The Water Magician

“It's peaceful, isn't it?”

The aroma of Kona Coffee drifted through the carriage, calming the spirits of those weary from their journey.

The ice-clear coffee cup in hand presented a stunning contrast to the swirling liquid inside, creating a fantastical scene.

With perfect taste, an enchanting atmosphere, and a fragrance that captivates all… Ryo, entranced, slowly turned the pages of the materials in front of him, surrendering himself to the landscape of “Coffee.”

What else could one call this but peace?

However, the other half of the carriage was… just a battlefield.

The opponent was paperwork.

Homework assigned by his elder brother.

A-rank adventurer grappling with it.

“If I were to name that landscape, I would surely say the best title would be ‘An Elementary School Student on the Last Day of Summer Vacation,’” Ryo said, looking at Abel with a gaze full of pity.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I can tell I’m being made fun of,” Abel replied, not halting his hand as he solved the problems.

Then he exclaimed softly.

“It can’t be helped! I thought I had finished everything, but there was still a stack left at the bottom of my bag! Damn it, why is this happening…”

“Your usual behavior…”

After a brief glare at Ryo, Abel returned to his struggle with the homework.

“How difficult world peace is…”

Saying this, Ryo brought the coffee to his mouth.

After a while, Abel, who had been wearing a fierce expression, changed to one of anguish, slowing the speed of his pen… and eventually, unbelievably, came to a complete stop.

Even Ryo couldn’t help but be concerned by his appearance.

“Abel?”

“No, it’s just…”

With that, he fell silent again, lost in thought… still wearing a troubled expression.

Ryo peeked at the "homework" in Abel's hands.

“About the fall of the Duchy of Inberri...? Quite a relevant current affairs topic, isn't it?”

“Well, it’s a problem created by my elder brother. It only includes practical problems… The fall of the Duchy of Inberri has many implications for our kingdom.”

Taking a breath, Abel then asked Ryo.

“Ryo, why do countries fall?”

“Abel, that's the same question as why people die.”

“A country and a person are different, right?”

Abel countered, tilting his head.

“They’re the same. Both have lifespans. However, in the case of the Duchy of Inberri, it feels more like a sudden illness rather than a natural lifespan…”

“A sudden illness, you say…”

“Well, normally, a country's lifespan is two to three hundred years."

"Huh? Is it that short?"

"Yes. At most, five hundred years. Once, a great historian… a politician, judge, and historian wrote so. To be precise, it should be called the lifespan of a political system rather than the lifespan of a country. In any case, the rise and fall of nations is an intricate theme that requires decades of research and could fill dozens of books, akin to peering into the depths of history. It’s not something that can be easily explained in a carriage like this."

“Is that so…?”

The historian Ryo envisioned was, of course, Ibn Khaldun, and the rise and fall of nations was referenced from Edward Gibbon's “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

As someone who took a leave of absence from his Western History studies at university, Ryo found the rise and fall of nations to be an exceedingly intriguing topic… but he understood well that once one delved into it, it could be like a swamp from which one could not escape.

Indeed, he thought that if one were to have eternal life like the Lord Ancestor of Land, diving into such research might be interesting.

“By the way, I used the term ‘sudden illness,’ but when a large nation borders a small one, the small country has a high chance of being swallowed. A certain mathematical biologist has even formulated this historical phenomenon into equations.”

“Huh?”

Abel didn’t understand it at all.

Ryo sighed once and decided to give up explaining further.