'My name is Pelek. I came down from the west.

　The old traveler calls himself.
　From the imperial capital, to the north is the land of the elves, and to the east and south is the sea.
　This means that travellers generally come from the west, and Bal decides that Pelek did not seem to have introduced himself.

'Where were you before you came here?'

'A group of city-states. Before that, they were in the Holy State, and even before that, the Commonwealth.

　Pelek answered Val's question as if it was nothing.
　A group of city-states is literally a single city that has the autonomy and military power of a state.

I'm not sure if it's a city-state or ...... a city-state, but I don't understand that place. Why can't we attack anywhere?''

　An acquaintance of Val's twisted his head.
　It has a similar relationship with the Federation, but it's not as united as the Federation.
　Nonetheless, it seems strange that it is not connected to the war, despite being adjacent to the Holy Land and the Federation, besides the Empire.

''It will be difficult,''

　Pelek responds immediately.

It's like a buffer zone between the major powers. If one of them invades, they will indeed unite, and the other powers will be wary. And yet, it's not like we have enough goodies to make the big powers wary of us.

　The old man said it was because there was no return on the risk.

'The only exception is the Empire. If the Empire gets serious, it could kick out the reinforcements of the Federation and the Holy Land and swallow the city-state complexes.

But I don't think the Empire will.

　Val says with a smile.
　I can tell you that our current emperor is a man with no territorial ambitions.
　If he didn't have a problem that could not be solved without attacking a group of city-states, then there was no reason for the Empire to move.
　As long as he was on the throne, or unless something very special happened, the Imperial Army would not invade.

''That's true. However, the Gestan Kingdom has been destroyed.''　

　Pelek lowers his voice and speaks in awe.

'That was your predecessor's time, wasn't it?

　Val gets a look that says he has no choice.
　The previous emperor was said to have been a bloodthirsty and passionate man.
　He couldn't put up with the long-running skirmishes and conflicts of interest with the Gestan Kingdom, so he ordered Jurgen, who was the first Yagami Akira at the time, to mobilize.
　The result was the destruction of a great power that had lasted for hundreds of years.
　It might have been good for the empire up to that point, but the anti-imperialist momentum grew throughout the continent.
　Would it be more accurate to say that the fear of the Eight Divine Brilliance had grown too much?
　Jurgen was too strong.
　In a panic, the Empire managed to avoid the continent vs. the empire with their diplomatic offensive.
　In the words of the Prime Minister at the time, "If we send out all the Eight Divine Talents, we may win, but even if we win, there is no way we can rule.
　Sending out personnel to rule the entire continent, for example, was a picture-perfect idea.
　No matter how short-tempered and belligerent the previous emperor was, he was indeed hesitant to leave most of the continent without a ruler.

''So I suppose that's why.

　At Val's acquaintance's climactic words, Pelek murmured, "Here's to rational, hard-working Imperials.
　Then he shook his glass and said.

'You were supposed to talk for information, but you've been taught. I have a lot to answer for this.

You're a very disciplined man.

　Val laughed, but he didn't believe it much.

'Do you know of any unusual stories?'

　In response to his question, Pelek prefaced his statement with, "I don't know if I can live up to your expectations," he said.

I don't know what's going on in the Holy Land," he says, "but there seems to be something fishy going on there. I don't know why, but I heard that the High Priestess has been disqualified.

"Huh?

　The acquaintances didn't know what they were talking about and reacted appropriately, but not Val.
　He knows a certain amount about the Holy Land's temples as a matter of course.
　The Highest Temple Chief of the Holy Land will not resign unless he dies or becomes seriously ill.
　It should be very rare for him to be disqualified because it's a position that sucks all the sweet juices out of him and no one wants to leave.
　Of course, this was information that citizens living in the second-class area of the Empire couldn't possibly know.

''Is it a nasty thing for the High Temple Chief to be disqualified?

　Val asked Pelek with an expression that made no sense.