Cassier City, where I reunited with Reis, who was traveling, a year ago. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Everything was still the same - except for the streets that had become a little cold from the end of the Games.

Although I met the lord last time I accompanied Princess Lagersis to Kesir, I also knew the lord Balkuf, right? But in fact, he is not very familiar with him. During the days of Kesir, in addition to taking care of the injured Lacey, I spent most of my time learning the use of Taoism from Grandpa Bai, and I didn't have the opportunity to communicate with Barkuf, who was called "uncle" by Lacey, and ...... And the mercenary king who looks rude and always likes to be naked, is really not the object that we girls like to approach.

To my surprise, however, I simply asked the guards at the door to inform me that the Lord of Kesir, known as the Mercenary King, who had not bothered to pay attention to anyone except during the Games, had so quickly agreed to our request - and had gone out to greet him himself.

His move really startled the guards guarding the gate of the lord's mansion.

Judging from the expressions of those guards, it should be the first time that the mercenary king they respected went out to greet them in person, right?

Everything was expected by my father.

It's really up to Lacey.

So - perhaps, Mr. Balkuv will also agree to his father's request with ease?

In the war of the Plains of Saud a year ago, the four major orders of our Knights were almost completely wiped out, and the soldiers recruited from the civilian population by His Majesty's mobilization order were also destroyed, so that our labour force was greatly reduced in the year.

And a large number of military supplies were destroyed in the war. Tayek did return all the territories taken from him under the armistice, but the inhabitants of those territories could only be called refugees, and although Tajek also paid a large pension, we lacked more food.

In addition, the armistice agreement also requires our country to open a number of trading cities, according to Tajek, which is mutually beneficial for both sides, but what is the result? Tayek used a lot of money to buy food from our country, and those unscrupulous merchants found that it was more profitable to sell grain to Tajek than to the common people, which exacerbated the shortage of food in our country, and I heard that food in remote towns was already more expensive than salt.

The reduction in manpower to grow food, the outflow of food, and the fact that the Knights had re-established their armaments and consumed a lot of money from the national treasury had been struggling to support them for the past year, but in addition to the high contributions of the Church, which at this time had asked the countries to temporarily increase their contributions by 30 percent on the grounds that the funeral of the old pope was being held.

Alas.

Asking for help from neighboring countries? Tajek in the south is impossible, and the desert kingdom of Tara in the west? They only have barren land, and King Tara has always had an attempt to invade our country, and the eldest princess's marriage to Prince Tara is more of an expedient measure to appease than a marriage. The only hope for help is Beiling, the relationship between Beiling and our country has always been good, the heir Prince Raven is the marriage contract of my second princess, plus the full assistance of the second prince Xia Nan and the third prince next to me (it's hard to imagine that these two bastards are also princes, alas!). We received limited food assistance from Northridge and even low-interest loans.

Although the shadow caused by the war gradually dissipated, the shortcomings of manpower shortage became more and more obvious, and the re-expansion of the Knights' soldiers mainly came from the garrisons scattered throughout the country, and a large number of qualified and experienced garrisons were transferred to the Knights, coupled with the fact that a large number of lords who owned territories died in the war, resulting in some places now not even having a complete team to maintain order. Thieves, mobs, robbers roamed everywhere.

My father had asked His Majesty for authorization to adopt regional autonomy, funded by the state, and the region independently selected garrison members to garrison, and those with strong garrisons could obtain knighthoods and even become temporary lords of the place, but due to the obstruction of the aristocratic faction (they were afraid that their father, who was born as a commoner and was in charge of the military department, would be greatly strengthened by the emergence of a large number of civilian knights after the regional autonomy), in the end they could only adopt a compromise way: the nobles recommended the candidates, and the central government appointed them. Of course, the recommended candidate must be able to pass the assessment.

In this way, another problem arose: most of the loyal and powerful talents that the nobles could have recommended had been recruited to expand the Knights, and the nobles who had been recommended by their fathers and regions were not satisfied. Eventually, under the wrath of His Majesty and the pressure of the country's deteriorating state of order, the nobles thought of hiring reliable mercenaries as their candidates and recommended them to the king.

There was no need for his father to object, but he hoped that at least the garrison of the castle or village in a key part of the country would be more reliable, so as to avoid the garrison being ineffective in the event of war. So he wanted to send me to Balkuf, the former "mercenary king", to recommend as many people as possible to the nobles who could assist my father in some way when they asked him to hire mercenaries.

"The mercenary king's principle is not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, but---no one knows about Barkuv's relationship with us," my father said to me privately before leaving, "it's all up to little Lacey -- those nobles would never have thought that the mercenary king Barkuf is a friend of the captain of our Wind Cavalry, and according to you, the mercenary king doesn't generally admire Lacey, and if you, as Lacey's sister, ask him to help him with this little favor, he should agree, right?" ”

Alas, Lacey.

Although you didn't mean to, your friends, your teammates, really helped us a lot.

If only you were alive, father. Sister Jana and I must be a lot easier than now, right? Alas.

"You want me to provide a list? What are you doing with me, the mercenary king?! After reading his father's letter to him, Barkuv roared, "Do you want me, the mercenary king, to take the lead in breaking the rules of mercenaries? How dare that bastard Hellonius insult me like that?! ”

"Mr. Balkuv, I'm sorry......" I shrank back in fear as I looked at the enraged Barkuf.

"It's none of your business!" Balkuv looked up at me and smiled heartily, "I'm scolding your father's bastard. What a bad idea! ”

“……”

"Besides, I obviously asked Lao Tzu to do things, but he didn't mention any conditions?" Barkuv roared again, "There's a limit to your father's bastard, too!" - Is Lao Tzu so cheap?! ”

"Ahh This one...... Our funds—" I replied with continued trepidation.

Although Balkuv had taken off his terrible beard for disguise when he had led us into the reception room, his tall stature, his oily bald head, and his deafening voice...... It's really scary to roar.

Assa, who was sleepy and lazy in a chair next to him (as long as it was nothing to do with girls, he would have been like this) was also frightened by Balkuv and sat up straight.

"Huh!? Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! Balkuv waved his hand at me, "It's not about asking for money!" To do something so difficult, at least give some benefit, don't you? Let me think about it, just give me little Lacey. ”

“……”

"Hey, hey, hey! Uncle! Asa couldn't help but interject, "You've been yelling for a long time just to fish?" ”

"Nonsense! To set a sentence from Xiao Lei, you have to lose a bone to tease cats and dogs, right? Barkuv glared at him, "And it's asking Lao Tzu to do something that violates the morality of the mercenary world!" It's already cheap to give me little Lacey, that guy from Hieronis! ”

"Then there must be fish in the pool...... Asa gave me a worried look, then added, "The red-eyed one is dead." ”

"Huh?! What the?! "Barkuv was shocked! Jumping in front of Asa and grabbing him by the collar, "Dead? You say Lacey he's dead?! How did you die?! ”

"Bang!" The door to the reception room was slammed open, and another man rushed in, shouting, "Thresteen is dead?!" How can it be?! ”

The man came with red hair, blue clothes, and a blood-red sword at his waist.

The red-haired Reaper Nabal!

Why is he here?!

"Don't get in the way!" Barkuv was very dissatisfied with Nabar's sudden incursion, glared at him fiercely, and turned his face to look at Asa who was struggling in pain with his collar on his sleeve again, "Lacey is really dead?!" Do you know what happens to Lao Tzu? Let's be honest! Don't be that bastard of your brother Shanan! Not to mention?! - Believe it or not, Lao Tzu killed you directly?! ”

"Mr. Balkuff!" I said to Asa, who was already out of breath, "Reista...... He really ...... He's dead! ”

"Huh?!" Barkuv stopped growling, obviously believing what I said, only to see him silently put down Asa in his hand, looked at me with a look of loneliness in his eyes, and still said to himself in disbelief, "Little Lacey...... It's true? How so? ”

"How did you die? Where did you die? Did you see it with your own eyes?! Nabal grabbed me by the shoulder and asked urgently.

"What are you Grim Reaper doing here?!" Barkuv roared again, "Get out of the door and drink your wine!" ――Dead is dead, why do you ask so much?! ”

"Shut up, you idiot!" Nabal replied to him harshly, and then asked again, "Your name...... Cherry? Answer me honestly, how the hell did Thresteen die?! Where are the corpses now?! ”

"Huh?"

"Speak quickly!" Nabal's fierce eyes showed that he had begun to grow impatient. In that moment, I felt the murderous aura emanating from Nabal.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Asa hurriedly rushed up to relieve me, "Can you calm down?" Yelling! - Sakura-sama was scared! ”

"......" Nabal hurriedly let go of his grip on my hands, and his eyes were no longer sharp at me, "I'm sorry. ”

Whew, it scared the hell out of me.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Asa was right, and in the face of this death, people almost collapsed in fright.

That murderous aura -- it was terrible.

Even though Nabar is now apologizing, I feel like my body is still shaking.

Woo...... It's a shame.

"Well, Asa, this bastard is right, what are you doing here? It's also scary little girls! Balkuv sighed and regained his mood.

"You're an idiot, aren't you scary?" Nabal replied unceremoniously.

"Ahh This ......" Balkuv touched his bald head in embarrassment, and hurriedly changed the subject, "Since we both have a lot of questions, these two little ones can't tell for a while - hey, Sakura, Asa, you haven't had dinner yet, have you?" Let's go to the restaurant together! You'll talk about what's going on in a moment - hey! Death, you kid love to come! ”

"Humph!"