At least with this action alone,
I had sufficiently shown why I had returned from the capital so early.
Of course.
It was not a lie that I intended to change the crops, either.
&
Even after Rayon left, silence lingered in the study for some time.
The head of House Signal, Drevan, pressed firmly against his temple.
Seeing that, his wife quietly stroked his shoulder.
“Dear. Still, it wasn’t completely absurd, was it?”
At those words, Drevan let out a short sigh.
“I know that too.”
He murmured in a low voice.
“I just didn’t expect him to bring up changing the crops so boldly.”
After choosing his words for a moment, he slowly added,
“More than that...”
“...”
“Our son has changed too much.”
His wife also smiled faintly.
“I felt the same. Children that age do suddenly change at some point, don’t they?
He must have realized something after going to the capital.”
She spoke gently.
“More than anything, I’m glad it seems to be in a good direction.”
Drevan chuckled as well.
“I am glad too. That boy who had so little confidence... Seeing him speak so boldly in front of me actually made me feel good.”
He slowly nodded.
“I had so many worries... but after today, I feel as though quite a few of them have been lifted.”
A gentle smile spread across both their faces.
“But... our son really is quite smart, just like me. He only lacked confidence because he took after you.”
“Hoho. He is smart because he takes after me.”
Soon, the two of them burst into even louder laughter.
***
Even after returning and speaking with Father, I did not rest right away and headed for the training ground.
House Signal did not have many forces.
Fifty soldiers.
And one knight.
Miles happened to be talking with one of the soldiers.
“Young master, what are you planning to do?”
I rolled my shoulders once and answered.
“I’m going to start running today.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll join you during morning training too. Don’t mind me, and keep doing the training you normally do.”
Miles still looked as though he did not understand.
“I might get in the way a little, but if I show the soldiers I’m working hard, it won’t be a bad thing for them either.”
Miles shrugged.
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he opened his mouth.
“Oh, right. Lady Liselle was looking for you earlier.”
I had already started running.
I only raised a hand once to show that I understood, then picked up my pace.
“Hoo... hoo...”
It was far harder than I had expected.
After one lap, my breath caught in my throat.
So I walked the next lap, and after that, I ran half a lap and walked half a lap.
By the time I had barely managed around ten laps like that,
I stopped, breathing roughly.
“I need to raise it slowly... hoo.”
As I caught my breath and was about to return to my room, I suddenly stopped walking.
Liselle.
I turned briefly and walked down the corridor,
and when I arrived in front of Liselle’s room, I lightly knocked on the door.
“Liselle. It’s your brother.”
“Brother!”
As soon as the door opened, Liselle smiled brightly.
My younger sister by five years.
The moment I saw that face from my childhood, my chest tightened for no reason.
Now that I thought about it, Liselle...
This was the first time I had seen her since that day.
“Ah! You smell like sweat!”
“Sorry. I exercised a little as soon as I got back.”
“What made you suddenly get such a strange idea?”
Liselle’s eyes went round, and then her expression changed as though she had realized something.
“Ah.”
And right away, she looked as if she were about to cry.
“Brotheeer...”
“What?”
“You couldn’t even talk to the young ladies in the capital, could you?”
“What?”
“Or did you get rejected? Is that why you’re trying to build up your body, at least?”
In the end, I burst out laughing.
“Haha! It’s not like that.”
“Really?”
“You know Lady Aileen, right? From House Belmardian.”
Liselle’s eyes widened in an instant.
“I even spoke with her.”
“Gasp! W-with Lady Aileen?”
Liselle covered her mouth and shook her head fiercely.
“Liar!”
Her reaction was so cute that I ended up telling her all sorts of other things.
Thanks to that, I had no choice but to fall asleep far later than expected that day.
***
It was a dream.
I knew that clearly.
Rain was falling in a steady drizzle,
and I lay collapsed on the cold ground, dying.
Even though it was a dream, it was far too vivid.
Vivid enough that I could even feel the scent of wet earth seeping into the tip of my nose.
Step.
Step.
When the sound of approaching footsteps stopped, I struggled to lift my head.
It was Aileen.
“Why did you do it?”
She asked.
“Why did you do it... Why did I do that to you? Just... why...”
Was she... crying?
No.
Had Aileen really cried back then?
I could not tell whether it had changed because it was a dream,
or whether my memories of that day had become distorted.
Whether this was a reenactment of what had happened then,
or whether my own wishes had mixed into it.
At that moment, Aileen’s lips moved again.
What?
I could not hear her.
Just a little more.
Just a little closer—at the moment I tried to listen,
my vision snapped off.
And I opened my eyes.
...
A strange emotion I could not explain remained in one corner of my chest.
Like that, a week passed after I returned to the territory.
***
“Hoo... hoo...”
Only a week.
I ran every day.
At first, the soldiers looked at me as if they found it strange, but now they seemed to have grown somewhat used to it.
While I ran, they focused on their own training.
I stopped for a moment and steadied my rough breathing.
That was when it happened.
“Haa!”
“Chaat!”
The shouts were unusually rough compared to usual.
When I turned my head, a few soldiers were looking this way with vaguely resentful eyes.
I let out a chuckle.
It was obvious Miles had used me as an excuse to raise the intensity of their training.
Though even so, it was still at the most basic of basic levels.
As I watched them with a smile, I suddenly fell into thought.
The reason I was running this much.
If I had only had stamina...
Perhaps I might not have died.
When I turned my gaze again, the soldiers’ sparring was just beginning.
And naturally, their equipment entered my eyes.
Terrible.
Their old leather armor was worn out in various places, and many of their spear shafts were slightly bent.
They looked as if they would break quickly if they clashed properly just a few times.
Even Miles’s equipment, despite him being a knight, was shabby enough to make it hard to call him one.
He did not even have chainmail.
If a territorial war broke out, we wouldn’t last even a day, would we?
Of course, just because a territorial war broke out did not mean everyone would die.
But in the process, losses too heavy to bear would arise.
And in some cases, even if one survived, the result would be no different from ruin in practice.
To prevent that, in the end, strength—or rather, money—was needed first.
I should start getting ready to go to Bedberiu Territory.
The faster one acted, the better.
Ironically enough, it was something I had learned from Aileen.
The next day, I went straight to Father.
“Father.”
“Yes. What is it?”
His gaze was different from just a week ago.
If there had been distrust in it before,
now there was clearly expectation mixed in.
“I will go to Bedberiu Territory.”
“...Do you truly intend to do it?”
“Yes.”
I answered without hesitation.
“As I said, I am not suggesting we change all the crops immediately. We can begin with test cultivation first.”
After choosing my words for a moment, I calmly added,
“Of course, it may fail. It may fail for a long time, and the losses from it may not be small.
But if we do nothing because we fear that, then we will have no choice but to remain in place from now on as well.”
Father said nothing for a while.
And soon, he murmured in a low voice.
“If it succeeds... things will certainly change.”
Father, lost in thought for a moment, opened his mouth again.
“Very well. But Trevio is not an easy man.”
His voice grew a little heavier.
“He is especially good at dragging things out. More than a few have gone to negotiate with him, been led around endlessly, and eventually returned after making an unfavorable contract because they were exhausted.
If you are unlucky, you may be held up for over a month.”
“That is fine.”
I answered calmly.
“This deal would be good if it succeeds, but it does not matter if it does not.”
Father’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Are you saying you have an alternative?”
“Yes.”
I nodded briefly.
“There is one reason I chose Bedberiu first.”
After catching my breath for a moment, I spoke clearly.
“Because it is the fastest. What matters most to us right now is speed.”
At that moment, Father’s eyes widened a little.
“I see.”
He slowly nodded.
“So you truly did not merely make some absurd plan.”
Father looked at me for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“Son, you have a plan for everything, don’t you?”
At those words, I smiled back and nodded.
But that smile did not last long.
The more my plans succeeded from now on,
the higher the possibility of a territorial war breaking out would paradoxically become.
Perhaps.
My choice might ultimately hasten the misfortune of our house.
Whether I failed.
Or succeeded.
But what I was trying to do
was not to make our territory great,
nor to make our house more glorious.
It was merely
a struggle to get even a little farther away from danger.
That was all.
As soon as the decision was made, I set off immediately.
I said farewell to Mother, and without further delay, headed straight for Bedberiu Territory.
This time, I did not take Miles with me.
Mother tried to dissuade me until the very end, but the road leading to Bedberiu was relatively safe.
There were almost no rumors of bandits or wild beasts appearing there.
Still, just in case, I loaded a broadsword and a shield into the carriage.
Crunch, crunch.
When I opened the window, the sound of the wheels rolling over the gravel road came clearly to my ears.
It was a strange feeling.
It had been the same when I returned from the capital,
but the very fact that I was moving directly like this made me feel oddly excited.
Freedom.
The sensation of moving by my own will was far better than I had expected.
After traveling for about five days while enjoying the cool wind,
I finally arrived at Bedberiu Territory.
My first impression of Bedberiu Territory was that it was rough.
The land was dry, and there were almost no broad stretches of farmland in sight.
Perhaps because there was no river nearby, wells and irrigation facilities were unusually numerous.
Instead, wherever my eyes reached, the sound of metal rang out.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
It was the sound of hammers striking iron.
This territory ran thanks to the iron ore mined from the mountain range behind it.
The streets were lined with shops selling farming tools and weapons,
and the heat of furnaces and the smell of metal were thick in the air.
Naturally, the atmosphere was heavy as well.
The residents passing by were all well built,
and thick calluses were embedded on the backs and palms of their hands.
The soldiers were the same.
Not only the soldiers guarding the entrance, but even every member of the patrols wore chainmail.
Their equipment was incomparable to that of our territory.
If we ended up in a territorial war with them, it would be quite troublesome.
Of course, they were not without weaknesses.
But the most important thing was, in the end, to prevent war from breaking out at all.
Just as I was thinking that, the carriage stopped,
and a large mansion appeared ahead.
It’s easily twice the size of our mansion.
The decorations were not lavish.
But the stone walls were thick, and the windows were narrow.
Rather than a residence, it had an atmosphere closer to a fortress.
The house that ruled Bedberiu.
It was the mansion of Count House Gren.
“You must be weary from your journey. I will guide you.”
The place the butler guided me to was not a study, but a dining hall.
On the long dining table, there was enough food laid out that it seemed excessive for two people.
There were several types of meat dishes alone.
“Hahaha! Yes, you’ve come at last!”
A deep laugh echoed through the hall.
“Rayon Signal! When you were little, you were only this big, and now you’ve already grown so much! Wahaha!”
Trevio Greg.
He was sitting in his seat, eating.
In his hand was a large chunk of meat,
and grease was flowing straight down his fingers.
His impression was intense.
A rough face.
An unkempt beard.
Rather than a noble, he gave off an atmosphere closer to a mercenary.
In particular, his bulging belly showed that he had no intention of hiding his gluttony and indulgence.
But his eyes were different.
He was smiling,
but deep within them, they gleamed like a beast stalking prey.
If I let my guard down, I’ll be eaten.
My instincts told me so.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Count Trevio Greg.”
I greeted him calmly.
“My memories from childhood are faint, but I still remember thinking your hearty laughter was splendid.”
“What?”
Trevio’s eyes widened for an instant.
Then he immediately burst into loud laughter.
“Wahaha! Yes, sit! Sit down!”
He seemed satisfied.
A blatant attitude.
Unrestrained behavior.
But I could see it.
That all of it was calculated acting.
Nobles were people who must not show even the slightest opening.