“…Us.”
It was a word that slipped out very faintly from between her lips.
“Hmm, what did you say?”
Serapinrie quickly lowered her gaze.
“Ah, it’s nothing. I’ll look over this too.”
A smile had once again settled at the corners of Serapinrie’s mouth as she examined the ledger,
and far more light had seeped into the gaze with which she looked upon it.
&
I, Father, and Mother were sitting in the office with rather serious expressions.
Normally, it was a room where the aroma of tea and burning firewood would greet you first.
But now, a single letter placed atop the table was pressing down heavily on the air within the room.
The wax seal had already been torn off.
The royal seal.
That red trace was strangely vivid.
Father scanned the letter once more and muttered lowly.
“The royal family is selecting houses to temporarily take over the duties that Deuhareumongteu was handling…”
Mother asked with a puzzled expression.
“Dear, then does this mean they are giving our house that opportunity as well?”
“That is correct.”
Father set the letter down on the table.
“I suppose it is because we have caused quite a lot of changes recently…”
I did not explain much further than that.
Why the royal family had taken notice of us.
And what might lie behind it.
Because if I spoke of it needlessly, it was obvious the two of them would worry.
Unable to tear his eyes from the letter, Father let out a sigh.
“The problem is, I truly do not know if we can stomach this.”
He slowly ran his finger along the edge of the letter.
“The royal family will want to see a trustworthy house. Trust aside, we do not have the capability for this.”
Silence settled over the room for a moment.
I fell deep in thought.
Father and Mother did not rush me.
From that sight, I could feel how much they trusted me.
“I think we must do it.”
When I opened my eyes and spoke, their gazes naturally turned to me at once.
“Even if it is not a large part.”
Father narrowed his brow.
“Hmm… what is your reason?”
What should I say to explain.
The Old Dynasty.
Yes, they had toppled Deuhareumongteu for this.
The kingdom’s finance and distribution,
to hollow out the very center of the credit order.
To push their own hands into that empty space.
So I had to stop them from gaining as much as possible.
But I could not say all of that as it was, so I steadied my breath and spoke.
“First, as Mother said, this is an opportunity.”
Father nodded quietly.
“For a frontier noble house like ours to be connected with the royal family is, truly, an enormous opportunity. Countless nobles are likely already moving, desperate to somehow become entangled.”
I looked at the letter on the table.
“On the other hand, a direct opportunity has come to us. To miss this… it does not make sense.”
“Yes, you are right. It does not make sense.”
Father seemed to admit it readily,
but his expression said otherwise.
“But it is just as dangerous.”
His gaze shifted to Mother once, then returned to me.
“Even now, we are living a decent enough life. This father of yours… does not wish to throw himself into such ferocity and danger.”
Those were not words spoken out of cowardice.
They were spoken because there were things he wished to protect.
I chose my words carefully for a moment before speaking again.
“Father. Rice will eventually be cultivable by others before long. Then, going forward…”
But Father shook his head and cut me off.
“That is not what concerns me.”
He continued with a serious gaze.
“The moment we leap into that place, my wife, Risel, and you as well will be exposed to far greater danger.”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
And the moment I saw the atmosphere of Father’s words and gaze,
I thought that I truly was my father’s son.
We were looking at the same thing.
Only the direction differed.
Father tried to keep his family distanced from danger,
while I thought we had to raise a larger shield before danger arrived.
“Father.”
But.
Because Father did not know of the Old Dynasty,
I had to do as I said.
“That is why.”
I looked Father straight in the eye.
“That is why we must be connected to the royal family, even if only a little.”
Father listened quietly to what I wanted to say.
“We now have strength. Honestly, there likely are not many territories in the south that can touch us. The territory’s defenses have grown considerable thanks to the engineers, so even if a territorial war breaks out, I am confident we would not lose our land.”
But that was as far as it went.
“However, the opponents in this territorial war will not be limited to the south.”
Father’s expression hardened a little more.
“If such a thing happens, as long as we are connected to the royal family, they will not be able to attack us recklessly.”
“…Have territorial wars not decreased recently? Could such a thing truly happen?”
“Now that it has already begun, someday it will erupt on a larger scale.”
Father looked puzzled.
“How can you be so certain?”
My answer did not take long.
“Father. Do you think Deuhareumongteu collapsed simply because they lost trust?”
At those words, Father’s expression changed.
His gaze deepened.
“You… you know something.”
Not wanting to explain the Old Dynasty, I simply nodded.
Father looked at me for a while.
“Ahem…”
Perhaps thanks to his trust in me, he did not demand further explanation.
Instead, he looked down at the letter again with a serious expression.
Mother also seemed to understand the gravity of the situation to some extent,
and quietly placed her hand on Father’s shoulder.
“Shall we do as Reion says?”
Father let out a long breath.
“I suppose we must.”
As the decision was made, the air in the room shifted slightly.
Looking at Father and Mother, I spoke.
“Still, do not worry too much. We will only receive a portion. I am not even sure if that is possible. It is an invitation in name, but in the end we will have to put in the effort.”
“Yes.”
I immediately rose.
“Then I shall depart at once.”
Mother looked at me with surprised eyes.
“You are leaving right now?”
“Yes. The sooner we move, the better.”
This was something where the more time we wasted, the more disadvantageous it became.
The fact that the royal family had begun selecting houses meant
that countless hands were already moving behind the scenes.
If we were one beat late, what remained might be a position with nothing but heavy responsibility.
I packed my bags to depart immediately.
I called for Pillipseuron as an escort knight,
had the luggage prepared,
and was gathering necessary documents when—
“Where are you going?”
I stopped my hands at the voice that came from behind.
Serapinrie was standing in front of the door.
She was watching me prepare.
Her face was not fully recovered,
but she was no longer standing blankly as before.
Her gaze alternated to the document bag in my hand.
“I am going to the capital.”
“The capital…? Why?”
I hesitated for a moment.
I worried that explaining might shock her again.
To her, who was now recovering,
it would be like reviving that memory.
But it was something she would learn before long anyway,
and hiding it would not change anything.
“The royal family is now… beginning to move to fill the void left by Deuhareumongteu.”
Serapinrie’s eyes shook very briefly.
Before she could fall deeper into thought, I continued right away.
“Father was opposed at first.”
I put the documents into the bag.
“But the Old Dynasty will join that current anyway, and I thought blocking it even a little more would make it less dangerous.”
At those words, Serapinrie’s gaze suddenly changed completely.
“The Old Dynasty… yes. Those things.”
Soon, with eyes that had changed as if having made up her mind, she spoke.
“I am going too.”
“What?”
“I will help you.”
I looked at her.
What the royal family was trying to do now.
Most of it was what Serapinrie used to do.
Military provisions, taxes, promissory notes, collateral, merchant guild credit.
She had watched the flow of Deuhareumongteu from the closest vantage,
and had handled it directly.
If she helped, it would certainly be helpful.
“Are you… alright with that?”
Serapinrie did not answer immediately.
“I have to, even if I am not alright.”
Her voice was not yet fully steady.
“Faces.”
Serapinrie spoke slowly.
“I need to see the faces of what they are, at the very least.”
The faint light in her eyes began to grow a little clearer for some reason.
Revenge.
It was clear that goal was bringing her back once more.
I looked at Serapinrie for a moment, then nodded.
“Let us do that.”
When I agreed immediately,
Serapinrie was rather taken aback.
“…Really?”
“I actually wanted to ask you but was holding back.”
I smiled and handed her a piece of luggage.
“We are busy. Shall we move them together?”
For a moment, Serapinrie was flustered by my unexpected action.
Then she looked at the luggage, then back at me, and let out a chuckle.
“I am Serapinrie.”
In those words lay a very faint trace of the arrogance from before.
“But you are special.”
Looking into her smiling eyes, I knew.
Serapinrie.
She had returned.
***
The capital of Albarest.
Right now, the capital was truly packed with people.
For so many people to flock to the capital—
it would not be an exaggeration to say it was second only to a coronation.
Carriages lined up in a long queue starting from the city gates,
and the main street was a jumble of people and horses,
carts and flags.
It would not be wrong to say that merchants of every guild had gathered, to say nothing of the nobles.
Carriages emblazoned with coats of arms glided along the paved roads all day long,
and high-class inns had been fully booked since days ago.
Servants and attendants ran about clutching documents,
while escort knights stood adjusting their posture needlessly near the inn entrances.
In contrast to the bustling streets,
the atmosphere among the nobles was very cautious.
Everyone was smiling, but the smiles were thin.
Greetings were polite,
but eyes were counting the merchant guilds and attendants trailing behind the other party.
The houses that had entered the capital had to submit their prepared proposals and simply wait.
Military supply assistance.
Tax-related practical affairs.
Merchant guild credit review.
Collateral re-examination assistance.
They wrote down the positions their houses could take,
organized the merchant guilds and tasks they could attach, and submitted them to the royal side.
After that, they waited.
Until the royal family called upon them directly.
Since Deuhareumongteu had been involved in so many areas, countless nobles had no choice but to come.
Hoping that they, too, could receive even one post.
The reason they had no choice was that
even within military supplies, there were countless branches.
Procurement.
Transport.
Inspection.
Distribution.
Emergency supply.
There was hope that the royal family might entrust even those branches separately.
Because they would not lump everything that Deuhareumongteu had held in one hand onto a single house again.
Everyone had gathered aiming for that gap.
It was bound to take time,
and people continued to gather.
The streets were still bustling,
and during the day, the carriages never ceased.
At night, the inns and taverns grew even louder.
Nobles stayed in the same inns, naturally greeting acquaintances and enjoying drinks casually.
But they were not just drinking.
Beneath the clinking of glasses, each other’s intentions flowed.
“How far are you planning to reach regarding taxes?”
“I heard there is someone with connections to the royal investigators.”
“Is that merchant guild still empty-handed?”
They held their glasses with smiles,
but formless blades aimed for each other’s openings.
And so the inns did not easily fall asleep even as the night deepened.
I, too, was in an inn.
Outside the window, the sounds of carriages moving late and people’s footsteps could be heard,
and from beyond the hallway, faint sounds of other nobles calling for people or giving orders to servants drifted in.
And Serapinrie was also seated before me.