CH 20.1

When he saw Ren and the knights visiting his room, Roy said. 

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Mireille was also there, and their expressions were somewhat grim.

“Did you get into any trouble that we don’t know about?”

Roy asked, and the knights of the Clausel family who accompanied Ren spoke apologetically.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t something that could be made very public, so we couldn’t tell you about it.”

“I thought so. So, this story has something to do with Viscount Givens, does it not?”

“—- that is correct.”

Ren and the knights sat down on the sofa in the room.

There’s some distance between us and Roy, who is lying on the bed, but I can hear him, so I don’t have to worry.

Roy, who heard the reply, looked at Mireille.

“Ren. I’ll show you what kind of letter those guys left first. Then we’ll hear from the others.”

Mireille then handed the letter to Ren.

Ren opened the envelope, took out the parchment inside and unfolded it.

The letter itself was not very long.

However, the content of the letter was rich and it aroused Ren’s strong interest as he began to read it.

(…….. Hey)

The contents of the letter are as follows.

Viscount Givens is deeply concerned about the poor condition of this village, in addition to the recent disturbances.

However, since Viscount Givens also has a lot of people in his domain, he hasn’t been able to extend a helping hand.

He would like to apologize for this and at the same time propose two things.

1. Incorporate the village into Viscount Givens’ domain and assign a few knights at all times to make up for the lack of strength.

2. He would take Ren Ashton on as a servant of Viscount Givens and promise to pay him well.

In summary, this is what was promised.

Although it was a very aggressive measure, It’s not unusual for a remote village to be incorporated into the territory of another noble family in this country.

Roy let out a deep sigh when he realized that Ren had finished reading the letter.

“Damn it….., the Thief Wolfen thing can be called an anomaly. If you take that anomaly out of the equation, though, there’s no record of this village being short of strength with the Ashton family here.”

“That’s to say, the baron’s leadership was not a mistake, was it?”

“That’s what I’m saying. By the way, a D-ranked monster appeared once before Ren was born…….”

The knight said as if he had just remembered.

“I heard that Roy-sama killed it at that time.”

“Oh. Let me tell you, it was easier then compared to Thief Wolfen. No matter how high the rank was, it wasn’t a special monster like Thief Wolfen, and it didn’t have the speed. So, it’s not like we didn’t have enough strength after all.”

Roy added again that Baron Clausel was not mistaken.

“So I’m going to cut to the chase.”

He turned his sharp, blade-like gaze on the knight.

His voice was more powerful and full of intensity.

“The wave of factional strife has finally reached this area, is that it?”

“You’re right.”

“Ah, as I thought. No wonder the viscount reached out to us.”

“As you know, there have been many who have wanted to embrace the Clausel family for some time. However, our lord doesn’t belong to any faction and has always respected the royal family and the seven great barons. For this reason, we have the current situation.”

Ren, listening at his side, nodded his head.

He had some thoughts about the knight’s words.

(The factional strife in the Leomel Empire is, as I recall…..)

There are three factions. All nobles belong to one of them.

Ren began to organize this information without saying it out loud.

The first faction. The Royalist faction.

They hold a strong reverence for the royal family and, by extension, the Lion King, the founder of the country. They are the faction that believes that it’ll always be the royal family that will lead Leomel in the future.

The other is the Heroic Faction.

The nobles of the Heroic Faction are a faction led by the seven great barons who produced the Seven Heroes.

This faction is the protagonist’s side in the legend of the Seven Heroes.

They are not thinking of usurping the imperial throne. They are insisting that the Leomelian Empire should be made more free and democratic.

Behind this, the problems that come with being a major power can be seen.

While the number of poor villages in the Leomel Empire is increasing, like Ren’s village, there are wealthy people who can save dozens of those poor villages by themselves.

Many of the heroic factions argue that the power of the imperial family should be curbed in order to eliminate those disparities as well.

And the last one is the neutral faction.

Many of the neutrals, who don’t belong to either of the two major factions, are composed of those who respect both the ideas of the royal family and the seven great barons.

…… or those who don’t wish to see innovative change.

…… or pacifists who don’t want the nobility to be divided into factions.

They should unite, not fight over ideological differences.

That’s exactly what happened when the Demon King appeared.

They are the neutralists who all share these ideas.

—-The nobles belong to one of these three major forces.

(Baron Clausel is a neutral.)

Also, the Viscount of Givens is among the heroic faction.

Therefore, the story of factional strife is relevant.

“It’s hard to talk about it. It’s not really a public matter, and even more so when it’s to a knight from a small village in the middle of nowhere.”

“Dear… the way you said it.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it as an insinuation! I was just trying to use some common sense…..!”

Mireille reprimanded Roy with an embarrassed look on her face, said to the knight, “I’m sorry,” and lightly pinched her husband’s cheek.

The atmosphere seemed to have eased somewhat.

“So, how did the wave of factional strife come to this village?”

“……I think you know Roy-sama, but around the year Ren was born, the Seven Great British families also gave birth to legitimate children by chance.―――- Even in all genealogies.”

“…………”

“Dad? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’ve never heard of it. How could such information reach such a remote village? We are just a knight household who don’t get invited to parties and we’ve only left the village once, to pay our respects to the previous baron.”

(How persuasive those words are!)

“Well, as expected, I knew there was factional strife.”

The number and freshness of information is proportional to the number of people coming and going.

In this village, that was extremely low and information was lagging behind compared to the city and town.

The knight chuckles at Roy’s words, but he continues with some apology.

“The fact that the seven great British barons got their legitimate sons at almost the same time united the heroic faction more than ever. They claim that the legitimate sons are the reincarnation of the seven heroes.”

“Ha! They’re talking nonsense!”

Unlike Roy, who chided him out, Ren looked up at the ceiling and looked down.