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Chapter 3: The Second Prophecy

Episode 2: Countermeasure Meeting (First Half)

“Now, Lady Alphina. I shall ask you once more.”

A high-pitched elderly voice echoed through the large circular conference room.

“Yes.”

The prestige of this room was proven by the throne placed there for Imperial Council meetings. She was sitting in a place where she hadn’t even been permitted to enter when she announced the prophecy during the New Year’s Festival.

The man questioning her was a thin, white-haired man wearing lavish legal robes: Duke Cypress Grinicius, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom. He was the organizer of this countermeasure meeting. Incidentally, the throne had remained empty since the King made a token appearance at the first gathering.

“Is there no mistake that the calamity foretold by the Prophetic Crystal is famine?”

“Yes, I believe there is no mistake…”

Alphina recalled the tragic scenes. Emaciated limbs, with unnatural swelling in the abdomen and the tops of the feet—a painful sight. Children who had lost the light in their eyes were scrounging for grass by the roadside. If the images didn’t flow directly into her brain, she would have wanted to cover her eyes.

“And that it is in the North?”

“Yes. However, that is merely the direction from which the calamity arrives. As for the location or the cause—”

“But it is strange. No matter how much we examine the agricultural land information obtained to date, there are no signs of a poor harvest. The season is already late summer. The ears of wheat are beginning to ripen.”

The old man pressed his hand against the thick bundle of papers on the desk. As evident from how easily he cut off Alphina’s words, she was likely nothing more than a tool to convey the crystal’s images to him.

“The crystal cannot see the calamity directly. Therefore…”

Without flinching at the old man’s cold eyes, Alphina tried to fulfill her role. Even so, she couldn’t help but compare this to when she tried to unravel the previous prophecy.

At that time, her naive way of thinking had been interrogated by a boy of the same age. His words were blunt, and his pursuit was relentless. On the other hand, the Prime Minister maintained a polite and courteous attitude. And yet, why did it feel so different?

“…Just because it hit the mark once doesn’t mean it will next time.”

The man who was her foster brother—and her cousin by blood—spoke. His attitude was clearly hostile.

“If it misses, then fine. Formulating countermeasures on the assumption that it will hit is how one responds to an emergency,” followed a man in a decorated knight’s uniform, who was the youngest in the room after Alphina.

“Both of your Highnesses’ opinions are perfectly reasonable. However, this time and the investigation costs are not free.”

While mediating between the two princes, the Prime Minister casually added his own point. The agenda had not progressed for over half an hour.

“Let us end today’s meeting here. The Princess-Priestess shall continue to face the crystal. We shall focus our efforts on grasping any signs of a poor harvest. Howell, continue the rainfall survey. Rhodes, create an inspection plan for stockpiles in various regions. Pay particular attention to whether any territories are faking their mandated stockpile amounts.”

The Prime Minister began giving instructions to the bureaucrats, no longer even looking at Alphina. In response to the orders, eight men and women began to move. Some bureaucrats started briefings with the Second and Third Princes. Even to Alphina, who was unfamiliar with politics, their movements felt well-organized as a team.

In fact, she knew from previous meetings that the Prime Minister and his subordinates were acting energetically. Measures for the worst-case scenario, such as checking stockpiles in preparation for famine, were likely correct.

Even so, would this be enough to deal with an unknown calamity? The anxiety building within her grew larger with each passing day.

Precisely because she had seen the boy who solved the first calamity as if by magic, she couldn’t help but think. With this method, that calamity probably could not have been prevented. Were they not simply performing things anyone could do, just more accurately than anyone else? Was the investigation itself becoming the objective?

As she walked toward the door leading back to the Cathedral, she bit her lip.

The heavy door closed in front of a bowing Claudia. Alphina was alone in the hexagonal room. Inside the cold stone room, the girl involuntarily hugged her shoulders. On the round altar in the center sat the Prophetic Crystal.

Red mana flickered upward from the transparent sphere. It seemed to change even the air in the room into something ominous. Fortunately—or perhaps not—there was no new reaction. In the first place, this prophecy was already a clear image.

She took a book out from the hem of her priestess robes. When she opened the book, a bookmark with a reddish-purple flower pressed onto it appeared. Clutching it to her chest, she left the table and sat down on a small bed.

“I wonder what he’s doing right now.”

Is he still at the Academy? She imagined Ricardo surrounded by girls like Mia and Lilka, who were far closer to him than she was. Locked alone in a room facing a sinister crystal, she felt miserable.

“Ricardo-kun…”

A murmur escaped her. During the first prophecy, when she had no one else to rely on, he alone reached out his hand. During the Shoken Festival, when Hilda tried to isolate her, she was pushed into managing the courtyard that no one looked at. She had once given up on the festival she was inwardly looking forward to and accepted that role. But before she knew it, she was at the center of the festival with him.

“No.”

Alphina shook her head. She had to fulfill her role. She had to prove the value of her birth. For her beloved parents. That was, ultimately, her wish.

He had his own goals. She didn’t fully understand them, but she knew his dreams were very large. After the Shoken Festival, when he explained the mechanisms of stocks and holdings, even her aunt, a Great Feudal Lord, was exasperated many times. She had also seen a glimpse of his daily busyness.

Furthermore, he disliked standing out. At the very least, it was clear he didn’t seek the position of a hero who saved the nation in the slightest.

After the first prophecy was resolved, Alphina, troubled by how unrewarded he was, consulted with Ruiza. Encouraged by the words that dancing with a princess in a formal setting is the highest honor, she invited him to dance. Looking back, perhaps that was also no good.

While feeling sorry, she was bewildered by her inability to regret that action. She had nothing she could give him. She didn’t know what he wanted.

“I wish he would just ask for anything.”

Alphina whispered to the bookmark. Her fingers, which she had unintentionally put strength into, slightly distorted the shape of the reddish-purple flower.

Two days after the shareholders’ meeting. After passing through a deserted corridor and joining Mia in the empty library, I entered the Curator’s office through the stacks.

It’s just like a secret base. It’s sad I can’t call it an “adult getaway,” but since the clutter in the room adds to the atmosphere, it can’t be helped. You can’t get any work as a Head Librarian done like this. Oh, he wasn’t doing any to begin with, so it’s not a problem.

“Nothing regarding the prophecy has reached my ears,” the hobbyist known as the Curator said to my question. For the past two days, Alphina hasn’t come to the Academy. Apparently, she can’t leave the Cathedral.

“She’s a contributor to the resolution of the recent Magic Beast overflow, isn’t she?”

“The Prime Minister might have taken a dislike to her at the recent festival. …I jest. That Duke isn’t such an interesting person. He has a personality that likes to keep things separate. If he thinks my specialty is irrelevant, he won’t deal with me. Otherwise, he’s only interested in budgets and more budgets.”

Come to think of it, I’ve heard him grumble about his research funds being cut.

“Then, I want to know about the mechanism of the crystal. What kind of mechanism does it run on?”

“The mechanism of the Prophetic Crystal, eh? When I was at court, I investigated it out of interest.”

Fursey stopped his hands, which were fiddling with an antenna.

“But what will you do with that knowledge?”

“Senpai is worried about Lady Alphina.”

“No, the power to show the future is an incredible thing. That’s why…”

As a former 21st-century human who hasn’t fully shed my scientific literacy, I still have resistance to the word “prophecy.” Incidentally, I know many “economic prophecies”—which are highly credible in the sense that they are guaranteed to be wrong.

“What I found out was that likely no one understands what kind of mechanism the crystal runs on. A magic tool of that class is what’s called an Artifact. It’s questionable whether humans even made it.”

“It’s a black box to that extent? But that ring I used the other day is also a magic tool, right?”

“Well, yes. In the sense of flowing mana to get an effect, a ring and the crystal are the same.”

Fursey stroked his ring. A mana-flow circuit—should I call it a magic circle?—faintly emerged. I think they are a set of switches that can be controlled to some extent in response to human will, but since I have no aptitude, I can’t use them.

“Alphina… the current Princess-Priestess is special in a way, right? I want to judge whether these prophecies popping out so frequently are due to the user’s aptitude or environmental factors. For example, when a prophecy occurs, the crystal shows an omen, right? If prophecies are appearing frequently even though the frequency of omens hasn’t changed, that’s the Princess-Priestess’s aptitude. If the crystal’s omens themselves are increasing, it means the environment is changing in a way that prophecies appear—in other words, that calamities are increasing.”

“Say so from the beginning. In that case, I have materials.”

Fursey opened a cupboard. I was handed a paper with numbers lined up in handwritten boxes.

“These are the records of omens from five years ago back to fifty years ago. During the time of four Princess-Priestesses, the frequency of the crystal glowing hasn’t changed. Well, there’s a possibility they were all just figureheads with no aptitude.”

“Lady Alphina said that including small ones, this is the third time this year,” Mia interjected. Is that information obtained through… skin-to-skin contact? No. I see. According to the records, a reaction from the crystal occurs maybe once a year, if at all. A frequency of three times in six months is an outlier.

“There’s a possibility that the environment has changed in a direction that increases calamities… If so, as expected…”

I looked at the antenna Fursey was holding.

“Indeed. Considering the western mana-vein fluctuations that didn’t exist until now, there’s a possibility that a major fluctuation in the flow of mana is occurring. Your hypothesis is gaining credibility. As always, your way of thinking is unique. You try to investigate the cause or the environment itself rather than the calamity. Usually, people are busy enough just dealing with the calamity that occurred. At most, they think about what might happen and prepare.”

There was once a world where it was possible to manipulate the environment with science and technology. Even so, people could only deal with large-scale disasters. Sometimes environmental manipulation backfired in the form of pollution, creating calamities.

“…”

“Hmph, I’m saying don’t be too impatient. Back to the subject. A measurement station, simple as it may be, has been built in the West. The antenna has been improved, and the sensitivity of the paper has increased. Measurement from tree rings, which used to be limited to thirty years… look, eighty years is now possible.”

Fursey pulled out a black paper with a boastful look. It showed clearer shades than the last one. If corrected with the attenuation curve Mia helped create, it seems that in places with Red-Leaf trees, mana fluctuations of nearly a hundred years can be known.

Seeing the clear progress, I became a little calmer. This project is almost too blessed with talent.

“I certainly was too impatient. But with this, wouldn’t we be able to measure the Empire as well?”

“Suddenly a story about abroad? It seems your definition of ‘too impatient’ is different from mine.”

A world where technological innovation happened by leaps and bounds… No, never mind.

“If the Empire is troubled by Magic Beast damage, that means an increase in mana from the mana-veins is occurring, right? Don’t you think it would be interesting as a sample of long-term change, O Sage?”

“Mumu, I certainly want to know that. But can you obtain a sample?”

Fursey said, his eyes now entirely those of a scientist. Mia looked at me worriedly. No, I’m not going to go all the way to the Empire to play lumberjack.

“I’ll manage that somehow through my connections as a merchant.”

I can talk about that at the meeting coming up after this.

“Ho, I shall look forward to it.”

“Next, I have questions about the geography of this continent, including the Kingdom and the Empire.”

“You… do you even understand the flow of the conversation from just now?”

“It’s impossible. Senpai is…”

The exasperated gazes of the two pierced me as I tried to spread out a map of the continent.