Silsila and Orneus are undoubtedly the mainstay of the battle.
　Depending on the movements of the two of them, the war situation will be greatly shaken up. However, it should be the same for the other party, Arus.

　There's no point in thinking about it now, and Ars returned to the subject.

　It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for. Of course, it was the opinion of an inexperienced person. That's why I came to ask his opinion on whether this would be adopted.


　♢ ♢ ♢


　It takes about 10 minutes to explain slowly. Ars repeats the contemplation of just cutting back immediately if he's caught in the middle of an intervening exit. The question is whether or not this is legal. It would be fine if it wasn't a foul under the rules, but he couldn't look through the rules in the rule book to determine if it was a foul.

　And he couldn't achieve the odds of winning as much as Ars himself would offer, on his own. It would be difficult without the backing of the Favell family on all sides.


　Holding her mouth in a slender hand, Froese looked at Selva with a difficult face.

''It's funny, but...''

　His gaze is feeble because he doesn't know every inch of the game of Tenbram. It's his age that makes him agree, or leave the decision to the butler.
　He is, of course, well versed in tenebrams.

　Selva paused for a beat at his master's look that was thrown at him, and then

'It will be difficult to judge. All I can say is that it was not a complete violation of the rules. This area depends on the competence of the judges, and we need to take care of that too, so that the opponent doesn't hug us.
I don't think the odds are good for us to win without doing that much.
'Hey!　What, what do you mean? I'm not sure...

　Tesfia's overturned head revealed that her understanding was not being followed. Of course, this whole operation hinged on her.

''Fia-san, why don't we ask her everything first?　The plan that Lord Arus is proposing this time, I believe, requires the cooperation of your husband.
Uh, yeah...

　She is forced to follow Loki's nonchalantly told correct argument.
　Across the way, Tesfia only shrank back at Froese's stunned face. There were no words to continue as she was left behind.

'You don't need to know yet. First, you need to get the rules down. The rest, Selva-san, could you please?'

　Ars sends the utmost civility to Selva on this occasion. This is respect for a person of his age and mastery, but it's not the only respect. It is impossible to dislike this wise old steward.
　Maybe that is a quality that makes him a good steward.

I'll do my best to teach you, although it's not a problem for me. I will do what I can for this Selva lady, even if it means devoting myself to her.
Then you wanted to do my part, didn't you?

　Ars would essentially have to participate as a substitute for the Favell family. If that happened, Selva would not be able to participate.
　Regardless of how things started, he would have wanted to participate as well.

　But Selva raised his mouth slightly and shook his head with a soft face.

''Of course I'm prepared to whip my old bones, but in this case, Ars-san has a much better chance of winning than me. It's based on a rational decision. It's only if you think of the young lady, not me.''

　With that, Selva put her hand on her chest and basked in the memories as she reminisced. As if to make sure that his words were not false.

　I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to do anything about it," he said.


(Are all butlers like this...?)

　He disciplines himself for the sake of those he serves. There is not a trace of pride in it. The priority is over everything he has to do.

　This was an honest admiration from Ars.

'I'll do what I can do, too. Otherwise, we shouldn't be sticking our necks out in the first place.

　Selva didn't stop speaking there, but only turned his gaze to Flosse as if he could see through it.

''And I didn't call for you in the first place.

　Hmm?　A line that seemed to include "I'm sorry," made Ars feel like he was missing something. That oversight is made known early by Froese across the street - as if she hopes the conversation will go on with a big smile on her face.
　But the shapely ball lips start to move about the identity of that smile, as if she's exactly the right time.

'Let's go with that, then, shall we?'
'All right, sir. We'll go over some patterns of operations in that direction as well, but please consider them for insurance purposes.
'Right. Well then, I'm sorry to have to rely on Mr. Ars to take care of you, but I'll take care of you.
No, I got on board. It was me who fired it up.


　This was after Froese had dodged the minimum amount of words necessary and received the terms and conditions about the personnel to be gathered.

　Froese broke off the conversation relatively naturally.

'So how do you plan to replace Mr. Ars?'
Yes?　...........!

　It was a rare mistake for Ars to notice it by saying it. No, if he was going to say it, it was something that he should have noticed earlier.
　During the meeting with Isle........

　That's why Ail spat out the last discarded words.
　'You'll have to forgive me for being a little bit mean,' that little bit, but it brings a dark cloud to the scene.

　Yes, I assumed that Ars was an exception to the rule and that he could participate from the beginning. He had mistakenly assumed that it was a negotiation that included it. In other words, Ars would have to follow the formal procedure as a substitute.

　But.

'Maybe, but there can't be any exceptions. That's probably the reason they've offered this negotiation.
''You should be allowed to participate if you have been engaged in the service of the nobility for more than two years, or if you cooperate as a noble...''

　Ars was bitterly searching for the unraveling of the netting, but the lack of unraveling from the beginning was confirmed by what he had already learned as knowledge.
　If Ars doesn't participate, it may not even work as an operation. Froese should have known that, but she had some leeway.
　Rather than that, she was revealing a bit of surprise.

''As a result, my participation is near impossible........''
Oh, shit!　Hey, you should do something. Ask the Governor if he has any contacts.

　He couldn't bear to kick the idea of clinging to the strawman of the tesphere, either.

'Don't be silly. This is a matter between the nobles. Even though there is a close relationship between the nobles and the military, it's business and positional. So it's odd to say, but the nobles have laid down inviolability. The military has to tacitly accept it unless there's an obvious overreach in regards to the nobles.
'Yes. The nobles and the army are merely aligned in their interests.

　Tesfia is aghast and speechless when she gets Froese's supplement.

　But on the other hand, Froese is worried about being strangely calm.
　Ars was bypassed, or rather, he was about to say inwardly, "Because of this, to get involved with a nobleman......." and then decided to swallow it. The one who stuck his neck out was himself. There was no way he could use shallow learning as an excuse.


　At that moment, as if to break the tense atmosphere, Froese's proposal was fully prepared and sparked.

''If it's Mr. Ars-san, it's possible for you to become a nobleman, right?
Yes....
But it's not even close to being ready now.
That's right.
'Then there's one loophole. Perhaps Mr. Ars just didn't realize it, but the son and son of Umluina knew it.

　Selva placed a piece of parchment on a tray for Flosse, who grimaced as if to say it was irritating.

　Driven by an unearned anxiety, Ars felt a resistance to spinning out the words.

　Froese carefully scoops up the parchment, turns it around and slides it on the table.
　When it stopped in front of Ars's eyes, there were three figures looking at it.

''.............Engagement?''
"--!　Mother!

　Tesfia thrust her hands on the table with a dunce and released a protest. Maybe this was more of a reaction to astonishment than a protest.

　It wouldn't matter if the implication was completely lifted. Even without the implication, she is disgusted by the word engagement.
　But it didn't seem to Froese as if she was feeling a tremendous amount of discomfort.

'No?　However, in this case, there's no other way out.
'Sure....'

　Ars agreed with the justification, but he pressed his temples against being pulled so far. He was being walked on an invisible rail in a roundabout way.
　I can't say anything to the contrary, as if I had thought that far into this emergency situation. Yes, there was no way to retract the decision to participate once he announced his decision to participate.

　Ars sighed as he looked at the cool Selva. This old steward must be in on it too.
　It was a moment when Ars, who does not have an excuse, shuddered at the horror of the aristocracy.

''Master Ars........''

　Is it because Loki, who turns his sad eyes on her, realizes that she can't escape?
　All she wants is for Ars to be happy. That's all, but knowing more than a little bit of Tesfia's character, there is no end to her weariness.

　In the first place, Loki is more concerned about Ars than anyone else. He is the one who should be prioritized over himself. It was an emotional argument, but his wishes should not be thwarted.
　It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get away with it. To tell the truth, I wish Loki would just drop everything and reject it. He may have brought this on himself, but he still wishes he could be more selfish.

　But she understands more than anything else that she can't. For that is the beauty of Ars and the reason why Loki is still alive today.
　What kind of emotions does the misty haze in her chest elicit, is it jealousy? Loki kept it in his mind despite the bad feeling he had.

　But the hand that climbs on it was gentle and restful as always. The haze cleared in an instant, so much so that I wanted to leave everything to him.
　Finally, Loki's cash personality broke with disapproval. His expression was filled with excuses for himself in a way.

''Let me ask you one thing, this engagement can be broken off, right?
Quite a lot.
As I said before, I've got all sorts of things on my plate and I don't want to bother you with them.
We'll put it that way. Good for you, Fear.

　She had been silent for a long time, trying to cool her feverish cheeks, when she came to herself and repeated her mother's words inwardly.

'Yes, no, I just don't want to.........

　I felt my heart lighten as I spun on my own. Relieved to see her mother grinning at her relief and her cheeks rekindling. The worry had gone away like the sky after a storm.

'You'll have to agree with me there, Fia.

　Tesfia raised a question mark.

''As a nobleman, ending an engagement is a blow, but when it comes to women, it's not an uncommon occurrence. Although the disapproval that men receive is greater than men, but........
Of course, I'm not in trouble.

　I'm not sure if that's even in my brain, but Tesfia nodded belatedly to fool me.

I'm sure you'll be able to sign your name in a flash, and seal it, but a thumbprint would be fine with me.

　It couldn't be just as they said. The aristocrat's cleverness reminded Ars now that he was aware of the aristocrat's cleverness, and there was no need to let his guard down.
　His gaze on the engagement letter deciphered the letters at high speed as if he were studying them.

''It's okay. I wouldn't think of tricking you, as expected. It's useless anyway.

　Ars took it to mean the rankings. If he didn't believe it, he said, he could use the rankings. He said he didn't mind using force.
　As expected, even the Favell family would not be able to fight the army head-on. That's what the Arus pecking order is all about.

　My only concern is that he might collude with the Governor. It didn't relieve him of his guard, but he still had read everything he could to the point of not being disbelieved.
　I ran my pen through the pages, thinking of that hateful Beric smile.

'Yes, now we are officially engaged.'
'As I recall, you'll need that engagement letter when you dissolve it. I don't want you to lose it or anything, okay?
Of course I do.

　Even if it was a hypothetical first engagement, at this time, as the Fevers... or rather, as a mother, Froese smiled as her heart belt was loosened.