Chapter 704.2 : At the Frontier VI Part 2

Chapter 0704 At the Frontier VI Part 2

Translator: Jay_Forestieri

Editor: Tseirp

Both representative delegations and the mediators were now in place.

“Marquis Nyusha looks like a very capable and sincere person, though... why did this fortress refuse to come under his rule?”

“The fortress’s leading merchants are the sort who had strong ties to the previous dynasty, like the Kingdom of Go’s official suppliers. There is certainly also the aspect that they resisted because they feared the new marquis’s retaliation. But more than that, the people of the fortress simply did not want to come under his control.”

“Is that so?”

“Merchants are quick to grasp what is profitable. It seems that in the end, they were willing to accept Marquis Nyusha’s rule, but the fortress’s people let emotion get ahead of reason. Long ago, when this fortress was attacked by locusts and the town was left in terrible shape, King Go himself came here and helped in many ways. They cannot forget that kindness. That’s why they are resisting.”

Elder Masuda explained with a sorrowful expression.

Since the matter stems from emotion, it’s not rational.

Elder Masuda himself probably understood that.

“Nobody is at fault, and yet they keep fighting...”

“Perhaps that cannot be helped. Emotions need time to settle.”

“So that’s why these five years were necessary?”

“Because these five years passed, the people of the fortress are probably now trying to accept Marquis Nyusha.”

Ryo and Abel were not directly involved.

That was why they could look at it calmly... but still.

Even with reasoning, emotion needs time to give way.

Put another way, if you give it time, emotion will settle down to some degree... perhaps not completely, but at least somewhat.

The representatives were introduced, and the opening was declared.

The first to speak was Marquis Nyusha.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the people of Zaarash fortress for opening this place to us. With that said, I would like to propose the following: if Zaarash fortress joins our nation, I wish to grant it autonomy and welcome it as an autonomous region.”

Immediately after Marquis Nyusha spoke, no one said a word.

Most of the people there had not been able to keep up with what he had said.

The first to grasp it was the fortress’s representative.

“Marquis Nyusha... what exactly do you mean by autonomy?”

“Chairman Pisek, everything except taxes.”

“What did you say...?”

Pisek was stunned.

If everything except taxes was allowed, that meant law, administration, the economy, everything, all of it, could remain exactly as it was.

Not only Pisek, but most of the fortress’s people listening in the training grounds were beginning to understand.

“Everything except taxes...”

“So that means nothing changes?”

“And war will be gone, just like that?”

“No, wait, does that mean we still have to pay taxes to the country? In the end, life would still get harder, wouldn’t it?”

People were talking all over the stands.

“Marquis Nyusha, how much tax are you envisioning?”

“One florin per year.”

“...Pardon?”

Chairman Pisek, a man of the sea and of a thousand tricks, went blank.

“Excuse me, Marquis... did you say one florin?”

“Yes, one florin. As an autonomous region, I would like you to send a representative to the national assembly and state your opinions. However, even as an autonomous region, it would not be possible to allow a region that pays no taxes to participate in the assembly. So I ask that you pay one florin in taxes.”

Marquis Nyusha said it clearly.

After hearing that much, it was obvious that the desire to make it an autonomous region was not some casual idea.

“Let us discuss this among the delegation for a moment.”

“Of course, please do.”

At Pisek’s words, Marquis Nyusha nodded.

The fortress’s delegation began to confer.

In contrast, the marquis’s side did not move at all.

That itself was proof that the proposal for autonomy had already been thoroughly discussed within Marquis Nyusha’s camp.

“This is surprising.”

After muttering that, Elder Masuda began talking with the merchants in the reserved section.

Ryo and Abel, left behind, also began talking.

“He came in swinging from the very top...”

“So if it’s autonomy, that is a huge benefit for the people of the fortress, right?”

“Right. It means they can continue living just as they always have. It also seems that no governor or anything like that will be sent from the center.”

“The fortress would be fine with that, but... what’s in it for the marquis? Even if the fortress joins, tax revenue does not increase, does it?”

“That is not true. If the fortress’s merchants come to his side to do business, the economy will become even more active. Then, naturally, total tax revenue would increase, right?”

“Ah, I see.”

“But more than that, the return of a country that had split apart is extremely significant diplomatically. It is also significant that the spark for armed conflict is being removed. Is that not nothing but benefits?”

Abel said this while thinking.

“Lose a little, gain a lot...”

“Yes, that’s a good saying. It‘s not as if he’s suffering much of a loss.”

“True.”

Both Abel and Ryo understood that Marquis Nyusha’s proposal was a good one.

The people of the fortress talking all over the place were generally positive as well.

But Abel noticed one person who was visibly irritated.

“The mediator does not seem pleased.”

“Don Le-san? Ah, yes, he looks irritated.”

Don Le called one of the mediators over and quickly gave some instructions.

The person who had been instructed took out something like a small box from inside his robe and whispered something into it.

“That... that is a communication-type alchemical tool.”

“I can see the pale light of alchemy. Now then, who was ordered to do what?”

Abel frowned.

Watching that out of the corner of his eye, Ryo said:

“Abel, shouldn’t you apologize to me?”

“Hm?”

“By now it’s plain for everyone to see. The Union has been scheming, and it looks like it’s happening again this time, too.”

Ryo puffed out his chest and put both hands on his hips, acting superior.

“Yeah... I cannot say there is no such possibility.”

“And even now you are talking like that!”

“I am just imitating the way Ryo always says things.”

“Grrr.”

Abel smiled wryly; Ryo grimaced.

“Well, as Ryo says, if there is some kind of scheming, what would it be? If Don Le and the others do not act quickly, it will be too late. Marquis Nyusha’s proposal has already created the momentum.”

“Indeed. That proposal is basically the best possible one for the people of the fortress. There is no reason to reject it. But if the momentum has already formed, and they still want to do something about it... what would you do in chess?”

“Hm? Chess?”

“Abel does play chess, right?”

“Yes, I do, but... there’s no way to turn it around, is there?”

“No. In this case, the answer is universal. You physically flip the board over!”

“Hey...”

Abel was exasperated by Ryo’s absurd answer.

If you physically flipped the chessboard, the game would dissolve into nothing.

That was apparently what Ryo meant.

“Well, that would be a bit much... but what would that mean in this situation?”

“Changing the venue, I suppose?”

“I see. That would make sense.”

Abel nodded.

The specific method seemed to come to mind at the same time.

“Just cause a disturbance.”

“So the instruction given through that alchemy tool was to cause a disturbance?”

“Most likely.”

Abel nodded.

“I will probe a little. <Active Sonar>.”

Ryo chanted.

It could gather information from nearly a kilometer around him.

“Ah... in the east plaza of the training grounds, around fifty people who seem to fit the bill are gathering.”

“Enough to cause a disturbance, muddy the waters, or make the mediator propose a venue change.”

“Ah... Abel, we may have done something terrible.”

“What is it?”

“In that group, I can see the rindo vendor we ate from. He was a lackey of the enemy!”

“Well, those kinds of people are mixed in too.”

“The grilled fish vendor and the meat skewer vendor are not there. So they were proper merchants, then. Good, good.”

Ryo nodded.

Perhaps he heard their conversation.

Elder Masuda returned from the discussion with the merchants.

“You said people are gathering to cause a disturbance?”

“Ah, yes, Master. About fifty people are gathering in the east plaza.”

“The guards outside are patrolling with Tiro and the others... I will go help them a bit.”

With that, Elder Masuda left the stands.

“Tiro?”

“Probably the brown-haired man from that time. He’s staring down the fifty people while giving orders.”

He was the one who had done something uncouth at the Dining Sand.

Still, Ryo and Abel understood that he was not a bad person.

He was just not suited to guiding people... he had simply gotten too wrapped up in it.

“What should we do? Should we go too?”

“No. Let us leave the outside to them. I am still bothered by the hooded person.”

“I see. But if they fail to suppress those fifty people, we will not be in a position to say anything.”

“True. Then let us help delay them.”

“Delay them?”

“<Ice Bahn>.”

Ryo chanted.

But from Abel’s perspective, nothing seemed to change.

Which meant it was a delaying tactic against the fifty people... that spell that froze the ground.

Before, when the ‘Room 10’ and ‘Room 11’ groups, including Ryo, had confronted the Third Detachment of the Knight Templar, Abel had seen the frozen floor Ryo created through the ‘Soul Resonance’.

To be blunt, he had been terrified.

It was a nightmare for close-combat fighters.

For those who could not fight unless they could get close... it was like being cast into hell.

Probably that was the very sight now unfolding in the east plaza.

“That would be the kind that makes you unable to walk. No, even standing would be impossible...”

“Heh heh heh, I shall make them taste the endless hell of slipping, falling, and slipping again.”

“Just the words are enough to convey how terrifying it is.”

Ryo laughed with a wicked expression, and Abel shook his head slightly.

In the east plaza, hell was literally manifesting.

All fifty of them slipped and fell.

Once they fell, they could never get back up.

With fine attention to detail, the area around the fall zone was surrounded by blue-colored ice boards, creating a barrier so that no one would accidentally enter.

At the same time, it was also designed so the fifty could not get out... even if they escaped the frozen floor by using their companions as stepping stones, they still could not go outside.

Watching from a distance were Tiro and the other members of the guard patrol.

While waiting for their allies to gather in sufficient numbers, hell had appeared right before their eyes.

Honestly, it was hard to tell when to make a move.

Then an elderly man with long white hair appeared.

“Tiro, what are you doing!”

“Master! What should we do about this...?”

He asked Elder Masuda for instructions.

The fifty men could not stand up; they kept slipping and falling, then falling and slipping again... many of them had faces twisted by exhaustion and panic, while others warped with fear because they could not understand the situation they had been placed in...

Such was the sight before the guard patrol.

“Is this... yes, if Ryo-dono is ‘that person’, then this much would be only natural.”

Elder Masuda’s murmur did not reach Tiro clearly, who was standing next to him.

“Master?”

“No, just talking to myself. Once the situation is ready, the spell should be lifted. When that happens, capture them all. Prepare yourselves!”

“Yes! ”

The patrol answered Elder Masuda.

Even as they spoke, more patrol members kept arriving... until their number exceeded fifty.

The next moment, the blue ice boards surrounding the fifty men disappeared.

The ice laid across the ground vanished too.

“Capture them!”

At Elder Masuda’s command, the patrol lunged in.

The exhausted, fallen men could offer no resistance at all.

In just a few minutes, all fifty had been neutralized.

“It seems Master and the others managed to capture everyone safely.”

“Good.”

Ryo reported the information he had picked up through sonar, and Abel nodded.

The mediator in their line of sight... Don Le, seemed to wear a calm expression.

He had given the order to cause a disturbance and was waiting for it to spread into the training grounds.

He probably had not yet received word that the fifty had been captured.

“Will this be the end?”

“No, it will not. Once they realize it failed, they will make another move they have prepared.”

“So, the kind of thing called Plan B...”

Ryo grimaced and shook his head.

After a while...

“Oh, someone who looks like a subordinate is receiving a report through the alchemy tool.”

“Now then, let us see what happens.”

“Ah... Don Le-san, after being told the disturbance failed, has gotten visibly upset even from here.”

“Well, that’s only natural.”

Abel nodded.

The mediator Don Le thought with a grim expression for a while, then made a strange move.

“He called the hooded woman from the rear seats.”

“The one from before. She moved to the central three-person seats. So she really does have something to do with this.”

“That’s definitely nothing good.”

Abel said it with unusual certainty.

Abel often made firm judgments about Ryo, but not so often about anyone else.

This time, however, he was certain.

At the same time as Abel’s certainty, Chairman Pisek, who had been conferring, returned to the central three-person seats.

From the two of them, his expression looked determined, but also, in a certain sense, satisfied.

“He looks like he has decided to accept it.”

“Anyone with eyes would say that is the best outcome.”

Both Ryo and Abel were expecting Pisek to say the words “we accept”.

Probably Marquis Nyusha, who had proposed it, was expecting the same too.

However, in the very next moment...

“Huh?”

“Did both the marquis and the chairman’s expressions loosen?”

“Did Abel see it too? Something... is strange.”

Both Abel and Ryo frowned.

They had been focused on the expressions of Marquis Nyusha and Chairman Pisek.

Their expressions seemed to have slackened.

And then...

“Our fortress will not accept it! We will maintain our independence!”

“We withdraw the proposal! All-out war it is!”

Chairman Pisek shouted, and Marquis Nyusha shouted as well.

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