In Training

“Lumina, sit.”

Right in front of me, Lumina looked up at me, folded her hind legs, and set her butt on the ground.

She was so, so adorable.

“Good girl, good girl, good girl!”

I praised Lumina extravagantly for properly listening to my command.

“Lumina, paw.”

Lumina softly placed her front paw on the hand I held out.

She was absolutely lovely.

“Good girl, good girl, good girl! Lumina’s so smart! So cute!”

After rubbing Lumina all over with both hands, I gave her some jerky as a snack substitute, and she bit into it happily, doing her very best to tear it apart.

Her jaws were still not very strong, so even soft jerky looked like it would be enough to train them.

Watching Lumina brace the jerky with her front paws and work so hard to bite it apart, I felt my heart being soothed.

Lately, even inside the castle I had been forced to stay tense… so spending time with Lumina lightened my heart more than anything else possibly could… fluff fluff fluff fluff.

Since the audience with the former Lumoria nobles, no one I personally had to deal with directly had come, but Kiriku and Ilmitt seemed to be holding talks with quite a large number of people day after day.

If it were something that required a decision or ruling, it should have been brought up to me, so if that was not happening, then the content of those meetings was probably not all that important… but I had been throwing this and that job at Kiriku and the others, so I really needed to check on what they were currently working on.

Still, I had also been fairly busy myself with the monster issue and making moves against other countries… so I inevitably kept putting Kiriku and the others off.

That was probably not a very good thing. Just because I was busy, I should not neglect to check on the situation of the girls I had assigned work to.

Well, me saying I was busy while playing with Lumina like this had absolutely no persuasive power… but later today, Lynferia, Kamila, and I were planning to go exterminate monsters in a forest even farther north than the former royal capital.

It looked like I would be back late, so I had been replenishing my fluff reserves while I still could… but maybe I should meet with Kiriku sometime soon and show some appreciation… and as for Ilmitt, even though I invited her for drinks the other day… a fair amount of time had passed since then, so I should probably let her unwind somehow again.

Actually, not just the two of them, I ought to do something for everyone to show my appreciation… I should think of something.

View of Eltrise, eldest daughter of Count Harekukku

“Kiriku-sama, I have compiled the materials on each region’s population, as well as tax revenue, resources, harvests, and trade with the various countries.”

Carrying the materials into the office, I held them out to Kiriku-sama, the master of the room.

“…It seems you have grown accustomed to the changes in format. No one has adapted as flexibly as you have. I will be counting on you from here on as well.”

“Yes, leave it to me.”

As Kiriku-sama looked down at the materials I had handed over, he offered me words of appreciation, but I felt as though no emotion at all had been put into them.

Several months had passed since I came to serve Einheria as a civil official and began working under Ilmitt-sama and Kiriku-sama… they had instructed me with great care, and I had desperately learned the ways of this country as well.

And yet, there was something I could not help thinking. The way this country functioned was abnormal.

More than anything, it treated taxes far too lightly… Einheria, which had discarded the collection of that foundational income necessary to run a nation, was covering its basic operating expenses through trade with merchants.

Of course, that did not mean all taxes had been abolished.

The operation of towns and villages was funded with the taxes collected in those towns, and tariffs were imposed on goods brought in from other countries.

Taxes were collected under many other names as well, but… none of them were being paid to the nation at all. Even without saying it outright, that was an abnormal situation.

With tribute to the nation gone, tax rates had been lowered in various places, increasing the money both the people and the merchants were free to spend.

Although the tax rates had fallen, the towns’ operating budgets had increased because they no longer had to send tribute to the nation, the towns had clearly become more lively than before, and the economy had been invigorated… creating an ideal cycle in which tax revenues increased as a result.

The nobles who had once drawn income from taxes had lost that, and instead their livelihood was being guaranteed by pensions paid by the nation… but the sums paid were so large that I could not help worrying where that money was coming from.

Certainly, negotiations with merchants seemed to have become more active lately… but between the former Lumoria nobles and Einheria’s old retainers… no matter what, it was unthinkable that the former Lumoria nobles were being paid more than those who had served here from the beginning… so where in the world was this revenue source… no, before that, if they did not collect taxes, how were they planning to run the nation from here on…?

“Do you have detailed figures for the volume of trade for each import and export item, broken down by trading partner?”

I cut off my thoughts and immediately answered Kiriku-sama’s question.

“My apologies, that is currently being investigated from older records, because the person who had been in charge of that was killed in the recent war.”

“…The one in charge of trade had gone out to war?”

“Yes. But did not Kiriku-sama also go out onto the battlefield?”

When I asked that, Kiriku-sama took his eyes off the materials for the first time and answered while looking at me.

“I am His Majesty’s strategist. His Majesty takes command on the battlefield, and supporting him in that is my work… I am, if anything, more on the military side. Even handling these financial matters like this is being done in preparation for the next war.”

“…You believe the next war will come?”

And yet they had only just brought down the Kingdom of Lumoria, Kiriku-sama had already begun moving toward the next war.

Of course, that was a correct way of thinking. If one did not act on the assumption that war would surely come, everything would become too late.

Besides, with Einheria’s teleportation technology… and with the mighty Einheria army, there would likely be no issue in terms of military strength even if they clashed with the surrounding nations.

But in that case, the enemy would not necessarily be just one nation.

“His Majesty is already moving with that intention. I, someone as insignificant as myself, cannot possibly fathom the depth of His Majesty’s far-reaching plans, but it is my role to draw even a little closer to his thinking and prepare so that I may act swiftly when the time comes.”

“…”

If it were simply a matter of thinking up countermeasures, that would be one thing… but to obtain one nation and then start the next war without first stabilizing the interior of the country… ordinarily, that was an unthinkable act.

But if Kiriku-sama was preparing for it, then war would probably break out before long… who would the opponent be…?

Kiriku-sama had been investigating trade goods, which meant a war aimed at resources?

The former territory of the Kingdom of Lumoria had many plains, and the land was fertile, so its food self-sufficiency rate was very high.

On the other hand, it was poor in mineral resources, and gold, silver, and iron were all perpetually in short supply… so if that was the case, then the target would be…

“Eltrise. The conclusion you have just reached is the same as mine.”

“Then…”

“Mineral resources… certainly, that is the resource we most want at present. However, His Majesty has most likely already made a move beyond even that.”

Kiriku-sama, who had effortlessly read my thoughts and correctly identified that the war would be one aimed at mineral resources, spoke with an air of slight delight. This was not because my thinking had matched Kiriku-sama’s.

A strategist who bore responsibility for military affairs… and Kiriku-sama spoke with visible joy about the king who was making moves beyond even his own considerations.

This person, who normally wore an iron mask and showed no human emotion whatsoever, only ever displayed emotion when speaking about His Majesty.

Even though the king was acting in ways that almost ignored his own work, from the happy-looking Kiriku-sama I could feel an absolute trust in His Majesty.

“Eltrise. Please hand the materials on population over to Ilmitt.”

“I have already had my younger brother submit those to Ilmitt-sama.”

“I see.”

My younger brother, Hā-kun, was also working hard at his duties while receiving instruction from Ilmitt-sama and the others.

For the time being, like me, he was planning to devote himself to his duties as a civil official, but once the country had stabilized to a certain extent, we were each slated to be entrusted with towns as governors.

That applied to all those who had surrendered to Einheria early on.

Only Karmos-sama and Gusco-sama served as governors while also carrying out civil official work inside Einheria Castle, and they were probably even busier than we were. Their teleportation technology was what made that kind of work style possible, but for civil officials it was both reassuring and frightening.

So long as he worked here in Einheria, it could be said that Hā-kun’s future was secure… even if he was no longer a noble, he had originally been the fourth son. Considering that he had been someone destined to be cast out of the house sooner or later, the current situation could even be called sufficient.

He had never had much ambition to rise in the world and had never been attached to power, so if he had been guaranteed the position of governor in Einheria, then I thought this had turned out to be the best possible result.

After that… ideally I would have liked to become the aide to Hā-kun once he was appointed governor… but I still could not say that I had earned enough trust from Kiriku-sama and the others to voice my own hopes.

For the sake of the life Hā-kun and I would have together, I had to work even harder…!

View of Rakian-Yuro, former baron of the Kingdom of Lumoria

No, really, this is impossible… I am seriously going to throw up.

I barely managed to remain standing on my own feet while bracing myself with a hand against the wall.

Around me lay my household retainers, sprawled all over in utter collapse…

“It’s too early to rest yet, de arimasu yo!”

The cause of our humiliating condition… Saria-sama came running over lightly while calling out words of encouragement and rebuke.

She did not look as though she had broken even a single sweat… but frankly speaking, that was abnormal.

Right now, we were in the training grounds inside Einheria Castle.

In the previous war, I had been stationed as part of the defensive force at the bridge west of the battlefield, where I made contact with Saria-sama… and then my entire unit surrendered without ever crossing spears with her.

The spectacular end of the main force that I saw afterward brought me both relief that we had surrendered and crushing guilt that we had abandoned our comrades and surrendered so easily, and it nearly drove me mad.

But the situation gave us no time to wallow in discouragement like that.

The soldiers who had belonged to the unit were disarmed, given some money, and released.

And I, the commander, along with the household retainers who had surrounded me, was recruited into Einheria as a civil official.

After Ilmitt-sama thoroughly drilled Einheria’s rules into us, we were dispatched as governors to the city known as the Kingdom of Lumoria’s second-largest city. It was a role far too great for a former baron who had not even held land. Frankly speaking, my stomach hurt.

Still, with the support of my retainers, I had somehow begun to manage the administration, and around this time… perhaps I had let my guard down.

I studied as a civil official and began my steps as a governor… and as my work had been proceeding smoothly, I visited Einheria Castle to make a report to Ilmitt-sama, and on the way I happened to meet Saria-sama.

And then, in the flow of idle chatter or rather in the natural course of the moment, I ended up saying, “Doing nothing but paperwork is making my body feel sluggish.”

When Saria-sama heard my words, she smiled with a dazzling brightness…

“Exercising once in a while also makes for a nice change of pace, de arimasu! Why not lightly work up a sweat together, de arimasu ka?”

That was what she said.

Naturally, for people like us who had only just entered service, refusing was not an option.

After finishing our report to Ilmitt-sama, we headed to the training grounds, where Saria-sama was out running, and she invited us to join her for a run as a warm-up and then have a light spar afterward.

And so we started running… and this was the result.

We had not even started sparring yet… we had been wiped out by the running alone.

All we were doing was continuing to run around inside the training grounds, but it was a bizarre kind of run where, at Saria-sama’s signal, we switched between full-on sprints and jogging.

The run, with no sign of when it would end, wore away at the mind… and my body, forced to keep moving without rest, remained painfully starved for air no matter how much I breathed.

Warm-up… what had the word warm-up even meant again? Had it not meant something like getting your body warmed up? I was already burned out, and not even ashes were left, though?

For the time being, the next time I met Saria-sama, I swore in my heart that I would never, ever mention being out of shape by mistake.

And having made that vow, I felt everything before my eyes begin to go white.

View of Rinasu, former captain of the scout unit of the Kingdom of Lumoria

“Cougar-sama. May I ask a question?”

“Go right ahead, ssu! Rather, ask as much as you want, ssu! When there’s something you don’t understand, the right thing to do is ask until you do understand, ssu!”

When I asked my superior, Cougar-sama, for permission to ask a question, my superior responded with a very cheerful smile.

“Thank you. I was accepted into the Einheria army as a scout, or rather as an intelligence operative, and have been training until now.”

“Mm-hmm, that’s right, ssu.”

“I was drilled in assassination techniques, interrogation techniques, resistance to interrogation, intelligence gathering, counterintelligence, stealth techniques… and in every kind of skill at a level utterly removed from the techniques I had learned before.”

“You worked hard, ssu.”

“I can only say that I am still immature compared to you and the others, Cougar-sama, but even so I am confident that I have grown into someone like a completely different person from a few months ago.”

“I’m proud too, having taught you all that stuff, ssu.”

“And yet… why is it that I became a diplomatic trainee?”

“Well, it’s obviously still too early for you to stand on your own, ssu! It’s only natural to start as a trainee, ssu!”

At my words, Cougar-sama raised the ends of his brows and spoke up as if to lecture me.

However, that was not what I meant.

“My apologies, Cougar-sama. What I mean is not why I am a trainee, but why I am a diplomat.”

While I was at it, even the very sound of the position diplomatic trainee itself was strange.

“…What do you mean, ssu?”

I was supposed to be the one asking the question, yet the moment I got to the main point, I somehow became the one being questioned.

“A diplomat is someone stationed or dispatched to another country, who as the face of the nation expresses its intentions and conducts negotiations, receives requests and information from the other country as a point of contact and reports them to their own nation, and above all works to promote friendly relations with the country to which they are dispatched, correct?”

“…Hmm?”

Why he had replied in the form of a question now bothered me, but… I would press on.

“What we do is sabotage, stealing information, assassinating or kidnapping important people… I do not think that is anywhere close to a position that promotes friendship.”

“I see, I see, I get what you’re saying, Rinasu-kun, ssu. Since we’re going to kill them anyway, there’s no need to act friendly, right, ssu?”

“Huh? …No, that is… not, I think.”

“Just like you said, Rinasu-kun, the job of a diplomat is to be stationed or dispatched to another country, confirm what the other side is thinking and what their opinions are, and depending on the case negotiate or greet them to get information and put one’s own country in a better position. The country we’re dispatched to is going to be destroyed anyway, but for the time being we’re in a position where we have to act friendly so they won’t find out, ssu.”

…Just like I said… I did not say that, did I?

Did I say it? Could it be that I did? No, I absolutely did not.

“Sure, I think the trainee stage is a pain, ssu. But it’s because you have that kind of groundwork that you can become fully fledged in the future, ssu. Since you used to be a captain, you might be thinking, ‘Starting from the bottom again?’ but when the place changes, the way things are done changes too, ssu. I want you to remember your beginner’s mindset a little and work hard, ssu.”

In the end, it somehow got settled as though the issue was that I disliked being a trainee.

Was this sort of wild misinterpretation really acceptable for an intelligence operative…?

“…Understood. Thank you very much, Cougar-sama.”

That said, this probably would not line up… in Einheria, I would simply have to accept that this was what a diplomat was.

“No need to thank me, ssu! Looking after your juniors is a senior’s duty, ssu! Well then, let’s start with basic training, ssu. We’ll keep it light today at thirty kilometers, ssu. We’re doing it in an hour, ssu!”

“…Yes.”

The units of distance and time recommended by Einheria… as an intelligence operative… no, as a diplomatic trainee, I had become able to estimate them to some extent by feel… but there was absolutely no way to run that distance in that amount of time.

However, I was not in a position to object… it was not a matter of whether it could be done or not, I simply had to do it.

“Well then, here we go, ssu!”

The distance between us opened in an instant… and yet I gritted my teeth and kept running.

Would the day ever come… when I became fully fledged?

View of Gusco-Habar, former lord of Assen Territory

Having finished cleaning the chapel, which was part of my daily routine, the time had come to offer my prayers today as well.

Before me, filled with divinity and praying with a tranquility like the surface of a lake upon which not even a single ripple arose, was Eisha-sama.

The beauty of it dazzled my eyes… no, it nearly blinded them, but I cast aside my many thoughts and offered my prayers in earnest.

I understood that my faith was directed toward a place different from the one Eisha-sama’s was directed toward.

Even so, though the destination differed, I could proudly say that there was not the slightest clouding in this faith of mine.

Ahh… Eisha-sama was precious today as well.