Still, even if I was using money I borrowed, there was nothing strange about what I was doing as long as I was buying supplies for the domain under my rule. Rather, I could be as bold as I wanted about my purchases, even if I had both borrowed my money and bought the supplies I needed through some preferential treatment. Publicly, the only blow was to my reputation. Getting my name dragged through the mud in the capital was better than losing this battle because we lacked the supplies.
Still, I did feel some shame knowing my parents were probably being lambasted for having such a wasteful son. I’d have to make it up to them somehow.
“I’ve got a few things for you. But first, here.” He took out a magic bag and a letter. It was from my father.
“What’s in the bag?”
“I hear they’re documents you’ll be needing.”
Oh, I see. That mark meant this was sent not by a count but from a duke. That must be why it was delivered in something as expensive as a magic bag. With that in mind, I scanned the letter and was shocked by its contents.
“Mazel came to the capital?”
“Seems so, though we didn’t get the chance to meet him.”
After defeating the first of the Four Fiends, he returned to the capital and took a brief trip to the Zehrfeld domain. That had been the day after I left the capital. What a shame. I had just missed him. Well, since it seemed like he was able to reunite with his family after so long, I was happy for him.
Hm…something was strange. In the game too, old Uwe had joined the party after having met them when they defeated the first of the Four Fiends, but why did he want to meet with me? Had I done something? Nothing came to mind.
As I read through the letter, I could hear the members of the Iron Hammer chatting, saying, “I really wanted to meet the Hero,” or “Ain’t it a bit late to be saying that now?” I couldn’t help but grin. Mazel was as popular as always.
“The count asked me to deliver this letter from Mazel, this…and also a box with that in it.”
When he said “this,” he handed over a bag with skywalk boots inside. There were only five or six pairs, but it was much to be grateful for. I couldn’t use them just yet, but I was sure I’d find a use for them later. If you didn’t have to be outside of town to use them, they’d be a bit more useful, but I had to take what I could get.
The Crown Prince had actually entrusted me with a few pairs as well. I was supposed to use them to send a messenger in an emergency, so I was sure I’d use at least one pair eventually.
Still, if word got out about what these boots could do, I was sure some would be worried that us leaders would use them to escape ourselves. Or maybe they’d come to demand I let them use them to escape with their families. I had no intentions of using them to run, but figuring out the best use for them could be difficult. Seemed like I’d need to discuss it with the others.
Leaving that aside, I looked towards “that,” which was leaning against the wall. It was a new spear, and it seemed like an excellent one at that. Given that it had gone up for sale just after the first of the Four Fiends was defeated, it had to be the Champion’s Spear. The game never had a graphic for it, so I couldn’t tell just by looking at it.
That’s right. This was also about the time in the game where you had to start buying new gear. Instead of grinding just to level up, you would end up at a higher level just trying to get the funds to buy the best new equipment. I was grateful, but I did wish Mazel prioritized his own party’s gear.
“I’ll look over it later. Could I get you guys to stay in town for a while?”
“Got some pain of a quest for us?”
“I’ve got that too, but as adventurers, I also want you to keep an ear to the ground to get word of my reputation.”
“If that’s all you need, sure.”
There was no doubt I’d be giving them a slog of a quest later on, care of the Adventurers’ Guild, but they didn’t need to know that just yet. I could read Mazel’s letter later.
Mazel had an odd tendency to share the truly important things by word of mouth rather than letters or notes, probably because paper was valuable in Mazel’s hometown of Arlea. Basically, it was safe to assume his letter was nothing important. He was easy to understand that way.
For now, as long as he was safe after defeating the first of the Four Fiends, I had no problems, even if I did want to see his face. If things were going well for Mazel and his party, I’d have to move things along on my end as well.
Afterwards, the Iron Hammer filled me in on their journey here and the rumors going around the capital. When they had stood up to leave, saying they had another place they needed to stop by, I wrote them a letter of introduction to the local inns in my capacity as deputy count.
Once they had left, I looked over the goods they had delivered. First was the spear Mazel had given me. It was a bit heavier than the one I had been using, but that just made it more deadly. I’d have to get used to it, but it really was a fine spear. While the one I currently used was comfortable in my arms, it was also worn out. I wanted to give this new one a whirl in actual combat before the Demon Commander attacked.
I checked over the other goods and found a small bag. Unsure what it was, I picked it up and found a letter, a handkerchief, and a painting. They were all from Lily.
The crest of House Zehrfeld and a flower had been embroidered on the handkerchief. I didn’t know she had started to practice sewing. She had a good sense of design, and I wondered if that had come from her experience with art. This would fetch a fine price even back in my old world.
The painting was small for noble standards, measuring thirty by twenty centimeters to use units of my old world. She had used a quality frame and expensive paints. My parents must have prepared them for her. It depicted a vase and some other small trinkets in my room, and inside the vase was a bouquet of roses.
It was too small to use to decorate one of the guestrooms, but it was perfect for my own. I didn’t really think flowers suited me, but it was an excellent painting that any noble would be proud to adorn their room with. Quite honestly, I thought it was amazing.
It seemed like this went for both Europe’s medieval ages and this world, but decorating with live flowers required both money and time. Everything had to be done by hand, and greenhouses were a rarity. Thus, noble houses tended to use paintings of flowers instead. A lot of families would use live flowers only when throwing parties. All of this was one of the reasons that back on Earth, plenty of flower paintings from the Middle Ages had survived to be displayed in art museums.
Her letter mentioned that she had met with Mazel to report on recent events. It seemed she’d gotten close to the lady knight that was assigned as her guard. Besides that, she just worried about my health. She made no mention of the rumors about me spreading in the capital. She must have been trying to be considerate. If she knew what I was going to do next, I was sure she would have tried even harder to be nice.
Did this town have any good gifts for Lily? As I recalled, they traded with Triot for silverware. That was obviously no longer the case, but there still might be some items on the market. I’d have to take a look later.
Next, I looked over Mazel’s letter. Yup, the defeat of the first of the Four Fiends went down just like it had in the game. It was probably safe to assume the rest of it would follow suit. I was a bit curious to know if the map had been the same, but…I could live without knowing for sure. I passed over his message of thanks to my family; I hadn’t personally done anything, anyway.
Still, while there might be a hint to find somewhere in this banal letter, there really was a limit as to how much info a letter could contain. I did want to meet with Mazel, but given the circumstances, that would be near impossible.
Wait… If the stationing of our enemies matched that in the game, the dungeon of the final of the Four Fiends—the one set to attack the capital—should be to the city’s west. Couldn’t we use this to narrow down the list of areas around the capital we needed to fortify? At the very least, it meant we’d probably get mileage out of setting a trap at the western gate. I’d have to look into it later.
Seemed every day put a new entry on my to-do list for when I got back to the capital. I’d have to do all I could here in Anheim if I ever wanted to get around to those. Ugh, I was starting to get a stomachache.