Chapter 8: Visitor after Visitor

THE NEXT MORNING, I WAS AWOKEN BY A STAMPEDE of anxious villagers outside.

“Isn’t it kinda early…? The sun’s not even up yet,” I said tiredly.

Till nodded and cleaned up my bedhead. “Apologies, my lord. Ronda and the others seemed a bit panicked, so Sir Dee and Esparda are already headed over to the site.”

“Uh, what site?”

“Lake Van.”

“I don’t remember naming it that.” Nope. Definitely don’t remember.

“It was apparently declared Lake Van to commemorate your -​ accomplishments so your name would go down in history. By the way, they’ve also named this place Van Village…”

“Please, no! This all feels terribly wrong!”

I hurried out of the manor and came upon a pale-faced villager.

“L-Lord Van!” he cried. “Come this way!” Fool, don’t leave me behind!

I begrudgingly followed him at a brisk pace as he exited the village and ran around to the back.

Okay, yeah, I need to build a back entrance. Having to go around the whole village is a pain.

Together, we headed to the lake, where a crowd made up of a bunch of villagers, Dee and his knights, and Esparda had gathered. Heck, even Ortho and his party were there.

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

They opened a path for me, revealing the large lake shimmering in the sun. Sure, I’d made it and all, but boy, was it big. That said, there was an unfamiliar silhouette on the surface of the lake. Something round was poking out of the water.

It’s a head.

“What is that?”

Esparda was the one to respond. “I believe she is an aquatic demihuman—an apkallu. They live in beautiful rivers deep within the woods and are rarely seen by the likes of men.”

“Apkallu, huh? Never heard of them…”

Upon closer inspection, the girl was childlike. Her blue hair gave her a mystical air, and her skin was dark. The apkallu’s eyes were black, and fin-like ears peeked out from the gaps in her long hair.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

The apkallu said nothing. Maybe she didn’t understand human words. I figured I’d try feeding her as a show of friendship.

“Till, go with Khamsin and grab some meat for me.”

“On it!”

The pair immediately ran off. While they were gone, the apkallu and I simply stared at each other. Eventually, they returned with a chunk of meat, and I noticed the creature react ever so slightly.

“I wonder if she’s hungry.”

If she was, this was my chance. I took a cut of meat from Khamsin and waved my hand at the apkallu, who cautiously approached.

“Whoa…”

I could hear the villagers’ hushed reactions as they watched.

Dee and Ortho discreetly gripped the handles of their swords, but I paid them no mind and continued to call over the apkallu. Soon the creature was right in front of me. If we reached out, we could touch each other.

I offered the meat, and the apkallu rose up till her shoulders were above the water. She leaned in and sniffed it a few times, showing no signs of hostility. Up close, she really did look human. Her eyes were bigger than normal, and she had a small nose. Her face was also quite round. The biggest difference was definitely in the ears—and what appeared to be gills on her neck.

“Can I eat this?”

“Oooh, you can talk!”

The apkallu’s cute voice caused me to shout in excitement, which prompted her to dive back underwater. She then poked her head out from a distance. These demihumans could move at incredible speeds underwater, which made sense since they were like large fish.

Unfortunately, I seemed to have put her on her guard; she only had half of her head out of the water and was eyeing me carefully. Even with such a grumpy face, she still looked cute, so nothing about this standoff came across as scary.

“Hey, I’m really sorry. Come back, please?”

I tried calling out to the girl again, but this time she turned her face away.

Did I hurt her feelings?

“Do we have any fruit, Till?”

“Sure do! I’ll fetch some right away!”

Plan B was to appeal to her sweet tooth. Sweets were hard to come by around here, so sugar-dense fruit was very popular. Only nobles had the money to obtain expensive goods like sugar. Well, plus the merchants who had it in stock.

As a result, dessert culture was way underdeveloped in this world. If things like sugar and butter found their way into the hands of commoners more often, there’d be far more treats on the market. Personally, I wanted to eat a pastry with lots of butter, but that proved rather difficult.

Anyhow, the point was that unless you were exceedingly wealthy or a member of the nobility, you couldn’t eat tasty sweets. So when Till returned with sweet fruits in hand, and I called for the apkallu, the effect was immediate.

Her eyes sparkled as she slowly came closer again, still half-submerged.

“Would you like meat or fruit?” I asked.

The apkallu wrinkled her brow in silence for a few moments before rising just enough to speak. “Meat and fruit.”

“You got it,” I said with a smile, handing the girl a cut of meat.

She gently took it from me, swam a short distance away, then ate it. Her eyes popped wide open and she whirled to face me, still chowing down. Once it was all gone, her expression went taut. Her eyes flicked over the knights and adventurers.

“This meat…” she murmured, trailing off.

Tilting my head, I told her, “It’s from armored lizards. It’s on the verge of being spoiled, but if you want more from tomorrow on, I can always make jerky for you.”

Her eyes widened further, and she looked at the chunk Khamsin was holding. “Who hunted them?”

I scanned the crowd.

Who was it again? Everyone, I guess, since they all used ballistae?

As it turned out, they were all staring at me…and they gave the same response.

“Lord Van, yeah?”

“Lord Van, certainly.”

“All thanks to Lord Van’s strength.” My name kept popping up!

“Not really. What about the ballistae?” Much as I protested, the credit was ultimately given to me. It felt like a setup. “Apparently, I hunted the lizards.”

The apkallu blinked her round eyes and studied my face. “I see.”

That was all she said before taking the fruit in my hand and vanishing into the lake.

“Um…?”

I turned around, a metaphorical question mark hovering over my head, but everyone else was as confused as I was.

 

The next day, Till stormed in to wake me up from a perfectly cozy sleep.

“L-Lord Van!” “What is it?!”

The way she threw open the door was so over the top that I sprang up in bed, still half-asleep. Till realized what she had done and knelt on the ground, hanging her head as sweat poured down her face.

“S-sorry! I received a report that we were being attacked, so I panicked!”

“Attacked, you say?”

“Yes! Enemy forces have apparently stopped by the moat!”

“Hrm, that’s not good. That means the ballistae aren’t scaring them off.”

As we discussed matters, Till deftly and briskly changed my clothes. Before even a minute had gone by, I was heading out of my room.

“Let’s go.”

Whoever’s attacking my village has a lot of guts. I’m going to crush them!

I raced up the village wall and peered down at the moat, only to be shocked by what I found. A bunch of apkallu were crowding the moat and waterway.

“Please don’t tell me that the apkallu worship armored lizards as deities or something.”

I glanced at Till, but she just tilted her head, unsure what to say.

Dee, Arb, and Lowe all drew their swords, ready for combat. The villagers took up positions at the ballistae, looking down at the apkallu. Amid this explosive situation, our visitors surfaced up to their shoulders and swam a little closer. The apkallu from yesterday had been a cute child, but these were men and women of all ages. That said, I didn’t see anyone who looked over forty.

Young men, women, and kids were the majority. Everyone had beautiful blue hair and gorgeous features. Granted, their bottom halves were supposedly fishlike, but they weren’t visible at the moment. As I looked over all of them, a male in his late thirties gazed up at us.

“I would like to talk, young lad,” the male apkallu—mankallu?—said, his eyes fixed on me.

He had a terrifying look in his eyes, so I asked Dee to join me. I was too frightened to talk without a bodyguard. I turned to see who else I could take for protection, but much to my surprise, Bell stepped up.

What’s a merchant doing volunteering for guard duty?

“There are apkallu who do business with merchants,” he said, a passionate glint in his eye. “They tend to possess rare materials, though I don’t know where they get them from. Doing business with the apkallu often leads to big sales.”

Well, I’m interested in those materials, so maybe it’ll be good to let Bell talk business.

With that in mind, I allowed him to come with me. We lowered the drawbridge, opened the doors, and stepped out of the village. The apkallu were floating in the waterway and moat with only their heads above water.

At a glance, they resembled a bunch of severed heads drifting on the water. It was kind of terrifying.

The male apkallu who’d spoken earlier appeared right next to the bridge.

“Thank you for treating my daughter well.”

“Your daughter? Oh, you must mean the girl from yesterday.”

I assumed she’d told him that she basically got a free meal in someone else’s territory. Now I was beginning to see the bigger picture.

He nodded, then narrowed his eyes. “I heard you managed to defeat a group of armored lizards.”

“Yeah, something like that,” I said, having given up on correcting anyone.

The other apkallu stirred in response, whispers flying to and fro.

“A child like him…?”

“Is he some kind of great mage?”

“He certainly has powerful allies at his side…”

So they can tell Dee, Ortho, and the other adventurers are strong just by looking at them, eh?

While I observed them, the mankallu’s face hardened. “…I recognize you as a hero. You may wed Lada Priora.”

“Pardon?!” My eyes nearly popped out of my head at his sudden declaration.

What’s this mankallu talking about? And who’s Lada Priora…? The girl from yesterday? She isn’t even here right now!

I was in a panic. I desperately hoped my feelings had reached him, but when I peeked at his face, he looked terribly glum.

“Don’t tell me you’re dissatisfied by this… I am Ladavesta, and Lada Priora is my daughter. She is a beautiful girl, and she will only become lovelier with time.”

“That’s great and all, but where is she?”

A deep crease formed between his brows as he pointed behind him. I squinted and just barely saw the apkallu from yesterday—Lada Priora—far off in the distance. She was talking to another child and pointing at the wall.

Put bluntly, she was just a little girl playing with her friend… How had marriage entered the picture?

I looked back at Ladavesta, who’d strangely been glaring at me. “The Lada Clan has long gone without connections to the human world. However, in recent years, armored lizards have turned the river where we live into their watering hole. As such, Lada Priora requires a strong husband.”

“I-I see.”

I nodded. There had been a lot of scary monsters around as of late, so the leader just wanted to make his people safe by buddying up with a strong human. To sweeten the deal, he was basically offering up his daughter. It was like one of those political marriages from the Sengoku period. This kind of thing was fairly common among the nobility, but I never got any offers. For obvious reasons.

“Since you are to be her husband, we shall move our clan closer to you. Do you own this watering hole?”

“Uh, you mean the moat? Well, we actually have a lake in the back. Could you head there instead? If you stay here, you’ll have to deal with the drawbridge, and if we get any guests or merchants, they might be startled by it.” Ladavesta nodded and led his clanmates toward the lake.

Umm, did I just acknowledge his proposal?

“Wait a sec! I’m not getting married! I’ll protect you guys without getting married!” I declared, but the apkallu dove underwater and didn’t respond.

Did I get through to them?

Bell came up to me, beaming. “Hey! Erm, if you get any rare materials, please consider coming to my shop!”

“O-okay, I get it. If that happens, I will,” I replied, inching away from him.

“What an unbelievable day,” Bell said to himself, clearly moved.

The villagers were still unclear as to what had transpired, and they were making a real racket.

“This is an incredible stroke of luck…” Esparda mulled over the situation and let out a groan. “I certainly didn’t expect that your first fiancée would be an apkallu. Quite frankly, even I cannot predict how this will be received.”

I desperately wanted to ask if this betrothal was set in stone. I turned to Till for help, but she was looking away from me with a complicated expression.

“If this is your decision, I…”

She’s super unhappy about this! But I made sure to say I didn’t want to get married! This has to be considered a failed proposal, right?!

With that in mind, I went off to the lake to check on things. The apkallu had already taken over. The adults were now hanging out near the bank, chatting away, while the children were swimming and having fun in the middle of the lake. It was a remarkably peaceful scene, so what was with my feeling of ennui?

“Well, since I decided to be buddies with them, I need to stay true to my word,” I said. Then I addressed Esparda: “Could you widen the left and right sides? We’re going to reshape it like a boathouse.”

“I see… In other words, a house that can fit boats inside it?”

“Yeah, exactly. When you get off the boat, it’s like going up to the second floor of a house. Even when things get stormy, you can store the boat in the house, so it’s very useful.”

Esparda seemed to catch my meaning and was suitably impressed. “I have never heard of such domiciles in the Kingdom of Scuderia. Is it a style common in maritime nations? You are truly incredible, Lord Van. You possess knowledge that even I do not have. I see you have been studying behind my back.”

“Uh, c’mon. Let’s hurry up and get this over with. Oh, and Khamsin? Could you get some other folks to help carry some wood blocks here? I need quite a few.”

“Got it! I’ll have the villagers help out!”

And so the lake ended up with two rest stops.

The apkallu were very pleased by this development. Many of the adults paid frequent visits, to the point that I was told they were a bit cramped. I set up a defensive wall in the back, and I thought about making another boathouse there as well.

Setting aside any future plans, I finally installed another set of doors and a drawbridge in the back of the village, so people no longer had to exit in order to circle around. Because of this adjustment, the villagers were now slowly beginning to communicate and socialize with the apkallu, letting go of their initial fear.

As we shared our crops and meat with the apkallu, we found that they were quite upright folks, and they returned the favor with all kinds of ore. If I sold that stuff to Bell, we’d make a real profit. Granted, Bell’s savings seemed minimal at best, but I opted not to concern myself with that.

At this point, the village no longer resembled what it used to be, but since everyone seemed happy, that was fine with me.

 

I wanted to make the village’s second wall something powerful and sturdy befitting a fortified city. With that in mind, I gathered materials and talked things over with Esparda.

“Looking forward, I think we should anticipate becoming a 10k city and building a fortress,” he told me.

“What’s a 10k city?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

Apparently, a 10k city was a city in which ten thousand people lived. Our current population was about two hundred, including the apkallu.

“Wouldn’t that be a little big?”

Esparda shook his head. “Considering how quickly this village is developing, ten thousand is too small. However, if we create a perimeter wall, we’ll have to manage it, and we’ll need quite a few people to guard it. As such, things might get a little tight, but I think we should anticipate this sort of growth.”

He spoke as if he were a secretary discussing the day’s schedule, but the words coming out of his mouth were so wild that I could barely make sense of them.

The capital had a population of three hundred thousand. The largest city in Fertio territory was two hundred thousand strong. The second-largest city had one hundred thousand; other locations ranged from ten thousand to fifty thousand.

Even if my village went through rapid development, there weren’t that many people who could end up moving here. In the Three Kingdoms period of China, there were cities with five hundred thousand people, but I’d yet to hear of any places like that in this world. Was Esparda really implying that some ten thousand people were going to move to this tiny village of two hundred people in the boonies?

Come one, come all! Enjoy a nice, slow life out here in the boonies! Nah, we aren’t even at “slow life” tier anymore, so how many people would really go out of their way to come here?

“Isn’t one or two thousand more realistic?”

I tried to offer a more grounded number, but Esparda grimaced. “No. I guarantee you we will end up with more work that way. And if that is the case, we are better off planning for explosive growth from the start.”

I hummed thoughtfully. Esparda was famous for being stubborn. He may have been our head butler for many years and the most skilled person at bringing out the best in his employer, but when it came to sharing his opinion, he never backed down—not even against my father.

“All right. In that case, how about we build the second wall a hundred meters out from the first one?”

“Not nearly enough. If we were only discussing residences, perhaps. But when we include defensive structures, inns, space for the guilds…it should be at least six hundred meters out.”

“Excuse me?!”

Considering the current scale of the village, that was a size I couldn’t even begin to imagine. Plus, we were planning on building a proper village wall, which meant it needed to be ten meters tall or more.

When I began to think about how I had to make that, I could feel myself zoning out. Esparda noticed the gloom cross my face and nodded deeply.

“We will truly begin constructing the village wall once enough people have gathered under you and we’ve acquired the proper manpower. For the time being, I believe we should focus on a defensive wall that will be easy to modify.” “So we’re still making a wall, then…” He wasn’t going to back down.

I sighed and let my gaze drop to the simple map that Arb and Lowe had drawn up. It was pretty crude, given that the knights had sketched it out with no sense of scale. That said, it was enough for me to get the lay of the land.

The spot where the road stopped was our village. Behind that was the artificial lake, then the woods, then the mountains. The ​areas to the left and right were open, but then there were more woods and rivers beyond that. We needed to design the front for defense against knights and bandits, with all other sides readied against monsters. The former would take large numbers and a variety of potential attacks into account, while the latter needed to be able to take big hits.

Perhaps playing with the shape is an option.

“How about we move away from a rectangular perimeter?” I asked.

Esparda raised an eyebrow. “You mean going with a circular one? Until one hundred years ago, that design was fairly popular—but with the rise of powerful mages, more and more fortified cities were breached at a single point. As a result, things shifted to rectangular shapes that were easier to protect.” His polite explanation was intended to express the merits of the rectangular shape.

I nodded along, but I ultimately disagreed. “If we were only being attacked from the front, then sure, we could manifest the full power of a rectangular perimeter. But the corners are weak. I suppose we could strengthen the walls so they’d fare better than a round design.”

“Are you suggesting we get rid of the corners?” Esparda seemed confused, so I shook my head.

“Nope. We add more.”

Esparda stiffened, trying to parse my vague response.

I went on to explain my idea, drawing a six-pointed star on the map. “I’m thinking we should go with this star shape.”

“Goodness, this is… Wouldn’t the areas facing the roadside be difficult to defend, as you pointed out earlier?” Esparda asked, somewhat baffled.

To make my vision easier to understand, I continued to draw on the map. In each dip between the six points of the star, I drew smaller, standalone triangles.

“You could destroy these standalone structures, but you still wouldn’t be able to enter the city. Think of it as if there were six independent fortresses outside the wall. The roofs of these external points would connect back to the wall, but we could completely section them off if we set up a drawbridge between them. An attacking force would have to spend time taking over a corner before they could ever reach the city. If they just tried to destroy one of the points, they’d be under attack from three different directions.” Esparda silently stewed in thought.

This fortress concept came into existence on Earth right when guns and cannons became more prominent, but it would be effective even in a world of swords and sorcery. As long as there wasn’t any long-range projectile magic— akin to firing mortars—we’d be fine. Asking Esparda to understand all of this was cruel, in a way.

I was about to explain things further when he beat me to the punch.

“I see.”

“Huh?” I cocked my head to the side as he pointed down at the map.

“If we were attacked from the front, the enemy would face a focused counterattack. If they came at a corner, they wouldn’t be able to spread out to either side, so they would have to conquer multiple fortresses at once… This is extremely well-thought-out. Even a powerful mage wouldn’t be able to hide behind the infantry. They would have to conquer our fortresses at the risk of dying in combat, and then…” Esparda began to mutter to himself while staring at the map.

“Would you care for more tea, my lord?” Till asked, evidently noticing the lull in our conversation.

“Ah, that’d be great. Thank you.”

The tea she served was delicious and smooth. It reminded me of black tea or fruit tea, and it was so very soothing.

Shortly after my break began, I heard the sound of thundering footsteps inside the manor.

Is that Khamsin? Man, the sound really echoes through the building. What is going on with the sound absorption here? Who built this place?!

As I grumbled internally, the door to my office burst open.

“Lord Van!”

Much to my surprise, it was Arb who appeared. Knights weren’t supposed to be running in the halls.

“What’s up?”

Arb pointed outside, eyes wide open. “An envoy of Lord Ferdinatto has arrived!”

“Huh?” I tilted my head as Lowe poked his head out from ​behind Arb.

“That’s not all!” Lowe added. “They’ve brought about a hundred soldiers and three carriages! On top of that, they’re flying not only Lord Ferdinatto’s windmill and sword crest but also Lady Cayenne’s unicorn and shield crest.

She’s part of the count’s faction and an up-and-coming noble!”

I glanced at Till and Esparda. “Uh, we haven’t done anything to stand out, have we?”

“We’ve done more than enough to make ourselves known,” Esparda said, “but that information should not have done the rounds just yet. It would be far too soon.”

“Yeah, I figured… Hm?”

After nodding at his vague response, I stopped to mull things over—but I couldn’t keep our guests waiting. Much as I wanted to hear more from Esparda, we didn’t have the time. I relocated to the parlor to receive our guests on the second floor.

The room was furnished with a low table sandwiched between two sofas, but since there were three carriages, it was possible that there’d be more than three people.

I should change the setup a little. But if I arrange four seats on their side and they send fewer, would that look bad?

I wasn’t sure what to do. Esparda, Dee, and Khamsin would be standing, so I’d be the only one seated on my side. Till was busy hurriedly preparing some light snacks and tea.

I probably should have asked the number of people coming.

Struggling with this admittedly ridiculous problem, I heard a knock at the door. I stopped overthinking things right then and there.

“Come in,” I said.

In the end, I sat right in the middle of the sofa and waited. I was just a lord with no peerage, so sitting down might be a mistake depending on who I was dealing with, but I figured I’d make that call once I saw who my visitors were. I was just a kid, so I’d be sucked up like helium gas if I let them underestimate me.

I was ready to go as the door slowly opened, and in came a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties and an adorable girl who looked to be about ten. The woman was tall and slender, with an incredible figure overall. Her blonde hair cascaded down in waves.

To put it simply, she was the perfect image of the American dream girl.

The young girl had a somewhat gloomy air about her, as though she were dogged by misfortune. Her hair was white, her skin pale. She peeked up from beneath her lashes and slouched in her seat, which told me that she lacked confidence. I wondered if that worried expression on her face was just her default look. As I continued to study her, I started to worry that maybe she was being bullied.

What am I, her dad or teacher or something?! And wait, was sitting down the right choice…?

I honestly couldn’t tell with these two, but since they’d sent a child my way, she probably wasn’t what she appeared to be. I rose to my feet.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Van Nei Fertio. I have been entrusted with this village as its lord.”

Once I’d introduced myself, the gorgeous pair dipped their heads politely, and the woman put a hand to her chest.

“My name is Panamera Carrera Cayenne. I was recently granted the title of viscount,” she said, flashing an indomitable smile. “I’m an upstart from a family of knights, if you will.”

Even though it sounded like she was belittling herself, I could feel the confidence oozing off of her. It made sense enough. She’d given me the short and sweet version, but to go from a knight to a baron to a viscount was something no normal person could do. This American dream girl was clearly skilled. And smart, to boot.

By contrast, the white-haired girl with seemingly zero confidence hesitated to speak. “I-I am Lord Ferdinatto’s youngest daughter, Arte On Ferdinatto… Um, after hearing that a member of Lord Fertio’s family had come, my father, Lord Bariatt Shirocco Ferdinatto asked me to come here to greet you, and so here I am. I-It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

After she finished her unsteady self-introduction, Arte offered a deep curtsy.

So basically, Lord Ferdinatto was like, “Ah, the son of my rival, Lord Fertio, has been sent out to the middle of nowhere? All right, then I’ll send my expendable youngest daughter out to see what’s going on!” Is that it? But then why would Panamera be here?

When I snuck a glance at the viscount, I found her staring me down with the eyes of a lioness. She was downright scary. I had them sit with me for the moment, but Panamera was giving me the opposite of friendly vibes. If anything, it felt like she was trying to discern my intentions.

Then I realized something. Though it might have been on the king’s orders, my father had torn a chunk of Lord Ferdinatto’s territory away from him. He must have harbored both anger and fear toward the marquis.

That was why he was curious as to why the super genius boy Van had been sent to the middle of nowhere. He was probably wondering if this sad state of affairs I was stuck in was in fact all part of my father’s master plan. He was afraid of a surprise attack coming from the middle of nowhere, hence his sending a powerful envoy like Panamera along with his daughter.

Having come to a solid conclusion, I looked up at my guests and smiled. “Thank you so much for coming all this way to our little village. We are extremely grateful. It is truly wonderful to have you here.”

Arte’s shoulders sank as some of her tension melted away.

Panamera, on the other hand, bared her teeth in a grin. “Far as I can tell, you’re a little younger than Lady Arte, yet you’re quite composed. I mean no disrespect, but why do you think we’re here, Lord Van?”

She shot straight from the hip. In fact, she was so direct that I couldn’t help but smile wider.

“This is just a guess, but probably to observe the ‘enemy’s’ movements and figure out how to win me over,” I said simply.

Panamera’s mouth popped open, and a cackle spilled from her lips. “Bah ha ha ha ha! Amazing, Lord Van! Incredible that a boy who’s barely even ten could be so astute! Your guess is right on the mark!”

I wasn’t sure what she found so hilarious, but Panamera continued to laugh as she explained the situation a little too openly.

“You see, Lord Ferdinatto struggled to figure out the marquis’s intentions. Everyone in the know had their attention on who would be his successor, and two years ago, your name kept coming up. Normally, at eight, you’d have your magical aptitude appraised and then have a reveal party, prompting you to draw even more attention to yourself. But you were a peculiar case.” She paused, examining me.

“I’m assuming your magic aptitude ended up being none of the four elements. Even then, I can’t understand why you’d be made lord of a no-name village in the sticks. Rumor had it that you were a genius. You should’ve received top-tier education in matters of governance, then worked to develop the marquis’s region. That is precisely why your placement here—where your land borders the county and the Kingdom of Yelenetta—is so suspicious.”

I had no idea what she was thinking, giving me all this information. Whatever the truth of my placement, digging up dirt on high-class nobles in the same nation was off limits. As was trying to crush one another. Yet Panamera was blatantly discussing things that would qualify her for punishment. She was certainly odd for a noble.

Is she telling me these things to see how I’ll respond?

Arte sat quietly on her side, a vacant expression on her face.

“Well, I suppose there’s no point in hiding it,” I said at last. “You’re right, I have no aptitude for any of the four elements. As for your other concerns, no need to worry. I was simply chased out of my own home.”

I smiled sheepishly, and Panamera stared at me for what felt like ages.

Then she jerked to her feet and let out a deep sigh. “So that’s it, huh? How boring. I guess the rumors about you being a genius were just that. Rumors.” “Are you implying my father has some plan for me here?” I spat, annoyed.

I had been singled out and exiled from my one and only home in one fell swoop—there was no doubt about that. My father was just a big jerk. I was still grateful toward my eldest brother, though.

Panamera opened one hand with an exasperated look on her face. “How do you not realize this? I figured it out the second I got here. I heard this was a village of barely standing shacks that could blow away at any given moment. A village of a hundred at best. Yet—in what, one or two months?—it has a wall around the perimeter, and all the buildings are brand new and made out of who knows what. A butler with years of experience works in the lord’s manor, and well-trained knights are posted outside.” She glanced at Arte, who said nothing.

“At the very least, you must have been sent here with five thousand men. Whatever tech you used to make this without our knowledge makes this place quite the threat. And the fact that your father had this all done knowing it might be discovered… But why? Because he expects great things from you. To make this place into a new military base.” She watched me, waiting.

“Pfft…”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter after hearing her gigantic misunderstanding of the situation.

This was a bad one. This was a decidedly not-good direction to be headed in.

Yet I couldn’t stop laughing because of how absurd it all was. And the fact that

it all made sense from the outside looking in made it even funnier.

“What is so funny?” she growled.

The viscount was on high alert now, bracing herself for a fight. She must’ve assumed that she would be assassinated for revealing her intentions. As Panamera’s brimming bloodlust reached our side, Dee subtly lowered himself into a crouch, and Khamsin gripped the hilt of his sword.

“Bah ha ha ha ha!”

The more serious and grave the situation became, the more uncontrollable my laughter. This was bad. Everyone’s eyes were on me, but I had to let it all out.

“Ha ha… Whew. Sorry for the outburst,” I said after some time. I still had a smile on my face, but I was at least calmer than before.

Panamera eyed me with suspicion, whereas Arte seemed concerned. Esparda, Dee, and Khamsin were all focused on the viscount, but there would be no skirmishes here. Though I hadn’t done it on purpose, my laughter had completely put a nail in the coffin of all the tension from before. I was really something else!

I reined in my smile and spoke directly to Panamera. “Now then, I believe it’s time to correct your misunderstanding.”

“Excuse me?” She scowled, and I nodded.

“The only ones who were permitted to join me were Khamsin—that boy there —and Till, my maid. I also received essentially zero financial assistance.”

Panamera narrowed her eyes. “Then who’s the butler? And those knights?

The two posted outside are clearly your men.”

Dee interjected before I could respond. “We followed Lord Van of our own accord, you see. We declared ourselves his bodyguards and left with him. In fact, just the other day I received notice from the commander of the Chivalric

Order to return immediately. I ignored it, of course,” he said with a joyful smile.

That’s nothing to smile about!

“Uh, shouldn’t you head back? You’re going to be kicked out of the order,” I

told him, but he was jovial as ever.

I looked on, exasperated, as Esparda offered his own contribution. “As you can see, I’m already quite old. When I heard Lord Van would be sent to the middle of nowhere, I thought it was about time for me to retire. Let us just say it is a hobby of mine to impart all of my knowledge to Lord Van.” His hobby can be a real pain. It’s more like harassment.

I wanted to complain, but recently my time in Esparda’s “classes” had gone down to about one hour a day, so it wasn’t actually that bad. And since Dee was teaching swordplay to the children in the village, his training sessions with Khamsin and me had decreased as well.

Didn’t change the fact that I was doing both every day, though. Heck, today I’d be training in the evening and studying after dinner. The thought made me grimace.

Panamera tossed out one more question, an unreadable expression on her face. “…Then how do you explain the changes in the village?” “Easier to show you. Let’s go!” I answered.

“Hrm? Where to?”

“Outside. As it so happens, I was planning on building a new outer wall.”

Panamera stood up silently, prompting Arte to do so as well, albeit in a much more panicked fashion.

I took them outside, where their soldiers were lined up perfectly. They all spun toward us at once. Or toward Panamera, specifically. While keeping an eye on them, I made my way to the front entrance of the village. Panamera trailed behind me and gave an order to the soldiers.

“I’m heading out to observe his work. Follow five meters behind us in formation.”

That was enough to get the troops to speedily get back in line and follow behind us.

The villagers were crowding nearby to see what all the fuss was about, so I offered them a wave in lieu of my usual greeting. I had not just a noble child behind me but a bona fide noble as well. It would be rude of me to chat with the villagers in front of them.

Though I’d be pushing it a little, I would at least smile at the children if they spoke to me. In noble society, higher-class nobles were always given priority. It was all so annoying.

Realizing I didn’t have enough materials, I asked one of the ​villagers, “Could you guys carry over some wood blocks for me?” They agreed and quickly ran off to get help.

Well done.

We passed through the entrance and across the drawbridge. Once we’d proceeded down the road a ways, Panamera was finally annoyed enough to say,

“How far are we going?”

I figured she had her doubts. I mean, I had brought her out here without explaining why. I stopped in my tracks, checked our surroundings, and looked at Esparda.

“Around here?”

“Let me see… If we’re talking about one side of the hexagon, then this should be fine. The point will be a little farther out.”

“Gotcha. Then let’s make it about two meters in width so that we can correct it later.”

“As you wish.”

I turned back to Panamera. “Okay, we’re gonna make the wall now.”

“…Now?”

I locked eyes with Esparda as Panamera looked on in surprise. He offered a silent affirmation, then did a ten-second chant to activate his magic. Right off to the side of the road, the ground rose up, forming a giant earthen wall. It was about two meters wide, at least five meters thick, and about ten meters tall.

“Hrm, I see… So you’re a retired mage skilled in one of the four elements. But once the magic fades, this wall will collapse,” Panamera pointed out.

I turned to the new wall and placed my palm on it. Probably because it was made from the ground below it, the wall contained not just dirt and stone, but bones, volcanic rock, and some ore as well. There were all kinds of materials I could fuse together. I wanted to try for real concrete, but I lacked the specific materials for that. As such, this was a bit of a stopgap.

Once the wall had hardened, I took a wood block that the villagers had brought for me.

“Is that what you used to build the houses?” Panamera asked, looking on with great curiosity.

I quickly fused the blocks together and produced a gate in one go. I would add the metal coating later. For now, I focused on its form and toughness.

Spectacular wood block craftsman that I was, I could produce a double gate five meters tall in only ten minutes. It took five minutes to make the base form, and the rest of the time was spent spiffing it up.

I would connect the upper part to the opposite side of the wall later. This was enough for now.

“All right, that should be good,” I said to myself, whirling back to face my audience.

Panamera and Arte were gawking at the brand-new doors in absolute bafflement.