Kafiri, the Royal Capital of the Mireana Kingdom. In the heart of the castle, Daska undid the collar on his unfamiliar clothes with a cramped expression.

  He was in a spacious room with decorated bare frames. No, the room was so large that it couldn’t really be called a room anymore. The room was spacious enough to accommodate countless people, even the low ranking barons and viscounts. Most of them were nobles, but there were also waiters and maids walking around handing them glasses of wine.

  After the victory ceremony had ended, it was followed by the celebrations. In this case, many nobles gathered as they conversed and laughed. However, behind the scenes of the discussion, there was a quiet war being fought by those who had mastered the art of talking as nobles.

  (After the real war, the victory ceremony celebration is just another war, how boring. However, I guess it was the right decision not to bring Rei along.)

  As Daska thought to himself while drinking wine and conversing with some other nobles, he suddenly noticed a few people walking over to him.

  However, as the leader of the Neutral faction, he couldn’t run away from them. As a result, he could only wait for them to speak while pretending to be enjoying the food and drink.

  「Margrave Rowlocks, congratulations on your victory in the war.」


  The fat man called out to him. He had only walked over to Daska, but there was already sweat on his forehead.

  Judging him by his appearance, he looked like a man in his 50’s, partly due to his unhealthy lifestyle. However, if Daska’s memory was correct, the fat man before him was only in his 30’s. Two other people of similar builds followed him.

  「It’s been a while, Viscount Ottervo. And I believe……」


  「Yes, these are my unworthy sons. I was thinking about looking for wives for them at this celebration.」


  「……I see. So you don’t have too much time to talk with me, do you?」


  Daska, who knew how marriages between nobles were arranged, didn’t intend to say anything in particular about it. However, he wasn’t inclined to continue speaking to Viscount Ottervo.

  That said, Daska held the title of a Margrave. Even though he knew that the viscount in front of him was squeezing taxes out of the people in his territory to the point of starvation, he wouldn’t show any outward disgust.

  「What, rather, I’d like you to tell about the heroes of the war. So, where is the adventurer from the rumours?」


  Daska immediately shook his head at Viscount Ottervo’s, whose flesh on his jaw shook as he asked that question.

  「Unfortunately, if you’re talking about him, he’s not in the castle……or rather, he’s not in Kafiri. He went straight back to Gilm.」


  The moment Daska said that, Viscount Ottervo’s eyes, half buried behind the flesh around them, sparked sharply.

  「Huh? Haha. The war hero isn’t participating in this celebration? Why would that be? It looks like Margrave Rowlocks doesn’t want to expose him to the public and wants to keep him hidden……」


  Daska’s cheeks twitched at those words, but before he could say anything, the other Neutral faction nobles spoke out.

  「Viscount Ottervo, isn’t that rude to Margrave Rowlocks? As a Royalist noble, we should have a little more discretion.」


  「Huh? Ah, yes, certainly. Pardon me.」


  Viscount Ottervo bowed politely……or rather, he bowed with fake politeness. All that time, the flesh on his face jiggled around, making him feel more creepy than funny.

  「That said, the other nobles participating in this celebration also wanted to see the rumoured adventurer with their own eyes. In the event that he did not join at the behest of Margrave Rowlocks, who was his employer……why would that be?」


  Viscount Ottervo called out to his two sons standing behind him.

  「That’s right, as my father said, it’s not like there aren’t any rumours. For example, Margrave Rowlocks is planning something by keeping an adventurer that is strong enough to defeat a whole army by his side.」


  「Haha, that’s not true. Rei may be powerful, but there are S rank adventurers in this kingdom. I don’t know what Rei would be able to do before people like them. And if such rumours were really to spread, the person who stirred all that up within the Mireana Kingdom would be accused of causing a disturbance.」


  What are you trying to do with Rei? If you’re trying to plot anything with him, we’ll spread rumours about it and you will be punished.

  S rank adventurers are even stronger than Rei, so don’t try to complain. If you spread strange rumours, I’ll thoroughly investigate it and make sure you are held accountable.

  They exchanged such roundabout conversations with each other. Of course, not with Viscount Ottervo’s sons, but with Viscount Ottervo himself. Seeing that the situation was disadvantageous to him, Viscount Ottervo bowed his head with a smile and took out a silk handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the sweat flowing down his forehead.

  「Is that so. It’s a pity that I wasn’t able to see the rumoured adventurer, but there will be future opportunities. By the way, I’m curious, why didn’t you bring the adventurer called Crimson this time?」


  Even if I have to withdraw, I still want some information. Daska smiled wryly at the question that was asked to him.

  「As you Rei is an adventurer, not a noble. Moreover, before he came to Gilm, he lived deep inside the mountains, so he doesn’t know much about noble etiquette. Considering that, I had him go back to Gilm without visiting the Royal Capital because there would have needed to be an audience with His Majesty and it seemed like a lot of trouble.」


  「……I see. Certainly, disrespect against His Majesty is not permitted. Considering that, I think Margrave Rowlocks made the right decision.」


  As expected, it wasn’t possible for Viscount Ottervo, a Royalist noble, to say that Daska should have brought an adventurer who could have been disrespectful to the King. Cornered, Viscount Ottervo gave another bow as he cheeks flushed with irritation.

  「I said a lot of rude things, but all my thoughts came from trying to help Margrave Rowlocks to avoid misunderstandings, I would appreciate it if you could forgive me for that.」


  「Ah, of course. I’m glad that you were worried about me.」


  「No, no. We are both nobles of the Mireana Kingdom and the pillars that support His Majesty. In particular, Margrave Rowlocks, as your title suggests, is the only noble to rule the frontier and provide rare materials and magic stones to the whole kingdom. If someone like you is punished due to a misunderstanding, it wouldn’t be good for the whole kingdom. ……Well, I’ll part with you here, I have to find a partner for my son.」


  The flesh on his cheeks shaking as he bowed once again, Viscount Ottervo led his two sons away from Daska.

  Seeing them leave, a Neutral noble clicked his tongue.

  「Tch, a small viscount talking to Daska-sama like that.」


  「Don’t get angry. I don’t care. Look, it’s a celebration. There’s delicious food and drink. It’s your loss if you don’t enjoy it, right?」


  「……I’m sorry, Daska-sama. If only we had more power……」


  Another noble spoke quietly as he apologised to Daska.

  Daska sighed as he looked at the noble.「That’s why you shouldn’t worry about it. If I don’t care about the people who say things like that, what do you have to worry about? You’ve seen that we have had much less people and influence for a long time, right? Well, we’ve stood out unusually this time thanks to Rei.」


  「That is……yes. That is definitely true. But, shouldn’t we use this opportunity to expand our influence then?」


  「I don’t think so. Certainly, if we used this opportunity, we could expand our influence to some extent. But, what was the goal of the Royalist faction? Count Arius wanted military success for his career, but basically, didn’t he want to weaken the strength of our and the Aristocratic faction’s forces? However, on the contrary, they weren’t able to do that and their military strength decreased instead, so there’s no doubt they will be unhappy about that.」


  Daska replied. That was why Viscount Ottervo had come over just before.

  「However, the nobles who participated in this war, including Count Arius, shouldn’t be part of the mainstream Royalist faction. So even if the Royalist faction’s military forces have decreased, would they care?」


  One of the nobles responded to his statement, but Daska just shook his head lightly.

  「That’s wrong. Even if they aren’t part of the mainstream, they are still part of the Royalist faction. The Royalist, Aristocratic and Neutral factions are still different factions. For the Royalists, it an insult on them that our military forces are still the same as before. ……It is a shame for a big kingdom like us to be doing this during a national crisis.」


  「Or, maybe it is because we are a big kingdom.」


  With a wry smile, Daska looked towards thes tables filled with high quality food that could only be eaten at the Royal Capital.

  Because it was the celebration party, the chefs had done their best and every dish was delicious as everyone enjoyed them to their fullest.

  The King appeared and made a brief speech before exchanging some conversations with nobles from the Neutral faction as well as the other factions. But for Daska, who didn’t really like such conversations, the only time he could relax was when he was enjoying the food and drink.

  That was until a person came over to him.

  「It’s been a while Margrave Rowlocks. Are you enjoying yourself?」


  The person who came over to Daska was a noble with good looking features. He was someone who held the dignity of a duke, the highest rank for a noble. Of course, Daksa knew who he was. No, in the Mireana Kingdom……or rather, even they were nobles from a neighbouring country, there were few who didn’t know his face and name unless they were ignorant or lived in a box. Liberty Kerebel. He was the father of Elena, the General Princess, and the leader of the Aristocratic faction.

  「Duke Kerebel……we’ve both been put into a difficult situation this time around.」


  Daska’s tone changed to become more polite than usual because of the person he was conversing with. ……It was only to the extent where it could be called slightly more polite than usual, but Liberty nodded at Daska’s words.

  「Ah, seriously. I didn’t think that the Royalists wouldn’t trust the information about the Demon Soldiers. Considering that, we won this war well.」


  「Yes, thanks to the cooperation with the Aristocratic faction against the Bestir Empire.」


  「Is that so? I heard from Philma that an adventurer employed by you was very active. He seems to be on good terms with my daughter, so I wanted to see his face. Unfortunately, he didn’t come.」


  「It was because he doesn’t know much about noble etiquette.」


  They talked with each other with smiles on their faces, but their eyes weren’t smiling.

  Daska knew that Elena and Rei were on friendly terms, but it was because of that that he couldn’t lose and adventurer with as much strength as Rei. As for Liberty, Duke Kerebel and the leader of the Aristocratic faction, he really wanted to draw in someone with that much strength.

  Of course, Liberty’s highest priority was strengthening his faction, but at the same time, he was also thinking of his beloved daughter, Elena.

  It wasn’t uncommon to only see one outstanding person among a dozen, a hundred, a thousand or even ten thousand soldiers. In fact, the work that Rei had done in this war was so great that not even several A rank adventurers would be able to match him.

  「That aside, Margrave Rowlocks. It seems that some people from our faction caused you trouble this time. I’ll be careful not to let such fools out after this.」


  Hearing Liberty’s words, Daska thought of Renodis, the jealous noble who had tried to assassinate Rei by calling him out in the middle of the night.

  「That’s right. I never thought he would try to assassinate Rei, a war hero. If possible, it would be helpful if you could make sure such things don’t happen anymore. Even Duke Kerebel, leader of the Aristocratic faction, would be troubled if such events became public.」


  Daska spoke in a worried tone, but his meaning was obvious. Of course, Liberty understood that as well.

  Because that, he nodded with a smile on his face.

  「Indeed, Margrave Rowlocks is correct. If anything happens, let’s help each other out. In that case, I look forward to working with you.」


  Saying that, he offered his hand out for a handshake.