kscans

Chapter 41 - Chapter 2: Second Half, Central Garden...

After leaving the director's office, I headed to the next location with Mia. We went up to the second floor and opened the door to a classroom normally used by third-year students.

"You're late, Vinder."

The moment I entered, I was met with the voice of Dalgan, who was sitting on a desk with his arms crossed.

"Hah, not only did he get promoted to Silver, but now he's an official purveyor to the western Grand Duchess. Getting a little full of yourself, aren't you?" Plural said with a twisted smile, her legs crossed as she sat in a chair.

"That's rich, coming from you, Plural. You were the first to raise your hand to recommend Vinder," Rilka said with an exasperated look.

"Well then, let's begin the second meeting. Of the mock shop holdings participant group, Central Garden."

Maria clapped her hands together sharply. She’s the most magnanimous person in this group. Her chest even sways from the force of her clapping.

"That name sounds like it's straight out of a romance novel for girls. And Maria-senpai, aren't you just an observer?"

"Oh, I thought Central Garden was a good name, since our relationship was cultivated in the central courtyard. Don't you think so?"

"Senpai, you were inside the school building at the time."

It sounds like some kind of secret agency. No, coming from Maria, it sounds more like the name of a student council at an all-girls' school. I'll have to make sure none of us end up with strange titles.

As you can tell from the attendees, this was a gathering of the members from the Shoken Festival. Dalgan had been the one to organize it, but for some reason, Maria-senpai was also participating. And she was the one running the show. When I first heard about it, I thought the group would just fall apart, having no common enemy or shared goal.

But I have to admit, it has begun to function as a place to exchange information on our various fields. It’s also meaningful when I consider establishing a trading company in the future.

When you think about it, our position as students is a real blessing. It allows this many people to share the same time and place. And we don't even stand out. No wonder it ended up with a name that sounds like a secret agency.

"The topic of discussion was trade with the Empire, wasn't it?"

"Yes, how are the trade negotiations progressing?"

"You know how the top brass of the Food Guild were all ousted one after another, right? Everything went back to square one, but it's finally starting to move forward again. Considering the bountiful harvest in the west, both the kingdom and the guild are probably eager to get things settled quickly."

The Empire shares a border with us across the great river to the northwest, so exporting from the west is the most efficient route. Food is heavy, after all.

"The Calest Company is based in Kurtheite, the central city of the eastern region, right? Why were they so determined to take the lead in trade with the Empire?"

"It seems there was a plan to export a significant amount from Kurtheite as well. That’s why he was so desperate to become the guild master. Thanks to that, we’re having a tough time taking over."

"—That doesn't make any sense. The area around Kurtheite is mountainous, which is rare for this country," Roston finally spoke up. Belmini wasn't here today.

Tuvil Mountain. By Earth standards, it stands at about 1,700 meters, not even half the height of Mount Fuji, but in the plains of the kingdom, it’s the highest peak. That is, if you don't count the mountain ranges to the east and west. Kurtheite is the largest city in the east, situated at the foot of that mountain. Incidentally, it’s an isolated mountain system, so no magic veins run through it.

The surrounding area is all plains. It shouldn't be a place known for abundant food production.

"Salt," Dalgan said with a look of contempt. "They mine rock salt at Tuvil. It’s essential for preserving meat, yet they jacked up the prices on us."

"That's right. The contract between Calest and the Empire was structured that way."

"The information from the Shoken Festival's ledgers supports that," Mia added, supplementing Maria's words.

"Is the Empire short on salt too? I heard they had an abundance of rock salt over there."

"They used to import rock salt from the Empire in the west. Maybe they can't get into their mountains because of those monsters or something."

"Isn't that a really bad situation? Is there something unusual about these trade negotiations? Maria-senpai."

Thinking about that military-like student corps from the Empire during the Shoken Festival, I couldn't help but be cautious.

"The core of the trade, exchanging food for mineral resources including magic crystals, hasn't changed. However, it seems they want to restrict their magic crystal exports for at least a year. Other minerals will remain at their current levels, though."

"Is that also because of the monsters?"

Magic crystals are naturally found in mountains with magic veins. You can also harvest them from the foreheads of slain monsters. This all connects to the food shortages and the salt issue we just discussed.

"Wait a minute. In that case, what is the Empire planning to sell?" Rilka shot her hand up. It was a very valid question.

"According to their envoy, they want to increase their export of timber. The kingdom is short on it, isn't it?"

It was true, a mountainous region would likely have an abundance of timber. Getting wood more easily would be great news for the Vinder Company too, since we need water wheels for our honey production. However, lumber is bulky. Transporting it must be a huge undertaking.

"It seems they have a plan to transport it to Kurtheite using the great river. That's probably where Calest was involved. If they can get timber to the eastern region, they stand to make a considerable profit."

"I see, water transport. ...Wait, coming from the Empire, wouldn't that mean they’d have to cut straight through the sphere of influence of a magical domain?"

I recalled the geography lecture Fulsy had just given me.

The continent is divided in two by a great river that flows from west to east through its center. To the south of the great river is a flat terrain sandwiched between mountain ranges. That's our Crownheite Kingdom. A nation of plains, an agricultural nation.

To the north of the river are two nations. The western half is mountainous and is the territory of the Empire in question. A nation of mountains, a source of mineral resources, especially magic crystals. A resource-rich country, you could say. And to the east is a land through which many rivers flow. It seems several cities along those rivers have formed a loose confederation.

If I were to compare it to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Kingdom would be Wu and the Empire would be Wei. The eastern river country would be Shu, I suppose. Though the positions of Wei and Shu are reversed. Beyond that, across the river, right in the center of the three powers, is a wide mountainous region with a cluster of high peaks.

It's in a pivotal location between the three nations and borders the great river. It’s a place we can't ignore when considering future international trade. Even in a mountainous area, there are plains along the river.

If a city were built here, its location would make it the center of the continent's logistics. Militarily, it wouldn't be surprising if there was a battle for control. Naturally, I had asked Fulsy about it.

"Why has this place been left untouched?"

"Because it is not an environment humans can enter. The central mountain range of the continent possesses the densest known magic vein, the Sanguis Ulcanus, the Blood Mountains. It is home to high-level monsters that are incomparable to mere magic wolves. And the riverbanks you speak of fall within the sphere of influence of the monsters from the Blood Mountains."

"It seems pretty far away, though. Do things like monster floods happen there?"

"Not quite. It is the territory of large, winged monsters, wyverns being the most prominent. Flying requires a considerable amount of magical power, and high-level monsters have large magic crystals in their foreheads."

In other words, the great river, for all its potential, is rendered useless as an east-west passage because the sphere of influence from the Blood Mountains overlaps its central section. Wyverns, so something like a winged dragon. Not only is there an overwhelming difference in size, but getting attacked from the sky would leave you defenseless. As someone who was renowned as a dinosaur expert in my past life, I was intensely curious, but for the sake of self-preservation, I had no choice but to pass.

"No matter how much profit there is, if you get attacked halfway, it's all over. Surely they're not just going to float the logs downstream and say, 'come and get it,' right?"

"The Empire apparently says they have the know-how to repel monsters."

"Well, they do say that fighting monsters is a daily occurrence for them, and they have many that are more powerful than the ones in the kingdom, but..."

The pieces of information seemed to align, yet something felt off. Of course, it's rare for multiple sources of information to point in the exact same direction unless they've been fabricated. This concerns another country, so I should refrain from making any hasty judgments.

"That's right. If the Empire wants to export timber, would it be possible to get our hands on a red-leaf tree? A really big one. At least eighty years old, preferably around a hundred."

I remembered my promise to Fulsy. If we could understand the magical fluctuations in the Empire, we could grasp their situation to some extent. In the worst-case scenario, if the Empire were to be swallowed by a horde of monsters, the impact on the kingdom, from refugees to the cutoff of mineral resources we've relied on, would be immense.

"What do you need it for?"

"It's for an experiment with the Sage. I can't go into the details. I'm sorry."

The particulars of using tree rings to record magical energy were currently a state secret.

"Hmm. It will probably take some time, since the trade based on the new agreement won't begin for a while. Is that alright?"

"It's just a precaution, so I'm not in that much of a hurry."

When I said that, Maria smiled.

"If I recall, it was also 'just a precaution' when you had the Sage measure the Shoken Festival coins, wasn't it?"

◇◇

"The honeybees are dead?"

After a dizzyingly packed day, I returned home only to be greeted by trouble in my main line of business.

"Not in Leylia Village. It's one of the villages where we're teaching the technique."

"Were they attacked by other bees or something... How will this affect the production expansion plan?"

"They had only just moved the hives, so production hadn't started yet. Besides, the damage is apparently limited to just a few hives. It was originally a test in a Bertold exclave to see if we could use flowers other than milk vetch."

Oh, that village. It was essentially Grand Duchess Bertold's local domain, a territory maintained near the Royal Capital for her convenience when she stays here. We had started the project there ahead of schedule to take advantage of its proximity to the capital.

"The thing is, the village chief says that animals that ate the dead bees are also dying."

"Wait, that's really bad."

This was about more than just production. Animals are much closer to humans than insects are. What if the honey was contaminated with a pathogen or poison that could infect mammals?

"If the honey is toxic, we have a huge problem on our hands. Tell them not to eat any honey that might have been collected and to preserve the hives of the dead bees. The dead animals too. I need to go there myself and handle this with the highest priority."

"I'll contact them right away. However, young master, please wait two or three days before you go. Remi has been taken by the Bertold estate, so we're short on guards. No matter how peaceful the kingdom is, when we're making as much noise as we have been, we need to be careful about a few things."

"...I understand."

I guess trouble really does follow good fortune.

After Jacob left the room, I sat at my desk and let out a sigh. Trouble has far more friends than I do. It must be a real social butterfly. Damn all you popular types, just go explode somewhere. As long as it's far away from me.

The prophecy, the kingdom's factional strife, the Empire, and now trouble with my main business. I felt like I was being swept away by a torrent of information. But I couldn't afford to neglect any of it.

"I wonder if Alfina will be taking tomorrow off too."

I looked at a small cloth bag sitting on my desk. I picked it up and gave it a shake. It made a cheap, clattering sound. I hope I can give this to her before she leaves the capital.