Until Zighart finished preparing the tea, we decided to talk about something that didn’t require his input for the time being—so I asked about Luban.

Unlike other soldiers, he’s the magistrate of our territory, and more importantly, a distinguished noble.

If he’s in town right now, he should be here… but is he still in the royal capital?

That’s what I was thinking.

“He stayed behind in the capital. I believe he’s meeting with someone from his wife’s family. They had a child, so it’s probably related to that. Also, his patrons are in the capital, so he’s probably making courtesy visits too.”

I heard that back in his adventuring days, he was supported not only by nobles but also by merchants.

Luban and his team are certainly capable, but even so, for an adventurer without an exclusive contract to succeed, it would be difficult without support.

In return, now that he’s serving as a magistrate, it seems he offers various conveniences to his backers. If he’s in the royal capital, I guess I should also make an effort to greet him…

“He’s probably on a ship by now, but since he’s traveling alone, it’ll likely take a week or ten days to get back. Well, he’ll be back in time for the spring inspection of the territory.”

“I see, I see. Well, it sounds like he’s doing well, and that’s good to hear.”

We don’t usually operate together, so I’m not entirely sure, but in my mind, he’s the cautious and steady type.

He wouldn’t recklessly get injured in a war that’s already won.

He’ll be returning by sea with Alec and the others, but unlike the large-scale relocation of a lord with his troops, he’s traveling on his own, so he probably won’t be given any special treatment.

Even so, it sounds like he’ll be back by next month, and since he’s in charge of patrolling the southern part of the territory, I probably don’t have to worry too much about that area.

◇

We continued chatting for a while longer…

“I’m coming in.”

Our conversation was interrupted as Zighart entered, carrying a tray.

He sat down on the sofa and placed the cups of tea from the tray in front of us.

There weren’t any tea snacks, which was typical of Zighart—he seemed to enjoy brewing tea more than drinking it as part of a formal teatime.

“Ah, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Sera… what’s with that look?”

Zighart looked at me as if he noticed something… but it wasn’t a big deal.

“Well… it’s just a bit funny seeing you holding a tray, Zigh. Thanks.”

I thanked him as I offered a brief explanation.

Zighart had sometimes brewed tea at Riana’s estate as well, but in those cases, he would usually prepare the tools right at the table.

This was the first time I’d seen him brew it in the kitchen and then carry it out on a tray.

Maybe the unusual—or rather, unfitting—sight of that had shown on my face…

◇

Now then, while listening to Zighart’s tidbits about where the tea leaves were from, I took a sip or two and we resumed our conversation.

“So, I heard that none of our soldiers died and that it was a landslide victory—but was the enemy really that weak? Or did we just not have anything to do?”

I don’t know how war works in this world, but I doubt it’s something like lining up all the troops on the plains and charging all at once.

Not just Riana’s region, but I’d heard before that the eastern part of our country serves more of a reserve role. Still, if nothing happened at all, maybe they really didn’t see any action?

“It might be fair to say both.”

Zighart shrugged as he spoke.

“Both?”

“We did our part properly… but we didn’t participate in any combat.”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Alec began to explain.

“In the western war, alongside the national army, there are a lot of mercenaries involved. Actually, there are more mercenaries than soldiers.”

“Yeah.”

I think I’d heard that before.

The western region, where there’s less threat from monsters, relies more on mercenaries than adventurers…

“Fights between mercenaries—even if there’s a winner and loser—aren’t usually about killing each other outright. Once they’ve inflicted a certain level of damage, they’ll often encourage the enemy to surrender. Especially when there’s a clear difference in strength.”

“Right, right.”

Of course, they wouldn’t surrender before fighting due to their contracts, but they’re still people, not monsters, and if the outcome is already clear, I suppose that’s how it tends to go.

“But that only applies to conflicts within the west. When it comes to the east—the allied side—it’s a bit different. For mercenaries, fighting eastern soldiers or adventurers doesn’t do much for their record. That’s because of the number of those with Blessed Items or divine protection.”

“…Ah.”

I don’t know whether it counts as ‘record-worthy’ or not, but the more people on one side have Blessed Items or divine protection, the more that affects how the fighting plays out.

And basically, since fewer people in the west have those things, experience gained there doesn’t carry over as much.

So in battles between western forces, they don’t factor in eastern battle experience…

Makes sense?

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera ・Blessing・【Hideout】+1 【Prayer】 【Blessing of Mira】 【Water’s Garment】
Blessed Item ・【Floating Orb】+1 【Shadow Sword】+1 【Scarlet Bee Needle】 【Fairy’s Eye】 【Dragon’s Lung】 【Amber Sword】 【Danrem’s Thread】 【Serpent’s Tail】 【Ankle Bracelet】 【Amber Shield】 【Purple Wings】 【Red Sword】 【Monkey’s Arm】 ・8 cards

Seriana ・【Area Recognition】・【】・0 cards

Elena ・【】・【Green Fang】 【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec ・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards