episode_0206

After calling Zienna and Amy into the living room, he immediately told them what Baram, Viscount Tarr’s envoy, had said.

Everything from making ridiculous demands to ultimately deciding to fight for territory.

“… … I didn’t know that you really came to declare a territory war.”

Thanks to that, Amy looked at me as if she felt sorry.

Even though he wasn’t the direct cause, he seemed worried that it was because he said something like that that things ended up like this.

“Don’t worry. Because it’s not your fault Amy.”

When I poked Amy’s cheek and smiled at her, who seemed to be worried for no reason, she smiled slightly as if relieved.

“Anyway. The work has already progressed and the territory war will begin. Well, there are procedures such as royal approval, so we won’t be going to war right away.”

Since I had declared war, even if Viscount Tar thought it was okay and agreed to the territory war, war would not break out immediately.

This is because territory warfare could mean undermining national power, so permission had to be obtained first. Even if I moved it myself, I had time to spare as I needed royal approval.

Usually, those who were engaged in territory warfare tended to use this time to reorganize, such as reinforcing their strength.

“Then we should start preparing for territory warfare from now on. Andrew, our mercenary group is also participating, right?”

“If you wish. Anyway, I plan to mainly use my undead for the battle itself.”

“Ah… … . Then we won’t have anything to do, right? If this is the case, isn’t there actually no need for our mercenary group?”

“What are you talking about? How helpful has the Hooded Mercenaries been so far? Also, just because you won’t be active in direct combat doesn’t mean you don’t need a mercenary group. I guess my undead aren’t good enough to be used as scouts, right? We need the help of mercenaries to obtain information in advance.”

Although territory warfare is different from wars between nations and the battlefield is determined, the importance of information did not change. In order to obtain the necessary information, Amy’s mercenary group needed help.

To be honest, although scouting using the undead was possible to some extent, there were many shortcomings in scouting long distances. In areas such as autonomous information collection, humans were better.

Although it was possible to deploy the city’s human soldiers, they were practically nothing more than security forces, so they were unsuitable for scouting missions. Because I had no relevant knowledge or experience.

Anyway, Amy nodded as if she was satisfied that her mercenary group still had something to play for.

“Okay. Then, I will prepare it in advance.”

“Please do me a favor.”

Amy clenched her fists as if telling her to trust only herself. And, Jienna, who was watching that scene, looked at me as if there was something I wanted her to do.

When I saw him giving such a bright look in his eyes, I thought maybe I should order him something.

“Uh… … . First of all, please stop selling items that can be used strategically for a while. This may result in the enemy’s power increasing. I will contact the partner families, so would you please take care of contacting the affiliated stores?”

“Yes! Don’t worry… … ? Ah?”

However, Gienna, who was trying to look as confident as Amy in response to my instructions, suddenly started tilting her head as if she were puzzled.

“Why, is there some problem?”

“No, that’s it. I was wondering if Viscount Tarr wanted this.”

“Viscount Tar wanted this?”

“Viscount Tarr is also an aristocrat, right? Then, it suddenly occurred to me that there was a high possibility that Marquis Kurid had orchestrated this incident through Viscount Tar. If Viscount Tarr, who had previously suffered major damage, shows such confidence, wouldn’t it be difficult to say that he created it on his own?”

“That’s right. Well, unless a person suddenly appeared among the legendary magic tools and knights and reached the level of master… … . Where did you get the support?”

I nodded at Jiena’s words.

Viscount Tarr, who had been shattered before, did not have many means to show his confidence. If you have secured a legendary item or recruited a strong person who can deal with the warlock’s undead army, rumors should naturally spread.

However, considering that there were no such rumors at all, it was highly likely that support was received from somewhere. No, it was safe to be confident that I received support.

And, the person who could provide such support was the Marquis Kurid, who was in a hostile relationship with me.

“If this happened because the Marquis of Kurid supported Viscount Tar, he may have led to the current situation. We do not sell weapons or other items to outside parties. The purpose is to consume a huge amount of materials to prepare for the territory battle and to hinder the source of income.”

“… … It’s a pain in the ass.”

If Marquis Kurid was really supporting Viscount Tarr, it was quite possible.

In particular, since fiber can be used as a strategic material, such as by making armor, the Marquis of Kurid may have targeted it.

If I stopped selling products, I would dig into the empty market, and even if I continued selling, I could still loot it because it was a territory war. Either way, it was a situation where the Marquis of Kurid would benefit.

It was obvious that if Viscount Tar won the territory war, it would be even better since he would be destroying my foundation.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was just the influence of the Marquis of Kurid at play.

“Ah, somehow.”

“Do you have any guesses?”

“No, you went to the capital not long ago for the National Assembly, right? That’s when I met Marquis Kurid. There was an argument for one reason or another, but in the end, unexpectedly, he left very calmly. I was planning something like this behind my back, so I quietly left.”

It was said that the Marquis of Kurid was leaving strangely calmly, but rather than leaving quietly, he was reticent.

It was clear that they were confident that Congress would not be able to reliably sanction me anyway, so they used Congress as a means of deceiving them. While everyone’s eyes were focused on the council, it seemed like they were preparing to do something like this.

Of course, even if I had realized that this was being planned at the time, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. At most, there was a high probability that I would end up receiving only a little support from royalist nobles.

In the end, I realized that this situation would have come up one way or another, so I decided to find a way to solve this problem. Of course, with the help of Jienna and Amy, who were looking at me, as well as the village chief.

“Boss. I think it would be a good idea to stop selling things right now. It is okay if we transport it directly to an affiliated store, but only if it is distributed through another merchant.”

“Why is that?”

“Even if the goods we transport are looted, the damage itself is nothing more than damage to the goods. The destruction of the undead and the damage to the truck are also losses, but honestly, those aren’t that big of a loss, right?”

“That’s right. Because we can produce everything ourselves.”

“That’s right. However, this is not the case with other top companies. They say there is no loss to us who received the payment and handed it over, but the story is different in the case of the above. If an item to be sold is stolen, it is common to suffer irreparable damage. Even if the top is not destroyed, if the top goes bankrupt, it is the same as the distribution network it was responsible for disappearing.”

I nodded when Giena said that losing the distribution network and restoring it would be more difficult than financial or material damage.

The fact that I can still occupy most of the domestic textile market was possible because there were merchants spreading out to every corner of the country. Losing those leaders was an enormous loss.

Moreover, there are people who receive goods directly from my territory and sell them to other lower-tier merchants. If I lose the merchant that sells them, I would lose an even bigger distribution network.

“Andrew. That’s important, but in my opinion, wouldn’t it be better to just get rid of the Territory War quickly? Viscount Tar… … In this situation, is it the Marquis of Kurid? Anyway, all we have to do is destroy all of those people before they do anything.”

“Let’s defeat the Territory War quickly?”

“You hit with all your might at once. The analogy may be strange because I am a mercenary who hunts beasts and monsters rather than dealing with humans, but when dealing with guys like wolves, you have to show an overwhelming difference in power. That way, you won’t dare to think about sticking your teeth in.”

Amy argued that strength should be revealed, using wolves as an example.

“Wolves are quite similar to humans in some ways. Things like forming a group, hunting smartly, etc. That’s why they often give up hunting. That’s when you realize that you can never defeat your opponent, and that if you fight against them, only you will end up bleeding.”

“You mean to prevent Viscount Tarr and Marquis Kurid from even thinking about physically attacking you?”

“That’s right. If you had thought that there would be blood if you looted the transported goods or the merchant ship, you wouldn’t have acted like this. Besides, if you finish the Territory War quickly, wouldn’t there be no problem in selling items? Not all tops come every day anyway, and I think it can be resolved by adjusting the schedule for a while.”

“That’s true too.”

I nodded at Amy’s words. If the territory war could be ended as quickly as possible, the damage could be minimized just by slightly adjusting the schedule.

The village chief was also slowly nodding his head as if he was thinking the same thing.

“Lord. Then, I guess we’ll have to take the princess to the capital first. If a large-scale military force is formed to protect members of the royal family during the process of starting a territory war, the start of the territory war will naturally be delayed. It would also be a good idea to have other noble alchemists in the Magic Tower take refuge for a while.”

“Well, in order to safely send it to the royal family, there is a high possibility that the royal family will move directly. Moreover, if other noble alchemists take damage during a territory war, it will be a headache… … ?”

While nodding my head to the village chief’s words to evacuate the princess and formulating a response, something suddenly occurred to me.

That is, the majority of alchemists were leaving the Magic Tower, and the production capacity of the Magic Tower was decreasing. It was said that there was a disruption in the production of most of the alchemy liquids used by Smith Skeleton as well as Cloth Skeleton.

“… … Could it be that they were aiming for this as well?”

I thought that the Marquis of Kurid had planned this to target the decline in the magic tower’s productivity.

Of course, now it doesn’t matter whether it was intentional or not.

It was decided to solve all problems by ending the territory war as quickly as possible.