Common Sense of a Warrior

A sudden knock echoed within the silent room.

The one who entered the room, was the steward Alf who came together with me from the Armelia Ducal House.

"I"ve troubled you……how was it?"

"There are no problems. Safety within the inn has been ensured."

Alf"s words gave me a sense of security.

Exhaling, I let out the breath that had been stuck in my throat.

"I see. As expected, you"re quite reliable."

"……it is my duty to arrange a comfortable environment for my master."

Seeing Alf respectfully lowering his head, I reflexively burst into laughter.

"It is true that checking all of the inn"s food and drink for the presence of poison, in addition to checking for infiltrators within the inn is [arranging a comfortable environment]."

Alf did not deny my words.

He simply made a gentle smile.

"Thanks to you, I"m able to relax like this. I"m truly thankful, Alf."

"It is only natural."

"Only natural, huh. I am truly filled with awe at your efficiency…….now then, I feel bad asking this of you when you"re tired, but could you make some tea for me?"

"Yes, of course."

While Alf was making tea, I turned my back to the window and sat down.

"……you were gazing at the scenery quite seriously. Were you reminded of the country?"

"No……I wanted to burn into my eyes what the guys I will be meeting are carrying on their shoulders. It is better to know as much as I can about my opponent before meeting them……something like that."

"……is that so?"

"Regarding the country……well, I am a little worried, but if it"s Rui he"ll manage it somehow. My subordinates are also there too. For the estate, Aurelia is there in the first place so there should be no problems as long as I leave things to her."

Alf quietly presented warm tea to me.

I drank it without any hesitation at all.

"Yup, it"s delicious."

Hearing my words, Alf"s smile deepened.

"Tomorrow will be the Grindal Ducal House and Ferring Ducal House, huh…….Alf."

I turned my gaze towards Alf.

That alone was enough for Alf to understand what I wanted without saying as he nodded and opened his mouth.

The words that came out from his mouth was information on the Grindal Ducal House.

……Duke Grindal.

The Grindal House was one of the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality"s five Archduke Houses, and was a Ducal house that possessed a vast, yet wealthy territory in the northwest region.

They boasted the greatest amount of a.s.sets amongst the five Archduke Houses, and while they lived in an area with a cold climate, their land was wealthy. As they had raised crops capable of enduring the climate, they were more than self-sufficient in food production.

In addition, the cloth produced by Duke Grindal"s territory was famous for possessing a unique texture, and has won popularity both inside and outside of the country, regardless of borders. 

The current head of the family was Maurice Grindal.

His wife"s name was Linette Grindal, and the two of them had a single son.

Maurice was a highly reputed person, said to be a man of high integrity that was dauntless and decisive.

"…….if it"s the Northwest region, then even if their invasion of Tasmeria Kingdom went well, the likelihood of damage to the people from war being greater than the profits would be high."

As though to interrupt Afl"s words, I spoke.

"On top of that, Maurice Grindal"s feelings towards the people are strong, so if it is him than he would likely choose to avoid any unnecessary conflicts…….although this is ultimately a subjective a.n.a.lysis by our information providers."

Alf promptly reacted.

"I see…….what of the difference in military strength between the five Archduke houses?"

"It is proportional to the difference in the amount of a.s.sets they each possess. Starting from the top is Grindal, Sligar, Ferring, Crow, and then Baskar. Simply based on numbers, if a civil war were to arise between the moderate faction and the diehard faction, the moderate faction would have the advantage. In addition, if you add the military strength from all the houses with the rest of the Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality, they would possess a military force that would be ten percent larger than our country"s."

"I see……that being the case, then is the diehard faction pushing to expand the military?"

"According to the laws of Rinmel Princ.i.p.ality……or rather, the agreement made between the five Archduke houses, they cannot openly expand the military. However, it seems that the Sligar House is secretly doing so."

"Hou……is that so?"

"Although, simply increasing their numbers is not sufficient. As they need a considerable amount of training, it will take some time before they can fight as an army. In contrast, for the Grindal House, even amongst the civilians who are not counted as military personnel, there are a considerable number of them who can fight to a certain degree."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It is traditionally encouraged to learn martial arts. Not in order to simply learn techniques to kill, but to temper one"s own heart by training one"s body. As such, both boys and girls start training from a young age."

Those words reminded me of the Anderson Marquis House"s territory.

In the Anderson Marquis House"s territory, perhaps because every generation of the Marquis house that ruled over the territory was well-known for being a military family, there were training grounds for martial arts all throughout the domain.

And perhaps because of that, the Guard Corps of the Anderson Marquis House was stronger than any other house"s.

"My, that is quite……from the viewpoint of Duke Sligar, that must be quite intolerable."

"Yes. It is possible to perceive it as them possessing an abundance of reserve soldiers after all."

"Because of that, Duke Sligar may be unnecessarily impatient, huh."

"Yes……the possibility of that is quite high."

"Incidentally, does the Sligar Ducal House have frequent interactions with mercenaries?"

"No……the last time a mercenary group was seen was 4 or 5 years ago."

"Is that so……"

For a moment, I pondered over the overall scheme of the conversation we had.