No sooner had I shouted without thinking—
“Golden Sun, is it? A sun shining with golden light? What fine praise! Call me Prince Golden Sun! Hahaha!”
Perhaps because the people of this world did not know exactly what it meant, the Golden Sun who had suddenly swooped in laughed heartily, delighted with the title, and sat down across from me.
Then, after looking in turn at Noel, Erika, and Mina, he nodded once and began smiling at Noel.
“A pleasure to meet you, young lady of the Ducal House of Nexia. Might it be that you have yet to settle on a suitable partner? If so, I shall nominate myself for that role—”
Noel did not answer.
Gone was the overwhelmed look she had worn at first; now she merely furrowed her brows slightly and lifted her teacup.
Seeing that, Prince Golden Sun chuckled and said,
“It seems I got too excited before such beauties. A joke, just a joke.”
“My apologies. I was savoring the aroma of the tea and failed to hear your esteemed words.”
“You are no ordinary lady. I heard rumors that there was a troublesome matter in the ducal territory, so I personally—”
“Such a thing does not exist, and even if it did, we would resolve it with our own hands.”
“Ah. I was speaking of your household. Do you not require power?”
Noel flinched ever so slightly.
But she smiled calmly and said,
“Matters of the household should be resolved within the household.”
“Understood.”
At first I had thought he was clinging to her in a rather unpleasant way, but surprisingly, he backed down without resistance.
And then Prince Rial smiled at Erika, as if she were his next target.
“What about you? I hear you are having quite a hard time because of the Empire. Because of that, you are trying many new things, are you not? If I were to join you, it would be easy—”
“Uh, no thanks?”
Erika answered far too casually.
Judging by the way the corner of Noel’s mouth lifted, though, she must have found it satisfying.
And the prince burst into a hearty laugh.
“Hahahaha, how refreshing and simple. I heard you had suffered a great sorrow, but I am glad to see you seem to have overcome it well. Still, remember that my offer remains valid at any time.”
“Then it’ll be valid for the rest of my life.”
It was a somewhat rude answer, but Prince Rial did not seem to mind.
Well, I was starting to understand why he had spoken to the two of them.
“You must have been very curious about news from the kingdom.”
“What do you mean? I am only curious about news concerning beautiful young ladies.”
Prince Rial answered as such, but his expression seemed to say, Oh, look at this.
But honestly, it was easy to figure out.
“I thought so because, from the Gandharva United Kingdom, it seems a little difficult to get news about the Phoenix County and the Nexia Duchy.”
From the perspective of Vespia Kingdom’s capital, Gandharva was located almost completely opposite those two territories.
Physically, it was so far away that one had to cross an entire country to reach them. Even if he tried to lend strength to the Margrave of Phoenix, how much could he possibly provide?
From the looks of it, he had heard some information and wanted to know whether it was true, so he had shaken the two of them to see their reactions.
And, because I had known Mina for a long time, I noticed right away.
That prince had been wearing a mask and acting from the start.
“Your real business is with me, isn’t it, Your Highness?”
“…I have no hobby of speaking seriously with men.”
However, he added.
Prince Rial smiled slightly, coldly.
“On the surface, that is.”
The prince drained his teacup in one go.
It seemed the probing was over.
“Fine. Let’s dispense with the annoying part and get to the point. But I imagine you can guess?”
“If it’s about the Cyclops, even now we are hard-pressed just dealing with domestic production, so it will be difficult to sell any to you.”
“To begin with, overseas sales of weapons like the Cyclops require permission from the royal palace.”
Mina said so in a leisurely tone.
“If nothing else, the Cyclops is something supplied to the royal palace as well.”
“But you sell them in separate categories, do you not? The royal palace version and the civilian version with slightly lower performance. I was asking you to sell me the civilian version.”
Mina had tried to muddle things by implying there were two versions of the Cyclops, but that prince seemed to have come knowing everything.
He looked like a delinquent drawn straight from a picture, but he was not an easy opponent.
Gilford was a prince as well, yet when you looked at him from various angles, he was almost naive. As I found myself wondering where exactly such a difference came from, and whether this country was all right, Golden Sun opened his mouth again.
“I have as much money as you could want. Sell them.”
Honestly, in another year or two, it would probably be fine, but until then I had a feeling things would become troublesome if I sold them abroad.
I had already learned that my actions and reputation affected the golems as well.
Unlike before, I could not simply do things first and see what happened.
“Even so, they are fundamentally items supplied to the royal palace, so permission is necessary.”
I am different from who I was in the past.
For the sake of a better future, I had to hold firm here.
“Double.”
…I had to hold firm.
“We would also need permission from the Academy’s upper ranks…”
“Four times.”
“With the Empire before us, we ourselves are not yet properly equipped…”
“Eight times.”
It was too much money.
Did he really have that much money?
Even Noel and Erika seemed so shaken by the amount that it had become hard for them to tell me to refuse, and they looked anxious, unsure how to intervene.
Then Prince Rial shifted into a more comfortable posture and said,
“Half of that was a joke.”
“Half of it was sincere, then?”
Not eight times, but four times… Surely he did not mean something like that.
“That is an amusing way to put it, and also correct. I will be honest. The Gandharva United Kingdom wants power.”
Prince Rial raised one corner of his mouth and said,
“We, too, are a nation that shares a border with the Empire. Is it not only natural that we would want the power to protect our country?”
Unlike before, his manner was relaxed.
Perhaps that was the prince’s true way of speaking.
As I thought that, Prince Rial made as if to stand, then sat back down.
“Even within the Vespia Kingdom, the Cyclops is not yet widely used.”
“I would like you to stop saying that you feel constrained because you lack permission from the royal palace. I understand the circumstances.”
Prince Rial readily backed down.
Then he grinned and said,
“However, if that is the case, then I suppose I will have no choice but to buy Avatus’s weapons instead. That would put you in a difficult position, would it not?”
“It is not as though the seller can force the buyer’s hand, so I think that is an issue from before whether we would be in a difficult position…”
We could not sell because we had no choice, and they would buy something else because they had no choice.
That was what I thought, but.
“Mm. I heard you were somewhat lacking in common sense, and it seems it was true. No, perhaps it simply means you had that little interest in worldly affairs.”
Prince Rial was unperturbed.
If someone close to me had said that, I would have let it pass, but no matter what, being lectured about common sense by a foreigner I had only just met was going too far. Just as I was about to say so, Prince Rial smiled gently and said,
“Very well. Since you gave me such a splendid title as Golden Sun, I shall teach you a little. Listen, Baron Arcwright, I am, strictly speaking, a prince. Of course, from your standpoint, I am the prince of a foreign country, so I am not in a position to receive your loyalty. Therefore, I cannot order you to obey me unconditionally. However, do you think an item personally purchased with money by the prince of another nation would truly be considered untrustworthy?”
My eyes narrowed slightly.
The prince continued speaking.
“Perhaps someone might say this: Compared to Avatus’s chimeras, the Cyclops is overwhelmingly superior! Ahh, to be honest, I agree with that statement myself!”
“You flatter me.”
“But despite that, a prince of another nation will be buying chimeras.”
I understood what this man was trying to say.
“Even if not within the kingdom, when viewed across the continent as a whole, your side has greater credibility, Prince Rial.”
“That is about right! Of course, it would depend on comparing only the credibility between you and me.”
It did not matter how excellent the Cyclops was.
A royal from another country would be guaranteeing its quality.
In this world, where status systems were the foundation, that was an enormous advantage.
“As it happens, I am also close with Cardio. We exchange letters. If I ask him to give me a discount, he will surely sell them cheaply. Then it will be enough for me to deploy those things only along the border. They spent all that time making something inferior to the Cyclops, but… well, as long as the border becomes safe, I do not care!”
His skill at speaking in a way that provoked people was no ordinary thing.
But at the same time, he had also revealed a weakness.
“Why have you not done that, then?”
“Because, in truth, I did not want to buy chimeras.”
Prince Rial said softly.
Then he raised a hand, soon lowered it, and said,
“Pardon me. I told my guards to keep watch over the surroundings.”
“There is no one here except us…”
…Apparently, that was not the case.
When I looked closely at Professor Reina, her sword hilt was positioned so that she could draw it with even the slightest movement.
Perhaps the reason she had been quiet since earlier was because she had been sending signals to Prince Rial’s guards, warning them not to try anything foolish.
And the prince continued.
“Avatus and Gandharva have traded for quite a long time. But old business partners, you see—when you deal with them for too long, you sometimes dismiss things as nothing important, and then they fester.”
“…You said you were close, though?”
“Close? My friend, in this field, yesterday’s friend poisoning your drink today is an everyday occurrence. Especially in Gandharva.”
What a rough neighborhood… I thought, but since it did not seem like something a country with Avatus had any right to say, I stayed quiet.
The prince’s face was openly annoyed.
“They asked me to buy chimeras, so I did, but… when there is a superior weapon called the Cyclops, it is a waste of money. That is why I planned to purchase Cyclops and create what one might call competition.”
“Competition?”
“Cyclops and chimeras. Which of the two is more suitable for national defense? We decided to test that in our country. Well, this is only possible if I buy them and bring them back, of course.”
As if he had only just remembered, the prince said,
“Ah, right. As it happens, the Academy has decided to come on a pilgrimage to the holy land of the Saras Order. It will be the first resumption of the pilgrimage in years. It will make for a spectacular main event.”
At the words main event, I was about to ask what he meant, but I realized immediately and stopped.
“You are saying that you will decorate the stage splendidly, so Avatus and I should climb up onto it?”
“It does not matter if you do not.”
The prince said that, but soon looked away and added,
“If you do not, though, you may be called cowards or frauds. You may not care, but the golems’ credibility will take a great hit.”
He had some nerve saying that after acting entirely as he pleased.
But the prince stretched and said,
“Still, the moment you win, Gandharva will actively import civilian-use Cyclops and is willing to pay Vespia a sort of gratuity. Of course, to you as well, Baron.”
“To be honest, I find it unpleasant to move only for money.”
“Oh dear. I was rude to the greatest engineer in the world. I apologize.”
Prince Rial spoke with exaggerated smoothness.
Then, in a gentle voice, he said,
“As an apology, I shall leave behind rare metals produced in our kingdom. I hear you make golems stronger with mana metals. Consider it payment for listening to my story and accept them. In addition, if you win, you will gain the opportunity to receive a steady supply of those mana metals and perhaps various rare items that cannot be found in Vespia.”
When I bristled as if to say, Do you think I only care about money? he threw out a gift as though he had been waiting for it.
If I refused, I would be the only petty one here.
It was a conversation that made the difference in social status hit home harder than I had expected.
Then Noel stepped forward cautiously.
“But there is a fundamental problem, Your Highness. As we said earlier, the classification of golems known as Cyclops is something the royal palace…”
“Ah, right. I already spoke with the royal palace. Once I stuffed gold ingots into a few mouths, the conversation moved quickly.”
So he had already bribed them.
And Prince Rial said quietly,
“Sometimes, interests align in unexpected ways.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I boarded the plan of someone who has great expectations of you. Well, you will learn in time.”
Prince Rial grinned and said,
“For reference, if we sign a formal contract, I will purchase Cyclops at three times the market price here. So I would like a positive answer.”
With him speaking as though it had already been decided, it was difficult for me to give any sharp answer.
No matter how many times I calculated it, the only conclusion I reached was that pulling out would make things more complicated.
“…I find myself wondering where such money comes from.”
When I said that with a bit of irritation, the prince laughed and replied,
“Do you know what nickname the Gandharva United Kingdom has, aside from being the location of the holy land of the Saras Order?”
“I am poorly informed, so I do not know.”
At my answer, Prince Rial laughed.
“I like your honesty, Baron. It is very simple. It is—”
“The City of Merchants. The Gold of the Desert.”
Mina answered.
“Its origin lies in several tribes forming a united kingdom through commerce around a desert oasis. A land of gold where anything can be obtained.”
“…You know it well?”
“It is the holy land of the Order, so of course.”
Mina said quietly and looked at me.
Eyes that seemed to be appealing for something.
And the small smile Mina often showed when she was wringing money out of someone.
When I understood the meaning and nodded, Mina turned her gaze away.
Then the prince asked as if urging me on.
“What will you do, Baron?”
“I will accept. On the condition that we change one thing.”
“Speak. What is it?”
Prince Rial said calmly.
I, too, spoke calmly.
“For the first purchase, pay ten times.”
You said you had money to burn.
I made up my mind that I would absolutely make him pay here and now for the way he had been getting on my nerves since earlier.
As Prince Rial’s face stiffened slightly, apparently not having expected that statement—
“My golems are not worth any less than that.”
I drove the wedge in with certainty.