And so, we arrived in Stonehunt’s town, but...
“Ohhh! To think I would meet you once again!”
We might’ve already told them why we were coming, but even so, our meeting with the mayor went super smoothly.
We were currently in the mayor of Stonehunt’s home, inside his parlor. The mayor was pretty elderly and apparently his rank was actually of a baronet (in between a commoner and a noble). He also had quite the fortune, because his residence was befitting of his station. He seemed to be someone who wouldn’t bring shame to his position, but there was one thing that caught in my brain: His home wasn’t well taken care of.
“I see, so that all happened afterwards,” Nia murmured solemnly.
“Yes. After your visit, Sylvario’s neglect of the territory became even worse...” the mayor continued, pain in his voice and tears in his eyes.
As a result of Nia’s last visit, the second prince had made various improvements to the territories. But once the war began, all support from the capital stopped, and the territory’s former lord started conscripting soldiers due to their proximity to the battlefields and using provisional taxes to steal from the region. These losses, plus the province’s transfer to Brigandia, made it easy to see why the mayor thought they had been simply thrown away.
“With all they did to us, I had thought that they were wringing us dry to discard us, like a lizard would its tail...”
“I... I’m sorry, I can’t even say that you’re mistaken.”
Nia had begun to try to comfort him, but she hesitated. I gave her a worried glance, but internally, I was impressed.
Nia’s hesitation had two meanings. One was emphasizing that Sylvario and the nobles within were so bad that even someone as kind as her couldn’t deny it. The other was to make a show of trying to comfort him, to show that she cared. And when she did...
“Ohh! My goodness, you truly care for us!” the mayor cried, touched. With that sentence, he was probably thinking that it was a good thing that Sylvario had abandoned them and that Brigandia would be better to them. He was also probably relieved to know that despite the change in Princess Sonia’s appearance, she hadn’t changed inside.
The exchange had actually been imagined and planned out beforehand. Nia had surmised that they probably had been neglected. That would mean that when we met them, they’d voice at least a few complaints to us about Sylvario and their former lord. That would give us, their new territory lord, an opportunity. And a fundamental tactic in all war was to take hold of opportunities.
“It worried me so to hear the province had been ceded. And, ah, speaking of worries—you’ve been dealing with an epidemic, correct? We’ve brought medicine with us, just in case.”
When Nia said that, the mayor’s eyes widened for a moment before he started crying in earnest.
“Goodness! Th-Thank you so much! It hasn’t been spreading much so far this year, but things will get tougher once the cold sets in. Our reserves have been troubling us as of late.”
It turns out that the area was struggling with an endemic disease. The spread worsened terribly in the winter, but the citizens were able to slow it considerably through medicine. And, as you might have guessed, Princess Sonia had had a hand in giving them a stable supply, and the bandit situation had made it harder for them to procure the medication.
And, for our visit, Nia had packed the carriage up with said medication. The spot where I would have been sitting was empty, after all, and unlike foodstuffs, enough medicine to treat the entire town didn’t take up much space. If our visit had been any later, we would’ve had to bring food for them too, but the speed at which we’d gotten out here meant the medicine would be enough.
Whatever the case, it was the best souvenir we could bring to show the town that Princess Sonia hadn’t forgotten them.
“I’m so glad we made it in time. When I heard about the situation, the first thing I worried about was the medication.”
“Ah, Princess—no, Viscountess McGuine, you are too compassionate!” The mayor got up from his seat, kneeling before Nia and bowing his head.
Whoops, did this work a little too well? I mean, it’ll be handy for things from now on. This means at least Stonehunt will completely accept our leadership. Go Nia.
And it wasn’t just that our strategy had worked. The plan had come about because Nia truly did care about Stonehunt from the bottom of her heart, and she was willing to let it be known. You could say that her calculations and empathy coexisted within her, neither of them canceling out the other.
Honestly, it kinda resembled a certain prince, though the ratios in their hearts were different.
Any way you spun it, she’d stolen the mayor’s heart. And just as I was feeling relief about that, Nia stood, holding out a hand towards the man.
“Please, raise your head, Mayor. The reason we were able to make it here in time is because you managed to protect the town this long. That is something you should be proud of.”
“My goodness... You are so, so kind...”
The mayor started outright sobbing. That was the finishing blow.
But really, he had done well. He’d kept the town stable, even with a war going on nearby and without enough support from the capital or the former lord. I’d mentioned that his residence wasn’t well taken care of, but you could say that that was about the only thing in such a state.
No matter how you thought of it, the fact that the mayor had kept public order so stable was proof of his skills. And of course the guy would cry the moment all his hard work was acknowledged. It was such an emotional moment, in fact, that I briefly wondered if it was even appropriate for me to be here witnessing it.
“And I’m not really the compassionate one here. The entire reason I was able to come here today was because my husband, Viscount McGuine, was concerned as well,” Nia added a few words, quite nicely. I mean, we’d actually planned out when things would be mentioned, but still—having her say that in a tone that showed her thinking back on everything that happened, with a blush on her face at that, hit way too hard!
Ah, I could sense Laura making her trademark “sugared ginger stuffed into her mouth” sort of expression at me from behind.
The mayor was a bit stunned to hear Nia suddenly bragging about me, and he turned my way, face frozen. Then he stared for a bit, before...
“I-I see! So you are the one who Her Hi—Prin—this wonderful lady...!”
Seemingly having realized what happened, he turned his whole body my way and bowed with such momentum that he might’ve smashed his head onto the floor, basically prostrating himself before me. Also, the multiple attempts at referring to Nia were probably him stopping himself from saying “Her Highness Princess Sonia.”
He’d already called her Princess once so far, but that could be excused since it was common enough for noblewomen to be called princesses in their own territory. But even though we were in a parlor-like room, it’d be bad to call her Princess Sonia. He must’ve known that and held back his words before they came out of his mouth.
Okay, good to know we can rely on him for his understanding too.
The fact that I was able to think that calmly made me feel like I was on my way to becoming a proper noble.
“Yes, you could say it was chance, or fate. And I’ll be glad to help this town. I’m looking forward to working with you from now on,” I said.
“Ye-Yes! Of course! I’ll whip these old bones of mine into shape and give my all to you!”
When I gave him a very calm, lordlike confirmation, he answered like that, still on the ground. Damn, I’m still not used to this... Or, well, maybe I don’t need to be used to this exactly. “Please, stand. Or maybe sit instead. Now we must discuss the future.”
“Yes, understood!”
The mayor’s head shot up, and he cheerily sat back down back in his chair in a motion that still showed his gratitude.
“Then we should talk about what will happen from now on. First of all, as countermeasures against the bandits...”
Having gotten my groove back, I brought up the things I had decided to talk to the mayor about with Nia. But once we started talking, it just kept on going. The mayor seemed to have a lot of fears, worries, and concerns. And having a territory lord who seemed like he’d hear him out meant that he had tons to talk about.
The entire conversation, from the greeting to this moment, was to condition him to feel like that. It made me think again about how it was who was talking and who was listening that was more important than what was being discussed.
I felt a little conflicted about how Nia understood that despite her age, but in truth, it hurt my heart to think about how the servants in the Sylvarian royal palace most likely changed their tune depending on who was speaking to them. But the smarts she had to pick up on that, and the strength to get out of there, were what made Nia who she was now. I couldn’t thank Laura and Tom enough for helping her.
And I was probably imagining the creeped-out look Laura was giving me as I thought that.
The fact that I had the time to wax poetic about all of that stuff was, of course, because Nia was so good at giving an audience that I didn’t even need to talk.
“Ah, your heart hasn’t changed a bit, my lady. If a saintess existed in this world, then I am sure that it would be you,” the mayor said, his feelings towards Nia reaching religious levels.
Wait. What he said caught my sixth sense.