Side Stories: Chapter 4

Zich, Lyla, Lubella, and Weig all looked at one another. It seemed that the Pope had asked the staff to attend to their guests again, and a priest came in and brought fresh tea. Lubella took one sip of her tea and sighed slightly.

“After all the experiences I’ve accumulated, I thought I had caught up to His Holiness and Sir Zich, but it is still too early for me to go against them.”

“You are already doing so well, Saintess. His Holiness and Sir Zich are just a bit out of the ordinary. Even I am constantly swayed by the two. They are worthy models to follow, but it will only harm you if you try to catch up to them too fast. It’s a wonder if anyone would be able to catch up to those two even if they tried for their whole life. Above all, you should never ever try to emulate their personalities.” The last line was probably what Weig wanted to say the most.

“It doesn’t matter to me, but is it all right to talk about the Pope in such a way?” Zich wasn’t mocking Weig—he was asking out of pure curiosity.

“I am talking like this especially because it is about the Pope.”

“Ha! It seems like the Pope is quite an interesting person.”

The four chatted about similar small matters that interested them. At first, they talked about what they all had been up to no matter how menial they were. Then, eventually, the conversation topic moved to the festival that was going to happen soon.

“While we are talking about that, I suppose I can give this to you now.” Zich fumbled through his belongings, pulled out his magic box, and placed it on top of the table. “These are the parts of the dragon’s corpse that I own.”

Although Zich was displaying a whole load of valuable dragon parts that most nations and families were furiously searching to get their hands on a single scale, Zich behaved nonchalantly as if he was handing over a useless stone.

“I already knew this, but Sir Zich, your compassion awes me to no end.”

“This is just how much I trust the Karuwimans, Sir Weig. Moreover, people can try to steal these, but they would have to deal with the aftermath.”

“…You mean, they have to deal with you, Sir Zich?”

Zich smiled. Of course, no one in the room felt a sense of relief seeing his smile.

“I understand. I will surely pay you back for the great trust you’ve placed in the Karuwimans!” Weig struck his chest.

“Yes. I’m sure it would be fine if it’s the Karuwimans we are talking about.”

“…I sense a hidden meaning in your words, sir.”

“I heard that there are other groups collaborating to host this festival.”

“Ah, you are talking about that.”

This year’s festival was led and organized by the Karuwimans, but there were still other outside organizations involved in the event planning. Instead, outside forces were getting too involved and were trying to exercise great influence over the event.

“Politics is a very annoying thing. Don’t you think so too?” Zich said.

“…As expected of you, Sir Zich. You already know the situation. Honestly, it’s quite—no, a very troublesome situation for us,” Lubella said. Though she had been excitedly conversing with Zich and Lyla until now, her face suddenly became overshadowed by a look of weariness. It was the same for Weig though to a less degree, and he appeared more annoyed than tired.

“Outside force? A troubling situation?” Lyla tilted her head.

Zich explained, “It’s a simple matter if you think about it. We’ve surely gotten rid of trash like Ultel and Glen Zenard and decimated countless Bellids to shreds. We basically removed a large shadow casting over the entire world. However, life doesn’t end with just one line that says the ‘main characters lived happily ever after’ as novels do.”

Unlike a storybook that ended with the last page, the real world continued past all stories. If a story that happened beforehand made a huge impact on the world, there was a high chance that the world would be destabilized somehow—similar to the current situation.

It all began with the disappearance of the Bellids, specifically Ultel. To catch Zich, Ultel had dispatched almost all his forces and advanced his troops toward the Cronon Kingdom; on his way to his destination, Ultel stomped down several nations including the great Brodstock Empire. Ultel didn’t just trample these lands but killed the people there to increase the size of his forces and transformed them into the undead. Naturally, these nations were completely devastated and fell into ruins. It was a perfect defeat where hardly anyone survived.

Yet, people’s interests gathered on the lands that were left behind. These lands were rich and abundant with resources that made many mouths water greedily. The Brodstock Empire had held a territory incomparably larger than other nations, and to maintain its giant size and consumption, it used to have the means and productivity to match them. In other words, there was a great number of rich lands in the Brodstock Empire’s territory.

As expected, the neighboring countries coveted the land. As soon as the war ended, surrounding forces began to rush in to devour the fallen nation’s territories, and their first priorities were the fertile plains, highlands tumbling with ores, and regions where the cities were located. Neighboring countries clashed for these lands. On land without an owner, the first person who placed their flag down on the ground could claim ownership. Thus, with all this happening, the world became even more chaotic than when the Bellids used to run wild. Nations that bordered the fallen countries fought to gain even a little bit more land, and countries from even farther away expressed their concerns.

The neighboring countries weren’t the only ones who participated in the war against the Bellids. Other countries also provided significant support during the Bellids’ conquest, so they had enough justification to claim their share. It wasn’t greed alone that they were claiming rights over the land either; if the neighboring countries expanded their territory by taking over the fallen countries, the other countries felt threatened that the neighboring countries that grew into a large territory would also devour them in the future.

Thus, considering this factor, even if they had no justification to claim their share, they had every incentive to hold back the neighboring countries from absorbing the land of the fallen countries. Suspicion and wariness only grew stronger as time passed, and there were already small-scale, armed clashes happening between countries.

The only reason why it did not lead to a large-scale war was because most countries’ capacities were drastically reduced due to their recent war with the Bellids. If the situation continued as is, a large-scale armed conflict would inevitably occur. Therefore, the Karuwimans put a tremendous effort into defusing the conflict.

“Then, this festival will also act as a venue for diplomatic talks to mediate between those countries, right?” Lyla asked.

“Yeah. Well, that’s none of our business. We just have to enjoy the festival.”

Weig and Lubella made a bitter smile as Zich readily described this problem as ‘none of his business.’ In a way, this might be better because if Zich intervened in this complex situation, the situation might become even more chaotic.

‘No, that will actually be better, since someone who angers Sir Zich for some reason might appear.’ Lubella thought of the forces the Karuwimans were currently collaborating with, and her head began to throb once again.

Lyla asked, “Who are the collaborators for the festival? According to what you’ve said so far, there seem to be multiple countries involved, but it seems like they don’t have enough available resources or power to do so.”

When Lyla brought up this subject, Lubella felt her head throb even more.

Instead of Lubella, Zich was the one to answer Lyla’s question. “The Karuwimans are collaborating with different countries, but they are not the countries mentioned just now. They’re a bit farther away.”

“…Ah!” Lyla immediately realized the meaning of Zich’s words. “You’re talking about the countries that have become bystanders to this enormous incident, right?”

It would have been fine if the Bellid conquest was simply a social subjugation or a war between countries. Rather, other countries may have enjoyed watching other countries’ power be cut from afar. However, this war was different from an ordinary war. First, it was a war to exterminate the Bellids, and this was what every country had been doing. Rather than out of sincere faith and respect towards the Karuwimans, it was an effort to curb the Bellids’ outrageous misdeeds. Thus, if this the Bellid conquest had been a slightly bigger form of subjugation, it wouldn’t have mattered. Yet, in this war, the entire Bellid faction was almost uprooted from its core. A literal holy war had been waged.

Naturally, the prestige of defeating the Bellids was incomparable to defeating a few small Bellid branches. The reputation of countries that participated in the holy war rose endlessly. Moreover, the fact that a legendary dragon appeared in the confrontation between the Steelwall Estate and the allied forces—a war that took place due to the Bellids’ conspiracy—raised their reputation to the peak. The fact that there was a dragon’s corpse made it hard to even dismiss it as a lie.

Thus, the countries that participated in this war literally achieved legendary feats, but other countries had nothing. Of course, the countries left out didn’t receive any direct damage, but the issue of prestige among nations, royalty, and nobles was not something that could be easily overlooked.

“That’s why they’re going to participate in this festival as a collaborator so that they can somehow also take part in this magnificent event,” Lyla said.

“Yeah, that’s something that anyone who is part of politics, whether they’re a king, noble, or a religious official would naturally think of. Constantly racking their brains with these cumbersome issues is also the fate of politicians.”

Zich and Lyla looked at Lubella and Weig with pitiful expressions.

“Cheer up, you two,” Zich said.

“If there’s anything I can do, I can help—ah, but only to the extent that I don’t get swept into any troublesome affairs.”

Weig replied, “…I’m just a holy knight. I’m sure His Holiness and the Saintess will do a good job with the politics.”

“Excuse me, Sir Weig?” Lubella looked at Weig with an expression of betrayal.

Weig avoided her gaze this time, even though he was a holy knight who protected the Saintess with his life during battle and assisted her like a loving grandfather taking care of his granddaughter on a daily basis.

“I guess even Sir Weig has problems that he finds too troublesome.”

“That’s a misunderstanding, Sir Zich. A lion is supposed to drop its baby on a cliff…”

“I heard that a lion doesn’t do that in real life.”

“…The lion in the area I know does that. It’s a type of lion with a very unique teaching method. The cubs who mature under this method soon command the whole plain and even kill the basilisk…”

“Sir Weig, stop saying such ridiculous things!”

Weig shut his mouth at Lubella’s cry.

“Well, it’s at least certain that the Saintess will suffer. Saintess, I think it’ll be a good idea for you to refresh yourself as much as possible until you have to leave again.”

“…I think it’s best to do as you say.” Lubella leaned back on her chair and relaxed her body.