Water Magician

Editor: Tseirp

“Whew…”

In one of the carriages of the delegation.

A certain swordsman looked up from the documents in front of him and sighed.

“Oh, look at me giving it my all. So what, are you looking for a pat on the back, is that it? Cunning Abel!”

“Ugh, good lord! Now I can’t even sigh in peace.”

Today, too, the skit…conversation between the swordsman and the magician was in full swing.

“To begin with, studying is fun. It’s not something to sigh over.”

Ryo was certainly smiling when he said that.

Naturally, it was because it was his favorite field of study.

“Even you, Ryo…for example, if what you’re studying is about politics, I bet you’d let out a sigh or two.”

“Hehehe, that’s simply your ignorance talking, Abel. Now, let this political researcher Ryo clear away the fog that’s clouding your mind! ”

“Political researcher…”

Abel sighed more deeply than before and shook his head a few times.

“Nothing is clouding my mind in particular…I’m just wondering why something like the royal family exists….”

“How philosophical…a prince questioning the raison d’etre of the royal family…”

“Why not, I don’t see anything philosophical about it.”

When Abel said this, he suddenly looked at Ryo’s hand.

He was holding the handle of something with his right hand, and turning it round and round. It appeared to be made of glass…but, he understood that it was probably something made of ice with water-attribute magic.

After turning it for a while, he opened what looked like a lid and transferred a powdery substance into a newly-made ice cylinder.

“Hey, Ryo, what are you up to…”

“I thought I’d have a cup of coffee. Back at home, I grind my coffee beans with a mill I got from Gecko trading company, but I can’t bring it with me on a trip like this, as it’ll only add to my load needlessly. And since the mill itself is fairly simple in structure, I thought I’d try making it with water-attribute magic.”

Ryo handed Abel the coffee mill after he had finished transferring the powdered coffee beans, while he went ahead and poured hot water into a coffee press made of ice…of course, also with water attribute magic.

What incredible versatility of water-attribute magic!

“So now, I can have freshly brewed coffee on the road, as long as I have roasted beans! ”

“Wow…”

Abel is usually taken aback by Ryo’s behavior, but this time he was genuinely impressed.

The rich aroma of Kona coffee wafted from the coffee press.

On the desk were a coffee press and an hourglass, both made of ice…perhaps even the ‘sand’ were tiny particles of ice.

“The founding family is the flag.”

“What?”

Ryo muttered softly, to which Abel reacted involuntarily.

“Oh, nothing, nothing, I was just talking to myself. That, a royal family is the flag.”

“A royal family is the flag…”

Ryo nodded once and began to explain.

“Apparently, people have a hard time feeling loyalty to something as vague and intangible as an ‘organization’ or a ‘country’. But, it is possible to bring people together by making them feel loyalty to a ‘person’ who embodies or symbolizes that organization.”

Abel listened to Ryo’s explanation without uttering a word.

“A nation gathers the allegiance of its people by establishing a national flag and anthem, and by displaying ‘things that symbolizes the nation’ rather than ambiguous notions. But still, that is far from being enough. The most important factor is the ‘figure’.”

The United States of America, the father of democracy in the modern world, is perhaps the best example of this.

The ‘President of the United States’ is the symbol and embodiment of the nation itself.

Therefore, no matter what happened, the safety of the president, the symbol of the nation, would remain the top priority.

No matter how many dozens or thousands die, everything in the country would move to ensure the safety of the president first.

That’s how the system works.

Those who created the system in America must have realized. That the most effective way to unite the people was to install a ‘figure’ who would represent the nation itself.

That’s why such a cultural mosaic nation, with its mixture of races, religions, and various ways of thinking, had been able to remain a superpower at the very top of the world after only one major civil war.

There have been many charismatic leaders throughout the world and history.

Under them, racial and religious conflicts did not become major problems, and the country was stable.

But when they died, those conflicts came to the surface, shaking the country and, above all, making the people suffer.

That’s why it’s a problem if it only lasted a single generation.

For the people to stay united, the symbol must….

“In other words, a king, or the royal family, is a necessary symbol for uniting the people together as a nation. Or, to put it more bluntly, that it is the most effective mechanism, correct?”

“There you have it. I do think it’s pretty inhumane though. Because it means that the king will be robbed of the pleasures of living a mundane life.”

It was Ryo’s father who referred to the founding family as a flag.

According to him, it’s possible to use the founding family as a symbol to unite employees and as one of the most effective mechanisms to run a company.

As a matter of fact, stories of what became of companies that grew large and eliminated their founding families decades later are often heard here and there, aren’t they?

There are thousands of companies in Japan that have existed for centuries, and almost all of them had founding families.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have lasted that long.

History does not lie.

History proves it.

History is…sometimes cruel.

There is of course the possibility that the founding family members…will remain trapped in the ‘family’.

So ‘denying the freedom to choose a profession’ can hardly be seen as humane.

But history does not take such things into account

“The flag itself may not necessarily be outstanding. That is fine, it is a flag after all, so as long as it has outstanding people around performing their duties properly, everything will be all right…and that’s one aspect. In fact, there are quite a number of foolish kings known throughout history. I mean, it’d be great if the flag itself is outstanding, but if it isn’t, there’s no need to feel too down about it.”

“Somehow I feel like…you’re indirectly telling me that I’m not outstanding…”

Abel looked Ryo straight in the eye.

“Oops, the hourglass has run out. Let’s have coffee while we take a break, shall we.”

With that, Ryo lowered the press, poured the freshly brewed coffee into an ice coffee cup with no trace of cold, and handed it to Abel.

“Oh, okay, thank you.”

Abel took it and smiled after taking in the aroma.

“To think I’d get to drink freshly brewed coffee in a traveling carriage.”

“Hehehe. Experience the greatness of water-attribute magic, to the fullest! ”

Ryo smiled at the aroma of the coffee as he made a grand gesture.

At the same time. Somewhere in the kingdom.

“Master ‘Black’, everything is set.”

In front of the man called ‘Black’, more than ten men and women were down on one knee, bowing their heads, awaiting his instructions.

They were the executives of the new ‘Order of Assassins’.

“I authorize the raid on the delegation in accordance with the new contract. Natalia, you take command.”

“Yes sir.”

After giving the order, ‘Black’ disappeared.

But the executives did not move for a while.

After more than two minutes, Natalia stood up.

The other executives also stood up in response.

“He’s even more intimidating than the previous chief.”

The most senior of the executives muttered to himself.

Natalia glared at him.

But she didn’t say anything.

The executives are in the same pecking order.

But because of this, the position of the man who had been a member of the Order for a long time is stronger in its own way.

Even though Natalia is favored by ‘Black’ and entrusted with the command of major operations like this one, she is still only one of the executives.

(Soon…)

With such strong feelings, Natalia left the room with the determination to one day rise above these men.

She was headed for Acre, the largest city in the southern part of the Kingdom.

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