Water Magician

Vol 3. Chapter 684: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (11)

0684 Freshness

“Kabui Somal was really a forceful man...”

“Give it up. I already have.”

Ryo and Abel were on the deck of the Rhohn Dark, which was returning to Piuri, the royal capital of the Suje Kingdom.

As usual, they were seated on ice chairs, with coffee set out on an ice table... and naturally, Andalusia and Feiwan were sunning themselves on the deck as though they belonged there.

“The pressure of him insisting that he absolutely had to bring us to Queen Ilyaja was incredible.”

“Yeah... about as much pressure as when Alexis gets serious.”

“Marquis Heinlein? I can imagine our chancellor’s pressure, when he gets serious, would be terrifying too.”

“There’s no point resisting the pressure from men like that, the kind who’ve lived through layer upon layer of experience.”

Both Ryo and Abel pictured Kabui Somal and Marquis Heinlein and let out small sighs.

Yes, the two of them had been persuaded by Kabui Somal and were now heading for Piuri, the royal capital of the Suje Kingdom.

In order to meet Queen Ilyaja.

“Well, now that it’s come to this, it can’t be helped. We’ll be a little late getting back to the Knightley Kingdom, but let’s just enjoy a new journey.”

“With how much we’ve already traveled all over the Eastern Countries, a slight delay in getting back feels like a rounding error.”

Both Ryo and Abel were the sort who adjusted quickly.

It was then that Kabui Somal himself, the man who had used sheer force of personality to lure the two of them onto the Rhohn Dark, came over.

“If the two of you are there, Her Majesty the Queen will be especially delighted.”

“At that meeting in Kubebasa the other day, we didn’t get to talk much.”

Abel answered while recalling the joint conference of the Eastern Countries that had been held in the autonomous city of Kubebasa.

“Come to think of it, Lord Protector, you used to ride the Rain Shooter, didn’t you? Back when you came to the Comakyuta Princely Kingdom, for example. But this time, and when you came to Darwei too, it was the Rhohn Dark. Did the flagship change?”

“No. At the time I met you in Darwei, the Rhohn Dark was about the only ship—and crew—capable of sailing as far north as Kubebasa and beyond. Besides, I’ve always had the feeling that the Rhohn Dark carries something like a strange blessing.”

“A blessing?”

At Kabui Somal’s words, Ryo tilted his head.

“Even when it falls into danger, it somehow manages to slip free of it... of course, that is the fruit of the crew’s constant training. But many of those who live by the sea have had all sorts of experiences that cannot be explained away by reason alone. Myself included.”

“There is such a thing as luck. For people, and for ships too.”

At Kabui Somal’s explanation, Abel nodded.

For those in positions where they led others, where other lives were entrusted to them, they could not rely on something unscientific like a blessing or luck.

At the same time, they could not completely ignore such things either.

Because human lives were at stake.

“My men died because we had bad luck”... no one wanted to say words like that.

“Whether it’s a blessing or luck, if it helps things go well, then I want to use it. I want it to protect us... that is honestly how I feel.”

Kabui Somal even smiled as he said it plainly.

Ryo looked at that expression as though it were dazzling.

To be able to say something like that so plainly in front of others—only a broad-minded man could do it.

Ryo knew that.

Compared to the laws that governed the world, the range of human influence was very small.

Kabui Somal’s words were the words of a man who understood that, and who had continued to strive anyway.

Precisely because he had gone on striving as naturally as breathing, he could honestly say he wanted blessing and luck to help him as well.

Needless to say, that was on an entirely different level from someone who made no effort and merely wanted luck to somehow carry them through.

After Kabui Somal left, Ryo said to Abel,

“There’s that in battle too, isn’t there? Being lucky, or feeling the tide turn in your favor.”

“There is. Though I’ve no idea why it happens, or why things turn out that way.”

“Someday... yes, perhaps several hundred years from now, or maybe a thousand... they may discover, or identify, the ‘factors’ that explain that scientifically... logically.”

Ryo said it while nodding solemnly.

Watching him, Abel shrugged and said,

“You do say funny things sometimes, Ryo.”

“How rude! Not sometimes—I always make an effort to say funny things!”

“Right. That’s an entirely different meaning.”

After a while, a pair of people came over.

“It has been a long time, King Ab—no, Abel, Your Grace Duke Rondo.”

Yes, Captain Goric knew that Abel was the King of the Knightley Kingdom, and that Ryo was Duke Rondo.

Even when he had met them before at Rondo Manor in Darwei, his right hand and right foot had moved forward together, giving him a strange walk...

“No, Captain, please just call me Ryo.”

“And I’m Adventurer Abel.”

Ryo and Abel added their preferences with wry smiles.

Captain Goric went back to calling them “Ryo” and “Abel” as he had in the past, but this time there was one other person present whose behavior was unlike before...

“Professor Ryo! I’m a fan—if you don’t mind, may I have your autograph?!”

The one who said that was the ever-cool First Officer Lena.

What she pulled from her pocket was a compact edition—something like a portable paperback—of That Abel, the Hungry Swordsman II, which she apparently carried around with her at all times.

“That’s volume two? It’s been published?”

“Yes! It’s one of my favorite books.”

It was volume two of That Abel, the Hungry Swordsman, which seemed to have been published based on the manuscript Ryo had previously entrusted to Kabui Somal.

Using the pen she offered along with the book, Ryo swiftly signed his name.

Since becoming Premier Duke, he had in fact gotten somewhat more opportunities to sign things.

Of course, compared with King Abel or Chancellor Heinlein, the number of those occasions was negligible...

First Officer Lena clutched the signed book and looked deeply moved.

“Thank you very much! I’ll treasure this for the rest of my life.”

And with that, after only the briefest of farewells, she hurried off toward the stern.

“Uh...”

Ryo was so startled by how quickly she left that he wound up more surprised because of it.

“I believe it will be placed in Lena’s treasure box.”

Captain Goric explained with a wry smile.

“A treasure box?”

Ryo and Abel both tilted their heads.

“Lena keeps a treasure box in the room she shares with Susie. It has waterproofing and moisture-protection functions through alchemy... It seems she stores important things in it.”

“I see.”

Ryo still looked surprised, but his face turned happy.

There could be no greater reward for a novelist than having a signed copy treasured that much.

After the captain and first officer left, one more powerful figure came over to Ryo and Abel.

That person was a very important one, someone who would color their journey aboard the Rhohn Dark.

“I’m looking forward to it again today, Head Chef Susie!”

“Today’s Friday, so dinner is curry.”

“Ohh!”

Yes, aboard the Rhohn Dark there was Susie, a female head chef of truly excellent skill.

“We did it, Abel. Curry!”

“Head Chef Susie’s curry is delicious.”

Even now, Abel still pronounced it in that odd way.

Both Ryo and Abel recognized that the Suje Kingdom Navy sometimes served curry.

And not just curry, but delicious curry.

“Just being able to eat that makes boarding the Rhohn Dark worthwhile.”

Ryo looked thoroughly delighted.

That night, at the table where that curry was served, the two of them met their old teacher as he emerged from the engine room.

“The chief engineer’s work looks rough.”

“Gunno, it’s been a long time.”

“Oh, Abel, Ryo. My apologies for not greeting you sooner. But more importantly, you two can now speak the language of the Eastern Countries quite fluently.”

Chief Engineer Gunno was the man who had taught the two of them that language.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that, thanks to him, their travels through the Eastern Countries had gone smoothly.

No amount of gratitude would have been enough.

“That’s thanks to you.”

“Because of you, we never had trouble communicating no matter where we went.”

Both Abel and Ryo thanked him sincerely.

So there were reunions too, with the nostalgic crew of the Rhohn Dark...

And ten days later, the Rhohn Dark entered Piuri, the royal capital of the Suje Kingdom.

“The two of you, come with me to the royal palace.”

At Kabui Somal’s words, Ryo and Abel followed him.

As soon as Kabui Somal entered the palace, one man hurried toward him.

“Rockday! I have met some astonishing people. Her Majesty the Queen will surely be delighted to see them as well.”

“Your Excellency, someone rather extraordinary has come to see that very Queen.”

Kabui Somal was speaking happily, while Rockday was wearing a visibly troubled expression.

Watching those two from behind were another two.

“Isn’t that the man you drove a sword into and blew a huge hole through his stomach?”

“That’s Admiral Rockday. What you said is true, but hearing it put that way feels awful.”

“Then would ‘the admiral-and-spellcaster who drove stone spears through your stomach and leg’ have been better?”

“That’s also true, but it makes me feel even worse, so I really hate that one.”

“Such a selfish Abel...”

“That one’s better.”

The words people found easiest to accept differed from person to person...

In one corner of the royal palace, inside the Lord Protector’s office, four people were seated.

The master of the room, Kabui Somal. Admiral Rockday, said to be his right hand. And the guests, Ryo and Abel.

“So then, Rockday—who is it that is visiting Her Majesty?”

“It is Prince Hendrawa, the late king’s Second Prince.”

“So he was alive...”

Kabui Somal let out a small sigh.

More than joy that he was alive, his expression said this had become troublesome.

“The late king’s second prince? Then he’s Queen Ilyaja’s older brother.”

“Yes. He should be thirty-one now. At the moment when the First Prince came of age at eighteen and became Crown Prince, he was sent out as an adopted son to a small state in the southern part of the continent.”

“I seem to recall hearing that, because his mother’s status was not particularly high, he would have been in a difficult position if he had remained in the Suje Kingdom.”

Abel asked.

Beside him, Ryo was nodding with an air of importance.

It was Ryo who had told Abel such things before.

“That is correct. But the country he was adopted into was swallowed up by the neighboring Gegish-Lu Federation two years later.”

“The Gegish-Lu Federation...”

Ryo murmured.

It was a country that had come up time and again in relation to the southern continent and the area around the Grand Duchy of Atinjo. By now, even he remembered it.

“We have heard that he was sheltered by the Gegish-Lu Federation for a very long time.”

Admiral Rockday added that explanation.

“For more than ten years? If I remember correctly, during that time the federation also went through a fierce civil war, didn’t it? And now, I hear it is effectively under the control of the Grand Duchy of Atinjo.”

“That is true... but those talks are still ongoing, so we do not yet know the details.”

In answer to Abel’s question, Admiral Rockday also gave a small shake of the head.

“Is the meeting taking place in the audience chamber?”

“No, in the Foreign Affairs Conference Room.”

“The Foreign Affairs Conference Room? The room used for state-level diplomacy? Her Majesty ordered that he be received there?”

“Yes.”

Admiral Rockday nodded at Kabui Somal’s question.

“Did Prince Hendrawa come accompanied by people from the Gegish-Lu Federation?”

“That is correct.”

“So he has not merely come to see her after a long absence. Her Majesty must have anticipated that, backed by the federation’s power, he would make troublesome demands.”

After thinking for a moment, Kabui Somal muttered that, then stood.

“Please excuse me for a moment.”

With those words, Kabui Somal left the room.

That left three people behind.

One of them—the admiral—kept glancing about, looking as though he wanted to say something.

But perhaps it was difficult to say it in front of two guests...

“What is it, Rockday?”

Abel opened the subject.

“Ah, no, it’s just... well, this is the Lord Protector’s office... and it’s fine while His Excellency is here, but, well, His Excellency has stepped out...”

“Hm?”

“Abel, don’t make him say it all.”

Rockday was choosing his words awkwardly, Abel tilted his head, and Ryo threw him a lifeline.

“Admiral Rockday wishes to say that he is hungry and would like to go get something to eat.”

“No, that is not it.”

Admiral Rockday denied Ryo’s words without a moment’s pause.

Abel silently shook his head.

“Let us move to another room.”

Rockday decided to say it directly.

“Ah, because this is the Lord Protector’s office, and there are probably confidential documents here.”

“If someone as dangerous as Abel were to see them, there could be terrible consequences.”

“Wouldn’t you be more dangerous than me?”

“My motto is safety and peace of mind. I’m a spellcaster. My danger level cannot be compared to that of a charging swordsman.”

For some reason, Ryo declared this with complete confidence.

Abel silently shook his head once more, while Rockday wisely rose in silence and started leading the way.

The room to which Ryo and Abel were guided was an extremely large conference room.

At the front stood a rather large oval table, and at the rear of the room they had entered, a great many conference desks and chairs were lined up.

Most likely, important people sat at the front, issuing instructions while discussing the materials spread over the oval table and the documents posted on the walls.

And at the rear of the room, detailed information would be gathered and analyzed... then delivered forward as needed.

Of course, at present there was no one here besides the three of them.

“It’s like a crisis management center.”

Ryo’s murmur reached Abel’s ears, but since the phrase meant nothing to him, Abel said nothing.

“It’s like a crisis management center.”

Ryo muttered it again... only this time louder than before.

But Abel still said nothing.

“Crisis manag—”

“I heard you.”

The third time, even Abel had no choice but to answer.

“It’s your fault for ignoring me, Abel.”

“It wasn’t that I was ignoring you. I don’t know what a crisis management whatever is, so what was I supposed to say?”

“When you don’t know something, I think you should honestly ask. If you pretend to understand and gloss over it, you get hit with a terrible backlash later.”

“I see... So what is a crisis management whatever?”

Abel, who was honest enough to make a good fellow, asked honestly.

“It’s the place where important people gather and issue instructions when a national-level crisis happens. It’s built on that assumption, so information is easy to collect there... but...”

Ryo spoke that far, then his voice trailed off.

“Yes, the desks and chairs fit... but at most this is just a conference room, isn’t it? From the way you’re talking, Ryo, it sounds like there ought to be special alchemy tools prepared here too.”

“Yes, exactly...”

The crisis management center Ryo had seen had featured a huge central monitor mounted on the wall in front, forty smaller monitors, and dozens of computers and landlines on the desks...

“Well, it can’t be helped that there’s no giant monitor.”

Ryo muttered that with a slightly disappointed expression.

Rockday, who had been listening silently to their conversation right nearby, noticed the front door of the conference room opening, and several people entering.

And he tilted his head.

The people who had come in were posting documents on the walls and laying a large map on top of the oval table.

“A meeting is about to start.”

“At last—the crisis management center begins operation!”

For some reason, Ryo nodded with a look of determination.

Naturally, he held no position of responsibility.

Naturally, he had no idea what the meeting was even about.

“This is strange. There was no meeting scheduled for this room today.”

Rockday kept tilting his head again and again.

Of course. He had confirmed there was no meeting scheduled before bringing the two of them here.

Since Rockday himself had no information either, he went over to one of the people making preparations and asked.

“What is being prepared here?”

“Yes, Admiral. By order of Lord Protector Kabui Somal, we are preparing for an emergency conference.”

“His Excellency’s order? Did he say what kind of emergency conference it was?”

“No, not in detail. Only that we should prepare a map of the kingdom proper and information on the major cities. Orders were also sent to other departments, so I believe it must be something on a rather large scale.”

At that answer, Admiral Rockday once again tilted his head.

Steadily, preparations for something continued.

After a while, Lord Protector Kabui Somal entered the room, spotted the three of them, and walked over.

“In truth, Prince Hendrawa has demanded the throne of the [N O V E L I G H T] Suje Kingdom.”

“What?”

Kabui Somal stated it succinctly, and both Ryo and Abel let out the same absurd cry at the same time.

Rockday remained silent, his face twisted.

Perhaps he had considered that possibility.

“He claims that since Queen Ilyaja was the late king’s Sixth Princess, while he was the Second Prince, he himself is the rightful heir to the throne.”

“And of course, he is making that claim backed by the power of the Gegish-Lu Federation?”

“Yes.”

Kabui Somal nodded at Abel’s confirmation.

“What would that mean under the laws of the Suje Kingdom?”

“The highest priority is the will of the late king. And His Majesty ordered, by royal command, that Princess Ilyaja be placed upon the throne as queen.”

Kabui Somal himself had delivered the handwritten royal order to Ilyaja.

“Has that been made public?”

“In part. It was announced that, by the late king’s will, Princess Ilyaja would ascend to the throne as queen. But since the other princes and princesses also perished, the royal order itself was not made public.”

“I see. So Prince Hendrawa is striking at that point. Well, I assume you can simply refuse him, but these preparations for a meeting—this is not about that alone, is it?”

Abel said so while glancing at the materials for the meeting that were being laid out.

“Yes, exactly.”

Kabui Somal nodded, then continued.

“A demand for the throne that can never be accepted... what is the meaning of such a thing? Why come all the way to the palace to make a demand he knows cannot pass?”

“If Queen Ilyaja were to die at this exact moment, there would be no choice but to place Hendrawa on the throne.”

“That was our thinking. We concluded that the federation must already have landed forces on the kingdom proper, forces capable of carrying that out.”

“So this is a countermeasure conference for that.”

“In fact, we have already searched several likely locations and found, and detained, individuals believed to be part of the strike force.”

“As expected.”

At Kabui Somal’s words, Abel nodded in praise.

“Wait—so you mean the Gegish-Lu Federation has landed forces here in order to assassinate Queen Ilyaja?”

“Yes.”

Ryo’s eyes widened as he confirmed it, and Kabui Somal nodded.

At that moment, the door at the front opened and a woman entered.

“Your Majesty!”

Those who had been preparing the conference room all dropped to one knee at once.

“No, please continue your preparations.”

Queen Ilyaja said that gently, then walked to the back of the conference room.

“Abel, Ryo, it has been a long time. I am sorry that I have not been able to attend to you at all.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Please devote yourself to the affairs of state.”

Both Abel and Ryo nodded in reply to Queen Ilyaja’s words.

Everything had its order of priority.

And that order changed depending on one’s position.

What a queen should prioritize was not renewing old ties, but dealing with the urgent problems facing her nation.

Queen Ilyaja gave them a bow, then returned to the front of the conference room.

Kabui Somal followed her.

After seeing those two off, Admiral Rockday remained behind with Ryo and Abel... but he was visibly fidgeting.

“You want to join the meeting too, don’t you, Rockday?”

“Go on.”

Ryo and Abel encouraged him with smiles.

“I-Is that all right? Excuse me, then—I’ll go for a bit.”

As soon as he said that, Rockday went over to examine the information being laid out on the oval table at the front of the conference room, and after that he took command of the information screening.

In no more than a few minutes, the conference room had begun functioning.

Information was pouring in from all over the royal capital.

Rockday and the others screened it, then rapidly sent the necessary information to the oval table.

Information was reflected there immediately.

Lord Protector Kabui Somal issued orders for the deployment of forces.

As the supreme decision-maker, Queen Ilyaja made the final calls.

To Ryo and Abel, the organization looked to be operating very smoothly.

“We weren’t told to leave this room. And right in front of us, information at the highest confidential level of the state is flying around, isn’t it?”

“It is. The reason we weren’t thrown out was deliberate.”

“Deliberate?”

Ryo tilted his head.

“They’re deliberately showing us this scene.”

“What for?”

“To show that they’re all right.”

Abel answered with half a smile.

“To show that the Suje Kingdom is functioning without trouble. That the newly enthroned Queen Ilyaja and the administration are governing the state properly—with me and you willing to cooperate with them.”

“Ah, I see.”

At Abel’s explanation, Ryo nodded as well.

“Anyone involved in government always has to be conscious of how they are being seen, and how they appear.”

“Because they’re being paid with the people’s taxes?”

Abel answered Ryo’s question with a wry smile.

“That too. But also the eyes of foreign countries.”

“People at the heart of a state have to be aware of how their own country looks to other nations—or to foreigners.”

“In other words, you can’t let other countries look down on you.”

“Yes. You must not be seen as easy to handle. At worst, that leads to your country being attacked. A proper state makes its neighbors think, ‘That country would be difficult to attack, so we should refrain from touching it’... that is the most effective way to keep your country from being dragged into war.”

Abel said it flatly, with a slight frown.

Three years ago, the Knightley Kingdom had failed to do that.

It had allowed the empire to think, “If we attack, we can probably win.”

Of course, the empire was the one at fault for attacking.

That was obvious.

But that was the opinion and feeling of ordinary people.

Those at the center of a state must never allow their own country to be seen as weak.

That was not something a single department could solve alone.

The nation, and every department that made up its administration, had to move with that awareness.

Otherwise...

They would be dragged into war.

It was obvious enough, but the side that invaded a neighboring country did so because it believed it could win.

So how did one stop that?

The best way was to make them think they could not win—and there was no other way.

If they thought they could not win, they would not invade...

“Is our Knightley Kingdom all right, then?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Ehh...”

Abel answered plainly, and Ryo immediately pulled a deep frown and stared back at him.

“The kingdom currently lacks its strongest force.”

“Its strongest force? King Abel?”

Ryo answered with a tilt of the head.

“No. You.”

“Huh?”

“The strongest force, without question, is Ryo, Duke Rondo.”

Abel looked Ryo straight in the face and said it without hesitation.

“But even so... national strength is not necessarily only military power. And besides, it doesn’t necessarily have to defend itself by itself, does it?”

“You mean an alliance?”

“Yes, yes. Though, of course, alliances are not something completely certain either...”

“That’s right. An alliance is only an alliance. It is concluded not for the other country’s sake, but for one’s own. If it stops benefiting your own country, it will be dissolved. No one can blame that.”

“Exactly. Which means you have to make sure it never stops being beneficial. And that’s where national strength other than military power comes in.”

“Yes. Exactly right.”

“If the other country possesses economic strength or scientific and technological power that your own country needs, it will try to avoid dissolving the alliance. That is why those at the heart of government must never slack off. Not one of them.”

Ryo said it clearly.

“The power of a nation isn’t just military power.”

“Right. Economic power, scientific and technological power, and perhaps culture too... maybe even the power to project those things outward. When people of other countries long for you... that too is a kind of national power.”

“Like how the people of Lulu Island longed for this Suje Kingdom and wanted to come under its umbrella.”

“That’s exactly it.”

At Abel’s confirmation, Ryo nodded firmly.

“Becoming something like a subordinate state and forming an alliance may have some similarities, after all.”

“There is no such thing as a completely equal alliance.”

At Ryo’s words, Abel nodded.

In reality, when it came to alliances between countries, there were almost no alliances between states that were truly equal.

Even looking back over history across the whole world, there were almost none.

Usually, the clearly stronger country held the initiative in the alliance.

“So maybe the relationship between the Grand Duchy and the Gegish-Lu Federation is similar.”

“The Gegish-Lu Federation, yes. On paper too, it is probably not a ‘subordinate state’ but an ‘alliance.’”

“If that’s the case, then the federation’s actions this time can be understood too.”

Saying that, Ryo continued.

“From the federation’s point of view, it wants to keep the Suje Kingdom under its umbrella so that the Grand Duchy won’t discard it.”

“It wants to possess enough strength that it won’t be looked down on. If it can bring the Suje Kingdom under its control, it gains enough leverage that the Grand Duchy cannot cast it aside unilaterally.”

“Politics really is difficult.”

“I completely agree.”

Neither Ryo nor Abel would describe himself as particularly good at politics...

“To tell the truth, I was thinking we might need to reactivate Operation Guardian Kings.”

“Guardian Kings?”

“That thing where you and I stand behind Queen Ilyaja and glare menacingly. But...”

“There’s no need.”

“Yes, it doesn’t seem necessary.”

“Unlike back then, when she had no allies at all, now she has many powerful allies.”

Abel and Ryo looked toward the front of the conference room.

Centered around Queen Ilyaja, everyone was moving as one toward the resolution of the problem.

“It’s different now.”

“Yes.”

“The princess has grown into a queen.”

Abel said it clearly.

Ryo nodded in silence.

Even the people of Lulu Island, who had never even visited it, longed for the Suje Kingdom.

And the heart of that government was filled with an air of freshness.