Chapter 55
#55화 Servant Cedric (21) - Claudia's Goal
One week.
After Cedric left, people had to work to fill the void he left behind.
In the kitchen, meals had to be prepared a little earlier, the maids had to move a little faster, and the guards had to stay a little more alert and keep a closer watch on their surroundings.
In other words, just that much effort was enough to fill Cedric's absence.
Because Cedric was involved everywhere, the share he occupied in any one area was actually smaller than one might expect, and that was also the result of him carefully controlling things so people wouldn't become too dependent on him.
Some even marveled that even the spot he left behind was perfect, but Claudia, the biggest beneficiary of it all, had mixed feelings.
She had sensed before that Cedric was preparing for 'after he left,' but there was a world of difference between vaguely assuming it and experiencing the results firsthand.
Of course, the fact that Cedric's absence could be filled so easily didn't mean that his influence was small.
"The blood beasts have safely settled in the territories of Dorbe, Lupopo, and Faras. Whether petty criminals or serious offenders, they all seem to be wary of the blood beasts, and the acting lords of each territory say public safety has stabilized to an unprecedented degree, so they're very satisfied."
"By placing blood beasts along the routes centered on Eched that connect to the allied territories, it has become astonishingly easier to spot and deal with monsters and bandits. Small and medium merchants who have a hard time hiring large escorts especially praise it."
"The territories that are closely tied to Young Master Armin remain silent, but the territories with ties to Young Master Erwin and Lady Mira seem to be wanting to join our side one by one. They've been trying to make contact in secret from behind the scenes."
"The vacant land scattered across Eched is being quickly filled by settlers. We keep all the land as territory-owned land and lease it to the settlers, then sell it at a relatively low price to anyone who has cultivated it for a certain amount of time, so the response has been very good."
Eched's growth rate was so abrupt it was less like climbing stairs and more like scaling a cliff face, and such rapid growth was bound to bring various side effects.
In particular, if they carelessly recruited people just because the administration was getting strained, then there would definitely have been an impromptu Mafia game inside the territory because of spies sent by outsiders who were wary of Eched's growth.
In fact, Armin Redbell and several others had even prepared spies, but much to their disappointment, Eched's talent recruitment was carried out with utmost thoroughness and in an extremely gradual manner.
The new administrative system Cedric had overhauled was so much more efficient than the old one that they could run the territory perfectly well without urgently hiring that many people.
Of course, even if they selected talent slowly and carefully, they couldn't eliminate spies entirely, but the spies who did manage to slip in found their activities heavily restricted.
Because blood beasts had eyes glowing everywhere, both in the mansion and throughout the territory.
In truth, as a surveillance measure, it wasn't all that absolute.
It was true that Claudia could receive their intentions through the blood beasts, but while pure blood beasts became smarter and smarter the more they gathered together and rose in rank, the modified blood beasts could at best be only slightly smarter than the original animals they were based on.
They could explain things like, "Servant A met with some unknown person B!" but it was impossible to figure out exactly what they talked about.
But that was something only Claudia, who led the blood beasts, knew.
For spies who could only guess how far the blood beasts could understand human speech and behavior and report it upward, the natural result was that they had no choice but to keep themselves as restrained as possible.
─Woof! Woof woof!
"The old blood beasts used to have a scary image, but these days they're just cute because their fur is only a little red. I kind of want to take one home and raise it!"
"I don't mind, but wouldn't having them around get in the way a little when it comes to privacy?"
"Come on, I'm not about to take them into the bathroom or anything. And if they're right next to me, then even if there were someone trying to do something to me, wouldn't they be too scared of the young lady's glare to move a muscle?"
"That does sound pretty good. Should we hand out one each to anyone who wants one?"
If they had known that later on being assigned a blood beast would become both proof that "I don't have anything shady to hide" and a bragging right of "The young lady cares about me this much!", they would have quit spy work, run away, or just quietly switched sides.
In the past, unless you had a hobby of deliberately suffering hardships, betraying Armin and switching over to Claudia would have been a stupid move, but recently Claudia had been growing at a tremendous pace, so changing sides had become one of the options worth considering.
Still, that didn't mean there were no problems.
"Young lady, we've received another request from Baron Bajes asking whether we can send blood beasts again."
"No way. In the first place, that man took money from the criminals in his territory and ignored the blood beasts even when they warned him, didn't he? If that's how it's going to be, why would I send them?"
People who wanted to use the blood beasts' abilities but had no interest in improving public life.
"The blood beasts sent to the royal capital and the western part of the kingdom are being killed at a rapid rate. It seems to have been done by the House Sarnos side."
"Are they seriously trying to start something? No, I didn't even send them to their territory—I sent them to neutral territory, so why the hell are they throwing a fit?"
"Wasn't what House Sarnos always emphasized the pretext that they were 'the sword that protects the kingdom'? It seems they think they should be the center of public order, too."
Straightforward pressure and interference from a rival faction.
"My lady, administration and paperwork are still fine, but the field operations side, including the security corps, is screaming. They say it's one thing to keep order inside the territory, but when they try to carry out monster subjugation in the surrounding area, they just can't handle it."
"Didn't we recruit a lot of people over there too? Weren't they bulk-hired from idle settlers with nothing to do?"
"We have enough numbers, but the problem is quality. There are far too few soldiers who can actually fight properly. Wouldn't it be better to put off the nearby monster subjugation?"
"No. Even if we weed out all the criminals inside, there's a limit if we don't deal with the monsters living near the territory."
However, the biggest headache for Claudia among those problems was none other than a lack of fighting power.
She had tried everything she could—hiring more people, outfitting them properly, and making them move in groups whenever possible—but "the quality of force" wasn't something she could raise as easily as she wanted.
No need to look far: even though the Redbell marquisate overwhelmingly outclassed its rivals in nearly every respect, the reason it still couldn't be called an undisputed second place was that it was outmatched in military force by House Sarnos.
Systematic swordsmanship, efficient mana-cultivation methods, and talented people.
In any case, because House Sarnos eagerly scooped up anything related to "fighting power" with eyes wide open, strong military force was something hard to come by in the Kingdom of Birka even if you had money.
"Ugh... hmm?"
A certain conversation suddenly came to mind in Claudia's head.
It was one of the pointless bits of chatter she had had with Cedric.
"...Adventurers."
"Huh?"
"So let's hire adventurers. After all, they're a fighting force you can command with money, aren't they?"
At Claudia's words, her vassals looked troubled.
"Young lady, they're certainly quite skilled, but at the same time they're people full of hostility toward nobles."
"The nobles around the royal capital like us may have it a little better, but the nobles elsewhere are apparently just trash—no, incompetent trash. Then isn't it natural they'd hate them?"
"They might be extremely rude to you, young lady."
"Would they really be more rude than Cedric?"
"Cough! Ahem, and we've heard that those people recently lost their guild master, who had been their center, because of a reckless subjugation campaign, so they're in considerable turmoil. Even if you called for them, there's a high chance they wouldn't respond."
"Still, go ahead and call them first. Even if they're not good at dealing with people, handling monsters is their specialty, right?"
The vassals all fell silent.
Even if she no longer spewed violence and abuse around as wildly as before, Claudia's fiery personality and drive had not disappeared.
Even if they found it a little suspicious, once Claudia decided to do something, there was nothing for those beneath her to do but follow.
A few days later.
An adventurer party came to see Claudia.
"─I'm Blanca, leader of the Rank-4 adventurer party 『Firefly』."
She was a woman with sky-blue hair and eyes of the same color, reminiscent of the open sky.
Her outfit was nothing but practical combat gear—a brown cloak and a sword at her waist—but thanks to her slender build and her polite yet somehow dignified way of speaking, she didn't come across as particularly rough or savage.
If she changed into a neat suit, she'd look as if she could be seated at an office desk doing paperwork without much incongruity.
Still, Claudia felt it instinctively.
"This woman isn't easy."
Even standing before the daughter of the Redbell family, one of the most powerful houses in the Kingdom of Birka, Blanca merely looked at Claudia with calm, appraising eyes, without fear or jealousy.
That stood in contrast to the others behind her, who were doing their best to dress up their tension and fear as either hostility or composure.
"Firefly, huh. I've heard of you. You're the incredibly powerful adventurer party that took down a lich, right?"
"I didn't do it alone. I just shared in the credit for the accomplishment of a comrade who was more devoted and heroic than anyone else."
"Really? Well, I don't care. What I want is skill, not fame. You've checked the request, right? I want you to operate around Eched and continuously subjugate the monsters in the nearby undeveloped lands. The contract period is six months at minimum, with an extension depending on the situation. Extra pay if you subjugate a certain number of monsters or take down a special specimen not anticipated in the original request. Any problems?"
"The request itself is fine. However, I have one personal question I'd like to ask. Would you allow it?"
"A personal question?"
Claudia tilted her head for a moment, then nodded.
"Sure, go ahead."
"What is the purpose of this request?"
Blanca stared at Claudia with her usual impassive eyes.
"On the way here, I checked out Eched Territory. There were a lot of smiling people. That means it's a pretty livable territory, right? In other words, it seems the people are already satisfied with Eched Territory's public order and safety, so why go to the trouble of spending such a fortune to demand 'more than this'?"
Claudia answered without hesitation.
"'A livable territory' isn't enough for me. What I want is the 'best territory.' And someday, I'll make not just my own territory but the entire Kingdom of Birka that way."
"You, a noble of Birka? Aren't you people the sort who don't care how your inferiors live?"
At her rather provocative tone, the faces of the adventurers who had come with Blanca went pale, while Claudia's retainers flushed red.
Just as the knights of Eched were about to step in, Claudia raised a hand to stop them, then answered.
"Yeah, I didn't care in the past. And honestly, even now I'm only a little better than before, and it's not like I have some huge attachment to my subjects or adore them or anything."
"Then why is that?"
"Because the guy who saved me wanted a country like that."
At Claudia's words, Blanca's breath caught.
Blanca's ringed fist tightened briefly, then loosened again.
Soon after, Blanca bowed her head.
"I understand. I'm sorry for asking such a rude question."
"It's fine. So, will you cooperate?"
"My direction is a little different from yours, Lady Claudia, but I also have a purpose I need to carry out. And that purpose doesn't seem to stray far from the path you're going down."
"Hmm."
Claudia let out a snort.
She wasn't exactly generous by nature, but for some reason she felt like she'd get along quite well with this adventurer.
"Blanca, was it? I look forward to working with you."
"I look forward to working with you for a while, Lady Claudia."
The two exchanged gentle smiles.
***
At the same time, the Golden Cloud Palace.
"Looks like I've been acting too meek all this time."
At the crown prince's words, Lucid choked.