CH 152

「Okay, I got the gist of what happened now. 」

Dinosso sipped a mouthful of coffee, looking like he was ready to heave a huge sigh.

「So you get it now? 」

「Just the gist!! The premise is weird, you know!! 」

「Well, isn’t it that Jean just got what he wanted? 」

「Yup. 」

Yes, Retze’s right.

「’Why did you wish for that?’ and ‘Didn’t it cross your mind that things are getting weird halfway through’ — There’s tons of things I want to take a jab at, you know? 」

Hey, stop agreeing with me before going against me, will you.

「So, now that I got the gist, I have two things I wanna ask you. 」

Dinosso put two fingers up.

「Hm? 」

「Who’s Khadar? 」

「My guardian spirit. 」

「Don’t tell me it’s not the ordinary spirit… I wanna ask, but I’m scared so I can’t… 」

He’s mumbling something.

「You got that right about Khadar. 」

「Don’t deal the final blow!! 」

Dinosso covered his face and yelled.

「So, what’s the second? 」

「Why the heck did you name it ‘Pokey Stick EX!!! The ambience must’ve been absolutely majestic and solemn, so why!? 」

Hey, you sound like you’re jealous, ain’t you?

「Hey, I’ve already been doing all I can to find a stick for poking stuff, you know. Thanks to certain folks, I obtained the stick of my dreams. 」

「Thanks to whom!? Don’t tell me it’s us? 」

「Oy, stop it, Noth won’t be able to regain his senses at this rate. 」

Retze said, so I glanced at Butler. He was sprawled on the desk. What an unbecoming appearance for a butler.

The King’s Bough selects the spirit depending on the sworn oath or the ideals that had been wished for. If the desire was related to a powerful military, then more fire and mineral spirits would increase; if they longed for a kingdom blessed with bountiful harvests, then there would be more earth spirits. And all the folks wish that there wouldn’t be any black spirits.

Black spirits are born because of the transformation of ordinary spirits, so it’s not like they’ll become completely nonexistent, but most of them would flee away. By the way, even the smallest spirits scattered from the black spirits are purified by the Bough’s effect, apparently.

As a result, the rate at which the spirits would be monsterfied in cities where humans dwell would become exceptionally lower. Never mind the ones who go berserk, the monsters would prefer not to approach the humans themselves.

The Spirit’s Bough is the downgraded version of the King’s Bough, and although no spirits can be born out of it, they can still be born if there are enough spirits gathered together in one place. If things go well, places with『Fae’s Bough』 can become more prosperous than the royal capital.

『Fae’s Bough』that don’t have the Spirit’s Bough enshrined were usually operated by spirit-possessed people doing their best to produce a pseudo-effect. It usually depends on the ability of the person who is managing the place, and magic ores are also consumed, so the maintenance cost for such places could be sky high.

By the way, the effect on monsters would be lackluster, so in order to cope with the shortcomings of such a set-up, walls would be built, or else soldiers would be deployed — and that basically needs a huge amount of manpower too. Well, walls aren’t really that of an issue; bandits also target the border towns and villages so they already have them built everywhere.

The kingdoms confirmed to have King’s Bough are Shrumtus – that’s the kingdom where Sis is, and Pasteur, the kingdom where I commissioned my bathtubs and it’s also the home of the carpenters that took care of me. Marina, the kingdom where Nalluahdid is, located in Cavil Peninsula, also has one.

The land of the northerners, as well as the island kingdom of Iswale on the sea, which is sandwiched between Shrum and the kingdom of desolation, were also rumored to possess King’s Boughs.

「A lot of places have them, huh? 」

「After the kingdom in the Central Plains crumbled, the races fought against each other, so the effect’s range had been narrowed down. The ideals differed from race to race, so even if the Spirit’s Bough was handed down, it was only weakened as opposed to completely disappearing. 」

Oh, so only a few were the spirit boughs, huh.

Yeah, if somebody also wanted a 4cm body, then they’ll clear that ‘ideal’ requirement and the king’s bough will likely last longer once they receive it.

「Even if you say ‘a lot’, it doesn’t even reach ten, you know? Just the Central Plains alone already have more than 300 countries and kingdoms, you know? 」

Dinosso reminded me.

That’s right, there are so many countries in this world — even places smaller than a town in Japan are already considered a country if a feudal lord insisted on it, so there are an absurd number of them. There are kingdoms possessing King’s Boughs despite being the size of a prefecture, so it’s understandable how divided this world is.

Especially the Central Plains — as soon as a country is thought to flourish, it’s promptly conquered and it’ll end up obliterated, so I don’t have the slightest inclination to remember their names.

「I think I understand most of what you’re pointing at, but really, I don’t think I need that kind of ‘result’ in my life. 」

「My Master gets along well with the spirits and he doesn’t have a problem dealing with monsters. As far as it goes, I can also summon spirits indiscriminately, but for now, I’ll just do what Master wants — pokey pokey all the way! 」

「Yeah~ that’s peaceful, so that’s good, just don’t slip up and reveal yourself, alright? 」

Retze half-heartedly replied with his chin on his hand.

「Most of the King’s Boughs are secured in the deepest part of the palace, and they are decorated with all various magical ores, and yet… 」

Butler seemed to have recovered a bit.

Oy, that description sounds like the jeweled branch from the mythical island of Horai from Princess Kaguya’s tale, doesn’t it? (1).

「I prefer being outdoors! Ah, but won’t say no to magical ores, they’re most welcome! 」

「Alright then, I’ll do my best to poke some monsters, then. 」

「Hey, you’re thinking of poking monsters with that!? 」

Dinosso kicked a fuss for a while, but he finally calmed down.

「Well then, the difficult conversation is over, so time for some snacks and alcohol. 」

I can also make some highball and rocks today since we have ice, but we’re going to play cards, so let’s start first with the wine they’re used to.

For the hors d’oeuvre, I prepared pinchos with pickled herring and olives, kiln-roasted Brussels sprouts, cheese and dry-cured ham, smoked salmon and cheese, omelet eggs, smoked oysters pickled in oil with mini tomato and mozzarella cheese.

We won’t have to dirty our hands, and you can check what you want or not with a glance, so it’s pretty convenient. I served a heap of foods that they’re unfamiliar with, so I’m kinda worried whether the food suited their tastes.

「The kids will probably get envious if I eat a lot, and I’ll probably get scolded. 」

Dinosso grumbled but he’s the one who first stretched his hand.

「Yeah, want me to pack some pound cake that you can take home? 」

「Yeah, please! Whoa, this stings, huh. 」

He ate a pincho with pickled green pepper, anchovies and olives, apparently.

Dinosso seems like he’s gonna eat whatever I give him, huh. Retze picked the ones that seemed cooked, while trying the others very gingerly. Butler mostly samples the food chosen by the others.

「Ah, dammit! Who’s blocking 5, huh!? 」Dinosso.

「Hoho, I have achieved the ace, so it’s going to be from King. 」Butler.

「Eh~ you learn too fast! 」Me.

「The rules are simple, after all. 」Retze.

We’re playing sevens, but the rule is to start from either ace or king, not from seven, once a row reaches either of the two. Butler ended up getting an ace after stopping at 10.

X-Stick declared he’s going to sleep after gobbling all the potato chips, and now he’s just an ordinary stick. Something gleamed on his top, so I wiped it with a towel — Butler gave me a heart wrenching look.