Chapter 3: The Second Prophecy

Episode 2: Central Garden… (Second Half)

After leaving the Curator’s office, Mia and I moved to our next location. We went up to the second floor and opened the door to a classroom normally used by the third-year students.

“You’re late, Vinder.”

As soon as I entered, Dargan’s voice hit me; he was sitting on a desk with his arms crossed.

“Hmph. Not only has he risen to Silver rank, but he’s also the purveyor for the Grand Duke of the West. I bet he’s getting cocky.”

Plura, sitting with her legs crossed in a chair, twisted her lips in a sneer.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve saying that, Plura, considering you were the first to raise your hand when we were gathering recommenders for Vinder,” Lilka said with an exasperated look.

“Now then, let’s begin the second meeting of ‘Central Garden’—the association of shops participating in the holdings.”

Maria clapped her hands briskly. She has the most maternal presence in this group. She clapped with such vigor that things… shifted.

“That name sounds like something out of a shojo novel, but you just picked it on your own, didn’t you? And Maria-senpai, aren’t you just an observer?”

“Oh, it’s called Central Garden because of the relationships we cultivated in the courtyard (Chutei). Isn’t it nice?”

“Senpai, you were inside the school building at that time, weren’t you?”

It sounds like the name of a secret organization—though when Maria says it, it sounds more like a girls’ school student council. I have to be careful that we don’t start getting assigned weird codenames.

As you can see from the attendees, this meeting is a gathering of the members from the Shoken Festival. Dargan took the lead, but for some reason, Maria-senpai is also participating and running the show. When I first heard about this, I thought it would fall apart since we have no common enemy or goal.

In reality, I have to admit it’s starting to function as a place for information exchange across different fields. It’s meaningful even when considering the future establishment of a trading company.

When I think about it, the status of being a student is a blessing. This many influential members are sharing the same time and place—and it’s inconspicuous. I see; that’s why it ends up with a name like a secret organization.

“The agenda was trade with the Empire, right?”

“Yes. How are the trade negotiations going?”

“The heads of the Food Guild fell one after another, didn’t they? Things finally started moving again after having to return to square one. Considering the West is expecting a bumper crop, both the government and the Guild probably want to wrap things up quickly.”

The Empire shares a border across a great river to the northwest; exports from the West are the most efficient. Food is heavy, after all.

“The Carest Company is based in Kurtheight, the central city of the East. Why did they try to seize leadership of the trade with the Empire?”

“It seems there was a plan for a significant amount of exports to be conducted from Kurtheight as well. That’s why they were in such a hurry to secure the Guild Master position. Thanks to that, it’s a huge struggle for us who had to take over.”

“—That also doesn’t make much sense. The area around Kurtheight is mountainous, which is rare for this country.”

Roston finally spoke up. Belmini was absent today.

Mount Touville. By Earth standards, it’s about 1,700 meters—less than half of Mount Fuji—but in the Kingdom, which is a land of plains, it’s the highest peak (excluding the border mountain ranges). Kurtheight is the premier city of the East located at its foot. By the way, it’s an isolated mountain system and no mana-veins run through it.

The surrounding area is plains, but it shouldn’t be a place particularly abundant in food production.

“It’s the salt. Rock salt is produced in Touville. It’s indispensable for preserving meat, yet they went and jacked up the prices.”

Dargan spoke with clear loathing.

“That’s right. That’s how the contract between Carest and the Empire stands.”

“The information from the Shoken Festival ledgers supports that as well,” Mia added to Maria’s statement.

“Is the Empire in trouble regarding salt, too? I heard they were rich in rock salt over there.”

“It was to the point where rock salt imported from the Empire was used in the West. Maybe they can’t enter the mountains because of those ‘Magic Beasts’ or something?”

“Isn’t that a pretty bad situation? Is this round of trade special after all, Maria-senpai?”

When I think about the student-run Shoken Festival group, I can’t help but be on guard.

“The core of the trade remains the exchange of food for mineral resources, including mana crystals. However, it seems the other side wants to restrict exports of mana crystals for at least a year. Other minerals will stay at current levels.”

“Is that also because of the Magic Beasts?”

Mana crystals are naturally produced in mountains with mana-veins. They can also be taken from the foreheads of defeated Magic Beasts. This connects to the food shortage and the salt story from earlier.

“Wait a minute. Then what does the Empire intend to sell?”

Lilka raised her hand abruptly. It was a reasonable question.

“According to their envoys, it sounds like they want to increase timber exports. The Kingdom is short on that, isn’t it?”

True, if the terrain is mountainous, timber would be abundant. Easier access to timber is good news for Vinder, too, as I need waterwheels for honey production. However, timber is bulky. Transport should be difficult.

“There seems to be a plan to transport it to Kurtheight using the great river. That’s likely the part Carest was involved in. If they can move timber to the East, they can expect considerable profit.”

“I see, water transport… No, wait. From the Empire, wouldn’t that mean cutting straight through the influence zone of the Magic Territory?”

I recalled the geography lecture I had just received from Fursey.

The continent is bisected by a great river flowing from west to east through the center. South of the river is flat terrain sandwiched between mountain ranges on the left and right. That is our Crownhight Kingdom. A land of plains and an agricultural nation.

North of the river, there are two nations. The western half is mountainous territory belonging to the Empire in question. A mountain country and a producer of mineral resources, especially mana crystals. A resource-rich nation, so to speak. And to the east is a land where many rivers flow. It seems several cities along the rivers have formed a loose confederation.

If compared to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Kingdom is Wu and the Empire is Wei. The “Shu” would be the river country of the East—though the positions of Wei and Shu are swapped. Furthermore, right in the center of the three countries across the river, there is a vast mountainous region where high peaks cluster.

It is at the strategic center of the three nations and borders the great river. It’s a spot you can’t ignore when considering future international trade. Even if it’s mountainous, there are flat lands along the river. If a city were built here, its location would make it the hub of continental logistics. It wouldn’t be strange if a struggle for control broke out even militarily. Naturally, I had asked Fursey about it.

“Why is this place left untouched?”

“Because it is not an environment humans can enter and exit. The mountainous region in the center of the continent contains the densest mana-vein known: the ‘Blood (Sanguis) Mountain Range,’ Vulcanas. Superior Magic Beasts live there that are incomparable to things like Magic Wolves. And the banks of the great river you speak of are within the influence zone of the Blood Mountain Range’s beasts.”

“I think they are quite far apart, though. Does a Magic Beast overflow happen after all?”

“It is not that. It is because you enter the territory of large Magic Beasts with flight capabilities—the representative one being the Wyvern. Flight requires a significant amount of mana, but superior Magic Beasts have large mana crystals in their foreheads, you see.”

In short, the influence zone of the Blood Mountain Range overlaps with the center of the great river. It cannot be used as a passage connecting east and west.

Wyverns, huh? Pterosaur-lookalikes. There’s already an overwhelming difference in physical size, and being attacked from the sky leaves one with no chance. As someone who was a dinosaur expert in my previous life, I’m intensely curious, but for the sake of self-preservation, I have to pass.

“No matter how much we profit, it’s all over if we’re attacked midway. Surely they aren’t just going to set the timber adrift and tell us to pick it up on our own?”

“The Empire says it’s because they have the know-how to repel Magic Beasts.”

“Well, fighting Magic Beasts is a daily occurrence over there, and I’ve heard there are many beasts much stronger than those in the Kingdom, but…”

The information seems to match but feels disjointed somewhere. Well, unless information is fabricated, you never get multiple sources pointing perfectly in the same direction. It concerns another country; I should be cautious in my judgment.

“That’s right. If the Empire wants to export timber… can we get our hands on Red-Leaf trees, specifically exceptionally large ones? At least 80 years old, preferably around 100.”

I remembered my promise to Fursey. If we can understand the fluctuations of the Empire’s mana-veins, we can grasp their situation to some extent. At worst, if the Empire is swallowed by a swarm of Magic Beasts, the impact on the Kingdom—such as refugees or the cutoff of mineral resources supplied until now—would be immense.

“What are you going to use it for?”

“An experiment with the Sage. I can’t really go into the details. Sorry.”

The specifics of recording mana using tree rings is currently a state secret.

“Hmm. It will take some time since trade based on the new agreement hasn’t started yet, but is that alright?”

“It’s just ‘to be safe,’ so it’s not that urgent.”

When I said that, Maria laughed.

“I recall that having the Sage measure the Shoken Festival coins was also ‘to be safe,’ wasn’t it?”

“The honeybees are dying?”

After spending a day so busy my head was spinning, the trouble I heard about upon returning home was in my main business.

“Not in Leyria Village, but in one of the villages where we’re teaching the techniques.”

“Were they attacked by other bees or something…? What’s the impact on the production increase plan?”

“We only just transported the hives, so production hasn’t started. Besides, it seems the damage is only to some of the hives. Originally, it was a test to see if flowers other than Chinese milk vetch could be used in Bertold’s enclave.”

That village, huh? It’s a so-called “capital-resident territory” for the convenience of Grand Duke Bertold when he stays in the Royal Capital. To take advantage of its proximity to the capital, we had started it ahead of schedule.

“However, according to the village head there, animals that ate the bee carcasses are dying along with them.”

“Wait, that’s bad.”

This is beyond a production increase. Animals are much closer to humans than insects. If the honey gets mixed with pathogens or toxins that infect mammals…

“It’ll be a huge problem if the honey is toxic. Tell them that even if honey is harvested, they must not eat it, and they must store the dead honeybee hives. The dead animals, too. I have to go directly and handle this as a top priority.”

“I’ll contact them immediately. However, Young Master, please wait two or three days before you go. Remi has been pulled away by Bertold, and we’re short on guards. No matter how peaceful the Kingdom is, if we’re doing things as flashily as we are, we have to be careful.”

“…Fine.”

“Good things are often shadowed by trouble,” I sighed in front of my desk after Jacob left the room. Trouble seems to have much more friends than I do. It must be a real “social butterfly.” Damn you, “normie” trouble, go explode. But please do it somewhere far away from me.

The prophecy, the Kingdom’s factional struggles, the Empire, and my main business. I’m likely to be tossed around by the torrent of information. But I can’t afford to neglect any of them.

“I wonder if Alphina will be absent tomorrow, too.”

I looked at the small cloth bag on the desk. I picked it up and shook it. It made a cheap clinking sound. I hope I can give it to her before I leave the Royal Capital.