Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

sizing that Father’s command took priority over my own.
If I didn’t make the chain of command clear, it would lead to miscommunication.

“I’ll ask my father to make arrangements in the capital.
Augen, Barkey, use Neurath’s house as your base of operation.”

“Yes, sir.”

With this, in case they lost contact with both Father in the palace and me in the mansion, they could use Neurath’s house as the third command center.
I got a feeling that we were doomed the second we lost contact with Father, though.

I used Neurath’s house because chances of both the mansion and Neurath’s house becoming a battlefield at the same time was low.
They were pretty far, after all.

Anyway, I need to tell Father about the various instructions I gave here and also ask him to make arrangements to support my plan.
Ah, I also have to ask Father to take care of the Hearthing family, though I was sure that Father would do that without me asking.

A few days later, we met up with the first group on the outskirts of the capital.
After that, the commanding officers held a secret meeting, though I didn’t take part in it.
I was only told to make sure to arm my army properly to make them presentable for the victorious return.

We entered the capital the very next day, fully armed.
We walked to the palace amidst the cheer of the citizens, with Mazell at the very front.
As for me, I was currently trying my best to control my expression.

Fortunately, the stars of the show this time, other than Mazell, were the duke and the knights, so I was able to blend into the background.
Somehow, I felt guarding the aqueduct construction site would be far easier than being in the middle of a victory parade.

I felt that someone was pointing at me, but that was probably only my imagination, right?

To not make myself feel out of place in the parade, I looked around my surroundings.
The guards around the parade were armed pretty heavily, but none of the citizens seemed to be bothered by it.
Maybe the operation had already started.

We proceeded to the palace’s courtyard and held a military parade there.
His Majesty then gave a long speech before finally saying that the victory banquet would be held at a later date.
The noble knights were finally allowed to disband and rest.

So, the fact that important people always gave a long speech was true even in this world, huh? The Royal Guards and the White Dragon knights were here fully armed, maybe because this was a military parade? But His Highness, the Crown Prince and several ministers, including Father, weren’t here.

Looking at how the noble knights acted after being allowed to disband, it was clear which family had even the slightest knowledge about the military operation and which family knew nothing.
The knights of the Duke, Marquis Norporth, and Marquis Schramm didn’t disband but rather left the courtyard in an orderly manner and the Mage Unit stayed.
It looked like they were prepared for the fight to break out.

Amid the disbanding of noble knights, the Zeavert army created several groups, and each group moved separately according to my earlier instruction.
Some knights returned to the mansion with me, while others took a detour to arrive at the mansion’s back entrance.
With this, we could secure both the back and the front of the mansion.
A noble mansion was enormous, so it would be impossible for me to guard it alone.

A festive atmosphere remained in the capital, but overall, the capital was calmer compared to when I was in the middle of the victory parade.
Across the capital, there were heavily armed soldiers returning to their post.
As I moved, I could only hope that the mansion was still safe.

By the way, the Zeavert mansion was built with a defensive capability in mind.
The storm shutter on the first floor was made of metal, and behind the wooden board located beside the windows on the second floor, there were slits and holes made to shoot arrows. 

Mansions in the capital, like the Zeavert house, also had fences.
They weren’t too high, so if we fired arrows from the second floor, they would reach outside of the walls.
But because the fences weren’t too high, the enemies could climb them.

The glass was expensive, but I guess only noble mansions had glass windows.

Of course, all of these defensive capabilities weren’t built, so that the noble mansions could rebel or something.
They were built so the royal family could take refugees in the noble mansions in case there was a coup d’état or any other emergency.
It was more of a show of loyalty rather than an attempt to protect the mansions themselves.

If something happened in the military operation, it would be the first time the mansion showed its defensive capability since stuff like rebellion didn’t happen every day.
Thinking about what might happen made me feel restless.
I needed to calm down.

With these thoughts in my mind, I entered the mansion.
The scene inside made me struck in the place for a second.

“Welner-sama, welcome home.”

Why are you here, Lily-san?