by Mamare Touno
The narrow passage was now the scene of a full-fledged melee.
1
Huhn! I see. This place’s a den of wily old foxes.
Michitaka accepted a glass, all smiles, but internally, he was muttering to himself. This was the Ancient Court of Eternal Ice. However, it was the area in which Marquis Dalte was staying, not the section that had been loaned to Michitaka and the rest of the Round Table Council group.
As Shiroe had predicted, the Eastal lords’ conference was moving very slowly.
According to what they’d originally heard, the conferences were generally held in the afternoon and happened irregularly. That said, in the four days since Michitaka had arrived at the Ancient Court of Eternal Ice, not a single conference had been held.
A certain noble had told him that, since the conference period was ten days, there was no need to be impatient, but in contrast to those words, furious negotiations seemed to be taking place below the surface.
As proof, day after day, invitations and requests were brought to the Round Table Council delegation. At first, Shiroe, Krusty, and Michitaka had gotten together and discussed each one, but since they’d never have managed them all in time that way, they had split up and were now acting separately.
Two things were coming in handy: The fact that they’d carefully gone over their basic policy beforehand, and the telechat function, a weapon the Adventurers had and the People of the Earth did not.
That night was just the same.
An invitation to a dinner party from Marquis Dalte of the fortified city of Mogami.
An invitation to a soirée held mainly for the young knights of Eastal, the League of Free Cities.
An invitation to a banquet from Tsukuba’s Marquis Kilivar and the academic guild.
These three had overlapped.
Wouldn’t attending just one of the functions be a bad move as far as the lords’ power relationships were concerned? They wanted to avoid looking as though they were supporting any particular lord, and so at first they’d considered turning them all down. However, they had decided that, in the current situation, they needed to prioritize information gathering and making acquaintances, and so the delegation had split up and was acting separately.
A “soirée meant for young knights” was bound to feature orchestral music and dancing. Due to that expectation, they’d originally singled out Shiroe, but if the academic guild would be appearing at Marquis Kilivar’s banquet, Michitaka and Krusty wouldn’t be equal to the task.
To that end, it had been decided that Krusty would attend the gathering for young knights and princesses, or in other words, “the ones on whose shoulders the future rested.” “I’m sure you’ll enjoy the dancing,” Shiroe had said, with a smile that seemed entertained. Unexpectedly, he appeared to be holding a grudge.
Henrietta of the Crescent Moon League seemed to have had the same worry, but Krusty had answered her calmly. “I’ve found a very durable defensive shield that won’t wear out with use. There’s a bit of a knack to putting it between myself and the enemy, but I’ll be able to turn down invitations easily, so I imagine it will be all right.”
Michitaka had absolutely no idea what Krusty had meant, but if that guy said it was all right, it probably was. He shrugged. Either way, the jobs Michitaka could do were limited.
Once Shiroe’s and Krusty’s destinations had been determined, the remainder fell to Michitaka. He ended up with the last one: Marquis Dalte’s dinner party.
“Here, I’ve had my domain’s most delicious beef brought for us. Feast to your heart’s content tonight.”
This welcome had come from Marquis Dalte. He was a middle-aged man whose expression was (in flattering terms) unaffected, or (if viewed spitefully) had something of the country bumpkin about it. His clothes were clean, of course, and of undeniably high quality, but they were simple, without any showy decoration. However, there was a supremely keen light in his eyes.
In real-world society, Michitaka was a mere office manager. However, in this other world, he was guild master of the Marine Organization, Akiba’s largest production guild and five thousand members strong. His guild members looked up to him as an understanding, older-brother type, but it took more than that to run an enormous guild. He wasn’t so dense that he couldn’t see through an aura like this one.
Even so, Michitaka returned the greeting affably, and Marquis Dalte showed him to his seat. The large table was meant for luxurious feasts, and seated around it was Marquis Dalte’s family.
His wife was still young; she was plump and quite a beauty. She might actually be a second wife. His oldest child was a willful-looking boy of upper elementary school age, and there was a young little sister as well.
“In these past two months, the food situation has changed, you see. We brought the foremost Chefs in our territory with us and went into this conference with enthusiasm.”
As they listened to Marquis Dalte, the dinner party began.
Marquis Dalte’s territory, the fortified city Mogami, seemed to be located in what would have been the Tohoku region in the old world. More accurately, in terms of the map Shiroe had drawn, it would have been in Yamagata.
The town’s population was about eight thousand, and no doubt it was, to borrow Marquis Dalte’s words, “the safest, most comfortable city in the region.” According to the information they’d received in advance, about a dozen villages, with this city at their center, followed Marquis Dalte.
The dinner party consisted of very lavish medieval European fare.
Michitaka wasn’t all that clear on the details, but it seemed a bit like French cuisine, in which the courses were brought out in small portions, one after another. However, in the fashion of this other world’s nobility, large platters of food were brought out as well, as if it were quite natural.
Meat roasted with plenty of herbs was presented, and Marquis Dalte carved it himself.
“This meat is said to be the finest in my territory. What do you think?”
“Mm, yes, it’s very good!”
Michitaka smacked his lips over the dish.
Calling it top-class certainly wasn’t a lie. It was tougher and more sinewy than the beef he’d eaten back in Japan, but in equal measure there was a rich, distinct wildness to the flavor. It tasted the way meat really should taste.
Marquis Dalte eagerly called attention to that flavor.
I see…
By now, “delicious food” had become an important term, one that influenced this world’s politics. The changes of these two months had transformed the world.
Like Marquis Dalte, all the lords seemed to have brought the best Chefs and ingredients of their regions. To them, this conference was a providential new chance. The discovery of a delicious specialty might bring even a small, weak territory wealth of a kind it had never seen before. In order to protect their power—and their honor—the great nobles had to pursue food that was a cut above anything the other nobles had.
Of course, previous Eastal conferences had probably featured this sort of ostentatious social rivalry as well, but now gourmet food had become a key strategy that was linked to imports, exports, and economics.
“There are many mountains around our town, and the terrain is rather steep. As a result, in addition to forestry and mining, our stock-farming is flourishing. Later on at tonight’s dinner, our prize boar will be making an appearance.”
The Marquis’s son had begun to squirm with anticipation; his expression made it clear that this was quite a delicacy.
As Michitaka savored these dishes, he listened attentively to what Marquis Dalte was saying.
He spoke of the climate and geography of the northeastern area of the archipelago, and of its various customs. Sometimes his wife joined in. To Marquis Dalte, no doubt this was a preliminary to business negotiations as well as an opportunity to boast about his homeland, but to Michitaka, it was valuable information.
The northeastern area of the archipelago seemed to be
a land of mountain ranges, embellished with mountains and forests. The mountains were green and lush; they held inexhaustible timber resources, and the rainfall was plentiful, which meant the land was blessed with many lakes and beautiful mountain streams.
There wasn’t much level ground, and most of what there was lay along the coast or in basins in the mountains.
In these cramped flatlands, they grew wheat and rice.
The spacious area that stretched from the northeastern region to the northern Kanto region was the heartland of Eastal, the League of Free Cities, and, as expected, one of its big problems was that monsters were rampant.
According to Shiroe and Roderick’s calculations, the total population of the “good” human races—the races Adventurers could choose to play as—was roughly one-hundredth the population of real-world Japan. However, this wasn’t necessarily synonymous with the number of intelligent beings. This world was also occupied by goblins, orcs, and other demihumans. They weren’t quite as intelligent as the human races, but they were sturdy and bred prolifically, and, most important, they were brutal and vicious.
These and other “bad” demihuman races also existed in this other world, and they had built many kingdoms and domains. On top of that, in their efforts to dominate the world, they warred and plundered endlessly, day and night.
The main force in the northeastern area of the archipelago was the goblins. Goblins were small demihumans; even when full-grown, they were only about 150 centimeters tall. They were skinny, short monsters whose roughly human shapes were stretched and twisted in ugly ways. They had a simplified tribal society, and they were divided among several roles.
The majority were Plunder Tribes who lived on the move, but some did establish main bases. This tendency was particularly common in the Tohoku region, and sometimes they built huge group meeting places which, at their largest, could have five-figure populations.
As with many demihumans, goblins’ chaotic breeding had resulted in deformed, subordinate tribes. Hobgoblins were one such variety. Fiercer than goblins, they were humanoid monsters with a fanatical sense of loyalty. They could use armor and weapons, and would fight to the death for their tribe.
Then there were high-level goblin Shamans who summoned ancestral spirits, used the undead, and controlled spirits. Goblin Tamers sometimes kept Owlbears, Hippogriffs, Dire Wolves, and other animals.
Individual goblins had lower combat power than a midlevel Adventurer, but as a force with diverse abilities, it wasn’t safe to take them lightly.
Naturally, these demihumans lived in slightly different areas from the human-controlled regions. Rather, in this case, it would be better to say that humans were desperately defending their territory from them. In the Tohoku region, it sounded as though they lived in the deep forests and mountains.
“But then, at that point, this— Yes, this great revolution occurred,” Marquis Dalte continued.
“First, the revolution brought huge changes to the food situation. As you know, the people of my territory have been completely captivated by the charms of this new food. There’s nothing to do about that.”
The marquis’s wife interjected, smiling wryly at her husband’s solemn words.
“Even you’re mad for pecorino salad and smoked boar meat, my dear. It’s not fair to talk as if only the people chasing after delicacies are idlers.”
As the marquis’s wife gave a charming giggle, Michitaka agreed amiably. “Yes, and besides, delicious meals add richness to the day. It’s a wonderful thing.”
“Ahem! Well, that may be true, yes. …In fact, even in my domain, since the revolution occurred, my people have been more energetic, and the pace of all sorts of production has picked up. The effect hasn’t shown in the rice yet. That particular grain takes a long time to cultivate, you know. However, the effect is already visible in livestock and vegetables. In specific terms, we’ve begun to raise and harvest them very carefully, to make them taste as good as we can. We also take more care not to damage them during transport.
Michitaka nodded. It made perfect sense.
“In order to purchase delicious ingredients, many of my people have developed a nose for profit. By raising something that tastes just a little bit better, then selling it at a high price, they can get various other ingredients… You see what I mean.”
As a production guild member, this was something Michitaka could understand readily.
“And so: Now the problem of transportation has come up.”
Michitaka considered this.
No doubt it had come up. In a region as mountainous as theirs, there were probably crops they couldn’t grow even if they wanted to. In any case, there were lots of crops that grew only in the southern regions. One such crop was sugar, which Michitaka and the others also had a difficult time getting.
Sugar was a specialty of the Nine-Tails Dominion, and since the Catastrophe, its rarity had made its price skyrocket.
Things had been different before.
No matter what ingredients were used, the resulting food had been of uniform quality and taste, so differences in ingredients had influenced nothing but the food item’s effect. …In other words, sugar had been treated a bit like medicine.
Well, food isn’t the word. That stuff was like energy bars.
But now it was different. There was growing demand for delicious ingredients, fresh ingredients, ingredients with variety.
In this simple other world, as a rule, people ate what they grew on their own land.
Transportation cost money and time. Transporting perishable foods was even harder. Still, seasonings and indulgence items would have to be imported from distant places. Exporting was the fastest way to get the money needed for importing.
In that situation, the monsters would cause the bottleneck.
When he thought of that, he understood why this noble would want to ask the Round Table Council to send military aid.
“Well, and I don’t think those of us in Mogami are the only ones hoping for this.”
Marquis Dalte shrugged his shoulders.
“Still, I hear that exploring just one mountain requires the investment of a unit of more than several hundred men. The military force needed to rid the northeastern islands of goblins would be astronomical. Akiba’s Round Table Council isn’t powerful enough to do anything about it. Unfortunately, if it had to be constant, I’m afraid we wouldn’t even have the manpower to guard the main roads,” Michitaka countered.
The idea of security activities for the whole region was utter nonsense. Given the population of this world, it wouldn’t be possible to secure that much territory. It was precisely because it wasn’t possible that humans lived in safe zones built around cities, areas like bubbles floating on the surface of an ocean filled with danger.
On the other hand, Michitaka’s words were a check as well.
He’d warned him off in advance, before the request to prioritize sending soldiers to his territory as quickly as possible, leaving the other lords’ territories for later, was actually made. He’d demonstrated that their position was that, if they were going to save someone, they’d save all the areas together. Since they couldn’t, they mustn’t meddle pointlessly.
The dinner party had already progressed to the dessert stage.
It wasn’t clear whether it was a local specialty or something they’d managed to achieve in the last two months, but the dish that was brought out to them was a type of sweet made with baked eggs. As Michitaka savored the simple, somehow nostalgic confection and strong Black Rose Tea, Marquis Dalte carefully broached the subject.
“No. We don’t necessarily need to exterminate the monsters. I’d actually wanted to ask you for something else. …Provision of the technology for marine transport.”
Michitaka stared in astonishment.
Marine transport. That meant the provision of a steam-powered ship.
Marquis Dalte’s proposal was to make imports and exports go smoothly without expending soldier
s on monster subjugation.
2
Inside the tent, the mood was gloomy.
To tell the truth, it was so bad it made it a bit hard to breathe.
In her sleeping bag, Isuzu stirred restlessly.
They’d been eating dinner up until a little while ago, and she could see the flames of the fire through the tent’s sailcloth, so she thought it was probably still only nine PM or so. In the old world, it would have been too early for bed, but out here in the wild, even if you stayed awake, there was nothing to do.
Even if there had been, she was limp and exhausted, and she didn’t feel like doing anything. That said, when she tried to sleep, sleep refused to come.
For the time being, she’d crawled into her sleeping bag, but she was just lying there worrying.
The interior of the tent was lit by a magic light, and her friends were there, organizing their packs.
“Nn…”
Isuzu turned her head toward them.
The one who was seriously working was Minori. Like Isuzu, Touya had crawled into his sleeping bag, and Serara was slumped in a corner of the tent. Rundelhaus was sitting cross-legged on top of his sleeping bag with his arms folded, looking irritated.
A heavy atmosphere hung over all of them.
This was only natural. The day’s expedition had been a disaster.
Isuzu’s party’s battle had turned into a melee, becoming a confused, long, drawn-out fight that had attracted more Skeleton reinforcements.
Fighting with their formation in disarray had done more than simply drain the entire party’s HP. It leeched away their MP, the special skills they’d been saving for later, and even their concentration. At the beginning of the battle, they’d had enough HP that they could have pushed through by brute force, but as things dragged on, they’d had to fall back on recovery spells.
However, since recovery spells were also limited by MP, it was inevitable that they would run out at some point.
Rundelhaus had complained—I’m taking huge damage because you can’t perform recovery properly!!—but from what Isuzu had seen, she thought their two healers, Serara and Minori, had done their best.
