Excuse Me for Intruding!*1
That day, we suddenly had to scramble to prepare all kinds of potions.
Potions made in Panis Village were already famous for being high-performance. Well, that’s because they used medicinal herbs painstakingly cultivated by slimes. They shouldn’t even be comparable to the potions you’d find elsewhere. I mean, I don’t actually know what the potions elsewhere are like, though.
Given that injuries were sure to start piling up soon, we pulled out every potion we had in stock. And in the worst case, if the stock ran out and things got dicey, I could just instantly reconstruct more and hand them out.
… In fact, even at this very moment, I could make more via Reconstruction.
“Thank you for waiting! Three boxes of Extra-Thick Potions and thirty-six boxes of Panis Village Potions!”
“Oh! That’s more than expected!”
So, while the villagers were running around gathering every last potion in stock, I secretly made new ones behind their backs.
Well, since I’m making them with Dungeon Power, I can dump in as much mana as I want… so I also increased the supply of those special slimes-concentrated herb potions, the so-called “Extra-Thick Potions.”
Man, Reconstruction sure is great; it even saves me the trouble of dividing things into small bottles. Just generate them already bottled—pop, done. It’s fantastic.
… Well, that said, breaking down granite, extracting silicon, reconstructing crystal glass… doing all that still consumes Panis Village’s dungeon resources. And glass bottles are a luxury item in this world to begin with.
So instead, I reconstruct ceramic bottles. But… if I flood the village with too many ceramic bottles, that’s a little scary too…
“We also have the industrial-use potions!”
“Oh! That’s huge!”
Thus, I came up with the idea of consolidating them into giant containers. Huge, really. Ceramic gallon bottles. Three liters.
“Since we’re skipping the repackaging step, we can offer these at a discount.”
And just like that, with this neat little excuse, we could sell them more cheaply. Not bad, right?
With that, we sold all the potions to a familiar knight. He had received funds directly from Laperesiana-sama, so he paid generously. Thanks to that, Panis Village recorded its highest sales ever. Edele-san nearly bugged her eyes out.
“Civil conflict, huh… We won’t know the details until Lapere gets here.”
“Yeah… I didn’t think another war would break out.”
Mishisia-san was anxiously fidgeting, and Lisas-san, who had fought in the last war himself, surely had a lot on his mind.
And then…
“… Another war is coming.”
Edele-san looked gloomier than anyone else here.
… Right. Edele-san lost her husband. Of course she’d look like that.
“We have to do our best to keep Panis Village from getting dragged in!”
“We also have Laperesiana-sama as an ally. We should be able to navigate this wisely.”
With Mishisia-san and Lisas-san encouraging her, Edele-san seemed to regain at least some positivity… maybe.
Yeah… Whatever happens, I absolutely can’t let anything pull Edele-san or Panis Village into danger…
A few more days passed.
Since we figured “we’ll need them anyway,” we kept mass-producing potions. Thanks to the sudden demand, Panis Village was enjoying a small economic boom.
… Among all this, the one working especially hard was the “distillery.”
Um, you see, this world doesn’t seem to have the concept of microorganisms yet… So apparently they don’t disinfect wounds at all.
Even if a potion heals the wound… whether it can treat infections is a whole different issue. We don’t know how things will work out in practice, but at the very least, I wanted to make some “strong alcohol.” So we’ve been trying to produce “disinfectant alcohol.”
Mishisia-san tried drinking some and happily said, “Hmm, not a bad flavor!” so I immediately revoked her taste-testing privileges. No, seriously, this is for disinfection! Don’t drink it! Come on!
… While we were doing that, we heard the familiar engine of a motorcycle. The roar of a motorcycle echoing through another world is surprisingly stylish.
“Laperesiana-sama!”
“It has been a while. Forgive me for my sudden departure the other day. If there truly are high-performance potions like the ones mentioned in the letter, I wished to secure them at the royal castle as soon as possible…”
We welcomed Laperesiana-sama as she got off her bike, and the slimes waddled over, too. Stroking them with a loving expression, she said, “The slimes of Panis look glossy today as well.” Good for you, slimes.
Assuming it was “that matter,” we guided her straight to the reception room inside the dungeon entrance. No worries about eavesdropping there.
Then, once we had all sat down in tense silence… Laperesiana-sama said:
“Well, it seems a statement has been issued by the Church. ‘Deliver divine punishment unto the royal family that disrespects the gods,’ it says.”
Naturally, we were shocked.
“There was still someone who could issue statements!?”
“… So we begin from there, do we?”
Yeah, well, of course that’s where we start. Obviously.
Didn’t they banish the entire upper echelon of the Church, the Great Cathedral leadership, from the country!? And yet someone still remains who can act like a central figure and issue public declarations!? Seriously!?
“Well, the upper echelon of the Great Cathedral is indeed gone… However, the organization that oversees the regional churches was not erased. If those people gather, someone who looks like a leader will always emerge. Though… whether that person is actually competent is another matter.”
“Ughhhh…”
What is this, like if an entire city council vanished, suddenly the neighborhood association started throwing its weight around? That’s real end-times stuff.
“Well, the plan is to charge them with ‘treason,’ but… it seems there’s more to this.”
The bad news continued. I hated it already. Hated it.
“To make matters worse, it seems that among those issuing the statement, some have been contacting the priests we exiled.”
“Ah~ so basically, this is puppet politics run by the exiled bunch, right?”
“That is our assessment.”
Aaaaah, so even though they were exiled, they still retained enough influence to pull strings from abroad! How!? Why!? How does that make any sense!?
… While we were still confused, Laperesiana-sama continued:
“It is likely that… the ones we exiled were taken in and sheltered by a foreign power.”
Her expression tightened as she spoke.
“In other words, this internal conflict will likely develop into a war with another nation. We must crush it while it is still merely internal. And we must do so in a way that leaves no seeds of future calamity.”
“Heavy… That’s so heavy…”
“Oh no, Asuma-sama looks like a depressed slime…”
Of course I do. Anyone would. Splat, that’s me. Totally flattened…
I didn’t think the Church people would still be able to move like this…
… Man, it really hits the mental health hard when all the effort you put in still doesn’t fix things. If I feel like this, imagine how much worse Laperesiana-sama feels…
“We considered the people’s faith before choosing exile… but perhaps we should have executed them after all.”
Look at that face, clenched tighter than bitter citrus. I guess she makes that expression too.
“Well, I do think there’s meaning in the fact that you didn’t execute them.”
Even though I wanted to stay a depressed slime puddle, I still had to get moving. Nothing changes unless we act. Time to move, time to move. I move.
“So… This internal conflict, and the war likely to follow, are being triggered by former Great Cathedral priests working from exile, manipulating the current Church, is that right?”
“Yes. That is roughly the situation. Though there is a chance the Second Prince’s faction is involved as well.”
Ahh, the Second Prince’s faction too. From their perspective, this is probably “our last chance! Maybe we can still make it! Struggle until the end!” or something…
Well, whatever. The peaceful solution comes from dealing with all of that from the start.
“Okay. Then… is there any way to prosecute the people contacting the exiled priests?”
“We lack solid evidence. If they claim, ‘We contacted someone abroad, but didn’t know it was an exiled priest,’ we cannot prove otherwise.”
Ahh… yeah. I can imagine how that goes. Ugh. I hate that.
“Then… the possibility of obtaining evidence?”
“To be frank, slim. The matter is urgent. We may be able to gather evidence later, but gathering it before the conflict breaks out will be extremely difficult. The Second Prince is likely aiding them as well, meaning their interference is significant.”
I see. So stopping the conflict through a clean, logical solution will be difficult. Hmm…
“Then what would silence the current Church?”
Let’s think about the group being manipulated, the present Church.
“That… we cannot say. The statement was issued, but it did not detail what actions they intend to take.”
“Meaning… it could be they don’t actually have the capacity to start a conflict yet, but are merely trying to incite chaos in the royal family?”
“Yes. We have not dismissed the possibility of a diversionary tactic.”
Ugh. Complicated. Very complicated.
Even if the Church is acting on the exiled priests’ words, they could be doing so out of false information. Meaning the ex-Great Cathedral and the present Church might not even be fully aligned.
Then it’s all just a big mess… Come on! If you have a goal, show it clearly! And then collapse quietly, thanks!
“But ultimately… the ones issuing statements now are just puppets. Punishing them could serve as a warning, but the ones behind them are the circle of this country’s clergy, the nobles aligned with the Second Prince, the ex-Great Cathedral priests manipulating them, and the foreign powers sheltering them.”
So basically, the people issuing statements now are disposable. Taking them down won’t solve anything.
Meaning we have to consider the big picture from the start…
And then—
“… We cannot avoid some degree of armed conflict. And with that in mind, I have thought of one method… a method that shakes them at the core.”
In a clear, resolute voice, Laperesiana-sama said this, fixed her gaze on us, and then—
“Spread the greatness of slimes.”
“… Huh?”
While all of us sat there speechless, Laperesiana-sama kneaded the slime that had appeared in her lap, her face perfectly serious.
The slime, too, seemed to wear a serious expression…
Well, not really, they don’t have faces. But still…
What do you think about this chapter?
