Chapter 179 - Episode 173: Emergency
"Now then, Noein-sama, please have this congratulatory letter prepared by tomorrow."
"Yeees... Sigh, this kind of work is what I'm worst at."
It was mid-March, and the territory had returned to its daily routine after the conclusion of the Pioneer Memorial Festival. Having already given birth to her first child and returned to her duties, Anna had requested some work from Noein, who responded with a sigh.
The task in question was the writing of a congratulatory letter for the marriage of the son of a noble from the same Northwestern faction.
"It cannot be helped. Clara-sama is currently absent."
"Well, I know that, but still—"
Since social ties between nobles are important, when the child of a connected noble marries, one must send at least a congratulatory letter and a gift. However, writing a congratulatory letter requires following various detailed rules, making it quite tedious.
Depending on the depth of the connection with the other party, their rank, and the difference in status, the phrasing and the choice of gift change. Clara, who had received professional education as a noble regarding such aristocratic etiquette, was more knowledgeable in these matters, so Noein usually left such work to her.
However, Clara was currently away from the territory. Another head of a noble house from the Northwestern faction was holding a wedding, and she had gone to attend as Noein's representative. While it might be different for children below the second son, if the head or the heir of a high-ranking noble house with a certain level of connection marries, one must go to offer congratulations in person.
"...It's not okay if I just copy the text wholesale from a congratulatory letter Clara wrote before, right?"
"It is not. If it were ever discovered that you did such a thing, the reputation of the Arqvist house would fall... Besides, it's not as if you are actually unable to write a congratulatory letter, Noein-sama, right? I will not permit slacking."
"Yeees."
Resigning himself, Noein decided to tackle the writing. After seeing that her master had quietly set to work, Anna left the room. Noein felt that since becoming a mother of one, she had become even stronger.
Clara's scheduled return was two days away at the earliest, and the congratulatory letter Noein was writing was already running a bit late. Although not to the extent of Clara, Noein could at least write prose befitting a noble, so he could not simply throw the task away for the reason that he was bad at it or found it tedious.
"Ah, since I'm working hard at this job I hate, I want to drink some tea brewed by my beloved Matilda."
"Of course. I shall prepare it immediately."
When Noein made such an obvious plea, Matilda, who was soft on her master, immediately smiled and stood up.
Just as she was heading toward the door to leave the room to brew the tea—the sound of someone running hurriedly down the hallway echoed, followed immediately by a violent knocking on the door of the Lord's office.
"Noein-sama! It's an emergency!"
Hearing the tense voice of the Deputy Captain of the Retainers, Pence, both Noein and Matilda's expressions hardened.
...
In maintaining the public order of the Arqvist territory, Radley played a particularly important role.
Radley's primary job was commanding the perimeter security of the territorial capital, the mining village of Kilde, the pioneer villages, and the forest roads connecting them. In the Arqvist territory, where deep forests spread everywhere except for the urban areas, villages, and surrounding farmland, it was an essential job to regularly patrol the forests and hunt any monsters that approached human settlements.
The reason Radley was entrusted as the person in charge of this important but dangerous work was that he was as accustomed to combat as the Captain of the Retainers, Yuri, and was trusted by Noein as one of the oldest retainers.
Because orcs had appeared in human settlements twice in the past, Radley's patrol range had become considerably wide. Since he sometimes patrolled deep into the Bezel Great Forest, right up to the edge of the orcs' habitat, Radley was the only one in the territorial army permitted by Lord Noein to routinely equip the undiluted essence of Angel's Nectar.
"...!"
On this day as well, while patrolling the forest leading a squad of territorial army soldiers, Radley sensed a presence different from usual and lowered his posture.
The moment he saw Radley's action, the squad leader accompanying him realized something had happened and silently signaled his subordinates to crouch. He then crouched himself.
"...Radley-sama."
"...Something is coming."
The squad leader, who approached Radley while keeping his posture low, asked for instructions in a voiceless whisper, suppressing his volume as much as possible. Radley responded with a single word in the same voiceless manner and indicated with his hand to be alert in the direction of one o'clock from their perspective.
Upon receiving this, the five soldiers, including the squad leader, silently readied their crossbows, spread out to the left and right to hide behind trees and bushes, and gazed intently in the direction Radley had pointed.
Soon, the sound of rustling through bushes and the sound of stepping on branches and leaves could be heard.
The sound gradually drew closer, and in the forest with poor visibility, the source of the sound eventually emerged from the bushes.
"...Huh?"
"...What?"
Seeing the appearance of the source of the sound, Radley unintentionally let out a voice. The other party responded with an equally vacant voice.
The ones who emerged from the bushes were—no matter how you looked at them, human soldiers. There were three of them. The one wearing slightly higher-quality armor and a helmet, who had just let out that vacant voice, was likely the commander.
The soldiers other than the opposing commander, as well as Radley's subordinates, wore blank expressions, and for a moment, an indescribable atmosphere flowed through the forest. Then, in the next instant—
"Tch!"
"W-Why—"
The opposing commander seemed still confused by the impossible encounter in the middle of the Bezel Great Forest, but Radley moved his body before his head. It was a judgment born of being accustomed to war: deal with the situation in front of him first, and think later.
Radley closed the distance to the opposing commander in an instant and struck his head with the butt of his spear. The opponent, his brain shaken, lost consciousness and collapsed. Seeing this sight, the remaining two soldiers drew their swords.
"Radley-sama!"
"Don't let them escape! Finish them!"
While both friend and foe were unsettled by the sudden change in the situation, Radley barked orders to the squad leader. Hearing this, the five men including the squad leader fired their crossbows at the enemy soldiers.
"Guh!"
"Gyaaa!"
The two soldiers who took arrows to the chest let out short screams and collapsed.
"...For now, what should I do."
After confirming the unconsciousness of the commander he had knocked out and the deaths of the two soldiers hit by arrows, Radley finally began to think about this situation with his head.
"...Hey, you and you. Return to the territorial capital Noeina immediately and report this to the Captain of the Retainers. Tell him we encountered soldiers of unknown affiliation in the forest and detained one... and that they are likely soldiers of the Lancel Kingdom army."
Radley ordered this, pointing to the squad leader and one soldier. Upon hearing those words, the territorial army soldiers wore expressions of shock.
"T-The Lancel Kingdom... surely not."
"You don't need to think about that. Just think about returning as quickly as possible to convey this fact. Go."
"U-Understood!"
The squad leader, who had voiced what probably every soldier present was thinking, responded after being glared at by Radley, and ran toward the territorial capital with the other soldier.
"...Good grief. So that's how it was."
After seeing the squad leader and the other depart as messengers, Radley looked up at the sky and muttered to himself in a small voice that the other soldiers could not hear.