Maseki Gurume - 017 part 1

After giving this some thought, I decided there was no way I would post this as a single chapter. It's waaaaay too long, over 10k words long. So, here's until the part where the chapter is naturally split and changes PoV.

Stock up transactions and Ain's abilities.

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"Like I said, the problem with the Sea Crystals has been already solved. So, there's that."

Olivia said that the problem that was being contemplated as a returning one, wasn’t really a problem.

"Excuse my rudeness, Princess. But if this could've been solved as easily as you put it, then you wouldn’t have needed to marry into Heim."

Warren replied with a slight doubt.

After all, this had been a problem so big, it required a princess to marry to a foreign country.

But according to Olivia, that would-be problem was already solved.

"That was a very painful decision for us. We couldn’t go against the Founding King's vows and perform acts of aggression. That's why it was a difficult choice. Causing you, Princess, to have to marry into Heim......"

Ishtalika didn’t allow acts of aggression against the continent.

This because the Founding King, the one who united the many people across the continent of Isthar, decided so the moment he became the first King.

Except for then a crisis was imminent, such combat operations were not allowed to happen.

Suspension of trade could be considered as a retaliatory measure, however, the transactions with Heim were almost nonexistent in the first place.

For this reason, the most they could do as a retaliatory measure was probably the break of diplomatic relations.

This was also why Ishtalika did not forcibly took their resources and instead made a legitimate deal without any threats.

"To be honest, I have a little grudge against the research team that looked for Sea Crystals...... and to you who ordered it, Father."

"I know you do; I can’t blame you for resenting me."

"Ara, what do you know? "

"……I was the one who gave you away as a bride. But that wasn’t what I wanted to do."

Olivia complained a bit, but it seemed to be about something different of what Silvird was thinking.

"Now, will you please tell me? I can’t apologize as a King. But as a father, I can apologize to you."

"Is that so? Then let me tell you my grudge…… I thought that our country, Ishtalika, had a developed technology. I thought the researchers were amazing when they came back and discovered a huge amount of Sea Crystals."

"Certainly, it was a great job."

"Yeah, but if only they hadn’t been satisfied with just that."

"Princess, what does that mean?"

Chris questioned the words that came from Olivia's mouth.

Somehow, it seemed the flow of the story was changing.

"The Roundharts gave me quite the freedom. Like this, I was able to use part of the tax revenue from the Earl's house somewhat freely. This is why I was able to do it."

"Is that somehow connected to the problem of the Sea Crystals? "

"I should've have doubted that they were only found near Heim. In the Dukedom of Euro, located northwest of Heim...... I was able to discover them in Euro too."

"Princess, is that true!? "

It's no wonder Lloyd was surprised.

Sea Crystals, which were supposed to be quite precious, were found on another place.

"(When was Mother doing those investigations? )"

"However, Princess, how did you investigate that? Excuse my rudeness, but for a proper investigation of that kind, you need to dive deep to the ocean bed. I never heard of the dispatch of Ishtalika's research team."

"Indeed, I did not use the research team. What I used...... what I requested was for the help of the continent's guild, the Adventurers Guild."

"You made a request to the adventurers? Olivia, then, that means......"

"Yes, that would've taken several years. After all, I would have to request for adventurers who were fine diving into the deep sea. But in terms of costs, this was beyond what I could do with my freedom."

Ever since Olivia married to the Roundhart family, she, slowly but steadily, investigated about the Sea Crystals.

She investigated this because finding a new source of Sea Crystals would be in the end better for Ishtalika. This proved useful for this time's uproar, but at the time this was not her goal.

"I'm getting tired of talking about this so let me put it in simple terms. Ishtalika's research team only investigated the nearby waters. They didn’t investigate hidden coves, neither did they search by listening to the stories of the local people."

"C-coves......?! But, in a cove, the monsters' bones shouldn't accumulate……"

"Mother, can it be that you found them by digging the sand on the cove?"

"Fufu……That's right, Ain. I knew you were a smart child."

"The Dukedom of Euro is a region with many wind-induced disasters. This being the case, the waves should also be stronger……I only thought along these lines."

Normally, the coves were peaceful places, but the bays in the Dukedom of Euro were quite different.

Their rocky cliffs were very sturdy, and were quite hard to erode.

Still, the strong waves eventually managed to erode them, creating hidden coves.

As a result, the sediments on the seabed gradually moved, being transported by the ocean currents and swept away by the waves, and like this, the Sea Crystals accumulated in the coves of Euro.

"It's as Ain explained. The Sea Crystals were carried to the coves due to the waves created by the particular climate of Euro.

"……So, do you want me to now make a deal with Euro, Olivia?"

"Now you're just being silly, Father. I'll no longer be someone's wife. The talks about a deal with Euro have already progressed to a certain point."

"......What do you mean with that, Princess?"

Just as everyone had a blank expression in response to Olivia's words, Warren was the only one who asked her about them.

"Yes, here. This is the reason why I said 『The problem with the Sea Crystals has already been solved』."

As she spoke those words, Olivia took out two message birds.

Just like the one Olivia used when she returned home, a message bird was not a real bird but a disposable contact device that could be used when both the receiver and the sender had one set.

It worked by dividing a magic stone into two using a special processing technique, and maintaining a connection between the two.

Since this was a one-way communication tool, two message birds were needed for one back and forth.

Olivia really wanted to have message birds worth at least two rounds, but since the distance between Ishtalika and Euro was quite large, the cost of the message bird would also be extremely high.

These two message birds were ones Olivia was able to prepare using her allocated part of the tax revenue from the Roundhart territory, joggling her expenses.

"This looks like a message bird, right Warren?"

"Yes, without a doubt Your Majesty. Princess...... Can it be that the reason why this problem has already been solved is......"

"Ahh...... the Princess has always been smart, and when it comes to negotiations, even His Majesty would sometimes be defeated by her......no way."

Martha said in a surprised voice after seeing Olivia's message birds.

Warren seemed to have expected it, and Martha also somewhat understood.

"I had to go through a number of people from the Commerce Guild and the Adventurers Guild. However, I couldn’t seal the deal since I was just the lady of house Roundhart. Along these message birds, I'll also give you this document. It contains Euro's desired price for the labor cost of mining the Sea Crystals, and their purchase cost."

Taking out a piece of paper, Olivia handed it over, alongside the two message birds to the Prime Minister Warren.

"Hahaha……You've always been a girl who've anticipated the future, Princess. But who would've thought you would be able to bring the negotiations between two countries up to this point?"

"Since this was a material that wasn’t worth much in Euro, I tried to beat down the price to a certain extent in the negotiations. Well, this was all I could do as an intermediary."

Silvird, Warren, Lloyd and the others couldn’t hide their surprise at the words that kept coming out of Olivia's mouth.

"Princess. How did you do it for them to recognize you as a potential trade partner?"

"I moved forward with the guise of a new company. I told them we wanted to use the minerals for the development of new products."

"……The unitary price for the Sea Crystals is reasonable, seems you beat it down a decent amount. Even if the labor costs are included, it's still more than enough to call this an achievement in itself. The amount of mined minerals that can be expected are enough to cover us for a while."

Warren, after finishing reading the document, expressed his impressions about it to Silvird. There appeared to be no issue and it looked like Ishtalika would be able to proceed without problems.

"But that said, how shall we reveal our true nature from now on? With these contents, the deal seemed to be progressing well. So, it looks like there would be no problems revealing ourselves as Ishtalika."

"Sorry...... I have no idea what to say."

"You're not alone Your Majesty. I'm the same."

Martha joined Silvird in having a tired expression.

"I'm tired of talking about this already. Father, can I leave the rest of the dealing and other stuff to you?"

"With things progressing this smoothly, it seems there was no point in sending Olivia over to become a bride."

"I'll just write it off as even since I got my cute Ain."

"……I see."

For Olivia, having the child named Ain had already erased all the hardships that she experienced in the other country. Everyone had been surprised that Olivia had come back, but in the end, they were relieved that everything seemed like it would work out.

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