Chapter 1 – Triumphant Return to Homeland
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Baldr’s group accomplished their role as goodwill ambassadors to Sanjuan Kingdom and returned home. What was waiting for them was a celebration that was held by Mauricia Kingdom.
Although it was only as an adopted daughter, his friend Teresa had become the daughter of Welkin, the fully-fledged king of Mauricia Kingdom. And that girl became engaged with Sanjuan Kingdom’s new crown prince, Franco.
This was, of course, the result of the two’s love of one another.
However, it was also a fact that the matters wouldn’t have developed like this without Baldr, who had been dragged into the succession of Sanjuan Kingdom’s throne. Allying himself with the navies of Sanjuan Kingdom and Majorca Kingdom, he played an active role in the battle against the pirate group that had used the Trystovy Dukedom as their stronghold.
The engagement of Mauricia Kingdom’s second princess Rachel met a setback due to the death of Abrego, the previous crown prince of Sanjuan Kingdom. Because of that, the Mauricia palace was astir with celebration that was more than necessary.
「Princess Teresa, banzai!」
「Mauricia Kingdom, banzai!」
「King Welkin, banzai!」
The commoners were exploding with excitement over this Cinderella story that was unexpectedly taking place.
From the beginning, commoners loved this kind of success story.
Of course, Teresa was still a noble albeit a low ranked one, so she wasn’t a commoner. However, her Bradford family came from the lineage of knights that obtained deeds of arms in war and entered the ranks of nobility.
Even if they were just a commoner right now, it might be possible for them to rise in the world and become royalty in the far future──such a dream was swelling inside the commoners and stirred them wild.
But, there also existed people who thought bitterly of such an atmosphere.
These people were mostly the nobles who lost their special privilege due to Welkin’s structural reform and felt uneasy about their future due to the commoners encroaching into the workplace that was under their control.
「Truly deplorable. To offer a mere daughter of a viscount to a royal family, even if they are the royal family of another country. The dignity of Mauricia Kingdom will be questioned like this!」
「That girl is also a badly-behaved child who likes to dress as a man. Won’t such girl give birth to a seed of disaster between us and the Sanjuan Kingdom instead?」
「There are many other young ladies who are more worthy to be a crown prince’s wife. In the first place, why can’t her highness Rachel take this role?」
Military nobles who had territory in remote regions tended to be looked down even among the nobles. It was shocking news for these people that a daughter from such a noble would become the wife of a crown prince.
They could still accept it if the girl came from the royal family or from one of the ten great nobles.
However, of all people, it was a little girl from a military noble that had no other talent except swinging a sword that obtained this honor. For this girl to go over their heads and get adopted into the royal family, it made them feel like even their authority, which was the last bastion of their pride, was being violated.
「──Do you all think that it’s fine for things to keep going like this?」
「Shh! You mustn’t say anything thoughtless. That king is famous for his sharp ear.」
「Hmph! No one among us could possibly be a traitor!」
The one who said that was Count Hendrick Hastings(ヘンドリック- ヘイスティングス). He was a man in the middle of his thirties and put on an air like he was the leader of this noble gathering. He stood up with a loud rebuke.
「Authority is something that is always shifting. Certainly at the present time, we might be in a relatively low social position. However, have you all forgotten? Until that war, the royal court was unable to control both the bureaucrats and the military. If only that war didn’t happen, the royal family wouldn’t be able to raise their head towards the ten great nobles even now!」
This statement could be said to completely hit the mark.
Until ten years ago, the nobles didn’t need to work this hard in order to maintain their authority.
Rather, the king and the prime minister couldn’t even carry out their policy or tactics without the support of the nobles at that time, and they were frequently forced to compromise.
If only that war didn’t happen──although, many nobles became victims in that war and had their strength weakened due to running wild due to their own selfish motive──not one of them couldn’t stop from thinking that.
「The royal court spent these ten years expanding their own authority. The annoying commoner upstarts are supporting that. As a result, we are being isolated and have to be obedient to the royal court in order to survive.」
Hendrick talked heatedly with a clenched fist.
「Several of our comrades who shared our sentiment are already ruined. If we continue to remain a spectator like this, the day will come that we will lose the authority that is our right and be purged if we resist. The time is now for us to act for the sake of regaining our past glory!」
「But if we’re too rash, we will be purged immediately, you know?」
The bureaucrat nobles in the ministry of justice and ministry of finance who were punished as an example some time ago were still fresh in their memory.
Naturally, they understood that it was a warning from the king.
「Of course we won’t do this openly. Right now the conditions are too unfavorable. However, I have no intention for us to keep being a silent spectator forever……if our power was whittled down because of the war, then don’t you think that the opposite can also happen, that a war can also whittle down the power of the king?」
For the ruined nobles who couldn’t change the situation with their own strength, Hendrick’s words sounded very alluring.
If the king’s power was reduced, then the noble’s power would also increase in proportion.
They were thinking of this idea like it was a simple balancing scale, but by no means there were only the king and the nobles who were put on this scale.
Everything in this world──for example, Mauricia Kingdom’s bitter enemy, Haurelia Kingdom was also placed on both ends of the scale. This perspective was lacking in Hendrick’s words just now, but no one here noticed it.
This short-sightedness was none other than the factor that led to their own ruin. But their pride was too much for them to realize this.
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「──Good grief, I was wondering just what in the world had happened when you wrote to me to take little miss Teresa as my adopted daughter.」
「I have no excuse at all.」
Baldr had the awareness that he had clearly asked for something unreasonable. He could only prostrate while sweat flowed from his forehead.
In which world could there be a son of a count who demanded for the king to adopt someone?
Although everything was fine and dandy because matters had been wrapped up safely without accident, it wouldn’t have been strange for heads to fly if it ended in failure.. Baldr felt a chill in his back after realizing this late that he had done something reckless.
「Well, the result from it was the best possible result I could ask for. I’m satisfied that I can make Sanjuan Kingdom owe me a favor, but to think that you would go as far as finding a wife for the crown prince……」
Welkin shrugged in amazement and laughed heartily.
In order to soothe the ruffled feathers after his refusal of the new marriage talk from Sanjuan Kingdom, Welkin sent Baldr there expecting that he would leave a good impression on them at best.
Although this was Baldr he was sending, so Welkin thought that Baldr might be able to obtain some kind of new connection with Sanjuan Kingdom.
Baldr himself absolutely wouldn’t acknowledge it (Welkin was pitying him from the bottom of his heart regarding that), but Baldr had a troublemaker disposition where troubles would approach him without even him needing to do anything.
In a certain time, this was what people would call the hero’s destiny.
Even so, Baldr interfered in the throne inheritance dispute, made the new prince owe him a great favor, and even mediated for his childhood friend to become the consort of the crown prince. Who in the world could possibly predict such a thing?
With this, both countries became allied to each other with a closeness that surpassed Welkin’s imagination.
Welkin didn’t even need to send one of his dearly beloved daughters to another country for this. Even Teresa’s actual father, Mattis, was crying in happiness over his daughter’s match.
What was even more surprising was the fact that the newly appointed military minister of Sanjuan Kingdom formed a personal friendship with Baldr.
For Mauricia Kingdom, being able to strengthen their cooperation with a country that possessed naval power was an achievement that couldn’t be ignored.
However, the fact that the female naval minister of Majorca Kingdom Urraca was seeking Baldr’s hand in marriage was a bit problematic.
Perhaps this boy was a lady-killer that could even put his father Ignis to shame. Welkin thought to entrust Rachel to Baldr, but perhaps he should rethink the matter?
Either way, for Mauricia Kingdom that was fundamentally a country with only a land-based army, Sanjuan Kingdom’s navy was an irreplaceable existence for their strategy against Trystovy Dukedom.
Furthermore, the pioneering of a sea route was a problem that they had to face one day in order to support the development of the domestic economy.
「──Baldr Cornelius, you have produced a result that surpassed my expectations. Well, there are also various problems with it, but I shall not question them. After all, a snake might jump out if I unnecessarily poke the bush.」
The new technologies like the compass and lightning rod that Baldr provided to Sanjuan Kingdom’s navy──it was possible to offer them immediately because they were a technology that Baldr himself secretly possessed.
If those technologies were something that were under the control of Mauricia Kingdom, even Baldr would have to be cautious.
Because of that, Welkin thought that it would be boorish to snatch the trust that Baldr had won. Also, he couldn’t think of anyone else other than Baldr who would be able to win the trust of the new military minister.
Baldr himself was still hiding many mysteries, but Welkin’s instinct that had served him for many years told him that it would be dangerous to turn Baldr and the people around him into enemies.
It was unclear whether at this time Maggot, who was waiting for her son’s return back home, was sneezing or not.
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「──And, because of that.」
Welkin clapped his hands and leaned back heavily on his throne while laughing brazenly.
His laughing face was cruel and merciless like a kid who had found something he loved to toy with. The prime minister Harold prayed for Baldr’s happiness in the next life.
Those who were in the know knew who was moving behind the scene of Teresa’s moving tale.
Even if the person himself didn’t plan for this result, even if the majority of it was simply Baldr leaving the matter to take its own course, seeing only from the result, the great achievement that Baldr accomplished was something difficult to achieve even for any top class diplomat from any country.
In addition, Baldr also possessed his own personal distribution network through Savaran Company and a connection to a foreign country. In the slightest chance that the kingdom slighted Baldr, it was possible for him to turn into a terrifying enemy.
Just as the saying 「The nail that sticks out gets hammered down」 went, a faction that perceived Baldr as an enemy of their interests and moved to remove him would certainly appear in the future.
Both Welkin and Harold didn’t have any intention to abandon this promising talent who shouldered the future of the kingdom.
In other words, they thought that it would be necessary to distance Baldr from the capital for a moment because he still wasn’t used to the conspiracies and schemes that were the royal court politics.
「I shall promote you to viscount in light of your achievement this time. As well──」
This was a gamble.
He didn’t think that it was a gamble with bad odds, but Welkin thought that it was a slightly problematic gamble as a country’s leader.
However, there was no doubt that this was a decisive moment.
The time remaining for this country wasn’t that much. A mere makeshift solution would only create a breeding ground for future problems.
Now then, it was time to make the call.
「I shall appoint you to be the feudal lord of Antrim that is currently under the direct control of the crown. Accept this appointment humbly.」
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(What the hell is this guy saying!)
Baldr wanted to yell that, but it was the words that directly came from the king himself and outwardly, it was a reward for him. It was nearly impossible for a retainer to raise an objection right from the front.
(Shit-, he screwed me! This damn sly old fox!)
There was no doubt that this appointment had been decided since he was chosen as an ambassador to Sanjuan Kingdom.
Welkin promoted Baldr to be a feudal lord using a suitable achievement as the excuse.
Welkin was smiling very elatedly. It felt like his expression was saying 「Just as planned」.
A decent person most likely wouldn’t even think of this kind of idea.
After all, Antrim was an auspicious territory of Mauricia Kingdom that was jutting out into Haurelia Kingdom’s territory. That area would also become the place where war with Haurelia Kingdom would break out.
Three of the four sides of the territory were surrounded by Haurelia Kingdom. This remote place was even called as “Mauricia Kingdom’s appendicitis” because of that. To leave such a place to an inexperienced boy like him, it could only be called political violence.
Depending on the situation, it was possible that the sparks of war between the two countries would be reignited once more.
Or perhaps that was Welkin’s aim from the start? If he could make the bureaucrats accept the military’s expansion by increasing the tension between both countries……the risk was high, but this sly old fox might really be scheming something like that…….
「──I accept this appointment with all due respect.」
「Umu, I expect that you will surpass my expectation without fail──because if not, I won’t be able to give you my daughter.」
Welkin made the last part of his sentence muddied so Baldr wouldn’t be able to hear while he concluded the talk with a good mood.
Harold thought of the future of this boy who would be toyed around by Welkin even in the future and quietly wiped the tear forming in his eyes.
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Antrim──it was located around 320 kilometers north from Cornelius territory. It was located on the eastern tip of the mountain range Morgan, which had little in the way of level ground, just like Cornelius.
Viscount Bradford’s territory was located at the back of that Antrim. For Teresa’s family to be located nearby had an extremely large meaning in case they needed swift reinforcements.
Although, the house of Viscount Antrim was annihilated to the last man before the reinforcements could arrive in the last war. This environment where the territory was surrounded from three sides by an enemy country could be said as a serious difficulty that beggared the imagination.
Antrim was placed under the direct control of the royal family since the death of the entire viscount family. The territory was ruled by the magistrate that was dispatched there, but the territory’s defense was in a state that hadn’t been touched at all.
The plan for this extremely hard to defend area until now was to swiftly abandon it the moment the war started. Therefore, Welkin predicted that the number of nobles who would criticize Baldr’s appointment to this territory would be small.
Because it was obvious that everyone would shrink back if he told the detractors, 「Then how about I appoint you to rule that place instead?」.
No one would want to be given a dangerous territory.
However, this Baldr was a man who had overturned Welkin’s expectations several times until now.
Welkin didn’t even consider that Baldr would quietly settle into the framework of a normal feudal lord.
When Baldr produced a result that surpassed the imagination, there should be some people who would take action from the backlash of it.
If things went well, a chance to drag out the harmful insects that were shutting themselves inside their hole and purge them away would surely arrive.
「Ku ku ku……don’t betray my expectation okay?」
Soon it would be a good time to repaint the color of the kingdom──Welkin judged that from the viewpoint of a level-headed politician.
Strengthening international relationship with political marriage was necessary, but the relationship between the royal family and the domestic nobles was also just as important.
If marriage between royalty and noble was done carelessly, it might bring in high-handedness from the maternal relative. On the other hand, it was also an effective method to obtain a comrade who was capable and also loyal to the royal family.
Of course, he had no intention to force a marriage to his daughters with someone that they seriously hated.
Welkin was known as capable and scheming, but he had a side as a doting parent who mixed individual emotion when it came to family.
In the first place, even if the rulers from all ages were investigated, there wouldn’t even be one among a thousand who was a perfect person who never brought personal feelings into public matters. And what was so bad about a father who treasured his daughter! Welkin seriously believed so.
Rachel had never actually said it out loud, but Welkin was also aware that his daughter was harboring special feelings for Baldr.
Perhaps it hadn’t reached the level of love. Then it was the job of a capable father to give his daughter a push on the back. Welkin chuckled to himself fully intending to meddle with his daughter’s romance.
──Rachel! Next is your turn to do your best!
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「Is Chichi-ue’s business with you over?」
When Baldr walked through the palace’s corridor, Prince William came talking to him with a sullen face for some reason.
Baldr recalled when William was complaining that it was unfair in dissatisfaction because he couldn’t come along to Sanjuan Kingdom, but this person also wasn’t the type to hold a grudge this long.
Baldr thought that William was just going to pester him for the tales of his travel, but this reaction was unexpected.
「……Looks like you were doing absurd things again, huh? Chichi-ue told me the stories while looking really happy. Hmph, how dare you have fun without me──well, I’m pitying you about Chichi-ue’s reward though. Tell me at any time if there is anything that I can do to help. Ah, that’s not it……a-anyways, come with me!」
「In the end, what is it that you want to say, William?」
「Don’t ask me!」
William was telling him to come along while he himself didn’t know what it was for. It was really unreasonable.
William was already an audacious person from the start, but he could be talked rationally with. Baldr was puzzled by this chance of attitude.
(Good grief, every last one of them──what is so good from a lady-killer like this……)
William was muttering curse-like words inside his mouth without saying it out loud.
For a young man with a siscon disposition like William who was in the middle of his puberty, Baldr was simply a friend in the end. He wasn’t someone that he wanted to call brother-in-law no matter what.
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「Long time no see, Baldr-sama. Even though I wanted to have a talk with you after finally recovering……but you went to Sanjuan Kingdom before I could……」
Baldr politely greeted back at Princess Rachel who was welcoming him.
「It’s great to see that your highness is looking well.」
「Oh, even though you’re calling William without any honorifics. Don’t treat me as a stranger by calling me your highness like that. You’re my life’s savior, you know?」
Rachel smiled mischievously while leaning forward. The dress that she was wearing had the chest area largely opened. It was as though that area was inviting him while she was sending him an upward gaze from her leaning posture.
A place that he mustn’t see almost entered his sight. Baldr hurriedly averted his blushing face.
(As I thought, this person is also that person’s daughter──!)
How much did this family want to toy with him before they were satisfied?
「Ane-ue, aren’t you acting a bit immodest right now?」
「──Do you think that you have the qualification to say that, you foolish little brother.」
「Yes, I’m completely in the wrong just now.」
(Weak-! William, you’re weak–!)
William looked bashful from guessing what Baldr was thinking in his heart.
William was rebellious towards his father and brothers, but for some reason he couldn’t oppose his sisters at all, no matter how old he had become.
「──Baldr-sama, you haven’t answered?」
Rachel smiled like a little devil. Her beautiful face made Baldr gulp even though he should have been used to it after spending time with beautiful girls like Seyruun, Selina, and Silk.
She had the bearing of someone who was aware of the height of her own status and used that as a weapon to add on to her charm further. It was something that could only be learned by someone who was born as royalty.
Baldr wasn’t someone who would falter because of the difference in status, but it had to be said that he was slightly at a disadvantage when facing beautiful and older women.
「Onee-sama, you’re being very proactive. But shouldn’t you hold back a little at least until I have the time to introduce myself?」
「I-i-i-it isn’t like I’m being impatient or anything!」
When a teasing voice came from the girl with a jovial gaze who was sitting on the next chair, Rachel’s expression that had been composed until now became clearly agitated.
She waved her hands in a panic in front of her face and her face became bright red up until her neck. She couldn’t immediately say anything.
Baldr was puzzled at what was making her become that panicked, but then it seemed to offend William and he kicked Baldr’s shin angrily.
「OWWWWWW!」
「Hmph, this damn blockhead!」
「You over there, William, don’t vent your anger on him too. You won’t be able to open your mouth again if Rachel-oneesama gets angry at you.」
「Sorry……please spare me just from that!」
(This guy……is he really that Prince William? He isn’t a different person with the same face?)
Or rather, is it really that bad if your big sister asked you to not open your mouth, William?
「It’s nice to meet you for the first time. I am Rachel-oneesama’s little sister and William’s elder sister, Margaret(マーガレット). I have been wishing to meet and thank you one day. Thank you for saving the life of my precious big sister Rachel.」
Unlike Rachel who had an elegant and neat atmosphere, Margaret was a lively girl whose vigor was overflowing from inside to enhance her beauty.
However, behind her expression, it also felt like that the blood of Welkin had been passed down to her even thicker than Rachel.
Baldr raised his guard inside his heart while bowing politely.
「It’s an honor to be able to meet your highness Margaret. Please treat me well from here on too.」
「I also wish to get along with you even in the future. Perhaps it will be better if I start calling you brother-in-law from now?」
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*Bufuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!*
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Rachel and William who were bringing their cup of tea to their mouth to calm down spat out their tea at the same time. Baldr’s ceremonial attire for having an audience with the king, which were few in number, was stained brown.
「Ma-Ma-Ma-Margaret! What are you saying so suddenly?」
「That’s right, Ane-ue! How can you speak about such a significant matter so nonchalantly──」
「Hot-! Hot-! Hot-!」
「……Is it alright? There is a gentleman who is about to get scalded by the tea that you two spurted out though.」
「Aaaaaaaa! F-forgive me, Baldr-sama!」
Rachel noticed Baldr writhing around from the heat and pushed her handkerchief on his chest in panic.
The tea seeped until his underwear too. In order to wipe off that part too, Rachel half-reflexively took off Baldr’s coat.
The trained and lean white skin that couldn’t be imagined from looking through the clothes was exposed. Rachel finally realized what she was doing then.
「Oh my, Onee-sama, how bold!」
「W-w-w-w-wrong! I-I-I-I have no ulterior motive at allll!」
Rachel turned red up to her ears and made excuses desperately. The composure of an older woman was already completely gone from her.
It seemed that Rachel was a very innocent and shy person at heart.
On the contrary, Margaret, who was laughing in amusement, really looked like she had inherited her father’s blood just as thickly as expected.
「──Did you say something, Baldr-sama?」
「No, nothing.」
This sharpness, there was no doubt. Welkin’s blood was undoubtedly inherited by this beautiful girl.
Fortunately, Baldr wasn’t scalded and he finally calmed down. He sipped at his tea that had turned cold.
A faintly sweet fragrance that seemed to come from the first pluck of tea leaves was still remaining in the cup.
「You got the short end of the stick pushed on you even though you have saved Onee-sama. If you like, we will talk to Otou-sama about this so he will rethink it again.」
The person who might become her brother-in-law was going to be sent far away, furthermore it was to a place where his life might be put into danger. Such a thing wasn’t desirable for Margaret.
Although her true feelings were that she was feeling disappointed that an amusing toy like this would leave.
「T-that’s right! It will also be very hard to search for anyone who will be willing to work there……」
「──Thank you for worrying about me, but I already accepted this royal command.」
It seemed the two princesses were reading too much into things, so Baldr replied to them assertively.
If he was going to ask for the command to be withdrawn like this, it would be better to refuse it from the start. Now that he had accepted, he had a responsibility for the people of Antrim.
Furthermore, Antrim was an area where it would be possible for him to support his birthplace──Cornelius, which was at the biggest risk for bearing the full brunt of Haurelia’s attack.
The two princesses were unconsciously captivated by Baldr’s resolute bearing.
Although the two were driven with the sense of duty to say something to their father about this, in the first place they weren’t so ignorant of the world that they thought their selfishness would move Welkin to change his decision.
As for William, he could respect Baldr’s resoluteness as his best friend, on the other hand, he wanted to reproach him for his defect as a lady-killer.
A man who would still stand up even knowing the difficulty that was waiting for him and also possessing the ability to surpass that difficulty. The sisters knew just how much worth such a man had because they were royalty, who had the responsibility of assessing their spouse candidate.
(……Won’t it be better if I take him for myself instead of having him as a brother-in-law?)
Margaret was aware that her father planned to have Baldr take Rachel who was older than her as his wife, but she reflexively thought of stealing Baldr from her blood-related sister.
Of course she loved Rachel, but when it came to the problem of marriage, it was absolutely a competition. Depending on the calculation on interests and timing, there was even a possibility that she would get married with a dirty old man from another country as the second wife.
If there was an excellent product right before her eyes, then she would obviously prefer to be together with such a person. Anyone in her place would also do the same thing.
「C-come to think of it, there is something that I wish to ask Baldr-sama……」
Rachel made up her mind and opened her mouth.
「What is it?」
「The maid who nursed Baldr-sama back to health when you were infected, I heard that you will take her as your wife. There is also the lady from Savaran Company.」
「……Your highness has very sharp ears.」
He hadn’t even told his parents. Baldr broke into a cold sweat. The network of women really couldn’t be underestimated.
「Hmph, as I thought, I mustn’t let a lady-killer like you get near to Ane-ue!」
「Shut up.」
「……Yes」
William was easily shot down. After coming here, his stock in Baldr’s eyes had nose-dived to the bottom.
「To take both of them as your wives, does that mean Baldr-sama doesn’t have the intention to be devoted to a single woman like Ignis-sama?」
Actually, from the beginning, this was the only thing that Rachel was concerned about.
Baldr’s father, Ignis, was famous as a lecher. But he fell deeply in love with the mercenary Maggot and married her in the end. It was a famous story about how after that he completely severed his relationships with other women.
Although such a thing couldn’t be explained with only love as the reason (there was also the threat of physical punishment). But at the very least when seen from outside, it was a fact that since then Ignis didn’t even give a glance to another woman besides Maggot.
If his son Baldr was going to marry his childhood friend, the possibility that he was also going to keep other woman at a distance just like his father couldn’t be said as low.
The only bright spot in this was that Baldr’s childhood friends were both commoners and there was a rumor that Baldr had no intention to make a distinction on which one would be the legal wife and the other would be concubine.
「Your highness might think of me as an unfaithful man but──」
「There is no doubt about it, you bastard is an unfaithful man.」
「William, the next time you speak needlessly, I’ll forbid you from getting within three meters from me.」
「Ane-ue, please be merciful!」
This man was hopelessly weak against his big sister.
However, Baldr was also aware enough that he wasn’t a worthy man for Rachel.
「It’s pathetic, but I was unable to choose just one of them. Of course I intended to treat both of them as my legal wives, but the two of them rejected it……」
「Why did those two do that?」
「They said that even after becoming my wife, they have no intention of giving up their current position. And so they told me to find a suitable woman to be my legal wife for the sake of Cornelius House.」
As a maid, Seyruun had no intention at all to entrust the role of taking care of Baldr to another woman. Selina also had no intention to quit from being the president of Savaran Company now that the company was finally getting on track.
They couldn’t abandon their current self to serve as the first wife of Cornelius House.
The two of them were holding a dream of having their feelings reach Baldr as lovers, but in front of the reality that was marriage, they still didn’t have the same strength as Maggot, who could kick reason to the curb.
Like that, the two girls who could be easily burning in jealousy were able to accept the reality unexpectedly easily.
「Certainly from the outset it’s completely impossible to ask them to imitate that mother. And so we have no intention to hold the ceremony until I accept a legal wife first.」
「Is, that so……」
I’m really a filthy woman, Rachel fell into a feeling of self-abhorrence. Even so she couldn’t hide her feelings of relief.
It seemed Baldr had the intention of welcoming a legal wife outside of those two.
Although from the perspective of a normal noble, it was Ignis and Maggot who were out of the norm. It was normal for a noble to marry concubines in order to leave behind offspring for the continuation of their house.
If by any chance Baldr died young, Cornelius House might go extinct in Ignis’s generation if things didn’t go well.
For the house that had continued for generations since their ancestor to go extinct was the greatest kind of dishonor based on this world’s common sense.
That was why Viscount Antrim’s house that was annihilated was also detested throughout the kingdom.
「Surely Baldr-sama will be able to find someone suitable for you.」
──For example, how about someone like me? Rachel didn’t say it.
Rachel too had surmised that Welkin’s calculation was for Baldr to go to Antrim territory, learn the know-how on how to manage a territory, and when he managed to raise achievements there, he would make Baldr marry his daughter.
In consideration of that, perhaps it could be said that she was the one who indirectly chased away Baldr to a remote region where his life would be exposed to danger.
When she thought that, her guilt towards Baldr grew and she was unable to speak as she pleased but──
「About that matter of legal wife, do you think someone like me would be fitting?」
「Eeeeeeh! You are saying that?」
The way Margaret spoke without any bashfulness made the determination that Rachel had hardened herself to make wasted.
Or rather, the emergence of this completely unexpected rival made Rachel raise her eyebrows and glare at her little sister.
「It looks like there is a need for the two of us to have a talk.」
「Seems so. Perhaps there is a need to make a confirmation regarding the change in situation.」
William hallucinated invisible sparks where the two’s volatile gazes were clashing. He muttered with a small voice.
「This is why I am opposed for this guy to meet with Ane-ue……」
.
──Around that time.
An unseasonal dark cloud was hanging over the sky. It was bringing lightning together with a storm toward Cornelius with roaring thunder and whirling wind.
The sky was getting dark like it was night. A flash of thunder ran through the sky and thunder echoed until the land.
A woman’s loud laughter was mixed among all those sounds.
「AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!」
For those who knew about the situation, that laughter only sounded like the trumpet of an angel that informed of the end of the world.
.
「Hee……my son is now the viscount of Antrim you say……」
Maggot’s voice was cold but still calm after hearing the message from the palace’s messenger.
However, Ignis and the mercenary Zirco who were listening were trembling uncontrollably with pale faces.
There was a saying that a predator would look calm just before they devoured their prey. The two of them knew very well from experience that Maggot was exactly in such a state right now.
(Your majesty, how can you……!)
(It’s over……it’s over this time for sure……I wanted……to eat chief’s sweets one more time before I die!)
「It’s an unprecedented honor to rise in rank twice in such a short time. This humble self is truly filled with the feeling of congratulation.」
The messenger, Benalith Southampton, was expressing his congratulation from the bottom of his heart.
The rise in rank was accompanied with danger, but the event that Baldr went through really should be called the dream of boys everywhere.
A young boy who was still too young to inherit the title of count from his father was rising in the world to be a fully-fledged feudal lord with his own territory.
Depending on Baldr’s work in the future, it might become possible for him to unite Antrim and Cornelius along with the other area along the border into one and raising further in rank to become Margrave Cornelius. Or perhaps he would establish a separate house with the rank of marquis and enter the rank of the ten great nobles. Such things were possible.
The biggest problem was that the person himself along with his parents didn’t wish for such honor.
「Honor, huh.」
Maggot’s voice tone suddenly changed.
The time had finally come. Ignis and Zirco stiffened in despair.
「Fufufufufufu……AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!」
Maggot held her stomach while laughing like a broken person. This complete change made Benalith frown.
Even if she was a countess, her attitude was still unbefitting toward a messenger from the palace like him.
「Do you know what kind of place that territory is? Just how many soldiers had died there?」
The previous Viscount Antrim intentionally used himself and his family as shield in order to allow his people to escape, and they were subsequently annihilated. Right now there wasn’t a single person who could introduce themselves as an Antrim.
Antrim had a geopolitical property that could endanger the capital of Haurelia, so if war broke out between the two countries, that land was an extremely dangerous place that was under the risk of immediate invasion.
If the king claimed that being sent into such a place was a reward, Maggot’s feeling as a former mercenary declared that there was no worth in serving such a ruler.
If it was Maggot when she was still an active mercenary, the king’s head would already stop being attached to his body right now.
「──It’s not a funny joke. Even adults have manners that have to be observed toward children. Is that baldy so incompetent that he has to rely on a child like this?」
「H-how dare you! It doesn’t matter who you are, those words are the height of rudeness!」
The people who were serving Welkin closely knew that in these recent years, Welkin was concerned by his receding hairline. However, Benalith couldn’t believe that there was someone who would openly touch the matter so insultingly.
Just what did this woman think of the king?
「I’m fine being rude. It’s stupid to show respect to the likes of the royal family!」
Benality pulled out his sword towards Maggot with rage, but then his body stiffened as though there were stakes driven into his body.
A strong coldness that surpassed a mere chill assaulted his whole body.
His teeth were clattering. This man who didn’t shrink back even when facing the king of another country was drenched in greasy sweat and he was unable to even escape.
──Death was right here.
It was the unreasonable and tyrannical death that carelessly hunted life without even a shred of mercy. The avatar of such death was fixing her eyes on Benalith.
Benalith was already unable to think that it was arrogant for this woman to glare like that.
Death was impartial to everyone whether it was towards the king or a commoner. It was the absolute truth that no one could avoid.
「Hiih……ugwa……」
A wordless cream was leaking out from Benalith’s mouth like a sob.
He didn’t want to die. To avoid death he would even kowtow and beg for his life without any shame.
That’s why, I’m begging you, please don’t kill me.
Against the death god that no one could oppose, humans could only pray and beg for forgiveness.
Benalith unconsciously shed tears that came out like flood from his eyes and prayed.
.
「──Let’s not go further than that.」
The wordless pressure towards Benality was cut off together with Ignis’s voice.
Benalith lost his strength and limply fell on his knees when the invisible pressure was suddenly gone.
「You can go back, quickly while you still haven’t angered my wife further than this.」
「Y-y-y-yess!」
Why was Maggot angry? Why did he have to be bathed in killing intent like this? Benalith didn’t even have the leeway to feel such doubt.
He only wished to get away from the death god in front of him even just a second faster. Benality didn’t even send a backward glance and desperately ran towards the entrance with only that single thought in mind.
.
「……Sorry, but today I have no intention to let this end with only venting my stress.」
It wasn’t like Maggot couldn’t guess what Welkin was thinking. Depending on how she thought about it, she could also feel pride that the king was expecting so much from her son.
In the previous war, there was the precedent when Welkin was selecting the young Harold who was his close aide to be the prime minister.
With this chance, Baldr could even become a candidate to be the prime minister in the future. Surely some people thought that they should rejoice for that.
However, Maggot didn’t give a damn about such things.
No, it was more than that, she even felt unpleasant feelings in her guts toward the royal court for pushing such expectation on her son.
In the world, just because something was correct politically didn’t mean that everything would be forgiven.
If those people in the palace didn’t understand that, it was Maggot’s style to teach them directly.
Even with Ignis’s martial skill, he was unable to stop Maggot by himself, not when she was already this determined.
If he seriously wanted to stop Maggot, he had to mobilize all the elites under his command like Zirco and ready himself to sacrifice more than half of them.
Ignis opened his mouth with a certain determination in his heart.
「His majesty’s deed this time, it’s not like I myself can completely agree with it……but the biggest problem lies in another place.」
Well now, what could it be that Ignis was referring to? Maggot unintentionally forgot her anger and tilted her head at Ignis’s words.
「What you’re actually feeling is that you’re lonely because Baldr is gone, isn’t it? Don’t you think that we need to have another child soon?」
「Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-?」
The attack that came from a completely unexpected direction made Maggot’s face reddened. She was so flustered that her mouth was opening and closing wordlessly.
Though she looked like this, Maggot was a person with deep emotion.
In the past, she was also looking after her handicapped son to an overprotective degree because his mind was in a chaotic state due to his past memories. Such a thing wouldn’t be possible without a deep love for her son.
For such a woman to be parted from her son for this long, certainly she might need a second child to compensate.
If possible she wanted a girl as her second child──it was a fact that there was such a wish inside Maggot.
「Y-you can’t distract me with such things, Ignis! I’m seriously angry here!」
「I swear upon my words, I’m not saying this with the intention to distract you.」
When Ignis said that, his hands were already holding Maggot’s slim waist firmly.
Ignis was fully deploying all his skills in coquetry as a playboy whose name once resounded all over the royal capital Cameron.
His wiles that easily mellowed down that Silver Light Maggot when she was in a fit of anger shocked Zirco so greatly that her feelings went beyond mere surprise and she was moved to tears.
(Amazing! Count! You’re a real man!)
Ignis pulled the resisting Maggot into his embrace and passionately whispered into the ear of the blushing Maggot.
「Baldr will also soon become an adult. Is it selfish of me for wishing that the two of us can go back to that time when there were only the two of us loving one another?」
「Uuu……b-but I’m already getting on in years……」
「You haven’t changed at all from that time when you stole my heart with a single glance──even now you are my only goddess.」
Ignis lifted up Maggot’s slender chin and stole her lips while her mind was still in chaos to finish her off.
「Nnnn–」
The sensation of the lips melted her. Maggot was aware that a sweet haze was filling her head.
She wondered when was the last time they exchanged a kiss this passionate.
(N-no good. This isn’t the time to do something like this……)
Maggot’s little remaining rational mind tried to somehow maintain her anger that was melted by this pink atmosphere, but even that was nothing more than a wasted effort.
「Hiyaa!」
Just when she thought that Ignis finally let go of her lips, his lips nibbled on Maggot’s soft lips and his right hand gently caressed her back.
Even with his eyes closed, Ignis was thoroughly familiar with the weak spot in Maggot’s body.
Maggot’s hands went around Ignis’s neck as though to admit that she couldn’t endure the heightening stimulation anymore.
「I’ll let you deceive me this time only! Even so I’ll make you pay for this debt in full!」
「Of course, I shall love you with everything I have.」
Maggot femininely buried her face onto Ignis’s chest. She wasn’t just awkward, she actually was also a simple woman.
.
Around a week after that conversation between the Cornelius couple, something strange happened in the palace.
When Welkin woke up from his sleep, unbelievably there was the word 「Bald」 written on his forehead in big letters using something like ink.
His concubine who attended to him at night and the maid who cleaned up afterwards testified that there was no such word on his face until he went to bed.
Then who in the world was able to do something like this?
The number of royal guards guarding the bedroom was immediately increased. He also chose a skilled former female knight to be the one attending him at night.
However the next day, the word 「Bald」 was engraved on the king’s forehead with even bigger and clearer letters than yesterday.
As expected, even the bold Welkin came to fear the situation.
If it was against a visible threat, he wouldn’t feel any fear and could even feel delight in taking revenge, but the fact that someone whose identity and objective he didn’t know was holding his life in their hand was making his blood run cold.
Yes, if they felt like it, the person who was doing this prank could kill Welkin anytime.
He mobilized more than fifty knights to surround the king’s bedroom. With this security, not even an ant could crawl in. And yet the result didn’t change.
Welkin’s cheeks had thinned greatly within only three days. There were also dark circles under his eyes.
He didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do to defend against this prank.
However, Welkin was Welkin because he didn’t just curl in fear even in this situation.
Welkin resolved that tonight he wouldn’t sleep and ascertain the criminal.
He turned on the lamps brightly and sat cross-legged on the bed to wait for the entrance of this hateful criminal. Perhaps his life would be in danger if he rashly encountered the criminal while awake, but he didn’t care about that anymore.
He simply wished to ascertain the identity of the criminal who had taken away his peaceful sleep.
The night was gradually growing late without him even taking a nap and then the sun was rising.
Welkin gulped a cup of black tea and rubbed his eyes. He saw the light of morning sun leaking from between the curtains.
It seemed that morning had come before he realized it.
(Hmph, so they got cold feet! They don’t dare to show up while I’m awake!)
However, Welkin was aghast when he saw his face in the mirror when he was going to wash his face to keep himself awake.
The word 「Bald」 was evidently written in very big letters on Welkin’s forehead.
He was sure that he never fell asleep for even a wink.
The fact that the word was written on his face while he was awake without him even realizing it made Welkin faint backward on the spot.
.
──It was unclear what chain of events happened after that.
However, the fact remained that after that Welkin handed a great amount of support money to Baldr who was heading to Antrim. He would also send an official letter to Cornelius House beforehand when there was a matter that concerned Baldr’s treatment.
.
「Now then, I have settled the debt. Now I’ll have you take responsibility for your words.」
Maggot pushed down Ignis’s body on the bed with eyes that were glistening with animalistic lust.
In recent years Maggot had completely abstained from this act because her motherhood was too strong, but before Baldr was born, Maggot was an extremely avaricious woman in the bedroom.
Ignis grimly hardened his determination while wondering how far he could satisfy Maggot now that he had lost his youth.
Now that it had come to this, Maggot must be seriously planning to squeeze him dry until she got pregnant.
Would Maggot’s pregnancy come first, or would he dry up first? This was a battle with his life on the line.
(I’m sorry Baldr……Tou-san……might not be able to meet you alive anymore.)
In this world, Ignis was the only one who knew that Maggot was actually more terrifying and formidable when going wild on the bed rather than when encountering her in a battlefield.
「I’m not going to let you sleep until morning tonight.」
「Haha……please go easy on me.」
(Baldr. For a man……for a man, there is time when they have to fight even if they know they will loseeeee!)
.
Baldr was grumbling about his own misfortune in the capital without even knowing how his father was risking his life to hold back his mother.
「I’m just a trainee who hasn’t even graduated from the knight academy. I haven’t even started learning how to manage a count house……」
「I too am completely agreeing with you in regards to that.」
The knight academy’s headmaster, Ramillies, tapped Baldr’s shoulder with pity.
To be honest Baldr was already going through hardships that were dozens of times greater than a normal person simply from being born as Maggot’s son, and yet now he even had Mauricia’s appendicitis forced on him. Ramillies pitied him so much he couldn’t even say anything.
「I’ll lend you a hand if it’s something that I can do. Also, I’ll make it so that you’re treated like a graduate of this academy.」
「If possible, can the headmaster also make Brooks and several other people who wish for it to receive graduation qualifications? At present I don’t have any vassals of my own.」
「I’m astonished once more by his majesty’s order this time……」
Baldr didn’t even have any retainers that he could use as bureaucrats in his ruling. He wondered just what was the king trying to make this boy do?
It was also like this when the king selected Harold to be the prime minister. That king loved people with talent, at the same time he also had the tendency to purposefully put them through trials.
Fortunately, there was a directive from the king to recruit applicants from among the existing government in Antrim and left behind the minimum number of people to keep the government functioning.
It was very unusual for that king to do this kind of follow up.
However, the magistrate himself who was the top leader of the administration there wanted to leave Antrim no matter what. Certainly it was a place that could become a battlefield anytime. Not only the magistrate, the bureaucrats who were dispatched from the capital wouldn’t want to live there for long.
「──Is it okay that you leave Silk behind?」
「No no, as expected there is no way I can bring along the daughter of Randolph House with me!」
Baldr denied it as though he had heard something outrageous. Ramillies shrugged lightly at how dense Baldr was and laughed.
From Ramillies’s observation, if Baldr went to Antrim like this without saying anything, that young lady would undoubtedly get angry.
This might be meddlesome of him, but it seemed there was a need for Ramillies to make some effort.
Besides, if Baldr could obtain the support from Randolph House, it should become a great political benefit for Baldr too.
Although Ramillies had already stepped back from the frontline, he was well aware that the royal capital was infested by riffraff that wouldn’t be happy if some noble in a remote region prospered and wouldn’t hesitate to act as hindrance.
「──It’s not to my liking to push hardships on the young people though.」
Although he was involved with politics as a military officer, as an old soldier who was unable to take care of the old problems and had to bequeath those problems to the next generation to be taken care of, there was something that he still had to do before he closed the curtain of his life.
.
「I don’t like you, but this time only I’m feeling pity for you.」
Alford Randolf drank up a glass of amber liquid with ice clinking inside it before he stared at Baldr with pity.
All men who could possibly take his daughter away from him were enemies, but if he didn’t take that into consideration, Baldr was someone that Alford could evaluate highly.
Rather it was fine to say that Baldr had greatly contributed to the expansion of Randolf House’s political influence.
If only Baldr hadn’t gotten so close to Silk, then even Alford would be thankful to him and have great expectations from him.
「Thank you very much for your excellency’s kind words, but more than that, there is something that I urgently required.」
「Naturally. You’re at an age where originally you shouldn’t even need any court rank. And, what is it that you need?」
For a noble son, it was already good if they started aiding their father in managing the territory when they were fifteen years old. Most people would only study diligently under a teacher at best.
But Baldr already had his own personal assets, and he even possessed the source of funds and sales network to supplement for that.
In addition, with his recent success in international relationships, the market for his product and connections were reaching until other countries. It was really an out of the norm development.
As a viscount, Baldr had managed to be counted as a first class noble. He also had the backing of the king and Randolph House. In his current position, there weren’t many things that were out of his reach. One of those things was──
「Can your excellency recommend to me an administrative official who can be trusted and is also experienced in practical duty?」
「Of course you will ask that. I thought that’s the case but……that is an unreasonable demand.」
「I’m aware.」
What Baldr was decisively lacking in were retainers who he could trust.
If he relied on Savaran Company’s intermediation, he might be able to find some people who were good with accounting.
However, there were many illogical parts in managing a territory, so it would be difficult to completely entrust this task to such people who were operating based on profit.
When managing a territory, there were times when for the sake of the country or for the sake of the territory, the lord had to extort the people with a heavy tax until they didn’t have a single penny left, or perhaps they would have to be frugal with money even if it was so painful like their legs were lit on fire, or perhaps the lord had to keep spending money even if his doing that would put his house in the red.
If there was a mistake in making adjustments on such matters, the population in the territory could be ruined even if the lord’s house was prospering, or perhaps the territory could be prospering while the country’s benefit was harmed.
This was why there was no guarantee that someone who was an excellent merchant could become an excellent politician.
「There is no way that it will be that easy to find such convenient talent──is what I want to say, but actually I know someone who fits the bill.」
Baldr opened his eyes wide in surprise. Alford grinned in delight seeing his surprise.
「I’m talking about a girl who served as Silk’s private tutor in the past. Her name is Agatha Mileton(アガサ・マイルトン), the second daughter of Baronet Mileton House. She is renowned as a talented woman and even Silk is emotionally attached to her. When she returned back to her home, she was the one who was practically managing the financial affairs of Mileton House by herself.」
「Will it be alright if I recruited such person?」
Baldr asked a very natural question. It didn’t matter how talented she was, it would be meaningless if she didn’t want to come with him to Antrim.
「Actually, the headship of Mileton House had been taken over last year. The eldest son Hayne(ヘイン) succeeded the house, but his relationship with Miss Agatha is bad and he took away all the authority from her. As a result, Mileton House’s financial condition is visibly worsening. Of course all the problems will be resolved if Miss Agatha returns home but……」
「His pride gets in the way and he doesn’t want to recognize his fault, is that it?」
「It doesn’t stop there, it seems he tried to drive out Miss Agatha by offering her to the old Count Chester to be his second wife as a debt collateral. Because of that, she washed her hands of him and cut ties with Mileton House. Currently she is staying in this house.」
So that was how it was. To hire a woman who was in such a situation would mean turning Baronet Mileton into an enemy. Any noble would hesitate to accept her unless it was a powerful family like the Randolph House or a cornered noble like Baldr.
「She has been slightly getting on in years, but I don’t mind if you take her as your wife you know? No, rather you should do just that. And then you can be hated by Silk. After all, that girl looks up to Miss Agatha like her big sister.」
「You’re still like usual, your excellency. Don’t say I didn’t warn your excellency if she resents you because she married late.」
「Just be aware that I’ll never send Silk to a remote place like Antrim. You too, lord, it’ll be better if you quickly marry her highness Rachel and settle down.」
「──Otou-sama, what do you mean by that!?」
It seemed Silk was standing outside the door. She hurriedly opened the door and rushed into the room.
She was wearing an eye-catching deep blue dress and a black garnet hair ornaments on her golden hair.
Even for Baldr, this might be his first time seeing Silk dressing herself up to this degree.
「Why did Otou-sama mention the name of Rachel-sama in the conversation just now? Originally, she should become the queen of Sanjuan Kingdom, right?」
「Calm down, Ojou-sama. A lady mustn’t get that flustered so easily.」
A petite woman stepped forward from besides Silk. She gently patted the back of Silk who was shaking in bewilderment.
She was shorter than even Seyruun, but her intelligent and strong-willed blue eyes along with her slightly thick lips were standing out.
From the flow of the conversation, this person was most likely Agatha Mileton.
「……Pardon my impoliteness. It’s good to see you safe and sound, Baldr.」
「Long time no see too, Silk. I was shocked because you looked too pretty.」
Baldr’s praise of Silk’s attire came from his heart.
Silk’s appearance after seriously dressing up herself as the young lady of a great noble was filled with grace and elegance that weren’t at all inferior against even the royal family.
「That’s great, isn’t it, Silk.」
Silk’s face reddened like a boiled octopus at the suggestive words into her ear and she yelled.
「Agatha-oneesama, please don’t make fun of me!」
She was clearly shaken from shyness. It made Alford reconfirm Baldr’s existence as his enemy.
To repeat, it didn’t matter how capable the man was or how bright his future would be, that man would be his enemy if there was a possibility of that man stealing Silk from him.
「Take Miss Agatha with you already and get out, you enemy of women.」
「Marquis-sama, you will be hated by Ojou-sama if you are acting like that.」
Just as Agatha said, Silk was glaring at him angrily with tearful eyes. Alford easily changed his attitude like flipping his hand.
After all, with how things went, things would go just like the king planned and Baldr would marry Princess Rachel anyways in the end. At that time Baldr would be separated from his daughter.
It didn’t matter how much he rose in rank. As expected there was no way Baldr would be able to have a princess as his legal wife and still have a marquis’s only daughter as his concubine.
「──Let me introduce her once more. This is Miss Agatha Mileton who I mentioned to you just now. She is a great woman who has the capability of controlling the entire management of her house’s territory smoothly if only that idiot wasn’t stubborn.」
It’s an honor to meet you Viscount Baldr-sama, I have heard about your rumor from Ojou-sama.」
Agatha smiled elegantly and bowed with her hands lifting up her skirt slightly.
She had an extremely beautiful expression, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes, which were measuring Baldr. It gave him an unbalanced impression.
Baldr didn’t hate this kind of woman, but many nobles with high pride who sought for feminine modesty in women might dislike her.
「There are a lot of things that I wished to ask but……first Marquis-sama, can I ask for an explanation regarding the matter of her highness Rachel first? This will be for the sake of Ojou-sama’s curiosity too.」
「I also want to know about it too.」
Agatha and Silk turned their gaze back at Alford.
Alford who was suddenly put under the gaze of three people couldn’t help but feel complicated once more at the influence that Baldr had.
If he made his decision not as Silk’s father but as the head of Randolph House, then perhaps Baldr would be someone that he wanted to obtain as an ally no matter what.
If his feelings that didn’t want to hand over his daughter were taken out of the equation, there was a part of him which was thinking that the crafty king had pulled one over on him.
Regardless of whether Baldr wished for it or not, there was a high possibility that a turmoil would occur in the future with Baldr at the center. There was no doubting that Welkin considered it a rare opportunity that he could use.
Baldr was still less than fifteen years old. Originally at his age he should be accumulating experience by observing and learning as the heir of a count house. The burden that was put on him was heavy.
──No, it was too heavy.
Even when he tried calculating the advantage and disadvantages for Randolph House in the future, this boy called Baldr might be a dangerous character as a greatly uncertain factor.
「……This is just a rumor in the royal court and nothing definite. It’s nothing but my own speculation. So keep that in mind while listening to me.」
The information that Alford told them wasn’t that much.
First was that Rachel’s marriage into Sanjuan Kingdom’s royal family was broken off. There was also a marriage talk from Nedras(ネドラス) Dukedom, but Welkin rejected it.
The other information was that Baldr was invited by Rachel to a tea party in the palace after he returned from Sanjuan Kingdom.
When Silk heard the part where the princess and Baldr were having fun talking with each other, Silk sent a protesting gaze with tearful eyes at Baldr.
The finishing blow was the appointment of Baldr as Viscount Antrim this time.
Thinking normally, this appointment would be more like a punishment. Even the nobles who were Baldr’s opposition could be heard pitying this appointment of his among their ridicules toward him.
To put it another way, it could also be said that the only way Baldr could be promoted in rank without getting criticized by the other nobles was this method.
Even with the great result that Baldr obtained from his negotiation with Sanjuan Kingdom, it would be natural for various oppositions to rise if Baldr was promoted and given a territory with just that.
It was exactly because the territory that was given to him was a remote region located at the frontlines where no one wanted to go that Baldr’s advancement was overlooked as a funny story.
But in case Baldr raised another great achievement in that remote region that anybody would have to recognize──naturally his next reward would be the rank of count.
Taking into consideration that Baldr would succeed Cornelius House in the future, it also wouldn’t be strange if he got promoted to be a new margrave.
That would be the birth of a groom with status that compared very favorably with the princess.
It didn’t seem like anyone had even noticed such a possibility. In a strategic sense, Alford got a chill when thinking about Welkin’s political sense for selecting Baldr as Viscount Antrim.
Furthermore, that scheming king wasn’t satisfied with just that. He was even aiming to do a reformation with this too. It would be like killing two birds with one stone.
This was the true worth of that sly fox who was too old to be caught in any trap.
「──Because of that I’m thinking that old fox is planning to take you into the royal family. It’s an absurd story if we consider your age and also your court rank. Properly speaking that is. But that king is a man who can go that far without batting an eyelid. And you too……seeing how you are a troublemaker who is running away from a peaceful life, this prediction of mine shouldn’t be that far off the mark.」
「What a complete nuisance the king is.」
Agatha muttered with an exasperated voice and leaned deeply on the back of her chair.
「It’s just as you say.」
Baldr nodded as though he had gotten a friend who really understood him well, but Agatha then struck without any mercy.
「──You’re also the same.」
「Uguh.」
It was really a bothersome story.
A whimsical and scheming but also capable lord, and a young hero who was born with a stormy fate accompanying him. This situation came from such a miraculous encounter that might not happen even once in ten thousand years.
This wasn’t a coincidence by any means. Agatha knew as a knowledge that this kind of coincidence, no, inevitability that looked like a miracle was something that happened when history was moving.
And Silk was attracted to such a man of all people. Should her eyes be praised for their accuracy, or should they be lamented for their misfortune…….
「……That’s horrible! That’s like Baldr is just a political tool! Besides, what does his majesty think the princess is!?」
Silk was enraged and yelled after she finished listening to Alford’s words.
But Alford who was her blood-related father understood from a glance that her anger didn’t come from logic but from emotion.
There was no way Silk who was born in Randolph House, one of the ten great nobles, couldn’t understand a political strategy of that level.
「The king thinks that this boy has that much value. Personally, I think his majesty is overestimating him though.」
If a margrave who was also the king’s son-in-law was born, he might replace one of the ten great nobles depending on the situation.
Furthermore, although it annoyed him something fierce to admit it, Alford acknowledged Welkin’s skill as a politician.
Not just that, for Alford who was having problems with Trystovy Dukedom, Welkin was an ally that he couldn’t go without.
「Then Otou-sama is saying that you’re agreeing with his majesty’s plan?」
「How can a retainer speak anything impertinent regarding a royalty’s marriage. Besides, my instinct is telling me that her highness Rachel isn’t that opposed to this arrangement.」
「I hate someone like Otou-sama!!!」
「WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!」
Silk ran out of the room without even looking back.
Alford who didn’t learn from his past experience and got hit by his daughter’s counterattack that surpassed his expectation turned into a pillar of salt and crumbled.
No matter how many times they experienced it, there was no father who would get used to their daughter telling them 「I hate you」.
「Is it okay to not chase after her?」
Agatha made a mean smile and looked at Baldr while saying that.
「……What will be a good answer for this kind of time, I wonder?」
If Baldr was allowed to speak conceitedly, he had to say that Silk was harboring affection towards him as a member of the opposite sex.
However, as the only child of Count Cornelius, there was no option for him to take her as his wife.
If Baldr married into Randolph House, Cornelius House could also adopt someone else to be the heir, but there was no way that Ignis and Maggot would allow such a thing.
Agatha narrowed her eyes at Baldr’s unexpected childish reaction.
Baldr had the option to comfort Silk even if he had to lie, or keep her away at a distance by using the matter with the princess as an excuse.
Baldr didn’t choose either of them in indecision. The appearance of a hero who was shouldering the future of the kingdom couldn’t be seen from him at all.
Well, fortunately it seems that there is still a little hope for Ojou-sama.
Agatha formed her words with a cheerful face.
「For now you should make your feelings clear even if it’s only inside your heart. Even if it’s a romance with a great obstacle standing in the way, you should have the strength to make it a reality no matter what, my lord.」
.
Meanwhile, Silk rushed into her room without even wiping the tear that was trickling along her cheek. She finally noticed her own feelings of love and her calculating mind as a noble that had been ingrained into her without her even noticing about it. A sob leaked out from her throat.
「……I’m, a disgusting woman……」
She was able to honestly give her congratulations to Seyruun and Selina when they were proposed by Baldr, and yet she was shaken to this degree when she heard about the marriage talk of Princess Rachel.
That was because in the first case, she had the calculation that the seat of Baldr’s legal wife was still empty.
The two girls who were commoners with low vanity wouldn’t fit as the legal wife of a viscount house.
There was a part of her that unconsciously concluded like that. It made her think of herself as an unbearably ugly creature.
Even though she thought of the two of them as friends.
Even though they were friends of similar age like her, she could talk openly without any reserve that she had wished for so long.
Somewhere in her heart, she was looking down on them and immersing herself in a feeling of superiority that in the end they would only be concubines.
Perhaps it was a divine punishment for her that Princess Rachel who had higher social status than her appeared as a candidate to be Baldr’s wife.
She should just give up everything because of the feeling of guilt and she wouldn’t need to feel this suffering, and yet──
「Stupid……why is it only after this late……」
No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t see a future where the two of them could marry. Even so she had fallen in love with Baldr.
No, she had been in love with him long before this to a maddening degree.
She was just scared to become aware of that until now and continued to avoid that fact.
However, now that she had become aware like this, she couldn’t find any answer of what she should do.
The Silk who was a marquis’s daughter shook her head in negative.
The answer was already obvious. She should quickly give up on Baldr and forget him.
Even so, she didn’t want to give up.
──She didn’t want to hand Baldr over to Rachel.
「……Someone……help-……」
The sobbing of Silk who was tormented by a wish that couldn’t be granted never ceased until the night grew late.
.
The horse carriage that Baldr and his companions were riding was heading straight towards Cornelius.
Baldr graduated from the knight academy in a hurry, but he was only able to recruit Brooks and Nelson from among his school friends as his vassals.
And then there was Agatha who moved from Randolph House to become Antrim House’s head secretary and a total of three accountants that Savaran Company introduced to him. These six people were all of Baldr’s vassals at the present time.
Although there were also the kingdom’s bureaucrats in Antrim territory who were still remaining there in not a small number. There was also a plan for Cornelius House to send him some support.
Of course Baldr didn’t have the slightest doubt that his past friends in Cornelius territory starting from Tyros would help him out.
「However……why did it turn out like this……」
When it was decided that he would leave his birthplace and enroll into the royal knight academy, his dream ran wild with the thoughts of having new encounters and doing business in the capital. But now it felt like something that had happened a long time ago.
What kind of mistake happened that now he became a lord viscount with his own territory like this?
Even though he still wanted to play around childishly befitting as a student for just a while more. If possible, he also wanted to experience making one or two bittersweet memories while he was at it.
And yet he skipped such a process by leaping over three steps of it and became someone with two fiancées and employing vassals. No one could possibly imagine that things would turn out like this.
「Ah! I can see it! Baldr-sama」
Seyruun had stopped calling him young master now. She was leaning out from the carriage and smiling.
She too had tasted a drastic change in her life. She fell in love with the young boy who she thought of as a little brother all this time and also was proposed to despite the difference in status between the two. After going through all that, she felt deeply moved to see her birthplace that was still unchanging like this.
The one waiting for them at the other side of the familiar green deep forest wasn’t Maggot or even Tyros.
「O~~~~i! Chieffffffffff!」
The very first one who appeared to welcome them with her big body shaking on top of a horse was Zirco.
In Baldr’s memory, she should be slightly fat due to the bad result of eating delicious food too lavishly, but her waist and stomach were very slender with her cheeks having lost all fat. Perhaps she had done her best with moderating her eating.
As expected a pro mercenary was really different. Baldr renewed his evaluation toward Zirco.
However that only lasted for a brief moment──
「I wanted to meet youuu! Chiefffffffff!」
「Dowaah!」
Zirco launched a diving body press attack as though to crush Baldr underneath. Baldr screamed in shock.
Lately Baldr had grown remarkably, but as expected his size was too small to catch Zirco’s large body.
「It’s horrible. You know, even though big sis didn’t stop the other guys from going out as helpers, she makes me always stay behind as her sparring partner. I don’t know when my body is going to break at this rate……」
「Enough for now, get off!」
He barely prevented Seyruun from getting pressed down too by using body strengthening, but he was still buried under Zirco’s huge body, so Baldr ordered her shortly to get off him.
‘Heave ho, heave ho’, Seyruun tried hard to pull Zirco off of Baldr, but Zirco’s body weight wasn’t something she could do anything about with her slender arms.
Baldr felt healed seeing Seyruun looking like a kid dealing with a toy that she couldn’t lift up. But even during this time, the hugging of Zirco’s arms was gradually getting stronger.
「I’m begging you, just let me go already. I’ll do anything! This time I’ll absolutely come along with you to Antrim!」
「Just what in the world has happened?」
「Big sis is bullying me……it was so painful it felt like I’d die, but she would stop when I was just barely at my limit. She was a person just like chief said, a pure sadist!」
Zirco fervently talked about the cruel days she went through after parting with Baldr. Her large body was shaking like a child’s all along.
Her story was just so pitiful that even Seyruun couldn’t help but allow Zirco to keep hugging Baldr.
「Aa……there there. I was also planning to ask Zirco to help with defending Antrim……」
「Ueeeh! Really? It’s a promise, okay?」
Is it really okay to act like this, veteran mercenary-san? Such thoughts crossed Baldr’s mind, but as someone who knew the best just how mentally and physically exhausting it was to spend every day under the abnormal threat of his mother, he could only feel sympathy for Zirco from the bottom of his heart.
In the first place, he was still lacking in manpower for governing Antrim no matter how many people he recruited.
Zirco who had her personal connection with the mercenaries would be an extremely useful recruit for building a defense structure with prompt efficiency.
「When big sis learned that chief is appointed as Viscount Antrim……it was scarryyy. She was also scary when chief was sent to Sanjuan Kingdom, but it was only this time that I thought it’s over already for Mauricia Kingdom.」
「I’m amazed that person could just stay quiet after that.」
Welkin’s impossible task was still within the tolerable limit for Baldr, but against an uncontrollable inhuman person like Maggot, giving such a task was something akin to making the worst move.
Baldr believed that his father wouldn’t overlook his mother’s running wild, even so he was secretly worrying that perhaps his mother would be too much for his father this time.
If she felt like it, that mother could easily kill even the king.
If his mother chose the path of an assassin instead of a mercenary, around this time the kings in the continent would be unable to do their activity without a body double taking their place.
It was like the word untouchable existed for Maggot’s sake.
.
Zirco had finally calmed down. Together with her, the horse carriage went towards the mansion. There Baldr heard unexpected news on the way and felt surprised.
「──I thought I was going to die. Though I couldn’t possibly stop big sis even if I tried at the risk of my life. To be honest, I now see the count in a more positive light.」
「Why are you mentioning father there?」
「Even big sis is weak against the man she was in love with──that’s what I mean. To stop big sis by bulldozing her with love, even the gods won’t think of such idea.」
Baldr thought of his father as a completely whipped husband, but it seemed he was a man who would pull through when push came to shove.
Although the story that her mother was getting bulldozed by love and became obedient was also something that Baldr couldn’t imagine at all.
When they entered Cornelius’s street, his nostalgic friends who he spent childhood together with, Tyros, Porco, Margo, and the others were lining up on the main street that was made from stone, waiting for Baldr.
Tyros had grown and became increasingly taller. His eyes were moist due to his max loyalty that was still like always.
「Aa, Baldr-sama……! You have grown to be a splendid personage……!」
「Long time no see, Tyros. You have grown even bigger.」
「Each moment seem like an eternity while I was waiting for this day to come!」
Tyros had a dream of serving on Baldr’s side one day and never being negligent in his zeal.
In martial art, he wasn’t a match against a knight, but Tyros had a rare talent to comprehend Baldr’s intention and practiced it organizationally.
He was an absolutely necessary manpower in Baldr’s management of Antrim.
「Come to think of it, I heard that Margo had married.」
「Yep, with Corin of the shoe store. It’s regretful that I won’t be able to follow young master though.」
「You don’t need to mind that, congratulations.」
It wasn’t just him, people couldn’t avoid changing together with the passing of time.
His comrades who made sugar together those days had grown into adults and walked their own path. It was something he felt happy but also lonely about.
「I’ll come along you know? Okaa-san is still opposing it, but Otou-san is giving me his permission.」
Even Porco who was slightly fat had grown a lot into a proportional body that looked really manly.
Surely he would become a good guard just like his father.
「Thank you. I’m happy to know that.」
Baldr felt a heavy responsibility weighing on him at the same time when he said that.
After all, depending on the situation, Antrim might become a deathly warzone on the frontlines.
.
Baldr and others enjoyed their reunion with their long-time friends for a while, and then after that they passed the main street and headed to Cornelius Castle that had a large castle gate and spires meant for lookout.
「What’s going on?」
Dozens of fully-armed guards along with maids and butlers were all lining up orderly with their heads bowed his way.
The excessively bombastic welcoming made Baldr and Seyruun look at each other.
However, setting aside the matter of Baldr’s Antrim territory that was in poor condition, Baldr had received the rank of viscount on paper and now he could be counted as a first-class noble. On top of that he also had saved a princess and also acted as the key figure who spearheaded an alliance with a neighboring country.
This welcoming could be said as conservative instead, considering Baldr’s achievement and status right now.
「This stupid son, you finally returned home. Looks like you have been making eyes at other women just like your father in the past.」
(I missed you Baldr, you must never get distracted by other women and ignore your mama here!)
Maggot hadn’t changed at all. She was laughing haughtily with her canines bared.
「──By the way, where is Tou-san?」
Baldr couldn’t see his father anywhere even though that father was someone who wanted to look cool in front of his son. Baldr tilted his head and asked Maggot.
「A, aa……right now that guy is recuperating because he hurt his waist.」
His mother’s words were unusually evasive. It strengthened Baldr’s suspicion.
Maggot’s style at this kind of time should be to whip Ignis even more without caring of his injuries.
Could it be that his father was seriously wounded in order to stop his mother from running wild?
「Then, I have to go visit Tou-san quickly……」
Even though he had left for quite a long time, this was the house where he was born and raised. Baldr started walking towards his father’s private room that he knew the location well, but someone lightly pulled at his sleeve.
It was Agatha.
「My lord, please give us your order.」
For Baldr and Seyruun, this place was their own house. But for Agatha, Brooks, and the others, Cornelius House was nothing more than another house that their master was connected with.
Baldr carelessly forgot to be considerate to his vassals. He scratched his head awkwardly.
He would be the lord at Antrim where he had to be responsible, and yet it seemed he was still lacking in awareness.
「You’re bringing someone unusual here……so who is this?」
「It’s an honor to be in your presence. My name is Agatha Mileton. I will be serving as my lord’s head secretary.」
Agatha didn’t show even the slightest timidity against Maggot’s silent pressure and bowed her head.
They both were strong-minded women of character, although of different types.
Perhaps women of character could easily recognize other women of character. Maggot unexpectedly held a good impression toward Agatha and held her hand toward her with a delighted smile.
「I’ll leave my son in your hands. This kid looks like someone intelligent, but at heart he is still a brat.」
Even Agatha was bewildered by this reaction from Maggot, but as to be expected from a strong-minded woman who once managed a noble house.
She confidently grasped that hand back and smiled graciously.
「This incompetent self shall give its all.」
「Speaking of Mileton House, it’s a baronet house in the north, isn’t it? You seem a better prospect to be a wife rather than the likes of a princess who only has her status going for her.」
「No……I have no intention to be ungrateful to the young lady of Randolph House.」
Agatha’s statement was implicitly disclosing the relationship between Silk and Baldr. Baldr felt like the space cracked with a snap after that.
「Aahn?」
*Glare*His mother’s eyes turned dangerous as though she was looking at trash. A chill ran through Baldr’s back when he saw that.
「……Baldr-sama, you idiot……」
Seyruun also guessed what was going on and pouted with a sulky look while pinching Baldr’s side.
「N-no, I’m innocent you know? What could be they talking about……?」
Baldr who was exposed to the gazes of the women that were as sharp as needles tried to go through this by averting his gaze away, but of course there was no way his effort could work.
「Good timing. I guess I should check whether your skill has dulled or not after drowning yourself in women like this……」
Baldr’s effort ended in vain. Maggot called for a butler with a smirk and ordered him briefly.
「Guide the guests to the guest rooms, politely.」
「Please leave it to me.」
「──Now then, my son, are you prepared?」
Baldr’s gaze moved toward Agatha looking for help, but she curtly abandoned him.
「Then please pardon us for now, my lord, please enjoy your time to your heart’s content.」
「You should help your master here!」
「Please give up. I wish to avoid the madam for seeing me as a wife candidate even more than this.」
「Could it be Agatha, you actually hate me……?」
For some reason Agatha smiled widely and bowed deeply toward Baldr.
「That’s absurd. I respect you, my lord, from the bottom of my heart, but in the end it’s only as an employer.」
「Your wording! That means you hate me as a man isn’t it?」
「I never said that from my mouth.」
Agatha kept smiling in amusement and averted her gaze intentionally.
It seemed Agatha was similar to his mother even in the sadistic aspect.
「You have resolved yourself, haven’t you? A man who doesn’t know when to give up won’t be liked.」
「……Go easy on me……」
Zirco had curled into herself without anyone noticing to hide her large body from the two’s gazes. She renewed her loyalty toward Baldr who had become an honorable sacrifice.
After all, if it was Ignis here right now, he would undoubtedly round her up to get embroiled into the beat up too.
「Chief……you are the greatest man there is! I’m saved with this!」
Zirco ran her mouth with words that would make Baldr greatly enraged if he heard it. She was finally feeling relieved from the bottom of her heart at the peace that had arrived.
「No, I’ll report it that you were saying that.」
Brooks gave a warning with an exasperated face. It went without saying what happened to Zirco later.
.
「Kuh……it has been a long time since I thought I’m going to die……」
A match with Maggot was extremely gruesome like usual.
Baldr believed that he had also grown greatly since he left the house, but he still wasn’t a match for Maggot.
He was toyed with to her heart’s content and his desperate counterattacks all failed to reach her.
Was this mother really a human?
「──Are you saying something?」
「No, nothing.」
He couldn’t be careless when speaking.
After finishing their physical talk, Maggot and Baldr immediately went to visit the recuperating Ignis.
Baldr endured the dull pain that was tormenting his whole body and knocked on Ignis’s door lightly.
「I’m coming in, Tou-san.」
「Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you Baldr.」
What was waiting for Baldr inside the room was the completely changed figure of his father who was smiling faintly while sitting up on the bed.
Ignis’s face that was illuminated by the sunlight from the window was gaunt with a bad complexion. His skin was also looking shriveled.
However, even though he was having the appearance of a sickly person at death’s door, his expression was refreshed like a man who had accomplished something. Baldr sensed the greatness of his father who managed to stop his mother.
Similar to Baldr, Ignis was also perceiving the growth of his son from the scratches all over Baldr’s pretty face and his body under his clothes that must be covered all over with bruises.
「Tou-san!」
「My son!」
The two of them moved to hug each other almost at the same time and patted each other’s back for encouragement.
There was no need for words here.
They instinctively understood what each other had overcome and accomplished.
Now was exactly the time for men to comprehend each other.
「──You two, have you two eaten something bad?」
Maggot stared at them with a weirded out look toward the father-son embrace that a woman couldn’t understand. Then she sat down heavily on a chair.
While hugging each other, Baldr could feel with his skin Ignis’s thinned flesh.
Fortunately, it seemed that Ignis’s muscles that were indispensable for a military man didn’t look like they had withered.
Rather it was like his excess flesh had been removed, or more like any excess energy like the fats that the body was piling up had been thoroughly snatched away.
Was his body reduced into this state after solely focusing on holding back a rampaging Maggot?
Now that he thought about it, Zirco was saying something like 「Stopping mother by bulldozing her with love」 wasn’t she…….
「Tou-san, just what kind of rashness did you do?」
「U……umu. I too am not as young as I used too, something like that.」
「Haa?」
Baldr was seriously puzzled by Ignis’s sudden words.
Ignis obviously wasn’t young anymore at his age that was nearing forty.
Certainly him hurting his waist was like a symptom of an elderly, but whether his waist was hurt or his bone was broken, it was already a wonderful result that he could keep his life seeing that his opponent was Maggot. Baldr knew that better than anyone.
Maggot answered in the place of Ignis who didn’t know what to say. She too was unusually blushing.
「I think you must have known too but……Antrim is a land of death that is easy to be attacked but hard to defend. Even so as that place’s feudal lord, protecting it with your life is where you can show your worth as a man.」
「Of course I have resolved myself to protect that territory.」
He was also preparing various plans to deal with that problem too. Unlike before, the things he could do had increased because as the lord of the land he didn’t need to hold back anymore.
Baldr believed that he had enough prospects for success.
「Hmph, sorry but we too don’t have the leeway to wait forever until our unfaithful son comes home……we have a new heir on the way, so feel free to die or to live as you please.」
(Baldr will also become a big brother next year. We still don’t know whether it will be a brother or sister but, do your best as a big bro okay!)
As expected even Ignis was at his wits’ end at how awkward his wife was at this time.
However, Baldr’s eyes snapped open and he yelled in shock without caring about such a thing.
「Kaa-san is pregnant!?」
「Y-yeah……fortunately I managed it before I ran out of stamina.」
Ignis answered weakly, but Baldr didn’t even look at him and pressed his questions on Maggot.
「Kaa-san! Why are you dressing that lightly even though you have a child in your stomach!? Also doing something like spear training is just out of question!」
Maggot who was pressed by Baldr with a threatening aura that he never directed toward her until now made her mouth twitch and she argued.
「No, but……you know, a moderate exercise is still necessary so……」
「What are you going to do if the worst happens from us crossing spears! From now on combat training is forbidden! Riding horses and hunting is also forbidden!」
「W-wait. Then my hobbies to vent out my stress are……」
Maggot was pressed back by her son’s pressure for the first time. Although she was bewildered, she tried to at least secure a chance for training.
「Who are you going to protect if you can’t even protect the child inside you as a mother! Don’t you love the child who will be born, Kaa-san?」
「Uuuh……that’s──」
She was unable to act honestly, but actually Maggot cherished her child much more than others.
Maggot who lost her grounds for objecting slumped powerlessly.
It would be as painful as getting slashed for her to not do her hobbies, but as someone who would give birth in her advanced age, she could only accept that there was truth in Baldr’s words.
「I’ll restrain myself from anything excessive until this child is born……」
Baldr grinned like a certain god of a new world and nodded in satisfaction.
(Uoooooooooh! Little sister! Little sister flag is cominggggg!)
Behind the scene, Baldr’s previous life, the soul of Oka Masaharu was secretly screaming in happiness, but no one knew about it.
.
The report of Maggot’s pregnancy was welcomed by Cornelius House with shock and blessing.
It seemed this overly mischievous mother kept it quiet even to the people of the house until she told Baldr.
The people here were uneasy when they heard that the heir of the house became the lord of a dangerous land. But this news rewrote the gloomy air.
To make absolutely sure that Maggot whose age already reached the latter half of her thirties would give birth safely, an unexpected commotion for things like buying a new bed or reconsidering the menu was occurring in Cornelius House.
To celebrate the next birth of a legitimate child after Baldr, they even distributed the stored beer to the citizens. It drowned the mood of Cornelius territory in celebration.
.
(Should I make her call me Onii-sama……however it’s also difficult to throw away Onii-chan.)
Although he had Seyruun who was like a big sister to him, Baldr was still an only child who wasn’t blessed with a sibling. He was also getting into a strange tension like the retainers.
Especially Masaharu’s obsessive thoughts that were waiting impatiently for the birth of a little sister. It was gnawing at Baldr’s mind persistently.
A cute little girl with the same silver hair and blue eyes like him would call him 「Onii-chan」 with a lisping voice. And then she would follow behind him with trotting footsteps like a puppy and ask him 「Want to play?」. He had the confidence that his rational mind would crumble in front of such sight.
「…….Baldr-sama, you’re making a slovenly face.」
Baldr’s posture was stiff as though he was watching a world far away. Seyruun pinched him at his side and dragged him back to reality.
「Sorry, sorry. But, when I think that I’ll have a little brother or little sister for the first time, I can’t stop imagining how I want to do this or that.」
「I also only have older brother and older sister, so I can understand that feeling but……」
She wondered why? Seyruun was feeling some kind of wicked feeling from Baldr.
Seyruun didn’t know. In the world where Masaharu lived, there existed a peculiar taste that was represented by the likes of Sister Pr○ncess or Oreim○.
.
Perhaps because a new family member would be born, his engagement with Seyruun and Selina was accepted by his parents without any opposition.
「I have no reason to oppose it if the two of them are alright with it.」
「I’ll give you my blessing no matter who the girl is as long as it’s someone who you are in love with and vice versa. We don’t have any family honor to cling to at this point anyway.」
These parents were unexpectedly understanding for a couple who practiced monogamy. Baldr felt it was anticlimactic and let out a long sigh.
「Thank you. To be honest, I thought Kaa-san would scold me.」
If Ignis tried to get one more wife, he didn’t even want to imagine how Maggot would react.
The only image in his head was that day undoubtedly would become Ignis’s last day to live.
「……Seyruun, are you really fine with that?」
Maggot asked with the decision that if by any chance Seyruun said that she hated it, for the time being she would strangle Baldr until he was on the verge of death.
「If I can be honest, then as expected I dislike it.」
Maggot’s eyes narrowed quietly. Her right hand was unconsciously moving towards the sword on her waist.
However, fortunately Seyruun opened her mouth to continue her words before Maggot pulled out her sword.
「But a man like Baldr-sama is impossible to be monopolized by myself. No, surely I will become a hindrance for Baldr-sama’s fate if there is only me alone at his side.」
Selina’s business talent, the backing of Silk’s Randolph House, the king’s trust. If Baldr lost even a single one of them, Baldr might lose his standing or even lose his life.
A mere eldest son of a count wouldn’t need that much power, but the stormy destiny that dragged Baldr into various problems was far removed from the word peace.
「That’s why I think that Baldr-sama needs more women who love him and can become his strength. Of course, I have no intention to surrendering the spot as Baldr-sama’s number one though.」
Until several years ago, Baldr was just a troublesome naughty child.
That Baldr was climbing up until the rank of viscount and entrusted with a dangerous territory like Antrim while she was staring in blank amazement. It would be stranger to think that he would be able to return back to a peaceful and idyllic life at this point.
There was no doubt that something outrageous would happen in the future.
Considering the geopolitical environment of Antrim territory, it couldn’t be said that the possibility of fighting breaking out for real was low.
「……Seyruun, it looks like you will be able to become a good wife.」
Maggot smiled with a warm gaze as though she was looking at her own daughter.
「The things that I can do aren’t much though.」
She had no dissatisfaction with her occupation as maid, even so in regards to being of assistance to Baldr, she felt ashamed that she couldn’t even match Selina, let alone Silk.
However, Seyruun knew about Baldr’s habits and preferences more than anyone. For Baldr, her casual consideration and unselfish love was a part of his life that he couldn’t go without, just like how humans needed air to live.
「Don’t think like that──you’re helping me greatly, Seyruun.」
「Baldr-sama……」
「Good grief, restrain from making a love scene when in front of your parents.」
Maggot interrupted them when they were about to enter into a nice atmosphere unconsciously. Baldr’s cheeks reddened from shame, although Seyruun was looking slightly offended instead by the interruption.
「Well, it’s fine if Seyruun can accept it. By the way, about what that girl said before the spar, she meant the only daughter of Randolph House who I met at the knight academy, right?」
「……So Kaa-san still remembers.」
Baldr’s shoulders slumped in dejection. But Maggot’s tone was different from what he expected. She sounded serious.
「I’m telling you this for your own good. Even if you’re serious about her.」
「Even if I’m serious about her, is it?」
These words were unlike his aberrant mother who extremely hated to compromise with her own will. Baldr was perplexed.
「What that girl is shouldering is heavier than you think. If someone without the strength to shoulder it gets involved with her, it will only result in unhappiness for both sides.」
The darkness covering Trystovy Dukedom was deep. Silk was going to leap into that darkness voluntarily. It would be extremely difficult for her to act with her own free will from here on.
Even her father Alford who was one of the ten great nobles and possessed immense influence wasn’t an exception.
Silk was a girl who could be categorized as someone Maggot personally liked, but the destiny that she shouldered, it was even more troublesome than Princess Rachel to put it mildly.
「……Silk is a good friend of mine.」
「I don’t mind as long as you’re just playing friends with her. However, if you want to make that girl your wife, you might drag this country into war or in the worst case you might even turn this country into your enemy. That’s what I want to tell you.」
Although, Maggot smiled without saying her next thought out loud.
There was no way Baldr would end up settling down within a small place like Antrim with the abnormal caliber that he owned.
Maggot gave him a warning just in case because it would absolutely be troublesome, but this son of hers most likely would get involved with the turmoil in Trystovy.
Maggot’s instinct was telling her that her son had the aspect of a hero that was calling disturbances toward himself.
「Well, Seyruun, if he is doing something like cheating on you, you can come consulting to me. I’ll make him regret being born as a man.」
Baldr and Ignis spontaneously felt their balls shrinking. They closed their thighs with blood leaving their face.
.
「How can this be! All my hard work until now has come to nothing!」
A man who was past middle-aged was walking around his desk in irritation. He was biting on his thumbnail while rattling on.
The man’s name was Alan Falkirk(アラン・フォルカーク).
He was the feudal lord of a baronet territory that was located to the west of Antrim territory. Bradford territory was located even further west from here.
His territory was located at the throat of Antrim territory that was sandwiched between the harsh mountains of Morgan mountain range and the border of Haurelia Kingdom. His territory was a logistic relay point that was essential for Antrim territory.
Alan had been using bribes to entice the magistrate of Antrim territory when it was still under the direct control of the royal family. He was obtaining vast profit by monopolizing circulation of goods to Antrim.
The magistrate greatly wished to leave this kind of dangerous frontline and return back to the capital as soon as possible. In order to obtain funds for interfering with the personnel affairs in the royal court, the magistrate welcomed the bribes from Alan and there was no one getting in the way of Alan’s monopoly.
But the situation changed when the magistrate was recalled and a real feudal lord was appointed for Antrim.
The possibility that the new Viscount Antrim, Baldr, would meekly accept bribery from Alan was extremely low.
In the first place, a feudal lord’s income was from the territory he governed. Asking that feudal lord to allow someone else to monopolize the circulation of goods in his territory in exchange for bribery was an absurd request that couldn’t possibly be accepted.
Furthermore, Baldr had a friendly relationship with Viscount Bradford, a major feudal lord with territory at the west that surrounded Baronet Falkirk’s territory. Baldr was also the best friend of Viscount Bradford’s daughter, Teresa, who became the fiancée of the crown prince of Sanjuan Kingdom.
If Alan was careless, it could be him who would be pressured from east and west. He could even lose the initiative in the goods circulation in such a situation.
「Shit! Even though I finally got a chance……that damn king is doing something unnecessary!」
Alan’s dream was using the money he earned as a bribe to somehow get promoted to baron with a territory that was closer to the capital.
Even so, it wasn’t like Alan had talent in managing territory. He also wasn’t talented in martial arts to obtain achievement in the battlefield.
That meant, Baldr’s appointment also dashed Alan’s dream at the same time.
「Why do I have to go through something like this? Why-!」
Alan hit the flower vase on his desk in anger. But then a small voice of a servant fearfully notified him of a guest’s arrival.
.
「A guest?」
Alan frowned in suspicion.
The time was already approaching night. It was impossible for a guest to be allowed to come at this time.
However, the servant was expressly notifying him. That meant the possibility that the guest was a merchant or a commoner was low.
If there was a guest at this kind of time, the possibility was that it was a messenger from a noble with high status with an emergency business.
「Whose messenger is it?」
「T-that’s……the guest is carrying with him an introduction letter that is sealed with the crest of Count Hastings.」
Hastings House was a middle level noble family in the kingdom.
The house wasn’t as noted as the ten great nobles, but the long history that the count house possessed and its vast blood relationship boasted a large influence within the country.
Even Alan once heard the rumor that since King Welkin came into power, there was a slight tendency for Hastings House to receive cold reception and how the house often acted in a critical manner toward the king.
Even so, what kind of business could Count Hastings have with a minor baronet house in a remote place like this?
「I have made you wait. Please forgive the ill-manner of my servants because this place is a countryside.」
At the guest room, a man with shortly cropped hair and a sticky looking gaze that reminded Alan of a lizard was waiting for him.
「It’s an honor to be able to meet you, my lord. My name is Toby from Hastings House. Please allow me to express an apology from the bottom of my heart for visiting at night like this.」
The man who introduced himself as Toby bowed courteously and smiled.
From how he behaved, it could be seen that this man had received some degree of education from a noble house.
And yet, Alan couldn’t help but to feel a black thing coiling inside his stomach.
「It’s truly unfortunate, but until now I have never been blessed with a chance to form a connection with the lord count. And so, I wonder what is the meaning of your arrival here?」
「──I’m truly ashamed to ask this from my lord but, can I ask for other people to be cleared from this room?」
「Are you saying that the people of my house cannot be trusted?」
「My lord has strictly commanded me that this message is only for the ear of Falkirk-sama alone.」
Although it was unpleasant, he was facing a messenger from a count.
Alan helplessly nodded at his butler to clear away the servants from the guest room.
「Is it alright with this?」
「My deepest gratitude for Falkirk-sama’s cooperation.」
Toby faced Alan and straightened his seated posture before he bowed deeply.
However his eyes were emitting a radiance of cold intelligence that was measuring Alan’s caliber.
「……It seems that Falkirk-sama is currently in an unfortunate situation.」
Toby shook his head to make it look like he was sympathizing greatly with Alan.
Alan’s mood was worsened by the man’s exaggerated acting and he scowled.
Although he was a small and weak noble from a remote region, he was still a fully-fledged lord. There was no reason why he should just let a man who was nothing more than a messenger make fun of him.
「I wonder what you’re talking about. I don’t think there is anything in this kind of small village that the lord count needs to concern himself with.」
「Good heavens! What can you call Antrim being put under the rule of a mere child from Cornelius as anything else but a disaster!」
How far was Hastings House aware of the situation here?
That was Alan’s concern.
Being betrayed by someone who they thought of as an ally was an everyday occurrence in noble society.
Alan thought of Baldr’s appointment as troublesome, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t considering forming a friendly relation with Baldr and building a partnership with him.
But of course, if his interests happened to coincide with Count Hastings, he would be willing to join hands with him.
「Certainly, the land of Antrim might be too great of a burden for a child. But I believe my house can be of help to him.」
While Baldr was governing Antrim at the beginning where he didn’t even know left from right, the cooperation of Falkirk House must be something that he desperately wanted.
Here Alan was implicitly informing that he would ally himself with the side that would advantage him more.
Toby renewed his perception of Alan. It seemed this man wasn’t as stupid as he thought.
Even though Alan’s talent in managing territory was average, he was able to calculate the pros and cons for himself at the very least.
Although, if he wasn’t at least this smart then it wouldn’t be worth it to manipulate him.
「About that, I wonder if Baldr-dono will really need Falkirk-sama’s help.」
「Hou……are you saying that even knowing what kind of land Antrim is?」
Although it was only reluctantly, Alan had governed this area for long. He had the self-confidence of his own knowledge.
There was no way anyone could rule Antrim while ignoring Falkirk House that was commanding the exit and entrance of the rigorous mountain range Morgan.
「Is Falkirk-sama aware that Savaran Company, which is under the umbrella of Baldr-dono, is a prominent company that has a partnership with Dowding Company?」
「──With Dowding Company, you say?」
Destitute nobles like Cornelius and Antrim that only had the weak economic capability of a remote region couldn’t possibly be related to such a big name.
Dowding Company was already one of the huge companies in the capital from the beginning, but recently it was growing rapidly and forming a gigantic financial conglomerate that didn’t allow any rival to catch up to it.
From financing to goods circulation, there was no more economic activity in the capital that wasn’t influenced by Dowding Company right now.
Toby was saying that with the backing of that Dowding Company, there was no guarantee that Baldr wouldn’t be able to monopolize even the goods circulation in Falkirk.
「In the capital, the commoners are gathering money and beginning to encroach even into the range of occupation of us nobles without regard to their lowly status. My master is aspiring to correct such travesty.」
「That is truly a noble aspiration.」
Thinking back, before that detestable war broke out, the commoner’s status couldn’t rise as high as right now.
The kingdom’s law was guaranteeing the right of the commoners, but that was just at the surface. There shouldn’t be any chance for commoners to go against nobles.
However, right now commoners were the vital point of the kingdom’s economy. It was represented by general trading companies like Dowding Company.
Alan himself was also holding a dissatisfaction at such a change in society.
「My master is feeling concerned with how many nobles there are who have their eyes blinded by money and pander to the commoners. It’s self-evident that any proud noble must not accommodate the money-worship of the commoners. However, the current Viscount Antrim is someone who is pushing for economical integration with the commoners instead. It’s very crucial to be careful when dealing with that person.」
For the traditional nobles, the most important things were their bloodline along with their duty and responsibility that accompanies the weight of their house’s history.
Someone like Baldr who was increasing his influence by developing commercial products and using companies to expand the marketing of their product was nothing but traitors in the eyes of those who were trying to maintain the framework of nobility.
In the first place, the fact that someone like Baldr who was still fifteen years old was receiving viscount rank itself was perceived by many people as an act of reducing the kingdom’s nobility system to a mere formality.
「──This Alan Falkirk is also deeply impressed by what the lord count is saying. Be that as it may, the appointment of the new viscount is also the will of his majesty the king. I am unable to say anything rash.」
No matter how irritated he was towards Baldr, this appointment was a direct royal command from the king. It would only be a political suicide if a puny noble like Alan was criticizing the king’s decision openly.
No, to oppose the current Welkin whose power had drastically increased since the last war might become a fatal mistake even for a noted noble family like the count.
「Of course, to oppose his majesty the king is something unthinkable. However Alan-sama, can’t you recall the past? Before that war, his majesty couldn’t possibly ignore our words and would lend his ears to our opinion.」
Toby didn’t say that the king was only reluctantly doing that because of the balance of power at that time.
To return to the power balance of that time, the king’s current power was only a hindrance. Of course this maverick from Cornelius who was aiding that king was also a hindrance.
「Besides, Falkirk-sama also cannot act like this is someone else’s problem. Baldr-dono is the eldest son of Cornelius House that has a lot of enemies. If Haurelia invades Antrim because of their grudge, then the possibility of Falkirk-sama getting dragged into it won’t be low.」
「……Umu, certainly I wish to avoid only the second coming of the war no matter what.」
For Alan, the annihilation of Antrim House wasn’t something that he could forget at all.
If his family was late in escaping for even just one day, they would also fall into the hand of Haurelia army. Alan remembered the terror of that day like it was only yesterday.
「If Falkirk-sama wishes to not get involved, you only need to block the path. An unfortunate accident is something that can occur anytime.」
「──What do you want to say?」
「I’m only speaking to myself here but……there is a jutting out bedrock at the valley of Morgan mountain range where the only main road that is connecting Antrim and Falkirk passes through, isn’t there? If this path is blocked by some falling rocks, then even an army won’t be able to pass.」
「T-that’s……」
Certainly, Falkirk House would be saved like that.
However, if such a thing happened, Viscount Antrim would lose his path to escape and get annihilated once more without any doubt.
「It’s not anyone’s fault if an incident occurs. That’s simply the will of heaven. Although when humans follow the will of heaven, surely they will also have their wish granted as a reward.」
Toby implicitly hinted at the possibility of Alan’s promotion in rank. It greatly shook Alan’s heart.
If he could secure his own safety while obtaining the backing of a count house at the same time──then it couldn’t be helped even if an accident occurred.
「This is not a complicated matter. Falkirk-sama only needs to choose the path that will be to your benefit, that’s all……Hastings House will also aiding Falkirk-sama’s effort.」
「When a national disaster is approaching Mauricia Kingdom, a national disaster works to my territory’s advantage and prevents the enemy country’s attack from happening. Such a thing can also possibly happen.」
「Of course it’s possible. The heaven will help those who are walking the path of righteousness after all.」
(It is outside my jurisdiction to know whether the righteousness of Falkirk House will be recognized or not though.)
The objective of the anti-king faction that was centered around Hastings House was the forfeiture of the royal authority by sacrificing Antrim territory.
If Baldr was attacked and destroyed helplessly, they would be able to hold Welkin responsible as the one who appointed Baldr as the lord of that territory. Cornelius House’s loyalty to the royal family would also decrease after they lost their heir.
If Welkin tried to dispatch a large scale reinforcement that included the noble’s troops to save Baldr, the nobles would join hands to refuse this and demanded the king to dispatch only the national troops.
If a lot of lives and funds were consumed and the national troops were exhausted from the battle, the king’s power should also weaken.
Hastings was scheming to have the royal family’s strength reduced, just like how the nobles were ruined from the previous war.
「Then Falkirk-sama, please do as you see fit from here on.」
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