Fun Territory Defense Chapter 146 (Patreon)

[Another Viewpoint] Seat Village Adventurer

[Venturi]

Adventurers occasionally come to report the discovery of Magic Beasts. Most of the time, reports of defeating the Magic Beast are received at the same time it is discovered, so there is no problem with the march.

His Majesty's idea of hiring adventurers was a great success.

But then again, were adventurers ever this competent?

Generally speaking, knights are superior when it comes to combat. This is because knights have passed the rigorous knight selection examinations and are constantly training for battle.

They are highly educated and are forced to train hard not only in individual battles but also in group battles.

There are small-group, medium-group, and large-group training sessions, with a wide variety of targets ranging from the armies of other countries to large Magic Beasts.

Adventurers, on the other hand, are often called upon to search for something, explore, collect, or investigate, and most of the time there are four or five people in the group.

In terms of combat, since Magic Beasts and bandits are expected, traps and poison are used, and the mission must be accomplished as safely as possible.

In other words, even if they fight against Magic Beasts and bandit groups, they rarely fight directly with them, which means that they are inferior to knights in terms of combat ability. Some adventurers may be able to defeat large Magic Beasts with a few men, but this is extremely rare.

I had assumed that this was common knowledge, but the adventurers His Majesty hired at Seat Village were working in a way that overturned it.

If a large Magic Beast was spotted a few hundred meters away, they would do everything in their power to guide it away and clear a path for it.

To my surprise, they even faced medium-sized Magic Beasts such as Red-Eyed Bears and Scaled Wolf packs, which are so powerful that even the Knights would not fight them unless there were at least 20 people on the plains.

If a Red-Eyed Bear were to appear in my territory, I would take on the possibility of a few groups, and a hundred to two hundred Knights would be needed to take it down.

However, the adventurers in Seat Village split up into groups of five to ten, each taking down medium-sized Magic Beasts.

"...What in the world is going on in this village...?"

I thought, racking my brains, but could not come up with an answer. There is the issue of cost, but if everyone had Dwarven equipment, their strength would be greatly increased.

However, there is also whether they could prepare that much money in real terms, and it is doubtful that they could prepare iron ore of a purity that would satisfy the dwarves.

As far as the furnace was concerned, it was a new one that had just been constructed, so it was not something that had been built over a long period of time.

Thinking about it, I suddenly remembered Baron Van's magic. With that extraordinary magic, he might be able to create an armament that could rival that of the dwarves.

"...If we can successfully incorporate that boy, it may be easy to increase the strength of our Knights."

I muttered this quietly in my mouth.

[Jalpa]

This is a total joke. Why, of all people, did such a talent for magic appear in Van?

Because of that, I would have been considered incompetent by many of the nobility for giving up a talented son. But the fact remains that this is simply not the case.

Rather, I took a son who was judged to lack the talent for useful magic and placed him as a lord, albeit in a remote area. This would normally be considered an excessive arrangement. From an outsider's point of view, there is nothing to criticize, regardless of the outcome.

However, the situation this time was a little different.

The child who was supposed to be the lord of an empty, cold village had succeeded in slaying a dragon. His men consisted of only three knights and an elderly magician who had asked to be his escort. The rest were a slave boy and a maid, who were not even a force to be used in battle. A hundred or so villagers were not even included in that number.

Under such circumstances, how could they defeat a large dragon?

There was a possibility that Count Ferdinand had helped him to make a puppet, but the return would be too small.

However, I was wrong. I had no idea that Van's magic was like that, and I postponed my investigation of Seat Village.

As a result, before we knew it, Van had been recognized and made an independent lord, and part of our territory was lost. What was unfortunate was that a dungeon was also discovered afterward.

A single village such as Seat Village was not much of a loss, but the dungeon discovery was a different story. The value and economic benefits would be tremendous.

There was no way that such a child would intentionally delay his report to avoid taking credit for the discovery, and the same was true for the dungeon.

Fortunately, after defeating the Green Forest Dragon, Viscount Panamera must have visited Seat Village by chance while he was busy repairing the walls and buildings. As a result, His Majesty must have received the report of the dragon's defeat before I heard about it.

Van's ability was suited to the defense of the territory. The village was supportive of its lord. A large amount of land dragons appeared in a situation where defense was possible. Viscount Panamera appeared in Seat Village at the perfect time.

The miraculous combination of these factors led to Van's sudden rise to nobility and independence.

For the Marquise de Fertio, nothing could be more unfortunate. What is more problematic is that His Majesty has discovered Van's power. His Majesty values results. He will take into account his past accomplishments, but when a person he deems useful emerges, he will immediately put him to good use and help him to utilize his abilities on a broader scale.

Once His Majesty turned his attention to Van, the discovery of Apkallu and the dungeon. Furthermore, he even acquired a Dwarven blacksmiths. This would further improve Van's position and status.

"...Somehow, I must prevent Van from taking any more credit."

Geographically, the only territories that can be carved out as a reward would be Count Ferdinand and our Marquisate of Fertio. We must somehow limit Van's actions, and furthermore show His Majesty that we have failed in some way.

"...This march is all about Van's container, or whatever it's called. If there is any flaw in it..."

In the wagons of the march, I was planning how to protect the position of the Marquise after the war.