Chapter 53: The Start of Summer (5)

He let out a deep sigh and concluded. Internal affairs, especially those related to industry, were also the core responsibility of Laubert. It was no stranger to this man.

In short, they came all the way from the royal capital just to torment me. It's disgusting.

"I see. I see your point."

"It's very good that you’ve come to an understanding quickly. Really though, why now of all times? After holing up in the royal capital all this time and leaving the territory management to an official..."

And yet, Linus was trying to make things difficult for me, a man who had been doing well as a lord. With this thought in mind, I couldn't help but utter a few curses.

"Mostly, I think it's because they've finished making relations within the centralist faction. Since he was a newcomer and his original position was as a local noble, I don't think he had much credibility among them. I think it's because he had finally gained a certain amount of trust, and was now in a situation where he could leave the royal capital and come here."

"So Count Linus Oubeniel is now seen as a respected centrist. My brother sure is pitiful. I guess he won't be able to get his foot in the door any time soon, even if old man Lavallee passes away."

I muttered to myself.

To be trusted meant to be held accountable. If you threw away such trust, those who once put faith in you would resent you, and those who didn’t in the first place would only distrust you further. Also, considering his personality, he was not the type of person who could abandon a responsibility that he took on.

"Just asking to confirm. The bad news is that, it doesn't mean that they approached me unprotected, does it?"

Entering Volden also meant approaching Marlan. This was the place where I have brainwashed many nobles. If anybody enters my estate carelessly, my handlers will catch them and brainwash them. I'm sure he would have some insurance against that. At the very least, the old man behind him seemed to be aware that my methods included brainwashing.

Laubert nodded his head in disappointment.

"Yes. I heard that a group of Imperial Knights would be accompanying them on a border inspection. It's the most elite and honourable of the Imperial Guards, the Second Order."

"......That's pretty exciting, isn't it?"

I couldn't help but shrug my shoulders. The most powerful guards of the kingdom, the Second Order, renowned for their bravery, would surely not be working for a mere count. This was obviously the work of a certain well connected somebody.

"I've heard that there were some disturbing developments in St. Gallen, but it’s suspicious. I'm sure that country is having a hard time with the monster invasion now. They wouldn’t have the time to mess around with our kingdom."

"I'm pretty sure a large number of lower level monsters came pouring out of the forest? I don't know why that happened again."

"...... Perhaps it's the effect of bringing too many powerful monsters from their forest to the Trees of Darkness."

Uni pointed out.

Oh, I see. I had removed a bunch of powerful individuals from the Black Forest, where monsters also kill each other and only the fittest survive. That would mean that the ecosystem would go out of whack and there would be a huge outbreak of lower tier monsters.

"Well, that's none of our business. Even if it is our fault, as long as it doesn't affect us, we'll be fine."

"I heard the casualties are in the tens of thousands...... No, speaking of that, it was the same when we burned down the royal capital last year. Anyways, going back to the main point, the Second Order will be garrisoned at the state capital of Volden. Effectively, they will serve as guards for your brother."

It was a troublesome situation. If we were to directly confront them, I don't think my creations would lag behind, but after all, they were professional bodyguards. If he strengthened his surroundings, it might be difficult to sneak into my brother's place and brainwash him.

"I fully understand the bad news. So? What about the good news?"

"This one is a bit of a mess, really. Currently, the Marquis Lavallee is busy with his involvement in the reconstruction of the royal capital. I hear he's having a dizzying number of meetings with merchants involved in the logistics, and I'm afraid he can't afford the time to mess with you."

As though Laubert didn't seem to think much of it. He just said it briefly and didn't continue from there.

But I couldn’t help but wonder. I wondered if that scheming man could really stay quiet at this time of the year. I'm sure he knew that the burning of the royal capital was my attempt at buying time. In addition to that, he was also doing something elaborate like attaching imperial guards to my brother.

"......Are you sure? Isn't that just another one of the old man's top-notched smokescreens?"

"Yes, it is. It's very unlike the old man. I'm sure he will be up to no good again."

It was Uni who agreed readily with me. She, too, has been given a hard time by that garbage of a person. The expression on her face didn’t change, but inside she was probably holding a grudge.

Laubert shrugged in response to our response.

"Isn't that too much to be worried about? I'm sure my lord is concerned about the fact that even the Imperial Guards have been dispatched, but if you think about it the other way around, you could say that he wants the Count to interfere with us until then. He probably wants to block the movements of our faction until the reconstruction of the royal capital is complete."

"Wanting to block our movement, that's a given. It's a given that he doesn’t want to give us the upper hand. The question is, what does he plan to do by stalling us? It’s completely unreal if all he wants is to rebuild the royal capital."

"To rebuild their readiness......? If the Marquis' camp has been damaged by the rumours from the fire—"

"Sir Laubert, I’m thinking that would be a little too far-fetched."

"Yeah, yeah. That thing sees us as a full-fledged enemy. If we show any damage, that's when he'll attack. There's no way all he is doing is send your brother to harass you. I'm sure he'll try something even more outrageous."

I don't know what we were going to be set up for. That old scoundrel had a tendency to turn even the most auspicious wedding into a stage for intrigue. I can't imagine how he could be so kind as to dance and sweat to our rhythmic claps.

I gave Laubert strict orders.

"We'll have to start over with our investigations. Not only the Marquis directly, but also the merchants who interact with him, you have to reexamine them thoroughly. Understood?"

"Y—yes. I'll keep that in mind."

He straightened his back and accepted the orders.

Oh, man, you've to be more reliable. He was probably getting too carried away with the recent success of the town. Laubert had been watching his vision come to fruition. It was understandable that he would be proud of the fruits of his labour. However, it was not right to turn that into overconfidence and underestimate the enemy. Especially if the opponent was Marquis Lavallee. The old man spent more years plotting schemes than Laubert’s age and my age combined. Belittle him and no matter how many lives we had, it wouldn’t be enough.

"Oh dear. This doesn't give me much optimism for the future as good news, does it?"

"Oh, that's a terrible thing to say......, but I’m sure this next piece of information is excellent. I'm sure my lord would be surprised."

I'm not sure I could place trust in his confidence. I don't think the newly established intelligence network would pick up on extraordinary information so easily. The information of my brother's return and the Marquis's movements were only found out because they were publicly known information. But it's better than staying in the countryside and not knowing anything.

"What is it? Has the king with no heir suddenly announced he has an illegitimate child? Or perhaps the culprit behind the assassination of the crown prince seven years ago has come forward himself? Or perhaps you've found an ancient document that contained the secret of immortality?"

"My lord certainly doesn’t have any high hopes for me, huh. Well, that's fine. You're the one who's going regret saying that soon enough."

Laubert grinned happily. Seeing this, Uni pressed for more information.

"If you are so sure that our master would be so pleased, I assume you have caught wind of some noble’s weakness?"

"You are correct, Chief Maid. You understand well, don't you?"

The only time he seemed to derive any pleasure was when there was money to be made or when he heard a bad rumour about somebody. He was a man with really bad taste. The black-hearted internal affairs officer began to present the information he was so proud of.