Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

♦

I’m a bit bewildered by Father’s sudden words. Why and how did I suddenly have to lead soldiers?

“Um… What do you mean?”

Ah, my real thought slipped out [1] Well, Father didn’t seem to mind so I guess it’s fine. Our talk is probably going to be a long and troublesome talk since Father urged me to sit. For now, I sat on the couch.

Father sat in front of me and a maid poured us tea then she left the room. As if replacing the maid, Norbert comes in and stands in front of the door. They are being pretty cautious. What exactly has happened?

“…Father. Please tell me what exactly has happened.”

“It’s something that hasn’t been announced. Though, the announcement will probably come soon.” Father’s super serious expression and sigh, while he said this to me, made it hard for me to refuse. Did he do it on purpose?

That’s what I think but Father’s next word makes even me who has the game knowledge surprised.

“Triot got destroyed by the demon’s army.”

Triot is the Bain Kingdom’s neighbor. Its national power and area are far lesser than the Bain Kingdom so it’s more of a satellite nation.

In the game, the place where Triot is located is nothing but vast empty land with no towns or anything. The first time I went to the Triot of the game, I remember wincing because of how far you needed to walk on the vast empty land until you finally reached a town.

I thought Triot didn’t appear in the game simply because no game events take place in Triot but it seems like Triot didn’t appear in the game because it has already been destroyed.

“How is the situation there?”

“The demons attacked their capital so their king, political leaders, and knights were almost completely annihilated. The citizens of Triot escaped the country with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.”

“Almost?”

“There are some people whose life or death remain unknown but according to the report, their chance of survival is low.”

It’s the sight of our capital in the future. That’s what I think but of course, I won’t say that here. I also didn’t feel like joking around.

“So, what is the connection between Triot’s incident and me leading soldiers?”

“The refugees from Triot are coming…or rather there’s been an indication that a large number of refugees from Triot will come flooding to our kingdom.

Well, they can’t live in a destroyed capital after all. I can imagine the scene of the number of refugees snowballing as the Triot citizens that live in towns and villages near the Triot’s capital also abandoned their homes and rushed to our kingdom.

Since even the Triot’s knights are all annihilated no one will be able to maintain the public order in Triot. Not to mention the enemies that just killed all of the knights might come knocking on your door next so, of course, everyone will run away. 

“Did the kingdom plan to accept those refugees?”

“If possible, no. But it’s going to be a problem if the refugees create a riot on our border so we have no choice but to accept them.”

“I agree.”

As expected, even the kingdom isn’t cruel enough to let them become demons’ food. I’m sure there’s also a typical reason like ‘we don’t want to let the demons taste human’s flesh’ Though I haven’t heard about cases like demons multiplying because they kept eating humans. Still, it’s not like we can experiment with that.

As for the troublesome stuff that came with accepting the refugees, that is for the higher-ups to think. Anyway, since now I know that the kingdom is planning to accept the refugees, that means the reason Father asked me to lead soldiers is…

“So you want me to lead soldiers to guard and watch the refugees. But, why our house?”

I  understand the soldiers are needed to pressure the refugees so they won’t cause trouble. I also understand that soldiers are needed to protect the refugees in case they are attacked by demons. What I don’t understand is the reason our house must be the one that leads the soldiers.

In a sense, Father’s reaction is easy to understand.

“The territory that borders the Triot’s capital in our kingdom is the territory of Marquis Knap.”

“Oh…”

Ah, that’s right. The Bain Kingdom and Triot have a friendly relationship, so the border is pretty peaceful. That’s why Marquis Knap was chosen to be the supervisor of the Veritza Fortress renovation project.

That means the marquis knights who are supposed to be taking care of the refugees are absent. Adding to that, the head of Knap house died.

“So the eldest son is the current head of the Knap house?”

“No, he didn’t become the head of Knap house.”

“Ah, because of the recent incident.”

I’ve heard the eldest son of Marquis Knap, Mangold Goslich Knap did something stupid like yelling at the Count in the Veritza Fortress incident. Because of that, other nobles’ evaluation of him became ridiculously low. Even I think his action is plain stupid.

Furthermore, I also heard the evaluation of nobles that long supported Marquis Knap toward his son is something along the line ‘his mannerism and political sense has some problems, yet he’s a brave man’ a.k.a he’s musclebrain. So it seems like his stupidity isn’t some recent news. If the refugees that just lost their country are left in that guy’s hand… I can’t imagine the disaster it will cause.

I guess that’s why he was relieved of the responsibility to handle the refugees.

“Then, who is the current head of Knap house?”

“As it was an emergency situation, Marquis Knap’s younger brother became unofficial family head.”

“Will the eldest son just sit back and accept that?”

“He won’t.”

Whoa. Father just said that without any hesitation. As expected of a noble.

“Sir Mangold will remain in the capital while Marquis Knap’s younger brother will bring the surviving soldiers and knights of the Knap house, and the injured citizens of Marquis Knap’s territory back to their home. The knights will then be put in charge of maintaining the territory’s public order.”

I see. So just separate him from his forces to prevent that eldest son from causing trouble. Really, just how much did that eldest son mess up for him to be treated like this? I must be careful so I don’t end up like him.

“I understand. Since the marquis knights will be busy maintaining the public order, the job to ‘escort’ the refugees falls into other hands.”

“That’s right. Of course, our house isn’t the only one that gets this mission.”

“That’s good then.”

So my main mission is more of taking care of the demons that might chase the refugee rather than guarding the refugees. I don’t know how much damage the Marquis Knap’s knights have suffered but perhaps this job is still too heavy for them, that’s why it ended up in others’ laps.

The reason why the Zeavert count house is chosen to be one of the noble houses that will take care of this job is that we are comparatively free and we are good at working with others.

I got the feeling I know how the kingdom treated the Zeavert house since it gave us the most troublesome and the least profitable job. I guess since our house isn’t a duke or a marquis house it’s hard for the kingdom to give us big jobs that need many people to complete.

“Who is the person in charge of this escort duty?”

“It’s Duke Seyfert.”

Ah, Duke Jeff Artig Seyfert, that old general. He was His Majesty’s cousin from his mother’s side. the former general of the capital. In other words, he used to be the person that was in charge of protecting the capital. I feel that I’ve seen him from a distance.

I heard a rumor that said he refused a ministry position offered by the King saying he likes to be directly on the field rather than in the palace so he continuously sat on his position. He’s an eccentric that didn’t act like a noble but he’s still an important person.

At first, I thought it was a bit strange for the kingdom to go on its way and pull back a veteran who was no different than a duke who had retired from public office. But after thinking about it more, it makes sense. Because the job will also require you to check Marquis Knap’s territory, it might cause a problem if another Marquis was chosen. That’s why a duke is a perfect person for this job. Not to mention, Duke Seyfart also has blood relations with His Majesty so people will listen to his words.

Plus, the person in charge also needs to investigate Triot, though not to the point of investigating the total power of demons in the heart of Triot. But at least, he needs to be able to investigate enough to make a decision on whatever is fine to continue letting Marquis Knap alone handle the border with Triot. In that sense, Duke Seyfart is also a perfect person to be appointed as the person in charge.

“I understand. Still, our house is sure to be used quite a bit.”

“This is all thanks to a certain son of mine that keeps impressing His Highness.”

Father, I hope you didn’t say that while having a bitter smile. I also don’t know how the situation became like this. It’s good that at least we won’t be working for free. Obeying the royal family might be a noble’s duty but I won’t be able to keep doing it if the royal family didn’t give any compensation.

I’m glad that the King isn’t a foolish person that thinks he can use people as he wishes just because he’s the king. In the game, not only did the King just leave everything to the hero, but when the capital got attacked he didn’t even protect the capital and ended up becoming a person who lives and death remains unknown…Wait, this world’s king is the same as the game’s king right? So I shouldn’t have much expectation of him, right?

I stopped thinking there since it will be a disrespect to the King if I continue or rather, I just don’t have any time to be thinking about that. I need to hurry up and make my move.

♦

T/N: No, Welner you have ‘MC’ plot armor so you won’t become like Mangold. It’s interesting to see that Welner’s Father is kind of tired of Welner’s excellence.

[1] It’s hard to translate it into English but here Welner uses casual Japanese he usually uses when he is thinking to himself, not formal Japanese he should have used with his Father. ↵

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