Royal Feud

Chapter 68

Chapter 68

“Just as Martha-dono says, it’s the population. The train is a given...... but now, all sorts of magic tools are used in daily life, their use ranges from boiling water to powering a small ship. Magic tools have become commonplace in our lives, however, there aren’t enough crystals to make them.”

“Sea Crystals? Certainly, it’s an urgent issue...... Ain-sama, do you know about Sea Crystals? “

Obviously, not being able to understand the contents of the talk at all, Ain was grateful for Chris’ comment.

“No, this is the first time I’ve heard of them. What kind of crystals are they?”

“Allow me to explain. Sea Crystals are basically the bones of the seamonsters, they come to be many years after their death. We insert the molten Sea Crystals in the magic tools.”

“(A material like that exists?)”

Just by listening to its description, the Sea Crystal seemed to be a valuable resource.

To the point Ain wanted to get a more thorough explanation.

“Uhmm, what effect does the molten Sea Crystal have?”

“The molten Sea Crystal can memorize various kinds of magic, and can control magic stones. Like magic tools to boil water, or to blow a cold breeze, it can remember and control all kinds of magic.”

Prime Minister Warren explained in detail.

“(I see, pretty much everything a appliance can do is memorized in the Sea Crystal, or rather, for air conditioners to even exists in this country......)”

Ain was surprised by the magic tool that worked like air conditioners.

The level of culture in this country was several times higher than he expected.

“I more or less understand how it works.”

“That’s fine. Now, let’s go back to the story. As the population has grown, the demand for magic tools has also increased greatly. However, in the waters near Ishtalika, almost all the Sea Crystals discovered have been depleted. But a few years ago a huge amount of Sea Crystals was discovered in the waters near the Roundhart territory.”

”If the crystal’s are obtained from the seamonsters, why don’t they form a hunting expedition?”, Ain thought, but the answer was given to him immediately.

“Even with our knowledge and technology, the prerequisites for the formation of Sea Crystals are unknown. There’s only one thing that is currently known about them, which is that Sea Crystals don’t form on the ocean floor too far from land.”

“(Ahh, I see......)”

“Fortunately, Heim’s magic tools are different from ours. In our case, the molten Sea Crystal stores the magic, and it controls and operates the magic stones that serve as fuel. On the other hand Heim’s magic tools have no “controller”...... they don’t use Sea Crystals, like us. But e ven with no control function, when the magic tool is activated, it will just fulfill its’ function on demand. But there will be nothing to control the magic stone.”

“(I see, yeah, I don’t understand, what’s the difference between controlling and not? Will the efficiency of the magic stones be different? If that’s all there is to it, I don’t think this is a big enough reason to marry a princess to another country) ......I’m sorry. Can you tell me the difference between controlling the magic stone and not doing it?”

“Ah, please forgive me. An uncontrolled magic stone in a magic tool will leak a small amount of magical power of the monster it came from. The magical power of monster is ‘poisonous’ for humans, so as a result, the life span of the person operating it gradually shortens and their growth is hindered.”

In other words, every time you use a magic tool from Heim, it eats away at you little by little.

If one were to know that, they’ll think twice before using them.

“In this country, almost everyone owns magic tools. Therefore, it wasn’t possible to allow the use of this type of magic tool. Of course, we’re doing research on new models, but there hasn’t been anything promising so far.”

“......Then, the Princess married to Heim just for that? “

It was the first time Chris heard of this and she didn’t like it at all.

Ain was happy that she felt that way about Olivia.

“That’s right. And thanks to that, we demanded the Sea Crystal mining rights from Heim. What they asked from us in return was our backing, due to our difference in national power. With our backing, Heim could become a stronger force on their continent.”

With this, some of the questions Ain had were answered.

In other words, Olivia agreed to get married with a noble of Heim for the sake of Ishtalika.

“When Ain-sama was to be chosen as the next head of the family, we were supposed to publicly announce the relation between Olivia-sama and Ishtalika. Since this was a troublesome issue that would affect the relations with other countries, we were minding the moment to go public. At that time, the Earl of the Roundhart family would be promoted to Marquis, and when you, Ain-sama, had become an adult, you would’ve been bestowed the position of Duke.”

The fact that a princess from a country like Ishtalika had married into their nobility couldn’t be made public carelessly.

If this had been leaked to the extremists, it was a possibility that Heim would have to go to war against all of its neighbouring countries at once.

Given those circumstances, it seemed reasonable waiting for the right time.

“Uhmm......Was it really necessary to make a secret agreement like that? The situation in the continent is stable right now, so I don’t think they needed our backing that badly. Still, this sort of break-up is......”

What Martha said was true. It was safe to assume that Ishtalika wouldn’t cooperate with Heim anymore.

It was hard to think that Silvird would forgive an infraction like this.

“I don’t know what they’re thinking. What are your thoughts on this, Lloyd?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. It will certainly be a pain for us, but Heim will certainly lose a lot more if relations break down......”

“About the Sea Crystals, it’s alright.”

“......Olivia, what are you saying? “

......Mother? What exactly are you going to reveal next?

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Editors notes:

: Tatami’s is approximately m² or ft²

. - Stock up transactions and Ain’s abilities.

. - Stock up transactions and Ain’s abilities.

Stock up transactions and Ain’s abilities.

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“Like I said, the problem with the Sea Crystals has already been solved. “

Olivia denied everyone’s worry regarding the future supply of Sea Crystals and suggested that it wasn’t really a problem.

“Forgive me if I may sound rude Princess, but if this could’ve been solved as easily as you put it, then you wouldn’t have needed to marry into Heim in the first place.”

Warren replied slightly doubtful.

After all, this had been a considerable problem that it had required the princess to marry into a country like Heim.

But according to Olivia, the issue was already solved.

“That was a very painful decision for us. We couldn’t go against the vows of non-aggression the founding King did. Resulting in you, Princess, to marry into Heim in order to gain access to the Sea Crystals......”

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

This was because the Founding King, the one who united the people across the continent of Isthar, decided on this policy the moment he was coronated as the first King.

Except for when a crisis was imminent, waging for any political or economical reason was not allowed.

Trade sanctions could be considered as a measure during political disputes, however, the trade with Heim was negligible in the first place.

For this reason, the most they would do as a retaliatory measure was usually ceasing of diplomatic relations.

These were the main reasons for Ishtalika not forcibly taking the Sea Crystals and instead made a legitimate deal without any use of force.

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

“I know you do; and I can’t blame you for resenting me.”

“Ara, do you think that’s why I’m angry? “

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

Olivia complained a bit, but the source of her complaints seemed to be about something different than what Silvird was thinking.

“Now, will you please tell me? I won’t be able to apologize as King. But as a father, I need to apologize to you.”

“Is that so? Then let me tell you my grudge...... I thought that our country, Ishtalika, had developed our technology by leaps and bounds compared to other countries. I thought the researchers were amazing when they came back and had discovered a huge amount of Sea Crystals.”

“Certainly, they did a great job.”

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

“Princess, what do you mean?”

Chris wondered what Olivia was talking about.

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

“The Roundharts gave me quite a lot of freedom. With that, I was able to use part of the tax revenue from the Earl’s house somewhat for my own research. This is why I was able to discover something.”

“Is that somehow connected to the topic of the Sea Crystals? “

“We should’ve have questioned that they were only found near Heim. I was able to find them in the Dukedom of Euro, located northwest of Heim, as well......”

“Princess, is that true!? “

Lloyd’s surprise was easily comprehensible.

Sea Crystals, which were supposed to be quite precious, were usually not found all over the place and finding new mining sites was quite rare.

“(When did Mother lead those investigations? )”

“However, Princess, how did you find out about that? For a proper investigation of that scale, you need to dive deep to the ocean bed. I was never notified of a dispatch of Ishtalika’s research team.”

“Indeed, I did not use the research team. What I used...... what I requested was the help of the continent’s guild, the Adventurers Guild.”

“You made a request through the adventurers? Olivia, then, that means......”

“Well, 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 the freedom granted to me.”

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

She investigated this because finding a new source of Sea Crystals would be in the end better for Ishtalika. This proved to be quite useful for this time’s situation, 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 include the local people and their stories.”

“C-coves......?! But the monster bones shouldn’t accumulate in a cove......”

“Mother, could 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-related 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 quite hard to erode.

Still, the strong waves would eventually manage to erode them, given enough time, creating hidden coves.

As a result, the sediments on the seabed gradually moved, being transported by the ocean currents and were being swept away by the strong 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 make a deal with Euro now, Olivia?”

“Now you’re just being silly, Father. I won’t be someone’s wife any longer. The talks about a deal with Euro have already progressed up to a certain point.”

“......What do you mean by that, Princess?”

Just as everyone had a blank expression in response to Olivia’s words, Warren was the first one to recover and inquired further.

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

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

Just like the one Olivia used when she returned , 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 such device.

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. One for receiving a message and one for answering.

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 birds had also been extremely high.

These two message birds were ones Olivia was able to prepare using her funds provided by the tax revenue from the Roundhart territory, juggling her expenses.

“This looks like a message bird, right Warren?”