The next day after I returned from Medwin, Schwartz came to see me.

“I’ve heard from Ange, and the Knights should be the ones to deal with any problems in the territory.”

“I can’t say no to a man who asks me to do something, and if we don’t beat Cerawyn while we still can, it’ll shake the country.”

It is better to crush him completely as soon as possible.

“In the meantime, here is the current status of the territory.”

I spread out the map on the table.

“At the moment, there are several hundred people, large and small, holding territories. The largest of these territories is directly ruled by our royal family.”

“So this is Medwin domain and this is Serawyn domain. That’s a lot of territories.”

“I’ve heard bad things about the Earl of Cerawyn, he’s been forcing his way into territories he has no heir to, he’s been extracting money from his people at high tax rates, and he’s forbidden his people to leave his lands.”

“If you know so much, why did you leave it alone until now?”

“It’s because there was a Demon King. The whole world was leaning towards defeating the Demon King. This is just when we finally started to pay attention to our country.”

I see. So he was hiding behind the big evil and doing whatever he wanted.

“I’ve heard that they have ties to the business world, is the Cerawyn estate wealthy?”

“It’s a prestigious place. It seems that some members of the royal family have ties to Cerawyn.”

“Could it be that they plan to take over the country in the end?”

“I’m afraid I can’t deny it.”

I really need to do something about this.

I crossed my arms and thought about it, but I couldn’t come up with any good ideas.

I wish I had someone who could be as clever as I am.

“Noel, you there?”

“Hmm? It’s Aina… Aah!”

The moment I saw Aina’s face, I remembered something.

“What’s the matter with you, shouting all of a sudden?”

“Aina, lend me your wisdom!”

“My wisdom? What are you talking about?”

“Noel-sama, why Aina-sama?”

“Aina was the party’s strategist.”

Aina led the meeting when we were planning the operation, and many times it went well.

I told Aina what had happened.

“It’s the same as when I was in a party… somehow I still get caught up in these things.”

“It can’t be helped.”

Aina says in a dumbfounded manner.

I can’t deny that.

“I’ll cooperate.”

Aina decided to help.