Dwarven Dame

Eilz Kartis had come to Maust Castle,and  so we took the opportunity to have a talk .

He looked like any kind old man when carrying his grandchild, but when we were alone together, he emanated the aura of an accomplished villain by just sitting there .

“Even I had not thought of destroying House Rentland so early . Your talents are most impressive . ”

“I looked at the geography and decided that if we could get through the mountain pa.s.s quickly, the situation would move in our favor . There was definitely a risk on whether or not we would be able to take the fort, but the enemy would surely have their guard down, so I decided that it was a risk worth taking . ”

“Yes, that is what is most impressive about you . ”

Eilz laughed wryly . He had more white hairs on his head than the last time we met .

“I too can make tough decisions . I may be a senior statesman, but I will purge any who are suspicious, and stop uprisings before they have a chance to begin . I am confident in my abilities . However, you are so fearfully adept at warfare itself…”

He was chuckling, but about a third of his face expressed genuine fear .

“It was the same when defendeding Nagrad Fort . You displayed a certain genius ability in terms of fighting . Without it, it would have taken at least five years of scheming in Naguri prefecture . And yet you used this weapon known as ‘war’ to finish it in no time…”

“I, I tell myself that I’ve received a divine blessing from G.o.d when I act . Because–”

I drank a little bit of the wine on the table .

“A Hero who is great enough to make their own country must be protected by G.o.d . You need that much luck, or else you will die along the way . ”

“Make a country, eh… That’s not entirely nonsense…”

Hahh… Eilz sighed deeply .

“Please don’t rob by sons and daughters of their lands . My children other than Serafina are also dear to me . ”

“Father, you should spread out with your forces to the west . I promise you, I will not send any troops in that direction . I will not mistreat the father of my wife . I mean it . ”

“Thank you,” Eilz said .

It was at that moment, that I stood above him .

The fact that Ha.s.se declared himself the crown prince made quite the splash in the royal capital as well .

The dynasty decreed that any lords who visited Ha.s.se would be stripped of t.i.tles and lands . But of course, they had no power to put it into effect .

I lost the pretext of keeping the peace now, but that only had meaning when your opponent’s forces were antagonizing you . And currently, there were no lords who could fight against me head-on . None could pose a threat .

In the first place, when the current Paffus the 6th had been on the insurrectionists’ side, Grandra the 3rd had stripped him of his status . In other words, the king’s orders were no longer absolute .

The reason was simple .

“–An Imperial degree would mean nothing if the royal line was split into two . ”

My concubine, Fleur said . She was reading the letter that had arrived that demanded I hand over the crown prince .

I was now dozing off on her lap .

It was after the huge task of nominating Ha.s.se and gathering all the lords together, so I need a short rest .

“That’s true . A lord who has angered one king can nominate the other and improve his position . But if such a thing continued, the authority of kings.h.i.+p would fall . You could call it, reaping what you sow . ”

“The temple seems to be in quite the flurry as well . Especially temples that have had their authority guaranteed through praying for the king’s house . They must be quite troubled over who to side with . ”

“We’ve made great advancements in terms of a.s.signing temple territories . Thanks to you, Fleur . ”

Fleur’s abilities with business were indeed very high . She had met with several temple priests and gave me a detailed explanation of the current situation . Which temples were allies, which were enemies . That allowed me to know which I should protect or not protect .

“I am happy to be of service to you, Count . ”

“I am happy to be of service to you, Count . ”

I got up and wrapped my arms around her .

“Don’t talk to me so formally . You are one of my wives as well . You can call me ‘dear’ when we are alone together . ”

“Thank you, de-dear…”

Serafina and Raviara were still tired after giving birth . And while I did meet with them, I still ended spending more time with Fleur these days .

Also, it wasn’t that I was obsessed with her body . Fleur had a sharp mind for politics . There was a lot I could learn from her .

“By the way, there was one very brilliant person among Ha.s.se’s va.s.sals . It seems that this person has worked very hard so that Ha.s.se and his family could live comfortably . Apparently, the person is a dwarf . ”

“Dwarf? Is he really?”

Fleur looked at humans with different eyes than me .

When I think of dwarves, though, not all of them, I think of bearded warriors . I also knew some who were specialists in gardening and were quite famous .

“Oh, the person is not a man, but a woman . But not a lady of the court either . She serves as a knight . I think her name was Kelara Helara . ”

“Dwarves do have the funniest names . But, I get it . I will meet with her when I can . ”

But to tell the truth, I was quite doubtful .

The thing was, I could not believe that anyone serving under Ha.s.se could be that brilliant . A person with any talent would have gone and served someone else . Was this knight highly favored?

But when I finally did call for this woman, my impression was quite unexpected .

But when I finally did call for this woman, my impression was quite unexpected .

“I have arrived . I am Kelara Helera, Prince Ha.s.se’s bodyguard . I am from a poor village to the west, my family were farmer-generals . From the fourth generation on, we were also trained as warriors . And so I was raised alongside Prince Ha.s.se . ”

I had expected a small woman when hearing that she was a dwarf, but she was not much different than me in height . She had brown skin, as was common in dwarves, and her voice would not have stood out among the descendants of any n.o.bles .

“I have heard that even when Prince Ha.s.se was a vagrant, that you managed several ceremonies for him, as would be appropriate for royalty . Can you tell me about that?”

“Very well . It was a ceremony for the beginning of January…”

Without hesitation, Kelara began to explain the different rites that happened within the year . Surprisingly, it was not just a memorization of ceremonies, she knew about the origins and past examples as well . She offered information on what could be changed and what to replace it with .

“–And so, va.s.sals are granted swords in this ceremony . But the history of it only goes back one hundred years, so you can resort to an even older custom instead . Next–”

“No, that is enough . I understand it well . ”

I understood that she was intelligent .

Kelara, huh . I wanted her to serve me . She would be very different compared to any of my current subjects .

A new female character has arrived . I hope that you enjoy it!