Ajstain Castle had a chaotic atmosphere all day long. It wasn’t bad to change his monotonous life a little bit every day, but it didn’t seem like a good situation, so Benson felt a little uneasy. Lawrence explained the current situation and told him that if he had any intention of escaping his younger brother, he should take him with him and leave immediately. He found it unfamiliar that Laurence, who had always been confident, expressed ‘you never know’ this time. When asked if she was really in trouble, Lawrence told him not to worry, but she still told him to prepare just in case. But it also made no sense for her to leave this place and settle down somewhere else. Although it is unlikely, a group of mercenaries may come with the will of revenge on him and his younger brother, who have taken refuge in another territory. Moreover, no one left the castle, from a ten-year-old maid to an elderly man, saying that since they were born and raised here, they would die as well. Seeing that, Benson also gave up his heart. One way or another, he wasn’t the only one who considered this place like home. Still, when he advised his younger brother to leave the Ajstain territory for a while just in case, he got a straight face and scolded him for not being able to do that.
Finally, after much nagging, Benson returned to his security duties and, as usual, knocked on Ercia’s room.
“Miss, I’m going in.”
Usually around this time, Ercia would finish tidying up and tell me to come in, but today there was no reply. I knocked once more to see her puzzled, but it was the same as before. When she took over the security duties from the escort knight earlier, she said that Ercia had not left the room, so she must have been inside… Thinking that she might have collapsed from pain, Benson opened the door again with his eyes wide open. Knocked.
“…I’m going in.”
I opened the door to the unanswered room and entered. Lately, even though she turned off the lights, she kept the windows open, so the room was rarely dark. But for some reason, today the lights were turned off and the curtains were all drawn, leaving the room pitch-black. Just like the day I first met her.
“Lady Ercia.”
A rustling sound followed his voice. Were you still asleep? As I strained my eyes in the dark and took a step inside, a voice rang out.
“Benson.”
“Miss?”
Benson realized that Ercia’s voice was weaker than usual and tilted his head. He pretended to be thin and although he was good at acting, he had never been this weak before, so he moved to turn on the light to see if something was going on.
“Don’t turn it on.”
“What?”
“Don’t turn on the light. Just leave me alone.”
“It’s summer solstice…”
“I told you to leave me alone!”
At her irritated words, Benson eventually gave up on turning on the light and took a step back. I don’t know what happened, but I wondered if there was something to make me angry this morning. However, he received a report that no one entered the room and no one left. There was nothing special to get angry about, but did you have a nightmare?
“Is something bad happening?”
“…ha.”
His question brought a deep sigh. I thought I heard footsteps along with the sound of rustling, but then Ercia walked into the light seeping through the crack in the door and finally appeared. She looked the same as usual. She just had a lifeless expression on her face. It was like she was an emotionless doll. Although she had the same appearance as Laurencea, the two had different auras. While Lawrence’s boldness and confidence showed her vitality, Ercia’s bluntness and vulnerability were felt. That mood may have been something Ercia was deliberately giving off, but Ercia didn’t show her facial expressions very well. There were many times when I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but she rarely showed her stony face like this.
“What’s going on?”
The downward-facing eyes looked up and stared at Benson’s face. Benson quietly looked into Ercia’s emerald eyes. She frowned as she looked at Benson, then tilted her head slightly diagonally down to avoid his gaze.
“Miss?”
“…I envy you.”
“Yes?”
“I’m jealous of your younger brother too.”
“…miss?”
Benson looked blankly at Ercia, who was saying something incomprehensible to her. Ercia raised her hand and pushed Benson, who was standing blankly. Benson, wondering how much she would be pushed by a large man wearing armor, followed her gesture and took a few steps back. As I stood in front of her door and looked at Ercia, she lifted her head, smiled weakly, and said her last words.
“I wish I was like that too.”
With those words, Ercia closed the door. He had no choice but to stand still in front of the closed door. She said she meant something and suddenly she couldn’t figure out why she was acting like that. But one thing is certain…
“You were crying..?”
The fact that Ercia’s face showed deep concern was one thing.
* * *
Ian and Lawrence stood on one side of Ramnes Square and looked around. Ramnes Square was one of the most prosperous and bustling places within Ajstain territory. First of all, the location was very good, embracing all four roads. The road that ran across the north, south, east, and west of the territory was located in a location where it could be easily reached from anywhere. The territory was divided into each district by the family road. To the east were residences and shops, and to the north, as expected from a territory with a developed mining industry, various blacksmith shops were spread out. Thanks to the efforts of our predecessors who managed the territory by dividing it into districts in this way, management was relatively easy. However, in the current situation, that strength has become its greatest weakness.
“There are more people than I thought?”
“It’s because there are a lot of people living in Ajstain territory, people visiting here, and people stopping by for trade. Not all of these people are residents of the territory. If we take in all these people, the population will exceed.”
“It’s worth it. With this level of population, it seems more crowded than Belford Market.”
“By Belford Market, you mean the largest commercial district in Berdian territory? I don’t think it’s as big as there.”
Ian shrugged.
“There is little floating population there, so there are a lot of permanent residents.”
“Is it?”
Belford is a commercial district that I have visited a few times in the past, but put it off because I didn’t see anything worth investing in. In places where commercial districts are concentrated, business tends to be good if banks or large-scale general stores are opened, but these places were large in size but not very crowded. To begin with, the Berdian territory is not a bad place for commerce or other manufacturing, but that may be the case.
Ian, who was looking around, turned his gaze back to me.
“Anyway, among so many people, how can we determine who has the bomb? Would it be quick to find a place to plant it?”
“I thought about it carefully, and to increase the killing power, I think it would be right to explode it in the very center of the territory. If I were you, I would blow up the fountain over there. Then, an explosion could occur all over the Ajstain territory.”
Ian rubbed his chin and stared at the fountain before shaking his head.
“No, over there.”
“How do you know?”
“Rodilla said that the explosive power has been reduced by about half. So, it is impossible to blow up Ajstain Territory with one bomb. At most, it will be about a quarter. In that case, detonating it in the center does not make much sense. If we want to increase the number, we might choose to focus on the commercial district… but I don’t think they will see any point in exploding this area.”
“Then where should we aim?”
I unfolded the map I brought. Ian stared at the military map, which was quite accurate in his own way, and tapped a few places with his finger.
“How about here? Here, we can hit major government offices and shopping malls. If the explosive power is a little stronger, Ajstain Castle will also suffer damage. What do you think?”
Coincidentally, the place Ian pointed to was the building where the headquarters of the bank run by the Ajstain family was located. Nearby, there was a guild that managed the mine. In other words, it was in a position where it was possible to wipe out at once the major materials and assets of the Ajstain family, which had a large presence in the finance and mining industries. Additionally, there were businesses nearby and luxury homes behind.
“Other places might seem attractive to them, but if it were me, I would target this one.”
“…surely.”
I looked at the map with my eyes narrowed and then lowered my gaze slightly.
“How about here?”
“Where? The Hospital?”
“Yes. It’s quite large…”
“I won’t aim there. There is a temple of the most influential church in the empire within the blast radius. No matter how crazy they are, they won’t commit such an act against the church. In any case, they will destroy the Holy Kingdom and church members all over the world. Because you might get burned at the stake.”
“They know it’s scary, too.”
“Of course, if you put your mind to it and say, ‘Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened after the explosion,’ I don’t know.”
Ian’s retort, mocking their actions, made me chuckle. It was fun to see him react like an adolescent boy. Then he looked at the rest of the place and nodded his head.
“First, I will move most of the troops there. I think we should deploy only a small number of troops to suspicious areas and investigate them one by one, starting with the most likely areas.”
“Then shall we start this way like I said before?”
When I nodded, Ian told me to wait a moment, left the horse at a nearby inn, and returned. He had to avoid being noticed by traveling on horseback.
“It is unlikely that someone planning to plant a bomb will voluntarily ask for help.”
“That’s right, the lives of precious people depend on it…”
“So, even if we find the person with the bomb, it would be better to solve the problem in a covert way rather than quickly approaching and recovering the bomb. Like providing help to that person.”
“I can confirm the identity of the suspect on the list, so I will give you instructions to escort him.”
“First of all, we should send soldiers to the families of the people on the list.”
Ian snapped his fingers. Then, the man who checked his signal from afar disappeared in an instant.
“That’s interesting. How did they do it? Was that all that was conveyed?”
“How did they do it? Just now? Is that communication??”
“Oh, this?”
Ian looked at his fingers briefly, held them up, and smiled.
“It’s a hand signal commonly used in the military. This means you’re starting one of the operations you haven’t done yet. This means, ‘Start the fourth operation!’ How is it? It’s simple, right?”
“It’s fascinating. Wait a minute, this is an operation that hasn’t been carried out yet?”
Ian shrugged his shoulders as if my surprise was no big deal.
“I told you earlier. I bought insurance in advance. You have to consider all situations and deal with them to avoid embarrassing situations.”
Ian chuckled.
“The adjutant is there to be used in times like this. They have to use their smart heads to assume numerous situations in advance and act accordingly. Otherwise, they will suffer great damage when they go to China.”
“…”
“Well, this isn’t a battlefield…”
The Berdian family took on the role of commander in chief protecting the border.
“You said Ian has been traveling around battlefields since he was young, right?”
“Well, that’s right. There’s no end to groups periodically crossing the border and trying to plunder.”
Even though Ian was talking about himself, he seemed indifferent as if he was talking about someone else. I wondered if he didn’t want to talk, but when he answered in detail, he didn’t seem all that unpleasant. Ian said he killed his first person when he was fifteen… so it’s already been over 9 years. What was Ian like 10 years ago? Once again, it felt unfamiliar.
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Translator Note:
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