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Chapter 428: Verifying the Truth, and Flame Nation Dauburn.

“A living sacrifice? I asked for something like that? Don’t remember it.”

“Myself as well. It was a matter from over five hundred years ago, before our current incarnation came to be, after all…”

The spirit of flame tilted her head at my question. The spirit of ice, who was sitting next to her, also did the same thing.

I came all the way back to the Spirit Realm to try talking to the two of them again, but as expected, they don’t have the memory of that period, and can only give me vague answers.

“Is there anyone who knows what you girls are like back then?”

“Ah, then you’d probably want to hit up Fire anego. Apparently she was close to the previous me as well.”

“It would be Water onee-sama for me. I heard that we often chatted with each other.”

The spirits of fire and water, huh. It’s said that the arch-spirits have the longest reincarnation cycles, so they should know a lot more about things in the past. Alright, let’s go hit them up.

I transferred to another location in the Spirit Realm. The Spirit Realm used to be an empty, milky white space with glittering lights in the background, but there are now small lumps of land here and there, much like planets. They’re really tiny planets with diameters smaller than a hundred meters, though.

This was actually something I asked the spirit of earth to make, since I didn’t feel right in this place with absolutely nothing in it. The spirit of earth, who accepted my request, immediately created those small planets out of nothing. Arch-spirits are amazing.

And now, those small planets have become the new homes of the spirits.

As I landed on a large-sized planet, which was the home of the arch-spirits, its maker, the spirit of earth, came out to greet me.

“Thank you for coming, O king who rules over all spirits. Now, this way.”

The spirit of earth, who had the same emerald green hair as the spirit of the great tree in the Great Sea of Trees, smiled as she led me into the forest ahead.

Inside the forest, there’s an open space, in which a simple pavilion was built. Under the roof of the circular, wall-less building, the spirits of fire and water were enjoying tea together. They get along well with each other despite governing over fire and water, huh. That reminds me, the spirits of light and darkness were sisters, weren’t they. I guess this is a good example of opposites attracting each other?

Well, that is fine for now; I’m here to ask the spirits of fire and water about flame and ice before they reincarnated.

I explained to them about the matter regarding the two countries fighting each other in the human world, and the fact that the reason behind their conflict could be due to the spirits of flame and ice before they reincarnated.

“A living sacrifice? I don’t think they would do something ill-natured like that, you know. The previous Flame was pretty similar to the current one in that it was pretty easy to get her angry, though, so there might be that.”

“Un, I’d say the same for Ice-chan. She might harass them somewhat, but I don’t think she’ll do something as bad as that.”

“What could this mean then? Maybe there’s a misunderstanding somewhere…”

The answers I got from the spirits of fire and water only made the whole thing more confusing. If the two of them didn’t ask for living sacrifices, then what was the whole talk about?

“Ah, could it be that? There was a time around 500 years ago when that Flame girl was pissed off to all hell, and shouting nonstop all around the place. Said something like having finally found someone with spiritualist qualities, but then getting obstructed in the process.”

“Spiritualist?”

“Something like a spirit’s dependant in the human world. They have strong ties with the spirits they’re connected to, and they can even do something like manifesting said spirit within their own bodies, obtaining huge power in the process. They’re one rank above normal spirit users.”

The spirit of earth answered my question. Manifesting the spirit in their body, that’s something like possession isn’t it? So basically, they can have the spirit possess themselves, and become able to wield all of that spirit’s power?

“So, by sacrifice, don’t tell me…”

“She probably wanted the kid to become a spiritualist for her. Since the words of spirits can’t be heard all that well by people who aren’t spirit users, it might’ve come across as ‘give me his body’ or something… Ah, so that’s why.”

The spirit of fire clapped her hands together in realization.

So, what? She meant to say “I’ll make him a spiritualist so lend me his body from time to time” and it turned into “give me his body as a sacrifice”?

“I see. And when they asked the reason for the king’s refusal, they were told the lie of the children being kidnapped by the other country. Falsehoods cannot stand in front of us who can read people’s emotions. It wouldn’t be weird for those girls to become angry at the fact that they were made fools of and lied to…”

The spirit of water also nodded slightly. I don’t know what their motives were, but regardless, the spirits had offered to make the kings’ children spiritualists, and instead got fed some stupid lies about how the child was no longer there; their anger are pretty justified. They must’ve quite liked the prospects of that prince or princess.

And since the spirits can perceive emotions, that means they must’ve also caught on to the kings’ bad intentions of using their power to crush the other country. Even more reason for them to be pissed off.

“And if their intentions were properly conveyed, the kings at that time wouldn’t have to lie like that too.”

Rather, they’d probably gladly have the spirits make their children spiritualists.

Or, if it were in the more magically-advanced Surface World, there might’ve been people around who are skilled in spirit language. In the end, this all came about because of misinterpreted intentions, something on the level of calling a wrong number.

Well, I understand the general situation now. What I’ve heard was probably the truth. The problem now is whether those two countries will cease their hostilities once I told them the truth…

It’d be tough, wouldn’t it. To begin with, I’m not even sure if they’ll believe me.

And even if they do, they might not admit it, too. In any case, let’s try meeting the two kings first.

I’ve never had any prior contact with the two countries. So, if possible, I’d like for some other country to act as an intermediate link.

As such, the one I selected for that role was Holy Kingdom Alent, which borders both countries.

Alent refers to spirits as holy spirits, and is the same as the two countries in the past in that it also treated spirits as divine existences and worshipped them; however, as it had not directly come into contact with arch-spirits unlike the other two, nothing major has happened here yet.

“We’ve had a history of accepting refugees from those two countries, after all. We’ve learnt to treat holy spirits carefully. However, Touya-dono, c-can you really summon arch-holy spirits?”

“Yep. Want me to call one now?”

“No! I’m fine! I’m fine for now!”

While rocking inside the golem carriage, the face of the Holy King of Alent went pale. As expected, when it’s about arch-spirits who are existences above normal spirits, he would become nervous. It can’t be helped.

The golem carriage headed straight towards Flame Nation Dauburn’s capital, Flame Capital Burn. When I looked outside the window, it’s desert, desert, and desert. An endless expanse of nothing but sand. The oasis-like places here and there must be spots where the power of the spirits is weaker, no doubt.

And, of course, this golem carriage currently travelling through such a region isn’t the normal one with wheels.

It’s a multi-legged type golem carriage, the same type as the one used by the merchant Sancho-san who I met when I first came to the Reverse World. With its centipede-like legs, the golem carriage steadily progressed through the desert.

A flat board-like extension was attached to the tip of the legs, so it doesn’t sink into the sands. However, the shaking is really bad, and it’s pretty tough on the people inside.

Since I’ve already been to both Dauburn and Zadonia before with [Fly] (I was only passing through, though), I could’ve teleported us all directly to Flame Capital Burn. However, as expected, doing that when the other side is a country I’ve never visited before would cause problems, so I was stopped, and we instead transferred to this desert and switched to a golem carriage.

I had accepted it with the thought that the journey also matters, but… Upu. [Refresh]…

<Are you alright, my lord?>

<Ah, I’m fine I’m fine. I healed myself.>

Besides me, Kohaku—in her chibi form—looked perfectly fine as she swayed together with the carriage’s motion. You, do summoned beasts don’t get motion sickness?

“However, Brunhild’s king. I’ve mentioned this last time, but between our country and Dauburn… And Zadonia too, for that matter; while we do have some interaction between us, we’re by no means friendly with each other. I’m not sure if we’ll be welcomed, you know?”

There are two more golem carriages both in front and behind ours, for a total of five carriages, travelling through the desert much like a caravan. Circumstances aside, we have two monarchs personally heading towards the capital of a country that cannot be said to be friendly. Bringing escorts along would be obvious.

For myself as well, besides Kohaku to my side, there’s also our knight order’s vice-commander Nicola-san, as well as five other knights who followed us here. They’re in the golem carriages behind us; I’m a bit worried about whether they’re all carsick as well, to be honest.

“I don’t mind even if we’re not welcomed as long as I can talk with their king, honestly. Everything afterwards would depend on their reaction. I’ll try to make it so that it wouldn’t cause the Holy Kingdom any problems.”

“Well, you are the hero who defeated the evil god. I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. It probably won’t go all that well with that king of Dauburn’s as the opponent, though. Well, even if something goes wrong, all that’ll happen is Dauburn being destroyed, I guess.”

How rude. I do plan on showing restraint, you know. As long as nothing really serious was done to us.

However, there are stupid kings who do those kinds of really serious things from time to time, so. Like Sandra’s pig king. I hope to god this one isn’t someone at that level.

The carriages finally arrived at Flame Capital Burn, passed through a large gate, and headed straight for the royal castle.

The city looks similar to Mismede’s capital, Berge, with eye-catching mudbrick buildings. However, compared to Berge, the townspeople here lack energy. They all look tired somewhat. The long war with the neighboring Zadonia must be taking its toll on the population, no doubt.

Children clad in nothing but cloth scraps sat in the shadow of buildings with their heads hung low. A country with children who can’t smile isn’t a good one in my book…

Dauburn’s royal castle was constructed on the banks of an especially large spring in the oasis region upon which the Flame Capital was built in the first place. It’s an old-looking castle made from bricks, with no tall spires, and looks like a castle made by layering rectangular blocks. While it’s not flashy or elegant, it gives off a rugged, solid image.

Passing through the castle gates, the carriages proceeded into the castle, and stopped in front of a garden with a fountain.

Following the Holy King, I alighted from the golem carriage with Kohaku. Hot! Compared to the golem carriage with air-conditioning, it’s like dropping from heaven into hell.

It’s not a humid hotness like Japan’s, but what’s hot is hot. Let’s use the water-attribute [Cooling] in secret. Ah, feels much better.

A macho-looking man in a red leather armor and an old man in a similarly red robe came out to greet us as we alighted from our carriages.

On the path leading to the castle’s entrance, Dauburn soldiers wielding spears in red armor as well as red-colored golems were lined up on either side. They’re basically showing off themselves. Could this be an act of intimidation or something?

“Welcome to Dauburn, Your Majesty the Alent Holy King. And… Your Majesty the Brunhild Sovereign, correct?”

“Yes. My name is Mochizuki Touya. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us today.”

As I exchanged greetings with the old man clad in red robes, the man wearing red leather armor next to him, who I guess is a general of some sort, widened his eyes in surprise.

“Anything wrong?”

“No. I just thought you carry yourself rather humbly for a king… Ah, pardon me for my impoliteness.”

“I was originally an adventurer, so I don’t have the habit of talking with that kind of imposing attitude. Rather, I’d hope you can forgive me for that.”

The general, whose eyes went round again upon hearing that, broke into a smile afterwards. Oh, seems like I’ve got a favorable impression with that.

His age should be right before the forties. Short black hair and hazelnut-colored eyes, with a scar on his jaw. He’s got the airs of a veteran warrior. This man, he’s probably not a noble. He most likely rose up from a commoner’s background.

“Once again, welcome to Dauburn. I am the general in charge of Dauburn’s First Division, Glenn.”

“Nice to meet you, General Glenn.”

No family name. As expected, he’s a commoner. The old man next to General Glenn also lowered his head.

“Prime Minister of Dauburn, Rosso Phoenix. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

The old man, who named himself as Rosso, pushed back the round glasses on his nose which looked like they were about to fall off. This person is a noble, huh. Well, I guess it’s natural for a prime minster.

I can’t tell the emotions of this old man in front of me. He doesn’t smile at all, and it feels like he’s just carrying out his duty without any personal feelings.

“This way please. His Majesty the King is waiting.”

With Prime Minister Rosso and General Glenn in the lead, the Holy King and myself followed, with Kohaku right behind.

Nicola-san and the rest of our knights, Holy Kingdom Alent’s holy knights, as well as the 2m tall silver golem knights under their command also followed behind us.

The interior of the castle was similar to its outside, with an image of being solidly built without any luxuriousness. It has a rustic yet calming atmosphere. However, overall, how should I say this… It’s pretty run-down. Gives you the feeling that they’re using this castle while it’s still undergoing renovation, or something. You can also say that you can clearly feel the age on this.

I’ve vaguely felt this already, but isn’t this country pretty poor? No, I guess it’s understandable if you just think about it. With small skirmishes happening constantly, the majority of its lands being deserts, and the relationship with its neighboring countries not exactly harmonious, it’s only natural.

No matter how our negotiations turn out, I’m planning to ask the spirit of flame to do something about this scorching heat in Dauburn, in any case.

In front of a room deep within the castle, two red golems opened a large set of doors. It seems like this is as far as General Glenn will follow; he’s standing by outside the room.

Inside the large room sat a long table, with silver candlestands and flowers decorating it. Deeper in, there are people wearing similar red leather armors to General Glenn who’s waiting out in the corridor, as well as noble-like people standing to both sides of a chair. They’re probably the core leadership of this country.

And on top of that grand-looking chair, placed besides a window deep in the room, sat a single man.

His age is between 40 to 50. He has a circle beard, and his head is covered with cloth held in place by a headband-like thing, similar to those worn by Arab men. That’s called a keffiyeh, isn’t it?

His clothes were luxurious and loose-fitting, consisting of a gown-like garment adorned with red and gold embroidery, and a haramaki on his protruding belly. A golden dagger hung on his waist.

So this is the king of Dauburn, Jaharade Beer Dauburn.

And next to him, there’s a young man wearing a similar outfit seated. He’s around 20, I’d say? A keffiyeh on his head, brown skin and black eyes. A golden dagger, similar to the king’s, on his waist. I suppose he’s Dauburn’s prince.

“Welcome to Dauburn. Alent’s Holy King, and Brunhild’s sovereign. We don’t have much, but we shall try to show some hospitality at least.”

While seated in his chair, the Dauburn king urged us to take a seat as well. He was smiling, but I could tell that he was looking at me with an evaluating gaze. Well, a brat like me being a king would clearly lack credibility. He’s looking at me with an obviously suspicious feeling.

The Holy King and I sat down on the other end of the long table, opposite the Dauburn king. He’s far away…

“To have two kings come here for a visit. So? Is there something important you want to discuss?”

The Dauburn king cut to the chase while forgoing any pleasantries. It feels like he’s asking what business a king from a distant, small country has here, isn’t he.

In any case, I talked about the “Schraff’s Journey”, and the reason behind the conflict between this country and its neighbor, Zadonia.

As I talked, the faces of the people sitting next to the king over on the Dauburn side gradually became scarier, and eventually, probably unable to hold it in anymore, one of the Dauburn generals with an imperial moustache slammed his fist onto the table.

“Foolish talks! Are you trying to make fun of our country, Sovereign of Brunhild!? The reason why this land became cursed was all because Zadonia stupidly stole the offering we made to our god!”

“No, like I said, that’s mistaken. In the first place, it was because this country’s king of that time mistakenly thought the god was asking for a live sacrifice—”

“What do you think you’re doing, insulting even the great ancestor of our lord! A sovereign of a rural scrap country dares…! Don’t think you can get out of this room alive!”

The imperial moustache general reached towards the curved sword hanging on his waist. Seeing that, starting with Nicola-san, our knights also extended a hand towards their waists.

I stopped Nicola-san and the others with my hand, and turned to look at the enraged general again.

He’s glaring at us pretty severely; although, I’ll have you know I’m pretty pissed myself, okay. What do you mean “a rural scrap country”?

“I’ll repeat again. The one who misunderstood the words of the spirit, shifted the responsibility for that onto the other country, and deceived his people was the king of that time. I’m not blaming you all for that. And Zadonia had done the same thing, too. I’m just

saying, now that you know the truth, there’s no reason for you two countries to continue to fight each other.”

“Are you suggesting for us to hold hands with Zadonia!?”

“Stop messing around! Why should we make peace with those people!?”

“You want us to forgive that nation of thieves!?”

Amidst the angry roars of the retainers, the Dauburn king slowly stood up.

“Sovereign of Brunhild. It was an interesting talk, but you have outstepped your bounds. There is this saying in our country: ‘A new recruit who likes to gossip doesn’t live long.’ It means that those who stick their necks into a lot of unnecessary things tend to die early as a result. In a lot of ways.”

Iknow. There’s that one in Japan, “a pheasant that doesn’t cry won’t get shot”, after all.

“Zadonia is our sworn enemy. It’s impossible for us to make peace! It’s only when our nation has destroyed Zadonia, which had stolen our offering to the gods, that the curse upon our lands will be released!”

“And when will that be? Ten years later? A century? Has the several hundred years of skirmishes brought you anything besides fatigue? The only thing that awaits the two of you if this keeps up is mutual destruction.”

“Cease your insolence!”

Before the Dauburn king did anything, the imperial moustache general moved first; he drew out his sword, and charged towards us.

“Stop it! General Jahgil!”

Ignoring the prince, who stood up in a hurry and tried to stop him, the one called General Jahgil swung his blade down towards us.

“Kohaku.”

<Understood.>

Kohaku, who was beside my feet, turned into her giant tiger form in an instant, and roared towards the general rushing towards us.

“Guhee!?”

The imperial moustache general was blown away backwards upon being hit by the shockwave Kohaku released from her mouth.

Upon seeing the suddenly-enlarged Kohaku, the retainers of Dauburn noisily stood up from their chairs.

Glenn, who was standing by in the corridor, also opened the doors and jumped into the room upon hearing the loud noises.

“I’ll say this first, but your side was the one to draw blades first. I have no intentions of apologizing.”

“Your side was the one who provoked us first!”

“Father! Please stop!”

Slamming the table in front of him, the Dauburn king yelled. Even if that was the case, to come slashing is a bit bad, isn’t it. If anything had actually happened, it won’t be solved by the excuse of blood rushing to his head, you know. The prince to his side seems to have a much better understanding of the situation than he does.

“I have no intentions of provoking you. I only spoke the truth. And even if all that stuff I spoke about with regards to the sacrifices and whatnot are lies, do you honestly believe that your

country will survive the countless wars against Zadonia? It’s not something I should say, but Holy Kingdom Alent can crush your country in an instant if it tries, you know?”

“Oi oi, don’t drag me into this, Brunhild’s Sovereign.”

His Majesty the Holy King, sitting next to me, shrugged his shoulders with a wry smile.

It really is exceedingly easy for Alent to destroy Dauburn, though. All it has to do is go to Zadonia and say to them “Let’s destroy Dauburn together!”, and poof. The opposite is also possible for Zadonia, on a side note.

As such, both Dauburn and Zadonia can’t afford to offend Alent.

And even with that, one of Dauburn’s generals still came slashing towards the king of a friendly nation of Alent’s. I can’t think of this as anything but suicidal, you know.

“Ku…”

The Dauburn king’s face began showing signs of anxiety; he probably also noticed the severity of the things he did.

Just as I’ve heard from the [Black Cat]’s Silhouette-san, he’s a person who doesn’t think about consequences before acting, a short-sighted king. I’ve been thinking if that could be the case ever since I heard he always breaks out into a shouting match with the Zadonia king whenever they meet. Which means, the other side must be someone similar, eh.

Once things developed to this stage, his next moves are limited. If it was me, I would punish the general who tried to slash me, and do everything I can, dogezas and whatnot, to try to make the other party forgive us. If it was someone at the pinnacle of stupidity,

“Arrest these people!”

The Dauburn king did exactly what I just thought of. I wonder, does the term “these people” include the Alent Holy King as well?

“[Prison].”

“Guge!?”

“Buha!?”

Being deflected by the barrier magic I activated, the Dauburn soldiers who charged at us fell down onto the ground.

While Alent’s holy knights were surprised by the translucent barrier that surrounded themselves, our knights, including the vice-commander Nicola-san, were completely calm. Un, it’s scary how quickly people can get used to things.

“Well, for now, please consider what we just talked about one more time. We’ll be heading to Zadonia after this.”

“Wait! Are you planning to invade our country with Zadonia and Alent!?”

“This is getting stupid… We’re just going to talk to them about the same thing we just told you. Rather than focusing on stupid conflicts with the other country, try looking at the people in your own lands first; something like that.”

“Gununu…! Damn you youngster…!”

With a beet-red face, the Dauburn king gnashed his teeth together while moving his fingers in a gripping motion. Hee, he’s quite skillful.

His Majesty the Holy King, who sighed as he watched that, opened his mouth.

“King of Dauburn. I ask of you to think about this more as well. This matter is definitely not one which would bring harm to this country. Will you be known as a wise king or a foolish king later on… Be aware that you’re standing at the crossroads currently.”

We stood up, then left the room. The [Prison] I set up would only block out people or golems with enmity. We passed through the door without problem.

As we left the room, General Glenn lowered his head to us. This country still has some decent people left. All the more reason for them to stop those meaningless wars as soon as possible.

As we returned to the place where our golem carriages were parked, the sound of someone running towards us came from behind.

“Please wait!”

I thought it was pursuers, but it turned out to be the brown-skinned prince who sat next to the king during the meeting earlier. I can see General Glenn behind him as well.

“What is it?”

“Please forgive my father for his discourteous behavior. And, I have a request on top of that. If you are heading to Zadonia, please allow me to accompany you!”

“Eh?”

Upon hearing his unexpected words, I turned to look at His Majesty the Holy King besides me, who also did the same. To a person of Dauburn, Zadonia is an enemy nation without a doubt. Why would he want to go to a place like that?

“Prince Akim. We’re heading to Zadonia to talk about the same thing we did earlier, you know. It’s likely that the other side will also have the same reaction your father showed us just now. And you, the prince of Dauburn, wants to accompany us to that kind of place?”

“I understand that, Your Majesty the Holy King. However, I want to end this war. In order for that to happen, I have to get to know the other side first. In Zadonia, there must be others who want to stop this war like I do. I want to forge ties with those people.”

Hee. He’s a lot more sensible compared to the king. When I looked at Glenn, who was behind the prince, he also nodded slightly. Seems like they’re serious.

“Wouldn’t they claim we abducted the prince or something if we did take him away?”

“You’re worried about that now? The king here basically just declared war on us, you know?”

His Majesty the Holy King spoke in a dumbfounded tone. Ah, right. Well, I don’t have any intentions of trying to have peaceful relations with this country anyway. Not at the moment. They basically picked a fight with us first.

“Then it’s fine, I guess. Does General Glenn want to come along as the prince’s guard? Well, there’s no way I’ll let him be harmed, though.”

“If you’re fine with me, then I shall gladly join you.”

Alright. Now then, before anyone else interrupts us, let’s transfer away from this place with the golem carriage as well. I snapped my fingers, and opened [Gate]s below the feet of everyone involved.

After a brief floating sensation, we arrived in a place similar to the endless span of desert we saw a few hours ago, except all the sand has been replaced with snow. Everywhere we can see is white, making our eyes… Agh, so cold!

I hurriedly cast warming magic [Warming] on everyone after feeling the cold.

The climate switched from scorching heat to freezing cold in an instant. For now, since we’ve contacted Zadonia several days ago in advance, let’s quickly get on the golem carriages and trudge towards the Ice Capital, Zado.

-Pixel