The Clan sent a vassal to call for his son.

　A few moments later, the door to the room opened.

You wanted to see me, Father?

　One tall blond man and a young red-haired girl, around ten years old, entered the room.

　The tall man could be seen as Leng, the eldest son of the Clan.
　His face was very similar and he could tell at a glance that he was the son of the Clan.

　Who was the other girl?

　He's a lovely face, but....

　Hmm?　If you look closely, you're wearing the kind of clothes a boy would wear.

　Could it be that he is a boy?
　But her hair is long enough to reach her shoulders and her face is so pretty that she looks like a girl.

　I try to appraise them both.

　First, I appraise the man who I think is Leng.

　Leng Salemakia, 20 years old, male.
　Status
　Leadership 44/79
　Valor 50/78
　Wisdom 40/66
　Politics 31/91
　Ambition 90
　Aptitude
　Infantry C
　Cavalry B
　Archers C
　Magician D
　Castle D
　Weapons D
　Naval C
　Air Force B
　Plan B

　It was in Leng, as expected.
　His marginal value is high, but his current value is low.
　At 20 years of age, is this a lazy person or a large instrumental type?

　Another child was appraised.

　Technado Salemacchia, 10 years old, male.
　Status
　Leadership 44/61
　Valor 48/65
　Knowledge 48/70
　Politics 33/65
　Ambition 18
　Aptitude
　Infantry C
　Cavalry C
　Archers C
　Magician C
　Fortress C
　Weapons C
　Naval C
　Air Force C
　Plan C

　This one has a status of slightly above average.
　I guess it's a sense of dexterity and poverty.
　And apparently the gender is definitely male.
　And his last name is Salemakia.
　Is he also a son of the Clan?

'My eldest son, Leng, and my third son, Tecnad. At first I had planned to take Leng alone, but then Teknad wanted to go too," he said. Well, I thought it would be a good experience to see somewhere other than Sempra, so I allowed them to accompany us.

　It seems to be the son of the Clan, after all.
　It seems to accompany him on his journey.
　Perhaps the idea is to let the pretty boy travel.

'Who are those two, father?

　Leng asks.

'These are the two men who will accompany you on your journey. They are Ars Rovent and Lysia Plaid.

　Lysia and I bow to both Leng and Tecnad.

'What?　You are still a child. It's dangerous for a child to travel. I don't think you should take them with you.
Doesn't that imply that you shouldn't go to me, brother?
Yeah, Tecnad, don't you go there.
'I appreciate your concern for me, but I have your father's permission to go.
I'm going to make sure you're safe. Besides, I'm pretty sure you're not much better than Tecnad with your sword.

　In fact, the valor at this point in time is not that big of a difference.
　Although the limit is a bit open, though.

''Wow, I'm the type of person that shows its true value when it comes to actual combat!

　Looking at Leng like that, Clan sighed.

　I can't say anything yet, but I've figured out that Leng seems to have a slight problem with that exchange.

''Well, if your father says it's good for you, I won't force you to oppose it. But, um, Ice-kun and Lilia-kun, right?

　The names were completely wrong, so I corrected each of them, 'I'm Ars' and Lysia as well, 'I'm Lysia'.

'Oh, that's right, Mr. Ars and Ms. Lysia. This will be the first of many great achievements in my life. The death of a child would be a detriment to that, so if you're going to follow me, don't get too cocky lest you die.

　He said that in a rather arrogant manner.
　He seemed to have a pretty high self-esteem.

　The Clan sighed again, then

This is an introduction only. Back off, both of you.
Yes, sir.

　Leng and Tecnad left the room.


'Well it's Ars. Have you appraised Leng?
Yes, sir.
'Then you understand, that's not very good at what he does, but he's overconfident in his own abilities, and he doesn't try at all. I don't know how to raise a child either... and Technad is a good and serious child, but he is a good, serious boy...

　He seemed to be rather seriously troubled.

''It's true that Master Leng is inexperienced at this point in time, but he has a high level of talent.

　Most of my abilities had a limit of over 70 and politics had a limit of 90.
　If he worked hard enough, he could be one or the other.

Is that true?　As I recall, your abilities can also be measured in terms of potential...
Yes. I'm sure of it.
Well, yes, but he has to make an effort and I hope he has a chance to do so.

　The Clan also seems to be just a troubled father when it comes to his children.
　I'm afraid I can't relate to that, as I didn't have children in a previous life, either.

'Let's stop talking about it. 'Yes. There is one more thing I have to tell you. It's about that letter.

　It was probably a letter sent to inform the Clan of The Shadow's report.
　It had apparently been delivered safely.

'Good grief. I don't know where you found it, but it seems you've got some very good clandestine mercenaries working for you. I'm a little intimidated. I've been gathering information on my own, and I knew that some kind of negotiation was going on between Seitz and Bassamark, but I didn't know that a negotiation had already taken place.

　I thought the Klan might already know, but they didn't seem to know. It's a good thing I sent it to him.

'We'll lose our advantage if the Saits attack us. This is where I would like to negotiate with Saiz. We may not be able to get them on our side, but we want to stop them from antagonizing us.
So you're going to get another negotiator?
'Anyway, to make it look good for us, we'd like to negotiate with the Paradile State and then with the Saitu State as well. Perhaps Basamark has Saiz on his side by saying that he will give them a reward if they win the battle. Then, if they lose the battle, they would only lose troops for no good reason. It's more effective to make them think their chances of winning are slim.
'Does that mean you want us to go to Saitu as well, after you finish negotiating with Paradile?
'Yeah, it will. Would that be a problem?

　It's a long journey, but for me, it's not a problem.
　But what about Lycia?

What about Lady Lycia?
I don't have a problem with that.

　I replied.

Good, then. Well, we'll be leaving in a week. Let me know if you need any supplies. I'll do everything I can.
Yes, sir.

　We were to spend the rest of the week at Sempeler Castle until the day of our sailing.