Domain War (2)

“Damn it!”

Count Bellen hurled the countless documents piled atop his desk.

‘Why on earth did it turn out like this?’

The business he thought was going smoothly collapsed in the blink of an eye.

The merchant guilds he had been dealing with had already disappeared for quite some time, and even the nobles he had connections with turned their backs on him.

At this point, there wasn’t even enough money left to run the many mines owned by the House of the Count.

There wasn’t enough to pay the workers, and no matter how much mining he managed, paying off the debt seemed a hopeless task.

“Clay, Vanhart…!”

Count Bellen glared at the fallen documents on the floor, his eyes reddened.

Those documents detailed recent movements of the Vanhart count family, and upon reading them, Count Bellen could not contain the rage bursting forth.

“So that’s why you wanted that mine? Just how did you know!”

The abandoned mine he had handed over to the Vanhart count family.

He never imagined that there would be mana stones buried there.

“If only, if only I had that!”

Bang!

Unable to control his anger, Count Bellen kicked the desk, shattering it completely and sending it tumbling across the floor.

As someone who had reached the advanced-rank of Sword Expert, such a feat was possible for Count Bellen.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

Letting out rough breaths, Count Bellen tried to gather his thoughts about how to overcome this situation.

“Yes… It was your own doing, Clay Vanhart.”

Either way, if things continued as they were, the House of the Count would fall.

If so, it was better to gamble.

Even if his honor was tarnished, at least he might be able to save the family.

* * *

“A domain war?”

I was confused by Dorian’s sudden report.

“Yes. I never expected Count Bellen to suddenly declare a domain war like this,” he said, his face grave.

I couldn’t help but laugh dryly at Dorian’s words.

Wow, I figured he might do something, but to think he’d actually declare a domain war.

“So, he really has nothing left to lose.”

I tapped the desk with my index finger and asked Dorian, “What’s the reason given for requesting the domain war? He should know that without a valid reason, the request can’t be accepted.”

“Recently, a knight went missing in the Forest of Illusions, and under the pretext that a proper investigation had not been conducted.”

“Unbelievable.”

So, he’s treating Jack Vile’s incident as separate from Nior’s.

He can’t touch Nior’s matter since Riya is involved, so this is all he can do.

“But isn’t that more of a reason for us to request the domain war? What a ridiculous bunch.”

They had knights attack me, targeting my very life.

And yet, now they were pretending nothing happened, which was laughable.

Moreover, Duke Gale was aware that Count Bellen’s household had tried to kill me, since I reported it to him secretly.

I had planned to use Duke Gale to destroy Count Bellen if there were any signs of his recovery, but I never thought he’d actually go through with this.

“We could just refuse.”

A domain war required the king’s approval.

Since Duke Gale knew the whole truth, as long as I refused, the domain war wouldn’t be approved.

“But…”

I slowly stood up and tore Count Bellen’s letter in half.

“Well, should I accept it?”

At my calm words, Dorian stared at me in shock.

“Y-young master, we don’t have nearly enough knights or soldiers to wage a domain war!”

“The number of knights and soldiers is important, but war isn’t always that simple.”

“… Excuse me?”

Numbers certainly matter in war, but numbers alone don’t determine victory or defeat.

If the outcome could be decided by numbers alone, there would be no need for strategy or tactics.

“And if the House of the Count collapses now, it could have been a bit troublesome.”

After what happened in Eintban, Jade established a branch of the Thieves’ Guild in the Vanhart territory.

He even personally came to Talua kingdom for it.

I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but since it didn’t hurt me, I chose not to worry about it.

According to information Jade acquired, the Deoric family was making moves to devour the Bellen family.

That sort of thing would normally be impossible, but in the current financial state of Bellen, it was more than plausible.

‘But if there’s a domain war, that’s a different story.’

If the domain war proceeded, and I won, the Bellen family would be utterly disintegrated.

Everything they owned would naturally become the property of House Vanhart.

‘If it comes to that, Deoric isn’t going to just stand by…’

That was a problem for later.

For now, I needed to crush the immediate enemy—Count Bellen’s family.

* * *

After sending my reply to the Bellen family, I summoned everyone in the mansion.

The area was about to be transformed into a warzone, so I wanted to tell them to find shelter elsewhere for a while.

“Fufufu. That noble… was more entertaining than I thought,”

Riya was the first to speak.

She laughed with poise, her hand elegantly covering her mouth, but her eyes were chilling.

“So, what do you think, Clay? If it’s knights or soldiers you need, we have them in abundance, you know?”

“I have no intention of borrowing the Empire’s power. That would prevent me from achieving what I want.”

If it could be solved simply by brute force, there were many ways other than relying on the Empire.

But I couldn’t reach my true goals through those methods.

“I didn’t accept this domain war for mere material gain.”

“… I see. You wish to demonstrate your, and Vanhart’s, strength by winning against the Bellen family, don’t you?”

“That’s right.”

As expected, Riya immediately grasped the meaning behind my words.

Monet, on the other hand, looked worried.

“But isn’t it okay? We’re short on knights and soldiers.”

“True, we haven’t recruited more knights or soldiers yet. But… we have plenty of money now, right?”

“You plan on hiring mercenaries.”

“Exactly.”

This time it was Maria, who’d just arrived at the mansion today, that replied.

She didn’t show the slightest change in expression, even though she’d been summoned so suddenly after barely unpacking.

“But mercenaries aren’t considered part of the family’s strength, are they?”

It seemed Monet was especially anxious, since this was her first domain war.

To put her at ease, I decided to explain more thoroughly.

“With normal mercenaries, that would be the case. But I’m thinking of hiring Eintban mercenaries.”

Eintban mercenaries are hard to hire.

To put it simply, they’re the premium among mercenaries.

Their skill easily rivals that of most knights.

“As you know, it’s quite a distance from our domain to Eintban. Under normal circumstances, no amount of money would convince mercenaries to come this far.”

Unless we had a close relationship with the Eintban mercenaries.

“In other words, I get to show off both my network and my financial power.”

“So that’s why mother isn’t here today.”

“Exactly. I asked her for a favor in a hurry.”

It would probably take some time for her to make the round trip.

But at least, she should be able to return in time for the domain war.

‘With just the help of Black Skull Company and a few other groups, I should have no trouble winning this domain war.’

If this were before, it would have been different, but now Bellen’s finances had deteriorated so much that their former combat strength was gone.

With hired mercenaries instead of soldiers, we would have more than enough force to defeat them.

“So, that’s the situation. I’m sorry for the trouble, Maria, since you just arrived at the mansion, but you should take shelter in another domain for a while.”

“No, I’m fine. I don’t think there’ll be any particular danger.”

Maria glanced sidelong at Riya as she replied.

[Right. With that lizard woman here, where could be safer? Not just other domains—even most kingdoms wouldn’t be safer than here.]

True, I thought the same.

It was just a precaution—honestly, I didn’t expect any real danger.

Domain wars are waged for honor. Normally, meaningless destruction to each other’s domains doesn’t occur.

“Well, that’s all for now. Sorry for calling you all at such a late hour.”

After explaining everything, I stood up.

Everyone else was about to head to bed, so there was no need to hold them any longer.

At that moment, Maria also rose, speaking as she did.

“Ah, Clay… mm.”

She abruptly covered her mouth.

Ever since she returned from Eintban, Maria always called me “Count” when allowed.

Calling me by my name seemed accidental this time.

“You can call me informally in front of those here.”

“Ah, yes.”

Maria let out a sigh of relief and smiled brightly.

For a moment, I found myself staring blankly at her.

I’d always known she was beautiful, but when she smiled like that, it was genuinely hard to look away.

“Hmph.”

Then, I heard a faint sound from Riya and turned to see her eyes slightly darkened, almost sunken.

That was when I realized I’d been staring at Maria—and quickly cleared my throat, switching topics.

“Ahem. So, what is it?”

“Well…”

Maria glanced quickly at Riya and spoke in a careful voice.

“I’d like to speak with you outside. It’s a little… confidential for here…”

What? Something secretive enough that it couldn’t be said here?

“All right, let’s talk outside then.”

I left the parlor with Maria.

After confirming no one was around, Maria spoke in a very small voice.

“So… should we start tonight?”

“Oh, that.”

Maria was asking if we should begin using the ‘dream’ technique tonight.

Sure, it wasn’t something to discuss in front of others.

“Right. Come to my room tonight.”

“Understood.”

There was no reason to delay, since every day was precious.

Honestly, in my heart, I wanted to ask her to start immediately.

“Oh my, fufufu.”

If only I hadn’t heard Riya’s sinister laugh behind me.

Maria, startled by Riya’s sudden appearance, swallowed hard and her face went pale for once.

“… When did you get here?”

“I was just curious—what private chat you two could have, so I used a little magic. And I heard quite an amusing conversation.”

That’s eavesdropping.

“I never imagined you two would be… spending nights in the same room,”

Riya continued, her eyes narrowing into slits like a lizard’s.

She was on the verge of activating her Dragon Eyes.

But, of course, her gaze was not directed at me.

Dragon Eyes were pointed squarely at Maria, right beside me.

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