Ch.267Chapter 267 – The Saint’s Information (1) (Revised)

For a while, Kara’s lecture continued.

She seemed to think we had teased Chris too much, despite his kindness to her, and was extremely passionate about it.

“…So make sure to apologize later.”

“Yes.”

When I meekly bowed my head and answered, Kara’s face finally softened a bit.

Then she smiled slightly and said:

“If you apologize, Christina will surely forgive you with a smile. She’s not the type to stay angry over something like this for long.”

As Kara said, Chris wasn’t the kind of woman who would remain sulky over words that weren’t meant seriously.

Before long, she’d probably laugh it off and be ready to accept our apology with a smile.

“I’ll definitely apologize.”

When I said this while looking at Eve and Sera, they both nodded as well.

With that, Kara’s lecture was completely finished, and the atmosphere relaxed considerably.

Then Kara took a sip of water and quietly looked at me before speaking.

“While we’re at it, I’d like to ask something. Is that alright?”

“What is it?”

“I’d like to hear about your next destination.”

Kara’s red eyes shone softly.

The next destination.

Naturally, since I hadn’t properly heard about it myself yet, I quietly looked at Eve.

And Eve quietly looked at Kara and asked:

“May I first ask why you’re inquiring about this?”

Eve asked in a flat tone.

However, perhaps because I’d spent so much time with Eve, I could sense that she was wary of Kara.

And Kara seemed to notice this too, as she quietly nodded and said:

“…Given the circumstances of our meeting, it’s right for you to be cautious of me.”

“Is that so.”

“As I mentioned earlier, I have no intention of remaining hostile toward you all. However…”

Kara briefly turned her head to look at Chris.

Thanks to Beatrice’s earnest consolation, I could see Chris gradually recovering from her embarrassing moment.

“I owe a debt to Christina. I simply want to repay it.”

“I see.”

“That’s right.”

Kara looked straight at me.

After exchanging glances briefly, I quietly looked at Eve.

And Eve also looked at me before quietly nodding.

“…If Kay allows it, I suppose we have no choice.”

After saying this, Eve took a breath, smiled slightly at me, and then looked at Kara.

“Our next destination is the Kingdom of Firenchena.”

“The Kingdom of Firenchena?”

“Yes.”

Eve smiled and answered my question.

“Since our next destination is on the sea, we thought it would be best to head to the closest country where we can board a ship.”

“You’re going to sea? Where are you heading?”

“…Let’s keep that a secret.”

Eve shook her head in response to Kara’s question.

It seemed she was willing to share some information about our destination, but wanted to keep the most important destination—the location of Evgenia’s seal—confidential.

And Kara, as if she had anticipated that the exact reason would be concealed, nodded without showing any displeasure and didn’t press further.

“Kay, you generally know where it is, right?”

“That’s right.”

I quietly nodded at Eve’s words.

I naturally knew the approximate locations since I had already been informed about the seals’ positions before.

One of the two remaining seals, the one said to exist in the sea.

The biggest problem with this seal was that its location was close to the New Kingdom of Traigaena.

“But heading north to Bestia isn’t a good option either.”

“The beastmen there conduct slave hunts to turn humans into slaves, so the public safety is quite poor.”

“We wanted to avoid the beastmen until we could find a safer approach.”

Eve finished speaking.

“So you turned your attention to the sea, which you can somehow access.”

“Yes. …Of course, given the geography, we’ll need to retreat immediately once our business is done.”

There’s no particular reason to enter and exit the New Kingdom of Traigaena.

Of course, we could consider the option of entering briefly to obtain information about dimensional travel that Asam mentioned, but that wouldn’t be a very wise choice.

When the conversation reached this point, Kara nodded.

“So, the next destination is the Kingdom of Firenchena. I understand.”

“Yes.”

Kara nodded at Eve’s words.

“First, I thank you for trusting me enough to tell me your destination.”

Kara said this, took a sip of water, and smiled gently.

Her appearance was so similar to Christina’s that I was slightly surprised inside.

“…Despite having been a saint, I regret that I don’t have much to offer. I don’t possess anything that could greatly aid your journey.”

“That’s alright.”

Eve said with a smile.

However, Kara hadn’t finished speaking yet.

“Instead, I’ll tell you what I know about the Kingdom of Firenchena.”

“We already—”

Eve, who had started to speak reflexively, quickly stopped herself.

And Kara said with a serious face:

“I’m talking about the Emiris Order’s confidential information regarding the Kingdom of Firenchena, and information I heard before coming to this country.”

“…The Order’s confidential information.”

At my words, Kara nodded slightly.

“Of course, I don’t know everything… but I’ll share what I know in hopes that it might help you.”

Then she looked at each of us in turn and asked:

“First, do you know that the Kingdom of Firenchena offers large quantities of magic stones to the Order every year?”

I looked at Eve in response to Kara’s question.

And Eve spoke in a quiet voice:

“I remember Beatrice mentioning it at the magic tower before.”

“That’s surprising. What I’m telling you now is information that even within the Order, we’re cautioned not to disclose externally, yet you already know about it.”

Kara quietly looked at me and said:

“The magic stones received from the Kingdom of Firenchena don’t leave the Order. They go directly to a designated location.”

“Where to?”

“Gema Port.”

Kara said quietly.

“I’ve heard there’s a special laboratory of the Order there. Because of this, an enormous amount of magic stones flows there and isn’t distributed elsewhere. So even I don’t really know the exact purpose of the magic stones.”

“You don’t know?”

“…I suppose the information that reaches me is limited.”

Kara bowed her head apologetically.

“Whatever the case, it’s certain that the Kingdom of Firenchena is offering large quantities of magic stones to the Order, and they’re being consumed within the Order.”

Kara spoke while quietly folding her hands.

Looking at her, I quietly asked:

“Why does the Kingdom of Firenchena offer magic stones?”

“I heard it’s because the current king successfully usurped the throne with the help of the Order. In other words, it’s payment.”

After saying this, Kara raised her hand and continued:

“Unfortunately, I don’t know the detailed circumstances of the current Firenchenan king’s usurpation.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Perhaps there’s someone else who knows the details.”

Kara apologized, indicating that it was difficult to answer in this setting.

Accepting her apology, she smiled lightly and continued:

“Going back to the original topic… Recently, there was a protest from the Kingdom of Firenchena regarding these magic stones.”

“A protest?”

“Yes. A protest saying they can no longer offer those magic stones. They unilaterally stopped sending the shipments.”

Kara took a sip of water before continuing.

“Of course, it seems the Order’s facility still has plenty left, so the issue hasn’t spread widely yet. But I heard that the shipment that was supposed to arrive hasn’t come in yet.”

“How did you find out about this?”

“I happened to see a report that came to Somnus.”

Kara quietly added that this information was certainly reliable.

“…And later, I was also able to see the order that Somnus sent in response.”

“What kind of order was it?”

“An order to send the New Kingdom’s secret weapon to the Kingdom of Firenchena.”

“Are they starting a war or something?”

In response to my question, Kara shook her head.

“No. Considering the nature of that weapon, it won’t even be properly known that it’s the New Kingdom’s doing.”

“What kind of weapon is it?”

Kara quietly looked at me.

“A sea dragon.”

“What?”

“The New Kingdom’s secret weapon refers to a sea dragon that they’ve released and raised in the sea near the New Kingdom.”

When the name “sea dragon” was mentioned, Eve and Sera’s expressions turned slightly pale.

“A sea dragon? I know those as monsters rarely found even in the deep sea.”

“Somehow they’ve managed to capture and tame it. I don’t know the method either.”

However, Kara spoke with a serious face:

“But I’ve confirmed that it actually exists. I saw it once by chance.”

“You saw it?”

“Yes. Around the time when a large-scale migration of monsters was observed in Emiris God’s hunting grounds, I heard something similar happened in the sea. I saw it being deployed to eliminate those monsters.”

“…A large migration in Emiris God’s hunting grounds?”

“Yes. I heard it caused tremendous damage to foreign merchants.”

When Kara finished speaking, Eve gently took my hand.

This was because it was the place where we had nearly died when I met Eve and crossed over to the Kingdom of Mikea.

‘And it happened to be during that period.’

At that time, Eve had suggested taking the sea route for safety, but if we had gone that way, it would have been equally dangerous.

Perhaps we might have encountered that sea dragon.

“So that’s when you saw the sea dragon.”

“Yes. It was enormously huge. I only saw it being deployed, so I didn’t actually see how it fights.”

Kara said this and took a breath.

“…Anyway, they say a sea dragon’s combat power at sea is not at all inferior to a dragon’s. They sent such a creature to the Kingdom of Firenchena as retaliation. And not long after, the economy of the Kingdom of Firenchena became seriously troubled.”

Kara’s face darkened a bit.

“I heard the sea dragon randomly destroyed ships traveling to and from the Kingdom of Firenchena and attacked nearby villages. As a result, maritime trade greatly decreased… people near the sea had their lives and homes threatened, and they began to resent the royal family.”

“Because they don’t know the inside story.”

Kara nodded at my words.

To those who don’t know the truth, the sea dragon would appear to be a random occurrence rather than something sent by the Emiris Order.

“…And I hear the Order is instigating those people’s discontent, greatly disrupting the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Firenchena.”

“The Order is instigating discontent?”

“The Order’s influence is firmly established within the Kingdom of Firenchena. No joke, that country is called the second New Kingdom. It’s the religion most believed in by the citizens.”

And such an Order is secretly instigating discontent.

It wasn’t hard to predict what would happen.

“…I had heard from Count Metis that the atmosphere had become quite unstable, but… it seems the chaos is spreading beyond imagination.”

Kara nodded at Eve’s words.

“There were also rumors that rebel forces were emerging in such an atmosphere.”

“Rebel forces?”

“Didn’t I mention earlier that the current king of Firenchena ascended to the throne through usurpation? There’s a rumor that rebel forces are gathering, centered around supporters of the previous king.”

However, Kara added that she didn’t know the truth of this rumor.

“But what’s strange is the attitude of the current king of Firenchena. He surely knows that the sea dragon was sent by the Emiris Order, yet he apparently hasn’t submitted to the Order yet.”

“Even though the damage will only increase if left alone?”

“That’s right. I heard he still hasn’t taken any public action.”

He is, after all, the king of a country.

He must know that his position could be endangered if he continues to do nothing…

“Is he plotting something?”

“I think so. A man who plotted to usurp the throne and actually succeeded wouldn’t just bow his head.”

Kara quietly shared her prediction.

Then she looked at us and said quietly:

“So be careful. Chaos born from the hands of the Order and the king is spreading throughout the Kingdom of Firenchena.”

Kara looked at us with concerned eyes as she spoke.