T/N: Yulfa – A character introduced in chapter 3 of Volume 9. She"s a young nun whom the MC and party met in a church in Philip Dukedom. Apparently, she was dispatched to the empire by Cardinal Hohenheim upon the king"s order. She"s also an acquaintance of Elise. She"s a bit taller than Luise, has dark brown hair cut into a shortcut. Her special skill is “High Speed” magic (a type of Holy Magic allowing one to boost one"s muscle strength to the limit) allowing her to easily run 1,000 km in one day, and it"s actually also the only magic she can use. There"s an ill.u.s.tration of her in the Gallery on the blog.

“It was unexpected that he would use this move.” (Armstrong)

“Now then, with this we are completely stuck here, aren"t we?”

“Yeeeeah, we missed the chance to run away.”

Not just me, Dous.h.i.+ and Burkhart-san appeared to be bewildered as well.

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The mortal combat against the main force of the rebel army led by Duke Nürnberg came to an end with a draw.
We succeeded in allowing master, who was summoned by Talrand, to go to heaven once more, but the liberation army lost Earl Lärmer, an excellent commander, and the left wing led by him suffered ma.s.sive losses as well.
We caused considerable damage to the rebel army, but it was far away from being fatal.
Taking advantage of the chaos triggered by Earl Lärmer"s death, Duke Nürnberg skillfully withdrew his soldiers.
The liberation army finished its army reorganisation and continued to advance carefully, but before long we learned of an unforeseen event.
According to a report, Duke Nürnberg abandoned the imperial capital.
When Therese hurriedly entered the capital, the emperor, who had been put under house arrest by Duke Nürnberg, arrogantly awaited her there.

『The crime of arbitrarily a.s.sembling the northern lords and advancing on this capital is heavy, but I won"t question it given the circ.u.mstances.』 (Emperor)

『…』 (Therese)

『d.u.c.h.ess Philip, do you have some issue with me, the emperor?』 (Emperor)

『No, I was very glad to see that thee are safe and sound Thy Majesty…』 (Therese)

According to Alfons, being told that by His Majesty the Emperor, who stayed in the imperial palace, was a disaster with Therese completely losing her temper afterwards.
Well, that makes sense.
It"s not like she desired the throne for herself, but even though she resolved herself and dealt with the civil war against Duke Nürnberg, Duke Nürnberg had allowed for the emperor to be reinstated as if it was a final, desperate tactic.
Why did Duke Nürnberg do something like that?
The reason is simple.
By splitting the anti-Nürnberg faction apart, it gives him the chance to crush each of the parties individually.

『The other prince electors were all killed. Yet only the imperial family was kept alive. The members of the prince elector households probably suspected there was some kind of backdoor deal by the members of the imperial family. The emperor, who was clumsily caught in the coup d"etat, was released out of pity by Duke Nürnberg. The emperor lost most of his authority.』 (Alfons)

That means it was more useful for Duke Nürnberg to oppose Therese by allowing the emperor to be reinstated instead of killing him.

『Therese couldn"t make a decision either… to drag down the emperor from his throne or not. I advised her to do so, but she rejected it.』 (Alfons)

The emperor being reinstated in this situation isn"t anything good either.
He should abdicate allowing him to take responsibility for the coup d"etat with an extra legal measure… No, I guess it"s impossible for the emperor, who lost face due to Duke Nürnberg, to step down by himself.
In other words, it was necessary for Therese to forcibly get rid of the emperor and to consolidate the anti-Nürnberg faction into one group.

『Therese… is it because she"s a woman? Either way, we will return to our territory for the moment. His Majesty the Emperor plans to gather a large army and subjugate Duke Nürnberg after the harvest.』 (Alfons)

『After the harvest? That late?』 (Wendelin)

『That"s only natural. After all, there"s nothing left in the capital.』 (Alfons)

While the liberation and the rebel army fought, another part of Duke Nürnberg"s army apparently finished taking away the empire"s a.s.sets and a huge amount of goods, including food to the Nürnberg Dukedom on Duke Nürnberg"s order.
In short, the current empire is as poor as a church mouse.

『So, even if he gathers a big army, the supplies won"t last?』 (Wendelin)

『The national treasury is empty and there"s no gold either. Do you actually think he would get any loans from merchants? Besides, we won"t partic.i.p.ate in the subjugation of Duke Nürnberg. No, I guess it"s more correct to say that we aren"t allowed to.』 (Alfons)

If Therese once again raised achievements during the subjugation of Duke Nürnberg, the emperor would be forced to take Therese into consideration after the war. There"s also the matter of his own position being extremely weak. The emperor wants to defeat Duke Nürnberg while standing alone at the head of the army.

『Hah, that means we are leaving the capital no sooner than liberating it.』

I wonder whether that"s not a case of a split forming, but it"s impossible for Therese and the emperor to form a common united front.
Be that as it may, for him to have abandoned the capital after having thought ahead so far…
Duke Nürnberg really isn"t an ordinary man.

『It looks like you will be summoned by the emperor as well, Wendelin.』 (Alfons)

『I wonder whether he will give me my reward?』 (Wendelin)

『It"s better if you don"t put too much hope into that.』 (Alfons)

◆◇◆◇◆

Alfons" prediction was right. After the audience with the emperor, Urquhart the 17th, we spent our time idling around in the city of Sakart.

“Earl Baumeister, what"s that?”

“A very appreciated reward!” (Wendelin)

“Isn"t that a simple piece of clothing?” (Philip)

“What are you saying! Philip-dono! Look at this, this is a beloved piece of clothing of Urquhart the 11th, an ancestor of the Holy Empire Urquhart Restoration!” (Wendelin)

“In other words, you didn"t get a tangible reward.” (Christoph)

“Christoph-dono, does it make you happy to talk about the reality?”

Once I went to the imperial palace after being summoned by the emperor, I was given an old article of clothing, which was used by a past emperor, as a reward, and that was all.
It resembles the acts of daimyo in the Edo period, who took a loan from merchants, handing out honourable items (i.e. articles used by those daimyo) because of their inability to return the money.
The emperor, who"s trying to pay the soldiers with loans as the national treasury is empty, didn"t have the leeway to hand me my reward.

“It"s just an old piece of clothing.”

“Maybe it has some special effect… No, I guess not… Burkhart-san, what do you think?” (Wendelin)

“I also couldn"t find such a magical feature hidden within. Dous.h.i.+, you think so too, right?” (Burkhart)

“It"s only a piece of clothing!” (Armstrong)

“Elise, what about it actually having a fairly high value as a work of a famous past designer?” (Wendelin)

“No, dear. Its make is good, but I"m afraid to say, it"s just an old piece of clothing.” (Elise)

So the reward for me having done my very best so far is a single piece of clothing? If I hadn"t mined in the abandoned mines, we would be deep in the red by now.

“I guess we have to cut our losses at this point. We already rescued all citizens of the kingdom.”

All members of Earl Schultz" Friends.h.i.+p Visit Group were safe except for several magicians who were killed.
It was probably good that they didn"t resist. They had been put under house arrest and so were able to safely join up with us.
There were also some different soldiers of the royal army who were now safely present (this group, led by Marquis Läger, was originally crushed by Duke Nürnberg near the beginning of the rebellion and were unable to escape together with Philip and Christoph).
These captured troops were put into a POW camp and then released after the capital"s liberation.
Duke Nürnberg probably didn"t want to go out of his way to take along prisoners who would only consume his food.
For this reason, more than 5,000 people of the kingdom were now gathered in the city of Sakart.

“I suppose calling it house arrest is the diplomatic way…”

From now on the emperor will be busy with his preparations to defeat Duke Nürnberg. So I suppose he won"t allow any foreigners to stay at his side. Come to think of it, a part of the Mizuho army was also stationed in this city.
Though the bulk of their army and the n.o.bles who had supported Therese had returned to their respective territories

『For him to be able to set up countermeasures against the magic guns and the magic katana. There"s no other option but to get our war preparation in even better order until autumn.』

Earl Mizuho Country believes Duke Nürnberg to be an irreconcilable enemy.
There"s also the matter of their state-of-the-art weapons not showing much of an effect in the previous battle. So the majority of their military forces returned home with the goal to strengthen their war preparations.

“Therefore it"s probably no problem for us to go back as well.”

“That"s what you think, but we do have more than 5,000 people with us, you know…”

Since we can"t use magic airs.h.i.+ps, our travel methods are limited. That"s because that jamming device still continues to operate.

“And in addition, there is a message from His Majesty!”

Just as we were talking about our future plans, a “Speedy Priestess Girl” plunged in.

“It"s been a while, Yulfsan.” (Elise)

“Elise-sama, you seem to be doing fine as well. Yulfa the Gale makes her entrance once again!” (Yulfa)

“I have a bad premonition…” (Wendelin)

“Earl Baumeister-sama, that can"t be. Even though we met after so long.” (Wendelin)

The message she brought will be bad because I"m almost 100% certain that it"s an order to stay here.

“Is it by chance fine to return to the kingdom?”

“That"s unlikely. 『The empire"s situation still hasn"t settled down. You shall stay and work in order for it to head in a direction advantageous for the kingdom while striving to gather intelligence.』 That"s all of the message from His Majesty. Bye then!” (Yulfa)

“Hey!” (Wendelin)

Before I could stop her, Yulfa ran away at a frightening speed.

“She"s sure quick, isn"t she?”

“It"s because she"s a messenger of the church.”

“That place employs good personnel, doesn"t it?”

“Even if he tells us to gather intelligence, there are too many restrictions for us.”

After all, we have been detained in Sakart.
I guess it"s because it will be troublesome if rumours spread that I have been put under house arrest. It seems I"m allowed to go as far as shopping in the imperial capital, but while I"m under such groundless suspicion it will be dangerous to be in contact with Therese.

“Bah, under these circ.u.mstances gathering information or whatever is impossible.”

“They are probably especially cautious of people heading north from Sakart. They suspect that you and d.u.c.h.ess Philip are conspiring together, Earl Baumeister.”

I"m being watched by the emperor who"s ought to be my ally.

“Luckily there are monster domains near the city of Sakart, so I think we can at least earn the costs of our own food.”

“Umm… Earl Baumeister, it"s extremely difficult for me to tell you, but…” (Christoph)

“What is it, Christoph-dono?” (Wendelin)

“I discussed it with Earl Schultz as well, but we don"t have any money. Since Earl Schultz and his followers are n.o.bles, they do intend to return the money they borrowed from you, but even that will only happen after we return to the kingdom. There are the soldiers to worry about as well.” (Christoph)

“…” (Wendelin)

I must support more than 5,000 companions until the harvest in autumn.
With there being no chance of getting our reward at the moment, I only hope that the civil war will come to an end as soon as possible.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

We decided to immediately go hunting in a small-scale monster domain near Sakart in order to support our companions while at the same time having some combat training.
Philip and the commissioned officers of the royal army took command and taught Erw how to manoeuvre troops.
It"s in-service training and education with Erw"s future in mind.

“I see. Using military forces to exterminate monsters, such a method exists as well.” (Erwin)

“If monsters attack in a group, you"ll have to start with ama.s.sing troops to make it possible to deal with. You split them into several smaller units, then have them invade and attack from different locations while leaving the hunted monsters to a team of collection specialists. But even if it"s only small groups, the monster activity will intensify if they stay in the monster domain for too long, so you have to make sure that they don"t stay longer than a set time. It"s also important to avoid losses by controlling the troops fatigue through the periodic replacement of the platoons.” (Philip)

“Having a great number of smaller units moving in concert is difficult.” (Erwin)

“You will get used to it. The command of a platoon will be taken by the platoon leader, several platoon leaders will be led by a company commander, several company commanders will be led by a battalion leader… well, that"s the rough idea… leave the command on-site to your subordinates. It"s fine for us to only give broad orders.” (Philip)

“I see…” (Erwin)

“It"s no use being so impatient. It"s alright to get slowly accustomed to it.” Philip told Erw.

“The reorganisation and improvement of the kingdom"s forces is going well. The sole worry is that Wend… ah sorry, master is only making losses.” (Erwin)

“I think they feel guilty about it, but if you put it in aristocratic terms, everyone owes big favours to Earl Baumeister. These kind of invisible obligations are very important for n.o.bles. Aside from us, who have already failed, I think that Earl Schultz and his group are regretting it.” (Philip)

“Because they created a debt towards master?” (Erwin)

“Yes. Well then, withdraw the forces slowly. There"s still the dismantling of the hunted monsters left.” (Philip)

“Yes.” (Erwin)

◆◇◆◇◆

“… I"m booored.” (Wendelin)

“It won"t serve as training if you fight, Earl Baumeister. It"s plenty enough for the supreme commander to just stand there.”

Just in case I partic.i.p.ated as well, but as it wouldn"t be much of a training session if I fight, so I had only spare time, unable to do anything.
Though it looks like Erw and Philip spent their time meaningfully…

◆◇◆◇◆

Duke Nürnberg has retreated to his territory and the emperor is completely devoting himself to the preparations for the subjugation of Duke Nürnberg.
Naturally, the situation s.h.i.+fted into a cease-fire.
The problem was what would happen after the autumn harvest was finished, but as I was thinking about such things, a messenger from the capital visited me.

“An inspection? They are sure on guard against you, Earl-sama.” (Burkhart)

“An inspection or whatever else, I feel like telling them to do as they please.” (Wendelin)

Even if they investigate us, they won"t find anything incriminating, but the emperor likely fears me joining with Therese to oppose him.
But, please don"t worry. Currently, Therese and I have completely stopped contacting each other.
We aren"t even exchanging letters. After all, it would only serve to make the emperor suspicious.
Therese has probably also been told by her retainers to stop getting in touch with me.
Without doing anything in particular, I spend my days calmly.
Though the money just keeps decreasing.
While those quiet days carried on, the inspection team was finalized and sent enroute to us from the capital.

“An inspection group? What kind of people will come?” (Elise)

“Who knows?” (Wendelin)

Elise asked me while pouring tea in my cup during our mid-afternoon snack, but now that she asks, I wonder who will come?
Though I feel like it doesn"t really matter.
Today it"s a cake hand-made by Elise? The moderate sweetness is really delicious.

“You should worry about who"s coming.”

“Even if I worried, there"s nothing I can do about it, right? Those who come will come.” (Wendelin)

“That"s true, but…”

“Erw-san, even if that inspection group schemes to do something strange, it will be fine as we are here.” (Haruka)

“You are right there, Haruksan.” (Erwin)

He"s properly doing his duty as my guard, but Erw looks very joyful whenever Haruka is nearby. He reveals a slovenly smile as he has her pour him some tea.

“Stay on guard! But since half of the reason for the inspection group is for hara.s.sment, I believe the danger to be manageable.” (Takeomi)

Takeomi-san, who is even now serving as my guard, instantly vented his anger at Erw like a fierce fighting demon and then stated his own opinion.

“Since Haruka and I will be there as your guards, you can meet them with complete peace of mind.” (Takeomi)

“You know, I will be there as well.” (Erwin)

Due to Erw"s casual words, Takeomi-san vented his anger once more at Erw, but it seems that Erw is already used to it by now. He doesn"t seem to mind.

“It"s because Haruka and I will be there.” (Takeomi)

He said it twice because it"s important, that"s the impression I get.

“Umm… Takeomi-san, what about me?” (Erwin)

“I guess we need a meat s.h.i.+eld in case something bad happens.” (Takeomi)

“…”

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