In A Certain Country

Viewpoint: Rebrandt-Agle, chairman of the Agle Company

“Boss! This is bad! This is seriously bad!”

“What’s bad is your vocabulary! I always tell you, don’t I? Explain the actual details!”

I gave my usual lecture to that idiot Rob, who had come bursting into my office.

I understood the stance he took, but he could at least act normal when it was just the two of us.

“No, this is really bad! This! Look at this!”

As he said that, Rob took a small bottle from inside his coat.

The guy was this worked up, so I didn’t think it was just water… Medicine?

“How am I supposed to know just by looking, you moron! So what is this?”

“This is medicine!”

“Medicine…? Which kind?”

Medicine in the real sense, or medicine that harmed people… My next move would change depending on which it was.

“It’s insanely dangerous medicine.”

The moment I heard that, I made my move! For now, I threw the paperweight I had been using!

“Boss! This is seriously amazing! Isn’t that a bit much for a joke?!”

Unfortunately, the paperweight missed Rob and hit the wall before falling to the floor, but Rob made an exaggerated show of being terrified.

“Enough. Hurry up and talk. Next time, I’m really hitting you.”

“Understood! This medicine isn’t the kind you hate, Boss. It’s medicine that works on injuries and stuff.”

“What the hell… In that case, I should’ve hit you properly with the paperweight.”

When I said that in a bored tone, Rob shook his head hard.

“No, no, no, please spare me! That’s what I wanna say, but… Actually, I figured if I got a small injury, I could just use that medicine.”

“It’s medicine, right? Is it really that fast-acting?”

I picked up the small glass bottle Rob had placed on the desk and opened the lid.

The medicine inside was pale blue… It looked bad for the body.

As for the smell… There wasn’t any in particular.

“That’s what’s so crazy about it! If you drip it on a cut, it heals right up!”

“Is it some kind of magic medicine?”

“It’s for real! I already tested it a little! As for side effects… The only damage was to my wallet!”

“…If it’s your wallet, then there’s no problem at all. I’m using a little.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll bill you later!”

This guy was seriously stingy… Well, fine.

Rob’s information was reliable. If he was recommending it this strongly, there was no doubt about its effect.

I lightly cut my thumb with a small knife I had in my drawer.

After confirming that blood had welled up, I tried dripping the medicine from the bottle onto my finger.

“…What if I said it was actually poison!?”

When that idiot spouted that nonsense and I instinctively readied myself to throw the knife I had used to cut my finger, the mega-idiot hurriedly held his head.

“No, joking! I’m joking! See! It’s already healed, right?!”

I lowered the knife and looked at the thumb I had cut earlier.

This really was impressive… It had been a small wound, but it had healed in an instant…

“Looks like it was true. So… How much is this?”

“Two hundred and fifty gold coins.”

“Expensive!? That’s quite the price…”

The effect really had been shockingly amazing, but two hundred and fifty gold coins was way too much, wasn’t it?

“I totally get why you’d say that, Boss! But that medicine’s true power isn’t just that! According to what I found out, it heals broken bones in seconds! On top of that, it relieves fatigue, and it can even say goodbye to chronic back pain and joint pain that have tormented someone for years!”

“…Is that true?”

“As far as I’ve investigated, no doubt about it!”

“I’ve never even heard of such an incredible medicine until now… Where is it from?”

As the chairman of the Agle Company, I paid attention to all kinds of information both inside and outside the country… If a product like this appeared, there was no way I would overlook it.

That meant this product had come from outside my information network.

The most likely source was the Great Magical Nation in the east… They often made insane inventions over there.

“That’s the thing… I actually don’t know yet.”

“You couldn’t trace it?”

I thought this guy’s information-gathering ability was the best not just in the Agle Company, but in the whole country.

If even Rob couldn’t trace it… That meant it was being concealed with considerable skill.

“I haven’t been able to investigate all the way back to the source yet. I think I could get there if I had a little more time, but…”

“Is there a problem?”

“Well, this is just a feeling, but… It feels like I’m being lured in. They’re disguising things almost obsessively, but… It’s like if I seriously investigate, I’ll be able to trace it back to the origin…”

“…If you sense danger, retreat immediately. This thing is certainly interesting, but if the choice is losing you, I don’t mind cutting it loose.”

“Boss, you’re seriously kind! Right now, I’d even let you take me from behind!”

“On second thought, you can die. Just bring the information back first. I’ll write ‘idiot’ on your grave.”

When I said that to Rob after he started saying disgusting things, he began pretending to cry and begged me to spare him.

One of these days, I was going to beat the hell out of him.

“So, since you brought it to me, you’ve got some idea, right?”

“Yes, sir! The source is that country that’s been stirring up rumors lately, Einheria. Right now, I’m investigating who in Einheria is selling it, but… The guard around it has gotten even tighter, so it’s pretty dangerous.”

“That country, huh… Looks like our country has its eye on it too. They’ve been nagging me lately to hand over any information at all.”

Our country… Zo-Roche was the easternmost country among the member states of the Trade Cooperative League.

Beyond our neighbor, the Kingdom of Largray, lay Einheria, the country that had been the subject of so many rumors lately… Of course the bigwigs couldn’t help being curious.

“Shouldn’t they be worrying about our neighboring country more than Einheria, which has another country between us and them? The Kingdom of Largray is in seriously bad shape, you know?”

Rob said that with a shrug… Well, he was right. Things over there were pretty awful too.

“True enough… There’s suddenly a movement spreading to overthrow the king and nobles all at once, but I wonder who’s guiding it.”

“Wouldn’t the people of Sorakil be the ones to do that?”

“Have you grabbed their tail?”

“No, not at all. Looks like it’ll be hard unless I go there directly.”

“Normally, even your subordinates would be able to catch at least the shadow of the other side, right? Not even that?”

When I asked Rob with an implied meaning, he answered while looking like he was thinking for a moment.

“True, it is strange that there’s absolutely no information.”

“And there’s no story of supplies being transported from our country. Of course, there’s none from the Sorakil direction either…”

“Even so, it sounds like those people are properly armed.”

“The one drawing the picture behind the scenes… might be the same as the one behind this.”

As I said that, I flicked the small glass bottle of medicine with my fingernail.

“You’re saying they’re waging war against three countries while also plotting against Largray? No matter how you look at it…”

“Well, if you think normally, sure. There are probably a fair number of people who can slip past your information network and mine, but I can’t imagine there are people all over the place who leave no shadow or trace whatsoever. In that case, isn’t it more believable to think it’s the same opponent?”

“…If you look only at that point, then yes. But if your prediction is right, Boss, that’s seriously bad.”

“True… Well, for now, that country’s war has nothing to do with us. More importantly, Rob. It might be a bit rough, but can you investigate the real source of this medicine?”

“Understood.”

“I’m counting on you. Your life is just as important as money.”

“I’d like you to say it’s more important than money.”

Rob said that with a laugh and left the room, and the room suddenly fell silent.

“If this medicine… really has the kind of effect Rob mentioned… it won’t just be us. The whole world will be desperate to get its hands on it. Why aren’t they selling it openly…? Concealing information… raising its scarcity by releasing it little by little… conflict with the church… being targeted by major powers that want the technology… That’s probably about it.”

I put the lid back on the small bottle and stored it in my desk together with the knife.

I could leave further analysis for after Rob returned with information… More importantly, I needed to continue my work.

…Huh? Where did the paperweight go?

Viewpoint: Maurice-Scomos, former deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, agent of the Kingdom of Sorakil

“…That concludes my report on the operation in the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.”

After finishing my report, I bowed deeply to the person before me, who looked utterly bored.

That person was the third prince of the Kingdom of Sorakil… His Highness Prince Zanalore-Elshan-Sorakil.

He was the one who had ordered me to end our operations inside the Lufelon Holy Kingdom and abandon Lord Rangas.

“I see… Hmm, I guess it really was a failure.”

Even as he said that, there was not the slightest hint of regret in his tone.

“Well, putting that aside, good work… Um, I forgot your name, but you’d infiltrated that country for quite a long time, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I kept my head lowered and gave only a brief answer.

Against this person, I could not say anything unnecessary.

If I could not answer only what I was asked, briefly and quickly, it would not be strange for my torso and head to part ways without warning.

“You were infiltrating it for, what, ten years? Twenty years? After spending that long in that country, didn’t you get attached to it or anything?”

“No. I felt no such sentiment whatsoever.”

“Oh, really…”

His Highness replied to my answer with an utterly bored murmur.

Although I had been away from my homeland, I had held the position of deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau in the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, so I had seen all sorts of information about the Kingdom of Sorakil.

This third prince was the child of a concubine, so his rank in the line of succession was not especially high, but rumor had it that he had inherited the current king’s blood more strongly than anyone else.

It was not something one should say about one’s own king, but… He was cruel and cunning, and he showed no mercy to enemies or allies… However, he almost never revealed that openly. He only showed it when he had wrung his target dry and judged them to have no further value.

Dictatorship through fear… That was the true nature of the Kingdom of Sorakil and of the king who reigned over it.

His Highness the third prince was still young and had not fully learned to hide that cruelty, which was why people said he had inherited the king’s blood most strongly.

“That other agent who’d worked hard for so many years… I wonder if he felt the same as you.”

“He would have felt no sentiment whatsoever and would have cast aside all personal desires for the sake of the Kingdom of Sorakil.”

“That’s boring.”

His Highness the prince said that again in a bored tone and let out a deep sigh.

“Well, if that’s true, then abandoning him in that small country was the right choice. I wanted to see him feel bitter about being abandoned by his country, fall into despair… or start thinking about revenge… but from what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like there was any of that at all.”

“…”

His Highness the prince stood from his chair while saying that his expectations had been off, but abandoning him had not been a mistake.

“It wasn’t me who decided to cancel this plan, but Father. Negative emotions like that really are fun to harvest only when you raise them with your own hands. Yes, so… maybe it’s about time I moved.”

“…”

“You… will enter my command. I imagine you’re tired from your long journey, but you can move right away, can’t you?”

“There is no problem.”

I was already close to sixty… and I was exhausted in both body and mind after a forced solo march from the Lufelon royal capital to the Sorakil royal capital, but refusal was not an option.

“Then could you go to the purveyor merchant? If you say you’re my envoy, they’ll guide you after that.”

“Understood.”

After receiving my instructions, I immediately stood and left the room.

Just before I left the room, His Highness the prince muttered something in a cheerful manner, a complete change from before, and naturally I gave no reaction.

“First, we harvest inside the country.”

As if to shake off those words lingering in my ears, I began to move.