Published at 25th of March 2019 11:31 pm

Chapter 54 – Worries I

Translator: Isekai Shousetsu

The conversation with King Rosyth ends and I exit the room. Outside, I find Julia waiting for me.

“It’s been a long time. Did you come to give me your conclusion?” (Julia)

I look straight into Julia’s eyes and answer.

“………Sorry. I’m still thinking about it. I’ll certainly give out my answer before the deadline.” (Almis)

Julia smiles.

“I see. Please. Hurry up if you can. By the way……can we talk for a while?”

Julia pulls on my hand.

“You, this isn’t the situation to be meeting with me secretly, you know.” (Almis)

“But if I didn’t do this then I won’t be able to talk with you, right?” (Julia)

I was brought to somewhere by Julia. This place seems to be her private room.

……This isn’t a plan to make me drink some strange medicine and make a fait accompli, right?

I look around Julia’s room. It has various furnishings as well as sorcery tools here and there and it reeks of strange medicine.

It also has a considerable collection of books, too.

At the very least, this isn’t like a room of a typical modern Japanese girl.

Although, I don’t know whether this is the typical room of an Adernian Princess or a Julia-only thing……it’s probably the latter.

By the way, as for Tetra’s room, there are 6 prototype wands, materials for making the wand, magical squares, paper and magical stones scattered about in great quantity. Although the person herself says she intentionally arranged the room as such, it’s a lie since you’ll always see her seemingly looking around for something.

Suddenly, a plant with a white flower catches my attention.

“Is this opium poppy?” (Almis)

“You’re well informed, huh. Have you used it for something?” (Julia)

“No, I haven’t. Although I’ve seen one growing in the forest.” (Almis)

By the way, I was taught by Griffon-sama that you could use it as medicine.

Poppy has a pain killing effect so it’s very excellent as medicine.

It’s also commonly used as a medium for Illusion sorcery. This is the one we mixed in the gunpowder.

By the way, it’s also quite excellent as a narcotic. It can put a lion to sleep.

“Is this female hemp plant?” (Almis)

“Well, yes. Though I wonder if, as medicine, poppy would be better? Hemp’s hallucinogenic effects are light so they don’t have much value in sorcery. Well, how about recreation, hmm ……don’t think I want to smoke it though. You can live even without smoking it, right.” (Julia)

In other words, it’s marijuana.

They smoke a lot of this in the Adernia Peninsula…perhaps I should say the west.

That’s because it’s easy to cultivate and they think it’s probably not that poisonous.

I think other people who smoke this should just do what ever the hell they want. However, I don’t want any people important to me to be smoking this.”

“This flower…It’s quite beautiful although I’m not familiar with it. Is this also a narcotic? (Almis)

“Yes! Yes! It’s something I got from the orient. I asked the Cretians, but the hallucinogenic effect was amazing. I heard it’s called Morning Glory. I tried it out on a mouse for now but just looking at him is quite frightening.” (Julia)

Morning glory as a hallucinogen…

I’ve heard of these.

These are Jimsonweed.

They also have Datura in this world, huh.

If they have poppy opium and marijuana then they naturally have these too.

Julia……experimenting on animals is convenient but, please don’t ever experiment on your own body, okay?

“Actually, see. I’ve been thinking about experimenting on people……I’ve already understood the efficacy by using a dog as a sorcery medium, see. That’s why the next thing is to take data from people but……” (Julia)

Julia puts jimsonweed on my hand.

“Won’t you try this jimsonweed for me in your next war? It would only be something like making it into a fine powder and scattering it so a curse could be applied, see.” (Julia)

“Well, that’s fine but…”

It would probably be more effective than poppy, am I correct?

Illusion magic seemed to hold the key in territorial dispute after all. There’s no problem if it’s just checking.

The joke is on us if the wind suddenly changes direction though.

Suddenly, a lavender flower jumps into my eyes.

It’s about the same as Julia’s hair color.

However, this flower’s shape is unlike a lavender.

As I grab the flower to look at it, it gives off a sweet smell.

What could this……

“That, you see, is a new variety of a poisonous plant. It’s something I recently got from the Adernia Peninsula. I raised this because I heard people who eat this get poisoned. I intend to experiment on what would happen if I increased the amount of the plant. Will it become medicine? Will it become poison? Furthermore, will it become a narcotic?………Don’t you think it’s exciting?” (Julia)

I don’t think so.

“Hmmm. Am I strange? I get all fired up and excited whenever I do investigations like these.” (Julia)

This isn’t because of something like those things entering the body in very small amounts, right?

Please let it just be Julia being abnormal. I’m begging you please.

“Hey, won’t you try it if a war breaks out? After that, I want you to teach me the difference in efficacy compared to poppy.” Julia rapidly closes in on me.

“Well, okay. If it’s just that.”

Julia hands me the flower after I say so.

“Thank you. Let me hear the results from you personally.” (Julia)

“You don’t have to tell me.” (Almis)

Julia comes closer to kiss me.

………I receive it just like that without refusing.

She immediately separates from me.

“Good luck, okay?”

“I know.”

I say my goodbye to Julia and return to the palace.

“Hey, Almis. You kissed with Julia, am I right?” (Tetra)

“……Sorry”

I apologize honestly.

However, how did she know? Women’s intuition is amazing, huh.

“It’s not like I’m angry. It’s not like I lost anything.” Tetra candidly says.

I’ve known Tetra for so long but……as I thought, she’s a strange one. I don’t understand her sometimes.

Isn’t it normal to be angry at this?

If you won’t get angry then I’ll sneak around and do the same thing again and again, you know.

“If you and Julia get married then you’ll be making babies either way so something like a kiss should be nothing. It’s fine to give her a kiss or two too if you do decide not to marry her. I’m very generous after all.” (Tetra)

I want you to be jealous even just a little. Didn’t you get in the way a long time ago when me and Julia got a good mood going?

What turn of events is this.

“I’ve already gotten Almis’ number one spot after all. From now on, no matter what happens, the fact that I’m wife no. 1 is set in stone.” (Tetra)

In other words, she’s already married me so she has the leeway.

It’s that sort of thing, huh.

“By the way……right now, which side are you leaning on? Do you want to or not want to marry her?”

“I’m going with 6 against 4 but I wonder if that’s big……”

My relationship with Regal DeBall got considerably worse because of this time’s affair. If things continue as is, then it would become as King Rosyth said. I’ll have to consider a future where I’ll get purged after Regal becomes king.

No, that’s just an excuse, huh.

While doing things like kissing with Julia and embracing each other, I, by all means, have come to want her.

Yes, it seems like I’m just looking for excuses, huh.

“I actually think that it would be good if you became king. Ron and the others said so too.” (Tetra)

“I know. That’s why I couldn’t consult with them.” (Almis)

Those guys will definitely not object. Rather, they’d probably greatly welcome it. They would also probably die gladly for the sake of my happiness.

That’s why I couldn’t ask them.

I don’t want them to die after all.

Plus……there’s something worrying me a little.

“If you become king, a lot of people would be saved. Is this reason not fine?” (Tetra)

“You’re overestimating me. My arms are not that wide.” (Almis)

I let out a sigh.

It will become the seventh month tomorrow.

There’s four months left until the deadline Julia gave me…… Until then……

“Lord Regal. You should punish Gilberto. If you don’t we won’t be able to instill discipline to the other retainers!!!” (Bermet)

Bermet raises his voice.

Regal deals with it.

“Wait wait, he got defeated just once. Can’t we just overlook it this time?” (Regal)

“He fought the enemy with twice their soldiers but he still lost, you know? That battle was something that he shouldn’t have lost. This loss has caused a large part of the neutral faction to move to the Ars faction. Even within our faction, there’s a lot who have switched and are thinking of switching. We cannot have him not take responsibility for this!!” (Bermet)

At present, it has become that a third of all the great clansmen are in the Ars Faction while the remaining two-thirds are in the DeBell faction.

For a long time, the Ars Faction wasn’t very collected and was just composed of nothing but people who were once in the DeBell faction but wouldn’t have hesitated to leave and people who are pretending to be Ars supporters but are actually neutral. However, with their faction’s victory this time, their unity had solidified at once.

The war continues in the Adernia Peninsula and, to the great clansmen, their subordinate’s worries are how they could protect their own interests.

Naturally, the fact that the Almis Ars Clan broke the law still exists. But that is not that big of a problem if compared to their strength in war.

Furthermore, the reason they broke the law was under the pretext of protecting oppressed peoples.

Compared to that, Regal DeBell oppressed the people and got defeated even though they had twice the forces.

If they had won then the fact that they had oppressed people would not have become a big deal but………now that they’ve lost it’s become a big problem.

At present, people voicing their doubts against Regal DeBell’s succession to the throne are getting more vocal.

It’s become a big problem for Regal who’s aiming for the throne.

“However, Gilberto is my second cousin. Wouldn’t it be fine to just forgive him this time?” (Regal)

Bermet clenches his fist tightly.

Regal is extremely generous to his relatives.

Regal will grant people important posts even if they don’t have great accomplishments so long as they’re relatives. If they made a big mistake, Regal wouldn’t blame them.

Conversely, Regal is harsh against non-relatives, never giving them any important jobs. If they made even the smallest of mistakes then they’ll immediately get punished.

Right now, the only person holding an important post with no blood-relation to Regal is Bermet. All of the retainers without blood-relation to Regal are all by Bermet’s recommendation.

Because of this, the retainers don’t show any ambition to obtain great achievements.

By all means, Bermet wants to cut off the influence of Regal’s relatives before he becomes king.

This time the damage is great but, conversely making use of it ought to strengthen their camp.

Bermet, for this reason, vehemently blames Gilberto.

After Gilberto loses his standing, Bermet intends to replace him with a capable person who is not Regal’s relative.

However, Regal is sticking up for Gilberto so it couldn’t go well.

“In the first place, isn’t there also problem with you, Lord Bermet, the one who made that kind of plan?

A relative retainer utters so.

Voices of agreement to that declaration rise.

Certainly, Bermet’s plan was a little dangerous and had a lot of demerits. However, had that plan not pushed through, Regal would, open and above board, end up breaking the law.

In addition to that, there’s no mistaking that it won’t be funny if they lose.

Therefore, Bermet is not at fault.

However, to Regal’s relatives, those things don’t matter.

“Well, well. Let’s just divide the blame and call this one a draw.” Regal declares so to soothe his relatives.

Just like that, Bermet also ended up taking some fault.

Regal didn’t have bad intentions. He really did that just to soothe his relatives. He just ended up choosing the wrong words.

However, he did not notice the mistake, nor the fact the it was induced by his relatives.

Bermet breaths out a sigh from the bottom of his heart.

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