Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

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After Welner introduced Rafed to his subordinates and mentioned that he would be working with them, he was met with many objections. Welner listened and retorted to his subordinates’ objections. Once done, he left the room with his close aides to train, so he could get used to his new spear.

After Welner had left, Behnke and the rest of Welner’s subordinates sank into their chairs.

All of Welner’s subordinates who were left in the room felt that Welner employed Rafed with some purpose in mind, especially after he retorted Behnke, who had objected to his decision most.

‘In the history of our kingdom, cases like a former enemy becoming a friend are not unheard of!’

As such, everyone stopped voicing their objections.

Not long after, Gekke left the room, and lastly, even Rafed left the room after saying that he wanted to visit the Pharmacy Guild and check the herbs stocked by the Herb Guild. In the end, only Behnke, Holzdeppe, and Kesten were left in the room.

“Did you know about Rafed, Sir Behnke?”

“Well, I did know that the Viscount sent a letter to the capital to ask for a certain criminal to be supervised here instead of in the capital, but I didn’t know that the criminal in question was a spy from another country.”

Behnke answered Holzdeppe’s question with a wry smile. Technically, he didn’t lie since the letter that Welner sent did mention supervising a criminal, although it didn’t mention that the criminal’s action would be restricted. The three of them could only assume that everything had gone according to Welner’s plan. Kesten crossed his arms.

“Did His Majesty know that this would happen?” (Kesten)

“I do not know about His Majesty, but Sir Welner must have at least gotten private permission from His Highness the Crown Prince, or at least from the people of the Ministry of Justice.” (Behnke)

“…Although I don’t know why he kept it a secret despite having permission.” Behnke, who had regained his calm, added.

“First there’s a rumor of a debt-ridden governor and now the recruitment of a criminal as his subordinate. Why does it seem that the Viscount purposely soiled his reputation?” (Holzdeppe)

“I agree.” Kesten nodded.

Even after adding the fact that Anheim might be attacked by demons, Welner still seemed to be a rather too diligent of a governor to the point that they felt Welner had overworked himself.

Welner might have pushed the training of new recruits to Kesten and the administration job to Behnke, but his reputation among the towns’ citizens was good. By having supplies constantly coming to the town from the capital, Welner had created new job opportunities for the town’s citizens. His attitude toward the criminals might be harsh, but overall he was known as a friendly, good governor who was a bit stern.

At the very least, Welner was far from the image of an extravagant and douchebag noble. The three of them evaluated Welner as a good governor despite his young age, although they also felt that Welner was hasty, as if he was being chased by something.

Their feelings were correct. Welner wanted to return to the capital as soon as possible, so, in a sense, he was being chased by the time.

“What is your view of the Viscount’s action, Sir Behnke?”

“Well…”

Behnke stroked his beard while thinking, then with a complicated smile on his face, he started to talk.

“First, I could see that the Viscount did all of this, so that he could return to the capital.”

“The capital?”

Holzdeppe replied doubtfully, to which Behnke nodded.

“As Sirs know, it is predicted that the demon general will attack us, but then what will happen after the attack?” (Behnke)

“What do you mean?” (Kesten)

“If he defeated the demons as a well reputed governor of Anheim, what do you think will happen?” (Behnke)

“People would push him to continue being governor of Anheim… Ah, I see.” (Holzdeppe)

Holzdeppe and Kesten looked at each other and nodded. Kesten then continued, “But if his reputation in the capital was bad, many would naturally push him to stop being the Anheim governor and to return to the capital instead.”

“Adding to that, if the Viscount won the battle with the demons, many would think that it would be better for the Viscount to continue helping the kingdom to fight with the demon army rather than being a governor of Anheim.” (Behnke)

“Does the Viscount want to return to the capital that badly?”

“I suppose this town must be boring for the young Viscount.”

A wry smile appeared on Behnke’s face as he answered Holzdeppe’s question. Although there was a red-light district in Anheim, as a whole, Anheim was a quite depressing town. The recent liveliness was a temporary thing brought about only because of the upcoming war. Anheim was certainly not a town suited for a young man like Welner.

However, the three also understood that Viscount was certainly not the type of person who would play around. Kesten uncrossed his arms and asked Behnke, “You said first. Does that mean there are other reasons?”

“Well, it is also possible that the Viscount deliberately ruined his reputation, so he can decrease the incoming engagement requests from other houses.” (Behnke)

“Is the rumor that the Viscount has a fiance true?” (Holzdeppe)

“I don’t think so. At least in the capital, I never heard that the Viscount had a fiancee.” (Behnke)

The three then exchanged a gaze. It was true that they felt that the rumor about Welner’s fiance seemed to be created on purpose, but they didn’t know who created it. With a cough, Kesten said, “Sir Behnke, do you think there is another reason?”

“There is another reason I can think of, but I don’t know if the Viscount has actually thought so far. This might be me overthinking it, so please keep what I am about to tell you among us.”

Behnke then explained his thoughts, making Kesten and Holzdeppe show complicated expressions.

Normally, in a noble house, the house’s honor was more important than a blood relationship. As the continuous existence of the house was also a priority, creation of a branch house was desirable as its existence increased the probability of the house’s long continuation.

In other words, the creation of a branch house would be an excellent reward for the Zeavert house, while Welner would receive the honor of being appointed as the head of this new branch house despite his young age.

However, Welner was the sole heir of Zeavert House. If he was made into a head of a new noble family, Zeavert House would need to adopt a son to be its new heir. Of course, many candidates would be appropriate to become the new heir of Zeavert House in terms of age, but the truly excellent young nobles who were worthy of assuming the crest of Zeavert House were few.

Coincidentally, there was one person who stood up among these few. If this person succeeded in defeating the demon king, no one would doubt that he was worthy to become the new heir of the Zeavert House, at least in the term of military power.

That person was the hero, Mazell.

Using a royal decree to order the Zeavert house to adopt the hero Mazell as the new heir would be nothing less than a great honor for the Zeavert house. On top of that, if the hero’s achievements were recognized as the Zeavert house’s achievements and the hero was betrothed to the second princess Laura…

…The kingdom would then be able to tie down the hero with a noble house and a blood relationship while the Zeavert house would receive the honor of welcoming the princess into their house. On the other hand, the new noble Mazell Zeavert would not be accustomed to the noble’s ways, so his political power would be rather weak.

As for the new branch house, although it would have its own territory, on top of its head (Welner) being too young, the house would also have no vassals capable enough to support it. It would take at least 10 years for a new noble house to train vassals capable enough to support the house.

In short, although the creation of a branch family would be expanding the Zeavert house on the surface, it would effectively weaken the Zeavert house’s power. The new branch family might be highly regarded by others but its actual power would be weak, while the main family would have territory and honor, but the ability of the new head of the main family would be doubted.

But for a branch family to be created, Welner must be a character who was deemed suitable to become the head of the branch family. With Welner’s current reputation of debt-ridden and employer of a criminal, he was certainly not the least bit suitable to become the head of a branch family. Therefore, there was no way that the kingdom could set a bad precedent of a debt-ridden noble who had a criminal among his vassals, creating a new noble house.

On the other hand, as Welner was sole heir of Zeavert house, he would be able to inherit it even if he had a poor reputation. Many would criticize him, though.

If anyone was plotting to make Welner a new head of a branch family, the mere fact that Welner had employed a criminal had ruined that plan. Welner’s action of employing a criminal was not a form of insubordination or rebellion, it was merely a warning to anyone who was planning to use him as a pawn. The nobles who had thought lightly of Welner because they were able to easily drive Welner out to the Anheim must have received a shock by now.

“There is nothing easier to use than a Viscount branch house which has lost the protection of its main house because the head of the main house is not used to politics. I can see how other houses might have thought of using this chance to weaken the Zeavert house, just like what Sir said.” (Holzdeppe)

“And the Viscount’s action this time was certainly shocking to the nobles who thought the Viscount was obediently accepting his demotion. Moreover, no matter how rotten the Viscount’s reputation is, he is still the heir of a Count house, so in the end, the Viscount will definitely be called back to the capital.” (Kesten)

“All of that scenario was nothing but my prediction. It is certainly possible that this sort of thing will not happen.” (Behnke)

It was hard to believe that the nobles and Welner himself did not think that the branch family scenario would not happen, but Behnke and the other two dare not mention that.

“Does the Viscount want the position of the Count that badly?” while tilting his head, Holzdeppe asked.

“To me, it seems like he is trying to protect his friend, the hero, from politics, even if that means he has to shoulder a poor reputation.”

If the hero was granted the title of the head of some other noble house, like the title of the now vacant Count Fleethem for example, Welner who had the power of a Count house would be able to support his friend in the court. Welner might have not thought this far, but as the three had observed, he was certainly the type of person who would move for others’ sake, not for his greed. As such, the two nodded at Behnke’s words.

The three of them who all understood just who exactly sent them here all casually exchanged glances with each other. Eventually, Kesten muttered with a wry smile, “Regardless, the Viscount is indeed an eccentric man.”

“I agree” (Behnke)

“Yes. You certainly never know what he is going to do.” (Holzdeppe)

The three then burst out laughing. In the kingdom’s history, there was probably no noble who was as unconcerned with his own reputation as Welner was.

Note: Although I put the name in the bracket in a conversation, other than Behnke and a few conversations that have clearly mentioned who is speaking, there is no clear indication which word was spoken by Kesten and which words were spoken by Holzdeppe since both used a similar way of speaking. The bracket words were my prediction based on the flow of the conversation.

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