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Overlord (Light Novel) - Volume 14, Intermission
Volume 14, Intermission
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
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In the city that was formed a part of the Karnassus City-State Alliance, Bebad.
The city’s female mayor’s residence was lit up as usual.
The owner of the residence, Ri Kista Kaberia, took the accumulated documents and started reading.
The City State Alliance was comprised of—
Karnassus.
Beppo Allo.
East Gaith.
West Gaith.
Veneria.
Greater Listaran.
Orcneas.
New Orcneas.
Grand Wythes.
Ris.
Franklin.
And finally, Bebad.
This city was part of the twelve mentioned that had formed an alliance. Each city — including the other territories they own — held on average, a population of 400,000. The largest city was home to 600,000.
Amongst these cities, Bebad was an exception in that the other cities never had a single race hold majority over 40% of the population. The City-State Alliance was a union of multiple races and cities. If one were to rewind time back a few centuries, they would find the huge nation that was the origin of the City-State Alliance.
Due to that enormous county’s collapse, fourteen city-states popped up with each metropolis at its center. After that happened, there was much bloodshed between the city-states — or rather, small countries. This situation continued on with the states uniting and splitting ad nauseam until the event they called the Great Debate, at which the current alliance between the twelve city-states were formed.
Even so, it was still difficult for everybody to abandon their predispositions towards each other. Though a century ago was the past for the races with shorter lifespans, to some of the longer-lived races it was still a recent memory.
For this reason, a quinquennial tournament was held as an outlet for those who still held a grudge from the past and it was about to begin soon.
The city on the roster to host the next tourney was Bebad.
While it was true that there were four years’ worth of time to prepare for it, they only had four years’ worth of time left.
The tournament had sixteen events, one of which garnered more attention than the rest.
The Connelier — or mock combat. It was also known colloquially as the Mutual Wallop.
Every city-state sent ten of its strongest fighters who would then fight the other combatants under the protection of the magic item known as the Standard of Peace.
This was the most entertaining and flashy of the events and was quite popular among the populace. It had come to the point where the majority of the people felt that it was fine to miss out on all of the events except for this one. That was why they could not allow even the slightest of errors to occur during this event.
That wasn’t a metaphor, a riot with massive casualties had been incited in the past when the city-state of Orcneas had not been fully prepared for the event. Even though forty years had passed from then to now, the phrase “The Organizer of Orcneas” remained a derogatory title for an incompetent person.
Though a screw-up on any of the events could incite anger, the Connelier was the single event where not even half a mistake was permitted.
However, the top-level government of each city knew that the Orcneas’ organizer wasn’t too bad, their problem laid in their lax of alertness against Vanquished Spectres.
There wasn't any direct evidence to support the existence of Vanquished Spectres. Even if that was the first time they had appeared, the mistake they caused was fatal.
Kista rubbed her eye ridges after she had finished reading the documents.
The last time Bebad had hosted the tournament was, about fifty years ago. The members of the core team in charge of organizing the affair had long since passed away.
Though she had steeled herself to learn the ropes from scratch, she still felt as though she could collapse from the stress and pressure of this entire ordeal.
She had lost sleep every time the thought that the tournament could end in failure came to mind.
Kista couldn’t help but titter.
She still had four years to go yet was already in this state. What would she be like when it was close to the opening ceremony?
She was already annoyed by it.
But, as she read through the documents left behind by her predecessors and wrote down all of her thoughts and ideas, there was a brief moment of solace.
Just as Kista was about to grab another handful of documents, someone knocked on her door.
She stood up from her chair and walked towards the door. On the other side of it was the familiar face she was expecting. It was her grandfather, the former mayor of the city, Ri Berun Kaberia.
Not only was he the great-person responsible for Bebad’s lasting peace, he was also the mayor when the tournament was last held in Bebad.
“Grandfather-sama,” Kista greeted him with a smile, “Did you come here on purpose or were you just around? I would have gone straight to you if you told me to.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, I’m just exercising for my spine’s sake. Even if my legs don’t work like they used to, if I was to be cooped up in the house forever, it would atrophy even faster. That aside, Kista, sorry for interrupting your work but are you alright?”
“Mmmm, of course I’m fine, grandfather-sama. Please, come in.”
Kista led her grandfather towards the sofa, where they sat opposite of each other.
Berun poured hot tea into the two teacups Kista had prepared for them. The pale green liquid gave off a mild and refreshing aroma that permeated the entire room.
“So, Kista. I heard from one of the maids that you haven’t been sleeping well these past few days?”
Though she did not want her grandfather to worry, she couldn’t hide it any longer.
“Yes, grandfather-sama. It’s hard for me to fall asleep every time I’m reminded of what could happen in another four years…”
Most people would laugh at the notion that someone would be worried over what would happen four years down the line, perhaps they would even say that she was being too anxious. Berun however, wasn’t laughing. The weight of the burdens shouldered by a mayor was a feeling he naturally knew all too well from his long years serving as this city’s mayor.
“Kista. If you’re already in this state, you’ll ruin yourself. This is an herbal tea that will help calm you down. Drink it and go to sleep early. An exceptional leader isn’t one who could accomplish the most in the shortest amount of time, but one who understands how to properly delegate their responsibilities to the appropriate subordinates. Nevermind you or me, how much can we truly achieve all by ourselves, right?”
“Thank you so much. But…I still have some work that needs to be completed soon.”
“Is it something to do with the neighbouring cities? But I don’t remember hearing about the Equestrian King making any movements?”
The enemy of the City-State Alliance would be the one who occupied the vast plains of the east, the Equestrian King. Since Bebad was nowhere near the plains, whenever the country was under attack, they just had to send their levies.
“…The news of the Empire recently becoming a vassal state, surely you have heard of that already. The issue of exactly how much we should be on our guards against the Sorcerous Kingdom is something that must be resolved as soon as possible.”
“Ah, the Sorcerous Kingdom…”
Berun’s expression turned apprehensive.
The country that vassalized the Empire yet only had a single city of its own. There were also rumours floating around that they had assimilated that assassin organization into their own ranks.
There were all kinds of rumours and gossip floating around, whether they were true or false was hard to tell.
Kista was reminded of someone.
The Emperor of the Empire, Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix.
The young emperor who had been given the title of the Bloody Emperor, she had met him once as part of a diplomatic mission — as a top-level official of the envoy to the Empire. They had conversed with each other at the reception gala that was held afterwards.
He was one who was rich in intelligence, wealth, and charm as expected of a country’s leader. How did someone like him become the vassal of another state?
There had to be a reason why — he must be coveting something.
“In regards to the intelligence-gathering process on the Sorcerous Kingdom, could I trouble grandfather-sama to pull some strings?”
Berun, as a long-reigning mayor of the city, had quite a lot of connections, far beyond what Kista had. Of course, she had met with most of his connections when she had inherited his post, but if Berun was the one to ask for that kind of information instead of her, it would be much more effective.
“Of course, Kista. Although this isn’t exactly through my connections, I have heard of some brilliant adventurers who had just immigrated from the Empire to here, should I ask them about it?”
“Yes please, sorry to trouble you — grandfather-sama, thank you so much.”
Kista deeply lowered her head. Even if they were of kin, he was someone who was nearly eighty years of age yet could still assume the role of mayor with no issues at all. He was even reverently referred to as the ‘Eagle of Bebad’ in the surrounding area. This was something that she had kept in mind since youth.
“Thanking me would be too — nevermind, I accept your gratitude, Kista. Starting from today, even just temporarily, go to sleep early. Am I understood?”
“—Yes, grandfather-sama. Thank you for all the care you have provided me thus far.”
