A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

290 – Bloody Engagement Ceremony (1)

Early December, 99 Imperial Calendar.

It’s the time when fall has passed and the weather is slowly turning into winter.

The Gibraltar Gorge is filled with the heat of people even as the early winter winds begin to blow a little early.

“Sir Robert.”

“Yes, master.”

“Looking down at people from the sky like this, how does it feel?”

“People look like ants.”

Sir Robert and I were on a ‘flying patrol’ in a golden airship, checking on the workers working near the canyon.

Rather than just walking around and saying, ‘Hmm, we’re doing well,’ the purpose was to load up supplies for the canyon workers and distribute them to each construction site.

At first, the workers were wary of us because they thought we were collecting gold, but now every time they see us, they put down their pickaxes and wave their hands as if they are already salivating at the thought of eating imperial snacks and drinks.

“It’s an ant. It’s not wrong. It’s moving hard like an ant.”

As Sir Robert said, the workers involved in the canyon development are working harder than ants.

“Sir Robert. If you were an ordinary farmer, would you have been farming in your hometown or would you have come here to work on construction?”

“Of course I did construction. I’m getting paid 1.5 times more than my technician’s salary 9 years ago.”

“Compared to your current salary, it’s like new blood?”

“You said you were an ordinary farmer. The facilities here at the canyon development site are at a comfortable level.”

Robert pointed to several automatic magic ships parked near the construction site.

“All you have to do is sleep on the boat over there, and all you have to do is dig a canyon, and if you happen to find gold, you can keep it in your pocket. Gibraltar said they would give you a huge salary just for doing that, so why wouldn’t you do it?”

“Right?”

It’s so good that people who come to the construction site say it’s foolish not to do it.

Some people go so far as to joke that if they return to their hometown and make a living by farming, they will not be satisfied with the profits.

“Sir Robert. What do you think is the most efficient way to replace humans?”

“More money.”

“That’s right. To be more precise, it’s more income than others.”

I folded my hands.

“I think it’s worth it even if the income is half as high as what I was working in my hometown, and even eating and sleeping is hardly an inconvenience. Except for leaving my hometown.”

“Uhm…”

“Canyon development project. If there were no aversion to digging the canyon itself, such a large-scale land development project could create enormous jobs. Even the poor are tempted to bring pickaxes because of the money.”

“Yes. In the future… Nostrum and the Empire will be able to have people moving from five directions.”

“That’s right.”

North, glacial zone.

Demonic water contamination zone.

Central, Gibraltar Gorge.

Elven Forest.

South, Sirene Strait.

“In about 20 years, you will be able to travel through the snowy fields on a train that runs over the glacier, and you will be able to cross the huge bridge built between the Sirene Strait by horse-drawn carriage. If that happens…”

“As some people worry, the imperial army could come to war along the highway.”

Sir Robert’s words do not strike a candle.

Rather, it is a realistic reference to the anxiety expressed by those who are actively swinging pickaxes here.

“Boy, why do you think people work so hard with pickaxes so quickly?”

“Have we reached the point now where you are asking me questions?”

“You can become a sword master, but if you can’t even ask a question back to the master, you’ve wasted 9 years of learning.”

“Of course, we should quickly mine gold and run away before war breaks out.”

“Yes.”

Sir Robert drew a circle with both hands.

“We all have the same thought. Even if a war breaks out like in the dream shown by the false gold, we are at peace now, so let’s quickly dig up the ground and find the gold.”

“If not now, when will I dig up the canyon? Even gold actually appears in the middle of nowhere.”

“…Huh.”

Sir Robert smiled humbly.

“Aren’t some land elves secretly inserting gold into you?”

“Isn’t it mysterious? That’s why it feels more like a dragon’s legacy. And there are things like that that actually come out.”

Gibraltar Gorge.

Relics do appear.

It was like a miracle that we were the first to discover the door to the Golden Temple, but it is clear that there are things that come out that we don’t know whether they are by-products or not from the process of building the house.

“Moreover, it’s not a gold mine that needs to be melted down, so isn’t it really a treasure from 500 years ago?”

“Yes, some of them are fakes that are secretly being made by craftsmen in Gibraltar.”

“It’s fake, huh. Do you think the ‘Dragon’s Treasures’ that the artistic spirits of Gibraltar are working hard to create are funny?”

“Isn’t it funny?”

After Robert glanced around for a moment, he made sure there were no others and whispered carefully.

“…Stolen the treasure taken out from the end of time, then secretly replanted it in the place where people dug it up, only to have it discovered the next day. This is a scam, isn’t it?”

“What a fraud.”

“Aren’t some of them even made by pouring gold into molds, like girls playing with clay?”

“Isn’t it an item full of artistic value?”

“Historians are saying that it was a ‘Nostrum style from 500 years ago.’ Do you have any qualms about it?”

“If people who call themselves archaeologists can’t tell the difference between a statue made by children as a plaything and a real relic, they should get rid of their profession as scholars.”

It is not a scam.

Elves sneak around at night and bury gold in tunnels dug by workers.

The gold is actually a very small amount taken from the Golden Temple, and is not an ore, but rather a somewhat metaphysical treasure.

It’s not an ancient style from 500 years ago, but gold that was poured and hardened into a clay mold made by girls from the Gibraltar family under Letard as a plaything.

“Sir Robert. Still, with something like this, wouldn’t people be able to focus on reality without thinking about other things?”

“That’s it… That’s right.”

Although it may seem like a scam, we are simply acting in the hope that everyone on the continent will focus on the ‘now’.

Ancient relics hidden throughout the canyon.

Although it looks pretty, it makes you think, ‘Is this art from 500 years ago?’, So the gold only has value as a decoration.

These pieces of gold are difficult to melt, and since they don’t melt, they look like something children made as a plaything.

However, based on digging up such things, people make money and hope for a happy future.

“If there wasn’t something like this, people would still be chasing false gold and eating it up.”

Not false gold, but real gold.

“Rather, the time has come.”

“…Even though it’s just a corpse, don’t you feel a bit pitiful now?”

“It’s pitiful. What’s really pitiful is our terminally ill king who still thinks he can get this.”

I tapped the disk wrapped around the rope on the deck with my foot.

“Look at that.”

“It’s coming.”

I don’t know where I got it from, but a golden knight riding a flying dragon is flying towards us.

Now, it is difficult to identify even with sword marks, just an entity filled with false gold in the spaces between the chunks of armor.

A golden ghost whose body was made up of liquid gold that only moves with magic, with no body left.

“Shall we snipe?”

“No. Leave it alone. I’ll deal with it myself today.”

“I understand. Welcome Knights. The master said he was enjoying it, so leave it alone.”

Sir Robert operated the magic stone device on his wrist and spoke lightly to the magic stone.

Then, the drakes glided near the airship scattered left and right, and the golden ghost landed on the deck along the open skyway.

“Let go, let go, ah, la…!”

“You can’t even speak properly anymore. Last time, you still said a few words at a time.”

“Isn’t it because you cut off too much?”

“Every time I come, they come to pick me up, so what should I do?”

“This, gun, room, jin…!”

It’s a familiar voice.

I wish it would go away now, but I just don’t know how to give up.

“Hey. Zeros Barcel.”

Knight of the Golden Dawn.

Now, as a golden ghost, he keeps resurrecting to the point where it’s bothersome to even count how many times he’s died to me.

“The King of Incompetence has no intention of coming in person to retrieve this?”

“Shut up, shut up…!”

“If you were here in person, I would ask why you are so obsessed with this relic.”

“…Keuhum.”

Sir Robert clears his throat and suppresses laughter.

“This is true. By any chance, His Highness His Saint Geo Nostrum, are you seeing through the eyes of Zeros Barcel? Or is Zeros Barcel’s soul already broken, and now you are manipulating Zeros Barcel’s shell and sending only his soul to this place? Are you sure? Then…”

I climbed onto the disc and lightly tapped it with my foot.

“Please at least explain what this is and why you’re making it like that. That way, we can decide whether to melt it down and use it or to decorate it somewhere…”

“Mae, kuk, no, go-!”

“Like that.”

In the end, the golden ghost exploded, unknown whether it was Zeros Barcel or Saint Geo who had sent only his soul.

“What kind of sword should I use to cut it this time? Okay. It would be better to cut it with the sword that is strongest.”

I stretched my hand forward.

“Get it done, Sir Robert.”

Suddenly.

Zeros Barcel.

Today marks the 79th death.

“How can you not come in person at least once?”

While Zeros Barcel died dozens of times.

Saint Geo Nostrum never showed his face directly.

At least from what we understand.

* * *

Amidst a national crisis, or another ‘disaster’.

Saint Geonostrum was nowhere to be seen, and no one said he had ever been seen.

As a result, people started mentioning it one by one.

Could it be that the false gold we have today is the curse of the golden dragon that appeared in our time?

Because you killed Saint Geo Nostrum, isn’t this the Golden Dragon’s curse to show you a different world that you have never experienced?

However, most people stopped thinking of it as a curse.

-If you’re going to live a life like this, just live reality.

A world without anything of empire.

A world where Nostrum did not start interacting with the Empire 9 years ago, but he continued to fight sword-to-sword, and eventually Count Sirene betrayed and the Empire began to dominate Nostrum.

As a citizen of a ruined country, there is no major problem, even though one of the two kings is currently missing.

The number of Golden Heroic Spirits, which were abundant, has gradually begun to decrease, and the gold left behind by the Golden Heroic Spirits as they die is also decreasing due to those who choose Nostrum, which is at war with the Empire, over some realities.

We must not allow Gibraltar and the Empire to go to war like in a dream world.

In order to prevent war from breaking out, everything must proceed peacefully.

Therefore.

[Let’s hold the engagement ceremony of Gray Gibraltar, Governor of Barcelona and Astasia von Tersian on an airship!!]

For peace, people began to raise their voices one by one, with gold in their pockets.

Not for war, but for peace.

December 21, 99, Imperial Calendar.

Heading towards Orosol Academy, where the engagement ceremony was held, ‘airships’ began to rise from numerous territories.

Under the orders of Emperor Habsburg von Tersian, hundreds of airships flew into the sky toward the Orosol Academy.

Only.

To celebrate the engagement ceremony of the two people.