Chapter 60: 20

Chapter 020: Ulysses is Uneasy about Uncle’s Sugar Cube Intake

Sir Raymond Alexander of Ruskia was my uncle.

That said, Uncle Raymond was the youngest of many brothers. He’s still in his 20s while my father and the rest of his other brothers were already in their late 30s.

He’s quite a capable person but once in a while, [1] he did things I don’t quite understand.

 

“Come here, Your Highness Prince Ulysses!!”

“…Hello, uncle”

This uncle of mine was standing in front of me with a smile. I was smiling too but was no match for his refreshing and friendly grin. [2] He has always been the upbeat type.

“Your Highness, you like sweets and desserts, don’t you? I happened to stop by Margilia and Beigrates served me some really delicious lemon desserts. Apparently they came from Delia Fields. Since you like sweets too, I want to share some with you!!”

“Woah, I’m really happy to hear that.”

[3] Looks like he’s on good terms with the Feudal Lord of Margilia. The Duke of Beigrates must be one of his supporters.

 

While acting like a child, I observed my uncle.

 

He has maroon hair was similar to father’s but he has a tougher, more masculine look about him.

Although quite young, his heroic appearance probably came from his experience [1] managing the Imperial Army. However, he has a great weakness for sweet things and a rather refreshing personality. It’s kind of terrifying to see him try to act cute sometimes.

Well, not that I have room to comment about others but I do believe that a person’s first impression is important. [2] Speaking of which, he’s still single.

It must have been a funny sight to see a young prince having a tea party with his fierce looking uncle on the terrace of his house. This was not a sight we could just simply show everyone.

 

Behind me, was Isaac. Similarly, my uncle has a black robed mage behind him. Both mages were on the lookout while the two of us have our little tea party.

“Still, is it really alright for my uncle, the military leader to have tea with me? Could the army spare you?”

“Hahaha, no one is freer than soldiers of a country that experience no wars [4].”

Well, that’s a fair point. It might be true, but still…

“But, uncle, you once stayed at the Eastern Continent, right? Was the war very fierce? I’m kind of interested in it…”

“…. Ahaha, you have an interest in wars now? Your Highness have certainly changed.”

Uncle’s wide shoulders stiffened as he laughed awkwardly. [2] I stared up at him with the eyes of a child that knew nothing.

Here’s the thing, the Southern Continent has a very slight connection with the Eastern Continent. [2] Though restriction was strong, Ruskia still accepts immigrants.

Uncle stayed at the Eastern Continent and experienced what being in a war was like Therefore, it could be said that he was one of the [1] major person of importance in the country who had experienced war.

 

“Fufu… the Eastern Continent if very different from the south. It was as though war had greyed out the people in that place, sucking the very life out of everything. Moreover, things kept getting worse when Hermedes started invading from the north.”

“… Why does the Federation of Hermedes invade the Eastern Country?”

“Well, the north prioritizes land ownership. It was originally a very snowy country, and since it doesn’t have much fertile land, it needs as much land as possible to have farms and livestock. That country was destined to invade others sooner or later.”

“…”

Since the reply from my uncle was quite bland, I couldn’t get any proper information out of it…

With nothing better to say, I ate a bit of the lemon cake

The sweet and citrusy lemon syrup on the cake spreads a refreshing sensation in my mouth.

Hmm, this is actually quite good.

 

Just then, I recalled something. A trading system from 2000 years ago.

I then remembered the form of trade 2000 years ago.

“If only the Western Continent still exists… it used to be such rich land with lots of crops. I was able to trade food for all kinds of things from the north where dairy farming, jewellery making and all sorts of crafts could be had… The East has cotton, tea and spices so all kinds of goods would be traded in all three continents.”

“… eh? What was that?”

Ah. Oh no.

 

I accidentally blurted out something related to my previous life.

My uncle was now staring straight at me.

“I- it’s nothing… I was just thinking out loud about something I… read in a book.”

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“… haaahh, Your Highness is quite diligent aren’t you? Speaking of which, hmm, I can’t imagine what the world was like 2000 years ago, but the west was mostly destroyed by the Crimson Witch and survivors were forced to relocate due to the miasma particles left in the air. Thereafter, the great migration began with people rushing to the North and East. That was how the war began.”

While stroking his chin, uncle lined up four sugar cubes in the [2] four cardinal directions like the petals of a four leaf clover.

“Of the three continents, the biggest food producer is the West. With the West gone and the world could not sustain the current growing population. In the end, cultural differences and discrimination lead to the present situation today… in fact, I think it’s a crime for us to be the only ones not effected by the war.”

The beautifully made teacups with their exquisitely painted designs pretty much represents the condition of this country.

Uncle stared at the teacups for a long moment. I have no idea what was going on in his mind but then he suddenly scooped up all four sugar cubes and put them all in this teacup and drank everything down in one gulp.

“Uncle… do you believe that the peace won’t last long in the South?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, you’ve been collecting information from the East, haven’t you? As well as information on the Federation of Hermedes. Do you believe that war would come to this continent too?”

“….”

Uncle took his hand off his teacup with a downhearted expression. [2] I was surprised to see him look so defeated.

“W-What’s wrong, uncle?

“… I also wish that war would not come,”

Uncle added more sugar cubes into his teacup and poured new tea over it.

I had to wonder how just sweet that was?

“So long as we have the ‘Green Blessing’ this continent will never go to war… At least, that’s what the top people in Ruskia believe.”

Plop!

After the sixth sugar cube rippled the surface of the teacup, my uncle turned his gaze towards me.

The Green Blessing was the sacred power of the Church of Vabilophos. Something that the people of the Southern Continent had trusted and believed since ancient times.

 

What I know about this ‘Green Blessing’ was that it was basically a dome-shaped magical defence. [2] The religion that protected their sacred place was the one with the ability to manage and manipulate this dome. This was why this religion has such great powers within the continent.

However, I don’t know how this magical defence works.

“We have no idea whether this protection would continue to hold up. It scares me that people would blindly believe that this ‘Green Blessing’ would protect us forever.”

“…”

I ended up wanting to hear more from him.

 

This was the real reason why I was always a little reluctant whenever I was called to have tea with Uncle. [2] I’d become too interested in what he had to say and was caught up with the flow.

Looks like Uncle isn’t one of those ‘peace will last forever in the South’ types of people, which is very refreshing to me.

Believing in a never-ending peace.

 

Occupying the land believing that the sanctuary will protect them unconditionally without them ever having to do anything.

The people here just seem to take this peace for granted. [1] To the point where they developed their own problems such as poisoning and assassinating each other just to experience a sense of danger.

I knew that uncle shouldn’t be underestimated.

The only people who can question the peace of this country were those who have seen the outside world.

 

[Gumihou: This uncle…]

 

[1] Filling in the ‘Unspoken’. Often, when it comes to Japanese novels, the translation might be a bit lacking since the author deliberately choose to use fewer words and let the reader fill in the blanks through a preset cultural understanding.

 

If the missing info looks too sparse, Gumi will fill in some of the blanks. This is not to imply that the writer’s craft is lacking, but we do have a cultural gap. Gumi will try to fill in these gaps unobtrusively.

[2] Adjust paragraphs, for aesthetic purposes. Also, connect short paragraphs into longer paragraphs.

 

[3] Reworded it so that it doesn’t look like it’s been cut and pasted from previous chapters.

 

[4] ‘No one is freer than soldiers in a country with no wars’

 

Interesting take on what soldiers do with most of their time. In fact, a lot of soldiers rarely see war, especially those in peaceful times but they are still busy. In the absence of war, soldiers can be drafted to do civil works and charity. During Roman times, Roman soldiers build roads and were experts at building forts too.

For the Marines, if you’re too free, you can take up educational courses, be drafted to paint rocks and all kinds of other non-war or training stuff.

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