Chapter 28 - 28 The Sound of Military Boots
A short while after the bandit incident, Steve was visiting Aurora to receive his reward. The fact that the promised reward was being issued meant that Jack and the others had spat out the information Aurora desired. He was to receive a report on that information as well.
When Aurora's messenger arrived at the Emmanuel Trading Company to convey the date and time for a meeting with Emmanuel, Emmanuel informed Steve of it upon his next visit.
When the appointed time arrived, Steve teleported into Aurora's office.
"Should I have knocked?"
"It is fine. Given the relationship between you and me."
When Steve appeared in the office at the promised time, Aurora accepted it without surprise, having already grown accustomed to it.
"Though, my husband has been jealous lately because your name comes up so often."
"I would like you to clear up that misunderstanding. If strange rumors were to spread, my fiancée would be saddened as well."
"Oh, is it only your fiancée?"
"I do not understand your intent." Aurora had already investigated and found that Bella harbored feelings for Steve. However, Steve himself had not noticed Bella's feelings and did not understand what Aurora was trying to imply.
Learning that Steve had such a dense side to him, Aurora smiled mischievously and did not reveal her intent.
"We can discuss that eventually. Today is about the information confessed by the bandits you captured alive the other day, and the promised reward regarding that."
"I had heard beforehand, but the fact that a reward is being issued means the connection with the Kingdom of Forest has been uncovered, I take it?"
"Yes, that is right. The leader of the bandit group is named Jack Olgren. His master is Margrave Bradle, a noble of the Kingdom of Forest. All the bandits were soldiers from there. Their mission was to ravage the areas along the border here. They claim not to know the objective, but likely, if we had lodged a complaint, they intended to use that as a pretext to start a war. Additionally, they were probably aiming to exhaust us through our searching and preparations. Since they were using that Jack's magic to greatly extend their travel distance, they would have already crossed the border and returned by the time we rushed to the scene."
"I wondered why they came to our territory so often, but it seems even the mountain-crossing route is no trouble if they use magic."
"Indeed. It seems your presence was unexpected, though. Even if they had won there, it seems they would have had to cross the mountains without Body Enhancement Magic on the way back due to running out of mana. They also apparently used a considerable amount of mana to regenerate the lost leg."
Jack had used Body Enhancement Magic on his subordinates to greatly extend their travel distance. However, due to the total amount of mana available, they used Body Enhancement for travel time, so they carried out the raids with normal physical abilities.
That was why they didn't use Body Enhancement Magic at first when they attacked the Third Village. The circumstances were such that because an unexpectedly formidable Steve appeared, they had no choice but to use magic without thinking about the return trip.
"They were quite eager to know about you. Apparently, you mimicked the magic you saw and used it on the spot. Because you have such an ability, I wanted to introduce you to a mage who performs reconnaissance."
"I reported to you about my magic previously."
"I know. Do not take offense. I frequently deal with people who try to deceive me no matter what, so I cannot be satisfied unless I verify things for myself. However, now that I have found you were telling the truth, my level of trust in you has increased."
Aurora had also extracted details about Steve's combat from Jack, who had fought him. She knew that Steve could mimic his opponent's abilities, but this was a confirmation of that. She had heard it from his own mouth before, but she had gone and verified it.
And it turned out to be correct. From Aurora's perspective, Steve, who had told the truth regarding information she had no way of verifying at the time, could be evaluated as being sufficiently worthy of trust.
"I would never deceive Your Excellency."
"Swindlers spout the same line."
"Well, I suppose so. I would say the same even if I were a swindler."
"I'm sure you would. But that is fine for now. That captain, the man named Jack, was very interested in you. This wasn't mere curiosity; he intended to take that information back to his country. Therefore, I have decided to keep them in custody."
"Will you not conduct negotiations like a prisoner exchange?"
Steve's question was reasonable. Since soldiers of an enemy nation had been taken prisoner, it was only natural that there should be an exchange for money or for prisoners held by the other side. However, Aurora said she would keep them detained. It was only natural to want to know the reason.
"I will leave that to the diplomats, but the other side will likely insist they know nothing about it. If they were to admit it, it would mean they were operating within our borders. Losing a mage is a pity, but they will likely judge it better than giving us a pretext for war."
"So we just have to take it lying down?"
"I won't let that happen. It is the job of diplomats to negotiate so that it does not come to that. At the very least, a compromise that satisfies the lords who suffered damage in the West is necessary. If the result is half-hearted, I cannot remain silent either."
As the leader of the Western faction, Aurora had to stand at the forefront and oppose any situation where the Western nobles suffered a disadvantage. That was her role as the head leading the organization.
However, since she could not step forward when it came to diplomacy, she would leave the negotiations to the state, but she would keep a sharp eye on the results.
"Then, since we are also subjects for compensation, I can expect some form of compensation, right?"
"I heard there was no damage. Calling it compensation is not quite appropriate. However, since there are no returnees, the status of the damage will be whatever we say it is. If they compromise cheaply here, the enemy nations to the East, South, and North will be delighted. If I were a diplomat, I think my stomach would start to ache."
Steve swallowed the words 'That wouldn't happen.' He believed that Aurora would overcome any difficult situation, and that such situations were exactly what made her feel alive. And he was right.
"However, Margrave Bradle, who borders our territory in the Kingdom of Forest, is moving with preparations for war."
"That is news to me."
"I suppose so. I haven't contacted the various lords yet. It seems they are buying up food and recruiting mercenaries in Margrave Bradle's territory. Furthermore, they are frequently having the peasants with military service obligations perform training close to actual combat near the border."
"Is it because they sensed their operatives fell into our hands?"
"That is unlikely. Because we transported them without being seen using your magic and are strictly managing them at my facility. If anything, they probably think they were wiped out because they haven't returned. They must think they can claim it is a false accusation on our part precisely because there is no evidence."
Normally, when it comes to the transport of criminals or prisoners, whether by carriage or on foot, they would be witnessed by someone. However, because they were instantly transported from the Archibalt territory to a facility owned by the Margrave Sowell family using Steve's magic, they were never seen by anyone. Furthermore, the residents of the Third Village who knew of the bandit attack never left the Archibalt territory, so they would not speak of the attack elsewhere. To begin with, they hadn't seen the battle, so they didn't know what had become of the bandits.
Even for Aurora, she had restricted the personnel who could have contact with the operatives, and only those she trusted were assigned to that task. There was no worry of information leaking from here either.
In fact, regarding the failure of Jack and his men to return, Margrave Bradle thought they had either been defeated by the enemy or encountered beasts or magic beasts in the mountains during transit and were wiped out.
At this time, he never dreamed that witnesses had been secured. After all, with Jack's Body Enhancement Magic, even if they had accidentally encountered enemy forces patrolling the border, someone should have been able to escape, so he couldn't imagine that there had been a battle with humans.
However, he was preparing so that he could start a war in the event the Kingdom of Cascade brought up their responsibility regarding the bandits.
"Will the Kingdom of Cascade not prepare anything?"
"Since there are such movements in a hypothetical enemy nation, the national army's alert level has been raised, but if we also conscript and place a large number of soldiers along the border, it could truly lead to war. If the armies are glaring at each other, there is no telling what kind of accidental incident might occur."
A war can start from something as simple as a sentry going to the toilet being mistaken for having been abducted by the enemy. As a ruler, she wanted to avoid the heightening of tension from glaring at each other.
"I would like you to ensure it does not turn into a war. In our territory, where agricultural production is low and the food self-sufficiency rate is below 100, it would be troublesome if the price of agricultural products purchased from elsewhere were to rise."
"In that case, I will aim for an early resolution and borrow your strength. The magic of the mage I am introducing today should surely be useful."
"Please do not expect too much."
The conversation ended there, and he was to be introduced to the mage.
The mage whose mission was reconnaissance used magic to manipulate animals and share their senses. With this, he shared vision with birds to scout a wide area from the sky.
Furthermore, he could also share senses with insects and fish. It was as convenient as a familiar appearing in fantasy novels; the act of contracting as a familiar ended instantly, and it was convenient in that pain was not shared. To say pain was not shared was not entirely accurate; it was more correct to say that one could select which senses to share.
After receiving his reward, Steve returned to his own territory and conveyed the information he heard from Aurora to Brian.
"Preparations for war, huh. We must raise the alert level of the mountain regions, but we are short on manpower."
Brian held his head in his hands. He only had Cody as a retainer, and other than that, his only usable pieces were the three minors: Steve, Abel, and Bella. There was no international law requiring a formal declaration of war, and without means of communication like telephones or radio, a war could suddenly start with an invasion.
He could only hope the enemy would avoid the troublesome mountain crossing, but he couldn't leave things entirely unprepared. And since he didn't know how long it would last, responding within the Archibalt territory was quite difficult.
"Father, shall we surround each village with earthen walls?"
"But moving the earth would require manpower. It is the sowing season, so we cannot call out the farmers."
Brian showed reluctance at Steve's proposal. And he regretted that if this was the case, he should have done so during the winter.
"It will take but a moment if I make them with my magic. If we dig moats and pile up the earth that comes out, they will become earthen walls. That way, the height difference will be considerable. If the enemy cannot immediately suppress the village, it is possible for us to counterattack."
"Ah, certainly, in that case, there would be no need to guard the mountain regions? Is it possible to do so immediately?"
"I will put up stone bridges until drawbridges can be made."
Steve decided to create earthen walls and moats immediately. Until now, it had only been wild beasts appearing in the fields, but now that enemy operatives disguised as bandits had come, he had to think about defense.
Since the territory's citizens had an obligation for military service, all the men were capable of fighting. Until now, their weapons were only wooden sticks or stones. But now, there were spears and guns made by Steve. As long as they could buy enough time to take their weapons in hand, it was possible to fight the enemy.
Abel and Bella followed Steve's work. Looks of anxiety were visible on their faces. Bella tried asking Steve about the war.
"Will there really be a war?"
"I do not know. It is just that because the other side is preparing, we need to be ready. If we knew for certain there would be a war, we would probably attack from our side without waiting for them to come. I think it could still go either way right now."
In the end, even Steve did not know if a war would occur. He was simply making preparations considering the possibility that it might.
Steve used magic to create a moat and earthen wall surrounding the residential area of the Main Village. An explanation would go to the village head from Brian, but since the villagers did not yet know the circumstances, they were watching from a distance, wondering what was happening.
Amidst this, Cyril came to Steve.
"Steve-dono, what is the meaning of this?"
"Cyril-san, actually, a war might break out with the Kingdom of Forest, so I decided to make moats and earthen walls around the village in preparation. I plan to first surround the residential area where the houses are, and next make something large enough to surround the fields as well."
"A war!?"
To Cyril, who was surprised to hear of war, Steve explained that it was not yet certain.
"It is a matter of possibility. The bandits who attacked here were operatives sent by Margrave Bradle of the Kingdom of Forest. And Margrave Bradle is concentrating soldiers along the border, repeating training there that is just like actual combat. Well, there have been many skirmishes until now, and I do not know how far it will become a full-scale war, or rather, if the war itself will even happen. Since it is a good opportunity, I am going to improve the situation where absolutely no hand had been set to our defenses."
"I see. But if it truly becomes a war, I might be sent back to the Royal Capital."
A shadow fell over Cyril's face. It was out of worry that he would be separated from Aila.
Steve, not knowing Cyril's inner thoughts, misunderstood that Cyril was worried about the results of his research.
"Regarding the improvement of the soil's acidity, it would be difficult if you had to start from scratch again. It takes time, after all."
In his work as a technician, Cyril was also researching soil improvement. Using Steve's Measurement magic, he was measuring the pH of the soil, sowing various seeds there, and confirming which pH was suitable for cultivation. In addition to that, he was also experimenting with neutralizing the acidity by spreading lime on the soil. Since there would be ill effects if the amount spread was wrong, he was confirming those quantities.
Cyril realized that if he corrected Steve's misunderstanding, his feelings for Aila would be exposed, so he deliberately left the misunderstanding as it was.
While they were talking, the moat and earthen wall were rapidly completed, surrounding the Main Village.
"Well then, next I will go and do the New Village and the Third Village."
"Yes."
Only Cyril parted ways there, while Abel and Bella teleported together with Steve's magic.
Thus, within that day, the moats and earthen walls were completed in all the villages.