Be Careful You Don't Go Extinct, Either (4)
In historical dramas, kings slip out in ordinary disguise to inspect their realms, don't they? The Dragon King of the East Sea, it seemed, was no different.
"Child of the land, how commendable you are. Surveying this place even on a weekend, are you?"
"I wanted to understand it before I began any design work. Drag— no, sir. What brings you out here?"
"Remain only in the palace, and one inevitably grows estranged from the lives of the people. From time to time, I go among them in disguise."
A shadow settled over the Dragon King's kindly face.
"In a slump such as this one especially, I come out often, to take the measure of the people's hearts."
…There was a recession down here, too?
Our own world's economy wasn't exactly thriving. Hard times all around, then.
"Might I ask why business is so poor?"
"There are many reasons, but the greatest is the downturn in our core industry—smelting."
The Dragon King went on, explaining in detail.
Smelting. In a world ruled by the sea, one of the few uses left for dry land.
"Our East Sea Kingdom operates an entire island as a foundry."
Amphibious peoples—turtles, terrapins, and the like—worked metal ashore, he said.
"As the specialty of the East Sea Kingdom, we can shape it harder than anything else, or more finely."
They forged reinforced alloys with dragon scales worked into the metal, and ground coral to make beautiful ornament. An advantage that set the East Sea Kingdom apart from every other nation.
"Do you have any sense of why a core industry like that fell on hard times?"
"…It must be, I suppose, that an age of peace has come."
"Peace?"
"Yes."
…Not the answer I had expected.
The Dragon King wore a briefly bitter look, then added an explanation.
"What do you suppose is the surest demand for metal?"
"Hmm… making all sorts of everyday goods? Kitchenware and the like."
"Ha ha. That matters as well. But cheap household wares do not yield much profit. The field in which the East Sea Kingdom's smelting brought in its greatest revenue was, you see—"
He let the pause hang, then dropped the last of it in a darkened voice.
"The arms industry."
War. The territorial squabbles once waged by the many lesser nations around them. The East Sea Kingdom, he said, had exported spears, swords, and other weapons to those states.
"But then the two-power order—our East Sea Kingdom and the West Sea Kingdom—hardened into place."
Once those centers of force took shape, the jostling among the surrounding countries was sorted out as well.
"It is good that we found peace. But as war dwindled, so too did the export of weapons."
A truly unpleasant principle of the market.
Even so… munitions can't be the only use for a smelting industry.
The market was full of splendid metalwork, too. I remembered an East Asian art history lecture—how, in some Chinese dynasty, porcelain had been a major source of state revenue.
"The crafts seem well developed here as well. Would it be difficult to grow that side of things?"
"Yes. Luxury goods were once quite a substantial source of income. And yet."
The Dragon King pointed to a shop along the street.
"These days, a plain style at a low price is the fashion."
A metal teacup worked over with elaborate chasing had been shoved into a corner, while simple cups filled the whole of the central display.
"More and more, people simply do not bring ornaments into their homes at all."
…Minimalism was trending here, too?
It took the human world by storm for a while.
I remembered the incident where a classic luxury brand swapped in a plain logo, got thoroughly roasted, and restored the old one.
"For reasons such as these, the common folk are suffering."
Only then did the market look different to me. Tok, tok—the sound of a duster beating empty air. Merchants' footsteps, dragging without strength.
This place… was struggling, too.
"That is why we mean to build a land base. The coming ice age has left us short of territory and resources alike, and a state undertaking will breathe life back into the market."
Hup.
This project… was more important than I had thought.
Like the building of the pyramids in ancient Egypt, or the dams raised in America during the Great Depression—the effect on the people could be enormous. The fact that the island they meant to develop overlapped with the West Sea Kingdom's… was it really all right to leave them in the dark about it?
I traded a look with Hena. Once I saw her give a small nod, I carefully broached it with the Dragon King.
"By any chance… are you aware that the West Sea Kingdom is also trying to build a land base on the same island?"
"…What did you say?"
I explained the whole of it to the Dragon King, who seemed too startled for words, and a deep furrow cut between his brows.
"Those barbarians of the West Sea, throwing obstacles in our path at every turn."
The king of the East Sea Kingdom shut his eyes tight, face twisted in displeasure. For a moment he simply stayed like that.
…Then, utterly at odds with his usual air, he opened his eyes with a sharp gleam and spoke.
…….
Aaaagh, why did he suddenly floor it like that?!
No. No, no, no!
He'd looked so mild, and then this was when he showed that insane resolve?! Was this what it meant to sit at the head of a great power?!
Thinking back to world history class in my school days, human history was full of wars begun on every sort of pretext. Whatever one made of the results, one thing was certain. Inside them lay someone's vast tragedy—the tragedy of a person living through that age—too great to be converted into figures of profit and loss.
Isn't this the ruling class reaching for war as a lazy way to solve their own country's problems?
Think harder. Find another way!
Hena, who lived in the borderlands, seemed to feel as I did, and she tried to talk the unhinged Dragon King down.
"Please look with care upon your people, who are already suffering as the ice age draws near."
Tok, tok. The troubled king, arms folded, tapped the crook of his elbow with a forefinger.
"…Yes. That, too, is a fair point. I shall take it under consideration."
Whew. The Dragon King soon returned to his earlier gentle manner of speaking. I supposed I ought to be glad he was still a man one could reason with.
"……."
He had said as much, but whether he would turn around and push ahead however he pleased, no one could know. Blair was the same. People in power always did exactly as they liked!
"And yet…"
His brief brooding finished, the Dragon King's gaze had already turned to me.
He'd stared at me pretty hard yesterday, too. …Had I said something that rubbed him the wrong way?
"Child. Have we met before? Your face is somehow familiar."
…Had I met the Dragon King?
An ordinary South Korean office worker, living in the twenty-first century?
"Not that I recall. Might it be someone who resembles me… or someone else entirely?"
"Hm. Is that so. Very well."
The conversation ended on that, and we bowed politely to the Dragon King.
"May your hours be pleasant."
Watching Master To wave an arm with fond affection as he receded alongside the Dragon King, we checked our next destination.
"I think we've seen enough of the East Sea Kingdom. Shall we head for the West Sea Kingdom?"
"Yes, let's be off!"
As before, we boarded a sea-turtle bus and made for the border. We passed out through the walls of the East Sea Kingdom, submitted to inspection at the entrance of the West Sea Kingdom, and at last were able to cross into the territory ruled by Poseidon.
"They're strict about searching belongings today, too."
"It's probably because relations between the two kingdoms aren't very good."
A magnificent stretch of the Undersea World opened across the West Sea Kingdom. Great, heavy buildings of stone had been raised there.
The opposite of the East Sea Kingdom, which was splendid and yet delicate.
Besides the buildings, enormous things like sea serpents could be seen swimming about. Reins and saddles—livestock, maybe?
"Looks like animal husbandry is well developed in Poseidon's country."
"Pardon? I haven't heard of it as any particularly famous industry. The West Sea Kingdom is widely known for civil engineering."
Fair enough. To raise stone buildings of that scale and weight, the foundations would have to be solid. And this was inside the sea, no less.
"They also say Poseidon, king of the West Sea Kingdom, has taken part in the building himself. It seems they grew it into a state enterprise on the back of that know-how."
I remembered what had come up when I asked Vanta Bot about Poseidon.
As punishment for rebelling against Zeus, Poseidon is said to have built the walls of Troy.
That eternal number two…
No wonder a complex had taken root…….
"But why did you think animal husbandry was developed in the West Sea Kingdom, Mr. Lee-hyun?"
"Ah, because of those huge sea serpents over there. They've got reins and saddles, so I thought they might be livestock."
Hena looked where I pointed, and her blue face went pale.
"…They are animals the warriors of the West Sea Kingdom ride in battle, yes."
Aha. The way knights in fantasy films fought astride dragons, down here they rode sea serpents.
"Why are they loose and out there? They're normally penned in caves and raised inside."
…….
What?
The sense for ill omen that had been sharpening day by day since I started at Vanta Design gave a nasty prickle. The timing was impeccable—because the moment Hena finished explaining, my eyes met those of one of the giant serpents.
"……."
Before I knew it, that sea serpent, as if it had found prey, was cleaving the current.
…And swimming straight for us, like a shot.
"Aaaah! Run!"
We broke into a run with Hena's scream.
KWA-GWAGWANG—
Where the sea serpent's massive body swept through, only ruins remained. A living calamity.
…If war broke out, things like that would smash every house to pieces.
The thought lasted only a moment. Time to worry about anyone else vanished fast, because the distance between us and the sea serpent was closing quickly…!
Tock. Tock.
Already, the click of the sea serpent's teeth came from right behind us. A chill ran the length of my spine—and in that instant:
"Here! Get in this way!!"
Far off, a hatch set into the floor flew open, and something was waving a hoof!
No time to think…!
Fear of the sea serpent right in front of me outweighed fear of the unknown. I yanked the Thread of Ariadne from my messenger bag, wound the thread tight around one arm, and caught hold of Hena with the other.
Verbal Command
"Head for the hoof inside the bunker!"
Whoosh—
Chwararak!
A hoof seized the golden thread that shot outward, and we were hauled in as if dragged, pulled down into the underground bunker.
Thunk!
The instant the bunker door shut, a vibration like thunder hit us.
KUGUGUGUNG—!
It was the resonance of the sea serpent passing overhead.
"Hah—hah—"
"Huuuk…"
For a while we sat collapsed on the ground, catching our ragged breath.
An underground lit only by dim lamps. What my eyes, finished adapting to the dark, made out was…
…the goat-fish I had seen before?
"Capricornus!"
Hena called brightly toward the half-goat, half-fish. The same one who had explained the commission on Poseidon's side last time—the one who had seemed close with her.
"Good grief, what kind of mess did you get dragged into. I was going to come find you later anyway. There's something I need to tip you off about."
"What is it?"
The goat's head glanced my way for a moment, hesitated, and at last opened his muzzle.
…In a dark voice, full of worry.