Legend

lan……」

「Don’t be stupid-! You’re saying that the Mirena Kingdom’s army was used by someone!?」

The nobles around Count Arius all shouted at Rei.
The rest of the nobles who agreed all looked at Rei unpleasantly with a sharp stare.

「Stop, it was I who asked for his thoughts, and he also said it was only a possibility.
There is no need to judge him.
……But, used by someone? The chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army was General Kastom, right?」

A subordinate near Count Arius nodded at his question in confirmation.

「Yes.
He is said to be one of the leading military figures of the Second Prince’s faction.」

「……What about the Flash?」

「He belongs to the Third Prince’s faction.」

「In that case……」

Count Arius looked like he had just bitten into a bitter worm.
It was no wonder as they had just been used to eliminate someone’s political opponent and key military figure.

「Count Arius, we can’t confirm it, but it’s likely that we were used.
Even if we weren’t used, it is still a fact that the ambush unit formed by the Royalists defeated the chief commander of the Bestir Empire’s army.
In that case, it wouldn’t be a mistake to say that this war, where we stopped the Bestir Empire’s invasion, protected our lands and defeated their chief commander, was a complete victory for the Mireana Kingdom’s army.」

「That’s absurd! Then, that means we only good enough to be used by the enemy! Is there any pride as a noble of His Majesty to be happy about victory gained from the whims of the enemy!?」

「Wait, it might not be pleasant that we were used by the enemy, but that is all.
They must have done it because it was worthwhile for them.
Could they have done that because they feared the strength of our forces and wanted to reduce it as much as possible? Of course, it doesn’t change the fact that they used their chief commander as a pawn and threw him away.」

The nobles around him all argued loudly about their current view of the matter.

Their opinions were roughly divided into three groups.
The first admitted that it may be true that they were used, but should still maximise the gain from what had happened.
The second could not accept that they had been used and proposed to counter invade the Bestir Empire.
The third group claimed that the enemy had been afraid of the Mireana Kingdom’s army strength and had abandoned their chief commander in an attempt to split their forces.

It was fortunate for Rei and the Mireana Kingdom that the majority of nobles supported the most realistic first option after hearing everyone’s opinions.

(In fact, in our current state, it would be impossible to launch a counter invasion even if we wanted to.
In the first place, the Mirena Kingdom was weaker in terms of national power.

The Mireana Kingdom was a large country compared to the surrounding countries.
However, the Bestir Empire was even bigger than the Mireana Kingdom.
In terms of national power, the Bestir Empire was around 1.5 times stronger than the Mireana Kingdom.

Moreover, since the King’s orders had been to repel the invasion, if they had tried to counter invade now, they would be punished for violating orders.

While thinking of that, Rei listened in to the discussion between the nobles before noticing that Count Arius’ eyes were on him again.

「Rei, I would like to hear your opinion again since you actually fought General Kastom’s troops.
What do you think?」

「In my opinion, even if we were used, General Kastom’s death is still the outcome.
Then, shouldn’t we take the maximum profit we can from that?」

At Rei’s words, most of the people in the tent agreed.
A few nobles glared at him, but didn’t say anything unnecessary.

Since Rei didn’t have a choice in expressing his opinion, all they could do was to pass on their feelings with their eyes.

Count Arius nodded at Rei’s opinion and made his decision.

「Rei was actually in the ambush unit, we should consider his opinions.
……Okay, give the orders out to the whole army.
There may be some important information or magic items in the enemy’s camp.
We should also recover the prisoners of war that the ambush unit has captured.
Anyhow, there is no doubt that this war has ended with our victory.
Let’s declare it proudly and make a triumphant return.」

They might have been used, the but result was that they had still killed the enemy’s chief commander and repelled the Bestir Empire’s invasion.
For Count Arius, who had spent a considerable sum of money to become the chief commander of this army, it was more than enough.
As for the attack of the Demon Soldiers, which could be considered the enemy’s secret weapon……it was definitely a great achievement for him to be able to repel the ambush, which had used transition stones in an attack that had never been seen before.

(Although I did make a blunder and was ambushed……even though I struggled, I still did resist against the transition stone attack.
I also launched an ambush back against the enemy’s chief commander.
In that case, I shouldn’t have made any fatal mistakes.)

Thinking to himself, he turned to look at the adventurer standing before him.

It was battle with many unexpected issues, but it was definitely due to the adventurer standing before him that they had won this war.
At first glance, he looked like an apprentice mage, but the ability hidden within that small body was definitely first class.
Furthermore, he held an item box, a rare item in this world, and was accompanied by a Griffon, a famous high ranking monster.
If you considered his negative factors, he just didn’t show any courtesy to his superiors.

(But, I can change anything I want from here on.
There’s no way I’m going to miss out on someone like this.)

Glancing towards the nobles who were celebrating their victory in this war, Arius turned towards Rei.

「Rei, what do you plan to do in the future?」

「What do I plan to do? First of all, I plan to report the success of the ambush operation to Daska-sama.」

Of coure, Count Arius shook his head at Rei’s reply.

「No, not that.
After this war is over.
If you wish to do so, would you like to serve under me?」

The moment he said that, the nobles who had been celebrating all turned to look at Rei.

That was because the nobles all knew of Rei’s talent and didn’t want let him go.
However, they hadn’t expected Count Arius to be a step ahead of them and give Rei and offer right here.

However, Rei shook his head before the worried expressions of the nobles.

「I’m sorry, but I’m more fit to work as an adventurer on the frontier than serve nobility.」

Rei replied simply and turned down Count Arius’ invitation, which the nobles though he would have accepted.

「……I see.
Come see me if you ever feel like it.
I don’t hate strong people like you.
For now, go report on the ambush to Margrave Rowlocks.」

Count Arius didn’t push the matter any further as he let Rei leave the tent.