Chapter 93: Derval's Friends

'We'll build a fort here.'

I settled on the location of the most important fortress on the Nerman Plains, a small hill around 10 kilometers away from the border with the Havis Kingdom. You could clearly see in all directions here—it was the perfect spot for a fort.

'It's a distance away from the passage, so they won't see it. If we gather all the materials and make it all in one go, they'll never know.'

One week had passed after getting the elves' help. The elves who returned every night to the Elven Village were truly diligent. When the sun came back up, they somehow always managed to find me, wherever I was, like ghosts returning to their haunt. When I asked Narmias how that was possible, she shyly bowed her head and refused to answer. I guessed that Narmias had something akin to telepathy.

'Anyone who invades my territory will not be forgiven, no matter who they are.'

After choosing the fortress grounds, my fighting spirit blazed within me. Our population was low and so were our resources, but our pride would never bend. It felt like the magnificent aura from the Rual Mountains visible from across the plains was bolstering me.

Wooooooosh.

A fairly chilly wind came blowing in. The warmth in the wind had completely disappeared within the week. The red autumn foliage that had begun at the top of the mountains had already spread its colorful skirt to the foot of the mountains.

'It's almost harvest time. As long as we can finish the harvest with a good amount of supplies, the territory will be safe.'

Thanks to the help of the elves, around 30 kilometers of the road was finished within a week. We could have done more, but the materials in the carriages were limited, which we could have solved by mobilizing wyverns, but we couldn't hastily put them to use when there was no knowing when the enemies would attack.

'In around two months, a road will be completed from Denfors all the way to here.'

The elves had no complaints. They repeated the same work every day, but having lived at least a hundred years locked in a cage only a few kilometers wide on each side, it seemed the work was enjoyable for them. There were also elves who cried tears of joy after tasting chewy wheat bread.

'I wonder if Rosiathe is doing well?'

We knew from the merchants that were coming and going that there were no mishaps in the Havis Kingdom yet. However, there was a limit to what merchants could know. Thinking about what harassment that delicate lady could be enduring from the nobles made my heart slightly ache.

'Hold on until we meet again in the near future, Rosiathe.'

There wasn't much I could do for her. The only thing I could do was to grow my strength and bury the pain in the asses of the Havis Kingdom in one go this upcoming spring.

"Let's go back."

Guooooooo!

Bebeto had become more imposing than ever. Nearly half a size bigger than other wyverns, Bebeto flapped his huge wings and lifted into the sky above the hill I had chosen.

'I heard the movements of the monsters are suspicious.'

Because of road construction and the beginning of the harvest, I was hella busy, but I received a report from Fort Ciaris that there was a marked uptick in appearances from the monsters chased into the Rual Mountains. In addition, the monsters in the other regions where we were unable to execute monster subjugation were growing more active.

It seemed they were also aware.

That it was time for the humans to harvest the crops.

* * *

"If we keep going like this, I believe the royal treasury will suffer bankruptcy this year."

"Bankruptcy? From what I heard, we had a good harvest this year, so we should be getting plenty of taxes from every territory, so what do you mean by bankruptcy!"

"Ah, of course, I heard a few territories were like that. But as you know, Princess, the territories of our Havis Kingdom have quite a few expenses, do they not? It's not like the Royal Army can protect the borders, and the Royal Family's designated territory is not very large, either."

"....."

Inside the councilroom of the Havis Kingdom Royal Palace, Princess Rosiathe, who was attending the meeting in the place of the king, could only clench the hem of her dress in response to Duke Hanskane.

"My territory is not in any condition to give much taxes this year, either. Because of the flooding last summer, our farmlands took considerable damage. I would be thankful for your understanding."

"There is no river on your land, is there, Count Arkento!"

"We don't have a river, but when the rain comes, the water flows over and there's nothing we can do."

The nobles smirked towards the Princess, busy securing tax cuts for themselves. The taxes they were due to pay were already low, but they were trying to cut that amount even further.

"Silence. The Royal Treasury must be full in order for your territories to be secure as well. Each territory should pay a tax of 10%, like last year."

Duke Hanskane gave an order to the nobles with the Princess representing the King right in front of him. Because Duke Safidian, a supporter of the King, had been unable to leave his mansion due to sickness for the past few years, Hanskane acted like the world belonged to him.

"Princess, we shall move to the next issue."

Knowing she was merely a figurehead, Princess Rosiathe bit her lip and endured the humiliation. If she fell here, all the disgrace she had endured so far would go to waste.

"C-Continue."

"The next issue is the compensation case from the Nerman Territory."

"Did we not decide to deal with that matter with force this coming spring?"

"We did indeed. But according to the merchants and mercenaries coming from Nerman, Nerman achieved a massive bumper crop this year. As such, we plan on moving the soldiers directly after the harvest is complete and securing the compensation."

"H-How can you move the army without consent from the Royal Family?! This is too much, isn't it?!"

Rosiathe had endured all this time, but she jumped out of her seat, glaring at Duke Hanskane and the nobles.

"Please calm yourself, Princess. His Majesty the King already permitted the expedition, did he not? Also, for this compensation issue, the Royal Knights and Soldiers are not participating and the dispatched force will be purely made up of a coalition of territories. Therefore, I believe there is no need for you to resist it to such a degree, Princess."

"....."

Duke Hanskane was an old hand at politics and was from a prominent family. It was difficult for Rosiathe to block the Duke with words alone. The authority of the crown had crumbled long ago, after all.

'But Kyre-nim asked me to block them until the spring...'

Rosiathe's heart was wrenched with anxiety. If Hanskane and the nobles insisted, she would have no grounds to stop them. The King had already given his permission for the expedition long ago.

"Please wait. Until the harvest is complete, I absolutely forbid you to dispatch the troops. This I command, in the name of Rosiathe von Havis."

Determined, Rosiathe gave a strict command.

However, not a single one of the nobles responded. They merely looked at Rosiathe with irritated gazes.

"Derval, how is it looking with the monsters and Temir?"

"The Temir have been quiet ever since the previous battle, but the movements of the monsters have been strange. The ones that were repelled around Ciaris are hiding in the Rual Mountains and crawling back out, and monsters from other sides are also slowly approaching, as if to surround Denfors."

'If I could, I would clear them all away, but...'

I would have liked to put our entire strength to repelling monsters from Nerman, like when we did the monster subjugations, but right now, we were short-handed. We had managed to recruit wyverns and Skyknights, but with our current forces, we had our hands full simply defending. In order to secure a safe trade route, soldiers had to be stationed at Fort Ciaris as well as the main fort leading to Havis, and the rest of the soldiers had to be on watch for Temir aggravation and attacks from monsters besieging us in various places.

"For now, we are continuing to make the fleet-footed cavalry use the acquired war horses. If we do a multi-pronged attack with Skyknights, there shouldn't be much problem defending the territory," said Derval while looking at a map of Nerman.

'That's true in theory, but damn, the monsters stalking around give me an uneasy and dirty feeling, you know.'

It left a strange taste in my mouth that was hard to describe, like biting into an unripe banana.

"How's the progress on the harvest?"

"All the land cultivated by the dravits are located around Denfors, so we are steadily harvesting from the near surroundings onwards. For the places lacking manpower, soldiers were given breaks like you commanded, my lord, so the harvest is proceeding without a problem."

"Once the harvest is complete, take wheat and other crops as taxes and distribute them to every fort, including Denfors."

"Understood."

The territory was stabilizing, little by little. The soldiers were being turned into elites, and territory development was progressing well, too. As soon as the harvest was finished, we wouldn't have any worries about food until next year. There was also quite a quantity of fish being caught from the sea and river.

'It's too quiet. Like the calm before the storm...'

I was doubtful as to whether it was truly okay for the enemies all around us to be this quiet.

'Shit, just come if you dare. I'll strip you down to the hairs on your butt!'

I ignited my fighting spirit towards the invisible enemies lurking beyond Nerman. I had to keep going with a know-no-retreat mentality, until the day Nerman had enough strength to protect itself.

"My lord! There are people outside wanting to see you."

'Who is it this time?'

"I will go outside and see."

"Alright, go see who it is."

Things were too busy right now to just see anybody.

'The most dangerous ones are the Laviter.'

Taking the Gold Wyverns because I was unable to kick away the feast before my eyes kept bothering me. The Second Prince might be a scumbag, but things wouldn't have gotten this big if I hadn't gotten involved.

'I need more wyverns, so should I just clean out the coffers?'

Up until now, I had never acquired a wyvern with my own money.

"My liege, it is Derval."

"Hm? Come in."

Derval returned from meeting the people who wanted to see me.

Creaaak.

He opened the office door and came inside, along with...

'Ara? Who are those people?'

"Give your greetings. The person before is the one and only liege I serve."

"It is nice to meet you, Count Kyre. My name is Andriave."

"It is an honor to meet you. I am called Thevedian."

'Does Derval know these guys?'

From the moment he stepped in, Derval was smiling from ear to ear, unable to conceal his joy.

"They are schoolmates from the Empire Administrative Academy."

"Ah! Haha, it is my pleasure to meet you. I am the Lord of Nerman, Kyre."

'OHH! They're the long-awaited talents.'

They were graduates from the Administrative Academy and could be called true elites of the Bajran Empire. The two handsome men looked to be around Derval's age; they were in their mid-twenties. Most striking was Andriave's heterochromia—he had a mismatched pair of blue and brown eyes.

"I apologize for coming so late."

"You've still got the shame to be sorry? Your one and only friend in the world sent you such a touching, earnest letter, but you only crawled out now, I'm really disappointed in you guys. To think you only had that much trust in me, Derval."

"I'm ashamed, but it couldn't be helped; I had to sort things out in the household."

It seemed they were really friends. They met Derval's playful scolding with sincere expressions of regret.

"You had to sort things out in the household? What do you mean?" I asked.

"That is..." Andraive trailed off, hesitating.

Thevedian, who was tall and looked like a naive young man, began to speak. "We tried coming as soon as we received Derval's letter. But we hesitated for a moment because of the bad rumors regarding Your Lordship and His Highness the Crown Prince and other nobles."

"As you must be aware, Your Lordship, because of Nerman's unique position, once you decide to come here, you cannot go back. But we kept hearing more and more bad news... If you were a liege we could devote our lives to like Derval did, of course we would have come, but for us, it could only be a big risk," continued Andraive with a quiet voice.

'Sigh, I would've done the same.'

Of course leaving their stable jobs and families to serve an unknown liege because of one letter from their friend was a risk. Also, Nerman might be technically Bajran Empire land, but it wasn't easy to get to.

"I understand."

"Thank you for your understanding."

"Then what about your families? Your parents?" asked Derval with urgency, looking worried.

"For now, we just told them we were going. We wanted to sort things out faster to help you, but it ended up being this late."

Come to think of it, Derval also had a family.

"Since you've come this far, you must have made your decision, so tell me. Will you work for me and Nerman?"

"I will serve you as my liege. Derval, Thevedian, and I made a vow during our academy days. That if we find a true liege, we will all serve that person as our liege together."

"My liege! I, Andraive, vow to serve you as my liege."

"I, Thevedian, swear to you that this life of mine will be used to serve you with all my loyalty!"

'Birds of a feather flock together. As expected for Derval's friends.'

Because they trusted their friend, they even trusted the liege their friend chose—what a beautiful friendship. They must have steeled their resolve on their way here.

"Thank you. I will become a liege who will never disappoint you."

The sincere need no flowery language. Just opening our hearts to one another was more than enough.

"Derval, I will appoint Sir Andraive and Thevedian with knighthood, so make the announcement."

"A-As knights?"

The two men were shocked. Appointing graduates from Administrative Academy as knights rather than administrative staff was pretty much unheard of in the history of the empire.

"Do you oppose it?"

"No, sir! I am merely grateful for your grace, my liege."

Because I went and appointed them as knights as soon as we met, the two were flustered. Even if they had aspirations, talents on this continent were unable to set sail for the dreams in their hearts because of rank constraints. I would accept them as fully as I could.

"Derval, contact the Rubis Merchants."

"What should I tell them...?"

"To bring the new knights' families in their entirety to Nerman."

"......"

"There will be no place safer than here in the future."

"My liege..."

"Alright, alright! Let's get moving, everyone. Know that each drop of your sweat is a drop of blood from the people of Nerman and do your best!"

Only

"YES, SIR!!!"

'Nice!'

My heart was full of pride.

Like scraps of fabric sewed together to make a quilt, Nerman was coming together, piece by piece.

I decided to run myself ragged today as well. One drop of my sweat was equivalent to a tear of joy from the people of Nerman.