Nobles' Private Armies and the Forest of Monsters

"Richard-sama, may I ask you something? If the royal family supports the teachings of Goddess-sama and Apostle-sama, that means there's a risk the opposing faction could start a civil war, right? How would that civil war actually happen? Also, this may be a very basic question, but do individual nobles have military forces of their own?"

When I asked that, Richard-sama looked extremely surprised. Lucien then spoke to me in an exasperated voice.

"Leon, you don't know all sorts of things that are common knowledge to nobles. Yet you know things that no one else does..."

That's unavoidable! Even when I try to learn the basic knowledge of this world, I don't know what counts as basic knowledge, so there are quite a few things I've failed to learn.

"It's only natural that a commoner living in the royal capital wouldn't know about those things. We should make sure to explain them properly to Leon-kun."

Richard-sama, exactly! Thank you!

"Please do."

"Of course. First, regarding the nobles' military forces, each noble has a private army. Basically, they hire commoners with a magic capacity of four or five, just like the soldiers in the royal capital. They have a headquarters in the territory's capital and branches in the other towns. Their basic duty is maintaining public order, but some nobles hire clearly excessive numbers of soldiers and have them undergo military training in the territory's capital."

So that means there are quite a lot of soldiers in each territory. Then if a civil war broke out, would the forces belonging to the nobles in the opposing faction march on the royal capital?

What the heck... That's incredibly scary. Until now, I'd felt like I was hearing about something in a distant world, but conflict really is close at hand in this world...

"If a noble hires a clearly excessive number of soldiers, expenses increase and income decreases accordingly. The noble then raises taxes, causing hardship for the people. We issue warnings to nobles whose territories are in that state, but when they claim that the soldiers are necessary to deal with the threat of monsters, we have no choice but to accept it."

I suppose it would be difficult to argue when they claim it's to deal with monsters. Even if we can currently hold them back at the outer fringes of the Forest of Monsters, we don't know how long that will last.

Wait, something just occurred to me... That's right. A lot of nobles who aren't eldest sons become knights after graduating from the Royal Academy, don't they? Then they work in the Knight Order, right? Could that mean half the Knight Order might betray us?!

"Um, Richard-sama, I just realized something frightening... Does that mean half the Knight Order can't be trusted?"

"No, it isn't that bad. The Knight Order generally gives important positions to those loyal to the royal family, while assigning those who aren't to the Second and Third Knight Orders. Those without any loyalty quickly quit the Knight Order. The former knights who leave often take positions such as commanders in the private armies of the nobles I mentioned earlier. Of course, we can't see into everyone's hearts, but you don't need to worry that much."

Oh, I see... At least it doesn't seem to be the worst-case scenario. So the Knight Order can basically be trusted.

But that raised another question. Are there several Knight Orders?

"Um, are there several Knight Orders?"

"Didn't I explain that as well? There are four Knight Orders: the Royal Guard, which protects the royal family; the First Knight Order, which protects the royal castle and capital; the Second Knight Order, which specializes in swordsmanship and fights monsters; and the Third Knight Order, which fights monsters using both swordsmanship and magic. The Second and Third Knight Orders are dispatched to the Forest of Monsters for most of the year."

"So that's how the system works."

I suppose if someone became a knight without any loyalty to the royal family and was then sent to the Forest of Monsters for most of the year, they might want to quit. They could get a position by joining a noble's private army, after all.

"As for how a civil war might be started, it would basically come down to the use of military force. Every territory in this country has a climate suitable for agriculture. For that reason, an economic rebellion, such as halting the distribution of goods, would be difficult to carry out. Some nobles do control vast agricultural regions, and halting distribution would certainly hurt them, but it wouldn't have an immediate impact. As you know, the area around the royal capital is agricultural as well. The only thing that comes to mind is salt, but that is also produced in the Townsend ducal territory, so even if other nobles halted distribution, it wouldn't have an immediate effect. Of course, if they kept it up for years, the situation would gradually worsen, but we could endure a short-term disruption and devise countermeasures in the meantime."

It was true that fields had stretched out around us for quite a while after we left the royal capital. An economic rebellion would take time to have an effect, so under the current circumstances, it wouldn't be a very effective strategy.

"However, there's no point in considering the long term right now. By then, the threat of the Forest of Monsters will have spread much farther than it has now, and we'll have bigger problems. Come to think of it, I should explain the Forest of Monsters as well."

Huh? The threat of the Forest of Monsters will spread so far within a few years that we'll have bigger problems...?

Wasn't the Forest of Monsters something that would become a problem several hundred years from now or something?!

"Richard-sama, what do you mean? Is the Forest of Monsters really in such a dangerous state?"

When I asked that, Richard-sama looked at Lucien and me in turn with a serious expression.

"This information has not yet been widely disclosed. To avoid causing confusion, we have refrained from announcing it to the commoners. At present, it is shared only among the heads of noble families and officials holding positions in the royal palace. For that reason, I want you to promise that this will remain between us for a while. You too, Lucien."

Huh? Lucien doesn't know either. Come to think of it, we hardly hear anything about the Forest of Monsters at the Royal Academy.

The Forest of Monsters is spreading and dangerous, but thanks to the knights, its expansion is being held back.

That was all I'd heard. Could the situation really be that bad?

"I promise to keep this between us."

"So do I."

"Very well. I trust you, so I'll tell you. The rate at which the Forest of Monsters is spreading has been increasing every year. Until a few years ago, we managed to hold it back by increasing the number of knights, but recently, it has been becoming impossible to stop. At present, we are somehow slowing its expansion and relocating the residents of villages and towns that are going to be swallowed up by the Forest of Monsters."

It's really that bad...?

"As a pretext for relocating them, we tell the commoners only that the areas will be off-limits because they are needed for knight training, but most of them probably suspect that it is because of the Forest of Monsters. If more towns are swallowed up, information that the Forest of Monsters is consuming towns will spread, and there's a high chance it will cause widespread panic."

How fast is it spreading? And what does it even mean for a forest to spread? Are its plants different from those in ordinary forests?

"How quickly is the Forest of Monsters spreading? And what does it look like when it spreads?"

"The plants in the Forest of Monsters are different from ordinary plants. Some grow at impossible speeds, while others can move like animals. That is why it spreads so quickly."

There are plants that strange?! This other world is way too frightening...

"It's impossible to give an exact figure because the rate of expansion isn't constant, but it is predicted that, if things continue this way, the Forest of Monsters will reach the royal capital in another ten-odd years. A few years ago, people still believed it could be held back, but..."

...What? In another ten-odd years?! I'll still be in my twenties then! It will reach the royal capital by then...? We have far less time than I expected.

If the royal capital of this country is swallowed up, very little land will remain fit for human habitation. If that happens, people will fight over food and everything else, and war will break out for certain. We could be killed by monsters, killed in the fighting, or die because we had no food... That's unbearably grim.

Wait, the nobles know about this, right? If so, wouldn't they realize that starting a civil war would be pointless?

After all, even if they managed to take control of the country, it might be destroyed soon afterward.

"Richard-sama, the nobles know about this situation, right? If so, I would think they would realize that this isn't the time for a civil war..."

"I wish they thought that way, but nobles whose territories aren't directly threatened by the Forest of Monsters haven't grasped the danger. The fact that we managed to hold it back until a few years ago probably doesn't help. Even when told that it is dangerous, many nobles believe that it can ultimately be held back. The reality is far more serious, though."

Is that really how it is? But I was the same. I knew that the Forest of Monsters was spreading and dangerous, but I was too caught up in my daily life to think deeply about it.

Unless danger is actually close at hand, people don't share a sense of urgency...

...But surely there are at least some territories belonging to the opposing faction that border the Forest of Monsters, right?

If so, wouldn't hearing about the situation in those territories make them realize how serious it was?

"There are territories belonging to the opposing faction that border the Forest of Monsters, aren't there? Haven't the nobles of those territories shared their sense of urgency with the others?"

"Actually, none of the nobles in the opposing faction have territories bordering the Forest of Monsters."

What? None of them at all?! Why is it so one-sided?

"Why is it so one-sided?"

"The royal family has invested a great deal of personnel and funding in dealing with the Forest of Monsters. Also, along its outer fringes, the Knight Order and the nobles' private armies fight together. As a result, many families support the royal family out of gratitude. Furthermore, when people are exposed to the threat of the Forest of Monsters, they apparently begin to think of survival through mutual aid as human beings before thinking of themselves as nobles or commoners."

So that's how it is... But if the Forest of Monsters didn't exist, that would mean far fewer nobles would support the royal family than do now, right?

The Forest of Monsters is troublesome, but it has its good points too...? What a complicated situation.

But that fact is extremely dangerous. If a civil war broke out, the nobles who support the royal family would have to divert their soldiers to dealing with the Forest of Monsters. That means they couldn't send many troops to help the royal family when the civil war began.

It would be ridiculous if they were in the middle of a civil war and then their territories were swallowed up by the Forest of Monsters.

Now that I understood the situation properly, things were in a very dangerous state. If a civil war broke out, it would probably happen within the next few years, and it would almost certainly be a military conflict.

And as things stood, the royal family seemed to be at a disadvantage in that civil war. The question was how much support would shift toward the royal family because the goddess statue had glowed.

On top of that, no matter how the civil war ended, the country would certainly be devastated, and then the threat of monsters would loom at the worst possible time.

Until now, I had been too busy dealing with my own problems to pay much attention to the country, but wasn't this country in an extremely dangerous situation?

The worst-case scenario would be for a civil war to leave the country in ruins, after which it would be swallowed up by the Forest of Monsters.

The best-case scenario would be to avoid a civil war and have everyone join forces to face the threat of the Forest of Monsters.

But even then, if we couldn't do anything about the Forest of Monsters, conflict would eventually break out and the country would be swallowed up by it.

Even the best-case scenario wasn't good at all.

Could anything be done about this situation? I wanted to help if there was anything I could do, but even though I could use magic, there was only so much one person could accomplish...

As I agonized over that, Richard-sama's expression softened slightly.

"I'm sorry for telling you about such a difficult subject. We adults will deal with this problem. For now, you should focus on enjoying your school life. Once you graduate, will you help us?"

"Of course, Grandfather. I will work even harder so that I can be of assistance."

"Lucien, you're very dependable. Leon-kun, I'm sorry to involve you even though you aren't a noble, but I hope you will continue to help us."

"No, I'm grateful to know about this now. It's better than being a commoner dragged into it without being told anything; at least I can think of countermeasures. I will work hard to be of assistance as well."

"Thank you. That's very reassuring."

In any case, all I could do for now was practice magic and swordsmanship so that I could protect the people dear to me.

I would do everything I could.

After that, we changed the mood a little by chatting about things that had happened at the Royal Academy, then Lucien and I returned to our respective rooms. It was almost time for dinner.

Even so, that had been one shocking revelation after another.

First, there was the matter of the gods. I'd thought the gods seemed close at hand because there had been an Apostle-sama in the past and there were divine relics, but if there could be divine oracles, then the gods really did exist, right? Wouldn't that mean the gods truly exist...? Maybe... divine presence?

I didn't really understand it, but the gods truly existed.

But if the gods really existed, couldn't they do something about this situation?! On the other hand, maybe they were the ones creating this situation in the first place...

A god who enjoyed watching humans get killed by monsters...? That's frightening. Terrifying, even. It's best not to get too close to beings with incredible power.

But what shocked me even more than the gods was the story of the Forest of Monsters. I had no idea this world was in such a dangerous state... It was so shocking that, strangely enough, it didn't feel real.

I still didn't know what I could do, but for now, I would at least become stronger.

If troubled times were coming, then strength would be everything, whether I was fighting humans or monsters...

I would become even stronger. With that resolve, I steeled myself.