After waking up and pouring a few shots into the Rave, I got dressed and ready to go.
Since I had done all the work yesterday, there was nothing to do today. I just had to wait for the carriage to be ready.
I took a quick bath in the morning and went out to the courtyard to cool down my burning body.
It was a clear morning in the middle of winter, and the crisp, cold air felt good on my body after the bath.
"Oh?"
I see a small shadow in front of me as I stroll.
If it's wandering around the courtyard of the perverted house, it's most likely the guardian girl. The servants have work to do, Kohari is in a sickbed, and Rave is napping with semen dripping from her pussy.
"Tico?"
"Oh my God! Mr. Mayor?
When I called out to her, she put her hands on her face and let out a high-pitched scream.
I've just finished taking a bath, but I'm fully clothed. There was no way she was going to walk around with her cock exposed.
It was not the kind of scream you would expect from a gentleman wearing a trench coat over his bare skin in early spring, but a cheer.
"Oh, good morning, my dear!"
"Mmm, good morning."
A stiff and nervous Tico greeted me in the morning. Her face was bright red, and she looked as if she had been exposed to the cold winter air.
When she reacted so clearly, I could easily guess why she was blushing.
I'm not the most perceptive person when it comes to women's hearts, but I'm also not so insensitive as to wonder why Tico's face is red when I see her now.
I looked at her with a smile on my face and saw that she was holding a hairy creature in her arms.
"Is that a thick-haired rabbit?"
"Yep!"
In response to my question, Tico held out the thick-haired rabbit as if to offer it to me.
I was hoping it would be a good conversation starter, but I guess she felt like I was asking her to give it to me, so she extended her arm as if she was giving me a certificate.
The rabbit seemed to weigh quite a bit, and her arm was shaking in little increments.
The other day, another guardian girl nearby had followed her when she got nervous and fidgety, but now it was just me and Tico.
She seemed to be full of it.
"Hmm? Wasn't this Kohari's rabbit?"
I took a closer look at the rabbit that was pointed at me, and saw that it looked very much like Kohari's thick-haired rabbit.
"No, it's not!"
She thought that he suspected that she was a rabbit thief, so she panicked and started to explain that she hadn't done anything.
Tico was asked by Kohari to take care of the rabbit because she felt sorry for it if it caught a cold.
I don't think there was a rabbit in the room yesterday when I went to visit Kohari.
"So, I took it for a walk in the garden."
Thick-haired rabbits move slowly, so if you let them loose in the garden, they won't escape unless you are a very dense person.
Tico put the rabbit on the ground. Then the rabbit began to squirm and eat the grass that grew in the yard as if nothing had happened.
"You want me to walk it in the cold?"
The rabbit's fur grows better when it's outside. Especially in winter.
Kohari's way of thinking was completely that of a farmer.
Kohari kept the rabbits not for shearing, but for petting. He doesn't need to grow them out.
Tico looked at me desperately and said, "I'm not a thief, trust me, trust me," which was very cute.
"Don't worry, I know that Tico and Kohli are good friends. There's no need to panic."
I smiled at her, and she put her hands on her face again and shook her shoulders.
I can't help but think evil thoughts when I see how much she likes me.
I wonder what would happen if I attacked her right here and now and shook my hips as hard as I could. It would give me a sense of pleasure similar to the aesthetics of breaking up a tower of cards.
After the act, I feel like getting an erection just by imagining Tico quietly trembling and crying while spilling white liquid from her crotch, saying, "......, why are you like this......, I believed you were a kind person......,"
Of course, I wouldn't do that to a girl who is so blinded by her illusions.
When she's ready to be a woman, I'm going to teach her how to be a woman, and I'm going to give her plenty of my semen.
Tico glanced at my face, and she was tidying her hair with a hand comb, as if she wanted to make it look as good as possible.
"There's nothing to be nervous about. You're right. ...... Let's talk over there. It's cold here, isn't it?"
"Huh?
I casually put my hand on her back and led her into the house.
I was amused to see Tico moving her head from side to side, as if she was wondering if anyone was around.
I brought Tico into the living room of my living space in the pervert house.
While she was looking curiously at the room prepared for the nobility, Odie prepared tea for the two of us.
"The tea is ready."
"Ha, ha, ......."
Tico drank the tea, shaking the cup, and then put it back in the saucer while looking at us.
Tico's head snaps up slightly as the sound of the ceramic resonates sharply in the room.
"...... I'll be able to tell you later, but let me tell you first."
I put my cup down and looked into Tico's eyes. I could see the nervousness in her wisteria eyes as she wondered what he was going to say.
"It seems that Tico's father and brother are still alive. Looks like they were taken prisoner."
"...... What?"
Tico's father and brother were lured by money to join the war against the city of Nambonan as temporary mercenaries.
However, their opponents were the Quardenze Confederacy, a group of neighboring nobles, and no matter how many commoners they gathered, there was no way they could win.
And so, when Tico's father and the others did not return to the village, they were considered dead.
"Now I'm working on building a castle ...... in the land west of Nambonan City."
A good number of the Nambonan mercenary legions that were kicked around as the first war dogs of the neighboring nobles were captured and taken prisoner in the hunt for the remnants.
In the absence of convenient heavy construction equipment, the number of people is the speed of construction on the Eruo continent. All of the captives became slaves of the Quardenze family as construction workers for the frontline base.
That's why Tico's father and Tico's brother are still frantically working on building the castle under the cold morning sky at this very moment.
"Oh, ......! Oh, no. ......! Did you check it out, Mr. Mayor?
Tico's eyes lit up at the unexpected news of his survival, but it wasn't me who did the research. It was Rumon.
Rumon's father is also a slave.
He had been a member of the council when Nambonan City decided to start a war with the Quardenze family.
It's still fresh in my mind that the members of the council were held responsible for the war, had their property confiscated, and were reduced to slavery.
This was a strangely lenient measure compared to the execution of the perverted merchant just a few days ago, but it was a painful measure to keep Nambonan City under good control.
Half of the members of the council are popular citizens, in short, people who have been trusted with their virtue and character to hold their positions.
Publicly executing them would cause the citizens to harbor an unfathomable fear of the Quardenze family and a resentment that could not be dissipated.
If the city was just ruled by knights like a normal city, there would be no problem, but if you want to enjoy the delicious taste of Nambonan City without losing its special characteristics, the sentiment of the citizens would become important.
In addition, even before the decision was made, the military had received many petitions from the citizens to save their lives.
I personally liked the fact that all the citizens were willing to atone for their sins, rather than placing the blame solely on the council members.
As a result of the discussion between my father and Viscount Galiana, it was decided that it would be best if I ruled Nambonan City, and at the same time, the plan to publicly execute the council members disappeared.
Thus, all the council members were able to live.
The merchant councilors, however, were effectively dead, as all their property was confiscated.
Incidentally, the enslaved members of the council were sold at a very high price. It was said that each of them could buy a bunch of Eve.
The humanitarian councilors were purchased jointly by the citizens through donations, and the merchant councilors were purchased by large merchants in the city who were interested in their connections and abilities.
Rumon's father remained unsold. I heard that he was a merchant with a bad reputation to begin with, so perhaps he didn't want to be treated like one of them by buying poorly.
Thus, Rumon's father was sent to the frontline base like the other slaves and worked hard to build a castle.
But here comes a turning point. It was officially decided that Kohari would be my concubine.
I'm not so devilish as to keep the father of my beloved concubine as a slave.
I may not be able to make it to Nambonan City, but I can at least set up a place for her to live in another city in the Quadrant.
With this explanation from Tesh, Rumon went to meet his father with great joy.
By the way, Rumon's father was a big merchant who specialized in the mining industry.
He had risen through the ranks from a peddler to a successful businessman in his own lifetime, and his abilities were well known.
His knowledge of civil engineering is on par with that of a professional, and he has a wealth of experience in leading a group of miners.
When Rumon went to the site of the castle, he saw his father working hard to organize the slaves.
The fact that there were few people who knew about his bad reputation as a merchant, and the fact that his father was strong in civil engineering, which was very important for the urgent need to build the castle, seems to have helped him to create a good position.
It seems that capable people can make a name for themselves wherever they go.
He had already been promised that he would be treated as a civil engineer in the military service of Quardenze after the construction of the castle was finished.
It is more rewarding to make a position in the Quardenze army than to be freed from slavery and live in a city with nothing. Even if I go back to being a merchant and make money, I don't know when the nobles will take it from me again. Besides, I've done that once before and I'm tired of it. This time, you can try to get ahead in the aristocracy,......, he said with a big smile, and Rumon backed off without saying a word.
He was a very selfish father, but when he told me about it, Rumon looked a little relieved. I guess there is a trust that can only be understood between a father and his son.
So, having traveled all this way, Rumon quickly ran out of things to do.
However, he thought it would be a waste to just leave, so he decided to ask around to see if his father and brother Tico were around.
He must have been worried about Kianes' words that his family had died because of Nambonan City.
So he searched, and found them quite easily. Rumon's father also had a say in the management of the slaves, so he kept a list of all the slaves who worked there.
He would be allowed to return to the village in the spring.
"Wow ......! I'll have to tell your mother. ......!
Rumon's father was enslaved for a serious crime, but Tico's father and the others were not so serious. Therefore, it is at the owner's discretion whether to free them or not.
It costs a lot of money to keep a large number of slaves working, so one way of thinking is to free them when they are done.
Like Tico's father and the others, there were apparently a good number of farmers who had become slaves as a result of joining the war from neighboring villages. In the case of such people, it would be more beneficial to release them and let them work on the farm. The cost of maintaining the slaves would be reduced, and the tax revenue of the farming village would increase.
My grandfather has been beating the asses of the slaves, telling them that he would release them in the spring if they built the castle well.
However, I was surprised that he agreed to recruit mercenaries for Nambonan City ....... Are the peasants unaware of such a situation? It was obvious that they would be fighting against the Quardenze family. ......
If they were recruiting mercenaries in Nambonan City at that point, the only people they could think of to fight would be the Quardenze family.
I'm not sure if the peasants even know who the lord is fighting.
"What? But there are no nobles or knights in Nambonan City, so there's no way they would fight against the lord. ......"
"Mm. ......"
I see, Tico has a good point.
A city with only commoners would never stand up to the nobility, this is common knowledge on the continent of Eruo.
Even if Nambonan City could hire magicians, they would be mercenaries of the ancestors at best. That's not enough to defeat an army led by a nobleman.
In the first place, a squire wandering around in the wild has a different level of strength than a squire from a knightly family who has been raised in an environment with magic-related know-how. I'm sure you'll be able to understand why.
"And everyone said that Nambonan City was overlooked. They said they were paying off the lord."
The reason why the Quardenze family left Nambonan City unattended was because they thought that it could be easily dropped if the need arose, that it had a good influence on the Quardenze territory due to the large amount of merchant traffic, and that if the old Voistra was lured away to loot it, they would counter-crash it.
The people who were receiving the money, as Tico had said, were nobles who were hostile to the Quardenze family.
As if she thought I was going to scold her, Tico went on to give other reasons.
Many of the reasons Tico gave were deductions based on common sense or speculation based on the recent situation.
I had underestimated her because she was a peasant, but she seemed to have a rough grasp of the trends in the war.
"...... Surprisingly, the peasants are also watching the situation."
I was curious if the peasants knew anything about the rivalry between the nobles, so I decided to ask them.
I was in a position to lead the peasants as soldiers, so I wanted to know what their values were.
"Do you know why the current war between the Quardenze families started?"
Tico's expression became apologetic, yet full of question marks.
"What? Is there a reason?"
"Hmm?"
Maybe I asked the wrong question, but I couldn't make sense of Tico's reply.
I think a reason is necessary for a war to start, but I didn't expect her to ask that question back.
"Oh! I understand. The weak lord can't protect the land, so the strong lord came?"
I'm sorry to say that I don't understand Tico, who smiles confidently as if this is the correct answer, but I don't understand at all.
What she's talking about is the result of the war, not the reason for starting it.
If we apply Tico's theory as it is, we don't need a reason to crush the weak! Weakness is a mortal sin! If we apply the Tico theory as it is, we will end up in a world where weakness is a great sin!
"This is the difference in thinking. ......"
For Eruo people, strength is the source of authority.
Even if the logic is violent and says that the weaker person is worse, if the person saying it is strong, they will probably be convinced.
Tico thought that it was natural for the strong nobles to kill the weak nobles.
"Isn't that right, ......?"
I opened my mouth to Tico, who looked troubled, appealing that I wasn't angry.
"The Quardenze ...... my uncle, I think, who was conspired to death by the old Voistra people ......."
"Your uncle?"
Tico looked surprised. The girl's expression changed from time to time, which was interesting to watch.
She didn't seem to think that the war had started because her relatives had been killed.
It would be unforgivable that my uncle had been killed, but I'm sure that was not the only reason why the war started.
If we look back at the course of events from the start of the war to today, it is clear that the Quardenze family has the intention to invade.
However, the Quardenze had been doused by them time and time again in the past. I understood my father's idea of destroying them if there was a chance to do so.
Historically, the Kingdom of Voistra had always had its sights set on the fertile land of Quardenze on the other side of the river, and whenever they had time, they would try to set up internal divisions or send in strange nobles to take control of the land.
Annoyingly, the Kingdom of Voistra had no intention of seriously attacking, but rather harassed them from a distance where counterattacks could not reach.
It was only lucky if they became unbearable and subjugated, so the Quardenze family was constantly harassed by the Tsk Tsk Tsk Tsk.
At the time, the Kingdom of Voistra was more powerful, so the Quardenze family could not invade back, and just continued to build up resentment in the house.
Nowadays, the land between the two great rivers, the interior of the country, is unified by the family of Quardenze, but until a long time ago, noble families supported by the Kingdom of Voistra occupied some of the land.
The Quardenze family, which had New Nelly City and other major cities, was by far the strongest, but it was a proxy war with the Voistra Kingdom, and they were unable to unify.
To make matters worse, the noble house was established by those who could not become the head of the Quardenze family, calling themselves a branch family. Of course, it was the Kingdom of Voistra that inspired them.
He was a foolish child who was born into the Quardenze family but was used by the irreconcilable enemy, but even so, his blood ties were very strong.
There is no doubt that there was a part of him that was hesitant to seriously kill each other.
Grandmother Kasia, who was still a younger girl than Fanny at the time, came up with a bold plan and ran away from Quardenze, probably thinking of something when she saw the whole family fighting among themselves in the big river.
A few years later, after many twists and turns, Kasia returned to her hometown and took over from the indecisive head of the family, and mercilessly destroyed the four branch families that were under the control of the Voistra Kingdom.
Thus, the land was united by Grandmother Kasia, and the people of the land praised the princess of the direct lineage of the Quardenze family for bringing peace, and left her behind in songs and plays.
Her alias, "Princess of the Five Realms," was derived from the fact that she unified the five realms, including the Quardenze family and four self-proclaimed branch families.
And just like that, the old Voistra is a sworn enemy that the Quardenze family can never get along with, even without the matter of their uncle.
It would be safer to destroy them while the Quardenze family is still strong, and it would be easier for me, who will probably succeed them, to do so.
In addition, after the death of my grandmother, Kasia, my father had to scramble for domestic politics and diplomacy, and he had no outstanding military prowess.
Strength is important in this continent of Eruo. In diplomacy, the more widespread your military name is, the more cards you can play.
My grandfather Galfis, for example, is known not only in the Kingdom of Levios and the Zinkhaen Empire, but also in the Holy City of St. Navenpos.
The mere mention of such a celebrity would cause soldiers to flee and mercenaries to be hard to come by. In localized battles, it is even possible to win without fighting.
That's how great the influence of military prowess is, and it is a good check on the nobles who don't like to fight much.
However, my grandfather was already in his eighties, and although people with magical powers often live to be about a hundred years old, there was no telling what would happen to him in the future.
If my grandfather were to die, my father would be left with an increasing number of difficult situations.
As the head of the Quardenze family, it was only natural that he would want to weaken the old Voistra while his grandfather was still alive.
I believe that the real reason for turning on the old Voistra is more of a family problem than an uncle problem.
My grandfather is the only one I can think of who has a 100% vendetta against my uncle for conspiring to kill him.
I looked into Tico's eyes and opened my mouth.
"...... Ah, the people the Quardenze are fighting right now are the bad guys who killed our precious families and don't care."
"No way. ......!"
But I don't feel like explaining every single detail of such a troublesome situation.
For now, let's just say that the old Voistra was a bad guy.
I let Tico soak up the historical view that was biased toward the Quardenze family.
And I'm going to stop talking about the hard stuff and start talking about the fun stuff.
Wasn't it sad that I had to continue talking politics with such a pretty girl?
"...... War talk is no fun. Okay, let me tell you a story about Tico. You went to see the city the other day, didn't you?"
"What?
When I turned the subject to Tico again, she became nervous.
Apparently, she has a habit of stroking her hair when she gets nervous. Her purple hair moves in a breeze.
Her hair color was bright and shiny, and she even looked young.
"It looks like you went out with your brother. Did you find anything interesting?"
It seems that Tico and Kianes have settled down in their relationship. They have closed their mouths about the past that they both want to forget, and have returned to the good relationship they had before.
They were a little awkward at first, but now they're talking normally.
I'm relieved that they don't know about my bad deed of secretly fucking them.
Looking at Tico as she fumbled through her stories of the city, I prayed that the day would come soon when I could hold her again.
Tesh came into the room to tell us that the carriage was ready, and Tico had just finished her second cup of tea.
The thought of another few days in the carriage was depressing.
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