The Long Vacation (4)
People tend to be remarkably ignorant about fields they have no interest in. Knowledge that’s common sense to A often draws a “So what exactly is that?” reaction from B. It’s not an uncommon occurrence.
Noble family names work the same way. Among aristocrats, announcing “I am so-and-so of such-and-such house!” naturally elicits responses like “Oh, I see. It is an honor to meet someone from the famous XX family”—though exceptions exist. To commoners, however, the usual reply is something closer to “Ah, I see. You’re one of those important people, then?”
From a commoner’s perspective, they rarely interact with nobles outside their local lord, but the sheer number of noble houses is also a problem. There are easily hundreds of aristocratic families scattered across the continent; expecting anyone to remember them all is unreasonable. Even I hadn’t memorized the names of every student attending the academy.
In that respect, the name Mars ranked among the more recognizable ones. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say nearly everyone on the continent had heard it at least once, and most imperial citizens would probably feel like they’d come across it before.
Aside from the fact that it was one of only two ducal houses in the empire—alongside the Levenstein family that had branched from the imperial line—the more important point was—
“They’ve been big spenders for generations.”
Inside the carriage heading toward the Mars Duchy, Ligret nodded at my explanation.
“Aah, I see. So they’re like you, Chrome. Throw money around for a few generations and sure, you’d get famous.”
“Exactly—wait, no!”
Hey, honestly, I haven’t done anything that actually qualifies as real money-wasting!
“Well, it’s true my brother tends to solve any problem that comes up with money first,” Fiore said, “but he weighs efficiency just as carefully.”
“So the Mars Duke is different?”
“Hmm. It’s hard to call it pure waste, but… he does pour funds into fields where profit is uncertain at best.”
Fiore paused briefly, as if choosing her words. Her hand gestures and facial expressions were masterful at drawing attention—if it was calculated, it was frightening; if it was natural, it was even more so.
“Investing in specialists in certain fields isn’t actually that unusual for people with both wealth and power. Blacksmiths and alchemists, for example, provide solid returns on investment. The demand for outstanding martial artists or mages is fairly high too, though that’s a slightly different matter.”
This continent ran on a class system, and I cursed it as filthy every single day. Yet even so, the line between upper and lower classes here was considerably blurrier than in the Middle Ages I remembered from my previous life.
Even if the nobility deliberately prevented the spread of magic techniques among civilians and pressured the Star God Church to limit taught magic to healing, defense, and a handful of other techniques, variables always emerged somewhere.
Some geniuses might independently master magic without a teacher. Retired magic users sometimes passed on their skills for personal reasons. An adventurer exploring a dungeon could hit the jackpot and obtain an incredible magic tool.
And commoner-born magic users who obtained such power were extremely awkward existences for the nobility. After all, if they oppressed the common people and some reclusive expert suddenly appeared and charged straight into the lord’s mansion, what were they supposed to do?
Normally, even a skilled fighter or two rushing in might be considered impressive if they could take down a few guards. But fully realized magic users were literal human weapons capable of slaughtering dozens of armed soldiers.
Hiring excellent warriors, requesting protective spells from skilled mages, or treating them well so they’d stay at the estate wasn’t a hobby—it was a desperate struggle for survival. Skilled blacksmiths greatly boosted a territory’s economy and military readiness, while the potions and various magic tools created by alchemists had endless practical value.
“What makes the Mars ducal family unique is that their investments are structured so they don’t receive clear benefits in return,” Fiore continued. “They pour money into alchemists or artisans with almost no track record at near-charity levels, feed and house mages and martial artists as honored guests, and occasionally donate huge sums to artists or writers. After investing that much, they don’t even bind most of them with contracts—except for those who voluntarily choose to stay—and simply let them go their own way. That sort of thing.”
“Not to go far, even the entire budget for this martial arts tournament is being covered by the Mars family,” Fiore added with a shrug.
Ligret muttered in disbelief.
“And they still haven’t gone bankrupt. Impressive.”
“The Mars Duchy itself is vast—and not just vast, but one of the empire’s most fertile granaries and prime territories that also serves as a major trade hub. There’s a rumor that during the old Barhart Kingdom days, the contemporary Mars Duke had accumulated too much wealth, so the royal family kept him in check. To avoid suspicion, he and his descendants supposedly began spending lavishly. The truth remains unclear, though.”
I turned my gaze out the window. The streets were as wide as those in the imperial capital. They lacked strict order, but that only made them more lively, and the faces of the people passing by were full of energy.
The claim that they patronized artists didn’t seem empty; the building walls were covered in various paintings that added to the splendor. Books that would normally be found in bookstores were piled high on street stalls, waiting for passersby to pick them up.
The whole territory felt festive—or perhaps more like one giant playground. Even I would probably feel completely at ease living in the domain of someone who openly hosted public arm-wrestling tournaments under his own name.
Normally, if a vassal gained too much popularity among the people it could be grounds for losing one’s head, but the current empire’s imperial authority—elevated by the previous emperor—pierced the very heavens. They didn’t need to worry about such things.
“Oh, are you students from the academy as well?”
The atmosphere wasn’t just on the surface. Even the tournament receptionist greeted us in an extremely friendly manner. Such casualness outside the academy was quite rare.
“You as well? Does that mean there are quite a few other students here?”
“Including you, there are over ten. Every one of them had confident expressions. The black-haired youth carrying two swords left the strongest impression.”
“That Crow guy, huh. Wait, but isn’t he from the Grand Duchy? Doesn’t he ever go home?”
The security was so friendly it bordered on sloppy. Not that knowing the participants would let anyone do anything with the information.
“Chrome Midas. Ligret. Do you need anything besides our names?”
“We’re only registering preliminary participants right now, so no need. If you make it to the main bracket we’ll verify personal details again. Honestly, it’d be a waste to record everything when some people might lose after a single fight.”
It was an efficient policy, if nothing else.
“Is it okay to say that right in front of the participants?”
“If you yourself admit you’ll probably be eliminated in the preliminaries, I’ll gladly apologize.”
What an excellent way to handle it. I should use that line myself if the chance ever came.
“That receptionist is pretty shameless. Kinda reminds me of Chrome.”
“Their personalities do seem rather similar.”
I can hear you, you know.
After finishing registration, the next place we headed was the Mars Workshop that we had visited once before. As Fiore had mentioned earlier, the territory itself was vast. Unlike the central streets that had been overflowing with festival energy, this area wasn’t particularly noisy.
There were no paintings on the walls here, either. Instead, burly men with quite fierce appearances crowded around the workshop. You could practically smell the sweat just looking at them from a distance.
“Dear customers! We’re currently overwhelmed with work, so smooth service is difficult at the moment. Please do not rush and wait patiently! We have plenty of weapons available for sale! We are also not accepting any custom commissions beyond the sale of existing stock! Those seeking production or repair requests, please visit other workshops!”
“Don’t give me that! We’ve been waiting in front of the door for dozens of minutes already! How much longer is it going to take?!”
“A blacksmith refusing to repair weapons? That’s ridiculous!”
“I’ll pay whatever it takes! I have a request that needs to be done quickly!”
“Please calm down!”
The clerk who had guided us last time had completely lost his previous neat appearance. With a reddened face, he was dealing with the tough-looking men, while several other staff members were desperately trying to manage the crowd.
“This looks like it could turn into an incident.”
“Hmm. If they knew this was a shop sponsored by the Duke, they probably wouldn’t cause trouble. But when people’s blood boils, they sometimes do unbelievably stupid things. There are likely people who only know it’s an excellent workshop but don’t know who the sponsor is.”
“But the name literally says ‘Mars’ right on it?”
“There is no limit to how low human intelligence can go, brother.”
That aside, how were we supposed to get through this crowd? Since the workshop had called for us, we probably wouldn’t be stopped at the entrance, but pushing through in this atmosphere would be like fanning the flames of a burning house… Huh?
“Move.”
“Huh? Who the hell is this kid?! Who do you think you’re—”
The next instant, the bald man who had raised his voice at Ligret flew into the air. Because he was wearing metal armor, he crashed down with a loud clang. That impact probably wasn’t going to be absorbed at all.
When the thud sounded from behind, everyone who had been shouting while facing the workshop turned their heads at once. Standing before them, Ligret spoke again.
“You’re in the way. Stop blocking the path and move.”
I clutched my forehead.
“Could you at least pretend to try solving things peacefully…?”