Immediately after heading inside my room, Tanya came in carrying a tray with food on it which made my stomach growl a bit as I looked at her with a smile, “Is that for lunch? That looks pretty delicious, did the chefs made it or you?”
“The chefs made it, my lady,” she answered while placing the tray on the table before she looked at me with a confused and semi-worried look, “You came back earlier than I initially expected, was there something wrong with the guild, my lady?”
“Well, if you count all of them being weak as an issue, then yes… there is an issue but if you don’t then there isn’t an issue. All of them weren’t capable enough to last even a minute at half a percent of my overall strength,” I pouted.
I wasn’t complaining… or maybe I am but I expected someone stronger than that especially for a guild. I mean Kaori and the others may be on another level but to think that they are this weak makes me kind of bored, I hope the dungeons is a different story though.
“Hmm… did you perhaps demolish the entire guild, my lady?!” her face paled.
“Of course not, the guild is still a vital part in protecting the town from monsters even though we have guards and knights, the guild remains one of the critical parts in protecting this place which is why we can’t afford to lose it,” I showed a bitter smile.
The town indeed has guards, but they aren’t any stronger than the adventurers, rather some of them may even be weaker than some of the adventurers especially that guild master who could practically destroy the entire town’s defenses by himself.
“We need to strengthen our guards in the future, can you call Faron and Lia over here? I want to ask them about the training method the guards are using, rather I want the newer guards to experience how it feels to adventure every once in a while,” I looked at Tanya in the eye.
If we let the guards stay stationary here while they wait for someone to break the rule or some sort of issue then we are letting their talent go to waste. We need to not only let them train against one another but also experience a real-world situation against monsters.
“I understand. Do you need anything else, my lady?” she asked.
“Hmm… do we have any more work for me? Ah, right. Can you tell Raeliana to give me all the information about all the villages near the town and possibly the ones under our jurisdiction? I also want data about the ones owned by the family,” I said before she nodded.
“As you wish, my lady…” she answered before leaving as I laid back on the chair, staring at the roof.
Despite being the heir of the Windsor family right now, the chances of me giving up that title to Bella is high, after all, once the challenge that was proposed by Kaori is completed. I’ll have to leave the Windsor house and marry Kaori which I am not as opposed to, though I did expect this situation to happen especially since that future me who came from another world line had kept forcing me to this route.
Well, I’ll have to be at least a bit kind to Bella who is now technically my little sister… I might as well fix up a lot of issues that she will face once she inherits the fief since I don’t want to give her much trouble especially with how adorable she is.
“Ten years from now… I wonder how much of this world will change by then,” I held my hand up in the air as the continental war came to mind. I can imagine millions of people dying from the war, it feels super bad knowing that people will die in that war.
I have to become stronger, make the entire continent stronger—at least strong enough to repel the other continent even if we fail to kill that Evil Goddess… as long as we can avoid a lot of casualties and repel the other continent to the extent that it will take them possibly thousands of years to regain their powers… that is enough for me.
“My lady, we have returned,” Lia who was standing at the door kneeled.
Faron, on the other side, was also kneeling but as expected of his idiotic playboy nature, he was kneeling with a rose on his mouth. I hope that rose has thorns so your mouth would stop talking… or so Vampiric Ayumi would say.
“Stand up. I only called the two of you here to know about the training method of the guards, if it seems inefficient for me then I will propose an addition to their training method since I want to strengthen our guards a lot,” I looked at them with a warm yet serious smile.
The two of them were naturally surprised especially Faron who spat out the rose, “Princess, do you think the guards on the town are weak? If so, we can train them even harder… there is no need for the Princess to do anything.”
“I don’t think they are weak but against a capable adventurer, you should know more than me who will lose out first right? Even if ten guards are battling against one capable adventurer, the outcome is already decided,” I replied back with a serious gaze.
The two of them nodded in agreement. It was obvious who would win, imagine this—a battle against ten inexperienced humans against one person who has experienced dozens of near-death situations, the deaths of his or her teammates, battles against creatures way more powerful than him or herself, who do you think would win?
My point is the guards have little experience in the real world against monsters which is not what I want if I want the town to be secure. We can’t always rely on the guild to provide us with protection, that is not what a town is for.
“I will admit, my lady. The training method of the guards is very inefficient, they have little knowledge about combat let alone real-world combat. All they know is how to swing their spears and swords, a bit of defense as well but that’s pretty much it… they spar against one another in their free time while others simply laze around,” Lia replied.
“That was as expected, there was little need for guards in the town right now. The crime rate is very small at this moment which is why there is a lot of time for them to play around. I want to change that and train them by letting them fight against real monsters in a real battle,” I looked at the two with a serious gaze.
The two were naturally surprised by my proposal, it’s not common to have guards go outside and experience real-world battles against monsters in this world. Rather, most towns and cities think it’s the responsibility of the guild to handle those, but I want to go the other way… if it makes the guards in the town stronger then it’s worth it.
Not to mention, it would lower the burden for the guild as well since clearing out monsters and dungeons is not an easy task compared to simply guarding the town. Yes, guarding the town is also not an easy task but they are being paid even in their rest compared to adventurers which have to make it out alive to even receive their payment and not a single insurance as well.
“What do you two think about my proposal? Can I trust the two of you to implement it properly, there should be a lower rank dungeon near the town right?” I asked before the two of them nodded.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Princess but what purpose do you have for strengthening the guards over here? If it is mere monsters then the guild can handle it by themselves,” Faron questioned which seems to be the common mindset in this place.
“My purpose for strengthening them is to make this town safer than it already is. Yes, monsters are indeed enough for the guild to handle but what if the adventurers who are supposed to be protecting us from those monsters turn their back against us. You have to take in mind that the guild is a separate organization that is not controlled by the government,” I replied while gazing into his eyes.
“I understand, we will start the new training method once we gather more information about the dungeon nearby. We still need to inform the Defense Council and the leaders of each brigade about this new implementation,” Faron responded.
“That’s good. As always, prioritize everyone’s safety over the benefits. We want everyone to come back alive, not to return as corpses. Take all the time you need, there is no need to rush…” I said before the two of them nodded as I showed a satisfied smile, “The two of you are dismissed.”
Immediately after that, the two of them left as Raeliana soon entered inside carrying documents together with Tanya. I can tell from afar that the documents were about the villages nearby the town and also the ones under the Windsor family’s jurisdiction.
My goal after this is to take over all the villages nearby and extend the town’s territory, there will also be a chance for those villages to contain stuff that may seem useless to many but could be a gem that will sell like hotcakes, of course, if I need to… I will use force to take them over otherwise I will try to negotiate with the noble who the village is under.
I may sound like a future tyrant but if I want to expand my influence then this much is needed. Of course, there is only one person who can force all the nobles when it comes to combat—my second race, Rosalia which I can already tell is strong enough to influence the nobles heavily especially when you add the Windsor family.
“Is this all the villages near the town?” I took a look at four documents that documented all villages within twenty kilometers from here. The range was limited because beyond twenty kilometers is empty land which means only within twenty kilometers from here matters.
And even with twenty kilometers, there were around twenty-six villages scattered around which means for every side, there are around six or seven villages that could potentially be abandoned by the nobles owning them which is great since that means we have twenty-six chances to find something that will bring us a large pile of money.
As for the villages under the family’s jurisdiction, there were hundreds of them which were expected from a ducal family which has a large plot of land that even five towns and two cities are under. The Windsor family is enormous for a noble family which surprises me indeed.
“Tanya, what is the procedure for acquiring villages from other nobles again?” I looked at Tanya in the eye which shocked her.
“Are you perhaps planning on taking over all of those villages near the town, my lady?” she asked as I nodded with a confident smile.
“I want to extend the town’s territory a bit and if we manage to acquire all twenty-six villages then we have a higher chance of finding something that will potentially give us a lot of money that can then be used to improve the lifestyle of the people here,” I answered.
“Is that so—the procedure to acquire a village from another noble is either of these three: the noble him or herself is willing to give it, the noble or person who wishes to acquire the village can go ahead and ask the noble through either a battle of money or strength or the last choice which is by having all the villagers on the side of the other party,” she replied.
That last choice seems way too easy, if we can convince all the villagers to send a petition to the noble handling them to be transferred to my side then we practically would receive the rights to the town but that sounds way too annoying especially if you consider we have twenty-six villages to conquer.
“Raeliana, can you please send a letter to all the nobles who have ownership of the villages about my request to take over the villages? Of course, I will go with a battle of strength since we can’t afford to waste money even though we are in the green,” I showed a confident smile.
“But, milady…” she tried to refuse but it was met with my scythe pointing at her which surprised her.
“Are you perhaps afraid of me losing, this strength should be more than enough to defeat all of them right?” I spoke in an emotionless voice, of course, I didn’t want to resort to pointing my scythe at her but if I want to convince her then the only way to do it is to show her.
“I understand, milady… I will go ahead and fulfill your request,” she bowed down obediently which made me satisfied as I retracted the scythe which seems to be unusable to me in this form. I can summon it but the weight is too much, and I can really feel it rejecting me in this form.
After that short intimidation, I soon looked at Raeliana with a smile before giving Tanya and her a big hug as I whispered, “The two of you are my best friends… I am sorry if I scared the two of you a few moments ago.”
“N—not at all, milady… I was just a bit surprised,” Raeliana answered as I giggled before pinching her cheeks with a bright smile.
“Be sure to include on the letter that I am not the one participating in the battle but rather I want to send my ‘personal guard’ instead,” I said which confused her once more.
“Of course, the ‘personal guard’ is someone far more powerful than me. She can probably destroy an SSS-ranked adventurer by herself though she doesn’t want to show herself that much which is why you haven’t seen her yet,” I said which convinced her but not Tanya who already knows who I am talking about… that is, of course, myself but on my vampire form.
