CH 132

Poppo (2)

I arrived at the city of Grandver as the F-rank Bird Poppo.

He descended into the mansion where I worked and lived until five months ago.

Knock-Knock

I used my beak to poke at the window.

Viscount Granvelle, who was in his room, noticed me pecking at the window from outside. Wondering what it was, he opened the window and I, with a basket naturally entered the room and landed on his desk.

“It’s been a while. I’m Allen.”

“What? Allen?”

Viscount was surprised that a pigeon spoke, so I waited for him to calm down.

After a while, the Viscount regained his composure. He seemed to remember the report from the Knight Commander about Chappy speaking in my voice.

I told him about Cecile’s letter in the basket and how Cecile and I won’t be back during the summer vacation because of the dungeons.

Viscount Granvelle frowned for a moment at the mention of dungeons, but he didn’t blame me. It’s well known that the Academy has been forcing students to go through God’s Trial by raiding dungeons.

“Thank you for taking the trouble to report this.”

He expressed his gratitude to a pigeon i.e. me.

“No, it’s nothing. In fact, as mentioned in Lady Cecile’s letter, I have something to tell you about the Carnell Family.”

“What about the Carnell?”

The Viscount looked at me suspiciously. I told him everything that happened concerning the Carnell Family, starting from the point where I met Kiel and became his friend.

“And that’s why we’re living together at the base.”

“That’s why? …Does that mean that yoo and Cecile are living in the same house?”

“Yes.”

“Yes…”

The Viscount looked away from me at the window. He pressed his fingers against the corners of his eyes and I wondered if the summer sun had gotten to his head.

“So I’ve come to see if there’s any talk of rebuilding the family after the five years of service the Royal Messenger mentioned.”

The reason why I came all the way back to the city of Grandver this time was to confirm this. The Viscount may have been approached about the revival of the Carnell in the neighboring territory.

(According to the Viscount’s reaction, he’s never heard of it before. I knew it was a lie.)

Naturally, I’ve told my friends, including Kiel, that I’m going to tell Viscount Granvelle about this. I’ve also asked Cecile to confirm the facts in her letter.

“… I don’t know if that’s true or not.”

(I guess Viscount Granvelle doesn’t know, after all. Maybe only Kiel knows about it.)

As I was thinking this, the Viscount continued to speak.

“I don’t know about promises, but if Kiel’s a Priest, then that’s pretty common.”

“Common? Meaning?”

The Viscount prefaced his talk by saying that it was not about Kiel, but about Priests in general.

The story was that the Royals and Nobles would use anyone who had the Talent of Priests.

Both Royals and Nobles love their own children. Even if they willingly send their child off to war for the sake of their position in society, they still want their children to come back home.

However, the number of Priests and other children with healing Talents has always been low, partly because the Church takes them in. Everyone wants to have someone on their child’s side who can heal them.

“Is it so low?”

I think the reason why 50% of people die in 3 years is because they don’t have a healer.

“No, I suppose not. There are no healers to be deployed for the Nobles. There are not many healers, and by agreement, the Elves from Rosenheim have taken on the role of healing others.”

(The Bakius Empire is helping the Central Continent with magic tools, and Rosenheim is helping them with Healing Magic? The Central Continent is being helped all the time, isn’t it? Well, if the Central continent falls, both continents are going to be attacked from all directions.)

The Elves heal the soldiers, so we are not suffering from a lack of healers.

There are healers but not for personal use, huh.

The Elves participate to win the war against the Demon King, not for the selfishness of the Royals and Nobles.

They said they had come across the continent to support them, and that they had no intention of being a guardian for the Nobles.

“If we are too selfish and give unreasonable orders to the Elves, they may return to Rosenheim.”

That would mean the collapse of the front line.

So here’s what the Nobles did.

In the beginning, they hired commoners and serfs with healing Talents.

They were taking people with healing Talents because they would give money to their families and guarantee their status.

The Church, however, vehemently opposed this. They said it was not right to use God-given Talents for Nobles only.

“So the power relationship between the Church and the Kingdom is at odds.”

“That’s right. In the Empire, the Emperor has absolute power, but in the Kingdom, the Church and Guilds have a certain amount of say.”

It seems that the Church has a strong position in the Kingdom. In addition, it seems that the various guilds, including the Adventurers’ Guild, are also powerful in their own way.

So what would happen if the Nobles themselves had healing Talents?

Those Nobles solved their own problems, so the Church couldn’t come down too hard on them.

Since the child of one of the Royal or Noble is always on the battlefield, there is always a need for a healer to be by his/her side.

In this case even after the healers fulfill their duty, everyone hopes that he/she will still stay in the battlefield.

There are usually cases of Royals and Nobles guaranteeing rewards and prosperity for the healer’s Family and asking them to stay even after fulfilling their duties. However, there have been cases where some children of Nobles had to stay on the battlefield until they died due to a promise made by their parents.

“Are you saying that this case is probably the latter?”

“Well, I suppose you’re right.”

Even if the Royal Messenger lied, what can a child of a crushed Noble Family do?

(It’s true, Kiel’s magic is quite capable.)

Kiel’s <Priest> skill reached Level 4 last month.

Effect of Kiel’s <Heal>

<Heal> Level 1: Restores the health of one target

<Heal> Level 2: Greatly restores the target’s health

<Heal> Level 3: Restores the health of the entire party within a 10 meter radius

<Heal> Level 4: Greatly restores the health of the entire party within a 10 meter radius

The amount of recovery seems to depend on [Intelligence]. I am still calculating the exact ratio, but the skill is quite useful.

Speaking of a 10-meter radius, if 1 soldier occupies 3 square meters area, he can use <Heal> on about 100 soldiers at once.

(Well, that said, my <Awakening> skills are still better.)

Since I used the requested 100,000 D-rank magic stones in July all for skill experience, my <Awakening> has reached Level 6. Thanks to this, I now have a pretty good idea of all the <Awakening> skills.

F-rank Grass Appy’s Awakening skill [Herb]

Inhaling it’s scent reduces the 24-hour mana cycle to 3 hours

E-rank Grass Mametarou’s Awakening skill [Leaf of Life]

Restores 1000 health to the entire party within a 50 meter radius

D-rank Grass Jagabata’s Awakening skill [Mana Seed]

Restores 1000 mana to the entire party within a 50 meter radius

C-rank Grass Marvo’s Awakening Skill: [Flavored Vegetables]

Removes the entire party’s abnormal status conditions within a 50 meter radius. The effect lasts for 24 hours.

It has a radius of 50 meters, so at 1 soldier per 3 square meters, it can recover over 2,500 people at once.

(Well, I guess I’ll start buying E rank magic stones now so that I won’t have trouble healing on the battlefield. I might not be able to replenish them on the battlefield.)

After listening to the Viscount’s talk this time, I was able to formulate a plan.

In addition to the 50,000 D-rank magic stones that I am currently requesting per month, I will also be requesting E-rank magic stones.

Even when I go to the battlefield, it may take years to eradicate the Demon King’s army and defeat the Demon King. It doesn’t matter how much healing medicine I have. If I’m going to defend the front lines with the students I’m studying with now, I’ll need a lot of healing medicine.

(Well, that’s a story for the future. I need to talk about this now.)

“The Carnell Family was going to be destroyed. So, they coerced Kiel into going to the battlefield for 5 years making Carnell Family restoration the bait?”

I summarized Kiel’s situation based on the Viscount’s story and my own predictions.

“Well, yes, five years, which probably means it’s for the new kids going into the Academy.”

Although I was speaking through Poppo, my tone of voice was filled with anger.

“Well, I understand the situation. Thank you very much.”

“What are you going to do?”

“No, I do not wish to inconvenience the Granvelle Family.”

“No, you tell me properly. What are you going to do?”

“I will ask His Majesty the King to restore the Carnell Family.”

“What if His Majesty refuses?”

“I think I’ll have to make a petition with reasonable results so that I won’t be turned down.”

As a matter of course, I said that I would ask the King to restore the Carnell Family.

(If he refuses, it’ll be the end of the Latash Kingdom. I’ll become the second Demon King. I’m kidding, but I need to think of a strategy so that he won’t refuse. Well, there’s plenty of time, so I’ll figure it out. I’ll make it work.)

I’ve known Kiel for a few months now, and I can tell, Kiel is a good guy.

Cecile calls him a “Golden Saint” instead of a “Golden Goose,” but he is so well integrated into the group that she can say so without any bad blood.

And the money he earns, he apparently keeps for his sister and the servants instead of spending it. Rather than spending money extravagantly, he is living a moderate life.

He doesn’t say anything about it, but I think it’s so that his sister and servants won’t have to live in difficulty without him for five years.

I have no intention of letting what happened to Kiel go on like this.

The Viscount put his fingers to his temple and began to think. Then, after a pause, he said.

“Allen, just to make sure again, you said five years, right? Not three years or seven years.”

“Yes, I heard it was five years.”

“Well, five years,” muttered the Viscount. Maybe he had some idea.

“I’m sorry, Allen. I hope you don’t mind if I keep this one for myself?”

“What? Are you going to make a move?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t ask the Viscount to move. I just wanted to know what had happened and would happen to Kiel.

“Thank you.”

Viscount Granvelle said that he would go to the Royal Capital to confirm. He said it might take a while, but to wait for him.

“It will be more than two years before I go to the battlefield. I’ll be waiting for you”, Allen replied in the form of a pigeon.