204 – Seven Kingdoms
It has already been two days since we left the capital of the beloved empire.
-Plodding along.
Our steps toward the west were still unstoppable.
To be precise, there was nothing rough about it. I was just walking along a cleanly paved path.
The name of this road we are currently walking on is Silk Road. I heard a lot about it, and it was literally a road as fine as silk.
‘Is it natural considering the life history of people in the West?’
I was lost in thought as I looked at the well-maintained road, like a battalion’s parade ground where the division commander’s visit was just around the corner.
Unlike other regions, the geography of the West was surrounded by rivers and the sea rather than mountains or fields, so there was a severe lack of land for farming.
This resulted in the majority of people settling in the West engaging in fishing instead of farming, and it became an opportunity for people who were tired of eating only shellfish and fish their entire lives to move outside.
In order to save grains that were in short supply, each house packed a lot of salted marine products and traveled to other regions to exchange them before they were harvested, which naturally led to an economic activity called trade.
But up to this point, the only thing that had been done was trading with small towns adjacent to the west.
In the past, at the center of the continent was Voltaire, a kingdom ruled by a tyrant.
Voltaire, who boasted one of the greatest military powers among numerous kingdoms, was notorious for imposing exorbitant taxes on those passing through his territory and ruthlessly punishing those who did not comply, making westerners reluctant to advance further. Will be.
However, when Voltaire, where everyone was shaking, fell to just two people, and the Arachnen Empire took its place, the situation gradually began to change.
There was no reason not to visit the empire that absorbed Voltaire’s population in addition to providing an acceptable level of taxes and security.
As a result, the road connecting the empire and the west developed day by day, and came to be called the Silk Road, meaning a road as fine as silk.
People attract people, and even small but nearby villages are built. The Silk Road continued to make remarkable progress, but paradoxically, this also led to restrictions on travel.
It was a time when Magic Tower was conducting a nationwide warp installation project to cover research expenses.
The kings stood up against the wizards who came to the West to install a warp leading to the empire, saying they would never be allowed to do so.
On the surface, plausible reasons were put forward, such as that the survival rights of the peddlers and the villages that developed around them were threatened. Behind this was a profit and loss calculation that included taxes for using Warp and a reduction in distribution costs, which were the main source of income.
The path that developed based on the purpose of human convenience has now been reduced to a means of making money.
‘That’s why I’m walking aimlessly like this right now.’
As if goods were prioritized over people, there was even a limit to not being able to pull a carriage without cargo, so I ended up walking around for two days.
“If only there was a warp, a kingdom would have been in trouble a long time ago. What is this?”
This is also the reason why Mesugaki, who cannot help but hate this kind of physical activity, keeps complaining next to me.
Seeing that, I secretly asked if I should use the transfer magic just in case, but was stopped by the hero’s interference, who said I should keep it as insurance just in case.
I clicked my tongue and asked Thalia.
“Then why did you obediently listen to the kingdoms then?”
“That’s right, because at that time I had just entered the Magic Tower.”
She said with regret that she should have eaten the magic tower earlier.
“If the owner of the tower had been me at that time, their country would have been erased from the map a long time ago.”
For some reason, I think he would have gotten away with it.
Thalia, who was spitting out her cruel words like a complaint, suddenly stopped in her place as if a nail had been driven into her foot.
“Why are you doing this all of a sudden…?”
“Talia, my legs hurt~! I can’t go any further!”
– Shake it off.
Then he sat down and started struggling.
Here we go again.
It appears that the cooldown period has expired and the child’s regression has begun again.
Seeing her like that, I put her hand on my forehead and sighed. The saint quickly approached.
“Let me take a look…”
“Not like that!”
After refusing the touch of her saint to heal her, she turned to me and said,
“I wish someone would give me a piggyback ride on Thalia… Ugh…”
Talia keeps glancing this way and making clumsy comments from time to time.
Since she refers to herself in the third person, I guess she is telling me to listen.
If that Mesugaki decides to lie down, he will definitely be stuck here for at least 30 minutes.
The moment I had no choice but to give up my back and carry my backpack forward.
“Hey you idiot! What are you doing?!”
There was someone who moved one step ahead of me.
“You can’t even see it? How can you just watch when your precious colleague is sitting down with a sore leg?”
It was Raina who picked her up, citing the camaraderie that seemed to have existed between them.
“Don’t be ridiculous! Put it down immediately!”
Thalia, who was very angry as if her riding experience was not very good, struggled for a while and shouted that she was refused to ride, and only then was she able to step on the ground.
“You said you couldn’t walk anymore, but you’re walking just fine. Look at this, saint. I performed a miracle.”
“You…! Do you think I’ll just get away with this?!”
“Ha… I don’t know anymore.”
Even though she came all the way here, she growled and eventually turned her back on him, telling him to take care of it.
“Well, I’m asking because I don’t know much. Was the atmosphere like this originally…?”
“….”
Now that Aria’s expectations have disappeared, she asks with her eyes, and even the hero lowers his head, unable to answer.
Is this really a party gathered to catch the devil?
I guess I’m used to seeing things like this now, but I wasn’t impressed. I just want to get there quickly and eat plenty of seafood.
When I think of seafood, the face of the guy I left behind in the Empire comes to mind.
‘Chloe, I hope you’re eating well.’
I became depressed again when I thought about our pink cat, who would have been next to me with sparkling eyes and licking her lips if I had brought her here.
The emperor rejected my request for 10 maids to manage the mansion by saying that one maid would be enough.
‘I told him not to worry because I would send him a useful talent, but he’s going to have to eat a lot….’
I’m not a furry, so why do I miss the feel of that fluffy tail?
A time when I doubted my own taste and looked back again.
“Whoa….”
The sight of Sonia catching her breath with her hands on her knees caught her eye.
Not only was she wearing her armor, but she was also carrying most of her luggage and a shield. She was slowly inhaling and steadying her breathing.
“Well, it would have been better if we just divided it up from the beginning.”
As I approached, Sonia wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand and said,
“It’s okay. I heard more than this during training.”
How much training does the knights undergo?
“Stop acting strong and come here.”
“I’m really fine, so that’s why.”
That was when we were bickering with each other over our luggage.
“Do you know anything about the situation in the West?”
At the sudden question of the hero, the attention of the party members was focused on me.
Among them, Sonia and Aria were particularly curious. Is it because this is the first time you ask me for wisdom?
“Well, to a certain extent.”
I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.
“Do you know about the seven countries in the West?”
The people of the West favored the empire’s open diplomacy, but the kings did not.
Kings who thought that the empire’s low stance was a political move to absorb the people.
Porgia, Padmonte, Arche, Marfan, Amperio, Tuscany, Saldena.
The seven kingdoms in the west did not break apart, but starting with Porgia, which was the most powerful, they deployed troops along the Silk Road and offended the emperor.
The emperor saw this and launched the first expedition of the Knights of Arachnia against them, saying it was an opportunity to show the world the power of the knights that the empire had developed.
Six battles took place like that.
The result of the not-so-intense battle was unconditional surrender to the empire.
Among them, the Kingdom of Saldena, which quickly surrendered without a fight, succeeded in preserving its power and is now in control of the western region.
On the other hand, Porgia, who fought to the end, fell, losing all of her past glory.
The emperor said he would treat him well, but he is plotting something like this behind his back.
“Then all we have to do is hit the king of Saldena? It’s simple.”
After hearing my story, Reina nodded with a satisfied smile.
“You idiot. If it were that simple, do you think the hero would have asked?”
“Have you finished speaking now?”
“Talia is right.”
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In a move to fight again, they took sides by taking sides.
“As a result, Saldena is a country that has made gains while others have suffered losses. Rather than being cowardly, it should be seen as quick-witted. The moment we enter the West, they will doubt our purpose.”
The King of Saldena, who has the survival power of a cockroach, rarely appears to the outside world. He will at least show his face in the gathering of kings.
“Then what on earth are we going to do?”
Aria is speaking to me for the first time in a while, perhaps because she is a traitor who has bared her teeth against the empire.
I opened my mouth to Aria.
“We have to bring out the kings under them.”