Ritz Kingdom

「A product identical to the Polia Kingdom’s main product, the antibiotic “Melan,” and skin cosmetic “Ibla,” has appeared on the market?!」

「These two products, known to use ingredients derived from goblins, have been introduced to the world over the past few years with astonishing effects. However, for something to be identical to these products, there is no choice but to use goblins as the main ingredient, so it is clear that there is a goblin breeding facility somewhere in the world.」

「Do goblins have no females? According to research results, it is said that the only method is to use the wombs of human women. This means that somewhere in the world, acts are being carried out to forcibly impregnate human women with goblins.」

「The Polia Kingdom officially issued a statement condemning those who developed the imitation products. Unlike themselves, who possess “Goblin Island,” they announced that the production of goblins using human women must immediately stop!」

「Countries around the world actively declared support for the Polia Kingdom’s announcement, announcing that goblin pregnancy was an act that could never be tolerated!」

「The religious world announced that placing the fetus of a non-human monster inside a human woman was a complete rejection of the providence established by God, and that this was something that could never be overlooked!」

「The World Childcare Organization called goblin pregnancy a horrific act that must never exist! They are insisting that those involved must immediately be found and arrested.」

「Women’s protection organizations announced that they would firmly carry out boycott activities against the imitation products that destroy the dignity of women!」

The world had no choice but to be turned upside down by the announcement released by the Polia Kingdom. Making human women give birth to goblins, which were monsters, was an extremely horrific act. In truth, the reason countries had not released those two products, despite their certain profitability, was that they knew this and could not release them recklessly.

Countries around the world had to think about who on earth had committed such a horrific and immoral act. Naturally, the entity taking the lead in tracing this distribution network backward was the Polia Kingdom. Since they could not overlook those threatening their money-making means, they took swift and bold action.

They also openly requested help from each country. They even said that if anyone did not help with this matter, they could be branded as a country that permitted this unethical act, forcing them to help. Following such actions, they were able to begin tracing backward at a fairly rapid pace.

The companies involved in distribution were also startled, and they tried to avoid responsibility by saying that they had merely received money and transported the goods. They told those distribution companies that if they did not want to be held responsible, they should actively help, and by receiving even their distribution ledgers, they found out where it had begun.

With the help(?) of these distribution companies, they were able to continue the pursuit quite easily. If they had proceeded secretly, it would have taken some time, but because they openly issued a statement of condemnation and began the investigation, they were quickly able to find its end.

Soon, the country that had ultimately been distributing them was revealed, and that place was none other than the Leman Federation. The Leman Federation? In truth, that country, which had been the foremost front line during the Great War, had already had its entire territory devastated and had become land where people could hardly live.

The people who had lived there before were returning and living there again, but the reality was that almost nothing remained, so they had no choice but to live almost in tents. They were so dependent on aid from countries around the world for survival that their recovery was the most hopeless and even its progress was the slowest.

For such people to be the country producing imitation products, and for them to have created women pregnant with goblins, showed just how far they had fallen to the bottom. In truth, the people living in that land were desperate. They were in a state where they needed some driving force to continue their lives again by any means.

As for the infrastructure itself, the first thing barely being restored was farmland, while aside from that, men were going abroad to do hard labor, and women were in the situation of selling their bodies to earn money. It had literally become nothing more than a poor land where people themselves were the only resource.

A more detailed investigation was carried out, and in the middle of that, they learned that the ones at the center of this matter were the royal family of the Ritz Kingdom, one of the three small kingdoms. Upon learning this fact, Ian immediately summoned the ambassador of the Leman Federation to the royal palace.

“What will you do about this matter?”

“T-this is… something I did not know about either, Your Majesty.”

“Are you trying to deny it now, even when the evidence is this clear?”

“That is not the case. I truly did not know about it. It seems the Ritz Kingdom acted on its own.”

Seeing the ambassador’s aggrieved appearance as he spoke as if he truly had not known, Ian thought that it might be true. In truth, the materials also stated that it had been led by the royal family of the Ritz Kingdom. However, since their country had formed a federation, they needed to take responsibility.

“I am deeply disappointed right now. As you know, the Leman Federation was the country that bought weapons from us first during the Great War, was it not? Aside from that, we also knew that you did not have the ability to repay the weapons payment immediately, so we extended the grace period so that you could repay it only after ten years. Does this not mean that you have stabbed us in the back?”

After hearing Ian’s barbed words, the ambassador waved both hands as if it was absolutely not the case and spoke hurriedly as if making excuses.

“I-it is a misunderstanding. We truly did not know about this, and we absolutely have no intention of stabbing the Polia Kingdom in the back.”

“Then how will you handle this matter?”

“We will immediately convene a federal meeting and proceed with handling the Ritz royal family, who caused this matter. In the worst case, we will proceed in the direction of having the Ritz Kingdom leave the federation, so please calm your anger.”

From the way he spoke, it seemed that he had made a harsh decision. Perhaps, seeing how the situation was unfolding, he might have meant that in the worst case, they could be unable to receive even the aid they had received under the name of the federation, so they would cut off the Ritz Kingdom and keep at least the two kingdoms alive under the name of a federation.

“I will watch how you proceed with this matter.”

“We will definitely produce a satisfactory result.”

Seeing him speak as if asking to be trusted, Ian nodded and gave his approval. Rather, if they came out like that, he felt grateful. They would likely find and eliminate not only the facilities producing the imitation products on their own, but also the places where women had been impregnated.

If they did it themselves, there was nothing bad about it. If matters turned out this way, he thought that if things went well, the time when they could raise the lowered prices back to normal might arrive sooner. Thus, he was able to see the ambassador leaving the audience chamber, saying that he would hurry and handle the matter.

Meanwhile, Mardin, who had been watching the situation, seemed slightly dissatisfied. At this, Ian chuckled and spoke.

“You seem to have some dissatisfaction.”

“No, Your Majesty. How could I possibly feel dissatisfied with Your Majesty’s decision?”

Mardin’s expression clearly showed that he was dissatisfied. It was probably a question about having forgiven them more easily than expected.

“There is no need to forgive them. Were those who caused this matter not also acting in order to survive?”

“Even so, was not an anti-humanitarian method wrong?”

“The punishment for that will be received by the Ritz Kingdom’s royal family from those around them, not from us. That royal family will probably be pointed at until the moment it collapses.”

“It seems you think that is an even greater punishment.”

“Would it not be? Rather, being pointed at across generations itself can only be a punishment more dreadful than receiving great retaliation immediately.”

As Ian said this, he inwardly thought that it was not as though he did not understand their feelings. Since there was no way to obtain money, they must have searched without caring about means or methods, and in doing so, they must have reached out to products using goblins.

They must have done it even while knowing that the end would not be good because their reality was one in which they could not possibly think about the future. Inwardly, he even thought, would I not have done the same? He might think he would not, but if he saw his people starving and living in hardship right before his eyes, he would have stubbornly searched for a method.

In any case, just because their circumstances were pitiful, it was not something he could leave alone and let the imitation products continue to circulate.

‘With this matter, no one will try to do something like this again for a much longer time, right?’

As wet ground later hardened even more firmly. Through this matter, even more people would learn about the two products and surely export them. In truth, the export volume of the antibiotic Melan was increasing with each passing year.

Currently, antibiotics are being used in many places, and their effects are being clearly seen. In particular, due to the influence of antibiotics, the population growth rate by continent has recently become dramatically faster. Infant mortality had also greatly decreased according to the use of antibiotics, and because of this, it was leading to explosive population growth.

Both mothers and children could be born healthy. In this situation, as a period of peace was arriving, sales of Ibla, the cream that made skin firm and smooth, were also expected to rise even further.

Once the problem of eating and drinking was clearly resolved, people’s interests would very likely gradually turn toward grooming their appearance. Not only noblewomen, but also ordinary women would take interest in Ibla.

In any case, these flagship products were being used as means to draw enormous funds into the Polia Kingdom.

One day in February, people learned that the royal family of the Ritz Kingdom in the Leman Federation had been making products by having human women become pregnant with goblins. Everyone reacted as if they had never imagined that they would have done such a thing.

At this, the Orlia Kingdom and the Jet Kingdom, which belonged to the Leman Federation, immediately issued statements announcing that this matter had nothing to do with them and had been committed solely by the Ritz royal family. They desperately appealed that they were not involved, even showing evidence materials.

At this, whether their purpose was to endure or not, the Ritz royal family neither made excuses nor denied it. The first to act against this behavior were the Noma Empire and the Moria Empire. As they stepped forward and began applying strong pressure, the royal family of the Ritz Kingdom could only whimper and surrender.

They began to be properly shaken down. Even their own people were pointing fingers and condemning the actions of the royal family. According to this situation, an investigation team was formed, and soon they were able to find the goblin breeding facility and look inside.

The moment they examined the interior, it was horrifying itself. First of all, it was so poor that it could not be called a proper facility, and all the pregnant women were carrying goblins in their wombs while having no will to live left. On top of that, perhaps to prevent suicide, they did not hesitate to inject drugs.

The moment such facts were plainly revealed and even photographs were taken and appeared in newspapers, people had no choice but to react with even greater horror. Everyone was cursing with one voice at the fact that they had unhesitatingly committed acts that could not possibly be done to people.

There were about two hundred women pregnant with goblins alone, and those women were advised to undergo abortions and carried them out, while the women who had already given birth and were no longer pregnant all went through procedures to be sent to separate facilities.

Amid this situation, many places began continuing moves to sue the Ritz royal family through the International Court. What the King of Ritz said in response to these lawsuits was as follows.

[I knew that this was something a person should not commit. I truly feel responsibility for it. However, please understand that this was an act we had no choice but to commit. We have lost many things because of the Great War. We lost our territory and also lost much of our population. We had to find a way for people like us to survive, and what came out of that was the method we used now. We had to survive no matter what we did.]

They were words close to an appeal. Many people showed various reactions to this cry from the King of Ritz. While many people condemned him to the end and said that he had to pay for his crimes, unexpectedly, some people also emerged who said that they understood what the King of Ritz had done and acknowledged that he had no choice.

People’s thoughts truly seemed to differ. Because of this clash of opinions, the situation had no choice but to become even noisier. Meanwhile, in the Polia Kingdom, which could be called a party directly involved in this matter, the mood was that they would let it pass as long as production of the imitation products was stopped.

From the start, there was no need for even the Polia Kingdom to step forward and intervene. The Polia Kingdom had many things to do to become mired in a muddy fight like a clash of opinions. At the same time, inwardly, they knew that a place like the International Court could not forcibly punish a king, so they did not deliberately enlarge the matter.

Polia Kingdom, Main Conference Hall inside the royal castle.

The ministers were seated inside the conference hall, and in this situation, Chancellor Marquis Norwen informed them of one fact.

“It is said that the Leman Federation has decided to separately make the Ritz Kingdom independent as an apology for this matter.”

“In the end, they made that choice?”

“From their perspective, they are in a state where they no longer have any reason to embrace them. If they did so for no reason, their own image would worsen.”

“Perhaps the countries that should have been torn apart are trying to be torn apart.”

“The possibility of that is not zero. It is said that their relations had already greatly deteriorated from long before. That may be why they carried this out separately.”

“Then what happens to the proportion of the weapons payment?”

“Exactly one-third of it will have to be repaid by the Ritz Kingdom.”

“Notify them properly. Tell them not to even think about not repaying the weapons payment.”

“I will do so.”

Those were the chancellor’s words, saying that he would definitely collect it even by applying pressure. In any case, with even one country breaking away like this and its strength shrinking, the situation of the Leman Federation was likely to become not very good. Still, if they could resume transit trade along with their geographical strategic value, then once enough time passed, they would be able to earn quite a lot of money.

‘The King of Ritz could not endure the immediate hardship and ended up releasing something like our products.’

Thinking of their circumstances when they once handed over an enormous sum of money all at once and received weapons, Ian thought it showed just how much the reality of their impoverished situation had changed. In any case, he recalled the situation of the Ritz Kingdom, which had still not offered a single word of apology to them.

“Have they still not offered us an apology?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I do not know what kind of stubbornness this is, but it seems they have no intention of apologizing to us.”

“I certainly do not know what gives them such confidence.”

Ian also felt slightly unable to understand it, but inwardly, he thought that perhaps because they had that sort of confidence, they could be so shameless. To be honest, he did not want to keep paying attention to a figure who had no presence whatsoever.

‘What would I gain by going so far as to threaten a king who leads a country so insignificant that even retaliation feels like a waste?’

Still, since what they had done to them was the kind of thing he could not let slide, he felt like he might take some retaliatory measures in small areas.