Volume 6 - CH 2.3

15-19 minutes 29.07.2022

It was about six hours after Valeria’s party had received the attack of the thieves that the people who had been sent to meet them from Romarikku appeared in front of them.

The party had already passed through the valley and was advancing on open land. As it was the time when the sun was hanging over the ridgeline of the western mountain, if one were to say that it was as planned, then it was certainly as planned; however, considering that they got a messenger to go ahead regarding the attack a short while ago, it might be possible to say that the response was slow. Normally, one would rush to Valeria’s side even if they had to move the schedule forward.

However, seeing an extremely out-of-place-looking man at the front of the stationing troops that had come to receive them, Dimitar somehow fully understood.

「Don’t start talking of your own accord, all right?」

Dimitar whispered to Valeria quietly.

「That man at the front」

「Which one? There are two people」

「The one in military uniform is most likely the commanding officer of Romarikku’s garrison. If I remember correctly, he’s called “Yumir Pancev” or something. Well, he doesn’t matter. The man who isn’t in military uniform, that’s probably the margrave」

「The prefectural governor?」

「Yes. …He probably heard that you were attacked and hurriedly came to inquire after your safety」

「The reception was late because of that?」

「It’s probably like that. …As for positions, though he’s Romarikku’s prefectural governor, yours is higher. Don’t greet the other party first」

「Un, understood」

Although Dimitar himself thought it was ridiculous, dignity was necessary for a Dominas. In a region like Romarikku especially, they must clearly show that the Dominas’s position was higher than that of the prefectural governor, who governed the politics of this world.

「W-w, we’ve been waiting for you!」

When the man, who had come down from his horse as if he was going to fall off, came to the side of the carriage that Valeria was on at a run, he went down on his knees on the spot and bowed respectfully.

「—I’m Romarikku’s hereditary prefectural governor, Gavrilo Alija Dzeco. I heard that Costacurta-geika’s party was attacked by insolent thieves, and in order to ascertain Your Eminence’s safety with my own eyes first, I led the troops and came hurriedly」

「T, that’s, thank you for your hard work」

Valeria bowed sluggishly, looking slightly tense. Although it was unacceptable that her voice seemed to have cracked, it probably looked like magnanimous behaviour from an outsider’s perspective.

「Our Romarikku’s garrison will take over as guards from here, so please be at ease and leave everything to us」

「I’m thankful for your consideration」

「Such kind words… come come, Pancev-dono, if you would, please」

「Yes」

Receiving Dzeco’s order, the soldier with a manly beard gave a command to the garrison. The soldiers, who had come from Romarikku, changed direction and arranged a battle formation in order to further protect the party, including the military escorts. If it was this number, even in the worst case, they probably wouldn’t receive an attack from thieves any more.

「—Dimitar-sama」

Immediately after the party started to move again, Thial, who had been standing by at a place slightly distant from Valeria’s carriage, caught up with Dimitar.

「The attack just now, what do you think of it?」

「If you think about it simply, it means that the public order of this region is becoming worse to that extent… but even so, those guys just now were strange in some way」

Dimitar looked at Dzeco with a sidelong glance.

Across the carriage, on the opposite side of Dimitar and Thial, Dzeco was addressing this and that to Valeria while wiping his sweat with a beaming smile. Although Valeria was already looking fed-up, this was also one of the Dominas’s duties.

「…Seeing him like that, he doesn’t look like a man who is descended from Romarikku’s royal family」

「As I’m ignorant of the ways of the world, I’m not very knowledgeable, but is the prefectural governor of Romarikku that special?」

「Excluding the Great Gods of Heaven and Earth OfficialPatriarca Mayor, which the king served as concurrently, only the prefectural governor of Romarikku is an important post that is allowed to be hereditary in Ahmad. If one were to say that it’s special, then it’s certainly special」

「Why is it such a special case?」

「Do you know the details of the annexation of Romarikku?」

「More or less」

One hundred and fifty years ago, with the rebellion against the oppressive rule of the Romarikku’s royal family as a start, the country lapsed into chaos, and after the royal family was overthrown, multiple powers competed with each other over the throne, which had become vacant, and Romarikku approached the crisis of being divided. Ahmad, which had seen that as a good opportunity, nominated Blanco Alija Dzeco, who was from the branch of the Romarikku’s royal family, as its leader and dispatched a large army on the pretext of aiding the reunification of Romarikku.

「Though it seems to be historically called the “Rebellion of the Seven Kings” or something, Ahmad supported Blanco, defeated the other royalties successively and then gained total control of the capital city Romarikku. Afterwards, Ahmad, which had succeeded in the internal reunification shortly, annexed Romarikku in the form of receiving an abdication from the new king Blanco, but it didn’t mean that all its citizens accepted that」

Although one might call it “abdication” or “annexation”, the reality was something similar to the usurpation of the country, where the royalty from the branch was utilised as a puppet. Nevertheless, the fact that a rebellion didn’t occur after the annexation was probably because of one thing, the influence of the Romarikku’s Dominas.

Staring fixedly at the twilight which came creeping quietly, Dimitar narrowed his eyes.

「—Though Ahmad, which had obtained a puppet called Blanco, had the military strength to simply subjugate the whole country of Romarikku, it was weak in the sense of winning the people’s hearts and minds. Therefore, Ahmad exerted influence on the Romarikku’s Dominas at that time, Jelena, and obtained her support for Blanco and Ahmad」

「If there was the support of the Dominas who was universally loved by the citizens, the antagonism towards Ahmad would also subside… is that what you mean?」

「That’s how it is. …Jelena most likely must have realised that Blanco was Ahmad’s puppet and also understood that the way things stood, Romarikku might be annexed. However, in order to subjugate the inside of the country promptly and regain the peaceful lives of the people, she could only borrow Ahmad’s overwhelming military strength and make the old royalties holding their grounds in various places surrender in one breath」

In the end, rather than letting the corrupt royal family live long and prolonging the people’s sufferings, Jelena chose the side of people obtaining peaceful lives even if her motherland became a part of Ahmad.

「—The new king Blanco and Jelena, who was more adored by the citizens than him; due to the two people pledging allegiance to Ahmad all together, the annexation of Romarikku materialised」

「Didn’t any problem occur?」

「There were probably quite a number of people who were dissatisfied with the annexation, but at the very least, it seemed that something like dissatisfaction erupting in the form of seeing blood didn’t happen. Besides, Ahmad also didn’t leave it as it was and took this and that measures to pacify the Romarikku’s citizens. One of them was the “Margrave”」

Blanco, who had abdicated the throne of Romarikku, took a daughter of the Ahmad’s king as his wife, became the relative of the Ahmad’s royal family by marriage and governed the province of Romarikku as the prefectural governor like that. Since then, Blanco’s descendants, who had been governing Romarikku for generations, came to be commonly called the “Margrave” because of the area of the region they ruled.

「Only Romarikku is allowed such a way of governing. Since they understand that Ahmad’s government is paying attention to Romarikku, and this also appeals to the pride of the people here, they turn a blind eye to some of the dissatisfaction. Besides, it’s a fact that the current politics are much better than those at the closing years of the old Romarikku’s royal family」

Hitting the nape of his neck, Dimitar shifted his gaze.

Beyond the twilight which was closing in gradually, countless fires could be seen faintly. Those were probably watch fires, which were lit in preparation for the night watch, lining up here and there on top of the jet-black silhouette of the rampart. The vast number of red light spots was eloquent of the hugeness of the town called Romarikku.

「Oh, we can see it!」

Pointing at the distant view of Romarikku, Dzeco spoke somewhat excitedly.

If one strained their ears, they could hear metallic sounds overlapping repeatedly. Without a doubt, those were most likely the sounds of various blacksmiths swinging their hammers in front of the furnaces. Dimitar heard that there were more blacksmith shops in Romarikku, which was abounded with mineral resources, than in Roma.

「The population of Romarikku’s civilians is more than ninety thousand, and the military forces that are always stationed in Romarikku are ten thousand—a large city in which more than one hundred thousand people reside permanently, even if one surveys the whole country of Ahmad, there aren’t so many of them. They’re most likely Roma, Surogu and Ryuban, and Romarikku should come after them. In addition, this town, possessing the continent’s leading iron ore deposit, is also an important place for having authority over Garumani in the east, where the political situation is unstable, and the cunning Vito」

「Are Romarikku’s governors like that—」

Thial murmured, looking astonished in some respects.

「Well, he seems to be affable, and his lineage is also seemingly good」

Perhaps it was because the town wasn’t built in the front line, although the ramparts were high and strong, there was no moat around Romarikku. From the large gate that was left open towards the west, soldiers holding ceremonial staffs up high were lined up along the wide highway.

The party, which had weaved its way between that and passed through the gate, was greeted exuberantly by the Romarikku’s citizens. Countless people were crowding the main street to catch a glimpse of the new Dominas who had come here for the first time in nine years. The faces of curious people were also sticking out from the second storeys of the private houses along the road, and they were scattering beautiful petals, which were probably prepared during daytime, on top of the party.

「…As one would expect, I’ve got used to this, huh」

Valeria continued waving her hand smilingly in response to the voices of the people who were calling out her own name. Her experience from her debut in Roma seemed to have been put to good use properly.

While receiving the enthusiastic welcome of the Romarikku’s citizens, the party soon arrived at the town hall, which was roughly located in the centre of the large town. It was said that the royal palace of the old Kingdom of Romarikku once existed here, but it was destroyed at the time of the rebellion one hundred and fifty years ago, and afterwards, when Romarikku was annexed, it was never rebuilt, and this town hall was built instead of it.

「Welcome, Costacurta-geika」

Appearing from the inside of the town hall and greeting everyone were a beautiful girl, who seemed to be younger than Valeria, and a young man, who was humbling himself beside her.

「They’re my only daughter, Jelena, and a houseboy of my house, Nacho Puyol」

Dzeco introduced the two people immediately. Jelena, who was wearing a luxurious dress fitting for the only daughter of the “Margrave”, stared at Valeria with extremely shining eyes and bowed respectfully, but that gaze of hers felt as if it was expressing something dauntless, and Dimitar felt a slight sense of discomfort.

「Jelena-jou’s name, is it the name of the Romarikku’s Dominas by any chance—」

Perhaps she had been studying properly beforehand, Valeria spoke of that topic before she was poked by Dimitar with the elbow.

「Yes, yes. Though it’s lacking due respect, I had named her after the Dominas-sama who had once saved this country. It’s embarrassing that she completely fails to live up to her name though…」

「Otou-sama, why don’t you leave that kind of talk until later and guide Her Eminence and her attendants inside first?」

「Oh, that’s right. —Come come, Your Eminence, this way」

Guided by Dzeco and the others, Valeria and her attendants entered the town hall.

As might be expected from presiding over a one-hundred-thousand-people-class large city, the town hall of Romarikku was considerably vast even if it wasn’t to the extent of the former royal palace. The overly ornamental armours that lined up in a row along the corridor seemed to be directly expressing the forte of the town called Romarikku, which produced a lot of iron ore and prided itself on advanced cast iron technology at the same time.

「……」

Valeria, who was walking after the prefectural governor and his child, glanced at Dimitar over her shoulder.

Dimitar quickened his steps in a casual manner, stuck closely and diagonally behind Valeria and asked in a low voice.

「…What do you want?」

「Why didn’t you take the hint and help me!?」

While lowering her voice, Valeria glared up at Dimitar and spoke bitterly.

「What are you talking about?」

「I was made to listen endlessly to that pompous prefectural governor boasting about his country, you know!? Can’t you take the hint and intervene or something like that?」

「Is the prefectural governor’s talk so boring?」

「Rather than boring, his talk is… how should I say, um—I can’t say it well」

Dimitar looked down at Valeria, who was speaking ambiguously and unintelligibly, and shifted his gaze to Dzeco’s back.

「…Well, despite being timid, that man seems to talk very fluently. It’s said that he also has the resourcefulness of a merchant」

「Really, it’s tiring to give responses to everything as well」

Valeria dropped her shoulders with a sigh and looked around her again.

「…Nevertheless, the town hall here is really vast」

「Although it’s called the town hall, it doesn’t control this town only. Since this place presides over the whole province of Romarikku, one can also say that it’s the provincial government building at the same time. In addition, it also serves both the roles of the headquarters of the army and the residence of the prefectural governor, so it probably has to be that huge. —Incidentally, the detached guest house where we’ll be staying was the palace that the Romarikku’s Dominas once lived in, which was dismantled and reconstructed here and then refurbished」

「Eh? Isn’t this the first time you come here?」

「This is the first time I come here, but I’ve grasped its general structure. After all, I checked the blueprints of this place before departure and kept them in my mind」

「You’re thoroughly prepared as ever」

「That’s my job. And your job is to smilingly make yourself pleasant to the people of this land. Naturally, the prefectural governor is also included among them. Don’t make complaints such as having stiff shoulders or getting tired immediately after you arrived」

Dimitar severely gave Valeria a warning and then whispered to Bettina and Thial, who were following behind.

「—I don’t think there are particularly any miscreants who will strike our Eminence directly, but this town is near Bigelow, so there are also many barbarian believers who go in and out of the town for the sake of business. Don’t relax your attention, all right?」

「Yes」

「Acknowledged」

When Dimitar turned his gaze back to the front, his eyes met Jelena’s.

「—」

Although her strong gaze, which seemed to be challenging him, turned towards the front immediately, it was naturally understood from merely that instant just now that the girl wasn’t simply a girl who had led a sheltered life. At the very least, she didn’t seem like a carefully raised girl from a well-to-do family who did reading and embroidery as her hobbies.

「A weak-willed father who is always timid and his extremely impudent and strong-willed only daughter, huh—」

It looked like there were many things that must be recorded in various reports after he returned to Roma; Dimitar sighed to himself inside his mind.