Maseki Gurume – 016b

“Now that our greetings have concluded, shall we continue? Father, I shall explain the reasons for returning home.”

“Yeah. I wanted to take my time and talk to Ain in peace, but this much should be enough for now.”

“Ara ara, typical of you Father. Well, I’m sorry, since I forced this situation on you so suddenly, I wasn’t able to tell you about it in advance.”

“……Let’s hear the reason then.”

Not only Silvird, Warren and Lloyd, but also Chris and Martha became tense.

Although Chris had been with Olivia and Ain since yesterday, she had yet to hear the reason for the separation.

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“I separated from Logas Roundhart. I won’t be returning to Heim anymore, and of course, I’m not going to hand over Ain to them.”

“……Lloyd. Sorry but can you punch me again?”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I’m the one who’d like to receive a hit.”

Raising their voices, the two people hit each other in a manner looking like a cross-counter.

Silvird too, delivered the punch with incredible power.

“P-Princess……? Speaking of separation, you are speaking of divorce, right? “

The only person who remained calm, even if only in appearance, Warren, tried confirming with Olivia.

“Yes, I’m talking about divorce.”

“WHAT’S THE REASON!? Was there a reason for something so drastic, Olivia? ……Did something happen? “

Silvird seemed to be severely agitated.

With this, Ain confirmed that he was a person with a real soft spot for his family.

It was most likely that he was worried about the reason for the separation to an extent that seemed almost out of character.

“I simply thought Ain wouldn’t be able to become happy if he continued living there. And with Logas only doing what his mother told him, I couldn’t bring myself to continue sharing my life with him.”

Olivia began explaining her reasons.

The preferential treatment Logas gave to Grint, and the cold attitude of his grandmother, Isis, towards Ain.

She explained to everyone present that she just couldn’t stand everything that had happened so far to her and especially to Ain.

“(Haa……And half my blood is of the people who were doing that. Even if they don’t accept me, I hope they’ll at least let me live.)”

Ain, on the other hand, was thinking about his lineage.

With how the Roundhart family had treated their precious daughter, he thought they might come to hate him.

“……You, did well in coming back, Olivia.”

“……Yes.”

Silvird, most likely trying to suppress various emotions, called out to Olivia with a pained expression.

“Lloyd-dono, is a budgetary meeting needed? “

“Not at all. As a matter of fact, with Heim as the opponent, there’s nothing particularly questionable even if we make a preemptive strike. It’s true that Logas-dono is quite skilled, but with only that there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“(Are, I think I heard some sort of dangerous conversation just now.)”

“But, as a member of the Knight Order, I don’t think I would like ‘Heim’ to be destroyed. Isn’t it enough to attack the Roundhart house? “

“……Hey, what exactly are you discussing in front of me? “

As one would expect, it was a dangerous conversation and Silvird had to step in to stop it.

“I won’t let the Roundharts or Heim be destroyed. Just catch that man and behead him in the town square.”

’Aren’t you the most dangerous, Your Majesty’, Ain was about to retort.

“It’s a bother to go to such lengths……no, I just didn’t like it there so that’s why I returned home without telling you, Father. Let’s stop there, shall we? I don’t want to have to keep thinking about this.”

Part of Olivia probably didn’t want to be involved with them anymore, so she calmed down the trio, plotting the demise of the Roundhart family.

“If the Princess says so, let’s stop with dispatching some troops……”

“The Princess has always been kind, hahaha! “

“Let’s shelf this matter for now. Olivia went there to marry for the sake of Ishtalika……”

“Ahhh, enough with that. Can I explain Ain my reasons for marrying into Heim? “

“(Ahh, that’s right, the reason why mother came to Heim.

That’s one of the things I wanted to know about.)”

“Ahh, it should be fine. The deal has been voided now, so I don’t mind you talking about it to anyone present.”

When Silvird gave his permission, one of the questions gnawing at Ain would finally be solved.

“Well, Warren. Would you please explain it?”

“As you wish. The reason for this is quite simple…… it was for the rights on resources.”

“Our country is large and vast and we continue to prosper, thanks to our high technological capabilities and culture. But exactly because of this prosperity, there is one problem.”

“A problem…… could it be, the population?”

Martha, whom until now had remained silent, formulated her thoughts.

“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 home 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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