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Volume 6 Chapter 1 Part 4

However, Lassic did not distribute these villages between his vassals, but instead kept all of them under his direct supervision, because he was planning to give them all back to Theo when the time would be right.

「If they wanted me to become their Lord once more, then I’d like to accept their request. 」

「I think it would be difficult to do from the travelling standpoint alone, since Sistina and Selvis are separated by the sea, and on top of that, they are just naturally far away from one another. 」

「I guess that’s true. 」

Theo scratched his head in annoyance.

There wouldn’t have been any problems if he was a Lord in name only, but Theo’s ideal style of ruling his territories was to tour them regularly, listen to the voices of the people and everything they had to say and do his best to make their wished come true. This is something that he’ll only be capable of doing as long as he’s a Baron.

That is his current peerage, but if Petr and Radovan become his subordinate Lords, then he’ll immediately become a Viscount, and if Lassic resigns from being the King of Selvis and chooses to become his subordinate Lord as well, then his title is going to be even higher.

「Before we start thinking about going back anywhere, we need to put an end to the war on the continent. And before we can even begin thinking about that, we need to overthrow the Rossini family first. 」

「This is so strange. Even though we’re here now, it seems like we’re at the furthest place in the world at the same time. 」

「Well, the world is round, so in a sense, what you’re saying is not at all inaccurate. 」

Siluca spoke jokingly one more time. Ever since she met Theo for the first time, she knew that this was going to be a part of his dream when she first heard about it. Unless he defeats the Rossini family and becomes a part of the major faction that’s going to be responsible for the unification of the continent, he won’t be able to continue on being the Lord of this village.

On top of that, Theo’s brand new dream was for the Factory Alliance and the Fantasia Union to reconcile so that Marine Kraische and Alexis Ducet could finally get married.

That is the reason why Theo established the Artuk Treaty along with those who sympathized with the late Earl of Artuk. Right now, Theo was probably the only person left on the continent who wanted these two to reach their happy ending, since both Alexis and Marine probably gave up on the idea at this point.

「Right now, the most pressing problem that we need to deal with is the fact that if we won’t rile the people of Sistina to rise up against the Rossini family by the time they finally decide to attack us, we won’t be able to proceed with our plans any further. 」

「Yes, that goes without saying. 」

Theo nodded with a sigh, but his expression wasn’t dark in the slightest.

「Right now, the village and its inhabitants are giving me a completely different feel than before the fight against Salvador. I think… I think we actually managed to move their hearts. 」

「That’s definitely a big change in comparison to before, yes. 」

Until just the other day, instead of trying to listen to what Theo had to say, the villagers looked as if they were ready to attack him at any given moment.

「That’s why I think it’s a good idea to quell the Demonic Realm in the sea outside of the island. It should give the people a final push to make up their minds. 」

「Of course, but it’s not going to be that easy. 」

Siluca smiled wryly, but her courage was already welled up. If Theo, who possesses excellent powers of observation, says so, then there can be no doubt about it. No matter how difficult it may be, it’s definitely worth doing.

「What we’re going to try to quell is going to be that Chaos Vortex, after all. Are the other Demonic Realms not going to be good enough for that purpose? 」

Theo said while wrinkling his eyebrows.

「Going after the smaller ones first would be a better approach if the circumstances were different, but right now, what we need is to go after the one that’s well-known across the entire island so that the news of its quelling could quickly reach everyone on Sistina. Above everything else, once we take care of the Chaos Vortex, the waters around the island should be much calmer, enabling people to flee if they so desire. That’s why we cannot fail, or else all our efforts will go to waste. 」

A Chaos Vortex is a Chaos Disaster that frequently occurs in the sea that’s surrounding Sistina, centering on the straits of Sistina and Ismeia. According to one theory, it is caused by a giant octopus or squid monster called the Kraken, a projection from another world that made the waters near Sistina its home. However, it was only in the sea, and no one knew the whole truth about it, and most certainly, no one has ever tried to quell it.

(That’s why people of the island think that it’s impossible to get rid of it.)

Siluca thought that whenever you’re being faced with huge difficulties in life, it was better to maintain a positive attitude towards them.

(Speaking of which…)

She heard a rumor that there was once a certain Mage in the ranks of the Mages Association who was supposedly capable of instantly summoning a Kraken. He was supposedly very talented, but he seemed to be quite an oddball, and it seems that he was good at summoning all manner of tentacled projections, not just Krakens. The information on that Mage stated the he hailed from the lands between Medinia and Fagard in the central part of the continent, but his current whereabouts are unknown after he disappeared to investigate one of the foresty Demonic Realms. As a result, his peculiar talent has not been passed on to the Mages Association.

(I can’t believe the day has come when we would regret not having someone like that in our midst.)

It was then.

「I have returned. 」

There was a knock on the door two times in a row, and Irvin’s voice called our from beyond them

knocked twice, and Irvine’s voice.

As always, the timing of his arrival was nothing short of perfect. He must’ve returned from his mission to gather intel regarding the Chaos Vortex.

「Thank you for your hard work. 」

Siluca opened the door and greeted Irvin.

「We’re home! 」

「And we brough freshly-caught prey! 」

Before Irvin could even enter the granary, Emma and Luna jumped inside ahead of his while carrying wild birds clutched tightly in their hands. They looked like the blood has already been drained out of them, and their wings have also been cut properly.

「So, how was it? 」

Siluca asked how did their information gathering go.
「I think we managed to obtain some fairly useful information. 」

After Irvin prefaced it, he began to speak. In the meantime, the twins started preparing food.

「It is said that the great maelstrom began to occur more than 500 years ago. Ships went missing one after another, and the cause was unknown for a good while… 」

However, it is said that eventually a sailor who miraculously survived the encounter with the maelstrom appeared. The sailor was also swept up in it like the rest of his ship and companions, but against all odds he managed to survive by clinging onto a broken piece of mast with everything he had.

「According to the testimony of the sailor himself, he saw a giant octopus-like monster at the bottom of the maelstrom. 」

「Is that the only eyewitness testimony available? 」

When Siluca asked that, Irvin nodded his head apologetically.

「Unfortunately it is, and that testimony is also the source of the rumor that this Kraken is the one that’s responsible for causing the Chaos Vortex to begin with. 」

This testimony being the only one available was not an ideal situation for them, since the testimony itself was not very creditable. However, it is a fact that a Kraken-like creature is indeed attacking the ships that happen to get too close to the heart of the maelstrom. It is even said that this Kraken once appeared in the North Sea, where it ended up wrecking havoc among the fleet of 「The Ocean King」.

No one was able to exterminate the Kraken, but instead, it disappeared on its own after some time passed.