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C276: The Future
In order to think about the future, we decided to settle down at Alice Abbey. We let Fugaku and Musashi wait at the foot of the mountain, and we came to the main temple.
“Mother Maysa, what will you do now?”
It turned out that not only the Valkyrie Empire, but also the Kingdom of Lubel was targeting the Forbidden Book of Rafishal. It would be difficult for Alice Abbey to survive against two powerful nations.
“We have the blessings of Alice. We will be able to overcome this hardship.”
If there were such an all-powerful blessing, I don’t think this would have happened in the first place

.
“But as a practical matter, without protection at the national level, I don’t think you will last long.”
To Kiyone’s words, Mother Maysa replied with a sad expression.
“But if even the Lubel Kingdom is targeting us, there is no country that can help us

The only country that can help us is the Elysian Empire, but since the emperor died and the new emperor took over, the Elysian Empire has been acting strangely and is not in a mood to help a neutral organization.”
“Why don’t you turn to the Amurian Union?”
Nagisa, who was listening to the conversation, suggested that. It is true that the Amurian Union is also one of the major powers, Ranelle will listen to us properly, and it will be worth talking to her.
“The Amurian Union? It’s a big country, and it’s an ideal partner, but it’s a new country, and it doesn’t have many connections with Alice Abbey. Moreover, will they help us knowing that we will be dealing with two of the three most powerful countries

?”
“If not, we can come up with another plan then. Why don’t you just try to negotiate?”
It was the first time in a long time that I heard Jean’s way of thinking, and for some reason it made me happy. In order to push him further, I suggested this.
“If you want to discuss it, why don’t I do it? She’s not much of a warrior, but I’m sure she’ll help us if she hears what’s going on with Abbot Alice.”
“Are you acquainted with any of the high-ranking officials of the Amurian Federation?”
“No, I have a hotline to the head of state, so I can talk to her.”
“A hotline with the head of state? Who the hell is Yuta-sama

?”
For now, I’ll just have to talk to Ranelle, and we’ll see what we can do to protect ourselves for the time being. Fortunately, the casualties among Count Dalaim’s men are much less than I expected, considering the number of magicrafts that were destroyed.
We have enough riders, so once we repair the magicrafts, we can restore our strength. I talked to Rafishal and asked him to repair the magicrafts of Count Dalaim’s squad.
Why is Alice Abbey being targeted so much?”
I was exhausted after a hard day’s work, so I took a dip in the underground hot spring of the main temple. Jean, who had followed me, blurted out as we soaked in the hot spring.
“Both the Valkyrie Empire and the Kingdom of Lubel want the forbidden book Rafishal Weapon that they have.”
“The Forbidden Book ‘Rafishal Weapon’

.Hey, Rafishal. Do you know what it is?”
Unusually, Rafishal had also come to the hot spring to refresh himself before fixing the magicrafts of Count Dalaim’s team. He answered Jean’s question after some thought.
“I’m pretty sure there was a paper I wrote when I was a student that said something like that, but I wasn’t Rafishal then

.I don’t remember.”
It was not only me, Jean and Rafishal who were now enjoying the hot spring together, but also all the men in the Iron Knights. We casually talked about what we would do in the future.
“So, Yuta, what are you going to do now? From what I’ve heard, you’re thinking of doing something crazy like bringing the Sword Saint back to life.”
“I’d like to bring him back to life if possible.”
“If you say so, then the Iron Knights have no choice but to act, but there’s just one problem.”
“What’s that problem?”
“We are seriously short of funds.”
What? No money? Isn’t there money coming in from Meltaria and Amuria?”
“The deposits aren’t bad, but the withdrawals are much larger than I expected

.”
“What are you spending that much on?”
“Rafishal is doing whatever he wants to do, like attaching a ridiculous main cannon to Fugaku, or using expensive materials like a fool to strengthen magicrafts without thinking!”
“It can’t be helped. It’s essential to strengthen the Iron Knights in order to compete with Lucifer.”
Rafishal, who was listening to the conversation, countered.
“But you’re spending too much without thinking! We’ve only got about ten million left from the one billion we had!”
“It’s going to cost a lot more.”
“How much more?”
“We haven’t even achieved one percent of the target.”
“You’re a god of poverty.”
Jean seemed to be deeply troubled. It seems that Jean’s business acumen is no match for Rafishal’s spending habits.