An Unexpected Side

Yep, this must be the place.

The place my superior had designated was, as expected, the command room of the Tenth Knight Order.

Since I had been summoned rather than arrested, I figured that, at least for now, they didn't consider me one of the lord's accomplices. Even so, I hesitated to knock.

"All right, here goes." The moment I steeled myself and clenched my fist, the door opened from the other side.

"What? You came? I was just about to grab you by the scruff of the neck and drag you in here. What are you doing standing around here?"

So this was the War Princess? Wasn't this more like a War Demon?

"Never mind. Come in. Rays-sama is busy, so don't keep him waiting."

I entered while being scolded.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

I nervously checked Rays-sama's expression, but he seemed strangely laid-back. Huh? He gave me a completely different impression from before...

"Ah, relax. Sit wherever you like. I'm sorry about Rapilia. She's only acting that way because she's worried about me."

Seeing Rays-sama so carefree, Rapilia-sama puffed out her cheeks.

"Really, Rays-sama! For one of the Twin Heads of the Kingdom of Rudek to show such a slack expression in front of a civil official! Hey, civil official, if you spread word of this... I'll kill you."

Even with her threatening me like that...

"Now, now, everyone, let's calm down first."

Glantz-sama, the oldest of the three, prepared some tea for us. He was a true gentleman, just as people said, but even so, surely I shouldn't have made someone like him brew tea for me.

"Um..." Not knowing what else to do, I was urged once more by Rays-sama to sit down.

I lowered myself onto an obviously expensive leather sofa, but I couldn't relax at all. I wanted to go home. Besides, this was no time for me to take it easy. I had to think of a way to get at least the people close to me to safety before this country was destroyed.

"Now, I'm sorry to have summoned you. You may find it confusing that I seem somewhat different, but this is how I am in my office. I can't stay tense twenty-four hours a day. If possible, I'd appreciate it if you kept this between us."

Rays-sama narrowed his eyes with a mischievous glint.

"Oh, yes. Of course I won't tell anyone."

If I did, some War Demon or another would kill me.

"Now, let's get straight to the point. I looked into what you—Roa—said earlier. The ledgers definitely had something off about them. You have a good eye for spotting something like that. It certainly seems this is more than a simple bandit disturbance. I've asked the Fourth Knight Order, which was scheduled to deploy, to hold off for the time being."

"...I see."

"However, there are several points I still find puzzling. In particular, there was one thing I wanted to hear Roa's opinion on, so I had you come here."

"Something puzzling?"

"You said, 'The lord is pulling the strings,' didn't you? Why? If all we know is that the ledgers are odd, couldn't the lord simply be being threatened by the bandits? Why did you state it as a certainty?"

I see, so that's why I had been summoned. I relaxed a little. I felt bad about it, but I might as well borrow the conclusion Rays-sama would eventually reach here.

"There are two reasons."

"Oh? Two reasons? Interesting. Let's hear them."

Rays-sama seemed genuinely intrigued and leaned forward slightly. I cleared my throat before speaking.

"To begin with, I did consider the possibility that the lord was being threatened by the bandits. Even so, the period is far too long. If we were talking about a month or two, that would be one thing, but would no one really seek help from the royal capital after being threatened for years? Since the merchants' ledgers don't match, the merchants themselves shouldn't have been affected. If so, couldn't they, for example, have sought help through the merchants?"

"I see. That's a fair point. Go on."

"In that case, the simplest possibilities are that the whole village is involved or that the lord ordered it. If the whole village were involved, though, it would be strange for this bandit trouble to have reached us in the first place. They could all simply have kept it hidden. That leaves the possibility that the lord is acting on his own."

"Hmm, interesting. Continue."

"Yes. As I said, if we assume that only the lord and the bandits are connected, the question becomes: why would the lord take such a dangerous course of action? At the same time, why would the bandits obey the lord?"

"Indeed."

"The simplest and clearest reason for the bandits to obey is that there's profit in it."

By this point, Rapilia-sama and Glantz-sama had also begun listening intently. Then Rays-sama asked,

"What kind of profit would be enough to make bandits obey?"

"That village has a mountain, with an abandoned mine in it."

"There is. Are you suggesting that a new vein of ore was found?"

"Yes. That's what I think. And to take it a step further, I suspect the vein was discovered by someone from Golbel."

"What?" Rapilia-sama and Glantz-sama grew animated. Rays-sama silently urged me to continue.

"I'd like you to take all of this as nothing more than my wild speculation." I prefaced it that way, though it was nothing of the sort.

This was a fact that would only become clear later. The country immediately to our west was the Kingdom of Golbel, with which our nation was on hostile terms. The village in question was near the border with Golbel.

Golbel had taken notice of the abandoned mine. Rather than simply seeking a new vein of ore, it secretly investigated whether the mine could be fortified as a bridgehead for an invasion of Rudek.

In the process, it discovered a new vein. Using it, Golbel began negotiating with the lord behind the scenes: "We'll buy it tax-free."

The lord fell for the tempting offer. I would later hear that his son had racked up enormous gambling debts. I also heard that Golbel had arranged for him to incur those debts.

In this way, the mine and the village were secretly brought under Golbel's control, while mining served as a cover for advancing the fortifications.

So, strictly speaking, the designs of a neighboring country were behind the lord as well.

Golbel's one miscalculation was the quality of its personnel, since it couldn't send many regular soldiers.

Of course, if they'd acted openly, our country would certainly have noticed. So they used bandit-like thugs whose ties to Golbel would be tenuous even if they were captured.

Then the lord announced to the villagers, "It seems bandits have taken up residence in the abandoned mine. It's dangerous, so stay away."

The problem was food. They couldn't transport it in from Golbel. That was why the lord had been purchasing somewhat more food than usual.

However, instead of quietly sticking to mining and fortifying the place, the bandits grew bored with the work and began attacking the village women night after night.

That was how word reached the royal capital from the villagers that they were suffering from bandit attacks. Since the report came from only one resident, the Fourth Knight Order assumed only a few bandits were involved and underestimated them, with painful consequences.

"...That's the gist of it."

The three of them listened to the end, then glared at me with deeply troubled expressions.

"Did you come up with all of that by yourself?"

I answered Rays-sama's question with a "Yes." There was no way I could tell him that I had simply repeated the heroic exploits of his future self.

"...You two have no objections, then?" Rays-sama glanced between Rapilia-sama and Glantz-sama. Glantz-sama bowed his head with a faint smile, while Rapilia-sama did so with a slightly dissatisfied look.

After confirming their reactions, Rays-sama looked at me once more and

"Roa, you will accompany us on the upcoming expedition. That is final."

declared.