Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!

Chapter 312: Keep a Close Eye on Him

I didn’t wake up until late afternoon. The victory banquet had stretched late into the night—or maybe into the early morning—and I must have slept deeply out of sheer exhaustion. The moment I came down to the living room, I heard Michael’s voice.

"Damn it, I think I drank way too much at the banquet yesterday."

Michael was suffering from a hangover. Margareta glared at him with utter disdain and ordered an attendant to bring him honey water. My younger brother-in-law was nowhere to be seen.

Spotting me, Margareta asked, "Shall I have some honey water made for you too, brother-in-law?"

"No, I’m fine. I don’t get hangovers."

"If I remember correctly, you drank an enormous amount keeping up with the imperial crown prince."

"No matter how much I drink, I never get drunk."

"What? I can’t let that slide! Brother-in-law! How about a drinking match with me?"

A ferocious smack on the back from Margareta sent Michael rolling across the floor. Tsk tsk, I knew he’d get hit. Michael may be the number two man in the Military Department and quite a high official, but at home he’s just an immature big brother.

I leisurely sipped my herbal tea and finished a late meal.

After taking several more smacks on the back from Margareta, a grumbling Michael asked, "So when are you heading back to Feuzen, anyway?"

"As soon as possible. I have a mountain of work waiting: preparing for the move, negotiating ransoms, sorting out the spoils of war. And my beloved Hilda is waiting for me."

Honestly, everything else was just an excuse. Wanting to see Hilda was the biggest reason. Michael seemed terribly envious of the grand duke’s favor, which had exempted me from attending the triumphal ceremony. As if that were the only thing he envied.

Michael groaned that the cleanup was harder than the civil war itself. Of course the aftermath is harder than the war. Tearing things down is easy; building them back up is hard. And Michael was the one in charge of the cleanup.

Even limited to the duchy’s own forces, the work had piled up enormously: rewarding the mobilized duchy soldiers according to their military merit, releasing them from service, processing the spoils of war, sorting supplies, and so on. And they were desperately short-handed.

My father-in-law was busy dealing with the princes, so he’d dumped everything on Michael.

That’s why Michael kept whining like that.

"Ugh, and here I was, about to ask you to help out with the Military Department’s workload."

"Why don’t you call in those fellows I introduced you to at the banquet and put them to work?"

"Oh? I’m allowed to use them?"

They’d be grinding away under Michael for a while, but every bit of it would become valuable experience. Hands-on practice is that important. Margareta, looking thoroughly fed up, said to Michael, "Brother, how about you kindly get out of my house?"

"Oh, my darling Marz! Curse the fate that keeps us trapped in the east for the time being!"

"I’m going to charge you for lodging! Every penny counts right now."

"By all means. The Finance Department pays for it anyway."

Margareta glared resentfully at Michael as he snickered and drank his honey water. All of the Military Department’s funds are disbursed by the Finance Department, and since Adelbert is only the acting Finance Minister, he doesn’t have much clout.

Hmm, I’d also billed all the expenses of running the Royal Artillery Corps to the Administrative Department. Wenzenberg should have arrived in Breisburg by now—I wondered if the Administrative Minister had fainted at the sight of the bill.

I instructed Anton to prepare for our return, including purchasing the supplies and goods the Gale Knights would need. It would take at least two or three days, but there was nothing left for me in the east.

The grand duke was apparently planning a massive triumphal ceremony and tournament in the capital, but now that I was a baron, I felt no need to participate, and I’d even received the grand duke’s permission to skip it.

I wanted to hurry home and savor a cozy reunion with Hilda. But Viola kept hesitating, as if there were something she wanted to say to me. Come to think of it, she’d seemed to be agonizing over something whenever she saw me these past few days.

"Viola, is there something you want to tell me?"

"It’s nothing, Master."

It didn’t seem like nothing. Whether because of the pregnancy or for some other reason, Viola had been gloomy the whole time. After thinking it over carefully, I narrowed it down to two conclusions.

If I took Viola to Rosenheim, it would be hard for her to see her parents and Prince Louis again. Truthfully, being married off to a distant land is practically a permanent farewell; the journey back to visit isn’t an easy one.

Prince Louis had forbidden visits ever since that day, but it seemed that simply being in the same place had given Viola some comfort. I’d been somewhat lacking in consideration for her.

"You’re worried about leaving your parents and Prince Louis behind here, aren’t you?"

Viola’s startled eyes reminded me of a rabbit’s. Hmm, our Viola was the type whose every thought showed on her face. Fallen as her family was, she still carried traces of a noble house’s young lady about her.

In fact, fallen nobles are sometimes worse off than commoners, usually because they’re saddled with massive debts. It might come from gambling, or it might be a punishment. A cruel twist of fate.

When I told her I would grant whatever she wished, Viola shook her head.

"You’ve already given me so much support, Master. Asking for more would be shameless."

"Is that so? Well, I’m always willing to help you, so speak up anytime."

"Thank you, Master. Next to Lord Louis, you’ve been the kindest person to me."

Next to Lord Louis, huh. Louis must have truly cherished Viola. That’s why she misses him like that from time to time. It’s just a shame they can’t be together.

"I’ve been named commander of the Grand Duke’s Guard. His Highness gave me his final confirmation today."

You drank with me until dawn and then went right back to work?

The man is a real monster. Being a ruler isn’t easy either.

"Congratulations on finding your place, brother-in-law."

"So you knew I was drifting on the fringes of the Military Department?"

The position of a second son overshadowed by the heir is far too limited. Ulrich, who had always been brusque, smiled in front of me for what seemed like the first time. He had endured brutal torture as the price of that position.

"I owe you a great deal, brother-in-law. If you hadn’t saved us back then, only the Lord knows what would have happened."

"I always feel regret when I think back on that time. Wasn’t I too late?"

"Not at all. You did your best. No one could have done more."

"Hearing you say that lightens my heart considerably."

It felt like the longest conversation I’d ever had with Ulrich. He’d always been a man of one-word answers. But whether he was in an especially good mood or had completely opened his heart to me, the conversation ran long.

"Do you remember what I told you before about the Swiss Confederation?"

"I remember. You named it a disputed region, along with Strasbourg."

"I’ve acquired some very interesting information. It should interest you as well, brother-in-law."

Hmm, interesting information? Somehow I doubted I’d find it interesting at all. What Ulrich told me concerned a southern prince connected to the Swiss Confederation—which meant the problem was that it lay uncomfortably close to Rosenheim.

"The Count of Basel. Keep a close eye on him."

"What sinister scheme is he plotting this time?"

"The Senbach family of Zurich, in the Swiss Confederation, is related to him by marriage."

"Wait, don’t tell me the ones who lent the Count of Basel the money for his massive reparations were..."

"That’s right. The Senbach family secretly backed him."

I knew the Senbach family to be among the wealthiest in the entire Swiss Confederation, and Zurich was also a region that had signed a trade agreement with Breisburg. I’d heard rumors of their staggering wealth.