And that was how the legendary saintess was revived in the current era. To be precise, we’d done the reviving, but no one thought of that as a problem, so we were probably fine.
The main character was, of course, Nia. And I was to play her partner. Honestly, I’d been a bit worried that we had too few players here, but I wasn’t about to give up my role to anyone. All it meant was that I’d need to do a bit of the impossible to make up for what we didn’t have.
“Huh. You’re looking like quite the good man,” His Highness said, giving me a proper compliment for once.
It took us about a month to absorb Sylvario and clean up the issues left behind. And then after another month of preparations, it was time for the confirmation ceremony that would officially acknowledge Nia as the saintess. Today was the day. And in attire that really emphasized my “Black Wolf” image, I replied to His Highness’s sincere compliment, voice struck with the slightest hint of nerves. “I need to look at least fifty percent more manly than usual today, after all.”
“Hmmm.”
Whether it was because he wasn’t happy with my answer or what, His Highness just hummed and went silent. He gave me a very rude look of appraisal, scanning me from head to toe.
“What? Is there something you’d like to say?” I asked, tetchy.
“No. I was just thinking about how much of a noble you’ve become,” he replied.
“Seriously, what’s up? Why would you say something like that? Did you eat something strange?”
His unexpected comment startled me. I quickly looked up at the sky, thinking we must’ve been in for a rainstorm if he was saying something like that, but the sky was clear; not a single cloud in sight.
From my actions, His Highness immediately realized what I was saying. “I said it because it’s technically true. Showing off when they need to show off is part of a noble’s basic skill set.”
“Ahh, so that’s what you mean. The ‘technically’ part of your explanation bugs me, but it’s true that even I should try a bit harder to look the part. Especially because I’m probably getting more territory soon.”
While, of course, nothing was going to happen at today’s ceremony, it was almost set in stone that I’d be getting more territory.
While Count Farlon had gotten all of the credit for Balthazar’s capture, we couldn’t do the same thing for our plot to take the Sylvarian capital. And to put it simply, I’d taken the vanguard to storm the palace, and managed it without much bloodshed. On top of that, having the saintess’s spouse hold too low of a noble rank would cause problems politically, so they were planning on making me a count in the near future.
Things were seriously changing way too fast. But there wasn’t anything we could do about it. The fall of Sylvario meant that we’d gained a large amount of territory. While we’d be fine leaving the Sylvarian territories that had been run properly to their current lords, we couldn’t do the same for the territories that had been managed by the royal family directly.
What’s more, with the saintess “story” we’d put together, we couldn’t just stop at taking over Sylvario’s territory. The story we’d put together was that Princess Sonia, the original saintess, had been banished after being abused, and that she had passed on her holy power to her best friend Nia while she was on her deathbed.
Because this was based on a past anecdote, the Sylvarian citizens accepted it without a fuss. But moving forward with this narrative meant that those who had abused the saintess couldn’t escape their condemnation. We’d planned on doing that from the start, but we’d unexpectedly gained the justification to do so.
The biggest abusers—the third princess, Olivia, and the king’s concubine—would be beheaded. Execution via beheading like some common criminal instead of something more dignified like poison was the most humiliating thing that could happen to them. But I wasn’t sure if they even had the luxury of worrying about that at this point.
The former king and other members of the former royal family would have their fortunes confiscated and their rank lowered to barons, with their salary significantly reduced to the bare minimum for nobility. Since they’d also be living with the constant threat of death by poison over their heads, it was a toss-up as to whether their bodies or hearts would break first.
Well, the Albashafs had done their damnedest to survive in similar circumstances, so we wanted the house of Sylvario to try to do the same. Even if we really didn’t mean it.
Anyway, I’d been chucked in the very middle of that whole mess by having made the biggest military achievements in the situation. It was honestly kind of unbearable to be in the thick of it all, but I had decided I would do what I could to survive somehow.
“In the first place, whether he’s a noble or a commoner, a man’s gotta show off if he wants to look cool.”
I mean, it might’ve been the same for women too. But almost all of my experiences were with only men, so I knew how sloppy we could be where women couldn’t see. While that in itself was comfortable and fun, once you met a woman you wanted to act cool in front of, you had to show off and get a little bullheaded about stuff like this.
“Seriously, you’ve really changed.” His Highness looked even a bit stupefied for a moment before chuckling.
Ahh, shaddup. I know I’m not suited for it too. But I just couldn’t go back to how I used to be. Now, it was impossible to make myself leave Nia’s side.
“I didn’t think you could change that much,” His Highness said. “Now I’m thinking I should go out and experience love myself for once.”
“Is that why you’ve started making passes at Laura?”