"Well, let''s call him Bugle. Buglers, come in.


    Before I knew it, three war wolves had lined up next to Juaneria and were lying flat in front of me.


    This was the secret weapon.


    "As a merchant, I must confess that I have been the target of a death threat more than once or twice. To put it another way, a good merchant is one who grows without being killed, while a bad merchant is one who is killed in the process.


    "That''s why you hired special forces to protect you."


    No, strictly speaking, the opposite is true. I, too, was once a member of the shadow family. However, when you gather information in the shadows like this, you learn a lot about what is lacking in the land. It is natural that you can make money if you bring things to where there is a shortage. Besides, as you get older, it gets harder to be a front-line shadow.


    "I see. Juaneria is right.


    It was not unusual for merchants to have some kind of military power. Some of them have mercenaries on their payrolls at all times, and some of them have their own de facto military forces.


    However, there are few who have a group of assassins like Fanelia, who are dedicated to the work behind the scenes.


    --I see. So there is something similar to the Shinobi in this world. The land may have changed, but people still think the same way.


    It seems the land of the voice of the mind is the same. A world without assassins is more difficult to imagine.


    I like that. The leaders of the Order must be holed up inside the cathedral. Kill at least one or two of them. That would reduce the number of men by at least six. With that many gone, they will cease to function at all.


    In principle, the Knights of the Sepulchre are supposed to make decisions by a council of knights. Even though the Commander has power, it does not mean that he can move all the Knights freely. The number of knights who are members of the order is about 20. The rest are made up of the knight''s family and retainers.


    So if six of them disappear, the rest will give up fighting. Perhaps they will not be able to defend the cathedral with fear.


    So when do we act?


    The trumpeters do not speak a word. Only Juannelia speaks.


    "I would say right away, but let''s keep negotiating a little longer. If we can separate the relationship between the Knights and the cathedral through talks, so be it.


    For our part, it would be better to destroy the Knights of the Cathedral, and there is little point in taking away the rights and interests of the cathedral. Since the cathedral itself has no military power, it cannot oppose me directly in any case.


    The next day, I sent a letter to the other party. The contents are as follows.


    It would not be good for the cathedral to be disturbed by your confinement in the cathedral, and that you wish to fight outside of the cathedral.


    The money necessary for the management of Fordneria Cathedral shall be contributed by the Count and protection shall be given to the cathedral.


    That to wage war in the cathedral is an act of disrespect to the gods, and will surely be punished by the gods.


    The knight who surrenders must be treated leniently.


    The enemy did not give any reply. We knew that.


    Our purpose is to reiterate that we do not intend to harm the cathedral and that we would like to get along well with it. It is a given that the cathedral county will be ours. Therefore, we want to have a clean relationship with the cathedral.


    And the standoff lasted about a week.


    In the meantime, information about the inside of the cathedral has come in. As expected, seven of the most powerful knights are inside the cathedral and the others are surrounding the cathedral with their armies.


    The time has come.


    I gave orders to Fanelia.


    "Do it."


    "Yes, sir."


    Before I knew it, three wolves were lined up beside Juaneria as she nodded.


    "I see. So that''s what being a werewolf assassin is all about."


    "It''s a lot easier to infiltrate when you''re a wolf. We''ve already located the enemy.


    "All right, let''s hope we get a good report."


    At dawn the three returned. They are standing side by side with Juaneria.


    "We killed the commander and seven other knights. The cathedral is a bit stained with blood, but they did not sleep with a statue of a god in their arms, and I think that is within the bounds of what is acceptable."


    It is unlikely that the rest of the knights will unite to fight now. They will think that they are the next ones to be killed.


    "Well done. Well, I will send another letter in the morning. Perhaps they will react differently than before."


    But there was movement before that.


    The priests and other officials of the cathedral came to me for protection.


    The chief priest told me that they had been imprisoned by the knights and that many of them were dead, and that they had escaped.


    Now the Knights of the Cathedral had no cause left. They no longer had a reason to defend the cathedral.


    In the end, some of the remaining knights escaped and the last ones surrendered. I stripped them of all their lands for their disobedience to my advice and for their disrespect to the priests, and gave some of their lands to the cathedral.


    Thus the cathedral county and one other county that the Knights had came under my control. Nine of the twelve counties in the province of Fordonia are mine. I now have control of a whole county.


    The dead knights are officially said to have died a mysterious death by divine punishment. This will be the official announcement since the knighthood has disappeared anyway and there is no one to dispute it.


    But of course there are those who will not be satisfied with that.


    On the evening of the day when I remained in the cathedral county for a few days to settle the remaining affairs of the land that had come under my control, Laviala told me when we were alone.


    "Mr. Arsrod, when did you hire assassins?"


    You don''t really think that God''s punishment has really come, do you?


    "When did this happen? These things make more sense when they don''t get out in the open."


    "Why don''t you tell Raviara?"


    When you say it so sadly, I''m tempted to tell you. .......


    "Raviara just wants to know everything about me. That''s not a vassal decision, is it?"


    "That''s true. ......"


    Then don''t make it personal.


    I''ll give you the answer.


    I kissed Laviala and held her close to me.