175-Chapter 11-9 Hausto Frontier House

So I think we're done with this one.

''Oh, thank God. With the additional knights in place, it's almost impossible to get through this camp with that many people. That's all thanks to the wall that Lord Tenma built.

A few days after the day I served the Wye soup, additional personnel from the Frontier Count Army and reinforcements from other nobles arrived, so the border army had swelled to a total of over 10,000 in size. That's the number of noble knights and soldiers alone, so if you include the adventurers as well, the number must be close to 15,000.

In addition, the knights who came as reinforcements were notified beforehand that spies had been discovered and captured, so they organized a gendarmerie squad of trustworthy people from their respective armies to keep an eye on them at all times, making it more difficult for spies to operate than before. It's a good thing that you're able to have a good time with your friends and family. It is important to note that these two reinforcements only account for a little over 20 percent of the total, but since the frontier count army was originally in the majority, the other noble armies together account for less than 30 percent of the total, it seems that they could not say anything.

It's a good thing that you're not going to have to worry about your opponent's earth magic, because the walls have been reinforced since then, so I'm sure they won't be broken by a little thing. I think it's better to reinforce it as soon as possible. If possible, it would be better to use not only stone, but also wood and iron so that it will last longer against magical attacks.

Although the earthen walls are compressed as much as possible, they are quite fragile when broken down by earth magic. So we need to find a way to extend the time it takes to be destroyed by reinforcing it with stones, wood and iron. When I told that to the deputy commander, he said he had already ordered the materials.

''And I have a favor to ask...''

If anyone asks my opinion on your son, I will leave it at that... and as Rion asked me, I have no desire to interfere inside.

If I interfere in this matter, if I'm not good at it, I might create a strange faction within the Frontier Count family. If there were any of the Frontier Count's relatives who were thinking of taking over, they would likely at least make use of my power. At any rate, the royal family is behind me, and the current frontier lord is considered to be the perpetrator of the incident in Kukri village. I'm a handy palanquin for those who are thinking of doing the wrong thing.

That's why I've decided to remain neutral on the secretary's case. Of course, I'm asking for a certain amount of payback in return.

"I also want to be on friendly terms with the frontier master and Lila-sama.

If someone who doesn't know me, they might think I'm threatening the Vice Commander, but the Vice Commander seemed relieved. Instead, Leon had a disgusted look on his face. Because the contact person of the frontier county family to me is Leon. And it's also because he is the one who suffers the most. Well, I've mentioned the names of the frontier count and the deputy commander, but the point is that I'm going to use Rion as a go-between.

"Well then, shall we go to the Count of the Frontier?　Leon, show me the way.

Yeah, I got it...

His response was less energetic than usual, as if he was worried about being made a reward for himself, but he'll be back to normal soon...................in three steps, although that's probably not the way it's supposed to go.

'Well then, let's start with the town from the other day. Come on, everyone, get in the carriage!

Our first stop was the town we stopped in before coming here, and the first official was Chris. The reason why Chris is sticking it out is.....

Miss........have you run out of clothes to wear?　Let's at least do the laundry, geez!

No!

'Rion, the clothes and underwear were washed by Jeanne and Aura, so no matter how bad Chris is at housework, that's not true!　I'm sure I just made an embarrassing stain that I can't tell people about!

Amur, shut up!

When Leon was looking at Chris-san with a dumbfounded expression, he hit his knuckles and Amour lightly dodged Chris-san's fist. Well, it's not too late to know that Chris-san is not good at housework, and Jeanne and the others' job is to take care of things around us, so it's not a strange thing.

As I looked at Chris with that thought in mind, he started to make some kind of defense, but everyone let it slide lightly and got into the carriage. Well, that 'embarrassing stain' is probably the stain that was created when he got drunk from the alcohol he drank when he was off duty and threw up. Chris-san seems to be hiding it, but due to Amour's tip-off, everyone knows about it. Then I heard the sound of Rion being hit again, but no one said anything as it was always the case.

'For now, we're at the last inn, right?　I can be a little more flexible there.

''I'm the next head of this territory, right?

None of them answered Leon's mutterings, and they each hobbled off to their assigned rooms. Well, Chris-san quickly left the room and went off to go shopping at a store that dealt in clothes.

''Shucks, this town is getting a lot busier.

That's true, isn't it? After all, this town is the most valuable place in the County of Housto Frontier.

Well, the time of war is probably the time when prices rise the most, so this town near the border line in a situation that's close to that, would be the best place for merchants to make a base of operations.

''That's probably only until the border line stabilizes, though.

Well. There are some merchants who are calculating the future of their business because of Tenma's success, and some of them are going to lose a lot of money. Well, they'll get what they deserve.

Normally, from now on, we would be able to do business with the construction of the base building and business with the military, which would be quite profitable, but the walls, which are considered to be the most costly part of the base building, have already been roughly completed by my magic. Moreover, the deputy commander is ordering materials for reinforcement with the budget he has immediately floated. This means that the merchants are selling them to the frontier county army at normal or discounted prices before they can raise their prices.

Even if they wanted to make money on materials from now on, as far as the fence was concerned, there would be almost no demand for it, and if the enemy army pulled up the fence when they saw that the base had been built, there was a chance that the other trades would not make much money either. In that case, it's conceivable that at best it would be a thumping, or at worst it would only increase the debt due to transportation costs and so on.

'Well, there's no need to think that far ahead. It's just business as usual anyway, and I just did what the frontier count asked me to do.

Yes. Well, let's just say that the frontier barons were better at it than the merchants, shall we?

If something happens, we can just leave it to our client, the frontier count. In the first place, since Rion is accompanying us this time, all the responsibility lies with Rion.

What we got for our fee, the glory of the wyvern extermination, the profits from the materials, and the credit for our little help on the borderline...right?

""No objection!"

After finishing the theatrical talk with my grandfather, I turned around and asked the people who were listening behind me, and Amour, Albert and Cain replied in a loud voice. Since this means that we have a majority of votes, we have decided to make this our basic policy.

''Well, I'm glad we were able to reach a consensus before meeting with the frontier count, I'm glad.

No, we're not unified!

Rion is the only one here who has taken an opposing stance, but it was understandably dismissed.

''Huh~ it's higher than before and I'm devastated............What's going on?

Listen to me, Miss....

After dismissing Leon's opinion, Chris-san returned after finishing his shopping. Chris-san felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere in the room and approached Leon, who was closest to him. Maybe Rion was trying to make as many supporters as possible here, but....

Of course I have no objection!

It was a matter of course. Well, it's not surprising, no matter what you think.

Now everyone except Rion is on my side.......or rather, it's clear that Rion is the only one who's arguing with me.

''Well then, we're dismissed until dinner!　Each of you, if you go out after this, make sure you report properly to someone before you go!　Especially Jeanne and Aura.

The two of them have made the mistake of going out without saying anything to Namitaro before and getting kidnapped without saying anything, so I warned them by name just in case. It's a good idea to be cautious, because it's precisely at such times that Aura fails, although I don't think such a thing will happen since both of them should have grown up since then.

''Why are you naming names~?''

Aura seemed unhappy, but Jeanne nodded. Well, as long as one of them knew what to do, it would be fine. For now, they each ignored Aura and scattered to their own thoughts. In addition, Aura, who was named, did not come out of her room until dinner, perhaps because she did not want to go out and be told what to do.

''There it is. That's the 'Shellhide' where my father lives in the center of the Haust Frontier Domain!

Two days after leaving the town near the borderline, we arrived at the city in the center of the Haust frontier county. Shellhide, the center of the frontier county's territory, was built on a vast hill, and the entire city was surrounded by a wall. And it is said that there are a number of fields inside the walls that utilize water that gushes from all over the city. The reason for this is because it was designed to be a confinement battle in the event of an invasion from a neighboring country.

In fact, it's only been confined to one time. It was quite a long time ago, and yet it was over in a few days, so they don't really know how long they can actually withstand it.

The reason for this siege was not because they were directly surrounded by the enemy, but because Shellheide was in the path of the enemy's advance and they were able to repel them in the field before they got closer. Moreover, they were able to expand their territory in the counterattack, so that the shellheids were far away from the border line. Well, if a confinement battle occurred that often, the residents would not be able to do anything about it.

Speaking of specialties, it's going to be horses.

Edible?

Amur reacted quickly to Leon's explanation, but unfortunately, he said it was about military horses.

''There are a lot of plains and hills around here, so even if you just graze them at random, you can naturally train your horse's legs and feet.

That's why war horses produced near 'Shellhide' are sold at a high price. Well, even those top-notch military horses wouldn't be able to compare to Raiden.

'Temma, Raiden's chance to stand out!

No, Ryden is conspicuous enough to stand out, even if he's not here.

Cain tsked calmly at Amur's words. Amur was convinced that that was also true, but I was watching him closely. The grandfather who is playing the role of Gosha this time reacted to Amur's words and was straining his hand to hold the reins, but when he noticed my gaze, he hurriedly removed his hand from the reins.

won't happen, right?

I'll be fine!　Maybe.....

'Yes!　I don't know, a thousand G's!

Me too!

Me too!

I'm in!

This time!

Albert, Cain, Mr. Chris, Amour, and Aura, this time Rion will do it!　I was hoping for the best. In contrast, Grandpa and Jeanne were betting on the one who could figure it out again this time, "That's not going to happen," he said. And......

Dare I say you're an idiot.

The result was 'I know', as it should be. Well, even here, if he didn't know who Rion was, Rion should consider declining to be his successor. Or, those who didn't understand would be punished in Rion's name. The most punishment would almost certainly make Leon's face known, although it would come with the reputation of being 'the man who punished those who didn't know his face as the successor'.

''No, I knew it was a quirk, though.

I knew it was going to happen but it's more interesting when you don't know.

'No, well it's not Leon who is going to live up to our expectations here.

'I thought Leon would do it for me...'

'Your allowance...'

Albert and Cain seem to have bet on "I don't know (romance)" because they knew the outcome but thought it would be interesting, while Chris bet on the hope that "maybe", and Amour and Aura would be completely unsure... ...

'Well, that's enough fun and games, and since we have to meet the Earl of the Howst Frontier, it's time to change our minds.

Now we're on our way to the frontier county mansion, guided by knights called by the gatekeepers. The coaches were in charge of the two who won the bet. At first, Jeanne and Aura were going to be in charge, but grandpa said, "I want to know what's going on outside in case something unforeseen happens," and so they were replaced by Aura. Well, I guess his true intention was to find out if there is anything interesting in the outside.

But it seems that this idea of grandpa's was too much for the knights of the frontier aunt family to handle. In the midst of the tension of welcoming a celebrity from the controversial Kukri village, even though it was a long time ago, the first thing to do is to talk to the person and try to calm down, when suddenly (according to Amour and Chris-san) a Lasbose-class appearance. Therefore, the knight who spoke to him without realizing that he was his grandfather froze in surprise when he realized who he was a few seconds after he spoke to him.

''That knight, if it had been Temma-kun sitting beside Merlin-sama, his heart would have stopped beating because he was too shocked.

Chris-san even said after the knight's reactivation. And as if to back it up, the knight who froze up, said to his fellow knights during the move

'I feel like my lifespan has been shortened I wish Master Rion had sat down...'

I was even whispering to myself. The future lord of the knights, Rion, may be a kind of tranquilizer for them.

It's a good thing that the city was built using the hills, so there are many hills. Raiden won't have to worry about it, but it would be hard to do with any other horse.

Well, that's why there are so many different laws than in other cities. Some merchants from other parts of the world are often warned by the guards.

He said that most of the roads in Shellhide are "one-way traffic except for pedestrians" and "right turn restriction".

Shellhide has many slopes and there are many accidents when horse and carts pass each other. To prevent this, they are trying to reduce the number of accidents between horse and carriage by limiting one-way traffic and right turns on all roads except for the main roads.

Some roads are one-way and left turns are forbidden in other cities, but Shellhide is the only city in which this is not allowed, and merchants and adventurers in their carriages are often unaware that they are breaking the law. The first offense is a warning, the second offense is a fine. Also, it seems that the fine depends on the total number of violations and the status of the offense.

'Looks like we've arrived,'

I felt the carriage slow down and looked out the window and saw that it was just about to stop in front of a large gate.

The gatekeepers seemed startled by Raiden, but the knight and Rion who accompanied us quickly opened the gate and led us straight to a place where we could park the carriage.

''I'm sorry, but I'll go ahead and get ready.''

I'm coming with you.

Me too.

Not only Leon, but both Albert and Cain had to leave for a time as well. Perhaps the two of them are receiving some kind of instruction from their fathers.

'Unexpectedly, it could be instructions on how to handle Tenma-sama..........Ugh!

The moment Aura said something strange, Jeanne, who was next to her, released a pull-out hand into Aura's side. With a warning, "What if the story leaks out to Aina via Chris-san?

With those words, Aura realized her gaffe (never to me) and hurriedly looked at Chris-san's face fearfully, but Chris-san smiled at her as if he had seen something interesting. When Aura saw that, she was exaggeratedly frightened, but honestly, I thought Chris's expression was frightening too, so we can't blame her for being frightened.

As we were waiting in the carriage like that, Shiroumaru noticed that someone was approaching and let me know. So Jeanne went outside to check, and it was a woman in a maid's uniform who came to take us to the frontier count.

'This way,'

Following the woman's lead, I followed behind her in order of me, Grandpa, Amour, Chris-san, Jeanne and Aura, and after walking for a while, there was a door guarded by two knights.

''We have brought our guests. Please open the door.

The knights showed a puzzled look for a moment before quickly bowing and opening the door.

''Thank you for your service.''

The woman said that to the knights and stepped into the room with us at the head of the group. When I followed the woman into the room, I saw a man sitting on a sturdy-looking chair about two to three dozen meters away. In the circumstances, that man would be the Haust Frontier Count. The evidence of this was the three men standing quietly side by side next to the carpet that led up to the man's front door.

All three of them looked surprised by the situation, but they didn't say anything, perhaps because they knew the place.

The woman who led us to the frontier county is not showing the slightest bit of concern about the fact that we are in front of a frontier county.

Please wait here.

I led them to a distance of about ten meters from the frontier count, and then I moved directly to the side of the frontier count. Incidentally, Jeanne and Aura followed us into the room, but as soon as they entered, they moved to the corner of the room. This was because they are treated as my followers (maids), so they are allowed to enter the room, but they are not allowed to stand in front of the frontier count.

''Ah........''

When the woman was in a form relative to us next to the frontier count, Chris-san let out a voice that sounded like she noticed something. And there was a rather surprised vibe coming from Chris-san.

'What's wrong, Chris-san?'

I whispered to Chris, who was right behind me, without turning around.

"I just realized that the man who led us here is the wife of the Count of the Frontier.

Chris-san replied.

At that unexpected answer, not only me, but also my grandfather and Amour, who had been listening, couldn't help but look at Chris-san for a moment, then immediately looked at the woman with all their might. At the edge of my vision, I could see Rion holding his head in his hands. Unlike Rion, the woman who turned out to be 'Mistress' had a happy face, as if the prank had succeeded.