As soon as we were in a different location, Panamera began to question me. “Why did you choose Marquis Fertio? Surely you understood the purpose of all of this?”
His Majesty had returned to the front lines, and Jalpa had relocated to my underground lodgings in the name of conducting his interrogation. The only people around us were those connected to Panamera and me.
I contemplated the best way to answer her, but before I could say anything, Arte spoke up. She wore a troubled expression and her voice carried a strong hint of concern. “Um, perhaps he could not find it in his heart to do something that might lead to his father’s punishment?” she suggested.
Panamera shook her head. “Foolishness. We noblemen and noblewomen must show no mercy to those who would harm us. The moment our enemies think us weak, it’s over. That is common sense. In our world, to let our decisions be swayed by emotion is to let our houses collapse. Are you okay with that?”
I gave her a taut smile and a slight nod. “Personally, I don’t want to walk such a bloody path. But having said that, I also have no intention of letting my house collapse.” Then I smirked. “And I was most certainly not swayed by my emotions.”
“What?” Panamera narrowed her eyes.
“I intend to deal with my enemies in my own way. A way that will leave them regretting the day they thought to challenge me.”
Panamera’s eyes went wide and she blinked at me. The displeasure began to drain from her expression. “That sounds fascinating, but I would appreciate it if you followed our lead every now and then.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “The plan was to keep Marquis Fertio’s house in check and increase the authority of both yours and mine.”
Ah, so Panamera had been scheming behind the scenes. The nobility often engaged in power struggles when their nations weren’t growing territorially or economically. When one person acquired land, another lost theirs; when one person was promoted to a key office, another was demoted. Panamera was clearly gunning for Marquis Fertio’s territory and influence, because he had grown too strong for his own good.
That aligned with His Majesty’s aims of keeping the royal family in power, too. It was precisely because His Majesty sought to expand the country with one large push that Marquis Fertio’s house, known for its skill in war, had received such favorable treatment. Marquis Fertio had increased his own authority during that period, and even with his territorial expansion having come to a halt, people still flocked around him without him needing to so much as lift a finger. Other nobles, large businesses, powerful knights, and even mages came to him in hopes of serving him.
That was how Marquis Fertio’s house had gained power above its station. His Majesty sought to put an end to that. Meanwhile, Panamera, thought to be a member of Count Ferdinatto’s faction, wanted to bring down big bad Jalpa to propel herself up through the ranks. I figured that about summed up Panamera and the king’s positions. I felt bad, but being the victim, I intended to do things my way.
Panamera sighed and shrugged again. “Are you going back home, then? I expect it will take us only half a month or month or so to bring down the enemy fortress.”
I nodded. “I’m headed home,” I said resolutely. “The trip back probably won’t even take me half a month, and I really want a bath.” These words came from the bottom of my heart. I had no desire to linger any further on this sad, bloody battlefield. Given the choice, of course I’d pick the warm bed, bath, and delicious food that Seatoh Village promised me.
Panamera looked pained but nodded. “I expected as much. Until we meet again, Baron Van. The next time I see you, it will be to deliver news of our triumphant victory, so you had better prepare your finest delicacies.”
She departed gallantly, every inch the hero on her way toward the battlefield. There was truly no one like Panamera.
After I’d watched my reliable friend depart, I turned to my people. “All right! Who wants to head home for real this time?”
My words were met with cheers.
Because I’d paved most of the mountain road, we got home in a third of the time it took us to reach the border in the first place. At first I was worried about monster attacks on the way back, but Ortho and the adventurers agreed to guard us for cheap, and we got back to Seatoh Village without fielding a single attack.
Esparda and the others came out to greet us. “Lord Van, welcome home.”
“It’s great to be back, Esparda!”
I took the first chance I could get to wash off all the sweat in a nice hot bath. By the time I was out, we were ready for the big barbecue.
Wait, who even gave the order for that???
Before I could really ponder this, I found myself standing in front of a fire, a skewer of meat in my hands and the people of Seatoh Village grinning all around me. “Well then,” I said, “in celebration of the Seatoh Chivalric Order’s safe return, let the barbecue begin!”
Everyone erupted in cheers. I still had no idea how the barbecue had even happened, but I went with the flow as everyone turned their meat skewers toward the flames. In an instant, the delicious aroma of top-grade meat filled the air, putting the citizens of Seatoh Village in high spirits.
“Let’s eat!”
“Yeah!”
Once their meat was cooked, the people of Seatoh Village dug in. Our humble village’s main street—the venue for our massive barbecue—was lively with cheers, laughter, and merriment.
“This is delicious, Lord Van,” Arte commented at my side. She was tucking into her share of meat and fruit.
I nodded, still a bit bewildered. “It is, but…how did this all come together? Who got the ball rolling?”
Arte blinked, seeming surprised. “Huh? I had heard that you planned to hold a big barbecue.”
I offered her an ambiguous nod. “Ah, I see… Someone was extra thoughtful and pushed the plan forward.” I kept nodding, then brought some of that perfectly cooked meat to my mouth.
Mm, delicious. This special Van sauce is the best.
With that done, I got to work on the various jobs and tasks that had accumulated in my absence.
“Lord Van! Our population has increased by a thousand people! We need more housing!”
“Lord Van! The dwarves are going on about wanting to smith orichalcum weapons!”
“Lord Van! We can’t sell off all the monster parts we’ve acquired, so the guild is sending us some personnel to help sort through and ship everything!”
I tried to manage this chaotic deluge of demands and opinions.
“I suppose families of three or more should get their own houses. I feel bad, but single people and couples will have to settle for shared housing.”
“We haven’t gotten any more orichalcum from Ladavesta, right? Wait, we have? In that case, tell the dwarves I’d love a cool spear.”
“I’m grateful for the Business Guild’s help, but how much should I pay their personnel…? A single gold per month?! That’s crazy expensive! Let’s try compromising on a single gold for two people. If that’s no good, send a letter to Apollo telling him we’ll talk to the Mary Chamber of Commerce instead!”
Three days of running around went by this way, with meals being my only downtime. Those breaks didn’t last long, either, because after dinner I was treated to Dee’s beaming smile and Esparda’s stony face while they trained me. By the time I was able to go to bed, I was dead on my feet.
I’m so tired. Maybe I should’ve just stayed at the border where the fighting was, I thought, half-floating in the huge bathhouse that I was using all by myself.
“You have done well, Lord Van,” Khamsin said politely. I felt like crying.
“What do I have left? The apkallu issued a request for lodging in the water, and the Bell & Rango Company wants more storage facilities. Oh, and there was that request for more roads in the village.” I counted each job on my fingers and felt even more like crying. “Housing in the water… I mean, I’d love to go all out and make a shrine or something at the bottom of the lake, but diving underwater to do that would be tough. What if I wore a goldfish bowl or something and had the kids pull me down? No, they’d definitely try to prank me…”
Hearing me mutter about each new idea that entered my mind, Khamsin remembered something. “Oh! I totally forgot, but there was a request from the Esparda Chivalric Order to expand the adventurers’ town!”
“What?! They make it sound so simple! That’ll take me a week or two, at least!” I complained.
“The fact that you can do it even that quickly is surprising,” Khamsin replied, looking exasperated.
I kept whining, even as I opened up a mental map of the town. “The biggest problem is that I built the town over the road. It’s surrounded by the forest just ahead of the Wolfsbrook Mountain Range, and in the opposite direction the land slopes upward. If I’m going to expand it, I’ll have to start by leveling the ground.”
Khamsin snapped to attention again. “Oh, right! I forgot to tell you, but we’ve been cutting down trees in that forest, so the land there has already been cultivated! What if we expanded the town in that direction?” He started waving his hands all over the place. “So this is Seatoh Village, right? Then over here is the adventurers’ town, and…it would be here! There are no trees around here!”
This explanation sent me into a misery spiral. “W-wow, awesome. Guess I’ll expand the town, then…”
“Great!”
FYI: after my bath, Till’s special ice-cold fruit water was delicious.
Anyway, I made the Bell & Rango Company some new storage space right away, since that job was high priority. I built it with a basement this time around, which would help with the whole real estate shortage problem we were currently having. “You guys should be good for a while. I’m counting on you to handle things with the Business Guild, okay?”
“Understood!” Rango beamed.
“Thank you so much,” Bell cut in. It was like he’d been waiting for this moment. “Truth be told, we have a few more requests to attend to, so if you don’t mind, we’d like to go over them now…”
He spoke politely, but his eyes were bloodshot. I could feel the flurry of requests coming, but I was too busy to handle whatever he had for me. “Ah, sorry, I actually have to go expand the town now.”
“What?”
“Right now?”
They stared at me, chewed over my words for a moment, then looked at one another. Finally, they turned back to me.