The congress danced at a dizzying pace.
"How did your harvest fare in the Empire this year?" I asked.
"Thankfully, this year most of our crops have performed well," said Jeanne. "Our
wheat crop, in particular, was quite fruitful. How were things in Elfrieden? I had
heard you were facing a food crisis."
"Our yields have been steadily improving," I said. "Partly thanks to the replanting
effort having begun in time, I don't believe we have any fears of a food crisis any
longer. That said, I do have some misgivings about the levels of our food stores. Even
if the harvest is good this year, if we were to have a crop failure next year, or the
year after, there could be a relapse of the food crisis."
"It's a problem that every country shares, I'm sure," said Jeanne. "There's little
that can be done but to pray for a good harvest."
As Jeanne and I spoke, bureaucrats from both the kingdom and Empire were
going about their business quietly, but busily nonetheless.
Some were frantically keeping a log of the proceedings. Once committed to paper,
a verbal agreement was as good as a contract. They listened intently, ensuring no
word was missed.
Others were confirming that there was a mutual understanding of what those
words meant, in order to ensure that nothing was misconstrued. There were also
those thrusting the documents they had prepared in advance towards one another,
comparing the goods and materials which each nation had an excess or deficit of.
Because we shared no land border, it would be difficult to engage in direct trade, but
if both sides shared that information, then something might be worked out through
a third party.
The scene was truly a battlefield.
Hakuya was scrutinizing the documents presented to him, while Liscia acted as
my aide.
Only my bodyguard, Aisha, stood erect and motionless, but she probably didn't
want to have to deal with the numbers. With the large number of people present, she
was paying close attention to her duties as my bodyguard, but she looked fed up
with it all.
...It hasn't been like this in a while, I thought.
The way things were going so blindingly fast reminded me of the days when I had
just taken the throne.
Normally, in foreign affairs, even if the heads of state only meet for ten minutes,
behind the scenes there have been bureaucrats from each country negotiating for
weeks, perhaps months.
Things were this busy because it hadn't been possible for the kingdom and
Empire to hold talks ever since the appearance of the Demon Lord's Domain.
Incidentally, the first thing Jeanne and I had agreed to was the resumption of shuttle
diplomacy between the Gran Chaos Empire and the Elfrieden Kingdom.
"Speaking of foodstuffs, I found those lily root dumplings most delicious," said
Jeanne. "I believe the primary ingredient was the rootstalk of the bewitching lily. I
would like to hear how you go about harvesting them."
"I'm happy to tell you," I said. "From what Poncho was telling me, he learned the
method from a mountain tribe inside the Empire. If you enlist their help, it should be
simple to do."
"Oh, my. There was a tribe like that inside the Empire?" Jeanne asked. "Even
though it's my own country, I must shamefully admit, I did not know."
"That's just how it goes," I said. "It can be hard for anyone to see what's lying at
their own feet."
The same went for our country. I mean, when I'd put out the call, "I don't care
what it is, if you have a special talent, come and show me," I'd had quite a number of
people show up. If I kept digging, there were probably more such people to be found.
In order to develop this country, I'll need to find them, I thought to myself.
While drinking the coffee Serina had prepared for me, I looked to Jeanne. "Now,
since I gave you information on the lily root dumplings, I'd like some information in
return."
Jeanne, who was drinking black tea, laid her teacup down on its saucer and tilted
her head to the side questioningly. "What information might that be?"
"I think food for food is a fair trade," I said. "Are there any ingredients used in the
Empire that aren't commonly eaten elsewhere?"
"...In that case, I know just the thing," Jeanne said, a mischievous smile on her lips.
I dunno, she just looked like she had an incredible ace up her sleeve.
Then, Jeanne confidently said, "Monster meat."
"...Say what?" I asked.
"It's possible to eat monster meat."
Monster... meat? Wait, seriously? I thought.
"The monsters you mean... They're the ones from the Demon Lord's Domain? Not
from dungeons?" I asked.
"Yes," said Jeanne. "They tasted surprisingly normal."
"You ate them yourself?!"
That's more wild than I'd have expected from her neat, pretty appearance, I
thought. But, still, she's eaten monsters from the Demon Lord's Domain... huh. When I
heard about the kobold that spared Tomoe and the mystic wolves, I thought
negotiating with the Demon Lord's Domain might be an option, depending on the
situation... Oh, but, there's both "monsters" and "demons," right? If I remember, kobolds
fall under the demon category.
I hesitantly asked Jeanne, "You didn't happen to eat... a kobold, by any chance, did
you?"
When I did, Jeanne reacted with shock, quickly shaking her head, "Perish the
thought! I only ate animal-like monsters! I wouldn't go around eating demons, with
their human-like bodies."
"No, it's just I'm not familiar with the distinction," I said.
"...I see," Jeanne said. "The Elfrieden Kingdom doesn't share a border with the
Demon Lord's Domain, after all."
Jeanne nodded, satisfied. "Very well. This is something of a side note, but allow
me to provide you with the information our country has on the Demon Lord's
Domain, as well as demons and monsters."
She began to slowly explain it all for me.
"First of all, even in our country, we have no information on why the Demon
Lord's Domain appeared," said Jeanne. "Honestly, all that we can say is that one day,
out of nowhere, it did."
"So even the Empire doesn't know...?" I asked.
"Yes," said Jeanne. "So, in the Demon Lord's Domain, there are aberrant creatures
that form swarms, but which demonstrate no intelligence, violently devouring all life
they come across, as well as those like the kobolds, which behave almost like wellordered armies and have few differences from the races of mankind. In order to
distinguish the two, we call the former monsters and the later demons."
I'd heard that much from the former king, Albert.
In the northernmost reaches of the continent, a dimension called the "Demon
World" had appeared, and monsters of many sizes and shapes had poured out,
throwing the Northern Countries into chaos. The forces of mankind had formed an
alliance and organized a punitive force to send in, but the attempt had ended in
failure.
In the Demon World there were "monsters," which had minimal (or, some would
theorize, no) intelligence, as well as "demons," who were intelligent and also
powerful fighters. This loss had been inflicted on them by the demons. After that
battle, mankind had lost the means to defend themselves against the monsters that
appeared from the Demon World. The Northern Countries were laid waste one after
another, and the monsters extended their range to cover all of what was now called
the Demon Lord's Domain.
When I explained what I had heard from Albert to her, Jeanne nodded, a somber
look on her face. "That is correct. And the Gran Chaos Empire were the ones to lead
that punitive force. The one who commanded it was the former emperor, our
father."
The Empire lead the punitive force, huh? I thought. Well, given they're the strongest
amongst the nations of mankind, I guess that should have been a given.
"Then, does that mean the Empire has made contact with the demons?" I asked.
"If you mean waged war against them... then yes," said Jeanne. "Though, my sister
and I being nine and seven at the time, we haven't seen them ourselves. However,
with the passage of time, and as we analyzed the statements of those who were
touched by the menace of the Demon Lord's Domain, the situation at the time has
become clear to us."
"What situation is that?" I asked.
"In the very beginning, when many countries perished, countless lives were lost,
and an even greater number were displaced to become refugees," Jeanne said, "all of
those attacks were done by monsters."
I said, "Monsters? There were no demons, then?"
"Yes. At that point, at least." Jeanne paused to take a sip of her tea, looking down
into her cup as she continued. "The first time demons were spotted was when they
met the punitive force in battle. The punitive force was wiped out at the hands of
those demons. After that, with our capacity to wage war diminished, mankind was
unable to fend off the attacks of the monsters, and we were forced to pull back from
a considerable stretch of territory."
"So, in short, the creation of the Demon Lord's Domain was a two-stage process?"
I asked.
The first stage had been attacks by the monsters that had suddenly appeared.
The second stage had been when the demons had destroyed the punitive force, and
the weakened forces of mankind had been attacked by monsters. It had probably
come some time later, but the attack that had driven Tomoe and the mystic wolves
to become refugees had presumably been part of the second stage.
Jeanne nodded, continuing. "It seems the damages caused differed greatly
between the monsters and demons. During the monster attacks in the first stage, I've
heard it was a terrible sight to behold. The monsters spewed fire, burning cities to
the ground, devouring soldiers and civilians alike, with no regard to their age or
gender. I've heard that in the towns and villages they struck, there was nothing left
but the messy scraps of their feasting."
So, they were literal monsters, huh, I thought to myself. These monstrous beings
swarmed over the land like locusts, and even mankind was no more than prey to
them.
"Then, the second stage, the attack by the demons, was total war," said Jeanne. "I
hear that they acted in an organized fashion, crushing the punitive force with their
overwhelming force of arms. Also, while they are few in number, we have
statements from those who claim their villages were attacked by the demons. These
situations vary, and in some cases, if they withdrew, they weren't attacked any
further, while in others, the demons raped and pillaged, carrying out massacres."
"...Almost like one of the races of mankind, huh," I said.
The way that the damages varied from place to place was one point on which that
similarity was especially strong. Even within the same army, when there are both
disciplined and undisciplined units, the situation post-occupation for each will be
different. When we had occupied Van, I'd made an example of some soldiers in an
attempt to keep the whole of my armies in line, but had I not, I can say with certainty
that there would have been some who abused the civilian populace.
Monsters... and demons, huh... I thought.
"Where do you think the difference comes from?" I asked. "Did the demons
evolve from the monsters?"
"'They gained sentience by eating human brains!' ...is what a bunch of religious
types shouted about for a while... but that's nonsense," said Jeanne. "If that were the
case, there would be a lot more demons out there. Ever since the battle lines bogged
down into a stalemate, it's only been the monsters that attacked us. Though, you
could say that's why we've been able to maintain the status quo."
...In other words, we just don't know what demons and monsters are really? I
thought.
I said, "Come to think of it, when we were digging a sedimentation pond near
Parnam, we found a whole lot of monster fossils.