Volume 8 Chapter 1: A Shocking Trio

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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Days of repeated meetings with Alec about the future governance of the expanded Drintor territory continued.

While Cain was a margrave, classified as a higher-ranked noble, he didn’t have his own faction. He had no-one he could trust the governing of his territory to other than Alec.

Since the upper echelons of Esfort also understood this, however, deputy governors were dispatched by the state.

Those deputy governors were currently assessing the territory gained from the Republic of Ilstin. The territory’s actual handing-over to Cain was still a little while away.

Then, one day, Cain received an urgent summons from the royal castle.

“What is this…”

Cain was usually summoned to the royal castle in a casual manner, but the wax-sealed envelope the official-looking messenger had brought with him puzzled him.

“This is an official letter of summons. Normal nobles don’t go to the royal castle unless they’re some sort of minister.”

Cain nodded at Koran’s words, to whom he had handed over the letter.

“I’ll be going to the castle then. Please hold down the fort here.”

Cain got in his carriage and headed to the royal castle.

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Arriving at the royal castle, he was immediately taken to a different reception room from usual by a servant.

The room contained the king, Duke Eric, Magna, and Cain’s father, Garm. However, this time, there was also an unfamiliar person present.

The pointed ears of a wolf stuck out of his head, as was the case for beastmen. Seeing Cain, the beastman’s eyes widened a little in surprise, but then he bowed lightly as if to cover up his expression, then turned back forwards.

“Sorry to have made you wait.”

“Oh, we’ve been waiting. Sit down there.”

When Cain entered the room, the king beckoned to him as if he had been waiting.

Cain sat down in the seat provided for him, and Magna began speaking.

“We will be conducting pre-audience discussions. It’s the first time for you, Margrave Cain. I’ll introduce him first; this is Hagnes-dono, the ambassador of the Beast Kingdom of Kermes. The thing is, the Beast Kingdom of Kermes –– has been invaded by the Baisas Empire.”

Cain frowned at Magna’s words. Previously, Baisas had indeed invaded its neighbours, turning them into client states, but they had not invaded other countries lately.

While Kermes had, in fact, been invaded many times by Baisas, beastmen had better physical power than humans, and the kingdom had thus always managed to retaliate and force Baisas to withdraw, facts that had also been described in the history books Cain had read.

Also, while Esfort and Kermes weren’t neighbouring countries, they did have an alliance.

They couldn’t trade overland due to the Baisas Empire being in the way, but they could, and did indeed, trade via sea routes. There were many beastmen living in Esfort, most of them having searched for the possibility to move to Esfort.

In fact, the Sarakhan Company’s chairman had also immigrated to Esfort with his parents when he had been young.

“…So then, why…? I heard that military-wise, Kermes is stronger.”

“Hagnes-dono, could you please explain?”

Prompted by Magna, Hagnes still made a slightly unconvinced face.

“First, though, I’m sorry to ask this at a time like this, but… you told me you would be convening the upper echelons of your country, but why is a child here…? Your Majesty, you even said we would have to wait for him first.”

The upper echelons of Esfort knew of Cain’s power, but his being an Apostle of the gods was confidential and would not be revealed.

Thus, it was only natural for Hagnes, who was meeting him for the first time, to start worrying ‘Why is a simple child here?’.

“It cannot be helped that you would think so, Hagnes-dono. However, Margrave Cain here is the son of Margrave Garm, and he excels in courage and governs his own territory as a margrave. Furthermore, he is engaged to the daughter of His Majesty, as well as to the daughters of Dukes Eric and Leebert respectively. I think hearing just that much should tell you how important of a person he is.”

“Yes, but…”

While he seemed to understand Magna’s words, Hagnes wasn’t convinced.

“By the way, Cain’s the strongest in the country. You’ve heard of our Royal Knight Commander, right? Duke Leebert’s daughter. He’s even stronger than her.”

“…Eh?”

Hagnes was stunned by the king’s words.

To Hagnes, who had thought that Cain, while ‘excelling in courage’, was still just a child, hearing ‘strongest in the country’ was shocking.

Kermes generally tended to lean towards ‘might makes right’, and the royal family had been lion beastmen for generations. That was exactly why Hagnes was surprised.

“That’s true, if Esfort fought against Cain, we’d end up losing.”

The shocking fact Duke Eric said so casually caused Hagnes to freeze.

“I wonder if that’s true… Well, anyway, it cannot be helped, so let us continue.”

Having pulled himself together, Hagnes explained their situation.

The invasion had come out of nowhere. Initially, they had thought it was one of the invasions that occurred every few years, and had responded as such, but thanks to Baisas having fielded stronger-than-usual soldiers and magic users, a number of towns had fallen and been occupied.

The especially strong ones had been a trio consisting of two warriors and one female magic user.

Those three alone had defeated Kermes.

“Not even our generals can measure up to their strength, so we came to ask the Kingdom of Esfort for aid…”

“…Even if you say that, we will not be openly hostile to the Baisas Empire. However, deploying people good at healing magic would not be a problem…”

Kermes was more or less self-sufficient when it came to food, so they had no problems on that front, but few beastmen had any training in magic, so they had no choice but to make potions or ask adventurers who could use a little healing magic for help.

Due to the repeated retreats they had gone through, few potions remained, and the number of casualties had increased.

Thus, they had come to Esfort for assistance.

“As an allied nation, the Kingdom of Esfort will provide you with potions and people capable of using healing magic. Naturally, we cannot deploy soldiers to fight on the front lines. But still, to think just three people could cause that much damage…”

The king said, his arms crossed.

“From the information from our scouts and spies, the three of them are called the ‘Hero’, the ‘Paladin’, and the ‘Sage’ respectively.”

Cain sprang up from his seat at Hagnes’ words, slamming the table.

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