Chapter 15 – Settlement and Deepening Dependence

After the lich disappeared, the living dead under their control slowed down tremendously.

To begin with, they are monsters whose brains are rotten and thus have no ability to think, so this much is to be expected.

After that, we escaped ourselves from the horde, where we were then quickly rescued by Lucy's troops.

As for Count Luke, he was left stranded by the monsters that kept coming on him. He was raging as he laid waste to the enemies blocking his way.

By the time he got back to the base, he could no longer make a move on us, as many people were watching.

Right after we returned to the barracks, though, Lucy went furious on me.

She took me into her room and lectured me severely.

After that, I rested my exhausted body. By the time I recovered, it was time to report back.

This time, to the Marquis.

Marquis Krall, the lord of the city, will personally reward us for saving the city from a rare crisis in recent years.

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We dressed up in formal attire and headed for the castle to meet the very man.

Accompanied by Lucy as her adjutant, we were taken to the reception room to meet him.

And when he arrived, we took our seats, or rather, only the Marquis and Lucy seated face to face, with me standing behind Lucy.

"Baroness Finlay, you have done an excellent job this time around."

"It was nothing. I just did what I had to do as the protector of this city."

The Marquis nodded to Lucy, who was humble to the point of modesty.

"Yes, it may be so. But it would be unbecoming of a superior if I did not reward my subordinates with something for all their hard work."

He pulled out on what he was carrying a sheet of paper and into his pocket a palm-sized wooden box. If y ou ar e a ble to rea d this m ess age, you are rea ding from an unau thori zed aggr egate site. Re ad at my Word Pres s at stab b ing with a syri nge. ho me. bl og to sup port me and my tra nsla tions.

The box must be of great value, as even from behind, I could see Lucy's movements stiffen as she looked at them.

"First of all, as a reward for their great war effort, the Finlay House will be promoted to a viscountcy as of today. I will also reinforce your forces with the ones under my command to an amount appropriate for your new title."

I peered over at the document after hearing those words, and sure enough, that was what it said.

"But…"

"Humility may seem noble, but too much of it will only spark hate. So, will you accept?"

"Y-yes! I would gladly receive it!"

"Umu. A wise choice."

After that, they each sign the documents.

But the meeting with the Marquis did not end with just that. Or rather, the real talk was only starting.

"From here on, I'd like to talk about something personal."

The Marquis broached another subject while they were on break.

"Yes? What is it, uncle?" which also made Lucy have a change of tone, seeing she's referring to him now as "uncle" instead of "Marquis".

When Lucy looked up, the Marquis continued.

"My son Luke, who had just returned from defeating the Lich, told me you have someone of the Demon Race in your unit."

At these words, the two of us looked at each other sharply.

But before Lucy could answer anything, I stepped forward.

"Yes, it is, as the Marquis says. But to be precise, "in your unit" is a little different."

"If I remember correctly, you are Sanada, right? I am talking to Lucy right now."

The Marquis also made a glare at me as if saying, "what about it?"

"I humbly apologize, but if it's about that Demon, it is not of Lady Finlay's concern but my own. For it is I who had taken that Demon as my personal subordinate."

Anastasia is working with us, but she hasn't officially joined the unit yet.

There's also the benefit that if she's my personal subordinate, it will be easy for me to move her when the need arises.

"I see. So you are saying that you brought that Demon to Krasland? If so, that's a serious crime. We humans have the Demon Race as the most hated enemies in the world. Inviting them in is equivalent to an act of treachery."

The Marquis looked at me with a reproachful gaze.

I'm sure his son has told him about Anastasia, but he's still playing dumb about it.

But now that all the evidence has been burned that night, I can't pursue the matter about her being in relations with the Count no longer.

I am now on my own to hold my ground, but thankfully I have already prepared a plan.

"Are you sure about that? This time it was thanks to her that we were able to defeat the lich."

"It's hard to believe that a Human would join forces with a Demon."

"It is better than being manipulated without being aware of it."

The Marquis's expression did not change.

But from here, he switched his sights away from me, which should have been an indication that my comeback had done something.

"Manipulated, huh. You know that cuts both ways, right?"

"You don't have to worry, Your Excellency. I already have a defense against those kinds of things. I won't be spending almost a year being manipulated without them knowing, unlike somebody else."

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The Marquis's expression twitched slightly as I said this. As expected, he was shocked that his son had been manipulated for a year and that he, his own father, had not noticed.

"Quite confident, are we?"

As an individual, Marquis Krall probably had a grudge against the Demons and against Anastasia.

After all, he is the type of person that is already uncomfortable with the presence of pagans and other ethnic groups in his territory, so it was pretty much a given that he would loathe those of the Demon Race – their very own enemy aside from the monsters.

However, it cannot be denied that Lucy's forces, with Anastasia's cooperation, has now become force to reckon with.

That any lord would want to have them at their disposal.

The Marquis holds immense power, but it was only within the populace. And such populace is completely useless against the might of the monster horde.

They need firepower. The one that is immense enough to defeat powerful monsters.

And now that a powerful monster like the lich had appeared, that thought has become even stronger.

Well, I can't deny that there's also a mix of nepotism here. If it's another person instead of Lucy, who is his niece, me talking back to him like this would have left me hanging by the noose days later.

But I knew very well my place, and that is the primary reason why I am daring right now.

Because I have Lucy by my side.

(You've already decided in your mind whether to accept or reject Anastasia, haven't you?)

I stared at him as if telling him that, and then he opened his mouth as if in contemplation.

"Very well, I'll leave the custody of that Demon to you since you seem to be quite confident about it. Is that all right with you, Sanada?"

"Thank you very much for agreeing to my selfishness, Your Excellency. I will do my best to meet your expectations!"

I answered, and the Marquis nodded. His eyes were not even slightly offended by the fact that he had given in to my request. This cha pter tran slat ion is mad e pos si ble by sta bbing with a syr inge trans lations. check only up -to- date translat ion s on my W ordpr ess si te.

However, although he had lost this time, I sensed a sharpness in his eyes, as if he was trying to nail me and telling me not to think that it would always go my way.

After that, the Marquis and Lucy gave each other a courtesy closing greeting, and the matter was settled.

"I'll be leaving now, as we still have a meeting to deal with the aftermath. Though it can't be denied that I've seen some interesting things in the short time I've been here."

He got up from the sofa and headed straight for the exit.

But on his way out, he whispered something as he passed by me.

"It's fine that you want power, but Lucy has only just become a viscount. I suggest that you strengthen your footing first. Take it as a warning from your predecessors."

With these words, the Marquis left the room.

I looked at the door as he left and let out a sigh.

Then, I relaxed my tense body and sat down on the sofa where the Marquis had been sitting a short while ago.

"Phew. I already knew that the odds were stacked against me, but that was still one hell of a nervous trip."

"Yuushin, you are being too reckless with uncle. He has been a part of the center of the political world since the time the royal capital existed, you know?"

"Well, at least now I know I'm not good enough to compete head-to-head with him just yet."

In the first place, I was but a mere freelancer.

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But even with that disadvantage, I was able to persuade him to use his position as the lord of this city to get the approval of Anastasia, though the expense of it was a bit of a rift between the Marquis and me.

As for whether this rift will go narrower or wider, well, that's an issue for the future.

For now, let's heed his advice of strengthening our foothold first. We'll think about the next step after that.

And for that, we'll need to utilize Lucy's popularity, which has grown as a result of saving the city from the crisis and use it to progress even higher in the future.

All the way to the top, until Lucy claims marquis' seat. Yes, that would be very interesting.

Is this what delusions of grandeur feel like? Is it because I'm now stable as Lucy's adjutant that I'm getting greedy now?

But all of this is for Lucy, though.

Lucy came up next to me and leaned against me as I was thinking this.

"Something on your mind again? In any case, please don't do anything dangerous again. As long as I can be with Yuushin, that's all I need to be satisfied."

She said this as she looked at me with a serious face.

"I know. I won't go running into a monster horde by myself again."

I nodded and patted her head reassuringly.

I have changed.

I don't know if it's because of my environment or if it was because of Lucy, but recently, I've been feeling a bit reckless.

If it was the old me, I would've never done that thing, charging head-on at the enemy without caring for my life.

But I had come this far. And Lucy has become irreplaceable and indispensable to me in another meaning before I even know it. I have to respond seriously to the feelings that she has for me.

While I remained silent, she put her hands around my body and buried her face on my chest.

"I will never let go of you anymore. Ever."

Lucy hugged me painfully as she said this.