My Niece’s Nerves Are Too Strong

“How did the chancellor seem?”

In the room assigned to me, I was confirming the current situation with Ururu.

“…Quite… flustered. But… he immediately gave orders to his subordinates… gathering information…”

“He recovered quickly, then. Do you know what those orders were?”

“No assassination-type orders… the relationship between Lord Fels and the regent… and information on us… that they could not investigate… during the journey here…”

“Well, that much is only natural. We also need to protect Efaria and Guriel… we are barely managing with the people we have.”

“We are outnumbered, but… information will not… be taken from us…”

“Yes, I am not worried about that. But we have to protect our side while also keeping an eye on the chancellor’s movements. For that, manpower will make all the difference, will it not?”

“…Leave it to me.”

When I said that to Ururu while shrugging my shoulders, her voice was more serious than I had expected, and I was a little surprised.

“Understood. I am counting on you.”

“…Roger.”

Ururu gave a small smile at my words, but the next moment, her figure vanished.

As always, how did Ururu disappear like that?

I always thought to ask her… but I only remembered after she disappeared… If I called her, she would probably come out, but she was busy, and that would be bad….

“Lord Fels, shall you change clothes soon? It seems there is not much time left before the dinner.”

Lynferia spoke to me as I watched Ururu leave.

Still, change clothes? Ah, she meant changing outfits… was that necessary?

No, going to a party still dressed for travel would be strange.

I myself did not mind, but it would be bad both in terms of etiquette and in the sense that Einheria would be looked down on.

“Hmm… come to think of it, there are no maids.”

The maids usually prepared my clothes and such, but since this was a stay abroad, I had not brought any maids with me.

Well, the maids had begged me, and Ilmitt and Kiriku had also advised me that I should bring maids, but taking them in their unenhanced state to another country where danger was certain to be waiting was….

If it had at least been a friendly nation, that would have been fine, but… I did not know how the chancellor would move.

Even if I was thought overprotective, I did not want to throw unenhanced girls into a dangerous place.

Well, recently, I could not completely call them unenhanced anymore.

For now, the maid girls had been using the training grounds to have their abilities trained… but surely their stats would not rise that much in a month or so… or so I wanted to say, but for some reason, they had risen quite a lot.

I could only check ability values in the Audience Chamber, but back when Sword and Legions was a game, if someone was placed in the training grounds for one turn… one week, an ability increase of three would have been considered good. Yet for some reason, the maid girls raised their numbers by around that much in a single day.

I was curious what kind of training they were doing, but for some reason, they would not let me see the training scenes.

Of course, the maid girls had the job of managing the castle, so it was not as if they trained every day.

They seemed to be setting up rotations and training efficiently, but… I had told them to rest properly, but were they truly resting properly?

I should check on that carefully next time.

Still, thanks to the way they were working hard like that, investigation into ability values was progressing in various ways.

Well, unless I had them learn abilities, specialized jobs would be difficult… but in the near future, it might be good to have them work outside Einheria Castle as well. Of course, in safe places.

Wait, this was about changing clothes right now.

I could put clothes on by myself, but when it came to putting on accessories and perfectly arranging my appearance… that was honestly beyond me.

And choosing clothes too… this was bad.

The harmful effect of not bringing the maid girls had suddenly been exposed….

“If you would like, I can assist you, but…”

Perhaps my thoughts had reached her, because Lynferia asked as if seeking permission.

“Can I ask you to? I am not very good at things like this.”

“Please leave it to me! I will put together an outfit that perfectly brings out Lord Fels’s charm!”

I faltered slightly before Lynferia, whose breathing had suddenly grown rough.

Well, she would probably choose something more proper than I would if I chose it myself.

Leaving Lynferia, who for some reason had flames burning in her eyes while selecting my clothes, I turned my gaze out the window, and a magnificent townscape filled the view below.

The royal capital of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, huh… the scenery visible from our castle was mostly grassland, after all… this place had an overwhelmingly greater urban feel.

Well, our current royal capital was in a state where even calling it rural would be presumptuous… no, construction of the city was progressing, though.

There were just overwhelmingly few people… or rather, only about as many people as three hidden goblin villages combined… it was only about the scale of a small village.

Seeing another country’s royal capital like this… I was tormented by an overwhelming sense of defeat.

No, if I merely wanted to increase the royal capital’s population, I could just have people from other towns who were struggling to eat move there, but… suddenly mixing goblins with large numbers of humanfolk would be dangerous in various ways, so we had no choice but to let it gradually permeate.

If we used the massive amount of building materials in the warehouse, city-building… or rather, buildings themselves could be built quite quickly, but if there were no residents, the buildings would only go to waste… but Einheria’s royal capital could not remain an utter backwater forever either… should we start seriously thinking about city-building soon?

No, the ones thinking about it would probably be Ilmitt and Otonoha, not me… putting the Lufelon Holy Kingdom aside, if the other four countries were annexed into Einheria, the population should reach around six million… as expected, having a royal capital at the village level would feel sad, right?

It was not good for people from other countries to come to the former Lumoria royal capital every time either… externally as well, we needed to properly make the location of the royal capital known.

The dragon itself had been defeated, so there should be no problem, but… making the royal capital splendid had to come first… in that case, if things went badly, we would be unable to open the royal capital to the public for years… but that would be bad, right…?

Yes, I really should speak with Ilmitt and the others early… no, I should discuss it with them when I returned from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom so I would not forget.

While thinking that I wanted a task management tool, I turned my gaze away from the window and focused on the clothes Lynferia was preparing.

View of Guriel-Falk, Regent of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, Efaria’s Uncle

“Hah… as expected, speaking with that king makes me nervous.”

“Nervous, you say?”

Efaria, hearing my complaint, tilted her head adorably.

Seeing that, I gave a light wry smile.

We were currently in my office, but only the two of us were inside the room, and unless something extraordinary happened, no one would enter.

Otherwise, Efaria would not be able to show such a relaxed manner.

The same could be said for me as well… as expected, I could not show myself like this in a place where people were watching.

“Efaria, it seems you do not get nervous when speaking with the king of Einheria.”

“That is… true. His Majesty is a very kind person, and I have not been nervous… ah, but I was nervous when I spoke with him for the first time.”

As she said that, Efaria showed a gesture of thinking for a moment.

Even though she was my own niece, I thought she was a girl with truly incredible nerves.

“I do not think my nervousness will disappear no matter how many times I meet him.”

I said words to that niece that could even be taken as weak-hearted.

At first glance, that king gave the impression of a fierce, ambitious, and strong king, but when one spoke with him, one immediately realized that judging him by that impression alone was a mistake.

That king was not a reckless king who charged blindly ahead… he possessed deep thought and cunning, and he wielded his abilities not for his own desires, but with his country’s prosperity as his highest priority.

His retainers were all absurdly capable people, and as for the king’s own strength… whether true or false, it was said that he personally defeated a dragon.

He possessed the strength to control his enemies with fierce responses, the flexibility to implement numerous policies for the prosperity of his own country… and yet, the strictness to govern through proper methods while obeying the law, without judging by emotion.

On top of that, the kindness he showed his people and retainers felt not like a mere appearance, but like it came from his true heart.

When listed like this, it sounded like an extremely false piece of propaganda, but putting personality aside, all of his achievements were true, so there was nothing to do but be astonished.

In the first place… he was facing three countries on the same scale as his own at the same time and had driven them to the brink of destruction in about two months… what kind of joke was that?

Both as a king and as a country, he was far too beyond standard, so there was no way to grasp the whole picture after meeting him only once or twice.

“Lord Fels is a very approachable person. And he is also a very kind person who cares deeply for the people.”

“I certainly feel that as well, but…”

However, there was no doubt that he was not merely a kind king.

The exclusion of the race called goblins, which had been established by the agreements of the countries around this region… he had denied it head-on and had them live beside the royal castle.

And he called them his people, saying that he would never allow them to be treated unjustly.

Frankly speaking, I thought there was absolutely no merit in this action.

That was because a reconciliation policy toward goblins would not only turn neighboring countries against him, but would surely confuse even his own people.

As expected, it did not seem he had spread it to the people yet, but… the upper ranks of Einheria, and the nobles of the former Lumoria Kingdom, had already accepted the goblins, and they seemed to be moving to actively protect them.

There had certainly been an age when goblins ruled this region by military force, but that was already a thing of the distant past, and to us living in the present, they were nothing more than convenient sacrifices.

A justification that said persecuting goblins, who had committed evil, was right. An enemy created under the leadership of nations… created weaklings were extremely convenient as targets for the people’s discontent.

The strength, kindness, and strictness of the king of Einheria, who had dismissed that as nonsense, looked extremely dazzling to me as a member of the Holy Kingdom’s royal family, which had maintained peace by following other countries.

“However, the king of Einheria’s way of thinking is far too revolutionary, and it seems likely to make many enemies.”

“That is true. Lord Fels rather seems to want them to attack more and more.”

“…Does he intend to continue fighting by saying, ‘They hit me, so I will hit them back’?”

Why did he seek battle to that extent?

“I also find that point somewhat strange. Lord Fels does not seem to possess a desire to rule just because he has expanded his territory. I hope he will let me hear what is in his heart in the near future.”

“Hmm… since we are dismantling our army, if we were to lend aid to those foreign expeditions, would it be in logistics and the like?”

“No, that is clearly stated in the treaty. In Einheria’s foreign expeditions, no burden shall be placed on the Lufelon Holy Kingdom. No demands shall be made for the provision of food, weapons, money, soldiers, or the like. As long as this clause exists, the Lufelon Holy Kingdom will not provide anything during Einheria’s foreign expeditions.”

“…This is not good. Did I overlook such an important clause?”

“No, this clause was added after you returned to the Holy Kingdom, Uncle. Well, the formal negotiations are still to come, but it seems Einheria’s demands have already been fully presented, so what remains is simply to settle the conditions on our side.”

They were conditions that made one seriously wonder about the meaning of the word “vassal state.”

That said, a vassal state was still a vassal state… and one could never deny the possibility that our position could suddenly change depending on the other party’s mood.

“…Despite the matter with the chancellor, for some reason that side already feels as if it has been settled, which is strange. Right now, all I can think about is how to make our people accept the difficult issue of becoming a vassal state.”

They had taken in and protected Efaria, who had appeared suddenly… and even if there were calculations involved, the treaty was so lenient it was hard to believe they were conditions for a vassal state.

Of course, strict conditions that would shake the very foundation of the Holy Kingdom, such as dismantling the army and abolishing the noble system, had also been thrust upon us, and making everyone accept this would require considerable effort.

No, normally speaking, there was no way they would accept it.

“In the worst case, you, Faran, and I will all be executed for treason, Uncle.”

“Efaria… that is not something to say with a smile, you know?”

The chancellor would execute us gleefully.

Well, if that happened, the Lufelon Holy Kingdom would simply be annexed by Einheria… but as expected, I could not throw away my own life or my niece’s life with an attitude like “either way.”

I had heard the plan to convince our retainers, but… as expected, my nerves were not strong enough to say I was looking forward to it like Efaria did.

In the talks starting tomorrow… our… no, the fate of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom would be decided.

For now… if I were to die, I decided I would tell my brother and his wife that their daughter had far too much nerve.

Looking at Efaria, who was smiling even in this situation, I swore that firmly.