Belledor Territory.
Ruled by House Belmardian.
I had intended to stop by Brennan Territory once, drop off the technicians,
and head straight there.
Originally.
That really had been the plan.
If only a territorial war hadn’t broken out on us.
&
As soon as I arrived in the territory, I heard news like a bolt from the blue.
“Is that... really true?”
“Yes.”
Father and Mother’s expressions were heavy and sunken.
“After you left, someone came from Lubant Territory. And he made an utterly shameless demand.”
“What did he say?”
Father looked at me for a moment, then continued in a low voice.
“He told us to pay a contribution fee for the water we use.”
“... A water fee?”
For a moment, I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak.
The water Brennan used was clear water flowing down from the Asterus Mountains.
Its volume was stable, and the water itself was clean,
which was the biggest reason rice farming had been possible.
The problem was that the long waterway passed through several territories.
And the one located upstream was none other than the Halsen family’s Lubant Territory.
“They’re using the fact that they’re upstream as leverage.”
Father spoke as if grinding his teeth.
“They claim that because they’ve built and managed the sluice gates and embankments for a long time, the management rights over this water system belong to Lubant. Since Brennan has recently expanded its farmland and greatly increased its water usage, they say we must pay a corresponding contribution fee from now on, and that any future work on the waterways must be carried out under their approval.”
“That’s absurd.”
How could they claim ownership over natural water?
Just because they managed part of the upper stream,
that did not mean all the water flowing down from the mountains belonged to them.
To begin with, it wasn’t structured so that if we used more, they had less.
And they even wanted us to seek approval.
That wasn’t negotiation. It was practically a demand for tribute.
“It’s a typical forced pretext.”
“It is.”
Father continued at once.
“The problem is... Lucevalt is behind them.”
“...”
That was the real problem.
If it were only House Halsen, honestly, it wouldn’t be dangerous.
But if Lucevalt was backing them, the story changed.
The reason we had been able to proudly push ahead with the development of our territory without worrying about others was because Belmardian and Deharmont were behind us.
At the very least, we had cards we could use to ask them for help.
But because of Lucevalt, those cards had been blocked.
Because the moment we used those cards,
Lucevalt would also gain a pretext to move.
A territorial war did not mean every soldier would come rushing in from the start to surround the castle.
Nor did it mean that both sides would start spilling blood immediately.
There were many different forms it could take, but the problem was,
the moment those families intervened,
it would no longer be a simple territorial war, but a battle of pride between them,
and that would ignite into a war beyond a territorial dispute.
In the grave atmosphere, Mother went over the situation once more.
“This time, it ended with words, but next time they may truly close the upstream sluice gates.”
“If it were our existing crops, the blow wouldn’t be too great. But for rice farming, if the water is cut off early on, the plants will be stressed before taking root, and their growth will become uneven. It may not be to the point that we can’t harvest at all, but the yield will be sharply reduced.”
At my words, Father slowly nodded.
“If we secure water in advance and prepare, we may be able to endure that period, but...”
Father looked out the window with a bitter expression,
and I frowned.
“Now that we’ve begun making money, they’re finally eyeing us. They can’t take the rights to rice cultivation anyway, so they’re trying to squeeze money out of us instead.”
Now that Signal had just begun to grow.
They had pinpointed our weakest link.
The upper stream.
The sluice gates.
And the waterways.
It was clearly forced logic.
But they had struck in with an irritating degree of precision.
“So.”
I slowly looked at Father.
“What did you tell them?”
“I refused, of course.”
Father’s voice was firm.
“I told them Brennan is not a territory that uses water by Lubant’s permission. I said we could not accept them arbitrarily claiming management rights over naturally flowing water.”
I let out a short breath.
There was no other answer he could have given.
If we bowed our heads once,
the next thing would not be just water.
The sluice gates,
the embankments,
and eventually even House Signal’s lifeline would all end up in their hands.
“Then they won’t back down.”
“No. They’ll probably make a real move this time.”
The air in the room sank heavily.
Lubant had already created its pretext.
All that remained now
was how far they would push that forced claim.
And we knew.
Those bastards had no intention of ending this with words.
***
[Official Notice from House Halsen]
-Brennan Territory has recently been using rice farming as a pretext to excessively exploit the water system, while ignoring the upstream management order that Lubant Territory has built and maintained for many years.
Though the water may flow naturally,
it was Lubant Territory that has long stabilized that flow and constructed and repaired the sluice gates and embankments.
Yet Brennan Territory is taking only the benefits without paying any contribution whatsoever,
which can clearly be called free riding and an infringement upon established custom.
Therefore, Lubant Territory demands that Brennan Territory recognize its responsibility before it is too late, and accept the rightful contribution fee and procedures for using the water system.
Furthermore, in any future alteration or expansion of waterways, or expansion of agricultural water use, Brennan Territory is ordered to act only under the approval of Lubant Territory.
Should this be refused,
Lubant Territory will no longer tolerate such disorder.-
House Halsen’s notice was posted on the streets of our territory.
Brennan Territory, which had been so full of life and vitality,
cooled in an instant from that day onward.
As rumors spread that a territorial war would soon break out, construction stopped,
and the merchants and outsiders who had been visiting the territory began packing up and leaving one by one.
The streets, which had been bustling with carriages and people only a few days ago,
were now strangely quiet.
Only the territory’s residents and the migrants remained.
Even they were still working with their hands,
but their expressions were no longer as bright as before.
“Father, what do you intend to do?”
I asked while standing by the window of the mansion and looking down at the territory, which had grown noticeably desolate.
“Hoo... It seems we cannot avoid it after all.”
“I think so too. Still, what’s fortunate is that there’s a high chance they won’t directly attack the territory itself.”
“Why do you think that?”
I continued calmly.
“First, Brennan is a territory surrounded by outer walls. We currently have around fifty soldiers, and to take such a territory head-on, they’d need at least three hundred.”
Father nodded, as if impressed.
“You’ve studied territorial wars quite a bit.”
“Taking a territory itself is harder than people think. To begin with, since this is a peaceful era, no one has many troops. House Halsen is a viscount family, so they have more soldiers than we do, but even then, they should only have around eighty to a hundred.”
Father stroked his chin.
I continued.
“Second, their goal isn’t to devour our territory. What they truly want is continued collection of money. Even if they take Brennan, they can’t cultivate rice themselves. In that case, there’s no reason for them to burden themselves with a costly siege.”
“... I see.”
Father looked at me and smiled with satisfaction.
“My son has a broader perspective than this father of his.”
But that smile did not last long.
Father soon let out a sigh and spoke in a low voice.
“The problem is that, according to the rumors I’ve heard, in that short time, they’ve increased their soldiers by another thirty to forty. On top of that, most of the soldiers they received this time are said to be of decent quality. They’ve also been training them quite extensively.”
I couldn’t help but furrow my brow.
“They must have prepared.”
“Most likely. I’m not certain, but there’s a good chance they began moving from the moment they learned we were growing rice. Rumors like that would have spread quickly to the surrounding areas.”
I looked out the window again.
“In any case, we’ll have to fight in the end. The royal family won’t impose sanctions either.”
“Likely not. We’ll have to stop them with our own strength.”
As if to reassure me, Father placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled.
“Son. Don’t worry too much. If worst comes to worst, we can just hand them some money as they demand, can’t we? The lives of our family and the people of the territory are precious. What does that money matter so much?”
They were words meant to reassure me.
But Father’s hand on my shoulder was trembling ever so slightly.
“Don’t worry.”
If a truly dangerous moment came, I intended to reach out to Belmardian or Deharmont.
If Father, Mother, and Risel’s lives were at stake, there would be no reason to hesitate, regardless of whether the war grew larger or not.
But.
Strangely enough.
This situation right now.
Had me a little excited.
***
The Construction Guild
and the Merchants’ Guild both turned their backs for now.
They packed up and left, saying they could not move at the moment.
It was no use telling them not to worry,
or saying that it was still only a rumor.
Before the unfamiliar fear called a territorial war, no explanation had any power.
Honestly, this was the biggest blow.
We needed to establish the territory’s structure as quickly as possible.
But the moment people began leaving,
our speed immediately died.
The one fortunate thing was the technicians.
“Ah, don’t worry. Just looking at it, they don’t mean to strike the territory itself.”
“That’s right. They’ve got no reason to go out of their way to kill technicians like us anyway.”
“Leave? Why would we leave! Just thinking about what kind of weapons we could make from this already gets my head spinning!”
Only then did I begin to understand a little why people said technicians were not in their right minds.
The territory residents and migrants continued doing what little work they could for the time being,
and Miles grabbed the soldiers and dragged them to the training grounds.
“W-we aren’t really going to fight, are we?”
The soldiers’ faces had sunk almost to the floor.
The fear of the unknown that had settled over the territory was bound to be even greater for the soldiers, who would have to face it directly.
Above all, the work they had done until now had been nothing more than maintaining public order.
And now, war all of a sudden?
It would have been stranger if they weren’t afraid.
“Of course we’re really fighting. What else would we do? Go play house? Play land-grab?”
At Miles’s words, the soldiers’ expressions became even more lifeless.
Seeing that, Miles clicked his tongue and tossed a spear onto the ground.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you don’t die as much as possible. Now, everyone pick up a spear.”
“Uh... haven’t we only trained with swords every day?”
Miles firmly shook his head.
“That’s for keeping the peace. For soldiers, spears are the best. They’re long, threatening, and easy to handle. Just thrust from a distance, and the enemy can’t come in recklessly. If they try to come in and get stabbed, that’s the end of them.”
A moment later, everyone was holding a spear.
Miles twisted his body halfway and took a stance.
“Look. Don’t think of it as difficult. Hold it like this.”
He thrust the spearhead forward.
“Shk. Stab. Pull it back. Stab again. Done. Easy, right?”
The soldiers followed the movement with puzzled faces.
“Is that... enough?”
“Of course. There are plenty of bastards out there who can’t even do that properly.”
“Anyone can do this, can’t they?”
“Can they?”
Miles gave a faint laugh.
“Can you do that a hundred times in a row?”
“What?”
“A hundred times, and then another hundred. Even when your hands are shaking and your shoulders feel like they’re going to fall off, you keep your stance from collapsing and continue.”
The soldiers’ faces slowly stiffened.
Miles pointed at a wooden dummy with the tip of his spear.
“You think the enemy will kindly stand in front of you and let you hit them? You have to keep making motions like you’re stabbing so they can’t come in. The moment you stop because your arms hurt, that’s when you die.”
Only then did the soldiers seem to understand.
“So starting today, at least a hundred times.”
“Come on, Sir Miles. Shouldn’t we do a thousand?”
One of the soldiers standing nearby said it as if joking for no reason, but Miles instead smiled.
“That’s right. Normally, you should do a thousand.”
“Then?”
“But when we don’t know when the territorial war will break out, do you want to go fight with your arms completely worn out after stabbing a thousand times?”
The soldiers shut their mouths.
“We’ll be doing formation training anyway. So hurry up and finish!”
Soon, everyone took their positions and thrust their spears toward the wooden dummies.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
At first, it was terrible.
Their stances were all different,
and their strength went into all the wrong places.
Miles corrected each one.
“Straighten your waist. Don’t just stretch your arms; push with your shoulders too. Don’t plant your feet. Prepare to retreat first. Make the spear go out before your body does.”
Watching the scene from the side, I was a little surprised.
In truth, I had been thinking of teaching them in a similar way.
But Miles was drilling into the soldiers almost exactly what I had imagined,
no, perhaps in an even more practical manner.
A knight was a knight after all.
He had probably never actually experienced a territorial war,
but his fundamentals were far too solid.
Was he competent?
Or not?
He truly was an impossible man to understand.