Goddess Chapter 31 (Patreon)

Chapter 31 – Foreign Messenger

Rione's journey has ended without incident, and the Beastman Kingdom has returned to its tranquil daily life.

However, I feel that too much tranquility is, on the contrary, ominous, or a sign that something strange is about to happen.

Something strange happened that time, too. Rather than something that happened, something strange arrived from the outside.

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

Then, in a panic, a low-ranking priest with dog-ears came into the meeting. Of course, it's not normally allowed to come into a meeting, so this was a definitely a very urgent situation.

「 Excuse me! There is a problem that is difficult for us to decide by ourselves, so I have come to ask higher ranking people for advice! 」

「 Alright, explain the situation? 」

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

「 A messenger from another country. He is from the southern kingdom of Rafayette, and he has something he would like to discuss with you as soon as possible…… 」

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

First, this beastman kingdom doesn't have a clearly defined border, as if the other side is beyond this border or this river. It's only natural for a kingdom to suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere.

If a country were to be established in a place that was clearly supposed to be part of some other country, there would definitely be a war. Because that would be the same as invasion.

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

Because of this, the area outside the Beastman Kingdom has become a vague periphery, a place where there are few people or where it is difficult for people to live, and there has been almost no relationship with other countries.

Therefore, this country has hardly experienced diplomacy properly. There was no going out from our side, nor could we afford to. Since there was still some land on the outskirts of the country that we didn't know if it was a kingdom or not, the first priority 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 also felt uneasy and couldn't help but say to Rione that I don't know.

「 Hey? Can you handle diplomacy? Do you think you could manage it? 」

Rione nodded, though she didn't sound very confident.

「 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 directions should come to the temple as soon as possible. I'll be meeting the messenger at the temple! 」

I think we 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.

I wonder what kind of messenger the people from Rafayette's kingdom would be like?

●

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

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

Intanyu said. What's 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 see it that way 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 this messenger is from the kingdom or from one of the federations. 」

「 We'll find out soon enough when we meet. There's no point in worrying about it now, is there? 」

Celude, the god of commerce, was not particularly tense or nervous, 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.

Finally, the messenger came in.

My eyes were glued to his ears first. They were, after all, the ears of a magnificent standing rabbit.

This was a beastman with rabbit ears. There are very few of them in the Beastman Kingdom.

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

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

「 What brings messengers over to our humble kingdom, would you please proceed with the discussion. 」

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

「 Ha! We are emissaries of the Count of Roquon, located in the northern part of the Rafayette Kingdom, which has been ruled by the noble La Vianta family of the Usabit rabbit tribe for generations. This land is home to many rabbit people. 」

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

「 The La Vianta family has always believed in the god Eunosis. Many of our people are also believers in this God Eunosis. 」

Intanyu added that it was a God with Rabbit ears.

「 However, in the Kingdom of Rafayette, the religious control has been getting stronger recently……They have decided not to recognize Eunosis as an object of worship…… In the mythology of the kingdom right now, Eunosis have been depicted as unrestrained and corrupt.…… 」

The conversation is taking a disturbing turn.

「 The Kingdom has asked the La Vianta family to stop believing in Eunosis. However, the belief in Eunosis is not only held by the Count's family, but also by many other people. The La Vianta family has come to the conclusion that they cannot abandon it now. 」

Well, that's the kind of decision you're going to have to make in that situation, after all.

「 However, adhering to our faith will almost certainly make us a target of enemies from the kingdom who want to enter the Count's territory! We are currently having a hard time figuring out how to deal with this.…… 」

Oh, I'm starting to get the story.

「 Um……Our Beastmen Kingdom doesn't have the military strength to provide full-scale reinforcements though if that is what you wish from us…… 」

Rione was the first to answer honestly.

Yes, I'm sorry, but I have no obligation to go to war to defend the Count of Roquon's territory.

I want you to deal with the problems of foreign countries on your own. It is in the best interest of the Beast Kingdom to stay out of unnecessary matters.