gains. Furthermore, the Mana Beast Front—a threat that could cause the empire itself to falter if handled incorrectly—was the reason the Valkart royal family and its nobles grew so strong. To top it off, they even operated a conscription system under the name of "noble duty." Thus, even if the young nobles themselves did not desire it, a landscape naturally unfolded where they constantly flaunted the martial power they had cultivated.
"In such a situation, the Valentia Ducal House is the one that has been left behind."
The current Duke of Valentia had been conscripted to the academy decades ago to maintain the Mana Beast Front, but compared to his predecessors, he had no notable military achievements. He had barely managed to survive, clinging to life until he returned. It was only natural that other nobles, seeing this, began to look down on the Ducal House, which had fallen behind in both political neutrality and martial strength.
"And, though it is not my taste to speak ill of the deceased, the previous young duke was also a mere commoner—a man of no distinction, much like the current duke."
The blonde woman, who had finished her second cup of tea as if her throat were truly parched, was reciting the current political situation of the kingdom while looking at the noble, blue-haired woman before her with a slightly anxious expression.
"But for the next young duke to act like this? Does he truly wish to start a territorial war?"
"Why do you ask me that, Lady Beatrix?"
"Do not misunderstand. I say this only because His Highness brought the matter to me personally."
Lilit Valkart. The current princess of the kingdom. However, she was not the material to become queen; once the crown prince ascended the throne, she would be used as a diplomatic bargaining chip for a marriage with another kingdom or a high-ranking noble. The moment she approached, using this incident caused by the noble faction as an excuse, the daughter of Marquis Beatrix thought to herself:
'Could she be trying to protect her faction now? After leaving it completely neglected, to the point where it would have dissolved on its own if only a little more time had passed?'
It was foolish. Unlike the crown prince, this princess had never cultivated her own political influence, nor had she paid attention to the power dynamics around her. And yet, she was picking a political fight with the Eastern Beatrix Marquisate—the most powerful family among the nobles who had struggled with all their might to grow strong enough not to be pushed around by the royal family or the Mana Beast Front. It was such a foolish act that people might say the princess had gone mad and was finally preparing for a succession war.
"It seems you are the one misunderstanding, my lady."
"What... could I possibly be misunderstanding?"
"I am merely a mediator. A mediator has brought a proposal, and you are the one openly mentioning a territorial war. Aren't you the one who simply wants to fight?"
"......"
She said that because the mediation proposal itself made no sense. Certainly, the noble faction students had begun to heat up in their bullying of the relatively weaker royal faction nobles. But that was nothing more than what had always happened until now. It was said that even the academy had simply confirmed it as a "children's fight," handed out demerits, and moved on. But to demand that if the compensation plan was not fulfilled, the Valentia Ducal House would reduce the supply of food to the West by 60 percent for the next three years? That was practically a declaration of war.
"I have no such intention, but I mentioned it because the Valentia Ducal House seems to want one."
"I repeat, this is a mediation proposal I have brought. The excuse that there were no human casualties will not work. The person who rescued them was a knight of the Valentia Ducal House, and its master, the young duke of Valentia, simply did not want to let this incident pass. I believe it is morally and ethically wrong for the one who physically initiated the attack to move on without even the minimum apology, but it seems you do not think so, my lady."
"In that case, I can offer a gift of gratitude rather than compensation. Of course, I will instruct the involved noble ladies to offer personal apologies as well. However, as the head of a faction, I do not see why our house should take responsibility for everyone's 'personal incidents.'"
"That is nothing but sophistry. It is such a boring, pathetic sophistry that I cannot believe it comes from the head of a faction who led the charge in downplaying this incident more than anyone else."
"......"
As the head of the faction, she naturally shielded them. Professors who had strangely favored the noble faction had been ruined or disappeared, and external heads of noble faction houses had been entangled in incidents and kept dying, so the noble faction had been physically and politically whittled away in ways that were not immediately visible.
"Then, are you saying you will not accept it?"
"Yes. I cannot accept such a proposal."
The compensation proposal for this incident, presented by the Valentia Ducal House and brought by Princess Lilit of Valkart, contained an absurd condition: the Marquisate must unconditionally pay 1 percent of the profits from the iron ore mines they owned to the victim of this incident for 15 years. The victim of this incident was merely the second daughter of a baron's house. It was even an incompetent family that had begun to be left behind, just like the Valentia Ducal House. And yet, to demand such absurd compensation just because they "accidentally" pushed a lady of such a family—who wasn't even injured—was unthinkable unless the Marquisate, the hegemon of the East, was being treated as a joke.
"I see. Then do as you wish."
"......?"
Princess Lilit stood up cleanly, as if she had expected this. However, she left the documents regarding the compensation liability right there on the table.
"I will state this clearly in advance. Everything that happens from this moment on is something you have chosen, my lady."
"...Your Highness. Is this a threat?"
"No. It is a notification."
Lilit colored her plump lips with a haughty smile and declared to the Marquis's daughter. In front of Carix, she was a princess who was obsessed with strength and dopamine to the point of stalking him, but she only acted that way in front of Carix; she was a properly educated royal.
"I will offer my deepest condolences in advance."
She knew. Once Carix began to do something, he never knew where to draw the line. He had no hesitation in committing crimes, and he was even more thorough in covering them up. In other words, the Marquis's daughter would regret not accepting today's events in some way, very deeply.
"Do your best."
"......?"
Seven days until the daughter of the Marquis Beatrix, the hegemon of the East, would be on her knees, clutching the princess's skirt and begging.
Carix had been reincarnated into the world of the game Silver Moon Night, but he had absolutely no interest in the game's story. Even if it occasionally caught his eye, he only gave it a glance because Leng couldn't suppress his chivalry and sense of justice and would move on his own.
'But it’s stupid not to use what you can use.'
The Beatrix Marquisate. The moment he heard that name, only one story came to mind.
'The raid content that begins in earnest.'
The memories of his past life as a "skip-addict" weren't particularly helpful. However, he did have quite a few memories of content that couldn't be skipped. The Beatrix Marquisate was a family that became a "reliable supporter of the player" after a certain incident.
'Originally, as the head of the noble faction, they kept clashing with the player, who was a commoner, but they became allies after the player resolved a mana beast incident that erupted in the family's territory.'
That was the first mana beast raid. It was like a raid tutorial.
"I wonder how long the Marquisate can hold out in a world without a player."
Of course, I have no intention of helping them. If I hadn't been able to collect money by killing the professors and their families, I might have moved to gain a financial advantage, but now I have enough money and there is nothing I want to get from them.
"It will be a suitable stage for the first experiment to see how long the world can hold out without a player."
They will die quite a bit, but they aren't the people of my family's territory. Above all, even without memories of a past life, it is a disaster that could have been prevented well in advance; it is merely an accident brought about by their own complacency.
"I’m just going to add a spoon to the table."
I just hope the Marquisate holds out very hard, without even a shred of expectation.
"Ugh!? How dare you do this to me and expect to be safe!!!"
"Yes. I would be safe. This is, after all, an honorable duel. Didn't you also recognize that properly before accepting?"
Utilizing the excuse that Carix had fallen down the stairs and gotten hurt, Leng was guarding Princess Lilit's side. And unlike before, when he had been passive because he was by Carix's side, he was now actively seeking out and "hunting" the Eastern noble faction.
"But isn't the word 'dare' a bit funny? There are five of you. One student you were bullying. And one 'first-year' student who responded on their behalf. You gladly accepted when it was said to be a 5-on-1 duel, and now that you've been beaten, you say 'how dare you'? It looks pathetic, not to mention sleazy."
"Yo, Your Highness the Princess!! Your words are excessive!! In the first place, that person is a twenty-six-year-old active knight...!!"
"If that is unfair and sorrowful, shall we not have a duel between students next time, but entrust the duel to our escorts, staking our honor? Jena. How about it?"
"Five escorts, is it? It will be difficult, but I cannot ignore a knight who draws his sword to protect his master's honor. Should I accept it as you all rushing in together, just like your masters?"
"""!!"""
Leng Dust on the left. Jena Prix on the right. By the princess's side were a knight of the Ducal House who mercilessly beat up noble students, and a royal knight who devoured the escorts of students. When the 3rd-grade royal knight lightly loosened her shoulders and reached for her sword, the noble faction's escort knights broke into a cold sweat, swallowed dry saliva, and only stared at their own masters. It was a look filled with the hope that they would please just bow their heads, apologize, and run away.
"Ugh!! Just you wait! This matter will definitely...!!"
"Jena."
-*Shing.*
"Damn it...!!"
Lilit chuckled at their backs as they retreated, filled with nothing but resentment when a stronger force beat them down, even though they had enjoyed leading the bullying while backed by the prestige of the Beatrix Marquisate.
"But, is it okay to just keep doing this?"
"The young master said that doing just this would be enough."
"It feels like rumors will spread that the Valentia Ducal House has truly begun to belong to the royal faction... Ah. Of course, I welcome it. If I can hold a sword in the same direction as Sir Dust, I would be happy in any situation."
Leng, who had beaten up the Eastern faction nobles who were already over thirty, and Jena, who had smashed their knights head-on. And Princess Lilit, who led the two and began to actively protect the royal faction. Honestly, it felt refreshing, but they didn't know what Carix was aiming for. Lilit was just doing it because she was told to, not wanting to be scolded again; Leng was satisfied because he could protect his chivalry and his own sense of justice; and Jena was just happy to be acting with Leng.
But all three harbored the same anxiety. All three knew that if you keep pressing down on force with stronger force, an even stronger force is bound to appear as a wall.
"Your Highness. We have a big problem. This opponent is too bad."
"Wow... The Beatrix Marquisate has really played a super-strong card, hasn't it?"
"What should we do? Should we tell the young master? No matter how much I’ve grown rapidly recently, it’s impossible to beat a 3rd-grade veteran knight who carries the title of the strongest knight in the East."
The super-strong card played by the Beatrix Marquisate. It was the same move [the Valentia Ducal House had played]. They had bestowed a high rank upon a strong knight so that he could stand as a new noble, and had additionally transferred him into the academy.
"Let's go to Young Duke Carix first. If we meet this person head-on without any alternatives, I think we’re really going to be screwed."
It wasn't that Leng Dust's skills were lacking. It was that the situation where the opponent had gone mad and made the 'vice-captain of the knights who guards the family's territory an academy student' was insane. Judging that Leng Dust could be seriously injured if they faced him head-on, Princess Lilit went straight to Carix.
"Wow. That’s the stupidest response possible. The Marquisate is ruined now."
"Eh?"
"Young master. What do you mean by that?"
"You'll know in a little while. And Princess."
"Yes?"
"Please go to your quarters early today and get some rest. And you can have someone use their connections to check the movements of the Eastern territory. Ah. Please be absent from tomorrow's external practical training."
"Eh. Absent? I was kind of looking forward to that..."
"You won't lose anything by listening to me. Anyway, since the Marquisate has played the worst move, you just have to watch them collapse now."
Even at the news that a 3rd-grade knight was coming, Carix only left behind words that it was fine, and continued to enjoy his teatime leisurely.