Firstborn: Return of the heir

“Aghhh… That was exhausting!”

Throwing herself on the bed right off the march, Venna didn’t present any of her royal qualities while doing so. Smiling just at the corners of his mouth, Saulus adored the girl’s small fit. Even when angry, she was simply adorable.

But this momentary feeling passed quickly, replaced with a deep sigh. Even being a veteran of official and lengthy work, Saulus found the day surprisingly harsh.

From dealing with unruly nobles, all the way to the tense moments of important, diplomatic meetings, Venna wasn’t at fault to be tired. In fact, she fared through those tasks with grace, quickly accustoming herself to the majesty of her role.

“At least we got those pesky idiots out of the way.”

As much as Saulus wanted to be good to the locals, he felt the day had been wasted on dealing with their minor problems, and his mind refused to accept that serfdom even existed. Adding how used to these things he was, he could only imagine how hard the day was on the royal girl beside him.

“But seriously? Stealing bees? Are those people blind to the war all around them?”

Bringing up one of the more depressing bits, Venna hid her face in her hands. For a moment, her body shook as if she was crying before she suddenly moved back into a sitting position.

“As much as it pains me to say it, it’s this kind of work that can slowly make the difference. Contrary to the former patriarch, those are your people. And if you won’t waste a little of your time to potentially make a great change in the lives of those poor people, why would they risk everything just to contribute to your own plans?”

Getting slightly philosophical, Saulus rested his back against the wall as a deep sigh left his lungs.

“But bees? Argh, there is no point talking about it with you!”

Refusing to accept Saulus’ lecture, Venna once again threw herself down at the bed. Diving deep into the pillows, she continued to murmur something, yet its meaning luckily escaped Saulus’ ears.

“Either way, now that the annoying part is finally done, let’s move to the next stage. With the reunification of the two most important cities into the reborn Burn Household, we now hold all the chips to unify the rest of those lands. While the matter of the south remains, I think I will push Bloy with his Pleiades to take control of the east. This would buy us some time to focus our attention elsewhere.”

Taking a quick glance at the map of the former Retesia hanging on the wall, Saulus’s thoughts escaped from the room and moved to the vast plains of the Burn Household hinterlands.

Right now, nearly the entirety of the west and central plains were already under their control. With Bloy taking care of the eastern cities and farmlands, there was only one direction where Saulus could put his focus.

“The south?”

Raising her tone to turn her sentence into a question, Venna stopped acting as if she was sleeping as rapidly as she started it a moment ago, turning her head around with curiosity.

“Yeah. That’s ultimately where the main danger lies. No matter what we will do, those two cities need to be eradicated or taken over. We can’t afford to let anyone else control the only other road that leads to our hinterlands.”

Moving from beside the wall, Saulus approached the map on the wall. Scanning it with his eyes, he raised his hand and pointed his finger at the city of Galdo, resting right on the wide plains between Aldo and Mengia. And directly to the south of it…

“If we hurry up with taking over Galdo, we could try to force the two-winged movement. With the bulk of the forces moving through the main road, I could get some cavalry for a rapid attack at Mez… Or no, nevermind. With the road layout in the area, I could only bring mobile troops while the enemy could push reinforcements from all three big cities on the imperial tract. But the same applies to them…”

Catching himself by his chin, Saulus started at the single point outlining the small city of Galdo. Despite lying nearly perfectly between the two major cities of the province, it was connected by road only to Mengia, out of the two of them. Be it the better prices that this trading hub offered for the products from the plains or just sheer coincidence that made it end up like this, this was a fault that Saulus simply couldn’t stand seeing.

Especially with how just a little bit to the west from Galdo, Allice’s river flows straight for Aldo!

“What about Rylas and the first legion? Do we have any news about their plans?”

Noticing how the rebellion’s general had fallen into his own thoughts, Venna asked pointedly, to shake Saulus free and bring back his attention.

“So far, nothing. But that brat already gave out his terms for the cooperation. If we want to join hands as friends once again… We have no choice but to face our enemies on our own. Still, somehow I get the feeling that Rylas won’t be able to afford to allow a huge and hostile military presence right on his borders.”

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Saulus turned away from the map and looked at his queen, comfortably spreading her arms across the entire royal bed.

“So ultimately, we have no choice but to defeat those forces to our south. But if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to just deal with it as quickly as possible?”

Turning her head to the side to express her curiosity, Venna looked right into Saulus’ eyes.

“That could work, but only in the short term. Take a look at our situation from another perspective. Right now, we are on the verge of connecting with our silent supporters from both the north and east. Once we regain control over those trade routes, an unbelievable amount of gold will flow into our hands, allowing us to make full use of the huge and populous area we do control. Forcing our way right now would only mean serving ourselves up on a silver platter to the second of the southern governors.”

Finally deciding to take a seat, Saulus reached the peak of his personal courage as he sat beside the girl. As if following his example, Venna straightened her body up.

With how uncommon it was for Saulus to get close to her on his own accord, the words that would follow were bound to be of huge importance.

“With the parts of our next steps all said and done… Try to take a moment of your time and look at how far we have moved.”

Smiling, Saulus raised his head to look at the ceiling before focusing his sight at the wall in front of him. This time, no hesitation appeared in his eyes.

“From scrambling any forces that we could and playing in the shadows, to improving the lives of the common folk and forging strategies for military success… If this change doesn’t define our progress, then I don’t know what will!”