Next, I reported on my conversation with the duke of Filsand, and the hidden thoughts he kept to himself. His ambition was to use me to conquer Velde.
“To think, a war of territorial invasion in this day and age…” Clara shrugged.
“I didn’t realize he was planning something so massive… But now that I think about it, my father has been angry about being charged taxes by his home country of Velde for some time now.” Elisabel pursed her lips. Everyone else was frowning, too. Well, I’m sure I had the same expression on my own face.
“Now, he needs to understand that all we want is trade, cooperation with the anti-daemon alliance, and Elisabel’s safety.” Ild summarized what we needed to do, and everyone else, including me, agreed.
“However,” Clara started, looking around at everyone before sharing her opinion. “We cannot show any weakness to the duke. Think about what would happen if he saw through Margilus’s personality.”
“Wh-what would happen?”
“You can bet on this: He would control you. Economically, politically, and emotionally. If the duke wanted, he could put pressure on Relis City, the Calbanera Knights, and Axeholm. He would take hostages to threaten you without a second thought,” Clara explained, showing her knowledge of aristocratic intrigue.
“Absolutely,” Elisabel nodded, agreeing with the assessment of her father.
“I-I see.” If he came at us with that, I wouldn’t be able to fight him off with my current powers. I was strong in magic, but social and political niceties weren’t exactly my forte.
“Okay. Let’s do what we can not to get taken in. Even where Elisabel’s safety is concerned, it would be better if he feared me.”
“I’m sorry to bring this up now, but if it weren’t for me, you would have it much easier.” Elisabel bowed her head in gratitude after hearing my words.
“No, don’t worry about that. This is my job as a wizard. And you’re my ally. It’s natural for me to protect you.”
“But I don’t have a single thing to offer you as your ally.” The daughter of the duke looked increasingly dejected. To be honest, she must have been aware of that in the first place, and planned to use me regardless. She’d probably had a change of heart at some point. Hopefully in a good way.
“That’s it!” After she’d thought for a few minutes, biting her dainty lip, Elisabel’s face suddenly lit up. “What if we make my father’s imagined scenario a reality?! Marry me, and let’s exile my father! You’re more than qualified to take over as Filsand’s new ruler, Lord Margilus!”
Clara, who was watching Elisabel’s expression closely, let out a nervous guffaw.
I was silent, my mouth agape.
Everyone else had similar reactions.
“Why would he do that?!”
WHAP!
Before I could say anything, Clara slapped the side of Elisabel’s head with an open hand. It was like a comedy routine.
“Ehh?! Umm, sorry. I mean, I can just be a mistress or a second wife!” Elisabel came back with the perfect comedic response, too.
“That’s not the issue!”
“Aaagh…!”
“Umm…” Even Ted and Ild looked disturbed.
I guess you never grow out of being the daughter of a duke.
But if you looked at it from the perspective of more influential folk and their subordinates, Elisabel’s way of thinking was probably more common. Considering that, Clara really did understand us lowly commoners well.
“Excuse me,” I said, “But I’m not some kind of dark lord, and I didn’t rescue you because I’m interested in power.”
“But when you rescued me, you said that it would be beneficial to you…”
She was right. I had said that when we first met.
“And in fact, you’re my ally while I’m negotiating with the duke, right? That is beneficial to me. And it would not be very wizardly of me to allow a child to be killed by her own father and brother.”
“A…child?” She raised her thin eyebrows at this, and I worried for a moment, but she let it go quickly.
“Besides the objectives that Ild just summarized for us, there are also things that I must do as a wizard. The first is to stop any potential war that the duke tries to start with Velde. Next, I would ideally like to stop the conflict with the Schultz clan. And if I were to get everything I wanted, the duke would have a change of heart and become a decent ruler…but that’s probably impossible.”
“L-Likely, yes…”
I would not change my basic policy of refusing to contribute to conflicts between humans. However, the fact that a force as big as Filsand’s would go to war was a significant factor hindering humans in their fight with the daemons. So it wouldn’t be out of line for a wizard to stop such a thing. Or at least, I thought that line of reasoning would fly…
“Even so, the reason the duke is attacking the Schultz clan is because he needs land, right?” Ted asked.
“If the economy is doing well, then the population continues to increase, so they must, by necessity, also increase their farmland,” Ild explained.
“Land…” I considered what Ild was saying. There just happened to be a map marked as the “Filsand Area Map” on the wall.
To the north were the Twilight Wastelands, where the undead sometimes appeared. To the west was the Iron Fan mountain range, where the dwarves resided. To the south was the Hidal Plateau and the Twisted Wood. To the east was Velde territory. Filsand was blocked from all four directions.
“How about using Master Margilus’s magic to, y’know, POW!” Ted suggested. “Is there no way to destroy all the undead in the Twilight Wastelands in one zap?”
“Nah, there’s no spell that convenient.”
“Oh, hmm…” Ted had a somewhat surprised look on his face. In a way I was happy he felt he could rely on me. But there weren’t really many spells in my repertoire that were effective against the undead. Then again…
Hmm.
“Hey, everyone, listen up.” I stood up straight and looked around at my friends. “I’m going to go the Twilight Wastelands now. I’m just going to conduct a small experiment, but if it goes well, then I may be able to exterminate the undead there and open it up to development.”
“Wow! That’s our Margilus!” Everyone got excited. I rolled my sudden idea around in my head and came up with the details for it as I explained. Luckily, everyone was on board and trusted what I had to say.
“I’m going to leave now. I’ll come back by the day after tomorrow at the latest. Until then, I need Ild and Feivel to move forward with the trade talks with the duke’s team. You don’t need to push too hard. Clara, please have Ted and the dwarves help you keep everyone safe.”
“I understand.”
“We will negotiate well.”
“Just leave it to us.”
“Aye! Us dwarves’ll protect ye, on the honor of Axeholm!”
Finally, I addressed Elisabel. “You should come up with a way to convince the duke to rethink his plans to start a war.”
“Y-yes. I’ll do my best!” The princess nodded, conviction in her scarlet eyes.