Chapter 69

"This is Amelia from the Arnold family, who will help Arndt with the overall duties of the ducal residence from today. Say hello, Amelia."

"H-hello, I m-mean, pleased to m-meet you."

The gazes directed at Amelia, who was greeting them in a fluster, were not kind.

Arndt was especially so.

Folding his arms and glaring elsewhere, he was clearly ignoring Amelia deliberately from any perspective.

Leandros had his usual emotionless face, but it somehow seemed like he was experiencing a reality check.

Hmm.

"She has worked here before, and she's clearly your senior, so I hope everyone respects her. Don't bully her, and get along well. ...Everyone?"

"......"

"Everyone, you need to answer."

What was he going to do about this chilly atmosphere?

Eventually, he turned to Amelia and said.

"There's nothing left to do in the capital, so we'll be returning to the ducal residence soon. Do you have more luggage to bring?"

"N-no. I th-think I'll just take th-this."

She was holding a small suitcase.

It was surprising that she had packed so lightly and came to the townhouse without even a maid helping her since morning, considering she was a baron's daughter.

Was it because she had experience as the Duchess's maid?

"Then I'll guide you to your room first. We'll discuss your accommodation and treatment again at the ducal residence. And since you're officially part of our household now, I'll speak to you comfortably. Is that alright?"

"Y-yes."

Another maid guided her upstairs, instead of Arndt who didn't budge an inch.

After Amelia disappeared towards the stairs, he spoke quietly to Arndt, who was still standing there with no intention of moving.

"Are you going to keep acting like that? Separate public from private."

"But Your Grace, to bring in someone who betrayed the family again!"

"I judged and decided on this. She was once the most loyal person to the family."

"We can't know what sinister intentions she might harbor now! I don't understand why you would keep such a dangerous person by your side."

Arndt replied in a stiff tone.

From the looks of it, he genuinely had antipathy towards Amelia and others.

Of course, he understood.

It was like feeding a warm meal to someone who had ruined the family.

Anyone would be upset seeing that, but having brought her in for Arndt's sake, he had to persuade him.

"Because every person has value. I invited her thinking she might help with the internal affairs of the castle."

"I know Your Grace is a kind person! But what if that person harbors ill intentions? If such a thing happens again!"

"That won't happen."

It wouldn't happen.

Because Amelia had fallen in love...

"You're there, Arndt. That's why I placed her next to you. I won't transfer full authority over internal affairs to her. She's there to assist with your duties."

"...Hmph."

"You don't dislike having a capable subordinate, do you? You'll let me know if she does anything suspicious."

"That's true! But I still think Your Grace trusts me too much."

"Who else would I trust if not you?"

Arndt softened a bit.

This was the "reconciling fighting team members skill" that came from being in a proxy senior position!

Working at a company often leads to hair loss from being caught in conflicts between team members.

Though he had a personality that extremely avoided fights, a mediator was needed when team members became combative.

When juniors fought, find a point to pacify them and reconcile them; when seniors fought, make them soft by plying them with alcohol and then reconcile them.

Does that sound simple? But surprisingly few people do this well, and if done wrong, the sparks might fly back at oneself, so caution was necessary.

He had been able to do this because he was a negligible existence in the team, like a crumb or some leftover.

...Why did he feel sad?

"Also, Baron Arnold proposed various conditions when Amelia came to the castle."

"What kind of conditions?"

"He commissioned us to make weapons for the private soldiers the baron possesses. About 500 weapons."

"500 weapons!"

Would this help avoid the deficit?

They seemed to have made the proposal to treat him well, as he might potentially become their son-in-law.

Unfortunately, the future son-in-law seemed to be someone else.

Upon hearing this, Arndt clapped his hands in joy, then burned with determination, saying, 'Since it's come to this, I'll monitor her thoroughly.'

This side seemed to have been dealt with successfully,

What about Leandros?

"If Your Grace has decided so, I will accept it."

"I like how quick your response is."

"However."

Black eyes looked down at him.

"Did something happen at the royal palace?"

His heart began to sting at those words.

"Uh, huh?"

"Right after returning from the royal palace, you said we should hurry back to the ducal residence. Then suddenly you visited Baron Arnold's mansion."

Leandros continued slowly.

"Even though you could have proceeded with the weapons deal without Lady Arnold, Your Grace, who certainly could have done so."

"It's just a feeling, a feeling. Haven't you been feeling unwell lately?"

Protagonist's exclusive Spidey Sense off! Off!

While he desperately cried out internally, whether the younger brother who was the god of this world heard him or not was unclear, but Leandros stared at him for a while before lowering his eyes.

"That might be the case. I apologize."

That was a relief.

While patting Leandros on the shoulder and spouting nonsense about taking care of his health, he thought.

How was one supposed to save a protagonist behind the protagonist's back?

* * *

Yurik wanted to kill Leandros when the story reached its climax.

But where exactly was the "climax" of the story?

The time when all story flows converge as trials are resolved and the story progresses.

That would be the climax of the story.

By that reasoning, the climax of this world set against the backdrop of an apocalypse clearly hadn't come yet.

-Distribute the limbs evenly to each region of the empire.

-If you die here, leave the head here.

-I never expected to take in the Duke in this way, but that body has many useful applications.

First iteration.

Yurik had tried to bury his head in the east.

At that time, Yurik knew that he had died and come back to life.

So he probably knew most of the information that could be known about him.

The head and limbs.

Five pieces.

Bodies scattered across the empire.

His thoughts moved to the second iteration.

-But it's still strange no matter how I think about it. That what seemed difficult even if all the merpeople were sacrificed can be achieved with just one of your eyeballs.

East, West, South, North.

The eastern pit.

The southern trench.

The west and the north...

"Your Grace!"

"You startled me. Please knock."

"I apologize. It's Russel Nabilov!"

The Hartmann group, now joined by Amelia at the townhouse, had completed preparations to return to the ducal residence.

Today marked the second day since their return to the comfortable castle.

Everyone was working as usual in their respective positions.

Leandros and Russel took turns standing guard or escorting, while Arndt, along with Amelia, managed the castle.

He was in the midst of sending a letter to Aiden about the Dikenting weapon commission and marketing to nobles he had become acquainted with through letters.

Wiping his fingers that had turned black with ink stains, he asked.

"Is it already time for the shift change? You don't have to come and greet me every time you change shifts."

"No, a guest has arrived. So I'm here to provide close protection for Your Grace, as the senior instructed."

There's no one who would visit. Who could it be?

As Russel stepped aside, a visitor he had seen once before appeared with the servant guiding her.

"Yvonne."

What brings someone who should be deeply immersed in work at the camp here?

Yvonne exclaimed as soon as she saw him.

"Your Grace, we're ruined! You have to help us somehow, or we'll truly be bankrupt and out on the streets!"

"What are you saying? Please come in and sit down first."

Russel seated the panting Yvonne in a reception chair.

Sitting across from her, he observed that her hair was already disheveled, and her face was covered in oil.

While Yvonne took a deep breath, a servant quickly served cold tea.

Yvonne drank it all at once and said.

"I heard Your Grace placed a large order yesterday."

"Yes, that's right. Is there a problem? Isn't a large order a good thing?"

"Of course, it's appreciated and good for us who have been recording deficits, but we're severely short on materials."

"Demonic beasts couldn't have run out already, could they?"

"I'm not talking about demonic beasts, we need other materials that are difficult to supply right now."

"What kind of materials? There's no way the Aisling Merchant Group couldn't procure materials. If we ask Aiden, he could somehow..."

"Everything else is fine, but the material that's difficult to supply is mithril."

Mithril?

As he just blinked, Yvonne sighed deeply and explained.

"Ordinary swords use a mix of wrought iron and steel, but swords with demonic beast parts require completely different materials. Demonic beast teeth or claws are hard enough to cut through iron."

"I see."

"That's why demonic beast weapons have some amount of mithril mixed in. Mithril contains some magic power at the ore stage, so it's compatible with demonic beast parts, and no mineral stronger than mithril has been discovered yet."

"Then can't we just procure mithril?"

"Mithril ore that's pure enough to be used in demonic beast weapons is rare. Mines yielding high-quality mithril are concentrated in the north."

"Doesn't the Aisling Merchant Group have branches in the north?"

Yvonne frowned slightly.

"From what I know, they don't."

"But isn't the Aisling Merchant Group one of the most prominent merchant groups in the kingdom?"

"That's excluding the north. The Dikenter Mountains, which separate the north and the kingdom, have led to the development of an independent culture there. Because of that, didn't you know that the north has obtained self-governing privileges?"

He didn't know.

The original work didn't mention stories about the north.

So he had thought it was just an unnecessary background to the story.

"I was aware, but I didn't know it was a place where merchant groups had difficulty entering."

"In fact, there was some exchange more than ten years ago, but that's an old story now. Currently, merchant groups operating in the north are monopolizing mithril. Whatever the price, other merchant groups have to either accept it or not, choosing one of the two."

"Even if it's expensive, can't we buy them all? The cost might rise, but if we compromise elsewhere..."

"That's the problem!"

Yvonne suddenly banged the table and stood up.

"The quantity of mithril minerals coming from the north is gradually decreasing. At this rate, it's about to be completely cut off! The mithril ore we currently have in stock is enough for only about 300 weapons!"

"C-calm down. I'll ask Baron Arnold to understand that it might take some time due to the backlog of orders."

"Then would it be okay if it takes a year just for the Baron's order? By the way, we can't accept other orders during that period."

"That won't work!"

There was no need to ruin someone else's business!

At this rate, their source of income might disappear, and he might have to let Leandros stay at the gambling hall.

Who would like a protagonist who gambles!

"Aren't there other merchant groups distributing mithril from the north? Or, conversely, can't we expand into the north?"

"About that. There's a rumor."

"What kind of rumor?"

"When entering a new region, you send out a market research team before establishing a branch, right?"

"That's right."

"They say that any market research teams sent to the north never returned..."

The air in the office chilled at Yvonne's words.

"Ha, haha. Yvonne, you joke well."

"It's true. A long time ago, an heir to another merchant group went to the north directly with a group of people, but they never returned. That merchant group collapsed after the head died and there were succession issues."

"......"

"After that, no one tried to expand into the north anymore."

...Was it true?

Yvonne's expression was too grim for this to be just an urban legend.

Come to think of it, he hadn't heard any stories about the north during the two times he had died and been revived.

"Then our mithril."

"We'll have to scrape together whatever mithril is available and waste a year. Unless you want to cancel the deal?"

"Neither will work!"

How could he give up an order that had just come in?

But then again, imagining Leandros staring at the dice with hollow eyes, guessing odd or even, made him distressed.

If he kept going in and out of the gambling hall like this, he might not return willingly!

Their child might need to be treated for gambling addiction!

He wanted to see a healthy and happy ending, not something like "Protagonist, Fallen to Gambling ~ED. 1~"!

After conflicting for a long time, he finally blurted out in front of Yvonne.

"I'll try to do something about it."

Yes, it couldn't be helped.

Isn't this what he was sitting in the Duke's position for, to solve such problems?

After Yvonne left, he gathered everyone and roughly explained the situation.

Thankfully, everyone understood. The remaining issue was who would go to the north.

"I think I definitely need to go. In that case, how about Arndt and Russel come with me this time?"

"Your Grace, but."

"Leandros should rest a bit. Think of it as enjoying a vacation while I'm away."

It would be good for Amelia to get used to managing the castle while Arndt was away.

Leandros seemed quite displeased with the decision he had made arbitrarily.

But as soon as his words ended, the person who actually opened their mouth was,

"N-no, that won't do!"

"Huh?"

Amelia was clenching both hands.

Somehow, with cheeks flushed red, she shouted.

"I-I'll g-go!"

...Why on earth?