Chapter 208: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Diplomatic Negotiations: The Elf’s Turn

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“Demands, yes, demands. That’s certainly true.”

It was only natural that both sides had things they wanted to ask for. At Lady Dalaiya’s words, I let out a small groan and moistened my mouth with the herbal tea. Then I bit into the last piece of Elf potato, with its skin on. Without understanding what the other side wanted, negotiations couldn’t happen. If we wanted this to be a meaningful negotiation, I should probably press them a little here. …Well, our biggest objective in this meeting wasn’t negotiation but stalling for time.

“So then, what exactly does the New Elfenia Empire want from us? As you can see, my territory is still in the middle of being developed. We don’t have much to offer.”

“Well… munch, munch…”

Lady Dalaiya hurriedly shoveled the leftover army stew from her plate into her mouth, then piled a huge second helping from the pot, before speaking again. Seriously, for someone with such a small body, she ate a lot. Was this some kind of deliberate attack on my tastes—like a loli-hag with a big appetite?

“Well, one look at Uru and us should tell you… The New Elfenia Empire is in severe food shortage. First and foremost, we want assistance there. There is nothing more desperate than having no food.”

“When folks got no food, many start thinking they should steal it from other places. Anyway, when someone’s hungry, their temper gets real bad too.”

An Elf girl who looked like a young maiden agreed with the elder’s words. She was one of the two who had been blown outside the window earlier.

“That’s true, but…”

“My lord. They targeted food, yes, but they also kidnapped men. If we end up providing provisions to them, won’t they demand men next…?”

“And we also wouldn’t know how they’d use the food we sent. For all we know, it could be used as military rations for an invasion against us.”

Gilberto and Sonia, seated on either side of me, whispered alternately into my ears. Being whispered to from both sides by two very different kinds of beautiful women was pretty dangerous. Even though it was a serious situation, it made me feel strangely restless. No, no, stop it. I shook off the wicked thoughts and nodded to both of them.

Well, it was true that we shouldn’t accept their request lightly. The negotiations had just begun, and we didn’t have anywhere near enough information to reach a quick conclusion. We needed to judge carefully.

“I see, I understand. However, you all have the excellent crop known as the Elf potatoes. I would appreciate it if you could tell me why such a terrible food crisis occurred despite that.”

That was the point that bothered me most. Even if the volcanic eruption long ago had destroyed the old farmlands, that was now a hundred years in the past. The current Rana Volcano was no longer active enough to cause widespread damage. If an eruption of that scale happened, volcanic ash would have fallen on this city of Carrera, so we’d know immediately.

If the farmlands were located farther from the volcano, their reconstruction should have been possible. But seeing this starving Elf group, it didn’t seem like such new farmland was functioning properly. A famine caused by weather was possible, but according to our farmers, there hadn’t been droughts or cold summers in the last ten years…

“That was all because of the civil war. While our kin kept endlessly fighting among themselves, most of the farmland returned to forest.”

“We Elves ain’t like you folks. We don’t separate farmers and warriors. Even during farm work, we keep swords at our sides, that’s the Elf way. Which also means, when we’re fighting, there ain’t time left to tend the fields.”

The older sister–type Elf with a lump on her head added to Lady Dalaiya’s words. It was like the Ichiryo-gusoku, the semi-warrior, semi-farmer troops active in Tosa during the Sengoku era. Since their allied birdfolk were completely unsuited for farming, the burden naturally fell harder on the Elven farmers, resulting in such a system.

I always imagined Elves as hunter types, but feeding a large population by hunting alone was impossible. Whether they liked it or not, they had to farm…

“However, it shouldn’t be impossible to develop new farmland. In fact, our farmers were clearing the forest and turning it into impressive fields.”

Glancing out the window, Sonia spoke. Since Carrera City was filled with low buildings, you could see fairly far even from the second floor. Beyond the earthwork that separated the town from the outside, lush green fields stretched into the distance.

“I heard the New Elfenia Empire was founded about twenty years ago… Yet even after that time, you were still far from self-sufficient. That seemed a bit strange.”

“…”

“…”

The Elves exchanged looks with complicated expressions. Still, Sonia had a point. Unlike us, they had crops and farming methods suited to the climate of Liseben. The most likely possibility was… The civil war was still ongoing. Judging from this Elf delegation, they hardly seemed like the official diplomats of a unified nation. Meaning… The organization calling itself the New Elfenia Empire might actually be quite small.

“…No, of course we have been working to rebuild our farmland, but our country is still politically unstable. Troublesome rogues pop up everywhere, and at every opportunity they raid and burn the fields.”

Hey, Elves burning Elf forests? Even the Orc bandits wouldn’t pull that nonsense anymore!

“Those idiots spread flammable oil over the fields, calling it ‘Elf-style slash-and-burn farming.’ Our army banned fire-based tactics some time ago, but the other side didn’t care.”

Flammable oil… That was basically napalm bom! Elves shouldn’t be using something like that! My image of Elves was completely shredded at this point!

…Wait, fire tactics were banned? Indeed. The village chief in the farming settlement said, “For some reason, the Elves never used fire attacks,” but that was because of their military law. I see…

“Anyway, that’s why we ended up in a severe food shortage. Unless we receive help from your side, we are completely stuck.”

“…I see.”

You reap what you sow, right? Well, the root cause was a natural disaster, but still. And to be fair, humans—not just Elves—had repeated this kind of foolishness over and over throughout history too…

“Before things get worse, some even insisted we should invade your country and seize the farmland and farmers along with the food. Of course, that would only bring misfortune to both sides. I personally wanted to proceed in a more peaceful manner.”

Hmm… That was pure bandit logic. But expecting ethics from people driven to desperation was unrealistic… What to do…

Even if the Elves launched a full-scale invasion, I didn’t think we’d lose. We could expect reinforcements from the Galea homeland. But even if we repelled them, the Elves could retreat deep into the forest, where we couldn’t follow. If we pursued recklessly, guerrilla warfare would cause massive casualties. In the end, we’d be forced to keep fighting defensive battles near the town.

And calling reinforcements from the homeland would mean provisioning their armies from Liseben’s local supply. Food prices would skyrocket, and the poorest would starve first. Seriously, give me a break. Even if we fought, we had to avoid a situation where the entire Galea army joined the conflict…

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