Chapter 215

Chapter 215 Strongest Sage, Dodges Party

"By 'us' here . . . You mean Mathias, Iris, Ruli and Alma, the four of you?"

"Exactly . "

Hearing my answer, Viscount Regido pondered for a bit .

And then he speaks .

" . . . And do you think that's for the best, Mathias?"

"I do . The more people going the higher we risk the infiltration getting found out . "

"Certainly, you want only a select few if you're going to infiltrate enemy's base . . . But aren't four too few to go up against that many dolls?"

"Those dolls only have numbers with them, so slipping through them is a simple matter . Besides, our target is only one, the doll master, there's no need for many personnels to defeat it . "

These are dolls whom Biffgel managed to take four down, bring on 100, 1000 of them, it makes no difference .

Besides, all of those dolls will cease functioning once we defeat the dollmaster .

The knights would be a nice help in group battles, but they're only going to get in the way in an infiltration mission .

Even though these elite knights probably are also good at infiltrating, I'm sure their anti magic detection ability isn't up for the task .

And we're not so lacking in power to be in need of the knights covering for us .

. . . Might be a different story if they're as strong as Iris though .

Conversely, protecting Relaia Barondom from the dolls' assault is these knights' forte .

The job of knights is to protect lord's territory, their training revolves around it .

Leaving our back to Viscount Regido and his knights, while we're going infiltrating is a good plan .

"If that's what you believe Mathias, we're going with it . After all, you're obviously more experienced in fighting demons than me . In exchange, I shall accomplish what I am good at . "

"Good at?"

"Yeah . Relaia Barondom has suffered some damage in this battle . There should be spots where they need assistance to defend as well, and it looks like the defense here hangs mostly on Castor's powers . . . It's my job to reassemble the territory and the army from such a situation . "

I see, he's fulfilling his duty as a commanding officer of the knights .

The viscount is truly fit to take care of our back .

Looks like everyone will nicely get their role here .

"I understand . If you find anything that could be a clue along the way, please contact me . "

"Very well . . . When do you plan to depart?"

"I can go tomorrow morning . . . The earlier the better as the enemy might run away if they notice us here . "

That was my entire purpose coming here in the first place .

We don't need to be here for them to gather intelligence from the populace and local knights .

" . . . Understood . Then let's take care of things so you can depart tomorrow morning . . . Baron Relaia, are there things Mathias need to take care of before leaving the territory?"

"Considering Baron Mathias holds great powers, it might be a good idea for him to go meet the allied forces' commander-in-chief just in case . "

"Allied forces' commander-in-chief . . . Is that not Baron Relaia?"

Other nobles in the surrounding area are participating in the defense of Relaia Barondom besides the baron himself .

Though the scale of these allied forces is small at only 150 people .

The highest ranked noble who's come to help is at most a baronet .

Nobles that are of the same rank and higher than Baron Relaia won't participate . . . Or rather, there's no high ranked nobles around this area, so there's no one that can come .

If nobles band up together to form allied forces, the highest ranked noble will act as the commander-in-chief, so I thought Baron Relaia is one, but . . .

"No, the allied forces' commander-in-chief is Baronet Castor . At first, I did take command but midway through I believed Baronet Castor was more fit for the role, thus I relinquished the position to him . "

Looks like the commander-in-chief is my father Castor .

As expected of someone connected to the knights .

" . . . Good decision . Then Mathias, you should go see Baronet Castor . "

"Yes . "

Looks like our reunion will be with my father as the allied forces' commander-in-chief .

. . . But, wonder what kind of face should I make .

I'm in good terms with my father, but the problem here is our positions .

Even if it's temporary, my rank is higher than him in the nobility ladders .

Not sure on which mindset should I go see him .

Seeing me putting up a difficult expression, Ruli and the girls started talking through comm magic .

『Baronet Castor is Mathi-kun's father right? I never heard you talking about him at all . . . Do you two not get along?』

『If he's Mathi-kun's father, that means he's also Biffgel's father right . . . Maybe he's like Biffgel?』

. . . My father took quite an insult .

Well, I guess they can't help it after seeing that Biffgel .

『My family lineage are all normal except Biffgel . I mean, father's strength must have played a role for his fame among knights . 』

I only understand now that my father is abnormally strong for a human in this era .

He's likely the strongest human who cannot use chantless magic I've ever met yet .

He even put a clear lead on numbers of defeated dolls against my brother Reich who had learned chantless magic, simple it may be .

You cannot win against chantless magic using a sword with half-baked strength .

『Normal . . . normal?』

『Can't you really call that normal . 』

Ruli and Alma look at me, and then at the report .

In the report, while ordinary soldiers defeated one doll each, Castor and Reich managed 50 and 30 respectively .

I guess normal is not quite correct .

There's a chance that no other family of nobles is as strong as house of Hildesheimr if we're talking about raw strength .

While we were having that conversation, Viscount Regido and Baron Relaia had their own pertaining supply of goods for the army, defense network reorganization, steps for the future and stuff .

It's outside our expertise, so we're leaving that to these two .

And lastly, it's about tonight's schedule .

"Tonight, we plan to hold a party for all nobles who are participating, will Baron Mathias come too?"

. . . Apparently they're holding a party to introduce Viscount Regido .

As he's going to be the top commanding officer here from now on, the party also doubles as an announcement .

『Nobles' party . . . wonder if they're gonna serve good food there . 』

『Unfortunately, you probably won't find anything extravagance . In the first place, they're having supply shortages, and they only knew about Viscount Regido's coming right before his arrival . 』

Alma was looking forward to food, but I'm not sure there's going to be anything she wants .

Relaia barondom is situated in the boondocks, and they're in the middle of war, can't expect anything luxurious in this situation .

If they were notified of Viscount Regido's coming a week before, they might have been able to prepare a party that would meet Alma's expectations .

And more importantly . . .

『Nobles' party . . . that kinda sounds strict and annoying!』

Alma said so in my behalf .

Exactly correct . Nobles' parties are strict and annoying .

I haven't actually participated in one, but we had classes about etiquette for when we attended such a party at Second Academy .

The lesson itself was extremely boring, and it claimed the spot of 『The most disliked class at Second Academy』 in questionnaires .

It's not at all difficult compared to handling magic, but it's just annoying .

Furthermore, I'm on this weird spot as a temporary noble, so it's extra awkward for me .

. . . And the food isn't even good on top of all that, we'd be better off having a meal by ourselves .

I give my reply to Viscount Regido after thinking through that .

"If we attend the party then disappear the day after, some might find it unusual . It'd be better if we do not participate . "

"Indeed, we should limit the number of people who know about your infiltration . I don't necessarily distrust other nobles, but the less people who know the less chance it gets leaked . "

Looks like he got it .

Vicount Regido continues as I feel relieved .

"Besides, nobles' party is just a lot of trouble . If you don't need to come, you might as well not . "

"Quite . "

Baron Relaia nodded at Viscount Regido's assessment .

Is that really OK, hey party's sponsor and leading actor . . .

Well, since Viscount Regido is more a military man than a noble, he probably finds these parties annoying just like me .

After having these conversations, the meeting was closed .