Ventury

EVERY SO OFTEN, I RECEIVED REPORTS THAT THE adventurers had spotted another monster. As soon as these reports were made, I would then be informed that the monster had been dispatched with no casualties to our forces.

Suffice to say, His Majesty had made a wise choice in hiring adventurers.

In a typical worst-case scenario, we would select a mountain road that we could traverse over the course of a single day. Anything more than that and we would have to select a different route entirely. But these adventurers solved that problem for us. It was incredible.

“I should have expected as much from His Majesty.”

Were adventurers always so skilled? Plenty of Chivalric Orders had hired them in the past, but the practice seemed to have died off at some point—or at least, I hadn’t heard tell of it since I became a lord.

Knights tended to be better fighters, for obvious reasons. They had to pass a fierce selection exam, then underwent daily training. Their martial education rested on a strong foundation, and they were trained to fight not only as single units, but also in formation. They drilled in small, medium, and large groups to prepare themselves to face anything from an opposing army to a large monster. Adventurers, on the other hand, specialized in exploration, manhunts, extraction, and investigation. Most operated in groups of four to five, and because they anticipated battles against monsters or bandits, they used traps and neurotoxins to complete quests as safely as possible.

Put simply, adventurers might encounter monsters and bandits, but they rarely fought them head-on—so they lacked a knight’s skill in combat. I had heard of adventurers who hunted down large monsters in small groups, but they were relatively uncommon.

Or at least, so I’d thought. The adventurers His Majesty hired from Seatoh Village were making me question everything I knew.

If they located a large monster hundreds of meters ahead, they immediately led it away to clear our route. When they spotted a mid-sized or smaller beast, they killed it before news of the sighting could even reach me. And mid-sized monsters like red bears and scaled wolves were no laughing matter. It could take twenty or more knights to defeat such powerful foes on level terrain. If a group of red bears appeared in my territory, I would dispatch a Chivalric Order of one to two hundred men to take care of them. But the adventurers of Seatoh Village, who operated in groups of five to ten, each took down mid-sized beasts with ease.

“What’s going on with that village?” I racked my brain but came up with no answer.

If they were in fact equipped with dwarven armaments, it would explain their impressive skill in combat…but could they really afford that? Moreover, I was dubious as to whether they could supply sufficiently pure iron ore to satisfy the dwarves. As far as I could tell, based on a cursory look at their forge, it had only been built recently. They hadn’t spent years on its construction.

That was when I remembered Lord Van’s magic. With abnormal abilities like his, perhaps it was possible to craft armaments equivalent to those of dwarven mark? While the cornerstone of any fighting force was the number and skill of its mages, it was important not to discount the importance of equipment. In the end, most battles were decided by the number of troops on the field.

“If I can win over that boy, it will be a simple task to strengthen our Chivalric Order,” I whispered. What if… What if I could create a Chivalric Order with equipment just as good as that made by the dwarves?

Merely imagining the strength of such a force felt obscene. Dwarven swords were even said to be capable of slicing through dragon scales. Imagine if thousands of knights had that in their possession. They would be invincible.

Just thinking about it was enough to raise my spirits, but I abruptly snapped back to reality. “No, wait… If I fail to acquire that boy’s power while other nobles successfully win him over, my house will…”

A chill ran down my spine.

Sometimes, when someone was too useful, they became a threat—and were killed by those in power to prevent their skills from falling into someone else’s hands. To a noble who cared for their house, this was both a viable means of protecting said house and a temptation that was difficult to resist. Anyone who got their hands on such power would milk it for all it was worth, but if there was a risk someone else might acquire it first and use it against you, nipping it in the bud was a sensible move.

“I barely have a relationship with the boy as it stands. But who can say what tomorrow will bring? For now, I will wait and see.”

I couldn’t afford to be rash—but if I spent too much time deliberating, I might lose my chance to act. I had to pay close attention to how the other factions moved.

First, I had to understand how Lord Van thought and what choices he would make in the battle to come. I needed to know whether he would be an asset to the kingdom and my house. And depending on the answer to that question, I would decide whether to kill the boy or let him live.

 

Jalpa

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. WHY SHOULD VAN, OF ALL people, be the one gifted with such magical aptitude?

Thanks to him, a lot of nobles now considered me the incompetent lord who’d banished his talented son. They should have been praising me for making my useless son the lord of his own region, even if that region was remote.

Under normal circumstances, that was what you would call an unmerited post. At least from an outside perspective, my decision should have seemed entirely justified no matter how things turned out.

After all, when a talentless child was born to a noble family, it was common practice to hide that child from the world. In the best-case scenario, they were locked away in the family residence. In the worst, they were murdered the moment their magical aptitude was discovered, erasing their existence. That was why it was standard to appraise a child’s magical aptitude before openly celebrating their birth.

However…

Unforeseen circumstances had led to Van becoming a household name long before he could be appraised. Before I became a marquis, I hired the daughters of knights and landless barons as maids. Perhaps that was my mistake. Rumors spread among those maids, as well as my footmen, that Van was a genius. It was around that time that I began to catch wind of other nobles whose territories neighbored mine speaking as though they had heard of Van.

So when I learned that Van lacked magical talent, my first thought was to kill him immediately—but I missed my opportunity. Murcia’s advice gave me pause, certainly, but more than that, I was leery of a scandal. Still, my decision was sound. I had just seized a chunk of Count Ferdinatto’s territory which I was unable to administer myself. Putting my own son in charge of that land would show not only the other nobles but also my citizens that I was a good and proper lord. Whether Van lived or died, they would regard me as such.

Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone how I planned.

The child should have presided over a destitute village. Instead, he slew a dragon. The only aid he received when he left home was three knights who wished to go with him and an old mage. A boy slave and a maid had accompanied him too, but any aid they could provide would have been insignificant, as would that of the village’s hundred or so residents. So how did he manage to slay a dragon?

That was why I initially thought it all a farce. I briefly suspected Count Ferdinatto of providing aid in order to make the boy his puppet, though the return on that investment would not have been worth the effort. But I was wrong. I knew nothing about Van’s magic, so I put off investigating Seatoh Village.

Then, before I knew it, Van’s accomplishments were being recognized by His Majesty himself. He was granted a title, and a chunk of my territory was taken from me and given to him. Adding insult to injury, a dungeon was discovered in the region. Seatoh Village itself was no great loss, but the discovery of the dungeon made it something else entirely. Its utility and economic value would have been massive.

Surely the boy wouldn’t have delayed reporting the dragon incident to avoid being stripped of his accomplishments? The same went for the discovery of the dungeon. It must have been a stroke of good fortune that, as Seatoh Village was repairing its wall and buildings after the forest dragon incident, Viscount Panamera happened to stop by. As a result, the news reached the king’s ears before they did mine.

That must have been how it happened. Van’s powers were suited to territorial defense. The village was cooperative. A large dragon appeared just as the village grew capable of defending itself…and then, with perfect timing, Viscount Panamera arrived at the village.

All of these factors came miraculously together, enabling Van to acquire a title and independence in one fell swoop.

This was the greatest misfortune I could ever imagine befalling House Fertio. The crux of the issue was His Majesty’s awareness of Van’s power. His Majesty valued results over all else. He took people’s past accomplishments into consideration when evaluating them, and if they went on to further distinguish themselves, he would not hesitate to provide them with the aid necessary for him to make use of their talents on a larger scale.

As soon as His Majesty turned his attention to Van, the apkallu and the dungeon were discovered. And if that weren’t enough, the boy got his hands on dwarven blacksmiths. That would certainly boost his social status.

“I have to do something to prevent that child from distinguishing himself any further,” I murmured.

Should His Majesty reward Van with more territory, the only viable options were to take from my land or Count Ferdinatto’s. I had to sabotage Van and cause him to fail in front of the king.

“Those container bases Van made will be key to this march. If I can find some sort of weakness in them…”

Just then, Stradale spoke from outside the window. “Do you need something?”

Being the serious man that he was, he must have heard me. I cleared my throat. “No, I was simply speaking to myself. Pay me no mind.”

“Yes sir,” he said deferentially.

I cast my gaze toward the vista beyond the window. The sky was clear and blue, but the brisk wind would be hard on the soldiers when it came time to make camp. My experience with all manner of open combat had taught me that the battlefield and its surrounding environment were just as important as the enemy’s forces in determining the course of the battle.

This was true of all Chivalric Orders. For example, take a pack of simple bandits. Should they try to lead the order’s knights deep into the perilous depths of the mountains, it would be no mean feat to annihilate them. First, the Chivalric Order would have to remain alert for monsters. Second, marching and making camp in such terrain was an ordeal; spending the whole day deep in the woods or mountains left no time for rest. You had to be constantly on alert, wary of any changes in the environment, and juggling logistics to boot. That was why any Chivalric Order with proper combat experience would be grateful for the simple facilities that Van provided.

The other nobles felt similarly. Bases of operation that were sturdier than tents would make this march significantly more comfortable. If it rained, everybody would be praising Van’s name, His Majesty included.

“Is it possible for someone not directly participating in the war effort to be celebrated for distinguished service…?” I whispered. Then I fell silent again, thinking.

Up to this point, His Majesty had always valued direct military service over all else. Killing an enemy officer on the battlefield, destroying a defensive position, breaking an enemy’s formation: these feats were simple to grasp and typically earned the most accolades. I doubted Van would reach those heights, but it was possible he could rack up some accomplishments only barely second to them. Combined with everything he’d already achieved, that was bound to see him rewarded with more territory.

In other words—either I would lose my land, or Count Ferdinatto would lose his.

“I must avoid that at all costs,” I said to myself.

With that, still seated in my carriage, I began formulating a plan to protect my house’s status after the war.

 

Ortho

I EVADED THE GIANT BOAR’S CHARGE AND SLICED through the back of its knee.

Down a front leg, the boar smashed headfirst into the ground. The earth itself shook with the impact and the boar tumbled over itself, swinging its tusks wildly. Its movements were desperate, but its massive body and huge tusks could easily knock down a few trees.

I leapt forward and issued my order: “Machine bows, now!”

“On it!” replied Kusala in his usual lackadaisical tone. He fired off three consecutive arrows from his position atop a tree, hitting the boar in the head. It jumped twice, then collapsed, motionless, to the ground.

Our buddies on support duty started to cheer and laugh. “Hell yeah! These things are delicious!”

“Thank goodness. Trail rations ain’t exactly the best for morale.”

But Pluriel, who had been hiding in the rear, looked displeased. She was bored with our food choices. “We’ve eaten nothing but meat for a week. Can we please forage some wild plants or fruits?”

Kusala shrugged, frowning. “I get where yer comin’ from, but with monsters attacking us all the time, we can’t exactly go on a leisurely fruit-picking stroll.”

But Pluriel had hit her limit. “Oh, please. Right now, all it takes is Ortho in the vanguard and you sniping from the rear to take these things down. If someone watches my back, I can easily go forage something.”

“You know that’s a bad idea,” I protested, unconvinced by Pluriel’s logic. She shot me a fierce glare, but I raised both hands to hold her off, having no desire to get into a fight over it. “One or two monsters at once, sure, we can handle that. But if something else pops up, that’s going to be a problem. Our job is to clear the path and provide support for the army—it’ll be bad if we let any monsters slip through.”

Pluriel frowned and looked behind us, where a group of knights in heavy armor marched along the perilous mountain road. “About that. Can’t these knights handle most monsters? Why are we the ones doing all the fighting?”

Her tone implied that she already knew the answer to that question, so I sighed and waved a hand. “They’d be screwed. We’re taking basically no casualties from engaging these things, but if the Chivalric Orders had to tackle each monster, the whole march would be affected and they’d probably lose some soldiers. Now, if they’d tamed some low-level dragons or something like Yelenetta did, that would be a different story, but there’s no use thinking about stuff we don’t got.”

Kusala smirked and raised his hands. One held Lord Van’s knife, the other a machine bow. “The reason this entire war has been on Scuderian land is because this road is so dangerous. We’re makin’ it look easy thanks to Van’s super-strong weapons, but if we had normal equipment, we’d probably already be dead.”

“Okay, yeah, the machine bows are a huge help. Even without a mage, we can take down monsters from afar. I get it, I get it. Sorry for asking such a dumb question. I just got a little annoyed.”

“It’s no biggie. I’m just glad this didn’t turn into a fight,” I replied with a smile.

Pluriel was a smart woman, so this conversation was all it took for her to come to terms with her own feelings on the topic. I knew she would return to doing her job and doing it well.

“…That being said, we’re only halfway through, huh? I’m honestly a bit worried,” I whispered to myself, looking at my friends’ backs.

Our various parties of adventurers were providing aid to the long line of marching Chivalric Orders. My group, at the vanguard, was under the most stress, but the other parties also had large areas to contend with. It wasn’t easy for any of us. The Chivalric Orders were transporting everything by carriage, but the journey still took a physical toll, because we didn’t have much time to rest.

After all, we had to stay on patrol even while the Chivalric Orders took breaks.

That was what we’d been hired to do. We couldn’t afford to relax.

Our parties got together every day to exchange information, but Pluriel and

the others were becoming restless. It was easy for others to forget that adventurers like us normally operated in small groups, exploring and hunting as we pleased. We weren’t used to being ordered around by knights, and it was creating tension.

I would have loved to make it to our destination as fast as possible so that we could turn right around and head home, but the size of the army kept us moving at a slow pace. We were receiving orders to put together temporary bases, but the sad reality was that we wouldn’t get to rest in them.

“I really hope nobody gets into a fight,” I said to myself, jogging to catch up to Kusala and the others.

 

The next day, my biggest fear became reality. A party of adventurers near the center of the formation got into a scuffle with the knights.

I stopped the march immediately and headed to the scene of the fight, arriving to find a group of knights shouting furiously. Looking around, I spotted a group of adventurers glaring at them from a distance.

I approached them and asked, “What the hell happened?”

One man in the group looked at me and then pointed at the knights. “Those bastards destroyed the base we made. We went out of our way to use some of our break time to build it for them, and they just… They said the base must’ve been made wrong.” He clicked his tongue.

“Pompous jerks,” one of his comrades put in.

I tilted my head. “Wait, they destroyed it? Those things are tough as hell.

How’d they manage that?”

The man clicked his tongue again and glared at the knights. “They claim the base we built collapsed on its own, but as the folks actually assembling the things, we know how hard they are to break once they’re all set up. You gotta raise the ceiling to break it down, ’cause the walls won’t fold inward otherwise.

If you use it the normal way, it would never collapse.” His voice dripped venom.

“Hold on a second. You’re saying these knights, our allies, went out of their way to make the base unusable? But why?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Are the Chivalric Orders fighting amongst themselves?”

“Nah, I’d say they’re just trying to screw with us. You know how much they hate adventurers.”

The men theorized amongst themselves, but if we didn’t get to the bottom of this, I was certain we’d have problems going forward.

As I pondered what to do, Pluriel spoke up from behind me. “Hey, what if they aren’t trying to mess with us specifically?”

“Huh?” I turned around to see Pluriel standing there, looking grave. The other adventurers tilted their heads at her.

Once she was sure all eyes were on her, Pluriel continued. “They have nothing to gain from making these temp bases unusable or quarreling with us.”

We all exchanged glances. “That’s true.”

“Sure, but you can find idiots anywhere, right?”

“They’d have to be morons to do this.”

We brainstormed possible reasons the knights would do something like this, but none of us could come up with a satisfying answer. Then Pluriel spoke again. “I have a theory, but I can’t say anything just yet. Do you think we can talk to the knights who said the base collapsed on its own?”

Kusala was the first to react. “I-I think that’s probably a bad idea. Whatever actually happened, those guys are pissed as hell. If you go over there, yer just gonna be throwin’ oil on the fire.”

“Excuse me?”

In the face of Pluriel’s fierce gaze, Kusala said, “Ah, forget I said anything!” Pluriel’s apparent displeasure with Kusala’s fear seemed wholly unreasonable.

“Most guys would calm down if a young woman came over to talk to them, but Pluriel inspires the opposite reaction…”

“Did you say something, Ortho?”

“Ah, nope. Not a thing.”

I was pretty sure I had kept my whisper quiet, but Pluriel’s eyes flashed as soon as I spoke. I decided to keep my mouth shut on that particular topic. Instead, I cleared my throat and looked at the guys who were involved with the quarrel. “So did they say how the base collapsed?”

“They said about ten people were resting inside when they heard a loud noise and the walls started to collapse, I think?”

“Right, right. And they managed to hold the walls up long enough to get out.

They were yelling about the base being defective and stuff.”

“Man, just thinking about it is pissing me off all over again.”

The men began to complain, recalling the events. But I was mostly puzzled.

“Defective? They weren’t saying you constructed it wrong?”

The men all blinked at me. Pluriel let out a small sigh and looked at us. “Yeah, we need to talk to those guys. If you don’t want me engaging with them, will you talk to them for me?”

I nodded. “What should I ask about?”

Pluriel narrowed her eyes. “What order they’re affiliated with and who their commanding officer is. If I’m on the right track, this is going to happen again, and I suspect the same CO will be involved.”

I sensed a quiet fury in her tone, and hearing her words, I arrived at what I suspected was the same answer she had. It was all conjecture, but rage was boiling inside me nonetheless.

“Well,” I said, “ain’t this something. Sorry, Kusala, can you do the talking for me?”

The man of the hour nodded, laughing dryly. “No problem. I can see yer all fumin’, so I’ll handle it.”

“Thanks. Try to get as much info out of them as you can without making them upset.”

“You got it, boss!” He chuckled, waving a hand before heading off toward the angry knights.

Perhaps it was his personality, but Kusala could butter up anyone. He was perfect for this job. As if to prove it, he was already chatting with the knights, holding a hand up. It didn’t exactly look like a fun conversation, but they didn’t turn him away.

Pluriel shrugged. “He really is good at this kind of thing.”

“Maybe managing a hotel is the perfect gig for him.”

We went back and forth, keeping an eye on Kusala. Suddenly, he stopped moving and looked up at the knight closest to him. A few moments passed in stillness, and I thought that he might just be listening to the man, but then, out of nowhere, he smashed his fist into the knight’s face.

Even from where we stood, I could hear something crunch.

“…What?”

Pluriel was shocked and slow to react, but fortunately, I snapped to my senses sooner. I sprinted toward Kusala, leaving Pluriel behind in stunned silence.

“Kusala, you idiot!”

“Say that again, you two-bit knight! I’ll kill you!” Kusala bellowed.

I’d never heard him so angry before. I wasn’t certain I’d be able to stop him.

“What the hell is your problem?! How dare you lay your hands on me, you lowly adventurer! Do you understand what you’ve done?” The middle-aged knight’s nose was bleeding, his eyes wide and shocked.

Kusala gripped the handle of his sword, and I felt the blood drain from my

face. “Do not draw, Kusala!” I shouted, furious.

My energetic intrusion into the confrontation caused the knights to falter a bit, so I pulled Kusala away, even as he overflowed with rage. “Take it down a notch,” I hissed, trying to calm him. “You’re dealing with a Chivalric Order. There might be a count or marquis pulling the strings here—their CO could be higher in rank than a lord knight. I know you’re angry, but you have to apologize, even if you don’t mean it.”

Kusala clenched his fists tightly, trembling. “Ortho, boss. I can’t do that. There are things even I can’t forgive.”

“I’m begging you, Kusala. Bottle up that rage. I get where you’re coming from, even if I don’t know what they said to you. I’ll ask Lord Van for his thoughts later, I promise. Please calm down.”

I grabbed his shoulders and desperately tried to pull him back. We stood like that for a few seconds, and finally Kusala took a deep breath. The tension released from his shoulders.

“…I get it. I got a li’l too hot headed, eh? Sorry.”

Seeing him calm down, I heaved a deep sigh of relief. “It’s okay. And thanks.”

Pluriel chose that moment to pop up. “I’ve never seen you like that before.

What the heck did they say to you?” She already looked displeased.

Kusala frowned. “They started off insulting us adventurers, which is no skin off my nose. The nobility, the knights… They’re always doin’ that crap. But then they started insultin’ the quality of the temp bases, sayin’ they were the products of a kid’s dumb imagination. Then they went on about how Lord Van must’ve done something to curry favor, ’cause there was no way the king would ever approve using a child’s toy. They said he got chased out of his family for making garbage like this. As someone who knows Lord Van really well, I just couldn’t hold myself back no longer. Er…boss?”

Kusala was explaining things to Pluriel when he suddenly shot me a perplexed look.

Not that I cared.

I turned to the knights and began to holler. “You sons of—! Say that one more goddamn time! Who the hell do you think you’re insulting?!”

“Whoa, whoa, Ortho! Pluriel, stop him! W-wait, why are you casting a spell?!”

“Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness!”

That was how, partway through the royal march, a group of adventurers and a group of knights came to clash spectacularly.

 

King Dino

I RECEIVED WORD OF A SKIRMISH BETWEEN ADVENTURERS and knights that had brought our march to a halt. Though I was resting in one of Lord Van’s container bases at the time, I had no choice but to deal with the problem.

“I anticipated conflict, but it’s unacceptable for the march to come to a stop.

Who is quarreling?” I asked the chiliarch who delivered the report.

This chiliarch had been a commoner who took the knight exam, passed, and studied battle formations and tactics in great detail, leading him to earn the rank of commanding officer. There were few examples in history of a commoner rising through the ranks to become a chiliarch. Due to his serious disposition, I knew I could count on him to deliver an objective report. Other knights tended to protect their own.

He frowned even more severely than he normally did. “It was Baron

Nouveau’s order. Ten of its members scrapped with a group of adventurers.”

“Hrm. Any injuries sustained?”

“Yes, most of them. They seem to have clashed in a small environment, so more than fifty individuals are being treated for wounds,” reported the chiliarch matter-of-factly.

I raised a hand to stop him. “Hold on. Fifty wounded? Please don’t tell me they killed the adventurers. Regardless of their opponents’ strength, why are so many injured after an attack by ten knights?”

I couldn’t make sense of any of this. Even if the baron’s Chivalric Order happened to be less than skilled, they still trained daily. The huge disparities between knights and adventurers really showed themselves when multiple groups clashed. Only a handful of upper-level adventurers could face a group of knights head on.

But the chiliarch shook his head. “Unfortunately, all the injured are from Lord Nouveau’s Chivalric Order and their attendants. The three adventurers they engaged emerged from the fight unharmed. I currently have them on standby in one of the container bases.”

“Are you telling me a group of fifty people, comprised of ten knights and their attendants, was defeated in a one-sided fight?” I asked, my voice tense. “Was there a first-class mage among the adventurers?”

Were Lord Nouveau’s knights that weak, or were the three adventurers that strong? Either way, this was alarming. The Chivalric Orders’ leadership and strength were the cornerstone of our national defense and the pillars of each city’s public order. If they were this much weaker than mere adventurers, we had a problem.

With those thoughts running through my head, my tone unintentionally pressed the man for answers. The chiliarch wore a complicated look.

“They appeared to have a capable mage on their side, but magic was only used to freeze the knights in place. The real problem came from the weapons the other two wielded.”

“The weapons?” I tilted my head, prompting the chiliarch to pull a severed iron sword from his cloak.

It was a commonplace straight sword, thick and not prone to breakage. But this sword had been sliced cleanly in half.

“Did they wield a great sword used for cutting down dragons?” I knew the answer, but I asked the question anyway.

The chiliarch shook his head. “No, it was a standard-sized sword. In fact, the blade was so thin that I would describe it as lightweight. To put it frankly, the adventurers were skilled enough to match a normal knight, but I believe the true reason for the knights’ loss was the horrific sharpness of the adventurers’ weapons. If they hadn’t gone easy on the knights, we would have fifty corpses on our hands.”

“Lord Van’s weapons, I surmise. I planned to make this a royal treasure, so I never checked its sharpness, but I imagine this weapon is just as sharp.” I drew the orichalcum sword from its scabbard.

The chiliarch’s eyes widened. “What a magnificent sword. Did that child make it as well?”

“Indeed. Right in front of me, no less.”

I gripped the sword and sliced through a nearby shield. The high-pitched shrill of metal clashing against metal echoed through the container, and as the chiliarch watched, shocked, a piece of the shield collapsed to the floor.

I must’ve made that same look the first time.

“It’s like when iron swords first began to displace copper weapons as the strongest arms. No, it’s really more like the difference between copper and mithril arms,” I whispered, exasperated.

I looked at my sword. It was truly a work of art, with not a single chip in the blade.

“I see. Now I understand how they were able to slay so many large monsters. So Lord Van’s Chivalric Order possesses these same weapons? How portentous.”

The halting of the march was a serious problem, but having once again been made aware of the power of Van’s weapons, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Your Majesty, how shall we punish them?”

“Hrm…”

I switched gears. Lord knights might have been the lowest in rank, but they were nobility nonetheless. Knights were subordinates of barons or higher nobles, and symbols of authority. I couldn’t get away with not punishing the culprits. But these adventurers operated out of Seatoh Village, and many were close to Van.

This would not be an easy decision. I couldn’t make the call to punish them without good reason. “Why did this clash happen in the first place?”

A deep furrow formed between the chiliarch’s brows. It seemed this subject was difficult to broach.

“Answer quickly. I will not hold you responsible,” I said with a sigh.

The man cleared his throat, then spoke. “According to the knights, the container base that Lord Van built was defective. And when they said this to the adventurers in question, the adventurers attacked them.”

“What? You’re telling me this is defective?” I said, looking around the base. I could detect no issues with the structure. With a frown, I explained, “Count Ventury’s Chivalric Order checked this base’s construction. Count Ventury personally confirmed it as soon as the adventurers put it together. If this truly is defective, then Count Ventury’s order is responsible for not spotting the problem.”

The chiliarch nodded slightly. “I see. However, since there was always a chance that Your Majesty would rest in one, the responsibility also lies with Lord Van for offering defective bases in the first place. To have created such innovative temporary bases for our long march was a tremendous feat, but if he gave us faulty products…”

“He would have to be severely punished,” I said, finishing the man’s thought.

The chiliarch fell silent.

Now I understood his hesitance to speak. If the container bases proved unusable, morale would plummet, our march would slow to a crawl, and—if worst came to worst—we could even run out of food and supplies. Should that happen, no number of adjustments would help us. Our ability to resupply would be called into question, and we would likely be forced to cancel the march on Yelenetta.

This war cost time, money, and manpower on the part of the nobility. Mobilizing entire Chivalric Orders meant reducing the forces present in each individual territory, putting a heavy burden on every region. Whether this was caused by faulty bases or outside forces, the person responsible would need to be punished. The nobles who’d paid out of their own pockets to be here would settle for nothing less.

“We must take great care in investigating what happened. Send a messenger to summon Lord Van to us.”

“Yessir!” The chiliarch straightened his back and dashed off, and I sighed.

“If someone is trying to cause problems, I must find out who they are.

Multiple people will lose their heads over this,” I whispered, grimacing. Then I thought about Van.

I didn’t care about some worthless noblemen. But if Van, who’d only just attained peerage, were to fail on such a large stage, his prospects going forward would be decimated. At best, he could expect nearby nobility to be inhospitable toward him. The boy himself had no interest in moving up in the world, but he would find himself on the receiving end of economic attacks.

If things get too bad, he might even flee to a neighboring country.

It was either time to be a compassionate king and arbitrate a scuffle between nobles…or time to send a few heads flying to protect Van, whom I intended to make a cornerstone of our national defense in the future.

“What to do, what to do…” I whispered, gazing at the closed door before me.