Leon Greyrat: The Second Son - Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 86 - The Three Swords of the North God

— Leon Greyrat —

"Hmm... the newest merchant breaking into the gemstone market has an interesting connection to the new nation in the Strife Zone... I wonder if I could use that?" Ariel said, looking over some documents.

"New nation... do you mean the one that Philip helped establish?" I asked, leaning against the windowsill behind her.

"Indeed. And this one seems to actually have some stability, so it would be a valuable connection," she asked. "Why, do you have any information?"

"Well, no... but I could ask Philip to give you his word. He's well-liked over there," I said.

Plus, with how he worked his tongue, he definitely had a hand in many of that nation's machinations as it expanded and solidified its influence.

"Hooh? Really?" she hummed, looking back at me. "And you would do that for me?"

"Well... I am on your side now," I said. "It would be pretty weird for me to not help when it's something easy like that."

Ariel broke out into a grin.

A genuine one.

"That's right... you are on my side, aren't you?" she said, tapping her chin in thought. "But... are you sure Philip would do such a thing? You told me he explicitly hates nobility and politics now."

"Yeah, well... despite his flippant attitude, he still has some noble pride," I said. "It was just a matter of his family's safety being more important than his ambitions. But since he's already safely away from the kingdom, and not to mention the security that you would bring him after your ascension, I don't think he would mind sending a letter or two for you if I asked."

Plus, he still owed me for getting him out of there, even if I didn't do it with him returning a favour in mind.

And if asking didn't work... I could always just beg as his soon-to-be son-in-law if I needed to.

"I see... I will look into that," Ariel said, nodding appreciatively.

I was currently guarding Ariel while also helping her with some matters, like what had happened just now.

Of course, I wasn't that good at those things, so it was more like her telling me what was going on to fill the silence.

But I knew some things about nobles and politics from helping Philip back when I was Eris' tutor, and I had a good amount of worldly knowledge from my travels, so I was able to provide my insight here and there.

Usually, this would be done by Aisha, as she had continuously grown into her position, but since it was late into the night, she was at the house right now.

Sleep was important for growing girls, after all.

And as for the guarding, it would typically be one of Luke or Sylphy, as only those two had enough strength in Ariel's camp to be a good guard while also holding her utmost trust, but they were both out of commission momentarily.

Since Roxy was grading some papers for her class, Sylphy was currently helping Roxy around the house and with Aria, while Luke was currently out with a few of his girlfriends.

I was initially confused at how Luke, who I could tell was very loyal to Ariel, would do such an inappropriate thing rather than guard her, which was his job, but after asking Ariel, I learned that it was his way of gathering information.

Not that he hated bedding them, of course.

No, he rather enjoyed that part.

So here I was, helping Ariel with her tasks and serving as the best guard I could... though I wish we could just do this at home.