The Gold-Eye Tribe and the Gold-Eye Tribe (1)
The Gold-Eye Tribe and the Gold-Eye Tribe (1)
More than two weeks had passed since I was last able to leave the barracks.
A muggy space wore a person down. Even with a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe body, enduring life with the foxes in one-hundred-percent humidity was hard.
Still, I wasn't in a bad mood.
Because once I endured this, it would all be over. If this level of discomfort was the price for obtaining highly enriched uranium, then so be it. I actually considered it cheap.
The three weeks Vermel had mentioned were nearly up. The rain was gradually weakening. The wind that had been howling in from the southwest had also lost much of its force.
-Whooosh
"I think we can move now."
I took off my raincoat for the first time in a while and stepped outside the barracks. I stretched and drew a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh air.
"Alright, everyone pack up!"
The fox beastmen broke camp with practiced efficiency, checking the remaining rations. Thanks to the fasting everyone had done, the preserved food was in ample supply. At least enough to last until we returned to the village.
The problem would be what came after.
"Then, we'll head out first."
"Mom, you follow slowly with my aunts and uncles!"
To reach Saliere territory quickly, I had to actively use my Gold-Eye Tribe body. I carried Frey on my back, packed only the bare minimum of equipment, and cut across the western forest.
A single day was enough to reach Pastrend village.
"...It's serious."
"I expected it, but... we can't live here like this."
The levee they had built up had definitely collapsed.
"What will you do? Want to stay at the territory with me?"
"Go where? This is my home. I'll restore it by myself, so you just go and give a proper report to the Count."
Frey spread both hands and began transmutation. She raised the collapsed fences back up, retrieved the guardian post that had been blown away by the wind, and planted it back at the village entrance. She also drew up earth and wood to construct several makeshift huts as a temporary measure.
With someone of her skill around, the village reconstruction would finish quickly. I left Frey there and headed for Saliere territory.
I found a drawbridge that was still relatively intact and crossed the river, and the western part of the territory came into view, just as severely damaged.
Along the main road, public officials in work clothes were gathering equipment with the villagers and carrying out flood recovery work. I passed them by and made my way toward the lord's mansion.
"Oh my, are you on your way back?"
A maid happened to be tending the garden at the mansion entrance, which had been wrecked by the typhoon. I greeted her and held out a letter I had kept against my chest.
"Yes. It took quite a while, didn't it?"
"Not at all, you're as diligent as ever, miss. But what is this letter?"
"I'd like to meet with Count Saliere. It's urgent."
Even if it was a friend's house, I couldn't just barge in. It was still someone else's home, so I figured I should observe proper manners like this.
"There's really no need for a letter.... I understand, though."
The maid took the letter and continued.
"By the way, your hair turned out really well. As I thought, black hair suits you much better, miss."
"Pardon?"
What was she suddenly talking about? As I stood there with a blank expression, the maid tilted her head, realizing the conversation had gone off track.
"Oh? Didn't you stop by Camilla's hair salon to have it bleached?"
"Bleached? Me?"
I had never dyed my hair once in my life.
"Yes. Since school starts again soon, I assumed you were rinsing out the dye before heading to the academy. Was I wrong?"
"I've never dyed it."
"That's odd.... In any case, I understand. I'll let the head of the household know, so please wait inside the house."
I sat down on one of the benches in the garden. I thought it would be rude to step inside the mansion without the head of the household's permission.
Above all, my reason for being here was negotiation. I had seen and heard enough to know that Count Saliere was a benevolent person, but you never knew.
No matter how outstanding a person's character was, they would always weigh profit and loss during a negotiation. I had to show the utmost courtesy I could for the fox beastmen to whom Frey belonged and for the other beastkin tribes. Otherwise, I wouldn't get the uranium.
[If you want to return to Earth, how about finishing your magic research first?]
"I'm doing both at once. Why are you nagging me?"
[I'm not nagging, it just seems like the cart is leading the horse.]
The reason was simple. After meeting that possessor, I had obtained one piece of bleak information.
─ The Demon King will be revived within one year at the earliest, and two years at the latest. This is an unavoidable fate.
If I didn't hurry things along starting now, this world would perish before I could return to Earth. To prevent that, I had no choice but to prioritize matters here.
"First, I'll make one like this as a stopgap, and for the rest, when I have time, I'll use Flare and...."
"Miss!"
I was contemplating two separate tracks for making a hydrogen bomb when the maid from earlier came running over, out of breath.
"The Count, it seems he's refusing to meet with you?"
What was this now? Had I heard her correctly?
"Hey, could you explain that so it makes sense...."
"It's literally as I said. I gave the Count your letter, and after thinking for a moment, he told another maid to summon you."
"Yes. And?"
"Didn't that maid come this way?"
"No?"
"Anyway! It seems that maid, the one who said she met you, told the Count something to the effect that the letter had been delivered in error! I'm truly sorry!"
What the hell. Was someone impersonating me?
There was no chance that other maid had lied. More precisely, she would have no reason to. Why would she risk getting fired by telling a lie like that?
Yet Vermel had never mentioned that another member of the Gold-Eye Tribe was in this area besides me. The only possibility was Jormungand, and she never came down from the mountain.
"It can't be helped then. May I go see him myself?"
"Yes! Please follow me!"
Ah, what a hassle. I should have just done this from the start.
**
Right after the typhoon had passed.
Count Saliere was shorthanded due to the volume of work. He had to constantly draft documents concerning the flood recovery and prepare petitions to receive disaster relief funds from the central government.
"Father, what should we do about the flooding at the Louvre Museum?"
"Hmm, did that place collapse too?"
The biggest issue among them was the museum.
The Louvre Museum, located within Saliere territory, boasted a considerable floor area ratio even by imperial standards. The museum played an important role in many ways, not just for the Empire but for the entire continent.
"If it's come to this, we'll have to move the sealing stone somewhere else until the damage is repaired."
The sealing stone, otherwise known as a Lodestone.
A thousand years ago, it was said that the Goddess Lequines divided the power of the Demon King, who had been defeated in the war against the spirits, and sealed it within five enormous magic stones.
The Demon King's power, after he had assassinated the Spirit King, was so tremendous that there was reportedly no method other than sealing. And then she decreed that humans and elves would divide the sealed Lodestones and guard them.
Red, blue, green, black, gold.
Among them, the red Lodestone was the sealing stone managed by the Empire's fire mages. Not many within the Empire knew that House Saliere was the custodian of the red Lodestone, a fact kept secret to avoid the eyes of the magic beasts.
"We cannot allow the Lodestone to be damaged by floodwater."
Count Saliere swiftly drafted and processed an official document to relocate some of the items within the museum.
He had no need to agonize over where to move the Lodestone. The only museum with a capacity rivaling the Louvre at the moment was the one at Tillet Academy.
"There, Lorwell. Take this to the museum director and get it stamped."
"Understood."
Just as Lorwell left, a maid entered. She bowed her head and held out a letter.
"What is this?"
"A letter sent by Miss Rote's friend."
"She's staying here; is there any need to talk through written correspondence?"
"I'm not sure."
The Count unfolded the letter. The contents stated that she had something urgent to discuss regarding typhoon damage and the beastkin, and asked him to find a suitable time and arrange a meeting.
"Curious. I'll just finish approving this and then have her called in."
A full thirty minutes passed by the time he had finished processing the rush work. The Count summoned the maid who had been waiting outside. A somewhat scatterbrained apprentice lady-in-waiting appeared, bowing her head.
"Bring me the girl from the Gold-Eye Tribe who is staying at our house."
"Ah, understood!"
Not long after, the maid returned, hemming and hawing, and plainly relayed what she had seen and heard.
"She says she never sent any such letter...."
"How strange."
She didn't seem like the type to play pranks like this. He was resting his chin on his hand, mulling over the discrepancy, when it happened.
-Knock, knock
─ Count, may I come in?
It was the girl's voice. Count Saliere nodded, and the maid waiting inside pulled open the office door.