Chapter 13
“So the Red Mage Sharen has become House Kron's exclusive mage?”
The news that the Red Mage Sharen had become House Kron's exclusive mage spread across the entire continent in an instant.
The most surprised by the news was House Blackrose, one of the great lordly houses of the west.
Count 『Mordick Blackrose』, the head of House Blackrose, could not hide his astonishment when he heard the news.
“It has truly been a long time since I've seen Father so surprised.”
“The news is that the idealistic mage has settled down. Even I can't help but be surprised.”
Sharen had stayed in House Blackrose's territory for about three months.
Although it was a short time, the magical abilities she displayed were astonishing, and they had tried to make her the family's exclusive mage by offering her more than ten times the pay of an ordinary mage.
However, she had left the territory after saying, ‘The darkness of House Blackrose is too deep.’
“House Kron... She really went to a family I never expected.”
“Indeed. I thought she would go to 『House Tarwin』 in the north or 『House Seraphin』 in the east.”
“I thought so too. Considering her disposition, there was nowhere else she could go.”
Mordick had spoken with her a few times.
So he knew a little about her thoughts, and he had believed that only those two families suited her disposition.
Yet she had gone to House Kron in the south, a family he had never expected.
“I thought they were just salt merchants who sold salt in the south, but I seem to have underestimated House Kron.”
House Kron's image was that of southern salt merchants.
They had made a great deal of money through their salt monopoly, but instead of using that money to hire large numbers of knights or actively lobby the imperial family, they had simply hoarded it like nouveau riche. People called House Kron the salt merchants of the south.
For Mordick, who knew what House Kron had been like in the past, the fact that they had recruited the Red Mage Sharen, whose power was enough to upset the balance of power in the territory, was astonishing.
“This new lord of Kron seems special, Father.”
『Ivy Blackrose』, Mordick's daughter and the chief steward of House Blackrose, shared the information she had gathered.
In fact, she had already known about the information coming up from the south.
She had learned that a new lord had taken office in Kron and was carrying out various reforms.
The new lord of Kron had pursued extremely aggressive reforms, including reorganizing workers' wages, improving the equipment of knights and soldiers, and reforming tariffs, and had achieved countless results as a consequence.
The greatest of those results was the recruitment of the Red Mage Sharen, but Ivy's assessment of Calix Kron, the lord of Kron, was that he had already become a major power even if he had not recruited Sharen.
“It was Calix Kron, wasn't it?”
“Yes. Father, apparently the people of the south are calling him 『The Silver Dragon of Kron』.”
“The Silver Dragon of Kron... That young fellow already has a dangerous epithet.”
Five hundred years ago, when the Empire was still a kingdom.
To unify the continent, the Kingdom of Novarens launched wars of conquest.
That era of war left behind the stories of countless heroes, one of whom was 『Draygan Kron』, the grand general of the Kingdom of Novarens and the first head of House Kron.
In reverence for his superhuman exploits and bravery, people called him this:
The silver dragon blessed by the sea god 『Kron』.
『The Silver Dragon of Kron』.
“Ivy, investigate House Kron and the south carefully.”
“Yes, Father. I'll double the number of investigators.”
In fact, she had already been planning to increase the number of investigators.
She had expected her father to give such an order, and she was even more curious than he was.
“I can truly feel the start of the game approaching. I can't wait to see who will emerge as the winner of this game for the throne.”
Mordick said this while gazing at the moon outside the window and sipping fine wine.
Ivy thought she could guess what her father had left unsaid.
‘In the end, we are always the ones laughing.’
That was House Blackrose's motto.
* * *
The Red Mage Sharen had become House Kron's exclusive mage.
Hart and Noah heard the news and spoke joyfully.
“Everything went according to your plan, my lord. To think you understood Mage Sharen's aversion to extravagance and gave those orders for that reason... You're truly amazing, my lord.”
“I was surprised too, my lord. When I saw you leaving Sharen unattended, I thought you had actually made a mistake this time.”
“Hahaha...Th-that can't be, Hart. Hahaha!”
“Indeed. Hahaha! You couldn't possibly make such a mistake, my lord, yet I doubted you. I'm sorry.”
“It's all right. That's all in the past now. Hahaha...”
I felt my heart prick painfully several times.
And so, Sharen officially became House Kron's exclusive mage.
I could feel my fame stat rising like mad in the invisible game UI window.
Surely, far away at House Blackrose, they had already begun whispering about me and sending investigators.
Ugh... Just thinking about the future made my head ache.
The neighboring territories are probably going to start keeping us in check now. What should I do...
Whatever!! I'll think about it when a problem arises!!
And so I tried to look away from reality.
“My lord!!! Urgent news.”
“What is it!!?”
But this damn world refused to leave me alone.
Honestly, not letting me rest for even one second is too much, even on a human level.
“Deep Rocks!! A Deep Rock horde has appeared!!”
“A Deep Rock horde has appeared!?”
『Deep Rock』
A monster with a fish's body and limbs that lives in the deep sea.
These monsters periodically gather into groups and breed like mad, then surge out of the water when they run out of food in the deep sea.
Their intelligence is on the level of goblins, so they are not much of a threat individually, but once they surge out, they become an enormous army that is nearly impossible to handle.
According to Calix's memories, even during the previous lord's tenure, a Deep Rock attack had required the knights of not only House Kron but also the surrounding territories to mobilize in full before they could barely suppress it.
Once we confirmed the Deep Rock horde's appearance, we immediately entered emergency response mode.
We evacuated the residents and dispatched scouts to determine the exact situation.
The situation they determined was as follows.
“The Deep Rock horde is coming up from Rag Coast, at the eastern edge of Kron's territory. We currently estimate their number at 5,000 to 6,000, and it continues to grow, so they need to be suppressed quickly.”
“Five thousand... It's close, but it's not beyond what our territory can handle.”
“I see. That's a relief.”
A force of around 5,000 could be handled by Kron's current knights alone.
However, that was only true if we could deploy all of Kron's knights in full.
As a bad feeling rose, the door flew open and a soldier rushed in.
“My lord! This is a disaster!!”
“What is it this time?”
“House Ryan...has begun deploying knights.”
“What!? Knights!!?”
The news the soldier had brought concerned House Ryan.
After the Deep Rock horde appeared, House Ryan had begun deploying knights along the border of Kron's territory.
They claimed it was to eliminate the Deep Rock monsters crossing into Kron territory.
But anyone who was not a fool could tell what those Ryan bastards were after.
“My lord, this means the Ryan bastards intend to brazenly invade our territory while we're fighting the monsters!!”
“That's right, my lord. Those lion bastards are perfectly capable of doing something like that.”
House Ryan had done such things countless times before.
Whenever they found an opportunity, they invaded neighboring territories to claim them as their own or demanded enormous indemnities.
It had become especially severe over the past few years, and none of the surrounding territories trusted House Ryan anymore.
“Has Lord Hadem come out with House Ryan's forces?”
“Yes! As always, he's at the front.”
As expected, he was there.
As befitted a warmonger, whenever there was a chance to fight, Lord Hadem always put himself at the head of the fighting.
The fact that he had come in person was also a sign that he truly intended to invade our territory if he got the chance.
“I'll go and speak with him myself. Prepare a horse.”
“Yes!!”
I sent a messenger ahead, then headed toward the border with Rikain and the knights.
Meeting Lord Hadem, who was practically Lü Bu, could be extremely dangerous.
But since the lord on the other side had come out, it was only proper for me to go as well.
If anything went wrong, our innocent messenger could lose their head.
When we arrived at the border, where the knights of House Ryan were stationed, Lord Hadem approached alone from the distance, his bald head shining and an ax in his hand.
The Hadem I saw with my own eyes looked like a berserker—and acted like one, too.
I had come with ten knights and Rikain, yet he had come alone. He was impressive in more ways than one.
“Lord Hadem, it's been a long time. Have you been well?”
“Yes, I've been well, Calix.”
As neighboring lords, Hadem and Calix had not been completely without contact.
However, as could be seen from Hadem's tone, he looked down on House Kron and Calix.
I went straight to the point.
“I'll be blunt. Withdraw your knights, or fight the Deep Rocks together.”
Hadem looked slightly flustered by my words.
But he soon spoke as though he found them amusing.
“You've grown quite a lot, Calix, to speak so bluntly to me.”
“I am a lord. If I don't grow, my subjects will suffer.”
To Hadem, I was probably the weak, timid brat I had been before I was possessed.
But I was no longer that person.
Whether the original me had been frail or timid, I still had to say what needed saying.
“Trying to grow strong for the weak? That's exactly what makes you a brat.”
Hadem casually dismissed my words and answered.
Then he drove his ax into the ground and said:
Crunch-!
“You know what my answer is, don't you?”
At the axe's tip, a snake lay dead, split cleanly in two.
I answered him.
“The weak are devoured. So don't be weak.”
“Yes, you know it very well.”
The motto of Lord Hadem and House Ryan was, ‘The weak are devoured. So don't be weak.’
In a word, it was survival of the fittest.
In other words, Hadem was telling me that if I became weak, he would devour me, so I had better prepare myself.
I had expected it, but the way he acted really did make him seem like a berserker.
But then Hadem said something I never expected.
“But if you say you'll come under my command and fight for His Highness the prince...then I wouldn't be opposed to fighting alongside you.”
He was making me an offer like that?
The Hadem I knew was not someone who would make such an offer.
He looked at me as though he found me very interesting and said:
“What will you do, Calix?”
Like a lion...or, more precisely, a hairless lion, Hadem stared at me like a predator.
I sighed and answered.
“You know what my answer is, don't you?”
“You intend to remain at the very bottom?”
‘Look toward the highest place from the very bottom’
That was House Kron's motto, as well as the creed I had chosen to survive here.
I answered Hadem as the beloved lord of Kron.
“It isn't about being at the very bottom. I simply know what matters most.”
“Well, if that's your choice, I can't help it.”
Hadem casually drew an ax nearly as large as I was, rested it on his shoulder, and said:
“I will watch from here as the weak collapse.”
He turned his horse around and left.
I replied, determined not to be cowed by Hadem.
“Watch to your heart's content. You'll get to see something very interesting.”
Yes, there would be quite a spectacle.
It was time to show the Red Mage's flames to a lion who feared nothing.