Chapter 538

Confirmation of the Guests
After chatting with Rumaja for a while about the Isles of the Eight Gods, there came a knock at the door.
Wonder who that could be?

“Yes?”

“Lady Lily, a message has arrived from His Excellency, Marquis Vardmoi.”

“From Marquis Vardmoi? Understood. Please, come in.”

“Excuse me.”

The one who brought the message was the butler who usually assists Modalfas.
He handed Modalfas an envelope, then slipped out without a sound.
Even his manners are flawless.
Now then, what could be inside that envelope?

“This is… exactly the topic we were just discussing.”

“What do you mean, Modalfas?”

“A list of the guests to be invited has arrived. Some invitations have already been sent, but the rest are to be sent after you confirm them, Lady Lily.”

“All right. Let me see it.”

“Yes, here you are.”

The list Modalfas handed me had all sorts of names written on it.
It even clearly separated each person’s rank, showing just how thoughtful Marquis Vardmoi can be.
All right then, let’s go through the contents.

“From the Royal Ducal House… His Majesty the Duke, Lord Sharon, and also Lord Taur, whose name came up earlier. Oh, and Lord Vic is listed as well.”

“Vic is still a member of the Royal House, after all. But inviting both Sharon and Taur too? Could he be plotting something?”

“Hard to say. Ah, looks like Princess Rodenlight will be attending too.”

“Of course she will. You have all sorts of dealings with her.”

That’s true enough.
Next on the list were the names of the marquis houses.
Excluding Marquis Vardmoi’s own, there seem to be four other marquis houses, all of which have been sent invitations.
There’s no way they could refuse, so it can’t be helped.

“There are four other marquis houses besides Vardmoi’s, but they’re split into three political factions. All three oppose the Vardmoi faction, and their stance toward the Royal Ducal House varies between cooperation and opposition.”

“Sounds exactly like the sort of troublesome politics you’d expect from nobles.”

“It is the real thing. Vardmoi may be using this as an opportunity to seek cooperation with one of them… though who can say?”

“Is that really so difficult?”

“The Vardmoi faction holds too much power. With abundant food, stable public order, and thriving trade, they’re the envy of all. And the one holding the keys to all of that… is you.”

Well, that’s not wrong.
But it just sort of ended up that way without me meaning for it to.
It’s not like I planned this from the start.

“In spring, it was the pro-royalist Wallas marquis faction that had the Duke order the deployment of the Kiblinki Saltas. Of them, Marquis Wallas’ house and its subordinate, Marquis Wedoi’s house, followed the Duke’s command without protest, but some lower nobles resisted. They’ll likely try to cozy up to you to make up for that loss.”

“Yeah… that really is noble politics.”

“That’s just how it is. And the other two factions won’t be pleased that only the pro-royalist faction received a monster possessing both military and productive strength. They’ll be making approaches of their own.”

“Ugh, such a pain.”

“Resign yourself. From now on, you’ll be living in that kind of world too.”

I thought I’d prepared myself for this, but it’s turning out to be even more troublesome than I imagined.
Embarrassing as it is, I’d better ask Modalfas and Amira how I should handle it.

What do you think about this chapter?