Genjitsushugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki

Several days before the meeting...

With the Jewel Voice Broadcast jewel and simple receiver that had been delivered, I contacted Hakuya in Parnam Castle and informed him that I wanted to demonstrate Friedonias strength in order to ensure negotiations went smoothly. Demonstrating that our nation could be both a reliable friend and a troublesome enemy would make the alliance firmer.

When I asked Hakuya for his insight on the subject, the first idea he proposed was, Will you deploy troops along the border?

Wait, were suddenly resorting to open intimidation in our diplomacy? I asked, taken aback.

I believe it is an easily understandable show of force, Hakuya said with a cool look on his face.

...Huh? Was it possible he was serious?

Youre joking, right? That would only make the other side needlessly wary, wouldnt it?

I jest, of course. I was merely presenting the quick and easy method. If you hope for a long-lasting friendship, doing it may not preclude that, but its far from the best option.

...

Hed said all that completely deadpan. It must have been Hakuyas idea of a joke.

Way to make a joke thats hard to get... I thought as I glared at him.

The next proposal he offered was, Lets get the Gran Chaos Empire involved in these talks.

Empress Maria of the Empire?

If your negotiations go well on this occasion, you intend to bring up the medical alliance with the Empire, too, right? he asked. You can move the schedule up on that.

Thats... Well, yes, its true I was thinking of it...

If we were going to develop medical treatments and make them generally available, no single country could handle that alone.

If we forged ahead alone, we might be able to create a gap between ourselves and other countries, but our funding and manpower would have limits. If we tried to force just one country to do all the research, the progress would be slow.

In this world, external injuries could be treated with light magic, even serious ones, but there were still many people suffering from ailments that magic didnt work on.

If someone close to me fell to disease while I was wasting time... Id definitely regret it. It couldnt hurt to be quick about developing medical treatments.

For the sake of that, I wanted the Gran Chaos Empire, the largest nation of mankind, and the one with considerable budget and manpower, to handle one wing of that development. I had a diplomatic channel to the Empire, after all, and their leader, Empress Maria, was a woman I could talk to. She was sure to support the idea.

However, I had been meaning to get things in place with the Republic of Turgis before I brought this subject up with the Empire. Because the kingdom and Empire were distant, we needed a country to act as an intermediary between us, or this would be all pie in the sky.

And yet Hakuya wanted to involve the Empire... to involve Maria... in our current talks.

There is more than one way to show strength, he said. Our connections are another form of power. If we can introduce Madam Maria, who is the empress of the Empire, at the meeting, Sir Gouran will be shocked. It would inform him that the nations to the east and west of the republic have their own independent line of communication.

True, Im sure that would shock him...

If the Empire and kingdom were coordinating in secret, the republic could be caught in a pincer attack the moment it opposed either. Well, given their geographical situation (in winter they were completely isolated by ice), there would be hardly any benefit in invading them and occupying their territory, but it would still put pressure on them.

...But still. I scratched my head hard. It would be incredible if we could do that, but its probably not realistic calling in Madam Maria. There arent many days left until the meeting. Isnt it impossible, considering security, the necessary processes, and everything else?

What are you saying, sire? Hakuya objected, looking exasperated. Who is each of us talking to right now, and where is that person?

...Oh. I finally realized what he meant.

That was right. If she attended the meeting remotely over the Jewel Voice Broadcast, there was no need to invite Maria to come here from the Empire. Id been imagining them meeting in person, so I must have been a bit out of it to overlook something this simple.

I felt awkward, and cleared my throat loudly. Ahem... With that in mind, even if the meeting is held over a Jewel Voice Broadcast, will Madam Maria take time out of her busy schedule to attend?

Almost beyond a doubt.

You seem awfully sure of that.

During my talks with Madam Marias younger sister Jeanne, I have already made the request to put negotiation about medical technology on the table, and said that we are willing to compensate you appropriately.

You already had your eye on this, huh? I said. Well done.

We havent decided on a policy for medical technology yet, so weve just been slowly feeling one another out on the issue.

Hakuya and Jeanne feeling one another out, huh? They were both sharp, so their conversations were probably like laying down stones in a game of Go. But I doubted they were tense about it. With my and Marias permission, Hakuya had even done things like exchange gifts with her while Piltory was making his temporary return to the country.

In regards to their relationship, Maria had once said to me during a broadcast meeting, Lately, Jeanne feels so full of life. Hee hee, do you think she and your Prime Minister found something in common to talk about?

Shed seemed so happy about it. The only thing I could imagine them having in common to talk about was complaints about their respective masters, though. I wasnt so sure it was a good thing if they were having a good time talking about that.

Regardless, I said, in short, if we bring up the negotiations on medical technology, we can call Madam Maria to the meeting with Sir Gouran, right? Then, by showing off our connection to them, well shock Sir Gouran, and we can take the negotiations in a direction thats beneficial to us?

Indeed.

It feels like accomplishing two things at the same time, but... arent you saying that we should effectively convince two separate countries simultaneously?

I believe that will be up to your abilities, sire.

You make it sound so easy, I grumbled.

Honestly...

But, well, that was probably the most effective way to do it.

Lets go forward with that, I said. Hakuya, negotiate with the Empire and move the preparations along. Make sure there are no mistakes made with the other matter I asked you to address, too.

Maria and Sir Gouran were taken aback by her sudden enthusiasm, but it was too soon to be surprised.

We still had a card up our sleeve, after all.

I requested a temporary suspension of the meeting so I could prepare.

Having gained Maria and Sir Gourans assent, I explained the situation to Sir Gouran, and received permission to bring a certain thing in from the kingdom.

Id assumed that if I brought that in without clearance, it would cause a huge fuss. If things went badly, they might even think it was an invasion.

I had Sir Gouran write up a document to show at the border, and had a messenger kui carry that document to the border where that thing was supposed to be waiting.

Ive given my permission, but... I find it hard to believe, he said.

Same here, Kuu added. Not that I think Soumas lying.

The Taisei father and son gave their honest reactions as they watched the messenger kui fly away.

I shrugged with a wry smile. You may find it hard to believe, but there is no lie or exaggeration in anything weve said, you know?

Yeah, you two just look forward to seein it. Roroa had gone back to her less formal speech style at some point, but she spoke with confidence.

Hmm, in that case, I find it all the harder to believe, Sir Gouran said.

Oookyakya! Kuu laughed. If its true, itll be worth seeing, now wont it?

Gouran was dubious, while Kuu laughed with enthusiasm. They were contrasting reactions.

Regardless, until that arrived, we decided to relax and drink tea.

About two hours later, maybe, there was suddenly a lot of hubbub outside, allowing me to confirm that had arrived.

When we all went outside the inn, that was already visible.

It was a large object, the bottom of which was black, the top of which was orange, and which was about the size of an elementary schools gym, standing at the entrance to town where nothing had been before.

When we approached, it became apparent it had a two-layer structure. The top half, colored orange, was like a large ship, and it was supported by the lower half, which was made of a black, rubber-like substance.

That also made a constant sound like air was being expelled from it.

How do ya like er? This is the amphibious ship, Roroa Maru! Roroa shouted loud enough she could be heard over the sound it was making.

Gouran and Kuus mouths were agape at the majestic appearance of the Roroa Maru.

It was an amphibious ship. Yes, this was a ship. One that could travel by land or sea, at that.

I explained how it worked for Gouran and Kuu, who were still flabbergasted.

Like Roroa said, this is a ship that can run on a water surface without waves, or on land. By constantly sending air into the black rubbery part, that large body floats, and even if theres water underneath, its able to drive across it. In the world I came from, it would have been called a hovercraft.

Hovercraft... Gouran repeated the unfamiliar word.

This massive object was the hovercraft Roroa Maru, which I had sent for from the kingdom.

This Roroa Maru hovercraft was the one of a kind, built as an experiment while we were looking for uses for the overscientist Genias invention, the Little Susumu Mark V.

The Little Susumu Mark V was a ring-shaped machine that created propulsion by pushing water or air that was in front of it out the back side. Id thought it might be possible to create a hovercraft that floated off the ground if that ring was faced towards the ground, and the air was blown up into an enclosure made of the recently discovered rubber-like substance.

And so, with Genias design, and with funding from Rora and Sebastians company, The Silver Deer, the Roroa Maru was now complete. Incidentally, when Id asked Roroa what she wanted it named, since she had put up the money to develop it...

Hey, hey, darlin, in the world you came from, what were ships names like?

Hmm... Most used the names of people or places.

Hmm, that aint much different from how we do things here.

Yeah. Oh, and for fishing ships, a lot of them had Maru on the ends of their names.

Maru? Hey, thats got a cute sound to it... All righty then, Ive decided! This ships gonna be the Roroa Maru!

Roroa Maru?! Youre putting your own name on it?!

...And that was how it had ended up with that name.

It was registered to The Silver Deer, which was the investor. Dealing in everything from apparel to the dishes from Earth that Poncho and I had recreated, The Silver Deer had its fingers in a lot of pies, but did they plan to enter the trade business as well now? They had clothing, food, transportation... almost everything at this point.

A ship that runs on land... Maria said, sighing in admiration, on the other side of the simple receiver Aisha was carrying. The kingdom can even make things like this, huh?

We were having the jewel carried behind us so that she could see this scene clearly, too.

Would you sell us this ship? Maria asked. Im prepared to pay a handsome sum, you know?

It uses technologies that are a state secret, so I cant sell it.

You cant? Thats unfortunate. Maria looked like a child who had been told she couldnt buy a toy. She was as much of a quiet beauty as Juna, but her actions were a little childish.

Well, it looks impressive, but its hard to use, I said with a wry smile. Its got a bad cost-to-performance ratio, and it takes a fair amount of labor to move it.

Is that right?

Yes. Its top speed is only a little higher than a rhinoceros going at full speed, and its carrying capacity isnt that high. Technically, its an amphibious vehicle, but using rhinoceroses on land and ships at sea is a much lower cost option.

It had a Little Susumu installed, and it ran on magical power stored in curse ore. For the Little Susumu Mark V Light, which was loaded on wyverns, we had people charge it themselves, but the charging of the large model Little Susumu used on ships and such was carried out by multiple mages attached to the military.

Because of that, the amount of magic power that could be charged in a day was limited, so I had prioritized deploying the Roroa Maru on battleships or carriers over it being a substitute for the rhinoceros train on land.

These were also reasons why it was hard to apply the Little Susumu for use on civilian transport ships. To provide propulsion on civilian ships, we had to wait for the development of a motor as an alternate technology.

Setting that aside, though, the Roroa Maru did have its benefits.

Its not efficient enough as a means of transportation in peacetime, but because it doesnt make contact with the surface, it has the benefit of it being hard for it to be affected by the terrain, I said. To be more specific, in places where its normally hard to move around, such as marshes, sand, and even snowy plains, it moves ahead smoothly.

Snowy plains... I see. So thats it. Sir Gouran seemed to realize what I was leading up to.

Yes. This Roroa Maru is the only one we have for now, but if only in winter, I am sure it will serve as a viable means of transportation that links my country, the republic, and the Empire.

Certainly, if it can tie the three countries together as a means of winter transport thats faster than a rhinoceros and has the same capacity as a ship, even if there is only one of them for the time being, it will become a valuable trade route. Sir Gouran crossed his arms and grunted.

Then, as might be expected from a head of state, he began thinking about the trade route created by this Roroa Maru.

Even in winter, domestically we can use our military numoths and other such livestock to secure transportation. If we gather all our goods at a port town, can we use this amphibious ship to trade with other countries? It looks like well need to expand a port town like Moulin.

Maria giggled. Hee hee! I think well need to open a port town near our border with the Republic of Turgis, too... I think I do want one of those ships, after all.

She glanced sneakily in my direction, but I told her, No can do, with a shrug. Please, dont do anything like seize her the moment she comes into port, either. Its hard to build one, and youll be forcing us to make it self-destruct just to keep our secrets.

I said that to casually indicate to the two of them that if they tried to steal it, we would destroy it ourselves. I wasnt bluffing, either. When we used this Roroa Maru for trade, I intended to have a mechanism in place that would cause it to self-destruct if seized.

I couldnt let the Little Susumu and other technologies fall into the hands of other countries yet. In order to send the one-of-a-kind Roroa Maru to other countries, I had to be prepared to destroy it, if necessary.

Maria gave a wry smile. I know. I cant put the relationship between our nations in danger over one ship. I really do want it, though.

That was the third time shed said she wanted it. Was this one of those Its important, so I said it three times things?

Whatever the case, I wanted to wrap this topic up now.

With the use of this Roroa Maru, I would like to conclude a medical alliance between our three countries, as I was saying before. How does that sound?

Sir Gouran laughed heartily. Gahaha! If youve gone this far, Im not about to say no. Ill accept your alliance.

We of the Gran Chaos Empire will accept, too.

With Gouran and Marias assent, the Tripartite Medical Alliance between the Kingdom of Friedonia, Republic of Turgis, and Gran Chaos Empire was formed.