CH 373

Chapter 373 – Consultation Before Arrival

We were greeted by Count Delisans, who treated us as if we were below his rank while we waited to be picked up from the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom.

For the past two days, to appease Grande, who had begun to complain of being bored, we had been hunting monsters near Windes; while I had been gathering materials, Isla had been gathering medicinal herbs that could be found in this area, and a certain baron, who said he was related to Count Delisans, wanted to see the capabilities of the Magic Rifle Squad. I also made a target wearing thick plate armor for heavy cavalry, which was shredded by a volley of gunfire, making him tremble.

I asked the baron if he wanted to do something different this time. He apologized to me in tears. Why did he do that?

So we spent two days in peace, but for some reason, Count Delisans treated me like a tumor. Somehow I got the feeling that he didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I don’t know why. Is it because I managed to scare all of Count Delisans’ minions, who were subtly poking at me like that baron?

It all started when I came to make all the decisions on disputes that his minions―who are like minions or subordinates in the noble sense―have, just because they have some big guy in their group.

They were very noisy and annoying, asking about water rights, land suitable for cultivation, and who should remove the big rocks between their territories.

I listened to them in silence, and after a brief discussion with Driada-san, who listened to the conversation with me, we decided to clear all the land. The minions of Count Delisans, who had come to me for advice, tilted their heads, wondering what I was talking about, but Count Delisans himself and the baron, who had already been made to cry by me, seemed to think that I was literally going to clear the disputed land.

Too bad I was stopped before I could carry it out by two guys dripping with sweat. I was about to make one evil move to eliminate all sources of conflict and say, “Now we’re at peace (smirk).”

No, I didn’t really want to go that far because if I did, not only the old men in front of me, but also all the people in the area would be in trouble. I could remove the big rocks in no time at all, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to clear the lack of land for farming or to rearrange the plots of land with my help. As for water, wells might not be enough for farming, so it would take a large construction to get water from somewhere or something.

I had the golems clean up the site after I roughly smashed it with an explosive block while we were there. Actually, it would have been faster if I had swung my pickaxe from start to finish, but I decided to focus on the impact. When it was all over after about 10 minutes, the nobles, who had brought all kinds of problems with them, returned to their homes with frightened expressions on their faces, saying they would take care of it themselves.

“How is the morale on board?”

“Yes, it’s good. That’s thanks to your command, isn’t it?”

“I’m a little worried, though, that the instructions are too loose. Let me know if there are any problems.”

“We’ll tighten it up for you.”

Evening of the second day. As for dinner, it would be me, Driada-san, Isla, and Grande, plus Ted and Darko, the captains of the magic rifle platoon, for a total of six people. Once a day, we would have a meeting with the ship’s top brass. In addition, Gerda, who is in charge of organizing the beastmen maids as a servant, and two of the beastmen maids also attended the meeting. Although they didn’t eat with us.

“How are the officials doing?”

“Well, they seem to be anxious about flying tomorrow. However, they have already flown once without any problems, and they have heard a lot from the members of the Magic Rifle Platoon who flew for familiarization training, so I think it will be better than the first time.”

Driada-san is in charge of organizing the civilian officials who will accompany us on this goodwill visit.

“How about the R&D department…”

“No problem.”

“Right.”

The people in R&D are developers. They know the safety and dangers of the airboat better than anyone else, and if anything, they have crashed it many times during test runs. If it were to crash, they would probably just think, “Oh, no, not again.”

“What about the maids?”

“Don’t worry about them. There is no time to worry about such things.”

Gerda, who was standing nearby, smiles at me, but I wonder.

“Please be careful not to overwork yourself. It would be very difficult if you were exhausted at the critical moment.”

“Understood.”

The rest are the harpies, but they need to eat several times a day, even though they are small eaters, either because of their physical constitution or their ecology, and this time of day just doesn’t work for them. Well, I’m not worried about their morale at all because someone is with me during the day.

“The messenger, or rather a pick-up, from the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow at noon, so you should continue the removal work in the morning. We don’t want to have a disaster if our luggage or something collapses when we start. Be careful in the kitchen with the cabinets and such.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will also tell the officials to be careful with documents and writing utensils, especially inkwells.”

“Please do that.”

Grande has nothing special to say. The only personal belongings she brought with her were pillows. The rest of her clothes and things are in my inventory.

“Is there anything else we need to talk about? Perhaps the diplomatic policy of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom?”

“Diplomatic policy, isn’t it? Since they have a history of treating our country, or rather Kosuke-kun and Grande-chan, well, the so-called normal diplomatic stance will not be very useful.”

Driada-san put her hand to her cheek and sighed as if she was troubled. It is true that the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom is in contact with the Merinard Kingdom, and the reason why they treat us so well is because the relationship between Grande and me is exactly the same as that of the founder of their country. If Grande and I did not have such a relationship, the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom would not have looked at the Merinard Kingdom.

“We must maintain a high degree of flexibility and be resourceful.”

“In other words, hit or miss.”

“We have no choice. We just have to make sure we don’t offend them. We have to be friendly and take care of things… I don’t even know what they’re looking for right now.”

The only thing Rezarus-shi, a member of the royal family of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom who had visited Merinesburg before, wanted was for the current relationship between Grande and me to continue and for us to be together. He even seemed to idolize, if not deify, Grande and me. It was as if he wanted to tell the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom about what Grande and I were doing.

He hinted that he would eventually like to have a child born to Grande and me in their royal family, but he only talked about whether it would happen naturally, not about asking the Merinard Kingdom as compensation.

“Aren’t they the ones we talked about before, with a little bit of the dragon in them? Well, I didn’t feel any hostility, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

Grande said fluently while munching on her favorite cheeseburger. I don’t think they could do anything to Grande if they had any malicious intent; well, I don’t think there’s any problem. They seemed to have a great deal of reverence, almost religious reverence, for their ancestors―the dragon who became the founder of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom and the human woman.

“If it comes down to it, I’ll take care of it. Rest assured.”

Grande smiled cheerfully as she said this. Well, it is true that Grande is a very powerful card against the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom. The Dragonis Mountain Kingdom even seems to be able to turn white into black if Grande says so.

“Is there anything going on that could possibly shake the legitimacy of the royal family?”

“I’ve thought about that, too, but the internal affairs of the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom are shrouded in mystery and difficult to understand.”

The Dragonis Mountain Kingdom is located in a rugged mountainous region. It is difficult to enter on foot, and goods and information are exchanged with other countries mainly by airmail, so it is very difficult to find out what is going on inside the kingdom. The steep mountains are a barrier to entry, and the area is also overrun with wild monsters, so patrols by the Dragon Cavalry are active. The Dragon Cavalry patrols are not for invaders from other countries but for monsters.

“Even if we think about it, we don’t know what we don’t know. But let’s assume a few things.”

“Hmm, this is important. I want to talk about how to answer technical questions.”

“For our part, I would like to ask what we should do if we get questions about magic rifles or magic airships.”

The agenda is proposed by Isla, as usual, and Ted, who struggles to use polite language in the presence of Driada-san. Yes, yes, let’s work that out as well. If we decide on a certain policy in advance, it will make it easier to deal with the situation and reduce the likelihood of trouble.