The Marquis’ Eldest Son’s Lascivious Story-Chapter 295: Thoughts in January

The Marquis’ Eldest Son’s Lascivious Story

The new year has come around in the blink of an eye, and January is drawing to an end.

There are many events around the New Year.

This year, as the next head of the Quordenze family, I was tasked with managing a series of events, but it was quite difficult.

After all, this time I had to consider not only our own situation, but also the circumstances of the Spierzeig family.

The Head of the Spierzeig family is Romilie, who currently lives in Newnelly City. For that reason, the Spierzeig knights approached the Quordenze side to ask for a visit, wanting to pay their respects over the New Year.

Of course, we can't just say

[Don't worry. Everyone is welcome in Newnelly City]

and accept everyone. If we let our guard down, Newnelly Castle might fall to their hands.

In the end, we only welcomed the current knights and their heirs, and only allowed them to be accompanied by those who were already in-charge of looking a fter the surrounding area.

This significantly reduced the number of people we were accepting, but inviting people related to the Spierzeigs to Newnelly, our very own base, was a nerv e-wracking affair. I even think it would have been better to handle it in Othelloria.

We secured Romilie to get a grip on the Spierzeig, but to be honest, there was a lot of coordination work that came with it and it was tiring.

If that's how I felt, it must have been even harder for the civil and military officers in charge of the practical aspects. It was much more troublesome than I had imagined.

In the sense that you only realize it after you've done it, I also made another unpleasant discovery.

Regarding the current situation, I have a feeling that as time goes on, other families will start to say, "How are we treating the Spierzeig?". There were quite a f ew people with similar concerns, so I'm not the only one who felt this way.

Everyone is still quiet for now because the impact of Operation Snake's Jaw is still lingering, but if the Quordenze's momentum starts to decline, trouble may s tart to arise among the Imperial and Royal nobles...

I was also able to confirm once again that the Spierzeig side is unhappy with the way Romilie is being treated.

No, it's more like anxiety than dissatisfaction. They feel a strong sense of crisis about Romilie's current position. If things continue like this, it's completely unci ear what the future holds for the Spierzeig family.

We are still feeling our way around a lot, so it's hard to comment when they pressed us about that.

For the time being, the Spierzeig knights seem to be hoping to improve the relationship between me and Romilie. They were noticeably acting as a mediator. The most important issue for the nobles and the knights who serve them is the survival of their family. The person they should be most wary of and pay the m ost attention to right now is the mastermind behind Operation Jaw. When it comes to security, there's nothing good in a worsening relationship with me. I'm su re they want to be as friendly as possible.

And I'm sure they hoped that our relationship would develop into a relationship between a man and a woman.

The best thing for the Spierzeig family would be for Romilie to give birth to the next generation. If she can get an offspring from Quordenze, then both security and the prosperity of her descendants will be resolved in one fell swoop. That would be the preferable route.

[Shall we prepare some tea?]

The civil officer waiting in the room said so.

He must have sensed that I was getting tired of processing the letters and losing my concentration.

[... I think it's time to take a break. Give me something hot.]

I haven't been writing for a while. Maybe it's because I want to escape from work I don't like, but I can't help but think about something else. I've considered how to treat Romilie several times before, but my thoughts were swept away by that.

[I understand. Please wait a moment.]

As I watched the maid prepare the tea, I pondered over Romilie's future.

Even if one were to simply obtain the sperm of a Quordenze, there were several possible patterns.

Broadly speaking, there are three courses. Mistress, common-law wife, and legal wife.

When thinking of things in terms of the noble family, the mistress course has the least impact.

Although they do have sexual relations, that's really all there is to their relationship. They don't particularly make their physical relationship known to the outsid e world, apart from what others may think.

In this case, the child Romilie gives birth to will be a mysterious baby.

[I don't really get it, but it seems Romilie is pregnant. It's strange. I don't really get it, but she gave birth to a child and it was a Highlord. It's strange. But since i t's Romilie's child and it's a Highlord, then there's no problem with the bloodline of the Spierzeig family's successor. That's all good.]

. That's how it is.

To the nobles of the Eruo continent, being a Highlord is more important than anything else, so some mysteries will be tolerated.

In short, the mistress course does not create any public ties between the Quordenze and the Spierzeig. After that, even if I were to bring the Spierzeig family t o ruin, it would be relatively unlikely that I would attract any bad press. I could make an excuse like,

[Romilie's child is not mine! She was conceived by repeatedly jacking off a male Highlord from the Spierzeig family and then squirting the semen into her with a pipette-like tool! I didn't do it!]

In the end, it is merely a relationship based on affection between the individuals Wilk Quordenze and Romilie Spierzeig. In public, the next Head of the Quorde nze family and the Head of the Spierzeig family will each behave as independent nobles. That's because a mistress is not a wife.

That said, if we do end up having a physical relationship, it is virtually impossible to keep it completely secret. To quell the dropper-squirting rumor, Romilie wil I likely focus on showing how much she loves me when she goes out socially. She'll want other families to realize that "that strange baby must be from Quorde nze no matter how you look at it". If I were to abandon my mistress, with whom I even had a child, the risk of a bad reputation would increase.

It would be fun in itself to show off a beautiful woman who takes the initiative to flirt with me.

[Pardon for the wait.]

A cup of tea was placed on the table. Steam was rising from it.

[Yeah, thank you for your hard work.]

The next option is to become a common-law wife. This has a greater impact on the Quordenze family than a mistress.

Even now, since the heyday of the priests, families that maintain the lineage of their Highlords have been allowed to have concubines or common-law wives. T he sexual sensitivity of the Highlords is a timeless concern after all.

Although not an official wife, the position of a common-law wife carries a certain weight due to the historical custom that has continued for hundreds of years. For now, Fanny is scheduled to take on this position, but it is well within the realm of possibility that Romilie may join her.

When it comes to a common-law wife relationship, although it is informal, a bond between the families is created. It is a much stronger relationship than that of a mistress.

Even when considering security, the level is relatively high. Many noble families would feel that it would be a breach of their faith to destroy the family of the c ommon-law wife without a reason. However, it would be possible to do so if there was a good reason.

Since it is the wife's role to appear in public, by making her the common-law wife, Romilie would be deprived of the opportunity to operate secretly in high soc iety. This is a major advantage (for Quordenze) that the mistress course does not have.

Considering that Fanny and Romilie will be on the same level as wives, and that there will be yet another wife, Spierzeig's influence within the Quordenze famil y should stay limited. I think that those involved in my family will feel a certain sense of security if they have two brakes.

Having Fanny and Romilie as wives and being loved by them, plus having a wife as an added bonus, is quite a delicious course.

[I hear they're baking castella today. What do Young Master think?]

Romilie likes castella. That's why she always brings it with her to tea parties at the mansion these days. However, I don't have any plans to meet her today. Maybe she baked it because my mother or Fanny said they wanted to eat it. They're both castella lovers.

[...I'm still full from today's lunch, so I'll pass on that]

The most difficult part is becoming the legal wife.

Not only will the Quordenze family be shaken, but the Sylopea and Evenafis families, as well as the Quordenze-affiliated nobles of the Kingdom, will also be gr eatly shaken, and it will bring about dramatic changes in diplomacy with the other nobles. There will inevitably be great chaos in the Kingdom and the Empire.

In addition, it will cause even more problems.

If my legal wife, Romilie, gives birth to my child, they will be treated as a child of the Quordenze family. In other words, the next generation of the Spierzeig fa mily will come to an end. As she is my legal wife, I can't just take this for granted and leave them to die.

As long as the Highlord child is born healthy, it is unlikely that he will die young. Therefore, it will be necessary to follow up by shipping the second child onwa rds to the Spierzeig family.

However, Highlord children are precious. Considering the current situation in which there is a shortage of Highlord due to the Yersinia calamity, the hurdles for reaching a settlement are likely to be high.

There is also one concern.

I am confident that I can impregnate Fanny until we have a number of children that could make up a soccer team, but what about Romilie?

It is true that her face and body make my penis throb, but can I expect the same performance in bed... Can I really embrace a Highlord who may harbor hostilit y to me? This is something that will not be answered until the time comes.

I cannot even get a quick taste, so at the moment it is difficult to calculate how many children I will have in the future.

There are benefits for the Quordenze family in accepting her as a legal wife, but it is a risky course.

There is a risk that noble diplomacy will be thrown into disarray, and we will be forced to share children that we would normally be able to monopolize. In addit ion, because of her official position as a legal wife, Romilie will continue to be involved in noble diplomacy.

I think this is the course that the Spierzeig family will benefit the most from.

Although the issue of what to do with the next generation will arise, it will be possible to build a very strong relationship between the Quordenze and the Spier zeig. This will solve most of the immediate issue of the "threat from the Quordenze family". It will be much more difficult to destroy the wife's family.

If the future Super Quordenze family has gained control of most of the Voistra Plains and is more powerful, we may be able to ignore the voices around us and drive the Spierzeig to extinction. However, it will take a long time, several decades at least, to gain that much power. During that time, the Spierzeig family will likely have a new generation, so if they can be transformed into a noble family that is obedient and friendly to us, that'll be a win-win for both sides.

They can take a long-term view and aim to restore the Spierzeig family. If the Quordenze's power starts to wane, they can betray us by saying something like "It was really hard for me". If they can successfully unite the anti-Quordenze noble families and manipulate them, their decision will be supported.

The benefit for me is that I can have Romilie take the position of legal wife. It's always more exciting to have a beautiful partner to take to social occasions. It's a modest advantage to be able to completely eliminate the possibility of an ugly princess becoming my legal wife.

[Sorry, but can I have another serving please?]

It seems I was much thirstier than I thought. I drank the tea in one gulp and put the empty cup on the table.

Regarding how to treat Romilie, discussions at the working level will begin in the not-too-distant future. It may already be going on behind the scenes and I'm not yet aware about it.

I think that the Quordenze side will want to make her a mistress, and the Spierzeig side will want to make her the legal wife.

There seem to be many people in our family who can't help but compare it to Asliza Spierzeig, who married Emperor Arginis, and there is a strong aversion to t he idea of Romilie becoming the legal wife.

In addition, Emperor Arginis has also taken Fair Lucarcea as his wife, but she is a common-law wife. His legal wife is Asliza.

[Hmmm...]

I've pondered this and that, but in theory, the Spierzeig family's position is not strong enough to ask for the status of legal wife. It's safe to say that it's impossi ble. In reality, it would be a great thing to get a promise of a mistress course.

However, it is common in this world that if you approach negotiations weakly, you will be taken advantage of. I think they will first demand a legal wife. They s ay legal wife, but then aim for a common-law wife as a compromise. I think my people understand that.

[Young Master, how is it?]

Perhaps because I was lost in a sea of thoughts for too long, the civil officer asked me.

If I were to say something strange about how to treat Romilie, it could be taken as "Young Master is in love with Duchess Romilie?! This will truly be the second coming of Princess Asliza!! Aaaaaah!!", so I won't say anything unnecessary.

[Oh nothing, I was just thinking about the Southern and Western Marquises.]

I turned my attention to the item on the desk.

[What troublesome families, good grief.]

Since it's too much trouble to cover it up, I spoke my honest opinion.

Recently, I've been receiving more letters from the Imperial nobles, the Vadkite family, also known as the Southern Marquis, and the Dahdaram family, also kn own as the Western Marquis. The contents are almost always the same, along the lines of "Congratulations on defeating the Spierzeig family! Let's move on to the next stage!".

Apparently, my father and grandfather have also been receiving these persistently, so these people are basically spammers.

[Is Young Master tired?]

[Yes, I guess I am.]

What I hate is that these spammers don't just send letters to the head of the family, but to the next generation as well. That just doubles the amount of letters. It would be easy if I could just shove them in the spam folder and be done with it, but of course I can't handle it that carelessly. The Vadkite and Dahdaram fam ilies are some of the most powerful in the Empire.

[In short, both of them have nothing to do and are bored. It's tiring to deal with people with free time.]

Although both families are now big nobles in the Empire, they are merely new noble families that rose to power in the chaos of war and the founding of the Em pire.

The Vadkite family was a small, weak noble family with a short history. The descendants of a female Highlord from a collateral family. This Princess seems to have had a strong martial spirit, and she fought bravely on the battlefield from a young age .

However, apparently the main family ran out of steam midway through, and was attacked and destroyed while the Princess was away. So she gathered the su rviving knights, made a fresh start, and declared the founding of the Vadkite family with herself as the head of the family.

After that, they gradually began to stand out in the plateaus in the southern part of the Empire, but before they could make a big leap forward, they clashed wit h the Zinkaen Party, were defeated, and surrendered to their forces.

On the other hand, the Dahdaram family is a noble family that originated from a Blessed Child.

Their founder, a young man, emerged during the Era of Turmoil and occupied a small seaside city by force. He then founded the noble family by gathering up the remnants of knights who had lost their masters in the war...the legs of centipedes. At the time, such talent with nowhere to go was scattered all over the w estern part of the continent.

Perhaps because of this history, the Dahdaram family's crest is a "crimson flame and a circling centipede". The imagery gives a slight Ouroboros feel to it. They aimed to expand their influence from the bay area in the westernmost part of the continent, but they too were defeated by the Zinkaen Party and forced t o bow before they could grow into great nobles.

However, after surrendering, both the Vadkite family and the Dahdaram family played an active role as members of the Zinkaen Party, and as a result, they su cceeded in gaining large territories. For both families, the era of turmoil ended as "good memories."

The older generation who knew those days have long since retired or are dead, but their success stories have been beautifully passed down. Fantasies of the glittering war remain strong throughout the household.

To me, it just seems like they made a mistake in educating the next generation, but the older generations of both families don't recognize it as such.

We're busy preparing for the increasingly complicated noble diplomacy and seizing new territories, and it's frankly annoying when these carefree people keep inviting us with "Hey, Quordenze! Let's go to war!".

If I were a villainous noble, I'd be sarcastically saying "Hmph, this is why these upstart newbies are so foolish.".

However, according to my father, they're also trying to increase their influence within the Empire by getting us involved. They're not just fools who got carried away with stories of heroes who march through the era of turmoil, at least.

At the root of both families is the desire to become stronger as noble families. To them, war is the means to realize that desire.

To them, speaking out in favor of war is both their own wish and a way to seize the political initiative. The etiquette remains as it is in the era of turmoil.

[Well, I understand their resentment after we have used their help many times during the long conflict against the Spierzeig, but I have no desire to put up with such a fantasy.]

When my father defected from the Empire and started a war with the Spierzeig family, he secretly formed some cooperative relationships with the Vadkite and Dahdaram families.

It's true that thanks to that, he was able to advance the war in many ways to his advantage. I can understand them wanting to complain about a few things reg arding Quordenze's policy of "I don't know what it was, but we won, so we're going to stop for our own convenience".

But, we had our hands full already with the Spierzeig that we can't move any further, and we don't want to.

[It's already hard enough for us, but now these strange people that called themselves the Ash Knights have also appeared. It's so busy I could cry.]

Late last year, a mysterious group of descendants calling themselves the Ash Knights appeared in Othelloria City.

According to a report from Raylight, who spoke to them directly, the Ash Knights were practitioners of purification magic. He had sensed Eve's purification ma gic from close range, so his testimony is trustworthy.

[Simply put, they are of the same origin as Eve...]

Raylight is also aware of the difference in the quality of magic power between a Lord and the elves. The report also said, "The quality of magic power is that of a Lord, and the amount of magic power is on par with that of someone from a knight family".

All the members of the Ash Knights were hiding their faces with masks and cloaks, but underneath they were human Lords. They were not elves.

As Lord-class, they would have opportunities to take center stage, so perhaps their goal was simply to hide their faces.

The Ash Knights' affiliation remains unknown even now, after the new year.

However, the Quordenze family is operating under the assumption that the family behind them is a powerful noble family. Considering that the site of the Holy High Church was designated as the place for negotiations and that there is the element of "legendary purification magic," it is not impossible that they are bac ked by the priests.

[But, wasn't there no Lord-class human in Eve-dono's old village?]

Eve was interviewed again, and she mentioned that all the members of the village were elves. At least, she didn't know of any humans.

It's safe to say that there's little chance that people from her hometown would have disguised themselves as knights and made a surprise visit to Othelloria to save Eve and Raeve.

In fact, Raylight and the military officer who were present at the negotiations testified that "the Ash Knight's speech and behavior are a bit quirky, but we're su re he's related to the Knight family". His basic mannerisms are difficult to hide. It's almost impossible for someone from the frontier, the Land of Mist, to imitate a knight.

[In that case, the key to finding out his true identity is the purification magic.]

How did the Ash Knight learn the purification magic?

The first possibility is that it was a magic that had been secretly passed down within the family of the noble or priest family that the Ash Knights were descend ed from since ancient times. However, this is just a possibility. It's not realistic.

The biggest reason is that there will be no point for them in hiding the purification magic.

The scene where purification magic is used would be when purifying corrupted land outdoors. If you hide it, you'll have to sneak around, worrying about what others think. That's just too inefficient and stupid.

It's not like it's a forbidden magic that will cause you to be persecuted if discovered, so it's fine to do the purification activities openly.

And above all, it's beneficial for magic to be shared with the whole society. As exemplified by healing magic, the people of the Eruo continent value the spirit o f sharing when it comes to magic.

Having mages all over the place provides backup and reduces the risk of losing magic, and by sharing it with many people, it's easier to improve the purificati on magic itself. There are plenty of benefits, such as energy saving, increased effectiveness, and the development of derivative magic. There's no point in inh eriting it secretly.

[Or, they're similar to us.]

So the second possibility is the most likely.

It's possible that some noble family came into contact with the Fiction tribe, or rather the Slade tribe, in some way and learned the magic. In short, it's a similar pattern to the Quordenze family.

Eve and Raeve's villages were attacked during the Levios family's great northern expedition, and the two were captured. Naturally, other villagers were captur ed as well. It wouldn't be surprising if some noble purchased them.

In our case, we only have Eve and Raeve, so we're having a hard time learning purification magic. If the Ash Knights' master had purchased ten or twenty of th em in large numbers, he should be able to master them in a short amount of time. The more people who can teach magic, the more efficient the learning proce ss will become.

When you think about it like that, the list of candidates for the Ash Knights naturally narrows down.

Eve and Raeve were so expensive that even I would hesitate to buy them. And I'm the eldest son of the Great Noble Quordenze, after all. Well, in those two's c ase, in addition to their rarity, the price of their beauty was probably also a factor.

In any case, a considerable amount of money is essential. And even more importantly, military force is necessary.

It goes without saying that the Slade tribe members who became slaves would hate nobles. Their misfortune began with the Levios family's expedition, so it's i mpossible for them to have a good impression of nobles in general.

If there were multiple Elves with greater magic powers than their Lord-class vassals, that would be a considerable threat. There are only a limited number of fo rces powerful enough to contain these rebellions and restrict their actions.

Unless the buyer turns out to be an incredibly talented person, and the former Slade tribe slaves instantly open up and become cooperative.

Possible noble forces to serve as the Ash Knights' masters would be the Five Great Noble families of the Kingdom, including the Levios family, on the Kingdo m's side, as well as the Spierzeig family, the Southern and Western Marquises, and the Imperial family, on the Imperial side.

[But either way, I don't understand why they want Eve and the others handed over.]

In the end, the biggest mystery is why they want Eve and Raeve.

The Ash Knights have already mastered purification magic. There's no point in adding more teachers now.

[Maybe the Ash Knights' master agreed to some kind of deal.]

The civil officer pointed out that the Slade tribe, who were purchased as slaves, might have offered to "find and protect our scattered comrades. In return, w e'll share our purification magic". Judging from his tone, he didn't seem to be serious about it, but was just stating his opinion to advance my theory.

[But, isn't it foolish to hand over bargaining chips first?]

I know I shouldn't say this, but I don't think nobles would keep their promises to slaves. It's entirely possible that they'll ignore them after receiving what they were given.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that nobles only keep their promises to nobles...but the reality is that they unconsciously take anyone less than Highlord lightly.

[Maybe they have learned more valuable and useful magic.]

[I see.]

If they have multiple legendary magic spells to teach, is negotiation possible?

First, offer the other party a purification spell to save face, and if they want to learn more magic, they have to help find their kinsmen...

However, this usually ends with

[Don't be arrogant, slaves! How much do you think it cost to buy you! Shut up and show me your magic!]

. If the other party is not sincere, there will be no negotiation.

[...It's not impossible, but it seems strange to see how the Ash Knights are doing it. You would think it would be quicker to send the slaves to the torture chamb er.]

The Ash Knights contacted us in a manner that was almost like an attack, without any proper exchange of etiquette. It was the fastest way to talk quickly and a void troublesome procedures, but it would leave the Quordenze family with the worst impression. I don't think they are decent people.

Would such a group really think of negotiating with a slave properly? I feel they would think it would be more efficient to use torture to get what they want.

[Then maybe there's a reason why they want Eve-sama's tribe, or the elves, instead of magic.]

For example, maybe the master of the Ash Knights has become attracted to other races and can't get an erection with anyone other than the elves.

The private life of a nobleman cannot be revealed to the public, so the Ash Knights desperately tried to hide it when they contacted the Quordenze family. ...I h ope it's not for such a silly reason.

[Guardian of Wisdom, huh?]

Those were the words the Ash Knight left at the negotiating table.

[What this "wisdom" pertains to, we can only guess. However, the only thing we know at this point that is unique enough to be called wisdom is purification m agic.]

[So the tribe that has inherited purification magic for generations is the guardian of wisdom.]

The Ash Knights and their master have some reason for trying to find and gather the Slades... I guess that's the limit of what we can put together with the mate rials we have now. The conclusion remains the same as before.

When the purification magic was used during Operation Snake's Jaw, the forces to which the Ash Knights belonged realized that the Slades were involved. Thi s is because purification magic is more advantageous when shared, and it is unlikely that the Quordenze family has secretly passed it down for generations. ...How should I put it? It feels like the seeds I sowed have blossomed in a troublesome way.

[I heard the Ash Knights have disappeared to the west.]

Thinking about it like that, we can place our suspicion on either the Imperial or Royal nobles.

Operation Snake's Jaw was a big shock, but I don't think the southern forces will rush to gather information right away. The forces that would be able to confir m the purification highway in the Arknoa Contaminated Area early and take the next step are the forces that are geographically and politically close to the Quo rdenze.

[They seem to have disappeared into the mountains of Araf. They are in another noble's territory and we are not familiar with the area, so the squad avoided p ursuing them too far.]

The Araf region is a mountainous area that spreads across the western Voistra Plains, and is the territory of Imperial nobles who are like subordinates to the S pierzeig family. They are the so-called Araf Entente, or Entente nobles. Each family is small to medium-sized, so it would be impossible for them to contain mu Itiple Slades.

If we simply consider the direction they fled, the Ash Knights' base must be in the direction of the Empire. It is possible that they made us think that way, but th en turned around and headed towards the Kingdom or the south.

[And they haven't been seen again since then.]

The Ash Knights have not stated a specific time when they will visit again.

[They will probably attack before spring.]

Othelloria City has strengthened its vigilance and is preparing for the next surprise visit.

For now, my father and the military seem to be thinking of intercepting the Ash Knights. The majority opinion was that it would be quicker to crush them and se nd them to the torture chamber and steal their purification magic rather than negotiate. Their affiliations and reasons for visiting would also be revealed there. Torture, torture solves everything after all.

The Quordenze family would like to learn purification magic as soon as possible. If we can complete the road in the contaminated area of Arnoa, we will be abl e to strengthen the connection between the mainland and the city of Weldburg. This will be a great force in holding down the Spierzeig family.

However, we have no intention of handing over Eve and Raeve for that purpose. I have told father that they are my concubines and that I will never hand them over.

However, it would be impossible to be so honest as to agree to a deal with the Ash Knights. If the world were to find out about this dealings, the Quordenze fa mily would be humiliated. Other families might ridicule us, saying that we were too scared of the Othelloria invasion.

The Ash Knights should also understand this, so next time they would probably come prepared for combat as well. ...I'll be taking my father's place in Othellori a, so considering the timing, it's quite likely that I'll be the one in charge of dealing with this problem. Fuck me.

[I wish they'd be a little more open to dialogue.]

If it's for peaceful reasons, like Eve's relatives wanting to meet again, then we can respond accordingly. But from what I read in the report, I think it'll be difficul t. Just somehow.

[...We need to have a detailed discussion with Eve and Raeve.]

It would be better to hear what the two have to say before the Ash Knights show up again.

Eve is a bit carefree, or maybe childlike, so she doesn't know much about her tribe. She's not a reliable source of information. That's why I want to hear from R aeve, who is an adult.

I need to set aside the setting of being 18 and unmarried and ask her about her past, circumstances, and origins. This might trigger a trauma switch, but this is the time to have a heart-to-heart talk. Sticking my dick in won't solve anything.

[That has been arranged. We will transfer Miss Eve to coincide with the Young Master's move to Nambonan.]

Eve is scheduled to arrive as soon as I enter Nambonan City. If it was the other way around, Raeve and Eve would meet first.

[It goes without saying, but make sure the security is thorough.]

[Of course.]

I know that the suspicious Ash Knights are lurking around. If she get kidnapped here due to some careless mistake, I'd be a fool.

[All that's left now is to prepare for our trip. Can we leave in a few days?]

The original plan was to leave Newnelly with Romilie sometime last week and head to Othelloria via Nambonan, but we still haven't been able to leave.

The schedule was packed, considering that I also have to meet my grandfather, who is holding out at Reisleaf Castle. If I'm late, my father's schedule, who is waiting for me in Othelloria City, will get pushed back further and further.

[I checked with the Spierzeig civil officer this morning, and he said they'll be ready tomorrow. We should be able to leave the day after.]

That means I'll only be staying in Nambonan City for two or three days.

I'll check on the progress of the Nambonan soldiers, see Anna's newborn baby, check on the progress of the construction company and meat factory, reunite Eve and Raeve, and find out all about the Slade tribe...

It'll be very hectic. However, around this time last year I was even busier, attacking and taking control of Reisleaf Castle. I'll just consider this year better than the last.