Chapter 31 Foreign Messenger (Patreon)

Rione's visit was over without a hitch, and the Beastman Kingdom was back to its tranquil daily life.

However, It feels like there’s too much tranquility, which on the contrary, is an ominous advent, or a sign that something strange is about to happen.

Strange things started happening then, too. It wasn't so much that something strange happened, but that something strange have come from the outside.

It was when Rione was having a meeting with other priestesses and priests. Incidentally, when I have time, I stay with Rione and watch how the meeting would go.

Then, in a panic, a low-ranking Inumimi priest walked into the meeting room. Of course, it's not normally allowed to come into a meeting, so it must be a very urgent situation.

「 Excuse me! There is a problem that is difficult to determine, and I have come to ask for  advise those of higher rank!」

「 What is the urgent situation?」

Rione also looked a bit confused as the meeting was interrupted.

「 It’s a messenger from another country. It's from the southern kingdom of Lafayette, and they have something they want to tell you as soon as possible.......」

The meeting place was buzzing. It was quite unusual for a foreign envoy to arrive.

In the first place, this beastman kingdom does not have a clearly defined border, as if the other side is beyond this borderline or this river. It's usually not normal for a kingdom to suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere after all.

If a country is established in what is clearly meant to be some other country’s land, then there will definitely be a war. Because that is the same thing as invasion.

A full-fledged nation could not be created normally in a land of vast deserts and wilderness. Therefore, the Beastman Kingdom itself was able to establish itself rather easily.

As a result, even the outside of the Beast Kingdom has become a vague periphery, a place where people are few or a place that hard to live in, and there has been little to no relationship with other countries.

So this country has hardly experienced diplomacy properly. We don't go out of our way, nor could we afford to. Since there was still some land on the outside of the country that we were not sure if it was a kingdom or not, the first thing we had to do was to manage it properly as a kingdom.

The fact that an envoy from another country came to such a place made everyone feel confused.

I was also worried and couldn't help but tell Rione.

「 Nee? Can you do diplomatic talks? Is there anyone capable of doing so ?」

Rione nodded, though she didn't look very confident about it.

「 Those of you who will be giving instructions now, please remain here. Also, please inform the Kingdom Council that the person who will be giving the instructions should come to the temple immediately. I'll meet the messenger at the temple!」

I think she can at least keep up appearances.

I'll go get the other gods. The other gods seem to know more about this continent than I do.

What kind of a messenger is that from Lafayette, anyway?

●

I called Intanyu and the others and waited beside Rione for the messenger to come in.

「 The Kingdom of Lafayette. To tell you the truth, I don't know much about them either. 」

Intanyu said. What's with that?

「 At any rate, the area where the current Beastman Kingdom used to be a blank zone, and there were only a limited number of people who could come across it. That's right, I can give you a vague idea, but I don't know every detail of the current situation. 」

「 I see. I realized that too.」

「 All I know for sure is that although it is a kingdom, it is like a federal state of powerful lords. So I don't know if it's another messenger from the kingdom or one from one of the federations. 」

「 We’ll know it as soon as we see them. There's no point in worrying about it for the time being, right?」

Celude, the god of commerce, was not particularly nervous or felt nervous at all, as if foreigners were a common occurrence. If she was afraid of foreigners, she wouldn't be able to trade with them, so it was only natural.

Then, finally, the messenger came in.

My eyes were first drawn to the ears. After all, they were the ears of a magnificent rabbit standing straight up.

This is a beastman with rabbit ears. It's a species that's rarely seen in the Beast Kingdom.

「 I am truly honored to have the opportunity to meet the King of the New Kathra Beast Kingdom!」

Deeply, the group of rabbit-eared beastmen bowed their heads.

「 I have been informed that you wish to tell me something, so please do me what it is.」

Rione, who was still unsure of the purpose of the meeting, seemed to have decided to find out everything from the other party immediately. I think it was the right decision.

「 Yes! We are the envoys of the Count of Rocquon, located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Lafayette. The Rocquon County has been ruled for generations by the Ravianta family, nobles of the Rabbit-kin tribe. This land is home to many rabbit people. 」

In the neighboring country, which is close to here, there are beastmen living? And I didn't know they were even nobles.

「 The Ravianta family has always believed in the god Unosis. Many of our people are also believers in Unosis.」

Intanyu explains to me that Unosis is 「 Basically, that is a deity with rabbit ears.」.

「 The kingdom of Lafayette, however, has recently tightened its grip on religion, deciding not to recognize ...... Unosis as an object of worship. This is due to the fact that within the kingdom's mythology, Unosis is unrestrained and corrupt. ...... 」

The conversation is taking a disturbing turn.

「 The kingdom has asked the Ravianta family to stop believing in Unosis. However, the faith of Unosis is not only held by the Counts, but also by many of the people. The Ravianta family has come to the conclusion that they cannot abandon it now. 」

Well, that's the only decision you're going to have to make after all in this case.

「 However, if we adhere to our faith, we will almost certainly be attacked by enemies from the kingdom who will enter the Count's territory! We we’re wondering if there is a way to confront this....... 」

Oh, I'm starting to understand the story.

「 umm……Our Beastman Kingdom doesn't have the military power to provide full-scale reinforcements though.......」

Rione was the first to answer honestly.

Yes, I'm sorry, but I don't have any obligation to go to war to defend the Count of Rocquon’s territory.

I want foreign countries to deal with their own problems. It is in the best interest right now of the Beast Kingdom to stay out of any unnecessary matters.