151-Chapter 9-10 Shinto

The next day after the convention, a luncheon was held for the convention attendees.

When I asked Amur, who was following me around, what happened, he told me that Sana was pregnant.

Blanca herself had given up on the child, she said, so she was in a state of buoyancy since last night because of the sudden happiness that came her way.

''I know it's a congratulations, and I can see why you're buoyed by it, but when it gets to that point, it's creepy.

""Mm-hmm"

At my mutterings, the people who were around agreed with me. Incidentally, the people surrounding me are the high ranking southerners who fought a fierce battle with Blanca in the preliminary round. They all want to congratulate Blanca, but they don't know what to say to her, and they came to me first, because she is a tough-looking person and has a swollen smile on her face. By the way, the top guys are older than Blanca and as tough as she is.

I've been watching the situation from everyone, Blanca has been following Sana-san around since a while ago, taking care to make sure there is no danger as much as possible.

''By the way, what's up with that thing?''

Don't worry about that thing.

Ale and I pointed to Viscount Lobo, who was drinking like he was bathing in alcohol. This one was also crying and drinking, so he was being distanced from everyone. To be honest, Blanca was mostly creepy, but Viscount Lobo was just as creepy as he was.

Amur didn't say more, but from what he heard around him, because Hana-san had been awarded the title of Viscount of the Kingdom, Viscount Lobo, who was an honorary viscount, had been dragged down from the top of the Southern Autonomous Region. Moreover, since the person who originally laid the foundation of Nanao was Grandpa Kay, Hana-san's grandfather, the people around him and his subordinates accepted the change of top management very favorably.

'Also, it was decided that I would follow Temma.

What? What did you say?

One word was said casually and for a moment I didn't understand what Amur was saying, and I listened back in a dumb voice.

This is something Grandpa (Merlin) has agreed to do.

Grandpa!　

He called up his grandfather, who was tasting sake, and asked him why he had decided to keep Amur in his care. Then.

Simply put, it's all about providing an escape route. It's not that I'm doubting Alex and his friends, but they are royalty and, despite their looks, they are the ones who need to put the kingdom first. They may be forced to get rid of us at some point. For that eventuality, we need to have connections in the southern autonomous region, where even Alex and the others can't easily invade the country, but we need to be prepared for that eventuality.

And that was that. Well, it's hard to imagine the king harming us, but it's not unthinkable if the reformers gain more power than the royalists.

The southern part of the country is where the kingdoms originally flocked to attack, and there is no other country around that would be an enemy. To be precise, there are countries called 'small country counties' beyond some of the forests, but the reality is that they are a gathering of at most a few thousand people per country. If all of the small country counties gathered together, they might be able to form an army of tens of thousands of troops, but the danger is low because they are likely to be a bunch of crows.

Besides, if they were to leave the south alone, there was a chance that the kingdom and the neighboring countries would invade all at once, so the southern autonomous region would be the best place to escape.

"It's a mutually beneficial conversation, so I've decided on my own accord.

'I understand that but what did you get?'

I didn't get anything.

My grandpa had been ignoring my pursuit of him, but when I kept asking him about it, he gave up and confessed that he had been given a bottle of liquor from the south. Moreover, he got four tortoises (one 20-liter bottle) of the high quality shochu liqueur that had been stored for 100 years.

According to his grandfather, after the story of taking care of Amur was over, we talked about southern specialties, and when the subject of alcohol came up, he told us that he liked the liquor from the south, and Hana-san decided to share it with him, so he definitely had high hopes for it.

For the time being, we agreed that Amur was the decision of our family patriarch (meaning the lord of the mansion in the royal capital, not the Otori family), but since I was sure it would be more difficult for me, I decided to take two of the two turtles, half of the liquor my grandfather had received. Because I think that grandpa would drink it all by himself, this one is going to be turned into a souvenir for someone he knows.

As the noisy luncheon was coming to an end, an armed man came running to Hana-san's side. The participants looked at a grim-faced Hana-san and a breathless man wondering what was going on, but they soon saw that the grimness had been removed from Hana-san's face and they each resumed drinking and eating.

Seeing that the man had left Hana-san's side, me, Grandpa and Amour headed over to her to ask her what had happened, and Blanca, who had been following Sana-san around, and Viscount Lobo, who was stoned and drunk, arrived at the same time. Hana-san seems to have decided that the current Lobo Viscount is too drunk to be relied upon, so she was turned away to sober up in a corner of the hall.

'I'm sorry to hear you're worried, but I hear the problem is solved. To put it simply, the troops that finished cleaning up the goblins were on their way back when they spotted two wyverns coming in Nanao's direction and took them out. I heard that many people were injured, but no one's life was in danger or dead.

With a relieved look on her face, Hana-san took a nearby glass at random and chugged the liquid inside in one gulp, continuously refilling several drinks. There was a fairly strong odor of alcohol coming from the cup, but Hana didn't seem to be drunk.

'The problem is that there were a lot of people who saw the wyvern flying around. Unfortunately, it seems that a group of merchants and travelers from the royal capital were near the troops. Well, they attacked the troops first and were defeated, so they didn't do much damage, but if they didn't do well, the number of merchants and travelers visiting the south may decrease next time.

Even if the merchant corps and travellers were harmed, the Viscount family does not have to take responsibility, but if bad publicity comes to light and the merchant corps and others are discouraged from stopping by the south, the economy will be severely damaged.

We need to take measures to deal with this, but it seems that the merchant corps and travelers will be arriving in Nanao the day after tomorrow.......what should we do?

Even though she tried to ask for that advice, Blanca wasn't much help, Amour was useless, and Viscount Lobo was out of the question. Sana, the only one who seemed to be able to rely on her, was not going to be able to get out of the way with her aunts celebrating her pregnancy. Perhaps that's why Hana-san is glancing at me and my grandfather like she's expecting something.

"Hmm, if that's the case, it would be good to do something to forget about the anxiety.......what do you have in mind, Temma?

Well, perhaps inviting those merchants and travellers over for a celebration of the defeat of the wyvern would lessen the anxiety a bit?

'It's a good idea, but it's weak on its own I don't think it would have much of an effect on the people in the merchant corps, let alone the travelers.　

I said what came to mind on the spur of the moment when my grandfather passed (roundly), but I couldn't just adopt the idea.

'Then why don't we complicate the wyvern as a blessing or something and make it a festival for the whole of Nanao by performing a ritual of thanksgiving? And the bigger the festival is, the less anxious I might be about it.　

Ummm, I need a push.　

Hana said that Blanca's idea wasn't enough for her, but she made a bullet point note of Blanca's idea on the table right next to her.

'Come to think of it, what about the taxes and stuff that go into Nanao?

Normally, when you enter a big town like Nanao, you are charged a tax like entrance fee, but in the case of my grandfather and me, we didn't have such a story because we were emissaries from the royal family. When I asked him about it, he said that even in Nanao, the tax is usually collected first and allowed to stay for a certain period of time.

If that's the case, how about exempting the tax on the merchants and travelers for this one time only, and also reducing the tax on the sale and purchase of goods?

That's a bit harsh...

'Sis, you should try it once. You will not lose that much money if the festival brings in more money than it brings in in direct tax revenue, and if word gets out, the merchant corps, which has never been to the South, might be interested. If it's going to involve a ritual, I think it'll be more effective if we do that much.

Hana-san was reluctant to accept my proposal, but before I knew it, Sana-san, who had approached her, was in favor of it. With that, Hana-san decided to adopt my proposal and the two of us began to work out the details of the conversation. In the meantime, Blanca seems to be selecting the participants of the ritual. So far, the number of contestants will be three from the Viscount's family, two as guests (he wanted me and my grandfather to participate in this one) and three from the rest. I've heard that they actually want to hold a larger scale event, but they don't have enough time and want to send out as many strong people as possible, so the other three will be chosen from among the people here.

'Anyway, it's fine to participate, but what kind of things do we do for the rituals? Given that you're the strongest, I can only imagine it's a competitive ritual.

'Yeah, I'd better explain it first. This time the ritual is called 'Sumo', a one-on-one fight, where you fight with one body in a ring called a ring called the ring. The general rule is that blows with knees, elbows, or clenched fists, or the use of magic to bite or strike at a vital point are foul, and if you can get your opponent out of the ring in any other way, or if you can get anything but the soles of your feet in the ring, you win.

I've heard there are many other rules and regulations, but generally it seems to be no different from the sumo matches I know. Blanca said she'd tell us the detailed rules later and started gathering everyone together to decide who else would participate. Then most of the luncheon participants said they were going to participate in the ritual and started qualifying on the spot on their own, despite Blanca's distress.

Since it was a good opportunity, I decided to drink and eat in the sandbag to observe the wrestling here with my grandfather. At first we thought someone might make a complaint about our participation in the tournament, which was supposed to be special, but this was not the case, and the matches went on one after another at a fast pace. Occasionally someone would be pushed or thrown out of the ring in our presence, but it was impossible to tell if it was on purpose or by accident.

And in the end, the three winners were........

I don't see any high ranking southerners.

Yeah.

The top contenders were all eliminated in the first round, even though they were thought to be strong contenders. Well, even the top contenders couldn't seem to exert their power in their drunken state. The ones who grabbed a spot were the Wild Boar Beastmen, the Bear Beastmen, and the Tiger Beastmen.

''Then let's take care of it on the day. You know this, but as long as we are conducting wrestling as a ritual, you must keep in mind that any misconduct will be severely punished.

Blanca was paying attention as she glared at the three of us. All three of them listened to Branca quietly, but they occasionally looked at me with sharp eyes. Apparently, they seem to think that they can beat me in a power contest without magic.

I'm going to have to say that the Viscount's side is my decision...

Of course I do!

Rejected.

Amour, who had been oblivious behind me like air, jumped out in front of Blanca vigorously while announcing his participation, but Blanca refused as fast as she could. Amour was complaining about the boo-boo, but because sumo is a style of wrestling where, like in his previous life, he wears a spinning top and a spinning wheel, women are basically prohibited from participating. However, because the method of deliberately aiming for moros*xuals became popular for a while, women now wear shorts underneath their spinning wheels.

Well, except for me, it's better to choose from the troops that defeated the wyvern.

Casually, Blanca ruled out Viscount Lobo, but there was no input from the people who were listening around him. Perhaps they had decided that they couldn't afford to put the top people from yesterday in the match, but maybe they simply forgot about it.

Those who had decided to participate were gathered by Hana-san and received a brief rules review and explanation, and then dismissed early. After a brief explanation of the rules and regulations, we dismissed early, but now we had to inform the entire Nanao community about the festival, set up the ring, and discuss the location of the stalls and taxes. It's a very hard schedule, and there are only two days to spare including today, and the only day that can be used as a backup is the day after tomorrow, when the merchants and travelers are scheduled to arrive, and the festival will be held the day after tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow will be the main event of the festival, I heard that Blanca will also be sent out, and there will be no one to teach me and my grandfather the rules of wrestling. I tried to ask Amur for help, but he told me he couldn't explain the rules of sumo because he had never participated in a sumo match as a ritual, but he couldn't explain the rules of the entrance.

I caught a glimpse of Viscount Lobo out of the corner of my eye when I was in trouble, but I still hadn't sobered up, and there was a good chance he was being eyeballed for Amur, so I decided that consulting him was the last thing I needed to do, so I decided to forgo it for now.

Worst case scenario, I was discussing with my grandpa about getting Blanca to teach me last minute, and the top guys in the South who lost their first game came forward to be our leaders. They were busy and didn't have much to do, and they wanted to get revenge on the people who beat them... It was a bit of a spite, but we were grateful for their help, so we asked them to help us.

They enter in single file along the ring, stopping at equal intervals. Then they will do the same thing, bowing once inside the ring, then turn around and bow once. But then, once they are out of the ring, the ones who are called up step into the ring with each other... right?

'Yeah. Once you're in the ring, you're going to take a handful of salt from the side of the ring and spread it over the ring, and then you're going to go to the line in the middle... it'll be faster to actually do that part.

So, we started to practice. It seems that they are not good at explaining things with their mouths. We didn't have much time, and I was grateful for the help.

After practicing the ring-entering ceremony a few times, we decided to try wrestling. There were four of us in this room, so we were divided into two groups, one of us to train with and the other to watch from the outside and correct any foul play or mannerisms.

'I'm at quite a disadvantage when I try,'

In the practice phase, I was losing a lot of fights to one of the top guys. I was told that there was no problem in terms of manners and penalties, but it would be meaningless if I didn't win. My grandfather, on the other hand, was fighting a more than even match against a superior opponent.

''Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

With a shout of enthusiasm from his grandfather, his opponent was thrown from the ring. This was Grandpa's sixth straight win. Incidentally, he had lost his first four in a row, but once he became accustomed to wrestling, he was able to overwhelm the higher-ranked wrestlers with his unflappable winning style.

By the way, he has lost his first four matches in a row, but after he got used to wrestling, he has been overwhelmed by the top-ranked wrestlers with his unassailable winning ways. The goal is to win!

'That's great, Grandpa. I guess my goal is to get through the first round.　

Whereas my grandpa had set his goals largely based on the tone of his practice, I had set realistic goals.