A Journey and My Usual Whim (5)

Proceeding east from the Vilestrika Republic takes you into the Duchy of Karkoym.

To protect what remained of its territory, this country had no choice but to become a vassal state of the Vilestrika Republic—in other words, it was the greatest victim of the previous upheaval.

Zieden had sheathed the blade it had drawn against its neighboring countries, but that was because it had bowed to the threat posed by the elves—or rather, to my power as a High Elf—not because it had lost the war.

To sheathe the blade it had drawn itself, Zieden accepted the demands of the surrounding powers—the Rudria Kingdom and the Vilestrika Republic—as well as those of the small nations, replaced its leadership, and paid reparations, but it did not give up any territory.

That was because the former northern half of the Duchy of Karkoym had already become territory Zieden had won through bloodshed.

Of course, the Duchy of Karkoym would find that outrageous and could hardly accept it—but that's what losing a war means.

Even if the Duchy of Karkoym recovered its former territory, it would not have the strength to restore the devastated land and defend it on its own.

If it needed to rely on the Vilestrika Republic even to rebuild, there would be no point in the Duchy of Karkoym reclaiming its territory.

That was how the great powers saw it, settling for ending the conflict and securing reparations rather than restoring Karkoym's former territory.

It was a hopeless situation.

The loss of its territory was Zieden's fault for invading, but it was also the fault of the Duchy of Karkoym for failing to defend it.

Its inability to recover that territory was likewise the responsibility of the Duchy of Karkoym, which lacked the power to make it happen.

The people's unresolved resentment would smolder as a spark in their hearts.

I still don't know whether that spark will someday flare up or simply die out.

However, setting that aside, one might expect the people of the Duchy of Karkoym to still be living miserable lives—but that is not actually the case.

Certainly, the northern half, now part of Zieden, had become a devastated battlefield.

But the southern half was protected because it quickly became a vassal state of the Vilestrika Republic and received its protection, while Zieden's forces had barely set foot in the territory that remained.

Moreover, because the only route from the small nations to the Rudria Kingdom that bypassed Zieden was limited to one passing through the Duchy of Karkoym, the Vilestrika Republic, and Giathica, the southern half that remained could even be said to have developed commercially.

It had become a vassal state, but precisely because of that, it had been able to receive generous aid from the vast capital of the Vilestrika Republic.

The roads through the Duchy of Karkoym seemed busier than before, with more carriages coming and going and livelier post towns.

Security, however, was probably still a concern.

Monsters had multiplied in the lands devastated by the fighting and were spilling over into this area as well.

Quite a few mercenaries who had lost their jobs when the conflict ended, or deserters who had fled the fighting and remained on the run, had turned to banditry.

I repeatedly saw mounted troops patrolling the roads to keep them at bay and drive them off.

But this, too, would not last forever.

I heard that Zieden was redirecting the forces it had used in the war toward stabilizing the country and hunting down monsters, so unless a new conflict broke out, things should gradually start to settle down.

I learned this from a letter Airena sent with an elven caravan: apparently, the former leaders of Zieden had started the war because Paulogia had become Giathica.

In the past, Paulogia had fought against the Vilestrika Republic, while the Rudria Kingdom had supported it by exporting food.

In other words, the Vilestrika Republic and the Rudria Kingdom had been at odds.

But when Paulogia became Giathica and a vassal state of the Vilestrika Republic, everything changed.

The reason the two countries had been at odds disappeared entirely with Paulogia's destruction.

The old leaders of Zieden—or, more precisely, the leaders of Zaints and Jideer before their merger—thought that the great powers might turn their attention toward them at any moment.

For that reason, the merger of the two countries and their rebirth as Zieden were carried out in great haste, and when that alone proved insufficient, they became embroiled in a conflict that also dragged Darotte in.

Because a means of resisting the power of the great nations lay right before them, Zieden's old leaders clung to that path even though they knew it would be drenched in blood.

From my perspective, it seemed like a truly foolish idea.

But even so, their actions had been taken with the future of their country in mind.

I cannot condone it, and I did get in their way, but I will not ridicule the feelings that drove them.

My route through the Duchy of Karkoym led not straight east, but somewhat to the north.

The road to Radlenia—the country where the headquarters of the church that preaches the teachings of the God of Abundance is located—runs straight east, but before going there, I wanted to make a small detour.

Since I was already nearby, I might as well stop at Janpemon, a town in the Duchy of Travoia, one of the small nations.

I had gotten into a scrape with Odine before, but the small nations were a collection of separate countries.

Except perhaps near Odine, they probably weren't still looking for me all the way in Janpemon.

Aina, Nona's great-granddaughter who lived in that town, had been a small eight-year-old girl the last time I saw her; by now, she should have grown quite a bit.

Looking forward to seeing how she had changed, I walked along the road in silence.

Moment by moment, people grow from children into adults, then grow old, and eventually die.

Countries were the same; when the people who made them changed, the countries gradually changed as well.

Salix, an elder of the High Elves, had said that the bonds formed outside the deep forest held no meaning.

Salix had said that bonds so short-lived could bring a High Elf like me nothing but sentimentality.

There is a part of me that nods at those words, and another that shakes its head.

Even so, I will go on living, meeting people and forming bonds with them.

I believe that even after time has passed cruelly, these hands will still hold something besides sentimentality, however little.

Ah, no—I know that my hands already hold several such things.