Chapter 85
H Degree Difficulty of a Move
The demon territory which occupied the northern part of the continent. In contrast to the vastness of its land, it was barren with places for humans to live existed only in a small number.
At the edge of this demon territory. Nanashi now, located to the north of the Haru Empire, was overflowing with liveliness as ever. Despite being located in demon territory, as the town had attained abundant water resources and agricultural land, it attracted even more people and continued its rapid growth.
Under the direction of the acting mayor, Omoi, as the town continued to put heavy stress on the expansion of the agriculture lands and the town itself, arranging the foundation to withstand sudden population growth, one day. All the important figures of the town were gathered in a room of the newly built town hall.
A certain old man’s companion, Suke-san, and Kaku-san.
Hero Mikoto and the Great Sage Merlin. There was also the superior spirit En’ou Zommer, who had turned Mikoto’s shoulder into its reserved seat.
And then the guild’s A-ranker, Curryman.
Kugel and his little brothers of the demon race, who power wise were on equal standing with them.
Omoi began to speak in front of these out-of-the-norm members.
「I’m sorry to take up your precious time. A matter that warrants urgency has arisen, so I have asked to have everyone gathered here. According to reports, a full-scale conflict will soon break out between the two major factions of the demon territory.」
「Hmm, speaking of the two major factions, they are the hardliners who are planning to move south with the aim of reviving the Kingdom of Demon, and the moderates who are in opposition of them, am I right?」
「Yes, as Sage-sama said, it is a conflict between the hardliners and the moderates. In terms of numbers, the moderates are more numerous, but the hardliners are composed of warriors, so the hardliners are probably at a considerable advantage in terms of battle power.」
「I see. If the two major factions were into conflict against each other, the sparks would most likely scatter to this town as well, huh.」
Curryman shrugged his shoulders. If Tanaka-san were there, he would surely have learned something from that good grief.
「The town belongs to neither faction, but it has built a friendly relationship with the Empire. So from the point of view of the hardliners, us being treated as enemies should be inevitable.」
「If something happens, we’re to step up and deal with it, right? But do demons really want to wage war against each other? For the hardliners, they would surely want to refrain themselves from exhausting their force, as for the moderates, they want to avoid conflict to begin with.」
「Your doubts are totally right, Mikoto-san. It is true that both factions surely wish to avoid battle. In fact, I’ve never even heard of any conflict between demons. Well, I may just not know about it since the demon territory is vast, after all.」
Saying that, Omoi shifted his gaze toward Kugel.
「I don’t know either. Well, I’m not really interested in history, so maybe I just have never heard about it, though. I’ll leave that matter to Sage-dono.」
Kugel lightly passed it to Merlin. You couldn’t sense any semblance of bravery he displayed during battles there.
「Good grief, I don’t know much about it either. All I know is something along the rumor that the leader of the moderate faction is a beautiful girl. I think it’s better to ask the Spirit-dono.」
Merlin passed at the spirit without paying attention to Mikoto’s reproachful stare.
「I don’t know anything about it either. I’ve never had much interest in worldly affairs, after all. What about you two?」
Zonmer glossed it over with a cute gesture toward the Sukekaku duo.
「I’m also interested in nothing but muscles, after all.」
「I’m only two years old-degozaru.」
Truly useless. Nevertheless, this bunch, nothing could be said about their battle power, but it truly was a group with most people possessing deplorable sides.
「Now, now, at any rate, what we’re going to do has pretty much been decided. First of all, we’re going to accept common folks affiliated to the moderate faction who are unable to fight. In line with this, we’d like to ask the gentlemen of Tanaka-san’s followers to aid us in expanding the agricultural land. It’s something you’ve done before, so I believe there should be no problem with it, but what do say?」
「Yeah, the situation of the lake has become stable, and there is still a fair surplus of arable land that Tanaka created, after all. I think there should be no problem.」
「I also remember how to do it-degozaru.」
Tanaka’s overdone action had turned into a matter of ‘I’ve expected as much’ at this point. It was truly a shame that the person in question was not present.
「Oioi, quite a well-thought action there. It’ll be a huge letdown if nothing happens after all this. Will it be alright?」
「No problem. It seems that the growth of this town will continue for a while longer, so it won’t go to waste. Though unfortunately, it appears that the war will definitely occur. The source of this information Tanaka-san, after all.」
「For real….」
Curryman was lost for words. As far as he was concerned, as someone whose trust toward Tanaka was deep, with this the occurrence of the war was beyond the shadow of doubt.
「Wait a minute. I believe he’s gone to the Imperial Capital, right? It’d be a different story if he were at demon territory, but how could this information reach here from the Imperial Capital?」
Mikoto raised a voice of doubt. It appeared that she was aware that Tanaka had gone to the Imperial Capital. It truly was worrisome whether she was aware of Tanaka-san’s goal as well or not.
「It seems that the hardliners are scheming a lot of things. It appears that even the Imperial Capital is currently deteriorating and is in the midst of some sort of conspiracy. We’ll leave that matter to Tanaka-san, but well, it’s due to his involvement in this matter that we are able to obtain this information. By the way, this information seems to be something received by tavern owner-san through telecommunication magic tool, so it’s a fresh information.」
「Gee, that old man. To think he’d have a telecommunication magic tool. Even though the management of the tavern is in the red, what an item to splurge on. Or rather, it isn’t because he bought such an expensive junk that he’s troubled with money, right?」
Telecommunication magic tools were commonly used in the military, but it was not so common among the general public. That was why it still maintained its status as a high-class magic tool.
However, according to this point of Curryman, it caused nothing but financial damage to the tavern old man.
This time, the method Tanaka employed as he wished to get into contact with Nanashi town as soon as possible was through utilizing the special characteristics of the tavern old man who was a unique character in this world.
The old man naturally refused, but was overcome by Tanaka’s zeal. In fact, though, Tanaka simply got into dogeza as he begged for his help, and when he was still refused, he unleashed jumping dogeza, and when that didn’t work, he even resorted to unleashing spiral dogeza. If there was any other thing worth mentioning, it was the heartwarming daily scene in which Tanaka, losing the sight of his goal, got carried away and decided to unleash three turns dogeza only to fail at the second backward somersault, causing a mess of the desk and chairs in the tavern, and invoking the fury of the Tavern old man, but for sure there was no need to go into the depth about it.
At any rate, the truth was that, losing his patience, the excuse the Tavern old man used in desperation was the telecommunication magic tool.
As a side note, Tanaka-san, who now owed him a favor, was currently in the height of dish-washing. Of course, he was working for free.
「Nevertheless, I sure am surprised with his web of connections. The source of this information is unexpectedly said to be Hero Yashichi, you see. There was no news of him for a while, but it looks like he’s still alive. At the moment, in order to stop the conspiracy of the hardliners, in addition to hero Yashichi, Tanaka-san is working even with the leader of the moderate faction.」
「Hero Yashichi….」
「That ability to nonchalantly act alongside a beautiful girl, as expected he’s good.」
「Hahaha. As expected he’s amazing. The Boss.」
Everyone expressed their respective thoughts. Those with no reaction were, perhaps getting their common sense being chipped out, or perhaps being lost for words, feeling refreshed. The fact that they took the majority number was a testament and a way to maintain their pride as a beyond common sense group.
「There’s the connection with the leader of the moderate faction, so the matter of us receiving the common folks will undoubtedly take place. It’s just, they seem to be living quite sparsely, so it’s not like there will be a sudden huge influx at once, but…. In the end, we are estimating an increase of about twenty thousands of people.」
「Oioi, are you intending to build a new town? That’s just too many, isn’t it?」
「Yes, it is. But it’s been a thousand years since they were driven to the north. They may be only from one of the two large factions of demons, excluding the combatants while we’re at it, but they are still numbered in the twenty thousands nonetheless. How harsh their circumstances have been up until now. It makes me think of a lot of things.」
This remark of Omoi made even the always fearless Curryman unable to reply jokingly.
「So we have to make sure to successfully receive them, no matter what, right?」
Mikoto replied in his stead. This remark was no different than the usual ones, but the feeling imbued into these was without a doubt powerful.
「I’ve mentioned it earlier, but we will handle the matter of their reception. And with these two gentlemen around, there will surely be no problem with the defense of the town either.」
Suke-san and Kaku-san nodded.
「That’s why I’m thinking about asking everyone else to move and obstruct the movement of the hardliners. As the moderates are at a considerable disadvantage in terms of strength at the moment. I do think it’s going to be a dangerous job, but I’m counting on you.」
「Well, you should stop being so formal and bowing your hand like that. Because rather that’s exactly what we wished for, after all.」
Curryman responded in his usual tone.
「You’re Tanaka’s teacher, after all. So you should just act with more bang in it.」
As if to compete with Curryman, Kaku-san encouraged Omoi. When would the curtain come down on this tsundere battle?
「Leave it to us. We’ll splendidly show you the results of our training.」
「Come on, being too overeager is dangerous, you know? Geez, why do you have to end up growing in that direction? The sailor uniform is crying.」
「No need to worry. As this spirit me is on your side. Rather than obstructing, we might as well triumph over them. You don’t mind even if you do, do you?」
Uesama said such a cool line in his adorable figure. If Tanaka-san were to be there, he would have surely chewed on a handkerchief in frustration.
「If possible, I’d like to ask for an option with the least casualty on both sides, hahaha.」
From this point on, Omoi began to bear worry for the hardliners little by little.