novelraw Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Irene was not just a kind-hearted and upright knight.
She also had her own insights.
“Johnson Territory has quite an ideal location.”
“In what way?”
“Right now, Levelium monopolizes north-south trade, right? But if a trade route were to be opened northward from Johnson Territory, that monopoly would collapse.”
“North-south trade, huh…”
“The lands where the beastmen live are rich in underground resources. Things like iron, rock salt, and even gold are plentiful.”
“But aren’t there mines in the south as well?”
“For now, it’s fine. But as time goes on, more resources will be needed. The south is gradually stabilizing, and the population is steadily increasing.”
“That’s true. But opening a trade route north from here won’t be easy. We’d have to pass through the Monster Mountains.”
“There must be a way.”
Opening a trade route to the north, huh.
Her vision seemed broader than mine, who had merely thought of trading with the Lion Tribe.
If that became possible, Johnson Territory would no longer remain an ordinary frontier land.
“Do you distribute supplies through rationing?”
“That’s right. Whatever’s left over, the residents share among themselves through bartering.”
“This will need to be reorganized. If a lot of supplies start flowing in from outside, or if the population increases, the limits will soon be felt.”
“That’s true.”
“The safest method would be to establish currency. External trade can continue to be handled with mana crystals, but internally, a separate means of exchange needs to be created.”
She even gave appropriate advice regarding economic matters.
I also knew that such a system couldn’t last forever, so I agreed with her opinion.
“But the beastmen are used to a tribal economy.”
“Ah, that’s true. Then this will need to be adjusted delicately.”
She had overlooked the fact that beastmen made up a large part of the territory’s population.
Humans and beastmen had somewhat different ways of thinking.
‘She’s quite flexible in her thinking.’
Still, her attitude wasn’t bad.
Should I say that she paid careful attention to others’ opinions?
In many ways, she was truly a sound woman.
“Wow, what’s that…?”
“That’s a Three-Horned Mountain Goat. It’s a beast that lives around here, and we’re currently working on taming it.”
“My goodness. It’s amazing.”
Even Irene, who had been calmly inspecting the territory, couldn’t hide her genuine excitement when we visited the goat ranch tucked into a corner of the horned rabbit breeding grounds.
Apparently, just like other knights, even she went wild for mounts—her eyes practically sparkled with hearts as she gushed in admiration.
She fervently listed all the possibilities, saying things like, if such a goat were armored and charged, its destructive power would be immense, or that with a goat, mountain warfare would be possible.
It was clear that she had completely fallen for the majestic figure of the goat.
‘The warhorses ridden by Crimson Comet weren’t ordinary either. But no matter how well-trained, a warhorse had its limits.’
Horses were naturally timid animals.
In tense situations, that tendency must have often held them back.
And in this era, warhorses weren’t only expected to charge at people, but at ferocious monsters as well.
The northern warhorses were certainly a brave breed, but still, a horse was a horse—they couldn’t overcome the fundamental limits of their nature.
Training could overcome that to some degree, but they couldn’t compare to the Three-Horned Mountain Goats, who were fearless by birth.
“Then… do you want to ride one?”
“Really? Yes, please.”
Since she seemed to like the Three-Horned Mountain Goats so much, I let her borrow Ultra.
Normally, they only carried riders they recognized, but Ultra was particularly smart—if I gave him a stern look, he would sometimes let others ride.
Of course, handling a goat was another matter, but since she was used to riding, she would probably manage to calm him down and ride well enough.
And just as I had expected, Irene skillfully handled Ultra from the very beginning.
“This is amazing! Do you sell them, by chance?”
“The numbers aren’t that large yet. Let’s think about it later, if we discover another herd.”
“That’s a pity.”
After taking a lap around the ranch on Ultra, Irene dismounted, her eyes filled with lingering regret.
She truly seemed to like the Three-Horned Mountain Goats.
But it couldn’t be helped.
These weren’t things that could be sold.
So Irene spent the rest of the day, until the sun had completely set, near the goat pen, tending to the goats.
That night.
Rudick quietly visited my room.
While I had been spending time with Irene, Rudick and the knights had been with the Crimson Comet’s knights.
Despite his appearance, he was quick-witted, and so he had come to report the things he had learned by chatting with their knights.
He was also surprisingly sociable, which made it easy for him to gain their favor.
Of course, the fact that women liked him so much was still a mystery to me.
—As expected, for males, it’s not looks but strength and muscles that matter. Even Lord Bestia admitted this.
‘What kind of nonsense is that?’
I shoved aside the rabbit who was bouncing around spouting nonsense and welcomed Rudick.
“Ha, things turned out quite interesting.”
“What’s so interesting?”
“The Crimson Comet. Did you know they’re all female knights?”
“All female knights?”
“That’s right. And though they’re nominally the lord’s knights, they’re practically Lady Irene’s private troops. Equipment and arms, all paid out of her own pocket. At that point, you could call them private soldiers, don’t you think?”
“Heh. Even at a glance, their armament looked impressive, and Irene provided all that herself?”
Clad in full plate armor, including helmets, the Crimson Comet were all female knights.
Their heavy equipment had simply concealed that fact.
And to think Irene had prepared all of it with her own money—it was indeed unusual.
Just as Rudick said, there seemed to be an amusing backstory behind it.
“So, what did you find out?”
“Keke, curious?”
“…Tch, you punk. Don’t play games.”
“Fine, fine. So here’s the thing…”
Unlike Johnson Territory, which had to make use of any capable person due to its poor circumstances, Haken Territory had a wealth of human resources.
Plenty of people, but only so many positions—that naturally led to competition.
Selecting the capable through competition was fine, but when human greed got mixed in, there came intrigue, jealousy, and all sorts of dirty tricks.
—Is that some kind of human racial trait? Using schemes in competition?
‘Not exactly wrong.’
In every territory, the knight order’s backbone was men, and Haken Territory was no exception.
Knights were not selected based on gender, so women could become knights too, but it was said that the knights of Haken Territory were not pleased about it.
There were several reasons.
That women’s physical abilities were inferior to men’s, or that managing a knight order with both men and women together was difficult.
But most of those were just excuses—the truth was that they simply didn’t like the fact that there would be fewer positions available.
If those women hadn’t insisted on becoming knights, then a friend’s son, or someone’s acquaintance, could have taken that honorable spot.
With such an atmosphere, the female knights who barely squeezed their way in inevitably faced discrimination and jealousy.
Those with powerful families or strong backing had it easier, but the real dragons that rose from humble beginnings were harassed persistently.
Some even gave up knighthood altogether, leaving the territory to become mercenaries.
Being a female knight herself, Irene was outraged by such circumstances and gathered only the discriminated female knights to form her own knight order.
That was the Crimson Comet.
“It is true that mixing female knights into the order makes things a bit uncomfortable. But of course, that’s only for a while.”
“If so, they shouldn’t have accepted them in the first place. To go out of their way to recruit them only to torment them—what kind of twisted mentality is that?”
“They must have their reasons. But you’re acting strangely today. Weren’t you the one who was staunchly against female knights?”
“Of course, I still am. But to recruit them based on merit and then harass them in secret? That’s too petty in my opinion.”
“True enough. Any woman who passes all those strict tests to become a knight must certainly have outstanding abilities.”
There were always people who didn’t like women becoming knights.
Naturally, that was the case in our territory as well.
Even the one sitting in front of me right now—Rudick—was, if you looked closely, an opponent of female knights.
It was only because of our circumstances that he grudgingly worked with them. If there had been enough men available for knighthood, he would have been one to argue that women should not be chosen.
But discriminating against women who had already passed the standards and earned knighthood was a slightly different matter.
It seemed that with so many people in one place, factional strife was frequent.
“But how was Irene able to cover all those military expenses?”
“Ah, that’s where things get a bit unbelievable. Or perhaps clever, depending on how you look at it…”
The Lord of Haken had five children from three wives.
It wasn’t that he was a womanizer who sought three wives.
Rather, it was because he had entered into political marriages as part of allying with several powerful figures.
That was how his first and second wives came about.
The third wife, however, was the only woman who had married him without political entanglements—and she was none other than Irene’s mother.
Though two of his marriages were political, the Lord of Haken maintained good relations with those wives.
Early on, he declared his first son, Ollison, as his heir and distributed property among the rest of his children.
With that wealth, they were given the choice to either establish their own power outside the territory or live comfortably within Haken Castle.
It was a measure to prevent unnecessary strife, and thanks to it, Ollison’s position as heir was initially very solid within the territory.
“So you’re saying she used her share of that inheritance to form a knight order?”
“That’s what I’ve heard. In fact, it seems that the higher-ups tried to cut off support to get rid of the Crimson Comet.”
“So even the Lord of Haken doesn’t like Irene taking to the battlefield.”
“Thing is, it’s partly your fault, brother.”
“Mine?”
“The Lord of Haken began opposing Lady Irene’s knighthood right after that incident—when you knocked her out cold.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. The Lord of Haken raised a fuss, demanding she give up training, while Lady Irene became even more obsessed with training. It was chaos. Then Lady Irene began a hunger strike, and after starving for days and collapsing, the Lord of Haken finally gave in.”
So that’s how it happened?
No matter how broad-minded the Lord of Haken was, he couldn’t have been unmoved when his youngest daughter collapsed into such a state.
As a father, it was only natural that he wanted his beloved youngest daughter to live a safer, more comfortable life.
That must have been why he began opposing her knighthood.
It might even have been around then that female knights began to be persecuted.
Perhaps the Lord of Haken, developing a repulsion toward female knights, had quietly encouraged such an atmosphere.
Maybe, by letting Irene see the unstable position of female knights, he had hoped she would change her mind.
Since words alone had failed to sway her.
But instead, Irene chose to break through head-on.
She won permission to become a knight through her hunger strike, and then gathered all the persecuted female knights into her own order.
Back then, Iron had merely scolded a wannabe knight with too much vanity, but somehow, things had escalated strangely.
The more absurd part was that even that “vanity” had been nothing more than Iron’s misunderstanding.
Now that I had become Iron, it felt as though the small ball I had kicked into the air carelessly had grown far too large, leaving me bewildered.
“But that’s not actually the important part.”
“Oh? There’s something even more important than this?”
“Yes. Lady Irene and the Crimson Comet are planning to leave Haken Territory.”
“Leave the territory? Why?”
At that, I began to feel uneasy.
Something occurred to me.
And right then, the rabbit began to bounce and flail around, breaking into a ridiculous little dance.
Its short arms waved this way and that, making quite the scene.
—Ahhh, Lord Bestia. At last, I understand…
‘…Understand what? Get inside.’
Could this really be it?
Was this what Lord Bestia had been trying to tell me through the diary?
But no, this felt wrong.
If my guess was correct, this was an action that would provoke the Lord of Haken’s wrath.