"The Talented Dragon Hides Its Claws" ~ The Eldest Son of the Baron Family, Called Useless, is Actually One of the World's Strongest ~ - Episode 32

“A letter from Her Majesty the Queen has arrived.”

The letter that Sebas is holding has the emperor’s exclusive wax seal on it, and since this seal is strictly punished if used by anyone other than the empress, we can say that this is almost certainly genuine.

“The Empress, huh…?” “F-from Her Majesty the Empress?!”

Ryu had a bad feeling, while Lena was simply surprised by the big name.

“When you went to the capital, you said you happened to meet Her Majesty the Empress, didn’t you, big brother?”

“Ah, I guess they took notice of me back then, and not in a good way.”

“I feel like it’s related to the hero given the timing.”

“I think so too.”

Ryu opens the envelope on the desk, and the three of them lean in to look.

“I am Emperor Iris Astoria of the Astoria Empire. I will skip the tedious greetings. You are aware that the northern Grace Kingdom has summoned a hero, correct? In response, the west and east have also decided to summon heroes. However, our country currently lacks the means to summon a hero. If this information were to leak, some of our allied nations would likely switch allegiance to the other three powers. That is how special the existence of a hero is. Therefore, I need you to do something

“Wait, what?! You were His Majesty’s friend, big brother?! Amazing!!”

“As expected of you, Master Ryu… You’ve become so magnificent, it brings tears to my eyes, Sebas… I don’t quite understand the part about the restaurant and so on, though…”

“Oh, oh”

The Empress… digging up the restaurant incident… And for some reason, in the text, she upgrades from “you” to “thou” to “friend.” Depending on the reader, they might be captivated. But unfortunately, that’s not going to work on me. That aside, first, let’s talk about the Grace Baronial Army.

The current Grace Baron is famous for not getting along well with the central authorities, and in case a war breaks out, it would be problematic if he hesitated to send troops, so he probably wants to incorporate Ryu in advance. Previously, it was explained that since the empire’s military power is superior, most situations can be handled by the imperial mages and the royal army, but if the enemy is a great power with a hero, the situation is different.

“I mostly understand what is being asked. Sebas, please call Mom immediately.”

Understood.

“Lena. Sorry, but could you postpone the magic practice until tomorrow or later?”

“Understood! Please do your best with Her Majesty the Empress’s request!”

“Yeah, leave it to me. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m good at things related to war.”

Anyway, the Empress is truly amazing. She sees this country with a long-term perspective more than anyone else. No wonder she’s feared as the Wise Emperor. War isn’t advantageous from Arden’s standpoint either, so I guess I’ll have to do my best this time.

The Empress wrote in her letter, “Our country currently has no means to summon heroes.” Regarding this, it is likely that the Empire lost the summoning technique at least two or three hundred years ago. Moreover, it is self-evident that if other great powers summon heroes as they have this time, the Empire would be at a disadvantage. The Empress likely created the elite unit of Imperial Mages for this very contingency.

The empress seems to be trying to accomplish something big, and even if she hadn’t lost her summoning skills, I think the imperial sorcerers would have created it anyway.

After that, Ryu met up with his mother Iris and showed her the letter from the Empress.

“When did you become friends with His Majesty? And the restaurant bill? …What is this?”

“Well, putting that aside for now. We need to urgently come up with a way to take down Baron Grace. I want you to help me, Mom.”

“Alright, alright, it can’t be helped~”

Mother seemed so happy to be relied upon by her son that she took her seat with a pleased look on her face.

Since childhood, Ryu had a habit of solving everything on his own without relying on anyone, so it was quite rare for him to be approached voluntarily.

“First of all, moving the Grace Marquisate army itself isn’t that difficult. Just off the top of my head, there are a few ideas.”

“As expected of my son.”

“However, just currying favor with the border count seems boring, or rather, it feels like a waste.”

“If we’re going to do it, we might as well connect it to the development of the Arden territory.”

“In short, that’s how it is.”

“From your perspective, how does the former Mantesa Territory look now?”

“About two-thirds of the subjects have accepted Arden, but unfortunately, the rest, though not openly rebellious, still seem to harbor resentment in their hearts.”

“After all, post-war reconstruction is difficult.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“What do you think we should do? You’re better at that kind of thing, so I’d like to hear more of your opinion.”

“Rather than annexing Arden, it might be more effective to set a guideline where Arden and Mantesa work together to build a new territory. This is quite an idealistic notion, though.”

“A new territory, huh…”

Ryu fell silent for a moment and pondered.

Honestly, the only thing I remember about Grace is that the bread was delicious. Speaking of bread, the wheat fields were beautiful…

And.

“Ah”

“Have you come up with any good ideas?”

“I just had a brilliant idea. With Arden now, it should definitely be possible…”