Black Iron Magician

Chapter 224 The Countries of The Jiba Continent

「Alright, Haru and the others have arrived safely. I didn’t expect that Fuchi and his friend were there, but I guess that’s not so surprising.」

After seeing them off to the castle of Crocus, I’m watching the situation on top of a tree. In my hands, I have dried meat for my late breakfast and water that I scooped up from a well in a village. Hmm, this taste reminds me of my old life of cooking for myself. I hardly ever cooked for myself, though.

「In other words, it tastes bad.」

So far, the only people who have come to Crocus are Haru’s party, which represents Adelheit, and Fuchi’s party, which represents Crocus. The heroes of Tazarnia will arrive within three days, and the heroes of the country of Han in the east will arrive around that time as well. Galdevalan, the country of martial arts, and Snowtail, the country of white, will probably take a little longer since they are located in the north part of the continent, which is in the opposite direction from Crocus. Especially, Snowtail is a country with steep mountains as the national border, so it seems that it’ll be a pain just to cross even to a neighboring country.

「And the one that looks promising is…」

Galdevalan, I guess? Since it’s a country of martial arts, its military power alone is equal with this Crocus. The monsters that appear there are powerful, and the level of adventurers there tends to be high. There is a possibility that Galdevalan might pick up a hero from the army, but even if the hero is an adventurer, it’ll probably be someone with decent ability.

However, Galdevalan is also a country with a very ambitious side that they like to pick a fight quite often. To the east of this country is Snowtail, to the southeast is Adelheit, and to the south is Tazarnia. With the exception of Snowtail, which is protected by steep mountains, they had been picking a fight that was like some kind of harassment.

Currently, Tazarnia is a large country with a vast territory. But in the past, the territory was even larger. They were defeated in the battle against Galdevalan and ceded their territory. Of course, Galdevalan also made a move on Adelheit. Galdevalan was so warlike that the alliance with Tazarnia deepened for the sake of opposing them. Being a small nation is tough, huh. But well, it seems that Joseph was doing his best so that the territory of Adelheit was not taken. After that, Nell became the leader of the Magic Knight Order, and Galdevalan became dramatically quiet after receiving Nell’s purge. Yeah, happy ending.

Well, it doesn’t mean that Galdevalan has been weakened, so I’m having high hopes for them. I mean, they are uncooperative and resentful. I’m sure they will do something interesting.

「I want to expect Snowtail too, but they are not motivated….」

Snowtail, the country of white. As I mentioned a little earlier, it is a snow country located east of Galdevalan and northeast of Adelheit. Surrounded by ridiculously high mountains, it has very little contact with the surrounding countries. In addition, it is a harsh land with heavy snowfall throughout the year, so there are not many people who like to go there. Some call it a country separated from the outside world, or a natural fortress. Despite the little trade with other countries, that rough land could provide the needs of the country, so in a sense, it’s a major nation.

However, many of the people there are basically indifferent to other countries, so it is doubtful that they would bother to go climbing over the mountains to accept the call for the alliance. Even they will have to respond if it’s an exchange between the kings, though. By the way, this country is the only country I haven’t visited on this continent. It’s cold, it’s painful, and it’s definitely tiring. I’ll never go there.

「Now is not the time for that. Let’s go shopping. I at least want to eat something good if it’s in the town…. Hm? An expensive-looking carriage is coming this way, huh.」

When I was about to enjoy a little fun after the death running, there were people who came with bad timing. Moreover, this roaring sound of footsteps is from a dragon carriage, right?

「Geh, that’s Galdevalan’s national emblem….」

I did hope they do something interesting, but I didn’t say to do it now. The correct manner is to come after I have prepared my mind and body, and have regained my composure. Eh, that’s irrelevant? Is that so?

「Observation, continue.」

Haa, continue, huh….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s decided that Haruna and the others will stay at the Crocus Castle until the day the alliance is formed. The queen directly allowed them to act in the castle, and Haruna’s so happy. She’s finally gotten out of the daily grind of studying, and she’s as happy as her master who’s eating dried meat outside. Clarius lent her a part of the courtyard and she immediately started training with Chinatsu to move her sluggish body. ―― However, the roaring sound came suddenly.

「Huh? Are Makam and Redon running outside?」

「There’s a decent stable at the castle and they should have been staying there…. Haruna, did you order Gobuo to make them do exercise?」

「No, didn’t. They’ve been running a lot recently, so I was thinking to make them have a good rest today. Ah, but, these footsteps have a slightly different rhythm from Makam and Redon, so maybe it’s not them.」

「The rhythm of the footsteps is different, huh…. Then, the possibility of different earth dragons is high. Maybe another hero has arrived. If it’s a country bigger than Adelheit, it’s not surprising that they have earth dragons, right?」

「Ah, I see~」

「Everyone, this is serious desuwaa!」

「This is serious…!」

When Haruna nodded and was convinced, Therese and Weerel came running to the courtyard. Both have books in their arms. Apparently, they were in the middle of studying.

「This is, *cough*…! Uhh, I shouldn’t have shouted while running desuwa.」

「*Wheeze*…!」

Maybe something serious has happened that the two were shouting like that. Chinatsu is nervous, thinking that it’s probably about the sound of the footsteps.

「Both of you, what happened!?」

「You see, it’s serious desuwa!」

「Yes… very much, *wheeze*….」

「Wee, you don’t have to force yourself to speak. Therese-san, is it about this sound?」

「「Eh?」」

When Chinatsu said so with conviction, Therese and Weerel are puzzled. Then, the two of them tilted their heads. It seems that they don’t understand what Chinatsu is talking about.

「…… Was it different? Can’t you hear this rumbling sound?」

「Ah, you are right desuwa.」

「We’ve been traveling in the dragon carriage… so I got used to it….」

「E-Err, so, what was it about?」

「This desuwa!」

「This…!」

The two pushed out the book they were holding at the same time to Harua and Chinatsu.

「Therese-san’s is… 『Daisaku, The God of Agriculture, This is My Life Record』?」

「It’s the autobiography of Daisaku-sama who is now a superstar in the agricultural industry desuwa! This legendary book was supposed to be out of print a long time ago, but I found it in the castle library! As expected of the country of green desuwa!」

「I-I see…. What about Wee’s?」

「I found the world’s largest children’s illustrated book that records fish from all over the world… 『The Life of Fish ~All Nation Edition~』…! It’s a pitiful book that has been removed from most stores because it’s so thick that it takes up as much space as three regular illustrated books…. I never thought that I would see it here…!」

「「………」」

It seems that they were mistaken.

「T-This is serious!」

In the end, it was Mani who informed them about the footsteps.