Chapter 108
The result of the Empire's Eyes and the fairies' preliminary investigation into the Kingdom of Cheongryu was as follows.
The Kingdom of Cheongryu was not a place that made things like cursed jars.
"So it makes its money by collecting fees from trade with neighboring kingdoms. Its location is nothing special, though."
"They have excellent political instincts. They are extremely cautious and sensitive when it comes to diplomacy."
"The current king is called a benevolent ruler and is working hard in many different fields."
Amid the chaos of the Eastern Continent, it was a place that maintained strict neutrality and continued to prosper through meticulous diplomatic maneuvering.
It was difficult to believe that the Kingdom of Cheongryu had made the cursed jar itself.
Then how had Crown Prince Ryujin of the Kingdom of Cheongryu come to possess the cursed jar?
"There is an accomplice. That much is certain."
"It is exceedingly unlikely that the entire Kingdom of Cheongryu was involved. People who are so careful about diplomacy could hardly have bet on the Empire's outright destruction."
"The chances that that bastard Ryujin acted alone are extremely high. Of course... the key point is that we have no intention of treating him as though he acted alone."
Once we had grasped the general flow of how the Kingdom of Cheongryu operated through the fairy loopholes,
the Empire's Eyes investigated the situation on the ground based on that flow, then assembled and analyzed the information.
And then, once we had drawn these conclusions,
"We just need to toss out suitable bait and let him bite it himself."
Theo, whose magical talent was unparalleled throughout history, actively put it to use.
The result was what was happening now.
"By 'we,' do you mean the Kingdom of Cheongryu, or are you saying that some kingdom other than Cheongryu interfered in the Empire's affairs?"
It unfolded before Ryujin's eyes.
"Ah, no! I misspoke!"
"Is this a place where a slip of the tongue can be forgiven? Did the Kingdom of Cheongryu judge the Empire that way? That it was acceptable to misspeak and then casually take it back?"
"N-no, that isn't what I meant. But the expression 'we'... I truly..."
"To lump yourself together with a half-human, half-fairy who commands ash powder means your relationship must be quite deep. Deep enough for you to let it slip unconsciously."
Cold sweat began pouring down Ryujin's body like mad.
Although he enjoyed living carefree and playing around, he was not so carefree that he failed to understand how dangerous the current situation was.
He could clearly picture what consequences the words he had uttered would bring.
"A jar you happened to pick up in the Eastern Continent for no reason just happened to fall at a place where the Little Sun was present? Is all this a coincidence? Yes, I suppose it could be."
"...."
"But a bug just happened to crawl into the Empire, and that bug happened to know the crown prince of the Kingdom of Cheongryu? Can that also be considered a coincidence?"
It could not be considered a coincidence.
The best course of action now was to keep this matter confined to himself.
Having reached that conclusion, Ryujin suppressed his trembling body and opened his mouth.
...It was, it was my fault. I neglected my responsibilities. Frightened by my mistake, I failed to tell the truth properly."
The words came tumbling out in a tangled mess.
He knew what he had to say, but he was not in the right state of mind to convey it properly.
"The jar really was a coincidence. And... the half-human, half-fairy who commands ash powder is from a country called the Kingdom of Taewon..., while the bug who crawled into the Empire... is probably a bastard. I had a connection with him. But I truly had no idea he was involved with the Empire."
For now, he had to get everything that came to mind out of his head.
His top priority was to distance his own problems from the Kingdom of Cheongryu as much as possible.
'If I become implicated, this will never end lightly.'
The Imperial knights did not fear war.
Ryujin realized that the moment he boarded the Imperial warship.
This was not simply because they had little to lose, since the stage of the war would be the Kingdom of Cheongryu.
They had the faces of people who had never even considered the word defeat.
They looked ready to rush out at any moment if someone merely said that the Kingdom of Cheongryu was to be punished.
That was the spirit the Imperial knights possessed.
'I... I made an irreparable mistake.'
He had taken it far too lightly.
The problem was that he had viewed everything as though it were the Eastern Continent.
The Eastern Continent had no nation that held hegemony over the continent.
Every country watched the others' reactions, secretly forming alliances behind their backs in the midst of it all.
There was a country that claimed to be the strongest, but it was literally nothing more than a claim.
'Taewon... I don't think they can defeat the Empire.'
I had backed the wrong side.
No, the problem was that I had even brought up a side I should never have touched.
The Imperial knights possessed nothing that could make them appear formidable to another country.
That was even more frightening.
And Ryujin, standing among such people, felt an indescribable pressure.
"...You didn't know? Is this really something that can end with merely not knowing?"
Whether or not Ryujin felt pressured,
Theo's attitude remained unchanged.
Those who sought to harm the Empire would not escape punishment.
"A bastard from the Kingdom of Taewon crawled around the Empire without fear, and your jar nearly threatened His Highness the Crown Prince's person. Yet you intend to end this with nothing more than 'I don't know' and 'I didn't know'?"
"...Ah."
A groan escaped Ryujin's mouth unconsciously.
At last, he understood.
He might have started all this on his own terms,
'Could my incompetence really cause my country to fall?'
but he could not decide how it ended.
And he had no control whatsoever over that outcome.
Ryujin, who had realized that with bone-deep clarity, began turning white-haired under the strain of the acute stress.
'The Kingdom of Cheongryu... is going to become a bridgehead for the Empire.'
If he had known this would happen, he would never have started in the first place.
Belated regret swept through Ryujin's mind.
+++++
"So you're on your way to the Kingdom of Cheongryu now because of that?"
"Yes, that's right. I intend to hold the entire Kingdom of Cheongryu accountable for this. And now that we know the kingdom of origin of Asher Dominic, the one who spewed ash powder, I intend to hold them accountable as well."
"You've had a hard time. I trust you."
"His Highness's number-one wand, Theo! I will never disappoint you!"
After receiving Theo's report from the Eastern Continent,
'Taewon, huh.'
I mulled over Theo's report.
'A nation that claims to be the greatest of all... It sounds like it has a rather rough temperament.'
Perhaps a direct clash with the Kingdom of Taewon was on the horizon.
Thinking that, I immediately unfolded the Empire map.
Fwoosh!
Unlike the Empire map from a few months ago,
the map before my eyes had changed tremendously.
To begin with, rail lines had been laid throughout the Empire, and countless goods were being transported along them even at this moment.
Preparations were even underway to lay rail lines as far as the Great Forest.
Once it was connected, the Empire would receive a steady supply of every rare resource and piece of lumber in the Great Forest.
'From lumber to all sorts of herbs... A place where humans were forbidden to enter because elves lived there will now be accessible exclusively to the Empire.'
Moreover, once this happened, the elves would also be able to travel freely between the Great Forest and the Empire.
If they left behind only the personnel guarding the World Tree, their homesickness would be cured in an instant.
'The fairies will carve fairy loopholes throughout the Empire's streets and monitor public safety, while the beastmen will be spread across the Empire and use their powerful physical abilities in all sorts of places.'
If a little more time passed, giants, dwarves, and merfolk would also appear in the Empire.
The elves, too, would begin actively participating in Imperial society once they became firmly convinced that the World Tree was safe.
The Empire was going to possess a scale on an entirely different level from before.
Moreover, after investing every last bit of available money into education,
[ The probability of geniuses who are born once every ten years in the Empire appearing is extremely high. ]
[ They possess outstanding knowledge of magitech by default. ]
[ Once Bellos Academy is completed, geniuses from various fields will enter in droves. ]
Very good news was coming in.
But there was a problem too.
[ There is an overwhelming shortage of teachers capable of teaching the geniuses. ]
[ Many true educators capable of guiding them properly are needed. ]
There was a lack of educators.
The number of talents who could serve as teachers was overwhelmingly low.
'But, really, I should consider this part no problem at all.'
If there were many geniuses but far too few educators to teach them,
couldn't I just find more?
And I knew a very easy way to solve it.
"The Empire doesn't care much about a person's background, as long as they don't betray it, right?"
"That's right. A traitor faces nothing but death... but if someone offers nothing but loyalty, is there any country more comfortable than the Empire?"
Shall I begin recruiting talent with the Empire's overflowing treasury?
+ + + + +
The Kingdom of Taewon, which claimed to be the strongest and greatest kingdom in the Eastern Continent.
They were fearless and did not care what the surrounding countries thought.
Perhaps that was why.
"...Even if he was a bastard, how could another country kill a bastard of our Kingdom of Taewon?"
When they heard that Asher Dominic had died, they had been extremely displeased.
So they had arranged to send the jar containing the greatest disaster toward the Empire.
Fortunately, there was even a courier willing to do the job, making the whole process extremely convenient.
"The moment the jar is opened, you can consider him dead."
"Even if it doesn't kill him, it will leave him suffering for at least several decades. There are only a few disasters of that magnitude even in the Kingdom of Taewon."
"He may have been a bastard, but he had royal blood... He hadn't died peacefully after living well; he'd been killed, so we had to avenge him."
"Isn't that the duty of the Kingdom of Taewon?"
The Empire of the Western Continent? Hearing that, the Kingdom of Taewon snorted.
Even so, wasn't it merely an empire from the Western Continent?
Soon, the greatest nation on the continent—no.
Compared with the Kingdom of Taewon, which would become the greatest nation in the world, it was nothing.
And then, before them as they entertained such thoughts,
Kieeeeeek!
"...?"
A red bird that plainly looked extremely ill-tempered appeared.
Kya-ptooey!
The beak and talons that had torn every one of the Kingdom of Taewon's carrier pigeons to pieces were an added bonus.