Magic Gems Gourmet Chapter 139

Chapter 139

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ED: LonelyMatter

Chapter 139 – Sometimes, Even Grandfather Has Something to Say

“…Besides, there’s no way we could accept a deal with Heim.”

With a loud sigh, Warren told Ralph.

“A deal can only be made with a trustworthy partner. The larger the scale, the greater the influence.”

“You…! Don’t you dare look down on people!”

Before Ralph could complain, Tigre stood up and spoke.

Then he jumped up to the desk and pointed his finger at Warren.

“What kind of att.i.tude do you have towards other countries? Are you not serious in dealing with Heim?”

Tigre said in a strong tone what everyone in Heim was thinking.

Elena, who wanted to stop him, could not open her mouth.

“You came all this way, but do you really want to reconcile with us?”

Hearing this, Warren’s expression changes to one of surprise.

“…Well, well, well, I’m surprised.”

Warren replied to Tigre, looking genuinely surprised.

However, for the people of Ishtalika, who were used to seeing Warren, it looked like nothing more than an act.

“We, the people of Ishtalika, have not come here to reconcile, you know?”

“What did you say?”

Tigre, taken aback, thought he had heard wrong and asked Warren again.

“As I said, we Isthalika have no intention of reconciling with Heim.”

“No intention of reconciliation…?

“Yes. Because that’s the way it is, right? You can’t even keep your most important secret agreements. And on top of that, you’re trying to interfere with our relations.h.i.+p with Euro. Why should we reconcile?”

Tigre, who had lost his earlier momentum, spoke to Warren in a weakened voice.

“But! Doesn’t Ishtalika want the sea crystals? If you think about the future, don’t you think we need to reconcile?”

“That is true; we do want them. But this problem will be solved. The sea crystals we have harvested in Euro have been very successful, so there is no need to rely on other countries.”

The reason for the diplomatic relations with Heim was the sea crystals, which Isthalika so desperately needed.

Now that they didn’t need them, there was no need to have relations with Heim.

The diplomatic relations with Euro had borne fruit to that extent.

In addition, they had developed technology that didn’t rely on sea crystals.

This had been progressing since Ain came to Ishtalika, but taking this into consideration, there was no need to rely on Heim at all.

“Do you understand now?”

There was no use for Ishtalika.

Therefore, it didn’t matter what happened to Heim.

In other words, Isthalika had come to settle old grudges.

…It’s probably also a show of force that they came with their fleet.

“It all began with a single word from the Crown Prince. When we heard it, His Majesty and I shared the same feelings.”

“Hey, that’s not right, is it? The words you speak are as if you are saying that our relations.h.i.+p…”

At that moment, Tigre began to make his prediction.

A man stopped Warren.

And this man, staring Tigre in the face, opened his mouth for the first time in this meeting.

“Third Prince, you have probably noticed…”

His name was Sylvird.

He was the absolute being of Ishtalika and the current king of Ishtalika.

When Sylvird’s gaze pierced Tigre, even Tigre, who was used to such things, involuntarily took a step back.

“This meeting is the last. We have come to end our relations.h.i.+p with Heim completely.”

The group from Heim felt as if the air was creaking.

They thought to themselves, “Is this the king of the great nation of Ishtalika…?”

“Your Majesty… Let me handle this…”

“No, Warren, let me speak.”

Sylvird held Warren back with his hand and continued.

“Third Prince, answer my question.”

“…..”

Despite being intimidated by Sylvird, Tigre nodded and answered.

“In what position did you point your finger at my Crown Prince and say such a thing?”

“Is that what you mean?”

“You should know. If you want to be respected by other countries, you have to change your att.i.tude. Because Ain is the Crown Prince, his position is different from that of the Third Prince.”

It was a valid point.

Tigre had not yet reached the position of the Crown Prince. In other words, his position was lower than Ain’s.

“Are there any mistakes in my words?”

“……No, there are not.”

“I am not saying that you should apologize for your rudeness. However, your words are a bit unpleasant. It is the same as judging yourself as a spoiled child who does not understand the truth of things.”

“…..!”

He clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his skin.

Tigre would have lost his temper if he hadn’t.

“If you understand, return to your place. If you continue, my knight will have to draw his sword.”

Hearing this, Lloyd approached Sylvird.

He didn’t glare at him, but he stared at Tigre with piercing eyes.

Thanks to his loose clothes, his feet were hidden, but Tigre’s legs trembled softly.

The ferocity of the man who was the Marshal of Ishtalika, whom he saw for the first time, pierced through Tigre.

“I-I thought Ishtalika didn’t engage in war.”

Tigre pleaded, hiding his trembling legs.

Still, he made sure his legs didn’t move forward.

“We will not be the ones to make the first move, but if you continue to advance and come towards us, we will have to be on our guard.”

“I don’t understand what you mean! Why should you be on guard against us?”

“That is a strange thing to say. We are not even allies, let alone friends. If we were to describe our relations.h.i.+p, the closest thing would be enemies, wouldn’t it?”

Warren spoke to a panicked Tigre.

“The people of this enemy country are approaching. How can we not be on guard?”

“Guh… that’s… that’s just a convenient interpretation!”

He made a desperate excuse aloud, but it didn’t work.

“Even if that were the case, it doesn’t matter. Our thoughts are our own. There is no reason for us to be dictated to by another country.”

——There’s no time to worry about the situation now.

Thinking so, Elena stood up to stop Tigre, and raised her voice.

If she let him do anything more, there really could be a situation where something terrible happened.

“Your Highness! Please return to your seat!”

“Elena?!”

Tigre returned to his seat with a bitter expression on his face.

His steps were heavy, and he looked so displeased that it was as if he had swallowed a bitter bug.

In other words, Tigre had returned to his seat with a completely defeated expression, his face flushed red.

“But I suppose Ishtalika was also narrow-minded.”

After confirming that his son had taken his seat, Ralph began to speak.

He had no intention of avenging his son, but he was tired of being disrespected.

“If you want to sever all ties with us, then just shut up and cut off diplomatic relations. Is that what you mean when you say things like that, even going so far as to prepare a place like this and gather people to talk about it?”

Ralph spoke to Sylvird in a voice that seemed to mock.

Depending on who was listening, they might agree that what he said was true.

However, the Ishtalika side did not seem bothered by this at all; they just sat there with calm expressions on their faces.

After Ralph finished speaking, Warren opened his mouth after a few seconds.

“…To travel across the continent for the sake of a single woman. What a beautiful story.”

These words made not only Ralph but also Tigre react.

“You even hired adventurers to do it for you, and in the end, you forced a certain country to smuggle in a letter. My goodness, what an annoying bunch of people you were…”

“You, Warren, was it? You need to keep your mouth shut…”

Ralph expressed his dissatisfaction at the words, which clearly referred to Heim.

“From what I hear, taxes have been raised repeatedly for this purpose. After all, the fees for adventurers are very expensive. It’s understandable that you were desperate for information.”

Ralph tried to speak, but Warren continued without pausing.

“The people must have been impoverished. The price of the prince’s love-driven escapades came back to haunt them.”

He meant to be sarcastic but was met with a response twice as sarcastic.

Ralph’s face turned red, just like his son Tigre’s.

“Well, there are such countries. Even if we have a little pride, it’s probably not that big a deal.”

He smiled at the end and did not utter any insulting words.

Ralph, who wanted to reply, could not think of anything to say and just let out a groan.

“You know, words aren’t the only thing that’s strong, Warren.”

Then, as if he had calmed down a bit, Tigre joined the conversation.

“What do you mean, words aren’t the only thing?”

As if to hide Ralph’s defeat a moment ago, Tigre spoke with confidence.

“Wouldn’t you like to see the strength of our great general, Logas?”

As he spoke, he pointed at Logas with his hand.

“No, thank you.”

“I thought so, I thought so… What, you don’t want to see?”

“Yes, I said I don’t want to see. I’m not interested…”

It didn’t matter, as if to say so, Warren replied with a cold expression.

But behind Sylvird, Lloyd looked at Warren with sad eyes.

For a moment, Lloyd thought it was his turn to speak, and his heart was filled with joy.

However, he was easily rejected and couldn’t help but show such eyes.

“Even if we were to fight with swords, what would be the point?”

“What point? It would show our strength to each other!”

“Is that so? Then I’m even less interested. Even if Logas-dono is strong, that’s not really the information we need.”

“Wha…?!

This is what it means to be speechless.

For the first time in his life, Tigre was at a loss for words.

“But you, Prince Tigre, want to compete with each other, don’t you?”

“U-umu, yes! That’s right!”

What, you’re going to give in?

Tigre thought for a moment.

“If you want to compete in strength, I have a better idea. We both have fleets, so how about we compete with them?”

“…Huh?”

What did he just say? Does he want to compete with those fleets?

Tigre’s heart was shaken.

He remembered the sight of the Ishtalika fleet he had seen after arriving on the island.

Just thinking about it gave Tigre a huge shock.

“Don’t be ridiculous! That’s impossible!”

It was no surprise that Tigre would say that.

Heim had no way to compete with the Isthalika’s battles.h.i.+ps.

When they arrived on the island, Tigre put on a brave front, but he couldn’t agree.

“Why? Aren’t we competing for power?”

“You say we’re competing, but the damage is too great!”

“Even in a duel, accidents can happen. Isn’t it the same?”

“That’s why! The scale is different!”

Today, Tigre shouted a lot.

When he saw how Warren made him do it, his irritation only grew.

“So even if Logas-dono were seriously injured, you wouldn’t mind? You never know what might happen in a duel.”

“Kuh… Th-that’s…”

Even in a duel, it’s natural for unforeseen accidents to happen.

If Logas were to die, it would be a big blow to Heim as well.

“If that’s not possible, wouldn’t it be better to have a fleet-to-fleet battle? Why won’t you accept a fleet-to-fleet battle?”

Tigre answered Warren, who looked at him strangely in a low voice.

“That would cause too much damage…”

“Too much damage? Don’t worry about us.”

“That is not the issue! The issue is the damage we would suffer!”

…That was a slip of the tongue.

Elena listened to this conversation and realized that Tigre had made a slip of the tongue.

He had admitted with his own words that they were inferior.

He had been trapped by Warren’s words.

It’s probably the difference in the way they speak.

Warren’s way of speaking was always natural.

Maybe that’s why, but he also opened his mouth quite obediently when he answered.

“Oh, I see, I see.”

Hearing those words, Warren smiled, his biggest smile of the day.

“If it’s a difference in fighting power, there’s nothing we can do. It’s true that there’s no point in a compet.i.tion that can’t be won… I wasn’t careful enough.”

Tigre thought about arguing back, but this was due to his own slip of the tongue.

In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.

“Hmph…! Our strength is on land. It makes no sense to fight on the sea.”

“Yes, I am aware of that, King Heim.”

Ralph began to insist on their strength on land, trying not to think about the fleet.

Warren smiled wryly, thinking that the narrator kept changing and was busy.

“Of course, that’s true. After all, we are a kingdom that claims supremacy on the continent.”

“Of course, I know that.”

Warren replied with a smile that seemed to welcome his opponent.

“Actually, we are also confident. After all, the Continent of Ishtar is a land many times the size of the surrounding continents.”

Even though he says surrounding continents, there was only one.

Undoubtedly, Warren was referring to the continent where Heim exists.

“Ever since His Majesty the First unified the continent, we have also excelled in land combat.”

Moreover, this was a country that had a Demon King incident in the past.

There was no way that the knights would be weak.

“Then how about a mock battle?”

Just as Ralph was getting excited and about to suggest a mock battle,

“Your Majesty, we won’t know how strong we are in land battles until we actually fight. A mere mock battle won’t be enough to show our true strength.”

“Logas… I see what you mean.”

“So let’s do it another time.”

It was Logas who spoke.

The next moment, he was about to propose a mock battle.

With these words, Logas prevented Ralph from suggesting a mock battle.

On the other hand, when you saw Ralph obediently going along with Logas’ words, you could clearly see how much trust he had in Logas.

“…Hou.”

The one who watched with a surprised expression was Warren.

Even if he had been asked to suggest a mock battle, Warren had intended to refuse.

But before Ralph could suggest it, Logas stepped in to stop him, and Warren realized something.

“He must have seen the Royal Knights’ movements and understood their strength.”

He seemed to have an eye for talent, as befitting of a general.

He did not seem to be a frog in a well at Heim.

…If he could, Warren would have wanted him to be more cautious in the matter of Ain rather than focusing solely on military might.

This was Warren’s a.s.sessment of Logas.

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