After passing through the Neuden North Gate of Breisburg and heading north, we finally reached Eisten. The estate manager I’d seen at Eisten last time had been replaced after the embezzlement scandal, and a new face greeted us.

We were really just passing through, not stopping, but when armed soldiers moved past a village, exchanging greetings like this was a way to ease tensions on both sides.

While the villagers who recognized Viktor and me whispered among themselves, we set off north again. With a critical mission to deliver the letter and bring something back, we couldn’t afford to dawdle.

Thud thud thud thud!

The distance to Offenburg was similar to the distance to Feuzen. The marquis was called a northern prince, but as a neighbor of Breisburg, he was actually pretty close by. Past Eisten and three more villages, we’d be there.

The group heading home would have left by now.

Viktor’s son Simon, who’d been hospitalized at the ducal hospital, had been discharged. So we were sending two couples and one engaged couple ahead to settle them in Feuzen. They were my people now.

The supplies included a fair amount of materiel, firearms among them. So twenty Gale Knights had been mobilized, with Anton in charge. The only retainer currently left at Rosengarden was Bodo.

Counting Viktor’s family, that made seven new settlers. After Feuzen’s population had been in the negative, seeing it grow now made me genuinely happy. We’d gone from 275 to 282. Three hundred wasn’t far off.

Prosperity had been climbing sharply lately too.

Originally Prosperity had been at 155, but it dropped to 25 after I’d wiped out the wealthy farmers. I’d invested in two Village (S) passive skills, and now Prosperity was rising significantly. Very encouraging.

On top of that, Hilda was managing things so well that the village’s quota had also gone up considerably. I was expecting the annual income of one gold coin to at least double to two. Village output had risen that much.

With the overall metrics climbing, current Prosperity stood at 187. The target Prosperity for the Lord of Feuzen Quest was 500, but reaching it was just a matter of time.

If I introduced a four-department system, managed everything systematically, and laid out a clear direction, could I expect explosive growth? If I really wanted to push, I’d love to grow Feuzen into a proper city.

"From here on, we’re in Offenburg’s territory."

Fiel had visited Offenburg several times with his grandfather, so he knew the route well. The road was straightforward enough that we didn’t really need a guide, but Fiel still gave us helpful explanations about the border region.

"When relations between the Altringen royal house and Offenburg were at their worst, disputes broke out frequently in this area. It was when Württemberg was stirring up Offenburg to push for independence."

That was twenty years ago.

When Offenburg was raising hell about independence, Steinhof was the family that had shone. Even before the Great War fifteen years ago, the Steinhof name carried tremendous weight. And yet they’d chosen honor over land and titles.

Given my own preference for tangible benefits, I couldn’t see myself making the choice the Steinhofs had. That was probably why Steinhof was always mentioned as a respected family. Knowing they were my allies was reassuring.

"The disputes ended when Princess Ingrid, the late king’s sister, married the brother of Marquis Offenburg. That ruined relations between Württemberg and Offenburg."

Ingrid was apparently so beautiful and gracious that she was called the dream princess. After marrying into Offenburg, she gave birth to a son and then passed away. Her positive influence had kept things on good terms up to the present.

The problem was Württemberg’s blatant provocations as they eyed Beren’s territory. They had once been part of the Duchy of Swabia—family under the same roof—but they’d split off when the Swabia line died out.

When Lothringen and Altringen had been one house, Württemberg hadn’t dared so much as provoke them. But once the two royal lines split and Roden and Beren formed separately, the provocations had begun.

The fact that Burgundy existed as a powerful enemy was the only reason it hadn’t escalated to outright war. If Burgundy ever disappeared, Württemberg being next on the chopping block was a foregone conclusion.

That was why the Offenburg region was called the second powder keg.

Maybe because it was the territory ruled by Beren’s greatest prince, the moment we arrived at Layer, Offenburg’s border village, we were met with a passionate welcome of pointed spears and swords. We’d followed all the proper procedures, so why this reception?

To avoid the provocation of barging into a village with armed soldiers, sending an advance party to announce your visit was standard practice.

"I am Tobias, Lord of Layer and vassal of the marquis. State your identities!"

"I am Wolfgang, Lord of Feuzen and vassal of the Altringen royal house."

"Lord of Feuzen? Then you must be..."

The Layer lord who introduced himself as Tobias dismissed his soldiers and approached me directly. Layer’s force was only about twenty men, and ours was over forty, so it wasn’t really a contest.

Tobias had probably overplayed his hand trying to establish dominance early. No estate welcomed armed forces. He’d talked big, but Tobias himself was a small man.

"I’d been wanting to see the knight the commander praises so highly in person. Looks like the chance finally came."

I had met the Offenburg Knights commander at the tournament. We’d never crossed swords, but he’d worked to leave a good impression on me, trying to smooth over the Imperial Knights commander’s rudeness.

"Is the Offenburg Knights commander well?"

"He’s further north right now. The mountain bandits have been showing up at the border so often it’s giving him headaches."

"Mountain bandits? Who are you talking about?"

"What? Looks like you don’t know Offenburg very well."

Tobias’s face soured with displeasure.

What? What did I do?

At that moment, Fiel whispered to me.

"I believe it’s slang for Württemberg."

"People get angry when you don’t know the local slang?"

"That lord just has a small mind, I imagine."

Well, his disposition was pride (neutral), the type with a strong ego. I learned later that Württemberg had lots of mountainous terrain, which was why its people were called mountain bandits.

"In any case, we were forced to spend the night in Layer. The Layer lord seemed to be deliberately stalling so Marquis Offenburg would have time to prepare.

With civil war potentially breaking out any day, I wanted to wrap up this mission as fast as possible and tried to push on, but Tobias flew into a rage, demanding to know how Altringen’s envoy could dare disrespect House Offenburg.

So we had no choice but to stay.

This was a completely different situation from Count Euz.

Viktor calmed Fiel’s frustrations and mine.

"He’s pulling in all the nearby forces to put on a military demonstration."

"A military demonstration? Is he trying to show off to me as His Grace’s envoy?"

"You’ve reached that kind of position, Commander. It’s also a warning."

"Meaning: don’t take Offenburg lightly."

I’d assumed that being the Grand Duke’s envoy would make things go smoothly, but no chance. The provinces still had their own strong character, and the local lord was king on his own land. The Grand Duke’s influence wasn’t even a factor.

Just as Feuzen had its own ways, Offenburg had its own as well. As an outsider, I had to accept that I was the one who needed to adapt.

The basics of diplomacy started with respecting the other party’s domain. Viktor had escorted Baron Constance and seen plenty of situations like this, so he was able to give me sound advice.

"The dispute between Rosenheim and Basel started from a minor diplomatic discourtesy just like this."

"What kind of discourtesy could possibly..."

"The baron was on his way to the Swiss Confederation as the late king’s envoy. He skipped the Basel lord’s banquet, and that slight alone brought on war."

War over skipping a banquet?

No matter how much nobles lived and died by their pride, the ambitions of these provincial lords were beyond anything I could imagine. The war had happened long before the Great War, and nothing had been gained from it.

"And in the aftermath, an epidemic spread through the south. My father died in battle, and my mother died of disease around the same time."

"I see."

Hans and Sabine’s hometown was also in the south. They’d said the village had collapsed from the epidemic, but this was the first I was hearing of the history behind it.

Rosenheim had won, but it was glory with nothing but scars to show for it. Even after Baron Constance died, Basel was still pressing down on Rosenheim’s southern border village of Hissen.

In this way, even diplomatic discourtesies became justifications for war.

It was an absurd reality, but it called for caution.

Tobias, satisfied that his honor had been preserved, treated us lavishly. Enjoying the hospitality was itself a way of validating a lord’s pride, so for the first time in a while I ate to my heart’s content.