Chapter 146: Half a Year
The two rings strung on a chain around my neck jingled.
About half a year has passed since my marriage to Claudia. I’ve reached a certain conclusion.
The revival of the Evil God in this world is delayed.
Originally, the Evil God was supposed to revive on the fifteenth birthday of Reinhardt, the game’s protagonist. However, even now, after Reinhardt’s birthday has passed, there’s no sign of the Evil God’s revival.
Well, in this world, Klemens hasn’t broken the keystone of the Evil God’s seal.
That’s undoubtedly having an effect.
I also hunted a lot of Cultists to strengthen my dragon’s power.
That might also be influencing things.
Speaking of Klemens, the Margrave Huebner House no longer exists.
Apparently, as I became more prominent and my importance within the kingdom grew, stricter scrutiny was directed towards the Margrave Huebner House. Eventually, an investigation was launched, and the crimes and sloppy territory management of the Margrave Huebner House came to light.
The royal family, viewing this as a problem, decided to demote the Margrave Huebner House and strip them of their privileges.
What exists now is not the Margrave Huebner House, but merely the Count Huebner House.
In its place is the Margrave Baumgarten Family.
Partly because the defense of the kingdom’s east couldn’t be neglected, I, who currently have momentum, was suddenly made a Margrave.
I somehow feel like there’s some kind of conspiracy or artificiality to it, but it’s not like my family suffered any disadvantage, so I guess it’s fine. Though, tough luck for Klemens-kun.
Of course, it’s not all good things.
Even if I suddenly became a Margrave, it doesn’t mean military power befitting a Margrave suddenly materializes.
Currently, we’re rapidly expanding our military strength. Well, since we’re receiving support from the royal family and other nobles, our military expansion is proceeding quite smoothly.
I too had the fundamentals of military strategy drilled into me by the Old Man general.
As a training ground for soldiers, it’s helpful that there’s a forest nearby where monsters appear. Thanks to that, our territory is expanding at an even faster pace than before.
In addition, the fortification of towns and weapon manufacturing are also progressing rapidly, and though it’s a bit unrefined, I think the territory has somehow become worthy of being called a Margraviate.
Speaking of which, the commoner education dispatch system, which had supported us from quite early on, has finally collapsed and has therefore been terminated.
What was established in its place is the Baumgarten Military Academy. We plan to nurture future talent here.
Well, that’s about it regarding the territory. There are still many insufficient areas, so I plan to improve them as needed.
Or rather, gathering three thousand soldiers in half a year and managing to form them into an army, however imperfectly, I think I deserve some praise.
Well, it seems the upper limit for an army a Margrave can have is five thousand, so I’ll increase it to the limit… The Evil God might revive too.
The Evil God, huh… I wish it wouldn’t revive…
If that were the case, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.
Speaking of the Evil God, its decisive battle force, Reinhardt, seems to be accumulating power without any problems. Now, as an adventurer in the royal capital, he seems to be distinguishing himself.
Reinhardt’s party name is “Hekireki.” Well, it means thunderclap. Since Reinhardt can use both swordsmanship and lightning magic simultaneously, it probably comes from that.
Bianca’s Gift also safely evolved into Saintess, and Reinhardt seems to have obtained a Demon Sword, so you could say things are progressing smoothly.
Reinhardt has to defeat the Evil God, so he needs to do his best. For that purpose, I won’t spare any aid.
Speaking of which, there was also the matter of the church.
Since Bianca’s Gift evolved safely, as promised to Bianca, I taught Pope Johannes that the Healing Gift grows by dispelling curses from cursed items.
At that time, I negotiated with the church and had them assign skilled healers to the Baumgarten Territory Army. As a token of gratitude, they also accommodated me in various ways.
One of those things was the Holy Spear Gae Bolg. In the game, you had to clear many troublesome quests to finally obtain this strongest spear.
Claudia is a spear user, so I figured it would be fine to receive it, and I did.
Well, I intended to make public the method of training Gifts using cursed items eventually, and I thought it was about time to raise the overall level of healers, so the timing was probably just right.
Thanks to that, cursed items on the market now are apparently soaring in price.
It was good that I had Benno gather them before they skyrocketed in price.
“Danna-sama, Zuzana-sama has arrived. What would you like to do?”
“Show her in.”
As I was blankly staring at the sky in the spacious office of the newly built Baumgarten Mansion in the royal capital, Klaus spoke to me.
When I turned my gaze to the door, a petite, black-haired girl entered. It was Zuzana, the scout, one of the former members of the adventurer party “Crimson Vow.”
The members of “Crimson Vow” quit being adventurers and are now in positions as knights leading the Baumgarten Territory Army. Zuzana, along with her twin sister Susane, commands the scout unit.
“Ryoushu-sama, an urgent summons has come from the Royal Palace.”
“Urgent? I have a bad feeling about this somehow…”
In any case, if I’ve been summoned, I have no choice but to go…