In the end, I ‘returned’ to Tsige one week after the torturing night.
What’s the scary part? That the heat of Asora isn’t showing signs of stopping.
It is like the next day after a much anticipated international sports match in a big stage that managed to nail a big turnaround victory.
That’s the kind of tension it still has.
At the entrance of Lorel, after we departed from the country through the nostalgic eastern gate of Mizuha where many people saw us off, we would show up to random settlements to leave proof that we were moving as we returned.
PRG (According to Ginebia-san, it is the unofficial abbreviation of Picnic Rose Garden) have reached Tsige a long time ago, and can already have lively interactions with the adventurers and the soldiers who were former adventurers.
The result from the report of Tamaki about the charm perfume’s evil and the spread in Tsige was that there’s no problem.
Our employees made contact with Vivi-san, and after checking the members thoroughly, not a single one of them seemed to be people under the influence of Tomoki.
According to the memories of Shii herself, in her fierce fight with a male assassin called Ryoma, the charm had been ‘passed’. Not infected, but in the sense of moving.
The reality of it was that the charm effect that had taken root and grown inside of Ryoma had been thrown just like that into Shii.
…Whether it is a spell or a curse, there’s a lot of variations.
It seems like the memories of Ryoma in question are muddy, but he somewhat understood that he was charmed.
He was pretty sullen.
His memories are still there after all.
Looks like at that time when he made contact with the three girls that I killed, he was hit by that perfume.
That’s why they were able to easily get to Mizuha.
So they managed to create an ally within the mercenary group.
It seems like he was gathering top secret information of PRG to present to Tomoki and the Empire, but before he managed to go outside to spread the perfume and maneuver secretly, their conflict with us began, and he lost his timing to leave the base which was fortunate.
He managed to not commit any big sins aside from switching over the charm to Shii.
…In my opinion, that is still quite the hefty sin, but he promised that he would be putting 200% of himself for the mission in Tsige, so I decided to keep it between us.
But well, aside from the fortune that we managed to deal with this before it turned into an actual issue!
Thanks to the consecutive special sales of the Kuzunoha Company, a part of Tsige was in a festive mood and in chaos.
This one is an actual issue.
People were asking me: ‘What’s your place doing? Are you sane?’, which was actually one of the better ones.
The customers that turned into complainers from the special sale had been rolled up in the basement of the store.
Because of them doing a crazy sale like 99% off there was no profit at all, or rather, we were in the big reds that even a child would be able to tell, and because of how busy it got and having no leeway, there were even thieves showing up.
Ah, but I had a good laugh at these idiots that tried stealing though.
The adventurers in Tsige are the rowdy bunch, you know?
Those kinds of people were barely enduring themselves waiting patiently in line, and yet, these guys tried to rush into the store, and before our employees suppressed them, the wasteland adventurers beat them up all black and blue with veins popping out.
It seems like it was even more tragic than being rolled up and left in the basement.
Those kinds of things continued happening.
Without any sort of advance notice, this crazed sale went on for several days, and I who had officially returned to Tsige in the middle of it…was invited (dragged) deep into the guild that has completely become a meeting room for war where Rembrandt-san, a former executive of the merchant guild, and several staff members of the Adventurer Guild were waiting.
“Yes yes, I am sorry, I will be more careful in the future. I will make sure to contact, consult, and report beforehand. Yes, sorry for the trouble.” (Makoto)
Was the phrase that I repeated all the time today.
It is exactly the Report-Contact-Consult that I told Tamaki about on that night I did my best.
The Kuzunoha Company’s Tsige branch always properly makes the necessary arrangements, but due to the events in Asora passing all the way here, they went ‘this is a big wave we must take (Eris Team)’ and lost all reins, ending up in this situation.
‘It is because of your daily good deeds that things ended with just this much, but normally, there would be a lot of people who would come out thinking unsavory stuff, and it would turn problematic’, is what they told me.
Well, they got really angry.
…There were though. Thieves and robbery.
Just because we can fight them off doesn’t make it okay, huh. The Kuzunoha Company has grown into a company that’s known even in Tsige. Their conduct is being watched constantly.
They told me that it might influence negatively the people that want to begin a business, so be careful, which was the thing that made me lower my head the deepest. It was a statement that I could agree from the bottom of my heart.
The only one there who could laugh here was Rembrandt-san. Damn it.
Speaking of Rembrandt-san.
“Come to my place later, okay? It can be after this, yeah?” (Rembrandt)
All smiles.
‘I can laugh at it right now, but you understand, right?’, is what I felt like he was telling me.
I straightened my back and went to the Rembrandt residence, silently sitting at the sofa to wait for him.
“Sorry for making you wait.” (Rembrandt)
“No, I should be the one apologizing! It took me more time to return than I expected, and also dropped the city into chaos all of a sudden. My deepest apologies!” (Makoto)
At a glance, it is as if Tsige is always experiencing a gold rush, but right now they are in the middle of a war with independence on the line.
It seems like we are still in the superior position, but I heard that the negotiations are still in a stalemate.
It is not a crisis yet, but it is still too soon to relax.
It is at times like this when you lower your guard the most.
At that kind of time, a sudden surprise sale happened.
Of course I should be scolded for it.
I didn’t expect that the wave of celebration would resonate all the way to the Kuzunoha Company…
…Aaah!
“No, in regards to that, it is already…Hm?” (Rembrandt)
The Kuzunoha Company…there’s one in Rotsgard too…
Really?
Could it be that there as well?!
I have to hurry and confirm. Aah, but my talk with Rembrandt-san comes first.
Guaaah!
“Is something the matter, Raidou-kun?” (Rembrandt)
“No, sorry about that. Really…” (Makoto)
“Haha, it is alright already. Also, this time’s sale is actually on the tame side considering what your place normally does. It is because of the current state of things that people are getting a bit more reactive than usual, that’s all.” (Rembrandt)
Looks like our company has completely gotten the image of doing crazy stuff.
Past cases were surfacing one after the other in my mind, so I couldn’t refute that at all though.
“I heard that negotiations with Aion are proving difficult?” (Makoto)
This is not the time to be talking about the past.
I have heard about it from the guild, but I think I should ask in more detail about the situation.
It is not like I don’t want to dig up the memories of the crazy stuff we have done in the past.
“It is not to the point of being difficult, but the fact that the Kingdom side is not breaking its strong attitude is a bit of a worrying point. Well, we will soon be able to clear up the reason for that though.” (Rembrandt)
“The coup d’etat side is already…?” (Makoto)
“…It is troubling. I thought that they would persevere a bit longer. Their momentum at first was quite the thing, but what came after they were pushed back…made me feel like putting my hopes in them was stupid. Well, it would have been troubling even if they were to end up doing short decisive battles after being pushed back, so you could say it would have been problematic regardless, huh.” (Rembrandt)
Rembrandt-san explains the situation to me in a calm manner.
At first, we thought that they would have a more close battle between each other. Utilizing the feeling from both camps of not wanting to recklessly increase the enemies, Tsige announced independence, and after some negotiations, we were trying to create a city-state which there’s no precedent in this world.
As a country where the royalty and religion doesn’t intervene.
But the reality was that, even though the coup d’etat had powerful momentum at first and arrived at the kingdom’s capital, they were repelled.
The Kingdom side maintained their superiority after pushing them back, and were now controlling the insurrection in a relatively calm manner with suppression in mind.
Just that, the complicated part about the Aion Kingdom is the ruling way where the clans and tribes gather and support the royal family.
Looking simply at that, it is huge, and Aion actually has a similar composition to that of the troublesome Limia Kingdom’s nobles.
At any rate, Tsige going independent would mean that one of the big purses of the Aion Kingdom would be gone, which is a big deal for them.
If the insurrection is heading to resolution, reaching independence with negotiations will become quite difficult.
The reason why the Aion Kingdom could push back the coup d’etat and remain with a strong stance -as long as their trump card kind of thing doesn’t get identified, Tsige won’t be able to move.
We have placed a lot more in the defense of the wasteland, but the reality is that it is not constructed in a way that’s prepared to face Aion.
It must be because, until now, they have been paying quite the exorbitant amount in taxes obediently so there was nothing to worry about.
The city’s special characteristic is that it is a place where a variety of people gather, so there will obviously be adventurers who, even though we could rely on them greatly as fighting power, are only interested in the wasteland.
“I think that mercenary group will definitely be of use to the city.” (Makoto)
“…Yeah, they are quite the group. I am impressed. I was planning on gathering retired adventurers from a wide area to work as guards for self-defense. Thanks to these mercenaries, we might be able to do that a lot faster in the middle of the war and the negotiations.” (Rembrandt)
“That’s great.” (Makoto)
For self-defense, huh.
He must have been quite troubled.
I want Vivi-san and the others to leave their know-how, and if possible, raise people of talent too.
…Might as well extract some of them to our side?
If they do have the intention to, it might be possible.
“Well, in regards to independence, I already think that it will happen. There’s several paths to take, so I am not worried.” (Rembrandt)
…
Wow, as always.
The eyes of this man are already looking all the way to when independence has already been won.
He is looking at what happens beyond independence.
For someone like me who doesn’t know what might happen in the war, I even feel as if he is a bit too positive here.
But that’s not it.
He is not positive, but looking at it realistically, and the path till independence has already been made.
That’s what’s being transmitted to me.
In that case, I haven’t reached that field of vision yet.
I even think that his eyes are not that of a merchant, but a politician.
No…in reality, there’s world prominent merchants that can even move politicians. The necessary qualities without doubt overlap.
“But it seems like you are worried.” (Makoto)
Yeah.
Rembrandt-san seems to be troubled by something.
No doubt.
“Yeah, there’s something I would like you to hear out.” (Rembrandt)
Those sharp eyes of his pierce me.
What’s making him like this?
I gulp down and wait for his words that seem to worry him more than even the independence of Tsige.
What kind of difficulties does he see ahead of independence?
“Lately…” (Rembrandt)
“Yes?” (Makoto)
“My daughter Sif has learned thought transmission…” (Rembrandt)
“…Huh? Thought transmission?” (Makoto)
I didn’t know.
Sif.
Aah, I met her at Kannaoi too.
I see, thought transmission, huh.
Maybe she noticed that it was convenient since she saw Shiki and I use it frequently?
There’s no doubt it is useful.
In this world, depending on the quality of your thought transmission, you could even manage to eat for your whole life with only that ability.
That’s the same understanding even in the Rotsgard Academy, and in terms of the feeling, it is close to a bookkeeper, I think.
There’s no loss in learning it, and if you master it, you can even get an earning from it.
And in reality, it is harder to learn than bookkeeping, and there’s many cases when learning other types of spells would be more important, so if they are going to learn thought transmission, it would be students that intend to become specialists in it.
I see, so Sif can now use thought transmission.
I wonder how many km she can go for?
Maybe I should push a training menu with that in it?
“Yeah, and she is conversing with the people in charge of thought transmission in each district as well as the top thought transmission user of our place.” (Rembrandt)
“That’s…impressive. There’s a whole lot less lag than letters, and you can now have talks with her…” (Makoto)
Rather than impressive, that’s crazy.
Each district?
And the thought transmission representatives of the companies are counting that as part of their job as well?
What is the Rembrandt Company doing?
The moment your daughter learned thought transmission, you created this kind of transmission network.
I am now seeing his parental affection as crazy.
“And so, I have been hearing about a variety of things from her recently.” (Rembrandt)
Hm?
Recently?
Ah…
I unintentionally open my mouth.
I made Sif do a battle of life-or-death in Kannaoi.
Sweat flowed down my forehead.
Shit.
This is pretty bad.
How am I going to come out of this safely?
Now that I think about it, Morris-san isn’t here.
I search the surroundings, but there’s no presence of him.
Has he already begun acting?
Was Rembrandt-san the bait to keep me here?!
“I am truly sorry for making them participate in a dangerous lesson in Kannaoi!!” (Makoto)
“Who is Misura?” (Rembrandt)
The words of Rembrandt-san and I overlap.
Apologizing as fast as possible is the basics of keeping the wound shallow.
Thinking that, I acted, but…Misura?
“Misura?” (Makoto)
“Kannaoi?” (Rembrandt)
Silence covered the space between Remrbrandt-san and I.
Yup, I messed up!
“Raidou-kun, did you say Kannaoi just now? Also, dangerous. You certainly did say dangerous. Isn’t that right?” (Rembrandt)
I did.
I did end up saying that.
Or more like, what’s most important after the independence of Tsige is Misura?
Wasn’t he told by his daughter-san while in tears about the spartan training incident in Kannaoi?
No, it looks like that in itself was also a big hit though.
“…Care to explain?” (Rembrandt)
Did the talk about that get lost in between the relays?
Maybe Sif didn’t tell him anything about that in the first place.
I don’t know the truth.
But it seems like I have stepped on the lion’s tail accidentally.
“Could it be that it has something to do with that Misura guy that Yuno has ended up going out with?” (Rembrandt)
Going out with?
Yuno and Misura?
What is he talking about?
“…”
“Is that a silence that says you know something? Or do you really not know? But you do know about this dangerous lesson in Kannaoi, right, Raidou-kun? Ah, right. How about having dinner with me today? No, maybe breakfast too? I will schedule it at once. I would like to listen in detail about how those girls have been lately. Right right, the marine products of Koran have increased in quality quite a bit. I would like you to enjoy them, hahahaha.” (Rembrandt)
The eyes of Rembrandt-san were not laughing at all.
I’ll probably be swimming with the fishes of Tsige today.
Even though I safely returned to Tsige, even though I am only at the stage where I am looking at the independence of Tsige!
Rembrandt was going: ‘But my daughter is that age, you know’.
‘I knew that such a day would come’.
‘But going out with my daughter without even telling me?’
‘Is Misura that kind of bum?’
‘There’s no doubt about it. Then, there’s no way I would let such a person go out with my daughter’.
…Hahaha, Rembrandt-san ain’t stopping.
In a sense, you could say that he has completely returned to normal.
Today might have had good weather, but a part of it was a big storm.
With this, I feel like I have returned to the usual everyday.
I am sure soon after I will get dragged into the independence mess, or something with the students, but I feel like I have returned.