Chapter 429: Ice Nation Zadonia, and the Two Princes.

“Guhee!?”

The bald general was blown away backwards upon being hit by the shockwave Kohaku released from her mouth.

I’m beginning to think these two countries can actually get along really well with each other if they tried, looking at how utterly identical their reactions have been.

“You upstart brat! You dare defy the nation of Zadonia!?”

The king of Zadonia, who’s thin as a stick, shouted angrily. For his appearance, he has white hair with a small moustache, a thick mantle with blue and silver embroidering, and a thin rapier on his waist.

And next to him, with a bitter expression, sat the prince of Zadonia. He’s a fair-skinned youth wearing the same kind of blue-and-silver embroidered mantle his father is wearing. With silver hair and almond eyes, he’s a textbook prince in a different way compared to the pumpkin pants prince of Panashes Kingdom.

The one who guided us to this meeting room was also that Prince Frost.

He’s a likable young man who shook hands with Prince Akim with a completely unclouded expression when we introduced the latter as the prince of Dauburn. General Glenn, who was next to them at the time, was pretty shocked about that.

When I asked him the reason for that while we’re walking, it turned out he’s the same as Prince Akim in feeling that the exhaustion from the longstanding conflict between these two countries must be stopped.

His father, the king, would never listen to him no matter how many times he suggests to end the war with Dauburn, and each time it just turns into a shouting match in the end, was what he said.

Because of that, I can totally understand him having a bitter face right now. One of their own generals just charged at the king of another country—who came here to try and establish

friendly relations, technically—and his father the king just kept shouting at them. I’d feel bad about that too, if it was me.

“Father! It’s the correct move for us to make peace with Dauburn! Aren’t the old nobles the only ones who still wish for the war to continue!? The people are starving, hurt, and freezing because of our worthless pride! Even if we win against Dauburn, at this rate, Zadonia will perish anyway!”

“Stop saying nonsense! Do you have no pride as the prince of Zadonia!? Don’t you feel any shame for letting your ancestors down!?”

“If what the Brunhild sovereign talked about was true, then it was the fault of those very ancestors that our people have to suffer like this right now! Does Father not feel any shame for letting our citizens down!?”

“You bastard! Getting swayed by that kind of untrustworthy fable!”

Uooh. Quite the family argument there. Also, what do you mean “untrustworthy fable”?

Apparently, the king of Zadonia has a low boiling point much like his counterpart back in Dauburn, shown here in him grabbing his son’s collar with his left hand and swinging his right hand shaped in a fist towards the latter. Well, the prince’s not that much better, staring straight at his dad with a face that all but says “hit me if you want” defiantly.

This isn’t really a situation where others can butt in, but standing still and watching that happen is a bit, you know.

“[Teleport].”

“Nuga!?”

Due to his son disappearing from in front of him all of a sudden, the Zadonia king’s fist hit empty air, and he staggered in place from being unbalanced.

Prince Frost, who appeared besides us, was in a stupor due to not understanding what just happened.

[Teleport] was supposed to be a magic that doesn’t affect anything but the caster, but I’ve become able to use it on objects within my view as long as they’re not making any fierce movements. Well, it’s limited to short distances, and I can only move one thing at a time.

It’s probably there since I awakened as a true god. Can’t think of anything else that might’ve cause this, anyway.

“And talks have broken down with Zadonia as well, huh. Well, I did suspect this would happen.”

“No, isn’t it a bit too early to say that..”

The Holy King next to me sighed and tried to retort, but his voice gradually faded out halfway, a sign that he also thinks it’s pretty much a done deal.

“I think it’s impossible. These two kings don’t even care that much about their ancestors, they just hate each other on a personal level. It’s probably because they’ve been clashing ever since their youth.”

I’d like them to stop projecting their hate of the other country’s king to the entire country, seriously.

They must really hate each other, to the degree of wanting the other’s defeat no matter what. I did hear that since these two took their thrones respectively, the number of small conflicts between the two nations has gone up substantially.

While Dauburn and Zadonia have clashed several times in the past, between those there also periods where a ceasefire was called eventually, or where the kings simply did not fight at all. While they did not mend their relationship, they must not have wanted to continue the war even if it meant their countries would deteriorate.

However, the current kings are starting fights while completely disregarding that aspect. It’s a bit of.. No, it’s quite the problem. “Like cats and dogs” is a very apt description.

“It’s like Kohaku and Ruli, isn’t it.”

<Please do not compare us to that over there.>

Kohaku protested telepathically when she heard me mutter that. My apologies.

In any case, it’s true that we won’t be having a proper talk anytime soon with the Zadonia king, who’s throwing a hysteric fit in front of us currently. Guess we’ll move onto the next generation.

“Prince Akim, Prince Frost. Would you two like to talk about the future of Dauburn and Zadonia? I’ll provide the location.”

Hearing my words, the two princes looked at each other and nodded.

““By all means.””

Alright, now that we’ve decided, staying here any longer would be meaningless. And besides, the Zadonia generals and golems that have been knocking on the [Prison] I deployed since earlier is annoying. The noise, man.

“Wait! What do you guys want to do with Frost! Are you planning to sell him to Dauburn!?”

“Father. You can’t even establish a proper dialogue at this point. I’ll show you that I can open a new path for Zadonia myself.”

“I will not allow any selfish acts like that! You just have to shut up and listen to what I say!”

“When will you stop treating me like a child!”

The father-son pair began yelling at each other again. Unn, while a parent who orders his already-of-age son around is bad, I guess you can also say that to parents, their children will always be children?

“I can’t talk with you anymore. Your Majesty the Sovereign, Your Majesty the Holy King, let us go!”

Leaving us behind, Prince Frost headed towards the meeting room’s door in a huff. Oi oi, this one’s got a short temper as well, doesn’t he. I guess they are blood-related; they resemble each other in places.

“Kordi, you follow along too.”

“Hah.”

Prince Frost called out to the man standing in front of the door, wearing bluish silver armor.

He, who lowered his head with nary a twitch of brow, is Prince Frost’s personal escort knight, Kordi-san. He was there too when we were guided to this room before.

He’s an old man in his early 40s with few words.. Well, he gives off the feeling of being an old uncle, but according to General Glenn who came with Prince Akim, he’s an extremely famous swordsman with the nickname “Zadonia’s Ice Sword”.

It feels like this person’s allegiance is to the prince before it is to the king, doesn’t it.

Prince Frost left the room together with Knight Kordi.

We left the meeting room as well, chasing after the two of them. Since it’ll be troublesome if the others chased after us, I released the [Prison] I made inside the room when we left, and instead placed a new [Prison] around the entire room.

This magic’s versatility in serving as both a prison cell and a protective barrier is pretty neat.

Blocked by the translucent barrier, the golems belonging to Zadonia bounced back, unable to exit from the room. It’ll disappear after around 10 minutes or so, so just stay put there, okay.

While looking behind us, Prince Akim called out to Prince Frost.

“Is that alright?”

“Yes, it is. Father is moving the entire country based on the extremely selfish emotion of ‘hating the Dauburn king’. That’s no good. It won’t make anyone happy.”

As Prince Frost replied to Prince Akim, who was walking besides him, the latter laughed slightly.

“Was something funny there?”

Prince Akim hurriedly waved his hands at Prince Frost, who stared at him with a bit of an angry expression.

“No, sorry. I just thought that you’re in the same situation as us. My father is also someone whose driving force is ‘hating the Zadonia king’, so.”

“Is that so.. We’ve both had it hard, huh.”

historical

Saying that, the two of them smiled. Even though their parents are bitter enemies, it seems that the sons can get along just fine.

However, leaving the current situation as is until these two princes succeed the throne is obviously not the right option.

As we returned to where we parked our golem carriages, His Majesty the Holy King called out to me.

“You said you’ll be providing the location earlier; are you planning to bring them to Brunhild?”

“Right. That’s probably the simplest option we have. Both Dauburn and Zadonia can’t reach us there, so we’ll be safe too. I’ll be opening the game room and stuff too, to help in deepening their friendship..”

“Sorry, Brunhild Sovereign. If that’s the case, then can I ask of you something..”

The Alent Holy King whispered into my ears his request; I’m amazed how he can think of something that shameless. Oh, well, you have to be somewhat thick-skinned if you want to do a good job being king, I guess.

“This cookie is delicious! Aria onee-sama, try one too!”

“That’s bad manners, Leti.. Ara, it truly is delicious.”

The two girls eating Luu’s homemade cookies and smiling are a pair of sisters, Ariati Tis Alent and Leticia Tis Alent. They are the Holy King, Garaud Zess Alent’s granddaughters.

The elder sister, Ariati AKA Aria is eighteen, while the younger sister, Leticia AKA Leti is seventeen. Their father is the Holy King’s son, the current crown prince.

The older Aria had a head of wavy golden hair and was someone with a soft atmosphere; she’s wearing a pale green dress.

As I looked at the pearl necklace hung on her neck, my eyes kept drifting down to the two magnificent things underneath, but I restrained myself since Elze and the others are here as well. Those are pretty big, yeah..

Leti, whose assets are rather humble in comparison, is the textbook example of an energetic younger sister, with short golden hair. She’s wearing a pale pink dress, but compared to her older sister’s, it has a shorter skirt which allows her more ease of movement. Compared to Aria, she’s a lot more restless. She shows interest in a lot of things, and appears to have an endless curiosity.

His Majesty the Holy King’s request was for me to bring these two granddaughters of his to Brunhild together with Prince Akim and Prince Frost.

Apparently, when the Holy King talked about the cuisines and recreation facilities he saw here during the two-world conference last time to the two of them, they both showed a lot of interest.

They’ve asked him quite a lot of times to bring them here if there’s a chance, it seems.

Of course, His Majesty the Holy King did not request this of me simply because of him wanting to spoil his grandchildren.

Fortunately—to be honest, I’m not sure if that’s the correct word to use—both Prince Akim and Prince Frost do not have fiancées. Or rather, they had fiancées, but huge fights broke out between them and their fathers because they were angry that “my father chose a fiancée without consulting me”, and in the end those engagements all broke off. Just how much do these two princes love fighting with their dads, I wonder.

“Princess Ariati, this ‘cream soda’ here is delicious too, you know.”

“Maa! How cold and sweet..!”

“Princess Leticia, what is that?”

“Etto, it’s called ‘chocolate’. It’s a bit bitter, but it’s delicious too!”

The four of them sat around a round table, and enjoyed the snacks and drinks placed at the center of that table. They’ve opened up quite a bit, havn’t they.

While looking at that from the side, we sat on a different table and drank some tea. Directly opposite me sat the content-looking Holy King.

“Somehow, I feel like this all ended in a way that would benefit Your Majesty the Holy King the most.”

“Come now, it’s not a bad thing, is it? If this goes well, the relationship troubles between Dauburn, Zadonia and Alent can all be resolved in one fell swoop, you know?”

This shrewd grandpa. Well, it is true that this is a pretty good move, but things like this also needs to take into consideration the feelings of the parties involved, so.

“Prince Akim looks pretty taken with Princess Leticia to me.”

“Prince Frost also seems to be viewing Princess Ariati in a favorable manner. It’s been a while since I last saw the prince this happy.”

To the sides of His Majesty the Holy King, General Glenn and Knight Kordi looked at the situation over on the other table as they drank their tea.

So Prince Frost with Princess Ariati, and Prince Akim with Princess Leticia, huh. Thank god they didn’t choose the same person. If their relationship turned into something like their fathers’ due to love issues, it would be just tragic.

“Fufun. Quite interesting-no yo. While it’s not love at first sight, there’s a small sprout of affection in their hearts-no yo. Before they noticed, they’re already.. Is the pattern for this, I’ll say-no yo.”

“Tch, I forgot..”

I hugged my head as a voice suddenly popped out of nowhere next to me. When I looked sideways to confirm, my eyes met with that of a grinning Karen nee-san.

If we talked about these kinds of things, she’s guaranteed to show up. Like a cat to catnip, a moth to a flame, and a Karen nee-san to love talks.

“Don’t put me into the same category as cats or moths-no yo.”

“Ouch!”

Karen nee-san’s hand chop landed on my head. Don’t read my mind!

Leaving me—holding my head in pain—behind, Karen nee-san approached the table where the four young men and women sat while humming. Ah, she’s locked onto them, hasn’t she. As long as Karen nee-san is involved, there’s no way their relationships will end in anything shallow. They’ll either fall in love or not, with no other possible choices.

Well, if it’s that sister of mine, she should do fine. More importantly.

“Even if the princes are fine with this, what should we do about the kings?”

“The simplest method would be having those two princes succeed the throne as soon as possible, but..”

His Majesty the Holy King followed up, but as expected, that’s a bit tough, isn’t it? There’s no way those two kings will give up their thrones easily. In the worst case, until they die.. No, it’s possible they might even disown the princes before then.

“Since both Dauburn and Zadonia only have one prince, I don’t think they would do that.. But then again, it’s not rare to see royal families disown a successor due to his ineptitude and elect someone else from outside the royal bloodline as the new successor.”

His Majesty the Holy King folded his arms and muttered. I’d like to think that those two aren’t that stupid, but well.

“Maybe have the princes hold the real authority in the country before that happens.. Oh, my apologies. This kind of talk is inappropriate in front of Glenn-san and Kordi-san, isn’t it.”

“Nothing of the sort. I, too, believe that the prince can change Dauburn for the better. In actuality, the only ones who want to fight it out with Zadonia are His Majesty the King and a portion of the older upper-class nobles. The lower-class nobles and commoners are already sick of this war. In the past, they had fought in the wars driven by their animosity towards Zadonia for killing their family and other things, but nowadays, that animosity is gradually being pointed towards their own country for forcing them to continue fighting. The number of people who escaped to the Holy Kingdom also never decreased..”

Glenn-san spoke with a bitter smile while dropping his eyes to the cup held in his hands.

Looking at that, Kordi-san also opened his mouth.

“It’s the same with us Zadonia. In the first place, even if we won, our people wouldn’t be able to live in Dauburn’s lands. We don’t even know just why we are fighting this war. One step out of our nation’s borders and there lies fertile land with a mild climate, and promises of an easier life than staying in our country. It’s natural for the citizens to long for Alent.”

“It’s not like our country would gladly welcome all of them in, you know? They flow in by themselves from your countries, face food issues, and many of them end up becoming bandits in our territories. It’s honestly a pain for us. And it got much worse ever since the current kings of your nations took the throne.”

From Alent’s point of view, it’d be much better if those nations just ceased to exist, wouldn’t it. However, if they actually did disappear, a veritable avalanche of refugees would rush into Alent in an instant. It’s a tough dilemma for them as well.

“So basically, for the people of the two countries, the current kings abdicating would be perfectly fine as well.. Or rather, they might actually want them to get off as soon as they can?”

“As someone born as a commoner, I would honestly be glad to see Prince Akim take the throne.”

“If we think about the benefits to the nation, the best option would obviously be to have Prince Frost succeed the throne right this instant.”

Glenn-san spoke in vague terms, while Kordi-san spoke decisively.

Wouldn’t a coup d'etat happen at this rate? No matter what, that’s a bad choice, isn’t it. A succession through force would only leave a lot of things twisted in the aftermath.

Now then, what should I do..

While looking at the two pairs of men and women talking happily as Karen nee-san led the conversation, I sighed. Is it really impossible for the current kings of Dauburn and Zadonia to become friendly like that too?

“Is ‘kidnap then suspension bridge effect’ the only thing I can use at this point..?”

“I don’t really understand what that is, but I somehow sensed malicious intent..”

His Majesty the Holy King drew back a little when he heard my mutters, but let’s ignore that.

I’ll have to ask the professor to help prepare for that.. Pretty sure there’s something I can use in the [Storehouse].. Un, this’ll work. Kukuku, it’s getting interesting.

“There’s the bad face-degozaru..”

“It’s just the same as usual.”

“Standard Touya routines, isn’t it.”

The voices of Yae, Elze and Hilda can be heard from the adjacent table. No, well, they’ve called me an “upstart brat” from a “puny countryside territory” quite a few times, so isn’t it fine for me to return the favor a little bit? Eh?

- Pixel