Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

I placed some tea beside me and prepared pancake-like sweets.

With the iron chunk handed to me, I set to work creating weapons. The Dwarf’s forge wasn’t fully operational yet, so I was the primary weapon production facility. While sipping tea and nibbling sweets, I intended to craft weapons gracefully.

“Ah, Lord Van. The orders for today—thirty swords, ten spears, and twenty shields—are almost complete.”

“Have I really made that many already? Alright, once I’m done, I’ll personally try modifying the mechanical bow.”

“Lord Van, if you work continuously like this, you’ll get exhausted. How about washing off your sweat at the public bathhouse first?”

“Oh, a bath sounds great! And cold fruit water too, please!”

“Of course!”

I continued crafting armor and weapons, chatting pleasantly with Til and Kamushin. It was a happy village scene filled with laughter. I hoped days like this would continue.

But on such a peaceful afternoon, an unwelcome intruder appeared. A middle-aged knight, drenched in sweat, rode a horse that was barely breathing. It felt as if I had been suddenly thrown into a serious world. Not only was I working in the adventurers’ town, but the knight’s cloak bore the Kingdom Army’s emblem—the reason he could come to see me alone.

“Lo-Lord Van...!”

The knight, gasping for breath atop his horse, called out my name with great effort.

“Are you alright? Did something happen during the march...?”

I tried hard to look serious as I replied. No good. My mind was already set on relaxing in the bath and drinking fruit water. I didn’t think I could endure a serious mood for long.

As I thought that, the knight dismounted and kneeled on one knee.

“Apologies for disturbing your chat! His Majesty urgently requests your presence at the temporary base where he is resting...!”

“Eh... now? You mean right now? I have some preparations and things to do, so I might not be able to leave immediately...”

I couldn’t help but whine, feeling extremely bothered. Normally, when the king issues a command, the only acceptable answer is “yes.” The knight looked shocked at my response.

Kamushin and Til looked worried; I wished I could refuse.

But I knew I couldn’t.

“Uh... there’s trouble, and the march has stopped...”

“Just kidding. I’ll prepare immediately. We’ll arrange the best inn in town for you to rest.”

I said with a wry smile, and the knight visibly relaxed.

“By the way, do you know the cause?”

“I don’t know the details, but it seems some adventurers clashed with certain knights...”

“Huh? It can’t be Ort and his group, right? It’d be bad if they had trouble with the knights...”

I gave a half-hearted response to the report. If it were Ort and the others, they wouldn’t do anything reckless against knights. It was probably other adventurers.

“Kamushin, please escort the knight to the Kusala Hotel and tell them the fee will be paid later.”

“Yes! Understood!”

I asked Kamushin to take care of the knight and turned to Til.

“Til, report this to Dee and Espada. Let’s find out how many people we need to defend Seato Village and the adventurers’ town. Also, since we’ll be passing through mountain paths with many demonic beasts, we need to prepare an armored carriage. And food supplies for the journey.”

“U-understood!”

Til hurried off at my instructions.

Well, this just got troublesome. I never expected to end up on the front lines again... Though it’s not a battlefield clashing with the enemy knight order, I could still feel the danger sharply.

Ah, how I want to live peacefully.

“I want to live peacefully.”

“Huh? What was that?”

“Nothing.”

While assembling the knights and preparing supplies, my inner voice slipped out. Dee, standing beside me, tilted her head in confusion.

The Seato Village knight order, often exposed to demonic beast attacks, was incredibly quick to assemble and form ranks. While I muttered to myself, the formation took shape rapidly. They were like well-trained firefighters rushing out.