Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Vol 2 Chapter 1

Volume 2 Chapter 1, “There will be Two Churches. And so it begins!”

 

—- The Palace of Winter, a Large Room, Strategy Committee

The Hero: “Ah— Dammit!” Slams table.

Elder Maid Sister: “I- I’m sorry…”

The Hero: “I— I said this many times before. We have to find a peaceful solution, a peaceful solution, but at this rate, we might as well be like those potatoes subjected to a Cla.s.s A h.e.l.lfire Destruction Spell, right!?”

Little Maid Sister: “I’m hungry.”

Seneschal: “Shall I bring something?”

Disciple Merchant: “Sure, how about some Porridge.”

Little Maid Sister: “Porridge!? That’s not tasty!”

Seneschal: “In that case, I shall bring some cream pastry.”

Lone Winter King: “I apologise.”

The Female Paladin: “That’s alright, Hero. I was there too.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Hero, Hero, please do try to calm down.”

Iron Fist King: “Gahaha! We can’t help what’s already happened!”

The Hero: “What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you guys! Aren’t you even the least bit concerned about what could happen to your Kingdoms, huh! Is that what you royalty do!”

Iron Fist King: “The situation is as it is. Please just listen, we must calm down.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “It was a brilliant performance, surely our subjects will understand as well.”

The Hero: “If we don’t do something, I’m going to get very angry!”

Iron Fist King: “That being said, the seriousness of the situation is that we’re being accused of heresy.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Yep.”

The Hero: “?”

Iron Fist King: “It would be nice if they would stop saying that about us.”

Lone Winter King: “Yes.”

The Hero: “…?”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Oh, I’m sorry, I should explain. The Hero…… has just returned to the Human World after all. In other words, unfortunately, the Central Continent is still falsely accusing us of heresy. Of course, they will probably falsely accuse us to the end. The ultimate aim of the Central Continent is most likely to force our dependence on them and weaken our Kingdoms…”

Lone Winter King: “In other words, the real question is, ‘How much do we value our independence from the Central Continent?’”

The Hero: “I understand that much.”

Lone Winter King: “However, the performance by the Elder Sister Maid has altered the direction of the wind. To the Central Continent, everything may have been normal until now, but to us… In other words, to the Southern United Kingdoms, we have always faced the problem of how to orientate our country in order to achieve independence for our people.”

The Hero: “…”

Elder Maid Sister: “I- I- I’m sorry…”

Lone Winter King: “The impact of that performance was not small. And, like a Fire on the Plains, its force is only set to increase.”

Seneschal: “Right now, what we’re facing is a spate of insurrections by nearby serfs against slave-owning landlords.”

The Female Paladin: “Mmm.”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Porridge: A type of gruel made from ground oats. As it has no taste on its own, in order to make it palatable, various additional ingredients are often added. Porridge without any complementary ingredients (or with the mere addition of salt) is considered to be a dish particularly disliked by children in Europe and North America and is, in fact, one of the Worst Three Dishes.

Fire on the Plains: If a fire is started in a wide plain, due to the lack of obstacles and abundant amount of fuel, it could potentially burn forever.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

Seneschal: “The branches of the Holy Church of Light in the Southern United Kingdoms have been instigating insurrections against the King and against the Military. The rulers of the Kingdoms are now being seen as heretical traitors, so it was to be expected.”

The Hero: “Is that so?”

Seneschal: “Yes. Well, this is from the Church of Light, but the Potatoes which have made our lives so prosperous up to now are to be confiscated. The Settlers and the Landlords are now embroiled in such chaos. No matter how you think about it, they are surely torn by what the Church of Light is doing……”

Lone Winter King: “To remove potatoes from our growing population is next to impossible. Right now, we face the conflicting options of either allowing our people to starve in subordination to the Central Continent, or turning our backs to the Continent.”

Iron Fist King: “Those are our choices.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Yeah.”

Lone Winter King: “At the very least, we should try working with our people.”

Iron Fist King: “What are you saying? We should just impale a few of those serfs!”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “My, my. Such things don’t happen in my country. Ohohohohoho.”

The Hero: “What are you saying!? Are you drunk!”

Lone Winter King: “No, no, it does happen in your country!”

Iron Fist King: “Hohohohohoho!”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Well, well, it appears the Southern United Kingdoms will be in trouble in any case.”

Little Maid Sister: “This bread is delicious!”

Seneschal: “Isn’t it?” Smiles

Disciple Merchant: “It’s nice that it’s hot.”

Little Maid Sister: “How do they make it so sweet?”

Seneschal: “I think they put raisins in it.”

The Hero: “Enough of that! Try to understand what’s going on!”

Lone Winter King: “Mmhmm.”

The Hero: “Let’s think about the strategy, the direction and the impending war! Properly!”

Seneschal: “Well, I definitely think we should live together with the citizens. The reason why we would raise our flag in defiance to the Central Continent is to protect these very citizens, for these citizens, we may very well be destroyed in this war. If our people die in the fires of this war, we will have lost everything.”

The Female Paladin: “Hero.”

The Hero: “Okay, first, Female Paladin.”

The Female Paladin: “I’m bad at thinking about things.” Ahem.

Iron Fist King: “Ahahahahaha! The fool appears!”

The Female Paladin: “I will protect the purity of the Hero!”

The Hero: “Who let these guys drink so much, d.a.m.nit. They reek of wine… One, two, three. Four? Five cups?!”

The Female Paladin: “The Battle Techniques of the Holy Order of the Lake, the Sword of Love, and the Indulgence of Slaughter are without parallel!”

The Hero: “It may be without parallel, but it’s completely useless here, isn’t it?!”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Then I’ll speak next.”

The Hero: “Alright, second will be the Queen of Ice and Snow. The well-endowed middle-aged woman.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “I’m a married woman, so I should probably bury people who make such comments, shouldn’t I? Anyway, when it comes to dealing with this issue, I think all we can do is the Emanc.i.p.ation of the Serfs…”

The Hero: “A surprisingly valid point.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Because of the potatoes, the Dependent Population has greatly increased, so I think we should start considering more radical solutions.”

Iron Fist King: “But, shouldn’t we do this when we aren’t at war with the Central Continent?”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Emanc.i.p.ation of the Serfs: This refers to allowing serfs the freedom to move or to change occupations. Of course, they can continue to remain  farmers as well, but at the very least, they will no longer have to mindlessly follow the orders of the Landlords. Truly a joyous thing.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

The Hero: “What will we do about that?”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “War is something you people are interested in, so I’ll leave that to you.” Gulp, gulp, gulp. “Another gla.s.s please.”

Seneschal: “Yes, coming right up.”

The Hero: “Oh no. This grandma didn’t think of anything either…”

Iron Fist King: “Hehe, then I guess it’s time for me to take the stage. Hero. I am the Sixth King of the Kingdom of Metal, the Iron Fist King!”

Slams table!

The Hero: “There’s no need to be so excited, but alright, third, the Iron Fist King.”

Iron Fist King: “First, we should establish the frontlines of the Armies of our Triple Entente at the Northern Plains. In order to ensure that the harvests of our gentry do not diminish, this time we need to be on the offensive. We’ll add the excess food stocks to the salaries of the mercenaries. Wait, we still have some of that monetary aid from the Central Continent. We’ve got some saved up from the previous Kings as well.”

The Hero: “Ohhh! You finally said something solid!”

Iron Fist King: “And we can sally forth and meet those Inquisitors and the Armies of the Central Continent on those Northern Plains. If we use the previous Crusades as a reference, they should have at least 50,000 strong. We will break them there!”

The Hero: “Hmm.”

Iron Fist King: “And then we will continue to move North and take out their garrisons! Invade their cities! We will force every Kingdom we come across to pledge allegiance to the South, we will win a stunning chain of victories! We are an invincible Army of Steel!”

The Hero: “Umm— “

Iron Fist King: “And then we will continue to the Holy City, we will attack it in waves, day and night until the City falls! We will never look back. They will tell tales of our conquest for centuries to come! Gahahahahaha!”

The Hero: “Alright, that’s enough!”

Seneschal: “If we follow that plan, we’ll be decimated.”

The Hero: “…What shall we do…”

Elder Maid Sister: “I’m sorry, Hero.”

Lone Winter King: “Hmm, we need to look at this fundamentally.”

The Hero: “Have you thought of something, Your Majesty?”

Lone Winter King: “Honestly, no.”

The Hero: “—“

Lone Winter King: “But if we focus… I’m sure we can think of something.”

The Hero: “Ah— That’s enough. Oi, anyone? Has anyone thought of anything?”

Seneschal: “Umm—“

The Hero: “Ahh, and who are you?”

Seneschal: “I am just a nameless soldier, Hero, sir!” Salutes.

The Hero: “No, you’re the only sober one, so you’re the only useful one here.”

Seneschal: “I have also not thought of anything, but something has come to my attention. No, it would be better to say that I’ve noticed something.”

The Hero: “Yeah?”

Seneschal: “First, I’m afraid I believe the Central Continent has yet to send its troops out as of the present.”

Disciple Merchant: “That’s probably true.”

The Hero: “What evidence do you have?”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Dependent Population: The percentage of the population which does not contribute to the economy by working, but nonetheless continues to consumes food and requires supplies. Each working person usually has to support a few dependents such as children and elderly parents.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

Disciple Merchant: “Firstly, the primary goal of the Central Continent is to subjugate the Southern United Kingdoms, not to obliterate it. If the Southern United Kingdoms were obliterated and the Demons decided to invade, all that would happen is that they would lose the s.h.i.+eld by which they protect themselves. As such, shouldn’t we try to put pressure on them for some form of peaceful negotiations?”

Seneschal: “Moreover, the majority of the military power of the Central Continent is decentralised among the n.o.bility. As a result, they would need a significant amount of time in order to mobilise and equip their armies, and if they did manage to move their armies out, there would be a problem with reward. In this situation… I wouldn’t like to consider it, but the outcome would likely be the fragmentation of the Southern United Kingdoms and the rewarding of parts of the Kingdom to the n.o.bility. In order to achieve this, they must ready an army capable of crus.h.i.+ng any opposition in the Southern United Kingdoms. That will require time.”

The Hero: “Hmm, and what are your intentions?”

Lone Winter King: “It’s almost wintertime. And we have a short while before spring. If everything is normal, that would give us at least six months.”

The Hero: “Six months…”

Lone Winter King: “But… No… Something like that…”

Seneschal: “…?”

The Hero: “What are you thinking of, Your Majesty?”

Lone Winter King: “No. Well… I was just worried about something. It’s impossible. I think it’s impossible, but…”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Young King, stop beating around the bush.”

Iron Fist King: “Gahahahaha! There’s no need to be modest!”

Lone Winter King: “The Holy Empire… At the very least, they must control some segment of the Demons, right?”

Pause.

Lone Winter King: “No, it’s just a thought. Hahaha. Well, if that’s the case, that would explain why they can rest easy about another invasion from the Demon Race. That’s why they can afford to relax the pressure they’ve put on the Southern United Kingdoms. For example, if they could time it to coincide with the Demon Invasion to accuse us of heresy again, they could take advantage of our military and economic exhaustion… No, it’s just an empty thought.”

The Hero: “Well, with regards to that, all I can do is go out and investigate it…”

The Female Paladin: “What!? You’re going? You’re always going off, Hero! You’re going to the ends of the world again— No— to the top of the world!”

The Hero: “Get a grip on yourself.” Shakes.

The Female Paladin: “Ugh.” Headdesk.

The Hero: (Uhh, I guess we’d better start on something… Someone, something… What would she do? How would she think? We can’t just look at things on the surface. We’ve got to consider structural deficiencies and profit-loss mechanisms… What?!)

Little Maid Sister: “Tada! This is pie!”

Seneschal: “Wow! This looks very refined…”

The Hero: (Why are we even fighting to begin with? Is this about… the land? Or for prosperity? I suppose it’s for prosperity…?)

…In other words, stockpiling money might create ‘Wealth’, but it doesn’t contribute to ‘Prosperity’. Goods and capital flows must be established without stagnation in order to achieve ‘Prosperity’.

The Hero: (In other words, umm, this is a related topic. The flow that comes from buying goods and selling goods… That is prosperity, is it not? In that case, our World isn’t prosperous, is it? It’s too closed up… The Church is doing it, the Holy Empire is doing it. Why? Setting limits on the world, making it smaller… What is the point?”)

Iron Fist King: “It’s golden and pretty!”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “What’s this inside? Quail meat and eggs?”

The Hero: (In other words, what the Church wants is… to become Rich? They want to monopolise the wealth. No, not just the wealth. Knowledge, popularity, power… they want to monopolise everything?)

Disciple Merchant: “How interesting, it has a very refined texture.”

Little Maid Sister: “That’s right! It’s because of the pears, I think. ♪”

The Hero: (If the environment remains closed, a hierarchy under which other people’s gains get sucked up is created. This is a never-ending cycle, isn’t it? Is it… what the Demon King would call something that needs to be changed?)

Elder Sister Maid: “Hero…?”

— The Spirit… By way of a miracle, the Spirit bestowed life onto humanity; by way of the Blessings of the Earth, the Spirit bestowed wealth; by way of our fractured souls, the Spirit bestowed freedom to us all.

The Hero: (Monopoly… Life… Wealth… and Freedom… To monopolise is the attempt to solely own something. This is not Being Prosperous, this is merely Making Others Poor.”

Lone Winter King: “Hoho, there’s something sweet here too. Hmm, delicious!”

Seneschal: “This is surely a luxury food.”

Iron Fist King: “It’ll probably go great with alcohol. It could be a little saltier.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “It’s light, and quite similar to Palace food.”

The Hero: (Making one person… the focal point. The gathering point. Allowing him and him alone to reach the top.)

Disciple Merchant: “This can surely become a new product!”

Little Maid Sister: “Ehehe, really?”

Lone Winter King: “Yeah, I’ll even write you a Royal Rescript personally!”

Seneschal: “We will designate you as the Royal Purveyor.”

Iron Fist King: “Ohh, me too.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Send some to the Kingdom of Ice as well.”

The Hero: “Focus here! You d.a.m.n royalty!”

Elder Maid sister: “I- I- I’m sorry, hero.”

Iron Fist King: “Gahahaha! There’s no point laughing while crying, Hero. Which one will you have?”

The Hero: “Which one?”

Little Maid Sister: “The quail pie or the pear pie? ♪”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “There are two types. They’re both delicious though.”

Little Maid Sister: “Yep. ♪ So which one?”

The Hero: “—“

Seneschal: “Hero?”

Lone Winter King: “Heh.”

The Hero: “— “

Elder Sister Maid: “…Hero?”

The Hero: “Make a Royal Proclamation.”

Disciple Merchant: “Proclamation? For a new tax? Or a new law?”

The Hero: “The Kingdoms of the Triple Entente of the Southern United Kingdoms will formally recognise the Holy Order of the Lake as the national religion of the state and the True Faith of the Spirit of Light.”

Seneschal: “Eh?”

The Hero: “That’s right! Who decided that there could only be one Church! It’s fine even if we have two! It’s good to be able to choose! Let’s do it! We’ll do it then. Hey, wake up, Female Paladin.” Shakes the Female Paladin.

The Female Paladin: “Ugh, ughhh—“

The Hero: “Then let’s put the Royal Seal on it and make it into law! Here! The Speech by the Elder Sister Maid? Let’s put that into writing as a teaching of the Holy Order of the Lake. We’ll make Agricultural Technology one of the precepts too! Isn’t that great? We can replace books on theology with books about that. If you like, we can even issue coupons for the people to exchange for Tubers.”

Lone Winter King: “And what would be the point of that?”

The Hero: “There will be two ways to the top. There will be Two Churches. And so it begins!”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Royal Rescript: These are official orders issued by the Emperor or by Kings of countries, particularly in j.a.pan. For it to be a rescript, the orders have to be in response to a request by the people or by the government.

Royal Purveyor: These refer to the merchants, craftsmen and businesses that are officially given the license to supply the Royal Family or the Church with certain goods or services. By becoming a Royal Purveyor, the business then usually becomes very popular. This is because being a Royal Purveyor is testament to the quality and cla.s.s of the product. For this reason, it is a status that every business would like to acquire. In pre-war j.a.pan, Purveyor to the Imperial House was a fairly common t.i.tle among businesses.

Proclamation: This refers to an official statement or declaration in order to spread knowledge about a certain law or decree that has been put into place. In most cases, a herald goes to cities and villages to make the announcement. However, the Hero intends to distribute leaflets and rely on the people to pa.s.s the message based on their own sense of justice.

Tubers: Tubers are a family of plants to which the potato belongs to. They have no seeds and are grown from the tuber themselves. A single tuber can be cut up as long as it still contains the shoot, and in this way, many plants can be grown from one tuber.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

—- The City of the Gulf, Merchant’s Quarter, a Large Office in the Chambers of Commerce

Young Merchant: “Huh?”

Shrewd Accountant: “Umm, like I said… There’s been a new Church.”

Young Merchant: “The Holy Order of the Lake?”

Shrewd Accountant: “Yeah, at least that’s what the Triple Entente declared.”

Young Merchant: “…”

Shrewd Accountant: “What is happening?”

Young Merchant: “Hehehehehe.”

Shrewd Accountant: “?”

Young Merchant: “Hahahahahahaha! Is that so! Is that how it is now! Who is responsible for this? That person? No, it feels different. That person wouldn’t do something so brazen as this. She would at least inform me first. Something so schismatic, only the Hero would do it. Ahahaha!”

Shrewd Accountant: “Councillor……”

Young Merchant: “Is that right, there’s another Church? Ahaha. That’s excellent! They’ve really done it!!! I’m sure the leaders of the Holy Church must be seeing red or blue. In fact, they’re probably black with rage, aren’t they?”

Shrewd Accountant: “That’s to be expected. It’s a frightful situation.”

Young Merchant: “Ahahaha. Excellent! What a rare event. This is worth at least a hundred gold pieces! How wonderful it is to see those old men swimming in the cold water now.”

Shrewd Accountant: “That’s true. Well! They’ve gone ahead and raised someone accused of heresy to sainthood, don’t you think they’re being too confrontational about it?”

Young Merchant: “What’s the situation?”

Shrewd Accountant: “They have support from the people who have been oppressed by the Holy Church of Light in the Central Continent. That was to be expected though. However, there’s something that worries me…”

Young Merchant: “Something that worries you?”

Shrewd Accountant: “This thing is being distributed.” Takes out leaflet.

Young Merchant: “Paper? That’s got to be expensive.”

Shrewd Accountant: “No, well, it seems that the Kingdom of Ice is coming up with new factories…”

Young Merchant: “Factories?”

Shrewd Accountant: “They’re like large workshops. They can produce paper in huge quant.i.ties. Moreover, using printing from the Kingdom of Metal, they can even print words onto the paper fairly cheaply.”

Young Merchant: “Hmm, I see. That’s… like using a seal.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Yes, you’ll understand when you read it, but it’s like this…”

Young Merchant: “…” Flinches.

Shrewd Accountant: “Yeah, that’s right. They intend to liberate all the serfs. That would explain why the surrounding Kingdoms have seen an incredible number of serfs migrating to the Tripart.i.te Union.”

Young Merchant: “Hoho.”

Shrewd Accountant: “You’re not surprised?”

Young Merchant: “If it’s them, this sort of thing is fairly standard.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Is that so?”

Young Merchant: “And what of the internal situation at the Union?”

Shrewd Accountant: “There are three Councillors in the Holy Church Faction and two in the Tripart.i.te Faction. The rest are all Centrists. The Disciple n.o.bleman is… He’s really something. Just with a speech, he managed to convert one member of the Holy Church Faction and bring two members to the Centrists. Amazing.”

Young Merchant: “Hehe… How interesting, there’s a price to pay for this struggle for supremacy.”

Shrewd Accountant: “I’ll summarise the economic situation, then.” Flips page.

Young Merchant: “I don’t need to know the whole thing… But it’s good to know some things. How is the price of wheat?”

Shrewd Accountant: “It’s gone up by two points since last week. The price seems to be increasing steadily. It’s winter, and the Crop Failure in the Central Continent seems to be continuing. Looks like there’ll be a famine this year as well.”

Young Merchant: “Buy.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Buy? But if we release the Union’s stock of wheat, won’t we get a fairly large Profit Margin?”

Young Merchant: “…Well, there are many who view that we should buy while the price is still rising. Let’s just go with that for now.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Y- yes.”

Young Merchant: “For now, buy enough wheat to raise the price by six points. Send that around to all the merchants of the Union.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Understood.” Scribbles.

Young Merchant: “In that case, here’s a memo for the Union’s branch managers. Iron, charcoal, silver. Buy everything.”

Shrewd Accountant: “How many points?”

Young Merchant: “It would be unnatural to micromanage to such an extent, let them handle it.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Yes.” Scribbles.

Young Merchant: “Next week let’s go up to 100 points. Next month, buy up to 250 points of wheat.”

Shrewd Accountant: “?!”

Young Merchant: “What’s wrong?”

Shrewd Accountant: “That’ll raise the price by three times?! That’s completely abnormal! I’ve never heard of anyone buying wheat like that. Where in the world will we get the funds to do that?!”

Young Merchant: “If you check, I’m sure you would find we definitely have enough funds for it.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Even so, this is highly irregular.”

Young Merchant: “Is it?”

Shrewd Accountant: “Just what do you intend? If you do this, we’ll lose a significant amount of our reserves. What is the point of filling our warehouses with so much wheat!”

Young Merchant: “Ahahahaha. It just looks that way. We’re not just buying it, don’t you see?”

Shrewd Accountant: “What do you mean?”

Young Merchant: “We’re selling the gold from the Kingdoms.” Smiles.

 

—– The Palace of Winter, a Large Room, Strategy Committee

Seneschal: “Just from what I saw along the border roads, there were 12 people yesterday.”

The Hero: “Hmm, the pace is dulling faster than we expected.”

Lone Winter King: “Mmm.”

Elder sister Maid: “As I thought, freedom isn’t such a big thing after all…”

The Hero: “Well, it’s difficult to say.”

Lone Winter King: “We have to teach words to those who have no words to say.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Indeed…”

The Female Paladin: “Bah. Why don’t we just kidnap a few?”

The Hero: “Are you really a Paladin?”

Lone Winter King: “Well, even if the pace is this slow, winter will still end.”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Points: In Economic terminology, this is the percentage rise or fall from a set index of prices at a given time for a given good.

Crop Failure: A case of bad harvest arising from bad weather, poor soil conditions or other circ.u.mstances which may cause crops to fail.

Buy: In a stock or commodities market, traders usually set a base and a ceiling price for their goods or stocks. When the price of the good rises beyond a certain level, the traders will automatically buy as a failsafe so they will not miss out on the opportunity. But when the price of the good falls below a certain level, the traders will automatically sell everything so that they do not lose all of their money. Nowadays, this all takes place electronically and automatedly so that the trader will not go bankrupt if his position collapses overnight.

Profit Margin: The difference between the cost of purchasing the good and the selling price of the good. The key to being a merchant is to buy cheap and sell high, and hopefully buy again when it is cheap again.

Selling Gold from the Kingdom: Even when I read this on the forums (TL Note: and when I translated it), I had no clue what it was saying. It’s fine even if you don’t understand right now (though at this moment the Young Merchant is probably the only one who understands). When you start to understand what this means later on, you’ll probably applaud him.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

The Hero: “That’s right. At the very least, we’ve won over quite a number during this winter and we’ve also strengthened the existing routes. Over time, our Church will grow in members.h.i.+p and in clergy. But at this rate, we’ll be squeezed out. Yeah… It’s an incredibly ma.s.sive hurdle.”

The Female Paladin: “We’ll send out missionaries, but the Holy Order of the Lake doesn’t even have fifty. We can’t hope to match the Central Continent.”

The Hero: “Hmm…”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Missionaries? — Can we do it without missionaries?”

The Female Paladin: “Do you have an idea?”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “How about poets? My country is renown for its Bards. Luckily for us, since it’s almost winter, all the bards roaming the land are gathering in my Royal Capital. If we contracted these people, they could spread throughout the land singing. They could sing about the Teachings of the New Church and about coming to the Three Kingdoms.

Songs are powerful, right? Farmers don’t know how to interpret or remember difficult words and sermons either. If we want them to remember and spread it, the effect of a song from a Bard will probably be far more widespread.”

The Female Paladin: “That’s a good idea!”

The Hero: “How many are there?”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “I don’t know exactly, but I would be willing to say close to 500.”

Lone Winter King: “Alright, I’ll be counting on you then. I’m sure we wouldn’t mind paying for this as well.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Okay… Hmm, we should write up Letters of Recommendation for the Bards and send them to the colonies? For each colony they go to, we could give one silver piece per bard?”

The Hero: “That’s good! Umm… How would the Scholar say it, an incentive?”

Lone Winter King: “Incentive?”

The Hero: “We’ll pay those who demonstrate that they can do work.”

Elder Maid Sister: “Umm…”

Lone Winter King: “Yeah, what’s up?”

Elder Maid Sister: “Aren’t we supposed to be discussing a war?”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “Well, in a situation where the Demons could invade at any time, I think fighting among ourselves would be very stupid.”

Elder Maid Sister: “Then I think we should not fight with the Church either.”

The Hero: “…Hmm.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “What do you mean?”

Elder Maid Sister: “I think the people from the Church would probably abuse the Missionaries and Bards. They would call them liars, tools of the Demons… Heretics.”

The Hero: “They probably would.”

The Female Paladin: “How stupid of them.”

Elder Maid Sister: “At this rate, our conflict with them could become a war. And humans should not be fighting with each other.”

Lone Winter King: “That’s true.”

Elder Maid Sister: “That’s why I think the content of the message that the Missionaries and the Bards and the leaflets we’re going to give out should not be overflowing with criticism against the Church.”

The Female Paladin: “But it’s clear that we do oppose those people. No matter how we phrase it, we’re still at odds with them.”

Elder Maid Sister: “That may be true, but the large majority of believers are just simple people who believe in the Holy Spirit of Light, right? To these people, the differences between the Churches barely make sense.”

The Hero: “That’s…”

The Female Paladin: “So are you saying we should just ignore it? Just keep quiet?”

Elder Maid Sister: “I don’t think that would be an appropriate response either. I think we should praise instead of criticise. The Holy Spirit of Light is a n.o.ble existence. Justice, determination and peace. These are points which we can agree on. Which means, these are points that the Church of the Central Continent cannot refute, and hence the people who respect the faith will respect us as well.”

Queen of Ice and Snow: “But that won’t win us followers from the Settlers, will it?”

Elder Maid Sister: “That would depend on the methods that we use. Much of the wastelands to the South have not been developed. It will be hard work, but there are opportunities. The opportunities to cultivate the land are a gift from the Spirit. The Southern United Kingdoms can open up these areas to settlers, where serfdom does not exist, where anyone who works there is ent.i.tled to the fruits of his labours without fear of famine. Taxes will be low as well. If we do that, surely there will be lots of people willing to move here?”

Lone Winter King: “So we’ll entice them with food and land… Theoretically that should work, and we could even turn that dreaded emptiness into a weapon.”

The Hero: “Is everyone whom she teaches this capable?”

Elder Maid Sister: “When I have to take care of my glutton sister… I try my best to come up with something.”

 

—- The City of the Gulf, Merchant’s Quarter, a Large Office in the Chambers of Commerce

Shrewd Accountant: “Councillor, the price of wheat in most cities has gone up by six points.”

Young Merchant: “What’s the effect on the market?”

Shrewd Accountant: “The n.o.blemen and the merchants are extremely pleased. We are seeing a significant number of those with wheat in their hands attempting to exchange it for gold. The farmers are still being quite guarded. After all, this isn’t just a commodity to them, it’s food. However, there are also significant exchanges taking place in that sector.”

Young Merchant: “Is that so?”

Shrewd Accountant: “The current price isn’t very different from an average year’s. I believe that is why we aren’t seeing a stronger reaction just yet.”

Young Merchant: “Understood. — What we’re going to do next is issue Agricultural Futures.”

Shrewd Accountant: “I’m not familiar with the term. What do you mean?”

Young Merchant: “That’s because I’ve just invented them. Here, listen up.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Why don’t you use the blackboard?”

Takes out chalk.

Young Merchant: “It’s winter now. Winter Wheat is sown in autumn, grows through the winter and is harvested in the spring. Currently, the wheat has been sown, but they haven’t been harvested… And they’ll only be harvested in six months. In that time, many things could occur to jeopardise the harvest that would take place six months later.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Mmhmm, this is common knowledge.”

Young Merchant: “But if something were to happen during this period, the wheat yields may fall dramatically and the incomes of the Landlords and Farmers will fall. Otherwise, there could be brilliant weather, and every farmer could experience a b.u.mper crop of wheat that may cause the Market Price of wheat to fall significantly.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Mmm.” Scribbles.

Young Merchant: “This is where we issue a Wheat Future. In other words, an agreement to purchase the wheat after it is ready.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Do you mean we will pay in advance?”

Young Merchant: “That’s right.”

Shrewd Accountant: “So the Landlords and Farmers sell wheat which they don’t have yet.”

Young Merchant: “That’s right. However, when it comes time to delivery… At the beginning of the year, in early spring, we can be a.s.sured that they will be able to sell that certain quant.i.ty of wheat.”

Shrewd Accountant: “In other words, if the crop is good, the Landlords would already have sold the wheat and they wouldn’t have to incur additional costs in trying to find a buyer.”

Young Merchant: “If during or before the transfer, some kind of crisis occurs such that the Market Price increases, we would also be able to get wheat below the Market Price.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Can you predict the Market Price?”

Young Merchant: “The Central Continent, Holy Empire and Church have issued the excommunication for heresy, and hence the likelihood of there being a war is high. Eeven if we do manage to avoid a war, that will also be to our benefit.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Why?”

Young Merchant: “If we manage to avoid a war, then the population will not decrease. What we lack right now are funds and s.h.i.+pping ability. Those can be considered the ‘pulses’ of the Market. Since there is more demand for the food, the stock of wheat will artificially be depleted, and hence there’s no way that the price of wheat can go down.”

Shrewd Accountant: “…”

Young Merchant: “Conversely, if the yields of wheat in the continent exceed our expectations, the Union might go bankrupt.”

Shrewd Accountant: “…I see. It’s a way of artificially manipulating the Market Prices. As far as this Wheat Futures thing is concerned, we’re still tied to the n.o.blemen, right?”

Young Merchant: “That’s one way of putting it. There are possible options.”

Shrewd Accountant: “I don’t understand your aim…”

Young Merchant: “This relies on the judgment of the Landlords and Farmers. They will be thinking about the Market Price of Wheat for the next year. As long as we have the Wheat Future, so to speak, we’ve basically borrowed a large amount of wheat and are waiting for it. We don’t have to worry about harming the fields we control. When it comes to the springtime harvest, they have to remember to separate the Wheat which they need to transfer to us.”

Shrewd Accountant: “Is that so…”

Young Merchant: “Our present goal is to suppress the price fluctuation of Wheat. This is the first step. Even in early spring, the amount of wheat which they can freely control would be very little. They would barely have any left on their hands. However, if the price of wheat were to suddenly rise… Actually, it doesn’t even need to rise very high. Everyone thinks, ‘It would be terrible if such a thing happened.’ This uncertainty would be to our advantage. Using the Future, they would hand over the Kingdom’s gold. It’s a cheap investment.” Smiles.

Shrewd Accountant: “—“

Young Merchant: “The Central Continent n.o.bility are beginning to taste what a slightly long winter is like. It’s the start of a fun dance. This Waltz — buy, sell, exchange. The effect of this drives the entire Continent.”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Market Price: The market price of a good is determined by the supply and demand of the given good. In this case, the good is Wheat.

An Agreement to Purchase the Wheat After it is Ready: One type of Future. A future is an agreement to purchase a given amount of goods at a given time in the future at a given price. A future helps to stabilise the price of a good whether its Market Price increases or decreases, so that the seller can be a.s.sured of a minimum sale price. This was likely first begun in 16th Century Belgium. Back then, the Wheat Future was not a sale for money, but a barter trade for a physical good.

Waltz: A type of music performed in triple time, typically for dancing to.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

—– The City of the Gate, Independence Committee, Office

Knock knock.

East Fortress Base Commander: “It’s open— Come in— “

Fire Dragon Lady: “How are you, Commander?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Not good, not bad. The weather is brilliant but I’ve got a mountain load of work. No matter how much I do, it never ends.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “If it never ends no matter how much you do, how about you just don’t do any of it?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “My, my! What a privileged lady!”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Not at all!” Glares.

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “Hahaha. You’re still the same.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Oh! It’s Uncle Cloud Dragon.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “He came to visit us to conduct trade negotiations.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Am I intruding? Should I come back later so you can talk freely?”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “No, no, it’s a simple matter, though there are many parts. You really are a very brave person, you know.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “No, no. The Free City isn’t just a name, we’ve really got to do what we can. I am very honoured that a merchant like yourself would make the long trip here to see us.”

Aide-de-Camp: “Yes, indeed. Ahh, Your Excellency, please have some Cocoa Tea.”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “Hahaha. With this, I don’t have to scrutinise any fine print or offer any money from inside my sleeve. I don’t have to do anything really.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Well, that is because the City of the Gate is governed by a Free Council. According to the laws for civil servants, those who are found accepting bribes will have their heads chopped off. — Uncle? What is your business in this City?”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “Haha, just some daily necessities. Salt, metal, potatoes, maize. Cocoa Beans. Cotton. And maybe some ores as well.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “When you say it like that, it appears your organisation is going to be a very ma.s.sive business in the City.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “The Wealthy Merchant would like to sell potatoes to the City, and purchase salt here…”

Aide-de-Camp: “Oh my.”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “In the past, we used to get our s.h.i.+pments of salt from the Isle of Light. Ah, it hurts to talk about it.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “I see…”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “Oh my, how could I say something so insensitive in front of the Human Base Commander? Please excuse my dementia.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “…”

East Fortress Base Commander: “No, no, don’t think anything of it. To plainly speak, we also took quite a beating from you Demons. Lots of my subordinates were disbanded, but I suppose when we live in this world, we get used to all this conflict… I’m just grateful to wake up alive every morning — that’s how I think anyway.”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “So young yet so tenacious.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “We’ll try to do something about the salt.”

Wealthy Demon Merchant: “Then I’ll leave it to you. Thank you for all the generous tea.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Aide-de-Camp, please see this gentleman out.”

Aide-de-Camp: “Yes!”

 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Explanation

Cocoa Tea: This tea is made from Cocoa beans which are ground and roasted in order to extract the fatty oils that give it the flavour before adding sugar to the mix.

Money from Under the Sleeve: This refers to bribery. In the Edo period in j.a.pan, in order to give bribes to officials, a paper bag of money would be pa.s.sed from hand to hand, while being hidden by the long sleeves of j.a.panese clothing at the time, hence gaining its proverbial reputation.

Cocoa Beans: From processing cocoa beans, one is able to obtain either cocoa to drink or chocolate. In real life, Cocoa was brought to Western Europe by Columbus from the New World, but in Maoyuu, it is a plant indigenous to the Demon World.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 

Door closes.

East Fortress Base Commander: “What a powerful presence.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “That’s because Uncle is quite an authority figure in the Demon World. He may look like that now, but he used to be very fearsome in the past.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Right then, I have something I need to discuss with you.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “So do I.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “How about you go first.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “I’m worried about something… Have you heard of the Demon Race known as the Pale?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “The Pale? I think we’ve done battle with them, but I’m not too familiar. At that time, I couldn’t even really distinguish the Demon Races anyway.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “The Pale are a Demon Race consisting of the pale-skinned descendants of the Elder G.o.ds. There are small-sized ones and large-sized members in their Race, which appears to consist of a federation of minor Races. Combined together, they excel at warfare.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Hmm…”

Fire Dragon Lady: “The Dragon Race and the Fairy Race don’t really interact too much with them. Well, actually, we don’t really have much interest in interacting with other races. — The Pale were historically one of the Four Great Demon Races from which the Demon King would be chosen, or a Royal Race. There were some among that race who sought to conquer the Demon World.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “This stinks of a conspiracy.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Recently, there have been Demons of the Pale sighted around the City…”

East Fortress Base Commander: “…”

Fire Dragon Lady: “I haven’t confirmed this information myself yet, but that’s the word on the street. The City of the Gate is a precious land where Humans and Demons may interact freely. Of course, we shouldn’t bar Demons of the Pale from staying here, but— “

East Fortress Base Commander: “It’s worrying.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “…”

East Fortress Base Commander: “I understand, I shall investigate. Shall we entrust this to the Demon authorities? In any case, let’s do something about it. Leave it to me.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Thank you… And what did you want to say?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Ahh, that’s right.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “The Wealthy Merchant requested for salt.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Yes, and?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “There isn’t any salt in the City.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Well…”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Isn’t this a problem?”

Fire Dragon Lady: “Such as it is, it’s an unreasonable request. The Demand for salt everywhere is very high, and the price is accordingly high as well. Even the Dragon Race has only one salt mine under our control.”

East Fortress Base Commander: “Well… There is one place we can go to.”

Fire Dragon Lady: “?”

East Fortress Base Commander: “The Human World.”

 

—- In a Courtyard, the Memories of the Demon King

The Demon King: “…Ahh! Ahh?!”

Tumbles.

The Demon King: “It’s already so late! … Ughh. Wh-What? My back hurts. No, my whole body hurts… Why…”

The Chief Maid: “So late? It’s been two days.”

The Demon King: “Ohhh.”

The Chief Maid: “Please try to understand the limits of your body.”

The Demon King: “But it’s so interesting, I can’t stop.”

The Chief Maid: “I understand your emotions but— “

The Demon King: “Where are we?”

The Chief Maid: “I specialise in taking care of my princ.i.p.al. If you don’t exercise at all, and just sit here reading books and reports all day, your muscles are going to become stiff.”

The Demon King: “I suppose that’s true.”

The Chief Maid: “Shall I make you some tea?”

The Demon King: “It’s fine, but why not.”

The Chief Maid: “I am eternally grateful.”

The Demon King: “You can stop saying that.”

The Chief Maid: “But you saved the life of this slave.”

The Demon King: “…Sorry.”

The Chief Maid: “No, I didn’t mean anything by that. There’s something very important though.”

The Demon King: “What? New research?”

The Chief Maid: “No, I’ve come up with a new way to make tea.”

The Demon King: “What? That doesn’t help anyone at all, I don’t want it.”

The Chief Maid: “A world comprised only of things which are important has no meaning. This is what it means for life to have colour. The Path of the Maid is one which places much emphasis on this colour.”

The Demon King: “I would be grateful for tea in any case.”

The Chief Maid: “Understood, Mistress.”

The Demon King: “Mistress?”

The Chief Maid: “It’s a t.i.tle, please wait.”

The Chief Maid runs off.

The Demon King: “But, my race is a race of pretty strange people… One could even call us the very definition of a strange people. They don’t make them any stranger than us. We like to keep the room in order.”

Clank… Clink clink clink.

The Demon King: “— Economic Fundamentals, Optimisation, Pareto Efficiency, Domestic Demand, Income, Production, Growth, the Hollowing-Out Phenomenon — things like these are inexhaustible. This is probably what one could term a set of values. From a theoretical point, these mark the beginning/creation of a new set of values. Through this set of actions caused by the creation and beginning of this set of values, the world has been broadened. Through the acquisition of this new viewpoint, we are reevaluating every world event. In other words, we are expanding the number of angles we look at the world from.

I believe that by holding many viewpoints, we can gain glimpses into many different worlds. This is the meaning of knowledge and learning. This is the raison d’etre for my Race. We believe in new concepts. We believe in expanding the world through new concepts. When concepts meet other concepts, they merge, giving birth to a flux which none of us are able to predict or imagine. What we are left with is a fruit. The fruit of the World.

Theoretically, we see that T = n (n+1) /2. How wonderful… How wonderful it is to know that. But, above this, the world is wonderful. This world is rapidly, rapidly expanding, not just for us Demons, but for…

The Demon King: “…for anyone with a soul. How splendid it is to call them that. In the distance, just how far does this expansive world stretch for? What sort of Combinatorial Explosions will take place? When two concepts like ours come into contact, what sort of fantastic world will we be able to witness?

The Human World… Perhaps to an ordinary Demon like myself, it is almost unimaginable. What sort of castles will it have? Will their villages be similar to ours? How strange will it be? If only I had more pictorial or video evidence…

We flow, goods flow and cash flows too. In fact, it is difficult to think of something which stays still. Even time flows. However, things which appear, rarely completely disappear. No matter how they are washed away, something still remains. Just like that Cosmic Library. I hear the songs of the records of billions and billions of worlds being sung. Why doesn’t everyone else hear it too? I really want to see it, that which is so proud, so high above, that which sings. No matter how I think about it, or how anyone else does… We’ll never reach it.”

The Chief Maid: “Mistress, the tea is here.”

The Demon King: “Eh? What are you doing standing there?”

The Chief Maid: “…I said I would show you the new method.”

The Demon King: “Hmm.”

The Chief Maid: “Ahh!”

The Demon King: “Ahh?”

The Chief Maid: “Ahhm wait, wait, umm!”

The Demon King: “What are you saying?”

The Chief Maid: “Quickly, catch!”

The Demon King: “Eh?”

Throws.

The Demon King: “Hot! Hot! It’s hot!”

The Chief Maid: “Are you all right!”

The Demon King: “What’s with this cloth, ahh!”

The Chief Maid: “It’s a new method.”

The Demon King: “…”

The Chief Maid: “Knowledge sure is amazing. I will devote myself to further study.”

The Demon King: “Just what sort of material have you been consulting!”

 

——————————————————————————————&md