The Blue Road Home (5)

"I see. I understand your situation now. ...But that has nothing to do with me, does it?"

However, that was entirely a matter of the fairies' circumstances, and not my concern.

I didn't intend to actively drive the fairies of this island out, but that didn't mean I felt enough goodwill toward them to go out of my way to help them.

"To begin with, you were planning to steal my immortal peaches if you'd found me asleep with my guard down, weren't you?"

Since she'd snuck into my cabin in the dead of night with her presence concealed and without making a sound, she must have intended to do that if the opportunity arose.

Alternatively, there was quite a good chance she'd considered killing me and taking all my belongings.

That said, I wasn't particularly inclined to get angry about it.

After all, the one who let their guard down was the one at fault.

But as for whether I was inclined to help someone like that, the answer was of course no.

...Even so, I wasn't refusing to negotiate.

Because if this were only a problem for the fairies, I wouldn't have minded leaving them to it, but the fairies who were probably slowly heading toward extinction would likely drag the humans of this island into their struggle.

If the island's humans perished along with the fairies, information about the surrounding waters would be lost, and the seas where people could travel with relative safety would become considerably narrower.

As a result, some ships would likely stray into the territory of large monsters and be sunk.

I had rather liked the crew of the ship that took me from Fuso to the Kouko Empire, as well as those aboard Suin's ship, which I was currently on.

If possible, I wanted to nip in the bud any possibility that people like them—or those very crews themselves—might suffer harm.

But naturally, I had no need to tell the fairies that.

Therefore, even if I agreed to hand over immortal peaches, I would naturally demand payment, and I'd also warn them not to get carried away.

A negotiation with fairies probably wouldn't proceed properly unless I maintained the upper hand at all times.

"W-we are prepared to exchange our secret honey."

When I gave her a mild glare, she hurriedly spoke, perhaps sensing the atmosphere even though our eyes could not meet in the darkness.

But at those words, I pointed the sword—scabbard and all—at her again.

"That sounds like you're saying you want to make me dependent on your honey so you can control me."

Yes, the honey produced by the fairies of this island was certainly a valuable commodity.

But I had no use for suspicious honey that induced euphoria and addiction.

Alternatively, if it were examined in detail, it might prove useful in treating illness or injuries.

Its potential usefulness as a painkiller was probably particularly high.

...Even so, it was the sort of thing that could be abused in any number of ways, and I had no desire to make use of it.

It wasn't a matter of weighing its benefits against its dangers; I simply didn't personally like things of that sort.

Needless to say, tasting it myself was out of the question.

I didn't know what the fairy had intended by making that proposal.

In fact, it was quite possible that it was simply their most valuable possession.

But no—if anything, it was far more dangerous to bring addictive honey into negotiations without malicious intent.

If they'd done it because they wanted to make their opponent dependent on the honey and control them at will, then whatever result awaited them, it would be the fairies' own fault.

But if they had merely brought out the honey because it was valuable, unintentionally causing their opponent to become dependent on it, that would be unfortunate.

Depending on the circumstances, someone who became dependent on the honey might even decide to capture every fairy on the island and take them home in order to monopolize the supply.

If I had tasted the honey without knowing anything and, by some chance, become dependent on it, I would undoubtedly do exactly that.

"N-no, we would never do such a thing!!"

The pressure mounted, and the sword was pointed at her again. Frightened by the scabbard inlaid with fairy silver, she hurriedly offered an explanation.

Even though she had been thoroughly taken over by the fairies, blaming her while she still looked like a human girl pricked at my conscience a little.

Besides, the fairies had already submitted sufficiently, and I had probably made my warning clear, so I might as well wrap up the negotiations quickly.

To begin with, there was nothing in particular I wanted from the fairies.

After all, I hadn't obtained these immortal peaches by paying anyone anything in return.

I did have a use for them in mind, but it wouldn't be a major problem if their number decreased by a few.

Even so, I was demanding payment for the peaches because I was wary of the fairies' nature—cowardly and cautious, yet cruel and deeply malicious.

If the fairies obtained the Fruit of Life, the immortal peaches, regained their reproductive capacity, and grew in number, their getting carried away might turn their malice on Badomod's humans.

Of course, it probably wouldn't go so far as to destroy the relationship between the humans and fairies in Badomod, but it might make that relationship more insidious and unpleasant.

I thought fairies were creatures like that, and unfortunately, after facing a human girl taken over by the fairies, I felt that impression of mine had not been far off the mark.

Therefore, by demanding payment in things that could only be obtained through humans rather than from fairy products—money, ornaments, alcohol, and so on—I intended to increase the value placed on Badomod's human residents.

My impression was that Badomod currently maintained a balance between fairies and humans.

Humans were not merely under the fairies' one-sided rule; they possessed the resourcefulness to live while enjoying the things they obtained from the fairies.

Otherwise, if the cowardly fairies held complete control, there was no way the island would accept ships from outside.

But if the fairies increased their numbers and grew more powerful, the current balance would collapse unless the humans increased their own value as well.

I didn't know how much that alone would make the fairies restrain themselves, but there was no harm in doing what I could.

In total, I demanded money, ornaments, and alcohol worth roughly fifty large gold coins.

Yes, that was the price Airena had previously told me that Apua's fruit would fetch at a minimum, or perhaps even more.

Of course, she probably meant that, since it wasn't actually in circulation, it couldn't be bought even if someone piled up fifty large gold coins—but I wasn't demanding payment to make a profit, so that amount was sufficient.

...And so, the next morning after I handed her one immortal peach, the goods I had requested were carried into my cabin by the people of Badomod.

Apparently, the fairies weren't foolish enough to break a contract they had made.

Suin, the captain, was startled by the sudden development and asked me what was going on, but explaining it was a hassle.

To explain everything, I'd have had to disclose both the fairies' circumstances and the immortal peaches I had packed into my luggage pouch, and the whole matter was simply too much.

In the end, I kept the details vague, telling him only that it was a transaction between fairies and an elf, and placated him by giving the crew a barrel of alcohol as compensation for the trouble.

After all, having the goods transported was all well and good, but having barrels of alcohol lined up in my cabin would only get in the way.

Besides, they wouldn't all fit.

At noon that day, after all preparations were complete, the ship departed from Badomod Harbor.

The unnecessary detour was finally over.

Our destination was Mintar, a powerful coastal nation.

There, I would change to another ship and head west once more.