Chương 116: Not Just a River

We completely bypassed the next town. Tales would go out about a caravan attacked in the night, and adventurers sent out to escort a group of prisoners, but as as the day dawned as much as the town mayor was preparing to deal with the hassle of packed jails, no such group ever arrived. It would be a mystery to perplex the kingdom, and send certain people who were hoping to hear the massacre of an envoy into a confused tizzy.

I could only rely on the King and the Duke to take advantage of that confusion. We moved out only at night, and after four more days we arrived at Canaan. Kana-an?

Whatever. The southernmost town in the continental side of Belfast.

Canaan had a significant amount of beastkin and other demi-humans living in it. There were of course the expected dogfolk and catfolk and yes they were cute, but there were also people who had horns and wings. There were even dragonfolk who had scales and tails, but unlike Argonians or the formally defined lizardman tribes of Mismede they still had mostly human faces.

Hmm. I made a note to make a dragonborn joke at some point.

From our observations, it looked like the humans and the beastkin coexisted just fine. So was it really just the deep inside that had an anti-beastkin agenda?

"I'm afraid that my studies have only focused on the history of the kingdom, Sir Zah. I should have paid more attention to present day affairs," said Yumina.

Monika said /"Don't mind it, dear. How would you have gained such privileged information in the first place? But as adjutant and a future ruler of this kingdom, you should now come to know these things."/

Olga could only offer limited intel, mainly a rough idea of where beastkin still remained in Mismede. They were concentrated in the south, among the silk plantations. The northern fields of Belfast grew grain.

The kingdom's current troubles seem to have anything to do with Mismede, as in treating them as an equal, as its linchpin for discontent. However from my discussions with Yumina and Monika, it was more like a conflict of lifestyle – the nobles were fighting the centralization of power in the monarchy and laws that impinged on their own noble rights. The feudal contract was, after all, the king having the right to levy taxes and men on his lords in exchange for respecting their own local authority. There was no formalized body of laws protecting the rights of commoners, only custom and tradition and for reputation's sake to appear as a virtuous and good lord.

King Tristwin's father and the massive labor shortage caused by the war against Regulus changed all that.

The prospect of a second war with Regulus…

"I wonder… if the reactionaries see an alliance with Mismede as unnecessarily provocative," I mused out loud. "Alliances that might stand a chance of overcoming you means the best time to attack is before they can combine. Not everyone who opposes us need to be evil or stupid. How ironic it would be that our quest for survival and security would provoke the very fate we wish to avoid."

"… But then what is the alternative, Sir Zah? Throw ourselves onto the mercy of Regulus?" Yumina winced as she remembered that royal marriages are the standard way of securing peace.

Lyon Blitz demurred with "Of course not, Your Highness. If it doesn't come to us, then it will be for some future generation. Because the last war was so inconclusive, the generation born after it feel like they could do better on a second try. I must confess… I too feel a little like proving myself on that battlefield, even as the greater part of me is repelled by all the suffering and death it will cause."

"There's no stopping the Great War unless we can somehow save Regulus from itself," I said at last. "But that is not our mission today."

The carriage stopped and Elze's voice from outside announced "ALL RIGHTY EVERYONE! BEFORE ANYONE ASKS AGAIN, *YES* WE'RE THERE YET. Everybody get out, chop chop! I'll kick your ass if you're too slow!"

I leaned out the window and shouted "I'll kiss your ass!"

"SHUT UP PLAYA!"

And then in a more serious deep voice "You're doing great, Elze. Keep it up."

"SHUT UPPP!!!"

"Ngyahahaha."

Blue as far as the eye could see, accompanied by a cool breeze. Amazing. And it was still just a river, not the mouth of the ocean just yet. The riverbank looked like a harbor, with fishing and sailing ships and barges docked. I heard Yumina give out a 'huaaah' of amazement behind me.

The sight was not unusual anymore to Olga and Arma, who crossed this before to get to Belfast, but for the Princess it was an amazing sight.

I breathed in deeply the faintly sweet air. Such a sparkling river - only the Great Amazon River could compare to the Great Gao. Even at its widest point, the Nile still was marred by little islets on the delta. The Gao with its calm running surface could fool you into thinking it was an inland sea. It shimmered like a sheet of mirrored silver, almost perfectly reflecting the sky upon its face.

Canaan was, surprisingly, not a walled town. Unlike a more inland town like Reflet most of the land around the town was already cleared and turned into farmland, and the large number of people passing through every day meant that they were more proactive about removing monster beasts rather than occasional subjugation quests.

We had to leave behind the carriages, and there would be another Mismede-provided pair of carriages on the other side. The men began to offload whatever belongings we were carrying. One of them offered to take Linze's bag, and she shook her head quickly, holding her bag close to her chest.

"No! I mean, I'm fine. It's not heavy."

At her shout, the guard flinched back. "F-forgive me, milady!" He raised both hands placatingly and backed away.

Linze moved away, confused and a little hurt at the obvious fear that he showed. She began to notice the others were also keeping a careful eye on her. Elze openly glared at them, and the men quickly looked away and tried to look busy with work.

I clapped my hands together and said "All right everyone! Last chance to buy comestibles! From here on it's Mismede's job to protect and keep us supplied."

"Umm… on the other side there's another town for the landing, you know?" Olga murmured. "We're not /savages/."

I winced. "Yeah. My apologies." Then I pointed aside towards the open-air market and the shopping district near the center of town. "I'll just be going over there then while you guys deal with the transit details."

Arma raised her hand and excitedly skipped in place. "Mister Clown! Can I come with you?!"

"Um, sure, why no-"

I felt a strong grip on my shoulder. "Playa. I think we need to have a talk."

"Uh. You can have fun looking around with Miss Linze, Miss Yumina and Miss Yae?"

"Okaays."

So we split the party. The Mismede contingent dealt with the baggage and hiring boats to carry us across. The Belfast guards stood guard, half of them accompanying the girls to look around Canaan for whatever souvenirs or presents they could give.

Elze and I entered town and then walked around looking for a nice secluded place to talk, but close enough to other people so that Elze wouldn't just get away with murdering me without witnesses.

"Playa-" she breathed out. "And Monika, I know you're listening in…" she said as we walked shoulder to shoulder. She licked her lips and clenched her fists, then spread open her palms again. Her fingers were shaking.

Then she said firmly "I don't like what you're doing to Linze and if we are friends at all you have to stop."