Chapter 107 — Contact (4)
Chapter 107 — Contact (4)
"...Mmm..."
It was the chancellor, accustomed to Roan's questions, who cut off the Lord of the East Yellow Territory's bewildered groan.
"They are the empty lands east and south of Evirgio, Your Majesty."
"Hm."
It was a memory already more than half a year old and fading bit by bit, but originally Roan had been a wastrel with no interest in politics.
The chancellor simply smiled at the now-distant past.
"Is it not simply wasteland?"
"It is an old name. There are stories attached to it as well. But they are precisely that—only stories."
"This is not something to dismiss so lightly, Chancellor."
That cool voice seemed to reproach the chancellor's casual words.
If Aranya had been before his eyes,
she might have gazed at the grand duke with an expression that smiled but did not smile.
The Duke of the Desert spoke gravely.
"The Corrupted Land is steadily expanding. Not as a story—in reality. The desert is growing,
and the grasslands of the East Yellow Territory are shrinking."
Roan rested his chin on one hand and sank into thought.
It seemed there was a difference in temperature between the Lord of the East Yellow Territory, who ruled Evirgio's farthest periphery, and the chancellor at the center of the capital when it came to accepting this matter.
"Duke."
Roan quietly addressed the Lord of the East Yellow Territory.
"My knowledge is shallow, and I know little of the Corrupted Land. I suspect you know it best. Will you tell me?"
This was a council called to reveal the emperor's objective and assist it.
Yet the chancellor, after hearing only a few words, pressed the point without hesitation, and the emperor answered the question as if it were nothing.
The duke even admired how the emperor, when he did not know something, asked without a trace of shame.
'This is no small thing.'
There were plenty of people who flew into a rage the moment their ignorance was exposed. The higher one climbed in power, the truer that became.
They would attack the speaker to deflect the arrow,
or raise their voice and crush dissent with authority.
Those whose temper was not quite so rash, or who lacked power, concealed their inadequacy through relatively mild means.
Silence and feigned knowledge were useful tools of communication.
To admit ignorance
was that difficult a thing.
Yet the emperor did exactly that.
'Why would such a person, until now.'
The duke's doubt only grew.
If His Majesty, who possessed such profound hidden depths, had until recently swung his sword and acted without concern for politics, there must surely be a reason.
But now was not the time to dwell on it.
"They say the Corrupted Land is where a demon was sealed long ago, after a battle between gods and demons."
"Oh..."
The Lord of the West Blood Territory could directly observe Roan's intrigued expression.
An attitude as if hearing a tale that every demon child knew for the very first time.
A little odd, but since it was hard to readily picture the former emperor or former empress reading fairy tales aloud, the grand duke understood without suspicion that Roan might not know the old stories.
"But the people of the East Yellow Territory say this: that sealing is not complete."
"Do you mean that the demon's power... or something of the sort corrupted the land?"
It sounded like a far-fetched story,
but the duke answered seriously.
It was not so surprising, really.
The crystal in Roan's hand was likewise an unbelievable object that belonged only in stories.
"That is correct, Your Majesty."
The map he had seen in the game was naturally centered on the Hero and Merde. The lands beyond Evirgio had not even been drawn.
Merde was bordered by sea and duchies on three sides.
To the east lay Evirgio.
Then what lay beyond Evirgio?
Looking back, geographical texts merely noted that there was wasteland, never specifying what exactly existed there.
For reference, in the game, the outside of the map had been blocked by invisible walls.
But this was reality, so surely that was not the case here.
"Have you ever gone there?"
"I attempted it, but it is impossible. The direction across the desert toward the Corrupted Land is blocked by a transparent barrier."
"Ah... Hm."
He turned his startled exclamation into a dry cough.
...So that could actually happen.
Truly a fantasy world.
"And the desert that began from that barrier is growing ever wider as time passes."
"Then, Duke, do you truly believe the desert's expansion is caused by the Corrupted Land?"
"I do, Chancellor."
"...Forgive me, Duke. It is not so much that I distrust your word... rather, the evidence sounds too much like an old fairy tale."
Aranya spoke candidly to the duke.
Roan smiled faintly.
Oh dear.
I, too, had to tell an old story—though my evidence was, to be precise, a setting book.
Moreover, the cause was the Corrupted Land.
They said that bestowing a priest's blessing could prevent rapid soil exhaustion.
'The Dark Forest Seed's' crystals had reacted to holy power.
He had a feeling that perhaps those crystals, or even that 'Seed' itself, might have been created in connection with divine power.
Though it was still only a leap of logic.
"In the capital, or in the West Blood Territory, you would scarcely feel it. But if you were to stop anyone among the people of the East Yellow Territory and ask, you would likely hear much the same account."
He could not use [Attentive Hearing] on the Lord of the East Yellow Territory's voice transmitted through the magic orb,
but simply hearing it was enough to know that his words carried grievance and sorrow.
"I believe the Corrupted Land is gnawing away at our Evirgio."
"Hm."
The languid-faced emperor, who had been quietly stroking his chin, seemed to sink into thought for a moment before soon opening his mouth.
"I do not think the duke's words are wholly fanciful."
No sound was heard,
but at the very least, Roan could infer what expressions the other two wore from the face of the grand duke sitting before him.
The grand duke stared blankly at Roan.
His eyes filled with questions.
Roan fixed his gaze on the box sealed by Helen's divine magic.
Inside were the crystals Roan had brought.
Fragments of crystal taken from a cave at the edge of the Dark Forest during a morning walk.
"Do you know the story of the 'Dark Forest Seed'?"
Roan recounted the tale thus far to the two great lords and the chancellor.
The old story attached to the 'Dark Forest Seed'.
The story (bordering on conviction within Roan's heart) that crystal from a 'Seed' capable of growing such a forest might possibly restore the land.
The story that,
based on the forest elves' account
(though in truth he had learned it from the setting book),
he had sought a cave with a mineral vein,
and the crystal discovered there reacted only to Roan's own power.
This much alone was probably already a little difficult for the chancellor and the duke to take in.
On top of that, he could not bring himself to add that his power was in fact divine power.
The time to reveal it would come soon enough.
Even if the Demon King himself said, "My power is sacred power granted by the Goddess"...
who would believe him?
"Then... Your Majesty is truly saying... that you have secured that crystal?"
"Mm."
"Magnificent, Your Majesty."
At the chancellor's joyful voice, Roan shrugged.
"Hm."
"Is that why Your Majesty instructed us to locate a researcher in advance?"
The duke's voice was tinged with admiration.
"Indeed. A wizard, an apothecary, or anyone else will do. The objective is one. To use this crystal to restore the soil's fertility and produce a meaningful result for Evirgio's agriculture."
And Roan added one more line.
The sort of remark a superior makes that subordinates hate to hear.
"The sooner, the better. This year's spring is not far off."
A moment of silence.
The first to speak was Aranya.
"What of Lady Erenier?"
But Roan shook his head.
"Erenier will come to Basel after spring. If no results emerge by then, that is one thing, but I wish for some progress before that."
Any wizard or apothecary who would actually do the work probably would have jumped at those words.
Experiments and research did not proceed simply because one urged them.
But Roan had reasons he could not retreat from.
In any case,
people had to keep eating to live.
By this year's spring planting.
Even at the very latest,
if a result allowing the use of the crystal ore emerged by late summer, when winter wheat could be sown, Evirgio's food situation could change markedly.
Several renowned wizards and apothecaries were recommended. But it was not easy for all three nobles to agree.
Knowledge and experience were not the only factors.
Trust.
They required someone tight-lipped enough to keep the emperor's words secret, and trustworthy in the eyes of all three nobles.
At the very least, all three seemed to wish to avoid a situation where a particular faction gained power through this.
The conversation stretched longer than expected, and just as Roan's own deliberations began to deepen.
The Lord of the West Blood Territory, who had been silent for a long while, opened his mouth.
"As I mentioned previously, I recommend that you work with the Count of the North White Territory."
"...The Count of the Dark Pit, is it? ...Hm. I see."
The chancellor's quiet voice.
Even though a great lord's name had come up, the chancellor's voice was unexpectedly favorable.
The Lord of the East Yellow Territory also reacted positively.
"If it is the count. Hm. The Lord of the North White Territory. Unexpectedly, that seems quite good. Grand Duke."
"The basis?"
The reaction was better than he'd thought?
There must be a reason why even Aranya, a central noble wary of territorial lords, concurred, and why the Lord of the West Blood Territory and the Lord of the East Yellow Territory, who during the front-line lords' council had not seemed particularly cordial toward one another, reacted this way.
To Roan's question, the Lord of the East Yellow Territory gave a somewhat unexpected answer.
"The most famous facility in Dos, the largest port of the North White Territory, is its quay wall."
"Quay wall?"
"A place for mooring ships, I am told. A place for mooring large vessels. A type of dock."
"And?"
"The quay wall of the North White Territory is said to float."
"...Pardon?"
Roan's expression subtly shifted.
"Did you not say it was a dock?"
"And the one who built it is the Lord of the North White Territory."
As if voicing Roan's own difficulty in following the duke's words, Aranya's question came next.
"I have heard that. That the dock floats, so even the great merchant ships of Arteala come and go with ease. Are you saying that is the count's work?"
"Yes. The count enjoys invention."
"Hm."
It grew more and more interesting.
A light flickered in Roan's violet eyes.
"The enlargement of the port after the change in the Lord of the North White Territory is largely to his credit."
The Lord of the East Yellow Territory coolly stated the Lord of the North White Territory's merit.
"I heard that the reason the Artealan merchant ship transported an immense quantity of wheat so swiftly this time is because a task that would normally take people several days was resolved in an instant by structures and devices devised by the Lord of the North White Territory."
"...That is so. I heard that the Lord of the North White Territory greatly improved Dos's facilities."
If even the chancellor echoed those words,
the Lord of the North White Territory was not someone who merely enjoyed killing people with magic, it seemed.
Devising and constructing facilities... was it.
It was such a completely different image from the brief sketch of him that he'd held that it honestly did not quite register.
The Count of the North White Territory that Roan had imagined
was an inscrutable bastard who did not care whether a hundred or a thousand soldiers weaker than himself died.
But if it was port facilities...
Ultimately,
the ones who used them were not nobles but ordinary commoners.
It was a conception difficult to arrive at without interest in their lives.
"Is he trustworthy?"
The weight of Roan's question was considerable.
Then the grand duke, who had been quietly listening to the chancellor and the Duke of the East Yellow Territory speak, answered.
A smile had risen to his face.
"Your Majesty. The count is unexpectedly simple."
"Hm?"
He had seemed completely uninterested in politics,
To hear this from the grand duke—who in the footage Erenier had secretly recorded had looked so politically indifferent as to seem almost guileless—was truly unexpected.
"Simple how?"
"When the count sees something interesting, he charges at it without looking forward or back."
A wary light entered Roan's eyes.
As if guessing what he was about to ask, the grand duke gave a wry smile.
"Of course, what we consider interesting and what the count considers interesting are occasionally different matters."
"...Do tell."
"He is a man obsessed with his own strength. He forms no factions. He takes pleasure in growing strong alone, and he seems to think that anything which obstructs that is entirely unnecessary."
The Lord of the North White Territory did not greatly enjoy deep communication with others.
Thus, although the grand duke's moments with the count were brief and their conversations short,
the great lord's insight—born of battlefield experience and the years he had lived—was sufficient to grasp the man.