Fun Territory Defense of the Easy-Going Lord – Chapter 51

8-10 minutes

 

[Different PoV] The result of being flashy

“The son of the Marquis de Fertio? The Marquis has reported nothing to me.”

His Majesty said in a low voice at my words.

His Majesty’s eyes lit up with a dangerous gleam. You think this could be a possible rebellion of the Marquise?

There was a subtle change in the air, but it didn’t matter to me.

“I do not know about the report from the marquise, but the frontier village to which he was entrusted was a small village with no name. Van went there as a lord with nothing to protect himself except a wooden fence built by a hundred or so villagers with their own hands.”

He begins and looks at the reactions of the villagers. Most of them are curious as to how he is going to slay a dragon in such a situation.

“Amazingly, when the boy arrived, the village was under attack by a band of thieves. He destroyed them with a few of his men and the adventurers he had hired as guards, and protected the village.”

“Oh-ho. He fought in the field at an early age and won. That’s not something you can do very frequently.”

His Majesty leaned forward and said so. It was a good reaction. I suppress the edge of my mouth from rising and continue my story.

“The boy moved first as a lord to fortify the defenses of the village. He surrounded the village with an earthen wall with earth and rocks. He also built a moat and repaired the broken houses.”

When I tell them this, they gasp in admiration. That indeed was impressive. If a child of only eight years old could accomplish that, it would be debated whether he was a child prodigy or if it was a false story.

I interrupted that commotion with a louder statement.

“He also commanded only a hundred men to take down forty armored lizards.”

When I announced this, the clamor finally reached its climax. From everywhere, I could hear voices questioning the truth of my words.

“No, that’s absurd, even the Royal Capital Knights can’t do that easily…”

“One at a time?”

“No, I don’t think armored lizards come out that regularly. Don’t you mean that the total number of Armored Lizards defeated in a few years would be forty?”

As I listened to the exchange and waited for the place to quiet down, the Prime Minister forced the place to calm down by clapping his hands.

“…I would like to know the strength of that village and the number of armored lizard attacks.”

At this question, I tightened my expression.

“The strength of the village is just around a hundred villagers, the deputy commander of the Marquis’ Knights and two knights. And one old butler who is also a magician. The rest are five adventurers. In contrast, there were forty armored lizards at the same time in one attack.”

When I told him the details, his surprise spread.

“So there are only three knights, one magician, and five adventurers…it’s not a proper battle by any stretch of the imagination. How good are these adventurers?”

“They are first-rate, but not outstandingly so.”

In reply, His Majesty and the Prime Minister look at each other and snarl.

Then the Prime Minister looked at me and opened his mouth.

“…This is hard to believe, but do you have any proof?”

“We have the materials of the dragon and the armored lizard that we defeated. All of them have minimal wounds and little or no magical damage. I joined in defeating the dragon, but only managed to stall it once or twice. In the end, thanks to Lord Van Nei Fertio and his men, we achieved all of our goals without suffering a single casualty.”

The Prime Minister’s face turned grim as I declared this clearly, perhaps judging it to be a misstatement.

Well, I suppose that’s true. If it were the other way around, it would not be so easy to believe.

“Some of you may doubt the contents of this report. However…”

As soon as I said that, His Majesty raised one hand and spoke.

“I have no doubts. There is no advantage in telling lies here for the moment. If you have slayed dragons, there will be more materials on the market that cannot be hidden, and it will be obvious where it came from. As for the rest of the credit for defeating the dragon, who would benefit from a report of another person’s defeat, even if it was their own, regardless of what the other person had done?”

“It is also imaginable that she may be trying to gain her own territory indirectly by handing over the achievement to an easy-to-manipulate child when a completely unrelated person was supposed to have gained it.”

The Prime Minister objected to His Majesty’s speculation, but was denied with a wave of one hand.

“Do not test me. If I were him, I would ask for the territory to be given to me directly for defeating a dragon. In a few days, I will send someone to the site for verification. At that time, it would be easy to confirm everything.”

His Majesty said grimly, and the Prime Minister smiled and looked at me as if he were troubled.

“…His Majesty says he trusts you. If this is a conspiracy, your title will be relinquished. In addition, you will be severely punished. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do. I would like you to see the scene of the incident. I would like His Majesty to see firsthand how much the boy Van changed the village in such a short period of time. If I were to make an appeal again after that, perhaps His Wise Majesty would appoint him as the new Feudal Lord of the vast Domain for the country’s defense.”

Raising one edge of my mouth, I replied confidently. Then the place erupted in a big clamor, both the Prime Minister and His Majesty looked down at me with smiles on their faces.

***

I walked out of the castle and went to my men and Rango who were waiting outside the gates. A crowd had gathered around us, and the soldiers and Rango were giving the people detailed information.

I had more than two hours to spare.

Perhaps word of killing a dragon had spread throughout the Royal Capital. In addition, the lead wagon was intentionally made to look as if the roof would not close, exposing part of the dragon’s face.

This was sure to cause a commotion.

“Oh, Panamera-sama!”

Rango noticed, and the soldiers stopped talking and turned around.

Then the onlookers noticed my presence and started talking something with someone nearby in a whispering voice.

Whatever they thought of the situation, there was no doubt that a crowd of people was gathered here. I reported the results to my men in a loud voice, in a way that they would not be aware of my presence.

“The title of Lord Van Nei Fertio has been decided as a baron. In addition, the rewards for his achievements in defeating the Green Forest Dragon and the Armored Dragons will be decided at a later date. With this, the Bell and Rango Chamber of Commerce can be established.”

The Marquis of Fertio’s name was so well known among the people that the mere mention of his name would have made Van known as a member of the Marquis of Fertio’s family.

“Today, I’m going to report to the Merchant’s Guild the establishment of a new trading company, what should it be called?”

When I asked this question to emphasize the establishment of the new Chamber of Commerce, Rango opened his mouth somewhat proudly.

“The Rango Chamber of Commerce!”

Rango quipped.

“…Oi. What are you doing leaving your brother’s name out of it?”

Rango simply nodded with a sparkle in his eyes when I confirmed it.

“My brother, you should be proud to see your beloved brother’s name on it.”

Rango said this with unclouded eyes, but there was no doubt that he would be punished for this later.

“…Shall we register with as Bellrango Chamber of Commerce then?”

I replied, and Rango nodded with an obviously displeased look on his face.

***

Later, as planned, the name of the new Chamber of Commerce had been registered and the rumors of the new Baron Van Nei Fertio became the biggest story in the Royal Capital.

Most of the rumors spread were stories about defeating dragons, and they were spread with heroic content. The characters were the new Baron Van, his knights, and me.

For some reason, the story ended with the dragon being surrounded in a field battle and a young boy accompanied by a mighty swordsman chopping off the dragon’s head, but rumors always tend to become flashy.

My exploits were also flashily adapted, so I guess it was a good thing.

“Well, boy. This will make things interesting. You should be thankful.”

I said to myself with a small laugh.