Reincarnation into the Barrier Master

"Nah ...... Makoto ...... or ......"

The Grand Duke Teist squeezed the words out of his mouth in desperation. At the same time, his face contorted in anguish. Normally, he tried to remain calm and composed without showing any negative emotions, but the report he had just heard had easily brought his daily efforts to a halt.

In front of the Grand Duke, two men are just hanging their heads. Lil Rain, the chamberlain, and the Duke Fantastic.

The two men, who usually stand tall and strut around the corridors of the Grand Duke's palace with a self-important look on their faces, are shaking like abandoned puppies, begging for forgiveness. The Duke's figure was particularly pathetic. He was not dressed as beautifully as usual, but in simple black, as if he were attending a funeral. There were none of the decorations that had adorned him, just a man of great age, drooping in front of the Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke stared at them, a cold sweat running down his back. The time of the Grand Duchy of Foal's death was at hand. In his mind's eye, he pictured the whole country covered in friendly flowers, and beside the flowers, the withered crops and the anguished bodies of the people. He was convinced that this would become a reality in the near future.

They reported that the flowers of friendship were exploding at an unimaginable rate. At first, the Grand Duke could not understand such a situation. But when he heard the report that Lil Rain had taken cuttings of the flowers entrusted to him and multiplied them by cutting, he immediately understood the danger of the flowers.

A plant with a frighteningly high reproductive capacity and vitality: ....... Moreover, the fragrance of the plant is so strong that it turns into an odor in proportion to the number of ....... If left unchecked, this country will surely die. Already, the gardens of the Duchesse de Fantasie and the residence of the Chamberlain de Lillein are filled with its flowers and are about to release a terrible stench to the surrounding area.

"You must immediately check all over the country to see if there are any other flowers of friendship taking root".

In a quiet voice, as if daring the others, the Grand Duke gave his orders. His brow is furrowed in deep wrinkles, and the two men bow their heads in horror at the sheer force of his command and turn to leave. He stopped them.

"Wait! The order is not over yet. The body of the Friendship Flower, Lil Rain, is it still in your house?　If there are any at ......, send them to Agartha as soon as possible. Hartz, Hartz is not here!"

"Ha ...... haha. Here's ......."

Shaking with fear, his brother, the Duke of Hartz, stepped forward and stood before the Grand Duke. As usual, he was timid, but his eyes were shining brightly. Seeing this, the Grand Duke nodded broadly.

"You will carry the flower of friendship to Agartha with your own hands. First you will show it to the Seruloites, and then you will have an audience with the King of Agartha. Seruloit will understand how dangerous the flower is.

"Kaka, kaka, kaka, awe, awe, sir."

"Get up now."

"Ha...... haha!"

"Oh wait. You can't do this alone. Take your wife, Melmo, with you.

"Ha ha!"

The Duke of Hartz replied in a voice so loud that it seemed to be the first time he had ever heard it. The Grand Duke nodded his head and, with a clenched jaw, motioned for him to leave the room.

"Then we too ...... will leave."

After watching the Duke of Hertz leave, Fantasic and Lil' Lane fearfully attempted to leave. The Grand Duke stopped them again.

"Wait!　My orders are not yet finished!

"Ha ha!"

"You two are strictly forbidden to return to the villa until I give the go-ahead. By noon today, you will move into the Grand Duke's palace with the bare minimum of belongings.

"What?

Balls!　Is Boles not here!"

The Grand Duke shouted so loudly that even the people outside the room could hear him, without paying any attention to their expressions, which looked like pigeons had been hit by a peashooter. A few moments later, a well-built, mature man with a smooth-curled head and dressed in a military uniform entered the room.

"Are you dressed, sir?"

"Mm. We're going to send these two to their respective residences. Then, by noon today, bring them back to the palace with the bare minimum of baggage. After that, seal off their compound so tightly that not even ants can enter.

"I'm willing to take your orders, but ......"

The soldier called Boles looks at the two men who are frozen in place beside him.

"We're on the clock!　Just do as I say!　At the same time, mobilize the entire army and gather cloth from all over the country!"

"Is the cloth ......?"

"Yes. Cloth.

"Awe, awe, ......."

Boles, with his eyes black and white, asks the two nobles, who are still frozen in place, to leave. The cloth was then collected from all over the country and used to wrap around their residence.

The Grand Duke was concerned about the seeds and pollen of the friendly flowers being spread or dispersed along with the stench. If the pollen were to be blown away by the wind, the Grand Duchy of Foal would most likely become a hellscape just as the Grand Duke had imagined. He was now determined to do all he could to protect the country. The war between the Grand Duchy of Foal and the Church of Crimea was about to begin, but in a different form.

But three days later, as if they knew that the Grand Duchy of Foal would be in turmoil, a messenger came from the Church of Crimiana. The Grand Duke was furious that Crimiana, who had thrown his country into such chaos, was so eager to have an audience with him, and he said that he would not see the messenger and retreated to his room. For his part, he was afraid that if he met the messenger, he would immediately cut him down. He himself did not have the confidence to control his emotions and deal with the situation calmly.

Nevertheless, the other party had come to this country as an envoy of the Pope. To turn them away would be tantamount to treating her as an enemy. If we do so, we will give that nation an opportunity to open war. It was obvious that if that happened, this country would be helplessly overrun by the Klimiana.

The Duke Fantasic and his chamberlain Lil Raine would be in charge of dealing with Crimiana's emissaries. There were many objections to this, but the two men, wishing to save themselves from embarrassment at any cost, insisted that they would find out from Crimiana's emissary how to deal with the flowers of friendship, and so they took up the task.

"Hello, it's been a while.

The man who appeared as a messenger was the man who had brought the Papal Letter. He was small and balding, but always wore a charming smile and appeared to be a good-natured person. However, his eyes were moving up and down, up and down, and he was trying to learn as much as he could about the internal affairs of this country.

He was surprised to hear that the Grand Duke Taste was lying ill.

"My God!　That is worrisome. Our state of Crimiana has many of the best doctors in the world. If you wish, I can send them to you, Grand Duke.

You know I would never accept such a thing. And yet, the audacity of this man to say such a thing without hesitation made the Duke Fantastic and the Chamberlain Lil Raine both laugh.

The messenger, however, did not pay any attention to them and continued with his rambling and bland talk. He told them about the trouble of the strong sunlight in Aphrodite, the capital of the Church of Crimiana, and that His Holiness the Pope had recently been enjoying a vegetable soup dish.

The man, perhaps sensing the annoyance of the ambassador's lazy attitude, twitched his nose and began to smell something.

"There's something very nice smelling here. Could this be the scent of friendly flowers?　Oh, by the way, what happened to those flowers?"

Finally getting to the point: ....... The two men straightened their posture and turned to face the messenger.