Chapter 57: A Return After Twenty-Odd Years
He scowled, his gaze fixed on the two princesses.
“Wearing that general’s insignia means you’re Randolph, I presume? You don’t look like I remember at all…”
“My, how incredibly stern you’ve become. You were certainly large, though.”
At their words, his expression gradually shifted to one of astonishment, and he turned his gaze to Uncle.
“Oi, Rudolph. That story… was it actually… true…? I was sure you’d completely lost your mind…”
“How rude… It is indeed unbelievable, but meeting them has convinced me. They remember those days even more clearly than I do.”
Ah, I see. So Uncle hadn’t fully believed it either.
Well, if he was told with that kind of expression, the general wouldn’t believe it, of course.
Right. No matter if the information came from Aunt Mary, he’d first suspect he was being deceived.
“Does that mean… that ridiculous story about this guy being His Majesty’s posthumous child is also true?”
“Hey! How many times do I have to tell you! I told you that part is an undeniable fact! I received direct orders from His Majesty, and for these past ten-odd years, Mary and I have protected Yuna-sama along with him. I heard it was your daughter who revealed the secret that Rui is a prince, wasn’t it?”
“You idiot! You think I’d believe something like that from someone who ran off without a word and wasn’t heard from for over a decade! I thought you guys were planning to use Yurisia for something… Wait, from my daughter… you say?”
Ah, that was just something I blurted out…
But the general looked like he was in such tremendous inner conflict that I couldn’t butt into the conversation.
Could it be that he was so angry with me from the start because he thought I was pretending to be a prince and plotting something?
“I see, so that’s why Yurisia was so worried… Dammit.”
The general strode purposefully towards me, and I tensed up a bit, but he knelt on the spot and began to prostrate himself.
“I am truly sorry for my many discourtesies towards Your Highness!”
He shouted, slamming his head forcefully onto the floor.
“Um, this isn’t really the time to talk about that… I have something important to discuss, so for now, please just sit normally.”
“But after doing such things to Your Highness…”
“No, let’s both just forget about that. Um… I don’t want to be on bad terms with Lady Yurisia’s family.”
Yeah, I got a bit flustered and too emotional this morning myself.
I glared at him, and when that wasn’t enough, I even slapped him with a wad of cash.
Though, he was the one who created a situation where I had no choice.
“I am deeply grateful for your compassion,” he said, bowing his head again. I had him sit, and the atmosphere shifted towards resuming our discussion.
I looked at Cornelia-san and nodded once, signaling for her to continue.
“Randolph, Roosevelt, listen carefully. Following discussions with King Lestall, this land, Belfast, has been returned to Rui-sama, who is rightfully the Crown Prince. We cannot rejoice straightforwardly, but if we can overcome this, the restoration of Belfast will be achieved.”
Hold on a sec?
Not to me, right?
I said I wouldn’t inherit it, didn’t I?
I whispered a correction in her ear, but perhaps I was too close, as Cornelia-san’s shoulders just twitched and twitched, and her cheeks turned red.
“U-U-UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!”
W-What the?!
Startled by the general who suddenly started shouting, I instinctively braced myself, but his eyes were wide open as tears streamed down his face. Scary.
Roosevelt, Knight Commander, was also crying. Quietly, sniffling.
“We can’t just be joyful, you know. I’ve heard that the enemy army has gathered ten times our numbers. Lestall probably thinks they’ve made a convenient way to cut their losses, but if we overcome this, it can be called a complete restoration. King Lestall won’t be able to meddle carelessly either.”
No, “meddle”… Aren’t you thinking too badly of Lestall?
They weren’t such bad people…
But well, they did break a treaty that was made even by offering up a country, so this reaction is probably normal.
“About how many soldiers can we gather on our side?”
“Honestly, even if we recruit until the war starts, two thousand would be the best we can do. Our funds are also precarious, so any more than that…”
“I see…”
Hmm? If we have money, we can increase our forces?
“Then please use this too. I don’t know how much help this will be, but…”
Saying so, I took out an additional thousand large gold coins from my Storage Magic, and Uncle, who was waiting by the wall, spoke up.
“Rui… Where did you just get that from?”
“Ah, it’s magic. I borrowed magic from an Abyssal Monster.”
“――――!? From an Abyssal Monster, you say… Rui, don’t tell me… you went to the Abyss…?”
This explanation again, huh.
Aaah, what a pain…
And so, I gave them a summarized version of events from my meeting with Yurisia up until now.
When I talked about Karl and Listol, Uncle Rudolf made an angrier face than I’d ever seen him make, but since it was over, I continued the story.
“Anyway, putting that aside, how much funding do you need?”
“In this current situation, we can never have enough, so the more the better, is all I can say…”
R-Right, that makes sense.
Then I’ll hand over everything I can spare.
I can’t give out any more money because of contract fees with those third parties and work I’ll be commissioning soon, but I can provide as many materials as you need.
“Okay, then I’ll put out some materials from the Abyss too. Please make use of those as well.”
“But, everything you’ve given us so far has been Your Highness’s personal assets… You’ve already provided them repeatedly.”
“That’s true, but my goal is to protect Yuri, so I’ll give everything if necessary. Besides, I can get as many Abyssal Monsters as I want, so don’t worry about it.”
I told them this was all I could offer financially, and then continued, saying more importantly…
I’d invested quite a bit, so I figured I’d earned the right to say my piece to some extent, and I started the conversation.
“In war, the most important thing is information, right? How much have you investigated when, how, and from where they might attack?”
“According to our stealth unit’s information, troops have begun to gather in Duct, the closest town on the Daltone side. Four days ago, their numbers were approximately five thousand. However, looking at the flow of supplies, the earliest the advance troops can move out is the end of next month…”
Oh, so a little over a month left. There’s hardly any time left at all.
“How many fortresses are there that can serve as strongholds before they reach here?”
“Two, I believe. Here, and here…”
Looking, one was in an open area within the forest. Another was where the highway entered the forest.
I asked if it wouldn’t be meaningless if they advanced through the forest, but apparently, they can cause a large-scale fire in an instant, so large armies generally don’t enter forests. They say if combined with wind magic, it can generate a scorching wind that even water magic can’t completely defend against.
“Any traps around the fortresses?”
“Traps, you ask… Not particularly… Just that many large crossbows are installed on the ramparts.”
Like ballistae, I guess?
“How long can those ramparts hold? Can they defend against something like a Rock Bullet heavily imbued with Magical Power?”
“Yes. There’s a barrier powered by Magic Stones. However, the moment the Magic Stones run out, they’ll likely be breached instantly.”
I see. I’ve been absorbing Magic Stones, so I don’t have any.
But it’s good news that if we buy some, we can make them last for a while.
“By the way, where did the number twenty thousand come from?”
When I asked, the general answered.
“Well, there’s a village established by the former Belfast Army, and they apparently heard it from enemy soldiers when they clashed with the Daltone Army. However, they said there’s no certainty as it wasn’t information extracted from a captured soldier, but after having the stealth unit confirm, it seems there’s no doubt that troops are gathering on a large scale.”
Hmm?
Isn’t that the place I just visited? I glanced at the Knight Commander, but it seemed he also didn’t know the information source was from there. He was looking at the general with a displeased expression.
“Understood. Then we’ll prepare on our end with that in mind.”
Saying that, I stood up and asked Roosevelt, Knight Commander, where I should put the materials, and he guided me.
Everyone seemed interested, as they were all trailing along behind me.
Roosevelt-san gathered about ten soldiers as dismantlers, so it became quite a crowd.
I decided to hand over about seventy percent of my stock for now, and stopped after taking out one Ape.
“We might need to make tools from scratch to dismantle this… Can you dismantle it?”
When I described how tough its hide was, a knight who tried to cut into it shook his head.
“Right? We’re also summoning technicians who have specialized tools, so let’s leave this for later. Also, this here, is it okay to assume it’s Mithril?”
I brought out a Golem with a thud and asked the Knight Commander, and he channeled Magical Power into the Golem to check it.
So there was a way to check like that.
“M-Most likely… However, if all of this is Mithril, that’s an outrageous amount…”
“Well, I think this can be processed, so I’ll leave it here.”
And so, I took out sixty Golems, leaving about twenty-odd behind.
“No way, if all of this is Mithril…”
The knights were speechless.
“I have other things like this, but I don’t really know what they’re used for.”
I took out one of each type—dinosaur, Spider, reptile, snake, etc.—to show them. Along with information about the abilities the monsters used when I fought them, just in case.
“As expected of Rui-sama. Even the forbidden texts didn’t have that much information.”
“That’s right. You’re my pride.”
I was showered with praise by the two of them, and feeling embarrassed, I decided to head to an inn for the day, but my uncle stopped me.
“Wait, Rui. I need to hear all about it. Depending on what I hear, I might have to lecture you.”
“Come on, I still have things to do. Can’t it wait?”
“No. Nothing is more important than your safety!”
Ugh, it’s hard to argue back when my usually calm uncle says something so strongly.
Well, it’s not happening until next month at the earliest, so I guess Hiroki and the others can wait.
And so, surrounded by my aunt and uncle in the assigned room, a chat under the guise of a lecture began.
“Oh, Rui, you’re so reckless. You mustn’t, okay?”
“I always tell you to say something if anything happens, right?
If you feel any danger, you have to tell us, okay?”
This was my aunt and uncle’s version of a lecture.
But it was followed by “Why didn’t you tell us?” to which I retorted.
“Well, you wouldn’t have believed me, would you?
I said Floor Forty, and you made fun of me, calling it Floor Four…”
“Ugh…”
“Rudolf, dear?”
And so, I spent my time lecturing my uncle along with my aunt, who had switched sides.
“By the way, did you meet Yume in the Royal Capital?
I thought it would be bad if she came along, so I didn’t meet her this time.”
When she asked that, they both made unpleasant faces.
“Well, when we told her the situation… she wouldn’t listen and said she was coming here…”
“We told her until the very end that she absolutely mustn’t come, but she’s definitely coming…”
Ah, I see. Well, yeah, I guess so.
If she knows the situation, she’ll come. I would too.
But what should I do?
“Oh, right. Only Hunters can participate, right?
If we just make sure we have a solid escape plan, it should be fine, right?”
“No, she’s graduating soon too. Just like Rui.”
“She said she’ll get her qualification next month and come straight here.”
Ehhh… Yume is getting strong enough on her own to exceed the evaluation?
That means she defeated a teacher, right?
Wow. She’s probably getting carried away…
It’s going to be hard to convince her.
As we were chatting like that, General Razbel visited the room.
The General bowed again and said, “I am deeply sorry. I will take responsibility and start over as a private,” for some reason offering to resign from his position to take responsibility.
At that moment, I hesitated slightly.
It might be connected to Yuri’s safety.
But that hesitation quickly disappeared.
I’ve been so worried about Yuri lately that I’d forgotten, but I can no longer abandon my uncle, aunt, Yume, and of course, Cornelia-san and the others.
“More than that, please dedicate everything to protecting Belfast,” I said earnestly, intending to tell myself as well, and he looked troubled but seemed to reconsider for the time being.
“That reminds me, about the search for Yuri today…”
There, I told the General that they couldn’t enter the village and had to give up the search.
“In that village… huh. But even Yurisia shouldn’t be able to enter there.
No, perhaps she encountered Daltone’s scouts while fighting and was captured as an unidentified person…”
I see. Yuri’s scent is in both places, and if she went to the village of the people who were probably defeated, then that’s a possibility.
“If Your Highness suspects it, I will go and confirm it first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Please do. There’s a possibility that it’s all a misunderstanding, but Fuu and Raku were certain. I think there’s a possibility.”
I bowed and asked the General, and the discussion ended.
Uncle Rudolf and the others also left, and I was alone in the room.
Well, should I sleep? I’ve been pushing myself too hard with all-nighters and naps since the day before yesterday.
Just as I thought that and lay down on the bed, there was another visitor.
This time it was the Princesses.
For some reason, they said they wanted to sleep with me.
Are you kidding me?! I can’t sleep! I chased the two of them out and went to bed.
Surely no one will bother me anymore, I thought, exhausted, and fell asleep.