“Not only are they a large group, but it also seems that they’re local and know the terrain well. Every time we give chase they get away from us.”
“And yet public order has been maintained inside the settlements,” I commented. “Which probably means the bandits’ headquarters are most likely located outside of the towns and villages, making them that much harder to find.”
“You’re exactly right. While I would love to send more men out to the mountains to search for them, I can’t afford to split the troops up too much while Sylvario is acting suspicious,” Count Farlon sighed. As one of the heavyweights in the Order of Knights, he probably didn’t want to show any weakness to a member of the Special Battalion like me. But the fact that he was letting me see told me just how much the issue troubled him.
“I understand the situation and how much effort you’re putting into things here. Don’t worry. I’ll be assisting you with public safety from now on.”
“Viscount McGuine... I appreciate your assistance.”
When I held out my hand, he gripped it back. The fact that he actually returned my handshake meant he probably was a decent guy. Things might’ve been what they were politically, but he looked like the sort of guy who did what needed to be done. As for me, there was no way I’d let a bunch of shady bandits run around like they were, so it’d be a good idea to help him snuff them out.
“Oh yes. I have a letter for you from His Highness Prince Alphonse, Count Farlon.”
“From His Highness to me? What in the world...”
“I have no idea. I haven’t seen what it says,” I said, stopping and giving him a grin. Was I getting His Highness’s smile right? Probably not. “All that he told me about it was that what was inside should prove to your benefit.”
“Huh...?”
The look on his face told me that he didn’t understand, but he still took the letter I held out to him.
After that, we exchanged various bits of intel, and I left the garrison.
“Things might be even more of a pain in the ass than I thought,” I mumbled to myself as I swayed on my horse.
Once I finished meeting the count, I went and greeted a number of knights I was acquainted with. What they had to tell me was much the same as what the count said. In fact, some of them who had directly been involved in run-ins with the brigands told me the situation was actually much worse.
The bandits were most likely intentionally making mischief on the highways. That was the only explanation I could come up with; all the locations they struck were clearly preplanned, with leadership, and they all used the same equipment. All this meant that they almost certainly weren’t just bandits, but Sylvarian spies.
“Then the question is what we should do about them... Hmm...”
Obviously, we needed to do something. It wasn’t just the need to stabilize Stonegaze as a new frontline base; we also wanted to get the prospective mines in the territory up and running as soon as possible, and we just couldn’t do that if there were Sylvarians skulking about. If they found out about them, then they might try to take back the territory and, in doing so, spark another war. And even if they didn’t, we couldn’t risk the safety of the mining experts we had brought into Stonegaze.
What we really needed to do was give the bandits a good beating, but that just wasn’t something we could pull off right now.
First off, we just didn’t have the manpower. The Order of Knights was putting as many as they could to work on it, but it still wasn’t enough. So we’d need not just a few dozen new people, but a few hundred, and we couldn’t just pull that many people out of a hat.
“Gotta send a report to His Highness, huh.”
The Special Battalion might have a few hundred people who could be put to work on this, but since His Highness was working on other fronts too, it was completely likely that he wouldn’t be able to send me anyone. But if I sent a detailed report of the situation and outlined how urgently we needed the manpower, it most likely would raise the priority of my request a bit.
So that was the first thing I had to do, but just sitting around here waiting for help didn’t feel right to me. It was entirely possible that no matter what I said in my report, His Highness would be unable to send anyone. And even if he did, we couldn’t be sure how long it’d take the messenger to go from here to the capital and get everything ready for a part of the battalion to be sent here. Though, knowing His Highness, he’d manage somehow.
Anyway, I had to do something here, now. If I didn’t, then His Highness would make fun of me when he got here. Relentlessly. That’d be a pain, but more than anything, I was the lord of the territory—I couldn’t let things get worse.
“Looks like I’ll have to get some advice from Nia.”
I unfortunately had yet to build any connections in this area. If I tried to recruit people now, they’d think I was some kind of dictator. Since I’d just gotten here, that was an impression I wanted to avoid. Asking Nia, who already knew some people here, seemed like the best option, and I was sure Nia would be all for helping. But that opened another can of worms.
If Nia were to go out in this situation, then she ran the chance of coming across some bandits. Even with Laura, Tom, and some knights as guards, there was still a nonzero chance something would happen to her, which was what I was worried about.
“I’ll have to talk to her about that too and start moving on this tomorrow.”
Decision made, I urged my horse towards the viscount’s residence.