Chapter 1: The Hilgardie Barony

The Hilgardie Barony was part of the land that had been ceded by the Kingdom of Haldoria to the Yutear Empire as reparations for the counterfeit money incident orchestrated by Friede. It was located on the border and was very close to the Lebrick Margravate-the imperial territory that used to be the closest to Haldoria.

The road that led from the Lebrick Margravate to the Hilgardie Barony, however, was very poorly maintained, and for an entirely different reason than the highway that connected the imperial capital to Lucas's territory. It was in rough shape simply because of the fact that the land had belonged to the kingdom until very recently, so anyone coming from the empire had to traverse the wasteland that previously served as a buffer zone between the two powerful nations.

"I'm starting to see our destination, missy."

I looked ahead of us through the window. Under normal circumstances, it took about three days for a carriage to travel from the Lebrick Margravate to the Hilgardie Barony, while a single rider could make the trip in just a day. Our carriage had made the trek in only two days, though.

"Using your Divine Artifact feels like cheating," Barl said. "The carriage is so light, since you crammed everything into your grimoire, so the horses have been able to keep going a lot longer."

I'd stored most of our luggage in my Grimoire of Mammon, so the carriage was almost empty aside from its passengers.

"We dealt with the wasteland monsters easily as well, so we'll arrive ahead of schedule," Mireille said.

"That's good. I'll be able to keep my promise to Arte," I replied.

The walls that surrounded the baronial capital were much lower than those that surrounded Lucas's capital, and there were far fewer sentinels standing guard by the gate.

"It certainly doesn't appear to be a bustling city," Mireille said.

"So few guards," Barl added. "And no one waiting in line to enter the city."

"Now that this area has become part of the empire, the number of merchants and travelers coming from the kingdom must have decreased dramatically. Plus, with the road connecting the city to the empire being in such a sorry state, imperial subjects can't come and go easily either."

"Yeah. Makes sense," Barl said, nodding.

"At first, the imperial government offered direct support to avoid disrupting the citizens' lives, but that support ended when House Hilgardie officially gained dominion over the territory," I said.

"The former Baron Hilgardie passed away at a very unfortunate time," Mireille replied.

House Hilgardie's current issues had mostly arisen due to a string of bad luck.

"Indeed. And he died without being able to pass down the advice he'd received from the imperial court to his heir. The imperial government can't give the appearance of playing favorites, so they haven't intervened further either."

A lord with a territory had to take responsibility for his own land, even if that lord was only a young boy who'd been forced-unprepared-to take charge. There was no running from one's duties. If Nestart's house had ruled over that territory for generations, he likely would have had experienced family members to rely on. However, House Hilgardie was a rather recent house, one whose head had been a noble of the robe-a noble without territory-until very recently. Naturally, Nestart had no such experienced kin.

"That's why he hired you as his advisor, huh?" Barl said.

"At first, his sister asked Miss Ellie to educate him as a noble," Mireille told him.

"Wow. That's one reckless move."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Exactly what I said. Your background's just too intense. You're hiding it, sure, but it's not like it's an absolute secret. Anyone can figure out who you are if they just look into it. Don't they say too strong a medicine can turn into poison?"

"That's fair... Anyhow, that is precisely why I'll only be advising him as a merchant-on the surface at least."

If I got serious, I could destroy Nestart's current personality and rebuild him into a tool who'd serve me. As that thought crossed my mind, I found myself gazing out the window. My eyes loosely focused on the guards who gestured with their spears for us to stop the carriage.

?

Every day was just like the previous one-a total bore. Ryan guarded the gate of this city, just like his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather had before him. Today, too, he stood at the foot of the gate, faithfully carrying out his stable, yet utterly dull job to the letter.

"I'm so bored," André, his colleague, said.

"It's good for guards to be bored."

"Sure, I guess us having nothing to do means nothing bad's happening. But part of our job is letting people through. If no one's coming, that means the city's doing horribly, don't you think? The economy, I mean."

"Where did you hear that? You're too dumb to have thought of that yourself."

"Hey, stop treating me like an idiot! But yeah, it was Ted."

"Ted? That guy from the Merchants' Guild?"

When the city had joined the empire, Ted had arrived to assist the guild master of the Merchants' Guild.

"Yeah, I ran into him at the tavern the other day."

"You know, when they said that our territory would be sold off to the empire, I really panicked. In the end, nothing much changed."

"I heard some highborn lord messed up big time, and that's why we ended up part of the empire. At first, the rumors had me worried too. People said we'd all be sold into slavery or worse."

"The only thing that did change is that no one comes here anymore."

"I mean, it makes sense. Because we're not part of the kingdom anymore, there's a huge checkpoint between them and us now. Who'd go through the trouble of getting permission to cross the border and paying a heavy toll just to come to some random territory with nothing in it?"

"And to get here from the empire side, you've gotta cross the wasteland."

Neither Ryan nor André had left the city since it had become imperial territory, so they'd never actually ventured into the wasteland. According to the very, very few merchants and adventurers who had made the trip, the monsters that dwelled there were so strong that you were unlikely to get through unscathed unless you had a veteran adventurer party as protection.

"I'm scared for the future of our city. It's not like we can rely on our new lord to save it..."

"Baron Hilga-something? He rounded up the soldiers to make a little speech recently. He's just a kid, even younger than my daughter."

Ryan and André felt bad for their little lord who'd lost his father at such a young age. But that didn't mean they approved of an unreliable kid ruling over them.

"He hasn't caused any big issues yet, but I'm still worried."

Suddenly, the two guards noticed a carriage approaching.

"Oh! A carriage from the empire? It's not every day we get one."

"Doesn't it look a little too fancy for an adventurer's carriage? Do you think it belongs to a merchant?"

"But there are no guards."

The men were confused, but they still had to do their job.

"Halt!" Ryan exclaimed. He pointed the spear he was holding in his left hand at the palm of his right hand, which was the signal for a carriage to stop.

The man holding the reins noticed and slowed down until the carriage came to a full stop. Ryan and André approached. The coachman wore fine clothes, but they did little to conceal his rough aura.

"Are you merchants?" Ryan asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess we are. We aren't here for business, though. Baron Hilgardie summoned us," the man replied.

He turned around and reached through the window to grab a letter from someone inside the carriage, then he gave it to Ryan. The guard checked it and thought that he vaguely recognized the seal affixed to it.

"I'll confirm with my commanding officer, so please wait here," Ryan said.

"Sure," the man answered.

Making decisions on matters that involved the nobility was far above Ryan and André's pay grade, so Ryan ran to the guard station to ask his superior what to do.

"Commander! There's a merchant with a letter from the lord at the gate!"

"Ah, they must be the people from Traitre. I heard they'd be arriving soon. I'll deal with them, so you and André can go back to doing your regular tasks."

"Understood!"

Ryan called for André, and the two of them returned to the foot of the gate to stand guard.

"So, what's the deal with that carriage?" André asked.

"The commander said they're from Traitre."

"Traitre? I've never heard of them. Is that a famous company in the empire?"

"Probably not. If the lord of such a tiny territory can summon them, it's probably some small business. These people didn't even have guards."

"You're...