The day after we defeated the Briand invasion, I became very busy. This is because all the lords who ruled in the Kingdom of Juka came to the capital. Some of them tried to win me over with their transparent sycophancy, and some of them tried to get their own opinions through high-handedness.
There were about 30 lords in the meeting. I remember that there were more than 100 noble families in the Kingdom of Juka, but through the civil war, they were reduced to about 1/3 of the number. I ordered the assembled lords to draw their troops while maintaining the current borders for the time being, and told them that I would take care of the matter later.
I summarize the requests I have heard from them and confirm whether they are true or not. Basically, I can tell most lies and deceptions with my "Appraisal" skill, but I need physical evidence. For this reason, I asked the faerie dragons to confirm each lord's claim.
The difference between those who are lying and those who are not became clear.
Most of the lords who were demanding new lands, saying that those lands were theirs, or demanding exorbitant food aid, were former nobles. They took advantage of my slave status and completely underestimated me. On the other hand, there were lords who sincerely wanted the stability of the country and the safety of their people. Most of them were former commoners who had wiped the asses of fleeing nobles.
It was a bit difficult to decide how much to accept their demands. As expected, when I had an audience with as many as eight ex-nobles on the first day, I was so exhausted that Rico had to comfort me at night. Not only that, but Rico told me breathlessly that the nobles were weak against intimidation by force. As usual, she is a wonderful wife.
Then we spent three days visiting the lords. The lords are now ready to pronounce their fate.
As Rico had advised, we showed the lords who had come to King's Landing our power by showing them our simulations of Lafayence and his men in battle and cavalry every day. And finally, we defeated a horde of Carthusian Charolais right in front of their eyes. They were the best soldiers we had ever seen, and they easily stopped the charge of thirty huge bulls and easily defeated them. When they served them for dinner, the nobles' appetites were rather small.
Finally, on the day of the event, 300 soldiers under Knogen lined up in the hall prepared for the event, dressed in the armor they had taken from Lamaron, and 10 SS men under Lafayence, dressed in their best clothes. In the center of the crowd was Rico, beautifully dressed with all his might, and me, dressed up in her finest clothes.
Rico was stunningly beautiful. Although she was dressed in a less flashy costume so as not to disturb me, her overflowing elegance and intelligence sharpened the air around her, showing off the prestige of the Heedata Empire to the fullest.
"I am pleased to make my first acquaintance with you all. My name is Heidata Shua Ricolet. I am more than happy to welcome you all here under my husband, Bertham Darke Rinos. This Juca is the land where my beloved husband was born and raised until he was old enough to remember. I was deeply saddened when I heard that it had been overrun by the Great Satan. My husband is now going to his homeland to help rebuild it together with all of you. What greater joy could there be? I will do my utmost to help, and I ask that you all give me your full support.
He seems to be condescending, and every word he says says is, "If you cross us, we'll show you no mercy, okay? The atmosphere is full of this. Rico bowed his head to me reverently at the end,
"Please, take charge as you see fit. I, Licorette, will obey your orders at the risk of my life.
Immediately after I said these words, the soldiers in the line saluted me. This silenced most of the nobles.
I also had the Lamaron prisoners of war, Rhaelik and Briand, present. Both of them were fully drenched, bound, and unable to move. Briand's appearance was indeed a shock to the Juka people, and this completely broke the hearts of the lords.
The rest of the meeting went very smoothly. Those who were found to be clean based on my evaluation and the evidence of the faerie dragons were given food. And those who were found to be black, I offered to give 2/3 of my mercenaries to the King's Guard. Furthermore, the two lords who were too bad behaved were taken into custody in the capital, their lands were confiscated, and the administration of the lands was left to the White lords, who were better able to rule.
"Well, I'm tired."
The sun was already setting and I was drinking a cup of sweet tea with Rico, Lafayence, Knogen and the others in the common room of the Royal Military Headquarters.
"Leave them to me.
Knogen's chest heaves.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to burden you."
"Well, if you're Knogen, this isn't much of a job yet, is it?"
Lafayence grins. Knogen laughs, too.
"Well, Mister Linos..."
The old general turns serious.
"It is time to advance our troops to the border," he says.
"What do you mean?"
"The southern territories remain overrun by Lamarons. You should go there as well and help them with food and other supplies. The people will recognize a lord who feeds them. We will help them.
"But won't it affect the morale of the northern army if the general stays here too long?"
Hey, I go back to my house in the evening to rest. There should be no problem.
The old general says nothing of the sort. In the meantime, I'm going on a tour of the southern territories with Lafayence tomorrow.
The old general had already used the transfer wards to return to the empire, and Rico and I were going back with Ferris and the others. Then, the sorceress who was being held captive with Matkal sneaked up on me.
"Excuse me. I'm afraid that Matkal's... is about to begin."
For a moment I had no idea what he was talking about, but Rico instantly understood what he meant and began to whisper something to me. Then he returned the woman to her room,
"Linos, Matkal is coming now. He will bring her back with him.
"Yeah? Why not?"
"Yes, I'd like to try something."
Rico, smiling with a sly smile, looked many times more beautiful than usual, helped by the beauty of his costume.
"You look beautiful, Rico."
Rico's face turns red and she reaches out her hand to my arm. Rico looked even cuter than usual with his cheeks flushed red.
"Uh... oh-hon."
The voice brings me back to myself. I looked and saw that Matkal had arrived.
"Well, let's go..."
We met up with Ferris and the others and transferred to the mansion.
As soon as we got back, Rico went to his room with Ferris and Matkal. The dining room was filled with delicious food prepared by Ferris. Everyone had already returned and were seated. We sat down in our chairs and naturally started to report about our day. May is doing well and is getting along well with her gnome. She also told us that the spirits of the forest had helped her to create a place for the faerie dragons to live. It is said to be near the settlement of Silures, a place with beautiful water and beautiful flowers. I decided to leave this matter to May.
She also told me that it would be possible to raise goldfinches. I was excited to think that we would be able to eat that juicy and rich meat all the time from now on.
While we were talking about this, Rico came down to the dining room. Matkal comes in behind him, pushed by Ferris.
To his surprise, Matkal was beautifully dressed in Rico's clothes and makeup.
Although she was a concubine, she was the daughter of the emperor. When she was dressed up, she looked graceful and beautiful enough to be a princess of a great country. Above all, her slightly upturned eyes are charming and she seems to be popular among men.
"She would be even more beautiful if her hair were longer, but I'd give her a score of about 70 like this.
Rico says casually. I would have given her a perfect score of 100.
"I still think women should dress beautifully. I thought that Matkal would be happier if he could improve his beauty, so I gave it a try.
"That's my sister Rico. I was surprised to see how beautiful she could become with just a little help from her sister's clothes and a quick touch of makeup.
"I will give Matkal what he needs later, so take it and go home. Well, since you're here, why don't you have dinner with us and go home?
"Now... in this outfit?"
Matkal's face turned bright red and he fidgeted around in embarrassment.
"Oh, my feet are cold. Do the women always have to endure such cold and embarrassment?"
Rico tilted his head curiously and looked at Matocal, but eventually he spoke up as if he remembered.
"Well, what I did..." he said. I forgot something terrible!