Lily's Special Trait: If You Give, She Takes
Besk Lonhadia, Duke.
No—having become a duke, Besk clutched his aching head.
He had once enjoyed the sturdy backing of the Magus Duke, but when that man fell from grace, his reliable lifeline rotted into a frayed rope in an instant. Stripped of his weapon, of trust, and ultimately of his family's name and lands, Besk had all but given up on everything.
No longer one of the Eight Swords, he found the hand Lily Elbrit extended to him impossibly sweet. She restored his title, granted him the right to protect his household, even returned his weapon—and in exchange, the only thing she wanted from him was a single task.
Just govern the territory that became a principality, and govern it well.
It was work Besk had always done anyway, so he accepted and threw himself into the administration with diligence. And then…
"What in the world is this?"
Lily, who had vanished without a word after leaving everything in his care, showed up one day and handed him a proposal. A plan for securing land and constructing an Academy.
He didn't bother asking why she needed to build one when the territory already had an academy. The owner of this principality was Lily Elbrit, and he was in no position to do anything but bow when told to bow. Besides, apart from the Imperium Academy in the imperial capital, the academies in noble territories were mostly for show—aristocratic children enrolled at the Imperium Academy regardless of what their homelands offered. And Lily would be handling roughly seventy percent of the construction with magic herself.
Fine. All of that was fine, but—
"Find a mana stone that regenerates its own mana?"
Where in the world did such a thing exist?
Besk felt his common sense pack its bags and walk out.
Ordinary mana stones simply turned back into plain rocks once the mana within them was spent. He could believe in a stone with an enormous reserve, or one that drained slowly and held firm—but a stone that regenerated? There was no such thing.
'There is. There is, which is why I'm telling you to find one.'
'And why is that, exactly?'
'There used to be, in the past. So go find it for me.'
"……"
So what on earth was that supposed to mean?
Even buried in work, Besk eventually swallowed the bitter pill and sent word far and wide—until, at long last, he actually found one. The problem was…
"…Of all places."
It wasn't on the continent. It was far away, across the sea, in unknown lands.
After the finals ended, I had a short drinking session with Yena, and just as I was about to head straight to bed, a message arrived.
A Deoen message synced to my phone. I logged straight into Deoen, made my way quickly to the principality, and received his report.
"Blue-Red Stone?"
"That's correct."
Blue-Red Stone True to its name—the blue-red stone—it was a mineral found not on the continent but across the sea. We'd only learned of its existence a few months ago, when the lands beyond the ocean were discovered. Its mana capacity was higher than other minerals', though not overwhelmingly so. But it possessed one special property that no other mana stone had.
"As you specified, the mana regenerates near-permanently even after being consumed. The stone itself is also of excellent quality."
"It's not the one I was originally looking for… but that works out. Please secure it for me."
"There is, however, a problem."
"Which is?"
Instead of answering, Besk handed me a magically sealed document. Inside was information about the natives.
Most of the land where the Blue-Red Stone was found belonged to the Blue Ones, the Venatus. Every individual of the species was Level 120 or higher, and the one called the "Chieftain" in particular boasted abilities approaching Level 150. Monsters that should never have appeared until after the Great Cataclysm. By all rights, monsters that strong weren't supposed to surface for years yet.
But according to Yena, Sword God had been stirring up every corner of the world in his obsessive scramble to level up, and a few high-level monsters had ended up emerging months ahead of schedule. They were field monsters, dwelling in the open wilds rather than dungeons, yet reportedly more intelligent than most humans…
For the record, it was a species that had never existed in the past.
"Hmm… Still, they sound like perfectly good trade partners. Aren't they capable of commerce?"
"They are intelligent. Which is precisely the problem."
"?"
"When we sent trade merchants into their lands, they demanded some absurd proof of legitimacy and toyed with the merchants for sport. We sent elite escorts alongside them, and apparently two children ran circles around the entire party."
If I recalled correctly, the elite of the Lonhadia household were around Rank 300 caliber. And those men had been played like fiddles by two children. Besk ground his teeth.
I stared at him evenly.
"Did they make it back alive?"
"They did. After thoroughly humiliating us, the children tossed them two Blue-Red Stones the size of a fingertip and took three chests of gold—the price of several hundred palm-sized mana stones, mind you."
"So where are the Blue-Red Stones now?"
"In that box over there."
I lifted one out of the neat little case. It certainly looked fine… but it was far too small. Even with permanent regeneration, the total mana in a Blue-Red Stone wasn't overwhelming. To run the device smoothly, I'd need thousands of times this much at the very least.
"I really do need a great deal of them to make any use of it."
"…It would be an investment, yes, but the losses sting. Above all, their attitude is unbearably insolent."
"Hmm…"
"What will you do? If I may offer my opinion, it might be better to look for a different mana stone—"
"No need. Thank you for your work, Duke Besk. I'll handle this matter myself."
"I beg your pardon?"
I closed my hand around the Blue-Red Stone. A gem that had given up every drop of its mana without losing a shred of its luster. Even now, the mana within was slowly, steadily refilling.
"It seems those who dared look down on Elbrit's envoys are in need of a lesson."
"…Do you intend to declare war?"
"War? Goodness, no. I absolutely hate war, you know?"
"……"
I would simply teach them. What happens to those who underestimate Elbrit.
The Elbrit Principality—once the Lonhadia Duchy—sat in the north. And the lands of the Venatus, my destination this time, lay even further north, past the sea. The problem was that Elbrit didn't share a border with the ocean at all. All four sides of its territory were walled off by other kingdoms, and three of those—everything except the north—belonged to the Empire. A natural consequence, given that the principality had broken away from imperial rule.
Since the nation's merchant vessels had to move, we'd be paying an ally or another country for port access—and the continent's seas were gripped tight in the Empire's fist. Having just kicked the Empire where it hurt, there was no way we could use imperial ports. I considered owing a favor to the Angel Guild's northern alliance, but as it happened, there was a kingdom that already maintained friendly relations with the principality.
"Hello, Lady Lily."
A viscountcy of the Lusua Kingdom, which bordered the northern sea. And the lord of that viscountcy was…
"It's been a while, Lady Redberry."
Redberry. A ranker hovering around the top 100 who attended my lectures and wielded flame magic. She'd joined my team in the Mock Siege Battle and won the whole thing, and during the Yena incident she pulled off a surprise upset, defeating Vlack in a one-on-one duel.
'Though at her current level, she'd lose a hundred times out of a hundred to him.'
That was only under balanced conditions. With no restrictions whatsoever, Vlack was genuinely strong.
Red-haired and red-eyed, she wore not her usual mage's garb but an aristocratic crimson dress. When I stared at her outfit, she spoke up.
"I'm, um, visiting in my capacity as the Viscountess of Tere, so I thought I should dress a little more formally."
And more importantly—
"Our king has been absolutely desperate to meet you. To catch your eye, I mean."
"I see."
The Lusua Kingdom, Redberry's home, was a small realm with modest territory. Despite being a kingdom, it was less than half the size of Elbrit, whose lands had started as a mere duchy. It had originally been one of the first kingdoms trampled under the Empire's banner during the war, but thanks to my negotiations with the Grand Duke, its territory had been restored. To Lusua's king, I was practically a savior.
"So, while I'm catching the king's eye anyway—"
"I hadn't planned on anything, but if you're offering, I'll gratefully accept."
"…? Did I ever say I'd prepared a gift?"
"You didn't?"
"Er… well, I did, but."
Redberry, mid-gesture as she reached into subspace magic for a box, froze for a beat. Whether she hadn't anticipated this reaction, she hesitated a moment before setting the box down. Chests of gold coins and assorted jewels. They looked meticulously prepared, the quality excellent. This would easily cover the market price of all the Blue-Red Stone I needed.
Saved me some money.
"Let's be off. I'll help you with your training along the way."
"Uh, um… yes, of course…"
The journey had begun.