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Gillian, who had been waiting outside the castle, bowed his head to Giselle and said.

"Ready to go, complete."

"Okay, get Daven to Baron Valois as quickly as possible and give him some food before Amelia moves."

"All right."

Before Dave could come to his senses, Gillian dragged him into the procession.

Fenris' army moved towards the Barony of Valois at as fast a pace as possible.

Just then, Amelia bit her lip when she heard the report that Giselle was taking Daven with her.

'How on earth? How did you manage to time it so well and get Dave out early?'

She also knows that Jiselle knows quite a bit about her. Even when she took 20,000 gold from her before, it didn't seem like she was just guessing.

But I never imagined that he would predict when I would make my move and then steal Daven away. He even threw a banquet before that to create a smokescreen?

'This little Giselle is definitely… … .'

Amelia's insides were boiling with anger.

I watched him and thought he was an extraordinary man, but I also considered him to be someone I could deal with at any time.

But this time, after getting hit hard by Jiselle, I realized that my thoughts were completely wrong.

Even though Giselle continued to monitor his movements after taking over the County of Cavaldi, he ended up being caught in the act.

'There was too much difference in the information. No, it wasn't just the information.'

At this point, he had directly observed and predicted his own and Harold's movements.

Amelia looked back at all that Giselle had accomplished so far.

The development of the Demon Forest, victory in the Battle of Ferdium, the development of cosmetics, drought prediction, the rumored flying machine, and numerous knights.

'Is this… … really something that one person can do in such a short period of time?'

Amelia felt a chill down her spine.

It was a feat that was impossible in common sense. If you only look at the achievements that Jiselle had made, it could be compared to a hero who would only appear in a national foundation myth.

I even began to think that it wasn't a coincidence that they had been preparing for the drought, but that it had actually been predicted.

Could you act like Giselle?

It was impossible.

It doesn't take just a little knowledge and experience. You need insight that sees through everything, plus luck.

Ugh.

My teeth ground out of their own accord.

He felt a strange sense of defeat. He was unbearably angry that Giselle had anticipated and prepared for his movements.

But now is not the time to indulge in such sentiments.

'It's already happened. There's no need to regret what happened. Just pay it back.'

'Let's think, let's think. What is he trying to do?'

'He's not an ordinary guy. You have to predict it.'

'If I were Giselle, how would I take advantage of the current situation?'

Once you have complete control of Leipold, you should attack Giselle together with Harold. After all, Giselle is currently the biggest obstacle to Harold's conquest of the North.

Jiselle would have expected that much, so she would try to prevent herself from joining hands with Harold.

'If we send Daven out, we'll have an excuse to attack this place.'

Amelia shook her head, considering the first possibility that came to mind.

He's such a petty guy that he threatened his fiancée and extorted 20,000 gold. But he's willing to risk losing his troops?

There's absolutely no way that's possible.

'then....'

There is only one answer: hand Daven over to someone who will turn against him.

"Map! Bring me a map!"

Choaaaak!

Amelia's eyes quickly scanned Leipold's immediate vicinity.

In four of the seven vassal baronies, loyalty was obtained through persuasion and threats.

Now there were only three places left. Amelia's head began to spin quickly.

'Where? Where are you?'

By stealing the successor, he was ultimately trying to incite a civil war in Leipold. This was meant to tie his own hands and reduce his power.

That had to be stopped somehow.

'Not here.'

One of the three baronies was not far from Castle Leipold and was weak in terms of power. It would be too risky to send Daven safely.

There are two places left.

Both were quite a distance from Leipold. In terms of distance alone, they were actually a bit closer to the County of Cavaldi, which Giselle occupied.

Amelia's eyes, which were biting her lips, were fixed on one side of the map.

The southernmost point of Leipold, the place called Leipold's Shield.

A territory held by Leipold's stalwart and loyal vassals.

'Baron Valois!'

If I were Giselle, I would definitely send Daven here.

With enough food to last a long time.

Amelia gestured to Bernap and spoke urgently.

"Form a pursuit team immediately… … ."

She stopped talking mid-sentence and clenched her teeth. Before she knew it, her fists were trembling.

'It's already too late.'

Even if we gather our troops and depart now, it will be too late.

If we had sent Daven alone, he would have already reached the Barondom of Valois, so there would have been no point in sending him.

If they had sent food along, it wouldn't have arrived yet, but a considerable number of troops would have followed them, so it would be impossible to guarantee victory with a small number of hastily gathered men.

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The opponent has been preparing and moving properly for a long time. If you move in a rushed manner, you will not be able to win.

The Giselle she saw was now definitely not an easy opponent.

She closed her eyes and took a moment to calm her mind, and quickly regained her composure.

"Bernaf."

"yes."

"Tell the remaining two barons, excluding Baron Valois, that you will give them one month. If they do not swear allegiance to me after one month, I will dispatch an army."

"Aren't you going to contact Baron Valois?"

"It's meaningless. Get ready to go out right away. He'll be locked in the castle and won't come out, so make sure to prepare siege equipment. I'll go and wipe him out myself."

Then, Conrad, the lord of the upper chamber of Actium, cautiously expressed his opinion.

"Baron Valois is a renowned commander. You might as well try to persuade him… … ."

"He'll fight to the end. That's just the way he is. And… … ."

Amelia continued with a cold look in her eyes.

"Daven will go there too. I will go there and cut off his head myself."

* * *

"Okay, that's going well."

When Gillian returned safely with Daven, Giselle smiled contentedly.

Amelia will eventually have no choice but to go to war with the Barons of Valois.

If that happens, it will be difficult to do anything since we won't be able to properly pay attention to this side until the war is over.

Because Baron Valois was not someone who could be dealt with with a distracted mind.

Harold cannot start a war right away because he is being held in check by the royalist faction.

'Since this failed assassination has caused another great loss, they will probably grind their teeth and find another way.'

Neither side could make any hasty moves. Jiselle planned to take advantage of this opportunity to focus on developing her territory.

Currently, large incubators have been increasing in number in the territory, and chickens are being produced in enormous quantities.

The people of Yeongji were so happy that they screamed because there was so much meat.

"As expected, it is our lord!"

"How did you come up with the idea to make something like this?"

"There's so much meat! I never thought such a day would come in my life!"

For the people of Yeongji, meat was something that was difficult to even see, let alone eat. What kind of meat is meat when they can't even eat bread properly?

Originally, the production volume was not large, so it was used mostly for nobles and knights. Even they could not easily eat meat after the drought. This was because the damage to livestock was also significant.

But at some point, meat began to overflow everywhere. Although it was only chicken, the people of Yeongji were filled with happiness with just that.

In particular, the elves who were receiving physical training were eating meat to their heart's content for the first time in a long while and even had tears in their eyes.

'f*ck… … Why am I happy about something like this? I didn't even receive a luxury item.'

'We used to only eat fancy food… … .'

'This f*cking estate is so annoying… … .'

It's so delicious, it makes me cry. Especially, the little guy named Gordon who ate 100 of them right in front of me, just looking at him made me cry.

"Okay! Now that we've eaten, let's start working out right away! We need to absorb this quickly to build muscle! Let's work hard today too! Don't lose any muscle!"

The elves closed their eyes at the remark that seemed so inhuman.

'I'm throwing up. You little shit… … .'

'Please, let's exercise sensibly… … .'

'Ah, I guess I'll have a go today too.'

As the elves expected, Ascon, the anger management 'master', stood up and swore.

"Hey, sh*thead! You brat with no blood in your head! Don't you know that your digestion gets worse as you get older? Do you think we're as ignorant as you, even down to our stomachs?"

As a craftsman, he was very good at distinguishing between who he should swear at and who he should not.

'The crazy lord, the pretty priest, the nagging butler, the maid magician, the best old man and the old fart. Just take these out.'

Other than that, everyone else got a lot of abuse from Ascon. Kaoran in particular would react very angrily whenever he got abused.

He couldn't kill himself, so he was just going crazy, and watching that was really fun.

In fact, I tried to touch other people too, but each time I was summoned by the lord and suffered hell. The last time I was summoned, my great-grandfather and the World Tree came out to greet me.

'Especially that pretty priest girl named Piotain? Or was it her? Anyway, that bastard is absolutely not to be messed with. She seems like a special management target. I really enjoyed the taste of her swearing.'

After I got caught squeezing tears out of Fiote's eyes a few times with a curse, I almost got buried in the ground forever.

However, Gordon in front of him was clearly judged to be okay to mess with. He could curse at Kaor as he pleased, so Gordon was food for Ascon.

Indeed, even after being cursed at, Gordon bit his lips and shook his hands.

You can't kill them, and you can't seriously injure them. At most, you can only hit them a few times.

But that guy Ascon was suspiciously tough. No matter how many times I hit him, he would just get up and swear at me. The more I listened to him, the angrier I got, and I thought I was going crazy.

"Don't swear at me!"

Finally, Gordon swung his fist again.

"Ugh!"

Ascon continued to curse even as he was thrown around.

"Your mother is terrible at making soup! She ate it and threw up like a dog! Shit!"

"Don't even curse at my mother! You crazy elf bastard!"

Gordon's fist flew once more, but Ascon's swearing did not end.

The elves who were watching shook their heads. If they were to waste time unnecessarily, they would have to train without being able to sleep.

I've been eating a lot of meat lately, so my stamina has definitely improved compared to before, but it's still difficult because Ascon keeps going wild for longer periods of time.

The people living near the castle, including the elves, have become much healthier thanks to the abundance of meat.

However, large incubators were not installed throughout the territory. They were still expensive to manufacture, so they were not easy to distribute.

Not only did it require a lot of materials, but it also took a considerable amount of time because wizards had to participate in the production process.

But we need to build this in Perdium too.

In the end, we had no choice but to postpone the distribution of large incubators to each village and instead distribute them from major cities to each village.

The first infrastructure needed for this is roads.

Under Giselle's direction, numerous workers were busy building the road, and construction progressed quickly.

Since Ferdium also actively provided soldiers and laborers, the roads connecting the major towns and each castle were somewhat organized.

But the problem was that these roads were not yet properly utilized.

Jiselle gathered her followers together and spoke.

"Now that the road is built, we will start a transportation revolution. If transportation is fast, the development of the territory will also be fast."

Claude asked at that.

"Are you going to bring a large number of horses like I said before?"

"Yes. Right now, the horses in the territory are mostly used as war horses. Since there are not enough horses, transportation is bound to be delayed."

Food, meat, and construction materials used here and there were too bulky to be moved by hand.

However, since there was a significant shortage of horses compared to the size of the territory, support could not be provided quickly and in a timely manner.

In fact, the most time-consuming part of the construction site within the Fenris Estate was waiting for materials.

So, Jiselle also thought that it was time to get a horse. And it wasn't just because it was necessary for transportation.

"If you want to train a large cavalry force, you need a lot more horses."

In order to increase military power, cavalry also had to be increased. Most of the troops in this territory were infantry.

Claude thought it was a good thing and brought up the topic he had left off asking about before.

"How are you going to get it? You said you'd tell me later."

"Didn't you say you weren't against it?"

"Oh, of course! Everything the Lord has done so far has been successful, so why would I oppose it?"

Claude was also a bit irritated now. He had encountered so many unconventional things that he just had to let things happen.

The other vassals did the same. They agreed with soulless expressions.

"Because it is absolutely necessary."

"If it's you, my lord, there must be a way."

"My lord, do whatever you want."

Jiselle smiled contentedly. As expected, sincerity will eventually get through. Now, the annoying and noisy process can be reduced a little.

So I took the opportunity to bring up the topic.

"Didn't our father suffer for a long time in that northern fortress?"

"Yes, that's right. You had a hard time keeping watch and stopping the barbarians from coming to raid all the time. You had no money and you were short on troops."

"Yes, our family's ancestors suffered a lot. Because of them, the territory was always poor. It was already poor, but because of them, it became even poorer."

Claude didn't answer, but just rolled his eyes.

I'm anxious. I'm going to go find a horse, but why is the story so long?

Although the lord often said nonsense, in hindsight it turned out that it was all necessary.

But what does it mean to talk so much? It means that you are about to try something a little dangerous.

As Claude just watched, Giselle blurted out.

"Get ready to go."

"Why? Why are you suddenly going on an expedition? Why are you going on an expedition to find a horse?"

Jiselle continued speaking with an expression that suggested she was holding back something.

"I need to get some discipline out of these savages."

'Why are you holding it!'

Claude felt dizzy.