Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

While waiting in the mansion’s VIP room, I heard a knock on the door.

“Please come in.”

Espada answered on my behalf.

“Excuse me.”

Arb replied from behind the door and opened it.

The person who appeared was an elderly man in his early old age. He had thinning hair on top and a slender, insecure-looking frame.

His clothes were far from wealthy. He was probably from another village.

I pointed to the chair across the desk from me and smiled, inviting him to sit.

“Please, have a seat.”

Upon hearing that, the old man glanced around cautiously before sitting down shallowly in the chair.

Well, I was the only one sitting on the sofa opposite him, but behind me stood Espada and Dee, and in the corner behind the old man stood Kamushin and Row. It was a bit like an intense interview.

“Uh, well, I intended to come to Seato Village… but what is this strange town…?”

The old man’s confusion was clear, and I tilted my head in response.

“Seato Village? Espada, do you know about it?”

I asked, looking back at him. Espada nodded with a composed expression.

“I heard from the village chief that before this village was established, a people called Seato lived here. Because of that legacy, some still call this Seato Village.”

It has a name after all!

I almost blurted out a loud complaint, but Espada looked at me as if to say, “What’s the matter with that?”

I was tricked. Pure-hearted eight-year-old Van-kun was fooled.

He kept silent to make it Van Village, didn’t he?

While shuddering at the terrifying scheme underway beneath the surface, I forced myself to stay calm and spoke.

“…For now, it seems this village is indeed Seato Village. So, what brings you here?”

Regaining my composure, I said that, and the old man widened his eyes and looked around the room.

“No, it’s just… it’s changed so much, I can hardly believe it… I only came here once when I was a child, but this much…”

The old man kept murmuring how he couldn’t believe how much the village had changed. He wasn’t hearing my voice at all.

“What is your business here!?”

I raised my voice sharply. The man snapped out of it and nodded.

“Y-Yes, that’s right. We’re from the neighboring village, but in recent years, the number of young people has steadily decreased… We don’t even have enough food for everyone. Yet the lord says the taxes are insufficient…”

I watched the old man bow his head in frustration and crossed my arms, thinking deeply.

“Is it depopulation? Maybe young people go to the city for work, learn city life, and don’t want to return to the countryside?”

I said that, and the old man shook his head with anger glinting in his eyes.

“The young people didn’t leave on their own. They were taken to increase the number of soldiers in preparation for war.”

“To increase soldiers?”

I asked again, and the old man looked at me as if glaring.

“The Count is preparing because he expects war. But the villages that lost their workers can’t pay taxes. The nobles don’t care about lowly people like us.”

“Oh, so this is about a village in Count Ferdinand’s Domain. That’s a relief.”

When I said that, the old man furrowed his brows deeply.

“…You mean it’s none of my business because it’s another territory?”

He clenched his hands, trembling slightly, and muttered bitterly.

I waved my hand dismissively and said, “No, no.”

“If I cause trouble, it’s my Daddy who gets in trouble. Well, it sounds tough, but do the villagers want to all move here?”

“Eh? Y-You would accept us?”

When I proposed relocation, the old man’s face became like a puppy caught in the rain, asking back. Not exactly cute.

Well, if we cared about the Count, we wouldn’t accept the villagers. After all, it would be like taking away the Count’s subjects and implying there’s a problem in the Count’s domain.

It definitely wouldn’t be looked upon kindly.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

But I decided not to worry about it. The only scary ones are Daddy and the king, whom it’s hard to oppose. It’s unlikely the marquisate would be invaded, so here I’ll just play the adult and pretend I don’t know.