Trump Card in Negotiations

It had be arranged that the talks would be held in a room at the inn

where we were staying, with a very limited number of people attending.

This was the result of taking the Turgish side's situation, in which a larger

meeting would require taking the time to go through a process with the

Council of Chiefs, into consideration.

We were able to make it back to Noblebeppu by noon on the day of the

talks. We had stayed in the mountain village near the dungeon for one night

after the ogres were exterminated, then set out just before dawn, but it had

ultimately taken us this long to arrive.

Though the situation had been explained to the other side, we must

have kept them waiting for a fair amount of time.

When I dismounted from the carriage in front of the inn, Roroa and

Tomoe came out of the inn to greet us.

"Welcome back, darlin'!" Roroa called. "Ya had me worried."

"Welcome back," Tomoe said. "I'm glad you're okay, Big Brother."

"I'm back, Roroa, Tomoe."

When I patted them on their heads, they cooed and smiled. Seeing them

like that, I was relieved I had been able to come back safe.

With us having had help from Dece, Juno, and the rest, it might seem

like there ultimately hadn't been much danger, but seeing those ghoulish

ogres that looked like they'd crawled up out of hell, feasting on what

looked to be human meat, may have made me feel a little weak at heart.

That was a traumatic sight, after all.

"Whew, we're here, we're here." Disembarking from the carriage, Kuu

spun his arms in circles. "It's already noon, so have your king and my old

man already started the talks?"

We people from the kingdom looked at him blankly, but...

Oh, right, everyone quickly realized. The only ones here who didn't

know were Kuu and Leporina.

I put on a strained smile and told Kuu, "No, not yet. One of the leaders

only just arrived, after all."

"Huh? What's that supposed to..."

When Kuu was about to ask, a group of about five people walked

towards us from across the way. The one leading them was a large-bodied,

stern-faced snow monkey.

He was a mountain of muscle. His sideburns and beard had merged into

something like a white lion's mane.

If Kuu was Sun Wukong, this man was fit to be called the Monkey

King. His white robe and white cape with shoulder pads made him look

every bit the person of high station that he was.

With soldiers following behind him, the great man stood before us.

"Hm? Well, hey, if it isn't my old man," Kuu said to the snow monkey.

"What happened to the talks?"

Yes, just as I'd assumed, this great snow monkey was Kuu's old man,

and also the head of the Republic of Turgis.

The man ignored Kuu and stood in front of me. "It is good to meet you,

King of Friedonia. Welcome to the Republic of Turgis. I am the head of

state, Gouran Taisei."

Sir Gouran smiled and extended his right hand. He had a stern face, but

it wore a courteous smile.

I took his right hand. "It's good to meet you, too, Sir Gouran. I am King

Souma Kazuya of the United Kingdom of Elfrieden and Amidonia."

We brought our left hands together with our clasped right hands for a

two-handed handshake.

While watching us, Kuu's mouth hung open as if he didn't understand

what was going on. Eventually he must have worked it out in his head,

because Kuu's eyes went wide.

"Whaaa?! Kazuma's a king?!"

"Now, Kuu, you're being rude to Sir Souma," his father scolded.

"No, it's my fault for not saying anything," I said. "Sorry for not telling

you, Kuu. My real name is Souma Kazuya. I did, at least, contact your head

of state about it."

Once I had apologized for keeping it a secret, Kuu let out a sigh. "To

think... the guy I bumped into at Taru's workshop was the king of a

neighboring country..."

"I could say the same," I said. "Who would have expected the son of

this country's head of state to coming riding in on a numoth while I was

talking business with Taru?"

Talk about serendipity. All either of us could do was laugh wryly.

Sir Gouran, who had been watching us, gave a hearty guffaw. "If we're

keeping score, I'm the most confused of all. Who would have expected my

own son was working with a foreign king? What's more, it seems you

helped us subjugate the monsters that spilled out of a dungeon. I thank you

cordially on behalf of my people."

Gouran bowed his head. I could feel he was related to Kuu from that

forthright posture of his.

"Please, raise your head," I said. "The monsters in dungeons are a

threat to all of mankind. They're like a natural disaster, so it's only natural

that I would offer help, irrespective of whether it happened in the kingdom

or the republic."

"Well, I'm grateful to hear you say that... Oh?" Sir Gouran noticed

Roroa, who was standing beside me, and blinked. "Pardon me. Would you

happen to be Princess Roroa of Amidonia?"

"Yes, Lord Gouran. I am Roroa Amidonia." Roroa lifted the hem of her

coat and curtsied.

For a moment, that gesture was so well-refined I had to question if she

was really Roroa. Had she suppressed her usual merchant slang and

responded politely because he was the representative of a nation?

For us, who knew the usual Roroa, she looked like a little tanuki

playing innocent, though...

"You know who I am, Lord Gouran?" she added.

"We aren't directly acquainted, but you reminded me of your mother,"

he said.

"My mother?" Roroa tilted her head to the side.

If I recalled, Roroa's mother had passed away when she was little,

hadn't she? I remembered that because when we'd held a funeral for Gaius,

he'd been interred in the princely family's tomb, where his wife had already

been laid to rest.

With a hearty laugh, Gouran continued. "When I was young, there were

only minor skirmishes, but I crossed blades with the Amidonian military on

several occasions. In that process, I gathered information on Amidonia. You

know, Sir Gaius made for a fearsome adversary. Nothing could have been

more troublesome."

"I... I see..." Roroa struggled to give a proper response.

There had been a rift between her and her father. When someone was

laughing and telling her things about him that could be compliments or

insults, she must have had no idea how to respond.

Sir Gouran continued despite Roroa's reaction. "I hear your mother was

a person so cheerful, she could laugh Sir Gaius's stern face away. I've also

heard talk about how you married yourself, and your country with you, to

King Souma. You must have inherited her boldness."

"Th-Thank you..." Roroa responded, while shooting me a look that

screamed, Darlin', help me!

It seemed she was troubled by him bringing up awkward topics it was

hard for her to respond to, and apparently doing it with no ill intent, at that.

Unlike Roroa, though, I was impressed with Sir Gouran. Even though

he lived in this closed-off land, he hadn't been lax in gathering information

about the outside world.

Well, that aside, Roroa was tearing up, so I decided to help here.

"Sir Gouran, should we start the talks now?"

"Oh, sorry, I've been rude," Sir Gouran said with and took on an

extremely serious expression. "I know the talks were scheduled for today,

but between subjugating the ogres and traveling, you must be tired. Please,

relax for today, and we will hold the talks tomorrow."

"...Well, okay," I said. "I'd be grateful if we could do it that way."

I didn't want to rush the negotiations; I wanted us to take our time. And

it was true I was tired. So I decided to accept Sir Gouran's considerate offer.

We would stay in the inn, and Sir Gouran and his entourage would stay

at the villa where Kuu had been staying near here.

Then, tomorrow, we would reserve this entire inn to hold the meeting.

Now, this was where it would all be decided.

That night, I used the jewel I had brought in secret to contact Hakuya

back in the capital of Parnam. When I explained the situation in Turgis...

"Honestly... what were you thinking?" he asked in exasperation. "It

should be unthinkable for the king of a nation to go out slaying ogres."

That was the first thing out of Hakuya's mouth.

"Well, I thought I had to..."

"It would seem a scolding from Lady Liscia is inevitable at this point,"

he went on.

"Urkh... Is Liscia there, too?" I asked hesitantly, but Hakuya shook his

head.

"No. Lady Liscia has already gone to rest in Lord Albert's domain."

"Thank goodness... I wouldn't want to worry her now."

She was carrying our child in her womb. I couldn't afford to worry her

unduly.

But it really was a shame to be unable to see Liscia's face, and unable

to hear her voice. I wanted to thank her directly for having our child. This

made me feel like a father living away from the family due to business.

Hakuya looked exasperated. "If you know that, I want you to be

prudent. You will be a father soon, Your Majesty."

"I'll take that to heart..."

There was nothing else I could say in response. I had to be honest with

myself, and reflect on it. That said, though, if I encountered a similar

situation in future, I didn't really know if I could be prudent or not.

"So, how is the plan going on your end?" I asked.

"I've already received assent from the other party. The preparations are

complete, but... what are your thoughts on Sir Gouran, sire?"

"How do you mean that, exactly?"

"Do you think the talks will be a success or not?"

I thought about that a little. I recalled what I had seen of Sir Gouran

today.

"He seems abrasive, but I could also see a more sensitive side to him.

He looks like a warrior, but that's not all there is to him. If we

underestimate him, he'll take advantage of that. He's not the head of a

nation for nothing."

"Sire... in order to make negotiations move smoothly, you wanted to

demonstrate the power of our nation, correct?"

"In order to form friendly relations, I want to show them the merits of

forming an alliance with us, and the demerits of making an enemy of us.

But from the look of things, he's not going to be intimidated by just

anything. That's all the more reason why the trick you've set up will be

useful."

I grinned.

"Please, do not go to the talks tomorrow with that look on your face."

Hakuya sighed in exasperation.

◇ ◇ ◇

Meanwhile, around this time, Head of the Republic Gouran and his son

Kuu were in the living room of their villa in Noblebeppu, talking about

Souma and his companions over drinks.

"When you were working with that king, what was your view of him?"

Gouran asked while tilting back a goblet of fermented milk.

"He's a weird one," Kuu chuckled. "He looks weak, but there's

something about him you just can't figure out, I guess you could say?"

Gouran tilted his head to the side at his son's words. "So... which is he,

in the end?"

"Like I said, I don't know. He's probably a king who rules by the pen,

not the sword. Kazuma... no, Souma looks weak, and he really isn't strong,

but he's got a good collection of subordinates around him. That dark elf

especially. She's in a class of her own. And even if Souma looks like he's

wide open, if you make the mistake of trying to lay a hand on him, his

subordinates will leave piles of bodies lying around."

"Hm..." Gouran pondered. "He's a king who is loved and protected by

his vassals, then?"

"Oook... I feel like it's more than just that. He's a smart one, so he

won't be reckless, but it's not like he's completely without courage. No

matter how much he trusted his subordinates, a weak guy wouldn't decide

to accompany me on a dangerous task like subjugating those ogres so

easily, right? If he can place his own life on the scales, that's proof he's

made it through his own share of trials."

"They say he defeated a military man like Gaius VIII, after all," Gouran

nodded.

Triggered by Souma's ascension to the throne, a war had broken out

between the Elfrieden Kingdom and the Principality of Amidonia. From the

stories they had heard, the war had been a crushing victory for the kingdom,

but Gaius VIII had shown his pride as a warrior to the end.

Even though the war had been decided, and his troops had broken and

scattered, Crown Prince Julius had escaped, while Gaius himself had gone

with his personal retainers and charged into a great army, coming within

steps of wringing Souma's neck.

Even in defeat, Gaius had maintained his pride as a warrior.

Those who lost a war were always vilified at first. The victors spread

those stories to demonstrate the righteousness of their own actions.

However, in Gaius's case, because his daughter Roroa was going to

marry Souma, and an attempt was being made to unify the two countries,

Souma never spoke ill of him, and he did not have an undeserved

reputation.

Setting aside people's views of his performance as a sovereign prince,

Gaius's reputation as a warrior was being defended by a daughter who

hadn't gotten along with him, and her fiancé who had fought him as an

enemy. Whether this was a neat contrivance of history or an irony was up to

the individual to decide.

Here was what Gouran thought.

Perhaps by confronting Gaius, Souma had gained a courage that did not

match his own weak body.

If so... Gaius has left behind an incredible memento.

Whether Gouran wished for it himself or not, the threads of fate

continued to wrap themselves around him. While feeling the flow of time,

he looked to Kuu, who was drinking fermented milk in front of him.

Will getting involved with Souma bring about some change in my idiot

son? That may prove to have great meaning for the republic...

Gouran downed the rest of his fermented milk, and made his decision.

◇ ◇ ◇

The night broke, and it was the day of the meeting.

We reserved the great hall of the inn where we were staying, and

Gouran and I sat across from one another. It was the place we had used for

the party before, so there were no tables or chairs. We sat cross-legged on

brilliantly colored cushions laid out on the carpet.

On either side of me were Juna and Roroa, who no longer needed to

hide their positions, and Kuu was sitting next to Gouran.

Behind us were Aisha and the rest of the members of our group, with

the exception of Tomoe, and behind Sir Gouran and Kuu were a group of

this country's soldiers lead by Leporina.

Each of those groups stood at attention and guarded their respective

leaders.

I bowed slightly, then looked Sir Gouran straight in the face. "First,

allow me to thank you for arranging this meeting."

"Think nothing of it," he said. "It is not often one has the chance to

speak with the king of a neighboring country. I would very much like to use

this rare chance to speak openly about things that will be of benefit of both

our countries."

Sir Gouran returned my slight bow, and looked me straight in the eye.

We were both the leaders of our respective countries, so neither could

bow deeply in a way that implied one was higher or lower than the other.

Gouran turned to look to the side. "Still... I'm surprised. To think you

would bring such a thing here..."

He was looking at a jewel for the Jewel Voice Broadcast. The massive

crystal that I had also used to communicate with Hakuya yesterday was

occupying a corner of the room.

Sir Gouran furrowed his brow. "That is a Jewel Voice Broadcast Jewel,

correct? Is this being broadcast somewhere?"

"No, this is only for communication purposes," I said. "I'm not

broadcasting it to the people."

"...I see."

"Do you have jewels in this country, too?" I asked.

"Just one. I would like to have more, but they're made from dungeon

cores. Unfortunately, we've only cleared one dungeon in this country."

"I see..."

It sure was inconvenient that there was only one dungeon core.

The country had a fairly large amount of land, so I would want the to

have one for broadcasting and one for communication, at least.

If we'd had any to spare, I'd have been willing to sell or trade them, but

of the five dungeon cores we currently had, one was used for broadcasts

from the castle, one for communicating with the Empire, and three for

broadcast programs. Unfortunately, I had no way to help.

Well, with those pleasantries set aside, I dove into the matter at hand.

"Now then, Sir Gouran, I have a proposal for you..."

"The 'medical alliance'... I believe." Before I could say it, Sir Gouran

crossed his arms and groaned. "Treatments that don't rely on light magic...

It really is fascinating. Doctors, were they? For this country, where it's hard

to even walk around outside in winter, there would be great meaning in

being able to permanently station one person who could perform treatments

in every village. Besides that, you say they can treat diseases that light

magic can't. I'd very much like to have that."

Sir Gouran sounded impressed. It felt like we weren't off to a bad start.

But then Sir Gouran's expression grew stern.

"However, there are things I don't understand here. Why would you

bring this to us? Wouldn't studying the subject alone allow your country to

grow more powerful?"

Suspicious eyes. He was trying to feel out if I had any ulterior motives.

When he asked me that, for a moment, I thought about how the empress

of the Gran Chaos Empire might answer. She might say, "Medicine knows

no borders."

That person, who was not a self-proclaimed saint, but had been

proclaimed a saint by others, was the sort to think about what was best for

the whole world, and so those kinds of words suited her.

For me, on the other hand, that sort of idealism was a poor fit. I always

thought of my own country's benefit first. I didn't think that was a bad

thing, but if someone like me said, "Medicine knows no borders," the words

might sound hollow.

So I looked Sir Gouran in the eyes as I responded, "That's... for

practicality."

"Practicality?"

"Yes. It's true, it would be best to study it with only my country.

However, that would take too much time and funding. Medicine is not a

subject one country can fully study on its own. If I were to try to do it all

with one country, I wouldn't have enough time, personnel, or funding."

What I needed to demonstrate was the realistic benefit of dividing the

research. If I could prove it would be of benefit to both the kingdom and the

republic, I could get things moving.

"That is why, like I proposed to Kuu, I want the republic to produce

medical equipment and to export it to us. We will dispatch the doctors who

can use that equipment. If this can be realized, the field of medicine should

progress greatly in both our countries."

"That's true. It does sound like both countries stand to profit." Gouran

gave a big nod.

Was this... going to work?

"Well, then..."

"However." It had looked like things were coming together, but then Sir

Gouran fixed a stern look on me. "Can this truly be called an equal

exchange?"

"...What do you mean?"

"Hearing your proposal of a medical alliance, I did a fair amount of

thinking about it for my own part. It may look advanced, but, to make

matters quick, I think it's really just a development in the way medicine

men and women treat their patients."

"...You're right," I admitted.

He wasn't mistaken. We had managed to cut out a lot of the process

because of the existence of the three-eyed race that could see

microorganisms, but doctors were merely a further development of the

medicine man or woman who brewed medicinal infusions.

"In that case, it is something we can understand, too," Sir Gouran said.

"Basically, the kingdom trains 'incredible medicine men or women,' and

our country is expected to create the 'incredible tools' that they use, right?

If that was all we were dealing with, I'm sure you could call it fair, but

there's one more element: the medicinal infusions the medicine man or

woman uses."

"Medical infusions... You mean drugs?"

"We each hold one card, the 'doctor' and the 'medical equipment.'

However, the 'drugs' card is floating in midair. We can't take the 'drugs'

card for ourselves yet. If the kingdom takes that card, the balance of power

will largely shift in your favor."

Drugs, huh.

It was true that, in the kingdom, the three-eyes race had developed

three-eyedine (an antibiotic). Three-eyedine was extracted from a

subspecies of gelin that could even live in poisonous swamps.

This country was very cold, and the liquid gelins would freeze solid, so

they didn't live here. It wouldn't be possible for them to develop it on their

own.

Naturally, they'd be dependent on imports. If the kingdom had control

of those imports, it would be easy for more funding to flow into the

kingdom.

...To be honest, I hadn't thought about this until it was pointed out.

Obviously, I had considered the element of drugs, but I hadn't expected

the republic to be suspicious about it.

Still, now that I thought about it, it was only natural they would be.

They were approaching these talks with a lot of determination of their own.

They would think desperately about what could be disadvantageous to their

country, and try to rub it out.

Because he was thinking so hard about their own country, Sir Gouran

had hit upon this element of drugs.

He must be a good ruler... Well, in this case, his fears are unwarranted,

though.

I mentally shrugged my shoulders. It wasn't like I was deliberately

avoiding the topic of drugs in order to make a profit down the line. I turned

both of my palms towards Sir Gouran.

"There's no need to worry. That card is no longer in the kingdom's

hands, you see."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Juna. Bring that thing out."

"Yes, sire." Juna brought out a board-shaped thing that could fit in her

arms, and placed it in front of the jewel so that everyone could see it.

It was a simple Jewel Voice Broadcast receiver. And projected on that

simple receiver was a single beautiful woman.

When they saw that woman, Sir Gouran and Kuu's eyes went wide.

"D-Dad!" Kuu cried.

"Yeah..."

"Hee hee, I'm sorry that I seem to have surprised you."

The woman on screen smiled, then bowed slightly to Sir Gouran and

the others.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, head of the Republic of Turgis, Sir Gouran

Taisei. I am Empress Maria Euphoria of the Gran Chaos Empire."