"Are you the new owner of the Arborest family?
"It's Ragna de Arballest. For once, it is the owner of the Arborest family. But you have no power to destroy the Arborest army."
"Inherited as the head of the Arborest family, that means that our predecessor was dead on the Midway River, right?
"That's right. My predecessors and predecessors, the Lord of the Arborest family, defeated you. All the knights who followed me. Thanks to you, I'm done as a nobleman. I can't even activate superior magic anymore."
"I see. Well, forgive me for fighting squarely on the battlefield. Well, let's talk about it, shall we?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about the predecessors, but I couldn't win the battle. I just had a problem with this one. But what are we talking about? Does that mean the others can miss me if I give them my neck, the new lord?
"No, my neck is fine. As Fontana, we just want to achieve our original purpose."
"Initial purpose?
"Yes, this battle begins with the desire to have the Arborest family prepare a ship to safely deliver the King and his ministers staying in Fontana territory to the King's realm. As the Arborest side was denied this request, we proceeded to Arborest territory to ask questions. So there was an unfortunate mistake, and it just went to war."
"... I mean, it wouldn't have been a fight if the Arborests had provided the ship quietly. Is that what you're trying to say?
"Exactly."
"I'll say it often. I totally felt a fluctuation in my intentions to kill. So, what do you want to say after all? After fighting for that reason, Arborest was defeated. I'd like to know what you're going to do with that arborest."
"I won't do anything. We don't take the Arborest's territory."
"... what? We're not taking territory, are we?
"Yes, at least Barca is going to do that"
"... Ars, you can't do that. We in Arborest also have an aristocracy. There must be no mercy after fighting and losing."
"Really? But listen to me till the end. And of course, there are other things the Arborest have to do."
"Well, what's that?
"Let them pay for the war."
"Let, war, compensation? What, what's that?
"Ask the Arborest family to pay for the expenses they needed in this battle. We're going to have the Barca and Ikes replenish the funds we need in this battle."
"Indemnity, huh? That's not a very familiar story. But then, isn't that normal for you to take your territory? Are you sure you just want to pay for this?
"Yes. We've already got the details ready. Please pay the amount written here by the due date"
"Okay. That's cheap."
"Thank you. You have received a good reply and I will also feel comfortable reporting to the owner of the Fontana family. Well, thank you."
"Do you mind, Master Ars? You sure you don't have to get the arborest territory?
"It's nothing, Paine. I just need to be able to keep Arborest from moving right now."
"But is it war compensation? Think about something different."
"Why not? If you don't, you're gonna hurt me too. We need to get the loser to bear it."
"... you can't pay for the Arborest family, Master Ars. Barca Ikes, if it's just the war money between the two armies, you'll still be able to handle it. but the dragon demon stone used by Master Ars. That's too expensive."
"It's a rare thing, I hear. It doesn't seem like there's a price. But it's not like it's an unscrupulous sum. I've done a good job of looking at past prices and calculating them."
"I'm not saying if the amount is appropriate. The Arborest family says it's too expensive to pay. If you can't pay, you can predict what will happen."
"Are you going to break your word and launch an attack on us?
"Yes, I don't know one day, but it could happen"
"Then you'll have no problem with that. If you set me up from the other side, I'll take territory this time for that reason. Blah, there's a lot more to it than this fight. I won't hesitate to cut it off."
"... If the Arborest family were to launch an attack, the Ikes, whose territory is bordering, not the Barca. In other words, Barca is not at all slow to wait for his opponent to attack and then go on the offense. If you don't attack me, let me pay the compensation and get the money. So you won't lose money?"
"That sort of thing. If Arborest seriously tries to pay compensation, it naturally makes the tax take-up tighter on the residents. In that case, the Arborest family will be resented by the inhabitants of their land. Sooner or later, when Barca takes territory, it is easy to comfort the people if the tax rate is even a little lower. It's not a good idea, is it?
"Ha, how can you be quite horrible, Master Ars? I get it. If that might not work, it's only when the Arborest family connects with the outside world. We'll pass the information on to Lord Ghana, and we'll keep an eye on Arborest getting in touch with other nobles."
"Right. Nice to meet you, Paine."
We won the battle against the Arborest family.
This time I fought with the Ikes Army, but my work was pretty big.
So, bad for Ghana, but they let me compartmentalize them.
That said, I didn't cut the arborest territory.
Because it wasn't something I had to do right now.
More importantly, because at this stage it was unlikely that we would be able to gain territory in new Arborest territory or govern Barca.
If we're going to run the airstrip, we're going to have to leave it to someone else.
Shortly after my brother Byte became independent, there were not enough civilians.
So I decided to rip off only the money without taking the territory.
Plus the money you needed when you moved the army. It may also include compensation for the rent and mental distress.
In fact, there will be more money in it than we have moved the army.
Well, it's not like there's any chance the Arborests won't be able to pay war compensation, as Payne put it.
but I'm putting on a few years respite, so depending on the amount of ragna's instrumentation, I might be able to pay it back critically.
In the meantime, I received multiple thunderbolt swords, magic swords owned by the Arborest family, as down payment, before returning.