Chapter 3 – Wedding Capriccio
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Sanjuan Kingdom’s capital, Cadiz.
There the open ocean schooner Gabriel had returned after finishing its long voyage that took one whole year. The ship hull that was tired from the long trip was rested there.
『The temperature and wind of this country are really kind.』
『Is that so? All the other countries are saying that this place is really hot though.』
『That’s unimaginable compared to our country.』
The man said that and smiled gently.
His pure white teeth stood out dazzlingly.
It was truly a healthy and jovial smile, but that wasn’t the reason why the surrounding was showering him with their gazes.
His skin was black as though he had ink lathered on him. He was a black person who didn’t exist in this Aurelia Continent.
『Even so, I never thought that you will come here personally.』
『I’m more shocked that you are able to speak the language of our country normally instead, Admiral Jose.』
『I learned it from the people of Mahieule Island.』
Jose threw a careless smile back at the man.
Jose was someone who would get really engrossed with the things that he liked that he would even neglect his main occupation for them, but it didn’t take him that long to master the language of a foreign country.
It was terrifying because this man actually had continued studying inside the ship even during the expedition to Trystovy.
The first ocean exploration ship that Sanjuan Kingdom organized, Nataniel had sailed for several months and discovered Mahieule Island. That served as the impetus that greatly developed the south seas’ exploration.
And then the ocean exploration group finally discovered another continent that boasted a land size around sixty percent of Aurelia Continent with distance around two months of voyage from Mahieule Island.
The continent’s name was Oustralis Continent.
It had tropical climate with its own unique culture. Especially at the field of magic, they greatly surpassed the standard of Aurelia Continent.
In contrast their sailing technique and military technique weren’t so different with here. Because of that the harbor fell into panic when Sanjuan Kingdom’s ocean exploration group arrived.
『Even so it was amazing how it was our port that your ship stopped at first.』
『Well, that too is thanks to the sea god’s guidance.』
『It will be truly an honor if it was really god who selected our country.』
『I think that it’s surely true you know? It’s unusual that a royalty suddenly appear to accompany the exploration group back even though they don’t even know whether they will be able to return alive from visiting an unknown country.』
『Are you saying that I’m not usual for a royalty?』
It seemed the man was slightly bothered by that. He scratched his hair that was as black as his skin awkwardly. Even so his gesture of scratching his shortly cut black hair unexpectedly looked good. This man could act dignified when he wanted.
Jose secretly wondered whether this was what people called the bearing of a royalty.
Even if this man looked friendly, bright, and casual, he was a prince of a country with different language and civilization.
『Well, at the very least if the royalty that I serve want to do the same thing, I’ll put all my effort to stop him.』
『That’s painful to hear.』
It seemed the man had really faced a heavy resistance about his decision to come here. He was noticeably grimacing.
Jose got a bad premonition seeing that expression.
『……Don’t tell me, you really come here without any permission?』
『No……that’s……the only one I couldn’t persuade was my mother and wife, so there is no problem!』
『There is no way that’s not a problem! You’re in a big predicament!』
『I’m reflecting. But, I don’t feel any regret.』
『I’m begging you, please don’t bring a problem from your country to here, your highness Faysal.』
『……Will you accompany me to apologize to them?』
『Absolutely not!』
『I thought that there will be meaning to be the first person ever to visit a new continent……』
『I won’t deny that it’s something really effective.』
In fact due to Faysal’s visit, it was almost decided that the point of contact for trade with Oustralis Continent would be with his homeland Rialhama Kingdom.
It was unknown whether he should be called as someone resolute or reckless. But certainly there was no denying that the result was worth the big risk.
『──I want to quickly meet him. This young man called Baldr who brought that compass to admiral.』
There was a reason why Faysal boarded the ship Gabriel even though his family tried to stop him.
Among the thirteen nations in Oustralis Continent, his country Rialhama Kingdom was a medium level country that ranked sixth, but in the recent years they were getting backed into a corner due to a dispute for the control of the sea against the third biggest country there called Burundi Kingdom.
Of course if they fought at the coastal waters then Faysal thought that his country still wouldn’t lose, but it was really difficult for them to maintain the sea traffic route with other countries due to this dispute.
However if they could have a trade going with Aurelia Continent that still hadn’t developed any sea route with Oustralis Continent, there would be little fear of anyone getting in the way, and they would definitely obtain immense profit.
They would also be able to build a great fleet to destroy Burundi Kingdom someday.
He had to get ahead of the other countries to secure a lot of trade with this new continent as quickly as possible.
It was evident that the other countries would catch up with his country when the sea route was developed one day, but the advantage of being the first one to secure the market was great.
The prosperity of his homeland would be certain. Although it wouldn’t be able to last for a century, it would at least last for thirty years. That was Faysal’s prediction.
『Even so……I never thought that something like that would be sold that expensively.』
『Haha, even I was half in doubt when I heard the story at first! It was something that hadn’t be invented in this continent after all.』
『It was only used as dyes in our country though……』
『Right now it’s still something cheap, but I believe that in the future it will be as valuable as gold.』
Jose declared with a tone that didn’t sound joking at all.
However it was Faysal who was half in doubt instead.
『I don’t really get it. Just what kind of use the saltpeter from our country has for you?』
『That too is an invention of his highness Baldr you see……』
The trade with Rialhama Kingdom was a godsend that both Jose and Baldr never even dreamed of.
With this they would definitely be able to stand in the superior position against the church’s holy relics.
Especially because Jose thought that the flamethrower was unable to oppose the enemy’s rocket arrow. So this development was a lifesaver for him.
It might be possible to produce artificial saltpeter with Answerer Kingdom’s great national strength, even so they should be unable to reduce the cost and time needed.
『──Even so』
Faysal slowly looked around him with a very faint bitterness seeping through.
Cadiz’s harbor was an international trade harbor. It was usual for foreigners to visit here.
But even the citizens of such Cadiz couldn’t stop themselves from looking at a black person with gaze of curiosity.
Faysal was used to be showered with attention as a royalty, but that attention usually came in the form of respectful or calculating gazes. He was never getting looked at with curious gaze as though he was a rare animal.
Even if wasn’t to a degree that was especially unpleasant, it was unexpectedly uncomfortable to be exposed to such attention.
『I will have to get used to this kind of gaze too.』
『It’s to my great regret that I have to say that there is no other people in this continent with the same skin color like your highness. But if I’m allowed to express my humble opinion, I believe you’re your highness’s presence surely won’t become that unusual in this continent one day.』
『I see, they won’t need to be particularly curious if it’s not something that rare huh.』
His presence would stop becoming something unusual──Jose was declaring his intent that the interaction of this continent with Oustralis Continent would deepen from here on. It seemed that he was able to obtain quite some amount of trust as a business partner.
『To achieve that too, I’ll have to ask your highness to be acquainted with not only our country, but also with the leaders of various other countries.』
『I could ask for nothing better.』
However Faysal had a question in his heart.
If it was him, he wouldn’t do anything like handing over a source of trade like this to other country.
He would attempt to keep the secret and delay the leak of information as long as possible.
In the end what was Sanjuan Kingdom seeking from him?
Didn’t Sanjuan Kingdom consider that he might choose another country as trade partner?
His concern was completely mistaken.
First, Jose spoke about meeting the leaders of other countries, but he didn’t plan to include countries that were hostile toward Sanjuan Kingdom in that list.
In short Jose was planning to make use of Faysal’s existence to display to other countries that Sanjuan Kingdom had a relationship with this kind of country, and also to sell favor to them by acting as mediator, bringing two-fold profit for Sanjuan Kingdom.
Besides trade with Oustralis Continent was a special privilege that was only given to country in possession of ocean voyage technology.
Currently only Sanjuan Kingdom and Majorca Kingdom were in the possession of that. In the near future only Trystovy Kingdom would be able to join their rank.
There would be no problem no matter what kind of lip service Faysal gave to other country.
But there was a political problem that was more important than that.
(──Haha, you are really the only one who I don’t want to turn into enemy, your highness Baldr.)
Baldr’s idea was truly astonishing.
Baldr intended to spread the information about Faysal’s existence as much as possible throughout the continent. With that he intended to make all the people perceive the beatsman race not as outsider relatively to this newcomer, but as fellow people who were living in the same continent.
A visitor with black skin, different language, and different custom. Furthermore their population was incomparably bigger than the beastman race.
In contrast, although beastman race had slightly different form than human, they were still speaking using the same language and they were undoubtedly companions who had lived for many years in the same continent with them.
Who between the two they should be on their guard against as outsider element? Anyone with normal senses would be able to give the answer right away.
No matter how much Europa Church proclaimed that the beastman race was an outsider element that wasn’t blessed by god, there was this new foreigner that never even heard about Europa religion, and in the first place it was unknown whether they even had religion or not. How would they respond to this new factor?
Furthermore, there was also the addition of interests from trade with foreign cultural sphere that would complicate the matter further.
It was certain that the people’s prejudice and evaluation toward the beastman race would be thrown into chaos with this.
Jose felt fear from the bottom of his heart toward Baldr who managed to draw that chain of plans from the instant he received the report that Gabriel returned home with a black skinned visitor on board.
He absolutely didn’t want to have such person as enemy.
『──Right right, a banquet to welcome your highness’s arrival will be held tonight, so please look forward to it. Thanks to your highness, his majesty’s health recently is also getting better.』
『I’m happy to be of help.』
What managed to make King Carlos recovered from his temporary critical state was the medicinal herb that was brought from Faysal’s Rialhama Kingdom to Mahieule Island──it was something like a traditional Chinese herbal medicine that improved the immune strength.
Sometimes there would be rare case like this, where a patient who had been diagnosed as beyond help miraculously recovering due to this kind of alternative medicine. Carlos was exactly an example of such case.
Unfortunately it wasn’t an almighty medicine, but it was more than enough that it was effective for some people. That was all the more true if a king of the country was included in that group.
It was unknown whether the person himself understood how momentous it was, but for Faysal that fact had the worth of thousands of gold, both for his country’s profit and for advertisement.
(Someday, I’ll also go to his Rialhama Kingdom……)
Jose imagined the foreign southern country that he hadn’t seen before in his mind.
In order to enjoy such freedom too, first he had to subdue the wars in this continent.
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『──Originally I wish to meet directly face to face for this, but please forgive me that I can only send a letter like this because it’s very busy right now.』
The letter from Baldr that had such beginning reached Cadis not long ago.
「What’s this, the sentences are too exaggerated for Baldr ain’t it?」
「I wonder if something happened……?」
The expression of Rachel who had become completely accustomed in her work as a shred merchant brightened from receiving a letter from her beloved Baldr. She was peering at the content of the handwritten letter from beside Selina.
「We are his fiancées, so he shouldn’t write formally like this……hm?」
「What’s the matter?」
Selina’s voice suddenly vanished and her body stiffened. Then a few seconds later her face went red like a boiled octopus and her body started trembling.
「Wha-wha-wha-……」
「You’re turning that red……please show me the letter too for a bit.」
Rachel leaned forward until her head blocked Selina’s gaze and she read the letter. Then she immediately turned bright red until her neck too.
「T-this……」
Selina received Rachel’s gaze. With that she realized that this wasn’t a dream but reality and nodded.
「「Proposal!」」
──I want you to walk this life together with me . Even if death separates us, my love will always be together with the two of you.
The two of them were already Baldr’s wife at heart.
But they had overcome many obstacles to reach this point. After a while the two of them raised their voices and hugged each other while crying.
Selina was a beastman. Furthermore she actually had a fiancée that had been decided without her knowledge.
Rachel was also ordered by her father Welkin to break off relationship with Baldr.
The two maidens had been faced with the option of living a life that was unrelated with Baldr to a greater or lesser extent.
Even then the two of them had chosen to stand together with Baldr even now and levied to themselves the task of becoming someone who could stand at his side without any shame. In a sense it was only natural for them to be moved to tears emotionally.
──Could it be that they weren’t a good match for Baldr?
They had been tormented by such doubt many times.
That was a worry that still hadn’t vanished even now that they were setting up company in Sanjuan Kingdom.
「This is great! I’m gonna become a wife.」
「Even though there was even a time when I thought that I would be happy just by being at his side……」
As expected for a maiden, the status of fiancée and bride had different weight. In fact breaking off engagement was something that happened sometimes even with royalty, but it was extremely rare for a royalty to divorce.
They would be tied with a firm bond with Baldr.
The two maidens praised each other’s effort that brought their feeling to be rewarded at this moment after risking even their life.
They needed more than one hour until their emotional tears stopped falling since they read the shocking marriage proposal.
The two rubbed their eyes that had swelled up completely and brew a pot of tea for a change of mood. They threw their back heavily on the sofa and their gaze wandered through the empty air for a while.
「It really feels like a dream.」
「Yeah……but, this ain’t a dream. We are gonna become bride.」
They were immersing themselves in a feeling of achievement that couldn’t be described with words, but they finally remembered that there was still a continuation to the letter.
「What what……?」
After the passionate proposal and words of love, there was the reality of holding a marriage ceremony waiting for them.
Even if they wanted to hold a marriage ceremony, it was unknown when the enemy would make a nuisance of themselves. There were also a mountain of other problems, like how they had to persuade Rachel’s father Welkin to attend the wedding.
And the biggest problem among them all was that they couldn’t allow Answerer Kingdom and the church to start the war until the marriage ceremony was finished.
「Fufufufufufufufufufufufu」
「Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha」
There was already no chain to stop the two maidens before the supreme bait that was the wedding.
Selina and Rachel laughed with eyes that were containing madness somewhere in them.
「In that case we gotta make them think twice about becoming a nuisance no matter what we gotta do.」
「There isn’t any need to hold back at all toward Baldr-sama’s enemy.」
Selina had inherited Masaharu’s cheat knowledge and way of thinking to some degree from Baldr himself.
Rachel too was already starting to learn the way Selina thought by working together with her.
Even if they were unable to hold a sword with their hand, they certainly had a way to fight back. And that method was hiding a sharpness and lethality that might even be worse than sword in some cases.
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「Those bunches in Mauricia has gone crazy!」
「Impossible……far from getting profit, their company should already fall into ruin with this kind of price!」
「Is there any information? We won’t be able to take any countermeasure if we don’t know how long this will continue!」
A lot of raw thread, cloth product, salt, and sugar flooded into Answerer Kingdom and its satellite countries. It resulted in the crash of prices of those items and the major companies assembled to discuss of how to deal with it.
The lineup was distinguished people. The presidents of major companies that could enter the top ten in the whole continent were gathered in one place.
Answerer Kingdom possessed fertile territory that made it possible to provide stable supply of food. Its population which translated into customer was also the largest in the continent. In addition Answerer Kingdom boasted as the greatest producer of gold in the continent. Its economic prosperity had reached the extreme.
On top of that, it was also possible for them to forcefully sell their products with high price to the vassal states Nedras Kingdom and Grand Duchy Tenedora. It was only natural for them to rejoice standing on the height of their prosperity.
It was even said that the fortunes they had amassed consisted of the majority of all the wealth in the continent. In fact, the positions of top five companies with greatest sales in the continent were monopolized by Answerer Kingdom’s companies.
But, their positions were being threatened by to Dowding Company that was growing remarkably in the recent years.
「Their growth speed is just strange no matter how you look at it!」
「It’s impossible to grasp their actual condition with the way they are dispersed to various countries. In my estimation they might have even reached third rank……」
「No way……are you telling me that provincial company is making inroads to be one of the 『Great Triangle』!?」
There were three companies that were based in Answerer Kingdom with deep history and large scale business that were beyond compare even among all the other major companies in Answerer Kingdom. The merchants fearfully called those three companies as the Great Triangle.
Wittgenstein House, Turgenev House, and Zamyatin House. These three houses had control of the greater part of food supply and mines in Answerer Kingdom. They were even entrusted with the right to publish currency by the country.
Their riches could only be called as colossal and could easily surpass the budget of a small nation.
Of course it would be shocking if a trivial existence like Dowding Company possessed riches that could rival those three houses.
「It will be war soon won’t it? If we win then we will be able to regain our losses no matter how big it is.」
「But the war preparation is taking more time than we originally expected. Those church bunches are making some kind of movement behind the scene. His majesty too, he is unable to treat the church lightly after receiving the title of Vhoipos.」
「But we will be the one who dried up first in that case!」
The one who yelled that sorrowfully was the president of Hashimikov Company, a company that had built their fortune through clothing and accessories in Answerer Kingdom.
His business was falling into a serious predicament because threads that were made in Mauricia entered Answerer Kingdom with abnormally cheap price, large quantity, and uniform quality.
There were also a lot of fans of Dowding Group in Answerer Kingdom because of their high class product for nobility like hair conditioner and hair treatment.
And nowadays diamond had become explosively popular for noble marriage. Many companies were investing vast amount of funds to discover the creation method, but they were unable to calculate the formula to produce such complicated cutting and came to a standstill.
It was meaningless to cut diamond without an understanding of extremely advanced mathematics and refractive index.
Even Dowding Group hadn’t managed to succeed in accurately reproducing brilliant cut that could produce 58 sides.
They were also defeated in the price competition of the salt industry. Dowding Group was the biggest thorn on their side.
If they also allowed Dowding Group’s expansion in thread and textile, there was no doubt that the same thing would also happen at the other industry too one day.
「──The method to resolve everything lie in the unification of the continent by the kingdom. In order to realize that, it will be troubling if the kingdom carelessly rush into war with insufficient preparation.」
「B-but, they are going to devastate the market at this rate. Are you alright with that?」
「I promise to provide some aid to a certain degree. The time to endure won’t last that long. Rather it might be better to buy up all those cheap products right now in preparation for the coming time when those items become scarce.」
The products of Dowding Group would become out of reach when war broke out in the future.
Perhaps it would be impossible to obtain those products anymore if their technology became lost.
The guild leader of Answerer Kingdom’s commerce guild, Sergei Wittgenstein laughed fearlessly.
Although he didn’t have the slightest intention of yielding the cutting edge technology in Dowding Group’s possession to other company after the war.
(It will be this Wittgenstein House that grasp the world’s economy together with the unification of the continent. I won’t hand over that astonishing technology to anyone else.)
For that he was forming a secret agreement with the military’s top brasses to share the profit with them.
Actually it was none other than this Sergei who was the one waiting eagerly for the war to happen more than anyone else.
However he was deeply aware from his all his experiences until now that time and preparation were necessary for the sake of victory.
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「──Adjustment of production? That’s out of question.」
Thomas was watching the enormous harmony that was played by the slithering sound of moving machines with pleasure.
「Is it really okay? I might not be the right person to say this but, the string industry of the whole continent will go bankrupt at this rate.」
「There won’t be any problem for a while. We are limiting the export destination to Answerer Kingdom and its vassal states, and we will help those people in the string industry with their change of career.」
「I’m counting on you okay? I don’t want to incur too much enmity.」
The two who were exchanging such disquieting conversation were William who was entrusted with Antrim and Thomas who had climbed up until the position of the acting president of Dowding Company.
Antrim’s hidden technology, the thread reeling machine had only been used in limited fashion until now, but since several months ago it was starting to be operated in full capacity.
This machine was similar with the Suwa type four line string reeling machine that was developed from Italian kennel type.
In addition the factory was expanded since last month and the newly hired workers had finally finished their training.
This production output caused oversupply of raw thread in Answerer Kingdom and made the price crashed down heavily.
Of course it wasn’t just string that was mass produced in vast amount. The foot operated weaving machines that were using cotton yarn were also in operation.
In addition, jacquard weaving machine that was using punch card for the first time in the world was also in the middle of development right now.
The moment the production was expanded using all those things, the industrial structure of this continent would surely be forced to go through revolution from its foundation.
Naturally price was determined within the balance between supply and demand. If mass production of large amount was carried out carelessly, the company would simply dive into deficit.
Thomas answered happily when William spoke of his anxiety.
「Magnificent. Unfortunately very few feudal lords are able to understand that. Even the bureaucrat nobles who are in charge of the economy of this Mauricia will find it hard to comprehend.」
William felt a tone of irony in Thomas’s words and frowned.
「Have they tried to do something again?」
「It seems they want to establish taxing for raw thread. They also plan to establish a limit for the production amount.」
「That will interfere with the autonomy of the feudal lords!」
William understood that was the ulterior motive of the bureaucrat nobles. They wanted to take away the authority of the feudal lords little by little until one day, the authorities of the feudal nobles would be reduced to the level of county office at the rural area.
But if they did it too hastily, the feudal lord nobles would inevitably resist and in the worst case a civil war might break out in this Mauricia.
At that time if the bureaucrat nobles didn’t have the support of the king, their military might would never be able to rival the feudal lord nobles. Did they actually understand that fact?
It would be a great mistake if they thought that the king would unconditionally support the decision of the central government.
If one looked back at the history, there were a lot of cases where the provincial feudal lords joined hands and broke the knees of the king.
There was a good example at earth with the establishment of England’s Magna Carta.
Feudalistic feudal lords were unable to surpass the framework of such power game.
To William it looked like the bureaucrat nobles were playing with fire.
「──They are underestimating the new king Richard-sama.」
「What do you mean?」
「With the abdication of King Welkin, the prime minister Harold is also made to retire. The power of the bureaucrat nobles should be indispensable for the new king to rule Mauricia. Now that King Welkin has risked his political life to display his support for his highness Baldr, he should compromise for other matter in exchange of that. That’s what they are thinking.」
「That’s an opinion that is full with wishful thinking.」
「Well, their thinking isn’t that mistaken if it’s according to the traditional power game until now. In fact their insistence will bear fruit if it was ten years ago.」
Both sides were repeatedly compromising about the parts that they couldn’t concede while comparing and adjusting their stance with each other.
Even Queen Elizabeth of England and Felipe II of Habsburg House who were in absolute monarchy actually also went through something like that.
That also applied even more to Mauricia royal family whose royal authority was slightly weaker than them.
「We are talking about that big brother of mine. Perhaps I shouldn’t say this but those bureaucrat nobles really don’t have any eyes to judge people.」
There was a tendency for people to judge the crown prince Richard as someone mediocre, someone harmless but pointless who was overshadowed by King Welkin.
However William knew that in some case, his elder brother Richard was a pragmatist who could be nastier and more practical than even Welkin.
Most likely some percentage of the incompetent nobles would get thinned out by some made up reasons as soon as Richard ascended to the throne.
Then he would push the backlash that occurred from that to Welkin. Richard was someone who would hesitate at all to make use of even his family if there was a need for that.
However it didn’t mean that he was someone heartless. Richard was a kind elder brother as long as politic wasn’t involved.
He was simply disguising himself as someone mediocre so that other people wouldn’t pointlessly raise their guard around him. Furthermore he was so thorough in his disguise that even his close aides weren’t aware of it.
William could already imagine the shock of the nobles when they opened the lid and saw what was inside that big brother of his.
「──I heard that it was also his highness Richard who made the arrangement between her highness Rachel and Nordland?」
「Yeah, it was one of the few times Ani-ue personally crossed such dangerous bridge. Although there is also Beatrice-neesama at the other side, so even without sounding them out Nordland would surely take custody of Ane-ue. But Mauricia would lose face if things moved like that. So someone would definitely make a move at that time even if it wasn’t Ani-ue.」
「Your excellency William has really changed.」
When Rachel was banished from the royal family, the only thing that William could do was asking for help from his close friend Baldr.
However now he had grown to a degree of being able to read what happened behind the scene at that time.
The growth of a man at this age was truly striking.
「The world is becoming a place where the existing common sense is becoming obsolete. Only painful reality will wait for those who can’t understand that.」
Mauricia Kingdom would get included into the multinational alliance that was centered around Baldr whether they wanted it or not.
There was also the appearance of multinational company like Dowding Group. The era when a company would be tied down in just one country was ending.
Those bureaucrat nobles were useful when the focus of the royal family was only with advancing the centralization of power in Mauricia Kingdom.
However this wasn’t the era for getting fixated with the domestic power struggle anymore. Baldr’s alliance had entered until the phase to consider the world order after Answerer Kingdom was defeated.
In addition there was a report from Sanjuan Kingdom just the other day about the discovery of new continent. The relationship with this southern continent also couldn’t be ignored.
There was no doubt that the company that succeeded in creating new demand would be able to grasp the hegemony of business community in the new world.
Dowding Company had already managed to contact Prince Faysal through Selina’s intermediation.
Industrial revolution and advance into overseas markets were two sides of the same coin. If the productivity went over the limit, they just needed to pioneer a new market.
「Even this me was actually someone who would live as mere knight if there wasn’t any place that would take me as adopted child or son-in-law. Common sense has already gone out of the window by the time someone like me became Duke Antrim.」
「Well, that’s certainly true……」
William’s appointment to become Duke Antrim would be impossible without Baldr’s extremely abnormal success story.
But William had splendidly answered that abnormal expectation that was placed on his shoulder. As expected from Baldr’s close friend.
「Our country has to change too. We mustn’t fall behind Sanjuan Kingdom and Nordland Empire that are already changing.」
「As your excellency say.」
Thomas nodded strongly at William’s words.
The world was already moving to enter a new stage.
That revolution was going to occur at the capital Cameron even at this moment.
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「──It’s really unreasonable for your highness(Gustav) to sneak in like this.」
「That’s because I heard you will become a king far earlier than expected. As fellow people who will shoulder the new era, there is a little matter that I wish to discuss with you, brother-in-law(Richard). Can you make some time for me?」
The crown prince of Nordland and the crown prince of Mauricia were meeting face to face behind closed doors.
「You are coming to meet me instead of father. What kind of business do you have?」
「His majesty Welkin should have already entrusted the leadership of this country to you brother-in-law. He is planning to take all the blames in order to let you ascend to the throne.」
「──Good grief. You have Beatrice at your side. Isn’t that a little unfair?」
Richard recalled his wise little sister who must be the one giving all the hints to Gustav and he looked up to the ceiling.
「I see, so that’s your true face.」
「Beatrice must have told you already anyway. I had shown my actual self to her too much.」
Among all the siblings, Beatrice was the only one who could keep up with Richard’s political sense.
Because of that Richard was exceptionally doting on Beatrice. They had also discussed various matters with each other.
「No no, I’m really jealous that the two of you are such a good brother and sister.」
Gustav knew that when Beatrice played all the tricks in her book to obtain the engagement with him, there was Richard lending her his help from the shadow.
It could be said that these two were Welkin’s children who inherited his scheming nature the most.
Margaret’s scheming was still something cute compared to them. And when it came to Rachel──no, if he looked at what Rachel was doing recently, perhaps the saying that human couldn’t oppose their blood was true.
「Right now you must be thinking that I’m just as scheming as Beatrice.」
「Don’t be absurd.」
I can’t win against this guy at probing each other huh, Gustav thought with a bitter smile inside.
Although it was something that he had experienced many times with his wife, so he didn’t feel that flustered.
「Actually this time my younger stepsister(Rachel) is going to marry.」
「Aa, I have also heard that. However to marry six women all at once, as expected a hero is really grand.」
「You say that, and yet you have even more concubines than that brother-in-law.」
「I only held the wedding ceremony with my first wife. Well, to be honest the balance would be out of order if Silk-dono is the only one who gets special treatment. I don’t have any complain if he is treating Rachel equally.」
Although there was also the political aspect that had to be considered, it seemed that Richard was honestly happy that Rachel was treated well as a wife. At the very least this person was a good person who treasured his family as long as it wouldn’t cause any political problem.
This man was his greatest rival, but at the same time his intrinsic nature was similar to his beloved wife Beatrice as expected.
「And so, I have with me a suggestion from that Baldr-dono who will become my brother-in-law and his wives.」
「──Surely it’s a suggestion that will make me go crazy.」
「I think that your prediction is correct.」
Baldr’s way of thinking was just too out of the box even for the intellect of extremely capable people like them.
In the first place it was strange that a mere son of a count managed to become a king of a country right now, but the process of how it happened was even stranger.
Mysterious gunpowder weapon, flamethrower, intelligence network that was clearly out of the norm, and in addition there was the transformation of Dowding Company into a multinational group that was clearly pioneered by Baldr behind the scene.
For Gustav and Richard, it was self-evident that Baldr’s way of thinking was in a different nature from the people living on this continent.
「He is suggesting to create money draft under the joint signature of Trystovy Kingdom, Sanjuan Kingdom, Majorca Kingdom, Nordland Empire, Mauricia Kingdom, and Gartlake Kingdom.」
「──Pardon my crude words, but is he crazy?」
「That’s what I think too, but, I also wonder if this is perhaps some kind of litmus test.」
「Hou.」
Richard’s eyes shined. His interest was drawn toward Gustav’s words.
The way he couldn’t help but listen when his intellectual curiosity was stimulated was really similar with his wife Beatrice.
「Currently the exchange rate between our country’s Leopold gold coin and Answerer Kingdom’s Piotr gold coin is two to one. However the actual difference in gold composition between the two coins is actually not that big.」
「The exchange rate with our Mauricia Kingdom’s Elizabeth gold coin is three to one. Certainly it’s unfair but the merchant won’t obey even if we impose our will on them.」
「Exchange rate is also the indicator of their trust toward our country. Currently the value of Nedras Kingdom’s Mark gold coin has fallen until five to one after they became a vassal state. It will be more profitable to melt their gold coin into mere gold rather than using it as it is.」
「In other words, it’s a suggestion to formulate a new exchange rate that will be used by all the allied countries huh?」
「Wonderful insight.」
「──Interesting.」
The history of money draft in Aurelia Continent was a long one.
Even at earth money draft had existed from the era of ancient Egypt and ancient Babylonia to act as the substitute for money in goods circulation.
Even at ancient Greece, each city state there issued their own currency. Money exchange business had great influence at Athena that monopolized the trade at Aegean Sea and drove the economy.
It wasn’t realistic to travel around doing business while carrying a ton of gold coins and silver coins.
When going for a long trip, often times people would have to cross mountain or boarding ship.
Sinking to the bottom of the sea due to accident at sea, falling to the bottom of valley from a cliff, or perhaps encountering mountain bandits that deprived them of all their possessions. It was the fate of merchants to be haunted by such possibilities.
However the merchants then thought of the concept of money draft as a way to protect their money that was more precious than even their life.
If they only brought money draft, then even if they suffered damage, their physical money itself would still remain.
Even if the money draft was lost, they would be able to get it reissued although it would take time and effort to do so. And even if someone else who didn’t have the qualification got their hand on that money draft, it would be hard for them to make use of it effectively.
The problem was the money exchange business that was born as monetary economy developed and international transactions were conducted. When this kind of currency trading also became a part of business, it would be questioned whether there was a guarantee that the money exchange business itself could be trusted or not.
What if someone had gone through a long journey to a foreign country with much difficulty, but when they arrived the money draft they had on them couldn’t be exchanged, or they were charged with vicious amount of handling fee? It would be a hindrance for their business.
At earth, it was the Roman Catholic Church that acted for guaranteeing the trust to money exchange business.
With the church’s backing, money exchange business did things like acting as agent for collecting tithe for church, helping with the transport business of the Crusaders, and so on. With time they accumulated fortunes and went through metamorphosis to become bank.
For better or worse, money exchange business and Catholic Church were in a relationship that couldn’t be separated from each other.
But in this Aurelia Continent, Europa Church wasn’t an organization with enough political strength to guarantee the trust on money exchange business.
In exchange, the giant companies that were called Great Triangle in Answerer Kingdom were handling the money exchange and money draft with the country’s permission.
However in Mauricia Kingdom and Nordland Empire, money exchange and money draft business were handled by the local agency.
Unfortunately even Dowding Company was unable to secure the trust necessary to be able to handle money exchange, at least until now.
Although the exchange rate of money draft was extremely fluid, in general its value was influenced by the domestic affairs of Answerer Kingdom. In that sense, Answerer Kingdom’s Piotr gold coin was acting as the international key currency.
There was exception but, it was only this Piotr gold coin and no other else that could be used anywhere in this continent to some degree without having to be exchanged to the local currency first.
However in the recent years this state of affair was growing to become a big problem for many countries.
That was because at the eastern part of the continent, silver coin was starting to become the main circulated currency. That was to say that a monetary economic bloc that was using something close to silver standard system was starting to form.
This happened especially at Gartlake Kingdom, where that country’s Iwami Silver Mine was producing a vast amount of silver that was fulfilling the demand of silver at the eastern part of the continent.
In contrast to that, Nordland Empire’s Lefthoas Gold Mine was unable to fulfill the demand for gold.
The supply amount of silver currency that was driving the monetary economy grew, and the small to medium companies were getting used to do their business payment using silver coins in general. In this situation, the fact that transactions value of silver in Answerer Kingdom was low became a problem.
The market in Answerer Kingdom that was the biggest consumer place in the continent couldn’t be ignored, but because the value of silver transaction there was low, the value of Piotr gold coin was increasingly rising.
Such disparity in foreign trade was causing dissatisfaction to grow among the merchants at the eastern part of the continent.
Gustav was saying that the order in the continent from here on──that was to say the military alliance that was centered around Trystovy Kingdom should be upgraded to become an economic alliance too.
「It’s impossible for a single country to oppose Answerer Kingdom. And it’s not just in military aspect……」
「Yes, if the allied countries join hands, it will be more than possible to oppose Answerer Kingdom.」
If they could force the circulation value of silver at their side to Answerer Kingdom’s side, the current unbalance in the trade situation would be improved. But it would only be possible after Answerer Kingdom was made to yield militarily.
「──I guess there is no need to keep forcing ourselves to follow the other side’s rule when we already know that war is definitely coming.」
「There is no need to give any consideration at all to an opponent that we are going to fight.」
The two of them grinned brazenly at each other after saying that.
If this was really implemented, than Answerer Kingdom’s merchants who were doing dilettantish business using the national prestige of Answerer Kingdom as their backing would definitely be shaken greatly.
They had no experience of their country being put into a disadvantageous position. Their business stance was to always impose their own rule on the other side as the strong with the overwhelming national power at behind them.
Therefore, there would be few countermeasures they could take if the rule was changed. That was these two’s prediction.
「You are really greedy brother-in-law. It looks like that even such significant outcome cannot satisfy you.」
「You say that elder brother-in-law, but you are actually the same like me aren’t you?」
The two of them had already seen through behind the façade of each other and they made cautious smile against each other. They took a sip of the tea that had gone completely cold and then called for a maid.
「Make some hot rosemary for us.」
The refreshing aroma of the rosemary that Richard asked the maid to brew again filled the room. He inhaled the aroma to slightly mitigate the viscous lump lurking inside his stomach and then he continued.
「I’ll have to draw the line within the country for that. I see, it makes sense to make use of this timing.」
「So you don’t mind to make his majesty Welkin going through hardships?」
「That is the role of the king isn’t it?」
Like that Richard easily accepted the fact that Welkin’s resentment and murderous impulse would be directed to him if he made him go through such hardships.
As expected even Gustav was slightly taken aback by how easily Richard accepted that fact.
「……Are you surprised?」
「I don’t know what to think. According to my wife, elder brother-in-law will prioritize logic over emotion when faced with a choice, even though you are actually someone with a deep emotion.」
「That’s nonsense! Forget it! You get it!?」
Richard’s white complexion that was like an impregnable fortress until now was slightly tinged red.
It seemed that Beatrice’s analysis had hit right at the spot that Richard was embarrassed about.
「──This is a plot that Chichi-ue hatched. I won’t be able to apologize enough to him if I let go of this chance and leave some pus behind.」
Exterminating the evil of the old generation from the kingdom until the roots.
That was a great task that should be said as the culmination of Welkin’s life.
From the beginning since Welkin was enthroned when he was still young, the government of Mauricia Kingdom hadn’t been anything peaceful at all.
Rather at the beginning the country was just a step away from defeat in the war against Haurelia Kingdom due to the interference of the major nobles.
Every night Welkin would se nightmare that perhaps he would leave his name in history as a king of a ruined country and became the last king of Mauricia.
After the war against Haurelia ended in a draw miraculously, Welkin made use of the opening from the drastic reduction in Duke Beaufort’s influence and pushed for the centralization of power in Mauricia.
As the result, Mauricia Kingdom managed to obtain economic power and population that were second only to Answerer Kingdom in the continent.
The royal authority was strengthened and before anyone knew it, the royal family’s military strength and economic strength had far surpassed the regional feudal lords.
However during the process of that, because the power was concentrated into the kingdom’s government, a new faction that was called the bureaucrat nobles gained prominence and they had grown to a level that could shake the royal authority.
Occasionally a bureaucratic organization would have the tendency to see their own organization as more important than even the country they belonged to.
As the result of the power being concentrated into the government, the bureaucrat nobles with authority started to influence the government policy to fit their own convenience.
The example was how they tried to establish thread tax just the other day.
In order to protect and expand their own interests, they were starting to think to make use of the royal authority for themselves instead.
Their final objective was to accomplish concentrating all the authorities within the country into their bureaucratic organization and took control of the government structure that even the king himself wouldn’t be able to remove them.
Richard didn’t have the slightest intention of sitting quietly and allowed that to happen.
「The problem of exchange rate is a good chance to return the government’s leadership back to the royal family. After all right now those bunches haven’t taken in international diplomacy into their faction.」
「I see, you are going to exercise influence over the money that is the core of their authority from the field of international diplomacy.」
「Even the merchants who are feeling ill at ease toward them will come running to wag their tail to me.」
Using a decision that came from the very top to force the bureaucrat nobles to amend the fiscal policy that they were spearheading would be perfectly suitable to display the authority of the king.
However bureaucrats extremely hated when their work field was trespassed.
Furious opposition would definitely occur. In the worst case they might even get provoked to carry out assassination.
Even so Welkin would surely follow through till the end.
He determination to carry out a reform was unchanged since he keenly experienced how powerless he was as a king in his younger days.
「There are preparations that have to be made as soon as possible in order to cooperate with all the other countries. I’m counting on you too Gustav-dono.」
「You can count on me, brother-in-law.」
.
「──Isn’t this Selina-sama, and Rachel-sama. I’m struck with honor that the two of you are coming this far in this oppressively hot weather.」
「Looks like things are going smoothly here.」
「Yes. I heard that the operation in Nordland has also worked in full. We also can’t lose!」
The place that Selina and Rachel visited was at the east of Sanjuan Kingdom, Carnavar Gold Mine that was located nearby with the border of Mornea Kingdom. It was an abandoned mine that was thought to have run out of lifespan already as a gold mine.
The last time Carnavar Gold Mine operated was nearly forty years ago already. At that time it was famous as one of the top five gold mines all over the continent.
Then why was that Carnavar Gold Mine was bustling with vitality like this again?
That was because Dowding Group succeeded in reopening this Carnavar Gold Mine again.
In the first place the majority of the mining operation in this continent was carried out with open-cut mining using human wave tactic. Because of that when the gold at the surface layer had been all dug out, that gold mine would become abandoned even if there was still gold vein deeper inside.
There was also technological problem of the miners unable to advance any further when they hit hard bedrock. There were a lot of abandoned gold mines that still had gold vein remaining.
There Dowding Group used the method that was introduced by Ookubo Chouan at the early days of Edo period. It was the method of digging a tunnel that was parallel to the ore vein while simultaneously digging another tunnel parallel to it in order to eject out the water. With that Carnavar Gold Mine was resurrected.
In addition depending on the location, gunpowder would be used to explode each quartz rock. After that hard rock exploration method to collect gold by making use of water flow was also used.
Just with those, the amount that was mined from gold mine had grown extraordinarily compared to the traditional method, but on top of that rail tracks were also laid out in Carnavar Gold Mine for trolley to run through it.
Because of that the rocks that contained gold could be swiftly transported from the mining spot to the river at the foot of the mountain.
It was just a simple trolley that had to be manually pushed by human, but the miners knew better than anyone else just how convenient that thing was.
At the early stage, the gold was still mixed with rock when it was mined from the ore vein. Extracting the gold out was a detailed work where using water was essential.
The main transportation method for that was using horse carriage. In place where the road hadn’t been prepared, the gold had to be carried by human labor.
Compared to that effort, transporting gold using trolley was far easier and faster even if both were done by human strength.
Although both ways needed human labor, transportation using trolley rivaled or even surpassed horse carriage.
In fact, it was said that bamboo trolley that often could be seen in places like Philippine or Cambodia could transport maximum 3 tons of rice even though it was operated manually.
「Fu-fu-fu-! I can see it. Those guys’ panicked mugs……」
「There was a letter from Beatrice-neesama that mentioned the stockpile amount in Nordland has also reached the targeted amount.」
「Say……can I ask what are the two of you plan to do?」
「We are just thinkin’ to give a little push to the backs of his highnesses.」
Carnavar Gold Mine wasn’t the only gold mine that Dowding Group had been entrusted with its revival.
Mardon Company that was also a part of Dowding Group was in charge of reviving Lefthoas Gold Mine in Nordland. The production output of that mine was also going through drastic rise as expected.
While that was going on, Dowding Group was trying to flood the market with a lot of gold all at once to make its price freefall.
The eastern part of the continent that was using silver as its main market currency wouldn’t receive any significant damage, but the western part that was using gold as its main market currency would definitely receive a heavy blow.
In front of the reality where gold’s value crashed like that, it was the duty of the government to stabilize the exchange rate.
When that happened, there would be voices crying for the multinational exchange rate agreement that Richard and Gustav were trying to do to be implemented. Even the bureaucrat nobles would be unable to ignore those voices.
Of course this gold depreciation would only be something temporary, because at the end the trade with Oustralis Continent would have to be done using gold.
However the difference between those who understood the conclusion from the start and those who didn’t would result in a mercilessly wide gap.
There was already no room left for Answerer Kingdom’s major companies to enter into the future picture of the new continent.
「Now then, the war is also near, we also gotta mark up the price.」
「My my, it will surely be terrible for Answerer Kingdom if the value of Piotr gold coin fall drastically.」
「Well, that too is the consequence of them tryin’ to lay their hand on our Baldr.」
Selina and Rachel both covered their mouth to hid the dark smile that was forming behind their hand. The operational leader of Carnavar Gold mine, Tedeus was shaking with fear from the bottom of his heart seeing that.
These two women’s arms were so thin it looked like they would snap if he handled them too hard, and yet those arms also had the strength that could slaughter a great score of people anytime they wanted.
.
──Ten days later, the market price of gold fell drastically due to the vast amount of gold that was released to the market simultaneously.
The way the price fell showed no sign of stopping at all that it would make even Black Monday went pale with terror. Payment using gold coin was temporarily halted everywhere.
Answerer Kingdom’s merchants who had been protected by Piotr gold coin’s status as the key currency until now were all screaming in fear.
Although they were just barely able to stop their transactions from getting canceled by using the backing of their country’s immense national power, the loss from the exchange rate was colossal and it was still increasing.
「Where in the world this much gold are coming from!?」
It was an extremely incomprehensible amount of gold even for the Great Triangle that was ruling over the gold circulation of Answerer Kingdom in practice.
The amount of gold that was released this time was mostly two tons from the result of the investigation. It was an amount that was five times the production output of Answerer Kingdom per year.
「……Even the Nordland’s Lefthoas Gold Mine should only be able to produce 100 kg at best. There is no way they can get this amount, much less from reusing some abandoned mines!」
「As expected, even us cannot do anything if this much gold is flooding the market.」
「Should we temporarily stop our own mining operation?」
「Even though we don’t know the actual amount of the other side’s output?」
「But at this rate our situation will gradually become worse if the flow of gold won’t stop! There is still almost no silver mine in our country.」
「If only we at least know the reason for this……」
The head of the Great Triangle, Sergei Wittgenstein rebuked loudly at the unproductive argument.
「This is war.」
It was Sergei’s ambition to one day accomplish the unification of the continent with the backing of Answerer Kingdom’s military strength and dominate the economic world.
There was also someone with the same thought like him at the enemy’s side. That’s all.
Sergei perceived this event as that unknown person seeing through that they couldn’t win against them using this side’s rule, so they declared war using a new rule.
The war wasn’t only going on between the countries in this continent. There was also a war in the economic world to see whose rule would take control of this continent.
The first round of that war had started.
「Now that it has come to this, we can’t let it end with half-baked measure.」
It was becoming a common knowledge even until the lowest class of the people that war would soon begin.
But, the populace hadn’t realized that the war would develop to become a great war that would unite the continent into one.
They thought that the war would only result in Answerer Kingdom drawing out concessions from the opponent and obtained superiority over them. At best the opponent would become vassal state like Nedras Kingdom or Grand Duchy Tenedora.
It was just that difficult of a task to destroy a country. In history, the majority of the destroyed countries weren’t because of invasion from outside, but because of the decay from within.
At the very least, such decay from within couldn’t be seen from Trystovy Kingdom or Sanjuan Kingdom at present.
However if there was an opening that could be taken advantage of──.
「We will go forward with our maneuvering toward Mauricia Kingdom, at the same time we will support the kingdom so that the military preparation will be done as quickly as possible! Just this time we won’t compromise at all. This is the beginning of a war that is the first time for our business community where even us might die!」
Merchants could profit from war, but they had never gone as far as participating in the life and death battle.
Even if the country was destroyed, merchants could place their root in a new country and continued with their business.
However Sergei felt that only this time it was different.
They were already unable to survive with this new rule that avoided taking on their vast capital strength right from the beginning. Sergei had that kind of premonition.
As a matter of fact, if Answerer Kingdom fell to a level of a small country and lost their vassal states, the scale of his business would become a tenth of its original and he wouldn’t be able to avoid becoming the same existence like the rabbles.
As a member of the Great Triangle of the prestigious Answerer Kingdom, he would rather die than ending up in such result.
「Bring out all the internal reserves you have stockpiled until now. We won’t have any future if we don’t win.」
Sergei’s words were filled with a fierce pressure. All presents there could only gulp and nod with held breath.
.
「──Your majesty! I’m in opposition!」
「This is already decided. Or rather it’s meaningless even if our country oppose it by ourselves. Sanjuan Kingdom, Nordland Empire, Gartlake Kingdom, Majorca Kingdom, and Trystovy Kingdom have already signed. In addition it won’t be long before Mornea Kingdom and Kenestellard Kingdom also participate. Duke, do you wish for our country to fall into ruin?」
Duke Adolf Richmond looked down and shut his mouth in respond to Welkin’s words.
Duke Richmond was standing on the top of the bureaucrat nobles within the country, but he didn’t have many connections with other country.
Rather it was Marquis Randolph who had powerful influence in that area.
「However as the one entrusted with managing the financial affairs of this country, I can’t take responsibility for such decision that is made without my input! Shouldn’t we be given some time extension for preparation at the very least?」
「The crash of gold price this time was something completely unforeseen, on top of that the financial ministry is unable to even put up any effective measure even now. Rather it should be you duke who proposed to me to cooperate with the other countries for this shouldn’t it?」
「T-that’s……」
Duke Richmond had a thorough knowledge about the domestic financial affair that surpassed even Welkin.
He had no doubt about that, but unfortunately economy wasn’t something that only circulated within this country.
Even when the circulation amount of gold suddenly increased and the price of gold began to crash, Duke Richmond’s reaction was sluggish.
He couldn’t even predict how long the gold’s crash would continue and how large its effect would be to business transactions.
As the result, the gold’s price violently fluctuated due to the civilian activity and the number of people who profited greatly and people who lost a lot from this event increased sharply.
Those who lost a lot naturally criticized the government that was unable to do anything.
Even so it was completely outside of Duke Richmond’s imagination that various countries would work together and declared their cooperation in deciding the exchange rate.
The problem was the process in which that decision was made by the king without involving Duke Richmond in it.
All the decisions regarding financial affairs should be made by the bureaucrats, which would be reported to the king after that for his approval.
They had finally made a progress in creating such mechanism, and yet this happened right after that.
For Duke Richmond who was aiming to weaken the king’s authority and expand the authority of the bureaucrats, this was something that he couldn’t possibly overlook.
「Even if your majesty say that, it might be acceptable with Nordland Empire that is tied with us through marital relationship, but how can we just accept the demand of Trystovy Kingdom, Sanjuan Kingdom, and even Gartlake Kingdom on top of that! Even though our Mauricia Kingdom is the legitimate successor of the unification dynasty!」
「Answerer Kingdom has inherited the legitimacy of the unification dynasty. Europa Church is recognizing their claim. That’s exactly why, our country has to secure an even greater legitimacy than that.」
「────!」
Those are all because you cover up for that impudent brat! Duke Richmond wanted to yell that.
They had the option of accepting the church’s demand and invaded Trystovy Kingdom right away.
Trystovy Kingdom was exhausted from the civil war.
Even with Sanjuan Kingdom’s support, Trystovy Kingdom wouldn’t even have a one in million chance to win with Answerer Kingdom and Mauricia Kingdom launching pincer attack.
What was left after that was to see who would be quicker in occupying Milliana and taking Baldr’s head.
Depending on Marquis Randolph’s action, it wouldn’t be a dream for Mauricia Kingdom to snatch Trystovy and obtained the title of Vhoipos.
At the very least Duke Adolf Richmond believed that.
Putting aside whether that was actually possible or not, if Answerer Kingdom and Mauricia Kingdom attacked with all their strength, as expected even Baldr would almost definitely get defeated.
──Although in the end it was only a wild idea with zero possibility of coming into reality.
「Adolf. The time is changing.」
In the past Mauricia Kingdom only had Haurelia Kingdom as their bitter enemy, with the royal authority so fragile that even just consolidating the nobles at the provinces was a real pain.
In order to reform that, Welkin made use of the war to weaken the strength of the provincial feudal lords, built an organization of excellent bureaucrats, and carried forward with the plan of centralization of power.
However such era was already over.
「The unification of the continent by a confederation of nations that is centered on cooperation between nations. Now that such future has come into sight, it’s not the era where the selfishness of a single country can be accepted anymore. Even the bureaucrat organization of our country will need to be reorganized to also include coordination with the outside world.」
Welkin’s words made a dangerous color to enter Duke Richmond’s eyes.
Welkin’s words was a denial to the bureaucrat organization that he had spent more than ten years to build with his life on the line for his ambition.
He couldn’t accept reorganizing the bureaucrat organization to also include commoners after coming this far just for currying favor to the king.
Much less being the gopher of that half animal brat, he would never stand for it!
Duke Richmond lowered his head to Welkin respectfully.
He didn’t have the courage to show his eyes right now to Welkin.
「Everything shall be as my king will it.」
Of course, Duke Richmond didn’t have the slightest intention of respecting Welkin’s wish at all.
.
「Dammit-dammit-dammit-!」
When Duke Richmond returned to his mansion, he let out the unbearable anger that he had been holding in until now.
If he could he would rampage in the castle with everything he could get his hands on without care.
Although he was just barely able to restrain himself, he was still unable to suppress his feeling toward Welkin that had gone past anger into deep-seated grudge.
He should have made great contribution until now so that the king didn’t need to be reliant on the provincial feudal lords anymore.
It wasn’t Baldr that had accomplished the centralization of power though imperfect and pushed up Mauricia Kingdom to become a major country. It was none other than the government system by bureaucrat nobles that enlarged the national strength.
Therefore it was only natural for the bureaucrat nobles to be given preferential treatment and favors.
From that perspective, King Welkin’s change of stance was a treachery that couldn’t be forgiven for him. All his contributions until now was rewarded with evil instead.
There was his true feeling that prioritized his own benefit included in that anger, but Duke Richmond pretended that it didn’t exist.
「My lord, Bishop Bodin is asking for a meeting……」
Duke Richmond was lost in a senseless rage and vented his anger to the unfeeling sofa and curtain until his head butler Seeleys addressed him.
Duke Richmond finally calmed down and calmed his breathing before turning toward Seeleys.
「What business does that corrupt priest has with me?」
To be honest, it would be bad if he was suspected to have a connection with Europa Church right now.
Bodin was a pawn that Duke Richmond had spent time to tame, but he had told him to put some distance from him since Welkin decided to support Baldr.
「……It seems there was something going on with the church’s top brass.」
「In all likelihood they are just demanding that guy to do all he can to make Mauricia change stance.」
The church had tried contacting him several times.
There were a considerable number of Europa believers in Mauricia Kingdom. Their movement would greatly influence the church’s future so it was only natural.
However the church’s was prevented from moving due to Welkin’s trick of announcing his abdication at the same time. The populace in general was carefully watching the situation.
The priests who tried to agitate the people would immediately get apprehended. Only the priests who were obedient to Mauricia Kingdom were allowed to do their missionary work.
Priests who had various ties with the local area refused to support the church in general. They were prioritizing their own peaceful life. That was the current situation.
The opposition movement wasn’t that strong was greatly affected by the fact that Baldr was a hero who had defeated this country’s bitter enemy for many years Haurelia Kingdom.
The populace couldn’t bring themselves to condemn a hero of such astonishing success story just because he happened to have beastman blood in him.
Even this Bishop Bodin should be obediently following the directive of the kingdom regardless of what he actually thought inside, but perhaps he had received a notice of expulsion or something from the church that he came here to meet him like this?
「What should be done to him?」
「……Let’s see. I’ll meet him for now. He has already here anyway, so there isn’t much meaning in telling him to go home.」
He himself also wanted to know about the church’s movement right now.
Duke Richmond ordered Seeleys to usher in Bishop Bodin.
Bodin who was ushered into the duke’s private room had already lost his past portly figure without any trace. His figure had been reduced to a completely haggard state.
「──You have really changed huh.」
Duke Richmond spontaneously said his true thought without any sarcasm.
That was how major Bodin’s change was. He looked completely like a different person.
「Please! Please help me! Duke-sama!」
Bodin pleadingly yelled with unfocused pupils that contained madness.
「Just what’s going on with you?」
Bodin should be in the category of shrew and calculating man. That was also why Duke Richmond didn’t feel uneasy using him as his pawn.
A pawn that couldn’t be controlled was nothing more than a nuisance.
「The church has dispatched assassins to assassinate the usurper king Baldr. They asked me to accommodate that team’s infiltration.」
「Impossible! There is no way we can do such thing!」
Duke Richmond spontaneously yelled.
The risk was too high. It was something that might ruin the prestigious Richmond House.
Furthermore Duke Richmond wasn’t that indebted or obliged to Europa Church that he had to brave a great danger like that.
「B-but! If this isn’t done than my life will……! His eminence the pope has spoken that an assassin will be sent after me unless I do this!」
Duke Richmond realized that this was the reason why Bodin had became so emaciated like this.
It seemed that even the church had become unable to pay attention to appearance anymore.
They couldn’t tolerate Baldr’s existence for even a second longer that they didn’t even hesitate to threaten their member within Mauricia Kingdom who wasn’t so cooperative.
There was no doubt that this was because the church had sensed that the eastern part of the continent was going to transform into an alliance that didn’t stop with just military matter, but also economic and political matters.
After designating Answerer Kingdom as Vhoipos, the church was now in the same boat with them.
If the eastern part of the continent united as one, then perhaps their combined strength could rival even Answerer Kingdom.
The political chaos in Mauricia Kingdom being smaller than what they expected also played a part.
Even they didn’t expect that Welkin would make his support for Baldr to be this clear.
Most of all, the church also never expected that the nobles starting from Duke Richmond would allow that so easily.
Welkin had completely sealed the interference from the opposing nobles to the minimum with his outlandish scheme of abdicating himself.
The feeling of the church’s top brass who wanted to yell at the influential bishops within Mauricia wasn’t hard to understand.
──No, wait.
Something that was similar to a devil’s temptation struck at the back of Duke Richmond’s mind like a revelation.
Duke Richmond himself had noticed, at present he didn’t have the power to oppose Welkin.
Even though he was a great noble, he was nothing more than a retainer of a single country. The power of Richmond House was too small to oppose the power of the international alliance that was centered around Baldr.
Welkin’s policy couldn’t be changed even if he united the power of the bureaucrat nobles at this point.
The royalties like William for example had grown stronger, and the military was also filled with people who held deep loyalty to the king. Carelessly opposing the king here would be suicide.
──However what if he could make use of the church’s strength?
「Bodin, this so called assassin team, their skill is certain correct?」
「Of course! They aren’t as fanatic as the church’s special corrective force but, in exchange of that they are composed of skilled people!」
That was exactly why they were scary.
Someone like Bodin wasn’t even a prey that could count as work for them.
He would definitely get killed really easily. Bodin was this terrified and deranged because he was sure of that.
「──If they are going to kill, it doesn’t have to necessarily be the usurper king Baldr isn’t it?」
Duke Richmond realized that was letting out a terrifyingly cruel and cold-blooded laughter even for him.
Even though he knew that it was dangerous, it felt like his brain was secreting narcotic that sent a signal of pleasure to his whole body.
Duke Richmond toyed with that feeling while picking his words carefully.
「That usuerper king might be the enemy that they hate more than anything, but he is also a matchless hero. There is no chance of assassin winning against him no matter how many of them there are.」
He never saw Baldr using King’s Gate in action, but Duke Richmond was aware that Baldr was practically invincible in close quarter combat.
Even Answerer Kingdom’s Mikhail Kalashnikov who was called a monster yielded against Baldr. There was no reason how mere assassin could win instead.
In addition there were a lot of powerful veteran warriors around Baldr. Not only the elite beastman warriors, there was also Ramillies. Duke Richmond had the chance once to witness his might. That was why he didn’t dare to underestimate that man.
It was impossible to assassinate Baldr with normal method. He considered if there was any way that could possibly assassinate Baldr, it would be using dirty trick like poison or the like.
「──Even if you say that they are skilled, that’s just a boast of their fighting skill correct? After all I bet that the church doesn’t have any connection with Trystovy palace to do any other method of assassination.」
「T-that’s certainly……currently Trystovy palace is filled with a lot of beastman and people from Mulberry. The people of Mulberry doesn’t hold any faith toward Europa Church.」
「If only they can bribe the palace chef to poison the usurper king. And as expected, I don’t think that honey trap will work with that man.」
Duke Richmond said that jokingly, but that was actually a hard fact.
If Baldr called a woman who wasn’t his fiancée to share his bed, a terrifying punishment would be waiting for him the next day. It wouldn’t stop there, it could be easily imagined that when Maggot back in Cornelius heard about it, Baldr would meet a painful experience that brought him to the brink of death.
「Such group won’t be able to even scratch the usurper king.」
「T-then what should I do……?」
「Won’t it be better to choose an easier target instead of that monster?」
「Does my lord mean kidnapping the fiancées of that usurper king?」
「There is also that option, but it won’t work here. Unlike a kidnapping for ransom, there is no way a demand asking for that man’s life in exchange of his fiancée’s life can be fulfilled.」
「That is indeed true……」
Then who in the world?
Bodin asked that with his gaze. Duke Richmond scorned him inside his heart.
In the end he was just a pawn. Even if he swaggered around as a bishop, as expected he wasn’t as capable as he thought.
「Seeleys.」
「My lord-」
「If I remember correctly, there is a company in our payroll that is working as Dowding Company’s subcontractor.」
「I believe my lord means Hewrick Company.」
「Umu, that one.」
Hewrick Company was a company that had regular dealings with Richmond House, but they were also expanding to transportation business. The company was entrusted with transporting some products of Dowding Company.
「──The usurper king Baldr will be isolated if only our Mauricia Kingdom withdraw from the alliance. Don’t you think so?」
Yes, Trystovy Kingdom would be separated from Nordland Empire and Gartlake Kingdom if Mauricia became neutral.
In addition those two countries wouldn’t be able to use all their strength to aid Trystovy Kingdom with Mauricia Kingdom in the way even if only as a neutral party.
If that happened, it was clear that Trystovy Kingdom with its inferior national strength along with its allied countries would be put in disadvantage.
The fate of this continent was literally controlled by the action of this Mauricia Kingdom that was located at the center of the eastern part of the continent.
After that they would just have to sell favor to the winning side with the highest price as possible──Duke Richmond was drunk with the vision that he was drawing in his mind.
「D-don’t tell me your excellency is saying──」
Bodin’s lips trembled. He even forgot about his worry for his life.
Even an ambitious man like him was hesitating about this proposed act due to his memory as someone born and raised in this country.
「To make his majesty Welkin……」
「Don’t say anything scandalous, Bodin.」
Duke Richmond interrupted Bodin so that he wouldn’t speak more than that.
「After King Welkin’s death, Mauricia Kingdom under the inexperienced crown prince will have to reexamine its relationships with the other countries. Even so, everything will depend on the decision of his eminence the pope. Isn’t that right?」
「……Yes.」
Even so Duke Richmond expected that nine out of ten, the pope would accept this proposition.
This was a plan with extremely high chance of success.
At the very least the chance was far better compared to the plot to assassinate Baldr. There it was even suspect whether the team would be able to reach Baldr in the first place.
「You can go home now to ask for hi eminence’s decision.」
「Understood.」
Duke Richmond waved his hand to make Bodin went home, then he whispered to Seeleys’s ear.
「Make Hewrick Company accept an order to transport products to Trystovy Kingdom. However, we will need everyone at the transport dead without exception for the church’s assassins to replace them.」
「Please leave it to me.」
The scenario was that Europa believers in Trystovy Kingdom attacked some merchants and took over their place and attacked Mauricia king who came visiting at that time to attend in the marriage ceremony.
As the result, Trystovy Kingdom would be blamed for being unable to provide satisfactory protection for a guest of the state. Such country would be unsuitable to ally with. Crown Prince Richard would also be unable to deny that after his father was killed.
It was also wonderful how he wouldn’t need to do anything himself. The church would carry out everything.
「Don’t think badly of me, your majesty.」
In the end the destination that they were aiming for differed from each other. It was unfortunate that they had to part way like this even though they were such good lord and good retainer to each other in the past.
From here on Mauricia Kingdom would be a place where capable bureaucrats displayed their ability and the king existed only as a decoration to take responsibility when anything happened──such ideal country would be formed.
This dangerous delusion had possessed Duke Richmond until the marrow of his soul.
.
Urraca learned that Baldr would hold his marriage ceremony at the same time with his coronation when she was on the way home from the patrol just barely outside of Horntbeck kingdom’s territory.
──Going back in time several days ago. As the result of Horntbeck Kingdom declaring their stance of siding with the church just the other day, the merchant fleet of Mulberry and Sanjuan Kingdom received a heavy blow.
Originally it was the way of navy to only collect toll from passing ships and let them through unless the ship was transporting military goods or soldiers.
Of course if the merchant fleet refused to be inspected, they would be sunk into the sea. Even Urraca who went around sinking a lot of the dukedom’s merchant ships wasn’t doing it completely randomly.
──And yet, why was Horntbeck Kingdom ignoring that rule?
Urraca thought that she might understand after taking a look at their skill.
「Have you ever gotten into scuffle with that Odysseus guy?」
Kailas tilted his head at Urraca’s question.
「I once heard that Eustachius has that kind of man as his confidant. At the very least Eustachius was a tough opponent yeah?」
「Did you lose?」
Kailas spontaneously snorted at Urraca’s teasing.
「The only one who have ever made me ate dirt, whether in the past or in the future is just you boss lady.」
However, Kailas’s words didn’t end there.
「But, I’m not confident I can win against that guy with inferior number.」
「Hou……」
The man who in the past wouldn’t pull back even when facing the dukedom fleet that numbered ten times his ships was declaring that he wasn’t confident he could win if he had the same number of man with the opponent. Urraca’s interest was aroused by that.
「Are you saying that even I can’t win?」
「That will depend on the other side’s number but……it will be hard if they have that rocket arrow thing. If that guy is alone then his skill is all right, but when he is leading a fleet, he will immediately change into a monster.」
「I see……then let’s take a look at their skill.」
「……Of course you would say that.」
The two of them turned their gaze to the west, then several seconds later the watcher who was staring hard at the sea on the mast yelled.
「There’s a fleet that seems to belong to Horntbeck. Their number is about eight!」
Their sharp eyes that were like hawk had caught sight of Hortbeck fleet even faster than the watcher on top of mast.
.
「That’s……?」
「It seems to be La Mancha. Should we devour them?」
The ship captain puffed up his chest with an excited huff. Odysseus grinned cheerfully at him.
「Let’s take a look at this Tormenta Negra’s skill.」
This was an opponent that they had to have a showdown with one day. It also wasn’t a dream to defeat them here if fortune smiled at them.
Odysseus calmly made that judgment and gave an order to the fleet under his command.
「Second ship, third ship, follow the flagship. Fourth ship, fifth ship, sixth ship, go behind the enemy. Seventh ship, eighth ship, secure the upwind and standby.」
「Sir!」
「I heard from the rumor that she is a genius in reading wind……」
「It’s going to be a sight whether she can do the same thing here like in her turf at Marmara Sea or not!」
However their composure wouldn’t last for that long.
.
「Hard starboard!」
「Ma’am!」
La Mancha changed course toward the upwind. Then the eastern wind strongly turned to the north as though it had been waiting for that.
La Mancha accelerated swiftly. It immediately secured the upwind even faster than the seventh and eighth ships.
.
「──It seems the rumor is true.」
「That ain’t a joke……ain’t no way we can back down after getting shown up like that at our own backyard!」
Odysseus nodded strongly at the enraged ship captain.
「Of course I have no intention to let her continue acting smug like that.」
Although the upwind position had been taken away, the fleet that was splitting to three didn’t give any opening for La Mancha to take advantage of.
If La Mancha carelessly tried anything to one group, the remaining two groups would be able to surround it. The three groups were moving with such superb movement while shortening the distance with Urraca.
.
「I see, certainly this will be troublesome if they got that rocket arrow with them.」
Urraca let out a small groan and recognized Odysseus’s skill.
It was vexing, but the other side was superior when it came to moving the fleet like his own limbs.
Even so Urraca didn’t think that she would lose in sea battle. Today it was nothing more than her giving the other side a greeting.
「All sails open!」
「Ma’am!」
「Port easy!」
「Ma’am!」
.
「Oi oi, is she sane?」
The ship captain’s eyes opened wide when he saw La Mancha changing direction to head toward the flagship.
No matter what, anyone who thought that one ship could take on eight ships must be insane.
Their side here didn’t consist of amateurs that had only started sailing yesterday, and they also knew what kind of tactic Urraca used at her battle with the dukedom’s navy.
「……She has guts.」
「Yes, truly.」
「My meaning is different from you captain. That woman is intending to ascertain whether this ship is equipped with rocket arrow or not.」
「Whaa-?」
In fact, this flagship was equipped with rocket arrows from the church, although they only had a few of it. If La Mancha kept approaching like this, it wouldn’t be hard to catch it within their firing range.
「Does she has the confidence of dodging it……?」
「That must be the case.」
If there was distance, then even Odysseus could dodge a rocket arrow somehow. However if the enemy had multiple fire arrows, like ten or twenty, he didn’t have any confidence at all that he would be able to dodge.
Was Urraca going to show him that it was possible?
「Don’t get carried away you!」
La Mancha was rapidly approaching. The ship captain glared at it as though he was glaring at his parent’s murderer.
「Block that ship’s path with reverse V formation.」
「Sir!」
The fleet of eight ships changed formation once more to take the shape of inverse V to surround La Mancha.
──Now, what are you going to do? Tormenta Negra!
.
「You bastards! How goes the preparation-!」
「Ma’am!」
「We are gonna be food for the sea’s boss(shark) if we’re late even for an instant, so resolve yourself!」
「Ma’am!」
「Hold on tight!」
「Ma’am!」
.
La Mancha accelerated even faster. However Odysseus’s encirclement wasn’t so loose that they would let her slipped away because of that.
「That’s an astonishing speed, but I hope you don’t think that you can slip away just with that.」
Odysseus weighed the danger and outcome while his fleet was closing in without making any blunder.
Urraca was enjoying that. She even thought that a worthy enemy to compete against had finally appeared after Kailas.
「Looks like he’s going to be a challenge!」
「Boss lady! Catapult standby!」
「Match the trim!」
「Ma’am!」
.
La Mancha would enter the range of rocket arrow soon.
Odysseus hesitated. Should he wait until the enemy was in the range of sure hit, or should he settle this with ship boarding.
A flame pillar rose from La Mancha’s starboard before he could make his decision.
「What?」
「T-the sea is burning!」
La Mancha only fired the flamethrower’s naphtha with catapult, but it resulted in a wall of flame that obstructed the path at La Mancha’s left side.
Odysseus noticed that this was Urraca’s aim.
「Seventh ship, eight ship, circle around to behind the enemy!」
The two ships changed direction to the left without showing almost any delay at all.
But due to some kind of fate’s mischief, the sea breeze breathed out a gust of wind that caused the naphtha on the sea surface to spread toward Odysseus’s flagship.
The inverse V formation became greatly disturbed. La Mancha weaved through that gap and closed the distance to Odysseus’s flagship.
「Prepare for enemy’s boarding!」
「No, there is no need. That Tormenta Negra isn’t that reckless.」
「B-but……」
They were being taunted. Urraca was telling them「Come on, shoot」. Odysseus understood that.
She was trying to test their skill with just one ship. It was an unbearable humiliation as a sailor, but at the same time he was also feeling a surge in his spirit as a warrior.
「In that case, as a man it’s only polite to answer her expectation.」
The two ships were approaching each other, so the relative speed of the two ships was faster than it looked. Even so they shouldn’t miss at this distance.
「Prepare to fire!」
To be able to freely move one’s own fleet, it was necessary to also predict the enemy’s movement.
An accurate calculation was worked out within Odysseus’s brain.
「Fire!」
「Hard starboard!」
Urraca changed La Mancha’s direction at the same time when ten rocket arrows were fired from the flagship.
「Fore spanker whole in!」
「Ma’am!」
「Jive, open and turn!」
「Ma’am!」
The bow of the boat rotated like a spinning top. It was like a magic. But──.
「Naïve. Do you think it will end with just one barrage?」
Another thunderous roar reverberated. Several rocket arrows were fired.
Odysseus had considered the possibility of Urraca dodging. In preparation of that he had prepared the second barrage with delay after the first barrage.
「Fore top through a back!」
「Ma’am!」
「Mizzen spanker whole out!」
「Ma’am!」
「Match the trim! Nice skill! I’m looking forward to the next time we fight!」
La Mancha abruptly picked up the wind again. It looked like it was going to turn around, but then its speed was immediately restored and it made its escape.
Even though it had dropped its speed by that much, none of the ships was able to catch up to the fleeing La Mancha.
What kind of ship handling could enable a ship to rotate and dash like that? No wonder Answerer Kingdom’s fleet was defeated if their opponent was like this.
「However now I have seen your skill. You won’t get away next time.」
Odysseus followed La Mancha’s figure that was getting smaller while also grinning fiercely in anticipation of the day he would encounter Urraca next.
.
「Hahaaa! That was an interesting man! He is much more of a challenge compared to that guy from Answerer Kingdom! I’m looking forward to the next time!」
Urraca looked back at the fight with a good mood.
She won in ship handling, but she didn’t win the battle.
Urraca knew that if she attacked, she would become unable to get out of the encirclement.
That was why she stopped at just rough teasing.
The next time they faced each other while leading their respective fleet, it was unknown to whom the victory would go to. Though of course Urraca held no doubt that she would be the winner no matter who her opponent was.
「Now then, let’s go home for now.」
「Yeah, dispatch the cutter.」
In order for a fleet that was out at the sea to always be up to date with the latest information, a contact ship would always be stationed in some specific area where the news would be updated every day.
Sometimes letter from the land or present would also get sent. It became one of the pleasures of sailor──but this time an extra large bomb was included in the packet.
「BALDR IS GOING TO MARRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!」
「Uwah! Uwah! Please don’t swing around your sword like that!」
「There is no way I can calm down! How can he do something happily embarrassing like that without including me!」
「In that case you can just force him to marry you boss lady.」
「……No, that’s impossible.」
Urraca felt that the prospect of marriage was really charming, even so she declared that.
「Is that so?」
Kailas’s eyes widened in slight surprise.
He completely thought that Urraca was harboring love toward Baldr and she was aiming for a position of wife.
「Who do you think I am? I’m Majorca’s navy minister, the Tormenta Negra you know?」
Majorca Kingdom was an island country.
The distribution of their military there was overwhelmingly leaning toward the navy. It was Urraca’s family who had occupied the position of the navy minister there for generations.
In other words, it could be said that Parma House was the very embodiment of Majorca Kingdom’s military itself.
Urraca also had relatives, but unfortunately there wasn’t anyone among them who could shoulder the navy in her place. That was why Urraca had to be the head of house even though she was still a young woman.
The problem was that there was no one who could replace her.
Silk had a reliable father who was still hale and healthy. Selina too on the surface had resolved herself to wash her hand from business.
As for Rachel and Satsuki, their homeland had wished for this marriage from the beginning. And Seyruun had intended to devote her life for Baldr from the beginning even without marriage.
It was only Urraca who was shouldering a role that couldn’t be entrusted to anyone else by any means.
Besides leaving Majorca Kingdom to become Baldr’s wife and leisurely raising her child in Trystovy’s palace──that kind of future was impossible for her.
For Urraca who was raised on the sea, spending time in the inner palace like a woman was the same like a torture.
Then could she quietly give up on Baldr?
The answer for that was also no. Even the free and broadminded Urraca who lacked femininity was actually a maiden at heart. Her heart wouldn’t move on to anybody else.
At this point she couldn’t imagine marrying and spending her life together with anyone else than Baldr.
She would become Baldr’s woman came hell or high water. And then she would enjoy a dazzling adventure, and one day the crystallization of their love would……dufufufufufufu!
「In short, there won’t be any problem if I become his mistress and create a child!」
「There is nothing but problem there!」
Not only Kailas, all the subordinates there opened their eyes wide from that blunt irrational argument.
They wished in their own way for Urraca to spend a happy life as a woman.
Even Kailas who harbored a small feeling toward Urraca and a complicated feeling toward Baldr wasn’t an exception. Urraca ending up as a mistress and spending her whole life living in a shadow wasn’t funny at all for them.
「I am a woman of the sea you know? The child that I give birth to will also be a child of the sea! There’s no way I can leave our navy to a child who isn’t raised on the sea!」
The children of Parma House had to spend the majority of their childhood on board of ship, regardless of the danger. That way they would learn to go along with the sea intimately.
It was an education method that had been continued since the time of her ancestors. Urraca didn’t have the slightest intention of changing it.
The position as the wife of Trystovy’s king Baldr would only become a nuisance for that.
Before she made Baldr, she thought that she could pick someone passable from a branch house and trained them to get a passing mark, but right now she was completely possessed with the idea of leaving her inheritance to her child with Baldr.
That child would inherit her blood and that Baldr’s blood.
How far they would grow? Urraca felt her chest growing hot just from imagining it.
「──It’s not in my nature to just fret uselessly! I’ll win over Baldr even if I have to push him down!」
This wasn’t the time to ask whether it was possible or not.
In the first place it was the style of Majorca Kingdom’s navy to snatch away from the opponent.
「Open all the sails! Midship!」
「Ma’am!」
「Loan exist to be collected──I won’t let him say no at any expense……!」
.
Hewrick Company was a medium sized company that was based in Duke Richmond’s territory. It strong point had been in logistics since long ago.
It really helped that Richmond territory was a producing area of good horse, but it was also influenced by the fact that Hewrick Company was started up as a business in river transport.
Mauricia Kingdom had a lot of large rivers. The knowhow and connection for transporting things through rivers couldn’t be underestimated in this business.
The president of this generation, Abraham Hewrick was someone who didn’t stand out, but he was also highly rated as a solid merchant. Thanks to that he could even secure a transport contract with Dowding Company that was at the height of power right now.
「──His excellency the duke said that?」
「Yes, he ordered us to quickly accept an order to send commodities to Trystovy.」
「Why is he giving such an order? I don’t think that he will be able to make his highness Baldr indebted to him just with that……」
It was an open secret among the merchants that the relationship between Duke Richmond and Baldr was like dog and cat.
Abraham was greatly aware that the duke was bewildered how Baldr had reached a height that was beyond his expectation even after he tactfully drove Baldr out of Mauricia Kingdom.
「Well, it’s a nice timing. After all things don’t look good at Answerer Kingdom.」
Even merchants who weren’t that interested with politic was aware that the eastern part and the western part of the continent were in an explosive situation. Such situation was a chance to profit, but it could be said that the ability to weigh that chance against the risk well was a necessary quality for a merchant.
Currently Trystovy Kingdom was in an unprecedented boom. The government there was proactively pouring money for public investment. Any products that were brought there would be sold out.
Abraham had just been thinking that he wanted to have a firm base in Trystovy Kingdom not just for the sake of his company’s subcontract with Dowding Company, but also for Hewrick Company’s own business.
Although he felt that there was something suspicious with Duke Richmond’s demand, Abraham didn’t have any reason to proactively refuse.
Even without taking that into consideration, the duke was a regular customer of this company. The company was in a position where they had to proactively accommodate the duke’s whim instead.
「I think there should be a request to transport cotton cloth to there. Let’s open a talk to accept that job.」
.
Hewrick Company’s caravan that consisted of six horse carriages departed around five days after that.
「Let’s earn a lot of money!」
They weren’t just carrying the cotton cloth that was entrusted from Dowding Company, they had also prepared sugar and the like with Cornelius territory’s emblem that recently were getting popular in Trystovy Kingdom.
It was unknown where the money came from, but it was shocking that Trystovy Kingdom was able to invest this much into public investment even after getting out of such civil war.
He felt a slight chill when he thought that Mulberry’s maritime guild and Dowding Company could be such a mighty existence that enabled this.
As expected, a lowly merchant like Abraham had no way of knowing about the vast hidden fortune that Valerie left behind and the considerable amount of assets that Baldr owned personally.
「I’m counting on you, Neuzer.」
「Leave it to me president.」
The one leading the caravan was Neuzer. He was also one of the head clerks of Hewrick Company.
He was an unexpectedly well known man. He spent more time going to foreign countries and leading caravan than staying in the office. He was a precious mediator with the outside world for Hewrick Company.
Before the civil war, he had also often gone to Trystovy Kingdom, but this would be the first time he visited there again after the end of the civil war, so Neuzer’s face was shining with happiness.
「──I have old acquaintances over there. I’m going to talk with them for the future too.」
「Right, depending on the situation our company will want to open shop there too. Go find a suitable property at Millianna for that with your own discretion.」
「I understand.」
Neuzer showed a deep smile and departed.
The caravan was manned by thirty people. Among them were four former mercenaries working as bodyguard. That number was few for a caravan of this scale.
However their route would be passing through his peaceful Mauricia to Trystovy Kingdom where the civil war had just ended. It didn’t seem likely that there would be any danger.
It wasn’t the era where bandits ran rampant anymore.
Even Neuzer had only experienced getting attacked by bandits several times all over his life.
Even those only happened during the war with Haurelia where the situation was unstable.
Of course he had no intention to let his guard down, but there was also no need to be paranoid. That was what Neuzer thought.
They went upstream the O’Neal River from Richmond territory to head toward Pirellu Mountains.
Before crossing the mountain, they would need to procure food and recovered their stamina.
From his many years of experience, Neuzer knew that in the mountain, what he could rely on in emergency was his own physical strength.
A problem occurred at the fourth day after they departed.
The axle of one of the carriages snapped with an unpleasant creaking.
「……Strange. Even though it was all right when it was inspected this morning……」
Neuzer got down from his carriage in doubt.
It wasn’t impossible to repair it, but they wouldn’t be able to arrive at the next inn town before night like that.
If possible he didn’t really want to waste time here but it couldn’t be helped.
「Prepare to camp here! Assign four people to repair the axle! Guards, stay alert at the surrounding area!」
The caravan started to prepare for camping at night with brisk movement following Neuzer’s order.
When in a long journey, they couldn’t always be able to sleep on bed at inn town. For merchants whose livelihood depended on traveling all over, camping outdoor wasn’t really a rare experience.
However it was a bit troublesome that they couldn’t rest as well as at inn town when camping outdoor like this.
The workers quietly put up the tents, assigned the shifts for watching the night, and then they quickly went to sleep.
Everyone had to be at the lookout in shift. Because of that they would have insufficient sleep if they didn’t go to bed early.
「Good grief, I want to go to hot spring tomorrow and relax──」
The sentence of one of the guards who were standing guard in front of the campfire was cut off in the middle. No, someone was making him stop.
An arrow had deeply pierced his throat until his spinal cord.
He silently pitched forward and fell on the ground. And then even that guard’s coworker who witnessed his last moment followed the same fate soon after that.
One of them displayed an astounding tenacity and succeeded in yelling out as loudly as possible.
「ENEMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!」
It was only Neuzer and a few other people who could react to that yell because they had experienced attacks in the past.
Of course, the result didn’t change just because a few people reacted. The result would still be the same even if a lot of people managed to react.
When Neuzer rushed out of his tent with the sword for self-protection in his hand, the attackers had already killed all the lookouts and now they were going to bare their fang toward him.
(──They aren’t just bandits! This is the work of a regular army or soldiers of that level!)
The way the attackers calmly and emotionlessly killed everyone with the thoroughness of a professional was enough to make Neuzer give up on his survival.
Their luck had run out the moment an opponent of this level had their eye on them.
But why? Why was an average caravan like them got targeted like this? Their cargo might be precious for the general public, but its worth for the military was extremely insignificant.
Even if their cargo was exchanged into money, the amount would only be enough for several days of extravagant spree.
A pro of this level shouldn’t target something like that. They certainly had another objective than the cargo.
「…………Ha?」
For a brief instant, Neuzer noticed that one of the attackers had a tattoo of blue moon. It was a total coincidence that he managed to catch sight of it.
「The church huh.」
He didn’t know what kind of circumstance there was behind the scene, but it seemed they had gotten dragged into the self-centered plot of the church and the kingdom.
It was infuriating, but he also felt resigned. No matter how hard he struggled, there was no way a group of this level would allow even a single cat to get away.
「Don’t screw with me, goddamn idiot!」
His legs were shaking fiercely from terror.
The massacre of the caravan was going to finish in less than a minute by the effective leadership of the assassin group.
Even Neuzer already had several soldiers moving toward him silently.
It was unreasonable, but death was approaching without any way for him to resist.
Neuzer suddenly broke out running toward a horse carriage.
He knew that the horse carriages had also been seized.
However Neuzer climbed up the horse carriage like a man possessed and reached out toward the flag of Dowding Company that was given to their company to show that their company was transporting Dowding Company’s product.
「Gahah!」
Two arrows pierced him from his back. Neuzer leaned on the flag and vomited blood.
「……Screw you!」
At the moment of his death, Neuzer believed that he had landed a blow back to their attackers and he fell into eternal sleep.
「Bury the corpses quickly! After that search for their change of clothes and change into them! We are going to be Hewrick Company’s caravan from now on after all!」
The assassin group that was composed of the church’s skilled agents. They were led by someone named Bezel. His subordinate reported to him.
「Dowding Company’s flag got dirtied by blood splash just now……」
「There should be a reserve flag just in case. Search it!」
「Understood!」
The thirty corpses were tossed into a hole that was one meter deep. The clothes and tents that were dirtied by blood were burned to ash. After the assassins finished disposing the proof, they began traveling to the next inn town smilingly like a normal merchant caravan.
One of the carriages was putting up a slightly old looking flag of Dowding Company with different color than normal.
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