t
The king rested his chin on his hand and began to talk.
「Let’s see. You know how, down in the south, there is the Triform Kingdom, right?」
He told me like it was something obvious, but clearly, I didn’t know much about other kingdoms, so I shook my head.
「Well, that’s fine… If you head south from the capital, you will eventually reach a large desert, and once you cross it, you reach the Triform Kingdom.」
So, there was a country down south, huh? Still, past a desert he said. Was it more like the Sahara Desert or the Tottori Sand Dunes?
Well, I had never been to either of those places, so I didn’t know how big they were, anyway.
「So, I guess that country wants the Kraken’s magic stone, then?」
I thought for sure that I was correct, but the king shook his head.
「No, that’s not it. The place that needs it is Deserto, a town in the middle of the desert.」
「Deserto?」
Another new name came up.
「Yes, it’s located in the dead center of the desert. Our Elfanica Kingdom and Triform Kingdom are trading with each other, so people naturally gathered together and created the town they now call Deserto.」
If this was the game, it would surely be one of those desert towns located next to an oasis.
Was in the same in this world, and this town had an oasis as well?
「Deserto has become very important for both kingdoms as a stopping point on our trade route. Yet now, I hear that the water magic stone that supplied the people of Deserto with water broke apart. With the stone broken, their water reserves are rapidly decreasing, and soon, the town might become uninhabitable. We absolutely have to prevent that, so I brainstormed for a solution and remembered that you defeated a Kraken, which is how we ended up here.」
「Okay, I now get why you called for me, but doesn’t the castle have any such magic stones of their own to spare?」
Even though this was a big stone, a royal castle should have some to spare, no?
「I think you’re misunderstanding something: there aren’t many magic stones that are the size of the one you have. That’s ignoring how difficult water magic stones are to obtain. Water magic stones of this size are almost impossible to find.」
Well, when I thought about it, that made sense considering it was indeed tougher to fight a monster in the water than on land. I very clearly recalled the amount of effort I had spent to defeat the Kraken. If I had battled it on land, the fight would have been way easier. Using that metric, it should be difficult to fight against other water monsters as well.
Us humans lived on the land, so of course it was easier to stick to fighting land monsters.
「Hence, I was hoping they could use your stone. You will be reimbursed for it, of course.」
Would they give me money in exchange? I honestly didn’t need money but it would leave a bad aftertaste if I were to abandon the town just because I didn’t like their reimbursement.
Still, no matter how I looked at it, a single magic stone shouldn’t be enough to support an entire town, even with how big the Kraken’s magic stone was, so I decided to confirm it with the king.
「From what I heard, its power will be amplified by the means of a magic circle. I’m not really an expert in that regard, so I don’t know the details of how it works.」
There was even such a thing as amplifying magic?
Well, that was quite a normal setting considering this was a fantasy world.
At least I now understood why they needed the Kraken’s magic stone.
「Okay, if that’s how it is, I don’t mind giving them my stone.」
Since it would be of a big help to the town, I saw no reason to refuse, especially since it would only continue to rot in my Bear Box otherwise.
「Thank you. There was something else I wanted to ask you… Are you and your bears okay with the heat?」
The king asked, taking a glance at the Bears as he mentioned them.
「If I have to choose between liking it and disliking it, I’d say I dislike it. What about you two? I don’t really think you care too much.」
Personally, I was bad with the heat. Air conditioning was a big necessity in the summer.
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear only responded with 「Kuun」, and I had no way to judge what they meant by their innocent expressions.
「I’m sorry to ask this of you, but would you be willing to go to the desert with your bears?」
「Go to the desert? I think that should be fine.」
I had my Bear Suit, so the desert heat should have no effect on me. Well, I had never tested its heat resistance to such an extent, so it might not stop the heat completely. Same with the Bears, I had no idea how they would handle the desert heat.
We had all been fine inside that blizzard on the snowy mountain, so a desert should most likely be okay as well. Only a volcano would probably be able to stop us.
「In that case, I would like to make an official request to you, adventurer Yuna. Can you please bring your magic stone to the town of Deserto?」
「You want me to do it?」
「Yes. If you do it, the stone will get there quickly without the chance of being stolen. Your bears can cover large distances in no time, and you are strong enough to defeat even a monster of the Kraken’s tier. You will be fine with any attacks you might face on the way.」
Shouldn’t he be a little more concerned for a fifteen-year-old maiden getting attacked by monsters? Well, as long as I had my Bear Suit, I should be able to do away with most of them, but that wasn’t really the problem.
Still, a town in the desert, huh. While I would love to visit such a place, I already had my plans for the seaside trip. Well, if I only went there as a one way trip, maybe I would be able to return in time? After all, once I arrived at the town, I could just set up a Bear Gate to return home.
「What kind of place is Deserto?」
「Let’s see. Like I told you before, the town was built by people who gathered there on their own. Hence, it does not belong to any country and is a neutral town.」
「Really? Since they requested the water magic stone from us, I was sure they were a part of our country.」
「Well… There were some complications between the previous generation of Elfanica and Triform kingdoms, so the town was set as a neutral ground by our signed non-aggression pact. The town most likely asked both of our kingdoms for the stone. I would like to deliver the stone before the Triform Kingdom does, so the town will be indebted to us instead of Triform Kingdom.」
Indebted? Even when concerning kingdoms, such things came into play, huh.
Some hidden conflict must be happening between the two countries for sure.