Book 7: Chapter 30

The Metalio are one of the races of mankind that are also called the Ore-man race.

Their heights are short even as adults, but their strength is extraordinarily strong, and had endurance greater than the other races. Their fingers are dexterous and their lifespans are relatively long, so there were many of them that tried to master the path of some sort of craftsman thanks to those racial characteristics.

The Cylas Empire where they gathered also possessed a unique culture.

What should have a special mention is the point that polite speech was generally unused. Even if the Emperor was the other party, they would stick to a normal tone as if they were talking with a friend or family member.

This was related to the history of the Cylas Empire’s founding.

The Metalio are primarily a race that preferred freedom, and originally, the nation also didn’t have a class system either. That is why they didn’t have a habit of using polite speech, and that hasn’t changed even now where they’ve formed a nation.

As for why those Metalio had established a country, due to their talents, they were often targeted by bad people, so they had no choice but to do so for the sake of self-defense.

Hearing Margaret’s explanation of that, Rokuna went “fumu” and folded her arms.

「Nnー. In other words, they created a nation in order to protect themselves. And some time during that, they thought that being an even more powerful nation was better, so they became an empire. But, since they didn’t have social positions due to originally being a race that preferred freedom, they don’t use polite speech, is that it?」

「That’s right. Well……It’s simply because there are a lot of people that can’t find the value in a class system. It seems that there’s also a lot that don’t use polite speech on anyone other than the people that they themselves had acknowledged. Since there is the thing called diplomacy ever since they became a nation, so it looks like they do use polite speech in cases where it’s needed no matter what though.」

Saying “a condition to being a diplomat is being able to use polite speech after all”, Margaret made a wry smile.

Today, which was three days before the first conference with the Cylas Empire, the members that were chosen for the delegation were receiving a lecture about the Metalio from Margaret in the Demon King Castle’s council room.

As for those that were gathered, first was Margaret, Altejio who was sitting next to her, and Rokuna.

And then, there was Arum who was making a dissatisfied looking face, and finally, Lumon who was expressing a troubled looking smile.

Arum and Lumon were chosen from the Eastern Army, but there was a reason for this.

When compared to the other armies, the Eastern Army had leeway in terms of the amount of tasks to do, so it wouldn’t be a problem even if they were to send some people. Also, there were a lot of sociable people who were soft headed and could appreciate jokes. In other words, they had an abundance of personnel suited for negotiations.

That is why it was decided to make selections from the Eastern Army, and why Arum and Lumon were chosen.

These who were decided upon in Vermudol and Fainell’s discussion, but it was also because they were both directly acquainted with both Vermudol and Fainell.

「About the story on how Metalio will also use polite speech with the people they acknowledge, that acknowledgement……what kind of conditions are there? Rather, you use polite speech, don’t you.」

「I am a half after all. Um……well, there was also a situation where I had no choice but to learn it too.」

Seeing Margaret going “ehehe” and making a powerless laugh, Altejio looked at her with worried-looking eyes. This was something connected to Margaret’s situation of abandoning her birthplace and getting washed ashore to the Dark Continent.

Rokuna somehow surmised that, and went *kohon* and cleared her throat.

「Ahー, sorry. I have no intention of prying into your affairs. Please just tell me about the conditions to being acknowledged.」

「No, it’s fine. Erm, let’s see. The Metalio basically have a meritocracy. It’s fine as long as you show them some sort of strength to be acknowledged on, basically.」

She was awfully emphasizing 「basically」 quite a bit, but Rokuna thought that there were probably exceptions as well and brushed it off.

「Hーn……Do you guys have any questions?」

When Rokuna said that and turned her gaze to Arum and Lumon, Lumon warded it off, and turned the talk over to Arum.

「How about it, Arum-san. Do you have any?」

「Even if you say that. I, don’t have any motivation for this -no jya.」

「That’s true.」

「Don’t “that’s true” me. If you take that sort of attitude at the actual event, I’ll push you into the sea.」

After Rokuna glared at them, Lumon, looking like it couldn’t be helped, whispered something to Arum.

「……Is that the truth? If you are lying……」

「I wouldn’t lie. Actually, this is a story of something before but……」

Every time Lumon whispered something into Arum’s ear, Arum’s eyes would shine even more.

「I see, certainly, now that you mention it, that is true -no jya. Fufu. Now that that’s been decided, right away, I……」

「Whoa! Please leave it for after this job is done!」

After Lumon held back Arum who tried to stand up with enough force to kick her chair back, Arum sat back down in her chair looking like it couldn’t be helped.

Everyone else looked at her with suspicion after seeing her like that, but hearing the words that Arum spoke next, their expressions changed into looks of being impressed.

「Let’s see……Thinking about it from what I’ve heard, I believe that the negotiations this time will be focused on the haggling of gains -no jya, but have we decided on what we will be able to offer, or how far we can concede on?」

Certainly, the negotiations this time would probably advance just as Arum predicted.

Vermudol had also hypothesized that, and had already finished making advance arrangements with Rokuna.

「Pretty much. I’ve also tentatively been given authority from Ver-cchi. What will be endorsed as something that we can feasibly offer from our side is the Blood Metal that is our special product. If we exclude the strong peculiarity of having an image of being a metal that Mazoku use, that is top class metal that not at all inferior to Holy Silver. Moreover, it’s been confirmed that it can’t be gathered anywhere other than the Dark Continent. If the Cylas Empire really is a country with a lot of blacksmiths, there should be plenty of merit to it.」

Blood Metal was the most gathered metal in the Dark Continent, and a small amount of it was being exported to the Jiol Forest Kingdom as well.

Its affinity with magical power was high, and its processing was relatively easy.

However, its sole weakness was that its peculiarity was too strong. The characteristic that made it easy to recognize that it was Blood Metal was that it was 「red」, but even when it was mixed together with other metals, without fail, the Blood Metal’s red would show. That color that was reminiscent of blood, mankind would especially have a tendency to avoid it.

If even its color could be tolerated, just as Rokuna said, it was top class material.

「I see. However, the other party has most likely settled on a minimum line for that, you know?」

「Well, they probably do. As long as the distribution isn’t one-way, there are also things that will come in from the other side. But, would they go that far in the first conference?」

Hearing Rokuna’s words, Arum showed a grin on her face.

「Throwing out a reckless demand at the start and watching the response of the other party……there is that way of doing things as well. They might propose the provision of the technique that only we have, you know?」

「Something that mankind doesn’t have but that we do?」

Rokuna had several choices come to mind, and she crossed them out one at a time.

It was probably a prominent magic technique. Something that mankind would seem to particularly want among them.

Thinking that……Rokuna came up with one possibility.

「Ahー……So you mean Transfer Magic.」

「Well, that is probably it.」

To provide that was so out of the question that it was instead something that seemed like it would be removed from the choices.

「That’s impossible.」

「Impossible, isn’t it.」

Rokuna and Arum said that and laughed loudly.

「Well, if they come to make that demand, we should tell them that it’s impossible.」

「That is true. As expected, if they hear the reason, they will have no choice but to give up.」

Rokuna nodded with Arum, and then this time, she turned her gaze to Lumon.

「So, what about you? Don’t you have some sort of question about the conference with the Metalio?」

「Uーn, let’s see……」

After pondering for a bit, Lumon opened his mouth seeming like he thought of something.

「Ahh, that’s right. I had heard that there was an incident before where a Metalio ship had drifted ashore to this continent. In the end, what happened to that?」

「It departed.」

Hearing Rokuna’s cold words, Lumon said “is that so” and closed his mouth.

It was because he completely understood that she was saying “don’t ask any more than that”.

「Listen up. That ship, they were afraid of us and departed without announcing anything. That is the official record. Remember that.」

「Yes, I understand.」

That’s right, the Metalio’s ship that drifted ashore on the Dark Continent’s western lands had departed.

Putting aside where it had departed to, there was no lie nor deception in that itself.

Betraying Vermudol who had extended a helping hand to them, they departed──as a fact, that was all there was to it.

「……Is there anything else?」

「In that case, there is one thing.」

It was there that Altejio opened his mouth.

「How shall we respond in the event that this conference breaks down?」

「Ver-cchi commanded “don’t let it breakdown”.」

The other party is being vigilant to the maximum degree. Surpassing that vigilance and taking a tough measure was simple.

If they were to try, they would be able to sink the entire ship.

However, Vermudol was telling them to not do that.

「Listen up. We have two objectives. It’s to probe their objectives and attitude. And then, it’s to create a path to the actualization of a top-level meeting. I won’t allow failure.」

When Rokuna said that, she quietly looked around at everyone’s faces.