At the northern edge of the continent was the Grand Duchy of Daltaria, one of a group of tiny nations that were the shattered remains of the once-powerful Lataria Empire. In its heyday, Lataria, a country originally founded by a homogenous ethnic group, had formed the Five World Powers—this was after Crystania was destroyed—alongside Emelia, Istekario, Amnesphia, and Poseinia. However, after repeated fracturing due to fighting over succession, it was now little more than a group constantly at each other’s throats. The only reason it still existed was that none of the larger powers saw any value in taking it over.
Of course, there were people striving to make an earnest living even here. This land, though normally closed off by heavy snow and cloudy skies due to the long winters in the area, was currently enjoying a brief summer. And at this very moment, Daltarian merchants were teleporting from their humble capital to the floating island hanging high above in the clear blue sky one after another along with their goods.
After stepping through with several covered wagons as usual, one of the young merchants stared at the view over the edge of the floating island and said in a daze, “I’m still having trouble wrapping my mind around how incredible this gate is.”
Ka-Lu was in his early thirties and had a well-built body, brown hair, brown eyes, and rugged features. He had already used the teleport gate many times by now, but being able to travel, carriage and all, from the city below his eyes to this island simply by stepping through it still felt bizarre to him. No, more accurately, it filled him with fearful awe. In spite of his rugged looks, he was a rather sensitive person.
“I hear you, but for me, it’s the island more than the gate that I can’t get used to,” said Se-Raai, a fellow merchant selected by Daltaria to contribute to Reconquista Oeste.
Though he was in his late twenties, it wasn’t uncommon for Se-Raai to be mistaken for a teenager, a fact that he wasn’t above taking advantage of sometimes. He was well-built too, but in a lean way, and had a sweet face and an eye-catching contrast of tanned skin against blond hair and blue eyes. His features were so shapely that he came across much more as the son of a noble than a merchant.
Ka-Lu had no intention of disagreeing. “Fair enough. The fact it’s freaking flying is plenty scary.”
Se-Raai paused, then said, “Yeah, I’m never gonna get used to it no matter how many times I do this.”
“Don’t worry, me neither.”
The mere thought that the ground underneath their feet wasn’t supported by anything made both of them feel cold beneath the belt. And as if that wasn’t enough, they were once again going to see—up close—large-scale magic they would never have dreamed of a little over a year ago. Asking them to feel nothing was a tall order.
After confirmation that all state-sponsored merchants and their goods were accounted for, the sequence for the spell in question, superlong-range teleportation magic, started up. Layman merchants like Ka-Lu couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but the entire island was enveloped in layers of spherical magic formations. Then the view melted into pure magical light as everyone felt a slight vibration that reached their chest and repeatedly heard the high-pitched sound that indicated magic was interfering with physical matter. When the light faded and their vision returned, they were already thousands of kilometers away in the western expanse. Not only was the scenery below different, but so was the sun’s position in the sky. Even someone going through this for the first time would have had no doubt of what had happened.
Since Ka-Lu was assigned to the very heart of the western resettlement endeavor, the restored ancient city of Atriesta itself, he now found himself looking at a scene lifted straight out of a myth. To start, the imposing Floating Continent hung high up in the sky. It was still too early in the morning for it to cast a shadow over Atriesta, so its optical camouflage wasn’t engaged. The colossal landmass in its full glory was itself enough to make the sight fantastical. The view of it overhead was, for those already overwhelmed by a single floating island, beyond comprehension and impossible to recount. And the way it would quietly disappear with the approach of noon and reappear along with the setting sun... Well, people paid to watch much less.
Speaking of floating islands, Ka-Lu was also looking at countless others similar in size to the one he was on. Every so often, a spherical magic formation would spring up around one and teleport it away, or a surge of magical light would burst from a black dot and another would pop in.
Finally, before his eyes was Atriesta, a city already much more impressive than his home country’s capital even though it had been less than half a month since this whole territory had been freed from Country Eater. The outer wall and all the main roads were complete, and the commercial district, including the pleasure subdistrict, was nearly there. Construction of the residential districts—the common ones were close to the city wall and the noble ones close to the palace—was wrapping up. Just recently, the workers had even begun working on the palace’s main keep. Very soon, this would no longer be the Ruined City.
Someone who saw this view with zero context would never believe that less than half a month ago, this had been the deepest part of a taboo territory that humankind could never have dreamed of stepping foot in. Conversely, it wouldn’t take much to convince them that this was the city the entire world revolved around.
In a way, that was actually true. Ultimately, it was Sol’s Country in the Sky that would be the true center of the world, but Atriesta effectively shared the honor until its reconstruction was finished and Sol fully conquered Abyss.
“I was just a traveling peddler. So why on earth was I chosen to be a part of a national—no, an international—project?”
Ka-Lu still hadn’t the faintest idea why he had been granted his current position. He had been officially nominated by the duke, and the insignia of a state-sponsored merchant certified by both the Kingdom of Daltaria and the Panhuman League glowed on his chest and on his carriages. All manner of accommodations had been made for him, and the numbers he was dealing with left no doubt that simply doing honest business was going to earn him huge profits. The money from said deals was arranged to be routed through the duchy with the League as guarantor, so there was no fear of nonpayments.
As it turned out, speaking with the ministers and even the duke of his own country was less nerve-racking than speaking with those he did business with here in Atriesta. He had been a lowly peddler from the sticks, yet here he was, negotiating not only with head clerks from famous firms from Emelia and Poseinia, but at times even the presidents of those firms or ministers from major nations.
It had taken a while, but Ka-Lu finally understood that the courteous attitude that the duke and noble-born ministers in his country had adopted toward him was by no means meant to be sardonic. It was, in fact, a very logical change in light of the business partners he was now regularly in the company of.
It would have been one thing if he had been famous in Daltaria, small though it was. But that wasn’t the case at all—he had been just a common traveling peddler. He had been constantly running about trying to make the most of his meager capital, only somehow making ends meet by maintaining routes through villages too tiny for the attention of larger merchants. Taking a step back and being objective, he knew he really hadn’t been much of anything.
Being allowed to take part in Reconquista Oeste as a merchant not only meant earning a ton of money but also, more importantly, standing next to the movers and shakers of the world. Someone who managed to catch Sol’s eye could easily become more important than kings of small nations. Ka-Lu already saw this being the case every day, and that more than explained how his duke and superiors were treating him.
Still, the question of why he had been chosen from among the countless other merchants in the world remained. It bothered him a lot. In fact, it actually terrified him, but there was no escape. Alas, Ka-Lu did not have as much guts as his looks suggested.
Se-Raai said nonchalantly, “You must also be getting karma from all the good you’ve done.”
“Like hell anyone’s actually keeping count!” Ka-Lu retorted. Oops, that came out more vehement than I intended.