The first envoy was sent to the tribe of Equus.

　The first negotiations were concluded and the trade of wheat, rock salt and wine with wool and horses began.
　In the country of King Rosais, agriculture was prosperous, but cattle breeding was not so popular.
　On the contrary, the Equus tribe derives its sustenance from nomadic pastoralism, so they have no choice but to import wheat and other products.

　This was a win-win situation.
　It seems that the Equus also wanted to trade with them.

　It is important to talk to them at the beginning to make friends.

　After that, they sent emissaries every month.
　December, January, February, March and April.

　Trade went well, and much profit was made.
　When they got to know each other better, they received word from the rats that were hiding in Domorgal's country.
　They told me that King Domorgal's country would be launching a large-scale military action around June.

　It seems that they want to reap the wheat crop as part of their invasion.

　King Loseys' country is also setting up a defense system.
　I also started to recruit soldiers in As territory.

　Then in May. The seventh envoy is sent.
　This time, I'm not only with them for trade, but also with an offer to hire about two hundred Equus cavalrymen as mercenaries. Rather, this is the main issue.

　The Equus tribe should not be a bad deal since they should be under pressure from King Domorgal's country.
　Naturally, we have the cost of the war, and we'll pay their salaries.

　If there are any deaths, we will pay the family a bereavement fee for that.

　That's the deal.

　But as expected, they are also cautious about military action, so they responded by asking us to let them think about it.

　And now the Equus tribe sends an envoy.
　This time an envoy was sent from the Equus tribe.

　In short, if they wanted to make an alliance, they had to show good faith.
　However, King Rosais could not go out.

　If he goes out, he will not go to the Equus tribe, but to the other world.
　So he was chosen........




　'Oh!　The summit. It's a nice view. Don't you think?
　'Yes. And don't go so far toward the cliffs. You'll die if you fall.

　I say to Yulia who laughs happily.

　This time, Julia was the one chosen as King Rosais' namesake.　
　Initially, Raimondo-san was going to be the one to go, but the Equus tribe said Yulia was better.

　They said that there was a sick person they wanted to have Yuria-dono, who was famous as a renowned spellcaster, look at them.
　It is true that Julia's abilities as a doctor are superb.
　It's because she's worked hard to cure King Rosais' illness until now.

　However, the irony is that no matter how hard I try, I can't cure King Rosais' disease.
　It seems that King Rothais has a rare constitution that makes it difficult for spells and medicines to work.

　Well, be that as it may........

　King Rosais was very much against it.
　He said that it would be a mistake to send his lovely daughter to a foreign country.

　Well, it could be a trap, so it was a natural reaction.
　But without cavalry, the operation would not be possible.

　That's where I came forward. As my bodyguard.

　I'm proud to say that I'm the strongest in King Loseys' country.
　I convinced King Loseys that he would be safe with me.

　And I am going to take over the kingdom of King Loseys. Then you'd better pay a visit to the King of the Equus and show him your face.
　I'm sure he's going to be a great help to me in the future.





　Well, just like that, the two of us (and the thirty-two guards. Twelve of them, including Rosward and Virgal, who I brought with me. The twenty people that King Rosais had attached to us) were crossing the Alva Mountains.

　Since we couldn't use a carriage, they were all on horseback.
　And surprisingly, Julia is quite good at riding horses.

　As expected of a sorcerer, I should say.

　As I recall, we were meeting at the top of the mountain.......

　Oh, here he is.
　Julia pointed into the distance.
　There was a group of about thirty people mounted on horses. From the markings on the flag, I could tell that they were the Equus tribe.

　''Oi!

　Julia waves to the group of Equus. Could you stop being so disrespectful?　It's a matter of our country's reputation.
　However, that's not something that Yulia could understand.

　And the man leading the group of Equus tribe is also a man, and he waved his hand back.
　Neither of them.


　About five minutes of physical time later.
　Finally, they were able to meet up with the Equus tribe.

　The man in the lead takes a step forward on his horse.
　"My name is Muzio Equus Sulpicius. I am the Equus, the second son of the chief. Are you sure you are the Princess Julia?
　Yes, sir. I am Julia Rosais. I'm here in the name of King Rosais.

　When I can catch up on my introduction with Julia, Muzio meets my gaze.

　'What about you?'
　'I am Armes As. I am the lord who rules over the Ath territory. I'm accompanying you this time as Lady Julia's bodyguard.
　Well, well, well. So you're the famous Lord Gryphon's son. May I call you Alms?　Instead, you can take me to Muzio.
　'I don't mind, but...'

　You are a familiar face. Hey.

　"Ha, you don't have to use honorific titles!　I'm only the second son, after all!
　A bash and a slap on the back.
　I've never seen this type before...

　'Oh, I see. Well, let's not use respectful language then. And don't pat me on the back. It hurts.
　Oops. Sorry about that. Sorry about that.

　Muzio stops patting me on the back.
　I've never been in contact with a guy like this who is so familiar with me, either in a previous life or in this one.

　I was soon to be worried about relationships.






　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this as well. I wonder if the secret is in that strange equipment?
　Muzio quickly became interested in the saddle and stirrups.

　All of the Equus, including Muzio, ride bareback.
　It must be unusual," he said.

　The horse has a seat to make it easier to ride and a platform to hang your feet on. I see, they are easy to ride on and their weapons are easy to handle. Would you be kind enough to teach me how to make that device?
　'Then I'll have them bring some for the next mission. If I give them to you all now, I won't be able to return.

　Julia says jokingly.
　The construction of the stirrups and saddle is very simple, so if it's a primitive one, it can be made quickly.

　If they're going to be imitated anyway, it's better to give them the actual thing and get along with them.

　'But the wool you purchased from the Equus people is excellent. It is incomparable to the wool of our country.
　Ha, it's our main industry. The secret is to get them to exercise and eat a lot of good grass and grow up. But the wheat in King Rosais' country is wonderful. We cannot produce such a good wheat. Could you tell me the secret?

　The country of King Rosais is warm, relatively wet and fertile on the Adelian peninsula.
　This means that they can harvest good quality wheat.

　There was no way they could beat those who had only recently learned to farm.

　''I'm not very well versed in agriculture but you know a lot about it, don't you, Lord Almus?
　Julia suddenly turned to me.
　I'm sure I know a lot about it, but....

　Alms, please tell me!
　'Well I don't mind, but it's hard to make a general statement without seeing how you farm over there. Well, yes. Let's start in general. First of all, there are three things you need to grow your crops.

　I'll give Muzio a quick lesson on farming.

　"All you need is water, sunshine and nourishment from the soil. If you don't have one of these three things, it won't grow. As for the water and the sun, it's up to the weather. Well, you can pull water from the river. The one thing you can easily manipulate is the nutrients in the soil.

　Muzio twists his head at my words.

　'Feeding?'
　It's like rice for the crops. To produce good wool, you have to feed them a lot of grass, just as you have to feed them a lot of nutrients to produce good crops. Likewise, to make a good crop, you have to give it a lot of nutrients. This is not a problem at first because most of this nutrient is in the soil. But the problem is that it gets depleted.

　When I said this, Muzio seemed to have a flash of inspiration.

　'I see. That's why the harvest is decreasing every year. I thought it was funny that the weather wasn't so bad. So how do you get the nutrients back?

　That's pretty quick to understand.
　Now, where are we going with this?

　"The most common way is to give the field a rest. "The common practice is to let the field rest, that is, not grow anything for a year. In other words, you don't grow anything for a year, so the field gets some nutrients back.
　Hmmm. But that would mean that we'd have to reduce the amount of land under cultivation. And it's not going to be a complete recovery, is it?

　Talk to me now.
　Muzio's eyes told me so.

　'What he lacks in substance, he can artificially make up for in substance. Well you could, say, sow some ashes. Also, you could sow soil that you brought from the forest. The soil in the forest is packed with a lot of nutrients. You can tell from the fact that there are so many big trees growing in it.

　I say, looking around at the trees around me.
　It's a forest that hasn't been touched by humans, so there are huge trees growing ahead of us in a disorderly fashion.

　I read about it in a book somewhere. The kind of forest that city people dream of in the city is a place that has been touched by human hands.
　The real forest is even more terrifying than that.

　This is what it looked like in the Romano Forest. The trees are slightly different, though.

　Oh, forest soil. I'll try it next time. What else do you have?
　I'm sure there are some but we'll talk about that after the alliance.

　Sheep manure is good for fertilizer.
　Let's keep this quiet.

　I'm not going to say anything about rotational farming, even after the alliance is signed.
　It's up to us to make a deal.

　"Hmm, that's nasty. That's one more reason I'll have to convince my father.

　Is Muzio in favor of it?
　Well, he seems to be very active on agriculture, and I guess he's an innovator.

　'Why is King Equus opposed to this?'
　Hmm, my father is a conservative by nature. He doesn't like farming either. He didn't like it when people were digging up dirt like that. He wasn't a big fan of trade either. That it would destroy our culture to learn to live in luxury. The main thing about this alliance is that we don't want to get caught up in foreign affairs. It also seems silly to shed blood in a war that has nothing to do with us.


　From what I've heard, he doesn't seem to be hard-headed.
　He just doesn't like farming, but he's not against it. He said he's not opposed to trade, just not in favor of it either.
　It's like they allow it because it's sure to produce profit.

　But I'm against the alliance.
　And you have good reason to be against it.

　It's going to be hard to convince you of that.
　Not if we can offer you a return on your investment that outweighs the risk.

　Julia is the one who has the authority to negotiate, but King Losey has given me a substantial mandate to put you in charge.
　Yulia's bargaining ability is in doubt, so........


　'Oops, we're almost out of the mountains. We'll set up camp as soon as we get off the mountain. Okay?
　Yes, I'll do that. It's almost dusk.

　Apparently, we're going to make camp after we get off the mountain.
　Finally, I can rest.

　I'm tired of riding for long periods of time, as it were.



　When we descended the mountain, we found a large grassland.
　With the irrigation system in place and the development of fertilizer, it looks like we will be able to farm there.

　I don't know if it will become a large granary... or not, but it's not hopelessly dry either.


　'Come on, let's get the yurts built.
　The Equus begin to set up huge tents.
　Do the dwellings still follow the things of the horsemen, or is it just now?

　Are all the houses of the Equus tribe yurts?
　'Well, there are a lot of commoners who use yurts. But royalty and nobility have their own houses and palaces as buildings in the capital. There are summer and winter capitals, which change according to the seasons.

　That's going to leave the house covered in dust when you come back.
　Does that leave someone to manage it?

　It's not a genuine nomadic people, it's more like a half-pastoralist, half-farmer.
　And the language is a bit of an accent, but it's Adelian.



　Somehow, when Yurt was about to finish building, Muzio's men arrived in a panic.

　'Oh my God!　We've been approached by a tyrannical dragon!
　'Idiot!　How do you overlook something that big?　Why weren't you watching him properly!

　Muzio yells out.
　The dragon?

　'I'm sorry it's getting dark and I thought it was something that wouldn't show up...'
　No choice. Once he starts running, we can't do anything about it...

　Muzio turns back to me and asks.

　'I'm sorry, my dear. It was our fault. We were too close to the dragon. We're going to hold them off.　.... although if you're confident in your ability to slay dragons, you'd be more than happy to join us.

　What do you think?　
　I've never fought in a fight.

　I do have the Sword of Damascus.
　Good job. Let's go kill a dragon.