389 - Leonardo's Perspective: Gumons's 'Spirit Seat'
"So, what's this business about you sending people to Quebia?"
When I asked if it was related to what we're having made at the Mandez Residence, Alfred's eyes widened slightly. He probably never expected I'd noticed what he was secretly preparing.
...No, he should have known I'd at least notice.
I am the master of the Mandez Residence. Iridal reports to me about the work being done there. If he wanted to keep it completely secret, he should have either given orders to Iridal as a prince or not used the Mandez Residence at all. The reason Alfred was surprised is probably that I actually took an interest in the fate of the bobbin lace. Normally, I wouldn't care much about lace beyond what's used to adorn Tina.
"That's rare of you, caring about where the Aurelian lace ends up."
Alfred paused, as if he thought I wouldn't have paid it any mind. As I suspected, he was surprised that I'd even noticed the bobbin lace.
"...I'm thinking of presenting the finest Aurelian lace our country can currently produce to the Acting King of the Divine King's Domain of Quebia. If the Acting King wears it, the Aurelian lace will become known throughout the continent via the churches in no time."
"I heard you were using bobbin lace, but... I never imagined you'd go so far as to use the Acting King."
Not to sound like Tina, but I wanted to question Alfred's sanity. The Acting King of the Divine King's Domain of Quebia is practically the modern-day Divine King. Though no succession has occurred since the Divine King vanished at the end of myth, the Acting King is essentially equivalent to the Divine King. Trying to use another country's king as advertising for bobbin lace is beyond audacious.
...No, the current Acting King is Remihio-sama, isn't he.
Remihio and Tina had met before. It was an intimidating scheme, but if it's that kind-natured young man, he might cooperate enough to wear bobbin lace for Tina's sake. There was certainly enough possibility of success and enough worth trying.
"Iridal said it would be finished by early summer."
"If it's early summer, it might be a good idea to have Cody transport it."
I had once sent Cody as a messenger to the Divine King's Domain of Quebia to obtain the Laroche pollen Tina had requested. Cody told me that Remihio had gone out of his way to come to the border fortress and make arrangements for him. It seems the Acting King Remihio, who moves surprisingly lightly, and the honest Cody get along well. Apparently when Cody went to return his official permit, saying his business was done, Remihio came out specially to speak with him. And at that time, he prepared a new official permit for Cody. Just from hearing the story, I think Remihio has taken quite a liking to Cody. Cody himself seemed too overwhelmed by the official permit personally handed to him by the Acting King to have any room to notice such a thing.
"...He's hardly 'just a traveling merchant' anymore, is he."
Having him transport gifts for the Acting King, having him scout neighboring countries, Cody has been useful in ways far from his original profession. I had him pretend to be a spy to make up for the trust he lost from customers because of Tina, but he's unexpectedly become quite a valuable asset. Above all, being able to freely travel deep into the mysterious Divine King's Domain of Quebia is huge.
"There are other merchants allowed to do business in Quebia, but Cody is probably the only merchant the Acting King himself comes out to welcome."
Alfred had a nasty look on his face as he said he wanted to make use of Cody for a long time to come. It was a face he couldn't show Tina, but Alfred has only started showing this kind of expression recently. The fall of the Second Prince, who was a thorn in his side, must have lightened Alfred's heart.
"It seems we can also get the court in Saenard to help with movement within the kingdom. It won't be as fast as a messenger on horseback, but it would be the fastest possible travel for a merchant's wagon."
"...Christina's connections are strange, but yours are pretty strange too. Conrad is a prince from an enemy country we just fought a war with, isn't he."
"Bertrand-dono apparently has acquaintances in the Empire, a country he once fought a war with."
Though they were former enemies, Saenard is still a neighboring country. I answered that having one or two acquaintances wouldn't be strange. Though we were once trying to kill each other, in a way we understand what's on each other's minds. In that sense, they're surprisingly easy to deal with. Bertrand's acquaintances are probably similar.
"More importantly, how was the capital?"
I asked if there had been any changes in the capital. I stayed in the capital for a while to be with Tina, but my base is basically Grenore City. I tend to lose touch with what's happening in the capital, so I asked Alfred, who had just returned, about the capital's situation. Alfred's answer was simple.
"Felicia elder sister's wedding had the city bustling."
It seems the bobbin lace had attracted attention as intended. Nobles and wealthy merchants were asking tailors across the capital what that exquisite lace was. The tailor Felicia favored, who had been entrusted with an actual piece of bobbin lace and a guidebook in advance by Alfred, apparently gained a significant increase in customers this time. Having also entrusted a guidebook to the tailor her fiance favored, Alfred really was thorough.
"I've arranged for the guidebooks to go on sale at the Menhishumi Church in the capital as soon as they arrive. Godwin also offered to help spread them throughout the country... but this is another of Christina's connections."
Tina's disappearance was being kept quiet for the time being, but those with channels to investigate seemed to know about it. The reason Bertrand didn't know was probably because he was retired and not active in gathering rumors. To add to that, anyone could imagine what Bertrand would do if he heard his granddaughter (Tina) was missing. Someone had to hold the reins, or Bertrand would charge off after the culprit. I realized afresh that I would have done the same, charging off without sufficient information if Alfred hadn't stopped me. And I thanked Alfred again.
"Speaking of which, it seems a new 'Spirit Seat' was discovered in Gumons. I heard from Felicia elder sister that they immediately tried to destroy it, but couldn't even scratch it."
"I heard Tina destroyed them easily..."
"I've only heard that Christina stomped on them. Father and the others who were there said she didn't do anything particularly special..."
"Stomped on them? Tina's not that heavy."
When I pick her up, she's so light I actually wish she'd gain a little more weight. I once told Tina that, and she got angry, asking if I was trying to turn her into a pig.
"Felicia elder sister seems to think it might be something only Christina can destroy. But if it can't be destroyed in Christina's generation, it's supposed to be passed down to her descendants, according to the Divine King's will."
"If one of Tina's children would do, then it's not something only Tina can destroy."
I tried to think if there was some trick to it. I didn't know who had attempted to destroy the 'Spirit Seat,' but at least they were an adult. It's hard to believe that a child like Tina could destroy it but an adult couldn't. I thought about what other differences there might be between Tina and others, and the first thing that came to mind was that Tina is a Spirit's Favored Child. Tina said she couldn't expect help from spirits anymore, but being a Spirit's Favored Child isn't about having the spirits' blessing. According to Tina's explanation, being a Spirit's Favored Child is like a benefit given to reincarnators. Considering a reincarnator with memories of another world and the Divine King protected by spirits, it seemed the reason Tina could destroy the 'Spirit Seats' lay there after all.
"...Maybe we should send Nils to Gumons."
I'd heard from Tina that Nils was researching the truth of the myths at the Menhishumi Church. There's distance from Grenore City to Gumons, but if it involves the mythical Divine King, we might get his cooperation. If we could prepare all his travel expenses and guards for the trip to Gumons, Nils could move more easily.
I decided to give it a try, so I summoned Nils and explained the situation to him. He seemed confused about being asked to destroy the 'Spirit Seat' in Gumons, but his curiosity won out. He said he didn't know if he could do it, but he'd at least go and see, so I wrote a letter of introduction to Ethelbert and assigned a Black Knight as his guard. The Black Knight hesitated about leaving the fortress in this situation, but Alf's explanation that this was work Tina had started seemed to clear up his doubts. As I watched the party leave early in the morning, I felt a faint pang of guilt.
...I'm thinking something convenient like if we accomplish the Divine King's request, the spirits might help Tina again. And yet I'm leaving it to someone else (Nils).
I'm too pathetic as Tina's older brother. I leave the information gathering for her whereabouts to others (the Black Knights), the reporting to the capital to others (Alfred), and now I'm leaving the handover of the work Tina was entrusted with to others (Nils). So what am I, her older brother, doing in the meantime? Just running the fortress as usual. And even that work as the fortress lord is halved because I'm teaching Rannvald, who will act as my substitute when we march into the Empire, the ropes. It's not that I'm doing nothing, but it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything.
As spring nears its end, my birthday comes around again. Since Tina used to diligently celebrate my birthday, it was a lonely birthday just like the Spring Flower Festival.
When summer drew closer, Cody arrived in Grenore City. I thought he was arriving later than expected, but apparently he had stopped at the Lugmilama Fortress to receive bobbin lace guidebooks. Since they needed to spread them throughout the Kingdom of Ivizia first, his journey was delayed by selling guidebooks along the way.
"Since Leonardo-sama had told me roughly which regions, I did a bit more business in those areas."
Cody began his report with this preface. As expected, there was no family in the Empire that still bore the west-facing Adorutoru as their crest. Since it was the crest of a kingdom that had been conquered and destroyed, some noble houses were allowed to remain when absorbed into the Empire, but apparently they weren't permitted to keep using the same crest. A crest that even noble houses continuing their bloodlines weren't allowed to bear wouldn't survive as knowledge among commoners, who come and go, and it wasn't something a traveling merchant could find just by doing a bit of business.
"If it had been about thirty years, someone might have remembered, but a kingdom that fell two hundred years ago... Even if you live on the same land, it's just another country's story now. There might be some records left with noble houses or the Sopdejania Church..."
Even if such records existed, a mere traveling merchant like Cody couldn't possibly investigate them.
...For the Sopdejania Church in the Zugari Empire, it might be better to rely on Bertrand-dono's acquaintance.
Documents that wouldn't be shown to Cody, a merchant from another country, might be a different story for someone living in the same Empire, especially a former military man who'd be acquainted with Bertrand. Or else we'd have to rely on an acquaintance in the Divine King's Domain of Quebia. As Bertrand said, the Divine King's Domain of Quebia is an ancient country. If one headed to the Menhishumi Temple in the divine region, various events throughout history should be preserved as records.
"There's also the method of being invited to noble houses and getting them to tell their history..."
That would take an enormous amount of time, and besides, no noble would invite a suspicious traveling merchant into their residence. There were occasionally nobles with such eccentric hobbies, but it was hard to imagine finding one so conveniently.
...So that's what the bobbin lace guidebook was for.
It was Nils and Cody who first suggested printing the guidebook and making it a product, but it was Alfred who took the lead and first spread it throughout the country. If he had already thought of this use at that point, he was too reliable a partner.
"Use the bobbin lace guidebook as bait and wait for the nobles (over there) to invite us, huh."
"A trend limited to the Kingdom of Ivizia alone wouldn't be strong enough. I've sent several guidebooks to the Lugmilama Fortress, so take those and spread the Aurelian lace to the Kingdom of Saenard next."
Alfred arrived carrying a box of beautifully packed bobbin lace that had arrived from the Mandez Residence. When Alfred told him to go to the Kingdom of Saenard, Cody blinked with a puzzled expression.
"...Not to use as a way to stay in the Empire, you mean?"
"I want the rumors to reach them, but not have it enter their own country. I want to create a situation where they want it so badly they can taste it."
"But... even if it spreads to the Kingdom of Saenard, I don't think it would have much effect on the Empire."
The Kingdom of Saenard and the Zugari Empire are technically neighboring countries sharing a border, but due to the Great Erath Mountain Range in the center of the continent, they have almost no direct diplomatic relations. So even though they're neighbors, information between them isn't easily exchanged. Even if bobbin lace spread in the Kingdom of Saenard, there would be a considerable time lag before that information reached the Empire.
"After spreading the guidebooks in the Kingdom of Saenard, I'd like you to go to the Divine King's Domain of Quebia and sell the guidebooks there too."
Alfred's thinking seemed to be that if a situation arose where the guidebooks didn't come to their country alone on the continent, they'd become interested whether they liked it or not. And if Cody showed up in the Empire with guidebooks as merchandise in such a situation, they wouldn't be able to dismiss it as goods carried by a lowly traveling merchant.
"And in Quebia, could you take on an errand for me?"
"Yes. Where shall I go?"
Cody answered immediately with a smile to Alfred's smiling face. The good-natured Cody doesn't seem to have learned yet that he needs to be somewhat wary of Alfred's words.
"I think it should be easy for you since it's a delivery to someone you've met several times."
"Is that so. Easy... that's good. Ever since I took on Lady Christina's job, I've been summoned by the fortress master at Lugmilama Fortress, ambushed by the Acting King in Quebia, I keep meeting important people way above my station, so I'd be happy to run an errand if it's to someone easy to meet."
...Figure it out, Cody. Who is this 'easy-to-meet person in Quebia whom you've met before' that Alfred is talking about.
And for that matter, for a traveling merchant like Cody, Alfred should originally be one of those important people way above his station that he'd never meet face to face. I keep treating him the same as always, but Alfred is a prince of this country. I felt I should maintain some distance and respect him, like when people dealt with Prince Alfred in the past.
So, Tina is absent, but her guardians are moving forward with the matter of destroying the Divine King's remains. Cody probably has a stomachache from yet another errand to visit Remihio. Cody is an ordinary person, so meeting important people makes him nervous.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.