167-Chapter 11-2 Blonde Blonde

Oh, Eliza.

Almost as soon as Aimee noticed the person and called her name, the woman called Eliza also noticed Aimee and smiled. Then, after bidding me a quick hello, she immediately moved over to Amy.

''I'm sorry, I apologize on behalf of Eliza...''

Well, it's always been...

I responded to Albert's apology by saying that I didn't mind, as I always did. In fact, my grandfather and I have been living in the country and wandering around for so long that I don't really care much if my good-natured friends are like that. I can't help but feel that over the past few years, I've become more and more aware of this because of one family....

While me and Albert were having our usual exchange, Cain and Rion were led by Aina into the dining room to take a seat and eat tea and snacks. This was also the usual scene.

To be honest, it's a bother to do this exchange every time, so it would be better if Albert was just as dignified (churlishly) as the two of them, but Albert has his own reason (...) and that's not going to happen.

Incidentally, that 'certain reason' is because Eliza is Albert's fiancée. In other words, since the actions of Eliza, who will be the next head lady of the Sanga duke house in the near future, could lead directly to the reputation of the Sanga duke house, Albert had to apologize, even if only formally. Once I asked him if it was okay for him to take it easy like the three of them (Cain + Leon + Eliza) where there were no other people's eyes, but Albert's answer was that he was afraid of getting used to taking it easy and poking around elsewhere, so I'd like to brace myself for the moment.

When the Duke of Sangha and the Marquis of Samoens heard this, they lightly warned him that he was too cautious and that he was in too much of a hurry, but apparently he didn't say anything more than that. Grandpa said something like, "He probably thinks that if he's going to make a mistake, it's better to do it while he's young," so maybe he really thinks that. By the way, Eliza, unlike Albert, is confident in her use of public and private life, but she doesn't seem to be too concerned about it. In fact, when we met up with the king and Maria-sama at our house, they didn't get ripped off, even if it was by surprise.

''Amy, come on, be my sister.

'Well...'

Like this, Eliza is always recruiting (...) Amy. As for why she likes Aimee so much, there was an incident about two years ago when Aimee was in the middle of shopping in the King's Capital, she went into a back alley by mistake and was attacked by kidnappers. I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to do anything about it.

It's a good thing that you've got a good idea of what you're doing. But even so, as long as he or she is convinced, it won't be a problem, and he or she invites Amy to join him or her every chance he gets. It's a good thing that you're not the only one who's tried to kidnap Amy, because she's been beaten to a pulp by the three of them, as well as by the golems that I had on guard.

'Eliza, come on!　Amy's going to be in trouble!

Well you're not in trouble, are you?

'Hahaha........'

The solicitation has always ended with Albert giving Eliza a warning. Aimee should have clearly refused too, but since Aimee herself doesn't dislike Eliza, and it's fair to say that she is, on the contrary, fond of her, it was always like this.

Here's an introduction to Eliza, a nobleman who is the same age as Albert and the others and from the same school, and whose real name is 'Elisabeth von Schilfild'. Her family is the eldest daughter of a royalist county family.

Despite the fact that she is always one of the best in her classes on magic at the school, she seems to have been ranked about the same as Leon in the overall rankings, and she is not happy about it. It's not that Eliza is a failure other than in magic, but because she is so good at physical arts and the like that she overturned the school's handicap in magic and academics (she's a brainiac).

It seems that originally the Silphild Count family was founded by a person skilled in wind magic, and it is said that the descendants of the Silphild family (the first head of the family) are, to varying degrees, more skilled at wind magic than other magic. I've been told that Eliza is not so good at wind magic, but instead is good at 'lightning magic', which is unusual in the history of the Silphild family. It's a good thing that you're able to have a good time with your friends and family. And so on.

It's a good idea to have a good time with them. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're doing.

It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it. He is sometimes called "condescending" or "high-handed" by people who don't know him, but he doesn't feel that way at all, and he's a clear-cut person who likes and dislikes things, but he's basically a good person. By the way, he is popular among children because of his unusual hairstyle, and since Eliza herself loves children, she often goes to the orphanage that her parents run and the orphanage in the royal capital. By the way, it seems that her nickname is "Drill Big Sister" or "Gurukuru's Big Sister".

''Mostly, it would be pointless if Aimee disliked me for coming on so forcefully. There's a more likely and uneventful way to make her a sister than that.

What?

Eliza shows a big reaction to Cain's words (the part about how to make her a sister). By the way, I know that method because I've heard it before when Eliza wasn't there, but it would cause a lot of trouble, so I quickly evacuated the cafeteria.

So, do you have something to do with me, Leon? Or have you become a full-fledged male stalker?

As I escaped from the cafeteria, Rion was sneaking after me, so he hurriedly approached me, trying to tease me about something that happened in the past. When Rion acts suspiciously like this, it's usually when he has something to feel guilty about, so it's very easy to understand compared to the other two.

''No, I mean........take this!

Saying that, Rion took out two letters from his pocket........

'What!　You two are like that...

It's too much, so I'm tempted to suspect that he was actually sneaking around in the shadows.

'I understand that there are those kinds of interests and preferences in the world, and I don't blame you unless you are forced to get involved, but... sorry, Rion, but you'll have to find another one.

'No, I don't want that!　I've been told to give this to Temma for sure, and I've been entrusted with it!

Told by who?　You're not........you're not using Tenma-kun to make some weird kind of money, are you?　

At my joke, Leon looked quite impatient and tried to forcefully hand me the letter. And Chris-san, who saw that, seems to suspect that Rion might be a delivery man who delivers letters to me. I don't think he would normally come up with such an idea, but right now Chris-san is probably even more troubled than usual because of Aina and Eliza.

'I'll take it anyway but it's not really a strange letter, is it?　Like a love letter or something?

Taking the letter with a reminder, I opened the seal and read the letter inside and found out why Rion was having trouble giving it to me.

'Rion, does Maria-sama or the king know about the contents of this?　If you didn't know, it's going to get pretty complicated,

That's all right. I have your prior approval and your word that it's up to the Temma.

Leon suddenly looked serious and said that he was well rooted.

'So what's in the letter?'

Chris seemed to be curious about the contents of the letter, but he didn't take the liberty of peeking at it from the side. That's probably because Maria and the King not only came into the story, but also because he noticed the family crest stamped on the seal on the envelope of the letter.

The family crest on this envelope was 'The Howling Wolf', representing Rion's family home, the 'Howst Frontier Count family'. And since Rion, who can use the family crest, has received the letter, it's obvious that the sender is someone from the Howst Frontier Countess other than Rion, who is able to liaise with the king and use Rion, the next head of the Howst Frontier Countess, as the messenger.

"To put it bluntly, the Earl of the frontier Howst asks for my help.

"Hmmm........and you're going to take that request(s), Temma?　If Her Majesty said it was up to you, Temma, then it wasn't a mandatory request or a nomination request, was it?

A compulsory request is a request made in the event of a national security situation or a crisis in the town or village where the adventurer is staying. The adventurer does not have the right of refusal, with a few exceptions. It is also called "nomination request", which means that a person in power such as a nobleman uses his or her power to force an adventurer to accept a request.

As the name suggests, nomination request means that the requestor nominates the adventurer he or she wants, but since the adventurer has the right of refusal, it is ostensibly (........) not a problem to refuse it. However, most of the time the client who asks for a nomination request is the 'proprietor of a large merchant association' or a 'nobleman' who has a strong influence on the adventurer's guild, so there is a possibility of disadvantages later on. I've heard stories of people being treated coldly by the adventurer's guild, or being sold defective tools and equipment... In the worst case, they were suddenly attacked by their party mates and forced to retire from adventuring. The companions who betrayed him were hired by the 'manager of a large merchant association' or a 'nobleman', and even if he complained to the guild, it was not a crime because he was being manipulated behind the scenes, but rather, it is said that the person who was attacked was at fault. The most important thing to remember is that these days, due to the development of the law, such things are rarely heard of, but it is said that they are still being done behind the scenes, just not in the public eye.

It's a good thing that you're able to get a good deal more than you think. That's why we have not received many nomination requests from anyone other than the royal family, and even if we have, it's only from people close to us, such as the people in Kukri village and the Duke of Sanga. It's a good idea to have a good memory of the royalty, so you may get some flak from your peers, but the fact that you don't get a lot of crazy orders from people you know and trust, it's a relief to be able to work comfortably with them.

The request Leon brought to me was for help in defending his territory. It seems that some noblemen from the neighboring "Gilst Republic" are making moves that can be considered military action near the territory of the Howst Frontier Count, and in preparation for this, I tried to send the knights of the Howst Frontier Count to be vigilant, but unfortunately they found a swarm of demons elsewhere. Two of them at the same time.

One seemed to be a swarm of goblins like the ones we had encountered in the south before, an estimated two thousand of them. This one is going to send the adventurers operating in the Haust Frontierland as the main force, and they plan to send a platoon (about fifty people) or a company (a few platoons, about two hundred people) of knights.

And the second. This is the reason why the Count of the Hoost Frontier wanted me to come to his aid. Because.....

A bunch of wyverns...

A herd of wyverns, thought to be for breeding purposes, has settled in the mountains of the frontier county.

It is said that the knights of the frontier county of Howst are the strongest in the kingdom, but the frontier county's adventurers are looking out for the goblins in the Gilst Republic and sending reinforcements to the surrounding towns and villages to deal with the swarm of wyverns, but they have decided that it is impossible to deal with them. Well, if the reputation of the frontier earl's strength is as good as the rumors say, it's not absolutely impossible for the frontier earl's knights to do it alone. However, instead, they would undoubtedly suffer quite a bit of damage, and if they're not good at it, the borderline with the Gilst Republic might change. So at least the decision of the frontier count is not wrong.

But rather than making that decision, I was more impressed that he had thought to ask me directly for help. It's not that I'm criticizing the frontier count, but people who don't know anything about my relationship with the frontier count think that we are on a very bad terms with each other. Of course, they're not on good terms with each other, so I can't say they're completely off the mark, but at least they don't have the same resentment and dislike as they used to. It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get away with it. So.

'I'll take this request. Since we are dealing with a swarm of wyverns, the reward will be bouncing for that. Also, I'll take the request in 'Oration', but Aura and Jeanne will be evacuated to a safe place in the middle of the request in some cases. Is that alright with you?

'No problem, thank you. I'm going to be able to tell my dad that you two are miscellaneous workers on the team and that you will be paid on a party basis, so there will be no problem. I'll even work with you to get them paid individually for their accomplishments.

For the time being, we decided on the general terms and conditions here and there, and we will negotiate the amount of remuneration directly with the frontier county. Normally, the amount of money offered would determine whether or not to accept a request, but this time, there was no way they would be unfairly priced out or not paid. Because, as the representative of the head of the family, Rion has agreed to the terms and conditions, and more importantly, he has talked to the royal family beforehand. If this is the reason why they are reluctant to pay, it would be like an act of disgrace to the royal family. A decent aristocrat would not do such a thing in the first place. It's even more so if it's a high ranking member of the royalist party.

''I'm going to prepare now and leave right away, but what do you think about Leon?　Do you want to head out with us?

''Please. I've sent out requests for reinforcements to those who belong to the frontier county families and to nobles who are cooperating with them, such as the dukes of Sanga and the Marquis of Samos, but I don't think we can expect too many of them. If there are too many stones, the neighboring countries might be too cautious.

Indeed, if he had gathered the knights of other nobles in a big way and kept them near the border, the other side might use that as an excuse to place their knights in the field with impunity. And then, for some reason, they would joyfully attack us. Regardless of which of those triggers was the cause of the attack. In that case, the side of the Haust frontier county that has the problem of goblin swarms and wyvern swarms would be at a disadvantage.

In that case, the Gilst Republic, if it won, would carve out its territory and claim the rights to its land, and even if it lost, it could conceivably retreat while harassing the territory of the Haust frontier county as much as possible.

I'll leave such matters to the Count of the Howst Frontier. I'm going to have to deal with the wyvern swarm as soon as possible and stay close to the knights on the borderline just in case....

The hard part would be left to the Earl of the Howst Frontier and the kings. Instead, the wyvern must be handled responsibly. In fact, this request is not only risky for the Earl of Houst Frontier, but also for me.

The risk for the Count of the Howst Frontier is: 'Are you going to forget what you did to me and only use me when it's convenient? It's a rumor that says. No matter how much I and the Hoost frontier county side appeal to be on friendly terms, there are always people who don't understand, or ignore it and make a lot of noise.

In contrast, my risk is that if I fail to make this request or cause significant damage, there's a chance that they'll say, 'I've returned the favor to the Haust Frontier Count for my past. This means that even if the damage is done, there may not be a problem if the Count of the Frontier says that it is within the expected range, but it is certain that some people will make a fuss about it.

But I'm sure some of them will be upset about it.

He told everyone the report that he had decided to take the request from the Haust frontier county, and as soon as he told them what it was and the risks involved, they realized how much Grandpa was going to get.

'Right. First of all, fame. I guess this will be called forgetting the past and standing up to the wyvern crowd to help the Howst Frontier Count territory.......or something like that. Also, the fact that the Earl of the Hoost frontier spoke to the king first and then asked me for help was a big deal. Thanks to that, I don't get a lot of direct requests for appointment from strange places from now on. To be honest, money isn't a problem, so for now, the adventurer's family business is just a hobby, so there's no problem for me to take only the requests that I like. Well, I suppose I'll have to take some unenthusiastic requests so that my qualifications won't be revoked, but.......

The reward from the Countess of the Frontier is significant, but the materials from the wyvern are even more so.

I guess I'll have to give a percentage of it to the frontier county family, but I'll still be able to claim the rights to most of the material... well, it's a take-it-or-leave-it scheme for now, but with me and Grandpa and Slarin and the others, not being able to take down a single wyvern means I'm not going to be able to take down a single one. There will be none.

I'm here too, so it's okay!

Amur also seems to be on board. As for Amur, there was talk of him returning to the south, so I thought I would exclude him from this request, but he seems to be eager to follow me.

But Temma-kun, when you're dealing with a group of wyverns, isn't there not enough people to go around?

To Chris's question, I counted the number of people on my fingers, but we certainly didn't have enough people at all, considering we were dealing with a bunch of wyverns. The participants so far are........

"Eight from 'Oration' (excluding Jill and Gol to Raiden), of which Jeanne and Aura are out of strength.

A thousand golems would be enough. As I was saying that to everyone, Chris-san, who was thinking back to my words, said, "Wait a minute! I shouted.

'Why am I in the count?　You won't get enough time off to accompany me on that request, as it were. And there's no way the captain would allow it in the first place.

It says, 'Whoever you are, I don't care who you are.'

Mr. Chris snatched the letter from me and read it over and over again, and even looked at the signature on the letter to confirm it from various angles.

'Come to think of it, I had a letter from the Captain of the Konoe Guard addressed to Miss.　

When Leon took out a letter from his pocket as he just remembered and tried to give it to Chris-san, he was robbed by Chris-san when he put the letter out. Then Chris-san read the letter....

This doesn't mean he was picking me from the beginning!

In the letter to me, it was written, 'Whoever you are,' but in the letter to Chris, it was written, 'Go help an adventurer who is going to the Haust frontier county territory. Well, there's basically only one person in the busy Konoe Guard who fits the category of 'someone who is likely to be in my immediate vicinity and who is also currently 'bored',' so it was probably decided from the beginning when this story came up that Chris-san would be chosen.

'Let's just go with it for now. At worst, if we unleash the 'Tempest', we'll be able to take out a bunch of wyverns... well, the surroundings might be decimated as well.

Grandpa and Chris seemed to have understood the meaning of the lines he had muttered so that Leon wouldn't hear them, and they looked at Leon with a pitying look. Incidentally, neither of them have seen the Tempest directly, but they have seen the site where it was used and heard from the people in Kukri village, and they know its power. Incidentally, the two of them saw the site when Grandpa looked for me right after the incident, and Chris was ordered by the king to investigate the dragon zombies and me. Both of them thought it was a dragon zombie at first, but later they decided it was my magic after listening to the witnesses.

''Anyway, the sooner we get to the frontier county territory, the better, so I think we'll make our preparations today and tomorrow, and leave the royal capital the day after tomorrow. According to Rion, it usually takes a month to get there, so we're aiming for half that time, two weeks. It's conceivable that we'll start defeating the wyvern swarm right after we arrive, so don't neglect your respective preparations. Aina will ask you to manage the mansion while you are away. I'll tell Uncle Mark and the others to take care of Joubert, Merry and the others, so you can leave that to them. Then we'll disperse!

Well, in the case of Oration, when preparing for an adventure, all you have to do is put everything you think you need into a magic bag or a dimension bag, so according to the djinn (other adventurers), they envied the way you don't think about the weight. It's a privilege for those who can make their own magic bags and dimension bags.