Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

TN : Just text block chapter, skip if you wish

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The Republic of Ariadya was an important central point of transportations between the Eastern and Western continent. The country was able to prosper largely thanks to the ship traffic moving through the Ariad inlet and the Quiche river and was currently a major power in the human realm. And now, there were numerous giant ships gathered together in the Ariad inlet.

These giant ships looked like small man-made islands since they were each connected to each other. They were top class constructions that didn’t sink despite there being countless number of people coming to and fro them. The reason for that being that the bottom of these ships had already sunk until the bottom of the ocean already. This feat was solely possible because the sea floor around this area was really shallow.

There were a variety of lavish dishes being carried out to be placed on a long table spanning across the deck of the ship I was currently on. Meanwhile, a handsome man came to pour a beverage into my glass. From it’s color, I guess that it was a wine.

「Thanks.」

I thanked the man who poured the wine for me.

「Your words are too good for someone as humble as I, Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki-sama.」

The man then left after a graceful bow.

He might be one of Aquario’s believers, the subordinate god under the God of Liquor, Nector. I can’t be wrong about that since there’s a glass crest sewn on the left chest part of his clothes.

Aquario was a God whose job was waiting on tables– a waiter. He handled everything from tableware to liquor management within the Heavenly palace. He was the attendant to male gods while his wife, Maidria, was the attendant to goddesses and also a subordinate of the Goddess Faeria. Outside of his vocation, Aquario also worked as an assistant to Nector and Oudith.

Due to the diversity of the jobs he held, many called him the male version of Faeria. In addition to that, his original vocation also made him the God of Butlers.

Aquario was also known as a handsome god who could rival Youth’s God, Pistis, the subordinate god under the Goddess Ishtar and the God of Song, Alphos.

For the above reason, the majority of his believers were also handsome men. It was quite the site for sore eyes.

「He was a rather good looking man. Chiyuki-san.」

Nao, who was standing besides me, teased me lightly with the remark.

「Well, it's a banquet for us after all, Nao-san.」

I replied to her jest while lightly swirling the wine glass.

「Even so, Reiji-sama is more handsome than that.」

Euria, who’d tagged along with us, added.

For some mysterious reason, she’d come along with us.

「Why are you tagging along with us, Euria-san?」

I asked pointedly while glaring at her.

「No way… how cruel of you, Chiyuki-san. There's no problem with me tagging along right, Reiji-sama?」

Euria spoke in a flirtatious tone as she entangled her arm with Reiji’s.

「Yeah, I don't mind at all. It's better if there's more girls.」

Reiji spoke with a huge grin on his face.

For you, that is. Moreover, it’s not even just Euria. There’s several other girls behind Reiji.

Rino and Sahoko frowned upon seeing that.

「But still, what shall we do about Shirone-san?」

Kyouka, who’d come along with us, was worried about Shirone.

Shirone got dead drunk a while ago and had to be carried off somewhere by Regena. That was truly a rare sight. I mean, normally it was impossible for Shirone to get drunk. We had the ability to regulate our mana to prevent ourselves from getting drunk from liquor.  It was the main reason that Kyouka would get drunk so easily since she couldn’t regulate her mana properly.

Due to this, in a normal situation, it was impossible for Shirone to get drunk. But, it seems that her mana flow is currently extremely chaotic. The matter of her childhood friend leaving without saying anything might have come as a big shock to her.

「Good grief… Normally, Kyouka-san would be the one who get dead drunk first.」

Nao poked at Kyouka while looking at her.

Indeed, normally Kyouka would already be drunk by now and Shirone would never be drunk. But, what was happening now was the exact opposite.

「Yes, this is also thanks to Kuroki-san's help. I'm looking forward for the moment when I meet him again.」

Kyouka spoke dreamly with an expression of someone who was lost in her own world.

To be honest, I was extremely surprised upon hearing that Kyouka could now use magic properly. No matter how many times I’d tried to teach her, there’d been no improvement before.

Perhaps I’m not cut out for teaching others.

I have to admit, I suppose, that I am a bit short-tempered. But, I can’t help but feel down that Kyouka-sana only needed to be taught for less than an hour by Shirone’s childhood friend to be able to get the hang of using magic properly.

According to Nao and Kaya, it seems that my personality has the worst compatibility with Kyouka-san.

I mean… seriously?

According to Kaya, he was really gentle when he taught Kyouka, never scolding her even when she made a mistake. Maybe Kyouka-san’s the type to grow when you praise her.

But, I thought that I was also gentle enough and never scolded her when I taught her either.

「That's enough, Kyouka. Though I'm barely remember his face, I'm sure that he's a lewd man.」

Reiji’s impression was quite harsh. Shirone might have gotten really pissed off if she’d heard that remark just now.

「Indeed… I can't deny that side of him.」

But, Kyouka readily agreed with Reiji on that.

My foot almost slipped upon hearing that.

I wanted to retort against her for her remark that lowered the reputation of her benefactor who taught her magic.

「Yes. he better not lay his hand on you. It doesn't matter if he's prepared to face me, but he better get away if he has no resolution. 」

Reiji told her confidently, seemingly happy at hearing Kyouka’s reply.

「Understood, onii-sama. It's just as you say.」

Kyouka had readily agreed with him too.

Didn’t you just say that you couldn’t wait to see him again? I wanted to say that to her outright.

「Nevertheless, I feel bad for Shirone-san. It's the long awaited party after all.」

Rino spoke with a dejected tone.

「No, Rino-sama. I think it’s better for Shirone-sama.」

Kaya, who stood behind Kyouka, replied as she looked at the direction in which the drunk Shirone was being carried off by Regena.

She was being carried off to the giant ship that was anchored a little ways away from the other ships. I couldn’t really see who was in there since the top of that ship was covered with a thin veil. There should be some lizardmen in there though.

Regena had brought them along since they’d played a major role in the labyrinth capture. However, since they’d cause a panic amongst the other guests if they were seen, it was decided that they would have a separate space to celebrate for themselves.

「Why is it better for her to go there, Kaya-san?」

Rino asked with a puzzled look on her face.

To be honest, I’m also curious about the reason. Could you spill the beans for us?

「Well, I simply said that it's better for us that way. Look, the General and his colleagues are coming.」

It was just as she said. General Clasus had come on the ship as well.

「How do you fare, Hero-sama? Are you enjoying this celebration?」

General Clasus approached her to greet us first.

「Yes, we're enjoying the celebration, General Clasus. May I ask you to introduce the people who’ve come with you?」

I’m curious about the people who’d tagged along with General Clasus.

There were two people who’d come along with him. One was a fat, middle aged woman who wore a lot of jewels on her clothing. The other was a rather good looking middle aged gentleman in a fairly simply outfit.

「Yeah, let me introduce them to you, Chiyuki-dono. These two are the people who stand at the peak of our country's politics and wealth.」

Clasus introduced the two people who were at his side.

「Hohohoho, It's a pleasure to meet you, Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki-sama. I'm Turia, this country's chairman of the merchant association.」

The fat woman introduced herself to me.

Since she said that she was the chairman of the merchant association, she must be related to the Heibos faith. She even had a small ornamental mallet to show that she was a follower of Heibos.

Heibos, the Treasure God, was the god of merchants. Originally, Heibos was the god of craftsmen and dwarves and had nothing to do with merchants. But, the reason he’d become the god of merchants eventually was because of his ability to create many treasured items in addition to the fact that many merchants wanted to get along with the dwarves who occupied the mountains filled with metal veins.

The mallet held by Heibos was said to be able to produce silver and gold with each stroke. Thus, merchants would carry around ornamental mallets as a symbol of good fortune.

「Since you're the chairman of the merchant association, may I assume that you're Heibos’ believer?」

「Indeed, Sage-sama. I'm the believer of Cuveria-sama, the Goddess of treasure and also a subordinate god of Heibos-sama. I'm worship the treasure hidden beneath the earth.」

The jewels on Turia’s dress shook as she talked animatedly.

Goddess Cuveria was the subordinate god under Heibos. She was in charge of controlling anything related to construction materials. There were many theories about her being a former angel or a human who’d become a god.

The reason why she was referred to as the god of merchants and warehouses despite being in charge of anything related to construction was because her main job included the handling of money and precious materials. Additionally, Cuveria’s believers seemed to earn their fare by loaning money or keeping deposits.

In short, Goddess Cuveria was also the god of financing and banks. Due to that, almost all of Cuveria’s temples were built right besides Heibos’ temples. Cuveria’s temples also served as a place to exchange money.

Naturally, it goes to say that each city-state in this world had their own currency. Thus, being able to exchange money was a must in every single country.

Anyhow, it was also an open secret that each of these currencies had different weight and sizes. For example, when in the Republic of Ariadya, we had to use a currency called Teycam.

The job of a money exchanger wasn’t just to be able to differentiate between the quality of currency, but also be equipped with the skills to be able to see through the content of precious metals in the currency which would become the base for the exchanged money.

Naturally, this was all done by the dwarves. After all, the dwarves had a natural born talent to be able to determine the content of precious metals in currency with just the touch of their hand. There were even theories about dwarves and Cuveria’s believers referring to the same god, Heibos.

「Additionally, Turia-sama is also the member of our country's senate.」

Clasus added more detailed information regarding Turia from the side.

The senate was something similar to Japan’s National Diet. The difference between them was their term of office. The senate in this world held their positions until they died.

It was a common custom in this world to not separate between religion and state. It was also a common custom for a big shot of a religion to hold an important post in the state. Plus, female politicians weren’t a rarity in this world.

Or perhaps, it would be better to say that the number of Queendoms in this world far surpassed the number of Kingdoms.

It wasn’t rare for women to hold important posts in the countries of this world. There wasn’t any problem for them to be attending these kinds of parties either. Those matters were entirely unrelated to gender or maintaining equality. It was mainly since there was a high mortality rate for men in this world.

Many men in this monster-filled world dreamed of becoming warriors. The men would either be fighting monsters or plowing fields outside of the ramparts while the women would work inside of the protection of the rampart.