In the outskirts of Larak, within the village of Laraklyle.
I had extended my usual inspection tour a bit further, traveling all the way out here with Zoe.
Administratively speaking, it was an entirely unremarkable farming hamlet whose sole livelihood came from its fields and paddies.
Here and there, the calls of livestock like cattle could be heard, but they were few in number, clearly used only in modest amounts as draft animals.
As soon as we arrived, a man introducing himself as the village chief came out to greet me—likely notified in advance of my visit.
The village chief showed me around the village.
Here, too, most of the villagers were busy drying their freshly harvested rice, working with bright smiles despite the frantic pace.
"How are things looking?"
"Yes, sir! Wonderfully so! All of this is entirely thanks to you, Lord Governor-General, yes indeed!"
The village chief, a man verging on his elderly years, spoke with a manner that was half-fawning.
"What will become of the rice grown around here?"
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it! Merchants came and bought every last grain—with advance payment, no less!"
"Oho. How generous of them."
Saying that, I came to a halt and looked back at the village chief.
With a smug, delighted grin, he continued.
"Word is that some high-and-mighty dignitary from the capital gave this rice a name. So it sold for a far better price than ordinary rice!"
"That is—"
"That is wonderful news."
Mother, the Empress Dowager, and I had conspired together to make that happen. The village chief seemed completely unaware of this. Zoe moved to point it out, but I held her back and offered my congratulations as though hearing it for the first time.
Zoe stepped down.
The village chief's face grew even more jubilant, his eyes narrowing into happy slits.
"That dignitary must truly be extraordinary."
Even so, perhaps dissatisfied that her master's achievements were going unpraised, Zoe could not resist chiming in.
"Ah, truly. Thanks to that, I'll even be able to add to my daughter's bridal trousseau."
"Is that so? That calls for a celebration."
I smiled faintly and began walking once more.
The village chief followed along with the most radiant grin imaginable.
Both his expression and the smiles of the villagers currently drying their rice...
Knowing they were rooted in Mother's "benevolence," I felt a modest warmth in my chest.
"You are truly amazing. Thank you so much, Lord Governor-General. We truly hope you'll stay here with us forever."
"I see."
I nodded and kept walking.
Just as a woman considers "feeling a sense of security" the highest form of praise, the greatest compliment a populace can offer a ruler is wishing that you "stay forever."
In a world where corrupt magistrates existed, the caliber of a local official directly impacted the people's very livelihoods. Naturally, the populace prayed for a good magistrate—a good local official—to remain indefinitely.
Nodding to the reality of their sentiments, I cast my eyes thoroughly over the village.
Suddenly, a single house caught my eye.
It appeared to have burned down in a fire, left completely abandoned in its charred state.
"What happened there?"
"Ah, that was from the recent earthquake. Gord, that fool, managed to escape safely, but a fire flared right out from his hearth and took the place down."
"Is he not going to rebuild it?"
"Well, the thing is..."
I had asked innocently enough, but for some reason, the village chief hesitated, finding it difficult to answer.
Perplexed by how his previously smooth, lavish praise had abruptly turned into reluctant stammering, I halted and turned back to him.
"Did something happen?"
"No, well, the truth is..."
"Speak up and explain properly."
Zoe tossed a light rebuke at the hesitating chief.
The man flinched for a brief instant before speaking as if steeling his resolve.
"That idiot... once his house was gone, he couldn't feed himself anymore. So, I don't know the full details, but he rounded up a bunch of fellows and turned to banditry nearby."
"He couldn't feed himself? Ah, he owns no land?"
"That's right."
The village chief nodded.
Even in an agricultural village, not everyone necessarily owned fields or paddies.
There were those who possessed no land of their own, getting by day-to-day by assisting other villagers.
Furthermore, this tied in slightly with the Empire being a nation of warriors.
The Empire was a country that constantly waged foreign campaigns, foremost among them being against Tsari in the north.
With each campaign came large-scale conscription.
While there was a standing army to a certain degree, casualties were inevitable in every war, requiring constant replenishments.
In such cases, quotas were largely assigned to each town and village, functioning essentially as a mandatory "levy."
When that happened, those without land were far more likely to be sent off than those who owned fields.
Therefore, even if someone owned no land, they remained reasonably important to the village—someone they could do without, but whose absence would cause trouble nonetheless.
The youth named Gord occupied precisely that sort of standing.
"He possessed no fields, had no way of knowing when the next war might come, yet his house burned down—driving him to desperation. Is that what happened?"
"How foolish."
"Ah, I think so too, truly."
To Zoe's scathing remark, which sounded half spat out, the village chief nodded emphatically at the word "desperation" as if chewing a bitter pill.
"It's not like he's done anything terribly wicked yet, but honestly, what a fool. If he'd just stayed in the village, by now..."
The village chief trailed off, his gaze drifting toward the villagers happily harvesting their rice.
He likely meant to say that if Gord had stayed, he would be among that joyful circle right now.
Even without land of his own, a bumper crop required extra hands, offering limitless ways to earn a living.
I nodded at the chief's words and fell into thought.
This, too, was a frequent occurrence.
Following any major disaster, it was common for some of those forced to abandon their homes to turn into bandits and brigands.
In fact, it was practically unheard of for it not to happen.
Banditry and robbery were among the few "trades" available to men that required no capital.
In an extreme scenario, if you targeted a solitary traveler, you could claim their goods and coin simply by bringing a rock down on the back of their head from behind.
It required no startup funds if you set your mind to it, and even with the most impoverished imagination, you could make it work; thus, it was one of the inevitable destinations for desperate people backed into a corner.
☆
Having learned about the man turned bandit and his general whereabouts from the village chief, I left the village and made for that location.
Riding the horses we had brought, Zoe and I spurred them toward the designated spot for about ten-odd minutes.
After riding for roughly the time it takes a freshly brewed cup of tea to grow lukewarm, a rundown fort-like structure came into view.
Surrounded by a palisade atop a low hill, several crude shacks were visible beyond the fence.
Judging by the use of a wooden palisade rather than stone walls, it was likely built as a temporary measure and quickly abandoned.
In fact, as Governor-General, I held the details and locations of all fortresses in Enlil Province in my mind, yet I possessed no information regarding this particular fort.
It was considerably old, to the point of being almost entirely dilapidated.
"Is that it, Master?"
"Given the location, it should be."
"Can they truly... manage with something like that?"
It seemed Zoe also had her doubts regarding its antiquity and shabbiness.
While it was normal for bandits to repurpose abandoned forts like this, seeing one in such disrepair was quite rare.
Remaining on horseback, I summoned Leviathan and took up a stance.
Since an arrow flying our way as a greeting was not out of the question, I readied the Magic Sword of Water as a precaution.
"Stay close to me."
"Understood."
Though we advanced cautiously, nothing came flying at us; in fact, even after stepping inside the fort, there was no sign of human presence whatsoever.
"There are signs of... habitation, at least."
Though there was no presence of people, traces of everyday life remained.
Dismounting from my horse, I entered one of the shacks.
Inside, various items were scattered about, but it was the kind of clutter that vividly suggested men living there—messy and squalid.
More accurately, it gave the impression that someone had been here until just a moment ago.
Stepping outside, I raised the Magic Sword of Water, Leviathan, and called out to her.
"Do it, Leviathan."
Grasping my intent, Leviathan released a pulse of energy.
Like a stone tossed into a body of water, a circular ripple expanded outward with me at its center.
"Uninhabited."
Leviathan responded instantly.
I, too, had sensed no human presence here.
Born an imperial prince of a warrior nation, now Emperor—and serving as Governor-General.
Having trained as a basic necessity and ridden across battlefields, I had acquired the skill to detect human presence to a fair degree.
Questioning why I had felt nothing, I had asked Leviathan to check just to be sure.
The result confirmed that there was indeed no one inside the fort.
"Did they head out to pillage somewhere?"
"Yes. Even if they didn't, judging by the state inside the shack, there is no doubt they were using this place. I expect they will return before long."
"Indeed."
They had stooped to banditry, and judging by their living conditions inside the shack, that was likely the case.
Should we go look for them, or wait for them to return?
Just as I was weighing the options—
"Approaching."
Leviathan notified me.
I headed straight toward the fort's main gate.
Looking down along the gentle slope from the main gate, just as Leviathan had said, a shabbily dressed group could be seen heading this way from down the road.
As they drew closer, I could gradually tell it was a group of young men.
Once they reached a distance where they could spot us, the men accelerated, sprinting forward at what could almost be called a breakneck dash.
Having drawn close enough for clear visual confirmation, I checked once more.
Their numbers were seven... no, eight.
From the looks of it, this was undoubtedly the group of youths centered around Gord, who had turned to banditry and made this place their stronghold.
Well then, perhaps I should knock some sense into them in a skirmish first before hearing their story.
"Stay behind me."
"As you wish."
Zoe obediently fell back behind me.
Clever as she was, she stepped back without fuss, knowing it was not her turn to act.
"Negative."
"Hm?"
Leviathan suddenly objected.
What was that about all of a sudden? Was she referring to Zoe at this timing?
Thinking that, I glanced back at Zoe and saw her eyes glittering with anticipation.
...
After a moment's thought, I understood.
She had not stepped back simply out of clever obedience, but because she was eager to watch me perform in battle.
I chuckled to myself, thinking that was very much like Zoe.
In the meantime, the group dashed up to a distance where voices could easily carry.
Now then—just as I went to ready Leviathan.
The moment they reached me, all eight young men dropped into a sliding prostration with tremendous momentum.
All eight of them.
"Huh?"
At the unforeseen spectacle, Zoe was left blinking in utter bewilderment.
Even I was genuinely surprised by this.
"U-Um! You're the Lord Governor-General, right?!"
The man prostrating at the very front—presumably the leader of the group—raised only his head while keeping the rest of his body flat against the ground.
The other men raised their heads as well.
Every one of them was a youth still in his twenties—some even appearing to be in their teens.
"And you are?"
"My name is Gord!"
"So you're the one."
"Yes! We heard from the village chief just now! That the Lord Governor-General was heading this way!"
"Hmph. And what is the meaning of this?"
I could understand their turning back after hearing the news.
Since I had asked the village chief for the location, the chief had naturally assumed I had come to subjugate them.
If he relayed that, from Gord's perspective, I was an official invading their stronghold, so it made perfect sense that they would rush back in a panic to mount a defense.
However, the moment they arrived, they had channeled all their sprinting momentum into a sliding prostration before me.
It was hardly the behavior of men preparing to mount a defense.
"Um! We're quitting the bandit life!"
"...Hmph."
I was at a loss.
Arriving at a bandits' den only to have the bandits declare they were quitting before I had even lifted a finger...
In my far from brief life, this was a first, and quite the novel experience.
"What is your aim? Have you suddenly grown fond of your life?"
"I-I'm sorry! That's not what I mean!"
Gord raised only his head, speaking in flustered desperation.
His face looked completely ordinary—if anything, resembling a somewhat timid young man.
From his manner of speech to his appearance and reactions...
He was a youth who did not seem like a bandit in the slightest.
"We really didn't want to do this kind of thing! But back then, we just felt like we had no other choice!"
"Hmph."
"W-We've heard the rumors about the Lord Governor-General! That even if someone is a bandit, so long as they haven't committed terrible crimes and truly reform, you will forgive them!"
I gave a small nod.
He must be referring to the incident with Eisen and the others, I realized.
"So please! We'll quit right now, so please!"
"We beg of you!"
The companions who had come with him bowed their heads in unison.
My past deeds had proven useful here.
If they were truly willing to reform, I had no reason to reject them.
As I pondered what to do with these men...
I couldn't help dwelling on the useless thought that if only I possessed Father's intelligence network, I wouldn't have had to make this wild-goose chase in the first place.