***
Even though my body still felt creaky, I quickly approached the treasure chest and reached out without hesitation.
[You have acquired 500 billion rutes. Please enter the account number for deposit.]
My wealth was growing at a frightening rate.
That put me at roughly 635 billion now—which might be pocket change compared to the fortunes hidden in those opportunities, but it was an enormous sum to me.
Above all, the next stage would balloon my holdings into the trillions of rutes, so I needed to start thinking about how to manage it.
[You have acquired the All-Seeing Glasses.]
Next came the treasure to follow in the footsteps of the Subspace and Elixir, but it was such an unexpected item that I couldn't help questioning it.
'What the hell is this?'
The All-Seeing Glasses turned out to be nothing other than a pair of eyeglasses.
I immediately checked the detailed description.
[All-Seeing Glasses]
-Glasses equipped with appraisal, observation, x-ray vision, and clairvoyance functions.
-Identifies the purpose, uses, and ability values of living creatures and objects.
-Detects the emotions of living creatures and the truthfulness of conversations.
-Sees through obstacles to whatever lies beyond.
-Views targets from hundreds of meters to dozens of kilometers away.
I couldn't help letting out an exclamation of admiration.
For someone as distrustful of people as I was, this thing was far too useful.
With it, I could definitively sort enemies from allies.
As expected of a gift from Duke Lucas—not just any random junk.
[The All-Seeing Glasses will be transmitted to reality. Please check your inventory after logging out.]
Just like with the Elixir before, the item in my hand dissolved into light, and a new message appeared.
[A 4th Circle will be generated.]
As always, the circle generation message was followed by the synchronization and harmonization of my body.
* * *
I'd been a little worried since this was my first time generating a circle right in the middle of a bunch of knights, but true to form, no one noticed a thing.
Fortunately, the circle concealment technique was working perfectly.
It wasn't long before we reached our destination: Western Command. The local army staffers tilted their heads as they looked at me delivering my joining report.
"Huh? The second son of Viscount Lawrence?"
They reacted like they were wondering who the hell I was.
Unlike me, the acting lord, these were nobles who held titles in their own right.
"I figured the sturdy heir from Viscount Lawrence would show up."
"Right. Cedric or whatever his name was. I heard he drew everyone's expectations with his brilliant aptitude as a kid."
"Nah, that was Cedric—the older brother. Wasn't it the younger one who ate poison and turned into an idiot?"
"Yeah. Right, it's coming back to me now."
"Huh? Hold on, that younger brother..."
Precious as nobles might be, there were hundreds of families across the kingdom.
Viscount Lawrence might be a lordly house among nobles, but its frontier location kept it from being all that famous.
Irritating as some of their conversation was, I kept smiling and nodded along.
"Yes, I'm the younger brother who got poisoned as a child."
"Ah, got it."
"You don't look like an idiot, though? Rumors really can't be trusted."
You guys just remembered wrong.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Viscount Evans, chief of operations for Local Army Command."
"I'm Viscount Miller, chief of support for the Local Army."
I bowed repeatedly to the main staffers' introductions, spamming "It's an honor" left and right.
Nobles come in two flavors.
Those with lands—lords—and those without: ordinary nobles.
Lordships pass down hereditarily in perpetuity, but most ordinary nobles hold life peerages.
Life peerages don't transfer to heirs, unlike hereditary ones. They're usually reserved for high-ranking officials in the civil service or military.
Which is why lords get called nobles among nobles.
These guys were probably military dispatches to keep the local army running smoothly.
Life peerages or not, they ranked as fifth-class nobles, so maximum courtesy was in order.
"Let me check... for a viscountcy's muster, that'd be... five Vanguards and fifty Vanguard candidates, right?"
"Vanguard candidate" was just a fancy way of saying regular knight.
Force Armor and Force Swords—the basics for Vanguards—were so damn expensive that you couldn't outfit every knight.
So when serving Vanguards got injured and couldn't deploy, regular knights would gear up in their place and head to the front. Calling them reserves wasn't entirely off.
I nodded to Viscount Miller, the support chief, and reported our troop strength.
"Yes, that's right. Five Vanguards, fifty knights, and one thousand soldiers."
"Ah, no need to bother with the soldiers. Wars end on the Vanguard line anyway."
I managed an awkward smile at the brutally honest remark.
Even in a fantasy world, the foot soldiers of this civilized era weren't about to just swing spears and loose arrows like primitives.
They were all armed with burst-fire artifacts.
Our territory's troops were elites equipped with devices boasting a one-kilometer effective range, capable of unleashing up to three hundred Magic Arrows—a 2nd Circle spell—without mana charging.
Under normal circumstances, there'd be no call for this kind of dismissal; I'd be pissed.
Unfortunately, the guy wasn't wrong.
No matter how fancy the gear on those soldiers, it was no different from medieval bowmen against Vanguard defenses and firepower.
That was the very reason modern mages shied away from wartime deployments.
Vanguards were untouchable without an archmage of 7th Circle or higher.
(The Vanguard system was Duke Lucas's invention too.)
For the record, mages weren't sidelined just because they saw less battlefield action.
This era's label of "Magic Dynasty" made it clear: magic was the bedrock of society.
Knights might shine on the field, but mages held real sway in society.
"Hmm, let me see."
Viscount Miller, the support chief, summoned a hologram and began searching for something.
He soon found what he wanted and adopted a stern expression.
"The Lawrence territory forces have been assigned to the 232nd Independent Brigade under the 3rd Division, 2nd Corps. As brigade commander, support Division Commander Count Otis, Your Excellency, to the best of your ability."
"Understood."
No salutes required between nobles.
I offered the proper noble greeting—right hand over left breast—and exited the local army staff tent.
Waiting outside were Staff Knight Heman, the knightly order, and Arcia.
I'd dressed Arcia in territory army command fatigues, at least, to make her less conspicuous.
"Lawrence territory forces assigned to 232nd Independent Brigade."
"That means second independent brigade under 3rd Division, 2nd Corps."
"Division HQ is at Denin Fortress, thirty kilometers north."
"Got it. Please board the train."
National call-up or not, we were a house's private troops, so we'd been slotted into our own independent unit rather than mixing with others.
Just as Father had predicted.
The wildcard was Division Commander Count Otis's temperament.
(Count Otis... the great eastern lord, right?)
If the guy turned out to be a prickly asshole, we'd be in for it.
Hoping for at least a modicum of flexibility, I boarded the troop train once more.
* * *
Military zone protocols had the troop train crawling along at reduced speed, so it took a good half hour to cover the thirty kilometers to division HQ.
I'd steeled myself to shove a king's ransom in bribes if needed before going to pay respects to Division Commander Count Otis.
But...
"Hm?"
A neatly turned-out young man greeted me from division HQ's command office.
One thing was clear from his uniform alone: he sure as hell wasn't the count.
"Brigade commander of the 2nd Independent Brigade, I presume?"
"That's me."
"His Excellency the Count isn't feeling well and has returned to his territory. No need for a separate assignment report."
Returned to his territory?
I had trouble processing it and asked for clarification.
"By any chance... the young lord of the Otis count family?"
His outfit didn't scream "great noble heir," but the man might just be humble by nature, so I kept it careful.
If a lord couldn't deploy, his son had to step up—like me.
"No, I'm on Count Otis's staff."
"Pardon?"
"Oh, if you're concerned about the count's absence, don't be. He plans to teleport in and out until hostilities commence."
A war could kick off any minute, and this guy was leaving his troops on the front lines to commute?
Great nobles really operated on another level.
It completely shattered all sense.
If he stepped away and war broke out, enemy spatial coordinate jamming would block teleportation.
Meaning we might fight a critical battle without our commander present.
That screamed either total confidence in preemptive enemy detection or ironclad assurance that nothing could go wrong.
I swallowed a hollow laugh and pressed on.
"Understood. Could you point us to our brigade HQ?"
"Certainly. I'll assign a guide right away."
Count Otis's antics were ridiculous, but from my perspective? Not a bad deal.
('If the boss himself is that lax, he won't bitch about a subordinate gaming on the front lines.')
A surprisingly solid start.
If we could just stall without actual fighting, it'd be perfect.
* * *
Count Otis turned out to be the ideal commander.
After a luncheon with the various commanders the day after deployment, I never laid eyes on him again.
The subordinate units had their assigned patrol and recon duties, but those were things Knight Heman could handle on his own—so I dove into the game without any interference.
Connection time was virtually identical to back at the mansion.
It let me level up fast; after a week, I was on the cusp of level 120, enough to generate a 5th Circle.
Given the location, I'd figured two months to hit level 200, but this pace could slash that timeline dramatically.
"Master."
I'd been deep in Chronicle Online as usual when...
Arcia's unexpected words threw me for a loop.
"Someone has entered the room."
"What?"
"Doesn't seem like good intentions."
Arcia's warning, linked to reality.
I logged out in a hurry.