183 Towards the Fortress City
***[Heroine Oscar]***
“Oscar! Is it really okay if I don’t go with you? It’ll help quite a bit.”
I wondered why Sven, who almost always stays in the lab, came out, but he follows me all day and asks me the same thing over and over again.
“When you’re in the same place, it’s easy to notice improvements. Nothing is faster than seeing with your eyes, isn’t it, Oscar?”
Sven chirps and follows me.
Next to him, his assistant and wife followed with some documents, and on the other side, my aide sighed while holding the documents like a mountain.
Well, if you keep hearing the same words for hours already, you’ll sigh.
Even if you say no, Sven is stubborn.
He kept yelling at me with the same words.
I stopped walking and turned around.
I repeat what I have already said many times.
“Sir, it’s too dangerous there. Besides, if the steppes attack, you have to move immediately. The fortress city is different from here, so the research environment won’t be satisfactory.”
“Oscar!”
After calling my name, I spotted Benno approaching, and Sven quickly changed his words.
“Duke! Shouldn’t I come back here right away when the army moves? The soldiers’ training will be in earnest there rather than here, and if you look at it, you might come up with a really good idea. I’ll be really helpful.”
“Of course I think so. But Sven is the center of our Duchy. Our army’s power depends on your research. We can’t take such a precious teacher to a dangerous place.”
When I said this with a troubled face, Sven lowered his head with a downcast face.
Benno comes closer and glances at Sven.
I don’t know why, but the person Sven fears the most is Benno.
Sven lifted his hips slightly, gave Benno a quick glance, then spoke again.
But before Sven’s voice came out, Benno spoke.
“I heard the story from the attendants, but Sensei Sven, have you been following the busy Duke and saying immature things since morning?”
Tendons sprouted from Benno’s forehead.
Sven cried.
“But… but… it’s war! People die! When I was young, I wandered here and there and saw it, but people really die in war! I saw it with my own two eyes.”
“… What are you talking about? In war, of course, people die.”
When Benno said something absurd, Sven’s face became even more teary-eyed.
“And what if Oscar dies! Oscar isn’t even twenty yet! Too young to go to war! If I don’t go out and protect my country…”
Tendons sprouted from Benno’s forehead like tree trunks.
“Such an unlucky word! Mr. Sven, is your hair an ornament? Do you live with thoughts?”
It looks like Benno will run into Sven right now.
His face was so stern that I accidentally grabbed Benno’s arm.
I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the always calm Benno show such a scary expression.
“Benno, Sensei Sven said this because he was worried about me.”
“…”
Benno glared at Sven with eerie eyes and took a step back.
“I’m sorry for showing you an ugly face in front of my master. But there are things you shouldn’t say, but that person is too immature.”
“Yeah, but.”
Sven was about to say something, but the wife next to him quickly dragged his arm.
“Sir! If you’re so worried, wouldn’t it be better to make a really superior weapon? Why, the duke said once before. It would be nice to have a weapon that can fire dozens or hundreds of magic bombs in all directions at once. If there is such a thing, It will really help.”
“That’s right.”
“Of course, sir. If you have multiple weapons like that, all your enemies will die. It will definitely make your surroundings safer.”
According to his wife, Sven’s thoughts seem to have turned that way.
Before I knew it, Benno and I exchanged a few words as if we had forgotten, and then headed straight for the lab.
As the wife followed behind Sven, she turned her head several times and bowed her head in an apologetic manner.
Benno looked at him disapprovingly and took out the amulet from his bosom.
I ask the aide who follows me.
“Carry this for a while and stay by the duke’s side. It’s an amulet that wards off unlucky things. Just in case you don’t know.”
“Okay. Wouldn’t it be better to attach it to the clothes?”
“No, that’s fine. It’s already attached to the clothes the duke is wearing.”
when did you put that on?
When I laughed stupidly, Benno opened his mouth with a serious face.
“It’s effective. It’s made by special order from the priest.”
Everyone’s worries are no joke, perhaps because it’s my first war since I became a duke.
‘I didn’t expect that even Mr. Sven would come out like that.’
Benno was angry at Sven’s careless remarks, saying that his words were rude, but I was quite happy.
I’m not really interested in anything other than research, but I think I’m quite loved by Mr. Sven.
For some reason, I was a little embarrassed, and my face turned a little red.
*
Food and daily necessities were prepared to some extent even in the fortified city.
Even in normal times, the fortress city was in charge of supporting the surrounding castles and villages, and even if a war broke out right now, it had enough reserves to handle.
In recent years, preparations for an impending war and support for nearby people were also taken into consideration, so the stockpile would have increased in quantity.
However, it seems that there were many things lacking in the thoughts of the officials who operated the logistics department.
A huge amount of stuff was being prepared one after another.
Carts are constantly loaded with loads, and the movements of servants and soldiers are busier than ever before.
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Departure was already approaching tomorrow, but the goods were still being piled into the new wagon.
Somehow it doesn’t seem to end at all.
“Are the preparations going well?”
When I asked while looking at the people and things scattered everywhere like ants, the logistics manager bowed his head and answered.
“Of course. Time is a bit tight, but by the time the Duke leaves tomorrow morning, it will be perfect.”
It’s not spring or fall, it’s midwinter, but sweat is beading on the official’s forehead.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Things can start again next time.”
“Of course it is, but the Duke is going personally. There must be no incompleteness.”
I don’t think there’s even a fur coat or blanket for me in that luggage.
It’s kind of dubious.
However, it would be embarrassing to mistakenly say such a thing for no reason and then mistakenly mean to ask for preparation.
‘Because these people have plenty of room to think that way.’
I left after telling the official not to overdo it one more time.
“Be careful! Be careful with that stuff! Don’t treat it carelessly! I told you to treat it like a newborn chick!”
I heard an official shouting loudly behind me and running away.
When I turned around, the official was looking at the luggage as if holding it tightly.
A management voice was heard.
“… the duke will use it… be careful…”
“…”
Wouldn’t it be nice to talk to Benno once?
I suddenly thought so, but I took a small breath and shook my head.
The worried expressions of Benno and Sven come to mind.
‘I’m sure other people feel the same way.’
I am not the only one who is new to war.
Most of the duke’s servants are the same, and I am the only heir to the duchy.
It is only natural that everyone in this castle is worried.
And that kind of mind may be expressed by preparing something for me.
If preparing for me makes them feel at least a little bit better, then it would be okay to leave them alone.
“Whoa.”
As I took a small breath, the aide next to me started talking.
“It’s okay, Duke. Our dukedom is a strong army. Most of the lords of the dukedom are veterans who have experienced war. There are a lot of them. Don’t worry.”
“Do I look anxious?”
“No, not at all.”
Having said that, the official’s face was full of an expression trying to cheer up the young duke.
‘Did I have an anxious face without knowing it?’
I smiled at the aide.
“I’m not worried at all. I’ve been preparing. But that’s how my face is.”
I raised the corners of my lips a bit more.
“How are you? Are you okay now?”
“Your duke always looks beautiful and strong.”
Officials still seem to want to say something nicer to me.
Hmm, I still need to smile more.
I raised my lips and spoke in a low voice.
“thank you.”
As I was walking with my head up, the official held something and stirred the air around Huihui.
I thought it was strange that he had been acting like that for a while, but suddenly I saw an amulet protruding from my palm.
Benno gave it to me earlier.
‘Are they chasing evil spirits?’
Maybe it’s not that I look anxious, it’s simply that their heart is like that.
Maybe that’s why everything is insecure and my face just looks like that.
‘Would my grandfather be a little different?’
If it were him, he would have believed that everyone would win and let go without a single piece of uneasy mind.
‘As expected, I’m lacking.’
Whether it’s because of my young age, because I don’t have other blood relatives, or because I don’t have any experience in war, it’s just that I can’t trust people.
People did not have the belief that the current duke would always win no matter what enemy he faced.
If the officials who see me closest are anxious, the people of the dukedom will be more.
“I’ll have to change my plans a bit. Prepare armor for departure tomorrow. I’d rather have a weapon that stands out like a spear or a sword rather than an arrow. The other soldiers too.”
“All right.”
Management seems to have realized what it means.
“Certainly, what you see is more clearly embedded in people’s heads.”
The fact that there is still a war is not known to the common people.
However, by seeing the splendid appearance of the dukedom, even if such news comes in later, anxiety will be minimized.
Apart from this, there are many other things that I have not thought about.
We need to think and check more and more diversely.
I moved quickly while the official grabbed the other and gave my order.
*
Early the next morning, I left the castle with the steppes and soldiers.
In front of the castle gate, Katrin at the head, her mother, Benno, and all other servants came out to see them off.
Katrin waved all the way as I made my way to the village below the castle.
Even though it looks smaller, it remains the same.
Even though everyone saw me walking away, I didn’t think about going in.
I wore the duke’s line of armor and a glittering helmet on my head.
He even held a spear, which he hardly ever lifted.
Her hair hung down under her helmet so that anyone could see it, and a cloak with the duke’s crest engraved on her back covered her back.
The soldiers also carried spears and swords.
Only the grassland tribes looked different from usual, but seeing as there were a thousand of them, it was also spectacular.
As so many soldiers marched through the city, people began to gather towards us.
Everyone in the city seems to have come out.
Youngmin usually sees me off with a smile, but this time his reaction is a little different.
Seeing me dressed in armor and helmet like never before, a voice of concern that a war might be breaking out somewhere came out.
However, the reaction of the children mixed with the adults was more fervent than any other time.
Wow, he screamed like a scream, raised his arms and chased the procession.
I smiled as I raised the window at the children.
The cheers of the children grow louder.
As I looked over Youngmin’s figure with my eyes and raised the spear again, even the adults cheered this time.
As I said before, the soldiers started pounding the ground with their spears.
Numerous spears hit the ground at once, and a tremor spread in all directions.
People’s excitement started to build little by little.
When I hold the reins and the horse lifts both feet forward and cries vigorously, the cheers of the people resound.
Once the atmosphere is like that, it automatically becomes cheerful after that.
While the sound of thumping spears rang through the city, people were enthusiastic as if they were seeing soldiers who had already won the war.