Chapter 40
“Are there any other matters to convey?”
Despite everyone, led by the knights, streaming out of the great hall, Alfredo remained where he was.
He had quietly taken up a position beside Jade as if he had something to say.
“From what I saw, there is nowhere in Baden Village where Your Lordship could stay, so I remained to ask about that.”
“Have you gone there yourself?”
“Yes. My legs are still in good shape, so I took a quick tour around the territory. Ah, of course, not all of it—I only checked what used to be Baron Leon's territory. I didn't have enough time to look around the other regions.”
“Even so, it must have been quite a distance.”
“I'm still hale and hearty.”
Alfredo smiled with a dignified charm.
Jade had thought he was remarkably sturdy for his age, and apparently he had quite a history of his own.
“You went to a lot of trouble. You didn't have to go that far.”
“It is where I will need to be from now on. And the royal family impressed upon me that I must assist Your Lordship without leaving anything wanting. There was quite a lot of competition too, ho ho ho.”
“What is there to see in a small territory?”
“You have the marquess, after all. Contrary to most expectations, quite a few people volunteered. You are a young and capable lord.”
“This is suddenly becoming a burden.”
Jade gave a quiet chuckle at the excessive flattery.
But Alfredo's words were not empty.
There had, in fact, been quite a lot of applicants.
And that was just the knights.
“The marquessate's potential is enormous simply because Your Lordship is here. You are Polstein's greatest spirit mage, after all.”
-Alfredo knows his stuff!
-We need to watch his abilities a little longer, but he has the skill. He's far better than three knights.
-But he does kind of feel like a watcher.
Jade chuckled inwardly.
That was because he had been thinking much the same thing as Silestin.
Of course, it probably wasn't surveillance in a bad sense, but it was obvious that everything he did would be reported to the two siblings.
-There won't be much to report, though. He isn't skilled enough to follow us into the Great Forest. To make it to our home, he'd need to be at least as strong as Haines.
-Right. Anyone weaker than that can't guarantee they'll make it out alive.
In truth, anyone could enter the Great Forest.
The problem was that while entering was free, leaving was not.
If it had been easy to come and go, it would not have been called the Great Forest, nor the continent's worst forbidden zone.
“You never know. Among those who have yet to reveal themselves, there may be a spirit mage more skilled than I am. The world is vast, after all.”
“That may be so, but you are still the greatest spirit mage at present. Returning to the main point, I wanted to ask about the residence.”
“I plan to build a villa in Baden Village.”
“A villa?”
Alfredo blinked.
He seemed never to have considered a villa.
Since Jade was a high-level spirit mage, he had naturally assumed Jade would ride a wind spirit back and forth between the lord's castle.
Though Jade had said he would stay in Baden Village, Alfredo had not taken him literally.
“Yes. Don't worry about the budget. I plan to build it quickly with an earth spirit.”
“Ah.”
Alfredo let out an involuntary exclamation.
Everyone knew that Jade had laid waste to the Second Prince's faction with a high-level earth spirit.
For someone like Jade, building a villa where he could live alone would be nothing.
“The location will be obvious to anyone who looks. I plan to build it as close to the Great Forest as possible, for now.”
“……Are you planning to build it outside the palisade?”
“Not that far. I plan to build it nearby. My senses will probably be the sharpest, after all. And I have Whid.”
Kyuuh!
Whid, who had been dozing, suddenly opened both eyes wide.
Whid reacted to its name as if by magic.
Not only that, Whid clenched both forepaws with a resolute expression, as if it had heard the entire conversation in its sleep.
As if declaring that it would beat down any monster that came along.
“Understood. Then I will finish up my work and go to Baden Village as well.”
“There is no need to go that far. You can just send the reports.”
“I cannot do that. I am the butler who attends Your Lordship. I will also bring the head maid and several others with me.”
Alfredo's expression turned resolute, as if he would not yield on this point.
Personnel to wait on him were essential, if only for the lord's dignity.
“You really don't have to.”
“That is our job. Besides, now that you have become a marquess, I believe it is essential.”
Jade shrugged at Alfredo's firm insistence that he would never yield.
It seemed that no matter what he said, Alfredo would not listen.
“All right. Then take your time coming.”
“I will hurry as much as possible. Then.”
Having obtained the answer he wanted, Alfredo left the great hall with a satisfied smile.
He truly did not even look back.
Yet even that seemed professional.
-If you really don't like him, let's fire him. Jade can do that now, can't he?
“I suppose that's true. This world is a class-based society, after all. At least here, I'm practically a king too.”
It was not for nothing that those who had served House Leon left without a word of complaint.
If this had been Earth, they would have filed all kinds of complaints or thrown themselves down and refused to budge, but doing that here would get them beheaded.
No, they could not even bring themselves to say such things.
In plain terms, Arphedia was a continent where you did as you were told.
-He works hard, so why fire him? He's just enthusiastic.
-But he bothered Jade!
-We need someone who'll tell us the unpleasant truth. It's not good to have only people who flatter us. How many kings have been ruined that way? Besides, that doesn't even count as harsh criticism.
-Tsk, tsk! Acting like you know everything!
Silestin grumbled, displeased by Elestra's mature way of speaking.
But Jade stood up regardless of whether the two spirits bickered.
He intended to head straight to Baden Village, figuring he should strike while the iron was hot.
“Silaphe.”
Neighhh!
Silaphe appeared, tearing through space as if she had been waiting to be summoned.
Silaphe had appeared before Jade had even finished speaking.
Then Silaphe vigorously rubbed a cheek against Jade's.
“You rascal.”
-I guess she can't see me?
Silestin planted his hands on his hips and looked displeased at Silaphe fawning over Jade.
No matter how much Silaphe liked Jade, Silestin—a supreme-grade spirit—was right there, yet Silaphe seemed to pay attention only to Jade.
Whiiine.
Under Silestin's murderous glare, Silaphe lowered its head and looked around nervously.
Though Silaphe was an intermediate wind spirit, it could not compare to Silestin.
The difference in rank was so vast that Silaphe could not meet Silestin's eyes.
-Why are you picking on Silaphe? Jade is your contractor, after all, so of course Silaphe should greet Jade first.
-But Silaphe acts like I don't even exist! Even cold water has its hierarchy—show some respect to your elders!
-Ugh, what a total old fogey.
-Old fogey?! Take that back right now!
Silestin shrieked in horror.
It was the word he hated most.
But Elestra did not take back what she had said.
-You act like an old fogey, so that's what I call you.
-I do not! I'm not an old fogey!
“I taught them some terrible words.”
Jade shook his head at the two spirits' increasingly heated exchange.
He felt he had somehow corrupted them far too much.
Neighhh.
Kyuuhhh!
Silaphe and Whid comforted the self-reproaching Jade.
They said the two of them would have acted that way even without him.
Meanwhile, Silaphe covertly glanced at the two spirits.
Silaphe wondered whether they had heard, despite being too distracted by their quarrel.
“Let's go.”
With the two spirits' argument growing more heated by the moment, Jade climbed onto Silaphe's back.
Since both were supreme-grade spirits, he assumed they would follow on their own.
Silaphe launched out through the window with Jade and Whid aboard.
-Huh? Wait for us!
-This is your fault!
-What do you mean? It's your fault!
The two spirits belatedly flew after Jade, whose figure vanished in an instant.
High atop a watchtower with nothing but forest in sight, one of the village watchmen let out a long yawn.
The Great Forest lay before him, but he was only human, and there was no helping his boredom.
He wasn't actually asleep, so the young man wiped away the tears brought on by his yawn and looked around again.
Even with the palisade, if monsters charged in a swarm, it would serve only to buy them time.
“It would be nice if we had a wall.”
The watchman muttered.
He wished they had a wall, even a low one, instead of a palisade.
But they lacked far too many people for that.
The village was very small, so they were barely managing to maintain even a village watch.
“Hey! Time to switch, Charlie!”
“My name is Parzali, remember.”
“Isn't Charlie friendlier and nicer?”
“That's what you think.”
“Heh heh!”
Parzali, the young man guarding the watchtower, scowled at the nonsense his childhood friend was shouting from below.
He wondered why the fellow still acted that way despite being old enough to know better.
“Do you find that funny?”
“Yep. I do. All the other guys call you Charlie too. Bar~Charlie!”
“I don't.”
“That's okay. We think it's funny.”
“Bastard.”
His friend kept snickering despite Parzali's curse.
He found that reaction far too funny.
Besides, even stupid jokes like this were necessary to get through the tedious hours of guard duty.
“If it bothers you so much, come up with one yourself. Of course, my composure will never be shaken.”
“Let's see, the woman who kicked you to the curb not long ago…….”
“Hey! That's far enough! We don't cross that line……. Gasp! What the hell is that?”
Thanks to his years on the job, Parzali could now climb down the ladder with his eyes closed, but he made a puzzled face as he descended.
His childhood friend looked utterly shocked, as if he had seen something he shouldn't.
“That's not toward the Great Forest. What's wrong?”
“L-look! There's a person flying through the sky! Ah! It must be the lord!”
“Huh?”
Parzali turned his head at his childhood friend's shout, accompanied by pointing.
Then he saw a man flying toward them astride a translucent pegasus.
The distance was too great to make out his features, but the moment he saw him, he knew his friend was right.
The man was the new lord who had taken office not long ago.
“Whoa, that's amazing. He must be riding a spirit, right? A person can't just fly through the sky. And the thing he's holding must be that famous Gold Drake. I heard it's incredibly cute. Apparently, though, its temper is no joke despite its looks.”
“Huh? You can't see it?”
“See what?”
Though this was their first time seeing him, the two recognized the lord at a glance.
That was because there was only one person in the marquessate who could fly freely through the sky while raising a Gold Drake.
“The pegasus the lord is riding. Wasn't it called a wind spirit?”
“……Pegasus? I can't see anything.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It just looks like he's holding a yellow Gold Drake.”
His childhood friend looked at Parzali strangely.
It was strange that Parzali had suddenly started talking about a pegasus.
But to Parzali's eyes, it was plainly visible.
A pegasus flapping its wings with a bright smile on its face.
‘Can only I see it?’
As it rapidly drew closer, the pale green pegasus became even clearer.
The lord, dressed and looking utterly ordinary for a nobleman, was no different.
“Gasp! It's coming this way! Why here of all places?”