In the meantime, an order to open the back gates rang out, and we were treated to the view outside the city.
“…Wh-what in the world is that?”
“Are you telling me that is Van’s…?”
In the distance stood an incredible fortress city. It dwarfed the one we were in.
Sesto
I HAD NO MONEY. THIS WASN’T A PROBLEM I’D EVER faced before, but my city governor assignment made me painfully aware of what it meant to have no money. When I first saw the giant sum I had to work with, I was thrilled to be able to spend it as I wished; why didn’t anyone warn me before it all disappeared?
Before I knew it, I required so many funds that even a tax increase couldn’t cover it all. I sold off all the goods I was managing in the city, sent the Chivalric Order out on campaigns disguised as training exercises, and slew bandits and monsters to make money. But it wasn’t nearly enough.
Just as I was panicking over what to do, word of the invasion into Yelenetta reached me. “Get a fighting force together, even if it means borrowing money,” Jard said, and I nodded. I thought I was saved.
First, I contacted my aide and told him to cook the books, make it look as though the money had gone to the war effort. Luckily enough, I had records of the campaigns I sent my people out on. Whatever was left over could help cover my expenses for hiring mercenaries. Jard was employing a ton of them, so if we mobilized alongside them, nobody would notice it was all a lie. I was still worried, but that was how I came to participate in the upcoming invasion.
The journey itself wasn’t a problem. If I had to point to any specific issues, it would be that the meals were plain and sleeping inside a carriage was a bit rough for someone used to living comfortably. More pressing was my concern about participating in a large-scale war against another country. Jard was excited to add some accomplishments to his name, but things would definitely not be that simple.
Knights sometimes died in conflicts with bandits. The same went for fighting mid-sized monsters, and to get to Yelenetta, we had to pass through the treacherous Wolfsbrook Mountain Range. Ludicrous! Why would we traverse a monster-filled mountain range on purpose? If I said so out loud, my head would be removed from my shoulders, but nothing about this was sane.
These were the thoughts that occupied me over our long journey. I paid no attention to Jard’s bragging.
Eventually we arrived at Van’s territory, our first destination. I’d heard it was a poor village, one that might collapse in a stiff breeze, but I was still curious to see it for myself. Van was also supposedly a baron now, but I was sure that some kind of bad joke.
And yet. Disbelief overtook me when I laid eyes on his territory.
“Jard, what is that?” I asked. “That…can’t be Van’s territory, right?”
It simply couldn’t be. But even Jard went wide-eyed when he saw what I was looking at. “Is that…a wall? He had that built in only a year or so?”
I looked even closer at the wall standing before us. It was the very picture of sturdy, and the gates were heavily decorated. My brother and I continued our conversation as we entered the city, and I wondered, Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?
I had been led to believe that this originated as a tiny border village, and fortunately the plot of land itself wasn’t particularly large. The city I was assigned to was still bigger, if nothing else.
But for some reason, we were being led out. “Why are we leaving?” Jard objected.
I backed him up. “Y-you better not be thinking of tossing us out!”
Our guide sounded unfazed when he said, “My apologies. I should have given you a better explanation. This is not Seatoh Village. The village itself was seeing extremely high adventurer traffic, so Lord Van created a separate town just for adventurers.”
“H-huh?” Jard said like a fool. I couldn’t blame him, though; the guide’s words made little sense. What is he saying?
The gates opened. Beyond them was another fortress city, this one far larger. It quite literally took our breath away. Its design was unique, and it was easily large enough to house ten thousand people or more. Off to both sides of the well-maintained road were camping soldiers from the capital’s Chivalric Order.
We proceeded along the road, bathed in the gazes of thousands of elite soldiers. It felt like we were criminals under arrest. Finally, we arrived at the front gates of this second fortress city, and I looked up at the enormous wall and gates, feeling as though I was looking up a steep mountainside. The small creek in front of us served as proof that, as unbelievable as it seemed, we weren’t even truly in front of the gates yet.
“Open the gates! Lower the bridge!” the soldier yelled. A rectangular board I had assumed was part of the front gates revealed itself to be a drawbridge, and it came down quickly. What we had been looking at was the bottom of the bridge; given how ornate it was, this was shocking. From afar, there was no way to know that it wasn’t part of the gates.
With the drawbridge down, the actual gates opened. A maid appeared with a knight by her side and said, “Welcome to Seatoh Village. Lord Van is waiting for you.”
Jard scowled. “He’s making his older brother come to him?” he complained, but he kept his voice so low that even I, standing directly next to him, barely heard his words.
Little brother or not, now that he was a baron, it would be difficult to publicly criticize Van. All we could do was follow the maid. As we walked, I thought, I’ve seen her somewhere before…
The maid pointed to the buildings on the left and right. “Lord Jard, Lord Sesto, since this is your first time here, allow me to explain our village’s facilities,” she began, then went on to talk about the village.
According to her, Van had connections with not only the Adventurers’ Guild and the Mary Chamber of Commerce, but also the Business Guild. He’d found a dungeon in the Wolfsbrook Mountain Range, leading to constant adventurer traffic, and over a thousand adventurers currently resided in the area. This gave Van access to rare monster parts and materials. Even more surprisingly, dwarves had moved into Seatoh and set up a dwarf forge.
This insanity was too much for Jard. “Impossible!” he yelled, fuming. “How could all of that happen in only a year’s time?!”
“I thought he was banished to a remote village,” I explained placidly, “but it looks like that wasn’t the case. The dwarves were probably already living here, leading the kingdom itself to put all its power behind the region’s development. That’s also why the Business Guild got involved.”
Jard nodded and smirked. “Right, that must be it. Damn you, Van, and damn your good fortune. I’ve never even seen a dwarf before.”
The maid narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t the only one, either—all the nearby knights reacted similarly.
“What is it?” Jard snapped at the girl in a low tone. “Are you going to tell me I’m incorrect?”