Chapter 100

The report that an enemy shadow had been sighted came around noon on the tenth day after I had entrusted the analysis of the magic circle to Luano and the other three.

Apparently, fishermen who had gone offshore chasing tuna-like fish had discovered the fleet.

Their faces pale, they rowed their oars at full speed back to the harbor and sent word while gasping for breath.

Countless sails like a tsunami were approaching from the northeast.

When that report arrived, we were right in the middle of lunch at Iiria’s mansion.

Iiria swallowed her bread, brushed off her hands, and smoothly stood up.

That bread had been baked from wheat that the man from Crape Myrtle House had delivered to Jirenu Territory at top speed through instructions to the ship he had boarded, keeping his promise.

Our preparations of supplies for the battle were also perfect.

“Well then, everyone, are you ready? We’re going to make those fools understand how strong we are!”

She looked every bit the lord, not showing the slightest hint of worry that we might not win.

She was properly carrying out the duty of one who stood above others.

Then Iiria called out to Cole, who was staring at his hands at the corner of the long table.

“You know, in war, no one knows what might happen, so even if a ship from your hometown happens to sink, you won’t hold it against us, right?”

Though Cole was the son of the Bax Company’s manager, he had clearly been out of place in Roran. Whether because he had fallen in love with a girl of beastfolk blood or not, he had even hated that society that saw beastfolk as nothing but merchandise.

There was probably no option for him to return to the Bax Company in Roran at this point, but whether that meant he could remain calm even if people from his hometown were harmed was a different matter.

If the Bax Company was a central presence in Roran, then someone related to Cole by blood, or people he knew well, would certainly be aboard the ships of war.

As everyone present focused their gazes on him, Cole raised his head.

“I have beastfolk who grew up like siblings with me. And my true siblings are them.”

Cole had behaved like the very model of an arrogant noble, but apparently his real first-person pronoun was “I” in a softer sense.

Now that Cole had become completely docile, perhaps because the poison had been drained from him and he no longer acted so stiffly, he looked much more boyish than my first impression of him.

“Good. In that case, Kururu.”

When Iiria called Kururu’s name, Kururu unusually looked away in dissatisfaction.

“You are not to stay by my side. Act together with Gerario-san. Understood?”

That was an exchange the two of them had been having for the past few days after we had worked out the plan.

As someone who considered herself Iiria’s foremost attendant, Kururu did not want to leave Iiria’s side when the enemy was attacking.

The memory of being separated in Roran was still fresh too, so it was understandable.

But Kururu, of course, also understood the logic of the plan.

That was why she had a fitting reason for showing slight resistance to Iiria’s order.

“…Understood. However.”

Kururu, loyal to Iiria, finally accepted her master’s command, then glared at Cole.

“I acknowledge that you will be by Iiria-sama’s side in my place, but if anything happens to Iiria-sama, I will consider it your fault. Even if Iiria-sama catches a cold because it rains, or even if she sleeps wrong during a nap and her neck hurts, I will consider it your fault. Be prepared for that.”

The look Kururu gave Cole was exactly the same as the look she had given me when I was employed by Nodon.

However, seeing Kururu press Cole like that, Iiria smiled in a troubled way, and Kengo and Gerario did the same.

It was obvious that, rather than truly hating him, she was trying to force herself to hate him.

Kururu was desperately trying to open distance between Cole and Iiria.

Because Cole was in love with Iiria.

Moreover, lately Cole had a somewhat melancholy, shadowed air, and his slenderness that fell just a little short of being called a young man made him look exactly like a boy from a good family.

In short, he somehow had an oddly popular-looking atmosphere.

Before the battle, the one Iiria had been consulting about diplomatic matters with Roran was, of course, Cole.

As they met and spoke every day, even from the side, it was easy to see that Iiria was becoming more and more at ease with Cole.

That said, whether Iiria would immediately become romantically involved with Cole was something I seriously doubted, and Cole himself was probably the one who thought so most of all.

But when it came to Iiria, Kururu tended to become hypersensitive.

After all, Kururu’s love for Iiria was heavier than the Earth.

After being pressed by Kururu as if she might bite him at any moment, Cole quietly stared back at her and spoke.

“I understand. I have to take responsibility for my past.”

When he was with Nodon, Cole had been an unpleasant fellow who suited a warped smile.

But now, the one staring back at Kururu was a sincere boy.

Besides, this Kururu had fought a magician together with Cole in Roran, and they had entrusted their lives to each other.

Kururu was far simpler at her root than Iiria, so she had long since started to regard Cole as a comrade.

In the end, Kururu stopped trying to sink her fangs in any further and turned away.

“Well then. Shall we take our positions?”

When Iiria, who had thoroughly enjoyed Kururu’s conflict, said that, everyone began to move.

The construction of the semaphore communication network was not complete, but a considerable portion of it had been finished.

That was because the beastfolk’s work had been incredible.

Even without proper tools, they tore sturdy vines from the forest and made them into ropes, then rapidly assembled logs that humans would have needed pulleys or a considerable number of people to lift.

If anything, processing the devices that displayed the signals was more difficult, but the town’s woodworkers worked hard on that side. Apparently, under the influence of the Takahashi Workshop, which had introduced full-fledged division of labor, the way other artisans in town worked had also been affected, and they cooperated beyond workshop boundaries.

Falone and the others also played an active role as teachers, teaching the concept of encoding day and night to the beastfolk who would handle communication, and copying out large numbers of correspondence lists for encoded words.

Thanks to that, the first communication was conducted the day before yesterday between the middle slope of the magic stone mine and the western side of the island, and yesterday it reached the town.

The people operating the semaphore arms on top of the towers were still looking at the notes in their hands, and their movements were awkward, but after practicing all night, they had taken considerable shape.

Most importantly, even at the present stage, information transmission was overwhelmingly faster than horses or beastfolk running.

With this, no matter where Roran’s side tried to land on the island, we could immediately share the information.

Furthermore, with the battle imminent, the evacuation of the townspeople had also been carried out calmly.

Since there was no guarantee there would not be a surprise attack from the sea, we had announced guidelines for what to do when the enemy came, and established evacuation procedures for each town district.

The reason the townspeople obediently followed was probably because we had the achievement of subjugating the dragon.

Thus, in Jirenu’s harbor, now emptied of people, we came to await Roran without any worries behind us.

“For now, it doesn’t look like they intend to spread out their fleet and surround us.”

Those in the harbor were Iiria and me, Katz and a few harbor men, Dodol and some of his companions, and then Cole and his beastfolk companions.

“From there, even magic can’t reach us, right?”

Iiria shaded her eyes with her hand and peered intently out toward the open sea.

Roran’s fleet was around the horizon, and with our eyes we could not tell whether it was anchored or advancing, but according to Dodol, it was not moving.

Were they wary of an attack from our side, or did they intend it as intimidation?

“If it could reach, that would be if they used a super second-grade magic stone.”

Perhaps because he still felt that the disaster had been invited by his own family, or because he thought Kururu was watching him from somewhere, Cole said that while standing a little distance away.

“However, I heard that the super second-grade magic stones Roran had kept hidden were lost in the former war against the Empire. Besides, those people are foolish. Even if they had a super second-grade magic stone, I think they would not use it because it would cost too much. They should believe they can occupy this place easily.”

During Iiria’s rescue too, while we were fighting the magician, the phrase cost reduction had come up.

The reason there had only been one guard magician there was probably that after they had submitted to the Empire, they had quickly changed direction and shifted their focus to commerce.

“Then, following standard practice, it feels like an envoy for negotiations will come first.”

“If my people… no, if the people of Roran have even a little proper thought left, they will do that. No matter what they intend to do with Jirenu, they need a public pretext. The reason their ships are so absurdly numerous should be because Roran brought the surrounding nobles along to justify this invasion.”

“So their plan is to show off how they crush us and rebuild their shaken authority?”

Cole nodded, and Iiria put both hands on her hips and let out an enormous sigh.

For Roran, which had summoned Iiria, poisoned and imprisoned her, then disgracefully had her stolen back and its palace half destroyed, it was necessary to use every means possible to restore its authority.

In particular, they absolutely needed to silence the mouths of everyone connected to Jirenu who knew what had happened.

However, because they were aware that they ranked above us as rulers, even when striking back, they had to maintain appearances, and a certain pretext and ceremony were necessary.

That was probably how things stood.

“They’re all exactly like Nodon.”

When Iiria said that with a fed-up, spitting tone, Cole looked down.

Because he had been able to have contact with Iiria, whom he loved, Cole had often come to this island through the magic stone dealings with Nodon. Moreover, from embarrassment, vanity, and a boyish inability to think of any way to get the attention of the girl he liked besides being mean, he had gone along with the way Nodon and the others mocked Iiria.

Iiria no longer seemed to care, but Cole’s regret seemed deep.

“It’s pathetic, but I was a figurehead lord for so long that I don’t understand wartime diplomatic etiquette at all. According to Gerario-san, in times like this, the attacking side sends a boat.”

In this world, if both sides fired magic, they could inflict damage from a considerable distance.

Because of that, beastfolk who could not use magic apparently first met at a midpoint between both sides and held negotiations.

The reason beastfolk were sent there was probably to avoid surprise attacks by magic from either side, but it also likely had the harsh meaning that they were disposable pawns whose deaths did not matter.

“It seems that is correct. A small boat is being lowered.”

The one who said that was Dodol, narrowing his eyes as he stared out over the sea.

“Dodol, we are ready on our side as well.”

The one aboard the small boat floating in the harbor was one of Dodol’s beastfolk companions, apparently named Badadam.

“I wonder if an enemy magician might be hiding on the boat and take them hostage.”

Iiria looked worried, but Cole, who had recovered from the earlier blow, answered.

“Those people do not even have the idea that beastfolk could become hostages.”

“…”

Perhaps because she had been hiding the tension of war, Iiria’s somewhat carefree mask finally came off.

With an expression that could be taken as anger or sadness, she looked beyond the sea.

“This is my territory. I won’t let people like that do whatever they want.”

At those words, the beastfolk’s ears each rose slightly.

Dodol was no exception.

“I want to make this a territory where people can take peaceful naps.”

And with Iiria’s following words, the air loosened.

“Hmph. So we have bet on people like you.”

“Wonderful, isn’t it? Trust in the quality of my tail’s fur.”

Dodol shrugged, exchanged glances with Badadam, and the small boat departed.

Then Dodol immediately turned toward the direction of the church spire and waved his hand widely to signal.

Someone watching from the top of the spire translated that signal with the semaphore arms, and another person who saw it operated another set of semaphore arms… and so it spread across the island.

Kururu, who was taking position together with Gerario somewhere on the island, was probably receiving the report about now.

The reason I grew tense when imagining the state of the two magicians was because of the experiment on that uninhabited reef.

Even though I knew Kururu and the others’ plan should succeed, just remembering that time made a tension well up like the moment before jumping into cold water.

“The boats will make contact with the enemy.”

At Dodol’s words as he strained his eyes at the tip of the pier, Iiria spoke.

“They’re technically not enemies yet, are they?”

Those words, which even she herself did not believe in the slightest, were lighter than dust and easily carried away by the sea breeze.

Beyond them lay Roran’s great fleet.

Facing the reality of the battle before my eyes, I drew in a deep breath and steeled myself once more.