Chapter 23 - 023_Princess of Another Country
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023_Princess of Another Country
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This is a story from shortly after the armies of the northern nobles who had been sent on campaign returned. Count Banyusas was reading through an investigation report on the incident where two territorial soldiers had died due to the failure of the Summoning that occurred in autumn.
According to it, the person sent from Baron Menisas's house as the culprit did not possess the foundational power of the Summoning. It was content that made it clear that the Menisas Baron house intended to offer a person who was not the culprit and bury the truth in darkness.
Count Banyusas quietly crushed the investigation report in his hand, and flames of anger blazed in his eyes.
"Summon Menisas. Immediately."
A messenger was sent immediately, informing Baron Menisas to present himself at Bassam's Great Eagle Castle. In response, Baron Menisas sent a proxy, saying he was not feeling well.
When the investigation results were presented to that proxy, he evaded the conversation in a vague manner.
That was because the one who had failed the Summoning was the heir of Baron Menisas. That heir lived as he pleased even now, not caring at all about the failure of the Knight King Oni Summoning.
Knowing this, Count Banyusas felt anger that made his hair stand on end.
Throughout the winter, the Count Banyusas house and the Baron Menisas house exchanged many communications, but Baron Menisas showed no sign of handing over the culprit. While one could understand Baron Menisas's judgment that he could not hand over his heir, there were ways he could have compensated instead.
However, Baron Menisas did not even mention compensation, and the long winter drew to a close. Then, one day, Count Banyusas made a decision.
Before the winter ended, Count Banyusas sent a letter of severance to the Menisas Baron house. The circumstances leading to the severance were reported to each noble house of the north and the royal family.
Perhaps panicked by this, Baron Menisas protested that he could not accept a unilateral severance, but Count Banyusas paid no attention at all.
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The winter sea is rough. Moreover, the wind is strong, so the wind cuts the waves and blows them onto the snow on the sandy beach, forming ice. On that ice, there was a figure of Rodney tracing the forms of Kashima Old Style.
He had adopted this as training to be able to move even on unstable ground, but it was unexpectedly difficult. What's more, being buffeted by storm-like winds made maintaining balance extremely difficult.
However, after starting it for about a month, he grew accustomed to it. The balance of weight and force placed on the feet, and the core strength to keep the body's axis from wavering. He understood these things.
"Ahahaha. It's fun, so Big Brother, you should try it too."
Emilia was sliding nimbly on the ice. Despite considerable bumps, she slid smoothly as if on perfectly flat ice. Rodney gave a wry smile. "That's what they call a genius."
"Emilia is amazing."
"Don't praise me so much~"
"No, I'm not praising you. I'm amazed."
Beside the sibling conversation, there was Yulin, breaking the ice.
Yulin was a sword of strength. Thus, she broke the ice with her footwork and cut the ice with the pressure of her downward swing. There was destruction by overwhelming power.
That Yulin stopped her practice swings and stared at the sea.
"Rodney-sama. That."
About 100 rol (200 meters) from the shore, a ship with three masts could be seen.
"A large ship in a place like this... that's rare."
Dedel Territory is the northernmost territory and has no port that can accommodate large ships. Large ships load northern cargo at Bassam and head south, so they are rarely seen in the waters of this Dedel Territory.
Moreover, it is now winter and the sea is quite rough, making navigation very dangerous.
"Something is strange."
At that moment, the ship began to tilt.
"It's run aground!"
"This is terrible!"
"Emilia. Go call Rodmel and the others!"
"Okay."
"Yulin, tell the fishermen to launch the boats."
"Yes."
Having given instructions to the two, Rodney called out loudly to the ship. However, his voice was drowned out by the strong wind and did not reach.
Conversely, the voices from the ship did not reach Rodney's ears either, but on the deck, many people were waving their hands as if calling for help.
After a while, Rodmel and the others arrived leading territorial soldiers, and the fishermen were ready to launch the boats.
"If left as is, it will eventually sink. For now, let's save as many people as possible."
"Please wait. There is no need for Rodney-sama to go. I will go."
Rodmel stopped Rodney, who was about to board a small boat.
"We don't have time to say such things now. I'll listen to your complaints as much as you want later. Let me go."
Shaking off Rodmel's restraint, Rodney went out to sea in the small boat.
The people on the stranded ship were in chaos, but Rodney calmed them down and instructed them to transfer to the small boats. Thanks to the fishermen's all-out rescue, there were injured but no deaths.
"You said you would listen to complaints as much as I want. I will take my time speaking."
"...Please be gentle."
Needless to say, there were complaints from Rodmel after the rescue operation.
"If something were to happen to Rodney-sama now, what would become of the Forvas House in the future?"
Rodmel earnestly lectured him. And in the end, he told him to get married quickly and leave children.
Moreover, thanks to Rodney's establishment of industries, Dedel Territory was becoming prosperous. Galim Syrup and Beer had wiped away the financial anxieties of the Forvas House.
The territorial soldiers were treated favorably to obtain more foundational power, and their income also increased. These soldiers spent money in the village, raising Rodney's reputation, so the number of people wanting to become territorial soldiers was endless.
The retainers and residents had begun to think that, as long as Rodney was there, the Forvas House was secure. It was only natural that they felt a sense of crisis that if something happened to that Rodney, they might return to a poor territory.
Rodmel's lecture lasted about one koku (two hours). During that time, the care of the rescued people was mainly handled by Hortus, a veteran attendant, but since there were women among the rescued, Yulin also assisted.
That Yulin burst into Rodney's room. Seeing her very flustered expression, Rodney and Rodmel braced themselves for something.
"This is terrible! That ship is from the Sarjan Empire!"
The Sarjan Empire is located on a continent to the west of the continent where the Kuodo Kingdom, which contains Dedel Territory, is. Trade is active between the two countries, and they are friendly nations.
"For a Sarjan Empire ship, it came quite far north."
To Dedel Territory, called the northernmost territory, not even domestic ships come, let alone foreign ones.
"It seems they encountered a storm en route and were swept north."
Even Rodney, who didn't know much about the sea, knew that the winter sea gets rough. Still, as long as they were engaged in trade, Rodney could understand that things like this happened occasionally.
"I thought they were all lightly injured, but did someone have a serious injury?"
"It's not that. Her Imperial Highness the Princess of the Sarjan Empire was aboard that ship!"
""Eh?""
What Yulin said was so shocking that Rodney and Rodmel's voices sounded together.
"Her Imperial Highness the Princess...?"
Rodney's understanding couldn't keep up, but he managed to pull himself together and immediately went to meet the Princess.
"I am Rodney Elias Forvas. Because this is such a remote frontier, I apologize that I cannot offer you sufficient hospitality."
"I am grateful for your help, Lord Forvas."
The Princess's name was Erimerda. She was the Third Imperial Princess of the Sarjan Empire, a beautiful girl with light green hair.
The Princess's purpose was a marriage interview with a prince of this Kuodo Kingdom. Upon learning this, Rodney immediately sent a messenger to Count Banyusas.
Since the other party was a princess of a friendly nation, he sought instructions from his patron, Count Banyusas, to ensure no discourtesy occurred.
The largest and finest house in Dedel Territory belonged to the Forvas House, but unfortunately, it fell quite short of being called a mansion.
Rodney moved Erimerda into that Forvas House, but the problem was the ladies-in-waiting and vassals accompanying Erimerda. A total of 30 people—small for a princess's entourage, but still too many for Dedel Territory to accommodate.
If the new lord's mansion under construction had been completed, that many could have been accommodated, but far from completion, construction had stopped after laying the foundations due to snow.
From among them, it was decided that 10 people—5 ladies-in-waiting and 5 military officers—would stay at Rodney's house together with Erimerda.
The rooms of Emilia and his mother Sharume were also vacated, and the two would stay at Yulin's house for a while.
Rodney himself also stayed at Rodmel's house, and the Forvas House was entrusted to Riti.
Overall security was handled by Roxwell, but Yulin would handle the personal protection around Erimerda. Rodmel had suggested this, thinking that if the Princess's guards were all rough men, there might be things they wouldn't notice.
Four days after sending the messenger, the messenger returned. Since it was a forced march through snow, four days was quite fast. Rodney thanked the messenger for pushing himself so hard.
The messenger brought instructions that a snow-going carriage owned by the Count Banyusas house would be sent, and that Rodney should escort Erimerda to Bassam in it.
Rodney visited Erimerda every day to apologize for the inconvenience. Making daily inquiries was a lord's duty, but aside from that, he trained his body and foundational power as usual.
One day, while Rodney was swinging a kanabo in Rodmel's garden, Erimerda actually came. Though snow wasn't falling, he was swinging the kanabo in thin clothes in the deep snow, so Rodney hastily put on an outer garment and knelt before Erimerda.
"I did not expect you to come to such a place, so I have shown you an unsightly appearance. I sincerely apologize."
"No, I am the one who should apologize for visiting suddenly."
Even though Erimerda was a princess, she was neither arrogant nor selfish. She did not take it for granted that the lord of this snowy frontier had vacated his house for her, and she was grateful.
"I will not forget the debt I owe to Lord Forvas."
"I offer you such inconvenient conditions, yet to receive such gracious words fills me with gratitude that makes me tremble."
He thought the prince who would marry a princess with a pure heart like Erimerda was a fortunate man. He had heard it was a marriage interview, but even Rodney understood that it was a meeting meant to lead to marriage.
Two days later, Erimerda departed for Bassam in a luxurious snow-going carriage prepared by Count Banyusas. Rodney accompanied her to serve as an escort.
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