Episode 111: Secret Meeting
Trouble should be absent for a while.
This wasn’t like a so-called “flag” from manga or anime; it was genuinely the case.
I can’t deny that it included my wishful thinking, but still, nothing too strange should happen.
Or, is it happening? But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always happening near me.
Humans are creatures of emotion, so we tend to feel as if our range of observation is the entire world…
Even as we speak, somewhere in the world, someone is being born, someone is dying, someone is rejoicing, and someone is crying.
It’s the same on Earth.
While we’re looking like we’re about to die doing this mysterious activity called labor, underprivileged kids in Africa are starving to death, underprivileged kids in Toyoko are dying from drugs, and soldiers are dying on the battlefield.
That’s the world as a whole, statistically speaking.
Ah, yes, in other words…
I’m not the “main character” of this world.
It’s not like the world won’t move unless a main character with a special birth, a reincarnated person, uses their cheat abilities to become super strong!
That’s impossible…
“Huh, a peace treaty?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
This is my house.
A mansion with a garden on the outskirts of the city center, doubling as a pharmacy and clinic.
The location isn’t great, honestly, being next to the red-light district…
Inside the city walls, I’m about the only individual, besides corporations, renting such a large plot of land.
The house is too big for one person, with many rooms, including, of course, a reception room.
And that’s where I end up welcoming nobles like this…
“Just to confirm, it’s about that, right? The southern empire…”
“Yes, the war with the Romanesia Empire has ended.”
Visiting my place and calmly sipping the tea brewed by the Mazoku girl is Count Missgancia.
The most important person governing this area.
According to Count Missgancia, the war with the great southern power, the Romanesia Empire, has ended.
It started casually a few years ago, and now, before I knew it, it was over.
Just like on Earth, war is a distant world’s story, huh?
…I’m so uninvolved that that’s the kind of impression I get.
Ah, no, but I do remember defeating the empire’s special forces that infiltrated Missgancia with Kaede.
But is that about it…?
“Well, I understand. But why come all the way here just to tell me that?”
“No…”
Hmm?
“What is it? I don’t want any more trouble…”
“…I have a question.”
Hmm?
“If it’s something I can answer…?”
“It’s a question for you as a potential Archmage surpassing even Gaspard.”
Ah, that’s what it is.
Count Missgancia is being cautious about that topic, as expected. It’s a topic he’d come to discuss in person.
“Okay, but… I don’t know anything besides technical stuff, okay?”
“Understood… About the empire… First, do you know about the Dahanu Temple?”
Dahanu Temple…?
Ah, the empire is monotheistic, and its state religion worships Dahanu, the “mother of all spirits,” right?
The gods spoken of in other religions are merely “avatars” created by the earth mother Dahanu, and the true god is only Dahanu, a radical teaching.
However, due to that religious setting, it can overwrite any mythology, making it a beneficial teaching for invaders.
“What about the empire’s state religion?”
“Then, what about the Dahanu Temple’s ‘Priestess Maiden’?”
Ah…?
What was that again?
I feel like I’ve heard of it, but…
It’s a foreign country, after all.
Besides, the empire is harsh on demi-humans like me, so I don’t go near it much.
Well, it’s the same with the church in this country, but the church doesn’t kill you if you adhere to their teachings…
Anyway, I don’t know, so I ask back.
“Priestess Maiden… what’s that?”
“She’s the so-called ‘saint’ of the Dahanu religion. It seems she can see the future through rituals…”
“I see. So, what you want to ask is…”
“That’s right. Is it actually possible with magic? To see the future, that is…?”
Hmm…
This is a difficult question…
“I can’t explain it well… but it’s not impossible to do something very close to that… is how I’d put it?”
“What do you mean?”
Count Missgancia asked back.
Oh, the tea is empty.
I instruct Tristia, who is standing nearby, to pour more tea.
I also brought out additional snacks.
While providing the gateau chocolat that Count Missgancia said he liked, I explained…
“Well, the magic of precognition is like a high-precision simulator.”
“What is a simulator?”
“In other words, a machine, a contraption. You know, there’s that thing, um… a windmill! Well, a watermill is fine too… When it receives wind or water, it moves, right?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“When it moves, well, it can grind wheat, right?”
“That’s right.”
“The principle is the same. Of course, it’s doing much more complex processing… When you do ‘something,’ ‘something’ happens.”
“…So, it lacks accuracy… no, adaptability?”
“Something like that. That thing just reads the world and ‘predicts’ how the world will move from there… But in reality, the calculations go awry with small things, so it can only predict major events.”
“…I see, no wonder.”
“Huh?”
“Actually…”
I listen to Count Missgancia’s explanation…