In the previous chapter, I wrote it as though "the Three Idiots and Marquis Samons had come," but while working on this chapter, I realized there was no need for Cain to be present, so I changed it to him staying behind at the Marquis's estate.
Accordingly, I also revised the previous chapter from "the Three Idiots and Marquis Samons" to "Albert, Lion, and Marquis Samons."
"What's the current situation in the Border Count's territory?"
"I don't have the specifics, but according to the letter, the invasion began about a week ago, so fighting should already be underway."
The Empire's forces numbered roughly thirty thousand, and the Border Count's family had managed to hastily mobilize fifteen thousand. If the theory held that an attacker needed three times the defender's strength to take a fortress, and if we were fighting from the border fortresses that I had originally constructed and the Border Count's family had since reinforced, then we should be fine — but in a world where magic existed, that three-to-one ratio was unreliable. And more importantly, the Empire was expected to keep pouring in additional troops.
"So, did Lion come to ask me to join the fight?"
I didn't particularly want to go, but if things continued like this, the fighting could spread all the way to the Royal Capital, which meant I probably had no choice but to participate. Just as I was thinking that —
"No, I want Tenma to deploy the Golems."
Was what I was told.
"Lord Ootori, this war is not merely 'the Kingdom versus the Empire' — there is also the possibility that 'the Kingdom versus the rebel faction' will break out simultaneously. If that happens, the enemy will attack from"
the West
as well."
Marquis Samons seemed thoroughly convinced that if rebels were to appear, it would be Duke Daram, who held territory in the western part of the Kingdom. After all, Duke Daram was the leader of the Reformist Faction, and to anyone who had been tracking his movements up to now, he was practically the obvious choice — not even worth betting on.
"Well, even if he did make a move, the Queen's birth family in the north and the ducal family at the far northwestern border would likely take charge of the response. However, given the chaos of the war and Duke Daram's movements, they might not arrive in time. To prepare for that eventuality, we would like you, Lord Ootori, to remain in the Royal Capital as a deterrent against the rebel faction. The most effective way to succeed in a coup is to eliminate the royal family entirely, but with someone like you, Lord Ootori, it would be possible to rescue His Majesty and the others and escape from the Royal Capital before enemy forces could breach the castle."
Marquis Samons said this with a smile. It seemed that an army organized around the Royalist Faction — centered on the Duke Sanga and Marquis Samons families — would be dispatched to the Border Count's territory. As a result, the Royalist presence in and around the Royal Capital would temporarily decrease, and I was needed as a fighting force that could compensate if the worst came to pass. That said, it wasn't as though I'd be stationed inside the royal castle standing guard — I simply wasn't to leave the Royal Capital. This wasn't technically a commission, but since it restricted my movements, I was told a suitable reward would be provided.
"If the Border Count's family is fighting to defend the Royal Capital, then I'll cooperate as much as I can. Give me a moment."
With that, I left Lion waiting and headed to the room I used as both my bedroom and storage. What I went to retrieve was —
"Lion, I've loaded five thousand Golem cores into this. Take it with you."
"Are you sure?! B-but the Border Count's family can't offer anything of equivalent value in return..."
For an instant, Lion's voice shot up in surprise, but it quickly wilted when he realized he couldn't prepare the payment right away.
"No, in this case, I'll lend them to you free of charge. And I won't complain if they get damaged. However, when the war is over, I need you to return any Golems that remain — even if their cores are broken."
Since acquaintances of mine were caught up in this, a few damaged Golems were hardly a concern. If anything, I'd be fine with them being used up entirely for the defense. But as long as we were framing this as a loan, I needed at least a token return — even a single core fragment — to have on record. Otherwise, the Reformist Faction would undoubtedly raise objections.
"So, how and when will Duke Sanga's house and Marquis Samons's house mobilize?"
"First, the heads of the Royalist Faction currently in the Royal Capital — or their representatives — will gather for a quick strategy meeting. Meanwhile, messengers will be dispatched to each territory to begin mustering troops. As we march toward Border Count Haust's domain, we'll link up with the soldiers from each territory along the way, then split the army into two columns and push back the enemy from both sides of the fortress."
If things went well, they could strike from behind the enemy lines and coordinate a pincer attack with the garrison forces inside the fortress… though that was a big "if."
"How did the enemy even penetrate into the Border Count's territory in the first place?"
"We don't have the full details yet, but they most likely crossed through the mountains. And they appear to have done so by throwing away soldiers in waves, over and over again."
The mountains between the Border Count's domain and the Empire were extraordinarily treacherous — no sane person would even attempt to climb them. Still, this world had magic. If the enemy had large numbers of soldiers capable of casting Levitation or Flight spells, it could be an effective method for a surprise attack. But realistically, if they had that many magic-capable soldiers, they'd have better odds attacking the fortress directly rather than attempting a mountain crossing. Besides, those mountains were home to all manner of vicious flying Monsters, starting with Wyverns.
"So they built paths, scattered bait to make the Monsters bloated and docile, then slipped through while the creatures were too full to move?"
"That's the most likely scenario. If that's true, it's a depraved and inhumane way to wage war — but as a military strategy, you'd have to call it devastatingly effective. It makes me sick."
Just as Marquis Samons said — if it was true, I could only feel sympathy for the soldiers who'd been forced to carry it out, no matter which side they belonged to, and fury at the commanders who had ordered it.
However, the one getting hammered on all fronts right now was the Kingdom, so I had to set those feelings aside quickly.
"Oh, and Lion. This is flour we had stockpiled at home — the bread-making kind. Should be around five hundred kilograms. Take it with you while you're at it. It's probably only enough to make a dent, but it's better than nothing."
I wasn't sure how many loaves five hundred kilograms of flour could produce, but it had to comfortably exceed ten thousand. Even so, that was a drop in the bucket for an army numbering in the tens of thousands — a token gesture at best. Still, maybe it would inspire some of the other nobles to contribute food supplies as well… that thought did cross my mind, if I was being honest.
"Five hundred will still help! Then I'll head to the fortress right away —"
"Wait, Lion!"
Lion started to dash off, but Albert immediately stepped in front of him and blocked his path.
"What do you think you're doing, Albert?!"
"'What do you think you're doing'… Listen here, you brute! You're staying in the Royal Capital and providing rear support with me and Cain! As for the supplies from Tenma, entrust them to the most reliable person among those deploying from the Royal Capital — from Border Count Haust's household!"
Lion didn't seem to fully grasp the meaning behind Albert's words, but when Marquis Samons told him to do as Albert said, he nodded readily enough. Still, he clearly didn't understand what it actually meant.
"Also, Albert. These are Golem cores for the Duke Sanga household and the Marquis Samons household. Each should contain three thousand, so feel free to use them without hesitation when the time comes. Same conditions as Border Count Haust's household."
At the same time as gathering the Golem cores to lend to Border Count Haust's household, he had also prepared the portions for the other two families.
When he explained this to Albert, who happened to be right in front of him, not only Albert but also Marquis Samons—who had been trying to impress upon Lion the meaning of staying in the Royal Capital—froze with startled expressions.
"Oh, but there was one thing I wanted to warn you about, Albert."
"What's that?"
When Albert asked with a solemn look, I said to him:
"Don't pull a fast one. Based on your behavior so far, you're the most likely to do it."
When I said that with a straight face, Albert's denial and the laughter of Marquis Samons, Lion, and the others echoed through the mansion. For the record, when Primera and Amour—who had come over upon hearing the commotion—were told what had happened, they both chimed in unison with "That's true!" in agreement, while Jeanne and Aura gave small nods of confirmation. Furthermore, when they were asked who might be the next most likely to pull a fast one, the first name that came up from Marquis Samons was, "That would be our Cain, wouldn't it."
"Lord Tenma, regarding the Golem cores to be handed over to the three families—might I be entrusted with them?"
Once the discussion had wrapped up, Marquis Samons made this suggestion. He was indeed the highest-ranking among those deploying from the Royal Capital and would unquestionably serve as the overall commander on the march, so I thought it would be fine—but I had reservations about whether that would end up overlooking the Duke Sanga and Border Count Haust households. In truth, I couldn't tell whether Lion was unconcerned or simply hadn't noticed, but there was no change in his bearing. Albert, however, seemed a bit irritated.
"To be blunt, in the current situation, I cannot fully trust anyone other than Lion and Albert who are present here—including their retainers, and the Marquis Samons household's people as well. I know this qualifies as disqualification on my part as head of household, but even accounting for the Empire making moves beyond what Border Count Haust could have imagined, I find it hard to believe they could orchestrate betrayals this flawlessly."
"In other words, Marquis Samons, you believe there is a traitor within Border Count Haust's household—or within the Royalist Faction?"
"Put plainly, yes. If a traitor were near Albert or Lion when they handed over the Golem cores, those powerful weapons could be turned against us."
The Golem cores would surely be treated as top-secret by all three families, but whenever an object passes from one hand to another, there is always some chance of information leaking. That vulnerability could be exploited, and more importantly, if a traitor realized someone was carrying something important, they might kill for it and try to seize it.
In that regard, if Marquis Samons held them, he would be a high-value target who might be attacked—but on the other hand, he would have strict security and multiple bodyguards, making him potentially safer than the retainers of the Duke Sanga or Border Count Haust households. Of course, there was the counter-strategy of hiding them with retainers instead, but considering the need to rendezvous with Duke Sanga and Border Count Haust afterward, it would undoubtedly be more convenient in various ways for Marquis Samons to hold them.
"Furthermore, when delivering the food supplies from Lord Tenma's support materials, I could draft a report and present it before everyone, then afterward call for a leaders' meeting or something similar—that would create an opportunity where only the three of us would be present. If we handed them over quietly at that moment, we could keep the true nature of our ace hidden until the very last moment."
Marquis Samons' proposal seemed to be winning over a reluctant Albert, but there was one major flaw in the strategy. The one to point it out was:
"Marquis Samons, I hope you'll forgive me for asking this, but if Marquis Samons—"
"—is the traitor—"
"…and cuts us down —"
"— is not —"
"do you have proof that he isn't?"
It was Primera. Quite... or rather, it was a statement that could easily be seen as slandering Marquis Samons — the kind of remark where even a summary execution for impertinence wouldn't have been unwarranted. Well, in reality, the Ootori family and Duke Sanga's house would probably end up apologizing and paying compensation to settle things, but one wrong step could have escalated into open conflict.
"My Lord, please forgive Primera."
"We are truly sorry. A formal apology will also be issued from Duke Sanga's family later."
Albert and I immediately bowed our heads and apologized to Marquis Samons. Throughout this, Primera kept her head lowered without moving.
"No, no, as the wife of the Ootori family and a blood relative of Duke Sanga's house, your concern is entirely understandable. After all, if I truly were a traitor, I would be in a position to launch a surprise attack on Duke Sanga's army and Count Houast's forces using over ten thousand Golems and wipe them out. If anything, it was Lord Tenma or Albert who should have pointed that out. Well, Lord Tenma seemed to have noticed that possibility and had likely already thought of a retaliation plan... but Albert was thoroughly talked into it."
I couldn't help but wish they'd stop joking around in a situation like this, but since Albert and I failed to raise the issue, we bore the brunt of the blame. Lion, meanwhile, was apparently judged to be completely beyond the pale.
"Well, there's no way to prove I'm not a traitor other than having you believe me, but distributing the cores in secret is undeniably one effective measure. With that in mind, what would you like to do?"
"We will entrust them to you, Marquis Samons."
I decided on my own authority to hand them over immediately, giving three bags of cores to Marquis Samons. Albert seemed to hesitate briefly, but since the Golem cores were my property to begin with, he nodded without objection.
"I will keep them safe... By the way, if I truly were a traitor and had attacked the Duke's army and the Count's forces, what kind of retaliation were you planning?"
Marquis Samons asked this with a slightly apprehensive look, so:
"First, I would secure the safety of the royal family, then capture Cain and the others, fly to Marquis Samons' territory, and destroy the major cities one by one using 'Tempest' and similar means, taking the populace along with them. After that, I would move on to the smaller villages and towns I had put off, and finally march to annihilate the Marquis' army."
When I laid out the contingency plan I had worked out, not just Marquis Samons but even Albert, Lion, Primera, Jeanne, and Aura all went pale. For the record, Grandpa said, "That's only natural, I suppose," and Amour nodded in understanding, saying, "Well, can't be helped."
"...Yes, well, I absolutely won't betray you, so if I do end up making a mistake, please spare the commoners at least. I'm serious..."
If I were actually betrayed, I would first consult with the King and the others about what to do before taking any action, so it shouldn't end up being a "kill everyone on sight, whether they're from the Marquis' army or his territory!" kind of situation. Probably...
"Lion, Albert, after this we'll be heading to the royal castle to greet His Majesty and receive permission to organize our forces. Then we'll return to our respective residences to handle the formation procedures and meet with the other house heads. Once that's done, we'll take our leave from His Majesty to deploy. There's plenty of other things to handle as well, so it'll be tough while you're still getting used to it, but do your best."
Arranging weapons and food supplies, drafting rosters of who would stay in the Royal Capital and who would head to the battlefield — there was a great deal to do, including contacting their territories. Even Marquis Samons, who was accustomed to this kind of work, apparently found it exhausting, so inexperienced Albert and Lion would likely have no time to sleep.
The two, who looked like they were about to see hell from here on out, let their shoulders slump as they weakly thanked me for the golem cores, then left the estate with Marquis Samons pushing them along from behind. The fact that they both looked older than when they'd first arrived was definitely not my imagination.
"Things got rough real quick right after we got back."
"Yes, but aren't we fortunate we weren't caught up in it while we were traveling?"
Primera was right about that. If the Empire had invaded while we were staying in Lindau, we'd have had to either cut the trip short and head back to the Royal Capital or, just in case, extend our stay at Duke Sanga's residence. In the worst-case scenario, we might have had to make our way all the way out to Count Haust's border territory.
"That's true, but even if Marquis Samons is an old acquaintance, that remark was dangerous."
"I knew that, but... Big brother was so useless that I just couldn't help it... I can't stand by and watch Mother and my sisters-in-law get dragged into this because of Big brother's blunder."
When I asked whether that was okay with Duke Sanga, the response was, "Big brother's responsibility is also Father's responsibility." I did feel sorry for Duke Sanga getting caught up in it, but it was Duke Sanga who had chosen Albert as the ducal family's heir, so his heir's mistakes would naturally be judged as mistakes in Duke Sanga's education.
"Well, regarding the Duke Sanga family, right now there's nothing to help with other than lending them golems, and if anything comes up, Albert will probably show up, so we can just wait and watch for now. The real problem is when the Reformist Faction actually attacks. The news that we provided food support to the border count will spread quickly, and even if we don't rescue the King and the others, the Reformist Faction will recognize the Otōri family as enemies and come after us. Maybe I should step up the estate's security by another level, just to be safe..."
As I seriously considered placing additional golems in the open spaces in the garden, Grandpa said, "Won't that make it harder for the golems to move around?" so I gave up on the golem placement and decided we'd each hold onto the corresponding cores instead.
"Alright, since the Reformist Faction might betray us and we never know when they'll attack, don't let your guard down when you go outside. If anything happens, deploy the golems. If you can, run. That's it!"
We didn't know if they'd actually betray us or when they might attack, but we couldn't just hole up in the estate forever, so even though it was the same set of precautions as always, we decided to recommit to enforcing them strictly and that was the end of that discussion.
"It's almost dinner time, but with everything that happened, I don't really feel like eating yet."
"Same here. And now that my tension's worn off, I'm starting to feel exhausted."
It was normally dinner time, but when I asked around, the only ones with an appetite were Grandpa and Amur, so I decided I'd prepare their meals. As for Primera, Jeanne, and Aura, who all said they were tired, I figured I'd let them take a bath first.
When I said I'd prepare the meal, Jeanne and Aura tried to be polite about it, but those two wouldn't really complain as long as the food was reasonably tasty and filling, so I told Primera it'd be simple to prepare and asked her to take the two of them to the bath.
"So, what's the real reason you shoved Jeanne and the others into the bath?"
It must have been too obvious — both Grandpa and Amur were convinced I'd kicked the two of them out because I had something to discuss.
"Honestly, it's fine having those two around, but I thought this is something we'd rather keep as secret as possible."
"Mm, the iron rule of secrets is to discuss them when there are fewer people around! Besides, Jeanne aside, Aura is the type to accidentally let secrets slip! ...Highly likely."
Amur thought about it for a moment and added to his statement, but it was hardly a ringing endorsement. Well, that was part of my reasoning for kicking them out too, but beyond that, I was also worried they might not be able to handle the weight of what we were about to discuss.
"If the Reformist Faction betrays us, there's a high chance they'll stage a coup in the Royal Capital. If that happens, fighting should break out all over the place. During the chaos, they'll likely launch an assault on the Royal Castle itself, but depending on the forces inside, we might not be able to save everyone in the royal family. In the worst case, we might have to... abandon someone. Or possibly everyone."
I intend to save as many as possible until the very last moment, but there are scenarios where it's already too late, or we simply can't save two targets at once. Pushing ourselves in such a situation could endanger the people we've already rescued, or even our own lives. If we went to rescue someone and ended up going down together, all of it would be for nothing.
"Also, if fighting breaks out in the city, there will absolutely be residents trying to take refuge in our estate. If they're people from Kukuri Village or the Kellys — people with direct ties to our household — we'll protect them. Anyone else, no. We can't take that risk when we can't tell friend from foe. And even though our place is bigger than an ordinary house, when you factor in defense, I'd say two to three hundred people at best, five hundred if we really cram them in. I'm sorry, but since the number of people we can protect is limited, I'm going to have to prioritize lives."
The more chaotic the battle becomes, the more impossible it becomes to save every life, and the last thing I want is a situation where, in the desperation of having no margin, I help a stranger only to end up letting someone I know die.
"It's an unlikely scenario, but we have to prepare for the worst case... If we save Alex and his people but leave everyone else, we'll face plenty of criticism. But being dead means losing everything. Also, for that once-in-a-million contingency, we should probably brief Alex and his people ahead of time. Even just a simple discussion would improve our survival rate if the worst comes to pass."
"When that time comes, I'll need Grandpa to explain things too. And Amur, I have a favor to ask — I'd like to secure an escape route for that worst-case scenario."
"Understood. I'll send word south through Renitan or Ranitan. They should be coming to say goodbye before heading back to the south soon."
If we could make it all the way south, fighting back against the rebel army would become possible. Well, they'd end up taking the lead in the south, but that would be Hana-san and the king's problem, not mine. Once everyone's safety was secured, I could fight without worry.
"But let's say you protect five hundred people — how do you plan to get them all the way south in that state?"
"We'll make full use of the Dimension Bags. I'll pack only the essentials from inside the Dimension Bags into Magic Bags, discard the rest to free up space, and squeeze as many people in as possible. It'll be packed tight, but it should be doable. If not everyone fits, the rest will have to run with us. Well, we've got a number of Dimension Bags, so I think five hundred people should be manageable."
We could save whoever fit once space opened up, but since we still wouldn't know who was the enemy, it was probably a pipe dream.
"Well then, shall we wrap things up here and get some dinner going?"
"Mm, or Jeanne and the others will start getting suspicious."
Since the two of them said that, I pulled out some pre-made beef bowls I'd been storing in my Magic Bag. By then, Shiromaru and Solomon had lined up next to Grandpa and Amur without my noticing, so I gave the two of them a special beef bowl (no onions, with added boiled vegetables), but it seemed to go over only so-so. Well, they went back for seconds, so it wasn't like it didn't agree with their taste.
When Primera and the others came back from the bath while Grandpa and Amur were getting their second servings, I served them rice porridge made with the same pre-made soup I'd stored, and we ate together. But after we finished, Primera said she might be catching a cold and went back to her room early.
"Tenma has to sleep all alone and lonely... That's a shame."
"No, it's not like we sleep together every day. Besides, I have some things I want to try tonight."
Since getting married, we'd been trying to sleep at the same time whenever possible, but on nights like tonight when there was something I wanted to work on, sleeping separately wasn't uncommon.
"You've gotten used to being teased, I see... Not very entertaining. So, what are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to try and mass-produce some higher-performance Golems. Come to think of it, the Golems I gave to Lion and the others aren't all that useful indoors."
I suddenly remembered that the Golem cores I'd handed over would automatically construct bodies from surrounding soil and stones when placed on the ground with magic power infused into them, but they were completely useless indoors where there was no base material to work with, or on surfaces that couldn't hold form like mud, sand, water, and so on.
"I need to inform the Marquis and the others about this right away. So, to make them usable even in those kinds of situations, were you planning to attach a Magic Bag to the core, like with Jeanne and Aura's scorpion-type?"
"No, that would make them too labor-intensive to mass-produce. Instead, I'm thinking of embedding the core directly into the body from the start, like with the knight-type Golems."
What I was considering was creating Golems shaped like mannequins made of metal, then equipping them with armor. The image in my head was something like a Living Armor from a video game — by hollowing out the interior of the mannequin to reduce weight and relying on the armor for defensive capability. If everything turned out as envisioned, they should be able to move similarly to the knight-type Golem I'd given to Primera. However, since I planned to make them with just a single core, overall performance would inevitably be inferior.
"So, they're meant as a stalling force for places where ordinary Golems can't be used. For a mass-produced version of that, something with balanced stats rather than peak performance might actually be more practical, hmm?"
Grandpa agreed with my thinking — though "agreed" certainly didn't mean he was going to help — so I stayed up all night building prototypes. At its core, this was just a simplified version of the Raiden or knight-type Golems, so the prototypes came together quickly enough... but upon building them, I discovered several non-performance-related weaknesses. Namely:
"These take up more space than I expected. And they're surprisingly expensive..."
The mannequins themselves were fairly easy to produce once I combined alchemy and magic while recalling human-shaped plastic model kits, but the mannequin material had to be at least mithril-grade for strength, and I also needed to source armor and weapons in matching sizes to equip them with. Above all else, they required at least as much storage space as the armor alone.
Right now it was just a single prototype so it wasn't too bad, but mass-producing these would put serious pressure on the capacity of our Dimension Bags and Magic Bags.
"They're less than half the size of a knight-type Golem, but the performance is less than a tenth... Is there even a point to making a mass-produced version like this?"
I genuinely started considering whether it would be better to spend more time and just build a few units with performance closer to the knight-type Golem instead. But then I realized that wouldn't work either due to insufficient materials, which left me agonizing over what to do with the mass-produced version.
I received a question about the mass-produced knight-type Golem, so I'll explain with my current image in mind.
The knight-type Golem is like a Gundam-class (all-purpose) mobile suit. The ones for royal bodyguard duty and Amy's Golem are like a GM Custom (specialized in offense, defense, and speed), ordinary Golems are like a GM, and the mass-produced version was aiming to exceed the GM's performance but ended up below that level (just slightly stronger than an average knight).
It was a failure born from a spur-of-the-moment idea, and it shows.