Accepting my explanation, Nia went from nodding to making another offer. I would have been just fine with her resting, but I didn’t want to snuff out her enthusiasm. Above all else, it really was helpful that she was actively trying to do things.
“Thank you, Nia. Both I and our citizens are lucky to have such a hard worker as the lord’s wife,” I said, a little bashfully. That was right. She was the wife of the region’s lord. It was an obvious thing, but it made me feel strangely fuzzy to say. Apparently, Nia felt the same.
“Oh, goodness! You’re going to embarrass me, saying things like that,” she said, looking up at me with her face flushed.
Honestly she was so cute I thought my heart would stop. I managed to force it to continue beating, and I put some tension in the muscles of my face that had softened in response to her cuteness. If I hadn’t, then I knew I would’ve looked disgusting.
“While I’d love to make you even more embarrassed, I don’t think I could finish, even after night falls. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to be going.”
“A-All right. See you later.”
Was it my imagination, or did she seem a bit disappointed? I left Nia’s room hoping I wasn’t just seeing things.
After that, I hopped back onto my horse and headed towards where Count Farlon’s brigade was garrisoned. Originally, I had planned for Tom to go ahead of me to let them know I was coming, but now I decided to go without him, figuring that since he’d been driving the carriage all day, he’d probably be pretty tired by this point. I didn’t know if this was necessarily a good idea, but whatever.
Surrounding the garrison was a fence with a simple gate marking the entrance, so I headed there first.
“My apologies for visiting without notice,” I said. “I am Viscount Ark McGuine. From today forward I am this territory’s lord, and so I came to give my greetings to Count Farlon. I had sent a letter ahead to let him know that I would visit him upon arrival, but...”
“Understood, Viscount McGuine! My apologies, but we must ask you to wait a short time while I confirm!”
“Of course. I came quite suddenly, after all.”
When I greeted the soldiers guarding the entrance, one straightened and responded to my announcement while the other ran off. Judging from their movements, they were skilled, with high morale. Just what I’d expect from Count Farlon, who was one of the top knights in the Order of Knights. He trained his soldiers well.
Those were my thoughts while I waited in the room they eventually escorted me to. A short time later, I felt someone approaching and stood, only for the door to open.
“My apologies for making you wait so long.”
The person who entered was a well-built man in his early forties, flanked by two knights. He had a beard, sharp eyes, and a good physique, looking for all intents and purposes the ideal of a well-trained knight. But I had to admit that if I had to compare the two, Count Barracuda was more of a warrior type to me. Though from Count Farlon’s point of view, his prowess as a commanding officer was probably the more important thing here.
I kept those considerations to myself, instead smiling and giving a small shake of my head in reply. “Oh, no. I didn’t specify a time when I would arrive, and you’re no doubt quite busy yourself.”
“Since our acquisition of this border territory was so recent, there are unfortunately quite a few things I still have to take care of.”
“So Stonegaze is indeed rather unstable,” I replied. “I would appreciate it if you would tell me more in detail, but... Ah, we must introduce ourselves first.”
Count Farlon and I then took turns introducing ourselves to get it out of the way. Of course, we already knew each other, but manners were manners. After introductions, we resumed our previous conversation, moving to our seats, but throughout it all, I noticed the count’s steady demeanor, how he let not one detail slip past his notice. From what I’d seen so far, he was a skilled commander, having experience both on the battlefield and in leadership. Having him cooperate with us would be highly beneficial to our plans.
“First of all, law and order in the town is under control,” the count said. “Though I believe you had probably gathered that during your ride in.”
“That’s right. I didn’t see any signs of unrest,” I said with a nod, recalling the streets we had just passed through. While many had been surprised at our arrival, none of them were hostile to our presence. If there had been unrest, we would have received quite a lot of glares. But if things really were as calm as he claimed, then I had questions.
“So while you’ve been able to keep order, you don’t have enough people reporting things or doing errands for you, am I correct?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, you are. While I said that the public order was under control, that control does not extend to the highways connecting the settlements.”
“I see. I didn’t sense any disorder on the highway we traveled on. So you must be referring to other highways?”
Count Farlon nodded back. Apparently, there had been a number of large-scale bandit attacks on the three interconnecting roads along the regions once considered Sylvarian territory, from groups of thirty bandits or more. Though the brigade was of course sending their knights to deal with these attacks, the root of the issue had yet to be discovered.