Viol 36
This Will Change the Country’s Future
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AFTER seeing off Borden and Lady Ladia, I talked with Seren and discovered a shocking truth: Lady Ladia was in love with Borden.
“That’s surprising.”
When I said that, Seren smiled with relief. “I’m guessing you didn’t hear what Lady Ladia said coming down the hall, then?” she asked.
“No, I heard her… But I didn’t realize that was what she meant.”
According to Seren, Lady Ladia didn’t state her feelings clearly in the hall, but Borden might have still picked up on it.
I then shared with Seren the news that Borden had also expressed a recent interest in marriage and told her about what sort of topics Borden was interested in these days.
Since Lady Ladia wanted to keep her feelings a secret from Borden and others, that was all I could do to help them. After all, you can’t force these things. It’s better to let them unfold naturally.
Seren said that she wanted to support her friend’s feelings, and I thought that if Borden, who hadn’t had any particular romantic relationships up until now, could be happy with her, well, that would be great for everyone.
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🐈🐈🐈
ONCE the new week began, I had a rather hectic few days.
Sitting around waiting for an appointment with the king seemed a waste of time. I thought I ought to have Old Man Euleho see the magic stone for himself, so I convinced him to go there with some of the survey team members, although Seren and I wouldn’t be joining them. The team seemed confident they could handle themselves after defeating that powerful magical beast the other day.
I’d like to have gone, too, of course, but a mountain of work had piled up while I was on my honeymoon. So, instead, I stayed and got on with my work. The survey team returned that afternoon. They’d gotten the job done fast.
They were due to come and give me a report. It was Old Man Euleho and Arshtag who arrived at my office as representatives of the team. It was a relief to hear that there had been no incidents during the short mission.
“That was quick. Good work,” I said.
“We didn’t encounter any magical beasts today,” Arshtag reported.
“Flying is amazing. I never thought I’d be able to fly to the top of the magical energy source, see the magic stone, and then make it back home in such a short time!” Even Old Man Euleho seemed excited. “Ahh, things like this make me realize I’ve lived a long life! You know, I heard it was all due to a magic technique that young girl came up with! Your wife… she’s an incredible young lady. A mad wife for a mad mage, ahaha!”
Old Man Euleho guffawed. It was rare to see him in such jovial spirits.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” I remarked. “Did the magic stone meet your standards?”
“Ah, that it did! It’s amazing. That stone is just humming with magical energy! A great big lump of it! It lit a fire under me, that’s for sure!”
“How much should we take for the magical device?” I asked.
“Based on the purity of it… Hmm, Arshtag, can you make a circle with your hands?”
“Like this?”
“Right, right. About that much. Polish it up a bit, and it’ll do nicely.”
“I see. If that’s the case, I think we can harvest three or four chunks and still keep the energy source intact. We should start by harvesting one piece first and trying it out in the magical device. That’s the request I plan to make of the king,” I said.
“It’s happening, isn’t it?”
“Excuse me, what are you talking about? What magical device does the guild want made?” Arshtag looked curious but confused. Oh, right. I never explained.
“Actually, we’re trying to develop a magical device that can amplify the power emitted by our great barrier wall. We can’t continue casting the spell at this level for much longer with the manpower we have. But, with this magical device, we can maintain the barrier at the same level of strength even with a greatly reduced number of mages involved.”
“That’s wonderful news…!”
“Relying only on a magical device to cast the barrier for us might be risky, though, so the goal is for it to be maintained by just two or three mages at a time. Either way, it will greatly reduce the burden on everyone.”
“Well, I don’t know as much about these things as Old Man Euleho, but it sounds like a dream come true to me,” Arshtag said.
“Doesn’t it? As soon as we can get the approval of the king and parliament, we can send your team to retrieve some of that magic stone,” I said.
“Try to extract the stone from the bottom of the mass, if possible,” Old Man Euleho instructed. “The lower down, the purer it is.”
“You can count on me for that.”
Arshtag sounded confident and ready to carry out what Old Man Euleho and I were asking of him.
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🐈🐈🐈
“INDEED? Do tell me more.”
I was doing my best to try to explain the situation to the king.
I’d started by explaining that we’d been independently investigating the Kichul Forest and that the types of magical beasts seen there had been changing of late. It was difficult because I had to explain all of that before I could even start to bring up the main reason for this meeting.
The king doesn’t let anything slip his notice, so he constantly interrupted me with questions and requests to clarify things. Borden knew all about my plan now, so he occasionally came to my aid when I was floundering, and I was getting through it somehow.
If we could only convince the king, getting it through parliament would be smooth sailing. If I got tongue-tied in front of parliament, Borden and the king could help fill in any gaps.
This was a lot tougher than when I’d explained things to Borden, and I stammered and flubbed my words a lot, but the king was as patient as always and listened attentively.
“I see. So, in other words, the beasts of Kichul Forest have expanded their roaming territory… And there are now new types of beasts that have transformed from plants?”
“Yes.”
“And the Third Mage Guild, tasked with magical beast subjugation, has long suspected that there’s a concentrated source of magical energy in the forest which transforms ordinary creatures into magical beasts… Correct?”
“Yes. Nowadays, the magical beasts are breeding and multiplying in many areas, so it’s difficult to prove anything concretely, though.”
“You were concerned that the beasts’ territory was expanding… And suspected that the magical energy concentrated in the forest was increasing… So you carried out an investigation to confirm your theory.”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, I’d have preferred it if you’d come to me with your hypothesis before acting, but let’s just hear what you have to say in full for now. Surely, you’re here making this report because you’ve finally identified what you think is the source of this mysterious power, right?”
The king admonished me, but very lightly. Still, I reflected on my actions. I would be sure to report sooner next time.
But I also felt relieved that we could finally get to the point.
“Yes, here’s a recording of it.”
“…Aha, I see. This oddly colored, shining part of the mass is magic stone, isn’t it? I’ve never seen so much in one place.”
A pile of magical beast bones, with a huge lump of magic stone ore underneath. As the king gazed upon this sight, his eyes filled with surprise and expectation.
“Our belief is that this became a sort of natural graveyard for magical beasts and, over time, developed into a source of magical energy,” I explained. “At the moment, we haven’t detected any traces of malicious magic, and it does not appear that an individual with nefarious intent created this place, but we’re continuing to monitor it, just to be on the safe side.”
“Indeed?” The king’s expression softened around the eyes like he was relieved to hear it.
“Now, I’d like to ask for your advice, Your Majesty,” I began.
It was the moment of truth. I leaned forward a little and got ready to do battle.