Unavoidable, Alcohol (5)
So, after showing the gemstone craftsman old man around — “Here’s your new quarters,” in one of the freshly built lodgings, and, “That’s the cafeteria, and over there’s the hot spring,” — he happily disappeared into the cafeteria. Yeah, he’s definitely going to drink. Well, it’s fine. He couldn’t drink before, so he can make up for it now.
But that’s that — and this is this.
Together with Edele-san and Lisas-san — and also Mishisia-san, who didn’t seem to fully grasp the situation but said, “There’s something kinda intense going on, isn’t there, Asuma-sama!” — we began our discussion session.
“I really think we should go through with poaching people from the Grand Cathedral. In the long run, we’re absolutely going to need gemstone craftsmen…”
“But the whole reason we wanted noble backing in the first place was so we wouldn’t lose to the Grand Cathedral, right? And to get noble backing, we needed high-quality ornaments. And to get those, we needed gemstone craftsmen…”
“Exactly. Which means… we’ll end up picking a fight with the Grand Cathedral before we can even brand the ‘Panis Village High-Quality Jewelry’!”
… Yeah.
This is starting to sound like, “I don’t have any clothes to wear to go buy clothes.”
“What should we do…? No matter how you look at it, doing this will definitely get the Grand Cathedral’s attention, right?”
“Let’s think of it the other way, Asuma-sama. Let’s just assume they’re already watching us!”
“Nooo!”
Mishisia-san cheerfully went off the rails — huh? It’s already too late? Are we already in too deep?
I glanced at Edele-san for confirmation. She folded her arms and said, “Well…” and thought for a moment.
“… If we stop now, I think the Grand Cathedral will probably leave it at ‘they’re a nuisance, but let’s put it on hold for now.’ But if we start poaching more jewelry craftsmen from here on out, then surely…”
“Right!? Exactly!”
Yeah, that’s about where we stand! They’ve got an eye on us, but not enough to actually move against us — not yet.
… And with that in mind — what the hell should we do! What should we do!
“… If you ask me, I’d say go ahead and do the poaching.”
While I was fretting, Lisas-san, wearing a grim expression, suddenly dropped that line. A radical!
“If the working conditions at the Grand Cathedral are as bad as that man says, then for the sake of those workers, we should rescue them.”
“Ahh… right, there’s that side of it too…”
… Well, yeah.
This whole poaching thing benefits us — but it’d also benefit the craftsmen, right? If the Grand Cathedral’s really that much of a black company, it’s not right for decent people to be stuck working there. I’d like to offer them a proper work environment. I’ve got some sense of justice, after all.
“But if we go through with this… things are gonna get messy… aaahhh…”
If I want to protect both Panis Village and the craftsmen, it’ll end up in a full-on war with the Grand Cathedral — one we’d have to win.
… And sure, I could use Princess Laperesiana as a shield if it came to that, but I really don’t want to. Even if I had to ask her for help, I’d at least want to wait until I could guarantee a win first.
“Hey, Lisas-san. I don’t know much about it, but… isn’t the Grand Cathedral the Church’s headquarters? Why would a place like that have so many jewelry craftsmen?”
… While I was still brooding, Mishisia-san tilted her head and asked that question.
And yeah — I was wondering that too. She’s right!
Now that I think about it, it is weird. I always pictured the Grand Cathedral as a place of “holy poverty,” so why would they need gemstone artisans!? What do they even do with all those jewels!?
“... I don’t know the details myself.”
Even our dependable Lisas-san didn’t know that part. For real!?
“Then maybe we should ask him directly. That craftsman should know what’s going on inside, don’t you think?”
… Yeah, true.
We’d stumbled on a new mystery anyway, so we might as well ask the guy himself.
And so, off we went to the cafeteria.
… And there we found the jewelry craftsman old man, already in high spirits, happily drinking!
“Oh, Edele-san! The food in this village is damn good~ And the booze, too! What the hell is this drink!?”
He was laughing heartily, looking happy as could be. By the way, that “booze” he’s drinking is ethanol I produced, cut with tomato juice.
“I have something urgent I’d like to ask, if that’s alright…”
“Sure thing! Ask away!”
Maybe it was because he was tipsy and in a great mood, but he readily agreed to our little interview. Lucky!
“So, uh, old man — what exactly were you doing at the Grand Cathedral? It doesn’t seem like the kind of place that would need that many gemstone works, right?”
I asked him straight out — and…
“Well, you see, the Church uses crystal — they call it an untainted stone, yeah? We made ritual crystals into spheres, carved them, or made ornaments for the clergy — that was our original job.”
“Original job.”
“Yeah. Original.”
… That phrasing sounded ominous, and just as I started to worry, he gulped down another drink of tomato-booze and said—
“But lately, they’ve been saying, ‘A Saintess has been chosen, so make ornaments for the Saintess!’ So they hired more craftsmen for that.”
Oh?
A Saintess, huh.
“… What’s a Saintess?”
“Huh? Ah— well… a young lass working at the Cathedral, maybe? Some kinda priestess, I guess? They pick one every ten years or so and go, ‘This is the Saintess!’ … Don’t know the details myself, sorry.”
Ah… well, okay. So it’s like that.
“I see… A Saintess, as in someone said to suddenly awaken to holy power when the country’s in turmoil, right? I’ve heard that, though I’ve never actually seen one in action. How about you, Lisas-san?”
“Me? I’ve seen the previous Saintess a few times. I was in the capital during her public debut. When I was a squire, she came to the royal castle to offer prayers a few times. But the current one hasn’t been presented yet… The royal family probably already knows about her, though.”
Huh. So Princess Laperesiana might know more. If things get dicey, I’ll ask her.
“Does the Saintess just suddenly awaken to power or something?”
“Apparently, yes. I don’t know the details either, but there’s even a romance novel about it — ‘A village girl suddenly awakens as the Saintess, is noticed by the prince, and…’ you know.”
Ah, so like a Cinderella story of this world. Got it.
“So basically, the Church gathered a bunch of jewelry craftsmen to make ornaments for this Saintess, right?”
“Yeah. The Church holds the Saintess in high regard, so they wanted something extra special for her. I quit early, but the guys who stayed are probably still deciding on the design right about now.”
… Huh. I see.
So that’s how it is, huh?
“Well then, old man — one last thing!”
I rummaged around in my bag — or rather, pretended to, while secretly reconstructing something inside — and then pulled it out.
“… Take a look at this crystal. What do you think?”
“Whoa!? That’s huge!”
I’d made a massive crystal and shown it to him. His face lit up instantly — yep, he really does love his craft. Good.
“Right!? So how is it, from a craftsman’s perspective? Good crystal?”
“Oh, absolutely. No doubt about it — this is first-class stuff. Look at that clarity! That brilliance! Incredible. I’d heard the dungeon here produced fine gems, but I didn’t think they’d be this good…”
The old man’s expression sobered as he inspected it closely — and then he said,
“… With a crystal this beautiful and this large, the design for the Saintess’s ornaments would definitely have to be reconsidered.”
He grinned, clearly delighted — probably imagining all sorts of designs in his head.
So I apologized — “Sorry for interrupting your drink, old man!” — and we left the cafeteria. He was having a good time, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
Now then.
“So the Church people might be after the dungeon’s crystals, huh?”
“It’s possible. Or maybe not the whole Church, but that particular priest we’ve seen — he could be acting on his own.”
“… Which means these crystals could serve as bargaining chips — but also as bait. Dangerous, huh…”
We talked it over, all of us holding our heads in thought.
“At least now we know the Church values this Saintess person a lot. And that she’s probably new, hence the need for new ornaments. Which means… yeah, if we start poaching jewelry craftsmen now, they’re gonna hold a grudge!”
“Agreed…”
In my mind’s eye, I could already see churchmen yelling “Death to heretics!” as they came charging. Yeah, that’d be bad.
“I wonder what kind of person the Saintess really is… Do you think she’d be the type to get angry if she didn’t get the ornament she wanted?”
While I was still brooding, Mishisia-san was fretting about something completely different.
… Yeah, good point. We’ve been worried about the Church or the Cathedral, but not about the Saintess herself.
“We could solve a lot if we could just talk to her directly, huh…”
Yeah… yeah.
“That’s it.”
What do you think about this chapter?
