Fun Territory Defense of the Easy-Going Lord - Chapter 161
Punishment for Intruders?
Trouble was, now that I knew that the knightly order was behind the insolent people who tried to invade my base, I could not avoid investigating them.
There were many reasons for this, such as being a nobleman who would not tolerate any hostility, or indirectly checking on other noblemen by showing strength.
At any rate, as a nobleman, if he leaves alone those who try to harm him, various inconveniences will occur in areas other than the danger to his life. It is troublesome, but it cannot be helped.
Exhaling a sigh, I walked behind the angry Dee. Arv and Roe, who arrived about 10 minutes later, were also very angry. Perhaps inspired by them, Camsin was walking with an angry look on his shoulder.
Incidentally, the Seat Village Knights who were guarding the area around my resting place were in the same state, but the two young men who were patrolling around the base at night were in a state of wakefulness. It seemed that they had accepted an offer from one of the other knights to take over for a meal. Two middle-aged men in splendid knight’s armor asked to take turns taking a meal break because they were unable to move due to their duties. Although such a high status knight would not be on night watch without a break, the two young men were deceived. Well, it would be difficult to know what to do when marching with other nobles and knights.
The two who were on guard were so angry with Dee that I felt sorry for them.
I didn’t mind that no one was hurt or harmed, as it is often said that if you make a mistake once, you don’t make mistakes anymore. If I wanted, I could have deliberately prepared the same situation next time and taken the bait.
However, we were in the middle of an important march to prepare for the battle against the Jiernetta Kingdom. It was important to show strength as a nobleman and a strong will not to tolerate hostiles, but it was difficult to find the right balance between the two. Interfering with the march would be folly, and could lead to ill feelings not only from His Majesty but from other nobles as well.
However, we could not just do nothing.
While thinking about such troublesome matters in a roundabout way in my mind, I continued paving the mountain road for the time being.
“I wonder what’s up with this…”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
Till, who was preparing a drink beside us, responded to the soliloquy I muttered to myself while paving in front of the carriage. I accepted the cup offered to me and sipped the water in it.
“Thank you… well, I’m talking about the culprit who trespassed last night, probably the Viscount Tron and Baron Nouveau’s knights, who were guiding them and plotting to assassinate me…”
Till raised an eyebrow when I said so and followed along my lines with a muffled statement.
“And there’s no proof?”
Till answered angrily. And though she was angry, Till was trying to suppress it. I chuckled at the situation and shrugged my shoulders.
“Well, we could have found evidence, but since Arte blew away the entire half-open door, the other guy should have been injured, too. I’m sure his armor is heavily damaged, and there are probably some marks left in the shape of the door, too. But the problem lies elsewhere. Viscount Tron and Baron Nouveau are in a certain Marquis’s faction. In other words, there is someone with more power behind the two of them.”
Till looked up after saying that and looked at me with a huff.
“… Don’t tell me it’s the Marquis Fertio?”
Although I didn’t know if Jalpa was planning to assassinate me, I couldn’t think of any other reason for the intruder to break into my base, since there was nothing to steal.
At the very least, Jalpa would have tried to intimidate me, a man highly esteemed by His Majesty, in order to get me to do something, at best, he would have used threats and warnings. The second best would be to sign me into slavery. The worst would be assassination.
It was a very aristocratic action, even for my father. However, he was too shortsighted when it came to discerning the means and timing to achieve his goal. Even Jalpa, who had risen to power by force of arms, would not have acted so roughly.
It may be possible that this was done at the sole discretion of Tron or Nouveau. If that was the case, it would be more likely that they intended to enslave me, who had useful powers, in order to curry favor to Jalpa.
“… Okay. Then let’s call Dee and ask him to investigate. Maybe we can get him to investigate in an easy-to-understand way so that we don’t get into any unnecessary situations.”
Till blinked and tilted her head.
“Easy to understand, why?”
I nodded shallowly and answered Till’s question.
“Because it would be too much of an impact to pull out a bunch of aristocrats. I want to show people that we are trying to investigate the matter thoroughly so that the mastermind won’t be caught easily. If I do that, His Majesty will understand my intentions and cooperate with me, and if His Majesty moves, no one will be able to touch me.”
After a brief explanation, Till snorted with a difficult look on his face.
“I see…but then, the bad guys who targeted Van-sama are still there? Certainly no one was hurt, but…”
Till clammed up, unconvinced. He waved one hand in denial and smiled.
“Don’t worry. I can’t do anything as obvious as a guard catching a bandit, but I’ll fight back like a nobleman. In a way that no one, not even the Marquis Fertio for that matter, can complain about.”