CH 39

Chapter 39

He slept deeply and sweetly.

This was the most tired he’d ever been after his reincarnation into this world, and he slept so deeply that it could almost be called passing out. His slumber was honey-sweet, and when he opened his eyes the ceiling was unfamiliar–the young lord had no idea where he was.

“……?” Ayra came to his senses, blinking slowly, as he wondered if he was still dreaming. However, the shaking of the small room alerted him to the fact that he was in a carriage, despite his sleep-addled mind.

“You’re finally awake,” Janus said as he rolled a couple of mana stones around in his hand. Only then did Ayra realize he was able to sleep so comfortably in the carriage because the mercenary was holding the young lord in his embrace. Whenever the mercenary acted so tenderly, the young lord’s heart fluttered and thumped.

“Are we… in the merchant caravan?”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t wake up in the morning so I just brought you here.”

Now that the mercenary said that, Ayra vaguely recalled the feeling of someone shaking him a few times in hopes of waking him up. Unfortunately, the person had failed. This was partly due to his exhaustion and partly due to his habit of waking in the early afternoon. Ayra coughed, embarrassed.

“You said you had to depart early, right? So I brought you into the carriage. Should I not have done this?”

“You’re right. Thanks for taking care of me.” He had almost missed the departure of the caravan. Looking out the carriage window, the two horses Janus and Ayra had brought were following well. Ayra raised his body to avoid further inconveniencing Janus–he had been leaning against the mercenary for far too long–but the other put some strength into his arms, preventing his escape. Thus, the young lord surrendered easily to the warm human radiator. He then mentally sorted out the situation–something he meant to do yesterday but couldn’t because the young lord had passed out from exhaustion.

‘Alright, we’ve cleared the most urgent obstacle: the interest. We’ve still got plenty of time left. Furthermore, I have evidence that someone is after my life and estate; odds are, that person’s probably killed my family.’

It was clear that someone intended to exterminate the Solar family in order to seize this land.

The nearby fiefdoms were the most likely culprits. As soon as he returned, he had to start figuring out the inter-fief relations in Solar. Ayra sighed shortly as he burrowed his head into Janus’ wide shoulders. He hadn’t thought that the territory would be in such a terrible state when he’d rushed to this region after reading his family’s obituary.

‘But still… I don’t think it’d be too bad to stay here from now on.’

Though it was extremely cold and problems popped up everywhere, Ayra was gradually starting to like this territory. Like most mages, he was attached to his possessions, and this estate was one of the biggest and most valuable items he owned.

Though it would take some time, it would be nice to live in harmony with the retainers and denizens after paying off the debt. Any random vacant room in the lord’s castle could be turned into a laboratory as well–his magic research could be continued. In addition, Ayra thought his intelligence and magical powers were suitable for governing this land.

Wouldn’t it be nice to leisurely rule the territory and come down to the castle-side city every so often to play around with Janus whenever he had time? A vaguely hopeful future was materializing in Ayra’s mind.

As the road had been cleared in advance, the carriage was able to progress through the path without any delay. Along the way, Ayra taught Janus, who was fascinated with magic, how to handle mana; they spent time chatting and nodding off until the outline of the city came into view. Ayra woke to the sound of the carriage being inspected and looked out the window. The fallen wall appeared quite hideous.

“Well, I’ll be leaving now.” As soon as the carriage passed through the main gate, Janus reached a hand outside the carriage window to stop its progression. As soon as he exited the vehicle, he stretched his entire body as if his muscles were stiff. Because the shirt stretched tight accross his body, one could see the rippling muscles underneath. Ayra grabbed the mercenary’s hem, worried that he’d go without looking back; the mercenary looked back with a questioning expression.

“Thank you so much for this,” Ayra said.

“Yeah, alright.” Janus acted as if it were nothing, but Ayra was completely sincere. If the mercenary hadn’t been there, he would’ve been mired in various troublesome situations. Of course, even without Janus, Ayra would have somehow solved his dilemmas, but the way would definitely have been more difficult.

“Will you continue to stay at the mercenary’s headquarters?”

“Probably. If there’s nothing going on, I’ll be there. Come whenever you want to see me.” Janus smoothly reached out to the young lord, placed his hand on the young lord’s cheek, and kissed Ayra on the lips. Then, with light steps, he left the area. After staring at the gradually shrinking back, Ayra returned to the carriage.  His fine brows crumpled slightly.

‘It’s quite difficult to raise his affection…’

Last he checked, Janus’s affection stat was stuck at 3 and did not increase. Ayra thought it would go up a little once they spent the night together, but it didn’t budge. Every time he checked the affection value reminded Ayra of why he had created the artificial spirit.

The mind of a logical, number-oriented person disguised as a game system. He intuitively knew that if he were to genuinely like someone, he would be hurt by the shame. If he were to quantify his current affection towards Janus, how high would the value be? He had no idea, but it would probably be higher than the last time he checked. That thought made Ayra smile bitterly.

‘How exhausting. When I return to the castle, I should take a heated leather bag and get some sleep.’

It was common for one’s exhaustion to build up while riding a vehicle, and Ayra was no exception, regardless of all his naps in the carriage. His back was stiff and sore, and his legs were slightly numb. However, he still planned on going to the trading post to ensure that the payment had been received just in case something went wrong.

Surprisingly, Ginas was waiting for him at the trading post when he arrived. The young governor was nervously pacing around with a haggard expression, but his face brightened when he saw Ayra returning with the merchant caravan. Ayra took the lead and greeted him before the man could expose his identity as the lord. “Sir Ginas! You’ve come all the way down here. Please don’t worry. I, Hess, have returned safely just as you’d instructed.”

Fortunately, Ginas was incredibly quick-witted and soon realized that Ayra was trying to mask his identity. He immediately sealed his lips before he could call out to his Lord. Then, he stared at Ayra with a mysterious, indecipherable expression. Ayra wondered if the man disproved of his antics, but a notification window popped up at that moment.

[Hess Ru Ginas’ affection increased by 10!]

[Current Affection: 16]

​​That indecipherable expression was probably a deeply impressed one.

‘I’ve been working hard to earn the interest repayment money and save this estate. The affection rose by 10, is that a lot or a little…? In any case, it’s great that the governor’s affection value increased.’

The two stood quietly and observed the calculation process at the trading post. After the commission was deducted, the total amount only came to about 200 cells. After hearing about what had happened to Ayra and the merchant caravan, Ginas couldn’t blame them for coming up short. However, his footsteps were plodding and heavy as they left the post with the money they had earned.

The two rode on the horse that Ayra had dragged on his journey. After a round trip from the Dallum Gorge, the horse was pretty tired; it snorted and trodded along.

“Sir Ginas, don’t worry. I have 100 more cells. With that included, it’ll be 300 cells. We have enough to pay the interest.” As he spoke, Ayra showed him the mana stones to soothe the man. Still, a mana stone, before it’s refined, looked like a lump of stone.

So, Ginas scrutinized the mana stone dubiously. “Is that a mana stone before it is refined? Where did you… Did you perhaps hunt some demonic beasts?”

“I didn’t, but the mercenary escorting me defeated those monsters. Since I can refine mana stones, there won’t be refining fees either.” Even though Ayra purposely kept his tone light, Ginas wasn’t overcome with joy.

Though it seemed like the man was delighted that 300 cells could be procured, he began to inquire about the escorting mercenary with a stern expression. “Considering the value of these mana stones, he must not have defeated just one or two beasts. What’s this mercenary’s name? How much did it cost for you to hire him? Do you know him personally?”

‘His tone…is he still suspicious of me?’ As soon as Ayra thought that, a notification window popped up.

[Tip. The governor, who is naturally distrustful of other people, is worried about his Lord, who knows little of the world.]

On one hand, Ayra was touched by the man’s worry, but, on the other hand, he was embarrassed that he was considered a naive lord ignorant of the outside world. However, it was even more difficult to tell the governor of his and Janus’ relationship, so Ayra changed the subject, “I’ll tell you when we return to the castle. By the way, what about Sir Bloom? Did they manage the Ramam herd well? I’d like to hear a report on the situation there.”

Though Ginas looked as if he had noticed that the young lord was deliberately changing the subject, the man answered politely, as if he’d let the young lord off the hook for now. “We’ve dealt with the Ramams well–in the process, we acquired around 34 cells worth of mana stones. There were no fatalities, and we only have three injured.”

​​Ayra was taken aback by the fact that some had sustained injuries while handling something as unremarkable as a Ramam herd. He inwardly sighed–it seems like the standard for soldiers here was low. However, Ayra understood when Ginas continued his explanation:

“If only the walls were still intact, we’d have no injuries at all. Nothing could be done about it–they had to rush to protect the citizens before the first goal was finished.”

“Haah, the castle walls…that’s definitely an issue. We’ll have to fix it quickly.” Sighing loudly, Ayra pressed at his already throbbing temples. He contemplated the issue on the way to the castle, but there was no other way to go about it except to rebuild the walls from the ground up. “First, let’s reward the soldiers with a banquet using the mana stones they’ve earned.”

Though they needed to save money immediately, he shouldn’t be stingy with money even during difficult times. The soldiers had to cover for the collapsed walls and thus needed to be fed and dressed well.

“Understood, my lord.”

“I have some things I need to tell you as well…”

He was about to tell the governor about the landslides, which were clearly aimed at him when he tried to pass through the gorge, when a soldier riding atop a horse appeared in the distance, passing through the main gates to the castle-bound city. Something didn’t feel right.

“G-Governor! Sir Governor!” The soldier, who had not yet recognized Ayra’s face and only recognized Ginas’, dismounted his horse and ran helter-skelter towards them.

Ginas approached the soldier with a stern expression, “Your lord is here–take notice. What is going on?!”

“Hrnk! M-My lord!” The flustered soldier knelt immediately without even properly seeing Ayra’s face. Then, sweat running profusely down his face from his rush here, he shouted urgently, “The enemy army! The enemies are approaching!”

“…..!” Ayra could hardly believe his ears. Why all of a sudden? The enemy military forces? Ginas was also startled at the news.

The soldier, drenched in fear, shouted, “From what I could see, they number about 2,000. The flag, I believe, is Bolney’s!”

“W-What..” Face pale, Ginas staggered as if he’d collapse at those words. Ayra released a helpless laugh–he worked so hard to scrounge up money to repay the interest. Who could believe that the enemy would arrive just at this moment?

It was then. Rrring! A Quest window manifested before Ayra’s eyes.

<Emergency Quest!>

[Crisis has befallen the territory!]

*Let’s defeat Bolney’s Army (Unfulfilled)

* Pursuade Nilma Argan (Unfulfilled)

※ Note: If this quest fails, your right to reside in this fief and the territory management function will be deleted