Chapter 3: If We’re Going to Fix Things, Shouldn’t It Be in a Period Drama?
With a pale face, the leader divulged all the information he knew.
—-
“This incident is suspected to involve the governor of the southern part of Count Reim’s territory.”
Harrold, after hearing the series of events in the village, began to speak with a bitter expression while sipping the prepared tea.
“I didn’t realize it was that corrupt. I apologize, but I need you to clean this up thoroughly. I will also investigate from a different angle.”
“Understood. I will first investigate the surrounding villages and towns. The entire Count Reim’s territory may be infested with parasites.”
“Thank you.”
After completing his report to Harrold, Ryoji returned using the teleportation magic circle set up in the first village he visited. Upon finding the troubled village chief by the reservoir, he approached with a smile.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh! It’s Ryoji-sama! Thanks to you, it seems we can save half of the village!”
“Half?”
Ryoji tilted his head at the chief’s words and received an explanation while pointing at the reservoir. Due to the recent tax increase, the village governed by the chief could not pay, resulting in the water gate being closed. However, other villages had taken out loans to pay their taxes and receive water. It seemed that the officials had allowed those who paid taxes to receive water for longer than usual, causing the reservoir’s water level to drop to half of the annual planned amount.
“What? Has half of it dried up? Can the villagers survive?”
“I don’t think there will be any starvation, but if possible, it would help if this year’s taxes could be kept modest. I will atone for my responsibility of directly appealing to Ryoji-sama with my life. Please, save the villagers.”
“Hmm. Is this okay?”
After thinking for a moment, Ryoji cast a Water Ball towards the center of the reservoir. Once the water level returned to normal, he stopped casting the spell and, satisfied with the water level, turned to the village chief, who wore a mixed expression of shock and awe, and smiled broadly.
“Now it should be fine!”
After bidding farewell to the tearful and grateful village chief, Ryoji reported to Harrold that the Count Reim’s territory was in a rather serious state and called for Marco. Upon receiving the emergency notification, Marco arrived fully armed, jumping onto the teleportation magic circle to reach Ryoji.
“What on earth happened?!”
“I was waiting for you, Marco! Come here! Look! I worked hard with the Water Ball and revived the reservoir that was suffering from water shortage!”
As Marco looked at the delighted Ryoji, he sighed while looking up at the sky and then brought down his mithril fan onto Ryoji’s head with all his might.
“Ow! What was that for, Marco?!”
“Shut up! I’m not someone who specializes in listening to ridiculous bragging! I’m the gatekeeper protecting the city of Drugul! Just because there’s a teleportation magic circle doesn’t mean you can call me over easily! And who adds water to a reservoir with water magic?!”
“Well, here I am! It uses more magic power than I thought, so it seems like no one else can do it… Ow! But… Ow! Marco… Ow! Let me talk… Ow! It hurts!”
“Shut up! I’m going home now.”
As Marco, satisfied after hitting him with the fan, tried to leave, Ryoji desperately stopped him.
“I’m sorry! Listen! Actually, the governor in the south is suspicious, but what should we do…?”
After hearing the situation from Ryoji, Marco stroked his chin in thought and then asked Ryoji in return.
“I see. That does sound suspicious for the governor. So, what are you going to do? Are you going to storm in and unleash some magic?”
“That would be the best option, but do you have any good ideas?”
In response to Ryoji’s light question, Marco suggested,
“If it’s Harrold-sama, he has an excellent intelligence agency, so he might lend it to you if you ask. You might be able to borrow ‘The One Who Dances in the Pitch-Black Night’.”
“‘The One Who Dances in the Pitch-Black Night’? That’s an impressive title. Alright! Let’s go ask Lord Harrold about it. Marco, you’ve been a great help. I just called you to show off my magical power… Ouch!”
Marco hit Ryoji on the head with a mithril fan with all his might, then stepped onto the teleportation magic circle to return to the city of Drugul.
—–
“Could you lend me a few spies?”
“What are you talking about? I already assigned the excellent spy Kuro to Ryoji.”
“Huh? But Kuro is just a five-year-old eating sweets, right? Sure, she seems impressive as an adult.”
When Ryoji shot a glance at Kuro, who was happily munching on candy, Kuro stopped and gave him a sidelong glance.
“Ryoji-sama, that’s quite unfair. I am a super famous spy…”
“No, it’s not good for a spy to be famous.”
Ryoji couldn’t help but interject, prompting Harrold to add with a wry smile,
“Kuro is an excellent spy with the title ‘The One Who Dances in the Pitch-Black Night.’”
“What!? Kuro is ‘The One Who Dances in the Pitch-Black Night’!?”
“It’s no surprise that Ryoji-sama is shocked. Those who see my true form will never see the sun again. That’s why only my name became famous.”
“Huh? But I’ve seen Kuro’s true form?”
“The only one who has survived seeing my true form is my future husband.”
Kuro smiled happily at Ryoji’s words.
———–
“I didn’t realize that the area around that village was suffering from such serious water shortages. Why don’t they build more reservoirs? They have a rainy season, so if they did, the harvest would increase.”
“That’s probably because the former lord, Count Reim, didn’t prioritize it. It was thought that keeping things just barely livable would prevent rebellion.”
Ryoji sighed, and Reynold responded with a wry smile. In Ryoji’s view, the former Count Reim’s territory was generally suffering from water shortages. It seemed that there was little rain in winter, making it hard to sustain life. The villagers had petitioned the governor several times, but they were ignored.
“Alright! Let’s head to the city and hear what the governor has to say. But first, I have a request for Kuro.”
“What is it? If it’s Ryoji-sama’s request, I can take off my clothes.”
“No, what are you talking about? There’s no point in seeing a five-year-old naked, right? The one in charge of sex appeal has to be Melta… No, wait! It would help if you could investigate the reputation of the town where the governor is and also find out about the local hangouts.”
“Understood. I will show you the power of ‘The One Who Dances in the Pitch-Black Night.’ Also, I’ll report to Melta-san that Ryoji-sama said, ‘Melta is the one for the sexy role.’”
“Wait! That’s not necessary!”
Hearing Ryoji’s shout, Kuro grinned and headed towards the city first. When Ryoji and the others arrived at the city a day late, the gatekeeper thrust his spear forward to stop their carriage and began to question them.
“Stop! What business do you have in this city?”
“We are traveling merchants on our way to the capital. We heard that Ryoji Uchino has been appointed as the new lord. We hope you will find our goods to your liking.”
Reynold replied with a low bow, and the gatekeeper seemed satisfied as he readjusted his spear and began checking their luggage.
“Do you have a merchant guild ID? And you don’t seem to have much cargo for merchants.”
“That’s because we are magic stone merchants. Magic stones don’t take up much space, making them convenient for traveling merchants. Here’s our merchant guild ID.”
“What’s this? Binbou Hatamoto San Nanbou Shop? Ryunosuke? That’s a strange name for both you and your shop.”
“Haha! It’s easier for people to remember that way. If you’d like, would you care to buy a magic stone? I can offer it at a discount as a token of goodwill.”
“And that child?”
“Oh, this child is the son of the owner of Binbou Hatamoto San Nanbou Shop, Ryoemon. He’s also on a training journey.”
“Hello! Gatekeeper-san! I’m Ryoemon! Nice to meet you!”
As Ryoji greeted enthusiastically, the gatekeeper chuckled at the childlike response and granted them passage.
“You may pass. If you mention the gatekeeper at Yasuragi Inn, they might give you a discount.”
“Thank you. By the way, Sergeant, I have a question. What is Binbou Hatamoto San Nanbou Shop? And Ryunosuke and Ryoemon? Are they famous in your country?”
Once they successfully entered the city, Reynold sighed in relief and quietly asked Ryoji.
“Something like that. By the way, Ryunosuke is quite the actor, isn’t he?”
“After all that training, it’s to be expected.”
Reynold replied with a wry smile to Ryoji’s comment. They stopped the carriage in front of Yasuragi Inn to discuss their future plans, informing them of the gatekeeper’s introduction and that they would be staying for three nights. After receiving the key, Ryoji sighed in relief and began to speak.
“So, what will you do from here, Reynold? Are you going back to the academy? Thanks to you, we managed to enter the city without raising any suspicion, so it wouldn’t be a problem if you went back. Oh! By the way, how is the progress on that huge water bottle magic tool I taught you before?”
“I made ten huge water bottlers as ordered by the sergeant. It’s a revolutionary magical tool that produces water just by inserting a magic stone, but do you need more in bulk? The demand seems high.”
“I intended to use them in areas suffering from severe water shortages, but I plan to increase the number of reservoirs. However, please continue production. They can be sold to traveling merchants and adventurers, right? Plus, they can also be used as water tanks during disasters.”
“I see. That sounds great. It has also been a good opportunity for me to practice drawing magic circles. I need to draw a lot of them for testing chantless spells, so this is perfect. By the way, where is Kuro? She’s taking a while, isn’t she?”
“Maybe she’s eating some snacks?”
As Ryoji and Reynold were talking, a brief whooshing sound was heard. When they focused on the sound, they saw a windmill embedded in the window frame.
“W-What’s going on? Huh? A windmill?”
Without paying any mind to Reynold’s surprise, Ryoji pulled out the windmill and began reading the letter tied to it.
“If it needs to pierce this deep, where would it need to be thrown from? Calculating from the angle it’s embedded at…”
“By the way, this is a magic communication tool I made. If thrown from a certain distance, it will always stick and make the windmill spin. Plus, it’s designed not to pierce living beings. It would be dangerous if it hit a person.”
“Eh? A magic tool? Is the wing part made of mithril? And a magic stone imbued with wind attribute magic?”
“If you want, I can give you a prototype as a gift.”
Reynold received the windmill and, with each explanation, his eyes sparkled as he took notes.
“Ah! I got completely absorbed in the windmill. This is a letter from Kuro-san, right?”
“That’s right. I completely forgot about it… It mentions the governor’s reputation, frequently visited shops, his height, weight, hobbies, and even his special skills. Is this for an arranged marriage!”
As Reynold snapped back to reality and questioned Kuro’s letter, Ryoji began reading its contents.
“‘The governor’s name is Blart. He was appointed by Count Reim three years ago, and his tax revenue performance is double that of his predecessor. Due to this performance, he has also been entrusted with the tax rate, which has nearly doubled since he took office.’… Wow, that’s terrible. ‘The residents’ evaluation is the worst, and farmers who can’t pay taxes are starting to flee from Count Reim’s territory.’ Well, that makes sense.”
While reading Kuro’s letter, Ryoji nodded with an exasperated expression.
“Frequent shops include ‘Fairy’s Whisper’? That’s the name of the shop, right? His height is short. His weight is slightly heavy. His hobby is collecting art, and his special skill is… Who cares! Still, Kuro gathered this information in a short time.”
“That’s because I’m ‘The One Who Dances in the Pitch-Black Night.’ So, what do you think, Ryoji-sama? Have you reconsidered your opinion of me?”
Kuro suddenly opened the door and entered. Reynold looked surprised, while Ryoji nodded in satisfaction and patted Kuro’s head, praising her.
“Wow, you two could pass for real siblings”
To Reynold’s murmuring, Kuro retorted with a dissatisfied expression.
“Reynold is ignorant. No matter how you look at it, we look like a loving couple.”
“Well, with Kuro’s current appearance, it does look like siblings.”
Ryoji smiled at Kuro, who was puffing her cheeks.
— Part I end —
Part II tomorrow. It is a 3 part chapter
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Thanks for the treat.