Published: August 10, 2026
"An offer of business?"
The Duke of Dutchman stretched his neck with interest. Lord Cyrus picked up the bag that had remained on the floor the entire time. It was the large briefcase stuffed with business negotiation tools, the same one he had once opened before the chief of Luhab Island. Then, without opening it, he spoke to the Duke of Dutchman in a calm voice.
"—I have heard from His Majesty the King of Dilz that some kind of connection existed between this Ildanaf Island and Crown Prince Lionel."
The Duke of Dutchman's eyes widened even further.
He looked down as if to avoid Lord Cyrus's gaze, hunching his back.
After several seconds of silence, he finally nodded with a trembling voice.
"...Yes. ...That's right. That is correct."
"I do not know what sort of connection it was, or what mutual benefits came from it. But if possible, I, along with the ducal family of Granado and my trading company, have come to ask that we take over that relationship."
The Duke of Dutchman looked up.
"You would take it over?"
"Yes. First, please take a look at this."
Lord Cyrus set the bag on his knees and snapped it open in front of the duke.
The duke peered inside, looking puzzled.
"What is that? A toy?"
"It is a model sample of the newest locomotive currently under development in Dilz."
With that, Lord Cyrus placed the mechanical toy made of tin on the table.
That's right—this was the one made by inquiring at the shop where he had bought the horse-drawn carriage toy and then having the craftsman make it. It was so precise and perfectly made that it did not seem like a rushed job at all.
"A locomotive...? It looks like some sort of vehicle, different from both a carriage and a ship."
"Yes. Simply put, it is a powered vehicle. It runs on rails, using steam power rather than horses or people. This model is at one-thousandth scale; the real thing can carry one hundred people and travel at about ten kilometers per hour. Research is already underway to triple that speed within twenty years and run it across the whole country."
"What...? Oh my, this is amazing."
After asking Lord Cyrus for permission, the duke picked up the toy model and turned it over and over to examine it from every angle. At first he merely looked at it out of curiosity, but partway through his eyes began to shine, and before long his expression had changed into that of a calculating merchant. Finally, it became the serious expression of a lord.
"Incredible. Something like this exists in reality? Research has already advanced enough for it to be operational?!"
Lord Cyrus nodded silently. The Duke of Dutchman was now at a loss for words.
I tilted my head beside Lord Cyrus.
...Huh? What exactly is the duke so surprised about?
A steam-powered vehicle and railway infrastructure have already been in practical use in Dilz for decades. Why would the duke of Oracle, a nation of science and learning, react like this?
I thought about it for a while... and then it finally clicked.
To Dilz citizens, it's just ordinary technology in their everyday lives, but Oracle doesn't have it yet! Their specialties are different—or more precisely, the origins and nature of the countries are different...!
The Dilz Kingdom is, in truth, a very new nation. Two hundred years ago, before the war, powerful local clans were still scattered across the land. There was no concept of a national territory, no borders, and no one ruling over vast stretches of land. Even so, the house that controlled the largest and broadest territory was the Dilz family—the ancestors of the present royal family.
The neighboring great power, Flaria, was at war with Sphain, which lay to the south across Dilz. When an army marches through vast lands with no cities or fields, it wears itself down. And if it takes control of poor, tiny villages, there is not enough stockpile to sustain Flaria's forces. So Flaria called upon the Dilz family to become the founding kings of a nation. They were to unite the local clans as representatives and form a country. Then they were to cultivate villages into prosperous cities, eventually gain military strength, and participate in the world war. In return, Flaria would generously provide the founding know-how and agricultural science needed for that purpose.