Volume 7 - CH 3

Chapter 3: A Great Man Still in the Making 

There wasn’t much point in our continuing this discussion outside, so we relocated to inside the workshop. 

In addition to those who had been in the workshop before, this time Aisha came inside, too, as a bodyguard. 

Having seen him swing that cudgel around, that Kuu kid was pretty experienced. That was why, in preparation for the unlikely event that things went badly, I wanted Aisha at our side. 

While drinking the coffee Taru provided, I explained to Kuu my request to this workshop. 

“...And, well, that’s the gist of it,” I finished at last. 

There were medical reforms underway in the Kingdom of Friedonia, in the future there would be a shortage of medical equipment, and we were going to need to get the craftspeople in this country to mass-produce that equipment for us to import. We would also need to secure permission from the government so the medical equipment wouldn’t be misunderstood as weapons when exported. 

Because Kuu was the son of their head of state, and it was unclear if the two countries could form cordial ties, I was hesitant to show too much of my hand. But I had already discussed all of this with Taru, so I decided we couldn’t trick him. 

Incidentally, when I tried taking a formal tone in the discussions... 

“Let’s do away with all the stuffy formality!” he declared cheerfully. “Yeah, I’m the son of our head of state, but we don’t know if the Council of Chiefs will let me inherit the position. Having people get all polite with me just makes my butt feel all itchy.” 

So I opted to talk casually with him. He was awfully open, considering his position, but, well, who was I to talk? 

Hearing what I had to say, Kuu thought for a moment, then let out a sigh. “Whew... Medical reforms, huh... That’s awesome. Is that what our neighbor’s doing? We don’t get much news from outside around here. Our access to news is so bad we have to get our information about what happens at the end and beginning of the year from the merchants who come in the summer. Like, we only heard the Elfrieden Kingdom had absorbed the Principality of Amidonia to become the Kingdom of Friedonia after the snow melted.” 

Oh, he was right, that might be a bit slow. 

The annexation of Amidonia had taken place from late fall to early winter last year. If he was saying the information hadn’t reached here until the spring of this year then yeah, that was pretty bad. It just showed how intense the snow was in this region. Maybe it was like having the evening edition and morning edition of the paper arrive at the same time. 

“From what I hear, the king who was installed next door is pretty young, yeah?” Kuu added. 

“He’ll be twenty this year,” I said. 

Oh, but by the reckoning of this world’s calendar, I was twenty already, right? Well...whatever. 

When he heard the (provisional) king was twenty, Kuu let out an abrasively loud laugh. “Twenty, huh! I’ll be sixteen this year, so he’s not much older than me!” 

“Isn’t a four-year gap between humans and beastmen pretty big?” 

Back when I was entering my first year of high school, this guy still would have been in elementary school, wouldn’t he? 

“Nah.” Kuu shook his head with a laugh. “It’s a rounding error, nothing more. If it’s just four years, that’s still well within my strike zone.” 

“What are you talking about?!” 

“Women, of course,” he said. “I’m down with anything from twelve to thirty.” 

“I don’t care! You’re not laying a hand on Tomoe, got it?” 

“That’s a darn sha— Ow! Hey, Taru, don’t hit me with that thing.” 

Taru had whacked Kuu in the head with the tray she had used to bring in the coffee. It made a pretty loud bong sound. This girl didn’t hold back when taking shots at the son of their head of state. 

Taru held on to the tray and snorted. “Dumb master, your vulgarity shames our country. You ought to work on fixing that.” 

“Y-Yeah, she’s right,” said the bunny-eared girl, Leporina. “I-Isn’t your father always getting upset with you over it? For a start, you keep acting like you’re loose with women, but you’re not actually okay with just anybody, right? Pretending to have feelings for other women just to get the one you’re interested in to pay attention is— Ow, ow ow! Don’t pull my ears!” 

“It’s because you keep running your mouth!” Kuu shouted. 

Ahhh, I think that exchange told me a little about who Kuu is as a person. 

So that was it... If he was going to turn sixteen this year, that meant he was fifteen now. By the reckoning of my old world, he’d be in his third and final year of middle school. When I remembered what I was like at that age, I felt like I could understand how he was acting. 

I would be spinning my wheels with eagerness and self-consciousness, and when I came to my senses, I’d often mistake the means for the end, and the means I chose often wouldn’t even match the end I was pursuing. 

“What’s up, darlin’? Why the frowny face?” Roroa asked while I was indulging in sentimentality. 

“No, it’s just, I was looking at how Kuu was acting, and I saw a bit of myself in him...” 

“Hm? Ya did?” 

“Hee hee. Grandmother told me men are like that,” Juna said with a smile full of charm, and I could offer no rebuttal. 

Then, to mask his awkwardness, Kuu cleared his throat loudly and got back on topic. 

“So, what’s the young king like? I hear he annexed Amidonia not long after he got into power, so is he that great a warrior?” 

“No, it’s nothing like that,” I said. “He didn’t absorb Amidonia because he wanted to, the flow of events just made it a necessity...or so I hear.” 

Hmm... It was hard explaining myself while pretending not to be me. 

“But, well, even if the king himself isn’t a military man, he’s assembled a talented group of subordinates,” I added. “Their support lets him keep the country going somehow, you could say.” 

“Capable subordinates, huh... That’s something to be envied. The only person I get to order around now is Leporina. I wanna hurry up and get some house vassals for myself.” 

“I-I’m not your subordinate, I’m your attendant, you know?! Don’t order me around!” Leporina protested, but Kuu wasn’t even listening to her. 

“So?” Kuu asked, looking straight into my eyes and trying to appraise me. “You’re one of those capable subordinates that supports the king, are you?” 

“I’m just a merchant, you know...?” 

“Oookyakya, lying’s not good. Those medical reforms are sponsored by the king, right? The equipment for them isn’t something a single merchant, let alone the young son of one who hasn’t even inherited the business, can handle the negotiations for. You’re playing at being a merchant, but you really are acting according to the will of that king. Am I wrong?” 

“...” 

He’d hit the nail on the head, so I couldn’t come up with a good response. It looked like he didn’t think I was the king himself, at least, but acting on the will of the king was equivalent to acting on my own will, so he wasn’t wrong. 

Taru had called him the “dumb master,” but he might be surprisingly sharp. If I underestimated him, I was going to get hurt. 

“What if I am?” I asked. “Would you call off this deal?” 

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “For our country’s part, mass-producing that medical equipment or whatever would be a new industry. It’s just...there’s one point that bothers me.” 

“What would that be?” 

“Honestly, dumb master, you’re such a handful.” Taru resignedly accepted. However, her white bear ears were twitching a little. 

Could it be the snow bear race’s ears functioned similarly to the mystic wolf race’s tails? If so, despite how cold she presented herself to be, she may have been unexpectedly enthusiastic about it. 

Well, anyway, the impromptu feast had been arranged. 

The sun went down, and a large carpet in the great hall of the White Bird Inn was packed tightly with plates bearing various dishes. The majority of it was meat, meat, meat... A smorgasbord of meat dishes. The white eagle innkeeper was laying down another large plate with a new meat dish. 

The white eagle race were, as the name suggested, eagle beastmen with wings on their backs, but their wings turned brown from the middle outward, so they didn’t give off the impression of being angels. For the men, their faces were actual eagle faces, making them resemble the half-man, half-beast depictions of gods from ancient Egyptian murals. 

While watching the innkeeper lay out the food, I talked to Kuu, who was beside me. “I’m seeing an awful lot of meat dishes...” 

“That’s how our feasts are. We generally butcher our livestock, then eat the meat.” 

“This is party food, right? What is your normal diet like?” 

“Aside from meat, we eat shellfish, fish, and dairy. We do have potatoes, but fruits and vegetables can only be harvested in parts of the north, so they’re rare and expensive.” 

“Hmm...” 

If he was saying there was demand for vegetables, we could probably develop a trade route and export them here. Well, how were they getting their vitamin C and such? I’d read in some manga that, long ago, sailors had suffered from scurvy due to vitamin C deficiency, and it was really hard on them. 

“You don’t get sick from lack of vegetables?” I asked. 

“Huh? Never heard of that happening. Like, we don’t get sick much at all. We don’t really have reason to be afraid of death by sickness. We’re more afraid of death by freezing.” 

“Hmm...” 

Did they have some special way of taking in those nutrients? 

While I was thinking that, the preparations for the feast seemed to be completed. Present for the occasion were Aisha, Juna, Roroa, Tomoe, Hal, Kaede, and me from Friedonia, as well as Kuu, Taru, and Leporina from Turgis, for a total of ten people. 

Something resembling wooden goblets were passed around, one to each of us. 

When I looked, the goblet had a white liquid inside. Giving it a swirl, I could see it was just a little thick. Rather than milk, it seemed more like unrefined sake. 

“A mysterious white liquid...?” I murmured. 

“This? It’s our famous fermented milk,” Kuu answered. 

“Fermented milk?” 

“It’s a drink made by fermenting snow yak” (this was apparently a hairy cow-like animal that lived in this country) “milk, so it’s fermented milk. It’s got a strong taste, but once you get used to it, it’s good, y’know?” 

“Fermentation...” I murmured. “If it’s yak milk, then...lactic acid bacteria?” 

Come to think of it, didn’t lactic acid bacteria produce vitamin C? If I recalled, it was part of the fermentation process... I only vaguely remembered it, though. Could it be the people of this country were supplementing their otherwise insufficient intake of vitamin C with this drink? 

That aside, once everyone had received their goblet, it was decided Kuu and I would offer a toast. With everyone gathered around, he and I stood up on our own. 

“Long-winded speeches before a feast are so uncouth. That’s why I’ll keep this brief.” With that said, Kuu turned to me, and raised his goblet. “To our guests from Friedonia!” 

In response to those words, I raised my goblet to Kuu, too. “To the people of Turgis!” 

I poured Kuu another drink. Kuu sipped at his drink this time, and then slapped his hand down to rest on my shoulder. What? Was he looking to argue with me? I was thinking that, but... 

“So, how is it, Kazuma?” 

“How is what?” 

“This country, I mean. You enjoying it?” 

I thought about that for a little bit before answering. “Yeah. I think it’s a good country. There are hot springs, and the local dishes and fermented milk are delicious. You have capable craftspeople, too, so I think it’s an attractive country.” 

“Oookyakya! Yeah, you bet it is. I love this country, too.” Kuu let out another cackling laugh, then took on a more serious expression. “I honestly... think it’s a good country, you know? We put our livestock out to pasture in the summer, and make excellent handicrafts indoors in the winter. It’s cold, but the people huddle together to survive in this country. There’re some hardheaded old folks who seem bent on expanding to the north, though.” 

I was silent. 

I had heard the Republic of Turgis had a national policy of northward expansionism. In fact, during the time our country had been shaken by internal issues and a conflict with the Principality of Amidonia, this country had massed troops on the border showing their intent to invade us. While there was no direct conflict between our nations, I was surprised to find someone in the Republic of Turgis who thought like Kuu. 

“Besides, even if we take land to the north, we can’t hold it,” Kuu continued, crossing his arms and nodding. “In the outside world, air power like wyverns is the most effective, right? A cold land like ours isn’t suited to breeding wyverns. That’s a plus when it makes it difficult for others to come to invade us, but it’s impossible to slice off part of a neighboring country’s territory without wyverns. No matter how hard we tried, we’d take maybe a city or two at most. Besides, when winter came, the snow would shut down contact with the mainland, so it would be hard to maintain them.” 

His dumb behavior made it hard to see, but he had an incredibly precise grasp of his country’s situation. Talking to him, I felt a charisma that would draw people to him, too. If Kuu had been born into the royal family of a kingdom with a better territorial situation, he might have become a rare hero. 

Kuu gulped down his fermented milk in one gulp again. “Listen, Kazuma, I seriously think this country has its own way of becoming prosperous. We don’t have to go north. This country has the underlying power to develop itself. That’s how I feel.” 

“I feel like I understand,” I said soberly. 

“You do, huh?” he laughed. “I’m glad you get it! Here’s hoping the negotiations between my old man and your king go well!” 

“Yeah. I’m sure... the meeting will be meaningful for both parties.” 

With that, we clacked our goblets together once more.