This is a border fortress?
　Yeah. It's not like Cilicia, is it?

　Almus asked Ismea, and she nodded.

　'Yes. In Cilicia, the borders are all fortified with stone fortresses. Some of the domestic gateways are wooden...''
　So our fortresses are as big as the Cilician barrier....

　I mean, why don't you set it in stone?
　'Well, it's because you don't have the skills. You need to know the math to build a pile of stones, and you need skill to cut them to the right size. And it takes some hard work to transport it.

　However, this is the only place with a wooden border.
　The fortress here was built about twenty years ago, and since then it had been repaired but not renovated.

　There were plans to rebuild it, but soon afterwards, King Ferrum took the As territory away from them.
　King Ferm couldn't afford to rebuild this fortress. Besides, King Ferm had been on friendly terms with King Domorgal, so there was no need to renovate the fortress.

　That's why it had been neglected until now.......but now that it was back in the hands of King Rosais' country, there was no way we could not renovate it.

　''I still think there's a problem if it's not made of stone.
　''Yes but the stones that are made into stone can't be found in this territory.

　And by the way, I don't have the skills to cut them out.
　Even if I had Ismail to guide me in stacking the stones, it would be impossible to talk about it without the material.

　'Where do you get the stones?'
　As I recall, Dibel territory is the country's largest producer of stone.
　Tetra says.

　Dibel territory........

　I don't know. Do you think we can count on them?
　But I don't want to negotiate with that man...

　''Just because it's the most productive area doesn't mean it's the only place you can get it. I think you can get it from the lands directly under King Rosais' control.
　What? You could have said that in the beginning. You're a vivitae.

　It's better to avoid people who don't fit, because it's better to avoid them thoroughly.
　If you get involved in a halfway house, the relationship will be even worse.

　"I'll order the stones from King Loseys. Ismail. Can you design it?
　I asked Ismaila and she nodded.

　'Yes, it's fine. I can design one that I designed a long time ago with just a few tweaks.
　How long will it take?
　'It'll take us roughly a week to complete it, including an estimate for materials.

　Ismea puffed out her own chest.







　'What kind of design do you intend to make?'
　Qingming asked Ismaila.

　''Yeah. I don't intend to make any changes. It seems that Almus-sama wants us to finish the repairs as soon as possible. For now, the current fortress has been reinforced with wood. We're going to build a wall of stone around it. This is something the engineers on the Adelian Peninsula could do.
　Ismea says as she looks around the fortress and makes a note of something.

　'Is that all?'
　When Qingming said a little disappointed, Ismaila laughed.

　''I'm talking about now. After that, we're going to reconstruct it little by little, focusing on the stone walls. It's a fortress, so we can't just destroy and rebuild everything, right?''
　'That's true too. Ha, I'm sorry. That's an odd question.

　Qing Ming smiled shyly.

　''I'll definitely finish this job for now. That's how you build up your achievements. After that, it's the As family's house. I can't help but want to make some changes. There's a lot of wasted space. I'll earn their love, and one day I'll be the country's official architect. And then I'll be working on projects all over the country.
　Saying that much, Ismea sighs.

　'What's wrong?'
　'That's the end of it.......King Rosais' country is a small country, so they can't build anything big. I wish this country would grow but the king is going to die and I hear his replacement isn't even capable. I'm worried.
　Ismea says, and Qingming claps Ismea on the shoulder to comfort her.

　''Aren't you an engineer? Even if your country is destroyed, you won't be put to death. .........I think you can play an active role in King Domorgal's country as well, don't you?　If it turns out that you designed this fortress. Well, that is, if you're very successful in designing this fortress.
　When Qingming said jokingly, Ismaila slapped Qingming on the head.

　''Don't say that so rarely!　What happens if you get fired?
　Ismea says in an angry tone, but with a laugh.

　'She likes the country that employs her, not the country of King Rosais, or the House of As, or the Almus, for that matter.

　'Yeah. But I'm motivated. It's my first job. If we're successful with this, there's a chance we'll get a call directly from King Losail. Maybe even from King Roselle's country.............................Okay, let's go for it!
　Ismea was fired up.





　As declared, Ismea finished the design in a week and showed me the materials and labor I needed.
　He calls himself excellent, and that's as good as it gets.

　'So let me purchase the stone.
　Okay. Good. It's for national security.

　King Rosais was happy to oblige.

　'By the way, you didn't ask Rigal Dibel to do it?　It's right next to your territory and the stone is of good quality, right?
　You can't do that.

　King Rosais smirks.
　He's mean.

　''By the way, shouldn't you have to consolidate your territory with the Dibel territory?
　I haven't decided if I'm going to succeed to the throne.

　I complain, and King Rosyth laughs.

　'Either way, you and Rigal Dibel are going to have to fight a war, aren't you?　When he succeeds to the throne, who's the eyesore?　Well, in that case, we'll have to build a fort on the territory's direct border with the territory.
　'Are you trying to hurry me up?　It's not going to be that easy.

　It's highly unlikely that Rigal Dibel will abolish me after he becomes king.
　Because I'm in charge of King Domorgal's borders.

　The territory of Dibel also borders King Domorgal, but for topographical reasons, the battleground is my Ath territory.
　If I were to turn on King Domorgal, the defensive line of King Rosais' country would be greatly reduced.

　Rigal Dibel wouldn't want to cause trouble too soon after becoming king.

　Besides, he decided to think it over.
　He has decided that he will sit down and worry about it until the deadline.

　"Why did you send Ismail to me, by the way?
　King Rosais' eyes are not knot holes. And King Rosais can speak Cilician, too.

　I don't see any reason to turn Ismea away.

　'You can't design a fortress on the border with Rigal Dibel if you stay with me, can you?　Besides, I'm going to die soon, and I'd rather be in your place than in mine.
　It's true that if King Losey's architects did that, it would completely destroy the House of Losey and the House of Dibel, but...

　Do you really want me to succeed to the throne?
　Yeah. I want it. I want my little girl to have a happy marriage. And I don't want that little boy to be my son. I'd much rather have the little boy of Ferrum as my son than that one.
　You don't have to...

　I will think it over and come to a conclusion on that.
　I bowed to King Rosais and left the place.






　When I returned to the mansion, somehow Tetra and the rest of the people, led by Tetra, were waiting for me.
　'What?'　What happened?
　Refugees have arrived. From Dibel territory.

　Another mess.
　I mean, the refugees bring in trouble at the perfect time every time.

　'How many?　What does the Dibel family say?　Do you want it back?
　Two hundred people. We haven't heard from them yet.

　It's not like two hundred people could disappear and not notice...
　I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon to return them.

　Who knows that the refugees are here first?
　It's just the men who are here and some of the soldiers. We just ran into Ron when he was in the territorial forest to kill the bear, so the information is being withheld.

　I mean, hopefully you'll get away with it by ignoring it.
　It's a felony to run away in the first place. And since they are fleeing to the same country, the success rate is low.

　Since they took that risk and ran away, they must have been governed very badly.　
　I've heard it's terrible, too.

　Well, anyway....

　Call the refugee representatives. We need to talk.

　




　Do you represent the refugees?
　'Yes. Yes, sir. Will you please take us in?
　First, you need to tell me what kind of conditions you're fleeing under.

　I'm going to turn them away if for no good reason.



　Here's a quick summary of the taxes

　Wheat 30%.
　land tax
　cloth
　Specialties
　Labor Relations
　Military service
　Marriage tax
　Death tax
　Funeral tax
　First night tax

　It's kind of amazing.
　How did you come up with all these taxes? I'd have too much trouble collecting them if I were you.
　Rigal, you're a hard worker, aren't you?

　I mean, it's a separate death tax and funeral tax.
　And a wedding tax and a wedding tax.

　Yeah, all kinds of awesome.

　Now I can see why he'd run away.

　"Some of the other Dibel relatives were also violent.

　Rape and robbery of anything is commonplace.
　They can come and kill people on a whim.

　That's a level of governance you don't even hear about in fiction.
　It's really amazing.

　Now, if it's this bad, I suspect it's all being heaped up...

　I told the delegates to wait a bit and leave the room.
　Then I called Tetra, Ial and Boros.

　I tell the three of them what the representatives say and listen to them.

　'I hear it's pretty bad, but is that story true?

　Then Tetra nodded.
　'I've heard that from others and it's generally true. There were people crying about being raped because they couldn't pay their first night's tax.
　Ial nodded as well.
　'I've heard about the taxes too it's true that they're being squeezed out quite a bit. They're selling their children on a regular basis.

　Well......

　I shifted my gaze to Boros and he nodded.

　''I've heard a lot about the awfulness of the Dibel territory too. Because refugees used to come here a lot during the old Ragow-sama's reign. And even during King Ferrum's reign, there were times when they would flee to this territory.''

　So you're saying that Rigal Dibel Hell is more horrible than Ferm Hell...
　There's always an upside.

　But the rape and murder are still going on. What are you going to do?
　Tetra asked me.
　Well I want to hide him. I mean, it would be a bad idea for a human being to abandon this.

　If we send them back to such a horrible place, I don't know if they'll all be alive.
　But how to cover it up....

　In King Rosais' country, you need the lord's permission to move his people around.
　In this case, I'd be the one in the wrong legally.

　A bad law is also a law, as they say, and if this is the case, I'll be made a criminal....
　Well, well....

　Yeah, you're right. You can hide in the distance and let me off the hook.
　Fortunately, I'm fortunate enough to have King Lossius on trial, and he's very partial to me.

　But what part of the world is there that Rigal Dibel can't investigate?

　There is. Just the place.

　We'll send them to the village. I didn't see anyone else getting together to send it.　They'll never find out there.
　There are only thirty people in there.

　There's room for two hundred people.
　It's a waste of space.

　Let's take the 200 refugees and put them in there.
　The original three dozen refugees will be able to get along with each other as well, since they will have something to communicate with each other.

　Let the new members have a taste of our hard work.

　We're a little over capacity, but we can give them food for a while.

　That's a good place to hide.
　A lot of the wards we put up a long time ago are still in place and that forest is a garden to us.
　If a sorcerer's dog got into the woods, we could take care of it in a heartbeat.

　And very few of the wealthy families know of the existence of that village, and very few of them know that it is my domain in the first place.
　It must be a blind spot.

　''It's settled. Let's sneak them out of there in the middle of the night.''
　So you'll have to make a quick work of it tonight.






　'Well, well, Mr. Dibel you are welcome to come up. I will serve you a simple meal.

　I'm going to politely welcome Rigal Dibel.
　I'm going to earn as much favor as I can.

　First of all, I'll serve a meal and fill Rigal's belly.
　If the belly is full, the aggression will be lessened.

　Now that we've finished eating........

　Mister Dibel. What can I do for you this time?
　Well, I know what you're up to.
　A fugitive, right?

　"Lord Ath. As a matter of fact, one of our own fugitives has escaped. It is highly likely that they have escaped into this territory. Do you not know of this?
　I answer the question.

　"I'm sorry," I say. I have no idea what you're talking about. I'll have someone look into it as soon as possible.
　Rigal raised his eyebrows as I replied, ''The refugees are going to be going to either our territory or King Domorgal's country.

　The refugees' destination is either our territory or King Domorgal's country.
　Well, considering the distance, the most likely destination is our As territory.

　Although this is an obvious lie it's not impossible that they could have escaped to King Domorgal, and if we don't have proof, it won't matter to us.
　I've ordered the sorcerers to erase any scent or footprints of refugees that might be incriminating.
　It's the perfect crime.

　And the people we're dealing with aren't convinced.
　Yeah, I see.

　I see. By the way, Lord Arum As. I'm sure you're aware of the fact that the law of this country requires the consent of both lords in order to move the people.
　'Yes, of course. So what?

　You still think it's me.
　But I don't have any proof.

　After that, Rigal asked me the same thing over and over again, but I let it all pass unknowingly.




　'Shit!　Cut the white off!
　Rigal kicked off his chair and drew his sword and let go, slashing at the floor and walls.
　After scattering the area like that and relieving the stress, he called his aide, Vermette, and his closest relative and best friend, Gilbert.

　'What do you think about this case?'
　Gilbert spoke up first.

　''Without a doubt, it is believed that he escaped to the As territory. It was a village that I was in charge of. If I were to flee from there, I can't think of any other place but the As territory.

　Of course, it's not impossible to get to King Domorgal's country.
　But it would take days to get to King Domorgal's Land.

　There is no way we can escape in a night.

　"But without conclusive proof, I fear we will lose the battle. It seems that Armes As has completely wiped out all evidence of scent and footprints.

　And King Loseys is clearly an almsgiver.
　It's not good for the case. We're going to lose the case.

　But you've put the nail in the coffin. There won't be a repeat.
　As expected, Alms can't do the same thing over and over again.
　That was Vermette's conclusion.

　'So you're going to cry yourself to sleep........we'll see. Alms-as....




　A week after this incident, reports of the discovery of a large rock salt mine in the eastern part of the As territory, near the borders of the As and Dibel territories, swept through the country of King Rosais.