Chapter 146 – The Adventurers of Seat Village

===================

Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

[Ventury]

From time to time, the adventurers come to report that they have found magic beasts. Since in most cases the report of subjugation comes in at the same time as the report of discovery, there is no hindrance to the march.

His Majesty’s idea of hiring adventurers ought to be called a brilliant one.

Even so, were adventurers truly this capable?

Generally speaking, knights are said to be superior when it comes to combat. That is because knights have passed the harsh knight selection examinations and constantly repeat combat training. Their natural aptitude is high to begin with, and they are forced through severe training not only in individual combat but in group combat as well. There is training for small groups, medium groups, and large groups, with the imagined opponents ranging from other nations’ armies to large magic beasts. Adventurers, by contrast, mostly receive requests for searching, exploration, gathering, investigation, and the like, and in most cases act in groups of four or five. Since, in combat, they assume opponents such as magic beasts or bandit gangs, they also make use of traps and nerve poison, and are expected to accomplish their missions as safely as possible.

In short, even when they fight groups of magic beasts or bandits, they seldom fight them head-on, which means that in terms of combat ability they are inferior to knights. It seems there are some adventurers who subjugate large magic beasts with only a small number of people, but surely those are extremely rare.

That was what I had thought to be common sense, yet the adventurers hired by His Majesty in Seat Village were performing in a way that overturned it.

If a large magic beast is found several hundred meters ahead, they secure the route by exhausting every means, such as luring it away or driving it off. If magic beasts of medium size or smaller are found, they subjugate them at the same time as making the report.

Terrifyingly enough, even though they are called medium-sized, they are nothing but powerful magic beasts such as Red Bears and packs of Scalewolves, the sort that even a knight order would not fight on flat ground unless the condition of having more than twenty men were met.

If Red Bears were to appear in my own territory, taking into account the possibility that there might be a pack of several, we would likely carry out the subjugation with one hundred to two hundred knights.

Yet the adventurers of Seat Village split into groups of five to ten and each of those groups is subjugating medium-sized magic beasts.

“…Just what, exactly, happened in this village…?”

I twist my head and think, but no answer comes. There is the issue of cost, but if everyone possessed dwarven weapons and armor, their fighting strength would rise dramatically.

However, there is also the question of whether that much money could realistically be prepared, and whether iron ore of sufficient purity to satisfy the dwarves could even be gathered is doubtful.

Judging from the furnace, it was a new one that had only just been built, so it was not a matter of having spent many years making the dwarves forge them.

Thinking that far, I suddenly recalled Baron Van’s magic. With that abnormal magic of his, perhaps he can create weapons and armor rivaling dwarven-made gear.

“…If I can bring that brat over to my side well enough, strengthening my own knight order’s fighting power may be easy.”

I muttered that softly inside my mouth.

[Jalpha]

Honestly, it is an absurd story. Why, of all people, did talent in such magic have to appear in Van?

Because of that, many nobles have likely come to think me an incompetent who let go of a talented son. Yet that is not how it was.

Rather, I installed a son who had been judged to have no useful magical talent as a lord, even if it was in the frontier. Normally, that can be called an arrangement beyond what he deserved. Seen from the outside, no matter how the result turned out, it would not become the sort of thing to draw criticism.

However, this situation is somewhat different.

A child who was supposed to have become the lord of an empty, freezing village ended up slaying a dragon. His subordinates were only three knights who had petitioned to accompany him as guards and one elderly magician. The rest were a slave child and a maid who were not even combat strength. About a hundred villagers do not even amount to anything.

Under such conditions, how could he possibly have subjugated a large dragon?

That is precisely why I judged at first that the information was false. There was the possibility that Count Ferdinand had lent a hand in order to turn him into a puppet, but the return on that would have been far too small.

But that judgment was mistaken. Since I did not know Van’s magic was something like that, I put off the investigation of Seat Village.

As a result, before I noticed it, Van had his achievements recognized, became an independent lord, and part of my territory was lost. What is vexing is that after that, a dungeon was discovered as well. If it were only Seat Village, it would not have been a major loss, but once a dungeon was discovered, the matter became different. Its usefulness and economic advantages are enormous.

Surely a child like him did not deliberately delay reporting it and scheme so that the credit would not be taken from him, and the same goes for the dungeon. By good fortune, after subjugating the Green Forest Dragon, he was probably occupied with repairing the defensive walls and buildings when Viscount Panamera happened to visit Seat Village. As a result, His Majesty undoubtedly received the report of the dragon subjugation before it reached my ears.

That Van’s abilities were suited to territorial defense. That the village was cooperative toward its lord. That a land-based large dragon appeared under conditions where defense was possible. And that Viscount Panamera appeared in Seat Village at the perfect timing.

All of these came together miraculously, and in one stroke there emerged the flow by which Van gained a title and independence.

For House Fertio, there could hardly be anything more unfortunate. On top of that, more than anything, the problem is that His Majesty has come to know Van’s power. His Majesty places importance on results. He surely takes past achievements into account as well, but when a person he judges useful begins to distinguish himself, he immediately gives him important use and helps him employ his abilities in a broader scope.

The moment His Majesty turned his attention to Van, the Apkallu and the dungeon were discovered. Worse still, he even obtained dwarven smiths. At this rate, Van’s standing and position will only continue to improve.

“…Somehow, I must prevent Van from earning any further merit.”

Geographically speaking as well, the only territories that can be carved away as rewards are Count Ferdinand’s territory and my own Fertio marquis territory. Somehow, I must restrict Van’s actions, and furthermore I must show His Majesty some sort of failure on Van’s part.

“…This march hinges on those bases Van made, those so-called containers. If they were to have some defect…”

Inside the wagon on the march, I worked out schemes to protect the standing of the marquis house after the war.