'He's been expecting you, Lady Alexia. And thank you for transporting me to this point, Prince Fergus, Your Highness.

　When we reached the mansion that was used by all the lords of the city we entered, General Melia was at the front of the mansion, with the soldiers lined up behind him to salute. It's quite a spectacular sight.

''Yes, thank you General Melia. For taking charge of security on our behalf.

No, no!　I'll help you as much as I can, if it's okay with me!

　 I've talked to him once during the war, but he wasn't like this then. We'll have to wait and see.

"Oh. We'll stay here for the rest of the day and come back tomorrow. Do you have a place to stay?

Yes, of course we are ready, Your Grace. Hey, show His Royal Highness Prince Fergus around.

Ha!

　General Melia summons the soldiers, and Fergus and his brothers-in-law are led into the house. The soldiers went to the annex-like building. But this house is huge. It's even bigger than the frontier count's house. Because the former lord ran away early, there are no signs of a fight.

Well then, Alexia-sama and the others will be going with you.

　With that said, General Melia will follow you as you head towards the mansion. We are each led to a room and place our luggage there. The luggage is inside me or Alexia, who has an item ring. They are divided between men and women.

　After that, Alexia, the deputy, and I are gathered in the conference room for a discussion with General Melia. Everyone else has gone to check out the mansion.

　Rabbi-san went to the Adventurer's Guild in this territory, and Rose-san went to attend to it and look for a vacant lot.

''For now, can you tell me the current status of the territory?''

'Yes, sir. First of all, these are former Regalian Imperial nobles, most of whom have surrendered, but the nobles near the border with Regalia still resist.

　That's the one from your brother-in-law Fergus' story. The one where he wondered if he thought the regalia would come to his aid.

"What's the number?

'Oh, Master Ray, I don't need to be respectful. Just speak normally.

　General Melia said that to me with a normal face. I'm not good at talking to older people with a tattle tale, so I spoke respectfully, but it was immediately dismissed. Well, it can't be helped.

'All right. So how much is it worth?

'Yes. There are about 30 of us, including the haves and have-nots, and about 5,000 soldiers. It's about 5,000 soldiers.

　There are so many of them. But the Nanor soldiers General Melia is bringing with her were 30,000, I believe. You still can't hold them back?

'We currently have five armies of 30,000, each divided into five separate armies, east, west, north, south and west, so it will inevitably take some time to get together.

　It can't be helped. The Royal Domain is quite large, you know. If we wanted to go around that whole area, we'd really have to divide it up.

''All right. ''All right, send a messenger to these nobles. It's not too late.

　An ultimatum, I guess. It's true that if you drag it out too long, the nobles who are calm now might revolt, and if they resist any longer, they must be put down as soon as possible. If they resist any longer, they must be put down as soon as possible.

''That's right. I'll have to look around the other territories as soon as I can afford it. The nobles who surrendered because of the lack of manpower are left in place for now, but we won't know if they are trustworthy until we meet them in person, and bringing soldiers with us will be a deterrent.''

　Both Alexia and General Melia nod at my words. Well, all of that would come after I returned from the Regalia Empire.

　We talked about a lot of things after that, but in the end, all we could talk about was something that we couldn't proceed without coming back from the Regalia Empire, so we got some confirmation and that's where we broke up.

''Rei, what do you plan to do after this?''

Hmm?　After this?

　I didn't think much of it. It is still past noon in terms of time. There's no point in staying in the house.

I'm just going to look around the city.

The city?

Yeah. I don't know what this place is like, you know. We'll have to see.

　I say this with a smile, and Alexia laughs and says it can't be helped, but she agrees. General Melia asks for an escort because it's not safe for me to be alone, but I refuse because I want to come and see her on the sly. Besides, I'm not alone.

'We're here and you're safe!

　Yeah, I'm counting on you. With Alexia's persuasion, General Melia has backed off as well, so I leave the mansion by myself.

　But there really aren't many people here. It's not that they're not there at all, but I hardly see anyone walking outside.

''Let's just take a look around, shall we?''

Gawd!

　........gawd?　I looked at the direction of the voice and saw Clondine with Ekla on her back walking towards me. .........You, are you being used as Ekla's leg?

Do you follow them?

Coo!

Gawd!

　In case you're wondering, Ekla and Clondine sound like they're ready to go. Clondine has grown so big that there's plenty of room to carry Ekla. About sixty centimeters long. The two of them are on the back of the Klondine, and Ecla is laying on top of it.

　I walk out of the city with these two bodies. Not all the shops are closed. Some stalls are open. But there are no people in them.

Curle.

Gow?　Gaugarl.

Squeak, squeak, squeak.

Gawgawl!

　.........The two headed towards the stall for some reason, having a conversation that only Ekla and Clondine could understand. The stall's items are skewers?

''Do you want to eat?''

Clu!

Garou!

　Two of them look at me like they want things. I don't blame them.

"Hey, old man. Give me three skewers.

'Oh!　It's been a while since we've had a visitor. Oh, wait for me!

　The old man at the stall happily grills the skewers. Ekra and Klondine both smelled good and were itching to get started.

'Here it is!'

　I get a skewer from the old man at the stall, and as I'm about to hand it to Ekra and the others, I feel eyes on me from somewhere. When I look towards that gaze, I see a group of kids, slightly dirty from the alleyway between the houses, staring at me.