FPS 252

It’s been two months since I started living a calm life as if I were on a vacation in the seaside city of Amar. The rebuilding of the Royal Castle had only just begun, and the carefree days of escorting the Crown Prince and others continued.

Today, I’m visiting the Marida company’s merchant shipyard in Amar.

“It’s good to see you safe, Malta-san.”

“It’s all thanks to Schwartz-san.”

In one corner of the office space on the second floor of the Merchant Shipyard, I was facing Malta-san in a reception space separated by a simple partition, enjoying green tea brewed with Japanese tea leaves I brought from a large shopping mart.

“But, this tea is really delicious――Is it the tea leaves from Schwartz-san’s world?”

Perhaps he was worried about the other employees doing clerical work in the office space, the second half of his sentences was a whisper that only I could hear.

“Yes. This melty richness and mellow sweetness is the best, isn’t it?”

“This powdery and dark green color looks cheap at first glance, but this strong scent is definitely the mark of the best product.”

It’s been a while since I had a tea party with Malta-san, but there are many things I want to confirm.

“So, how is the situation in the Royal Capital?”

“It’s going to be amazing.”

“Huh—? Is it Rafflesia again?!”

“Eh――? You’re wrong, the Royal Capital itself is peaceful.”

My and Malta-san’s eyes unintentionally locked into each other. I was worried that the Rafflesia or Viceburn Empire had started to move again, but Malta-san immediately burst out laughing and corrected me――

“No, I mean, Schwartz-san, right now the most talked about topic in the Royal Capital is about the Black Hero Shaft who saved the Kingdom from its predicament.”

Those words made me want to facepalm――.

“Again with that――”

“Again――indeed. Rescuing the Royal family members from Flyhigh, repelling the attackers, and immediately after that, raiding the Yamigasa Company… even though all those are amazing already, he also infiltrated the Royal Palace and rescued His Majesty the King and the captured Royal family members. At first, Schwartz-san’s name was also mentioned, making the story a bit confusing. But nowadays, the info that circulated around, not only in the Royal Capital, but also throughout the Kingdom, is that Black Hero Shaft did all that by himself.”

“….So, what about the stuff I ordered?”

“Those who are quick-witted merchants and influential people should already know, but the transfer circle connecting the Royal Capital and the mining city Baleira has been blocked――”

Yes. In order to increase the safety of the seaside city of Amar, which is far from the Royal Capital, the transfer management office in the mining city Baleira, which was the nearest city, was closed. Malta-san only got to visit here two months after the rebellion of Rafflesia because he was unable to transfer and had to travel overland.

“Boss, I apologize for interrupting. The shipment from Filtonia has arrived.”

The person who showed his face in the reception area was Bolroy, the Director of this merchant shipyard. A middle-aged cat-type beastkin, with an unkempt head and stubble――rather than a merchant, he’s more of a genuine man of the sea. Director Bolroy was holding a large wooden box in both hands. There is no doubt that it is the item I ordered.

“Thank you, Bolroy. Please put it on the table.”

With his thick arm that is as big as an adult male’s thigh, Director Bolroy lightly placed the wooden box on the table. Contrary to his light movement, it could be seen that the wooden box was of considerable weight.

Director Bolroy left the wooden box behind. Malta-san turned the wooden box so that its front was facing me, then slowly opened the lid with a smile on his face.

“Oh!”

A large amount of non-attribute magic stones were inside the wooden box.

“What do you think, Schwartz-san! These are the magic stones we imported from the Filtonia Islands Federation as soon as you contacted us.”

“Thank you very much, Malta-san.”

“I don’t think the market in the Kingdom has calmed down yet. Now that the Rafflesia, which was the vanguard of the labyrinth subjugation, has disappeared, and adventurers has taken a major hit to their reputation in its wake, the distribution of not only non-attribute but also attribute magic stones will also be delayed.”

Due to the involvement of many adventurer clans in the rebellion of the Rafflesia, the distribution of permission to use the Transfer Circle Control Building to adventurers is currently annulled, and requests with high urgency and importance are no longer sent to the general guild.

“I suppose it’s going to be difficult to secure non-attribute magic stones for now?”

“The domestic harvest will definitely decrease, but Yamigasa Company and many of its affiliates have been arrested, so I think the supply will increase and stabilize after a little more time.”

“Until then, it looks like we will have to rely on imports from overseas. I’m thinking of diving into the labyrinth myself, but is there a labyrinth with reasonable value nearby?”

“Well… why don’t you try crossing over to Filtonia?　In the Filtonia Islands Federation, which consists of small islands of various sizes, it is not uncommon for the inhabitants of the islands to be annihilated by the rampaging stampede from the labyrinth.”

“Stampedes don’t happen that often, do they?”

“That’s right, but there is a sacrificial faith in Filtonia, and there are times when the labyrinth is allowed to run amok on purpose, causing an island to become a nest for monsters.”

“On purpose—?”

“Yes. the magic beasts can’t cross the sea, so there is this tradition in Filtonia to feed slaves and criminals into the labyrinth, so that they could hunt the overflowing monsters on the coastline.”

Filtonian Islands Federation――Two weeks of traveling south through the ocean on a large ship from Amar, one will reach the ship city of Bigship in the northernmost area of the Federation territory. Around 200 large and small ships gather in the ship city of Bigship, forming an artificial island and a living environment. Bigship is the gateway to the Filtonia Islands Federation and a trading port that conducts commercial transactions with foreign countries.

Merchant ships from Kurtmerga can only enter Filtonia up to this floating city, and formal immigration procedures are required to land on the actual islands.

Malta-san said that there seems to be a small island full of labyrinth monsters about two days further south from Bigship, and there are about five other places, but in fact there should be some labyrinths that are not known to foreign countries.

Deliberately run the labyrinth out of control, and hunt the monsters that spill outside. If you think about it normally, it’s an extremely dangerous method, but there were several reasons why Filtonia took this method.

That is――the Filtonia Islands Federation cannot meet its various domestic needs with their own domestic production alone, and foreign trade――especially with Kurtmerga Kingdom and its neighboring countries――is essential. Filtonia did not have a strong domestic product to trade with other countries, thus had no choice but to rely on the collection of magic stones, which has an unchanging value in any country or region.

However, it’s difficult to continue conquering labyrinths reliably. Moreover, once the labyrinth has been conquered, their source of income will temporarily disappear. Veins of magic water and ores would usually appear where a labyrinth used to stand, but it takes a lot of time and money to develop and maintain them to the point where they can be shipped as a product.

Rather than spending time and money on its development, the Congress of the Filtonia Islands Federation chose to effectively utilize unnecessary human resources and obtain magic stones with the minimum risk and effort.

It’s pretty much――using labyrinths as some sort of livestock.

“However, even though it is easy to say, there are cases where it is actually unmanageable, isn’t it?”

It’s a question that naturally springs up after listening to the story. I’ve never actually seen a stampede, but if it’s something that can be controlled by humans, it wouldn’t be called a stampede in the first place.

“Exactly. In addition, Filtonia does not allow labyrinth exploration by adventurers other than those registered in domestic guilds, and all collected magic stones are obliged to be wholesaled to the adventurer’s guild.”

“If that’s how it is… I guess there’s no point for me to go there?”

“That’s true for the islands that Filtonia still manages. However…there is an island that has been abandoned due to the stampede being unable to be controlled.”

“Abandoned island?”

“Yes. among the populace, it is known as―― the ”Labyrinth Island”.”

Malta-san, who raised the corners of his mouth as he said that, had a gleam in his eyes that a merchant usually doesn’t show so often.