Published: September 10, 2025
※2016/4/24 Typo corrections made.
※2016/4/17 Partial corrections made.
This is Satou. When traveling abroad, I really appreciate the quality of Japanese service, but at the same time, I also notice the lack of firmness in dealing with rude customers. It’s not like the Code of Hammurabi, but I don’t think it’s necessary to show excessive politeness to impolite people.
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“Your Majesty! Scouts sent to the East Gate have discovered Lord Jizaros’s body hidden among the remains of the golem.”
“Following Count Mizaras of Water, now even Lord Jizaros of Earth...”
At the Royal Castle of the Makiwa Kingdom, where I stopped by to discuss the post-war arrangements, the young king and his advisors were receiving reports of casualties.
I decided to read the atmosphere and hold off on making an appearance for a while.
I intended to stop the war just in time, but it seems many lives were still lost.
Honestly, I don’t understand those who want to engage in war. Do they find it fun to act like big shots on a hill?
It’s masochistic to willingly take on troublesome matters.
This time, I got involved despite my principles because I found refugees being hunted as slaves through map searches, but I want this to be the last time.
I’d rather travel with friends and companions I get along with, enjoying sightseeing tours with fun and laughter.
While thinking like this, the conversation in the audience chamber continued.
“So, was the Thunderquake Staff found beside the body?”
“No... Currently, Lord Jizaros’s retainers are leading the search.”
With nothing else to do, I searched and discovered that the item called Thunderquake Staff did not exist domestically.
It was probably crushed under that enormous golem lying near the East Gate and broken.
Also, the survivors in need of rescue have already been saved thanks to spatial magic pulling them in and Tama’s ninjutsu.
“Most likely, some spy took it away. The Thunderquake Staff and the Wave Staff are missing, and Marquis Dazares’s proxy holding the Crimson Lotus Staff is also nowhere to be found. It’s ironic that only Count Muzaris’s Hurricane Staff is safe, sitting out the fight in his territory.”
The young king was being snarked at with a sarcastic tone, apparently by an official military attaché dispatched from the Saga Empire and not a local noble. He seems to be a count.
“—Where? It’s safe to say it’s the Weasel Empire.”
“Minister, the enemy isn’t just ahead. The Four Treasures Staffs are also tempting for neighboring Silga Kingdom and Shiga Kingdom.”
“Saga Empire—no, do you really believe the fairy tale that ‘offering the four precious pearls will awaken the airborne city Nenerie, sunk in the sea during the Age of the Gods’?”
“Dreams are good, aren’t they? Besides—”
Hmm, like that Shadow Castle I saw in Rumork... Oh, I remember hearing the name Nenerie before. Isn’t that the underwater city sunk in the trench off the Marquisate of Ganika?
Could it be that the vast underwater ruins I found on the way from Boruenan to the Labyrinth City are also a sunken floating continent?
Leaving aside the mystery of the underwater ruins, the underwater city “Nenerie” was a far larger ruin than the Shadow Castle. If it were to fly, it would be quite the mass weapon.
Since we know the location, it’s best to mark it to detect if the ruins start moving.
Was the Weasel Empire’s invasion aiming for that?
Just to be safe, I marked Lady Shelmina’s Crimson Lotus Staff and found it moving eastward at a considerable speed.
Apparently, it was stolen by someone.
I left three Griffon Riders there, yet they managed to steal it somehow.
Still connected through “tactical communication,” I spoke to Arisa.
“Arisa, additional mission.”
“Okay, what do I need to do?”
I requested Arisa to recover the Crimson Lotus Staff, which she accepted immediately.
Meanwhile, I searched for the fourth staff, the Hurricane Staff, but like the Thunderquake and Wave Staffs, it wasn’t present domestically.