CH 96

Chapter 96: Mad Dog Livyathan

On our way to Almeria, we passed through the frontier of the Gavel region.

To handle the potion matter as quickly as possible, and to avoid getting involved in anything unnecessary, we decided to stay the night at a roadside inn – a private establishment.

But…

“Oh, it’s been a while, Your Majesty.”

When I got off the carriage and was about to enter the roadside inn, a man who was waiting for me kneeled down and bowed to me.

“You are …… Phil Mohm. Why are you here?”

The young man who raised his head – Phil Mohm, was the young governor who had taken up a case of the salt tax.

He is the governor of the Gabel Province, and as a former slave, he is still new to the city and busy with his work.

“I heard that His Majesty is coming, so I decided to be his escort.”

“Escort?”

I furrowed my brow and looked around me carefully.

I see, there are many people here and there who look like they are not travelers, although they are certainly concealed.

“I heard that in such a case, the escort would come to greet.”

“……… I see. Lead somewhere we can talk, I have something to talk to you about.”

“Yes, sir.”

Phil Mohm was still unfamiliar with the language of the vassals.

He stood up and personally led me to,

One of the inns – you could easily tell it had been rented out if you knew what was going on and I was shown into one of the most luxurious rooms in the inn.

At my prompting, Phim Mohm dismissed all his men and servants and left me alone with him in the room.

Then he got down on one knee again and took the courtesy of a retainer.

“Good, there’s something you need to know.”

“Y-yes!　What is it?”

“First of all, I’ve read your report. That’s fine, and if you have anything you want to tell me, send it to me anytime.”

“Yes, sir!”

Phim Mohm reports in picture form to me, because he can’t read or write.

The way I see it now, one of these days I might be overwhelmed by the ‘well-meaning advice’ of my subordinates.

“If anyone says anything, it’s fine because it’s an Imperial decree.”

“I-I understand!”

When I emphasized that it was an Imperial order, Phim Mohm nodded with an unnecessarily forceful pause.

“And from now on, it’s okay not to do this.”

“I-Is that all right?”

“Yeah. I’m going to give you another Imperial order, a secret one. You are to act for the good of the people and disregard the etiquette.”

“But… But then…”

I interrupted Phil Mohm, who was about to say something and looked him straight in the eye.

This time, I said clearly, in a slightly slower tone, and with great gravity.

“There are plenty of people who are good at etiquette. If that were necessary, I wouldn’t have taken you in.”

“—!”

“You understand?”

“Yes!　Understood!”

“Umu.”

It would be all right if I said this much.

And because I had said all this, Phim Mohm looked somewhat nervous.

To loosen him up, I asked him a random question.

“Speaking of which, have you gotten married yet?”

“N-Not yet.”

“What?　You didn’t find a good partner?　I can introduce you.”

“No, that’s not it. Some girls have been with me for a long time, and I’m not sure which one I should choose. ……”

“Oh, that’s what this is about?”

I chuckled.

Phil Mohm was ‘misunderstanding’, which tends to happen to ex-slaves.

“Listen to me, Phil Mohm. Polygamy is an obligation of the nobility.”

“O-Obligation?”

“In your eyes, as a slave, it seems a right, a privilege, doesn’t it?　But it is not, it is a duty.”

“What does that mean?”

“It is the duty of those who can support themselves to support and nurture as many people as possible. The common people often cannot support themselves even if they can give birth, right?　Ultimately, if you were to get a disease, you would have to ask God for help, but now you can get a doctor to take care of you.”

That is why the Empire had banned the black market slave trade and was trying to do something about it.

“Y-yes!　I can see a doctor!”

“Nobles can feed and nurture. People are treasures and potential. It is the duty of those who have the power to nurture them to give birth to more of them.”

“I-I see. ……”

Phil Mohm sounded as though he understood, but he didn’t that much.

In this regard, there is a strong difference in the way of thinking between the nobility and the commoners.

The average person often thinks that polygamy is for pleasure only, not for meaning.

“To begin with,”

“Eh?”

“You know that the Empire is a nation of warriors.”

“Y-Yes.”

“The Empire is always at war with the outside world, and men are always dying on the front lines. Women are not on the front lines, so they do not decrease.”

Not at the moment, I thought, as the image of Jessica flashed through my mind.

“If everyone was monogamous, there would be a surplus of women.”

“Ah, …….”

Phil Mohm huffed.

“Well, if you really don’t want to do it, that’s okay. But make sure that the people below you can do so. The surplus of women will never change as long as the Empire remains itself. So enrich the land you rule and make it rich enough that a man can usually take more than one wife.”

“I-I see. As expected of His Majesty!　After all, you were thinking of the people.”

If anything, I was looking for a logic to convince you, I thought.

I didn’t say that because it would have complicated the conversation.

“So, for the time being, take either of the old acquaintances you’re not sure about and marry them.”

“I understand!”

☆

After the incident with Phil Mohm, I picked up the pace, while further missing from the scene.

I arrived at Nisir, the capital of the province of Almeria, at the fastest speed possible, passing through all the troubles (possibilities) on the way.

We parked the carriage at the entrance of Nisir and jumped off.

It was just as it had been since I had entered the enclave, a thriving water city with a water system that stretched all over the city.

It is a nice city, I thought again at the same time.

“We have been waiting for you, Master.”

I heard a familiar call from nearby.

I turned around to see Evelyn standing alone, dressed in a maid’s outfit.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time, Evelyn.”

“Allow me to show you around, this way, please.”

Evelyn said and started to lead me away.

I glanced at the coachman and followed Evelyn.

After walking for a while, Evelyn led me into a modest house.

After entering the house and closing the door behind us, Evelyn kneeled down once again.

“Please excuse my rudeness.”

“No, this is fine. No need to call me His Majesty if I’m with no one else. Call me master.”

“Understood.”

Evelyn then quickly stood up.

It’s been a long time since she left the 13th Prince’s mansion, and seeing her in her maid’s outfit makes me feel nostalgic.

“You haven’t told anyone I’m coming, have you?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. So, about the dragon’s vein…”

I sent a brief explanation to Evelyn in a letter beforehand.

As a follow-up, I thought I would give him a more detailed explanation. But,

“For that matter, I’ve issued a three-day water withdrawal restriction and a water storage order.”

“Hoo?”

“Since it’s the water source. So we have restricted not only water storage but also water withdrawal. Was that a good idea?”

“Fumu, well done.”

I praised Evelyn.

And Evelyn looked happy as she blushed slightly.

It was urgent, and partly because of the way things were.

The letters to Evelyn gave only the barest of explanations.

Even so, Evelyn made the most of the measures she had taken with the people in mind.

“You did a really good job. You’re the first retainer to leave the 13th Prince’s residence. And I’m proud of you for doing so.”

“T-That,…… excuse me.”

Evelyn turned away and looked away, looking even shyer.

Then, as if to cover it up, she pulled a piece of paper out from under her sleeve and handed it to me.

“And this is?”

“It’s a blueprint of all the waterways in Nisir. I thought you might need this as well.”

“Fumu.”

I took the map, unfolded it, and looked at it.

After taking a quick look at it, I took a folded piece of paper out of my pocket, opened it up, and looked at it in turn, as to compare them.

“Is there something, Master?”

“Yeah, it’s Nisir’s earliest waterway map.”

“Eh!?”

Evelyn jolted up.

For some reason, she trembled as if she had received a great shock.

Then she looked at the old map I had shown her, and her face grew more and more surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“Actually, it’s …….”

Evelyn took out another sheet of paper.

I take it and look it over.

It was almost identical to the ‘earliest waterway map’ I had taken out.

“What is this?”

“As the master said, it is the older waterway map. I had it checked because I thought it was necessary, but it happened so long ago that it had already become history, and I couldn’t confirm that it was true.”

“I see. The fact that the two coincide means that this is correct.”

“How did you come up with ……?”

“I had Livyathan write it.”

“Livya …… Leviathan, was it?　The Demon Sword.”

“Yeah. And Livyathan is the same being as the former Livyathan of the Four Sages.”

“What!?　And bringing such an entity to its knees,……, as expected of Master.”

Evelyn looked at me with the most respectful gaze that day.

☆

“I see, so this is the power of the earth.”

A little out of the city of Nisir, I stood on the two waterway maps and the dragon vein that I had derived from Livyathan’s memory.

Then ……. I felt it.

The “invisible vein” that flows beneath the earth.

I clearly sensed the dragon vein’s presence, where the earth’s power and magic flowed.

“It is a tremendous power.”

“Is there such a thing?”

“Don’t you feel it?”

“I am ashamed …….”

Evelyn apologetically slumped slightly.

“But it is such power. As if the rivers were gathering and flowing into the sea, as Livyathan said – if so, there should have been an anomaly in the earth long ago. Wasn’t there something?”

“No, sir. The time you mentioned was before master added a new waterway, so I checked into that, but there was nothing to indicate that anything, in particular, had changed in the ‘natural world’.”

“Fumu.”

I wonder what that means.

I started walking along the dragon’s vein.

It’s flowing, that’s for sure, so let’s take a look at the final point where it’s gathering.

So I started walking along the stream, and about twenty minutes out of town, I noticed it.

“Here it is.”

“What is it?”

“Stagnation, huh?　It’s blocked.”

“Stagnant?”

“Back off a bit.”

When I said that, even though Evelyn couldn’t understand me, she did as she was told.

“Livyathan.”

I pulled out the Demon Sword from my bracelet and summoned her.

A youthful-looking elderly woman, a being beyond human, appeared in front of me.

“What should I do?”

“It’s no different from a river. Just let it burst.”

“Fumu.”

I nodded and thought for a while.

Then determined, I thrust Livyasan (the sword) into the ground.

Then, channeled the power.

Toward the dragon vein, for an instant, but in that instant, I flowed the power with all my might.

Gogogogogo …… the earth rumbled.

Immediately afterward, something came flying out of the earth.

A black, dazzling body split the earth and flew up into the sky.

Dragon.

It was a dragon type that emitted an aura of glamour.

Seeing the strongest of the monsters, Evelyn shouted.

“Master please escape!　Gather the troops now—“

Bisect.

I jumped up, flung myself at it, and swung Livyathan, cutting the dragon in half.

With a single slash, the dragon lost its strength and crashed to the ground.

Thud!　and the earth shook even more.

The Dragon was strong, but Livyathan was even stronger.

And was motivated.

Livyathan was furious at the Dragon, which had turned its murderous intent on me as soon as it appeared.

Livyathan’s killing intent, which had been kept on the brakes until now, was made to do as it pleased for the first time.

As a result, the dragon, which probably took about 1,000 soldiers to attempt to defeat, was slashed down with a single sword strike.

“W-wow …….”

Evelyn, who was watching it closely, was at a loss for words with her mouth wide open.