Chapter 139: Plotting The Takeover Of A Takeover!? (2)
"Are you planning on infiltrating the village?" <Serena>
"That's right. For that purpose...I'd like us to pretend to be a couple who lost everything during the war." <Julius>
"couple!?" <Serena>
Serena looked at me with a rather surprised face.
"Do you not like it?" <Julius>
"No, I don't like it...I'm married..." <Serena>
"That's like being sold. It can't be called a proper marriage. And we're not really getting married. We're just pretending to be husband and wife." <Julius>
"That's true, but... I understand. It's nice to have this kind of happiness once in a while! Let's do it! Hehe." <Serena>
Serena was practically jumping.
She seemed to be in a good mood.
"Ah, before that." <Julius>
I stopped Serena from doing that.
There was smoke rising nearby.
It's called a smoke signal.
In response, I likewise caused two puffs of smoke out of our own campfire.
"What's going on?" <Serena>
"It's a sign. I'm calling in my subordinates from Aquitania." <Julius>
"I see! I'm nervous to meet other Aquitanian's!" <Serena>
As a self-proclaimed fan, her face was stiff with nervousness.
"You don't need to be so nervous." <Julius>
"Who are they?" <Serena>
I heaved my shoulders.
There are only a few people who are perfect for infiltrating villages out of the people i can trust implicitly, so i advocated for the two who'd fit my chosen cover story well.
I'm new to this world's village life.
Of all the Aquitania vassals, Zeff was the most familiar, having lived the majority of his life as a bottom-rung member of society and then as a humble villager for years.
However, calling Zeff alone won't do anything.
He's not someone who can have a normal social life.
That's why I called Miri together with him, call it a honeymoon present as well as a job for me, neither had been on a boat before, and aside from following me around to Lunan, and then Bridget these two had never left Visigoths before.
She was the perfect person for this mission.
I let the smoke signal to let them know where I am, so I'm sure they'll be here soon.
Serena looks nervously around knowing someone will come but no who it will be.
After a while, we heard the sound of horses' hooves and the two who we had been waiting for appeared.
"Lord! The lord is over there! Get off your horse quickly!" <Miri>
As soon as Miri saw me, she had Zeff greet me alongside her by absconding from their horse and bowing deeply.
Zeff isn't the kind of person who makes social comments, but when Miline is with him, he bows to me, even though he seems reluctant to nag me.
"Nice to see you, thank you for your hard work, life hasn't been to hard since arriving i trust?" <Julius>
These two arrived in Carthage on the same ship as i did, but i let them wander around enjoying themselves, and when the coup occurred i quickly met with them afterwards to warn what was about to happen so in keeping with our plans, Zeff followed my plan although begrudgingly by purchasing up as many strong male slaves as we could, these would form the corp of our foreign forces, but they'd need to be trained up by Zeff, while Miri would act as the overall military commander giving Zeff his orders.
There wasn't a shortage of weapons and armor with which to equip these men, and being branded with slave crests they could not disobey their master's orders.
The armor we acquired was washed clean before being stained black like the night, and in no time we had a diligent fighting force, one would mostly mistake to be a mercenary band.
These men were promised many things, those who when questioned and found to have been made a slave illegally were promised to be freed upon our operations success, while those who'd sold themselves into slavery or committed crimes would remain as our slaves and return with us to Bridget.
This was required of course as Zeff was needed to deal with Rushak.
That's why I called these two people.
Miri tilted her head when she spotted Serena standing behind me, looking as nervous as a borrowed cat.
"Lord, who is that person?" <Miri>
"She is a new vassal of mine. Her name is Serena Dolfe." <Julius>
"Ah, h-are you a noblewoman?" <Miri>
When she heard her full name, Miri looked nervous and hesitated, after all this girl lived the life of a slumrat, then slave, and finally serf before being elevated to the role of a sudo noble so suddenly it really hadn't sunk in yet.
"No! She's a fugitive who came from a noble family but now has no merits in these lands. I've heard many stories about her. Her life's stories are really wonderful!" <Julius>
Serena seemed very happy and could not hide her excitement as she clasped her hands together, as if she knew the two of them, not even caring about the words we spoke.
"Miri, I say this every time, but you and Zeff are just like nobles. If formally declared our territory to be it's own country, you will be given a title, so throw away that feeling of remorse, and live without dishonnoring your lord." <Julius>
"Well...it's not going as planned. Hehe." <Miri>
Miri scratched her head with a cheerful expression.
"There's nothing I can't do. I'm not gonna be a nobleman." <Zeff>
Then, next to me, Zeff complains.
Naturally, Miri stepped on Zeff's foot in a silent protest of his word, the audacity, of rejecting such a gift from their lord!
"Anyway, it's as I said. But for now We'll be infiltrating the village nearby for a while, so I'd like your cooperation, you're men meanwhile can be left to hunt in the surroundings under the cover of their guise as a mercenary band." <Julius>
"It's Eru Village, right?" <Serena>
Serena asked as if she knew.
"Do you know about that village?" <Julius>
"Yes. I heard that there is a quite famous village chief. He has met my father several times as well. Fortunately, I have never met him, so I don't think he will notice even if he see's me." <Serena>
The Village we're heading to Eru, is a large village in the lands that were given to Count Dolfe in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage to the king, these lands were close to the crown lands having been carved from them infact, and should the marriage fall through these lands would be expected to be returned to the kings own hands.
Well, even if she doesn't get noticed, the problem is her striking beauty, she'll instantly get called out as a noblewoman.
Her adventurous spirit had allowed her to adapt well to sleeping outdoors, eating with her hands, and doing ones business in less than private situations but still her lifelong care for her skin, having not worked a real day in her life gave tell tale signs in her hands that she'd not toiled under the baking sun like all commoners do.
But I had some thoughts about it.
It's not like she's going to infiltrate a mob, she's basically joining a good village.
Still, there is a need to give the impression that they have escaped in the midst of war.
"Serena, first of all, you're going to smear your face with charcoal. Like everyone else, you need to show that you've worked hard to get here." <Julius>
"got it!" <Serena>
Miri nodded proudly and the two pairs helped each other dress up in the commoner clothing that had been made dirty with ash, mud, foliage and the like, even a bit of blood was added, and Miri assisted in dirtying Serena's face, even managing to give her skin a subtle shift in tone as if she had a light tan.
"Kya... it's a little ticklish!" <Serena>
Don't say that in a sultry voice.
Thanks to Yuri, I have become immune to beautiful women to some extent, but they still each have their own charms.
"Well, I guess this is enough."
"Then, all we have to do now is pretend to be a couple, right?"
"That's it"
"Um...I'm good at acting. I especially have a good eye for this scheme." <Serena>
Serena said, smiling again.
However, no matter how you looked at it, there was a lie hidden there.
"Serena" <Julius>
"yes" <Serena>
"It's true that i laughed brightly and asked if we should just pretend to be a couple just now. And isn't it true that you laughed that you seemed to have a good idea about the current scheme?" <Julius>
"..." <Serena>
Serena looked at me with a surprised look on her face.
"So it was an act. She's a scary woman." <Miri>
"...How did you recognize that?" <Zeff>
"Somehow" <Julius>
"It's kind of frustrating." <Serena>
I don't think I have anything to regret.
"Lord! Preparations are complete!" <Miri>
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