I tried to laugh it off. “W-well, it’ll work out somehow… haha.”
Meanwhile, in my head, I could already see my dear father going absolutely ballistic. And honestly, I couldn’t calm down. Even now, both the Feltio and Ferdinand domains were losing people to Seat Village. With Jerinetta’s war shaking everything, plenty of folks had fled to the place everyone whispered was the safest around—my village.
If I started recruiting right in front of the marquis’s keep, that trickle might turn into a flow.
…No, it’ll be fine, right? This is the biggest city in the north. You can buy anything here. People don’t just pack up from a metropolis for slow-living in the sticks. Probably.
While I was busy reassuring myself, the carriage window framed a view of my family home. Multiple high towers. Bare stone the color of cold mornings. The whole place radiated intimidation more than necessary.
Straight down the grand boulevard, past the main gate, a second-story terrace peeked through. Just above it, angled a little to the side—that window used to be my room. No one lives there now. It’s just a spare bedchamber, indistinguishable from the others. No one would ever look up and think anything of it.
“Hmph. The Feltio keep is as formidable as they say,” Panamera murmured, as if to himself. “A fortress built—and held—by force.”
“It is,” I said. “As far as I know, this city has never seen battle, but if it came to a siege, these walls would hold.”
He cut me a sidelong look and snorted. “…Is that so.”
Did I say something wrong? Before I could pick at it, Arte spoke up carefully.
“Um… will it be alright to arrive without sending word ahead?”
Panamera rolled a shoulder. “When a son returns home, there’s no need for notice.”
That shut both of us up. The mood felt prickly.
“Ah—there’s the main gate!” Til chirped, easing the moment. “Look, it’s Andre, the guard!”
I leaned out. Sure enough, the bearded veteran stood at his post. Row jogged over to speak with him—stayed for only a few breaths—then sprinted back.
“Lord Van, Lord Jarlpa departed two weeks ago with the knight order, headed toward the Shelvia border.”
“…So the bad feeling was right. Do we know exactly when he left?”
“Two weeks, sir,” Row confirmed.
I nodded. “Then he’s probably at the destination already.”
Panamera steepled his fingers. “Perhaps. If the marquis intends to meet Shelvia with his own banner alone, he would have hired mercenaries—ten thousand, ideally. In that case, he might still be on the road.”
“True,” I said. “Since he didn’t come through Seat, he’s had a month or more to prepare. Time enough to gather nearby companies.”
I leaned out the window. “Kamshin—split up and resupply food and kit. If we can, we leave at dawn tomorrow, or the next day at the latest.”
“Yes, my lord!”
He straightened and dashed off. I rapped on the front wall of the coach. “Let’s head to the castle. I want to gather intel.”
“At once!”
The young driver eased us forward to the gate. Andre looked up, eyes widening.
“Oh! Lord Van! It’s been too long!”
“Good to see you, Andre. You look well.”
He beamed. “Hah! The same Lord Van as ever! When word reached us you’d become a baron, the whole keep was abuzz—ah, and the town too, by the sound of it!”
I rubbed my neck, embarrassed. “Lucky breaks. Ah—hey. If you ever retire, come to Seat. I’ll make you instructor to the knights.”
“Me?” He blinked rapidly. “No, no, I’m an old man now—good for gate duty and little else…”
I shook my head hard. “Not a chance. When I was two you were captain of a full company in the Feltio order. Hundred-man maneuvers were your bread and butter. I want that man teaching.”
He sucked in a breath, eyes misting, and nodded again and again. “Y-yes…! To think you’d remember when you were so small… Leave it to me! I will come to you with all haste!”
“Thank you! With you, we’ll be twice as strong!”
Tears finally spilled down his cheeks. Behind me, Panamera let out a short, amused breath.
“…What a charmer,” he said dryly. “That’s one veteran from the marquis’s battle-hardened host snatched away, isn’t it?”
He said it in the exact tone of some shady cloth merchant saying, You, too, are a villain, my lord. Rude. All I’d done was tell an underused talent there was a place he could shine. I folded my arms and shot back.
“I only spoke the truth. The Feltio order fights long campaigns and big wars. Men over fifty get left behind—to gates and street patrols. That’s a waste of skill. In other words, it’s not the men—it’s the deployment that’s bad.”
Panamera burst out laughing and clapped me on the back. Ow.
“Now that’s more like it! You’re finally yourself again. Brooding Van is dull. Let’s keep going—steal every bit of talent and every last good villager from the marquis’s lands!”
He boomed laughter at his own wickedness. I, of course, was innocent of any such grand larceny. …Though I did suddenly understand the edge in his voice earlier.
On the surface, he’d been needling me for getting sentimental. But beneath it, there was anger—at Jarlpa. The same flavor I’d felt when he first visited Seat: that particular rage Panamera reserves for adults who mistreat children. In this case, the eight-year-old who’d been cast out.
Underneath the bluster, he was just… on my side.
Total tsundere, I thought, catching Arte’s eye. We both smothered a laugh as Panamera kept chuckling, and the coach rolled on toward the keep.
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