347

Episode 347 I guess I should prepare in advance. (3)

Jisel observed the situation in the territory for several days. The expansion of the territory of the Forest of Demons was going well in Ferdium, and the newly acquired resources were coming in without any problems.

Since the groundwork for land development and business has already been laid, all we have to do is proceed as is.

In particular, production of equipment has increased compared to before. This is because we have taken over Desmond's territory and secured many high-level blacksmiths.

Giselle, who had confirmed that people were going well, spoke to Claude.

"I think it's time to build another new facility."

"… … What is it?"

"Have you accumulated quite a bit of fairy blessings now?"

"Yes. Since it is a medicinal herb, I tried to be as careful as possible and bring it little by little, but it has piled up quite a bit."

The Fairy's Blessing is valuable in itself, but it is also a rare and expensive medicine. Right now, the Fenris Territory has secured so much Fairy's Blessing that if they were to release it all at once, the market price would drop significantly.

"Let's build a potion manufacturing facility."

"Hmm, I see."

Claude nodded without showing any sign of surprise.

The reason why Fairy's Blessing is expensive is because it is used in making various high-grade medicines as well as potions.

Claude had expected that he would one day brew a potion since Giselle had told him not to sell the fairy's blessing but to keep it aside.

Making potions was one of the most important sources of income for wizards. Some magic towers even specialized in making potions.

"It would be better to use the magicians in two shifts."

"Yes, we have construction work to do."

There were quite a few wizards in the Fenris Territory. Jisel had gathered wizards by building a magic laboratory, but they were actually participating more in construction than in research.

Now that the foundation for territory development has been established, it would be a loss to devote all of the high-level manpower of magicians to construction. Now is the time for Fenris to produce its own magic tools and other items.

Jiselle was the first to order the creation of a potion.

Claude said, after quickly forming a plan in his head.

"First, we will build a large-scale potion manufacturing facility next to the magic laboratory."

"Yeah. Do you know why we make them?"

"You're probably just trying to start another fight."

Jiselle laughed at those words. It was really convenient now that she understood without having to explain it at length.

If it were the old days, I would have tried to make money by selling potions.

"Okay. Make sure every soldier has two potions as a basic requirement during the exhibition."

Claude's head started spinning at those words. That would require making tens of thousands of potions.

It would be impossible to do so even if you spent several years' worth of the budget of a small territory. No matter how large the territory was, it did not have that many potions.

"Hey, wouldn't that be too difficult right now?"

"There are enough ingredients, right? They will continue to come in."

"It's not the materials that are the problem, it's the people… … ."

"You have to keep rolling. What else can you do?"

"… … ."

The number of wizards is increasing little by little. However, if they were to make that many potions, they would all die without being able to sleep.

It seemed like I had to be more active in fishing for wizards.

"After checking the situation and giving new instructions, Giselle spoke to Claude.

"Everything is going well. I'll be back in a bit."

Claude asked with a salty expression at Giselle's words.

"How long has it been since you came back that you're going out again right away?"

"There's too much to do. There's no time to do it any other way. We have to get going right now."

There was a lot to be done to weaken the power of the Duke. We had to move quickly while there was even a little bit of an opening.

Claude scratched his head. In fact, it was a good thing for him that the lord had been away for so long.

"So how many people are you taking with you this time?"

"I'll just take Arel with me."

"What? You're going without a proper escort? What are you going to do with Arel?"

"I'm going to take you with me and train you more while I'm at it. Anyway, make some fake IDs for you. I have a place I need to go secretly."

Claude narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Going somewhere secretly meant doing something bad or dangerous.

Seeing that, Jiselle shrugged her shoulders and said.

"I'm going south."

"If you're going to die, at least terminate my slave contract before you do so."

The South is a region ruled by the Dukes. If Jiselle appears, they will think it is right and try to kill her right away.

"So, make me a fake ID. I'm going to go disguised. And I'm not going to go too far. I'm only going to the southern entrance, so don't worry too much."

"Why are you going…?"

"I'm going to weaken the enemy forces and also do some personal business."

Jiselle gave a rough outline of what kind of identification I needed to create.

Claude still looked suspicious, but nodded without saying anything. Still, he must have been confident, as always.

Under Belinda's leadership, preparations for the trip were quickly completed. Now, no one would stop the lord from doing anything crazy.

'It's comfortable to just let it go, thinking everyone else is like that, but something feels a bit… . . . '

Giselle, who had made a wig and a beard and taken a fake noble ID card, spoke to Arel.

"let's go."

"yes!"

The two men left the estate in a carriage carrying only a few items of luggage.

* * *

At first, we came comfortably on the wide road, but as we got closer to the south, the road became rougher and fewer people came and went.

"Ugh!"

During that time, Arel was tortured by Giselle every day under the pretense of gaining mana. To him, it felt like real torture.

It got better than before, but the pain just wouldn't go away.

If the time was set, I would have prepared myself mentally, but since it came out of nowhere, it was completely unpredictable. Jiselle just sat there and then suddenly muttered to herself.

"Well, now would be a good time to do it."

Then it starts now. It doesn't matter where it is.

It was the same even then. The two people were in the middle of the street.

Even though it was a place with few people, Jiselle stopped Arel in the middle of the road and taught him Mana training again. And she did it by force.

"Coolook!"

As always, Arel vomited blood and collapsed.

Still, I didn't faint like the first time. It hurt, but it wasn't bad enough to cause fainting anymore.

As Arel lay down to rest, several rough-looking men approached from across the street.

"Hey, what are you doing here, bothering my friend?"

"Don't you know this is our territory? No matter how much you like to rip off your friends, you can't do that here."

"Wow, I didn't know you had such bad morals. I'm going to have to give you a scolding."

The men were bandits operating in the area. They were convinced when they saw Arel coughing up blood.

'They're weaklings!'

Thieves aren't stupid either, so they keep a close eye on people passing by. If there's a knight among those they attack, they'll get sick.

But the guys I met this time seemed easy to deal with.

The carriage was also dirty, and among the two people in the group, Aesong was lying down, vomiting blood. From a distance, it looked like he was rubbing her back, but judging from the blood he was vomiting, it seemed like he was sick.

Thieves, convinced that their opponents are weak, show up to steal their treasure.

"Well, you've figured out the situation, right? Do you want to leave the carriage and go back? Or do you want to die here? By the way, we really enjoy killing."

"hmm."

Looking at the thieves, Giselle nodded.

Although it is at the southern entrance, this area is also a buffer zone between the royalist faction and the southern region. Naturally, public safety is not good.

The lords also knew that the security was poor, but they deliberately left it alone. If war were to break out anyway, this would most likely become the fiercest battlefield.

So, there were a lot of lawbreakers, such as thieves and bandits, roaming around this area.

Arel, who had been lying there bleeding, staggered to his feet and wiped his mouth.

"Are you a group of thieves?"

Arel's eyes sparkled as he spoke. Having had his village decimated by barbarians, he had a pathological hatred for those who plundered others like that.

Jiselle nodded.

"Yeah, they're thieves. They're the ones who always show up in secluded places like this."

"Why is that so?"

"That's just how it is."

Jiselle answered in a tone of obviousness and then asked Arel with a smile.

"Would you like to try it? Can you move?"

"Yes, I felt better after lying down for a while."

There were about five thieves. They were probably scouts.

As Arel staggered toward them, drawing his sword, the bandits laughed at him.

"No, what if someone who is sick comes here like this?"

"You can't even walk properly, yet you're acting like a guest."

"Let's just kill him quickly and take the carriage. Before the others come."

The thieves also snickered and approached Arel, each holding a weapon.

The first thief to arrive picked up an axe and swung it carelessly.

"Die, you sick bastard."

Chomp!

"… … ?"

The thief was beheaded before he could even fully swing his axe. He looked like he had no idea how he got cut.

Kuung!

Arel walked on, still staggering, leaving the fallen thief behind.

"Huh? What is this kid?"

The thieves following behind stopped walking and looked bewildered. No matter how you looked at him, he looked like a sick person, and he couldn't even walk properly, but his comrades had been killed in an instant by him.

"This kid!"

Another thief, thinking it was a coincidence, approached and swung his sword. Arel barely dodged to the side, staggering as if his legs had given out.

Chomp!

As Arel's sword swung again, the thief fell down with a long cut to the chest. Arel swung his sword with great precision, even though he staggered.

― You must know how to wield your weapon accurately at any time and in any situation.

It was Giselle who told me first.

Arel always kept that teaching in mind and tried not to forget it.

"Huh? Huh?"

The remaining bandits stopped approaching and retreated. He looked like a sick chicken, and with each swing of his sword, his comrades died.

The thieves looked at each other. If all three attacked at the same time, they could kill him, but it seemed certain that the one who attacked first would die.

"Hey, you go first."

"No, you go first."

"I'll hit it from the side."

Even as the thieves watched him closely, Arel slowly approached them. He never let his guard down even when dealing with lowly thieves.

That's because I learned from Jiselle that I should always do that regardless of my physical condition. The person who actually taught me that is just a reckless fighting style.

Thud, thud.

As Arel approached, the bandits retreated. They looked at each other and no one dared to step forward.

Finally, one of the bandits turned around and shouted.

"You! Shit! Just wait right here! I'll call my comrades!"

Then the two remaining thieves also turned around.

"Okay! Just wait!"

"I won't leave you alone! You idiot!"

I thought he wouldn't be able to keep up since he was staggering and couldn't even walk properly.

Certainly, Arel's current physical condition made it impossible for him to run fast.

At that moment, the thieves were about to walk forward confidently.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

All three died at the same time, their heads exploding.

It wasn't Arel who did it. He doesn't have that level of ability yet.

Jiselle had already pulled out the thread of mana and was watching the situation before bursting it.

The bodies of the thieves with their heads blown off staggered around and fell down.

Jiselle, who clicked her tongue, approached Arel and patted his shoulder.

"Well done. You must have practiced swordsmanship very hard."

"thank you."

Arel silently bowed his head. Giselle smiled happily as she looked at Arel like that.

Although he didn't have any disciples in his previous life, he did teach many subordinates. However, there was no one he liked as much as Arel.

It's not a matter of talent. In his previous life, he had many subordinates who were much more talented and sensible than Arel.

But no one was more persistent than Arel. The silent effort and tenacity he displayed were admirable to those who saw them.

People like this are rare. That's why Jiselle was quite fond of Arel.

Even though I can't teach you every day, I can teach you the highest level of swordsmanship and mana training methods.

After dealing with the bandits, they leisurely headed towards their destination again.

The schedule was simple: just move around while practicing, rest when you see a village, and find food to eat until you reach the next village.

Sometimes, when thieves or monsters like this appear, Arel kills them while training.

And after a while.

"They all came."

Finally arriving at her destination, Giselle muttered as she looked at the castle in the distance.

The place where the two people were was at the southern entrance, and it was a territory that was located in a corner. Even though it was located in a corner, it was a fairly large territory, so it was not a territory that could be easily ignored.

The ruler of this territory is the Earl of Mowbray, who has not yet joined either side and claims to be neutral.

However, there was a widespread prediction among the nobles that the Earl of Mowbray would eventually bow to the Duke due to geographical circumstances.

What is peculiar is that the Earl of Mowbray rarely does any outside activities. It wasn't like that originally, but at some point it changed that way.

As a result, there were now very few territories interacting with the Mowbray Territory.

As he got closer to the castle, Arel felt something strange.

"It's a very… quiet estate."

"Yes. Something bad has happened to the lord. So the people of the lord have no choice but to watch out and live quietly."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"You'll find out soon enough. I'm here to help you figure it out."

The Earl of Mowbray was a neutral lord who did not get involved in anything. He was a strong and powerful lord who did not even fear the dukedom.

He had declared that he would neither help nor hinder anyone as long as they did not touch him.

But in his previous life, he ended up joining the Duke's forces because the Duke had solved his troublesome problems.

As they approached the gate, the soldiers' eyes became fierce. They seemed extremely wary of anyone approaching.

Jiselle stopped the carriage for a moment and looked up at the sky above the castle in the distance.

At first glance, there was nothing wrong, but when I focused my senses, I felt a subtle energy surrounding the castle. It was similar to the remnants of the energy I had felt in my previous life.

Although it has become noticeably weaker now.

"You came to the right place."

Jiselle smiled. Now it was time to gain new strength.