Chapter 14
"You don't know the details yet, Your Majesty?"
"Noah."
"Yes, sir."
"How would you estimate the scale of the rebellion?"
He returned my question for a question.
But whatever the emperor's question was, it was a vassal's duty to answer it.
I thought about it for a moment.
The "+" in status went from SS to S.
The water portion was increased almost entirely when I was selected as the lord.
So the reason behind me getting SS is all due to Almeria.
And it got dropped to S this time, that means.
"I think it's a minor one at this point."
"You're correct."
I didn't think it was the "correct" answer.
His Majesty didn't ask for an opinion, but he was aware of the situation and quizzed me.
"The military report says it's 5,000 so far. What do you think, Noah?"
"Hmm?"
I wondered for a moment what the 'how' was, but it was quickly explained to me what it meant.
"It's a small scale, as you can see, and it's your fiefdom. Are you willing to manage it by yourself?"
Oh, I get it now what he means.
I was surprised, and so I thought for a minute.
"I don't think I can handle this by myself."
"Hoo?"
"I'm too young, and I don't know anything about the battlefield yet. I don't know if the soldiers will listen to me when we go to defeat them. If it is necessary for the prince to leave, I think it is better to go with another, one of my brother's."
"Fuumu ... I didn't expect that answer. I never anticipated that you would refuse to be so objective."
His Majesty laughed happily as he said this.
"Very well, I'll take your wisdom and choose one of the others besides you. Who do you think is better?"
"... A Prince, I think Brother Henry would be a better choice."
"Why?"
"On the scale of things, I think it's best to go at them head-on and subdue them. There's no need for a surprise attack, so I think it would be best for Brother Henry, the most cautious of the princes."
"That's an excellent choice, I approve of it."
His Majesty made an immediate decision.
He called Cruz and ordered that the Fourth Prince be summoned to the royal palace at once.
Even though it was late in the night, my brother immediately appeared at the royal palace and was ordered by His Majesty to subdue Almeria.
After receiving my orders, I headed home with big brother Henry.
My brother's carriage and my own, side by side, we steered through the torch-lit Imperial City at night.
"I'm glad you took the opportunity to do this?"
"You mean by me leading an army?"
"Yeah."
Brother nodded clearly.
"The empire is a nation of warriors, if you make your military achievements, you'll be better off later."
"I won't do it this time, I haven't studied that kind of thing since it happened out of the blue."
"But you have the magic sword."
"You can't lead your troops without knowledge. I won't die, but there's a good chance my soldiers will die in vain in the face of that incentive."
"... You're really amazing, you've thought that far ahead."
Brother marveled with his eyes wide open.
"That's what I'm asking, please, brother."
"All right. Well, I'm good against the cavalry, I'll go clean up your fiefdom."
Huh, so the rebels have a lot of cavalry?
I've heard that Almeria is in the middle of nowhere, and that agriculture and cattle farming are weak.
" That' s true."
"Eh?"
"The cavalry over there are strong, but it was a foriegn thing for them before. It just fell into place when they were introduced with the horse trader on good terms, it was not on their own from the start."
"I see."
I chuckled a bit.
Apparently what I was thinking about was on my face.
It's not too obvious, so let's brace ourselves for a moment.
"e–!"
"What is it, Noah?"
"Hey, stop the carriage."
At my command, He pulled the reins and the two horses moved to a halt.
"What do you mean?"
"..."
I jumped out of the carriage.
The one who reacted was the loyal dog Leviathan, which means I was the one being targeted.
So I jumped out of the carriage first so as not to get my brother involved.
Immediately afterwards, a magic circle surrounded me in all directions.
The magicians have created a net of water and are closing in on me like a fishing net.
It was the assailants.
I jumped out of the carriage, feeling the killing intent, and a net of water was closing in on me to capture me.
The net, made of intangible water, was shrinking faster than a solid rope could ever do.
Gasheen! There was a metallic clatter.
The ring armor of the Leviathan Link prevented the approaching web of water from coming at me.
A total of six shields, which formed on my front, back, and sides, blocked the web of water.
The push of the shields and netting continued for a few dozen seconds before the netting collapsed and fell to the ground with a crunch.
This is a characteristic of this kind of magic.
As it was a captive magic, if it failed to capture, it would not be able to be maintained as magic.
As proof that the magic had completely lost its effectiveness, Leviathan retracted the shields.
A web made of water——-water.
The assailants from Almeria, one from the rebels, I guess.
I am only six years old and haven't entered the fiefdom, I am still the nominal lord. At this point in time, I am naturally a target.
The question is whether to kill or capture them — right after I started thinking about it, six people dressed in black emerged from the shadows from the front, back, and left sides.
"Do it ..."
After one of them gave the command, they all jumped on me in unison.
"Noah!"
I heard my brother's voice from the top of the carriage.
He's worried about me – but it's not a problem.
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I used the sword skills memory from Leviathan to cut the assailants, all of whom jumped on me at once.
"Im-Impossible"
"Such a child ... gwaa!!"
The cut assailants peeled their eyes away in disbelief, then lost consciousness in agony.
The battle was over in an instant, and my brother jumped down from the carriage.
"Oh man!"
"Huh?"
"Awesome, within a few days of not seeing you, you got even stronger. What was that shield you had earlier?"
"It's a magic tool I found on Cobalt Street, and I use it in combination with Leviathan because it works so well together."
"... I got an even more amazing response than I expected."
He was puzzled for a moment, then immediately afterwards, brother started laughing happily.
"Not to mention making them spit it out, you killed them all, but I would have liked to hear about the ringleader, just in case."
"I didn't kill any of them."
"What?"
Broter sure was surprised.
He walks over to the fallen attacker, squats down and reaches a finger under his nose.
"True, they're all breathing."
"After I cut them down, I stunned them with the killing intent from Leviathan. Because people like this could harm themselves."
"Ha, that's impressive."
"Brother, do you mind if I put these men under your observation?"
"I'm on it."
Brother nodded deeply and ordered his men to capture him.
The rest of the thing, brother knows the best.
The next day, before noon, I summoned Byron to my room in the mansion.
Byron came to my room, in the mansion, feeling completely at home in his position as a vassal, and got down on one knee in front of me.
"What can I do for you, Your Highness?"
"Let me ask you, do you do business in or near Almeria?"
"I am allowed to do so. That's also why I was able to attend the Prime Minister's party."
"Hmm."
I knew it.
He came to get to me at that party, most likely doing business near my fiefdom, Almeria.
So I called him up and made sure of that first.
"Can I help you with something?"
"The Fodder"
"Fodder ...what about it, my lord?"
"Hmm, the fodder for the horses. Buy it all up now. I've got 10,000 reens for you to spend on that."
I said in a commanding tone of voice, rather than asking.
I had Byron underneath me with my crest on a sign, and "this" was a matter of urgency.
So I ordered in a strong tone of voice.
"Why, sir?"
"If it leaks outside you're on your own– there's a revolt in Almeria."
"What?"
"The rebels are apparently very strong on horseback."
"You mean the cavalry ..., so it means Cafun-sama is?
"I want to cut their supplies on fodder to neutralize that cavalry."
"As you wish. I'll buy them all up in no time. You sure you don't want to buy up all the human food? If you'll just let me handle it…"
"Human ones are fine."
"Ha. ..."
Byron made a face obviously asking "why?".
"The striking power of a cavalryman is tremendous, but a horse costs more to maintain than a man."
"Yes."
"Almeria is weak in that area, and the fodder has to be sourced from outside. And a horse's fodder is that. There's a limit to how much they can forcibly take from the locals, from the people, just because it's gone."
"Ah, ... for the rations of soldiers they can loot for that ..., but fodder for their horses is whole other thing."
"That's what I'm talking about."
"Outstanding thinking my lord! I'll get right to it."
"Hmm"
Byron bowed to me as I saw him leave.
This should make it a little easier for brother to fight.
Chapter end