Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

Chapter 42: Valley of the Storm

Goldonia Capital, Royal Palace

「That is all of what I saw of the battle this time. If you want more details, I believe that Lord Renster has a report about it.」

「Alright, good work. It was the right choice to send you out. It was my miscalculation that such a degree of elites came.」

In the same time that I departed, I returned in two days at a quick pace to the capital and knelt in front of the king as I was granted audience. Speaking in terms of military discipline, it is correct to go from me to Erich, then report to Hoover who will then communicate it to the king, but it is rarely enforced. The king hates unnecessary work, and he doubts that Hoover will do the unnecessary work for the report.

「But a loss of over 200 people is big. They will also be furious about this matter. We must also consider putting a new squad in the south.」

Erich is allowed to speak at the necessary times when it comes to the king’s life. This privilege normally is limited to no more than each minister and those who have at least Marquess standing.

「That is so. Marquess Hoover, take 4000 from the royal army and put them in the south.」

The royal army of 10,000 is scattered across the whole nation, dividing 4000 to the south is difficult. Moreover, there are regionally powerful and influential people in the army, and taking troops from their hands is not an easy task. But such things will not impact the king. To the king, Hoover is the person responsible for the royal army, even if he knows nothing about the lower part of the army.

「I understand...please allow me two months’ time...」

The king hits the throne’s armrest.

「Two months?! Those guys from Arkland will have already gone mad with rage and gathered their troops! Arrange them in one week and head there. Firstly, have all the soldiers here in the capital move.」

「But, then the safety of the capital-!」

「There are currently 15,000 troops from the central army, isn’t there? Are you saying that there is someone who could defeat them?」

「That is...」

What would you do if the central army themselves betrayed you? I couldn’t say something like that. That would be an insult to the king himself who was the founder, but if the central army really betrayed us then what could the 3000 soldiers of the royal army that are in the capital do?

「And you don’t have to worry about the security of the cities this time. I plan to have short spear squads and light cavalry squads centering our military police and placing them in the cities. If I do that, the national army would be released from their patrol, and openly head to the battlefield.」

It seems that they have listened to this in advance, but the civil officials remain unaffected while the soldier got excited.

「Your Majesty! I have not heard of such things before!?」

「Marquess, the military police is not exactly the royal army. They keep the peace in the city and exterminate bandits and monsters. They are not subordinates under your control.」

「But...then the command line...」

He still has not realized, the king is upholding the command line. It’s just that the Marquess does not exist within it. In the end, the 3000 soldiers of the capital’s national army immediately headed out towards the borders, and following that it has been decided that 1000 soldiers from each city would be elected and would reinforce them in the same manner.

Marquess Hoover and his followers could not break their discouraged expressions until the end.

—King Alexandro Goldonia POV—

After the conference is over, one of the ministers was called to the king’s ears.

「With that, the Marquess Hoover has no more standing. If you corner him too much isn’t it possible that he would lose control and go mad?」

The king laughs while saying it’s alright, thus the minister steps down. but then the king secretly thinks in his own mind. That if he dares to do something like that, it would be the best outcome.

This country is a monarchy, the king has the highest authority in the country but the strength of the nobles is essential for the cities. Hoover, who is the Marquess at the center of the army, cannot be meaninglessly removed. On the other hand, if there is some sort of failure then he can be driven out of the center. The nobles are probably not united, so they would happily blame others for their failures.

It is for this kind of stage that we prepared the border security. Unlike the central army, the army’s personnel, formation, and things like training were under absolutely no interference. The clumsiness of the country’s army, in other words, would become Marquess Hoover’s responsibility.

I believe it is foolish to have an internal dispute in front of the invaders but I don’t mind. Once those security of the national army in the capital are bribed to gather here, there will be no merit for Hoover if he attempts to rebel against me. Even if all of them were to be killed, there would be no detriment to the country.

Now, I need to think about the reinforcement of the central army and the newly formed security army organization. It seems I’ll have fun thinking about its construction.

—Aegir POV—

「Well I guess I’ll return home...before that, let’s buy some snacks for everyone.」

「Right. The candy store at the corner was selling cake that used lots of sugar.」

Celia is also a girl, she must have checked it out when we were heading towards the palace. The other expressionless one seems like he is talking to Agor about the squad so he did not accompany us.

「It was easy for us to find the women a place to work too.」

「Yes, I was worried whether or not we would have to bring them in the house.」

I had the women work at the garrison of the army. It wasn’t anything filthy; they were in charge of preparing meals and doing laundry.

Erich’s policy was that the soldiers themselves had to do it when they were on the battlefield, but during the time they are in the capital they should be concentrating on training. In any case, there were 15,000 people here so even though they are women they will become a huge help, and from their anxiety of whether they will be used to take care of their sexual urges, even after we posted recruitment for the commoners, nobody came. In fact they properly pay wages, and it is a job with good work schedule which allows them to go home at night.

By the way, the woman that I embraced is being treated separately. As a result of the passionate approaches of one of the young soldiers in the squad that fell in love at first sight, she is living with him and taking care of his surroundings. She will probably continue on like that as his bride. I told him that she has my seed in her, but even so he still said he loved her and fell in love. He is quite the handsome soldier, if he is ever in my presence I’ll try to be careful and try not to let him die.

「I’m back.」「I have returned.」

Miti, who ran to greet me, ran off to let everyone know, and soon everyone gathered.

「I bought you some tasty-looking snacks, so eat as much as you want.」

The children are delighted, Maria also likes sweet things and her face loosens up. But there is another one who loves sweets, but I can’t find the woman who likes to give a long greeting speech to me every single time.

「Aegir-sama, sorry to keep you waiting.」

Nonna who finally appeared is wearing a different dress than the other girls. On top of that, her chest is exposed in such a way that her giant breasts can be half-seen, with the deep slit you can not only see her thighs but also her underwear. Wearing a dress like this is something a prostitute would do; this isn’t something that Nonna bought so she probably asked Alma to alter it.

「Good job on your work, I appreciate your efforts...」

I gave everyone a greeting kiss, but inserting my tongue and squeezing your breasts is not a greeting. There is nothing more effective on a man returning from battle than a beauty’s seduction. It’s obvious that she is trying to get ahead of everyone and be the first one to be doted on. It’s true that after a long period away, I would be starving for women and I might have pushed them down and fucked them on the spot.

(Light Novel Illustration: Maria, Miti, Alma and Nonna)

「Thanks Nonna, you look sexy. I’m counting on you later at night.」

「Eh....? Y-yes leave it to me...huh?」

It seems Nonna’s aim was a bit off.

「Aegir-sama found a woman on the battlefield and has thoroughly embraced her so he doesn’t have the excitement he usually does after battle.」

Celia spoke calmly. I only did it one time with her and the next night I did it with you...I want to say that but I’ll keep quiet.

「Wha-! Even though I thought it would be fine since you didn’t bring back a woman this time!」

「Don’t think about getting a head start or doing anything dirty! Meanie.」

「I don’t want to be called dirty by someone like you! You horse dung woman!」

「Bringing up something that long ago, you persistent type! How sinister and ill-natured!」

「Oh no, your stench will come out so could you not open your mouth please?」

Let’s leave those two to curse at each other and head to the bath. Of course, I will also bring Maria and Melissa. It’s nice that I can also feel refreshed in the bathtub.

The next day since I had a bit of fun after I finished inspecting the training of the battalion, it has been a while so I thought to go drinking with Andrei and brought Celia along to drop by the Hard-boiled Pavilion, but it was unexpectedly difficult to enter.

「Calm down, listen to what I’m saying.」

「Shut up! Traitor!」

I heard the loud voice in front of me. What on earth happened?

「Even if you raise your voice, you will not solve anything. First, calm yourself down.」

「I won’t forgive....something like this...I’ll kill him!」

「Aegir-sama!」

The conversation is getting dangerous now. Andrei has taken care of me and I don’t really understand the situation but I should still step in. Celia also seems to have the same thoughts. I lightly kick the door on purpose to attract the attention over here.

「What’s the fuss?」

What I saw was Andrei’s wife Natalie holding a kitchen knife in her small hands. The person who was being blamed was Andrei himself and it seems he was trying to convince her with a troubled face. He is protecting what looks to be a female customer from Natalie’s anger and is trembling.

「It’s you Aegir, please stop Natalie.」

「Don’t stop me! I’m going to kill this person and then kill myself! Or else, I would trouble the society...」

Now that I look closely, Natalie’s belly is swollen. She got pregnant without me noticing. No matter how I look at her she is still a young girl, but she is 18 years old after all, so for now there isn’t a problem.

It seems to be largely decided that the pregnant wife is going to blame her husband and kill him.

「DId you cheat on her...?」

「I gave in to temptation...I am deeply sorry.」

Andrei very deeply bowed his head to Natalie. From her point of view, she will probably not be convinced, but after his wife gets pregnant and he cannot do it with her anymore he will have eyes for other women. Being surrounded by many women, I can’t say anything but I want her to understand that it was something unavoidable.

「I understand that you are angry, but men are sinful creatures. It’s not something you should stab him for.」

As a man I should stand up for him here.

「If it was just cheating, I would also overlook it as something a man would do! But to get her pregnant too!」

Ah...the woman he cheated with also got pregnant huh...this just became problematic. Celia’s confused face also changed to one of bewilderment.

「Master ...if it’s like that you gotta think about it some more.」1

「Sorry...the other person also wanted it. I lost to my lust.」

Master covers his face, but what he did was quite tasteless.

「It’s true that there is no room for Master to make excuses for the fact that he cheated. But even so, this person has become the father of two children, it’s not a good idea to kill him. More so since you are pregnant with his child, right? Are you going to kill your own child too?」

Natalie drops the kitchen knife and crumbles while crying. Andrei instantly moves to hug her but he was shaken off.

「You will have conflicts I’m sure, but pay her some money to calm her down, keep her as a lover, there are plenty of ways to deal with it.」

Andrei’s shop is quite the prosperous place, and there are a wide variety of classes of commoners in the capital that visit. There must be at least one person that is worth keeping as a mistress.

「That’s about it. I took care of it poorly.」

Andrei draped a blanket over Natalie but it was thrown back at him. It seems she hates him quite a bit.

「So, who was the woman who got pregnant? Don’t tell me it’s a 15, or 16 year old girl is it?」

That is what I’m most curious about. That guy prefers young girls after all.

「Uhm」

The girl in the corner of the shop spoke up. If I look carefully, isn’t it the girl employee who was yearning for her master in the past? She was wearing plain clothes so I couldn’t tell. Her breasts and thighs were quite plump so it probably couldn’t be helped that Andrei would be tempted to make her his girlfriend. For the girl, she probably had her wish come true.

「No...it’s not me but my younger sister.」

「It’s me, I made a baby with Andrei-ojichan...」

「......」

「......」

Celia and I were both silent. Natalie started to cry. Her appearance is child-like...more than that she is completely a child. I can only see her as someone about the same age as Kroll or Alma. But Natalie’s age was real. I can only see her as someone who is just above 10 but she is already 18.

「How old are you?」

「Eleven.」

The faint hope was shattered.

「Come on, master.」

「The...worst」

Celia’s eyes got narrow just like she was on the battlefield. There is no longer any excuse. He did it with an 11-year old and got her pregnant. I finally understood why Natalie wanted to kill you.

「I will acknowledge that she is a bit young. But the girl’s inside is just like a splendid adult’s, and that was what attracted me...my love towards my wife will not waver but there is a sort of spice to a forbidden love, guh!」

All of a sudden, Celia jumped out to Andrei’s side – who started speaking while sitting in a chair – and she gave him a high kick. He collapses, but there are no screams. There are just four pairs of eyes that stare at him coldly.

「I also think that you guys have a serious problem, but it can’t be helped that she got pregnant. You’ll have to look after her properly.」

「Yeah, I don’t want him to sleep with her again, but for the child’s sake a father is needed.」

Natalie gave in and shook her head.

「I also want to give birth to a child!」

「Ah Lily...even though you’re so small, Master...no, I won’t forgive that man!」

Employee...I guess it’s former employee now. Well, her admiration for the master has totally disappeared now. It seems that the younger sister was introduced to Andrei when she came several times to pick up her sister from work. For an 11-year old girl to seriously talk about love, it seems that it was a mutual agreement for now.

By the time she noticed the relationship between her younger sister, who went out to the inn every day, and the master, she already got pregnant. She never imagined that he would do it with a child like this, and so she was not careful.

Natalie wanted to kick the unconscious Andrei in the crotch but I thought I should stop her, as a fellow man.

「This is also some sort of fate, if you have some trouble come to my place. The lady at my place will especially be happy to welcome you.」

I warn her to think about the time and place while trying to entice the former employee, but Celia lightly head-butts my back from behind. I pray that she will not inherit Nonna’s mind-reading head-butt.

The entrance bell rings with a clang-clang.

「Excuse me. Am I interrupting something important?」

「Welcome~ Just punishing those who committed misconduct. Can I take your order?」

Natalie receives the customer with a smile. She is truly a girl meant for customer service.

「No, I am Sebastian Mizels and I am looking for a job. I have come to ask if you would please hire me as a waiter.」

The man is already past his middle ages and was starting to approach elderly age but his demeanor is proper, and even his elegance can be felt from afar. His beard was neatly trimmed too, working as a waiter at a bar would leave him unsatisfied.

「Well...I guess our place has enough people for now. Ah but there might be one immoral man who might disappear. For now can you tell me where you live?」

「Actually, I was working as a butler at a noble’s mansion, but due to my master’s convenience I lost my job, right now I am sleeping over at that inn.」

「Ara, I’m sorry for you. There have been quite a few from the palace or nobles lately.」

I don’t pay much attention as I pull a drink off the shelf myself and start drinking. Celia also doesn’t seem to pay too much concern and enjoys her honey liqueur.

「For now I have some place to call my hometown, but not being able to say anything about the place I’ve worked for 20 years at and then getting fired, I really lost my way.」

「Well, I think you’re a person I can trust, but working at an inn and bar like our place is」

When she spoke up until that point, she remembered something and Natalie looks at me. Celia looks at me. I stroke Celia’s thighs.

「To introduce myself again, I am Sebastian Mizels. I have served the family of Baron Amileed for many years, but on this occasion the family has had their standing removed which the employees then followed, and I have nothing but free time now.」

It’s true that our family needs a person to look after the house itself. Maria is taking care of the cutlery and things that, but I am not well educated on the luxury items that Nonna stupidly bought. Nonna herself buys a lot of luxury goods but she doesn’t really have a good eye for those things, so merchants may often see her as an easy target. Melissa could take care of clothes, but it could only be said to be some prostitute’s evil preparations. Carla is specialized in destruction. If there is a person who could manage everything decently it would really help.

「I’m Baronet Aegir Hardlett. You may not know me but I’m a new noble, I don’t have a butler or servant like you.」

I laugh while saying it since I have the children from the orphanage working as servants.

「I am still immature, but I will wholeheartedly work so that I can be of use to you, so would you please be so kind as to hire me?」

I feel like this man is trustworthy. He is politely and courteously looking for a job, and there is no sense of vulgar clinginess at all. I didn’t study much, so I can’t use logic to analyze a person just by looking at them. That’s why I go with my instincts, this guy can be trusted.

「I will decide after you appear before the other household members. Along the road would have been fine, but why did you think want to become a bartender at a bar when you were working as a butler?」

I pay the alcohol fee to Natalie and leave the Hard-boiled pavilion. Andrei doesn’t seem like he will wake up any time soon. I hope that his crotch would be unharmed until he wakes up.

「In the beginning, I also wanted to search for a position as a butler or as a servant, but in today’s times, the finances of the nobles are all strained and there are only few who have any plans of hiring a new servant. However, they are all seeking younger ones.」

I see, the king is asking the nobles to help support the establishment of the central army and it unexpectedly came back to affect me in such a situation.

「Especially in my case, my previous noble employer had to surrender his standing and thought it would be bad luck so he kept a distance.」

Nobles are superstitious people after all.

「I don’t care about that sort of thing. But the place you are planning to work will have a few kids, it is a selfish and different place than your previous noble family. Are you fine with that?」

「Yes, I believe that it a servant’s duty to do his very best in the environment he is given.」

「When you meet them, please be careful of the woman with the huge breasts. She loves to nitpick on the smallest things.」

Different from the time with Leopolt, Celia is not rejecting Sebastian. I chuckle, knowing that if Nonna heard this she would get angry.

I have already decided to employ him but, remembering how everyone reacted to Leopolt, it may not go over smoothly. If at least Celia, who opposes Leopolt’s presence, is pleased though, it makes things somewhat easier.

My worry was misplaced as Sebastian was easily accepted by the other household members. Unlike their expressionless faces with Leopolt, they had sociable smiles and courteous demeanors. In addition, since he is approaching his later years, it seems I may have peace of mind.

「I also do not have any objections. It is very nice to meet you and I hope you treat us well.」

Nonna is in an especially good mood. She probably wanted a butler and since it is becoming more of a noble’s house, she is delighted.

Melisa and Maria are also laughing gently. Especially Maria who is not really the leading type. So having a person replace her that is able to manage everything gives her a person she can rely on. She wasn’t really a boss to the children either and more of a sister figure after all.

The problematic Carla looks at Sebastian and accepts him while saying ‘he looks like he’s about to die so I guess it’s fine.’ She’s a really rude person but Sebastian didn’t get upset. As expected of a veteran butler, he can control his emotions.

So everyone accepted him without too much fuss but Sebastian’s face was confused.

「Is there something wrong?」

「I have remembered everyone’s name...but which one is the wife?」

The harmonious mood froze; the women gradually began to distance themselves. A battle is about to begin.