Better Think Up an Excuse

That day passed without incident.

We cooked the food we'd been given and ate.

"Eating fish raw? Is that safe?"

"Apparently that's how they eat it around here. Of course, they also grill or boil it."

Perhaps because Iselia was close to the sea, fish were abundant here.

So there were various ways to eat them.

The most surprising was eating it as sashimi.

You catch a live fish, cut it up fresh, and dip it in sauce to eat.

I hadn't heard of this cooking method when we went swimming at the beach before.

My common knowledge was that fish needed to be thoroughly cooked to avoid food poisoning, so I was surprised.

Even if it was fresh, I hesitated a bit to try.

"The cook taught me how to do it, so I think it should be fine… Should we skip it?"

Azu, who had taken charge of cooking, asked anxiously.

If I said no, she would probably just use the standard cooking methods.

But I was curious about eating it raw.

We probably couldn't eat this anywhere but a port town like this, so I gave permission for a few servings.

The thinly sliced fish was translucent and looked beautiful.

It didn't smell particularly fishy.

When I dipped it in the special sauce we'd bought and took a bite, it had a chewy texture.

But it wasn't unpleasant.

It cut easily, and after the saltiness of the sauce came a subtle sweetness.

"… This is good."

I took another bite.

Seeing that, the others tentatively began to eat too.

And the sashimi disappeared in no time.

"It's delicious, but I can't explain how it's delicious. Strange. Is it the sauce that's good?"

"More please!"

Elza and Alexia seemed particularly fond of it.

Before I knew it, they had opened the wine we'd been gifted and were drinking.

I thought they might be getting a bit too carried away, but they worked hard normally, so a little indulgence was fine.

Wine would be ruined by the rocking if we transported it by ship, so we might as well finish it here.

After the meal, I checked our surroundings while resting.

There really wasn't much tension in the air.

Once night fell, I could see lights far in the distance.

That was probably the army of another imperial family member besieging the city.

They had likely set up camp far away to avoid provoking us and were conducting the blockade from there.

The city's people must have noticed, but they were that reliant on the crown prince.

There were about two hundred soldiers stationed in Iselia.

That was quite a lot for a small city of only about two thousand people.

They had probably accompanied the crown prince as his escort.

The blockade and its effects had likely caused the food shortage.

If it were just the city's residents, they could probably manage with the bounty of the sea.

That was why a city had formed here in the first place.

So that was why the duke had asked us to make the delivery personally.

If people thought the crown prince's arrival had caused the food shortage, the citizens would turn against him.

He had wanted to prevent that.

Thinking about such things, I fell asleep.

The next day, I started looking around.

We'd been told we could walk around freely, so I would take them up on that.

Finn volunteered to stay behind.

She said that if she kept running into Gloria, she couldn't trust herself to stay calm.

There was also the possibility that others from the faction hostile to Finn were here.

She said that while we were guests they wouldn't attack us, but it would put her on edge unnecessarily.

"Probably, that's just an excuse. She probably wants to fortify the house."

"Is she really doing that?"

"She's a coward at heart, so she can't sleep soundly without preparations in place."

Alexia said.

She was cautious, that was true. I suppose it could also be called cowardly.

For Finn, this was enemy territory where the people who had beaten her resided.

If she said she couldn't relax without doing something to the base, I could only nod.

As for modifying the house, we could return it to its original state when we left.

This city's main features were its seafood from the port and the iron ore from the nearby mine.

Normally you wouldn't mine so close to the sea because of pollution, but apparently that was solved with magic.

They mined the iron ore, loaded it onto ships, and transported it.

Extremely rational.

Storms had raged between here and Ateil where the duke resided, so they couldn't load much, but that would change now.

With the storm gone, everywhere facing the Azure Sea had become a viable export location.

"… Sir, this is very good for the Empire. But wouldn't it be bad for the Kingdom?"

"Yeah… it would be."

Orleans said apologetically.

Iron ore was smelted with heat into iron plates, which became the base material for iron products.

That meant iron weapons, horseshoes, and all sorts of other tools.

If larger quantities could be transported from Iselia to various places, iron products would spread more widely.

You might even call it an advancement in cultural level.

If this were happening in the Kingdom rather than the Empire, it would be full of business opportunities.

Relatively speaking, the Kingdom would fall behind.

The Empire already had greater national power, and if there was now a gap in iron distribution too, the people thinking about national defense would have headaches.

"Strange, isn't it, Orleans? One day the storm suddenly stops and iron distribution increases."

"Um… no, it's nothing."

Orleans looked like she wanted to say something, but she understood my intent and nodded.

I would withhold the crucial details from my report to the Kingdom.

Being honest alone wasn't enough to protect yourself.

Besides, if I thought of it as iron imports becoming easier, that would be a plus.

I even considered buying iron ore here and bringing it back to the Kingdom.

The remaining merchants from the caravan might still be around.

This seemed like a good idea.

It would make for more than adequate souvenirs.

I would arrange it right away. I just needed to notify the crown prince first.

Even if it got stopped at the ducal territory, I should still make a profit.