Machinist of Mana Chapter 139 A Frank Conversation

People gave me looks as I entered the military building, but I had a letter, a notice that I was to come, to meet with the Commander at a very well specified hour. It was clear that I was supposed to be here, invited, called, whatever you wanted to call it. So I was let in, brought to a waiting area while people came and went all about me.

“Ah, good to see you, please come in,” Commander Loran said as he opened his door, the smile on his face wide. “Sit, sit, would you like some tea?”

“Please,” I said. Tea was a thing among the elves too, largely because 'his Majesty' had been known to be very fond, keeping his own gardens for growing his preferred blends.

“Thank you,” I said as I took the glass, a pleasant, almost sweet and floral scent wafting from it.

“Young man you know I'm so glad to see you, to talk to you today.” He pushed a small crystal on his desk and I felt the magic buzz into existence at the edges of the room. “Privacy ward, standard issue for any talks that might be sensitive.”

“And you think this talk will be sensitive?” I asked, we'd only met the once.

“Of course, I am dealing with a spy from a, well not hostile nation, but one we're certainly not friends with.”

My blood went cold, and training took over. I stopped the cup where it was halfway to my lips.

“But don't worry, if I'd wanted you dead or arrested I would have done so already,” he continued. “Please drink up, it's not poisoned.”

“What makes you think I'm a spy?” I asked, trying to sound confused.

“Your contacts, the young lady, we've been watching her for some time now. Again though, she's from Atal, not a hostile state, not even a particularly antagonistic one. I figured she was just a watcher, so I was happy to let her be. You never know what you might find out.”

“I'm not sure...”

“I've not insulted your intelligence Percival, please do not insult mine. What I'm concerned about is why you're here, neither nation has any particular issue with ours so far as I'm aware, nor are you trying to get into military technology.”

“No particular issue?” I asked.

“Well certainly there are always some low level competition between neighbors, but we've not had a war with the Atali's for... goodness, almost a thousand years. As far as human nations go, longer than that. While I know that many of my comrades dislike humanity, and even more so dislike humans in our nation, or those with their blood, it does seem a bit ahead of things for you to send someone to spy on us. If we were going to attack it would be obvious.”

“Certainly you can understand the concern?” I asked. “With how you treat those with less elvish blood, how would you treat humans?” I asked.

“It's... complicated, quite complicated. The issue with those of thin blood isn't hatred, though I'm sure it seems like that. Did you know that as you have less elven blood the propensity for magic in our people falls? Only a few hundred hears ago almost every elf had magic, all of us, regardless of birth had some, but now, we're seeing more and more people crossed with humans, and as they do, fewer and fewer becomes mages.”

“We live with few mages,” I observed.

“Yes, you do, but our whole society runs on magic. The idea was to introduce human blood because you're far more fecund then us, but... but it's not working. In groups without true Ancients that can add an infusion of their own blood now and then we're slowly weakening, faster then the birth rates rise. If it were to continue then we'd surely collapse under it. I've seen the estimates, whole cities would cease to function.”

“Surely you can survive, we do,” I told him.

“Our magical beasts are both far more common, and far more vicious than those in human lands young man. I know it seems odd, but there are creatures here that are threats to entire cities. Those cities having the mana to establish proper shields isn't an option, without that they will suffer greatly. And so... we've taken to trying to encourage people towards more purity, yes, it is unfortunate, yes, some suffer, but surely you see the logic?”

I considered for awhile, really thinking through what he was saying. I believed there were ways around it, surely, but did he? He really might not, and I had to admit I'd never seen the monsters he spoke of. Without technology to fill the gap there might be great destruction.

“I do, I believe you're methods are wrong, but I see the logic. There are reasons for what you've done on that account, perhaps I would have taken a different route, but the routes of governments are not always the routes of men, and their concerns are different. However it has gone beyond encouragement, I met a girl recently who was outright abused, afraid to so much as speak, afraid to stand up for herself. Her employer even offered her to me, what would you say to that?” I asked.

At my statement his lip curled back in disgust, not a trained reaction, but from what I could tell a true one.

“That is highly illegal, please tell me this individual so that they might be punished.”

“The hotel I'm staying at,” I informed him. “But similarly the goblins. I know what happened to their island, how was that needed?” I asked.

“The... those green beasts? Goodness surely you wouldn't defend them!? They're monstrous creatures, destroyers, our own records tell us this, as well as the fact that they destroyed your city, or parts of it. It was in the news awhile back, we heard how they overran it, killed hundreds, destroyed whole districts. Why in the world does our aggression to them bother you?”

“Perhaps your records were mistaken, or perhaps they've changed. I've known a few of them, spoken to them. They're young, and were misled, but a number of them split from the group that attacked our city, even provided some small aid against their fellows.”

“I doubt our records were incorrect, from my understanding they're records of stories his Majesty told himself to the people, records of a great warrior who slew small green creatures, a silent, stoic man, who with is group of friends tracked them wherever he could, slaying them without mercy.”

“Where is this? It wasn't in anything I'd heard about.”

“It's a rather obscure text, and not one widely distributed since it's mostly stories for children. There are some nuggets of wisdom, but those are generally better described by other stories. It is clear though that goblins are rapine, vicious monsters, unambiguously.”

“Maybe they were at some point, but the ones I've met were quite polite, well some of them, some of them were rather destructive. Regardless of that, where do we go from here? I assume your men are going to come in here and arrest me or something.” That had been the assumption as soon as he'd accused me of being a spy, as was the idea that I was already surrounded, probably from the moment I'd stepped in this room.

“Hmm? No, not presently. I could arrest you, and I could hand you over to others who would probably kill and torture you for information, but I think that's counterproductive at this moment.”

I blinked, honestly surprised.

“Instead I have a bit of a proposal for you.”