Chapter 63
I am Das, a merchant.
I pride myself on being a fairly well-known merchant on the Southern Continent.
For half of every year, I travel around the Southern Continent, purchasing goods and crossing the sea to sell them; for the other half, I sell my wares on the Northern Continent. I have lived this way for twenty years.
Das had never been dissatisfied with this way of life. Travel always brought fresh discoveries and new encounters. He never grew bored.
Or so it should have been.
Since Das was well-connected in every country, he had often received offers to enter the service of various nations in the south.
Yet he had never once accepted an offer from any of them. Das's answer was always the same.
"The life I have now suits me just fine."
It took just one person to change his mind: a petite princess young enough to be his daughter.
That girl...
"You could be doing something much bigger, and seeing so many more things. What a waste."
She declared this in a tone that made it sound as though she pitied Das.
Das was somewhat taken aback by these words, despite the speaker being such a young girl.
On the Southern Continent, Das was counted among the successful. At least for the past ten years, he had been envied and begrudged, but he could not remember anyone ever looking at him with pity.
"What, exactly, are these things I have never seen?"
With a merchant's smile, Das asked the still-young princess.
"Because my father and so many kings have asked you to enter their service, haven't they? Yet you've accepted none of them. Even though it sounds interesting."
At her reply, Das felt a little disappointed. So it was merely a child's fancy.
"It is true that I have received offers to enter their service, but my life is quite enjoyable as it is."
"No. I mean that you could do something more interesting."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The kings of every country are a quirky lot. Wouldn't it be fascinating to make such people dance in the palm of your hand?"
"Wouldn't that be frightening rather than interesting? One wrong move and you could lose your head."
"No, it would be interesting. If a little country like this could outmaneuver all the other nations..."
"Are you trying to recruit me?"
Even though she was a princess, this girl from such a small country was trying to recruit me?
"How else could you have taken it?"
The princess peered into my face, genuinely puzzled.
"No, I have no intention of entering the service of any country..."
The princess cut Das off and continued.
"Oh? For a merchant, don't you see the business opportunity?"
"Business opportunity?"
The princess proudly thrust out her chest.
"I'm going to make Fezaris a great deal larger. Won't you help me?"
It would have been easy to laugh her off. Das was a veteran merchant renowned across the continent; she was a young princess whose claim to the throne was not particularly strong.
But.
There was something inexplicable about this girl, an air he could not explain.
As a merchant who had spent many years reading people, Das could clearly sense the business opportunity she represented.
Das sincerely wanted to see what the future held for this princess.
This was the first step on Das's path to becoming Fezaris's foreign minister, and his first meeting with Luluria, daughter of the King of Fezaris.
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It was about three years after Das entered Fezaris's service that a marriage match was proposed for Princess Luluria.
While retaining his identity as a merchant, Das also served as a diplomat, leading a strange double life.
Though Fezaris was a small country, it was rich in unusual resources such as tar, making it lucrative for merchants. At the same time, this made it an attractive target for neighboring countries.
Though it had managed to scrape by despite its precarious position, the winds were finally beginning to shift ominously.
A neighboring country called Andard had incited other nations and suddenly begun extending its sinister reach toward Fezaris.
Even to Das, the scheme was quite crafty, and Fezaris was being forced into an increasingly difficult position.
As they sought a way to break the deadlock, Das and Doran, a military strategist who would later become renowned across the continent, proposed arranging a marriage with the Greedle Empire, the fastest-rising power on the Northern Continent, and asking for its aid.
In practical terms, unifying the continent would probably be difficult, but Emperor Drak had enough momentum behind him to make it seem possible.
The king had initially been reluctant, but in light of the circumstances, he finally relented.
Though it was a small country, Fezaris had survived through trade and diplomacy. Its instincts in this regard were impressive, to say the least. Although separated by the sea, many countries in the south wished to establish friendly ties with the ascendant Greedle.
Given the possibility that these countries might side with Fezaris to curry favor with Greedle, it did not seem like a bad gamble.
Even so, Das did not expect an alliance to be formed so easily. He could not imagine Greedle seeing much benefit in an alliance with Fezaris. Still, if the plan did not come to fruition, Fezaris would face a grim future.
――― Years later, Das would look back and reflect that this decision had changed the fates of Fezaris, Luluria, and himself.