Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!-Chapter 64: The Estate Manager’s Mistake

I didn’t know much about Rosenheim. All I knew was that it had once been Baron Constance’s territory, but after the family line died out, it was reclaimed by the royal family and became the estate most commonly granted to players aiming to become lord knights.

"Brother-in-law, do you know what Rosenheim is most famous for?"

"Roses and wine, I’d guess?"

"That’s right. Rose perfume is the biggest draw. My wife went on and on, telling me I absolutely had to buy some. Didn’t Hilda say anything?"

"She just told me to come back safely."

Michael sighed at my response. Hilda had never asked me for Rosenheim rose perfume or wine. For the record, the scent of Hilda’s that I love comes from perfume made in this region.

"Michael, Evangeline pressured me to bring back rose perfume as a souvenir too."

"Oh, Your Highness too? Looks like I’ve got a comrade nearby."

As we drew closer to Rosenheim, the Crown Prince moved to the front of the column, and after hearing Michael’s complaint, he started venting as well. Evangeline was the Crown Prince’s younger sister. I had never met her, but apparently she was quite close with Hilda.

"I was also asked to buy rose perfume."

"Me too."

Eisenach and Fiel, both married men, had received the same requests from their wives. Only Vermeer couldn’t join the conversation. He was single and had only brothers. I felt oddly satisfied. Just rose perfume? The ladies’ ambitions were fairly modest.

Michael grumbled to me.

"Mark my words, brother-in-law. Hilda just hasn’t shown her true colors yet because you two aren’t married. You’ll suffer for it later, I guarantee it."

"Hilda’s not like that."

"We’ll see about that."

From what I could tell, Hilda was far more interested in stylish riding outfits, elegant horse armor, and fine horses than rose perfume. If I became a lord knight and received Rosenheim, Hilda would undoubtedly want to build an enormous ranch.

Rose perfume? That would cost far more than hundreds of bottles, wouldn’t it?

Just kidding, of course.

Rosenheim wasn’t quite large enough to be called a city, but for a village, it was fairly sizable. According to Michael, the population was about eight hundred. Places were typically classified as small towns starting at a thousand people, so if the Constance family had remained strong, Rosenheim might have grown beyond a small town into a mid-sized city.

"Welcome, Your Highness the Crown Prince! Welcome to Rosenheim!"

"Are you Rosenheim’s estate manager?"

"I am Darth Ritter von Kedle."

The estate manager who introduced himself as Darth welcomed us with great enthusiasm. Or rather, to be precise, he welcomed only the Crown Prince. He clearly didn’t want the duchy army entering the village beyond the Crown Prince’s immediate party. Michael picked up on it at once.

"Brother-in-law, let’s camp outside the village with the soldiers."

"Agreed. If we let them into the village, someone’s bound to cause trouble."

Unfortunately, armies in this era weren’t trustworthy even when they were on your side. Understanding this, Michael and I took the soldiers and set up camp outside the village. Only the Crown Prince’s party and the Beren Lance Cavalry entered.

"But shouldn’t we be tracking the bandits as soon as possible? We don’t have time to sit through a welcome ceremony."

"The estate manager probably couldn’t care less about the bandits. He just prepared a grand welcome to make an impression on His Highness."

If that was true, there really wasn’t a single competent person here.

"Should we track the bandits on our own, then?"

"Let’s give the soldiers a rest first and send out scouts."

Rosenheim’s residents brought ale and meat all the way to the duchy army’s camp to welcome us, but some soldiers who hadn’t been allowed into the village seemed rather disgruntled. I was patrolling the camp with Ted and Oscar when I found soldiers harassing a village girl.

These bastards, disobeying orders?

Michael and I had practically begged the troops not to cause trouble.

I saw red, subdued the soldiers harassing the girl, and dragged them to the center of the camp.

"So you caught them and punished them in front of the soldiers?"

"Made an example of them."

"Damn it, some of these fools just won’t listen. They had to go and stir up trouble."

"I also cut the campaign pay of those who disobeyed orders in half."

"Cut their pay? Won’t the other soldiers push back?"

"I announced that the difference would go as a reward to soldiers who distinguish themselves."

I gave both a warning and an incentive to soldiers who were desperate for campaign pay. Michael praised me, saying it was a smart move and that I was capable enough to lead troops on my own. But even I felt I was still lacking in many ways when it came to commanding soldiers.

"Michael, Sir Streit—His Highness summons you."

"Looks like His Highness cut the welcome ceremony short at an appropriate point."

Vermeer came to fetch Michael and me. Michael ordered his lieutenants to keep the soldiers strictly in line, then headed to the lord’s castle where the Crown Prince was staying. The Crown Prince’s expression was terrible, and estate manager Darth was sweating profusely as he explained the situation—but his account only seemed to make the Crown Prince angrier.

"You don’t know where the bandits disappeared to? Are those words really coming out of your mouth?"

"I-I’m deeply sorry, Your Highness! I’m just an estate manager with no military authority! I-I only know they moved north—nothing more detailed than that."

"Even so, shouldn’t you have sent scouts to locate them by the time we arrived! You’re a duchy knight and you didn’t even bother with basic reconnaissance—just prepared a welcome ceremony?! And someone like you is the estate manager!"

The Crown Prince, who had spent the entire camping night asking questions about military organization, tactics, and operations, looked down on Darth with contempt for neglecting basic reconnaissance and dismissed him. The village girls who had been mobilized to serve trembled at the outburst, and Vermeer quickly ushered them out.

"I’ll hold the Administrative Minister accountable the moment we return. Michael! We move north immediately! We’ve wasted too much time on this pointless welcome ceremony!"

The angry Crown Prince radiated authority. It was hard to believe this was the same Crown Prince who was usually clumsy and naive—his commanding presence was remarkable. A crown prince is a crown prince, I supposed. Vermeer was watching him with evident satisfaction. Michael spoke up:

"Your Highness, before that, we need to muster Rosenheim’s levy."

"Judging by the estate manager’s caliber, I doubt they’ll be much help."

The Crown Prince had clearly lost faith in Rosenheim entirely.

"Having people familiar with the local terrain will be invaluable for the search. It’s important to assess the situation coolly rather than act on emotion. Please weigh carefully what’s the right course of action."

"...Very well. Muster the levy."

"And how about placing Sir Streit in command of that levy?"

What? Brother-in-law, what are you doing?

My only experience commanding troops without Michael had been during the search for Rafel’s officers. And now he wanted me to lead men in the field? The Crown Prince’s gaze turned to me.

"Can you handle it?"

"...Leave it to me, Your Highness."

I couldn’t refuse—not with how serious the Crown Prince’s eyes were. This was clearly not the usual lighthearted atmosphere. Getting entangled with these high-ranking people as a lowly knight had certainly taught me to read the room.

Michael grinned at me, and I thought, I’ll get you back for this later.

No matter how I looked at it, he had dumped the most thankless job on me.

The original plan had been to operate with two hundred men, comprising a hundred and fifty duchy soldiers and fifty Rosenheim troops, but preparations on the ground were far worse than expected. After frantically pressuring the estate manager to gather his men, we could only muster twenty-five levy ready for immediate deployment. Given enough time we could fill the quota, but the Crown Prince ordered an immediate advance.

I understood why the Crown Prince was angry.

The estate manager plainly wasn’t someone who did his job properly under normal circumstances. Sensing he was in deep trouble from the Crown Prince’s fury, Darth approached me—as someone close to the Crown Prince—and begged me to intercede.

"Sir Streit, please soothe His Highness the Crown Prince’s anger."

"...I’ll try."

But shouldn’t you worry about calming my anger first?

As a senior knight and estate manager, Darth outranked me, so I could only hold my tongue. But I intended to report every last detail to my father-in-law. Then my father-in-law would tear into the Administrative Minister for the utter lack of local cooperation.

And then the Administrative Minister?

He certainly wouldn’t let this useless estate manager standing before me off the hook. In any case, the supply unit stayed behind in Rosenheim to focus on establishing supply lines, while the rest of us departed to search north of the village.