Chapter 107
When I heard that the prince of the Eastern Continent had taken part in an act meant to threaten the Empire.
There was no need to go and confront him personally just because I found it offensive.
I was already busy enough, and there was no reason to handle every little thing myself.
Then what should I do?
"Do you remember the jar you brought last time?"
"Yes, I remember. You said it was an object from the Eastern Continent... one that contained a disaster."
"I used it once and kept the remaining pieces separately. Apparently, traces remain indicating that it was made in a place called the Kingdom of Cheongryu."
“....”
"The fact that an object from the Kingdom of Cheongryu was used as a tool to threaten me, in a place where I nearly came to harm."
All I had to do was calmly state the situation.
There was no need to explain what displeased me or how I felt.
“...How dare those bastards go insane.”
"Just because they live on another continent, they think they have nothing to fear!"
"Your Highness! We will uncover the truth as quickly as possible and offer you the heads of the Cheongryu royal family!"
If I told them only the truth, the situation would take care of itself.
As Crown Prince, there was only one thing I needed to do here.
"Reliable as ever. But we're busy, so handle it gently."
A little encouragement, delivered with a smile, was enough.
“...His Highness called us reliable... and encouraged us...!”
"We hear and obey!"
"We will handle it without allowing it to interfere with a single one of your schedules!"
That was enough.
++++++
Before Ryujin discovered the letter that he had no idea when or how had entered his clothing.
Ding ding ding ding ding ding!
The port of the Kingdom of Cheongryu was thrown into chaos.
Bells that never rang except in wartime began to sound, while every beacon flared to life.
They announced to everyone that the greatest crisis since the kingdom's founding had arrived.
"What's happening?"
"What is it?"
"Why is this happening all of a sudden?"
The Kingdom of Cheongryu maintained good relations with numerous nations, thanks to the great river that ran through it and the sea into which that river flowed.
Naturally, no one could guess what had caused the bells to ring so urgently.
Yet the lighthouse keeper, who was pounding the bell with all his might, was growing visibly pale by the second.
"Bellos! The Bellos Empire has arrived with warships!"
Beneath the high sun,
red warships filled the lighthouse keeper's field of vision.
As though mocking the notion that the sky could ever be high enough,
flags bearing a brilliantly glowing red sun fluttered above the warships' sails.
Ruuuuumble.
As he watched the Bellos Empire's warships deploy near the port,
"We have to do something! Something to stop them, don't we?! What?! Trade?! Don't bullshit me! Who brings warships to trade?! Call for reinforcements! Hurry! Bring everything we've got! Everything!"
The lighthouse keeper of the Kingdom of Cheongryu screamed for reinforcements until his throat bled.
Even if the news came from across the continent, there was no way they could be unaware of the Empire.
What kind of empire was the Bellos Empire?
Unlike the chaotic, fragmented Eastern Continent,
it was the strongest power, proudly proclaiming itself an empire and maintaining that status for countless years.
The strongest power in the world had suddenly arrived at the port of the Kingdom of Cheongryu with a fleet of warships?
This was not something they could take lightly.
In fact,
"Your Majesty!"
"There's no need to report it. I can already see and hear it myself."
The royal family of Cheongryu watched the events unfolding at the port from afar, feeling as though the fire had already reached their feet.
"Can you guess what they want?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"Then have we made some sort of mistake?"
King Ryuhyeon of the Kingdom of Cheongryu trembled as he urged his subjects to find out what had gone wrong, but
"We have traded with the Empire several times in the past, but every exchange ended cleanly, without incident."
"Did you write that report merely because things ended cleanly? Are you certain there truly isn't any reason?"
the subjects were nearly driven mad by the fact that they could not figure out what the problem was either.
'What on earth is the problem?!'
'Are you absolutely sure the reports weren't falsified? You wrote them exactly as they happened, right? You didn't hide some conflict with the Empire?'
'Are you crazy? What would we gain by hiding it?! Nothing happened at all! There was no discrimination! It wasn't even trade between nations—it was a private transaction! If it hadn't involved the Empire, we wouldn't even have recorded such a trivial private exchange!'
While crouching flat on the ground, the subjects exchanged glances and continued racking their brains.
They truly could not think of a single possibility.
They had never done anything to offend the Empire, they could swear to the heavens.
King Ryuhyeon continued pressing his subjects,
and the situation repeated itself, with the subjects continuing to rack their brains until
"Perhaps Crown Prince Ryujin..."
the name of the crown prince slipped unconsciously from the mouth of a subject who had been thinking so deeply that he had drifted into a daze.
If nothing came to mind and there was no record of the kingdom committing even the slightest mistake against the Empire,
couldn't the crown prince, who was no longer in the kingdom and had crossed to the Western Continent, have caused some trouble?
Accusing a member of the royal family without the slightest evidence was a grave act of insolence, but
"Ah."
the moment King Ryuhyeon heard Crown Prince Ryujin's name, he forgot even that it was insolent and let out a groan.
It sounded entirely plausible.
“...Send a royal letter.”
This was not the time to worry about whether something was insolent.
They were under suspicion from the Empire, and if they did not know why,
they had to find out by whatever means necessary.
"Has the Empire made any other moves?"
"No, Your Majesty. They have sent no further message and are simply guarding the area near the port."
“...This is driving me insane.”
The Empire was asking them something right now.
Do you know what you did wrong?
They had to give an excellent answer.
If they failed to answer in accordance with the questioner's intent, it would be over.
The moment they gave an irrelevant answer, that too would become a mistake and come hurtling back at them like a boomerang.
That was why they had to answer with the utmost caution.
"They're demanding an answer from us. They're telling us to bring them an answer that makes sense..."
At King Ryuhyeon's words,
"But if you look at it another way, this could be considered an invasion by the Empire. Shouldn't we respond to some extent as well?"
"Your Majesty! Apart from sending a royal letter, shouldn't we show the Kingdom of Cheongryu's resolve?"
the subjects argued that simply flattening themselves in submission was not necessarily the right answer, but
"Hahahahaha! You are saying that the resolve of our Kingdom of Cheongryu does not lose out to that of the Empire!"
"That's right."
"You speak the truth, Your Majesty!"
King Ryuhyeon shook his head and bit down hard on his lower lip.
'To think there are this many fools in our kingdom... How sad.'
What on earth was so important about showing resolve?
'Are they suggesting we ignore the Empire's mercy just to show a little resolve?'
Strictly speaking, the Empire's actions were indeed an absurdly provocative move, but
from another perspective, the Empire must have had a reason for acting that way.
Of course, they had deployed warships and were exerting tremendous pressure, but
they had done nothing beyond that and continued waiting for the Kingdom of Cheongryu to respond.
Then they should have been thinking about how to make use of this precious opportunity, not immediately talking about showing resolve.
It made no sense.
"Tell the Empire that we are investigating the cause of this situation, and ask them to show us a little more mercy."
After saying that much, King Ryuhyeon thought of his firstborn son.
What on earth had he done to bring about the greatest crisis since the kingdom's founding?
'Had I spoiled him too much because I thought he would inherit the throne?'
He needed to be disciplined severely.
+++++
Whoooooosh.
Splash.
Whoooooosh.
Splash.
The sound of waves breaking against the warships was oddly comforting.
"Perhaps because it's rare for me to come out on a ship like this, but I'm extremely excited."
"But is it really all right for us to sit here doing nothing?"
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this was the most effective way to act, so we should trust them and follow their instructions."
On the deck of the Empire's warships,
the knights gazed toward the port of the Kingdom of Cheongryu, each offering a comment with a sword at his waist.
They were not saying this because they distrusted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"I never thought I'd have the chance to set foot on the Eastern Continent in my lifetime."
"You might not set foot on it at all. The moment we do, it will mean war."
“...I'm sorry. I got carried away.”
"I understand your curiosity. But restrain yourself."
"I will keep that in mind."
Curiosity about the Eastern Continent.
And then.
"If they really did act to block the Empire's path, the Kingdom of Cheongryu will be erased today."
Suspicion toward the Kingdom of Cheongryu hung heavily over the deck.
How would they respond? What attitude would they take toward the Empire?
As the knights' questions continued to grow,
they saw a small sailboat slowly moving out from the direction of the port.
"It seems the Kingdom of Cheongryu has sent someone."
"Did the king come in person? The sailboat is too small for that, though."
While the knights strained their eyes to make out what was happening,
"They must be here to show respect to the Empire."
Theo, who had come as the Empire's representative, judged the situation and slowly rose from his seat.
"It seems they have prepared an answer to the question the Empire posed."
"What if their answer is wrong?"
"Then they must be punished."
"Should we prepare to punish them, then?"
"Please do."
"As you command."
The knights abruptly changed their attitudes and began moving to their designated positions as though they had never been chatting moments before.
A short while later, when the sailboat from the Kingdom of Cheongryu arrived,
'...This is driving me insane.'
Ryujin, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Cheongryu who had been enjoying himself in the Kingdom of Maselin, was aboard it.
'So this is the Empire.'
He broke into a cold sweat as he looked at the Imperial knights lined up to either side.
Thousands of excuses that might have helped him overcome the situation came to mind, only to vanish at once.
He had to beg forgiveness as humbly as possible.
What kind of knights were these? Each and every one of them seemed comparable to the commanders of the Kingdom of Cheongryu's knight order.
Just as Ryujin darted his eyes around, trying to assess the situation,
"Let's skip all the complicated details and get straight to the point."
Theo continued, cutting off any attempt to stall for time.
"Has the Kingdom of Cheongryu brought the answer the Empire wants?"
He had only one chance to answer.
“...If this is about the jar, it was truly an item I lost. While crossing from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent... we encountered rough waves, and the jar fell into the sea.”
Ryujin, lying flat on the deck, revealed what he claimed was the truth about the jar.
The key was to leave out exactly how he had used the jar.
If he revealed where it had been used, he would be confessing to direct involvement.
'I only need to say that I lost the jar. There's no need to mention anything else.'
He would apologize for harming the Empire by failing to guard the jar properly.
But he did not know anything about the events caused by that jar.
That was the answer the Kingdom of Cheongryu had come up with.
However.
"Why did you bring such a jar to the Western Continent?"
That was not the answer the Empire had been looking for.
“...Th-that...”
Ryujin hurriedly racked his brain, trying to think of a lie, and
at that exact moment,
"What is your relationship with the half-human, half-demon who commands ash powder?"
Theo casually tossed the question at the flustered Ryujin,
"W-we have no relationship at all...."
and the moment he heard Ryujin's answer,
"We?"
he wore an expression as though he had found the answer.