Fun Territory Defense Chapter 222 (Patreon)

Betrayal of Marquis Fertio?

Apollo takes his finger off the map and turns to look at me, unsure of what to say. He laughs as he huffs at it, points to the capital of the United Republic of Shelbia, and opens his mouth.

"It seems like the Jiernetta Kingdom and the United Republic of Shelbia are teaming up to fight the Scuderia Kingdom. So, if it were true, the Marquis Fertio could have provided me some information, but it didn't happen...I was just talking about it."

Till answered that without explicitly saying betrayal, and looked down at the map once more as he responded animatedly.

"I see...Oh, I baked cookies as a tea snack. They are delicious when freshly baked."

Till nodded seriously until about halfway through, but apparently he wasn't very interested and quickly moved on to the topic of sweets.

Apollo, Arte, and Camsin, who had been exuding nervousness, couldn't help but laugh at that. They turned to Apollo, thinking that it was typical of Till that the atmosphere had been loosened by something as trivial as that.

"Well, what do you think, Apollo-san? Did my father, the Marquis of Jalpa, betray us? Or has another nobleman belonged to that faction betrayed us, so we have a big gap in the information warfare?"

I ask Apollo what he thinks about this in a casual, chatty manner. Then Apollo let out a long breath that resembled a sigh and shook his head from side to side.

"...I'm sorry, but I don't understand. If the information has been stopped by the Marquis Fertio's domain as I fear, perhaps he would not be able to completely suppress such important information if he were not as influential as the Marquis. However, Marquis Fertio participated in the previous defense of Scudetto to the very end, despite considerable damage and loss of life. And he successfully recaptured Scudetto and captured the royal family of Jiernetta Kingdom as prisoners of war. This is something that we believe that if you are giving to the Jiernetta Kingdom, you could have interfered in some way."

"In other words, if you want to restrict information, you would have to be at least the head of the Fertio family to do so, but you are saying that Marquis Jalpa is acting in a way that makes it difficult to believe that he is betraying the Marquis. Well, I am sure of that. Because we have actually seen him completely defeat Jiernetta Kingdom's new weaponry. Besides, the Prince Unimog, whom I captured before, provided me information effortlessly, so I had a general idea of Jiernetta's strategy at the time of the invasion of Scudetto. So it was probably only recently that they decided to take action in cooperation with the United Republic of Shelbia, and I don't think it was too long after that information was received."

Apollo nodded in agreement as I conveyed my thoughts, blurring the slightly unpredictable parts of the story. However, Camsin was staring at the map with an extremely difficult expression on his face, so I decided to give him a brief conclusion.

First, he pointed to the Jiernetta Kingdom and then opened his mouth.

"This is only a guess, but to put the current situation in perspective... Jiernetta Kingdom, with black balls and cannons in its hands, initially moved intending to occupy Scuderia Kingdom by itself, but since it didn't work out as expected, it was forced to make a sudden change in strategy. As a result, they were forced to make a sudden change in strategy. As a result, to ensure the overthrow of the Scuderia Kingdom, they made a request to the United Republic of Shelbia for cooperation, almost like blackmail. The eastern side, which originally leaned toward the Jiernetta Kingdom, immediately agreed, and since the current head of the United Republic of Shelbia is elected from the east, the country's policy has been decided to cooperate with the Jiernetta Kingdom."

As he said this, he slid his finger pointing at the map to the side, moving his fingertip through the United Republic of Shelbia to the Marquisate of Fertio.

"On the other hand, the West, which originally leaned toward the Scuderia Kingdom, rebelled and chose to informally communicate with Marquis Fertio in case the Scuderia Kingdom won. Of course, they would not be able to go headlong against the country's policy and attack the Jiernetta Kingdom with the Scuderia Kingdom, so they would probably only release information on how the Jiernetta Kingdom was doing. Then, I am concerned about the fact that the Marquis Fertio did not report that information to His Majesty the King."

When I said that, I looked around and saw that everyone was listening to me with serious faces. I am not sure if I understood them correctly, but even Till was drinking tea with a serious face. I don't know if he understands what I'm saying, but even Till has a serious look on his face as he drinks his tea.

I'm just guessing. It's just a guess, a guess, and I'm only using my imagination to figure out what's going on.

With this in mind, I open my mouth to continue.

"From this point on, I can only make more uncertain predictions and guesses, but considering the character of my father, Jalpa Bull Ati Fertio, my father probably thinks that he himself was put in a tight spot during the many battles from the fall of Scudetto to the recapture and the invasion of the Kingdom of Jiernetta. He thinks that he is being put in a difficult position. Marquis Jalpa, who had been gaining more and more power, may feel that he has made a big blunder. If that is the case, what kind of action will the Marquis of Jalpa take?"

There, he cut off his words and once pointed to the vicinity of Seat Village.

"Incidentally, this time it was two of my brothers, Gallardo and Sesto, who led a group of what looked like knights from Marquis Fertio's family. In other words, neither Marquis Jalpa nor the Fertio family knights, who will be the main force in this important battle, have come to Seat Village."

When I told them this, I heard Arte say, "Oh".

"Did you think of something?"

Arte prompted him to answer what he had in mind. Arte answered with a confused look on his face.

"Well, well... perhaps it is because the last time the Counts of Ferdinand were in a similar situation, but perhaps Jalpa-sama is trying to suppress the United Republic of Shelbia with the power of Marquis Fertio...?"

At these words, Apollo rolls his eyes in surprise.

"...I thought Van-sama was, of course, a thinker not suited to his age, but his wife Arte-sama is also more intelligent than I imagined."

"Oh, well, I mean, she's not my wife yet..."

Arte's face turned bright red at Apollo's words, and she waved her hands from side to side. Till looked relieved at the situation and took a mouthful of sweets.

"As for me, I'm already treating Arte-sama as if she were the madam, you know?"

"No, no, not even Till-san...!"

He opens his mouth to Apollo, laughing at the conversation between the two.

"Well, to continue what we were talking about earlier, either way, if the United Republic of Shelbia were to move, the Marquisate of Fertio would be involved, and we'd better do something about it. Luckily or unluckily, even though we are on the Jiernetta Kingdom side, we are on the edge of the Marquisate of Fertio, and our destination is close. We don't want anything to happen, so let's go see what's going on."

I had no choice but to say so and stand up.

"Camsin, can you please call Espada for me? I'm going away for a couple of months."