A secret pact with House Luke.
I had assumed that the marquis would naturally agree.
However, his reaction was strange.
TREMBLE….
“That is not allowed.”
“…Pardon?”
At first, I thought I had misheard him.
However, a thunderous shout immediately erupted from him.
“I said that is absolutely out of the question!”
WHOOOOM―
“Urgh… F-Father…!”
The Aura that burst from him in an instant pressed down on me with tremendous force.
No….
It was not merely that he refused.
He said it was absolutely out of the question?
I could not understand it at all.
Why is he opposing it this strongly?!
A quick glance at the marquis’s expression revealed something strange….
He looked deeply moved and exhilarated, yet there was also a trace of unyielding resolve in his eyes.
‘What is this reaction…?’
No, more importantly… if this continued, the entire plan I had carefully devised in advance would fall apart.
‘Phew. First, I need to understand the situation.’
Stay calm….
What exactly had I overlooked?
“Um… Father?”
“Speak.”
“May I… ask why?”
The marquis answered with a slightly embarrassed expression, but after hearing his reasoning, I was left staring blankly.
“Ahem! Evan… no matter how intelligent and exceptional you may be, you are still only ten years old. There is no need for you to concern yourself with the affairs of adults and decide such an important matter in your life already.”
“What? An important… matter in my life?”
“That is correct. I have no intention whatsoever of forcing you into a political marriage.”
“…What? A political marriage???”
What sort of nonsense is that?
At some point, Sebas, the butler standing beside him, had begun tearing up.
“That is right, Young Master Evan! Your willingness to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the family is admirable, but there must surely be another way!”
“Uh…….”
It seemed that these people were seriously misunderstanding something.
“Um… Father?”
“Speak.”
“I was not saying that I intended to become betrothed to Lady Luke.”
“…What did you say?”
The marquis and Sebas looked bewildered.
“Did you not clearly say that you would establish a close relationship with Lady Luke and have our two families become close as well?”
“If that was not what you meant, then what in the world were you talking about?”
“I was naturally referring to a ‘political relationship.’”
I explained my thoughts in greater detail.
“I think it would become extremely difficult and burdensome if we tried to sell monster corpses directly to every territory in the empire.”
“And?”
The marquis’s briefly vacant eyes once again shone sharply.
Strong interest and curiosity appeared on his face.
“Excluding the western region where we are located, we should establish one exclusive trading partner in each of the central, eastern, southern, and northern regions. We should choose houses that can provide something we need.”
“I see… and you are proposing that House Luke become our trading partner in the central region.”
“Exactly.”
“My goodness… To think you have already considered that far ahead!”
Sebas appeared shocked for an entirely different reason this time.
However, the marquis’s response was somewhat ambiguous.
“It is certainly a good idea. However….”
“Is there something that concerns you?”
“I am uncertain whether Lady Luke will be able to properly convey such difficult and complicated matters to the duke.”
I see.
From the marquis’s perspective, it was understandable that he would feel uneasy about discussing such an important matter through a young noble lady.
‘But… Ainsera was no ordinary child.’
She would understand the proposal perfectly well.
Furthermore, this matter had to remain completely secret from Yandel of the Magic Tower.
It was out of the question for the marquis and the duke to contact each other directly. Even using knights or retainers as intermediaries might arouse Yandel’s suspicions unnecessarily.
I repeatedly tried to persuade him while explaining those concerns.
“Father. I may be ten years old, but Lady Luke is also far from ordinary.”
“Ahem… If you insist…….”
In the end, the marquis permitted my proposal.
However, he still looked deeply concerned.
“…You truly have no such relationship with Lady Luke, do you?”
Uh… I had a feeling that the matter troubling him was not actually the secret pact with House Luke, but anyway!
“Absolutely not, so please do not worry.”
“Ahem! Who said I was worried…? In any case, go and return safely.”
“Understood.”
I met Ainsera the very next day.
* * *
The Three Great Forbidden Lands of the empire were crawling with monsters.
The western edge of the Verdin Marquisate bordered the Behamag Mountains.
Because of this, the lord’s castle had been constructed in the western part of the territory, and an enormous defensive wall had been erected outside the castle along the boundary adjoining the Behamag Mountains.
It had been built using a unique black stone quarried only in this region due to the influence of the Behamag Mountains….
“Wow― So this is the ‘Black Wall.’”
Evan and Ainsera were currently standing atop the undefeated wall, which had never once been breached since its construction.
WHOOSH―
A gust of wind blew toward them from the distant Behamag Mountains.
The boy’s and girl’s hair scattered wildly in the wind.
Their escort knights stood a short distance behind them.
Haver Randolph of Verdin.
Jess Flip of Luke.
They were the same knights who had escorted them beyond the castle the day before. For some reason, their gazes toward their young masters contained a peculiar sense of anticipation.
‘Good grief, those men….’
For once, the two children shared exactly the same thought as they looked at them.
Ainsera was the first to speak.
“It is impressive. The territory must be able to survive despite facing the terrifying Behamag Mountains because this enormous wall protects it, right?”
“Of course. Without the Black Wall, it would have been difficult to properly defend the territory against the monsters.”
However, she knew.
She knew about the ‘calamity’ that would emerge from the Behamag Mountains five years later….
The Verdin Marquisate would be destroyed as a result.
Throughout all five of her regressions, there had not been a single exception.
‘Evan Verdin. Do you know that this is the future awaiting this place?’
Ainsera was curious.
Therefore, she cautiously asked him.
“What if… this is only hypothetical.”
“Go on.”
“What would happen if monsters powerful or numerous enough to breach the Black Wall attacked?”
To anyone unaware of the future, it would have sounded like a foolish question.
In the more than five hundred years since the empire’s founding, nothing like that had ever happened.
However, Evan responded with a serious question.
“Are you worried that a Monster Wave might occur?”
“…It could happen.”
The boy gave a faint laugh when he heard her answer.
“Interesting. Someone as clever and perceptive as you is worrying about something that has never occurred throughout centuries of imperial history.”
“Well… one never knows what might happen.”
“I see.”
Ainsera was flustered.
She had asked the question to test him, yet somehow she felt as though she were the one being tested.
As she stood there feeling somewhat embarrassed, Evan spoke calmly.
“As things stand now, it would be difficult to stop one. However, I will make certain that we can stop it, even if such a thing does happen.”
His answer was every bit as unusual as her question.
“You intend to prepare for something that has never happened in hundreds of years?”
“One never knows what might happen.”
“…Right.”
As the two conversed, they both felt a strange sense of irony.
‘What is this…? Does he actually know what will happen in the future?’
That was what Ainsera thought.
‘There is something peculiar about the nuance of her question. It was almost as though she knew it would happen… Or does she simply have unusually sharp instincts?’
Evan likewise became convinced that Ainsera was hiding something.
What in the world could it be?
‘I will find out eventually….’
For now, there was something else they needed to discuss.
* * *
Ainsera happened to bring it up first.
“So… showing me the Black Wall was probably only an excuse. What did you actually want to discuss?”
Her green eyes gleamed sharply.
The moment I met that gaze, the corners of my mouth naturally rose.
It was further proof that she was no ordinary child.
“It is nothing particularly complicated. I was wondering whether House Luke and House Verdin might form a secret pact.”
I told her that when we began selling purified monster corpses, House Luke would be designated as our permanent trading partner in the central region.
House Luke could add an appropriate profit margin and resell them to the other territories throughout the central region.
“It is not a bad proposal… but what are your conditions?”
“I want to purchase mana stones at seventy percent of the market price.”
“I see….”
Ainsera seemed to understand immediately why I had made such a proposal.
It appeared that the duke had told her about the previous day’s negotiations.
“Hmm. The terms are not bad, but….”
No, they were actually rather favorable.
However, she did not appear willing to accept them without resistance.
That was simply the nature of politics.
“Verdin might desperately need mana stones to construct and operate a Warp Gate, but House Luke does not immediately need a new business.”
“Oh, really?”
That was clearly a bluff.
After all, House Luke must also have been searching for a new breakthrough at this point in time.
“Then this proposal will go to Kanion instead. Are you all right with that?”
“W-What did you say?!”
House Kanion.
It was the maternal family of that damned First Prince, ‘Kirzen.’
They were a powerful noble house of the central region that had been rapidly expanding its influence by exploiting its position as the emperor’s in-laws.
They were also utterly unscrupulous villains who would use any means necessary to secure their interests.
‘Hehe. At this point in time, House Luke and House Kanion were fiercely competing for supremacy over the central region.’
House Luke had traditionally served as the leader of the central nobility.
The first Duke Luke had been a founding contributor to the empire, and the mana-stone mines within the duchy had also contributed greatly to the family’s standing.
Recently, however, House Kanion’s attempts to displace House Luke had become increasingly threatening.
“Hmm~ From what I know, a considerable number of central nobles have already abandoned Luke and switched their allegiance to Kanion, haven’t they?”
“You…!”
Ainsera suddenly raised her voice.
She then questioned me sharply.
“Do you know what sort of people Kanion are? Those bastards….”
“They are scum.”
“…What?”
Perhaps my unexpected answer had caught her off guard.
Leaving Ainsera staring blankly, I continued.
“If there is money to be made, they engage in smuggling, operate casinos, and even sell people. If a business deal goes wrong, using violence in the shadows to crush the other party is routine for them.”
“What…? You know them rather well.”
“It happened that way.”
I did not merely know them well.
House Kanion was practically my sworn enemy.
When I had been the Third Prince, the First Prince had put me through every kind of hell imaginable, and his maternal family had acted as his hands and feet.
“Honestly, I trust and prefer House Luke far more than House Kanion. However, I hope you understand that I will have no choice if you refuse my proposal.”
“Tsk…….”
Ainsera appeared to consider it for a moment.
However, even her expression was already different from before.
“Phew― Fine. I will accept the proposal.”
“Hehehe. An excellent decision.”
The outcome had been obvious from the moment I mentioned House Kanion.
Meanwhile, she seemed sincerely impressed.
“I thought Verdin lived on the frontier without paying the slightest attention to central politics. Apparently, that is not the case?”
“I merely kept an eye on the general situation.”
RUSTLE―
Once our discussion was largely settled, I removed two copies of a ‘secret agreement’ that I had prepared in advance from inside my clothes.
The conditions I had mentioned were already written on them, and there were signature lines for Marquis Verdin and Duke Luke at the bottom.
“The signer’s mana will permeate this agreement the instant it is signed.”
Once that happened, it would become impossible to forge by any means.
I handed one copy to Ainsera and instructed her to obtain Duke Luke’s signature.
With that, the negotiations were effectively concluded―
One week later.
After confirming that clove could purify monster corpses, the investigation team departed for the Imperial Capital.
Their departing footsteps marked the first step Verdin took toward a new beginning.