Chapter 52
Chapter 52
* * *
The road from the Warp to the Nozen Grand Duke's Residence was quite long.
That was because Warps were usually not located near noble residences.
"Dinner is at an awkward hour."
Baron Forman murmured as he looked at his watch.
"Since we already sent word ahead that the east would host an evening banquet, how about we simply have dinner in the commercial district before going?"
After arriving in the west, Baron Forman had taken the lead in managing the situation.
Leopold was the heir of the grand ducal house, but Baron Forman was the eldest present and also Leopold's maternal grandfather, so it was only natural.
From our perspective, there was no reason to refuse.
"Yes, that sounds good!"
Alpheus nodded readily.
"I'll eat anything. And of course Brisa will too. Right?"
"Of course."
The escape—if it could even be called an escape—from the east felt like a distant dream.
Once we arrived in the west, everything seemed peaceful. Or at least, that was what I believed until then.
"Now, make a reservation at this restaurant at once."
Baron Forman handed a note to one of the servants and gave the order briskly.
What the note said was obvious.
'It probably says the Sears siblings are visiting, so take special care.'
Since it was a restaurant Baron Forman had personally chosen, it was certain to be extremely high-end.
Leopold likewise offered no particular opinion. That meant he approved.
"Then we'll meet in front of the restaurant."
And so Alpheus and I rode in the carriage sent from the Sears Marquis Residence, while Leopold and Baron Forman took a western carriage arranged near the Warp.
After riding for quite a while, we arrived in front of the restaurant.
"Welcome, Your Highness, Baron Forman."
The manager had come out, apparently having been contacted in advance.
"And I greet the esteemed guests from Sears."
As expected, everyone knew of our arrival.
Following the manager's guidance, we headed to a large table in the center of the topmost floor.
The restaurant staff began serving with practiced skill.
"......Something's a little......."
In any case, everything was fine.
But Alpheus furrowed his brow and warily scanned our surroundings.
"The atmosphere is......."
Everyone treated us with great courtesy, and the food was excellent.
Nevertheless, the atmosphere was strangely grim.
"Why?"
When I quietly asked, Alpheus whispered.
"I sense strange hostility. I can't explain it in words, but it's the kind of blatant hostility you can just feel......."
As expected, his senses seemed sharp from having spent so long on battlefields.
Leopold's expression had also stiffened slightly, as if he had felt it too.
I couldn't point to anything specific. But the customers in the restaurant were all looking at us with hostile eyes.
Some customers even got up and left without finishing their main courses as soon as we walked in.
'What is this? Even with Leopold here?'
And on top of that, we were direct descendants of House Sears.
People might stare at us, but there was no reason for them to avoid us like that.
Baron Forman also seemed to catch on around the time the main course came out, and whispered something to a servant.
But since no actual incident had occurred, we couldn't formally raise an issue.
However, when we all finished our meal and came out of the restaurant.
[Cursed Sears]
Someone had written in large letters, in blood, on the back of the carriage bearing the seal of House Sears.
[Get out of the west]
The coachman who had been guarding the carriage was pacing anxiously, wringing his hands.
"No, the horse suddenly started acting up! When I looked, there was a thorn stuck in its knee, and while I was pulling it out...... in that time, someone......."
Since the writing was on the back of the carriage, the coachman clearly hadn't seen who the culprit was.
Leopold gave the order with a rigid expression.
"Seal off the commercial district. Find the culprit."
His eyes, always calm even in the face of monsters, had sunk to a chilling depth.
"I will not let anyone who dares insult a guest of Nozen go unpunished."
"No."
I shook my head toward Leopold.
"It's useless."
"What do you mean?"
"Horses can't see well directly in front of them or at their feet."
"I know that too. They're also highly wary of strangers. So someone must have secretly driven a thorn into its front knee......."
"Right. One person drove a thorn into its front knee to divert the coachman's attention, and another wrote on the back. In blood, at that."
I spoke calmly.
"This is a main road, so there's no way there were no witnesses. But no one warned the coachman. In other words, everyone here sympathized with what they were doing. Catching the culprits would be pointless, and if your goal is interrogation......."
Then I turned and looked at the restaurant manager.
"You can just ask this man."
"Y-yes?"
"It was strange from the start. They normally give outsiders window seats. It's basic for sightseeing."
But the manager had guided us to a central table.
"That's especially true for a restaurant in a high location like this, with a good view of the commercial district's nightscape."
Our seats had even been on the top floor.
"In other words, he made sure we couldn't see the street during the meal."
At my words, the manager indeed turned pale on the spot.
"Th-th-that's!"
Leopold quietly fixed his gaze on the manager.
Then the manager dropped to his knees on the spot.
"I-I-I-I-I've done nothing wrong!"
He gasped for breath and pressed his head to the ground.
"I-I-I just...... I was only, o-o-only being especially, especially careful so that the m-m-meal would end without incident......."
"Calm down."
Leopold spoke coldly.
"Brisa didn't say you were the culprit. She said you would know the circumstances of this matter."
His golden eyes looked straight at the manager.
Until then, he had simply followed Baron Forman's lead without stepping forward, but now he clearly intended to take charge himself.
"Something I couldn't even have imagined has happened since I departed for the east this morning."
He commanded icily.
"Explain."
* * *
The Seldoche Plain was the widest land in the west, bordered by a river.
Wheat was grown on this plain.
The wheat produced in the west came in two main types: spring wheat and summer wheat.
Wheat was usually planted from late spring to early summer, but in the west there were varieties that could be planted in early spring and midsummer respectively, making two harvests a year possible.
Summer wheat was a unique variety that grew only in the western soil, and thanks to this summer wheat, the west always produced several times the amount of wheat its territory needed.
After Leopold dealt with the Monster Wave, the farmers of the Seldoche Plain sowed the summer wheat.
Even though the spring wheat crop had been ruined by the monsters, they had been able to hold out on the grain stockpiled in the storehouses.
Besides, the summer wheat could be harvested in about three months, so it was fine.
They had thought this winter would be bountiful again.
"But as Your Highness already knows, the summer wheat has not sprouted at all even now."
The manager explained with a sigh.
"If wheat cannot be produced on the Seldoche Plain, the west itself will be in danger. Our own storehouses are not always full, are they? And now that the Warp has been activated, people are buying up grain from all over. Far more than in an average year."
Indeed, our territory was not the only one that had experienced isolation and starvation.
Even if they had managed to endure somehow, they would be afraid that something like this could happen again.
If another Monster Wave like this spring's struck in winter and the Warp was cut off, then truly everyone would starve to death.
We had endured because it was early spring; if it had been winter, the story would have been different.
"It's only natural that people are anxious. I understand that His Highness, Grand Duke Nozen, has also gone to Seldoche."
Leopold, who had been listening, tilted his head and said.
"I know the situation is serious. But why should guests of Sears have to hear such things because of it?"
"Th-that is......."
The manager glanced at Alpheus, then continued in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Today, a mage from the Magic Tower finally came and said the soil had lost its ability to function as soil. They couldn't determine the exact reason, but said no crop would ever grow here again....... Since the Magic Tower's announcement, everyone has been in a panic."
I see.......
Just as in the original novel, the west's productivity had begun plummeting.
Leopold asked coldly.
"I suppose so. And?"
"You know the story that the 'Oath of the Founding Five Houses' was made on the Seldoche Plain, don't you? People believe that the 'oath' has been broken and a curse has fallen."
I narrowed my eyes.