Chapter 322: Doubts
The residential areas of the Nameless Kingdom can be roughly divided into the Beastmen, the Deprived People, the Fallen Demons and finally the Demons. The beastmen basically live in dwellings surrounded by trees, the deprived people live underground in dugouts and the fallen demons live in dome-shaped dwellings made of stone, but the demons are not particular about their dwellings and think that as long as they can keep out the rain and dew, they are fine. That"s why Yuu took the trouble to prepare the living quarters for the demon tribe, using wood imported from Wood Pain. If he hadn"t done this, the demon tribe"s living quarters would have been lined with shacks by now.
"It"s not just about exerting yourself! Put the appropriate amount of force into the necessary areas and poke with an awareness of the body"s coordination!"
"""Yes!"""
In a corner of the gra.s.sland, a short distance from the street lined with the dwellings of the demon tribe, the children of the demon tribe were wielding spears in a place where the soil was bare. The sun was shining and their bodies were dripping sweat like beads, but none of them dropped out, not even a whimper. The way they wielded their spears with single-minded devotion, even though they were young, they were indeed demon children――or rather, splendid warriors.
"Keep swinging the spear even if the skin on your hand is torn and you can"t lift your arm!"
The man who was instructing the children on how to use the spear didn"t seem to have any intention of stopping them even though he saw the skin of their hands torn and blood flowing. On the contrary, he ordered them to swing their spears even harder.
"That is"
From afar, the figure of a group of people walking in the shape of a road entered the demon man"s field of vision. The man of the demon race immediately realized who it was. A wild boar man with heavy armor was walking like an escort. It"s a familiar sight these days. On his side was a small demon child――Namari who could be seen walking with her chest puffed up proudly.
"For a moment, stop! Line up!!"
When the man from the demon tribe gave the order, the children"s movements came to a complete halt and they lined up in an orderly fashion with movements that you wouldn"t expect from children. You can see from a distance that the children of the demon tribe are in order, and Yuu is dismayed. He thinks that they should just ignore him, since he"s just walking down the street.
"Let"s go"
"Are you sure?"
"It"s fine"
He was planning to have a meeting at the house of the chief of the demons today, so the escort boar man asked Yuu if they escort boar man could make a detour. With a sullen look, Yuu heads off the road to the children in line. Even though Yuu was right in front of them, none of the children, not even the demon man, said a word. They would stand there for hours waiting for Yuu to say a word or give them permission.
"I"ll know it when I see it, but I"ll make sure of it. What are you doing?"
"Haa! I was instructing these men in their training"
"They"re kids"
The children of the demon tribe, even the eldest, look only about ten years old.
"As Odono-sama says, all of them are immature"
"That"s not what I"m saying. I told them they were free to play after school"
"That"s what they need to do when they"re in the service of Odono-sama"
"What"s that? When did I ask you to do that? Or what? If I ask you to die, will you die?"
"With pleasure. We, the demon tribe, are always ready to die for you, Odono-sama. If it is your wish, I will take my life right now and show it to you"
He had straightforward eyes. The man of the demon race is looking at Yuu with eyes without a trace of malice. The children lined up behind were staring at Yuu with the same eyes. Suddenly――――a pain shot through Yuu"s chest. The pain itself is not a big deal, just a small pain. The unreasonable violence he had received from his father-in-law――the needles between his nails, the various attacks he had received from numerous powerful monsters and enemies of the human race――claws, fangs, poison, curse, breath, swords, arrows, magic, burning from within his body. Compared to those, it was nothing, a much smaller pain. Yes, it shouldn"t be much pain. And yet, Yuu hated this small pain, even though he had endured all kinds of pain. In the past, he had never felt this kind of pain. When did it start? When did the pain start, without even Yuu noticing it?
"Odono-sama?"
Namari looked up at Yuu with a worried expression.
"It"s nothing. Hey. You, go tell the chief that I"m almost there"
It wasn"t that far from here to the house of the demon tribe chief. It"s not so different from the arrival of Yuu, even though he took the trouble to give a hint.
"Leave it to me"
But the demon man replied and ran. After seeing off his back, Yuu turns to the children who haven"t moved.
"Gather. Come closer"
Yuu took out a large basket from his item pouch and opened the lid.
"Financier"
The basket was filled with b.u.t.ter cake. The smell of b.u.t.ter spread from the basket and the children shouted, 「Waaa」. Then, Momo looks out because of the voice and smell from Yuu"s flying cap, but when she glances at Financier and the children, she finds out that it"s not for her and sneaks into the flying cap again to sleep again.
"It"s good to see you guys. It"s nice to be able to move around outside on a beautiful day like this. Look at me, huh? Now I"m going to the chief"s house to have a discussion with the old folks about nothing interesting"
Seeing Yuu laughing at himself, the children finally smiled in a childlike way. Although the demons have undergone rigorous training since childhood to become warriors, they are still children.
"This financier is a new product. You should eat it before I finish my discussion. And let me know what you think of it later. If any of the adults say anything, just tell them I ordered it"
Leaving the children happily eating the financier, Yuu headed for the chief"s house.
"Namari, you can stay and eat with them, okay?"
"That"s right. I"ll take care of the king as his escort"
"No! I"m Odono-sama"s bodyguard!"
--------------------------------------------
When Yuu´s group arrived at the house of the demon chief, the chiefs of various tribes and counselors――the chiefs of each village who had emigrated to the Nameless Kingdom after the so-called early group were waiting for their seats were already there.
"Don"t waste your time with greetings. Let"s get started"
When Yuu entered the room, everyone tried to stand up and greet him, but he stopped them with his hand, took one look at the people in the room and told them to start the meeting.
"As for the self-sufficiency rate of food, both arable and livestock farming are expanding on a larger scale than originally planned. If things continue to go smoothly, the harvest will be enough to feed the population of the Nameless Kingdom――"
A young man from the deprived people, holding a doc.u.ment in his hand, explained the food situation in the Nameless Kingdom. The people of all races nodded their heads in satisfaction at this report. They had been persecuted for a long time before they found a safe haven in the Nameless Kingdom. It"s not unreasonable for everyone to feel a sense of relief, as they have struggled the most with food, clothing and shelter, among other things.
"That"s a great report!!"
One of the beastmen exaggeratedly shouted.
"Umm. It"s good to know that the people won"t starve. And if we have enough to harvest, why don"t we bring our people over from the Ream continent?"
"Oh......! That"s a good idea"
"I agree with you"
"I"ve been thinking about that, too, as I listened to the reports"
As if the beastmen had a meeting, they agreed with each other in a loud voice. The most populous race in the Nameless Kingdom are the Beastmen. Inevitably, the majority of those who attended the conference were beastmen. Call the beastmen from the Ream continent. The beastmen were not unanimously in favor of this idea. There were only two people who didn"t speak up. One of them was the boar man standing behind Yuu, looking at the beastmen with a somewhat blank expression. The other was the head of the beastman tribe, Rubanov. With an apologetic and pathetic expression on his face.
"Rubanov-dono, please say something"
"That"s right. As the head of the beastmen, from Rubanov-dono......Rubanov-dono?"
The beastmen began to stir when Rubanov refused to even look at them while his mouth was tied in a straight line.
"What for?"
It was not Rubanov who opened his mouth, but Yuu.
"As I said earlier, if there is a surplus of food, it is essential to secure labor to cultivate the land and increase the country"s strength. It goes without saying that the hardy and prolific beastmen are the most suitable for this purpose"
"And there are many beastmen who are oppressed in the Ream continent. I understand their pain better than anyone else because I have been oppressed myself"
The beastmen continued to say similar words.
"If our village is safe, you guys who didn"t know anything about it would be fine"
"It"s thanks to the......king. It"s a beastly way of thinking, as long as we"re good to ourselves. Now, as human beings, we have the capacity to care for others――"
"Don"t lie to me"
The room fell silent. The old beastmen"s bodies shrank, as if they could see through their own minds.
"Many of you are half-breeds with the human race. You"ve been discriminated against by other beastmen because of your light blood, but you"re the same people who have been oppressed. It"s not like the beastmen who have more blood can understand how you feel. And even if you do bring the beastmen from the Ream continent, what are you going to do with them?"
"If we can get Hisui to help us, we can grow as many fields as we want!"
"U, Umm. That"s not all. There is a world tree in the Nameless Kingdom. If we tell them about it, it will be easy to gather beastmen. N, No. In fact, you can even become the king of all beastmen in the Ream continent――"
Perhaps fearing Yuu"s displeasure, his words were not as strong as before.
"No!"
The beastmen were discouraged by his words.
"May I ask why?"
"Because it"s no fun"
"How can you decide the fate of a nation based on whether or not it"s interesting?"
"Yes. What do you have to say about that? It"s my country, you know. I"m not interested in anything that"s not interesting and I don"t want to move. And when did the World Tree become your property?"
"N, No......its not ours....... It"s owned by the King――"
"It"s not my property. And Hisui will not cooperate. I"m telling you not to do that"
"Wh, Why!?"
"Think for yourself"
In the end, the beastmen"s opinion was not accepted at the meeting that day. Perhaps it was because their momentum had been cut short, or perhaps it was because they were careful not to offend Yuu. The beastmen didn"t have a strong voice on the agenda for the rest of the meeting and the voices of the deprived people and fallen demons dominated most of the discussion.
"Rubanov-dono, why don"t you follow our voice!!"
After the meeting was over, the beastmen questioned Rubanov as if they were accusing him in the room where Yuu had disappeared. In spite of the fact that there were other races in the room, they couldn"t resist.
"What are you talking about? You guys should be thanking Rubanov-dono"
Bjarne, the chief of the deprived people, interrupted. Mauno, who was next to him, had a face that said, 「I wish I had a good friendship」. The demons Baba and Machupi left the room as soon as Yuu returned.
"What? It doesn"t matter to the deprived people. This is a problem for the beastmen!"
"Exactly! And we know it! You guys are sneaking around and pulling friends from the Ream continent into the Nameless Kingdom!"
"Why is it that the deprived people and demons are allowed to sneak around, but we, the Beastmen, are not? I don"t know what the......king is thinking"
"Huh. Nonsense"
Did Mauno finally become unable to put up with the ugliness of so many beastmen? He says what he thought in his heart.
"Mauno-dono, is there something you want to say?"
"I don"t care about it, but what about the beastmen? The deprived people, the demons. Didn"t they live in the same Nameless Kingdom? You guys made a lot of noise about it, so I said nonsense. It"s no wonder that Rubanov-dono didn"t agree with you guys"
The excited beastmen quieted down at Mauno"s words.
"Think carefully about the meaning of the words the king said"
Mauno leaves the room with the demons without hiding his frustration.
"I feel the same as Mauno-dono. No matter how great you guys are, it"s originally a group of black sheeps. How foolish it is to imitate humans and fight for power......"
Bjarne, along with the rest of his clan――only the beastmen are left in the room.
"I will go and ask the king what he really means"
Rubanov, who had remained silent during the meeting, opened his mouth.
"Rubanov-dono......"
"I have my own thoughts, though not as many as yours"
After saying that, Rubanov stood up and left the room as it was. However, the destination is not the mountain castle where Yuu is. After all, he couldn"t reach the castle when he went straight to the castle. So he has to ask someone to guide him there. Rubanov went back to his house, gathered up some sweets and went to see Inpika. He wanted to ask Black Wolf to lead him to the mountain castle via Inpika.
"Over there is master"s room"
"Thank you for leading us here"
"Please don"t mind me, it"s my job"
The maid bowed and disappeared into the corridor. Leaving Rubanov to proceed alone from here on out. Rubanov thanked the beast G.o.ds for the surprisingly smooth way things had gone so far. He asked Inpika to take him to the mountain castle, explained the situation to the maid who answered the door and waited for a while. Unbelievably, she said she would take him to Yuu"s room.
"Now......I wonder what will happen"
Just as dogs do not have sweat glands, Rubanov, a canine beastman, has almost no sweat glands. But because of his human blood, he has a few sweat glands in his hands and feet. Sweat was pouring out of his hands one after another. Now that he had come this far, he had to make up his mind, Rubanov thought as he walked forward. He felt like a condemned man being led to the decapitation table. After forcing his heavy legs to move forward, he saw a door. The door was made of good wood, but it was not decorated in any detail and had a simple design. He knocked on the door with trembling hands and a cheerful reply came from inside, Namari"s voice.
"Come in"
It was not Namari who opened the door and revealed herself, but a boar man. He was not particularly intimidating, but his size and appearance caused Rubanov to pull back. When he entered the room, Rubanov"s mouth and eyes widened stupidly and he was stunned for a while.
(Th, This is the king"s............room?)
The room is about ten tatami mats, with one bed and two desks lined up. One of them must belong to Namari. She was sitting on a chair, studying and Momo was lying on top of her head, reading a book with her. On the shelves, among the picture books, there were wreaths of flowers and stones that looked beautiful in shape and appearance but seemed to have no value, which puzzled Rubanov even more. There are many more items in his possession that would be more suitable for a king, he thought. Yuu was working at the other desk, which was piled high with books. There were also gold and silver coins scattered about and a balance in the middle.
"Chief, you need to talk to me"
"Mu? U, Umm. That"s right"
The room is so plain that it is hard to believe that it is the room of the king of this country, Yuu and Rubanov look at the boar man to see if he is being teased, but the boar man shakes his head to deny it.
"My king, I apologize for the rudeness of the beastmen at our earlier meeting"
"Stop"
When Rubanov kneels down and bows his head, Yuu tells him to stop.
"It is a shame that they are beastmen and yet they are obsessed with power like humans. Did they expose such an abomination because they didn"t have it......no, because I, the chief――"
"It"s okay"
"――shameful......ha?"
"Everyone doesn"t want to let go of what they get, especially if it"s hard work. Especially in my country, where all the people have been robbed"
"B, But"
"Rubanov, you must have had a similar situation in the beginning"
"Uh....... I"m ashamed to say it"
Rubanov glared at the boar man who was holding back his laughter.
"Look at this. I"ve ordered a number of books on the laws of different countries and they are so difficult to understand that I think they are deliberately written to be difficult"
Rubanov opens and looks at the book handed over by Yuu, but it is a sentence that makes his head hurt even if he reads it lightly.
"And this money"
"What"s wrong with the money?
"Oh, for example, this gold coin is issued by the Udon Kingdom and the Derim Empire, but there is no difference in the gold content even if the design is different. It is the content of gold coins and silver coins per piece in the Raem Alliance. This is because the amount is fixed. It"s issued by the Samwana Kingdom. The merchants used them as payment in their dealings with the Nameless Kingdom.
Yuu flicked his fingers at the gold and silver coins issued by the Samwana Kingdom in frustration.
"Why don"t you punish the merchants?"
"What reason do I have for punishing them? The merchants are very clever and careful to mix in Samwana currency when they are dealing with beastmen. The money you pay feels like the money of the Samwana Kingdom. I won"t forgive you because it"s mixed in a lot! They"ll laugh at you and say it"s your fault for being deceived. It"s our fault for not noticing"
"Is that why you oppose the migration of the beastmen?"
Beastmen are easily deceived. Rubanov asked if that was why Yuu had opposed them at the meeting. Although Rubanov did not think that the beastmen at the meeting were playing games as blatantly as they were, he still had some reservations about the idea of other races moving into the Nameless Kingdom.
"Haa? It can"t be. If I get mad about something like that, I"m going to get p.i.s.sed off when I see this"
Yuu took out a stack of letters from his desk drawer and handed two of them to Rubanov.
"This is?"
"Just read them"
Rubanov did not understand what the letter said, as if it were a legal doc.u.ment that he had just read through.
"It"s a letter of intent. It was sent from a human country"
"A letter of intent......?"
"It says, in short, that if you give us financial aid, we will pay you back three times as much"
"Hou. Well, that"s a very good offer. And for a human nation to send a letter of intent to our country?"
Although some countries ostensibly prohibit discrimination by race, it is an implicit understanding that more than 90% of humans despise other races as demi-humans. It"s no exaggeration to say that the Nameless Kingdom is truly a nation of demi-humans, and yet, Rubanov couldn"t believe his eyes when he received the letter of intent.
"The letter contained some important information. The letter didn"t say when the money would be paid back. In other words, when it comes to repayment of money, it"s a nameless promise that they can extend as much as they like depending on their feelings. They make fun of my kingdom"
"Hahaa......."
Rubanov smiles bitterly.
"What is it?"
"No. Nothing"
He noticed that Yuu was staring at him, so he asked him, but he didn"t say anything and continued.
"The other letter of intent is to jointly manage and own the territorial waters"
"So it was a maritime nation that sent this letter"
"Yes. They"re envious of the territorial waters in the Nameless Kingdom"
"But territorial waters? Is there such a thing?"
"I"ve decided. In any case, most of the maritime nations don"t even try to take advantage of their location and fish close to the land. You probably don"t know this, but all the safe routes from the Ream Continent to the Nameless Kingdom have towers carved into the sea with warning signs indicating the Nameless Kingdom"s territorial waters"
"If any other nation"s ships ignore those warnings and proceed――"
"They"ll all be killed. Rather, we"ve already dealt with several countries" warships that have ignored our warnings and invaded"
Rubanov swallowed his spit at Yuu´s words that he had dealt with them. He was surprised that such a major incident had occurred without his knowledge. He checked the boar man with a sideways glance and shook his head. In other words, even the captain, who had been entrusted by Kuro to guard Yuu, didn"t know about it.
"I was wondering where the magic ship in the harbor came from. We don"t have the manpower or materials to manufacture them"
Rubanov noticed that the number of magic ships in the port of Nameless was increasing day by day. But he was wondering how Yuu ma.s.s-produced large warships, such as magic ships, in a short period of time, aside from small ships. The answer was that Yuu had captured them. Instead of building them, he robs the completed ship, so the number of magic ships will increase in a short period of time.
"It"s about 30% to kill everyone. What are you thinking about the remaining 70%? They chose the deep sea route and were killed by sea monsters. Well, I"m grateful that I was able to recover the dismembered ships as materials"
"Is a human country really that desperate for the Nameless Kingdom?"
"The human race is not all fools. It"s a good idea to get information from the merchants that come in and out of our home and calculate how much profit they can make. The country you said they wanted to jointly manage the ocean. The navy that we own is not strong enough, so it is written that they ask for the disclosure of the technology used in the magic ship of the Nameless Kingdom to the extermination of monsters. On top of that, the resources that can be obtained from the sea can be shared. Do you think there"s anything to gain for me by doing that?"
"Fuhahaa, sure. What was the amba.s.sador who brought the letter?"
"When the Nameless Kingdom wanted to join the Ream Alliance, they didn"t vote for us. No matter how small or big the country agrees, if any one of the five major nations opposes it, it will be invalid. In the first place, when did anyone say we wanted to join the Alliance? I turned him away, saying that I would destroy your country if you ever showed any disrespect to me again. What p.i.s.ses me off is that you"ve been through so much and have a grudge against the human race and now you beastmen are telling me that you"re different from the rest of the human race and that I should listen to what you have to say"
He was getting angry thinking back. Yuu roughly placed the gold coins on the balance plate.
"Use what you have learned from Frank more. It is meaningless without the wisdom to master your knowledge"
"I think the king is right"
"You"ve changed"
"I"m......?"
"When I first met you, you would have turned red and suggested to me that we destroy a human country right now"
Rubanov looked at Yuu with a somewhat apologetic expression.
"I don"t accept beastmen, partly because our current numbers are sufficient, but also because I am wary of a rapid population growth"
"Most beastmen are fertile"
"That"s one reason, but the real reason is different. If I were on the human side, I would drive the beastmen of the Ream Continent to flee to the Nameless Kingdom. I"m sure you"ve heard the rumors about the beastmen"s paradise that will protect them from the humans. That way, we can get rid of the beastmen who are in the way of development and push them to the Nameless Kingdom"
Rubanov and the boar man were in a state of shock as they imagined what would happen. They don"t know the exact number of beastmen living on the Ream continent, but it"s probably more like tens of millions. Even if they were driven away by the armies of the human race and led towards the Nameless Kingdom, it is unlikely that all of them would abandon their familiar homeland. But even so. Even if only a few percent of the beastmen where to go to the Nameless Kingdom for help, that would be over a billion. It would be impossible to save them. Moreover, once they were allowed to land on the island, it would be difficult to return them to the Ream Continent. This is because the human nation would surely try to interfere. If that happens, the Nameless Kingdom will have to feed them. It was easy for Rubanov to imagine that a hundred million people would be fighting for food and eventually a civil war would break out.
"I didn"t know you had such deep thoughts......"
""Aren"t you angry? Abandoning the beastmen"
And again...Rubanov looked apologetic.
"I had five sons, seven daughters, and fifty-one grandchildren. All of whom were persecuted before I was saved by the King, killed by human knights, hunted by slavers, attacked by demons in a fight when I entered another beast"s territory, starved and had my hand forced upon me as a palate cleanser. Now I have two sons and three daughters who survived and even my grandchildren............."
Rubanov spat out the words as if in repentance.
"But as you know, I now have eight grandchildren. "They"re very energetic grandchildren and I"m been so busy that I help with childcare"
Rubanov"s face beamed at the thought of his adorable grandchildren.
"Isn"t it possible to pay attention to other beastmen by raising children?"
"If you tell me without hiding it, it will happen"
The most important thing for Rubanov must be his grandchildren. Yuu wanted to praise Rubanov, who didn"t lie to himself and said that his grandchildren were more important than strangers.
"Odono-sama, it"s time for a snack"
She must have been waiting for the difficult conversation to end. Namari and Momo tugged on Yuu"s sleeve and told him it was time for a snack. Yuu and the others naturally smiled.