A Second Visit to the Ducal Estate

We entered the duke's manor once again.

Last time it had been for a trade meeting. This time was different.

We walked through the corridors under a suffocating atmosphere.

Armed soldiers flanked us on every side.

We weren't about to bolt.

It felt like being marched to our arrest.

We were shown to a spacious room deeper inside.

Only a handful of soldiers entered the room itself, presumably a personal guard detail.

This appeared to be an archive room.

Massive quantities of documents filled the space.

Trade ledgers were likely among them.

As a merchant, I'd have loved to browse them. That kind of information was invaluable.

"That was the most harrowing experience of my life. So that's what a Dragon is."

The duke sat in a chair, resting his right arm on the armrest and propping his chin on his hand.

A solidly built soldier approached the duke.

"The wall-mounted heavy ballistae bolts had no effect."

"Hmm…"

"Anything beyond those would be difficult. Shall we summon adventurers capable of fighting a Dragon?"

"Keep it in mind as a last resort. Top-tier adventurers charge exorbitant fees. It could wreck our finances."

The soldier seemed to be a captain of some sort.

The duke turned his attention to us.

"Now then. You lot."

"Yes?"

"You can probably guess why I brought you here. What exactly happened out there? Why did the Dragon withdraw?"

"That's…"

If I could explain it, I wouldn't be struggling.

But telling a duke "I don't know" wasn't really an option.

"You're getting ahead of yourself. Let's catch our breath first."

"Lecreune. Every moment counts right now."

"You're the one who provoked it by striking first."

"… That was rash. I know."

Duchess Lecreune's intervention finally eased the tension.

At the duchess's instruction, soldiers brought in chairs. I seated the still-sleeping Orleans in one of them.

After that, everyone took their seats.

Surely they wouldn't provide chairs and then tell us not to sit.

"Let's have tea prepared, at least. I'm parched."

"Indeed."

A brief reprieve, it seemed.

I used the pause to work out what to say.

A mage employed by the ducal household fetched water and brought it to a boil.

Alexia would've done it faster.

Our Alexia really was a talented mage.

Tea was served.

A pot of honey sat alongside the cups, and given my fatigue, I added a generous helping.

I'd have liked to eat it by the spoonful, but that would be unseemly.

I raised the cup to my lips and drank.

Sweet. And the warmth of the tea finally unknotted the tension in my body.

A sigh escaped me before I could stop it.

Careful, though. Relaxing too much wouldn't do.

I straightened up.

I took my time finishing the tea.

The duke cleared his throat loudly enough for the room to hear.

Just like that, the slack atmosphere tightened.

That was a leader's skill. Impressive.

"Well then… let me begin by introducing myself. I am Duke Marcia Grabahl."

"Lecreune Grabahl."

The duke gave his name first, and the duchess followed.

The wink she sent in our direction told me she recognized us.

"First, a question. Did you people do something to summon that Dragon?"

"Absolutely not."

"Oh? But words alone won't suffice."

"If that's the standard, then I admit I can't prove it."

"Precisely."

Swearing by a god only worked if we shared the same one.

Even the duke surely didn't believe we'd actually summoned a Dragon.

It seemed like a perfunctory question more than anything.

Answer yes, though, and we'd have been dead on the spot.

"Then who is this girl?"

"Her name is Orleans. She's—"

What should I say?

Tell the truth or deflect?

Once you told one lie, you needed another to cover it.

The more lies you stacked, the more contradictions crept in.

If those lies came to light, you'd never be trusted again.

Better to come clean from the start, in that case.

What mattered was the delivery.

Tell the truth, but frame it to our advantage.

"She's a serf from your estate, Duke. She'd been attacked by bandits, and we took her under our protection and brought her to the city."

"What? A serf?"

Not the answer he'd expected, apparently.

A brief silence followed.

"A serf shielded me?"

Right, Orleans had thrown herself between the duke and the Fire Dragon's breath.

That had taken years off my life. I'd thought she'd died right alongside the blast.

"She does appear to be of the same tribe as the people on the estate, but…"

The duke studied Orleans's features.

"It seems that Dragon once made some kind of agreement with the people living on the estate. It returned to check on them, only to find their circumstances completely changed, so it came to the nearby city."

"That's what it said, yes. First time I've ever heard a Dragon speak."

I nodded.

Orleans's actions had left a favorable impression, at least for now.

Even from a serf, being shielded with her own body apparently registered as a life debt.

"Our house, the Grabahls, annexed this region under orders from the emperor two generations back. The head of the family has served as the ruling lord ever since. You there."

The duke called over a soldier and spoke to him.

The soldier, along with several others, hauled in a massive stack of parchment.

All records. Documentation of the region's history at the time of annexation, apparently.

Befitting a great noble with a seat in the senate.

This was where the difference in domain management really showed.

Lesser nobles couldn't even collect taxes properly, let alone administer their lands.

That was exactly the opening the Church of the Sun God exploited, worming its way into local power by offering help in exchange for influence.

It was the same tactic they'd used on our town.

Wait, my thoughts were drifting.

"The conversations and customs of those people from that era should be documented somewhere in here."

The duke began leafing through the parchments.

Before long, he found records compiled on the people who now lived as serfs on the estate.