Magic Gems Gourmet Chapter 140

Chapter 140

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ED: LonelyMatter

Chapter 140 – End of the First Day

“Hmm…”

Warren thought about the appearance of Logas he had just seen.

Even if he’s rotten, Logas was still the supreme commander. …It seemed that his ability to judge the situation was not bad.

However, it seemed that this was only the case when military force was involved.

“But if there is no mock battle…”

The momentum from earlier seemed to have disappeared, and Ralph didn’t even try to hide his annoyance.

He was trying to think of a way to refute what he was being told, but this Warren was quite annoying.

If Elena hadn’t come to Magna, Heim would still have had some way to argue back.

However, in the current situation, Elena, who could be said to be Heim’s main force, was not in a position to speak casually.

Perhaps due to the fact that she has incurred Tigre’s displeasure, she was now in a situation where she was being treated coldly, and it could be said that she was strangling herself.

Even Warren couldn’t help but smile wryly when he saw how successful his plan was.

It was almost anticlimactic.

“Hah… What an annoying story…”

Then, perhaps because of Logas’ statement, Ralph looked pensively for a moment.

The current state of the conversation was not good for Heim.

Perhaps because of this, Ralph suggested one thing.

“It will be evening soon. Let’s call it a day for today’s meeting.”

When Warren heard this, he put his hand over his mouth and thought about what to do.

To be honest, there were still a few things he wanted to talk about.

But if he thought about it in terms of “the take,” it wasn’t a bad outcome. With that in mind, after some hesitation, he gave his consent.

He didn’t feel bad at all that Ralph had made the first move and suggested ending the meeting early.

“I understand. It’s only the first day. I hope tomorrow’s discussions will be fruitful.”

Looking at Warren, who was smiling, Ralph stood up energetically and walked to the door behind him.

“Let’s go back, Tigre.”

Without hiding his irritation, he made a loud noise with his feet and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Ah… Fa-Father!”

Tigre glared at Warren momentarily, then left the scene after his father, Ralph.

Seeing that they were gone, Heim’s group hurried out as well.

But after everyone was gone, Elena stopped and called Ishtalika.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince Ain. May I have a word with you?”

Ain had not expected her to call him.

But it was none other than Krone’s mother. It was also true that Ain wanted to talk to her.

“Yes. What is it, Elena-san?”

Ain replied to Elena with a friendly voice.

“I’m very grateful for everything you did for me at Magna.”

Ain had expected her to talk about Krone.

Of course, Krone herself, sitting next to her, had also expected that, but her expectations were disappointed.

After delivering her words, Elena quickly left the large conference room.

This was before Ain had a chance to react to her words.

“Hey… Hey, Ain!”

“——What? Sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment.”

Ain, who had stiffened for a moment after being told that Elena had been taken care of in Magna, came to his senses when Krone shook him.

“W-what does that mean? You met my mother at Magna?”

“I don’t know! I don’t remember taking care of Elena-san at Magna either!”

The atmosphere in Ishtalika was completely different from the meeting just now.

Seeing the exchange between the two, everyone’s faces lit up with smiles.

“Are you lying?”

“I’m not lying! There’s no need to hide it at all!”

Krone continued to question her while staring at Ain with a reproachful look.

But when he saw Ain’s desperate denial, she began to wonder if he really wasn’t lying.

“Hahaha! Krone-dono, Ain-sama is not lying.”

Warren, who had been observing the situation, came to Ain’s aid.

“W-Warren-sama…? How do you know that?”

Although Ain was relieved that help had come, he wondered why Warren had such certainty.

“Actually, it was information that only I, His Majesty, Lili and a few others knew, but Elena-dono actually came to Ishtalika.”

Besides Warren, who said this, Sylvird nodded.

“I see. So that’s how it is, Ain.”

“So that’s how it is… that’s not really an explanation at all.”

The atmosphere of the meeting seemed to have disappeared somewhere, and as usual, Ishtalika’s conversation began.

When they heard that the important people of Heim had come to Ishtalika, everyone was surprised without exception.

“Yo-Your Majesty…? I hadn’t heard about that either.”

Lloyd asked Sylvird with a surprised look on his face.

“That is to be expected. After all, I’m one of the few who have heard this story.”

“Grandfather? I’m surprised you didn’t tell Lloyd-san either, but did I meet Elena-san…”

Ain interrupted their conversation and asked Sylvird for an explanation.

He wanted to know when he met Elena. He wanted to know quickly.

“Warren. You can explain in more detail, can’t you?”

“Yes, leave it to me. Ain-sama, when you went incognito in Magna, didn’t you escort a woman to an inn?”

“Yes, I did, but what about that person?”

Krone, who was listening next to him, wanted to complain when she heard that he was going incognito.

But she was more interested in the subject of her mother.

“There was a woman sitting next to you when you were alone, wearing a robe, right?”

“…You know a lot. But that’s right.”

“Actually, that was Elena-dono.”

“What?”

He remembered well the time when he had been incognito in Magna.

He had strolled along the street of shops and tasted many delicious foods.

As for the woman he had shown the inn to, he had met her while resting on a bench.

But even though he was told that the woman was Elena, he had no idea how that was possible.

“How could my mother have come to Magna alone…”

It was an incredible story.

It was hard to believe that someone as important as Elena would come all the way across the sea to Magna.

“Heim imitated what we did. In other words, it’s espionage. And it seems that Elena-dono was included in the selection of people to do it.”

“Heim is spying on Ishtalika…?”

Krone showed her surprise.

After all, crossing the sea was fraught with danger.

The people of Ishtalika could cross safely, but only because of the s.h.i.+ps of which Ishtalika was proud.

So, part of her felt it was almost like committing suicide.

“It seems that they also hired many adventurers, but the s.h.i.+p the adventurers were on capsized, and only two of them arrived in Ishtalika. One of them was Elena-dono.”

“Warren-sama? Then who is the other person…”

“The other person is the one who defected from Heim. I think you two have already been told about this, but the defector and Elena-dono actually came to Ishtalika on the same s.h.i.+p.”

Upon hearing this, Ain and Krone were taken aback.

There was indeed a person who had defected. This was a story that Krone had told Ain on the way back from Magna.

They had never imagined that Elena had come with this defector.

“But more importantly… what’s going on, Ain! How did you end up leading my mother from there…!”

After understanding part of the story, Krone pressed Ain again.

Taking advantage of the fact that they were sitting next to each other, she approached him and tightened her grip on one of his arms.

“…Like I said! I didn’t know!”

In response to Krone, who looked panicked, Ain made a desperate-looking excuse.

“I was just taking a break after eating. I heard someone in trouble, so I went over to talk to that person.”

Magna was even more crowded than the festival that day.

Many of the inns were full, and it was hard to find a room.

“You see, it was because my mother and I came that the crowds in Magna were so big.”

“Yes, I know that.”

“And, I don’t feel guilty or anything, but I felt kind of bad. Because, you know, I was the reason Magna was so crowded.”

Normally, it wouldn’t be difficult to find a place to stay in Magna.

So, the reason it was hard to find a place to live was definitely because of Ain and Olivia.

“Since she looked worried, I introduced her to an inn. That’s how it happened.”

“Yes. I understand that you led my mother without her knowing it was you.”

At that time, Ain didn’t know that it was Elena.

If he had known, he would have brought her back to the capital.

“So… Warren-san. Could you tell me more? There’s too little information, so I don’t really understand either.”

He spoke to Warren with a worried expression on his face.

As expected, there was still too little information for Ain.

And when Warren heard Ain’s voice, he replied with a gentle expression.

“You’re wondering why Elena-dono was able to return safely to Heim even though I know about her, right?”

“Yes. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Normally, if Warren had received information, he would have stopped her from returning to Heim.

But he didn’t stop Elena.

That’s why the information about Elena is an event that Ain and the others don’t know about.

“I had a little idea.”

——As expected.

There’s no way Warren would just hand over a person from an enemy country for nothing.

If it was Krone’s mother, there would have been warmth and consideration, but even so, there was nothing strange about planting something.

“To accomplish this, we let Elena-dono visit Magna and sent Lili to entertain her.”

“T-to entertain her?”

At these words, Ain let out a cry of surprise.

“I’m sorry, but we used Heim’s plan against her… I know you may resent me for it, but we used Elena-dono.”

“…Used my mother?”

“Yes. Elena-dono was sent by Heim as a spy. So we had Lili show her around and inspect the battles.h.i.+ps, etc. And the result of using her is the result you saw earlier.”

Warren smiled wryly and spoke with a hint of apology.

Krone and Ain listened silently, waiting for Warren to continue.

“The head of Heim’s officials. That is Elena-dono. Before she could harm Ishtalika, we had to silence her.”

As they watched Warren speak so matter-of-factly, Ain and Krone began to understand.

“Elena-dono was a loyal retainer of Heim. Therefore, she would surely report what she saw in Ishtalika. After all, if she didn’t report it, she would risk becoming a traitor.”

The reason why they might have resented Warren gradually became clear.

“It was something obvious. When she saw our fighting strength, Elena-dono would certainly try to settle things peacefully. She would convey this idea to Prince Tigre and the others.”

Ain, who knew Tigre’s personality, understood this even more than Krone.

Even if it was Elena, if she spoke out against their wishes regarding Ishtalika, she would probably be treated coldly.

“You understand without me having to say anything else, don’t you? …Krone-dono. Do you resent me?”

“…..”

After hearing Warren’s words, Krone nodded several times with a serious expression.

Then, after taking a deep breath, she turned to face Warren.

“No, I don’t hold a grudge against you. It’s their fault for showing a gap in their defenses after coming here to spy on us.”

“…I see.”

Hearing this, Warren let out a gasp of admiration.

Krone’s answer was the best he could have hoped for.

“Still, Warren-san. You could have at least told me after I got back from Magna…”

“Yes, I thought of that. But since this meeting was not far away, I thought it would be better not to cause any trouble.”

“It’s okay, Ain. If I had heard about it earlier, I think I would have been upset as well.”

After all, it was her mother she hadn’t seen for several years, so even Krone would be upset if she heard about it suddenly.

So she was glad to hear about it now.

“But I don’t understand, Warren-dono.”

“Hm? What is it, Lloyd-dono?”

He spoke to Warren, his arms crossed, looking as if he didn’t understand.

“The woman you were talking about, the one called Elena, she’s the trump card for Heim, isn’t she? Then there is no point in treating her so coldly, is there?”

What Lloyd said was a matter of course.

But I couldn’t understand Heim’s thinking at all.

“…The reason for treating Elena-dono coldly. I think there are two reasons.”

Warren stood up and moved to the front of the table so that he could see everyone’s faces.

“The first reason is probably the matter of the sea crystals. We wanted those things so badly that we wanted to make a secret deal. That’s why they were able to be so aggressive, because those things are lying dormant in the waters near Heim.”

Warren raised a finger and addressed everyone.

“The supply of Euro is plentiful. There is no need to worry about running out for the next few decades. In addition, the development of new technologies is proceeding smoothly, so we can expect to gradually reduce our dependence on sea crystals.”

If the sea crystals were hopelessly insufficient, Ishtalika would have had to make some concessions.

At the moment, however, there was no need for that.

“Heim does not know the details of this information, so even if Elena-dono was not the main force, I think they would have been confident in this meeting.”

“Hmm… I see. But even so, it would still be the height of folly.”

After all, it’s probably the result of being a frog in a well on the continent.

Having no experience in fighting against those of a higher rank might be the result.

“So what is the other reason?”

“Hmm… the other reason, huh?”

Warren put his hand to his mouth and began to choose his words carefully.

It was rare to see him like this.

“They won’t get killed. I guess that’s a feeling of security.”

There was only one thing those words could mean.

Ishtalika will not launch a preemptive attack.

Heim believed this like a fanatic.

“The first day’s talks were not a bad result for us either. …Therefore, Your Majesty’s presence at tomorrow’s talks is not necessary.”

Warren suddenly changed the course of the conversation.

Although his words were unclear, Lloyd and Sylvird realized his true intentions.

“Warren, should I say something?”

Sylvird asked Warren with a serious look on her face.

“No, Your Majesty, there is no need for you to say anything. It is enough if you allow me to handle the meeting tomorrow.”

“Then I will attend the meeting…”

“It’s all right, Lloyd-dono. Please stay at His Majesty’s side at all times.”

However, even from this, it was impossible to tell what the situation was for Ain, Krone, and Chris, who had been silent.

It seems that only Sylvird, Lloyd and Warren understand each other.

“I will destroy this feeling of absolute security at tomorrow’s meeting. So please wait for my report on the s.h.i.+p.”

Warren’s voice was sharper than ever as he spoke.

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