Chapter 220 A Country Not Loved By Fairies
After finishing dinner, Sara was confused in her unfamiliar bedroom. What she thought was a simple room when she was first shown in had completely changed with cute furniture and fabrics, including a canopy bed.
"Hey, Maria. Isn't this room too cute?"
"Well, it's a room for a noble lady, so it's not strange for it to be like this. In fact, the furniture you used in your main residence was too simple. I heard it used to be Sir Arthur's room, so it can't be helped."
"I'm fine with that, though."
"The furniture here was prepared by Sir Robert, who heard that Sir Jeffrey was staying here. He personally selected the cute furniture left at Grandchester Castle."
"I feel like there are too many lace and frills, not just the furniture."
"Ah, that's Sir Jeffrey's kindness."
'So 2 middle-aged guys picked out cute furniture and fabrics? I wish they would just say it was prepared by my mother, even if it's a lie. Don't men have weird fantasies about little girls...'
While Sara thought about this bluntly, she lay down on the bed. Maria waited for Sara to settle down, gently turned off the bedside light, and left the room.
After a while, as if on cue, a door appeared in the air, so Sara cast soundproofing and concealment magic to welcome Sedrick.
"Sure enough, Kojimo shared with the merchants that wheat was being hoarded at today's meeting."
"He was an obvious infiltrator. The moment he was told to run an errand, he dashed off. Does he not care that he's hiding the fact that he's a spy?"
"Until a little while ago, I didn't think someone who only did odd jobs for a merchant would have that much wisdom."
"Everywhere is short on workers, huh?"
Then Sara checked the details of the conversation she had with Sedrick at the meeting.
"It's pretty much as I expected. We have cash ready from selling magic stones, so we won't run out anytime soon. Besides, I think it's them who will have trouble if they can't get products from us."
Sara smiled a slightly dark smile.
"Also, Baron Jilbafuchs from Roisen attended the meeting."
"Huh? Are they really inviting foreign nobles to a secret meeting?"
"Baron Jilbafuchs runs the merchant guild in Roisen."
"I see. So that person is basically the main contact for the wheat trade?"
"That's very likely."
"But to join a secret meeting so suddenly, that takes guts."
"It seems he was invited without knowing it was a secret meeting. He hurried back to Grandchester Castle and has been discussing countermeasures with Crown Prince Gerhart since earlier. It looks like they are planning to buy wheat from the Sophia Merchant Guild."
Sara tilted her head.
"Hmm? So the talks are going directly to the Sophia Merchant Guild without going through Marquis Grandchester?"
"Since Crown Prince Gerhart's fiancée hasn't been decided yet and no trade agreement has been signed, it's likely that Baron Jilbafuchs will visit the Sophia Merchant Guild to explain the situation, in line with the secret talks between the Marquis and Crown Prince Gerhart."
"Oh, I see."
But Sara began to worry while staring at the angel painted on the inside of the bed's canopy.
'Wheat, huh... Considering the stockpile in the Grandchester territory, we can't release too much. We also need to distribute it in the market enough to prevent chaos in Avalon. Of course, we don't need to secure all the wheat needed for the stockpile this year, but I at least want to return it to about 50 to 60 percent.'
"Hey, Sedrick, is the food situation in Roisen really that bad?"
"In recent years, many have given up on farming due to the barren land and have started working in the mines. If the amount of abandoned farmland keeps increasing and the area for planting decreases, the food shortage will only get worse. It's a complete vicious cycle. Plus, this year has been a poor harvest. If they can't import food, there will be quite a few deaths from starvation this winter."
"Is it really that serious!? But why has Roisen's land become so barren? I read in a history book that the Odel Kingdom had rich land."
Suddenly, Noir popped her head in.
"Oh, it's Noir. What brings you here at this late hour?"
"I felt the presence of fairies making a commotion nearby, so I came to check it out."
"I'm sorry. I called Sedrick over in my usual way."
"Don't worry about it. It's a pleasant presence."
Sara remembered that Noir was a fairy who could be called the embodiment of Odel.
"Hey, Noir. Odel was a country where crops grew abundantly, right? Why has Roisen's land become barren now?"
"Because it has become a land not loved by fairies. The royal family of that country declared, 'We don't need fairies. Human endeavors are accomplished by human strength,' and naturally, they eliminated the royals of Odel."
"Really? Is that the reason?"
Mike and Pochi also appeared there.
"It looks like you're having fun with a lot of people at night!"
"Noir is here too!"
The two landed on Noir's back and settled down, but Noir continued talking without caring.
"That land originally had little magic. If it weren't for Henri, who first became friends with my friend, King Odel, it would have just been abandoned land. He developed that land, poured his magic into it through his fairy friends, and gradually made the country bigger. He had many fairy friends, not just me. He wished for the country to prosper, and fairies like Pochi spread blessings all over the land. He collapsed many times from magic exhaustion, but Henri never gave up. He truly loved the country and its people. The beings that control the earth and water were also drawn to the king's magical shine and gathered in large numbers. It was the fairies who told them where the mines and water veins were."
"Because of the fairies, Odel was prosperous, right?"
"That's right. The kings of Odel throughout history were raised knowing this fact, and as they grew, they poured magic through the fairies. The king, of course, along with the Crown Prince and many royal family members with magic, actively formed friendships with the fairies and cherished that land. That's why Odel came to be known as a rich land. From our perspective as fairies, a place is just a place. Whether it is rich or not is decided from the human viewpoint. Our essence is magic, or more precisely, a collection of magical elements. It exists everywhere on this planet and changes into various forms. That's why we don't hesitate to change the world as our friends wish."
Pochi gently moved from above Noir to settle on Sara's chest.
"Roisen is slowly returning to its original form after a long time,"
"But unlike before, many people now live in Roisen. If things stay this way, many will die."
The fairies looked at each other, and Mike began to speak as their representative.
"I can understand Sara's sad feelings a little. But that's because we fairies have formed a bond of friendship with humans. For fairies, the life and death of living beings are natural events. It's no different from flowers blooming and withering."
"Then why form friendships and give humans what seems like too much time?"
"Because we want to be with our beloved humans for a long time. That's the only reason we grant our friends blessings."
Then Sedrick, who was in human form, transformed into a black panther to match the other fairies and smoothly jumped onto Sara's bed.
"Milady Sara, if you wish, we will lend our power to enrich Roisen. But right now, it feels like you don't want that."
Sara took Sedrick's comment to heart and reorganized her feelings again.
"That's true. It sounds cold, but I can only see Roisen as someone else's problem. I'm not a god, so I can't save everything. I think 'we should solve our own problems.' But still, I feel sorry that they don't even know why they're suffering."
Noir also jumped onto Sara's bed like Sedrick.
"I have watched that country for a long time. I probably care about it more than other fairies do. But I can't have any fondness for the royal family of Roisen."
They killed the royal family of Odel that Noir had protected. Noir could never feel fondness for the royal family of Roisen.
"Hey, Noir. Are you against revealing Blaze's secret of birth? He has the right to become the king of that country, right?"
"Sara, you said it yourself, didn't you? 'There's no meaning in being former royalty.' The qualities of a king are not inherited by blood. Blaze has no awareness of being a king who loves the people of Odel... no, Roisen. For now, he should just focus on growing up healthy."
"But when Blaze finds out, it might be too late. Even if he doesn't realize it, that country is Blaze's homeland..."
"Are you saying we should eliminate the Roisen royal family and tell Blaze to save the people as their king?"
"That's one option. If the people are starving because of the Roisen royal family, then I think it's better for them to step down for the sake of the people."
Noir pushed Sedrick away with his nose and laid his head on Sara.
"You're sneaky. You plan to use me, who cares for Blaze."
"Well, it was you, Noir, who made the fairies abandon that land, right?"
"You noticed, huh?"
"Well, it doesn't matter what unrelated humans say; the fairies will do as they please, right?"
"Yeah, that's true... The sacred place of the fairies that used to be in Odel Castle was the first place Henri infused with magic. The kings inherited friendship in that sacred place and became close with the new fairies. It was a very important and precious place. But the people of Roisen deemed that place as evil, trampled it with their military boots, and defiled our precious things. Therefore, neither I nor the fairies who were in the sacred place will lend our power to those who share their blood. If the country falls because we no longer lend a hand, then that is just the natural order of things."
Noir spat out his disgust for the Roisen royal family. Even though it happened 200 years ago, it was something Noir himself had experienced.
"I'm sorry. I made a really terrible request. You had your friends killed and your precious place trampled on."
Sara sat up and hugged Noir tightly around the neck, whispering softly in his ear. She realized that she had asked for something very insensitive and felt deeply ashamed.
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