A Saintess. A title for a pure woman who’d been blessed by God, the likes of which hadn’t appeared in ages and was considered a thing of legends. But the description of “blessed by God” made me remember our wedding ceremony, when we’d taken sips of the consecrated wine. It had clearly been filled with some sort of holy power, to the point where even the priest had been shocked. And if being a Saintess had nothing to do with being able to use magic or cause miracles, and was just a term for a woman blessed by God, then...
Nah, it couldn’t be. Or could it?
I glanced over at Nia, who was very seriously listening to the mayor’s grievances without even a blip in her composure. Knowing her, the thought had probably never crossed her mind that she could be a Saintess. But for some reason, it stayed in my mind. I knew I might’ve been a bit biased, though.
I made a note to myself to study up on the topic once everything calmed down. They only existed in legends, so my lack of interest in them before meant that I didn’t know a thing about them. But any documents regarding them would probably only exist in the capital...
“Thanks to the two of you, the weight on my heart has disappeared. Please, do as you see fit. And, as the representative of this town, I swear my loyalty to Lord McGuine, from the bottom of my heart.”
It seemed that while I was thinking to myself, the mayor had said everything he wanted to say. His newfound fealty was practically a physical thing, coming off of him in waves as he bowed his head to us. I forgot about the whole possibility of Nia being a Saintess, as we had now finished almost everything we needed to do in this town.
“I’m grateful for that fealty of yours. If I could, I’d like to also speak with the other villagers.”
“I see. If this suits you, the prominent members of the community are preparing the banquet, and you are welcome to attend and speak to them there.” The mayor answered my request with the smile of a friendly old man.
He might not have worshipped me like he did Nia, but it seemed I’d gained his trust. It also seemed that he had a lot of influence in town, so the townspeople would trust him if he said we were okay. I’d probably be able to make great strides in obtaining public favor if he were to vouch for me at the banquet.
Aaand it’d be nice if our other objective would go well too.
“I’ve prepared a guest room for you both, so please, relax there until the preparations for the banquet are complete.”
“Thank you. We’ll take you up on that offer.”
Seeing as the sun was starting to go down, we decided to spend the night here before heading to Diamoncut tomorrow. This was why the mayor had a room ready for us to stay in. We’d have to impose a bit, but the town didn’t have anywhere else nobles like us could stay, so we couldn’t do anything about it from a security perspective. And, due to the security and number of rooms in the residence, Nia and I would be sharing the room.
Normally, my heart rate would’ve spiked just from hearing that, but as I said, it was for security reasons. This meant that Laura, Tom, and the knights would also be in the room with us, so there wouldn’t be a chance for any funny business. I mean, yeah. This wasn’t the sort of situation I’d get myself over the moon for, anyway.
After a little rest, we arrived at the banquet being held in what you could describe as the town’s assembly hall. Laura and Tom had, of course, headed up the investigation of the place beforehand, so since they didn’t find any hidden baddies skulking around, the banquet went ahead without any issue.
“Thank you all for gathering, despite how busy you must be. You can live in relief, knowing that ‘the Black Wolf’ is watching out for you! Cheers!”
As I took the lead in starting a toast, everyone raised their glasses and beer steins excitedly. Before, “the Black Wolf” had been something for them to fear, but it seemed that the feeling had changed; now, the people were relieved and glad to hear my name. They trusted that I was on their side.
This wasn’t quite something I’d naturally do, but I was glad I’d come to this town directly. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to see the citizens’ faces, after all.
And just like that, we finished our visit to Stonehunt without a hitch, things going better than expected. The next day, we left for Diamoncut and arrived three days later, safely and without being attacked even once.
In Diamoncut, Nia’s charisma exploded, resulting in our meeting with the mayor ending with him swearing his allegiance. We gave them their medicine just like we did in Stonehunt, along with some herbs and stuff that the other region had asked us to bring, and they were pretty thrilled. It looked like the herbs were a key ingredient they used to preserve their food, so it would’ve been awful if they’d gone without them. I kept getting painfully reminded of how bad things could’ve gotten if we’d been late, and each time I felt a little relieved.
After that, we had the same sort of little banquet and stayed the night in Diamoncut. After all our business had been concluded, we went to the rooms they’d prepared for us to take a break. Once inside, we schooled our expressions to something more grim.
“So the real game starts tomorrow, huh?” I said to Nia, who gave me a serious look and a nod back.
We’d met with both the mayors, given them what they needed to get by for now, and gotten a clearer grasp of the situation. We’d gotten the public part of our planned finished, but that wasn’t the main goal here.
“Just like in Stonehunt, there was a man who slipped out in the middle of the banquet. I followed him in secret, and he was outside, talking to some sketchy-looking guy,” Tom reported.
“He was most likely an informant working with the bandits. I’ve quietly informed the mayor to have him taken into custody once everything is finished,” Nia added.
It was for this express reason that we’d even attended the little banquets each town organized for us. At these sorts of events, the mayor would not only tell the townspeople why we came, but also what we would be doing afterwards. They’d tell everyone attending that we would be staying the nights in both Stonehunt and Diamoncut before heading back to Stonegaze. And so the real question was, what would the bandits do with this information?
“Since they didn’t pull anything on the way to Diamoncut, they’d probably asked for orders but had not gotten a reply back yet,” I guessed. “Looks like there’s definitely someone above them calling the shots.”
If they’d been actual bandits with a base nearby, they would have immediately made contact with us and attacked after figuring out who we were. After all, we were a regional lord and his wife who’d probably go for a high ransom, and on top of that, we were traveling with a carriage full of valuables and without a lot of security. There wouldn’t have been any logical reason to go ahead and wait until we were back on the highway to Stonegaze—where the brigade was based—to attack us.
Or that was my theory, anyway. Nia seemed to agree.
“If he’s the mastermind behind all of this, then he probably isn’t nearby,” Nia surmised. “If they were communicating with him by carrier pigeon, then it would take four days or so for it to make a round trip. It’s more likely that they’re either communicating with him directly, or with someone with a certain amount of discretionary power located within a few days’ travel on foot.”
“Between the two, I’d prefer the latter. We’d be able to capture that person and the bandits at the same time,” I said.
People like that tended to flee pretty quickly, though, so capturing them might be a pain. What’s more, if we weren’t able to get some physical proof that they were in cahoots with the second prince, then we wouldn’t be able to directly investigate. From what I’d heard of the guy’s personality, he probably wouldn’t have left any evidence. Annoyingly enough, he seemed to be the type to make absolutely sure to emerge unscathed if a plan of his were to go south.
“Let’s do everything we can to strive for a capture,” Nia said. “First, we’ll make sure to counterattack them if they attack. Even just that will crush their schemes.”
“That’s true. They can’t do much if they lose the pawns they were using to make messes here.”
The second prince’s aim was to sow discord in the region. His goal afterwards would be to attack while the new regional lord was busy dealing with the chaos, and steal the province back from under the lord’s nose. But if the proxies he was currently using to cause trouble disappeared, all his efforts would be for nothing.
He might try to force his way in if that happened, but we had more than enough firepower to intercept. I didn’t think we would lose if it came to that.
“Nia, do you have any idea where they might try attacking us?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ve thought of a few places where thirty-odd people could hide, or where they would be able to spread out. I’ll share all of them with you.”
Nia’s response was effortless. Her explanations were also easy to visualize, possibly because she’d actually been there. Nia was definitely the best advisor I could have ever hoped to get.
“Now we should be able to handle things no matter where they decide to attack us. We won’t let up our guard, though,” I said, impressed, as the knights with us agreed. Really, if we still couldn’t handle things after this much prep, the blame would solely land on our shoulders.
“Yes. My apologies, but I’ll leave the counterattack to you... I’m sure you’ll protect me, won’t you?” Nia said, giving me a cheeky wink.
My hand shot up automatically in response to having been so unerringly shot through the chest. Of course I’d protect her!
The best advisor I’d ever had had gotten everything prepared for us, so we, the strongest knights, had no choice but to prove ourselves.
“Of course. I won’t let them lay a finger on you,” I declared, full of confidence.