chapter 34
34 – Episode 34. Devoted to duty at Castle Annel
Rebellion.
It meant the act of a subject entrusted with the lordship of a castle rebelling against the monarch for some reason.
During the course of the rebellion, the subjects in the castle either stayed or were driven out to their original forces depending on whether they sympathized with it or not – but resources such as troops, gold, and food were still available to the rebels.
Anyway, if a rebellion breaks out, there will be cracks in the powerful ranks of Serpina’s army.
If we use that time to invade the castle where the rebellion occurred or the castle near the castle where the rebellion occurred, does this mean that our military can lead the way to an advantage?
But.
In order for the Brans army to turn this situation to its advantage, it was inevitably necessary to deploy sufficient troops to Zeeland Castle at the moment of rebellion.
Even the Serpina army would have been in a hurry in a situation where they had just staged a coup and raised an army – but they were a country with the power to quickly suppress the rebellion and reorganize their battle lines in a short time.
So, the reason I came to this conclusion – coincidentally, was because of Iren.
If Irene had not suggested that the northern part of the country should be defended with something similar to ‘Muman’s sense’, it would have been impossible to know at this point.
Of course, even if Rin had asked me directly, I would have come up with an answer – but that’s not the case if Rin, like Luna, is a monarch who asks me how to do everything and trusts me absolutely.
Furthermore, I was able to come to a conclusion by inferring this step by step. If you had just asked me right away, the prediction would have been ‘Invade the territory of the Serpina army in the north.’ But at that time, words that needed to be persuaded were used. It was obvious that it would be quite difficult to choose.
Anyway – the policy has been decided.
If things continue like this, even if a rebellion breaks out, they won’t be able to do anything properly because they’ll be too concerned about the Aishus Army, and will ultimately fail to raise the Brans Army’s flag in the north.
Well, but-
‘Maybe it’s fate.’
Lyn Brans was not the person to become a unified monarch.
Since she has to work under the unified monarch, I don’t need to convince her by being sincere to her.
In the meantime, all I could do was spend time with Irene while doing commercial-related work at the market.
Thinking like that, I organized the map and turned my head.
Irene was asleep, squatting on her back.
I approached her slowly, without hearing her footsteps.
It was beautiful.
Long red hair.
A concave nose and skin so white that it doesn’t look like someone using a sword.
After learning proper etiquette, she was beautiful enough to marry into an appropriate noble family and live a peaceful life, but the place where she was born was in a difficult time, and the blood flowing through her body was not noble.
He is honest to the point of being a bit foolish, but he does not choose to take the easy path – he fights hard while holding his father’s legacy in his arms.
Article. Siege warfare specialist. The only descendant of the Juliet family that serves the Brans family – a woman called Irene who is beyond those things.
She was carrying so much on her shoulders alone, without anyone noticing it.
I had no intention of killing this woman.
It was clear that this woman would be a great help to Luna, who would one day become my master again, in the ‘completion of a unified nation’.
‘I will save you somehow, Irene.’
Slowly moving away from her again.
After turning off the lantern that was lighting up the room, albeit in the dark, I lay down on the bed.
As I lay down, all my thoughts went to the stars.
Wear clothes with a pattern symbolizing Brans County, attend a meeting for Brans Army, and listen to Irene’s inside story…….
In the meantime, there was still one woman in my head.
Lunarien Inian.
A monarch who will unify the continent.
‘Now that I think about it.’
A question that has not been asked to me for a long time.
Can Lunarien Inien become the monarch who will unify the continent?
I typed the question into my head without much thought, just to check again before going to sleep.
…… And.
‘…… Uh?’
*
“Hey, you! Aren’t you standing there?!”
“Ahahahaha. If you can, catch it!”
The shouts and laughter of children.
“This is a bit… Is it right to charge this price for this?”
“Ah, that’s right. It’s cheap because Agnel Castle has good supply and demand. Let’s go to the next town. How much does it cost?”
Customers bargaining for goods and merchants dealing with them.
In the middle of a very peaceful shopping street, what I am doing is-
“Welcome.”
Surprisingly, they were serving customers at the counter.
“You are from Brans County. Please be kind to us this time as well.”
Looking at the words of the person who appeared to be the owner of the store, it seemed like it was common for merchants to come to help with work in this way.
There are more than a dozen generals in Brans County who have been ordered to engage in commerce this month.
The most capable of these – the general, who was probably the one with the highest political stats – took the lead and distributed work to everyone.
The job I ended up doing was serving customers.
The location is inside a bar.
A place where talented people who are still hidden in the world gather and rumors spread from all over the continent.
When I was unemployed, I also spent time in bars trying to get hired by someone.
Well, does the development of a bar where talented people gather and adventurers fulfill various requests lead to the development of commerce?
Because the scale of the bar in Castle Annel was so large, there were several employees besides me.
Among them, there seemed to be a C-level general like me who was ordered to work here.
Seeing it placed in a place like this…… I knew one thing.
‘It seems my political stats aren’t that high.’
So, isn’t this why they were assigned to jobs that require relatively less skill?
Of course, if I wanted to increase my expertise in hospitality, I should have been able to delve into it endlessly, but considering that I was spending my time relatively leisurely right now, it seemed clear that I was not in a very important position.
Because I couldn’t see the status window or anything, I had to guess my status somehow.
Of course, it wasn’t bad.
Because we have a lot of time, we have time to verify various things.
First of all.
The question I asked before going to sleep yesterday was, ‘Can Runarien Iniang become the monarch who will unify the continent?’
There was no answer to that.
So, it’s not something like ‘I don’t know’, it’s just that I couldn’t find an answer.
It felt similar to when no questions were asked.
Once a question was asked, it was possible to ask it again and again, but for some reason it was blocked.
I sensed something strange and immediately asked myself a few questions.
These were all questions I was asked when I first met Runarien.
[Can Serpina von Eingart unify the continent?] And, [Is Baranga Yuuri Aishous a monarch who can unify the continent?] [Can Lin Brans unify the continent?] Three questions.
Out of these, the only answer that came out was the last question about Rin.
The answer is, [No].
Basically, I couldn’t ask myself questions directly.
In order to make a prediction, it was necessary to hear questions from others.
Once I was asked a question by someone else, I was able to answer it again and again.
But – even though it was a question that had clearly been asked in the past, it was a situation where no answer could be found.
At this point, I could vaguely guess a rule I didn’t know about.
It is-
‘The questions I received are reset at that point when the monarch being served is changed…… ?’
If this is correct, it is simply explained why only questions about Lin are predictive.
This question was the first question that Lin, who hired me, asked me.
Then my question is-
In the end, since it is a prediction of a ‘scheme’, do questions related to the military to which it belongs take the highest priority?
That being said, I was a little concerned about being able to predict the future of other monarchs.
Of course, this was not the perfect answer.
It seems true that it is initialized, but it may be that it is done on a period-by-period basis…… Or it could have been due to other factors that I didn’t notice.
‘Whatever it is, we don’t know now.’
If you catch someone and say, ‘Please ask me one question whether Lunarian Inian is the monarch who will unify the continent,’ well, you can check the results again without difficulty.
In a situation where Luna, who always listened to me, was not around, I would inevitably get noticed if I asked such strange questions for no reason.
I know Irene exists, but I haven’t developed a deep relationship with her yet.
‘Someday I will have the opportunity to check again.’
So, I did what I was asked to do at the bar and dealt with people appropriately.
I wondered if it would be right to see this as a ‘contribution’ to commerce…… In fact, in this area of internal affairs, political figures were much more important than intelligence figures.
Well, I didn’t say I didn’t really want to do this or anything. Rather, it would have been a hassle to come up with an idea to develop the market.
After all, you belong to the Brans Army, so why are you working so hard?
‘Let’s just get to work.’
So, I wasted my time working without much passion.
*
A week has passed since the mission began.
On our way back from the market, the kids bought snacks that we all carried around with us.
It was a typical cookie bread with something like sweet jam inside.
“I’m here.”
“Hmm. Good job.”
When I got home, I was greeted by Iren, who was resting covered in sweat and wearing the most obscene training attire, to greet me.
“Are you still swinging your sword today?”
“That’s right.”
The fine muscles firmly attached to her waist are the result of that ascetic path, right?
It may be a bit unfortunate to say that in such a situation, but I laid out what I bought on the table.
Iren approached me, showing interest in the items I bought.
“That?”
“It’s a snack. The children of Anne Castle carry it around and eat it.”
“Ah… Swen, do you like sweet things?”
“Rather than that, Irene always gives me tea, right? I thought it would be a good idea to eat together.”
There were refreshments at Irene’s house, but they were light rather than sweet.
If you’re going to make and eat Wangjisa tea, wouldn’t it be nice to have something sweet with it?
“I see… I’m concentrating on my training, so I’m avoiding sweet foods as much as possible.”
Well.
I thought so.
For someone who puts so much effort into building a body like that, there’s no way he wouldn’t control his diet.
In fact, it was a welcome ceremony, and except for the time when they cooked meat for me, it felt like they were basically serving simple food.
“Well, since you’re practicing so hard, there’s nothing we can do if you want to avoid sweet foods, but-“
The moment I said that and was about to put away the snacks I bought.
Tub, and-
She placed her hand on my wrist.
“…….”
“?”
“…Ehm.”
She cleared her throat without even being able to say anything.
I tried to take her hand away again, but I couldn’t do it because she was holding me down with her strong grip.
“……Irene.”
“What is it?”
“Do you want to eat it?”
“…!”
It seemed like the answer was correct, as her face suddenly turned red.
I feel it as we spend time together, but he’s the type of person who can’t hide his feelings.
But- it seemed like she was internally conflicted because the food did not fit her routine.
In this case, just add a little air.
“If you don’t mind, let’s eat together. A few pieces will be fine.”
Not realizing that my words were the devil’s whispers, she nodded, covering her mouth with her hand.
“… Well, it’s not something I want to eat… But it’s something that you, Swen, worked so hard to buy.”
She said that and raised the corners of her mouth strangely.
Why?
After hearing Irene’s obvious lies, I wanted to make fun of her for no reason.
“No. I’m fine. If you’re eating it because you’re worried about what I bought, it’s okay if you don’t eat it.”
“What…!”
“I don’t want you to force yourself to eat it. I’ll eat it all myself. You don’t have to feel pressured.”
“Ah… Well, that.”
She took advantage of her weakness to put her bread aside.
She bent down and came closer to the bread, like a cat looking for a snack.
The twinkling purple eyes looked really disappointing even at a glance.
You’re really bad at lying.
I guess this is the end of the joke.
I laughed lightly and said as she nodded.
“It’s just a joke. Let’s eat together, Irene. That’s what I bought it for in the first place.”
After hearing what I said, she said with a pouting expression, as if she felt something was wronged.
“…Swen, I don’t know what you’re thinking when I see you sometimes.”
“I hear that a lot.”
“…Foot.”
After hearing what I said, she laughed for a moment as if she was amused –
He got up from his seat and headed toward the kitchen.
“After washing lightly, I’ll bring the tea right away. Please wait a moment.”
“I will do as you command.”
It’s been almost 10 days since I spent time with Irene under the same roof.
She was getting used to it.
*
The ‘news’ came about two and a half weeks after her commercial mission began.
“Are you telling her to stop her mission and come to the capital immediately?”
I asked the soldier who came to pick me up.
“That’s right. The master is looking for Swen. He said it would be okay to suspend the mission for a while.”
‘Lin me?’
What’s going on?
I had no idea what would lead to finding me at this point, but-
‘You’ll know when you see it.’
“Okay, I’ll wrap things up and leave for the castle right away.”
“Yes. I told you clearly. Then.”
After briefly exchanging greetings with the soldier, I explained the situation to my co-workers, left the bar, and headed straight to the royal castle of Annell Castle.