CH 44

1-6. A splendid declaration of war and the sea

“Morning. What are you doing?”

“Good morning. I got a letter from Taluha’s pair dove. He said the plu-ivy is reproducing.”

“Ivy… What kind of grass is it?”

“It’s a blue-leafed plant that’s said to be found only in Pluvia. It’s not a magic plant, but it has a strong root system. It can also be powdered and eaten. It’s also used to give a chewy texture to doughnuts and stuff.”

It was after we returned from the tumultuous Taurus Mine.

On the way back from the Taurus mine, there was a time when I rode in the same carriage with Tillois and Vivienne. I had not often talked so closely with nobles around my age, and I found it inappropriate yet fun to talk with the three of them on the way home.

While preparing things until Brother Vincent’s birthday, I was feeding Pyrou (named by Tamer Toni), one of the pair doves, in the reception room. Then Pyrou suddenly took out a quill and wrote out a letter, so I was just watching with blinking eyes.

Mika, as he had previously declared, had been proudly staying in the room connected to my bedroom reception room during the summer vacation. Even now, he came out to the reception room with a sleepy look on his face and wearing loungewear.

“I’m asking him to check for magic plants and ordinary plants that can live in symbiosis with the rubrum palm, which grows abundantly in the Rubrum Empire. I thought it would be more realistic to start from an oasis and expand from there rather than to start from zero.”

“Hmm.”

“For magic plants, the “antoine’s thorn rose” might also be a good choice because it attracts beneficial insects. You can also get precious honey from it.”

As the name suggests, many magic plants have a strange ecosystem, unlike ordinary plants.

Antoine’s thorn rose has a strong insect-benefiting effect and is used as companion plants.

I think the name ‘Antoine’ comes from the fact that it only tempts insects that are beneficial to themselves. And then, the tempted insects work diligently to take care of Antoine’s thorn roses and become its servants. It also benefits the plants around it.

I had a feeling that it would surely have a positive effect on the plants in the Rubrum Empire.

“The other day with the ‘ear’ thing, and now you have this? What really happened to you?”

Mika sat down next to me and looked into my face as he fed Pyrou as a reward.

That’s right, I asked Leon to be my ‘ear’. I still didn’t completely trust Leon yet, but it would be better than someone I didn’t know at all. There are still five years until I will be executed. Little by little, I want to set up my ‘ears’ all over Pluvia.

If Rubrum was really targeting this country from within, I wanted to gradually develop the speed and strength to counter it.

But when asked what happened, there’s something worst of the worst, the same with the time I was in Marquis Lambert’s mansion. But it had become something too embarrassing to say anymore, so I decided to just tell him what had happened to me in the present time.

That’s embarrassing too. Still…

“I think… it’s because of you. One by one, I want to accumulate things.”

“Me?”

“If you’re nearby, I feel safe even if I fail. If I’m about to make a mistake, you’ll let me know… That’s why.”

Mika looked surprised, but his cheeks turned a little red, perhaps from embarrassment. That said, even I who said it feels embarrassed and I feel like my face is blushing.

I don’t know why, but an awkward silence ensues.

I wanted to let him know that I appreciate him, but I don’t know what to do about this silence. But then, Pyrou suddenly smacked Mika’s face with a feather and I suddenly felt relaxed. Mika said, “ouch!” in a small voice, then I continued to talk.

“About the refugees, how about I take advantage of the fact that the Rubrum Empire doesn’t come to me with any arrangements for taking in the refugees, then I’ll take care of them as they’re unidentified? It’s Rubrum that doesn’t come and pick them up, even though they know the agreement says protection is not allowed.”

“You mean at the place where Taluha is at? That’s dangerous. If you establish your influence there, it will become a hotbed of espionage.”

That’s right. Besides, in the event of war, it would be a serious matter if someone tried to open the border gate from the inside. The larger the number of people, the more difficult it is to manage. And then, surely the well-prepared Rashed Rubrum will try every possible way to take those people in.

Mika continued.

“I think that idea is naive. There are a million ways to turn good people into bad people.”

That’s true.

Rashed Rubrum’s nature is perhaps cunning and brutal. He probably uses humans as pawns. And yet, in the big picture, he aims for the prosperity of the people of the Rubrum Empire. As if losing a battle to win the war, he’s someone who’s working for a greater purpose.

That’s why, I understand what Mika is saying.

For example, he’s an emperor who will surely take someone’s family hostage to turn good people into bad people.

“I wonder if the refugees in Rubrum will respond favorably to the research I’m doing.”

“Well, won’t they think of it as the prince’s pastime? Coming from people who have lived in the harsh desert.”

“If that were the case, it also wouldn’t be that important to Rubrum, would it?”

Rather, I sometimes think optimistically that if my research on magical plants is successful, some people might be willing to return to the Rubrum Empire to try it out. If espionage is involved, what I’m doing could benefit the Rubrum Empire, and the location isn’t exactly very close to Edessa.

It is not located right next to Edessa given the geological conditions and the safety of Taluha and his family.

With a scary look on his face, Mika said.

“Nagi. I know you’re trying to protect this country. But I want to protect you first and foremost, rather than the country. Even more so after hearing Miss Vivienne’s story. I want to reduce the factors that might make you the ‘evil prince’ as much as possible. But if you build a base there, that factor will increase tremendously.”

“You mean people are going to say I’m trying to contact the Rubrum and overthrow the country?”

For some reason, it seemed to remind me of the crimes I had no recollection of committing when I was executed as the “evil prince”. At the time, I thought they were just laying out half-truths to execute me.

But perhaps, I had committed some crimes without realizing it, then they fabricated the rest of the crimes based on what I did.

How can I compete with someone who even managed to manipulate information like this?

I put my head on the back of the sofa and sighed.

“I wonder if bad people can’t change to good people.”

“Well. That’s a tough question. At least it’s going to be harder than turning good people into bad people.”

“But if it were Figero and the others, I think they would notice. He might make someone who he thinks is suspicious actively travel back and forth to the Rubrum Empire and plant more and more magi plants there.”

“That’s why such shallow thinking can be used to trigger a war.”

I had decided not to take any more shallow actions just the other day. But then, Mika retorted back and I stopped moving. I wasn’t seriously planning on turning bad people into good people, but I may have said that a little too lightly.

I coughed a little and told Mika.

“But either way, there is no way that Emperor Rashed doesn’t have intelligence in Edessa. Refugee… that’s right. Refugees are often hired by the merchants, that was what Marquis Lambert said. Maybe that’s how it’s spread throughout the country of Pluvia? Hey, how do you think the refugee registers are managed?”

“They get checked when they come into the country and that’s it. Since Rubrum wouldn’t come and pick them up, they often stayed in the settlement, and the ones who left would leave on their own.”

If I think about it carefully, the management of refugees is pretty vague.

Machina showed me around the settlements and refugee facilities, but it is mostly people who receive the little food provided there, or people who make and sell something in small quantities. Speaking about the hotbed of Rubrum refugees, in the end that settlement itself is the hotbed.

I’m sure it has been there for a long time and they never thought of moving it.

It may be in Edessa because it was created as a temporary residence to send it back in the first place, but there is no need for it to be there since there is no one to take the refugees back.

“Hey, Mika. Let’s move the refugees and the whole settlement to the place where Taluha is at. In the first place, it’s dangerous for them and for the country to have such a settlement in Edessa. If they don’t have a job, they can help with the research. And then, what about tracking the movements of refugees who leave without entering the settlement?”

Hearing my words, he must have thought it was a good thing. Mika said, “Well,” and continued with his hand on his chin.

“Maybe we could make it mandatory for people moving to other places to check their identity cards at the gates of other towns. For the safety of the refugees in Rubrum.”

“It’s like you’re more of a bad guy than me, Mika.”

Most of the refugees remaining in the settlement are harmless. The infiltrators lurking among them can begin to be controlled with a pass. By separating the settlement from Edessa, it would also make it easier to notice if people are moving in a suspicious manner.

Rubrum is the one who doesn’t come to pick them up, so this is fine.

Refugees who flee to Pluvia will be given generous protection, but if they cannot be picked up immediately, we will provide them with work to maintain them. The cost of transporting the entire refugee population is with the Rubrum Empire and they can come and pick them up at any time. However, the person’s consent is required when retrieving.

Those who enter the country as refugees and want to work outside of Taluha’s place are required to present temporary identity cards for security purposes. With this, would that be enough to convince Brother Seth and His Majesty?

“The only thing left is to see how much of the government’s money can be used for magic plant research in this desert, either for defense or foreign affairs. And then I have to build a decent amount of capital to be free as well.”

“You think you can take on Rubrum by yourself?”

Mika is convinced too.

The relocation of the Rubrum refugee settlement is not a bad thing at all. I’m not really trying to make Rubrum come and pick them up. But it should have been fine even to not go to the trouble of managing refugees in Edessa, with the Rubrum having no intention to pick them up.

But I feel uneasy about me taking the lead for that.

I’m worried that I’m going to be cast as the “evil prince” again. But whether I’m an evil prince or not, I know this country will end if I don’t protect it.

It was a very difficult problem.

But… I’m not alone, I know I have other people by my side.

“No, I don’t think so. I have you with me, Mika. So it’s okay for me to be a little reckless.”

I have a strong, smart, and skillful knight that I choose myself. I’m sure he’ll carry out his master’s wishes.

Mika kept his mouth shut and froze for a while.

But he must have decided that the idea was still not a bad one.

Then he said, while sighing.

“……Your expectations of me are high.”

“Well, you’re the son of that Count Chardin, after all?”

In this second life now, I chose a knight who would walk together with me to where I’m going.

When I sarcastically mentioned the thing that Marquis Lambert had said as the reason for me not choosing Machina instead, Mika made a very disgusted face.

“What the heck is that?”