Chapter 306

City Stroll (1)
My Big Brother was unexpectedly deported by the bureaucrats and civil officials, but we decided to enjoy sightseeing in the Land of Tranquility.

Because if we went home now, the work waiting for us would be piled sky-high. Big Brother became the sacrifice.

“Alright, for now I exchanged about one ton of gold into this country’s currency.”

“That’s way too much!”

Takuto snapped back.

“Mufu~ The people of the Land of Tranquility were smiling so much.”

The seas of this world go beyond merely being dangerous. Calling maritime transport a gamble would be generous, it’s outright suicidal.

Using ships to transport goods. More efficient for massive shipments than land routes. However, the seas of this world are monster territory. Especially Krakens and Sea Dragons, they have no natural predators, and they don’t fight each other, so they’ve bred out of control. Look at the sea and you’ll see Sea Dragons surfacing or the tentacles of Krakens waving around. Their breeding power would put Echizen jellyfish to shame.

Going out onto those monster-infested seas is suicide. That’s the common sense on the continent. Arland technically has a navy, but they mostly raid hostile coastal regions or work as fishermen, so they can’t really be called a navy. They’re basically ignored. They rarely listen to orders anyway. As long as they don’t cause trouble for Arland, the official stance is “do whatever you want.”

But the Land of Tranquility is different. It is the only nation in this world that has a functional navy.

In fact, even its largest islands are only Taiwan-sized, and there are many of them. Several more small and large islands gather together to form the Land of Tranquility, truly a maritime nation.

Because flying ships can only be obtained by excavation, they have no choice but to rely on the sea. But the cost is great.

“This country’s gold prices are strangely high.”

“Good catch, Alicia. Apparently the Krakens have been more active lately, and half the gold transport fleet got sunk.”

Even for the Land of Tranquility, the sea is a threat. Their attempt to transport currency gold failed, causing gold prices to soar.

Furthermore, this is the only nation that does not use Ruri currency. Well, Arland is partly responsible for the unification of continental currency.

It happened about 250 years ago. The Empire at the time tried to destroy the economy of the Multi-Species Federation by flooding it with counterfeit currency. The Federation suffered huge losses.

In retaliation, Arland flooded the Empire with counterfeit currency so perfect it was indistinguishable from the real thing, and they did it endlessly.

As a result, famine spread through the Empire, riots broke out everywhere, and chaos engulfed the nation.

Even though they started it, the Empire became furious and dragged the entire continent into what became the Counterfeit Currency War. Arland and the Multi-Species Federation suffered massive losses as their currency trust plummeted and trade reverted to bartering, but the central continent saw nations collapse outright. Our ancestors let their flesh be cut so they could break the enemy’s bones.

This went on for about twenty years before both sides were in tears and silently agreed to stop the war.

But there was no trust left. The Empire habitually breaks rules and lies. Arland and the Multi-Species Federation are Multi-Species nations, so they weren’t trusted either. Both sides were paranoid.

But if the war continued, they would both collapse. Thus, they adopted the only currency whose value had not fallen, the Ruri currency.

Ruri currency is magically enchanted, so counterfeiting it is extremely difficult. By applying just a little mana, one can check authenticity. With this, neither side could produce counterfeits.

After the war, this became the unified continental currency. Many nations were unhappy about it. Losing minting rights is a huge problem. And it’s made by an independent country.

However, that country declared that if invaded, they would activate the self-destruct mechanism installed in the mint, so no nation dared to attack. The mint is a functioning relic of the Ancient Magical Dynasty era, and impossible to reproduce. Without the mint, the country itself has no value. Even today it is a tiny city-state of only about 30,000 people. Its land is tiny, and it has no resources worth taking.

The unified currency has many issues, but the scars of the Counterfeit Currency War were so deep that the continent had no choice but to accept it… except for the Land of Tranquility, which had no ties to the continent then.

The Land of Tranquility was originally isolationist, so to them it felt like the continent unified its currency while they weren’t paying attention. And because they had no international ties, dealing with counterfeits was purely a domestic matter, so they never adopted the Ruri currency.

“So they fought a war that ruthless…”

“The elves sometimes tell stories, saying ‘we were young back then.’”

It seems like a nostalgic tale now, but at the time they must’ve suffered greatly. The ones who told us about it were all wry-smiling.

“I see. Depending on the race, some people who lived back then are still alive.”

It was an incredible conflict. Even reading the history books, I don’t understand how Arland and the Multi-Species Federation didn’t collapse entirely.

Well, that’s why the Land of Tranquility uses its own currency.

Once I finished explaining the currency, I took about ten knights as guards, along with Alicia, Takuto, and Helios, and began sightseeing in the capital.

The Land of Tranquility offered to provide ox-carts, but they’re slow and draw attention, so I’m riding on Mr. Coote, who is large-dog sized. Why am I not walking? Ox-carts are faster than me, no helping that.

And the reason my escort is small is simply because I never walk around with a large one. Having a bunch of muscular giants following behind me feels like the temperature rises by 5°C. I basically avoid bringing guards along.

I’m a princess so I should at least bring guards? In the royal capital, the residents follow behind me like a certain species that follows you if you pull them out of the ground. You could say they’re a kind of guard.

Recently, I feel like some residents can identify me even when I’m in cat form. I wonder how.

Anyway, the Land of Tranquility assigned ten samurai guards and, as always, their Minister of Foreign Affairs. It seems they must provide an escort or it becomes a diplomatic issue.

Apparently the minister can ride a horse, so he’s mounted.

“First, we should conquer this country’s sweets.”

“Sweets from the Land of Tranquility can’t be obtained in Arland after all.”

And so our sightseeing began. We had permission to walk freely around the capital. Of course, restricted areas are off-limits, but sweets won’t be in those.

The capital seems heavily damaged from earthquakes, but now that reconstruction is underway, the city is lively. Everywhere, the sound of hammers echoes like festival music.

“Thanks to trade with Arland and the other allied nations, reconstruction is progressing smoothly.”

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yoshioki, the profits from trade provided reconstruction funds, allowing things to proceed without delay.

The Land of Tranquility had almost no foreign exchange until now. Therefore, they developed unique culture and crafts. These are considered rare products in the allied nations and popular there. Likewise, goods from the allies are rare here and sell well. Trade is booming.

After walking for ten minutes, my honed senses detected sweets.

“Mr. Coote, full speed ahead!”

“Got it.”

In an instant, we arrived at a shop about 100 meters away. Only Takuto kept up. Alicia and the guards were running to catch up, while the locals and Helios just stared blankly. Helios, you need more training.

“Old man, give me twenty-five skewers of dango. With sweet bean paste.”

Looks like a family business, an elderly man was the only worker. The shop had a decent number of customers. A dango shop. Obviously we must buy some. And he uses sweet bean paste, excellent taste.

Sweets with bean paste look simple but require skill. If the bean paste is bad, everything is ruined.

“Welcome. Dango, yes? I’ll prepare them right away.”

The old man smiled and went into the back. Great customer service. I had Mr. Coote sit at the storefront and sat on a nearby bench.

By the way, twenty-five skewers is for all of us.

“Princess, please don’t suddenly run off.”

“Mufu~”

Ridiculous.

“This isn’t Arland, Princess. If you get lost, the locals aren’t going to come help you.”

“I don’t get lost.”

Completely rude. My sense of direction is perfect. It may look like I’m lost, but eventually I always reach the destination. All roads lead to Rome, so any road will reach the destination somehow.

“Princess, I can’t trust your sense of direction or your restraint.”

“That word, restraint, was removed from my dictionary ages ago.”

If I had any, I wouldn’t be planning for scenarios where all allied nations betray us. I’m preparing to mass-produce enough golems to defeat every nation on the continent if necessary.

Big Brother has probably already realized this.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Alright, that subject is for next year. Now we eat dango. There’s enough for everyone.”

My treat.

First, appraisal, checking for poison. It’s become a habit. In Arland, if you don’t have a food taster, you use appraisal. Especially when eating outside.

Father is immune to most poison, so he’d probably eat it anyway, but my body is far from robust, so Madame forced me to check and it became habit.

No poison detected. Occasionally trace toxins from spices or plants appear because someone used them without knowing, so appraisal magic is useful.

“Mmm, delicious. It’s good. Old man, I’ll buy half your stock.”

A hit! Both the bean paste and dango are wonderful. In Arland, I’d instantly stamp this with the recommendation seal. Outside Arland, the seal has no value, so I won’t.

“H-half? That’s quite a lot…”

“I came from Arland so I rarely get to buy these. I can preserve them with magic so it’s fine.”

“V-very well. Thank you.”

Half is because if I buy everything, others can’t. In Arland they’d deliver to the castle, but that’s impossible here. Let me buy half.

After eating one skewer and receiving half the stock, Alicia paid. The old man’s face was twitching.

Next. There seem to be many dango shops here. We’ll go through the nearby ones first.

Second shop.

“Mm, next.”

“Yes.”

The bean paste was mediocre, so we only had one skewer and left. The clerk slumped, maybe he saw the previous shop. But I don’t compromise on sweets. He needs more training.

The first shop was good enough to run a store even in Japan, where people are picky and gluttonous. This shop… not so much.

Third shop, a flashy, nouveau-riche atmosphere. Taste… normal. So we bought about one hundred skewers of each type. Not worth buying half. Also, their customer service changed depending on the customer, minus points. Probably won’t return.

Fourth shop. Since we were getting tired of only dango, we found a manju shop and went there.

“This is good.”

“The tea is soothing.”

“Eat the manju.”

Alicia relaxed with her tea.

“Too many sweets at once is tough.”

“Alicia, you’re a girl. You should crave more sweetness.”

“It’ll go straight to my waist.”

“You think I haven’t noticed it all goes to your chest instead?”

“Mmgh! What are you saying!?”

Of course I noticed, we bathe together every day. While my own growth is slightly, somewhat, just a little, slow, hers continues. Unfair.

Well, I only need to endure this agony for a few more years. Eventually I’ll grow like Mother, with curves in all the right places. It’s guaranteed. No need for jealousy.

The knights were eating manju with fascination. Do they like sweets?

“They rarely eat sweets.”

“They don’t?”

“Their staple is meat.”

Right, they love meat. Meat is pricey, so maybe they skip sweets. I’d prioritize sweets though.

It was rare seeing knights happily eating sweets.

“Let’s buy half their stock too. Then next.”

“You’re still going?”

“It’s just beginning. If we don’t hurry, it’ll get dark. We must conquer every sweet in the capital today. And buy souvenirs.”

Tomorrow we’re going to the sea. And who knows how long we can stay?

As I was thinking that, my phone vibrated. An email.

“Requesting reinforcements.”

Big Brother is whining…

“Reinforcement request denied. Fight bravely with remaining forces.”

I sent the reply, and his returned instantly.

“Help me.”

I silently put the phone back in my pocket.

What do you think about this chapter?