Wortenia Senki (WN)

Translator: HASUTSUKI, Editor: Chaz

It’s been seven days since Earl Bergstone has disappeared…

A lone carriage protected by knights wearing luxurious armor passed under the Epiroz city gate.

The group was bearing Rozeria royal coat of arms and no one was surprised as to their appearance here…

Not only the Epiroz citizenry but all residents of the northern Rozeria Kingdom watched the convoy with fear and anxiety, praying that they were not on the verge of another war.

“I see… A letter of summoning huh?”

While having their meal together, Lione read the letter that had just arrived.

It was written on a piece of high-quality white paper that was smooth and comfortable to the touch.

(This thing… I guess one piece would cost around one silver coin? Despite having no different use than regular parchment. But I guess, it also indicates the importance of the sender, huh?)

It was quite unusual to see such high-quality paper in this world where the use of parchment was much more common.

In fact, parchment was already considered a luxury.

Depending on the location and economic situation, some even used thin wooden planks rather than parchment.

It’s cost made it impossible to use such high-quality paper on a daily basis unless the person had tremendous wealth and power.

“But, there’s no charges written on this letter…”

Bolts who peeped over Lione’s shoulder tilted his head.

The only thing written there was a date and time to appear in front of the House of Lords.

There were no charges written where such things should be.

Despite having the seal, it looks doubtful that this letter had come from the House of Lords of this kingdom, an elite organization of upper echelon families.

“Let’s see… It is rare for me to see this kind of document with such lack of detail, but it also makes sense that they want to summon Baron Mikoshiba Ryouma… Is there going to be an assassination or something?”

When Bolts pointed that out, Lione nodded her head slightly.

As a mercenary, Lione had undertaken various requests.

She had experience patrolling the territory of aristocrats or being an aristocrat’s guard during any conspiracy.

Even if she had such experience with conspiracy theories, she was still unfamiliar with the national legal system.

Lione’s memory related to this kind of document was that of a warrant forcing her parents to pay the taxes during her childhood.

What she remembered from that time was not the things written on the warrant but the dirty face of the tax collector and her parents’ agony.

In the end, Lione and her family lost the home where they had been living in for many years. They decided to leave their homeland and Lione chose the path of a mercenary.

Since then, Lione had settled in many cities briefly, thus she was unfamiliar with legal system having never registered herself as a citizen…

However, Signiz Garbera opened his mouth answering Lione.

“That is because the summon this time is for him to appear in court as a witness.”

Bolts tilted his head in response to those words.

“Does that mean they are not going to accuse him an offender? But based on the letter sent by Earl Bergstone previously, the House of Lords had regarded young master as a hostile existence though?”

Asking someone to appear as a witness in court was different than asking someone to stand trial.

Comparing the two, anyone could see which was the better option.

However, in response to such a question from Bolts, Roberto Bertrand shook his head.

“Don’t make me laugh. There’s no way that is the case, is there?”

Hearing that words, Bolts shrugged his shoulders.

It was because Bolts himself understood what he said was basically impossible.

That was because Mikoshiba Ryouma had killed Earl Salzberg and took the entire northern Rozeria kingdom under his rule.

In fact, excluding Garbera and Bertrand household where Signiz and Roberto belonged to, nearly half of the ten northern nobles household had disappeared from this world.

It can be said it was extremely unusual for that to happen on this continent, especially considering the war was only being regarded as a small skirmish between two local lords.

“Just like Roberto said, there’s no way a nobleman would let this go untouched… Furthermore, the nobility are those who put an emphasis on things like blood ties. On the contrary, for them, our Lord is someone of dubious origin. There are no aristocrats who would keep silent while their relatives are getting killed by such a person. No matter how much of a coward they are…”

(Did they hate the aristocrats that much?) was the thought that crossed everyone’s mind.

Signiz and Roberto words could be considered polite, however their words sounded like a curse.

Well, it may be normal for these two to have such sentiment since they had to fight on the front line while those aristocrats stood back enjoying their luxurious life.

“Which means, this letter’s aim is to get the young master to the capital?”

“Just like Bolts-dono said, that possibility is quite high. Since they need to also consider if our Lord is being summoned as a defendant, our Lord might respond with armed force. If that happens, it won’t end with just skirmishes between local lords anymore. Which I’m sure Queen Lupis doesn’t want that to happen. Also…”

Up to that point, Signiz then directed his gaze at his new master who had kept silent since the meeting began.

“Summon me as a witness, then execute me an offender, is it?”

“Most likely…”

Towards Ryouma’s question, Signiz slowly nodded his head.

Speaking of the House of Lords, it was an organization that combines courthouse and prosecutors.

In other words, it could be said as the apex of judicial authority within the Rozeria Kingdom.

The only one who could overrule their judgment was Queen Lupis, the ruler of the Kingdom.

Which in turn, made this judicial system unfair.

If he went to such a place, Mikoshiba Ryouma would be judged as an offender without being allowed a defense.

However, contrary to this serious situation, Ryouma and Signiz didn’t show any anxiety.

“Well, this is something we’ve expected…”

To that statement, all of the men and women surrounding the table nodded at once.

Ryouma then started slowly looking at his surroundings.

The people surrounding him were such as Laura and Sara who followed him immediately after he was summoned, then Signiz and Roberto who followed him after he defeated Earl Salzberg.

Despite the difference in time of service, their eyes looked the same.

“Fine then… let us start stealing the country.”

It was a flat voice devoid of emotion.

It was as if he was telling the others, ‘I want to go out for a bit’…f𝔯𝒆𝚎𝚠𝑒𝚋𝓃૦νℯƖ.co𝘮