Magi Craft Meister

remembered once seeing a scene in a period drama where travellers were carried across the river by people.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing else to do than take it easy for three days.”

The rooms reserved this time were four adjoined rooms.
One was assigned for Reinhardt, and one for Jin.
One for male servants like Claude, and the last one for female servants.

All the rooms were connected through doors, so the construction allowed them to come and go without going through the hallway.

Right now, Jin and Reinhardt were chatting in Reinhardt’s room.

“Reinhardt, you had to stop here on your way through too, right?”

“Yeah.
Because there’s no other route than this.”

Reinhardt said that it was Celuroa Kingdom’s policy that there were no other ways to Egelia Kingdom than through here.

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There was one more, a narrow road in the moountains, but it seems that because beasts and burglars appeared frequently only armed troops used used it.
There didn’t seem to be settlements that could provide supplies either.

“This town is fine, but on the other side of the river there are five ramparts, and without permission you can’t get deeper than past the first rampart.
Normal travellers walk the roads between the first and second rampart.”

From Reinhardt’s explanation Jin thought that the country appeared rather complicated.

The so-called ramparts were stone-built walls like the Great Wall of China that appeared to go on endlessly.
There were five of them.
What a waste of labor, Jin felt.

“Because I’m a diplomat and we’re going to approach Esaia, there’lll be problems going through the ramparts until the fourth one.
What’re we going to?”

“Yeah, well, we don’t have to try too hard to get inside.”

No thanks to difficult things, Jin said to Reinhardt.
Reinhardt seemed to be of the same opinion and,

“In that case, let’s use the road beyond the second rampart.”

He brought the topic to an end.

“The proper Esaia is inside the fifth rampart.”

They had spare time until dinner, and so Jin listened to Reinhardt tell the details about the ramparts.

“The space between the fifth and fourth ones is wide, and there’s a town there.
Prosperous commoners live there.
It could be said that for all the people except the nobles, that’s where Esaia is.”

“You mean that’s where you could enter without a problem, Reinhardt?”

“Well, that’s the case.
So, the space between the fourth and third ones, that’s even wider.
However, because that place is meant for holding back the enemy when the time comes, military drills and such are held there, it’s not a place with a very pleasant atmosphere.”

Having it explained to him, Jin nodded in understanding.

“Ah, so that’s why the highway is between the third and second ramparts.”

“That’s right.
Because anyone can travel between the second and first ones, I hear the public order isn’t good.
But that doesn’t mean I’ve witnessed it myself, though.”

That evening’s meal was lonelier than usual.
Just by having no Elsa, the mood changed this much, Jin thought.

“I wonder what Elsa’s doing right now.”

Suddenly Jin spoke out by accident.

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“Yeah, me too.
Elsa’s happiness, I wonder what that is.”

Reinhardt threw back at him, apparently thinking about the same thing as Jin.

Jin had something he wanted to ask Reinhardt, so after the meal while drinking Teee,

“Reinhardt, can I ask you something?”

He started a conversation.

“Mh-hm, what is it?”

“About Elsa’s brother, Fritz, was it?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Despite appearances, way back when he played together with Elsa, did he spoil her a lot?”

He asked because the brother had been too different from the image he had got in the town of Delead from the talk with Elsa about her playing with her brothers when she was a child.

Thereupon Reinhardt made a large nod and,

“Ah, I see.”

He said and began to explain.

“Fritz changed four years ago.
It was the period after the previous king of Celuroa Kingdom had died, and the current king who succeeded him hadn’t yet solidifed the foundation of his government.”

It hadn’t progressed to a war, but there had been battles larger than skirmishes, but smaller than wars, Reinhardt said.

“During the time he was a second lieutenant, and the enemy…Celuroa Kingdom’s national defence army took him as a prisoner of war.
Eventually he was extricated in a prisoner exchange, but ever since then he’s been a different person.”

He became a power supremacist, or more precisely he began to pursue power in all respects, Reinhardt said sadly.

“Until then he had been a good elder brother who doted on Elsa, though.”

“I…see.
That must’ve been difficult for Elsa.”

The kind elder brother whom he had called a muscle-brain and made Elsa laugh was completely changed.
It must’ve surely come like a bolt out of the blue.

Jin once more thought about what Elsa’s happiness could be.