Chapter 99
After confirming that there were signs of a fight, Calian immediately sent Kyrie to the Lord’s castle.
Kiriye, who went to the castle, pretending to be a mercenary’s a.s.sistant, reached out to the guard who looked the easiest and handed him some silver coins. It was easy enough to confirm the existence of five immature elves gathered in the temporary accommodations and the cause of this war.
“The cause seems to be the Brissen Merchantry,”
Brissen Merchantry…
“Is it Lennon Brissen again?”
Calian almost laughed.
After trying out everything, they were even becoming the cause of conflict between territories now.
“It seems that the only merchantary that operates in these regions is Brissen’s – but due to the issues with Latran, the Brissen Merchantry are saying they’ll cut off this area from their route,”
Kyrie continued to explain that both territories were unable to cultivate wheat, so wheat and rye were being purchased from Brissen’s merchants. However the Brissen Merchantry cut off the deal at will on their end.
While Nerika had stocked up on wheat, they refused to sell any to Sting – and the deal they did end up discussing had Nerika demanding an absurd amount for the wheat. As a result, the quarrel led to preparations of war between the two territories.
Upon understanding the situation, Calian relaxed as soon as the words ‘wheat and rye’ came out.
“It’s fight with food on the line in places where food is scarce, so it won’t last long.”
It was a matter of course.
How would the be able to fight for a long time without wheat and rye when they were hiring mercenaries as soldiers as well?
Calian, who had a rough grasp of what was happening, returned to the elf village without wasting anymore time.
“Did you have a good trip, your highness?”
As soon as he arrived back and opened the door to his room, Yan, who had been sitting in a chair, stood up and greeted him.
Calian nodded at the greeting and began to dig around for his seal.
“Bring me some stationary, I need to write a letter,”
“Yes, your highness.”
Yan sprang to action instantly, leaving the room and returning soon with several pieces of paper, pens and envelopes.
Calian wrote two identical letters in front of Yan.
They both said ‘I will be visiting your territory soon, so I ask you prepare a stay without inconvenience.’
Yan, who saw the letters, became puzzled.
Since he was not normally a person who would write a letter asking someone to serve him so openly, while even stamping the letters with his seal. However, because Calian’s expression didn’t look very pleased, Yan just stood before him and waited quietly.
Calian finished writing both letters, sealed them in envelopes and said,
“Sting and Nerika have the atmosphere of going into battle within the next few days. I think the elder meant for me to stop it when he asked me to find those five elves,”
“It seems he tricked you, your highness,”
“I know. I was completely fooled.”
After grasping the situation, Yan stopped behaving like an obedient servant for a moment and instead reacted like the unruly eldest son of a Duke.
Surprised, Calian reached over and physically blocked Yan’s mouth to stop the stream of curses flying out and quickly continued speaking.
“The two Lords seem to be preparing for a fight because they think I’ve already pa.s.sed by this place, so if I say I’m going to be stopping by, they’ll stop for now. Everyone knows the Kaela Knights came to Latran, so they should know it’s not good to provoke me,”
Yan, who finally understood what Calian had written that sn.o.bbish letter to the Lords, asked,
“Then what about after that? Even if they pause the war after receiving the letter – if they don’t get a visit from the Prince after some time, then wouldn’t it start again?”
“Either way, the five elves will return to the village,”
Calian laughed at Yan.
“The terms of the deal were to find the elves, not to prevent a conflict between two territories. Whether they end up fighting or not, that’s not up to me,”
Calian who said this, walked to Ger’s house with the two letters he had just written.
—
When Calian handed Ger the two letters, Ger looked at them and asked,
“What is this?”
“They’re letters,”
Calian replied, sitting comfortably opposite Ger.
“Send one to Sting and one to Nerika. This will make sure the war between them is delayed for about a month. Of course, the elves who left will come back during that time. After that, take care of things yourself, so that they don’t end up leaving again.”
Calian, who answered that way, tapped Ger’s desk and continued,
“That is, if there’s anything left here.”
“Then the war is…!”
Ger shut his mouth. Calian laughed when he saw that.
“Since you’re an elf, I still doubted it somewhat – but I guess you did trick me knowing that the two Lords were in conflict.”
Calian tilted his head. His voice became cold and soft.
“You tricked me.”
He had learned that while an elf doesn’t like, that doesn’t mean they can’t conceal information or twist the truth. The elf who had taught him such a thing, opened his mouth after a long time.
“Do you mean you are going to leave like this?”
“You asked me to locate the whereabouts of five elves right? So I found them for you.”
Ger’s long ears heated up red either from anger or shame. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, but didn’t speak.
Calian decided to leave without further delay.
He pointed to the letters on the table with his finger and said,
“Let’s say these letters are the price for our food and board. We’ll leave tomorrow morning. I don’t need the forest path or anything.”
Ger’s eyes turned red again, as he watched Calian turned towards the door. Just as he reached to open it, Ger’s voice rang out,
“Are you saying you’re okay with it even if a conflict breaks out in your country?”
“Well, since they have a legitimate reason, they’ll fight. And eventually they’ll stop.”
Calian who said so, raised a finger and pointed to the ground,
“If this place is so important to you then protect it yourself. Don’t play pathetic tricks on me.”
After that, Calian opened the door and left just like that.
Ger stared at the door where Calian had left blankly. Things had played out beyond his expectations.