Volume 7 Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2: Showdown

「My Lord, Earl Theo Cornero will be arriving soon. 」

The soldier who came into Lassic David’s room spoke loudly.

At that moment, Moreno Dortus, Lassic’s contracted Mage, stopped breathing.

「I still can’t believe that he actually managed to pull it off. 」

After a while, Moreno muttered in shock.

「I never thought that he’d actually want to come back here after finally dealing with the Rossini family. 」

And what’s more, he really managed to do it within a year. And without taking an entire army with him at that!

「Isn’t that how I said things are going to turn out? 」

Lassic asked Moreno with a grin.

「Theo may seem ordinary, but he has ambition, courage, is attentive, has excellent situational judgment, and has the ability to take action whenever it is needed of him. What’s more, he’s getting stronger every time I meet him. He’s truly a Lord worthy of getting myself subordinated to, don’t you think? 」

「I don’t think so at all.「

Moreno shook his head disapprovingly.

「Well, whether you like it or not, you just have to accept reality. Theo is going to come back to the continent soon, and I’m more than happy to subordinate myself to him. On that note, I’m also really upset that Radovan Torias managed to become his subordinate Lord before I had the chance to do it. 」

「There was no other choice, since Theo Cornero needed to leave Sistina in someone’s care during his absence. 」

After the recent battle in Veltava, Radovan handed over the title of head of the Torias family to his young heir, Janez, along with the title of Baron, and he asked Lassic to be his guardian.

He was prepared to die in battle with Theo in the battle against the Heavy Knights of Waldrind in Veltava. At that time, he intended to subordinate his successor to Lassic. However, he survived the battle, and since then, he has shown an attitude of following Lassic while waiting for Theo to return to the continent from Sistina.

After he successfully liberated Sistina from the Rossini’s, Radovan offered Theo his Crest along with his entire peerage, but once he subordinated himself to him, he was apparently given the Baron’s subordinate Crest again. if he subordinates his successor to him as well, he will be able to call himself a Viscount, and become the leader of Falvis in both name and reality.

Moreno was impressed with what he saw as a brilliant move on his part.

「Lord Petr has also finally become subordinate to Lord Theo. He will not be attending today’s meeting either. 」

Moreno sighed.

「He can’t leave Veltava, which is on the front lines. This is an expression of his intention to delegate the right to speak on his behalf to his master Theo Cornero. 」

Lassic said with satisfaction.

Petr Morva became a subordinate Lord to Theo, who arrived at his castle after coming to Veltava from Elam, was given the title of Viscount, and was given the entirety of Veltava as his territory. It’s frustrating that Radovan got ahead of him, but he probably has no complaints about Petr since he was originally going to be under Theo’s direct report after Lassic himself suggested that to him.

「That’s all because Lord Eugen was killed in battle. In fact, now that he’s no longer with us, there is a possibility that Milza will try to invade Veltava next. 」

「Milza knows that if he tries to attack Lord Petr’s castle, then even if he manages to capture it, he will suffer a severe loss of troops. Lord Petr used his royal title reward to invite an architectural engineer from Elam, and the castle has been expanded and strengthened over the years. The Heavy Knights of Waldrind even attacked it once in hopes of catching it during Theo’s absence, but the general who led the knights only surrounded the castle and immediately withdrew. And that’s about it. 」

「Of course. That’s because I raised him to anticipate and always be prepared for the worst. 」

Lassic said proudly.

「Then isn’t it a waste that the talents that you helped him develop are now going to be used fro the sake of another Lord? 」

「Petr’s talent will better serve Theo than they’d serve me, and I have every confidence that he’s not going to betray my trust and hopes in him. And that’s enough for me. I expect you to do the same. 」

「O-Of course, but we must’ve let ourselves be fooled. 」

Even as he said this, Moreno’s lips twitched. The ornaments he wore also chirped along with his movements.

「And by the way, Lady Natalia also seems to be dissatisfied with the fact that you asked her to report directly to Lord Theo. 」

Moreno turned his attention to the female Lord in armor, who was leaning against a nearby pillar.

It took only a glance to see that Lady Natalia Maudry was obviously in a bad mood.

When Lassic became King of Sevis, Natalia took the initiative to subordinate herself to him. Afterwards, she became the head of her family, and proceeded to acquire the title of the ruler of Ozer, which she ruled over as Natalia Rajo Maudry. Her title is now that of a Viscount, which is by far the highest among the Lords who’ve subordinated themselves to Lassic.

Due to the jealousy of her success and quick ascention up the hierarchical ladder, some of the lesser Lords began to spread rumors that she was secretly in a relationship with Lassic. As far as Moreno knew, there was no such relationship between the two of them, although neither of the persons involved in these rumors said anything to either confirm or deny them thus far.

Lasik only evaluates Natalia as a Lord who is equal to himself. Since Lasik is going to subordinate himself to Theo in today’s meeting, he recommended that she should subordinate herself to Theo just like Petr did, but apparently she didn’t like that idea. That’s partly because of her pride in coming from the prestigious Baron Rajo family, and partly because of her feelings towards the Lord who was in a way responsible for the death of her husband, Neman Maudry.

However, since her late husband Neman was originally Theo’s subordinate Lord, it was natural for Natalia to become a subordinate Lord to Theo as well. If she won’t do that, she won’t be able to prove that any of the rumors that aimed to slander her are actually false. She knew that well and she wanted to do the right thing, but that was a conundrum that was bothering her on an emotional level.

And Natalia wasn’t the one who had similar feelings. To be honest, many of her allies, including the Lords of the Artuk Treaty, who had united with Lassic as their leader, were confused by Theo’s return. This is because they do not feel like being subordinate to a Lord who is young, not prestigious, and has no sense of dignity was the right thing to do for them.

However, Theo will soon arrive at this castle, and that is an already established fact that Moreno was feeling incredibly anxious about, because he had no idea what kind of changes to the Treaty his arrival would bring…

* * *

「Theo Cornero, Earl of Sistina, now entering! 」

The guard announced Theo’s arrival loudly for everyone to hear. Then the door opened and Theo Cornero entered the hall. Siluca Meletes was following closely behind him. He was accompanied by a 13-year-old Baron Janez Torias, the current head of the Torias family.

After his father, Radovan resigned from his position as the family’s head, that means that this young boy was also the leader of entire Falvis. And even though his father Radovan became subjugated to Theo, the Earl of Sistina didn’t require his son to do the same. That is because it has already been decided that making Falvis a territory that would be subjugated to Theo in its entirety would only serve to unnecessarily provoke the Lords from other countries, and that’s why Falvis would retain its independence.

(This is also another type of battlefield for us.)

Siluca came here with that determination in mind. Depending on how they’re going to proceed, they can either be set for a glorious victory or a fatal defeat. Although she had made various predictions on how the meeting might proceed, she had no idea how the meeting would actually turn out until I they were going to actually attend it.

Theo and Siluca walked on the crimson carpet and made their way to the back of the hall, and while they were walking there, everyone welcomed them with a loud round of applause. However, despite that warm welcome, the atmosphere in the hall was not entirely welcoming.