Chapter 97
Was pretty tired when I did the first half of this chapter so some parts of it might read out oddly. Next chapter in 4-8 hours.
Year 7442, Month 12, Day 28
Since today after this I"m going to make deliveries to the knight group headquarters at the castle, it would probably be a good idea to start making preparations. I"m sure that we"ll depart after eating so during this season it"s around 7 am I guess.
Honestly, since I haven"t eaten anything in almost a full day I"m starving.
I put on my underpants, socks, and under-armor.
Stick my feet into my boots, equip my rubber protectors, and hang the things I need from the D rings.
Just in case I put my full set of rubber repair tools into my bag and just like that thew it into my saddle bag.
After that I just need to confirm my bayonet and prepare the proof of sales (receipt).
And wait for older brother to come and call for me. When I confirmed the clock magic tool the time was just past 5 am.
Since I finished all of my preparations I sit down on the bed and take another look at the memo I was writing.
Hmn..I wonder what in the world is going on.
My memories are being forgotten, or rather the fact that I remember something itself is vague, or rather I don"t know how to express it right but for the time being there"s some impairment in my memory. I don"t think I"m having the impairment in my memory all that often but...
If this is something related to reincarnation then would that mean it"s happening to all of the reincarnated people?
I heard about the mental rejuvenation from Bel"s story so it"s not unthinkable that it would be happening for everyone.
However, just from what I"ve heard from Bel and Ralpha I can"t imagine that they have any impairments in their memory.
That goes the same for Kuro and Mary. If I think about it now then I feel like Mary was mentally younger as well. But, I don"t think they had any impairment with their memory. If they did have something then it would be a disaster. They might end up forgetting that they were told not to reveal the acquisition method for magic and it could become troublesome. Well, if I think about it calmly I can"t deny that both the method of learning magic and the method of increasing mana will eventually spread around. Both of them have some major problems that make it difficult for the information to spread.
It"s a weird way of putting it but there was even the possibility of the secret leaking from sister-in-law Shani to the Marquis Webdos family. Well, since sister-in-law formally married into the family and even gave birth to children I haven"t been too worried about that. On Orth when you marry into a family your connections with your previous family are cut and the awareness is stronger that you"ve become a person of the new family.
This isn"t particularly just the way of thinking Bakuddo but I"ve already understood that it"s a normal set of values for people on the Jindal peninsula region where Marquis Webdos territory is located. So I think it"s fine to ignore things on sister-in-law Shani"s end. If we were to worry about things leaking from sister-in-law Shani then we would need to start worry about things leaking from mother to her family Duke Sandak as well after all.
Two children were born at older brother"s place. There"s no guarantee that they won"t have any new children after this as well. I"m sure they"ll start pounding magic in those kids starting from five years old like older sister. And those kids will eventually get bigger and have kids of their own. I"m sure that sister won"t stay single forever
as well and I don"t know when I"ll have kids either. It"s true that for the people of Orth if they have more mana then they have that much more of an advantage in their life.
Although, if it"s something like 10 MP or a lot somewhere around there then it"s..after all amazingly advantageous. If it comes down to quite literally a different set of digits then it would be serious. Putting aside sister and I, one day people with as much mana as older brother..No, I guess I can"t say people with as much as sister won"t appear as well. In any case, I"m sure that people with an immense amount of mana will gradually start to appear from the Greed lineage.
On Orth it"s normal to have your first child around 20 years old and in most cases they have multiple children. Around three generations from now, in 50-60 years though it depends on the number of children we have but it wouldn"t be strange for there to be 10-20 people with as much mana as older sister. If it comes to that then you never know what kind of people might be mixed in there.
It"s very possible that a careless person like me might just casually say it as well. It"s just a difference of whether it"s sooner or later. The only way to prevent that is to make it a secret pa.s.sed from parent to child and kill off anyone else than the one who receives it or something like that is necessary. I"m sure father probably hasn"t thought that far. If that was the case then now that older brother has had two children it wouldn"t be strange for both older sister and I to have been killed long ago. It"s hard to imagine that father and mother haven"t realized that it"ll multiple like rats as well.
Most likely, father isn"t thinking about protecting the secret forever from the start, and doesn"t think it can be protected either.
However, if a number of people with immense mana are born from a remote Viscount family like Bakuddo then several decades later it"s possible he could be thinking that it would grow quite big. If until then someone in the family can gain the patronage of someone in an importance office in the country then there"s plenty to hope for I"m sure.
It makes sense that he forcefully pushed older sister into the first knight group as well. Well just taking the exam for the first knight group is amazing unrelated to mana so this is probably a coincidence but he might have thought about it after discussing it with mother during the time until older brother returned from the battlefield.
Even when I said I would aim to be the King of a new counry and left the house I wasn"t stopped after all. If I think about it now then it"s true that it took the shape of him letting me do whatever I please.
However, my mana amount is abnormal and if they weren"t a reincarnated person, and, able to observe the shape of MP or mana in some form then they"d never be able to reach this point.
Not to mention just guessing it is for the most part an unreasonable request.
My older brother and sister have an abnormal amount of mana but my parent"s already know that my mana amount is several times more than that. Depending on how things go for this fellow (me), founding a country might be impossible but he might be able to gain a high position in a foreign country, or at least there"s a high probability they might have thought something like that.
Even if it"s impossible it would be simple to return to the Rombert Kingdom and stand out as a royal court sorcerer. It wouldn"t be strange or anything at all for them to have calculated that far. If by any chance things go well and I"m able to make even a small country then the family could rely on me to create close ties with Bakuddo. Thinking like that and after us siblings starting with older brother grow up...I guess until we"re around 30-35 years old it would be undesirable for the methods of training with magic or increasing mana to be known until then.
I"ll try thinking of several examples. For example older sister. She was skillfully able to enter the first knight group. Going off her appearance she should be able to get some decent promotions in the knight group as well. I don"t know if she would be able to make it to the knight leader but even if she were to just make it to around commander of a company, at the very least she would be able to gain enough fortune, peerage, and the backing of the army to live well in the Kingdom of Rombert.
It would make sense that there are children with abnormal amounts of mana being born in "that" Greed family.
I"m sure it would become like that. Then it would become only obvious for people of "that" Greed family to have more power than the average sorcerer so it seems there"s some kind of secret but they"ve eroded into the center of the army, so it would be trouble to get eyed by them, or at least it"s very possible to lead things in that direction. I"m sure it"s possible to have a foreign country pay attention to us as well but at that time depending on the conditions it"s also a possibility for the entire family to switch sides to that country.
Even if I were to succeed then I"ll become royalty. It"s only obvious that royalty holds secrets. No, I don"t know that for sure though.
If I the King says something like, "that"s a secret of our royal family" while putting on airs then that"s plenty. If I can just earn several decades in time like that there"s no problem. After that we just need to make sure that our family and descendants have built up enough authority and a.s.sets to live an advantageous life if the secret were to be exposed.
Father was probably thinking something like that. Obviously the details would be different I"m sure. I think that he might have been thinking something similar.
Putting that aside and Ralpha from yesterday. That girl, at first she rushed to cover me but she quickly switched sides to older brother. Well, it"s true that I broke the rules of my family so it can"t be helped that I was. .h.i.t and punished. Rather I think it"s great that I got away with just that. However, you were getting off easy thanks to the blessing from that. s.h.i.t, what"s with her? Come to think of it her appearance was strange...Ah.
Maybe she, fell for older brother. Don"t joke with me, I don"t want to call someone like you sister-in-law. Maybe I"ll thoroughly obstruct it.
While I was thinking these sorts of selfish delusions the door was knocked. After opening it and older brother was standing there. Older brother put his hand on my swollen cheek and used healing magic to fix it.
"Did you properly think about what father and mother thought and said? I"ll keep an eye on the two in the Webdos knight group when I have the occasion. It seems that in 3-4 years you intend to go and pick them up right. I"m sure if they train that long they"ll be competent enough. Until then, you need to make sure you properly grow up to not be an embarra.s.sment to them as well...Got it? Now, let"s go and get some breakfast. This morning is your treat. Let me eat something delicious."
............
I lead older brother and the squires to the restaurant we always eat breakfast at and gathered together with Zenom and the other party members. It seems that it"s become that older brother gave me something to do yesterday is why I wasn"t around since lunch. Therefore the squires and my slaves didn"t say anything. We had a breakfast of bread, soup, and a pork saute, then everyone is going to the capital.
Excluding older brother and I the only ones here that have gone to the capital is the squire Sean who went when Mill took her exams, Zenom who went once when he was young, and Zulu who was sold in the slave market there. So everyone was looking forward to it. It seems that Zulu who couldn"t decently look around the capital and Angela who has never gone there think they"re lucky to be able to take a look around the largest city on the western edge of the Oladd continent Rombertia.
"Let"s confirm our plans for today a bit. Al and us are going to the knight group headquarters at the castle and after making deliveries we"re immediately taking measurements. It should probably end in about 2 hours. That"s why after eating lunch in Rombertia there"s free time until evening. I"m sure there"s various things so to observe various things everyone should look around. We"ll decided where to meet up later. Zenom-san and the others are going to stay in the capital for a week starting today right?"
Older brother said.
"Yeah, we"ve already reserved an inn as well. It"s an inn called "Grinf Manor". Will Lord Greed"s party not be staying the night in the capital?"
Zenom replied but,
"Eh..Older brother and the others are leaving today? Even though I wanted you to accompany us to various places.."
Ralpha jumped into the conversation. You, my older brother isn"t a guide. Don"t joke with me. And then even Zenom is speaking politely to my older brother who is the heir to n.o.bility! What"s with that intimate way of talking to him, could it be you"re looking down on the Greed family of Bakuddo?
"N? Didn"t you hear from Al? We"re staying in the capital tonight but we"re returning to Bakuddo tomorrow morning. Sorry about that. The inn we"re staying at is called "Ronheluk Manor". It"s in a slightly different to find area so we should probably gather in a different place first then head to the inn."
Come to think of it older brother, yesterday he quickly got familiar with Ralpha and the others. The way he was talking just now was closer to naturally talking to juniors at work rather than the friends of his little brother. Rather~ I don"t know anything about older brother outside of the house but after all he"s well-mannered and cool.
"Lord Greed, I have a request of you. When you visit the castle for deliveries would it be alright for my daughter Ralpha and Bernadette to accompany you? I definitely want to show them the castle at least once."
Zenom lowered his head and asked older brother.
"Hn? Ah, I wonder about that."
Older brother is looking at me. What is it?
"Since the head of Greed Company is Al, I don"t have any right to make the decisions. Al, how about it?"
Eh? Ah? Ah, so that sort of thing.
"I don"t particularly mind. I"m bringing along Zulu and Angela after all.."
After I said that and Zenom gave a broad smile, Zulu and Angela raised their voices in surprise.
Thanks, Zenom.
...............
After returning to the inn and the person from the third company came to meet us.
I"m sure this person will escort(it"s unnecessary though) to the royal castle and do the procedures for us to enter.
The person from the third company started politely greeting older brother and the squires and I don"t know if there was some kind of misunderstanding but they greeted Zenom, Zulu, and Angela.
And when I was thinking they they must surely offer the head of Greed Company me a polite greeting as I was waiting when,
"You, did you properly wash your face before coming? Do you have a handkerchief? Make sure you take proper care of your appearance."
and said. s.h.i.tty sister.
After the three of us siblings got on our war horses, the four squires got on the two carriages both pulled by two horses each, Zenom and the other 5 were walking, 14 of us in total started heading towards Rombertia.
It"s just about 7 am in the morning right now. Since it"s not even 10 Km away and the road is in good condition I"m sure we"ll arrive at the castle by around 10 am. The three of lined up at the head of the group with me in the center and enjoyed a sibling conversation for the first time in a while.
Along the way, after taking a break for just about 10 minutes once we arrived at the royal castle with no problem.
After going through the process to enter the castle and arriving at the plaza in the third outer citadel and the people from the first knight group were gathered together.
I guess they caught sight of us they suddenly started cheering.
I can see Baron Logan the knight leader as well.
After having my back pushed by older brother I stood in front of the baron and politely lowered my head.
"Lord knight leader, I have arrived to deliver the goods that you ordered...it"s over there. We"ve completed it just as the measurements we took but if possible, please try it on right away and confirm the size. In the worst case if there"s a problem with the size I"ll immediately correct it."
"Yeah. We can try it on immediately, everyone who ordered the armor is already in just their under-armor. They"ve been anxiously waiting for it. Now, everyone, it"s time to confirm. Try putting it on right away!"
Around the same time as he said that the Baron ran over to the carriage after he finished saying it.
After that the people of the second company followed behind.
The squires of Bakuddo are confirming each persons name before handing them a wooden box.
The emblem of the first knight group and the name of the person ordered it was carved into the lid of the wooden box and the Greed family crest and the sentence Produced in Bakuddo Village are carved into the sides in the same way. Didn"t just the box take quite a bit of money..Well if they were to ask an artisan around Doritt I"m sure it would be about 20,000 Z (2 silver coins) per box. I"m sure it"s not too expensive around that area.
There"s quite a few people in the plaza who didn"t make orders this time who came to watch. There"s also a number of people who aren"t in the first knight group.
I exchanged glances with older brother before saying.
"Now then, people of the third company, we"ll start taking measurements for the next lot to be produced, so please come over here."
There"s six squires and among them four are involved in the process of producing rubber.
It should be fine to leave taking the measurements up to them.
If each person takes about 15 minutes then I"m sure it won"t even take an hour.
On the side of taking measurements the baron and members of the second company are using us siblings and squires from Bakuddo as examples as they equip their armor.
I wonder if the squires of the first knight group don"t help true knights equip their armor?
I tried asking sister about it and "Since Amzel, Gurh.o.r.etz, and I are always equipping ours on our own and the time it takes to equip is short. It seems they were jealous of that. Don"t they want to be able to equip it on their own in a short period of time? I taught everyone how to put it on yesterday after all." is how she responded.
It"s true that I made the rubber protectors so they can be put on and taken off alone.
I only had father"s old splint-mail armor as an example when I was making it so that"s all I know.
That"s why without much of a reference I made it from the start keeping in mind the aspect of equipping it all on your own and didn"t pay much attention to it.
About the only thing I used as a reference was the form and location of the plates or so.
The generations have already advanced quite a bit so there"s almost no traces remaining of it though.
Come to think of it before I said anything to mother and father they would equip their armor on their own as well. About the only time I helped out father was when we were testing the first prototype was it?
I see, so the fact that you can equip it alone is another sales point.
Just like that taking the measurements progresses and several people finished trying on the armor.
It seems that they"re jumping or doing a light run to test out the size and sensation.
I can hear voices of joy saying "light, light".
I rub my hands together while approaching the baron and say.
"Lord knight leader, how is it? The armor of our Bakuddo?"
"Yeah. This is light and good. The size fits perfectly as well and there"s no sense of discomfort...if it"s this."
".If it"s this?"
"Ah, no, it"s something on my end. By the way we must finish paying the remaining money. Hey, Nors! Hand Greed-kun the remainder of the money. Greed-kun. We"ve left all of the remaining money in his care. Receive it from him. However, this sure is light. Oh..umu..my shoulders move quite a bit.."
It seems that he"s busy.
The person called Nors trotted up to me holding a bag.
After receiving the heavy bag I counted it together with older brother.
162 gold coins, 162,000,000 Z, I"ve certainly received it.
I have him sign the proof of sales with the amount written on it (Something like a receipt. Including the advance payment you use it to pay for the luxury tax.) and shut it away in my pocket.
And then this time older brother took one in a division of the bag out and handed it to me.
"Then Head of Greed Company, sign this."
After saying that and he wanted me to sign the Webdos form proof of sales this time.
The amount is..216,000,0000 Z.
"Yeah..Yes. Is the luxury tax in Webdos 10% as well? I"ll pay the 21,600,000 Z."
"That"s no good. There"s no problem with us paying the taxes. I can"t say it in a loud voice but father was extremely pleased by the matter this time. And..you need money right? Father even said it would be fine about 50/50. I think so as well but it seems that you"re giving it your best in the dungeon as well from what was written on the letter. We decided to depend on your words."
Older brother said that and lowered his head to me. Stop that.
"Ah..Yeah. Got it. Thanks."
I was handed a bag filled to the brim with heavy gold coins.
108 gold coins, 108,000,000 Z. If I pay the luxury tax of 32,400,000 Z from here the remainder is mine.
Ah, I need to receive the advance payment from the third company people as well.
Soon after taking the measurements ended I went to Viscount Kendus and called out to him.
"Company commander Kendusu. I"m sorry for the very long wait. I believe that the delivery for the armor we took measurements for this time should be around April."
"Oh~ Greed-kun. Thank you for taking the orders from us the third company this time. And you know. It"s a matter of discussion, but I"d like for you to take orders from us the third company again next"Kendus! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You deceived us!?"
Everyone was surprised at thick and deep voice that echoed through the plaza and looked at it"s owner.
There was a middle-age man close to 2m with a build like a bear bringing along several dozen men in armor running over here with a frightening expression.
Is there around 30-40 or so of them?
Bel and Ralpha are clearly afraid.
Everyone else including me has no idea what is going on and are just dumbfounded.
"Ah, this is bad.."
Viscount Kendus huddled his body over and tried to move behind the carriage as if to hide from him.
"Hey! You"re loud! Jeff! We"re in front of guests. Don"t make such a racket!"
Baron Logan roared at the huge middle-age man.
"U..Yes, knight leader..That armor..s.h.i.t. So you were accomplices with that Kendus b.a.s.t.a.r.d as well! Don"t joke with me! Aren"t the one who made the recommendation for Greed! Hey now, Greed! You owe me a favor right? Right? That"s why put in a good word for me with Greed Company. Take orders for my armor as well. Hey, I"m begging you."
After seeing that middle-age man older brother quickly ran up and said.
"It"s been a long time Lord Bittwaz, I am very indebted to your for that time."
Lord Bittwaz?
Then this middle-age man that"s like a bear and is saying selfish things is Sub-Baron Jeffrey.Bittwaz?
The sub-commander of the first knight group?
I run over to him in a hurry as well.
"It"s nice to meet you lord Bittwaz. My brother and sister have been in your care for quite a bit. I"m Alan.Greed of the Greed Company."
"Oh~ if it isn"t the Black Eagle of Webdos~ Have you been well? And, hn? Greed Company? Oh~ so it was you! Hey, I"m begging you, just one more suit of armor, take my order. In the first place, taking the orders of the commander and those fellows from the second company at the start, then just taking them from the third company next, that"s no"Wai, sub-commander! Just yourself? We"re here as well. That"s cruel."
I don"t know what"s going on anymore but there"s no controlling it.
"Would you all be quiet! Idiots!"
The commander roared out again. It immediately got silent. It would be good if Ralpha didn"t p.i.s.s herself though.
"You all, even with that do you still call yourselves the prosperous first knight group!"You"re the loudest of them all! Logan!"
Eh? It"s the King!
Also, the queens are following behind him.
Ah, this is bad!
I hurried over to the squires from Bakuddo and Zenom and the others and said "It"s his majesty the King. Imitate me." then took the pose of a retainer.
The color of everyone"s face changed and they imitated me.
"I was taking a walk before lunch and~ it"s really loud~ What in the world is going on?"
After coming nearby the King called out to Baron Logan.
"Huh, that is..about the equipment of the knight group..there was a bit of an argument over a difference of opinion, that is..we just got a bit too heated over it."
Baron Logan said that in desperation.
"Hn? Commander Logan, that armor..Your majesty, Greed has come."
It seems that Yulu noticed me.
"Hn? Oh~ Greed. So you were here? Raise your head!"
It..It"s me right!?
..There"s no way it would be older brother or sister after all.
"Ha..Right here."
It can"t be helped. I raised my face while steel kneeling.
"Oh~, oh~, you"re far, "Oh, Greed, come over here."
After Molin found my face she interrupted the King and called out to me.
It can"t be helped, I guess I"ll go.
Let alone the squires from Bakuddo and Zenom the others, even older brother and sister are surprised.
That"s only obvious.
I went to the side of the King and the others, kneeled again, and took the pose of a retainer.
"Greed, weren"t you supposed to visit after the start of the new year?"
Molin said to me.
"Ha..your highness, Queen Molail. I came today to make deliveries of equipment for the first knight group."
"I see. It"s a bit soon but that is~ Do you have that thing today?"
It turned into a whisper.
"Yes, I have it. It"s on the carriage. Would it be best to delivery it right away?"
I respond in a whisper as well.
"No, it"s fine for now. It"s fine as long as you have it. Right~ everyone else thinks so as well?"
Molin said that and looked at the other Queens.
"Yeah, that"s right. However, just one more bag, there"s only six remaining. Even if we say the start of the new year, when will you come next time?"
Becky said that.
"Yeah, I was thinking of appearing in the castle on January 3rd or 4th."
After I said that and this time Marin opened her mouth.
"Eh? Since today is the 28th..Isn"t that the last moment? Molin-sama, what should we do?"
"There"s a few too many people looking on here. Greed, you, after you finish your job call out to someone. It"s fine if it"s anyone of us, but ask to call one of us that is available. We"re in the second citadel for the time being."
Molin said that to me. It"s still in a whisper the same as usual.
"Ha..I understand and accept. When my job has completed please allow me to call out for someone."
"Greed, about that, I like it quite a bit. Your place, made quite a good thing."
After saying that I continued kneeling until the King had left.
..............
After that Baron Logan organized things.
Since it can"t be helped this time we"ll take the orders of the third company this time but starting next time it seems that the commander will regulate the orders.
Older brother, the squires of the village, and Zenom and the others were all surprised by how popular the rubber protectors were.
We received the advance payment from the people we took measurements for in the third company this time and I handed that to the squire Sean while saying,
"Isn"t the rubber armor popular?"
and laughed and then,
"Yeah, it"s quite amazing. I doubt the master had predicted it would go this far as well. He must be proud that he has a good son."
and praised me.
"By the way, Greed-kun, also, Lord Greed, do you have any plans after this today? If you don"t have any then even if it"s after lunch would you lend us a hand in training for the third company? I want to see the true ability of the rumored Black Eagle of Webdos and that well-made younger brother as well. How about it?"
The commander of the third company Viscount Kendus asked that. Certainly, I previous turned him down. I don"t see a problem with it after I finish things up regarding the condoms.
However, I"m sure that older brother and the squires want to take a look around their long-awaited capital.
"Oh~ that"s right. Let"s show them that for the first time in a while."
The sub-commander Sub-Baron Bittwaz called out as well. What"s that?
"Yeah, according to what Greed says she"s the weakest one among their siblings. I want to see what level the older brother and younger brother are at."
Even the commander Baron Logan joined in.
Eh~ if it"s without magic then I feel like I"m probably the weakest one.
And even if it"s older brother with how much training sister has received from the first knight group won"t he end up giving a match or so?
"Umm? your excellency commander, everyone, I"m very sorry but my older brother is returning tomorrow. I"ll visit this afternoon so can you please let him off with just that.."
I said that and lowered my head but,
"No, it"s the request of our customer. If you"re fine with novices such as then please let us join you in training. Al, it"s fine if you don"t worry about we can extend our stay by a day."
Older brother said that while putting his hand on my shoulder and smiled.
It became that we would go to the riverbed where the third company was training previously after lunch.
It seems that sister is going to have lunch together with older brother.
Of course Zenom and the others as well.
I...had no other choice than to tell one of the guards to give a message to the queens that Greed has completed his business.
Depending on how things go I might be the only one who goes without lunch.
Since it"s a rare chance it seems that Zenom and the others are going to watch the training of the first knight group as well.
I"m sure they have the time after all so it might be a good reference.
However, Ralpha. For the time being you"ve been quiet, but you, if you make a pa.s.s at older brother in front of sister you"ll die. I wonder if it would be best to warn her ahead of time?
No wait, I was supposed to interfere with her romance. I should just ignore it here.