Water Magician

Vol 3. Chapter 704: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (32)

704. In the Frontier VI

The day of the second meeting.

Zarash Fortress was filled with a heat almost like a festival.

“There are even things that look like temporary stalls...”

“Where are these people usually hiding?”

Ryo and Abel were both surprised.

Zarash Fortress was unquestionably a fortress, but its scale was anything but ordinary.

Even before the civil war began, it had been the largest fortress in the Go Kingdom, and its economy functioned like that of a town.

No, perhaps it should be said that it surpassed an ordinary town.

A town flourished because of trade with the surrounding area.

Zarash Fortress, despite being a “fortress,” traded with the surrounding area... and even, at a distance, with cities of the Federation.

So perhaps people who had somehow heard the news had come in from outside carrying full sets of stall equipment with them.

“This grilled fish skewer is delicious.”

“Apparently it’s fish from the oasis the fortress floats in, but... that is basically a lake no matter how you look at it.”

Ryo and Abel were already eating grilled fish sold at one of the stalls.

If they were going to be here anyway, failing to enjoy themselves would be a loss.

In situations like this, the two of them were in complete agreement.

“This may turn into a long day. If we end up missing lunch, it is better to eat while we can.”

“Yes. That is exactly one of the basics of being an adventurer.”

While making excuses to no one in particular, Ryo and Abel next bought meat skewers and ate those too.

Yes, that made it the second stall and the second item.

Incidentally, they had each eaten two grilled fish skewers, so the meat skewers made their third.

It likely went without saying, but they had each bought two meat skewers as well, so...

At the stalls, each of them ate four skewers.

“We cannot eat only fish and meat. We must take in vegetables and fruit too.”

“As expected of you, Ryo. You make a good point.”

Finally, as dessert, the two of them ate lindo that were almost exactly like apples while arriving at the training ground.

By the time the two of them arrived, preparations for the meeting were almost complete.

No particular work had been assigned to them.

The children they had trained were guards... still apprentices of a sort, but guards nonetheless.

That was why they would be patrolling.

However, the two of them were adventurers to the end.

For that reason, they had no official role.

It was the grand stage for the children they had trained, and it was also an important meeting that would decide the future of the fortress’s people...

Whether war could be avoided.

And it would be held under the eyes of the crowd.

“Ordinarily, meetings where the leaders themselves come out are held behind closed doors.”

“Usually, yes. More often, after everything is over, both representatives announce the agreement they reached.”

“This time, they are going out of their way to hold the meeting in front of everyone... If saboteurs have slipped in, this could become a disaster...”

“Wasn’t I supposed to be an agent of the saboteurs?”

Abel threw back what Ryo had said the other day.

“That was obviously a joke. If you keep fussing over tiny things, you will never become king, you know?”

“I am technically a sitting king...”

“Maybe the people around you only behave that way because they feel sorry for you, Abel.”

“...I have no idea what that means.”

The two of them took seats labeled “Reserved for Involved Parties.”

Morgar had told them to sit there on the day of the meeting.

“The names are written here too.”

“Mine says ‘Lord Abel,’ and yours says ‘Lord Ryo,’ so these are correct.”

“The seat next to us says ‘Instructor.’”

“Old Masda, then. He certainly counts as an involved party.”

Ryo and Abel sat down in the seats marked with their names.

There seemed to be around twenty “Reserved for Involved Parties” seats in all.

After the two of them sat, the involved-party seats began filling one after another.

Most of those who sat there were clearly merchants.

“Merchants look like merchants at a glance, don’t they? Swordsmen and scouts walk differently from ordinary people in their day-to-day lives, so I understand why you can tell, but merchants walk normally, right? Why is that?”

“Who knows... asking me will not help.”

Prompted by Ryo’s question, Abel looked at the people sitting in the involved-party seats who appeared to be merchants.

They certainly did look merchant-like.

“Ah, I understand.”

“Why do I already feel, before I even hear it, that you are probably wrong?”

“They smell like money, surely.”

“Yes, exactly as expected. You were wrong.”

Abel gave a small shake of his head at Ryo’s proud statement.

“You can infer it from the atmosphere, Ryo. Merchants are probably similar.”

“How irresponsible... and you even spread slander about me while saying it.”

Ryo grimaced.

But he soon looked up.

“Our disciples are working hard!”

“Disciples... you have not taught them long enough to call them that.”

“It is not about time. It is about philosophy. What matters is how deeply you have been able to convey things to them, down to the spiritual part. That is what it means to take disciples.”

“It is strange how, in your case, you can sound like you are saying something deep at first glance.”

“How rude! I am always saying deep things.”

“That would work better if you did not say it yourself.”

Both of them had experience taking on people who could be called “disciples,” but...

Apparently, perceptions differed from person to person.

They could see the children they had trained walking along the spectator seats on the far side of the training ground, checking for suspicious objects.

“The sight of people checking whether explosives have been planted is the same everywhere.”

“Explo-what?”

“You know, something like the kingdom’s ‘black powder.’”

“Ah. Yes, if something like that were here, it would be a problem.”

Abel nodded.

In the three years since he had ascended the throne, research into “black powder” had advanced.

Because of that, Abel understood its characteristics, including its destructive power.

“I do not know whether research into ‘black powder’ has advanced around here, but alchemy may have something similar.”

“Yes, yes. Human imagination sometimes gives birth to terrible things. Imagination is truly an infinite power, but if used incorrectly, it can make humanity miserable. Please be careful, Abel.”

“Me? Why me?”

“In most cases, rulers are the root of the problem. It is troubling if their imagination is poor, but if it is too rich, the people around them get dragged all over the place. Moderation... balance is what one hopes for.”

“I do not accept that, but fine.”

Abel cut off the discussion because he saw an acquaintance approaching.

“Ah, Instructor.”

“Old Masda, were you making a round through the fortress?”

“Mm. There were quite a few people I did not recognize. A considerable number have come in from outside. The stalls, for instance, are ninety percent outsiders.”

“What? Then the grilled fish, meat skewer, and lindo sellers we ate from too?”

“Probably.”

“You ate that much this early in the morning? Youth, eh...”

Ryo and Abel checked with him, and Old Masda was exasperated by the appetites of young men.

There was no one present to point out that both Ryo and Abel belonged in the category of big eaters...

By then, the spectator seats of the training ground were nearly full.

In the middle of the training ground, facing seats had been prepared for the negotiators of both camps, and seats that were likely for the mediator had been arranged in a position to watch over them.

“There are only about three seats for each side at the center.”

“Yes. A short distance away, there are around ten additional chairs prepared, but... only the chief negotiators will probably sit in the center.”

“The mediator... the seats for the Federation people are also for three. With so few seats, assassins will not be able to slip in.”

“There will not be any assassination under the eyes of this many people.”

“You never know. The enemy is the Federation. There is no telling what they might do.”

For some reason, Ryo folded his arms and gave an arrogant commentary.

What exactly did Ryo know about the Federation?

Of course, no one knew. Not even Ryo himself.

No, there was one swordsman here whose thought came closest to the correct answer.

“You are just saying that at random anyway, aren’t you?”

“Gulp.”

Ryo’s eyes involuntarily swam.

“Ah, look, the delegations are coming in.”

“...So they are.”

Ryo thought he had succeeded in dodging the pursuit.

Abel, feeling sorry for him, lowered the spear of pursuit.

The first to enter was a group centered around merchants.

“That is the fortress’s delegation.”

“Most likely. The one walking at the front is...?”

“Mm. That is Chairman Pisek. He is the merchants’ representative for this term. In other words, the representative of this fortress.”

Ryo confirmed, Abel asked, and Old Masda affirmed.

“He looks like a merchant who has continued producing results.”

“...I do not really understand what you mean. He does not look aggressive, but he does look like the type who will absolutely protect his own subordinates.”

“So among merchants, there are attacking merchants and defending merchants?”

“Yes. Both are necessary for the people.”

“I feel like Gecko is an attacking merchant. Chairman Pisek feels like a defending merchant. A rock.”

Ryo nodded.

Hearing that, Old Masda laughed.

“You two have interesting ways of seeing things. It is true that the ‘Sand Trading Company’ led by Pisek is not the type to put out new product after new product. It values its old customers and its old goods. I hear there are even nobles in the Federation whose families have continued using goods from the company for three generations.”

“Securing repeat customers is important.”

Ryo nodded.

Many people would be troubled if a product they had used for years were discontinued.

After all, the successor product would not necessarily suit them.

But something else suddenly occurred to Ryo.

“You said the company Pisek leads is called the Sand Trading Company?”

“Yes.”

“Could it possibly own an inn and an eating place inside this fortress?”

“It does. The best inn in the fortress, the Sand Sleep Inn, and the popular eating place, the Sand Meal Pavilion.”

“I knew it!”

Ryo nodded at Old Masda’s explanation.

“The inn we are staying at?”

“Yes, yes. In that case, Pisek must be an absolutely wonderful person.”

Ryo declared it.

“Why? The inn and the eating place are certainly well equipped.”

“The facilities too, but the smiles of all the employees are lovely! That is why their hospitality... all their different responses are pleasant. That must be because the working environment is good.”

“Ah... that may have a point.”

Ryo spoke passionately, and Abel agreed.

Whether an inn was good or bad changed one’s evaluation of its owner and management.

Perhaps that was only natural.

The delegation that entered next had someone at its head who could only be considered a noble.

Yes, he had a presence that made it obvious at a glance that he was a noble.

It was not that he was behaving arrogantly or throwing his weight around.

Rather, his expression was calm, but his face also showed that he was a man of strong will.

“Is that Marquis Nyusha?”

“Yes, that is Marquis Nyusha himself.”

Old Masda nodded at Abel’s confirmation.

There was no sign of hatred, resentment, or any other negative emotion in Old Masda’s expression or attitude.

Marquis Nyusha was the leader of the opposing camp after five years of confrontation, but Old Masda seemed to hold no personal ill feeling toward him.

Rather...

“To come here himself. He truly is a remarkable man.”

He seemed to feel something close to admiration.

“I imagined someone who looked much more petty and cunning.”

As for Ryo, seeing him for the first time, his description was extremely direct.

“Petty and cunning... what kind of phrasing is that?”

Abel shook his head at the sheer bluntness of it.

“No, I mean, he destroyed the royal family, didn’t he? That makes him a bad person. I assumed someone like that would definitely have a petty, cunning face...”

“Do you mean a small vessel?”

“Yes, yes. That is what I mean.”

Ryo nodded as if Abel had understood him perfectly.

However, hearing that, Abel shook his head again in denial.

“Someone like that could never destroy a royal family.”

“Is that so?”

“Think of it using the Knightley Kingdom as an example. If a noble were capable of destroying the royal family, it would be Marquis Heinlein, the Marquis of Rune, or perhaps Marquis Hope. Every one of them is a first-rate person of the highest order.”

“True.”

Abel, the very person who would be destroyed in that hypothetical, was stating an outrageous assumption, but...

No one pointed that out.

Because Ryo was in charge of the jokes, not the retorts.

“Ah, there is one more high-ranking noble with power, though I doubt he could handle it well.”

“Is there someone like that?”

“Duke Rondo.”

“Eh... well, yes, I can’t do politics or secret maneuvering at all, but... Abel, you are mistaken.”

“Mm?”

“If it were me, I would ask the monsters of the Grand Duchy of Rondo to attack the royal family. With that, the royal family would definitely fall!”

“The kingdom itself would fall, not just the royal family...”

In the end, Ryo was the joke, and Abel was the retort.

The last to enter was...

“Those are the Federation people serving as mediators, right?”

“Probably. The one walking at the front is the Vice Minister in charge of foreign affairs for Eastern Eighth District...”

“Don Re, was it? He seems extremely high-strung.”

“I will not deny it.”

The mediation group numbered seven people, including Don Re.

Looking at them, Ryo tilted his head slightly.

Since Abel was beside him, he noticed.

“What is it?”

“Well, there is only one person in that mediation group wearing a hood, right?”

Ryo pointed it out.

Prompted by his words, Abel looked at the mediation group.

Indeed, there was one person wearing a hood.

“There is. Judging by the way she walks, she is likely a young woman.”

“As expected of you, Abel. I also thought she was probably a woman, but... does she not seem out of place?”

“Hmm? Well, everyone involved in negotiations over there seems to be in their thirties or older. She is young among them. Perhaps she has some special skill.”

“Right... Something about her bothers me.”

Both delegations and the mediator were now assembled.

“Marquis Nyusha seems extremely capable and sincere, but... why did this fortress refuse to come under his rule?”

“The influential merchants of the fortress are people with strong connections to the previous dynasty, such as purveyors to the Go royal family. There is certainly the aspect that they resisted out of fear of retaliation from the new Marquis. But more than that, the townspeople did not want to come under his rule.”

“Is that so?”

“Merchants are sensitive to profit. It seems that, in the end, they were prepared to accept Marquis Nyusha’s rule, but the people of the fortress are driven by emotion before logic. Once, when this fortress was attacked by locusts and the town suffered terribly, King Go came here himself and helped in many ways. They cannot forget that debt. That is why they resist.”

Old Masda explained with a sad expression.

Since the matter originated in emotion, it was not about logic.

Old Masda himself likely understood that.

“They are continuing to fight even though no one is wrong...”

“It may be unavoidable. Emotions need time to settle.”

“So those five years were necessary?”

“Because those five years passed, the people of the fortress are now willing to accept Marquis Nyusha.”

Neither Ryo nor Abel was a party to the matter.

That was precisely why they could look at it calmly, but...

Even if reason understood, emotion needed time to accept.

Conversely, if enough time was allowed to pass, emotions could settle to some degree...

Even if they could not do so completely, they could settle somewhat.

Each representative was introduced, and the meeting was declared open.

The first to request the floor was Marquis Nyusha.

“I would like to thank the people of Zarash Fortress for opening this place to us. On that basis, I have a proposal. If Zarash Fortress will join our country, I would like to grant it autonomy and welcome it as an autonomous district.”

Immediately after Marquis Nyusha spoke, no one opened their mouth.

Most of the people there had not caught up with the meaning.

The first to understand was the fortress’s representative.

“Marquis Nyusha... when you say autonomy, specifically what areas would that concern?”

“Chairman Pisek, everything except taxation.”

“What...”

Pisek was left speechless.

Everything except taxation meant that laws, administration, the economy, and all else could remain as they were now.

Not only Pisek, but most of the fortress’s people listening in the training ground began to understand.

“Everything except taxation...”

“So nothing has to change from now?”

“Everything stays the same, and there won’t be war?”

“No, it means we have to pay taxes to the country, right? Life will get harder in the end.”

Discussions broke out here and there in the spectator seats.

“Marquis Nyusha, how much taxation are you envisioning?”

“One florin each year.”

“...Excuse me?”

Chairman Pisek, a merchant who had seen all kinds of seas and mountains, stared blankly.

“Pardon me, Marquis... did you just say one florin?”

“Yes, one florin. I would like you to send a representative to the national assembly as an autonomous district and voice your opinions there. However, even as an autonomous district, we cannot allow a region that pays no tax to take part in the assembly. Therefore, I would like you to pay one florin.”

Marquis Nyusha said it clearly.

Once ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ he had said that much, it was clear that his desire to make Zarash Fortress an autonomous district was not some idle thought that had occurred to him on the spot.

“Please give us a little time to discuss this among the delegation.”

“Of course. Please do.”

Marquis Nyusha nodded at Pisek’s words.

The fortress delegation began discussing.

By contrast, the Marquis’s faction did not move at all.

That, too, was proof that the proposal of an autonomous district was the result of thorough discussion within the Marquis’s faction.

“This is a surprise.”

After muttering that, Old Masda began speaking with the merchants in the involved-party seats.

Ryo and Abel, left behind, began talking as well.

“He cut in from the highest possible stance right away...”

“If it is an autonomous district, the people of the fortress gain a great deal, don’t they?”

“Yes. It means they can continue living as they have until now. It also sounds as though nothing like a magistrate will be sent from the center.”

“That may be good for the fortress, but... what benefit is there for the Marquis? Even if the fortress joins him, his tax revenue will not increase.”

“That is not necessarily true. If the fortress’s merchants go to his territory and do business, the economy will become even more active. If that happens, total tax revenue will naturally increase, no?”

“Ah, I see.”

“But more than that, a divided country returning together is diplomatically very significant. Removing a spark that could lead to armed conflict is also significant. Is this not nothing but benefits?”

Abel spoke while thinking it through.

“Lose a little to gain a lot...”

“Yes, that is a good phrase. Though I doubt he is losing much at all.”

“True.”

Both Abel and Ryo understood that Marquis Nyusha’s proposal was a good one.

The people of the fortress discussing it here and there also seemed positive.

However, Abel found one person who alone appeared irritated.

“The mediator does not seem to like it.”

“Don Re? Ah, he does look irritated.”

Don Re called over one member of the mediation group and hurriedly gave some sort of instruction.

The person instructed took out something like a small box from within his clothing and whispered something.

“That... is a communication-type alchemy tool.”

“I can see the faint light of alchemy. Now, to whom did he give what instruction?”

Abel’s face tightened.

Looking sidelong at him, Ryo spoke.

“Abel, shouldn’t you apologize to me?”

“Mm?”

“By now, it should be obvious to anyone. The Federation was scheming behind the scenes, and it seems likely they still are.”

Ryo puffed out his chest and placed both hands on his hips, acting self-important.

“Ah... I will not say the possibility does not exist.”

“Even after things have reached this point, you still phrase it like that!”

“I was only imitating what you always say, Ryo.”

“Gnnn.”

Abel smiled wryly, and Ryo grimaced.

“Well, if there is something like the scheming you speak of, what would it be? If Don Re and his people do not take emergency measures now, it will be too late. Marquis Nyusha’s proposal has already created the flow.”

“True. That proposal is practically the best possible offer for the people of the fortress. They have no reason not to accept it. The flow has already formed, but they still want to do something... In that sort of situation, what would you do in chess?”

“Mm? Chess?”

“You play chess, don’t you, Abel?”

“Yes, I do, but... reversing the game would be impossible, wouldn’t it?”

“No. In this case, the answer is universal. You physically flip the board!”

“Hey...”

Abel was exasperated by Ryo’s absurd answer.

Apparently, Ryo wanted to say that if one physically overturned the chessboard, the game would become a muddle.

“Well, that is absurd, but... what would it mean here?”

“Changing the place, perhaps?”

“I see. That is easy to understand.”

Abel nodded.

It seemed a concrete method had occurred to him at the same time.

“They would only need to cause a disturbance.”

“Was that instruction with the alchemy tool telling someone to cause a disturbance?”

“Probably.”

Abel nodded.

“I will probe a little. .”

Ryo chanted.

He could gather information from a radius of nearly one kilometer.

“Ah... about fifty people who look like that sort of group are gathering in the eastern square of this training ground.”

“That is enough people to cause a disturbance and either muddy the waters or allow the mediator to propose a change of venue.”

“Ah... Abel, we may have done something terrible.”

“What is it?”

“The lindo seller we ate from is among that group. It seems he was an enemy agent!”

“Well, people like that would be mixed in.”

“The grilled fish seller and meat skewer seller are not there. They were honest people. Thank goodness, thank goodness.”

Ryo nodded.

Perhaps he had heard the two of them talking.

Old Masda returned from his discussion with the merchants.

“Did you say people who are trying to cause a disturbance have gathered?”

“Ah, yes, Instructor. Around fifty people are gathered in the eastern square.”

“Outside, Chiro and the others are patrolling, but... I will go lend a hand.”

After saying that, Old Masda left the spectator seats.

“Chiro?”

“Probably that brown-haired man from before. He is giving instructions while facing off with the fifty people.”

The man who had behaved so crudely at the Sand Meal Pavilion.

That said, both Ryo and Abel understood that he was not a bad person.

He had simply been unsuited to escorting people...

Or rather, he had gotten too absorbed in the task.

“What shall we do? Shall we go too?”

“No, let us leave the outside to them. The hooded person really does bother me.”

“I see. But if they fail to suppress those fifty people, we will not have time to say this or that in here.”

“True. Then let us help stall them.”

“Stall them?”

.”

Ryo chanted.

However, nothing changed within Abel’s range of sight.

That meant it was a stalling measure against the fifty people...

That spell that froze the ground.

Previously, when Room Ten, including Ryo, and Room Eleven confronted the third detachment of the Temple Knights, Abel had seen the ice floor Ryo deployed through Soul Echo.

To be blunt, it had terrified him.

For close-combat fighters, it was truly a nightmare.

For those who could not fight unless they could approach, it was the same as being dropped into hell.

Most likely, that was the scene now unfolding in the eastern square.

“That is the one that makes it impossible to walk, isn’t it? No, impossible even to stand...”

“Kuh-kuh-kuh. I will make them taste the infinite falling ice-slide hell.”

“The terror comes through from the words alone.”

Ryo laughed with a wicked expression, and Abel gave a small shake of his head.

In the eastern square, hell had quite literally appeared.

All fifty men slipped and fell.

Once they fell, they could never stand again.

With meticulous care, the area around the falling zone had been enclosed by blue-colored ice boards, partitioning it off so that people would not accidentally enter.

At the same time, the fifty men could not leave...

Even if they used their comrades as footholds and escaped the ice floor, they would not be able to get outside.

Chiro, the brown-haired man, and the members of the guard patrol watched from a distance.

They had been waiting until enough allies gathered, and then hell had appeared right before their eyes.

Honestly, they did not know when they were supposed to move.

Then the long white-haired old man appeared.

“Chiro, what are you doing!”

“Instructor! What should we do about this...?”

He asked Old Masda for instructions.

The fifty men could not stand. They slipped and fell, fell and slipped again...

Many of them had taken on terrifying expressions from exhaustion and panic, while the others, unable to understand the situation in which they had been placed, had faces twisted with fear.

Old Masda and the others in the guard patrol watched that sight.

“This is... yes. If Lord Ryo is ‘that person,’ then this much is only natural.”

Old Masda’s mutter did not clearly reach even Chiro, who stood beside him.

“Instructor?”

“No, just talking to myself. Most likely, once the situation is ready, the magic will be released. When that happens, capture them all. Prepare yourselves!”

“Yes!”

The patrolmen answered Old Masda’s words.

In the meantime, more and more patrolmen gathered...

Until they surpassed fifty.

The next instant, the blue-colored ice boards enclosing the fifty men vanished.

The ice spread across the ground vanished as well.

“Capture them!”

At Old Masda’s command, the patrolmen leapt forward.

The men, exhausted from falling over and over, could not resist at all.

In only a few minutes, all fifty had been neutralized.

“It seems the Instructor and the others safely captured all of them.”

“I see.”

Ryo conveyed the information he had grasped with sonar, and Abel nodded.

The mediator in their line of sight...

Don Re appeared to have a relaxed expression.

He had given the instruction to cause a disturbance and was waiting for it to ripple into the training ground.

He likely had not yet received the report that the fifty people had been captured.

“Will that be the end of it?”

“No, probably not. Once he finds out it failed, he will use another move he must have prepared.”

“So this is what they call Plan B...”

Ryo grimaced and shook his head.

After a little while...

“Ah, someone who looks like a subordinate is receiving a report through an alchemy tool.”

“Now, what happens?”

“Ah... Don Re has been informed that the disturbance failed, and even from here I can tell he is in a bad mood.”

“Naturally.”

Abel nodded.

Mediator Don Re thought for a while with a frown on his face, then took a strange action.

“He has called the hooded woman from the seats behind him.”

“She is the one. She moved to the central three-person seating area. As I thought, there is something about her.”

“It is absolutely nothing decent.”

For once, Abel stated it flatly.

Abel often made firm statements when it came to Ryo, but otherwise he rarely did so.

This time, however, he did.

At the same time as Abel’s declaration, Chairman Pisek, who had been in discussion, returned to the central three seats.

His expression, even from where the two of them sat, looked full of resolve, and in a certain sense, satisfaction.

“It looks like he has decided to accept.”

“Anyone would think that is best.”

Both Ryo and Abel expected Chairman Pisek to say the word “accept.”

Most likely, Marquis Nyusha, who had made the proposal, did as well.

However, the next moment...

“Huh?”

“Did both the Marquis and the Chairman’s expressions loosen?”

“It looked that way to you too, Abel? Something... is wrong.”

Both Abel and Ryo furrowed their brows.

Perhaps it was because they had been focused on the expressions of Marquis Nyusha and Chairman Pisek.

The two men’s expressions appeared to have slackened.

And then...

“Our fortress will not accept! We will maintain our independence!”

“I withdraw the proposal! This is total war!”

Chairman Pisek shouted, and Marquis Nyusha shouted as well.