Nobles

At last, it looks like we'll be able to return to the lakeshore.

Since the number of people coming with us had increased, I bought a new vehicle—a microbus—and loaded everyone into it.

The member of the royal family who had come to see us off—Alstroemeria—presented a man to me.

He was a tall, handsome man with beautiful short blond hair.

"Kenichi, now that you've become a noble, you'll need a herald, won't you? Take him with you."

"Is he supposed to keep an eye on me?"

"Think whatever you like, but he is a useful man."

I decided to ask the man who was apparently a herald.

"Are you sure you're all right with this? There's nothing in the remote frontier, and you might be attacked by monsters."

"The moment I chose to work for the royal family, I accepted that possibility."

I sensed no sarcasm or ulterior motive in his answer. Well, you can't tell from appearances alone.

"You don't have to draw such a lousy lot, you know."

"No. I was deeply moved by Count Hamada's forward-thinking ideas, so I decided to place myself in your service as well."

"Hmm? Did someone tell you about me?"

"Kaldon did."

"Oh, you're one of his acquaintances... He is also scheduled to join us in the Hamada domain later, so it will be reassuring for you to have someone you know there."

"Yes, exactly as you say."

When I asked Lilith about heralds, she explained that they handled general knowledge about nobles, organized ceremonies, and so on—in other words, they were something like an encyclopedia of noble affairs.

If I wanted to know anything about nobles, I could simply ask him.

It certainly seemed like an essential position for someone who had become a noble like me.

Apparently, the embroidery on the chest of his uniform was proof that he was a herald.

The man cautiously climbed into the microbus.

"This iron summoned beast doesn't bite, does it?"

"Don't worry. Also, the Hamada domain will be home to beastfolk, so I won't accept any complaints or objections about that."

"I understand. Count Hamada is the first person ever to let beastfolk and a forest cat enter the audience chamber."

"You can just call me Kenichi."

I sat in the driver's seat and bought an amateur radio from Shangri-La, then installed it.

It was the same model I had installed in the Hi○ce.

As soon as I turned it on, the radio began scanning.

I touched the radio displayed on the screen, picked up the microphone, and pressed the button.

"Ahh, I'm testing the microphone now. Can you hear me, Akira?"

"Yeah, I can hear you. Is it working all right?"

"What is?"

"The Co○ster comes in a 24-volt model too."

"Oh, really? Well, it's working fine. We'll be setting out soon."

"Okay!"

Once I confirmed that everyone had boarded, I pressed the button below and to the right of the steering wheel and closed the door.

Looking behind me, I saw the royals, Anemone, and Primula; behind them were the herald and the maids; and, with some empty seats between them, the beastfolk were sitting at the very back.

The mountain of luggage was all inside my Item Box.

Lilith was in the passenger seat, while Amaranthus sat directly behind me.

Anemone was displeased that her seat had been taken, but she soon began reading on her e-reader.

She probably intended to read since we had plenty of time.

There was a raised space between the driver's seat and the passenger seat, and Bell came over and curled up there.

I stuck my head out the window and gave a casual greeting to the people seeing us off.

The microbus began moving slowly. Since it had an automatic transmission, it was easy to drive.

"Amaranthus, everyone is smiling even though the former queen is leaving! They must have hated her. Haha."

Even if she had been somewhat unhinged, everything she did had been to protect the country and the royal family. Thinking of it that way, I felt a little sorry for her.

"Hmph! I'll found a new kingdom with the Holy Knight and turn this world upside down!"

"Hey, don't say anything so dangerous."

"...Ggh..."

I glanced behind me and saw Amaranthus looking down with a bright-red face and an expression of agony. Disobeying an order was painful for her too, apparently.

"Good grief—order revoked."

"Haaah... haaah..."

While I was exasperated by Amaranthus's behavior, the microbus crossed the stone bridge over the moat and drove into the royal capital.

The residents watched the strange iron vehicle traveling through the city without horses with curious eyes. It was the usual scene.

I had Mairen-san come sit up front and navigate for me.

I had to make sure the vehicle behind us didn't fall too far back.

After about an hour, we left the lower city and reached the highway, where I increased our speed.

"What incredible speed!"

Amaranthus was astonished, but we were only going about forty kilometers per hour.

We weren't in a hurry, but the road was in poor condition, so we couldn't go much faster.

There were sudden potholes, and compared with the Hi○ce and Pr○do, the microbus had considerably worse off-road capability.

The entire vehicle shook violently every time we went over a bump or pothole.

"Fnyaa!"

Nyamena, who had been lying across the back seat, was thrown onto her back.

"Holy Knight-sama, how many days will it take to reach Lake Astilbe?"

"If the road were good, it would be a distance we could cover in a day, but... the bridge is probably still down. Once we cross it, I think we'll arrive in about two days."

"That quickly?"

Amaranthus was surprised by the vehicle's speed.

"Mother, this summoned beast can go even faster, you know?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's faster than beastfolk, and I think it can even move as fast as a dragon, but not on a road this bumpy."

"I'll write to Father later and ask him to repair the road."

"Do you think that man would spend money on something like that?"

"He might loosen the purse strings the moment Amaranthus is gone."

I glanced behind me.

"The Holy Knight is right! But I no longer care! If the country disappears, the Holy Knight and I will build a new one!"

She rolled across the floor again, so I couldn't exactly tell her to stop.

I had a feeling Amaranthus could found a country all by herself, even without me...

She was ridiculously strong, after all.

"Oh! Ohhh!"

The herald who had boarded with us continued to be astonished by everything.

The maids were shrieking at the shaking vehicle, but they looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Perhaps they felt as though they were riding an attraction at an amusement park.

After driving for about two hours, we saw many tents in a wide-open area.

There were also many merchants unloading cargo.

There were plenty of people working, but it didn't look like a bridge was being built.

I parked the microbus and had everyone get out. Akira and the others soon arrived right behind us.

"Kenichi, what should we do?"

Lilith came over to ask me about our next move.

"Well, crossing the river will be easy, but we should probably greet the nobles gathered here, don't you think? What do you say?"

I asked Julius, the herald who had come over, for his opinion.

"I agree with you, Kenichi-sama."

"I suppose it would be better to make ourselves known... Primula, could you prepare lunch?"

"Understood."

"And Mairen, is there anything you'd like to take out of the luggage in my Item Box?"

"Um, Kenichi-sama—you needn't call me -san anymore."

"All right, then. Mairen."

"I would appreciate it if you could take out the tea set..."

"Got it."

I took out a pallet loaded with the maids' luggage from my Item Box.

Since everything was stored together on pallets, I couldn't take out just one item.

Mairen took out the tea set, then put the pallet back into my Item Box.

I also took out a table and chairs, as well as dishes, ingredients, and water.

"Anemone, give Bell a snack for me."

"Okay."

When I handed her a Ch○ru, the beastfolk came running over with their ears pricked up.

"Boss, give me one too!" "Me too, nya!"

"Here. Give one to Myaa too."

"You got it!" "Okay, nya!"

The beastfolk had completely picked up the words Akira and I used.

"Well, I don't think it'll take that long."

"Yes, have a safe trip."

The maids all bowed at once. It made my backside itch, but I was a noble now, so I supposed it couldn't be helped.

As a lifelong pauper, I probably wouldn't get used to it for a while.

"Akira, wait here too."

"Okay!"

Looking around, I saw many beastfolk working on the construction.

The merchants seemed to have brought boats from somewhere and were using them to transport cargo along the river.

Some people were making a living by operating ferries too.

Until the bridge was complete, they were probably transporting cargo by boat and sending the carriages back and forth.

Naturally, with so many people gathered here, merchants hoping to profit from them had gathered too.

They sold food and alcohol to the laborers working here.

After eating and drinking came the final item: women. Mobile brothels stood in long rows, stripping the men of their daily wages.

Wherever people gathered, this complete package of temptations appeared almost without fail.

I walked with the herald, while Lilith and Amaranthus followed behind us.

Lilith was the principal wife of Margrave Hamada, after all.

I felt bad for Primula, but as I had explained before, a margrave couldn't have a merchant's daughter as his principal wife.

She herself accepted that.

The problem was Amaranthus, but we would say that she was a slave guarding me.

The slave mark was engraved on her neck, so there was no way to hide it. We could have concealed it with a choker, but she refused to agree to that.

If I tried to force her, she would refuse again and roll around on the ground, making her impossible to deal with.

I really had no idea what she was thinking...

"Now, where would the nobles be?"

I looked around the area.

"Kenichi-sama, the tents belonging to nobles often have flags bearing their coats of arms."

Julius, the herald, taught me another piece of noble common sense that I hadn't known.

He said that if there were no flags, looking for a large, splendid tent was the best way to find them.

"Oh, really? Does that mean I need to make a coat of arms too?"

"It is not required, but I believe it would be convenient to have one."

Perhaps I should buy a sewing machine from Shangri-La and make one myself.

I vaguely remembered seeing a sewing machine that would embroider a design drawn on a PC using a link...

I wondered whether Shangri-La had one. I would look later, but could it handle something as enormous as a flag?

"Kenichi, it's over there, isn't it? That flag belongs to Marquis Jadevine."

Apparently, Lilith knew the marquis. He was probably one of the powerful nobles.

When we headed toward the large white tent she had pointed out, we saw many smaller tents arranged around it.

They were probably the tents of accompanying officials and guard knights.

There were hardly any women in sight, and we proceeded through the stifling scene filled almost entirely with men.

People stared at us, but it couldn't be helped.

"Hey, look at that. What an incredible beauty." "Look at her neck." "Is she a slave?"

I could hear people whispering, and they were probably talking about Amaranthus.

There was no way ordinary soldiers and knights would recognize the queen's face.

Besides, she was currently dressed like a commoner.

Two knights in heavy armor and carrying swords stood guard in front of the large tent.

"Halt! What business do you have here?"

"I am Margrave Hamada. Since I happened to come nearby, I wished to pay my respects to Marquis Jadevine. Please inform His Lordship that I wish to see him."

"Wait here..."

The knight lifted the cloth at the entrance and went inside.

I could hear voices from within, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Perhaps the beastfolk could understand them.

After finishing his conversation, the knight came back out.

"He will see you."

I opened the tent flap and went inside. It was dim.

The top of the tent was shaped like an umbrella, and light entered through openings in the sides, but it was still dark.

To make up for the lack of light, a bluish-white glow—perhaps magical light—had been lit.

Inside, about five nobles sat around a large table with women baring their cleavage and legs attending them.

The nobles had removed their gaudy jackets and were wearing shirts with frills like white blouses.

Lilith frowned when she saw them.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Kenichi Hamada, and I was recently granted the title of margrave. Since I was in the area, I came to pay my respects. Please forgive my intrusion."

"I've never heard of Margrave Hamada."

One of the nobles muttered this while sitting with his legs crossed.

"That is only natural, since I was granted the title just a few days ago. I hope we can become acquainted."

I took a parchment resembling a certificate recording the king's grant of my title and domain from my Item Box and spread it across the table.

"T-this is certainly the royal coat of arms..."

"Kenichi... Kenichi, you say? Are you perhaps the mage who went on a rampage in the castle audience chamber?"

"That is correct. I was also the one who reopened Veronica Gorge in record time after a massive landslide blocked it."

"I-I did receive word that the pass had been reopened, but..."

"Allow me to introduce my family as well. This is my principal wife, Lilith, and this is my herald."

"I am Julius, the herald."

Julius bowed his head.

"Julius the herald? Aren't you Alstroemeria-sama's herald...?"

One of the nobles apparently knew him.

"That is correct, but I was granted leave and appointed to serve the newly established Hamada margraviate."

"That's right! Margrave!"

"Yes?"

A bearded gentleman at the very back, his blond hair slicked back, shouted and stood up.

The women leaning against him lost their support, toppled over, and screamed.

One of them had accidentally exposed her breast and hurriedly covered it.

Julius whispered in my ear. Apparently, he was Duke Echinacea Bear, the lord of the duchy containing the great city of Iberis.

I see. A herald really was necessary.

"You sold large pearls to the royal family! Won't you sell some to me too?! My principal and secondary wives keep demanding them, and I can't satisfy them!"

"Duke-sama, unfortunately, I have an agreement with the royal family that prevents me from selling pearls to anyone outside the royal family."

"I'll pay you!"

"If you wish to purchase pearls, please speak with the members of the royal family."

"If you join our faction, you won't lose out! What do you say?!"

"Unfortunately, I am part of the royalist faction, so I shall pretend I did not hear that."

"His Grace is offering this out of goodwill, and you intend to reject him so coldly?"

The other nobles began criticizing me as well.

It appeared that the nobles had banded together into a faction.

"Even so..."

"In another ten years, the Kadan royal family will decline. When that happens, it will be the age of us nobles."

"However, according to the members of the royal family, they intend to bring in many new secondary wives and have them produce plenty of heirs..."

"There is no way that ogre of a queen would allow such a thing!"

Wait a minute—I know nothing about this, okay...?

Lilith, who had silently listened to the nobles, burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! There are many things one cannot understand without leaving the nest..."

"What is so funny, girl? That is insolent!"

The nobles all shouted at once.

"It has been a month since I last saw the three of you, Your Grace, Marquis Jadevine, and Count Shiller..."

"What?!"

The nobles looked suspiciously at her words, but one of them seemed to realize something.

"A moment ago, I heard the margrave call her Lilith..."

"Lilith...?"

The duke stared intently at Lilith's face.

"P-Princess!"

At those words, the other nobles also fell backward out of their chairs and bowed their heads.

"I am no longer a princess. I left the royal family as a condition of becoming the margrave's principal wife."

"W-what did you say...?"

It was too dark to tell clearly, but the nobles' complexions did not look very good.

Their already unhealthy complexions turned deathly pale, and they began trembling violently.

When I looked behind me, something black was pouring out of Amaranthus.

"Hey, don't cause a scene here."

This intimidation ability seemed to be a personal power of hers, but it appeared to have no effect on me now that I had become a Holy Knight.

"Th-that woman, surely she isn't...?"

"She is a battle slave serving as my guard."

"W-what...? She certainly has a slave mark, but..."

After reminding Amaranthus not to cause a disturbance, I searched Shangri-La for gifts to present to the nobles.

The nobles wanted pearls, but pearls were out of the question. In that case... platinum was probably best.

Platinum was worth about as much as gold coins in Shangri-La, but in this world it was worth far more than gold.

It was rare and made a cost-effective gift. Still, handing over bare coins looked rather shabby for a present.

When I searched Shangri-La for a jewelry box, I found a blue jewelry box decorated with gold.

It cost 5,000 yen. I put four one-ounce platinum coins inside it.

"Duke-sama, I cannot sell you pearls, but please accept this as a token of our friendship..."

"What is this?"

The duke looked suspiciously at the coin.

"This is a platinum coin I discovered."

"What?! A platinum coin?! Is it genuine?"

"Yes..."

I picked up one of the coins and used Heal. Infused with magic, the coin began to glow faintly in the dim room.

"Ohhh!"

The duke picked up the coin and turned it over between his fingers in front of his eyes.

I gave three of the same coins to Marquis Jadevine, two to Count Shiller, and one each to the viscounts.

If there happened to be any barons, I could give them half-ounce platinum coins.

"Well then, everyone, I hope you will continue to favor Margrave Hamada. Oh, and please rest assured that I will pretend I did not hear what you said earlier."

"Wait a—"

Without listening to him, I left the tent. I had shown my face, and there was nothing more to discuss.

I had no ambition to expand my domain or anything like that. Besides, it was an unexplored frontier, hardly a domain at all.

"Good grief. Hearing the nobles' true feelings was certainly a valuable experience."

"Still, calling her an ogre was awful, wasn't it, Amaranthus?"

When she heard that, Amaranthus clung to me. Was she really different from the ogres that appeared in fantasy stories?

According to Julius, they were hairy monsters over three meters tall.

"There, there..."

As I stroked Amaranthus's head, Lilith turned toward me.

"Kenichi, are you really a commoner? Whether your opponent is royalty or a duke, you do not seem afraid in the slightest—not even a hint of fear."

"I am definitely a commoner."

"And you are very quick with your words."

"I thought so too. For someone born a commoner who never received a noble education to speak with royalty and nobles on equal terms..."

Apparently, Julius saw me that way too.

Even with family, I couldn't tell them the truth. I would stick to the story I had established before.

"I told you before, didn't I? I received my education from a sage who lived in the forest..."

"Then what about the family name Hamada?"

"It was simply the family name of one of my ancestors. For the past several generations, my family has been ordinary commoners."

"And you possessed platinum coins as well as pearls?"

Come to think of it, I hadn't shown Lilith the platinum coins, had I?

"Well, yes. It's a good gift, isn't it?"

When I returned to everyone with the other three, we began making arrangements to cross the river.

Akira came over to me.

"Kenichi, aren't you going to help build the bridge?"

"No. It would be bad to take any more credit, wouldn't it? Cargo seems to be moving well enough, so we should hurry on ahead."

"Then how are we going to cross the river?"

"We'll put the vehicles away for now and cross the river in a rubber boat, making several trips."

"You have a rubber boat?"

"Yeah."

Mairen came over then.

"Kenichi-sama, why don't you have some tea and take a short rest?"

"Good idea. Thanks, Mairen."

We all gathered around the table, drank tea, and nibbled on snacks.

For snacks, I brought out potato chips.

"Oh! I made potato chips too. I have as much oil as I want."

"Can you make them with the potatoes from this world?"

Akira's family was snacking on potato chips too.

"Of course."

"This is delicious, even though it is a salty snack."

Annerose-san seemed to be eating potato chips for the first time.

"Kenichi, how were the nobles?"

"About what you'd expect. They didn't seem to have a very good impression of the royal family. Besides, I have no intention of becoming friends with them."

"But you have to maintain good relations with your neighbors, right?"

"Wouldn't it be enough to deal only with Viscount Eupatorium and Count Asclepius, our neighbors?"

"Yeah... For now, we need to work on our own home before worrying about other lands."

"Exactly. We also have to survey the domain and improve the roads."

After tea, we stored the vehicles for the moment and headed for the river together.

There were people everywhere, so we couldn't drive the vehicles close to the river.

Many merchants were operating ferries upstream from the bridge construction, so we didn't want to get in their way.

We headed downstream and descended the natural levee at a spot a short distance away.

The last time we crossed in a rubber boat, the river had been swollen and the water had roared past like coffee with milk, but...

The water flowing before us now was calm.

"All right, summon rubber boat!"

A yellow rubber boat dropped down.

"Myaaree, Nyamena, sorry, but could you row the boat and run the ferry? I'll give you snacks later."

"Leave it to me, boss!" "Okay, nya!"

They'd already learned to say "Okay" and everything...

"I see. So if we cross the river, then bring the vehicles out on the other side, we can get across even without a bridge."

Akira stared at the river and rubber boat and groaned.

"Exactly."

"Waaaaah! I'm going to fall! Stop it!"

"You'll fall if you thrash around, nya!"

The one making all the noise was the female knight. Apparently, she couldn't swim.

Julius, the herald, couldn't swim either, and clung to the rubber boat with an extremely pale face.

Unlike before, we had many more people, but with the beastfolk working hard, we finished ferrying everyone across in about an hour.

"So this is how you cross a river. Did you use it at the lake too?"

Akira looked stunned as he watched the rubber boat ferrying the maids across the river.

"Only a little, when we were catching fish. I avoided using it much because I was afraid of accidents on the water."

"Even someone with Blessing will die if they drown, after all."

We hadn't had Blessing when we were living by the lake, but Akira was right.

Blessing could stop an attack even when someone was slashed, but a person would certainly die if they drowned or suffocated.

I would probably die if Akira used his mayonnaise ability to fill my trachea and lungs too.

The natural enemy of a person with Blessing was another person with Blessing.

After walking for a while, we reached an unpopulated area and took the microbus and Pr○do out of my Item Box.

"All right, everyone, get in."

Once I confirmed that everyone had boarded, we set off along the highway again in the two vehicles.