“If his domain is in the northwest, even if an invasion of Tasmeria went well, he’d suffer more casualties and financial setbacks in the battle than the others,” Romello remarked.
“Also, Morris Grindel cares deeply about the citizens. I’m sure he’d want to avoid a needless war. At least that’s what I’ve gathered from the information we’ve gotten about him,” Alf said.
“All right… What about his military force, compared to the other dukes?”
“I believe it’s proportional to his wealth. The most powerful dukes are Grindel, Sligar, Philling, Crowe, and Baskar. If you look at the numbers only, if the hard-liners and moderates were to go to war with each other, the moderates would win. And if you add together the military strength of all five houses, our kingdom’s numbers are a bit larger than Rimmel.”
“I see. In that case, are the hard-liners trying to expand their forces?”
“According to Rimmel’s laws—well, actually, due to a pact among the five houses—they cannot publicly try to grow their armies. Having said that, it seems that Duke Sligar is doing so anyway, in secret.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“But that doesn’t mean they’re just added prepared soldiers to their numbers. They’ll need suitable training, so it will take some time before their new additions are ready to fight. On the other hand, in Duke Grindel’s domain, he has many citizens who are able to fight but are not counted among their military.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The people there are encouraged to learn the traditional martial arts of the area. Now, it’s not a type where they learn to kill—it’s focused on strength and mental training. The men and women there begin to learn it at a very young age.”
That sounded like House Anderson to Romello. Known as the military house of Tasmeria, the citizens there were also encouraged to train themselves in the military arts. The House Anderson guard was known to be the strongest.
“I can see why Duke Sligar would want to amass troops then.”
“Yes. It’s possible that he’s spending a lot of money on military reserves.”
“That might mean he’s even more anxious about funds than the others.”
“Yes, I think that’s quite possible, sir.”
“Have mercenaries been coming and going from Sligar’s duchy regularly?”
“No. The last time they were spotted was probably four or five years ago.”
“Interesting…” Romello pondered this, frowning.
“My lord?” Alf questioned.
“Nothing. Continue, please.” Romello waved his hand, urging him to go on.
Alf continued filling Romello in on the information he had asked for. The next bit was about the third wealthiest duke, Bruno Philling, and his wife, Kellie. Although the marriage was a political match, the couple were close. They had a boy and a girl.
“Do you have any information about Kellie’s family and their connections?”
“She’s the daughter of a count, and her family seems to be close with the Grindels and other hard-liners throughout the country.” Romello nodded, and Alf continued.
For the Phillings, the most famous product in their domain was alcohol fermented from barley. They exported it outside of the country and therefore maintained ties with Tasmeria and Acacia.
The relationship with Tasmeria was simply a business relationship, while their relationship with Acacia was more friendly.
Duke Bruno’s hobby was reading. All of his predecessors were avid readers, and there was a big library within his domain.
“He’s got a reputation of being a very wise and gentle ruler. There won’t be any skeletons in his closet. If that information is true, then he should be against invading Tasmeria, and even if war did break out, he would be loath to sacrifice anyone from his domain. Since his area is large and fertile, he probably won’t think it’s necessary to expand the country’s territory if it means people’s lives need to be sacrificed.”
Romello closed his eyes as if to sort through the information Alf gave him. His butler stood there silently as he was used to this response.
“You’ve given me a lot of great information, Alf. Thank you.” Romello had studied up on basic knowledge of the dukes before he got here, so he knew most of it already. The reason he had Alf repeat it though was so that he could solidify it in his mind and make sure he hadn’t missed out on any new details.
“Of course. Now, regarding the company run by Duke Philling, Staut Corp… We’ll continue gathering information from our spies. And we’ll continue to keep an eye on House Philling as well.”
“I see. Let me know if anything new comes up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be counting on you. Still, you’re certainly as sharp as ever,” Romello said with a smirk.
“I’m not sure about that, my lord. No one can win against the tide of time, after all,” Alf responded with a wry smile.
“Ha ha ha… I suppose I’ve gotten a lot older since you first started working for me. That sure brings back a lot of memories… I can still vividly remember they day we first met, with you standing outside of the Armelia manor.”
“Yes, I remember that day well too.” Alf smiled, staring off fondly into the distance.
“I was even younger than Louis back then, wasn’t I? I suppose time really has flown by. It’s difficult to notice it day to day though.”
“That’s true. But that must mean you live every day to its fullest, no?”
“Ha ha ha. Definitely. I worked and worked and suddenly realized I’m this old! And you’ve certainly done a lot to train the next generation as well.”
“Ah, you mean Berne? Yes, I hope I’ve trained him to serve Lord Louis well.”
“I think he has been. It seems Louis relies on him a great deal already.”
“Ah, do you mean as a spy? I did teach Berne the trade… Are you sure that was for the best?” Alf asked.
Romello let out a sigh. “Growing our personnel is a pressing matter for the kingdom. We needed more people like you, so it couldn’t be avoided. Plus, he seems to be the type of person who would gladly give his all to protect the kingdom. And as the prime minister, having someone like that is extremely valuable.”
“Just like when Master Kreuz said you both are working toward the same goal?”
“Yes, precisely. Are you sure you’re glad you agreed to my request, though? Teaching him your trade. After all, he won’t be returning to our manor. He will be returning to the kingdom instead. Weren’t you worried about his ability to continue fulfilling his duties?”
“I let him in on a few valuable sources of information, plus new ways of collecting additional tidbits. I taught him the basics of how to be a spy, of course. I did not inform my sources about him, though, so there should be no problem.”
“Ah, I see. You’ve been keeping an eye on him, and you think he’s developed his own informant network?”
“It seems that way, yes. That’s why he was able to find out about Duke Baskar’s human trafficking so quickly.”
“Ah, that’s right. It seems Berne is regularly giving Louis information.”
“Well, Lord Louis is the one who took him in, after all. He feels an obligation to him, and I’m sure that’s part of it.”
“Part of? So, what’s the rest?” Romello gave Alf an amused look.
“If he’s prioritizing getting the information to you as quickly as possible, then it’s best to tell Lord Louis first. If he went through the proper channels via the palace, the information would have to funnel through many people to reach Lord Louis, and that would take much more time. I think the greatest reason is that he decided that in this instance, time was of the essence. After all, Lord Louis has been taking care of a lot of your work, so it makes sense to share information with him first. That’s probably why he decided it wouldn’t pose a problem to do so.”
In the end, all information vital to the kingdom would still end up going through Romello. Making decisions at that level was part of his official duties as the prime minister. But, bureaucratically speaking, there were many people standing in the way between Romello and Berne; at least two other people would have to look over any paperwork before it would reach Romello’s desk. That was an advantage when it was information that needed to be shared with everyone, but it was a different story for urgent matters.
“It would take time for the information to get to me, hm? Well, that’s a problem.”
“Yes, quite. As a kingdom, if we need someone such as Berne, we need to reevaluate our system. When it comes to things like that, time is of the essence. We can’t let a delay in delivery to a decision maker adversely affect the outcome.”
“You’re right. And if I’m making a decision based on something that’s outdated, that could cause confusion. It might not even make any sense.”
“Yes, quite.”
“In that case, we certainly need to revise our system. Once things calm down, I’ll have a talk with Gazell about it,” Romello murmured as he looked upward, collecting his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Alf poured some more tea into the man’s empty cup. “Well, my lord, if you’ll excuse me. I am going to go over the security plans with Master Kreuz for the journey to Duke Grindel’s and Duke Philling’s manors tomorrow.”
“Of course. Thank you.”