Felix's business was of the utmost concern to me, not as the manager of an arms store, but as a Knight Commander.

　--Additional dispatched knights.
　The White Wolf Knights that I've been entrusted with are scheduled to be dispatched as the initial members immediately after their inception, with a maximum of one person from each of the twelve knights.

　At the moment, there are three people who have arrived.
　Garnet Argentia of the Silver Wing Knights.
　Hild Armiefield of the Rainbow Scales Order.
　Mark Easton of the Purple Rainbow Knights.

　The fourth knight after them, or even later, has arrived.

　I'm not going to be the only one.

　-- and another great news is the decision on the details of the territory.

　The knights are given official duties and fiefdoms by the royal palace, and they take a form of activity that allocates them further to their respective knights.

　The tax revenue from the fiefdoms will be used as the knights' income as well as the budget for carrying out their official duties.

　Until now, the White Wolf Knights have been using the funds given by the Royal Palace as a bridge until the territory is settled, but now they finally have the finances of a knightly order.

　However, it seems that the knights who are dispatched already have their own fiefdoms, so the fiefdoms that are given this time are practically for me alone.





　Anyway, the business of the weapon shop will continue as usual during the day, and after the business is finished, we will head to the place Felix has designated.

　Our destination is the meeting room of the Silver Wing Knights Chapter.
　Accompanying me are Garnett and three other regular corps members.

　Since this is a different matter from the weapons store, I didn't bring any of their staff with me this time.

　As I stepped into the room I was led to, my eyes met with the woman who had been waiting for me in the room earlier.

　A woman - not a girl, but a woman.

　It's the same as the one you're used to when you're in a job that you're not in.

It's nice to meet you. My name is Sophia Wedgwood of the Blue Peacock Knights.
Blue Peacock, Knights of the Order: ......
No wonder you don't know them. It's a knightly order that has no connection to civilians.

　Just by hearing me parrot the name of the knightly order, the female knight named Sophia seemed to have figured out that the name was unfamiliar to her, and added an explanation without needing to ask me to do so.

''We, the Blue Peacock Knights, are a group of knights tasked with monitoring the private armies of the knights and nobles. The name comes from the peacock's feathers, which look like countless eyes, symbolizing the watchdog role.

　In this Kingdom of Westland, the organizations that can officially possess military power are divided into two main lineages.

　One is the knights' corps directly under the royal court.

　With the exception of the Knights of the Dragon King of the Kingsguard, the eleven knightly orders are based on the knightly organizations of other countries that were surrendered to the kingdom's military in the course of the unification war, and they share some of the kingdom's official duties.

　Among them, the Golden Fang Knights are in charge of military affairs, but the other knights' organizations also have reasonable war potential, and they are allowed to use force if necessary in their official duties.

　The other people who are allowed to have private armies other than the knights, are the high ranking nobles.

　Large noble dukes who have been following the king for a long time, and frontier counts who have territories near the border with foreign countries are allowed to have private armies that ordinary nobles are not allowed to have due to their special characteristics.

　The 'private army' in this case means a military organization level group, and does not include personally hired guards or guard degrees.

　And it was the Blue Peacock Knights that monitored them.

''Of course, even if we say surveillance in a nutshell, the specifics are very diverse. Are they performing their official duties properly, are there any financial irregularities, or are they not preparing for military action beyond their territory--''

　Sophia looked at the three people behind me in turn while counting the roles of the knights on her fingers.

''--That's what is commonly known as a hated role. You may not know this, but the Golden Fang and the Silver Wings that were sent to this town also had one of our members following them to watch over them.
'I wasn't aware of it at all: ...... It's only natural that civilians don't know about it.

　Was it because she was uncomfortably mixed up as a member of the Order, or was she pretending to be a civilian and conducting surveillance unnoticed?

　Considering that Sofia was thus revealing her identity, she was proudly carrying out her surveillance duties in the former format, but from a civilian's point of view, she just couldn't distinguish between them.

'If such a knight's group has been dispatched, does that mean that the time has come for us to finally act as a part of the knight's group?
...... It's a unique way of looking at it, but you're not roughly correct in that perception. That's a unique way of looking at it, but that's not entirely wrong.

　Sophia's expression seemed to falter a little, if not to smile.

''Let me tell you without hiding it. I have been sent to monitor the activities of the White Wolf Knights. Of course, you are not under any kind of suspicion, so please do not misunderstand me on that point.
'You're what we call a supervisor. I know.

　If you don't keep an eye on them because of your suspicions, but rather keep checking on their activities on a regular basis, there's no need to complain about it.

'There was a similar system in the adventurer community. It wasn't resident, as expected, but periodically, supervisors would be sent by the guild branch to check if there were any problems with the activities of the local guild houses.''
''I'm afraid I've understood you correctly. Think of it as a similar system to that of that adventurer's guild, although there are differences in the specific formula.

　I cut off the conversation at this point to check on the three standing behind me.

　The new knight, Mark, is nervous and pushes back.
　That guy is more familiar with the common sense of the knightly community compared to me, so he probably understands better than I do how the Blue Peacock Knights are viewed by the other knights.

　The Hild next to him was pulling the hood he always wears even deeper, trying to avoid face-to-face contact with Sophia as much as possible.

　It's a bit exaggerated for ...... to not be realized that his true identity is an elf.

　If there is a reason why he is not good at the Blue Peacock Knights?

　Finally, there's Garnett, who is looking at Sophia with some kind of wary eye.

　Whether it's because of the activities of the Blue Peacock Knights, or whether it's because of personal feelings ...... doesn't seem to be a good situation to check right now.

''And one more thing, I have been entrusted with the details of the territory to be allocated to Sir Luke. As it is part of my duties to monitor the financial situation.

　Sofia hands me a sealed envelope with larger dimensions.

　I thought about whether I should take it home and then look through it, but Garnett, who came next to me, urged me with his gaze to check the contents, so I decided to open the seal right here and now.

　Even if I'll read it in detail later, I should at least clear up the questions that I can find out from a quick glance through it.

　But the first sentence that jumped into view was more than enough to astonish me.

'...... gives Luke White Wolf Green Hollow Town and the surrounding area, because ......!