Chapter 108

Chapter 108

The big city of Anessis, about a days travel from the Imperial Capital of the Mireana Kingdom .

It was comparable in size to the Imperial Capital, Kafiri, and was widely known as the second capital of the Mireana Kingdom .

At one end of the city was a huge mansion . The mansion, which could even be called a palace, was the the residence of a central figure of the Nobles Faction in the Mireana Kingdom, Duke Kerebel .

Its vast grounds were kept in good condition and the areas visible from the outside were famous as one of Anessis’ tourist attractions .

A large bird with four wings cut through the air as it flew towards the residence at the back of the grounds . It landed safely on the perch meant for monsters and birds that delivered messages .

As soon as the bird landed on the perch, a sound rang in the rooms of the butlers and maids . The perch was a kind of magic item .

One of the butlers heard the sound and went over to the perch before taking a letter out of a small pouch attached to the bird’s foot……as soon as he noticed that the sender was Elena Kerebel, he returned to the mansion in a hurry and went to his master’s office .

Walking quickly, he arrived before the office in a few minutes . Adjusting his breathing and taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door .

「Excuse me, master, an urgent letter has arrived from the young miss . 」

「Hmm, that’s fine . Come in . 」

Obtaining permission to enter, the butler stepped inside .

The furniture in the office was very luxurious, worth several platinum to light gold coins .

However, it wasn’t like the hobbies of the noveau rich . Rather, the sofas, desks, chairs, bookshelves, tables and so on were tastefully selected to produce a calm atmosphere . The paintings that hung on the walls were by renowned painters and costed an amount that ordinary civilians could live for decades with .

A man in his fifties was sitting at his office desk at the back of the room, reading documents . This was the person who held the most power in the Mireana Kingdom and was considered to be a second king . Liberty Kerebel .

Although he had a slender appearance, he didn’t look weak . No, on the contrary, the dignity of a duke could be felt exuding from him . A rich beard grew around his mouth and he had the same almond shaped eyes as his daughter Elena . From his eyes, the will of Duke Kerebel could be felt .

「Pardon me . This is the letter delivered from the young miss . 」

The butler gave a bow and placed the letter on the office desk .

「I will excuse myself now, master . 」

「Thanks for you hard work . 」

Replying as the butler left the room, he finished reading the documents he had been partway through in a few minutes before picking up his daughter’s letter .

『Open . 』

The letter, which he just used magic to open, had a seal on it that could only be opened by people with a specific magic power . He quickly read the contents……before reading over it again several times .

「……Viscount Sails has defected, has he . 」

After leading the Nobles Faction for so many years, he frowned slightly at the betrayal of an ally he had been relying on .

At the contents of Kuust’s death, he gave an unpleasant snort .

Reading until the end, there was no mention about whether the Inheritance Ceremony had been a success or failure . Spitting out a small sigh, he rang the bell beside his office desk . In less than a few minutes, a knock sounded against the door .

「Come in . 」

「Pardon me, Duke . Did you call?」

It was the person who served as the Knight Commander of Duke Kerebel’s knights, Philma de Giel, the second son of Marquis de Giel .

He was in his late thirties, nearing the age that a knight’s strength would start to decline . However, his body was so well trained that you wouldn’t feel that would happen . He was skilled in tactics, able to look at the wider situation and above all had the bravery to stand at the vanguard of the knights to raise their morale .

Normally, it was unthinkable that the Knight Commander would stand at the vanguard . However, he had the strength to make that possible . He was also the guardian knight of Duke Kerebel .

To the person who could be considered his right arm, Duke Kerebel casually passed the letter from his daughter .

「Take a look . 」

Excusing himself, Philma quickly read through the letter he was given .

After reading everything in a minute, he gave a big sigh .

「Viscount Sails has betrayed us, is it . 」

「Yes . If he had just moved to the Royalist Faction or the Neutral Faction, it would have been an event within the Mireana Kingdom and there would be no problems . 」

「As expected, he cannot be permitted to move to the Bestir Empire . 」

「That’s right . ……Philma, can you lead the knights to defeat Viscount Sails before he decides to escape to the Bestir Empire?」

He thought about it for a couple of seconds before shaking his head .

「It will probably be difficult . No matter how fast the horses are, it will still take two days to reach Viscount Sails’ territory from here . And even if it’s Viscount Sails, if he has betrayed the Mireana Kingdom, he would be prepared for the worst . If we catch up, it will quite likely be near the Bestir Empire border . If so, there will be almost no time to fight, even if there is time, it will be very short . If it goes badly, a unit will probably come to pick them up from the Bestir Empire . 」

「……I see . 」

He nodded at Philma’s words . He thought for a few seconds while tapping his desk with his finger……before giving a sharp look towards Philma .

「Philma de Giel, form a pursuit team from the Dragon Knights to defeat Viscount Sails . 」

「……Is that fine? Although the Dragon Knights can certainly make more distance than a cavalry force, as I said previously, troops may come out from the Bestir Empire . 」

「That’s fine . The information we have been given has provided us this opportunity . It would be foolish to not stop them from reaching the enemy . 」

「In that case, the Dragon Knights may also suffer casualties……」

「……It will be unavoidable . They are necessary for such times . 」

Dragon Knight . They were literally Knights who rode Dragons . Because they could fly through the air and attack using the Dragon’s Dragon Breath, their fighting strength was great . However, a Dragon Knight has to be raised from when the Dragon hatches from the egg, their training costs were also very expensive . As a result, even Duke Kerebel, who was called the second king of the Mireana Kingdom, only had 20 Dragon Knights .

「That said, tell them to beware of the Demon Soldiers written in the letter . 」

「I understand . I will start preparing for the pursuit . 」

Seeing Philma leave the office, Duke Kerebel placed the letter from his daughter aside and picked up another piece of paper .

Although the contents of the letter written by his daughter was very important, Duke Kerebel controlled a vast territory and there were many other important works to be done . He first reached out for a pen to write a letter to inform Marquis Brassin that Kuust, the trusted leader of Elena’s knight escort, had died .

「Hmph, foolish people . 」

Finally, he murmured some short last words about Viscount Sails .

「Well then, thank you . 」

Elena spoke to the man sitting in the driver’s seat of the carriage .

Normally, Vel would be sitting there, but he had already betrayed them and was no longer in the party . Speaking of people who could drive the carriage, Kuust could as well, but he was dead . Rei and Ara didn’t know how to drive a carriage and it goes without saying that Elena couldn’t be allowed to drive the carriage . As a result, it was decided to hire an adventurer from the guild who could drive a carriage . The request was to drive them to to Gimuru first and then to Duke Kerebel after that .

「Y-……Yes!」

Rei boarded the carriage with a smile as he saw the man nodding unconsciously, overpowered by Elena’s breathtaking looks .

Ara had already prepared tea inside the carriage and placed the cups on the table .

There were three cups for Rei, Elena and herself, a sign that Ara was no longer wary of Rei .

Or maybe it was because she was given the Power Axe, which was placed inside the carriage .

As he thought about that, he sat down on a sofa . Shortly after that Elena sat next to Rei with a mischievous smile .

「Rei . The driver seemed to be scared of Set, it that okay?」

「It should be fine, Set won’t do anything by himself . Maybe he will get used to it on the way to Gimuru . What about you and Ara?」

「In my case, the number of people……it was a painful experience . 」

She glanced around, probably thinking of Kuust and Vel, who had been with them when they went to the dungeon .

Ara saw that and unexpectedly turned her eyes to the window .

「Here, Elena-sama . I thought about it before I got on the carriage, but the weather is nice today isn’t it . I guess it could be called a clear autumn sky . 」

「……Yeah, you’re right . The autumn harvest is almost over . When that finishes, it will winter soon . 」

She nodded while smiling at Ara’s awkward topic change .

(Yes, it’s already autumn . And once autumn passes, it will be winter . As expected, even the Bestir Empire won’t move their army in winter . The the battlefield will probably open in spring I guess . The power of the Ancient Dragon I have just received, I have to master it . Vel, I will not forgive you if I meet you on the battlefield . I swear I will avenge Kuust . )

As he noticed Elena’s sharp loop, Rei brought the cup of tea to his mouth .

「Elena, after we return to the city of Gimuru, could you meet with Margrave Rowlocks to tell him the request has been completed?」

「……Eh?　Ah, ahh, that’s right . Rei was only a temporary party member for this request . I’ve become accustomed to it……」

Hearing that unexpectedly, her eyes went wide before she nodded .

「That’s right . I guess that was the case . 」

「Really . It was a short request but it felt so long . ……No, should I say it felt both short and long . 」

Elena looked at Rei as she thought of past events and spoke up as she made a decision .

「Rei, if you don’t mind, would you like to come with us?」

「……Is it a new request?　Or something else?」

「Ah . I’m asking if you would quit being an adventurer and join our knights . 」

Hearing Elena’s words, Ara, who was drinking tea, nodded with a smile .

「That would be good . With Rei-dono’s abilities, he would make it to the top right away . 」

As Ara smiled, Rei thought about it for a few seconds before shaking his head .

「I’m sorry, but as you know, I am ignorant of etiquette . 」

「If you learned about those things then……」

「I understand what Ara is trying to say, but my affinity with nobles isn’t that good in the first place . While Elena and Ara are exceptions, you have to remember my relationship with Kuust . That is probably common . 」

Kuust detested Rei and openly took the attitude disrespecting him, as if breathing the same air was hateful . However, Rei didn’t even consider him as one of those foolish nobles who only had pride and no skill .

Although their views of each other had improved near the end of the fight against Vel, Elena and Ara did not see that .

Remembering, Elena unexpectedly sighed .

「……Really . It’s a shame, but I won’t go around deciding your future by my wishes . 」

Though she said that, Elena still sighed in disappointment as she didn’t expected to be refused .

Seeing that, Rei didn’t say anything more and just brought the tea to his mouth .

(In the first place, my aim is Set’s growth using the Magic Beast Art . It would be harder to collect monster magic stones once I join the knights . )

As Rei muttered in his heart, the words Grimm had said had left a strong impression .

That was, a magic beast could have the power to overwhelm the entire army of a country .

At the very least, it wasn’t a fantasy . Using the Magic Beast Art, Zepairu had reached that level .

Hearing that story, Rei had the desire to grow stronger than ever . How strong could he and Set become?

(If I believe Zepairu’s words, I should have an immense amount of magic power . That is to say, Set, who was created with my magic power, should have a greater potential than Zepairu’s magic beast from the Magic Beast Art, which was capable of wiping out a country’s army by itself . If we need to absorb more magic stones and accumulate more combat experience at the same time . I must also be able to fully utilise the magic power sleeping in my body . )

He glanced towards Elena for a moment .

(Yes, to never let my important friends face crisis a second time . )

TLN: My apologies Elena, you have just been friend-zoned ahaha .

In this way, though the atmosphere in the carriage was somewhat subdued, they proceeded straight to the city of Gimuru .