Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up - Volume 4 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Shocking Reunion

It wouldn’t be long now until I announced the founding of the Eintorian Kingdom. The revival of the Ancient Kingdom was almost here. The only thing holding me back now was Duke Ronan. After making a fortuitous escape, he’d created the South Runan Kingdom. Now that they had occupied the former Runanese capital, Naruya had shifted their attention to their front with the Herald Kingdom. The loss of so many men had forced them to focus on the invasion that they already had in progress there. My spies told me that the occupation of Herald was going smoothly, and in all likelihood the kingdom would soon be destroyed.

My problem was with Duke Ronan, who had fled south into southern Runan and made himself king there.

The King of Naruya had deployed his forces in Runan’s direction, which is to say the thirty thousand or so of them who’d survived fighting against me, to the Runanese capital. I’d even received a report recently saying those forces were now close to South Runan, positioned to advance. Ronan would no doubt seek a hurried alliance with the Gebel Kingdom and try to get them to send reinforcements. Ronan’s family had marriage ties there, so he’d certainly make use of them.

For me, the very existence of South Runan was a hindrance—a chain around my leg, keeping me from proclaiming the foundation of the Eintorian Kingdom. If I was going to absorb the former territories of Runan, I needed the support of the people there. Using the name “South Runan” to assert greater legitimacy than my “Eintorian Kingdom” could potentially sway the populace, and that would be a serious nuisance.

Only once Ronan and South Runan disappeared would Runan truly be gone for good. I hadn’t heard anything from him yet, but the moment Ronan got into serious trouble, he’d definitely call for me. If I didn’t go to his aid, I’d be labeled a filthy traitor.

Our relationship was annoying. Because Ronan was a blood relative of the Royal House of Runan, I couldn’t destroy his country personally while it was called South Runan. Regardless, most of the retainers and soldiers who were originally from Runan were now in South Runan, as well as the majority of the common people.

Even if the people had sworn loyalty to me, with South Runan carrying on the Runan name, it would shake their loyalty to me if I were the one to destroy it. I suspected that that was true of most of my Runanese subjects. At the hands of another nation altogether, however... That was a different story. Heina was central to my plans for that. She was a spark of discord I’d cast into their midst.

Besides, the Gebel Kingdom wouldn’t be so eager to send reinforcements. Ronan would no doubt promise them a portion of Runan’s lands in exchange for protecting South Runan, but he didn’t have the power to make good on any such arrangement. In fact, he had been unable to do anything to stop the first Naruyan invasion—I’d handled that one—and he couldn’t do anything to stop this second invasion either.

All he had was a lust for power.

When the time came, I would pretend to help by sending him aid, and then just watch as he died. Then I just had to feign grief as I took in the South Runanese soldiers, and I’d be free to declare my new country after that.

Obviously, I had to control the timing of it. Waiting for Naruya to attack South Runan would take too long. If Ronan was trying to get the Gebel Kingdom to make a move, then I would turn that around and use it to destroy South Runan. Once the deed was done, I would sway the people by fighting the Gebel Kingdom to show I’d tried to save South Runan, but it was just too late.

First, I’ll make the Gebel Kingdom South Runan’s enemy. Then I’ll fight them because I can’t leave an enemy alone. That’s my plan to destroy South Runan. In fact, it’s been in progress for quite some time now.

＊

“Let’s head out, Euracia. A new café opened in Brinhill, and I hear their fruit cake is delicious.”

“Really? Let’s go, then! Right away!”

It had been a few days since I made it back to Brinhill, and I decided to take a much-needed break by asking Euracia out on a date. Euracia got up the moment she heard the word cake. If there was something she loved more than eating, I’d yet to see it. Her ability to pack away a heaping plate of food in an instant was an incredible talent.

“What made you look for information on the new café, though?”

“I figured I put you through a lot of hard work while I was away, so I wanted to take you somewhere. Do you like cakes?”

“Of course! Cake is righteous!”

Wasn’t it meat that was righteous, and the truth before? How quickly she changes her mind.

“Cake! Cake! I want a big ol’ cake!”

She spread her arms wide and started speaking like a child. This was a sign that I’d better take her there quickly, so I did just that. “But didn’t you just eat?”

“I have an extra stomach for desserts! Heh heh, cake!”

Looking at Euracia, I could believe it. Still though, who knew she was such a big fan of cake? I should’ve brought her here sooner.

When the cake finally appeared, Euracia cooed with delight.

Um, excuse me, it’s out of character for you to be so obviously delighted when there’s this many people around.

“Oooh, you can tell they’re popular with a cake that looks as good as this,” Euracia said, nodding emphatically.

“Your Excellency! Your Excellency!”

At that very moment, Bente raced into the shop, drenched with sweat. Euracia looked on, fork still in hand.

“We’ve got trouble!”

Euracia’s fingers twitched, perhaps getting a bad feeling for reasons beyond what Bente had already said. Her fork was almost touching the cake. Erm, now probably wasn’t the time to be watching Euracia, but she was so darn adorable I couldn’t help myself.

“What’s happened?”

“There’s a messenger from South Runan!”

Looks like the time has come.

＊

Ronan’s envoy was his retainer who also happened to be a count. There’s no need to learn the man’s name, so just remember that he was incredibly arrogant. He seemed to believe that South Runan had all of the legitimacy of Runan, and that me and my forces in Brijit were just a territorial force of theirs.

“I am sure you must be quite pleased with yourself, living a relaxed and affluent life down here like this.”

To think a mere count would dare talk to me like that. I was too appalled to say anything.

“I will now read out His Majesty’s message. On your knees, Count Erhin Eintorian!” Ronan’s envoy commanded in an intimidating tone.

Obviously, the commanders attached to Eintorian like Yusen, Gibun, Jint, and Hadin were all visibly upset by this. Still, I couldn’t just kill the guy. South Runan was not long for this world, but it was still Runan, so it was best for me to bow to public sentiment and obey them.

Yeah, I knew that, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed.

Should I kill this asshole and invade South Runan? No need. With the proper application of my strategy, South Runan will be finished in no time. I just have to bear it for now. I’ve been putting up with this kind of nonsense all along, so I can’t make the worst possible move by losing my temper now, when Ronan’s so close to going down on his own.

I couldn’t let myself become a traitor to Runan. I had to be seen as the one who’d saved the ruined nation and founded his own on top of it. If I attacked Runan now, I’d never win the opinions of the Runanese people in South Runan over to my side.

Normally, in a war of conquest, the invader had to win over the sentiment of the people afterward, but that’s when they were a different nation. As a former vassal of Runan, I was restricted by that position. If I was directly responsible for the nation’s ruin, it would have a massive negative effect on the people’s opinion of me.

So I have to put up with this. I need to endure, so Ronan can suffer an even more miserable fate. But that doesn’t mean I need to kneel, right?

“By ‘His Majesty,’ do you perhaps refer to Duke Ronan?”

“Of course! What other ‘majesty’ is there?!” Ronan’s retainer roared.

I chuckled. “So he’s using ‘His Majesty’ now. If you insisted on me bowing my head to His Highness, I might have agreed, but His Majesty? What gives him that kind of legitimacy? Do these orders you come with bear the royal seal of Runan?”

“The royal seal... We don’t have it yet!”

Of course they didn’t. That would have been with the king when he fell into Valdesca’s hands.

“If he doesn’t have the seal, then doesn’t that mean Duke Ronan is just another of those who abandoned His Majesty?”

“Don’t make me laugh! His Majesty evacuated before the duke, and met with tragedy as he did. Everyone knows that Duke Ronan is of royal blood. Even without the royal seal, he has legitimacy...”

“Speaking of legitimacy, I would think there ought to have been a prince who fled along with you. No?”

“Enough! You’re being disrespectful. I am an envoy who comes bearing His Majesty’s words. You are to treat me with the respect accorded to the king himself. Or does Eintorian mean to rebel against his righteous authority?”

The envoy’s voice got louder as he realized he was losing the argument. In terms of legitimacy, as a direct heir of the Ancient Eintorian Kingdom, my claim to it was just as good.

“Not at all. If you have orders, then let’s have them.”

“Fine. Count Erhin, you are to lead your troops to South Runan at once, and defend the new capital! This is your duty as a retainer of Runan!”

Well, then. The orders themselves are obvious ones. These are the chains that bind me as a Runanese retainer. Now is the time to break them. Well, I’ll just take it slowly. Nice and slow.

＊

Heina Berhin was still agonizing over what to do.

When Erhin said that the duke was the man responsible for her father’s miserable death, he wasn’t wrong. His talent exceeded her own, which was why she had been more frustrated with him.

But the facts are the facts.

Her father’s untimely end and the fall of the House of Berhin were purely the fault of Ronan’s whims. She’d spent years kissing up to Ronan in an attempt to do something about it. But the world had changed, just as Erhin had told her it would.

Because she’d been warned in advance, she had returned to her own domain, and prepared a small force of soldiers of her own. When the second Naruyan invasion came, Heina led her unit to go and save Ronan. If the Naruyan pursuit had been more intense, they wouldn’t have been able to fend it off, of course, but then Erhin drew the Naruyans’ attention and routed them.

Erhin had won. Again.

“He’s incredible...”

Heina bit her lip. She had to face the facts: the man was an amazing strategist. Thanks to his efforts, Ronan was able to settle in South Runan without further issue. The reason Heina had deferred her revenge against Ronan so far was because he still had his forces and retainers to stop her from taking his head. She also felt he deserved a more miserable end.

Heina knew Ronan’s ambitions.

He clearly wants to be king.

Knowing that, she wanted to strike at the moment he finally did, knocking him from the zenith of joy to the nadir of despair all in a single instant.

A fate as miserable as my father’s. Now that would be the ultimate revenge.

She was ashamed that she couldn’t move into action until now, when Ronan was no longer the most powerful man in Runan, and not such a frightening figure anymore, but that didn’t mean she was going to do nothing about it. Now that the chance had come, she was going to carry out her revenge no matter what it took.

There’s one problem, though...

If he became king, that would make killing him harder. With Erhin having smashed Naruya’s grand army, South Runan was now able to survive even longer. This meant her fears came to fruition, and Ronan did become king. She was constantly searching for a chance to kill him, but Ronan was an incredibly distrustful man, and never met with her alone.

I’m the one who saved him, and yet he never trusted me.

The most galling thing about Ronan was that, even without that trust, he’d still try to use her as much as he could. Despite being the very person who had removed her from her position as advisor, he hinted at giving her another important position. He was an unbelievably cunning man.

But she was also a strategist.

Things had gotten easier for her the moment that she accepted she couldn’t keep up with Erhin, but she’d been able to read the situation on the continent, at least. South Runan? Ronan becoming king? Those were but momentary issues, seeing as the kingdom couldn’t last long.

But if things played out the way she saw them going, she wouldn’t be able to take revenge personally. Ronan would just die. What part would she have played in the fall of the man who had wronged her father and her entire house?

As she was worrying about this, a man came to visit her in secret.

“My name is Yusen. I’ve come with a letter from my lord. I must ask that, whether you agree to do as it says or not, you read it and then burn it in my presence.”

Burn the letter. He was asking her to destroy the evidence. That way, even if she agreed to do as the letter said and then betrayed them, there would be no evidence of her connection to Erhin. The nobles in Runan knew what her relationship with Erhin was like—absolutely terrible. So even if she later confessed that Erhin was the mastermind, no one would believe her.

“You’re very cautious,” was all Heina could say, a hint of self-mockery creeping into her tone.

“His Excellency wants to believe in you, but...if your feelings on the matter aren’t settled, then he says there’s nothing he can do about it.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll consider the contents of the letter, but tell him that whatever I do about it, I acted of my own accord. I have pride enough for that, at least.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ronan was the one who killed my father.

Her enmity toward Erhin was merely born of jealousy toward his abilities. She had opposed him before because of it, so, as a strategist, it would be unwise for him to ever fully trust her. But that didn’t matter. She had already resolved to take revenge on Ronan, and the moment she’d made that decision she gave up any particular desire for life.

I’ll watch Ronan die a miserable death, and then die laughing at my own ineptitude as a strategist of a failed nation.

That was what she resolved to do. Having led a miserable life where she never trusted anyone, she at least wanted to cap it off with something glorious and go out with the self-satisfaction of knowing that she’d taken the ultimate revenge for her family.

The predictions in Erhin’s letter were all correct.

After founding South Runan, defending against Naruya was an urgent priority, so Ronan had requested an alliance with the Ducal House of Kalt in the Gebel Kingdom, with which he had marriage ties. The cost was a promise to divide Runan’s lands between them. It wasn’t an especially appealing deal from the Gebelians’ perspective.

They could do away with their marriage ties whenever they wanted, so there was no need to go out of their way to save South Runan. They were even considering attacking South Runan themselves. Erhin wanted to work through Heina to incite them to do just that.

Heina went to the Gebel Kingdom as a formal envoy, and met with Duke Kalt’s more ambitious rival, Duke Plenett.

“You’re saying you’ll create an opening for me, and you want me to take just South Runan?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

It was certainly a tempting proposal for Duke Plenett. Of course, not being able to tell if she was sincere about it, he couldn’t take her at her word immediately.

“The moment Ronan is gone, the Gebel Kingdom will be able to take South Runan without issue. The land there is fertile. With Naruya still at war with Herald, their forces are currently spread out toward the east. Who do you think they’ll want to fight next once they’re done? The Gebel Kingdom, of course. This is your best chance to expand before then, securing fertile land, and also easing your access to strategic resources.”

This was also true. The king and nobles of the Gebel Kingdom were prepared to stand and fight against Naruya. Having already had their request for an alliance rebuffed, they already knew Naruya’s ambitions better than anyone.

“Here in Gebel, we have a powerful commander named Papme Diondi. Although he may be fooling around now, saying it’s his time to rest...so long as we have him, we can fight Naruya. If you say there are fertile lands up for grabs, then of course we want them. But the question remains. How can I trust you?”

That was the most important issue, of course. She had no collateral, and nothing she could promise.

“Currently, South Runan has made a request for troops, so please send the Royal Army for now. Answer that you cannot form an alliance yet, but you will send troops to help, and a formal alliance can be agreed to later. Then, once the Gebelian Army has entered South Runan, I will raise a rebellion in the heart of the nation.”

“What?”

“That will give you an excuse to move your troops to quell the insurrection. Using the chaos, you can blame whatever happens on my rebels. Why not say that, while you were able to put down the revolt, the South Runanese government had already fallen?”

“Heh heh heh heh, gah hah hah hah hah! In short, we move our troops under the guise of putting down the rebellion, then strike the government of South Runan too, huh?”

“Correct. All I ask is a chance to take Ronan’s life. You can blame everything that happens on me, if you’d like.”

“You hate Ronan that much?”

“He is the enemy of my parents, and my house.”

“If I tell him about this, your life is over, you know...?”

“It’s a life I’ve already cast away. Now, will you take advantage of it to enter the capital of South Runan effortlessly and claim it as your own? Or take nothing but my life? I believe that is the question I’ve set before you. Anyway, the rebellion will be our signal.”

Heina explained it all in a dispassionate tone. Duke Plenett was actually aghast at how detached she seemed. He had nothing to lose. If he executed Heina here and now, he would gain nothing, but going to South Runan with the Gebelian Army to wait and see wasn’t a problem.

If they attacked once an alliance was formed, they would face international criticism, so no matter how profitable it might be, it was best not to betray South Runan in that way. They risked becoming an enemy of the entire continent. The disappearance of any country made it easier to unite the continent, but that wasn’t an excuse that other countries would quietly accept.

However, if he did as Heina suggested and sent troops before the alliance, then moved them only to suppress a rebellion, then he could claim they’d had a just cause. With just cause, they wouldn’t be subject to criticism. Things were bound to happen during the chaos of a rebellion. It would be easy to lay all the blame on Heina like she had offered.

He didn’t know how great her resentment of Ronan was, but it wasn’t a bad idea to at least send in the troops. He’d go there first, and act if it seemed advantageous to. If not, then he would make some excuse to withdraw.

Anyway, that was about the shape of it. That was how badly Gebel wanted the land of South Runan. And if they could get it easily, without having to fight? With the capital of Runan already occupied, they were going to end up bordering Naruya soon anyway, which made the proposal all the more tempting.

＊

The time to send troops to South Runan had come.

I still needed to leave units to defend each of my domains, of course, and I also couldn’t send fresh recruits who hadn’t been adequately trained into battle. I planned to send in a force of twenty thousand men, one half of them iron cavalry and the other half infantry.

Erheet came to me to say, “I’d like you to take me with you. There’s something I need to confirm for myself...”

I could hardly blame him for asking, especially considering his relationship with Ronan.

If I can’t win him over completely, then I have no use for him, no matter how talented he might be. If I don’t bring him along, and then cleanly resolve the relationship between the three of us, Erheet will never be mine.

Ten thousand iron cavalry, and ten thousand infantry, with me as commander-in-chief. Erheet would command the iron cavalry, and Yusen the infantry, with Jint joining us as a strike commander. We set out for South Runan, and set up camp outside the capital there under the justification that we were securing the main road, which Naruya’s grand army would surely use to attack us.

I’m sure if I send a letter saying we’re going to camp here, we’ll be told to come inside the capital.

Communicating by letters like this would serve to buy time, so it wasn’t a bad thing. My agents had informed me that the reinforcements from the Gebel Kingdom would be arriving in South Runan soon. While I was on patrol as we were setting up camp, I heard some of the soldiers speaking loudly.

“You say you came from Runan?”

“Yes. My daughter and I came here from Runan. This man came from there too.”

Some of the refugees heading toward South Runan from the old capital had apparently gotten lost and wandered into our camp.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I approached.

The soldiers saluted me and one reported, “They say they’ve come from Runan, so we were questioning them. We were told to be on the lookout for spies disguised as refugees, after all!”

If they were hanging around near our camp, I couldn’t discount that possibility. That’s why I’d told my men to be wary of such people. That order had filtered down from the thousandman to the tenman, and now these soldiers were just faithfully carrying it out.

“I see.”

Honestly, I had no way of telling whether they were spies or refugees who had just happened to get lost along the way, so the best thing to do was to give them directions and get them away from the camp.

“Handle them according to the instructions you were given.”

“Yes, sir!” the soldier replied so enthusiastically I worried for his throat.

It’s good that his morale is high, but he’s going to shout himself hoarse.

With that idle thought, I was about to move along... Right up until I saw who it was that the soldiers were talking to. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. But no matter how many times I looked, there was one person in the group who I most definitely knew.

Hold on. Why?

First, I looked at the man talking to the soldiers now.

Gram

Age: 55

Martial: 45

Intelligence: 81

Command: 70

It was some guy called Gram. His Intelligence caught my eye. He was no ordinary man.

He’s a commoner? With stats like those?

Celly

Age: 20

Martial: 11

Intelligence: 62

Command: 50

His daughter’s Intelligence score wasn’t bad either. Maybe it was genetic? It didn’t really matter though, because these two weren’t the ones who I was so shocked to see. Their identities were still suspect, of course, but the true surprise was the man who’d come with them. The one Gram had mentioned before.

Frann Valdesca

Age: 28

Martial: 90

Intelligence: 96

Command: 90

What is he doing here now?!

I looked around, and he didn’t seem to have any of his attendants here with him. Not his little sister Medelian, who was first ranked among the Ten Commanders of Naruya, or the retainers who’d helped him to escape.

What’s with this situation? What is he doing, coming here so openly, and all alone at that?

Gram’s and Celly’s Martial scores were just awful. I couldn’t imagine they were Valdesca’s bodyguards.

“Take the road over there! If I find you lurking around our camp again, I’m going to have to kill you as potential spies!”

The soldiers were giving them directions, as per my orders.

“Hold on!” I immediately stepped in.

I had no choice but to. If the system said he was Frann Valdesca, then there was no question that this guy was Valdesca himself. He had long hair, and a face that was attractive. In a manly way, I mean. His face wasn’t androgynous. No, it oozed true masculinity. I thought it might just be a look-alike at first, but it really was him.

My greatest foe was here, right before my eyes, and completely undefended too.

What in the world is he thinking?

“It’s been a while, Frann Valdesca. Well, maybe not that long, I suppose.”

When I spoke to him, Valdesca cocked his head to the side, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“What? You’re not going to tell me you’ve forgotten your own name, I hope?”

“I apologize, but I truly don’t know what’s happening...” His head remained tilted to the side as he responded.

“Do you know me? If so, could you please tell me who I am?!”

If anything, he seemed desperate for me to tell him what he was doing here. What’s going on? He’s an amnesiac now?

“Who are you?” I asked Gram, trying to start sorting things out. Based on his Intelligence score, he didn’t seem like an ordinary person.

“I...was staying in the house of Count Seraon in the Runanese capital. I taught the count’s son, and also authored a number of books there.”

“You’re a scholar, then?”

“Yes. Something like that.” A scholar, huh?

“Do you know any of the other nobles from the capital? Lord Erheet, perhaps?”

I tried throwing out Erheet’s name.

When I did, Gram happily answered, “I am well acquainted with Lord Erheet. He provided funding for my research.”

Knowing Erheet, that seemed plausible.

“Then considering the young man with you has lost his memory, it seems best to me that you stay here for a while. Lord Erheet is with us as well.”

Gram looked rather surprised. “Do you really mean it?”

Valdesca seemed unable to read the situation, but I couldn’t decide off the cuff whether that was because he was a good actor, or if he genuinely had lost his memory.

＊

Erheet did, in fact, know Gram. That assured me of his identity. Obviously, it was still possible he was a long-term spy sent from Naruya years ago, but by that logic there was no end of people I could suspect of the same thing.

After letting him meet Erheet, I asked for more details.

“That young man traveled with us for quite some time, but it seems he lost his memory after suffering a head injury in the war. My daughter discovered him north of Runan Castle, where he had been sent flying from somewhere else. After treating his wounds and helping him to recover in secret, we came here, where we’d heard people from Runan were gathering.”

Based on what he told me, Valdesca had used his treasure to escape from Eintorian Castle, but somehow the massive mana circle had interfered, and instead of reaching his destination, he’d crash-landed on the northern side of Runan Castle.

The story wasn’t completely implausible. I could see how he might strike his head in the process and lose his memory as a result. But it was too convenient even for fiction. Honestly, if it wasn’t true, I couldn’t imagine what would possess Valdesca to show his face here so openly.

Now, hold on. Is he trying to get me alone to do me in, then? He should already well know how many our troop numbers, so he can’t really have anything to investigate here. It’s just a weird situation.

The problem was that I couldn’t kill him. I’d tried last time, but a powerful protective mana circle boosted his Martial score up to 105. I assumed that had been Valdesca’s ultimate mana skill, Circle of Defense. If I leveled up until my Martial was higher than that, then I could kill him, but 105 was still a long way off, even for me.

The other option was to run him off. But that would be a waste. I wanted to take this opportunity to see what kind of man Valdesca was. It was dangerous letting him stay here, but my curiosity outweighed the risk.

If I’m completely honest, I want to hire him.

He was someone I needed if I was going to dominate the continent, and it wasn’t as though it was completely impossible. I recalled that he didn’t always get on with the King of Naruya, and they sometimes ended up wasting each other’s time and effort because of it.

Despite the risks, he didn’t seem like he was going to try to kill me right now. If he was a genuine amnesiac, then I was lucky that he hadn’t made it back to Naruya before now. Sure, he’d likely go home when his memories recovered, but I didn’t like the idea of locking the guy up just because I couldn’t kill him.

“Frann Valdesca, huh...”

What’s he going to think of me when he gets his memory back?

With a sense of wonder, Celly asked, “Father, is that the man you were teaching?”

“That’s right,” Gram answered.

She was talking about Erheet. It was strange to her that Gram had been teaching such an important individual. She jumped up and down with glee.

“You’re so amazing, dad!”

“All I did was talk to him a little, Celly. It’s nothing that special.”

Due to her inquisitive nature, Celly wandered around the camp asking about everything there was to know. Then, when the soldiers scolded her, she’d look up at Gram, frowning. “Can I go back to the lodging house, dad? I want to rest up a bit.”

Gram looked around when she asked him that. “Are you getting dizzy? Okay. Let me take you back there.” He led her by the hand. As they walked through the camp, Gram approved of what he saw. The troops were rigidly disciplined, and there was something in their eyes—something he hadn’t seen in the eyes of other Runanese troops.

They had a certain restraint, perhaps even an elegance. Their loyalty to their commander was also a cut above the rest. The other thing that surprised him was that, formally, these men reported not to Erheet, but to Erhin.

Well, I had figured that a man of his caliber would be able to create troops this disciplined.

Gram was able to tell a lot about a person just from the way they looked, and he’d sensed that Erhin was a man of considerable skill.

“I can make it on my own from here, dad. You go meet with that noble called Erheet! Talk to him about what life’s going to be like for us from here on. We can’t just keep running forever. Whether it’s research, or something else, you’re going to need to find something to do for a living...since you’re too sickly to work the fields.”

Celly confronted Gram with reality. It was a perfectly reasonable argument.

“I’ll try and find a job too...” she added.

There was no one who was going to pay him to do academic research in the middle of a war. That had Celly pretty worried.

“You will? I probably can’t get him to hire you, but I still want to see Lord Erheet. Should I ask if he’ll see you too?”

“Yeah, sure! Well, I’m heading back to the lodging house now!” Celly eagerly raced off.

The bit about her feeling dizzy was a lie. The camp where all the soldiers were gathered had caught her attention at first, but that faded quickly. It was boring seeing the same thing. But then a certain person popped into her head. Teasing him was her greatest pleasure lately.

Part of why she’d sent Gram off to see Erheet was that, after having claimed to be having a dizzy spell, she’d have had to rest in the lodging house otherwise.

Instead, Celly went looking around for Valdesca.

She found him sitting on the grassy hill where the camp was, and immediately went to sit down beside him.

“Whatcha doing here? Staring off into space, old man?”

“Don’t call me that.”

With only the vaguest glance in Celly’s direction, Valdesca shut her down. Celly had developed an affection for him over the course of the long journey here. She didn’t realize it herself, but the fact that she’d secretly gone searching for him when Gram wasn’t around was the greatest proof of it.

“Oh, I know you’re not an actual old man. But you’re an old man to me. Hee hee, You’re twenty-eight, right? That’s eight years older than me. That’s why I’m gonna call you ‘old man’!”

“You’re twenty?”

Celly covered her mouth without meaning to. She’d been keeping her age a secret, but had just disclosed it by accident.

“No, I’m not.” She tried to talk her way out of it, but it was too late.

“Did you not just say you were with your own mouth?” Valdesca looked somewhat surprised. “I’d assumed you were younger... You can never tell with women.”

“Do I look that young? No way! Your eyes are just bad, mister!”

“Urkh...”

Valdesca had spent all his life cooped up indoors, studying military strategy and mana circles, so he had no romantic experience.

“I don’t know how it really works, but aren’t you happy being perceived as younger? I’ve heard it works out in your favor later in life. And you’re cute too...”

“Wha...? Did you just say I’m cute?” Celly reddened at the unexpected comment. Not that Valdesca had uttered it calculatingly.

The fact of the matter was she was cute. He said it not as a compliment, but as a statement of how things were. Celly turned her head aside bashfully. A long silence passed between the two of them. Celly sat there for a long moment with her head hung and her legs crossed. She raised her head because it seemed awfully quiet, but Valdesca was just lost in thought again.

He’s awful. How can he be like this when I’m right here? she thought angrily, but then the bandage wrapped around Valdesca’s forehead caught her eye.

Thinking back, that bandage had always bothered her. Celly reached out slowly toward Valdesca’s forehead. When she first rescued him, he was already bandaged. So it wasn’t an injury he got from slamming into the dirt. “How did you get hurt?” she asked out of curiosity.

Valdesca, reacting with surprise, swatted her hand away.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember. But it seems I have a habit of hitting things with my head when I’m agonizing over something. I still do it too. Even though my forehead is bandaged, I’m compelled to smash it into things.”

“Whaaa... That’s a weird habit! And you do it so hard you draw blood?!”

Valdesca was a little surprised to hear her say that, and brought his hand to his mouth as he thought about it.

“If you can’t focus without slamming your head into something, then why not use my hand instead of something like a table? Here!”

Celly opened her hand wide and pressed it to Valdesca’s forehead.

Valdesca just stared at her. He’d never thought of this before. But consider the idea as he might, the floor was a much better option. He couldn’t see how smacking his head against the palm of her hand was supposed to help him focus. Still, Celly’s innocent laughter left Valdesca at a loss for words. He was an incredibly innocent man himself. He’d never held a girl’s hand before, not even once. Despite his incredible power as a duke, he’d done nothing but study all his life.

As Valdesca sat there in silence, Celly got impatient and shoved her palm against his forehead again.

“How’s that? Is it helping you focus? My hand is fine too, right? See?”

The girl laughed as she said this.

Valdesca was just confused.