Water Magician

Editor: Tseirp

“Abel, a foolish action may be laughed off the first time, but repeating it twice makes one a fool.”

“Ryo, we’re both fools.”

The two of them, Abel and Ryo, were sitting at a tea shop facing the square.

Full from overeating once again, just like the previous day.

Yes, they had overeaten yet again.

“I told you we should stop. But you insisted on ordering more, Abel…”

“I told you to consult your stomach. Before you ordered anything…”

It seemed both Ryo and Abel were indeed fools.

Sitting at the same spot as the previous day, the two idly gazed out at the square, sipping green tea as they waited for their food to digest.

While watching the square, Ryo remarked,

“I feel like… there are a lot of military-looking people around.”

“I know what you mean. They’re dressed like regular citizens, but it’s their way of walking and where they focus their gaze that gives them away.”

The people loitering in the square clearly stood out from the usual crowd of civilians.

If this were the Knightley Kingdom, one might assume they were adventurers, but…

“If they were adventurers, their clothes would look more worn out.”

“Ryo, that’s quite the biased opinion.”

“Do you think they’re from the neighboring country…?”

“Most likely. They came in with the fleet… Not all of them would have disembarked though… Didn’t we hear at ‘Happy Eats’ that there were around two hundred ships? That means tens of thousands of people, but I doubt all of them came ashore.”

“With two hundred ships, the horizon was filled. Queen Iliaja’s procession had about four hundred ships, right? That’s twice as many! It must have been an overwhelming sight. The lead ship, the Rainshooter, must have glided in smoothly. I wish I could’ve seen that from the harbor.”

Ryo said, nodding repeatedly as he imagined the scene.

“Displays of power and presentations, when used correctly, can be highly effective. This one must have made a significant impact on the hearts of the citizens of this free city…”

“I see. It’s like the principle of military strategy that says the highest form of victory is to capture a state whole and intact, while destroying it is the next best option.”

“I got it wrong yesterday, but this one’s from ‘Sun Tzu’, right?”

“That’s right! Well done, Abel. It’s ‘Sun Tzu’.”

Ryo praised Abel for his correct answer.

Abel smiled proudly, happy to have gotten it right.

“The idea is that it’s best to win without destroying your opponent, so you can take all of their resources intact. Defeating them through sheer intimidation and taking everything for yourself is ideal.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Yeah, it’s difficult to achieve. Even though General Sun Wu, who wrote ‘The Art of War’, said it… in practice, more battles were won through actual fighting. So I think of it more as an ideal to aim for rather than something that can always be achieved.”

Ideals and reality rarely align perfectly.

While pursuing ideals, one cannot ignore the practicalities of reality.

Those who accomplish great things are often skilled at balancing the two…

At a table two seats over from the two, three men were having a serious conversation.

Ronfan, aide to the deputy minister of the Port Authority;

Zo, aide to the minister of the Port Authority;

And Juse, aide to the minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

They were all part of the same cohort from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had remained relatively close.

Ronfan and Zo were currently assigned to the Port Authority.

This wasn’t unusual, and it didn’t mean they had been demoted.

In fact, they were considered some of the rising stars among their cohort.

“Zo, what’s the port minister thinking? First, he allowed the fleet of two hundred ships to dock, and now he’s avoiding meeting with our deputy minister. Why?”

“I know, Ronfan, I get what you’re saying. I even told the minister. That Deputy Minister Mishta has been requesting a meeting multiple times.”

“And?”

“He just said he has a terrible headache. Granted, he’s been suffering from bad headaches for about ten days now, but… It feels like he’s deliberately avoiding it.”

Ronfan and Zo lamented how the minister and deputy minister weren’t communicating.

Anyone could see that it was crucial for the two to be in close contact, especially in the same ministry…

But it was Juse who interrupted their conversation in surprise.

“The port minister has a terrible headache too?”

“Wait, ‘too’? Does the foreign minister also have headaches?”

“Now that you mention it, I heard a rumor that the finance minister has been suffering from bad headaches as well…”

Juse was shocked, Zo was surprised, and Ronfan frowned.

“Something definitely isn’t right.”

“Yeah, we should assume something’s going on.”

Ronfan and Zo nodded to each other.

“And speaking of strange things, there’s the new ambassador from the Atinjo Grand Duchy.”

“Duke Helb, right? It’s unbelievable. He’s one of the Ten Masters of the Southern Church of Sorcery and the Grand Duke’s full-blooded brother. Why would someone that important be appointed as an ambassador?”

Juse brought up the topic, and Zo shook his head in disbelief as he responded.

Ronfan, however, had a slightly different reaction.

“Sorry, I’m not that familiar with sorcery… but just how high a rank is one of the Ten Masters of the Southern Church of Sorcery?”

“Well… Ronfan, you know that sorcerers hold significant power across the eastern countries, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that. Lately, they’ve even been pushing out traditional magicians.”

“Well, rather than pushing them out, it’s more like they’re finding their niches. Anyway, sorcerers have been thriving. Most of the sorcerers in the southern part of the continent belong to the Southern Church of Sorcery. Or rather, they’re forced to belong. I’ve heard those who don’t join are heavily persecuted.”

Zo paused to take a sip of tea before continuing.

Before continuing.

“The Southern Church of Sorcery has ten leaders, and they’re known as the Ten Masters. These Masters rarely cooperate, but they’re not known to clash either… or so they say.”

“So they say?”

“Yeah. In reality, it’s unclear. The only one whose position is officially recognized is Duke Helb. Even our Special Defense Bureau has looked into it… but they’ve speculated that the leadership might’ve changed hands. There’s still a lot of unknowns.”

The Special Defense Bureau, which works alongside the navy to defend the Free City of Kwebasa, is an external bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The three men—Ronfan, Zo, and Juse, being Foreign Affairs alumni, also had connections within the Bureau.

“I’ve heard rumors that Duke Helb is also the head of ‘that organization’ from the Grand Duchy.”

“The Secret Operations Division… yeah. They’ve been clashing with our Special Defense Bureau for a while. So the head of that division arriving here is a pretty significant move.”

Juse added, and Zo replied.

“Could it be… the Grand Duchy is serious about taking action?”

“That’s likely. It seems like they’re planning to crush Kwebasa.”

Zo said, echoing thoughts that both he and Ronfan had pondered many times before.

However…

“But, our nation may be small, but it’s far from weak. Whether in terms of economic or military strength, we’re on par with the Grand Duchy. We’ve clashed multiple times, on land and sea, and we’ve never suffered a major defeat. Especially our navy, which has consistently held the upper hand. We’re certainly a thorn in the Grand Duchy’s side… but how exactly do they plan to crush us?”

“What if… the Grand Duchy’s soldiers, the ones aboard those two hundred warships, staged a coordinated uprising?”

“If it’s less than fifty thousand soldiers, the Special Defense Bureau and city garrison can suppress them. We’ve already prepared strategies… based on war simulations.”

Zo answered without hesitation.

Recalling the plans shown during the welcoming of the two hundred warships.

“They won’t attack us head-on… So what’s their plan…?”

“Who knows? We don’t have enough information. Let’s contact people from other ministries and share what we’ve learned.”

“Agreed. Let’s meet here again at this time tomorrow.”

The three men said as they left the tea shop.

“Abel, I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping.”

“…W-Well, we can’t help what we overheard?”

Indeed, the conversation of the three officials had been quite audible to both Abel and Ryo.

“They have such a careless attitude about sensitive information! If they were from the Royal Alchemist Workshop, Kenneth would fire them immediately for their lack of security awareness!”

“Kenneth is certainly strict when it comes to handling information, and that’s a principle shared across the Royal Alchemist Workshop… but no one would get fired for that.”

“I see. Rather than firing them and letting them loose, it’s better to keep them close on a leash and monitor them. You think things through, Abel.”

“I’d appreciate it if you chose your phrasing more carefully, Ryo…”

Although Ryo had intended it as praise, Abel seemed to have taken it differently.

Words can be tricky like that.

“Well, setting aside what we overheard… It seems a big shot has arrived.”

“They mentioned Duke Helb. A Sorcerer…”

“The ones who attacked us in the Suje Kingdom were also Sorcerers, right? And Kabui Somal said they were likely from the Atinjo Grand Duchy.”

“So, there’s a chance that Duke Helb could be the mastermind behind that attack. Small world, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps swordsmen whose names start with ‘A’ and end with ‘L’ have a knack for attracting misfortune.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Abel retorted, swiftly dismissing Ryo’s half-joking comment.

“Anyway, we’ll have to come back here tomorrow.”

“Yes. They did say they’d meet here at the same time tomorrow. But we shouldn’t make the same mistake again.”

“Agreed. Tomorrow, let’s skip ‘Happy Eats’ and find another place for lunch.”

“Too much delicious food is a curse in itself.”

“We’re just fools, Ryo.”

Both of them were well aware of their own foolishness.

And yet, even with awareness, they couldn’t escape it.

Perhaps that’s just human nature…

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