TMDWS 9

Chapter: 9

The Duchy of Nozen, Western Region

Late at night, the Duke of Nozen frowned deeply.

“What is this?”

Duke Nozen—Hilbury Nozen—was an elderly man with white hair.

He had a robust build and well-defined features, but one eye was covered by an eyepatch, and one of his legs was a prosthetic.

Holding a densely packed report, he tapped one particular line with his finger.

“Timber for furniture reconstruction? Olive wood?”

“There’s no need to be overly concerned, Your Grace,” the aide replied respectfully.

“It was an unexpected shipment, so we decided to purchase it using the budget allocated for supporting the territory’s citizens. The wood is sturdy and beautiful—quite different from standard relief supplies—so it should be far more effective in boosting civilian morale during this crisis.”

“Hm? It came from Sears?”

Hilbury stroked his beard, narrowing his eye.

“But the new Marquis of Sears is currently absent, isn’t he?”

The House of Nozen and the House of Sears were both ancient noble families recognized as founding contributors to the Empire.

However, unlike the House of Sears—which had steadily declined to the point of wielding less influence than even a remote count’s family—the House of Nozen had taken the opposite path.

Bordering the western grain belt, the Duchy of Nozen had prospered without end. Wealth, prestige, and intelligence networks alike were on an entirely different level.

“It was done on Miss Brisa’s orders, as I understand it. When a grain merchant demanded repayment of a debt, she offered timber instead.”

“Hm.”

Hilbury had no knowledge of the relationship between a mere grain merchant and a marquisate.

Nor was the purchase of furniture-grade timber for relief purposes something that would normally draw his attention.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have let it pass.

If the name Sears hadn’t been involved—or if a girl named Brisa hadn’t been behind those unexpected shipments.

Hilbury narrowed his eye and muttered.

“Leopold sent flowers to that child anonymously, didn’t he?”

“…He wished to keep it secret. He controlled the information very thoroughly.”

“There is nothing in this land that I do not know. A mere fourteen-year-old cannot blind me.”

Hilbury exposed the boy’s private affairs without hesitation.

“Especially when it concerns my only grandson—the one who will inherit this duchy.”

Leopold Nozen.

A fourteen-year-old heir who resembled Hilbury in his youth.

The western duchy was wealthy, blessed with fertile farmland and mineral-rich mines.

Yet every year, it was struck by the disaster known as the Monster Wave.

This year’s Monster Wave had arrived earlier than usual—and on a scale larger than any recorded before.

As a result, Leopold had been deployed to the front lines immediately, without even attending his academy graduation ceremony.

He had inherited the Nozen family’s special abilities in full, making him indispensable during a Monster Wave.

“Heading toward the battlefield, in the midst of that chaos… and he still sent flowers…”

It was a duty no heir of Nozen could avoid.

Hilbury himself had lost an eye and a leg in that very process. That was why he had no choice but to send his grandson to the battlefield.

Even though his own son and daughter-in-law—sent to war ten years ago—had returned as cold corpses.

“Well… perhaps,” the aide said carefully, “since His Grace couldn’t attend the former Marquis of Sears’s funeral, maybe he simply looked after her as a fellow academy student?”

He tried desperately to protect the boy’s privacy, all the more because he knew Hilbury would not approve.

“It’s something anyone might do. Hahaha. Hahahahaha.”

“……”

“Hahahahahahaha.”

“……”

“Haha.”

The effort failed.

Instead of laughing it off, Hilbury raised an eyebrow.

Normally, he wouldn’t have paid any attention at all—even if Leopold had sent flowers to some girl.

The House of Nozen is far too busy to concern itself with an unrelated, middling noble family from the central region.

But this was… interesting.

“The olives of Sears run parallel with the family’s history. Cutting down those olive trees is not a decision made lightly.”

Hilbury sifted through his memories.

Had Leopold ever spoken about Brisa during his time at the academy…?

A conversation from the previous winter break at the ducal residence surfaced.

“The instructors praised you highly. They say that while you have talent in appearances, you excel objectively in everything as well. Heh. Since you never missed first place in any exam, being top of the class was only natural. Then who do you expect to be second?”

“The person who ranked second every time,” Leopold replied. “I believe she’ll be the runner-up.”

“Oh? And who would that be?”

“Brisa Sears.”

“She enrolled two years earlier than the others, didn’t she? And yet she placed second in every exam?”

“That is what the results show.”

As always, Leopold’s answers were dry and unreadable.

Instead, his maternal cousin Sylvia—seated beside him—chimed in brightly.

“But she stays in the library all night. Considering how hard she works and still can’t beat Leo, I think her raw intelligence is probably about the same as mine. Right, Leo?”

Leopold answered simply,

“An interesting opinion.”

Which was the aristocratic way of saying, That’s nonsense.

True to his role as the western heir, Leopold never revealed his true thoughts directly.

“She’s so aloof and prickly—she doesn’t even have friends. She’s incredibly pretty, like a porcelain doll, but I’ve never seen her smile or get excited. Her personality must be really strange. Don’t you think so, Leo?”

“That’s… debatable.”

Which meant, I disagree.

Sylvia shot Leopold a look and continued chattering.

“And yet her jewelry and personal belongings are all top-tier. No one would ever guess that the House of Sears is on the verge of collapse. Honestly, it seems like even she doesn’t know?”

“Sylvia.”

Leopold spoke without changing his expression.

“Don’t you think this duck is a bit too heavy on the pepper?”

Which meant, I don’t want to hear your nonsense anymore.

At the time, Hilbury had dismissed the conversation without a second thought.

But now, looking back…

“I should send an informant to Sears.”

Hilbury raised his eyebrow as he issued the order.

“I need to know.”

His remaining golden eye gleamed calmly.

“If Leopold thought she was worth acknowledging… then I must determine whether she is worth evaluating as well.”

Several Days Later — The Marquisate of Sears

“His Lordship should be arriving today, shouldn’t he?”

It was the day Alphius was scheduled to return.

Philip fidgeted as he planted the remaining seed potatoes.

“As long as he catches the warp on time, he should arrive this afternoon.”

When I didn’t respond, Philip gave an awkward laugh and continued.

“As for Wendy… well, His Lordship will probably scold her quite severely.”

Wendy had been excluded from the potato field labor.

No one seemed to be taking the punishment I’d given her very seriously.

“We’re not completely thoughtless people, you know.”

Philip seemed to have forgotten how rudely he’d challenged me at first.

“She just… gets like that sometimes. She worships Lord Alphius too much and crossed a line.”

I let out a quiet sigh as I looked over the former Olive Plain—now turned into a seed potato field.

Up to this point, everything was still manageable.

This can all be chalked up to me being a little crazy. I just hope Alphius comes back soon.

I didn’t want the kind of early-novel suffering arc where everyone starts starving.

But even by afternoon, Alphius did not return.

Instead, late that night, one of Alphius’s elite guards stumbled into the marquis’s residence.

“It seems His Lordship will be delayed longer than expected.”

His face twisted in pain as he spoke.

“Lord Alphius has suddenly departed for the eastern region to rescue His Highness the Second Prince. I was sent alone to deliver the message.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead and sighed.

Just as expected—exactly as the future I knew.

Langsi, who had been working late as usual, rushed over in alarm.

“The east? Why is everyone suddenly going east?”

The knight panted as he answered.

“A Monster Wave has begun in the eastern sea. The benefactor paying the reward—no, His Highness the Second Prince—is trapped there. And he’s the only one who can officially acknowledge Lord Alphius’s achievements in the northern war.”

It followed the original storyline perfectly.

I decided not to doubt it anymore.

I truly knew the future.

And fortunately, I had prepared accordingly.

“He couldn’t return empty-handed, and the two of them are comrades-in-arms. So His Lordship had no choice but to go.”

“Then why was the Second Prince there in the first place?” Langsi demanded. “Shouldn’t he be at a victory banquet? Why would someone that high up even go there?”

According to the original work, the capable Second Prince—born to a commoner empress—would fall into the Crown Prince’s trap and die in the east at this point in the story.

“How would I know? Orders from someone even higher, probably… Still, with the warp available, shouldn’t he be back within three days?”

Three days, my foot.

Warp instability was only just beginning.

Even this knight arrived half a day late…

Warps ran on mana. When mana-bearing monsters appeared, their operation was inevitably affected.

And then—early the next morning—the problem finally surfaced.