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Vol 01 Chapter 17: The Meeting

「I am Julia’s father.」

…Isn’t this a bit too sudden?

In front of me, sitting on a throne, is King Rosais. Beside him, Julia smiles smugly, looking quite pleased with herself.

I wasn’t expecting this.

I imagined her as the daughter of an important patrician, or maybe the daughter of one of King Rosais’ close aides. But I never thought she was the daughter of King Rosais himself…

「My daughter has been under your care.」

「No, not at all. Oh, please accept this honey.」

In the ancient world, honey was used as medicine. It must be the same here. I had planned to offer it as a gift, thinking it would be well-received by a sick person… but I never expected to hand it over to the man himself.

「But I must say… I know nothing about you. It was only last night, after questioning Julia, that I first heard of you. So, could you tell me about yourself?」

「Julia didn’t say anything?」

「No. She said she had a vow of silence. She even kept quiet about that pottery. Well, I wanted that pottery too, so I turned a blind eye… But now I’m curious to meet its maker in person.」

I see. So the reason Julia could sneak out wasn’t that the guards were incompetent, but because her father ordered them to let her freedom of movement. That makes sense.

「Then let me tell you.」

Of course, I’ll omit anything I don’t want to reveal or anything inconvenient.

◇

「Understood. By the way, would you consider joining our country?」

「I appreciate the offer, but I must decline.」

「Why is that?」

I told him the reasons I had prepared in advance.

「Because you are ill. When King Domorgal attacks, will your country be able to protect us? Moreover, due to that same illness, you haven’t been able to stop King Ferme. I think it’s too early to make our allegiance known.」

「I see. You’re right. What about trade, then?」

So that’s the main point. Well, he must have heard from Julia that I’m reluctant to join them.

「No problem. Are you interested in pottery?」

「Yes, that’s right. What would you like in exchange?」

「I’d like livestock. Chickens, cows, goats, and pigs. Horses, if possible.」

「Livestock, huh… It’s not easy for us to part with our livestock, either. Cows and horses are difficult to breed. Most of them are imported from overseas. We can’t breed them in our country. Is there anything else you want?」

「Then, slaves.」

What we lack is labor. Having several adult male slaves would significantly ease our workload.

You might think it’s pitiful to have slaves, but in this area, slavery is quite common. Magic even makes it easier to control them.

「Understood. How about one slave for every ten pieces of pottery?」

「That’s fine.」

Slaves are really cheap… But that’s probably the going rate.

Besides labor, I have another purpose for buying slaves. Slaves weren’t always slaves. They used to have proper jobs.

For example, grape farmers.

I don’t know how to grow grapes. It seems difficult. It would be a stroke of luck to get someone with the skills to grow grapes.

Or carpenters, for instance.

「Also, I would like to continue interacting with Princess Julia.」

「…It’s dangerous. Julia is my only daughter. It’s not that simple.」

「Hey, Dad. I have known Almus for four years already and haven’t had any problems. It’s fine!」

Julia tried to persuade him.

「I don’t have a choice. If you insist that much, I will permit you to continue your friendship. But, Almus-kun! You better not hurt my daughter. If you do, … you know what will happen, don’t you?」

I know. I know my place.

His warning about not hurting her likely goes deeper than just her emotions. He’s probably concerned about her body, mostly her hymen.

I understand that much, of course.

Anyway, I’m relieved. If Julia were no longer around, I’d have to hire someone else to teach the children magic.

Oh, it’s not that I associate with Julia only for her magic. Worse comes to worst, we could continue our relationship when I come to Rosais. But the magic training would be impossible.

「By the way, do you have a wife?」

「No, I don’t but…」

「Shall I introduce you to someone? What’s your type?」

What’s this all of a sudden? Is he trying to strengthen ties? Does he intend to match me with a relative or a daughter of a powerful patrician? He probably thinks that putting someone he controls in my inner circle would let him steal my techniques with some luck.

As if it’s going to be that easy! And I’m scared of Tetra. She might kill me. But how should I refuse… That’s it!!

「I’m only interested in Julia. Will you give her to me?」

「That’s impossible.」

King Rosais snorted. I managed to skillfully dodge that one.

Glancing at Julia, I saw her standing frozen, her face all red.

Hey, if you make that face, it’ll look like I was serious. What if King Rosais decides to kill me?

「Hey, don’t tell me…」

See, I got a glare. Now what do I do?

「Are you serious?」

「Well, who knows?」

I deflected the question. I didn’t flatly deny it out of consideration for Julia, and partly because it was more or less true.

「You’re a hard one to read. Are you really fifteen?」

「Actually, I’m over twenty.」

「Don’t joke around, and either way, that’s still pretty young.」

Well, that’s true. I realize now that I’m not very tense. Is it because I see him more as Julia’s father than as a king, or maybe because I’m the type who doesn’t easily get nervous…

「By the way, your village is close to King Ferme’s Country, right?」

「Yes, it is.」

「Shouldn’t we cooperate in case something happens?」

Here comes a troublesome proposition.

Essentially, he’s suggesting an alliance.

Accepting it could increase the risk of getting involved in a war. Refusing it means having to defend ourselves alone.

A very complicated issue, relevant even in the modern world.

「…May I have some time to consider it? We have very few numbers, so going to war isn’t something we can easily decide. I hope you understand.」

If we were a country with substantial military power, it might be different. But we only have about thirty people capable of fighting.

Fortunately, we have technology on our side. We can negotiate to some extent using it as a bargaining chip. There are enough ways to avoid war.

If King Rosais’ Country was smaller than King Ferme’s, I would have gladly accepted their offer. But King Rosais’ Country is larger than King Ferme’s. Therefore, it’s likely that King Rosais would be the one to initiate any conflict.

Mutual defense is one thing, but shedding blood in an invasion war is foolish.

「I understand that much, of course, you may take your time. I hope to hear a favorable response.」

He easily backed down. He probably thinks there is still some time to negotiate.

Am I going to repeat this discussion every time we meet… Maybe I should start preparing some weapons.

「Lastly, about the foreigners… the Kirisians, was it? I’d like to import livestock from them. Could you introduce me?」

「That’s fine. Far to the south, there are several Kirisian colonies. You could find various rare items there. I’ll write you a letter of introduction.」

「Thank you. Is there anything you want…」

「No need. It’s just writing a letter.」

King Rosais said this as he wrote characters with ink on a wooden board.

They don’t have paper…

「Then I will be going, today was a fruitful discussion. Thank you.」

「It was for me as well. Will you stay the night?」

「No, I’ve told my companions in the village that I’ll return today.」

I said this as I stood up. It feels a bit rude to refuse the invitation, but staying here involves various risks.

If they get me drunk and take advantage of my inebriated state to create a fait accompli, it would be troublesome.

Or rather, Tetra would kill me.