A Third Force

When I returned to Seat village, there were some signs of engagement there. But nothing serious.

“Welcome home!”

Dee nodded a few times, smiling happily.

“I’m home! I got Scudetto back, so I’m back first!”

That Espada’s eyes widened slightly as he replied.

“Already? I thought it would take a few months to siege the fortress, but…no, that was a foolish question.”

As I said this, Espada looked at the armored wagon behind me and agreed on his own. Dee laughed at that, and I suddenly realized how few of us there were.

“What happened to Captain Borra and the others?”

“Oh, Borra-san and the others were once part of Viscount Panamera’s knighthood. I think they will be back very late.”

“Hmm. That would be a good experience. Our knighthood has a loose discipline and atmosphere that is unimaginable from others. It would be a good opportunity for you to learn such things in other knightly orders.”

Dee laughs a lot when she says this, and the knights laugh.

Well, the discipline and atmosphere may be loose, but the content of the training is devilish. If the atmosphere were to be so tense, I think everyone would cry.

And so, with laughter, we returned to our village, which is our territory, and went back to the lord’s mansion.

**

“Oh, Brother Unimog is being held captive? So, this is a village on the edge of the Marquis of Fertio’s territory…?”

When we arrived at the lord’s mansion, I dismounted Freightliner from the carriage to extract more information and lightly explained the situation, but he looked around the village and gave me a dubious look.

“Yes, it’s the village of Seat, which is now my territory.”

“Heh, heh. This is the poor village that even that Unimog brother was said to be able to conquer with ease… Wait, no way! I could only see a little bit of it, but it even had more powerful walls than Scudetto! I mean, all the buildings are in a style I’ve never seen before, and there’s even a remarkable tower!”

Freightliner exclaimed with wide eyes. From left and right, soldiers were readying their swords, but he was completely out of it.

“Hey, that’s good, right? They’ve got tall towers on either side, and they’re keeping a tight watch on the perimeter. The walls are probably sturdier than the Royal Capital’s, and the defenses have a track record of defeating dragons. It’s the pride of this village.”

“Wow! No, no! That’s too much, but what is this village? It’s so far removed from the information we have at home that it’s making me dizzy!”

Freightliner was holding his head in his hands and screaming.

Hmmm…that’s a pretty good reaction. That’s a good reaction, just the way Van likes it. I wonder if there was anything else that surprised him.

With this in mind, I entered the lord’s mansion and headed for his office, replying to everyone’s welcomes.

As soon as we enter the office, Freightliner is strapped into a chair, with Arv and Roe standing on either side and Dee standing behind him. On the other hand, Arte and I are sitting on the sofa in front of the room, with Till and Camsin standing on either side of us.

Freightliner is surrounded and is shaking with a blue face.

“…Well, Freightliner-dono. I’m sure you understand, but it’s better for you if you give up all the information you know. If you don’t, you will regret having been born…”

“Ha, yes! I will tell you anything! Please don’t kill me!”

I shook my head from side to side at Freightliner’s immediate answer.

I shook my head left and right. He’s quite stubborn. He’s got guts for a royal, but in this situation I’d have to say he’s a fool. Let’s start with the fingernails. Next are the teeth, then the ears…the eyes should come last.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! I’ll talk! No, I don’t care about royalty anymore, I swear my allegiance to Van-sama!”

“Hmmm…I wonder how long that stubbornness will last. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Listen to me! I’m not being stubborn! I’m obeying you to the best of my ability!”

Hmmm…interesting. He’s quite a gem, isn’t he?

While I was enjoying the reaction of this promising newcomer, Till and Arte were looking at me with their eyebrows raised in the shape of a c.

Was I teasing them too much?

“All right. It can’t be helped. I’m sorry, but maybe we’ll have to do the torture some other time.”

“I’m sure I’m going to be tortured eventually!”

I chuckle and answered to Freightliner, who is shaking with a force of about seven tremors.

“I’m just kidding. Then, from now on, I will ask you to be my ally and answer all the questions I ask you.”

“Yes, sir!”

Freightliner gave the best reply ever and straightened his back.

For the next hour or so, Freightliner rambled on with great aplomb, and now we all know what it’s all about.

And now we are all going over the details.

“…I mean, the Kingdom of Jiernetta is planning to attack from three different places, and from what we have seen so far, the invasions of Seat Village and Scudetto have failed.”

Espada, who has joined us, tells us this, and Dee, who was showing a grin.

“The Kingdom of Jiernetta has also made a great plan, but both the wyverns and the black ball, which we relied on, were prevented, and we lost badly. All of this is Van-sama’s credit.”

Dee says this with a laugh, and Camsin nods happily.

Espada and Arte, however, were different. Arte in particular was shaking his shoulders with a serious look on his face; Espada looked at him sideways and snorted in a low voice.

“…Both of them had Van-sama weapons, but the last place, Count Ferdinand’s territory, does not have them. The main effort seems to have been directed at Scudetto, but I think they are having a very hard time.”

As Espada said this, everyone looked at Arte, the youngest daughter of the Countess of Ferdinand.

Even though she has been treated coldly, I still wonder if they are worried about her.

As I was thinking this, Arte turned to me with a determined look on her face. Her eyes slightly moistened, she opened her mouth with a dignified expression.

“…Van-sama, even if the army of the Kingdom of Jiernetta is second only to the invasion of Scudetto, I believe that Count Ferdinand will be able to hold out for a few months. If that happens, we will be waiting for Panamera-sama and Borra-san…”

I interrupted Arte as he said this quickly, holding up one hand.

“Let’s get the reinforcements ready now. We need to build new mobile ballistas and catapults, so we can’t leave right away, but we’ll be there to help as soon as we can.”

Tears came to Arte’s eyes as he replied. He looked away from Arte’s face as he tried to hold back and looked at Espada.

“Can you prepare the materials? We also need manpower. How many people can I take from the Knights?”

Espada’s chin pulled back in thought as he asked, and he was silent for a few seconds.

“…Yes. Let’s temporarily merge the two knightly orders and select twenty people from them. After that, we’ll probably just hire thirty adventurers. Although the number is small, it should be possible to cover them from a long distance by utilizing Van-sama’s weapons, and as I infer from Freightliner’s information, the army heading for Count Ferdinand’s territory does not yet know this. We should be able to scrape together enough supplies and be ready to go in two days.”

As Espada stands up to answer, Dee and the others stand up to join him.

“It’s Arte’s home. We will definitely help you.”

With that, I stand up as well. But then, Arte waited for me.

“No, we can’t rely on Van-sama to take care of Count Ferdinand’s territory. If you give me the doll, the adventurers and I will go there.”