I can't thank you enough for accepting my invitation.

It's my pleasure to be here, and I'm very grateful for the invitation.



　The Garcia Chamber of Commerce's lord's mansion was as luxurious and large as this Shipland lord, Viscount Shipland's mansion.
　The fact that they were fighting the lord for the power of the mansion's size meant that they were in a state of conflict with the Viscount Shipland family, who I heard were also relatives?　
　Or maybe they are in effect sharing the real power of this Shipland.

　Apparently, the Garcia Chamber of Commerce does not seem to be just a big merchant.
　You can call them political merchants.

The Garcia Chamber of Commerce and Viscount Shipland's family are not the best of friends, but they are holding hands behind the scenes. It's not just that people from the Viscount Shipland family became commoners and started the Chamber of Commerce. This is also to preserve Shipland's independence.

'Has the pressure on the Kingdom of Burt increased that much?

　Lalabelle couldn't help but ask the Lord of the Garcia Chamber of Commerce a question.
　It was probably because he had managed to maintain its uniqueness by being a trade transit point so far, but he felt that that was also in jeopardy because of his own brother.

''Your Majesty of this generation's Bart Kingdom wants power anyway. You seem to be in a hurry to have some kind of achievement. Princess Lalabelle.''

I had a feeling they'd know, though, since they'd be inviting me and all that.

　As expected of Shipland's largest merchant.
　His ability to gather information is superb, and he had long ago realized Lalabell's true identity.

''I don't mean to do anything about you guys. The current Princess Lalabelle........come to think of it, I heard that she descended and became an earl....... The Lord of an uninhabited oasis surrounded by a sandworm's nest. So an independent lord is free to go wherever he pleases. I was surprised that they traveled so far in such a small boat.

　The only person whose identity would be in trouble if their identity was revealed is me, who is officially dead.
　It's not like Lalabelle and Miu Miu asked Shipland to build them a ship and there's nothing wrong with that.
　It's not like they've committed any crime.

I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not.　Your Majesty.

''I'm sure you're right. Lady Mew, Master Lalabelle's aide, an excellent wizard and chief strategist. You were the fourth daughter of Baron Bernat's family?

'Are you showing your power over us by flaunting that you have information about me as well as Master Lalabelle?　The current Lord of the Garcia Trading Company.

I have no intention of doing so. The King of the Kingdom of Baat wants to take Shipland under his control, regardless of whether or not we gather information. If the new King is given direct control over Shipland and the royal family can monopolize the transit trade, his achievements will be unparalleled, and the royal family and nobles will follow him.

Isn't someone going to stop me?

　The reason why Shipland is flourishing as a trade transit point is because it is a nobleman's territory of the Baat Kingdom in name only.
　If it were to come under the direct control of the kingdom, it would quickly lose its current prosperity.

''You think it's a good idea because the power of the royal family itself will increase?　If only the Royals gained and the rest lost a lot, you thought, the Royals would gain more and more power?

'I didn't have to think about that either. I can't seem to understand the young king's thinking.

　Shipland is under the rule of the Viscount Shipland family, which is why a large amount of cargoes flow in from the independent lord's oasis.
　If it were to become directly under the kingdom's control and the royal family would be in charge, there would be many inconveniences.

''The independent lords in the territory claimed by the Bart Kingdom might not be willing to sell their cargoes to Shipland.

　By the way, it was out of the question to buy a shipment that came from an independent lord's oasis that wasn't vassal to the Baat Kingdom.
　That was the original attitude and policy of the Kingdom of Baat.
　It's also called a tatemae.
　However, that would cause a shortage of goods in the capital, so the problem was made ambiguous by interposing Shipland in between.
　Shipland itself is the territory of the nobility of the Kingdom of Baat in name only, and because it is in fact an independent domain, that deception has worked.
　But once it becomes under direct control, the Kingdom of Baht can't help but say not to bring in any cargo from a nobleman's territory that isn't vassal to them.

　If Shipland is made under direct control, the Baat royal family itself will not lose anything.
　There are also nobles who are properly vassals to the Baat Kingdom, and they can just trade with them, because the cargo will not be completely disrupted.
　The overall volume of trade will decrease, so from the point of view of the Bart Kingdom as a whole, it is a great loss, but if the nobles are impoverished, it can be seen as a good thing for the royal families who want to increase their power.

''I think we will be at a disadvantage in terms of national power against other countries, though.

The current king of the Baat Kingdom may have wanted to meditate on the temporary decline in national power and tighten control within the country, since he wouldn't go to war with other countries because of the desert anyway. So we think. We are.

Do you think my brother could have done that?

　He wants to show off his power as a king, even if it's a little reckless.
　Larabell may understand the darkness in his brother's heart better than anyone else.

''Nevertheless, it will still be many years before the Bart Kingdom turns its troops to Shipland. We'll need to be prepared to go to war.''

　Because at the very least, we have to send an army that will outnumber Shipland's defensive forces.
　At the same time, the ships that would carry that army and the water and food they would consume or....

''In the Great Desert, isn't it difficult to gather the food, water and other supplies needed to send a large army to distant strongholds?　And it would be impossible to get it locally.

　It's not impossible, or rather, the town we occupied would collapse as soon as we procured local supplies, etc.
　The reason for this is because they can only rely on water and food production from the oasis to begin with, so if trade isn't thriving like in Shipland, people who have more than the amount of food they produce will starve to death.
　It doesn't matter how much you secure an oasis with its inhabitants dying off and the town destroyed.

　It might be possible to send people in to rebuild it from scratch, but considering the cost and hassle, there's no point in sending an army all the way in.
　If there was such a thing, no country would leave the independent lords in a distant oasis.

''They're preparing for a lot of things by the end of five years or so. The Bart Kingdom has high taxes.''

Yes.

　It's half of the materials of the sand beasts that the hunters killed and half of the divine coins that they drop.
　It seems that farmers, merchants, and craftsmen are in the same situation, but it was even cheaper when the previous king was in office.
　I heard that after the current king, taxes have gone up to nearly double.
　I wasn't around at the time, so I didn't notice it.

'The taxes are low in Shipland. It's twenty percent at the most.

　This is how good the economy is.
　You don't have to take so many taxes to get by.
　And because taxes are low, many people, ship owners and merchants gather to do business.
　So the more money Shipland gets, the more money it will attract.

The invasion of Shipland by the Royal Army of Baat will take place in five years' time? Do you have any proof of this?

''At times like this, merchants can roughly estimate the Bart Kingdom's stockpile of supplies based on the amount of goods moved and traded. They can also calculate the number of troops to be sent out and the amount of water and food they will need, and most importantly, the 'Changer' that the Baat Kingdom called out died in an unexpected accident. The new 'Changers' will be summoned in five years.

　I see.
　Was there a reason why I was treated as an unwanted 'change agent' and was about to be dealt with?
　But that king made a bad choice.
　It would have been unexpected that I would later acquire the special skill of the 'Interdimensional Warehouse'.
　Because with this, it is easy to move goods around.

　However, I don't have the right to go out of my way to teach you that, though.

''Is the 'Changer' dead?''

''I don't have complete proof, but I heard that the Baat Kingdom has started storing magic power in the device used to summon them in order to re-summon them after five years. Even there, though, it seems to be a burden on the people and not very popular. If there's nothing in the Changer, it would take fifty years to accumulate magic power in the device. I guess that's what you mean when you say you're in a hurry.

　So somehow the kingdom of Bart is convinced that I'm dead?
　Have they become aware of the fact that the church's bank account has disappeared?
　So, then, there is a gap in the protection of the church's depositor information.

''Therefore, we have time against the Kingdom of Bart, so I'm not that pessimistic. Of course we're not neglecting to gather information and prepare our defenses. However, there's an imminent danger right now...

'Imminent danger?　Sand pirates?

No, no, there are no sand pirates that come here.

　A sand bandit is, in essence, like a pirate.
　In this world, they are sand bandits, not pirates, because they cruise the sandy seas and attack ships.
　Where is the difference between them and merchants with sand drift ships, though, that's a difficult question to answer.

　Because some impoverished merchants turned into sand bandits.
　Because in many cases, even if they were attacked by sand bandits while moving through the desert and went missing, they would end up being 'probably eaten by a sand beast'.

' There is a 'void' approaching.

Emptiness?

　Is there a sand beast with that name?
　Or some sort of great natural disaster?

'Mr. Tarlow, emptiness is a giant sandworm. It's a sand beast that has swallowed several oases so far.

　Mew is smart enough to deal with my pseudonym right off the bat.
　There's a giant sandworm and it's going to swallow up the oasis and the town?
　That's a lot of scale, isn't it?

''Emptiness is a giant sand worm that is over a kilometer long and has a mouth diameter of about fifty meters. They don't breed, they don't act in packs, and they roam the desert in unison.

　And when they get hungry, they swallow up towns and oases, let alone people.
　So far, many oases have been destroyed.
　They say that they don't suck in to the water source of the oasis, so other immigrants will come in and start living right after them, but it didn't make a difference that they are still annoying sand beasts.

'Why are you telling us that?　Even the best of us can't defeat emptiness.

'That's right. I hear that thing has a great capacity for self-regeneration.

Self-renewal?

'Yes. No matter how big it is, it's still a sandworm. If the strong hunters deal with them, there's no way they can't be defeated. It's normal to think that they would be able to take them down, but...

　Emptiness heals quickly, no matter how much damage it takes.
　Whether it was slashed by a weapon, frozen by magic, or burned down by fire.
　Its resilience is astounding, and it is said to be a sand beast with hardcore resilience that has never been defeated no matter how many times it has been defeated, no matter how many times it has been defeated.

''The only way to counteract it is to run away.

　No amount of emptiness will eat away the most important water source in the oasis, so we give up on the buildings, infrastructure, fields, and other top-of-the-line items and evacuate temporarily.
　After the emptiness leaves somewhere else, we return to the oasis and begin to rebuild.
　This is the way to deal with the people who have been affected by emptiness so far.

　I also think the method I did as Mew suggested is the safest.
　Because even if Lalabelle slashes through it boldly, or Mew uses magic to submerge it in ice, Emptiness will not die.

　''Me?　
　What can I do?
　When it comes to combat power, I am vastly inferior to these two men.

I'm going to have to ask you to do something about it.　Honestly, I don't have a hand in it.

What about the hunters in this town?

''Naturally, they refused. There's also a famous hunter who attacked Emptiness before, but he said, 'No matter how much damage you do, you'll recover quickly and there's no way to do it...'...'

　Because Shipland attracted so many people, the hunter base was also very thick.
　This was because the trading of materials obtained by the hunters was also active in Shipland.
　Because of this, it was said that the layer was as thick as that of the royal city, but unfortunately, all the famous hunters refused the request to defeat Emptiness.

''It's not good right now for this Shipland to be crushed by Emptiness.

　I'm sure the king has a lot of ambition.
　It might hasten his departure to Shipland.
　If they've gone back to the clearing anyway, then we can send out the army like a ton of soldiers.
　There's also the advantage of not having to send out so large an army, since we won't have to fight a battle.

''It's a very limited opinion, but why don't we ask for the support of the Bart Kingdom here? But this is also dangerous.

　The town would have to accept the army of the Kingdom of Burt inside the town.
　If they invaded from within, the Viscount Shipland family wouldn't be able to respond.

''That's why we're hitting everyone who seems likely.

Doesn't it leak to Bart's kingdom?

'It's already leaked. We have to fly the ship as fast as we can from here to the 'Trest' oasis, which is about three days away. This place will be overrun by emptiness in another week or so. The lord of this place also has a baronetcy from the Bart Kingdom, but because the situation is more urgent than Shipland, the whole house is divided and torn between whether or not to call for reinforcements from the Bart Kingdom. If the Barons of Trest call for reinforcements from the Kingdom of Bart, this is also a bad idea.

　Is it hard to imagine that those reinforcements would pass through Shipland without a fight?
　
　They'll just take over the water source of the oasis, which has been overrun by emptiness.

''Isn't it pointless to argue now?''

''The proponents of accepting the Baat Kingdom Army have already given up on it. They think it will be too much trouble to rebuild the oasis, so they are planning to sell the water source to the Baat Kingdom for a higher price.

　The water source is still there, so the Oasis of Trest would make a good military garrison.
　In exchange for selling the oasis, the Barons of Trest will receive a guaranteed noble status and income from the Kingdom of Bart.
　And with Trest under their control, the Bart Kingdom will apply military pressure on Shipland.
　''Unfortunately, you're already stuck.

'It's important that the emptiness be defeated by the hunters. I was hoping that Lalabell-sama and Mew-sama, who had made a name for themselves in the royal capital, would be able to do so...''

　Is that why you invited us to the mansion?
　No, because of this head of the family, he should have realized who I am long ago.
　The reason I don't say it is probably because I don't understand my power as a 'change agent'.

''With Shipland gone, the Independent Lords and the Oasis Lords who are vassals to the Kingdom of Baat in form are also in trouble. To them, and to the great merchant volunteers, the Viscount Shipland also paid, and currently the reward for defeating the Void has risen to a billion druk.

　A billion druks is a lot of money, but what about as a reward for defeating emptiness?
　The fact that none of the leading hunters had taken it on meant that they were still likely to see it as cheap, or that they wouldn't be successful even if they took it on anyway.

''Right now, there's also a proposal to double that strike down reward to two billion druk. I was wondering if you would be willing to underwrite it.''

That's a difficult request.

'Yes. If you take it on and fail....

　The chances of dying are high, so the more calm professionals would not take on the task of defeating an unruly sand beast with their own abilities?
　Lalabelle and Miu are both renowned hunters in the royal capital, so they seem to think that they can't take it easy.

''You are welcome to stay in the mansion until the ship is completed. This is because we are in debt to you for the sugar. I hope you will consider it if you can.

I'll think about it.

'Yes. If only there was some way to bring it down.

　Thus we were obliged to stay in the house of the head of the Garcia Chamber of Commerce until the ship was completed, but we did not see each other at all for three days or so, as he was running around all over Shipland due to the sand beast called Emptiness.

　Even so, he would have been courted by his master.
　We were politely looked after by the servants in the mansion and we were enjoying our celebrity life.
　Apparently, that white sugar is very profitable.

　If we don't do something about the emptiness, though, the town of Shipland will be swallowed up, no matter how much money we make.