379 - Leonardo's Perspective: Cody's Report and Nils's Consultation
A notice arrived that Cody had reached the Fortress Lord's Residence, and I moved to the residence together with Alfred. It meant leaving the fortress work to Alf and Aaron, but lately I had not been going back to the residence unless I had business, so they kicked me out, saying it was a good opportunity. And that I should get plenty of rest in my own bed while I was at it.
Cody was supposed to come from Lagarette by land route, making inquiries along the way until he reached Grenore, but now that I knew about the ring's crest, I felt apologetic for having made him take a wasted trip. Still, we needed as much information as possible, however little, so it should not have been a complete waste.
Cody, who had visited the Fortress Lord's Residence because a mere traveling merchant showing up at the fortress would be nerve-wracking, was startled upon being introduced to Prince Alfred, who was present as a fellow attendee. Then he straightened his back and offered his thanks from the other day. Apparently he had not forgotten that the prince had arranged the Mustine medicine for him through Tina. I knew Alfred liked straightforward people like Cody, so even if his counterpart was a prince, Cody probably did not need to be that nervous.
"There were several checkpoints on the way from Lagarette to Grenore, but no suspicious carriages were caught. I also asked some woodcutters in the villages along the way, but they said they had not seen any carriages stopping to avoid notice or passing through narrow mountain paths."
Cody had conducted far more thorough inquiries than I had expected. He had thought on his own beyond what I had asked, and even looked into things that caught his attention. As Cody bowed his head, saying he seemed to have been of no use, I thanked him for his thorough investigation and handed him his payment. I had had him work so I could compensate him for when he had gone to Quebia as Tina's envoy. Even if there were no results, I would pay him.
"Leonardo-sama, there is a visitor for Christina-sama."
"For Tina?"
As I was pressing the leather pouch into Cody's hand, who was trying to decline the payment because there were no results, Bart arrived with Nils. Having a visitor for Tina brought to me was troublesome, but since Tina was not here, I had no choice but to handle it.
"It has been a while, Leonardo-sama."
"Yeah, it has been a while, Nils. Have you grown a bit taller?"
It must have been a reunion of two years for Tina, but since I occasionally showed my face in Grenore, seeing Nils was merely after a while. It seemed he was approaching the period where a boy nears adulthood and shoots up in height. Nils, having grown up, was now almost as tall as a full-grown adult.
"You seemed to have business with Tina..."
"Yes. I had a report about the paper for the guidebook that Tina-sama plans to print..."
At that point, Nils fell silent. He probably had not imagined that Tina would not be at the residence he had visited on business with her. Basically, Tina lived a life where she did not leave the residence. For those who came to visit Tina, her not being at the residence was itself unusual.
"Um, where is Tina-sama...?"
"Tina is..."
I paused, thinking about how to put it. I intended to involve Cody since he was a traveling merchant, but Nils was a scholar apprentice at the Menhishumi Church. I knew he was not the type to spread information he had heard, but if he learned that his friend Tina had been kidnapped, his gentle nature would make him worry. It would be better to just hear his business and send him back without telling him anything. I thought it would be better for Nils not to know, but with ulterior motives, I told him the truth. Nils was a Spirit's Favored Child. He might notice something from a perspective that only a Spirit's Favored Child could understand.
...Though apparently Tina could not expect help from the spirits.
When I told him that Tina had been kidnapped into the Zugary Empire, Nils and Cody were naturally shocked. Cody's surprise seemed slightly less intense. Perhaps he had sensed something from the increased number of checkpoints after crossing the border. He seemed to understand the reason I had been seeking information, and his expression tightened.
"For that reason, Tina, who wanted to do the printing, is missing. I am sorry to the Menhishumi Church, but would it be all right to temporarily suspend the guidebook printing until Tina returns? Of course, I will cover any costs incurred from the suspension."
"About the costs... Tina-sama has already paid in advance, so..."
The cost was not a problem. The issue was where to store the paper being delivered, Nils said. Since Tina had already paid in advance, it was difficult to use it for printing other books, and there was too much to just pile up in the warehouse.
"Then let us take it in at the residence and store it. Tina was planning to make it. She would probably want to be involved in the printing too."
"...No, wait. I am sorry to Tina-sama, but instead of suspending it, why do we not go ahead and print it?"
Nils frowned with a "hmm" and started thinking. I had heard he was a smart kid, so maybe something had occurred to him.
"Tina-sama was kidnapped into the Zugary Empire, and there are checkpoints everywhere outside the city. Cody-san is a traveling merchant from the Saenard Kingdom... which means you are thinking you need the cooperation of Cody-san, who travels, right? Specifically, you want to send him into the Empire to get information. If that is the case..."
"...Ah, I see. If we use the books as merchandise... no, that will not work. Books would not sell in the Empire."
Cody's face lit up as if he understood what Nils was getting at. But he immediately noticed the problem with his own idea, and his voice trailed off toward the end. Just as entertainment goods like game boards were questionable as merchandise within the Empire, books were also a form of entertainment. They were still hard-to-sell goods.
"No, it is good that they will not sell. With food products that sell well in the Empire, the merchandise would disappear quickly. Cody-san is a traveling merchant, so you buy goods in the Ivizia Kingdom and sell them in the Empire, and buy goods in the Empire to sell in the Ivizia Kingdom and Quebia, right?"
Goods purchased in the Empire did not generate much profit even when sold within the Empire. That was because people could get them in nearby towns and villages without having to buy from a traveling merchant.
"So by deliberately choosing hard-to-sell books as merchandise, we can stay longer within the Empire..."
"Then it would also be important to spread the word about them within the Ivizia Kingdom first and make them a topic of conversation. A mere guidebook would not get any attention, and bringing something like that in would actually draw suspicion."
It was the same reason Aaron had suspected the carriage carrying only game boards. A merchant bringing goods known to be unsellable into a country was practically asking to be suspected. If we made the guidebook popular within the Ivizia Kingdom and arranged a pretext that we had obtained the much-talked-about guidebook first, the unnaturalness of carrying the hard-to-sell guidebook as merchandise into the Empire might be somewhat alleviated.
"...Either way, it will take time."
"Give up on that and steel yourself. You knew it would be hard to make a move once she had been taken across the border."
The reason we had not been wary of Jasper was that he had spent years earning the trust of Tina and her guardians. To find Tina, who had been taken out of the country, and bring her back safely and reliably, we had no choice but to spend a considerable amount of time on this.
"...If this was a state-sponsored kidnapping, I will destroy them after I get Tina back."
"Refugees would come and increase our country's burden. Keep it to changing their heads."
As the conversation started drifting in a dangerous direction, Alfred corrected course, saying that making bobbin lace and its guidebook popular within the Ivizia Kingdom was a simple matter. Tina herself had the connections for it, and he could cooperate as well.
"...I see. Tina's connections."
It seemed the guidebook printing had become a done deal in Alfred's mind. He lowered his eyes with a face that suggested he was thinking ahead, then immediately looked up as if a good idea had come to him.
"If we are thinking of eventually going into the Zugary Empire to get Tina back, we will need a base within the Empire. ...There might be people inside the Empire who have received lace from Aurelia."
People who had received bobbin lace from Aurelia. If Aurelia trusted someone enough to give them lace, they would surely become Tina's ally. Alfred, declaring this with a strange certainty, began calculating not just to continue the guidebook printing but to increase the quantity. He arranged for payment beyond what Tina had already paid, saying he would take responsibility for it, and further started discussing relying on Jemian of Lagarette and the merchant Cidur to obtain the extra paper that would be needed.
"...Let us use my marriage too. If the royal wedding attire uses bobbin lace, it will stand out. No, my marriage was set for autumn by Father... that is too late. The guidebook printing will finish in winter... Let us have Erald make the sacrifice."
"Would it not be 'have Felicia-sama swallow her tears' instead?"
For Alfred, it was rare that he was thinking out loud while organizing his thoughts, so it was easy to point things out. Waiting for Alfred's marriage would be too late, and having Erald, Felicia's favorite, make the sacrifice probably meant exactly that. We would arrange Felicia's wedding before autumn and use bobbin lace in the ceremonial attire for that wedding as advertisement. If royalty wore bobbin lace in rites like a wedding, it would spread quickly among the nobility. If the nobility took interest, it would spread among commoners in no time. To meet noble demand, commoners would shift to the supply side and start making bobbin lace en masse.
"Print the guidebook during winter, and ship the finished ones to the capital. Have elder sister Felicia's wedding in spring. The Spring Flower Festival is a festival with a strong commercial character. It is the perfect time to unveil something new."
We would widely debut it at the early-spring Spring Flower Festival, raise awareness of bobbin lace, and release the guidebook at the same time. Throughout spring and summer, its recognition would gradually increase, and at Alfred's wedding in autumn, royalty would again wear attire adorned with bobbin lace. This would be more than enough to spread bobbin lace throughout the country.
"I feel like we would need one more push to make it a topic in the Empire..."
I felt like we needed something more, but we had no choice but to start with what was possible. I did not think Tina and Aurelia expected their work to be used this way, but I would make use of the bobbin lace Aurelia left behind to get Tina back. I would have the guidebook help Cody enter the Zugary Empire without suspicion, do business, and find acquaintances who had received lace from Aurelia.
"...It will take at least a year."
"It should be a shorter time than you charging in alone right now, and it will certainly get your hands on Christina."
It was nearly impossible for me to search the vast Empire alone for Tina. Just searching the area where the fallen kingdom that used the westward-facing Adorutoru as its crest once existed, based on the letter from an acquaintance, would take far more than a year. Alfred's words were correct. However frustrating it might feel now, sufficient preparation time was necessary to get Tina back.
"...But even if we print the guidebook without Tina, we do not know the procedure or anything. The noble edition was printed by Tina at the Menhishumi Church in the capital, and Kalisa, who should have been present for the exchanges with the Guides, is dead."
"There must be a manuscript somewhere. If we use that and the noble edition as reference for the work... ah, there is someone. Well, well, you are useful in unexpected ways."
Alfred laughed, saying the person who had worked on the guidebook with Tina in the capital was currently staying in Grenore. I wondered if there was such a person, then thought about who had overlapped with Tina's stay in the capital. I had an idea.
"...You mean Ran-something-sama again?"
"Tina had him draw the explanatory diagrams and cover as payment for the use of Shouzouken, apparently. I hear he also helped with the printing and how to make manuscripts for printing. He should be useful."
However, it seemed he had been somewhat sulky and difficult to handle after being made to draw sketches of Tina all night the other day. When I asked why he was sulky, apparently it was because Alfred was being stingy with the information Rannvald wanted.
"I think rewards proportionate to work are important."
"I understand that too, but if I tell him everything, he will probably go off somewhere again... ah, no, it will be fine this time? I will leave the negotiations to you."
Saying that for some reason our family was weak against me, Alfred gestured at someone. When I thought about which royalty was weak against me, it was probably King Christoph. Christoph showed me excessive consideration, even though I was merely a Black Knight. As for Alfred's little sisters, they were too strong-willed for me to want to remember.
"Go ahead and lightly charm your way through this time too."
"I do not recall ever charming any royalty even once."
Christoph had doted on me from before we had even exchanged proper words, and the little sisters had come at me on their own. The only royalty I had initiated contact with was probably Alfred, who back when I did not know he was a prince had been going by the name 'Alf'. I did not recall charming any of them.
By the way, the royal who is most indulgent toward Leonardo is Alfred.
As announced, this is the last update for the year. The next update is scheduled for January 5th.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.