Chapter 156
I received a letter from Northvel-sama, commander of the Navy.
It said, “I’m escorting merchant ships to the Eastern Islands this time, so I’ll be using your ship, too. Want me to buy you anything?”
The Eastern Islands are far away, so trade with them isn’t as extensive as with the southern continent. As a result, goods from the Eastern Islands are highly prized in Rudek for their rarity.
Depending on the goods, you could make a fortune. It’s a lucrative route for merchants—but naturally, it comes with risks. A round trip takes at least three months, and the seas around the Eastern Islands are especially rough.
Unless they were as skilled as the Navy, merchants were taking a life-or-death gamble. I’d heard that Drew’s great-grandfather, Bexter, had made his fortune on the route to the Eastern Islands and laid the foundations for the family business.
Normally, Northvel-sama and the Navy wouldn’t go along with a merchant’s gamble. But if they were paid enough, that was another matter.
If the Navy was setting sail, then either there was some sort of exchange of envoys with a country across the sea, the royal family wanted something brought back, or a major merchant house had put up the money.
Was there anything I wanted? Since I had the chance, maybe I should ask for something... What would be good?
“Roa-dono, do you own a ship?” Prince Zerand asked, his eyes shining. At some point, he’d come up behind me and started peeking at the letter.
“Does being an officer of the Tenth Knight Order mean you can own a ship, too?” The one whose eyes lit up at Prince Zerand’s words was Rennie, a new recruit who had only joined us the other day. He was one of the newcomers Rosvel had brought along.
Rennie was the only new recruit here. Rosvel and the others had each been assigned to Ryuzel’s and Frein’s units. They were probably being put through some rigorous training by now.
There were two reasons Rennie was the only one in my room. During the board game, the opponent I’d found most challenging was actually Rennie, not Rosvel, who’d tried to win with an unorthodox strategy. Rennie’s moves were solid, but a little unusual, so they’d stuck in my mind.
On top of that, Rennie was good with numbers. His family ran a small business, and apparently he’d been made to help out from a young age.
...That made him a valuable asset to the Roa Unit—or, for that matter, to the Tenth Knight Order as a whole.
The Tenth Knight Order was generally short on people with strong administrative skills. The state of our food management before I joined made that abundantly clear.
Rosvel, on the other hand, seemed like the type to act on instinct when the need arose—in other words, someone best suited to the front lines. Rennie, by contrast, seemed more suited to the kind of work I did, centered on supporting the troops from the rear.
And so, Rennie was assigned to the food management section of the Roa Unit.
“Listen to what I say and learn quickly, okay!”
He did his best to get used to things, still bewildered by Lufa, who kept acting like his senior.
When I happened to see Lufa looking after Rennie soon after he was assigned, Prince Zerand asked me with a dangerous expression, “Who is that man?” So Rennie quickly caught the prince’s attention—for all the wrong reasons. But now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, the two of them get along pretty well.
Rennie was soft-spoken and courteous, as you’d expect of a merchant’s son, and seemed to be the sort of person younger people took to.
The reason Rennie’s eyes were shining was simple: he’d never been on a ship before.
Rennie’s family lived in a city in the northern part of Rudek, and their main product was grain. They weren’t big enough to deal in imported goods, he said.
Oh, right. The Eastern Islands had that. It might come in handy later...
Maybe I should go discuss it in person, then. I could check on the relay boxes while I’m at it. Why don’t I head to Geadland?
The Sixth Knight Order had taken on construction of the relay boxes, just as they had the road improvements.
Fogaard-san had said, “The Sixth Knight Order wants to specialize as a support unit from now on.” After gaining experience with road construction and building the bottling plant, they seemed to feel they were making real progress.
In practice, it would be a big help if the Sixth Knight Order specialized in that sort of work. Just as the Eighth Knight Order was an intelligence unit, a knight order’s worth wasn’t measured solely by its strength in battle.
When I mentioned that I was thinking of going to Geadland, Prince Zerand and Rennie both gave me an unmistakable look that said they wanted to come along.
...No, Prince Zerand, you definitely can’t come.
I’d take Rennie with me, and if we were going to Geadland, Lufa was a given. Then... an idea suddenly came to me.
“Wickhart, you can sit this one out.”
“What do you mean? Am I staying behind?” Wickhart asked, looking puzzled.
“No, I mean take about ten days off. The end of the year was hectic, and you barely had any time to relax, right? Besides, we imposed on you, too.”
“No, that’s not...”
“All right? That’s an order from your commander. Go relax with Opa-san. Things will probably get busy after this.”
“Is this about the matter Raiz-sama mentioned?”
“Yeah. I think it’ll be a little while yet.” If history was any guide, another major battle was bound to break out.
Wickhart still seemed hesitant, but Lufa said, “Go, before your fiancée gives up on you.” He gave a wry smile and finally agreed to take the time off. “Then I’ll gladly accept.”
Early the next day, Wickhart set off for home. We sent word ahead to Northvel-sama and Zackhart-sama, and planned to leave at a leisurely pace tomorrow or the day after.
In the end, our traveling party consisted of Lufa, Dick, and the five new recruits, including Rosvel and Rennie, along with Ryuzel, Nelfia, and Sazaby.
It was Ryuzel’s idea to bring Rosvel and the others along.
“If inexperienced cavalrymen are going to be assigned to the relay boxes, these guys will be the ones handling them. It’d be good for them to see the place in person,” he’d said. That made sense.
Nelfia and Sazaby were purely along for the sightseeing.
“The king had been telling me to take some time off soon, so this works out perfectly,” Nelfia said.
And so, with another varied bunch in tow, we set off for Geadland.