We stayed overnight at the castle after we finished talking from the county chief.

By the way, I tried to appraise the status of Hamand and Krall, but neither was particularly good.

The next morning, I set up a return trip, and when I tried to leave the castle,

"Ars, do you have a minute?"

Hamand called me out.

"Yes, what is it?

"Actually, I need to ask you something about my daughter. You seem a little upset lately. You seem to exchange letters with Lisia frequently, but do you have any idea what caused this?

Are you in a bad mood?

Unfortunately, I have no idea.

The content of the letter I received recently should have felt the same as usual.

... No, wait?

I did read the letter, and I never felt uncomfortable with the content.

But after reading the letter, would I have written back?

... I don't think I wrote it.

When I was going to write back, I had completely forgotten because there was just so much about my father falling down and the Governor being assassinated.

I do forget, I think it was rude, but what would make Lisia so grumpy that she could tell from around her?

Well, could it be that you enjoyed communicating with me from the bottom of your heart?

Then it's no wonder you're in a mood.

I told Hamand that I had forgotten to reply to the letter.

"Uh, maybe I shouldn't. My daughter looked forward to hearing back from you every time. [M] I know there's a lot going on and I'm busy, but I want you to get back to me if you can."

Hamand is saying, so I'm pretty sure he's looking forward to it.

You've done something wrong.

"Okay. I'll write it down and get it out as soon as I get home."

"Nice to meet you."

So the conversation ended, and Hamand left.

We left the castle and hurried back to the mansion.

Returning to the mansion, a letter had been received from Lisia.

The contents are:

'Dear Ars, I can't get back to you for a long time, is something wrong? Was there a point that didn't reach me? If it did, I'd appreciate it if you told me.'

It said:

It was a letter that made me feel guilty.

Given her nature, it's doubtful if she really feels so healthy so far, but she still couldn't help feeling guilty.

I will soon,

'Lady Liscia is not bad, my father has recently collapsed and the Governor has been assassinated and so on, and I completely forgot to give a reply. I'm sorry.'

and sent out a letter of apology.

After that, Roselle, Leeds was assembled in the study room and decided to discuss the future policy again.

"Now for the policy to come, should we still be better equipped first, as the county chief said"

"Armaments should be ready, but it is now difficult to increase the number of soldiers any more. You can improve your soldier's training, but not increasing your numbers will not dramatically increase your battle power."

"Or so it is."

"If there is a battle before Master Raven recovers, I think Master Ars will lead the soldiers, so I thought it was important for Master Ars himself to get used to commanding the soldiers first. There will be fewer, but I think it would be a good idea to lead a soldier in a mock fight."

A mock fight?

Unlike in action, you wouldn't exchange lives, but you'd better.

There will be no other way to avoid panic in times of need than to gain experience of fighting even in mock warfare.

"Is there anything from Roselle?

"Um, did the county chief make it clear to his brother? Is that brother going to beat my brother?

"I can't judge by the information I have at the moment"

"Oh well. But I don't think so. If you lose in this battle, the weak, growing Rovent family will be crushed. We have to make sure we win."

"... That's right. But you can't go against what the county governor decided."

"Assuming I find out my brother can't, I'll have to convince my brother to change saddles, and if he can't, I'll even think about betraying him."

"Betrayal......"

Is that exactly what you have to do like the great name of a warring nation to possibly not be able to live in the future?

"What's missing from us right now is information. Without information, we can't have any tactics or strategies. We should still actively gather information about the entire Meesian community."

"How exactly should we do it"

"... let someone gather information or something? Using soldiers."

"Does that work?

"Hmmm......"

When Roselle and I are worried,

"There's something great about collecting information. It's a mercenary regiment called 'Shadow'. We specialize in shadow magic, gathering information, working acts, and more. You can hire them if you give them money, but they're never small."

"Mercenaries... it wouldn't be a good idea to silently hire mercenaries from my father on boulders. You should think about it when my father's feeling better."

"So is that."

However, it was a harvest to find out that there were mercenaries specializing in gathering information. I think the idea that information is the most important thing is right.

"We can't hire mercenaries, but let's select a few soldiers who seem to be good at gathering information and send them all over Meesian. I'm not gonna do it. Rika should be good."

"Okay."

The decision in today's discussion is to practice mock warfare, and to send ministers to gather information across the Meicians.

A few weeks later.

Something unexpected happened again.