''Mew, there's no point in chopping off your head, is there?

''According to the documents, yes. It's a document on emptiness that was in the royal capital, and I only happened to look through it.




　It's getting hectic out of town.
　It seems that the void is heading for Trest, Shipland, as expected.

　They should have about a week to spare before reaching Shipland, but they could already see the hunters, shipowners and lords who were packing up and trying to get away.

　Even the Viscount Shipland's mansion seemed to have begun preparations for the move.
　The same must be true of the Garcia Chamber of Commerce.

''I heard that the tip where the sandworm's mouth is located isn't exactly the head. In other words, it's useless to cut it off.

So where is it?　The head of emptiness,

There is no such thing. There is no such thing.

　So you're saying that sandworms are planarian-like creatures?
　I haven't heard of any parts that were cut off also regenerating and increasing in number, though, so I guess it's not exactly the same.

'If you cut it into several pieces, the largest part would regenerate immediately. The pieces that didn't regenerate would immediately be retrieved from the mouth and nourished again.

　In other words, is there no point in slicing through emptiness?
　In the first place, though, given the size I heard about, it would be extremely difficult to slice it in two.

''It wouldn't kill you if you iced it, would it?

He says it doesn't make sense. He says the sooner the ice melts, the sooner they can get going.

　Even if you iced emptiness in the hot desert, it would be very difficult to maintain it.
　No way can we keep casting magic on it forever to prevent the ice from melting.

''Burning it with fire magic isn't practical either.

　It was physically difficult to use magic to burn out a huge body of emptiness, and even if you only burned its surface, it would recover quickly.
　But it is also difficult to burn out a sand beast that is over a kilometer long in a short time.
　It's not only that, it's that Mew is good at ice magic.
　The only thing she can do with fire magic is to set it on fire.

I'm not sure if it's poisonous or not.　It's a sand beast, so it's still a creature, right?

'Yes, sand beasts are definitely living things.

'With its huge body, it'll need a lot of poison. It's going to be difficult to get up close and put a lot of poison into the emptiness's body.

　Lalabelle is right, if you use poison to defeat emptiness, you need a quantity anyway.
　Can we prepare a large amount of poison in a short period of time?
　When dealing with such a large amount of poison, if we don't take care to prevent poisoning, we'll be the first to die.

'It's difficult.'

Yeah.

So I suppose that's why the Master of the Garcia Trading Company is so busy.

　Even if it's impossible to somehow defeat the emptiness...........................it's because we need to make a calculation to escape with as little damage as possible.
　Even so, Shipland will be destroyed.
　Precious nature and fields will also disappear, so it will be hard to rebuild after they return.

I'm sure a lot of people will die, too.

Water....

　The Great Desert is full of desert, and water is only available from the central sea, few rivers and oases.
　Even if the many inhabitants of Shipland succeed in escaping the town, many will still die in the desert from lack of water.

　This is because humans cannot survive without water.
　In such a hot desert climate, we sweat profusely and must take in quite a lot of water.
　Moreover, it becomes cold on the contrary at night.　
　If you don't prepare for the cold, at worst you will freeze to death.

''How many days will it take to get back to the water source after emptiness has been roughly inhaled?

　After the void has passed, if they somehow return to Shipland, where only a water source remains, they will have to go into the disaster with nothing left to live on.
　It will take an enormous amount of time to rebuild the town, and the death toll is likely to rise in the meantime.

　This desert world is killing people who are unprepared for it without mercy.
　And it's the weakest of the weak.

Seeing as it will take a week to get back to Shipland, most of the women, children and old people will be dead in that time.

　Water is too bulky to take out with you.
　If people who want to escape rush to the source of water to get it, the evacuation will be delayed this time.
　On the other hand, if people were to flee to the desert without the water they need, they would certainly die.

　It would be very difficult to camp in the desert for days at a time, even if they had raised their level a little so that they could live in the desert.
　Many children, women, and frail old people who have not leveled up would not be able to endure it.

''I hope I can manage to beat them.

"Is that because you feel sorry for innocent people, Master Taro?

'Don't ask me how hard Lalabelle is on me. Of course, that's not all he asks.

　I think it's fair to say that we could get away with a new ship at this point, and we have to indulge the criticism that has come out of that choice.
　Because in our current precarious position, we have no choice but to do so.

'Because Shipland and we are in a delicate position with respect to the Kingdom of Bart,'

　Larabell and Mew were practically island-dwelling, and moreover, the water source of that oasis had dried up, so they escaped.
　From that king's point of view, ''I gave you the territory, but you have neglected your duties! So he could have an excuse to punish them both.

　Shipland could be ruled by the Kingdom of Bart with the thumping of the void riot.

　I need not say.
　If the king finds out that I'm alive, he could send an assassin to me.

''That doesn't mean I can live forever hiding my identity, either.

It's inevitable that they'll find out when.

No matter how well you do, they'll find out in five years.

　Five years later, when that king tried to summon the 'transformer' again, the summoning would fail because I was still alive.
　When that happened, it's not hard to imagine that king's anger.
　Naturally, I'm being targeted by the king, so the areas in the southwestern part of the royal capital that are officially the territory of the Baat Kingdom but are not under his effective control are of great importance.

''So we're allies in opposition to the Kingdom of Baat?

I'm not optimistic that they think we're one of them, but it's better for us to keep Shipland alive now, right?

　Shipland is also resisting the effective control of the Baat Kingdom.
　If it comes under the control of the Baat Kingdom due to the crunch of the Emptiness Rebellion, effective control of the southwest might proceed from this base.

''If possible, we would like to defeat Emptiness and stop it.

The alternative is to flee to another country.

It's possible, though.

　There is no guarantee that he will be safe if he runs away to a foreign country, and the more options he has in the future, the better.
　It was his own way to be safe.

This is what they say in the country where I used to live, 'Mercy is not for other people.

Doesn't that mean it's bad to show mercy to people?

　Is it any wonder Miu interpreted it that way........

''In recent years, more and more people in the country I was in have misunderstood the meaning of this word, but the true meaning of this word is that 'showing mercy to others is not only for the sake of that person, it will eventually come back to you in a roundabout way. I'm not a good person, so I'm not just volunteering to defeat the void.

I'm so relieved to hear that.

　Apparently, he was a bit loud.
　Naturally, the head of the Garcia Chamber of Commerce entered the room we were staying in..........................although I was indeed aware of it.

''You were still aware, weren't you? ''Changer-dono,''

'You knew what I was all along, didn't you?　It's been a month or so since I was summoned to King's Landing, since I could immediately find out who Lalabelle and Mew were. There's no way they can't check my face as I continued to kill sand beasts by leveling up.

　In order to do business advantageously, it is important to gather information.
　I'm not hiding my face or disguising myself, so it's only natural that I would be caught off guard.
　It's only on the condition that you're as big a merchant as the head of the Garcia Trading Company.

　It's because there were quite a few nobles who didn't know my face when I was in King's Landing, going back and forth between the barracks and the desert where the sand beasts lived almost exclusively.
　The king was trying to get rid of me, so there were even more nobles who didn't know my face than I did.

''You have a lot of leeway. Don't you think there are assassins lurking in Shipland from the Bart royal family?''

Even if he were, he wouldn't live long enough.

　I'm slow, but Lalabelle and Mew are not.
　They will be killed soon.

''Before that, is there any nobleman in the Kingdom of Bart who is aware that I am alive?

'None. From the information I told you the other day via the church, the king himself was convinced.

　Poor thing.
　So the conversion of the money that was in the church's account to Eidlk was successful.
　But since my account suddenly disappeared, the church is trepidatiously wondering if this is a serious flaw in the church's banking system... That's why the church is desperate to hide the scandal of my account's sudden disappearance.

　If that's the case, there's no way Bart's kingdom will notice it, even more so.

''But one day they will find out.''

Or you can run away to a foreign country.

'Why are you in such a rush to judgment?　The conditions have changed a bit. Suddenly the speed of the void's invasion has increased, and tomorrow Trest will be attacked by the void.

　How fast does emptiness move?
　Sandworms are said to move by swimming in a sea of sand, so they can move surprisingly fast.
　I don't think that the huge Emptiness can move as fast as an ordinary sand worm, but does this mean that they can move as fast as the sand worm if they want to? the...

What about Baron Trest?

''Relief won't come in time. We've been wasting too much time in a fruitless debate about whether or not to call on the Kingdom of Burt for assistance. Our reinforcements will not be able to come in time, and they will hurry to flee this way.

　When I looked at the face of the head of the Garcia Chamber of Commerce in response to my question, he didn't even try to hide his grumpiness.
　As far as I'm concerned, they don't take any measures against the emptiness, they just spend their time arguing sterilely, and to top it off, they run away without making any effort to protect the oasis that should be their home.

　The Garcia Chamber of Commerce is connected to the Viscount Shipland family, so I think they are angry at the Baron Trest's laxity.

''We have no choice but to accept it, but the Barons of Trest fall to the commoners. As soon as you ask for any special treatment, we will expel you.''

''I don't care about the Baron Trest, but are you sure you're okay with accepting all the lords and ladies?

We'll be fine as long as everything is okay.

　Originally, Shipland had to import food through trade to survive.
　Still, it's prospering as a trade transit point, so it's not like they can't feed the population a little bit, is it?

　But it's doubtful that we'll be able to live up to the standard of living we had when we lived in Trest.
　I suppose it's better than dying dry in the desert, though.

　And it is the lame rulers, the Barons of Trest, who have caused them to live in such a way.

'The rulers of the Oasis do not need incompetence. "We don't want incompetence as the ruler of the oasis, because with incompetence on top, the people will just dry up and die in the desert.

　Some places, like the Kingdom of Bart, though, have subtle kings, but they haven't gone down because of the governance structure and legacy they've built up so far.
　So the smaller the oasis, the less incompetent the ruler is allowed to be?

'The Oasis of Trest. Don't you want it?

I don't want it.

　We'd be more comfortable living in the absence of a strange base of operations.
　It's also not good to be next to Shipland.
　Shipland is a trade transit point and the influence of the Burt Kingdom is too strong.

─ Does this mean that we have to flee to the southwest?　However, if we flee now, Shipland will come under the influence of the Bart Kingdom in the future. If that happens, that king will be able to get his hands on the ungrasped areas in the southwest. If that happens, it will be the same if we flee now.

So you're saying that Shipland is the front line against the Kingdom of Baat?

'We need your help. The oasis given to Lord Larabelle and Lord Mew by the king was abandoned because the water source had dried up. This is a valid reason for abandoning the territory. Lord Lalabelle should be the new Earl of Trest.

Do you think my brother will shake his head?

　The sister who washed him off the island for fear of his power becomes the new lord of the oasis next to Shipland.
　She may not admit to being that king.

'I have no doubt you will recognize him.

My Lord, you are so sure.

From what I've heard so far, that king is a man who cares about the outside world in a strange way.

　Come to think of it, I also went to the trouble of leveling up for a month and tried to conspire to kill him on the ship on the way to Water City.
　If I didn't want to go through the hassle, I could have just assassinated them on the day I was summoned.

　The same goes for Larabell and Mew.
　Even though they were surrounded by a sandworm's nest, I gave them a proper oasis.
　As for the matter of the water source drying up, it should be unexpected since no one knows about it.

　The two of them should have conspired to kill him if they thought he was a threat to them in the future.

''The reason why this new powerful system of governance he's talking about is so half-baked is because he's somehow worried about what other people will think. Maybe it's a childhood trauma.

''Big brother was a very good man, beloved by his father the king and his vassals. I think my brother is not incompetent, but compared to my brother, he is a good person. So how could he do so many things to get his father and his vassals to approve of him?

　Is there a deep-seated feeling in that king's heart that he wants to be recognized by his deceased father and his vassals who support his suddenly deceased brother?
　So I don't want to lower my own reputation.
　I didn't do the assassination of the 'Changer' within the royal capital because it would be suspicious.
　Did you also keep Lalabelle and Mew in exile in the name of giving away the territory as nobles?

''That's why it doesn't matter if Lalabelle-dono is the new lord of Trest, which is now only a water source.

'Because of the emptiness, there's only a water source left in Trest, anyway. If Shipland falls into the hands of the Kingdom of Bart, it will be easier to monitor.

''You would think so. Therefore, would you be willing to take on the task of defeating emptiness?

It's really a no-no. I wouldn't risk my life to fight, and if I did, I might run away.

Yes, sir.

　It's like we're finally in a dire situation and we're going to do everything we can to help.
　While accepting the refugees of Trest, we will either counter the emptiness that will soon be approaching Shipland, or we will flee with the refugees of Trest as well.
　While rebuilding the destroyed Shipland, we must also resist the effective control of Shipland by the Bart Kingdom.

　That's not going to happen first.

''To be honest, if we thought Shipland could be saved, we could also betray you and offer it to that king. You may think it's unfair, but this is also to protect Shipland. That's why I split the Viscount Shipland family and the Garcia Trading Company in two.

"My Lord?

Calm down, both of you.

　Hearing the head of the Garcia Trading Company, Larabelle put her hand on her sword, and I stopped them as Mew immediately began to prepare to cast magic.

'You are a merchant and yet you are honest. Normally I wouldn't tell you even if I thought it, and if I did, your betrayal would be less successful.

"If only we could defeat emptiness.

"I was nearly disposed of by the King of the Kingdom of Baat for being a defective 'change agent'...

'I'm a merchant, so I'm somewhat of a judge of character. At least better than that young man who calls himself King.

'There are measures that are worth trying. Consider it a no-brainer.

Please. Please save Shipland.

　I had accepted a request from the head of the Garcia Trading Company to defeat the giant sandworm, Emptiness.