Blue Advisory! (7)

Around the time it had been three months since I came to Ingrad, I looked at the enormous pile of large gold coins Princess Riana had sent—plus the “chrome” and iron ingots I’d requested earlier—and thought my workload had grown again.

Thinking back on all I had done so far, I felt I’d accomplished quite a bit; the problem was the knights who had hauled the large gold coins on their backs.

Gold was so heavy that dozens of women were retching and barely able to move under the weight—it pained me to see it, but I stepped back and told the attending maid:

“Guide everyone to the manor baths, bathe them, and then I’ll receive their report.”

“Yes, my lord.”

There was no need to talk with knights in a filthy place while they were filthy. As I was in my workshop, making various new medicines, Alrena came in after a knock, escorting a knight.

I already knew the woman—her name, I remembered, was Rebecca.

“You’re Aenia’s older sister, right?”

“Yes. Thank you for remembering.”

“You’ve had a hard time, haven’t you?”

“…No.”

Rebecca paused—there was no way it wasn’t hard. And for a woman to endure such degrading tasks could not be pleasant.

Still, thanks to the medicines and other things we had on hand, she recovered quickly—that alone was a relief.

“How many large gold coins arrived this time?”

I had received quite a sum before; this shipment was larger still.

There were twice as many knights as last time.

“When it could not all be settled in large gold coins, we brought ‘promissory notes’ issued by the Imperial House. The coin is fifty thousand pieces, and there are five notes for ten thousand large gold coins each.”

They apparently liked rounding at the ten-thousand mark.

I confirmed it was an enormous amount, but honestly I couldn’t tell if it was truly “a lot.”

Moreover, in a few weeks we would begin work on the mana suppressant for the beastkin, and the mood in the fief was already uneasy.

Most beastkin were not greatly worried—the problem was the humans. Rumors were so frightening that whenever the Demon God’s Moon approached, many humans panicked.

Here, surrounded by beastkin—and this time not even evacuating—they were nearly petrified with fear.

“Well, if it comes to it, I can let them into my castle…”

Work had made the outer wall grow excessively large; we could now evacuate every human in the domain, so I wasn’t too worried.

The curtain wall was on average five meters thick, and I had pushed the height to ten meters. I doubted even beastkin could surmount such an outer wall.

For reference, that height matched the walls raised by the Empire around Ingrad. In thickness, mine might even be greater.

In any case, the outer wall was solidly built; I considered it the last bastion.

“But there was something I was told to ask, my lord.”

“What is it?”

“What do you intend to do with that many large gold coins…? They wished to know. Also, money must circulate—so next time, please accept payment in goods.”

It was true: vast amounts of “gold” were flowing into our fief. They even sent promissory notes instead of all coin.

I realized I hadn’t considered the Empire’s situation—but I knew the request came from Princess Riana’s care for the people.

Princess Riana had the air of a humanitarian.

Well, perhaps reality was different—but that was the face she had shown so far.

“Is there any particular item worth requesting?”

“About the magical goods you mentioned before, my lord.”

A few had already been sent. Puzzled, I looked at Rebecca, and she asked:

“If you desire additional magical goods, please request them.”

“Ah. Right—those were pricey, weren’t they?”

“Magical goods are generally all expensive.”

I thought it over, and one thing came to mind—Hare had mentioned “magic stones.”

If we had better magic stones, time acceleration could reach a hundredfold. I decided to try for them and asked:

“Do you know of magic stones?”

“Aren’t they the gems used to craft all magical devices?”

So magic stones counted as gemstones. Honestly, I knew Hare was roaming the Forest of the Demon Dragon precisely to find them.

Wanting to lighten her burden, I said:

“How much would top-grade magic stones cost?”

Perhaps she took some interest in the topic—or had researched it beforehand—because Rebecca answered at once:

“Top-grade stones are priced by the market. On average, they trade for between two thousand and three thousand large gold coins.”

It was cheaper than I’d imagined. Without further hesitation, I said to Rebecca:

“Then how about we take payment as top-grade magic stones from now on?”

“May I ask… why you need magic stones?”

“I intend to try a variety of things.”

I had no particular reason; hearing my vague answer, Rebecca blanched. I had no idea why.

“In any case, you worked hard. If you haven’t skipped a meal, please, everyone—eat.”

“Thank you for your hospitality.”

As Rebecca quietly withdrew, I thought of all I could try if top-grade stones arrived. But for now, something else worried me.

“Hoo… the Demon God’s Moon is almost here…”

If the mana suppressant failed, we would be in serious trouble.

Around the manor, the beastkin population had reached nearly thirty thousand, their numbers spiking because beastkin from deep within the Forest of the Demon Dragon had been slipping in, bit by bit.

“So they weren’t obeying even Wijel’s orders, eh…”

Recently, monsters and the broader flora and fauna within the fief had been thinning out, so external threats had decreased—but I now worried that we might soon face food shortages.

Still, the lack of external threats could itself be the answer.

“If the beastkin are inside the fief… it might actually be better?”

With that sudden thought, I went to Wijel to gauge how many beastkin lived in the Forest of the Demon Dragon.

“So the number who still have to come… is about twenty thousand?”

An absurd figure. Was it just me, or did the number keep growing?

“Did you lie to me about the count?”

“I did not. I gave only a rough estimate. But lately, somehow, word has spread outside—those living beyond the Forest, that is, in what could be called the Northern Continent, have begun to come down.”

That meant those who lived only reachable by ship or magic—beyond the Forest—were advancing south.

Was the goddess deliberately fanning the rumors…?

All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind, but first I gathered information on the newcomers.

“Do they heed your commands, Wijel?”

“As a rule, I am the king of the beastkin. They should listen to me. But it is not an obligation; they can refuse or take offense.”

“What kind of beastkin are they?”

“Mm. Not the strong kind. The weaker the beastkin, the closer they live to human lands. Mostly, they are the lower tiers.”

“How many beastkin dwells in the Northern Continent?”

“I do not know. Things are not good there either. And during the Demon God’s Moon, many beastkin die. The weak are easily culled even by human armies.”

Hearing the tangled circumstances made my head ache. Powerful monsters lived in the Forest; to live alongside them, one had to be strong. Using the Forest as the midpoint, the weaker beastkin lived nearer the borders—toward the southern continent (the Terakan Empire) and the northern continent (other kingdoms)—and were treated as targets for subjugation.

The Forest of the Demon Dragon was a kind of buffer zone, perhaps the last bastion protecting the beastkin.

Moreover, unlike the Terakan side, the northern continent lacked a “barrier,” so weaker beastkin lived there— and now they were pressing south. It was a headache.

“Damn it. I can’t ignore it… and if we live together, I’ll be busy every year preparing medicine—no matter how determined I am to embrace them… troublesome.”

Still, I had made up my mind; I had to persuade Wijel.

“Let’s have them all come down. Let’s make this the ‘fief where all beastkin live.’”

“That seems sudden—why?”

“Thanks to the many beastkin coming down, we can do one thing.”

Wijel looked puzzled. I gave him a crooked smile and said:

“We’ll open a road. To the nearest fief of the Terakan Empire.”

“A road…? What do you intend to do by opening a road?”

“Make money—and with that money, have beastkin gather herbs professionally. Then we’ll trade for a set compensation. We’ll also move the herbs near neighboring fiefs and trade with merchants.”

“I see… so that is it.”

Wijel had grasped it. I added:

“We don’t have to rely on monster meat for food. If beastkin help, we can open roads and manage them easily. And there’s one advantage—perhaps not for the beastkin, but for me.”

“What is it?”

“That I won’t have to depend on the Imperial House!”

Hearing that, Wijel looked at me as if surprised. Honestly, who knew how long the Imperial House would trade with me in good faith?

External information could be controlled as well. So it was important to secure multiple channels.

And if word spread that caravans, with a decent mercenary escort, could travel to Ingrad without much trouble, I had no doubt our fief would become formidable—rich in both wealth and power.

“The beastkin are both ‘peril’ and ‘blessing.’”

That was, in the end, my conclusion. After setting the schedule with Wijel and watching some of the Sain Tribe depart for the Forest, I asked him:

“During the Demon God’s Moon, how many beastkin die?”

“Think of it as about one-tenth overall.”

“That’s enormous. If there are a hundred thousand, that’s about ten thousand dead?”

“Perhaps more. Humans fear us greatly. The stronger a beastkin’s power, the more they will be feared.”

Recalling how Agnes and Princess Riana had flinched at the Sain Tribe, I could understand.

Frankly, I did not know how powerful Wijel truly was. But one thing was certain: thanks to that neon sign the goddess hung on me, Wijel was very favorable toward me.

I didn’t blindly trust that, but I did hope we could stay on good terms through mutual interests.

“I see a way. A way…”

It was a season when a breakthrough was urgently needed.