427 - Alfred's Perspective - Plans for Escape
It was the end of summer when Cody appeared at Grenore Fortress.
Thankfully, Cody has been cooperating in the search for Christina, even putting his own business on hold.
If not for that, the travel itinerary would have been impossibly tight.
Leonardo seems to intend to compensate for the losses during the period Cody helped with Christina's rescue and pay a reward, but that alone will not be enough.
He has been skipping over the regions where he used to do business.
The trust Cody has lost from his customers cannot be recovered with just one or two years of support.
...Perhaps I should have him open a shop around Grenore or something.
If he moved his whole family to the Kingdom of Ivizia and set up a shop in the city, it would be easier to support him.
I think so, but this too has its difficulties.
Having one's own shop is a big deal for a traveling merchant, but moving across countries means restarting all relationships from scratch.
Moving to a distance where he cannot easily meet the neighbors who must have looked after him might be difficult for the kind-hearted Cody.
...I suppose I cannot just give him the reward money and be done with it.
Trust cannot be bought with money, and having him open a shop within my reach is also difficult.
There is also the option of giving him a large sum to open a shop back home, but I feel it might be better not to entrust a large sum to the kind-hearted Cody.
Somehow, Cody had a vulnerability about him that made me suspect relatives or acquaintances might swindle the money out of him.
"...After securing Christina in the Imperial capital, the plan is to have her recuperate in Augun territory for a while, huh."
According to the letter from Leonardo that Cody brought back, Christina, who Jean-Jacques was supposed to have found in Uhlenfurt territory, had apparently already been moved to the Imperial capital Tralbach by the time they got there.
It ended in a miss at Augusta Castle, but apparently they encountered Oscar, Bertrand's pet dog, there.
Taking the useful watchdog, the black dog Oscar, they returned to Augun territory once and then decided to head for the Imperial capital.
This is all that can be known from the letter.
Since over two months have passed since Cody received the letter from Leonardo, they should have secured Christina safely by now.
If things have gone according to plan, they should be waiting for Christina's condition to stabilize in Augun territory.
"Make the border easier to cross, huh. Normally, the Imperial fortresses can be handled with bribes, but..."
Christina was quietly kidnapped, and the plan was supposed to be to quietly retrieve her as well.
I do not think they have done anything too flashy, but I cannot imagine the person who kidnapped Christina would stay quiet after having her taken back.
It is better to assume there will be pursuers, and since the opponent is a noble, they will have influence with soldiers too.
If so, bribes might not work, and even reaching near the border should be extremely difficult.
...Because it takes time for information from over there to reach us here. The situation has probably already changed by now, so we need to anticipate and act accordingly.
Between the Zugall Empire and Grenore, the distance is too great to expect fresh information.
If we send word that Christina was found in Uhlenfurt territory, inevitably by the time it arrives, Christina has already been moved to the Imperial capital Tralbach.
Flexible response to the situation is difficult.
"Is there anything else unusual to report?"
I will set this aside for now and borrow the wisdom of Alf and Rannvald later.
Since Cody is moving all across the continent anyway, when I prompted him for any other useful information, Cody made a gesture as if recalling something.
"...As for unusual news, I heard from Remihio-sama that a 'Spirit Seat' discovered in the Kingdom of Saenard was successfully destroyed."
"There was one in the Kingdom of Saenard too, huh."
As one connected to the bloodline of the Divine King, Provisional King Remihio seems to have issued orders to destroy the Spirit Seats to the rulers of each country.
Without touching on what their true role actually was, he widely spread the characteristics of the Spirit Seats.
Of course, even though he spread it widely, it is not like he broadcast it haphazardly.
Remihio sent personal letters through the Church of Itsurateru to the rulers and influential figures of each country.
After that, it is just a matter of the influential figures who received the letters searching for the Spirit Seats using methods familiar to them.
Rulers, of course, but influential figures have people they can use like their own hands and feet.
Since it is a search operation using people, it can be said that Remihio's search range extends across the entire continent.
"Once they started looking, they suddenly began finding them. Is this what Christina calls the will of the Divine King?"
According to Christina, there are six in total, and reports have been arriving that two in the Kingdom of Ivizia, one in the Divine Kingdom Quebia, and one in the Kingdom of Saenard have been confirmed and destroyed in good order.
It is going so smoothly it is almost frightening.
"...At this rate, maybe Leonardo will find one in the Empire and destroy it while he is at it before coming back?"
"Ah... with Leonardo-sama as he is now, I think he could destroy anything."
Apparently this is a story heard from the bandits who were with him, but it seems Leonardo finally killed a bear with his bare fists.
I have always thought he was a man with strength beyond common sense, but it seems my understanding was still too shallow.
Since he is a knight of the Kingdom of Ivizia, he is acclaimed as an incarnation of the War God Herkeles within the country, but in neighboring countries, Leonardo's epithets are mostly ominous ones like the destruction god Koyornaharu or the death god Uaksu.
Until now, no matter what they called him, I could laugh it off as nothing more than the barking of sore losers, but it has finally reached a point where it is no longer a joke.
...He will not stop until he gets Christina back, will he.
In the first place, the Zugall Empire noble who kidnapped Christina is at fault, but unleashing Leonardo might have been going too far.
That said, since the one kidnapped was Leonardo's sister, the option of 'quietly waiting for Christina's rescue in Grenore' probably never existed for Leonardo from the start.
The fool who laid hands on Christina is the one at fault.
If a man who kills bears with his fists punches you once or twice, that is just what you deserve.
...No, there probably will not be a second punch. If he can kill a bear, a human would die in one hit.
The kidnapper, who might already be dead by now, has no such connection to me, but I prayed for his soul anyway.
"Now then, the problem is escaping from the Empire."
I did not know the detailed geography inside the Zugall Empire, but records remain of the geography on the Ivizia Kingdom side and the towns and villages that were once Ivizia's territory.
Spreading a simple compiled map on the desk Rannvald is currently using, I rack my brains while adding notes to the map based on advice from Cody, who has actually traveled through the Zugall Empire.
The letter Cody brought had been written over two months ago.
Regarding Leonardo and the others' movements, we have no choice but to read their actions from the scarce information we have.
"Normally, they should come back through Mail Fortress... but swimming across Vienne Lake would also be interesting."
"If they are fleeing while shaking off pursuers, there is also the possibility they will come through mountain paths."
"In any case, what we need is to thin out the Imperial border defenses."
If they secure Christina who is supposedly in the Imperial capital Tralbach and seek the shortest route back to the city of Grenore, they would ignore the border fortresses.
As a possibility it seems nothing short of impossible, but if they could cross the Erath mountain range, that would be the shortest escape route.
The Erath mountain range, where snow remains even in summer, would be impossible to cross even if Christina's condition were perfect, though.
Crossing the Erath mountain range is difficult even for a healthy adult man.
That is why, although Grenore Fortress is near the Erath mountain range, there is not much need to prepare against invasion from the Zugall Empire.
That is because it is known that the Zugall Empire's soldiers themselves would be unable to maintain formation and would collapse before even crossing the Erath mountain range.
The reason Leonardo, the linchpin of national defense, is stationed at Grenore Fortress is because Grenore Fortress faces the borders of three countries and the distance to the other three fortresses is nearly equal.
When anomalies occur at other fortresses, they can rush there immediately from Grenore Fortress.
Now, which area should I thin out, I wonder, as I peer at the map.
It is easy to guide things so the border becomes thin, but I cannot possibly thin out all the borders facing the Kingdom of Ivizia.
I needed to anticipate where Leonardo would appear and make the defenses there thin.
"Since Christina apparently needs to recuperate, they cannot take overly rough routes."
"In that case, they cannot go through mountains or forests."
"Since they are stopping by Augun territory once, I feel it might actually be easier to cross the border on the Quebia side."
"If that is the case, if we gather soldiers at the Kingdom of Ivizia border, conversely the Quebia-side border will become thin."
As for the Divine Kingdom Quebia, due to the nature of the country, there is not much need to station soldiers at the border.
Even if the Zugall Empire were to invade the Divine Kingdom Quebia, the reverse would not happen.
If they plan to escape from the Quebia side, they just need to gather the Zugall Empire's soldiers at the Kingdom of Ivizia border.
There would be no need to rack their brains over which part of the border they will slip through.
"...Should I have Cody go one more time?"
No matter what, she will need to recuperate in Augun territory for a while, so we should be able to send a letter from here at least one more time.
I feel bad for Cody repeatedly, but I want to make use of his agility as a traveling merchant once again.
...As for the reward for Cody, I should discuss it slowly once Christina returns.
If what was carried to the tower last time was a Spirit Seat, then five out of six have had their locations and destruction confirmed. I wonder where the last one is (playing dumb).
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.