Chapter 259 (1/2)

Chapter 259

–Aegir POV–

「It’s been a while . How was that woman from that-……mgh . 」

In the capital, I call out to Erich while he was waiting outside for an audience with the King, but he covers my mouth before I could finish .

「Don’t say anything unnecessary! ……especially now, I don’t know what effect your words will have . 」

He’s making such a big deal over having fun with a woman .

I don’t think he has that pure of an image to keep up though .

No, that’s not it .

The girl Erich is targeting might be right here .

In that case, I can understand not wanting to bring up something like that .

When I look around, I see a maid, who stares back at me blankly .

She still looks young but her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and a.s.s are wonderfully juicy .

The unbalanced feeling created by her childlike face probably arouses him .

I turn back to Erich and grin .

「I get it now . Hah, hah, hah, I can understand wanting a body like that . 」

「Surely you and I are thinking of something different . Don’t say anything strange during the audience with the King . 」

Fufufu, Erich’s surprisingly pure-hearted if he’s hiding his embarra.s.sment like this .

I call over the maid for something trivial, trying to get her near Erich, but then the King summons us .

「Long time no see, Hardlett . Good work Military Commissioner, glad of you to make it while you’re so busy . 」

「Happy to see you, Your Majesty . 」「There is no duty greater than serving you, Your Majesty . 」

The King is seated on his throne as usual .

There doesn’t seem to be any particular changes, but I have this inexplicably unsettling feeling .

It feels like he’s in a hurry or he’s afraid of something .

It seems similar to when Celia is trying to endure going to the toilet .

The anguished face she makes is really cute when I purposely drag the conversation, but if it ends up leaking, she ends up sulking for a week so I try to control myself .

「Umu, by the way I believe you were a little late coming to the capital . 」

Oh really?

I thought I made it here with plenty of time to spare since I rushed to make it in time for Dorothea to give birth .

Besides, I don’t remember the exact timing this happened last year .

Oh well, guess I’ll apologize .

「I am terribly sorry . I would have come sooner if I could……」

The King looks at my eyes as he speaks .

「The night before last, it seems you ran into the city in quite the hurry, what was that about?」

He’s well informed .

It wasn’t a secret so I boldly declared myself to the guards before entering the city, but I didn’t think the King would pay attention specifically to that .

There’s no reason to lie here then .

「The fact is, I rushed over to my mansion in the capital because one of the women I got pregnant was giving birth . 」

「Is it a n.o.ble’s child? Which house is she from?」

Normally, he would say something like, “what a l.u.s.tful man, please do such things in moderation” .

「She is someone who runs an orphanage in the city so I am not familiar with which house she belongs to, though she is cute . 」

The King immediately looks behind him .

Waiting there is Rebecca .

I want to wave at her, but now doesn’t seem like the right time .

The King speaks with Rebecca about something before finally showing a smile .

「Umu, is that so? You’re as lascivious as ever, if you indulge too much, you’ll get stabbed by a woman sooner or later . 」

The King laughs, followed by his advisers and then Erich .

I can see the smiles on the advisers’ faces are somewhat strained .

The atmosphere feels different than before for some reason .

「I’ll be careful, Your Majesty . 」

「Hahaha, I don’t believe you can control yourself when it comes to women though . 」

The King changes the subject .

「I hear that the mountain erupted while you were fighting with Vandolea . I know it also caused you much trouble, but Vandolea and Altair have been rendered powerless for the time being . 」

The King’s voice, which should be directed at me, is slowly getting softer .

It is almost as if he’s trying to rea.s.sure himself .

「We will now focus on domestic affairs, it is time to build up our national power . If they attack us, no mercy will be shown, but there is no need to be proactive . The most important enemies are traitors, we will find them and eradicate……」

「Your Majesty? I apologize, but I find it somewhat hard to hear . 」

The King lifts his head and forces a smile on his face .

「Don’t mind me, it’s nothing important . 」

The King once again peeks at my eyes as he composes himself .

「Anyways, I hear you have an iron mine in your territory, is that right? I have been told operations have been growing in size every year . 」

So he asked about it .

Adolph also told me this would happen so I’m not surprised .

The unexpected thing was the King asking me about it personally .

「Yes, the mine has been contributing to the replenishment of lost equipment from the last campaign . 」

I’m not the best when it comes to deceiving people, however I’ve been told countless times to mention this information when talking about the mine .

This should be a flawless explanation .

「……umu, and that mine you have is indeed an iron mine?」

「Sire, what do you mean by that?」

What else but iron will come out from the mine?

Don’t tell me there is a mine which produces living women .

The King seems to get fl.u.s.tered when he sees me confused .

「That was a foolish question . A feudal lord in the north pretended to have a copper mine when in fact he was mining gold . On top of that, he would secretly transport it to other countries . 」

“Of course his entire family was killed”, the King concludes peevishly .

「I don’t want to a.s.sume the worst, I just wanted to ask all feudal lords with mines in their possession as a precaution . Forgive me . 」

「I understand . I have not been told of what else was taken from the mine besides iron . If you require it, shall I report back anything I find?」

If he’s really interested, I could ask Claire .

It’s not an area I am particularly involved in .

「No, it’s fine! That was foolish of me…… forget it . 」

The King seems agitated as he drinks his cup of tea, then proceeds to the next question .

This feels more like an interrogation than an audience .

When I look over at Erich, he doesn’t seem surprised .

He’s only nodding with his eyes closed after every response .

Is he telling me to continue obediently answering the King?

「The amount of soldiers you brought with you is small . I know your personal army is close to ten thousand strong, what of the other soldiers?」

「The soldiers are exhausted from the fight with Vandolea, so I allowed the soldiers who wanted to go home to leave . In addition, many soldiers lost their weapons and armor from the unexpected mountain incident . I would imagine bringing unarmed soldiers to the capital would not be a pleasant sight, so I held back everyone except my retinue . 」

The real reason is that moving soldiers around unnecessarily costs too much money and it has no benefit so I don’t want to do it .

I didn’t tell a lie .

Most of the bow cavalry went back to their home and I haven’t finished distributing equipment to all the soldiers yet .

「Despite the chaos, I also have to station border security to guard against Vandolea . I will eventually a.s.sign national guards from the royal army, but for the time being I have asked Lord Hardlett to supply soldiers . 」

Erich is backing me up .

The King forces another smile on his face and moves onto the next thing like nothing happened .

「Right . Of course . There was actually a certain feudal lord plotting to rebel so I’ve become too sensitive to the gathering of personal soldiers . Do not mind me . 」

「Yes, sire . 」

A shady mine and a rebellion .

Even without enemies, Goldonia has become quite dangerous .

「In any case, that is all I have to say . Tomorrow night, a banquet will be scheduled for all feudal lords to gather . Delicacies from all over the nation will be prepared so enjoy it to the fullest . I would probably need to prepare a beautiful dancer to entertain you though . 」

「Of course, Your Majesty . 」

That felt like the first time the King smiled for real .

With the audience finished, Erich and I walk alongside each other to his office located within the royal palace .

We are heading there under the pretense of confirming the situation in Vandolea and adjusting border security, but we are in fact just going to have a celebratory drink for our reunion .

「……」

On the way to the room, Erich only talked about border related issues supposedly meant as a cover up .

I wouldn’t understand any of that unless I asked Leopolt .

Celia tries her best to answer when she could, though it doesn’t stop Erich from babbling on .

It was like he didn’t expect a reply and he wanted simply to talk non-stop .

When we finally enter the office, Erich tells his secretary about an important meeting he will be having, then locks his now double-layered door .

He also walks to the window side, confirming the window isn’t open before letting out a sigh .

「Now, what were we talking about?」

「Aah…… something about the border?」

I glance at Celia, who makes a blank face .

「Nevermind about that . 」

Erich drops himself on a chair .

So that was meaningless talk after all?

That irks me a little, so I circle my hand around Celia and rub her b.u.t.t .

「gk-!?」

She can’t make any strange movements while in front of Erich, so she tries to remain standing straight while blus.h.i.+ng, then glares back at me .

This feels nice .

I get this strange sensation of dominance .

I take a gulp of the alcohol Erich serves me and sit down facing him .

「That girl following you all the time, she can be trusted, right?」

「Of course . 」

If I can’t trust Celia, there is n.o.body in this world I can trust .

「It’s a precaution, don’t think badly of me . If it leaks to His Majesty, you and I are finished . 」

Erich makes a motion across his throat with his finger .

His eyes tell me he isn’t joking .

「Celia can absolutely be trusted . More so than myself . 」

「H-hau!」

Celia turns red in delight from the compliment .

Alright, it’s decided . I’m taking Celia to bed with me today .

Feeling somewhat rea.s.sured, Erich starts talking .

「The way His Majesty was acting just now…… what do you think?」

It was way different than when I saw him the last time .

He seemed more doubtful of me, and I also felt like he was trying to curry favor .

His last smile was normal, though I felt a sense of relief as well .

There are a bunch of other things, but those were what I felt the most .

「His Majesty seemed scared, frightened of something . 」

Celia makes a startled expression .

Erich on the other hand only nods .

「Scared, huh……you are not entirely incorrect . 」

Don’t tell me he’s scared of me, I don’t even know what I have he could be afraid of .

「His Majesty is scared of you . 」

「Huh? No way . 」

I don’t remember doing anything to scare him .

I search my memories, however I don’t recall showing him my d.i.c.k and threatening him or trying to f.u.c.k him in the a.s.s either .

「His Majesty is afraid of me . He’s afraid of Kenneth, his ministers and even the maid serving him is a target of his fear . 」

It doesn’t make sense to me .

I can see Erich and Kenneth because they have power, but the King can literally say one word and get the maid executed .

In fact, he should be the one who is feared, not the other way around .

Erich continues with a grim expression .

「The King has been running around all this time . He’s always trying to find the next opponent to fight and defeat . 」

It’s true the King started war after war ever since becoming King of Goldonia .

I’m sure there have not been many times in the past where so many wars occured in such a short period .

The historians will certainly speak fervently of this age after many decades .

I won’t be alive then, so it won’t matter to me .

「But once he stopped moving, his fanaticism died down and he was able to take a look around him . His Majesty, after becoming the King of the grand nation of Goldonia, is no longer on the offense, but on defense . 」

Erich looks off into the distance .

I want to touch Celia’s a.s.s but I reconsider when I see her listening quietly .

「His Majesty freely used conspiracies and schemes to make Goldonia come out on top . There are no longer any enemies within the Central Plains who can face Goldonia head-to-head . The Southern nations are in chaos, Stura is struggling to recover, former Magrado is fighting amongst themselves, it’s also impossible for any of them to team up and fight us . 」

Erich checks the window and door once again .

「Traitors will be defeated by betrayal . The King is excessively afraid of being betrayed . 」

When the King became Goldonia’s King, he killed the legitimate successor in his brother and took his spot .

The throne he inherited was one built on top of betrayal .

「So that’s why he’s afraid . 」

The King has defeated so many enemies up until now .

This time, his enemies are on the inside .

He can’t tell who his allies are .