"You came."
"I'm sorry to disturb you so late at night."
Around the time the date was about to change, I visited the Vice Commander's tent.
"There are more people here than I expected."
Inside the tent, besides the Vice Commander, there were five men and women who appeared to be knights. They weren't armed, but they were clearly on guard against me. That said, when you considered that an adventurer whose motives were unclear was showing up late at night where military leadership was housed, perhaps saying there were only five was the more accurate observation.
"It's fine. These people can be trusted. After all, they're my children."
"You have quite a few children."
"There are five more I left behind near the Margrave as well."
So there were ten in total... In a way, that was impressive. In more ways than one.
"So you didn't come all the way here, avoiding being seen, just to have that kind of conversation, did you?"
Saying this, the Vice Commander pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. It was the same slip I'd passed him without anyone noticing when I'd shaken hands with the Vice Commander upon arriving. The message read: "I'd like to discuss a plan to break through the current situation. Please be waiting around midnight with only people you can absolutely trust."
"You didn't have to go through all this trouble—you could have just proposed it on the spot. With the attitude you had back then, you may have made unnecessary enemies, you know."
"I don't really mind if strangers dislike me. Besides, the Margrave's forces alone already number well over a thousand and are still growing, so the fact that only five people can be absolutely trusted means you're worrying about the same things I am, Vice Commander."
"About the spies..."
The Vice Commander muttered in a bitter voice. With an army of this scale, it would be stranger if there weren't any.
"Since we're mostly gaining the upper hand and the other side hasn't made any moves, something feels off. I think it's better to assume there are spies lying in wait for a chance to turn things around in one fell swoop."
"So you put on an attitude of reluctant cooperation, then snuck over here to meet me in secret... So, what do you intend to do?"
As he said this, the five people who had accompanied the Vice Commander shifted their vigilance away from me and toward the surroundings.
"The plan itself is simple. First, we crush the one-shot turnaround they're hoping for. Next, we boost our own momentum. And finally, we demonstrate our military might."
"It's simple in theory, but the problem lies in how we execute it... any misstep and the enemy will flood in."
The question from the man seated beside the Vice Commander was perfectly reasonable. The Imperial soldiers would advance right up to the border, but since they hadn't yet set foot on their own territory, we couldn't launch an attack. If we even began preparing for one, they might use that as a pretext to invade, claiming we were trying to seize Imperial territory under the guise of defense.
"And if we win, they'll carve off pieces of the Kingdom's territory. If we lose and get invaded, they'll say, 'That was just a rogue battalion acting without Imperial orders. We've already disciplined the responsible officers, so please return our land,' is that it?"
Upon hearing my words, the Vice Commander and the man nodded. That was exactly what would happen. As the Kingdom would prefer to avoid direct conflict with the Empire if possible, they'd have no choice but to return the seized territory, even knowing it was a lie.
"Well, that's probably how it would play out. If that happens, we'd take a huge loss. We're already in the red just paying for army upkeep and adventurer contracts, even now."
Worrying about the Margrave's finances while in a staring contest with the enemy struck me as a rather feminine way of thinking.
"What we've spent so far can't be helped, but if my plan succeeds, it might end up being a net gain in the long run."
"Oh?... But that means the price will be high, I imagine. Your payment."
The Vice Commander spoke the words, but she was clearly interested in my strategy.
"I'll keep it reasonable. Well, we might have to make some rather unreasonable requests of the Margrave's household going forward."
"Leave those negotiations to Lord Lion."
"Then, let's consider the deal struck."
The Vice Commander, having sold Lion out without hesitation, leaned forward, eager for me to explain the plan.
"My strategy is this..."
**Vice Commander's Side**
"Do you think it will work?"
"Well, it should be fine."
My son, who served as my secretary, looked worried. Looking closer, the other four shared a similar expression.
"He's apparently done something similar to the first phase of this plan in the past. The second phase is just an exaggerated version of what we always do, and the third phase is simply our regular work."
The strategy Tenma described was indeed simple. But if it succeeded, the impact would be significant, and it could be called a net gain in the long run.
"Well, I suppose we'll find out once the sun rises. Tomorrow... no, today, I suppose. It's going to get busy, so go back to sleep."
I said that to my sons, but the truth was that I didn't entirely trust Tenma from the bottom of my heart. There was still a part of me that wondered, "What if he hasn't truly forgiven what happened in the past and is deliberately planning to fail..." That anxiety was real. And because of that...
"It's so noisy this early in the morning... I barely got any sleep..."
In truth, it was far worse than "barely," but the leader of an organization simply cannot afford to show signs of being unwell where anyone might see.
With those thoughts weighing on me, I stepped out of the tent I used as my private quarters, puffed out my chest, and surveyed the surroundings—only to freeze mid-step...
"Ha ha ha... now this is an eye-opener..."
What hadn't been there the day before... no, what hadn't been there before I went to sleep, had encircled our encampment—
Surrounding us on all sides—
entirely.
"We might have actually recovered those losses after all..."
— End of the Vice Commander's Side —
"How does this look?"
I had finished a task before dawn and was catching some sleep in the carriage when a surprised voice woke me up. On my drowsy stroll to shake off the sleepiness, I spotted the Vice Commander and called out to him.
"Hwah!"
The Vice Commander must have been completely captivated by what I had built, because the moment I called out to him, he let out a strange yelp of surprise.
"Th-This isn't just 'well done'! If the engineers hear that I built this in just a few hours, they'll be so worried about losing their jobs they won't be able to sleep at night!"
The Vice Commander was practically overflowing with excitement, showering me with praise in rapid-fire succession.
"So, how did you do this?!"
Caught up in his momentum, the Vice Commander tried to pry the method out of me, but—
"Vice Commander! That's enough!"
Having been stopped by Lion, who came running up out of breath, the Vice Commander finally seemed to notice that people had started to gather around them.
"Hah, hah, hah... Vice Commander, from the sidelines, it looks like a senior officer of the Haust Margrave's army is trying to strip an adventurer of his privileges. At the very least, this isn't the kind of thing you discuss in a place like this."
"And if Lady Maria ever found out about this, I'd lose my head!"
"That's right! My head would— wait, Cain, what are you saying back there?!"
Behind Lion, who was scolding the Vice Commander, Cain had crept up and put on an impression of Lion. For a moment it sounded like something surprisingly noble coming from Lion—but those words were born from exactly that kind of worry, weren't they... Well, I'd half-suspected as much. After all, it was Lion.
"Why don't we step into the Vice Commander's tent for the time being? If you want to have this kind of conversation here, I won't stop you... but I can't guarantee what I might say either... For both our sakes, wouldn't it be better not to talk here?"
While Lion and Cain were making a commotion and the Vice Commander was wavering over whether to continue the conversation, the old man who had chased after the two of them took up a position beside me and began keeping the Vice Commander in check. It seemed the old man was somewhat angry with the Vice Commander.
"I am truly sorry. I let myself get carried away... I would also like to offer a formal apology, so please come to my tent."
Having noticed the old man's anger, the Vice Commander bowed his head to both me and the old man in apology, then tried to use the apology as a pretext to invite us to his tent. However, it seemed he had no intention of actually giving us a choice—no sooner had he finished speaking than he firmly grabbed my arm and began forcibly escorting me.
"Very well. There are things I'd like to discuss as well, so I'll take you up on that."
I could easily have broken free if I'd tried, but doing so here would risk undoing everything I had painstakingly built with—
the Margrave's house—
—and there was a possibility that onlookers would see it as a collapse of our friendly relations. Besides, I had beforehand heard from Lion about the Vice Commander's personality and expected he would try something like this. That was why I chose to accept the Vice Commander's invitation.
Hearing my answer, the Vice Commander broke into a grin and, still holding my arm, began walking off. Even after getting my consent, it seemed he had no intention of letting go until we reached the tent.
"Good for you, Lion. You avoided getting your head chopped off."
"......Shut up. And Cain— you'd better pray that—"
your brother over there—
—doesn't go pulling something too."
"Ugh..."
Lion had been feeling relieved at how things were going between me and the Vice Commander, but Cain's words seemed to have rubbed him the wrong way—he launched a counterattack using Geiri. Cain, caught off guard by Lion's unexpected retaliation, made a face like he'd bitten into something bitter and choked on his words.
To the adventurers who had been eyeing us with interest and trying to approach—
"Beyond this point is off-limits to anyone not directly involved! Intentionally trying to get any closer could easily be taken as an attempt to harm nobles!"
"Tenma-sama gets really scary when he's angry, so please don't come any closer~"
"He's truly terrifying, so please step back~"
"Grrr!"
"You there! Back off! If you come any closer, Tenma will thrash you with a single finger! So get back!"
"I don't know what Amour is going on about, but if you anger Tenma, you'll definitely end up hurting! And while I'm at it, if you don't want to get on the wrong side of Duke Sanga's house, Marquis Samons' house, and House Haust's border territory, you'd best not come any closer!"
And with that, the others were keeping the adventurers at bay. Whether it was Chris in his royal guard armor, Amour, whose name was already well-known among adventurers, or Albert, who looked unmistakably noble at a glance—even against Jeanne and Aura, dressed in their maid outfits, there was Shiromaru watching from behind them with sharp eyes, so the adventurers couldn't get close to either me or the Vice Commander.
Before long, knights had gathered and taken over the task of keeping the adventurers away from Chris and the others.
"As long as there's a possibility of spies, this level of security can't be helped."
"I have something to report on that matter as well."
When I responded to the Vice Commander's muttered remark, he looked momentarily surprised, then quickly realized the report concerned the spies, and his pace picked up ever so slightly.
Inside the tent, the same five from yesterday had already arrived—having heard the commotion—and had finished setting up the seats for the meeting.
Incidentally, the only ones besides the Vice Commander who entered the tent were me, the old man, and the three idiots; Jeanne and Aura were excluded on account of their maid status, Amour didn't want to sit through a stuffy discussion, and Chris, Slarin, and the rest ended up waiting outside as guards and overseers for Jeanne and the others.
"I was overexcited earlier, and I apologize for that. Now then, the wall surrounding our camp—"
"Wall—"
"—I'd like you to tell me about it."
Whether the wall was really weighing on his mind, the Vice Commander dove straight into the subject, barely pausing even to finish his apology.
"Vice Commander..."
"Lion, it's fine... But I can't go into detail, you know?"
"That's still fine!"
After confirming the reply, he addressed the Vice Commander — who looked exasperated at his attitude — and the Vice Commander leaned forward eagerly, unable to contain himself, and nodded.
"The wall was made by adapting a method that was once used in Kukuri Village. The crucial details are a secret, but to put it simply, I used magic to dig a moat, then used the earth that came out of it to build the wall."
The Vice Commander was making a face like, "What kind of obvious answer is this guy giving?" but in reality, the process involved embedding Golem cores into the ground, activating them simultaneously to create the moat, then arranging the Golems into a wall — so when you explain it simply, that's the kind of explanation you end up with. By the way, it was Slarin who buried the Golems, and it was Slarin who retrieved the cores from the wall afterward. Thanks to Slarin's excellence in stealth operations, even if someone had witnessed the wall being completed, all they would have seen was earth suddenly rising from the ground and forming a wall.
"Well, there are some issues with its durability, but reinforcing it later shouldn't be a problem."
"Ah, yes, that's right, no problem. Even if it's fragile, the impact of having a wall suddenly appear before the enemy is enormous... So, what's this report about spies?"
The Vice Commander had completely shifted from his earlier excitement, and now wore a serious expression as he stared at me.
"First, let me say this upfront — I don't have any ability that lets me determine whether someone is a spy just by looking at them."
I paused, cutting off my words, and looked at the Vice Commander. The Vice Commander silently nodded in response. In contrast, Lion and the rest of my companions all tilted their heads in unison.
"That said, I've taken it upon myself to restrain those I've identified as spies. Of course, only those who were engaging in behavior suggestive of espionage."
"There's no issue with restraining suspicious individuals in this situation. However, that's only if you have reasoning sufficient to convince me."
The Vice Commander glanced briefly at Lion, then shot a sharp gaze at me.
"That's perfectly reasonable. Please begin by confirming the identities of those I've restrained."
With that, I opened the mouth of the Dimension Bag in which I was holding the restrained individuals and invited the Vice Commander to look inside.
"Hmm... What?!"
"Vice Commander, who on earth is in there... Wha—?!"
It was no surprise that the Vice Commander and the man who had been sitting beside him last time were both stunned. After all, inside the Dimension Bag were six adventurers and four individuals wearing the uniform or armor of the Border Count's forces.
Both of them had apparently anticipated that there might be spies among the Border Count's troops, but even so, the person who had been captured in the bag was someone they never expected to see. That person was...
"Why is one of my military unit leaders in here?!"
The first person to leap at me was the man sitting beside the Vice Commander. He tried to lunge at me, but the Vice Commander grabbed his shoulder and forced him back into his chair.
"What reason led you to determine that these people are spies? Given the way Lord Lion accepted it, you must have had grounds sufficient to convince him, correct?"
"Yes, exactly. First, regarding these adventurers — they immediately tried to make contact with someone outside as soon as the wall appeared. This one here seems to be a Tamer. He tied a letter to the leg of a small bird-type Monster and released it toward the enemy formation. The moment it took flight, my Familiar caught the Monster. Here's the letter. And the man beside him was climbing the wall, trying to use a mirror to send some kind of signal toward the enemy formation. Both of them were interrogated and confessed under Lion's supervision."
The remaining adventurers couldn't be interrogated due to time constraints, but they were caught trying to hastily leave the camp while the others were still reeling from the wall's appearance. They might not have been spies, but their behavior was suspicious enough that no one could fault the decision to detain them. If you act in a way that practically screams "spy," you can hardly complain when you're treated as one.
"As for these soldiers... their names came up during the interrogation of the captured adventurers. We can't say with certainty that they're spies, but we apprehended them as a precaution. We did request that they come along voluntarily, but every single one refused, so they were restrained as you see."
There was still a possibility that the captured adventurer had simply thrown out names he happened to know at random, but when you refuse a direct request from the next Border Count, that alone gives more than enough reason to suspect you of being a spy.
"And there's one more person whose name was given as a spy from the unit leader's interrogation...
That would be you,
Secretary."
"What are you talking about! My boy can't possibly be a spy... Hey!"
The Vice Commander had started to deny my words, but when he saw the pained expression on Lion's face, he lost all his momentum. Finally, he turned to look at his own son, the Secretary. And then he seemed to understand that what I was saying was true.
"Why..."
"Vice Commander, your doubts are entirely understandable, but first, I need that man restrained."
At Lion's words, I approached the man, and he surprisingly submitted without a fight. I had been expecting resistance, so it was somewhat anticlimactic, but I decided to secure the man first and worry about the rest later.
With his own son revealed to be a spy, the Vice Commander was placed under house arrest by Lion's order until his innocence could be proven, leaving the Border Count's army temporarily without a commander. They took care to ensure the matter didn't leak to the outside, and officially announced that the Vice Commander had fallen ill, and that Lion would serve as acting commander until his recovery.
"I think we've pretty much fulfilled the commission now... but while we're at it, why don't we reshape the terrain a bit? Lion, there might be some minor confusion, so I'm counting on you to handle it."
"Huh?"
Right after the Vice Commander's house arrest was decided, it was also determined that the rest of his sons would have their movements restricted. Lion was in the middle of consulting with Albert and Cain about what excuse to give and how to split up the workload — the two of them had been temporarily hired by the Border Count's army as acting representatives for the armies of Duke Sanga and Marquis Samons, who would be arriving as reinforcements shortly; moreover, Chris and Grandpa had also been appointed as temporary advisors — when I blurted out that remark, so they couldn't possibly understand what I was talking about.
"I already set things up in advance, so I'll just pop over and get it done real quick."
When I created the earthen wall, I had also set up a mechanism on the other side, so I figured I'd go take care of it quickly. The more I could delay the enemy, the more breathing room Lion and the others would have — it was my way of lending some support.
"Wait, I'm coming too! I can't just let you go off and do something crazy without me knowing about it!"
"Yeah. From now on, anything Tenma does will be Lion's responsibility — and it might even end up being ours too."
Hearing Cain's words, Albert hurriedly got up from his seat and chased after me, falling in behind Lion and the others.
"You're welcome to come, but this'll be over really quick."
Grandpa and Chris didn't seem inclined to join — they were sipping tea while keeping an eye on the remaining four, stuffing their faces with the snacks I'd laid out. Among the treats were things like rice crackers, so it wouldn't be long before Amur and Shiromaru caught the sound and smell and came charging in.
Thinking about that, I led the three of them up onto the wall. Adventurers had gathered near the wall, but the knights were keeping strict watch, so nobody was trying to climb up. Well, they'd also announced that anyone who tried would be apprehended — that probably had something to do with it.
Which was why, when I first tried to jump up onto the wall with magic, a nearby knight nearly grabbed me. That led the three of them — Lion especially — to tease me mercilessly, laughing their heads off as if this was just payback for the usual. I swore I'd repay this debt soon.
"So, what are you planning to do here, Tenma? Also, I'm sorry, so please direct the payback at someone other than me. You can pile my share onto those two."
Cain was asking about my purpose for climbing the wall. While he was at it, making sure the other two couldn't hear, he snuck in an apology alongside selling out his companions. He was being extra careful, speaking in a low voice, but the other two were being hoisted up onto the wall one by one by Slarin, so even if they saw me and Cain talking, they wouldn't have the bandwidth to worry about it.
"Nah, when it comes to payback, it's all three of you together. In my book, you're only the Three Idiots when all three of you are there. Anyway, it's going to get pretty—"
"shaky."
"So all three of you better hold on tight to Slarin."
"Hey! All three of us together... shaky?"
Maybe he'd tried to protest that even selling out his friends wouldn't save him, or maybe he just couldn't process what I was saying for a moment — Cain's reaction was delayed. But the other two instantly latched onto Slarin and pumped their fists at me in a ready-to-go gesture.
"Alright then, let's go!"
"Waiiiit! I'm not ready yet!"
As Cain's scream rang in my ears, I began focusing my mind to reshape the terrain.