And Yet, I Won't Stop (2)

The elven caravan that makes the rounds of the countries surrounding the Kingdom of Rudoria was, naturally, well informed about current events.

For the past few years, I had shut myself away, cutting myself off from the outside world, so everything I heard from them came as a surprise.

For instance, Paurogia, the country south of the Kingdom of Rudoria, had fallen, while Zaints and Jideer, the countries to the east, were apparently on the verge of merging into one.

No, really—those were no small matters.

Paurogia had long desired access to the sea and repeatedly invaded the southern commercial nation of the Virestrika Republic, but never succeeded. On the contrary, it had recently been conquered and destroyed by them.

Apparently, the Virestrika Republic hired several powerful mercenary corps and crushed Paurogia in one fell swoop.

The campaign moved too quickly, and the Kingdom of Rudoria hesitated to provide Paurogia with aid beyond food exports—specifically, to send troops—so Paurogia was destroyed.

But perhaps the Virestrika Republic also didn't want to share a border with the Kingdom of Rudoria, because it only annexed part of Paurogia's territory instead of occupying the whole country, and apparently had the surviving nobles establish a new nation.

The Virestrika Republic had always been a commercial nation, so it probably had little territorial ambition.

Rather than take land it didn't particularly want and struggle to govern it, the republic preferred to use it as a buffer zone against the great power that was the Kingdom of Rudoria.

With that in mind, the newly founded nation of Giatica was rebuilding with aid from the Virestrika Republic as its vassal.

Paurogia had little contact with the Virestrika Republic, but that changed dramatically when it became Giatica.

Many goods, new ways of thinking, and cultural influences flowed in, and people hoped that, despite being a vassal state, it might become far more prosperous than before.

Although Zaints and Jideer had always enjoyed close ties, there was now apparently a movement to fully integrate them and turn them into a single great nation called Zieden.

The stated justification was to counter the threat from Darotte in the northeast—a nation of raiders rather than invaders.

However, Zaints and Jideer had a history of repeatedly warring with the Kingdom of Rudoria and the small states, so the surrounding nations were reportedly uneasy about the two uniting to form a larger country.

Consequently, the Kingdom of Rudoria had begun building new fortresses in the east, while among the small states, countries bordering Zaints and Jideer were reportedly hurrying to increase their troop numbers.

Seen in this light, the situation surrounding the Kingdom of Rudoria had become tense, if not yet critical.

The Kingdom of Rudoria was surrounded by the Pulha Great Forest to the west and a mountainous region to the north, so if the Virestrika Republic and Zieden were to cooperate, they could complete a blockade.

The Duchy of Karkoym to the southeast was neutral, but it would naturally come under pressure if a blockade were imposed.

Though the Kingdom of Rudoria was strong and produced abundant food, this would not immediately be fatal; nevertheless, it would slowly weaken, as if it were being strangled with a silk cord.

In that case, the way to break the deadlock would be a large-scale war.

Of course, that's just my own speculation, and a blockade might not actually be imposed.

With Paurogia gone, trade with the Virestrika Republic might flourish and make both countries richer—in fact, that was probably the more likely outcome.

Still, with two changes occurring so close together, I couldn't help feeling uneasy.

But no matter how worried I get, there's nothing I can do about it while I'm heading toward the eastern part of the continent.

Since I'm going east anyway, I might as well explain the route.

What separates the central and eastern parts of this continent is a vast wetland called the Man-Eating Great Swamp.

The Man-Eating Great Swamp is considered a dangerous region on par with the Pulha Great Forest, and many unique monsters appear there.

Water from rivers flowing in from the small states mingles with seawater flooding in from the southern sea, and apparently an ecosystem unlike any other has developed there.

There are also rumors that lizardfolk—a people said to have gone extinct long ago—have been seen there, but no one knows whether they're true.

There are three routes from the central region to the east: going north overland to avoid the Man-Eating Great Swamp, traveling by ship, or cutting straight through the Man-Eating Great Swamp.

However, the northern route is arduous because it leads into ice fields and desert, while going straight through the Man-Eating Great Swamp is out of the question, so most people travel south by sea.

Beyond the Man-Eating Great Swamp to the east lies an endless expanse of grassland, where halflings and nomadic peoples who do not settle in one place supposedly live.

Of course, the grasslands don't stretch all the way to the coast; human nations are clustered in the regions near the southern sea.

Conversely, the northern side of the great grasslands is desert, with ice fields stretching even farther north.

There are supposedly inhabited regions in the desert as well, but travel between them isn't very common.

As for the route I'll take to the east, I'm thinking of deliberately cutting straight through the Man-Eating Great Swamp.

After all, if I use a ship, there's no reason not to stay on it all the way to the eastern edge. Compared with the harshness of the ice fields and desert, monster-infested wetlands are far more tolerable for me.

More specifically, the most important reason is that the spirits' power is easier to draw on in wetlands than in the ice fields or desert.

And besides, if lizardfolk really are out there, I'd like to see one at least once.