Book 16 - 16-17. To the Country of Sun (2)

16-17. To the Country of Sun (2)

Satou here. Apparently, internal squabbles have always existed in various era and scales. From my subjective point of view, the way you tactfully handle the aftermath is more important than who the winning side is.

◇

"You referred to them as rebels earlier, however as far as I'm aware, they should belong to Sania Kingdom's army. Did the army revolt and kill the king?"

I urged the daughter of [Clan of Wand]'s head to explain the situation while gazing at the black warships that showed up.

"The king has been tricked. The country cannot be held together without the Cland of Wand yet, he was deceived by the Clan of Sword and threw us the 『Clan of Wand』 to prison..."

Were they defeated in a political struggle ?

"In other words, were you captured by those guys, you would be 『thrown in prison and executed』?"

"No--"

Haifa shook her head to deny it.

"--Like I said before, the country cannot be held together without us, 『Clan of Wand』."

I'm intrigued by why it can't be held together, but since that's not the issue here, I wait for her to continue.

"Thus, they will most likely lock us up in the prison and make us run in battlefields as living weapons. I do not care if the foolish king and the ignorant masses die off even if the country is destroyed, but we cannot go against them because they've held our family hostage."

Okay, I can greatly sympathize with her putting her family first, but her use of words are too intense, it feels like conceit, or rather, haughtiness.

I wonder if this is what you'd become if you were raised with the idea of being the elites?

"If you don't care about your country and populace, how about having the 『Clan of Wand』 run away to a foreign country?"

"Are you telling us to show our back to the 『Clan of Sword』 who can't even act like proper meat shields!"

Oh, she snapped.

Kinda feels like we can't come to an agreement even though we can understand each others?

Haifa looks like a graceful secluded lady outwardly, but she seems to be quite self-righteous and violent.

"My wand is a blade to defend our country--"

Haifa smiled abnormally and put her mana into her wand.

The exquisite golden colored wand emits red light.

"But let me alter the rule just for today. Carry us on your airship if you don't want to be killed by my wand. We cannot afford to be caught by traitors in this place."

Now she went with a threat.

Un, let's quickly part ways with her.

Got a feeling that having her around would only lead to piled-up stress.

This would be problematic if it were a trial from gods, but it probably isn't.

I have no intention in the least to ally with them and settle the conflict, however that also doesn't mean that I'm going to hand them over to the warships and let them be used as living weapons, thus I've decided to help them escape.

It's not because I think it's troublesome and want to throw them away somewhere far, not at all.

I pretend that I'll help them escape for now.

"Do you think this is just a threat? I am being serious."

Liza and Nana sent their glances, asking, "Should we seize her?", I gestured them to wait.

I open the Map and look for some handy-looking monster to disturb the warships.

Found a worm-type level 30 monster called Sand Demon in the vicinity, so I caught it with 『Sand Manipulation』 and threw it near the warships.

--Huge.

The part that came out of the sand is huge enough to swallow a Blue Whale.

This thing being level 30 is such an extreme sham.

"T-that's!"

Haifa sounded surprised.

"Sa...Sand Demon. You there, get Haifa-sama on board the airship! Quick while the warships act as scapegoats!"

The lady maid-san said something brutal as if it was only natural.

"I'd love nothing more but to do that, however we have our own Trial of Gods we need to absolutely accomplish."

I bow to her like a stage actor.

I create two [Acceleration Gates] at the bow direction of the medium airship, opposite of the warships.

"Allow me to pray for your success in accomplishing your own trial."

I told them some prayer that didn't really come from heart, directed the medium ship toward the [Acceleration Gates] I produced, and used wind magic [Wind Pressure] to propel the ship forward.

Haifa and the others hold their faces and clothes due to the sudden wind pressure, the medium ship's captains and crews made a commotion.

I float away with Sky Drive from the speeding ship that's going toward the [Acceleration Gates], and take Liza and Nana along with me using [Magic Hand].

"W-wait! What are you--"

The ship reached the Acceleration Gate and made a sudden acceleration while she was speaking, and Haifa's words were lost in the winds.

I was wary of possible magic attacks during the sending away, but fortunately, it ended without any problem.

We watched over the medium ship and Haifa that disappeared on horizon of the Small Sand Sea while floating above the sand.

Please live on toward your rehabilitation.

And if possible, at somewhere far away from me.

◇

"--We're indebted to you."

"No no, it's just right to help each others in times of needs."

The warship's captain said his thanks to me who saved the warships from the Sand Demon.

It might seem hypocritical coming from the one who made the situation in the first place, but I couldn't exactly leave warships sinking before my eyes so I intervened.

This warship's captain and officers are wearing Arabian-like clothing.

A crew with sharp-looking eyes whispered something to the captain's ear.

It's the guy who was controlling mini gargoyles awhile ago.

"Your excellency, those drifting ships were the sand pirate where Belbe and the others had snuck in."

"Just as we thought, so where's Belbe and the others?"

"We couldn't find a survivor inside."

"Which means, we should consider that the medium ship earlier had Haifa-dono on board..."

Attentive Ears skill caught their conversation.

Afterward, the captain turns toward me.

"Earl Pendragon, about the sand ship that was attacked by those sand pirates--"

"A girl on board of it wielded her wand, and then they escaped from the Sand Demon with some kind of magic."

She did wield the wand when she insisted to get on our airship, but I'm the one who used the [some kind of magic] part, therefore it's not really lie.

The officer with sharp eyes has God Urion's gift [Eyes of Condemnation] so I'd like to avoid telling lies here.

I don't think the gift is capable of distinguishing lies, but I'm still wary of the intuition of people who have this kind of gift to see through criminals.

"Who'd have thought that Ha--the 『Clan of Wand』 possessed such hidden technique..."

"Were they your acquaintances?"

The captain stopped speaking when I asked him.

He reworded her name to the clan itself, but I don't think there's any point in doing that.

"No, my subordinate reckoned that they might have been the gang who stole the kingdom's treasured wand..."

The wand Haifa carried with her belonged to the [Clan of Wand] so he's not telling the truth here.

Of course, there's also a possibility that the [Clan of Wand] possessed the national treasured wand due to their influence.

"I see, that sounds terrible."

I replied like it was none of my business.

"We will only get in the way if you're going to pursue that ship. We will be on our way then."

"P-Please wait."

Not wanting to get involved in something troublesome, I was going to leave as soon as possible, but the warship captain stopped me.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I'd like to express our gratitudes for your help. By all means, please visit Clan of Sword during your time in Sania Kingdom. Our clan will gladly welcome you."

Looks like this captain is a direct descendant of the [Clan of Sword].

"I'll be looking forward to that."

I can't promise that I'll go.

I mean, I can just feel trouble brewing there.

I climb up the rope ladder hanging down the airship and leave their ship.

And saw one mini gargoyle flying toward Sania Kingdom.

It appears to be a mini gargoyle functioning like a carrier pigeon.

◇

"Master, lots of mushroom houses around, so I report."

"They rather look like snails instead."

Nana's and Liza's impressions are reasonable.

Peculiar shaped buildings are lined up at the royal capital of Sania Kingdom.

"Master, there are flying objects approaching us."

Some men riding on magic tools shaped like flying carpets with legless chairs installed on board are flying toward us.

It looks like a magic carpet, but if I have to say, it looks more like the time machine a certain cat robot from the future rode.

The magic carpets got near the airship and flew parallel to us while gesturing that they weren't hostile.

"We assume that you're Earl Pendragon-sama of Shiga Kingdom. We will be your guide, please follow us."

Looks like the mini gargoyle was to prepare for this.

I'd have liked them to come after we toured the royal capital from above once.

Chances are high that they'd be attacking us with magic and magic artillery if we really did the tour though.

"Thank you for guiding us."

I shouted that to reply them and informed the brownie in control of the ship.

"Someone's watching from there~?"

"Tama's right nanodesu. It's like, flash flash, nanodesuyo."

Tama and Pochi were dangling on the airship's handrail before I knew it.

I call the two while folding my arms.

"Tama, Pochi?"

"I-it's not like that nodesuyo?"

Pochi shook her head buzzingly.

It seems she doesn't like the cheek squash punishment.

"Break time~?"

Tama asked me with flopped ears.

Fumu, I guess it's fine if it's break time.

I'm not sure if I should really give my consent here, but since I'm intrigued by what Tama and Pochi found, I look at the direction in question.

There's a palace in the center of the capital, boys and girls who look like Haifa are in one of the spires there. The gazes seemingly come from them.

They're probably Haifa's relatives, but they look so similar like they're either twins or clones.

Judging from the intensity of their gazes, I'm guessing that their personalities are also similar to Haifa, I should try not to get involved with them.

◇

"--Trial of Gods?"

I'm having an audience with the king in the well ventilated Sania Kingdom's Palace.

Even though the king is only in his thirties, he looks like a weak-spirited middle aged man.

The military officers from the [Clan of Sword] standing by in the audience room look more important instead.

I'd better deliver a gift one ranking lower than what I gave the king earlier to these [Clan of Sword] people.

"Yes, King of Sania. I came here to Sania Kingdom in order to take a Trial of Gods."

I honestly told him my business since there was no particular need to hide it.

"What kind of trial is it?"

"That will be up to gods. It should be revealed by the gods at Heraruon Temple."

That's why, let me off this already.

"You ought be tired from the long journey. We shall send a messenger to the temple, have some rest in mine own palace tonight."

Well, guess that's only natural.

"This Pendragon shed tears of gratitude for Sania King's kindness."

I ended up using some weird speech due to the old fashioned speech of the king here.

No choice, let's accept the hospitality today.

I just hope that there won't be any weird flag getting raised.