Chapter 205: The Holy City of Ravenna
After spending a night with the Sheba tribe, I decided to return to the port of Hadasht.
Before that, I consulted with Chief De about renewing the contract with the reptilian mercenaries we had hired.
I also asked them to help with the mining of rubies and diamonds scattered throughout the Sunahara Desert.
「Then, let’s agree on an exchange rate like this.」
「Hmm, that’s reasonable.」
The Sheba tribe had a wealth of tradable goods. Magic gemstones, rubies, diamonds, gold, frankincense, and sandalwood…
In exchange, I prepared plenty of everyday items they desired, such as sugar, flour, and textiles, and aimed for an exclusive trading agreement. It was still too early to sell luxury goods; we needed to raise their basic living standards first.
Ideally, I would like to establish a branch directly in the Sheba territory, but since only reptilian merchants or advance mages who can fly could access that area, I decided to give up on that for now. Instead, I would negotiate with Governor Marcus in Hadasht to allow a branch of the Sawatari Company to be set up.
In the future, I hoped to hire reptilian merchants, but that would only be possible after establishing a foothold in Hadasht.
The path of commerce does not yield results overnight. For now, I could only request increased trading opportunities. It seemed that due to the harsh environment and their short lifespans, the reptilians had a strong biological reproductive rate.
If we continued to send them food, the population of the reptilian village would likely increase, allowing for more manpower to be allocated to trade and mining development. Although they had short lives, their robust bodies made them excellent laborers and mercenaries, providing countless job opportunities.
「So, I would like to ask for more active trading from now on.」
「From our side, I have one more request.」
Chief De brought over a small reptilian girl. At first glance, she appeared almost human in her upper body.
No, she had a grayish skin tone similar to Orakeru, indicating she was a child of mixed blood between a demon and a human. So, she likely had human blood in her lineage.
From her backside grew the characteristic tail of a lizard. The reptilian aspect seemed to be limited to her lower half. She was probably a half dragon god dragon maid, or a more complex mix of bloodlines.
Seeing her made it clear that the mating between humans and the reptilian demons was indeed possible. I didn’t know if her other parent was a human or a demon, but she was a half-reptilian girl with the ‘distant blood’ that Chief De had mentioned.
I realized that my previous encounters had only involved reptilian mercenaries, leading me to form a singular image of them. However, visiting the Sheba village, I could see that when referred to as reptilian, there were various types—lizard-like, snake-like, dragon-like, and those closer to ordinary human-shaped demons.
Their short lifespans and strong reproductive abilities suggested that by mixing their blood with other species, the reptilians might be exploring new possibilities as a race.
So, that was why they wanted me to mate with them and leave descendants. But it was a curious notion that there was someone who had actually done it with a lizard-like reptilian.
I wondered if this girl’s father might be the advance mage Revenant, who had visited here previously. However, she looked to be around twelve or thirteen years old, so the math didn’t quite add up.
「She is my daughter’s daughter.」
「So, she’s your granddaughter? What do you want with her?」
「I want to entrust her to kita human.」
「Entrust her? What do you mean?」
「This child is curious about the outside world. Please show her.」
「Ehto, I see…so that’s what you mean.」
This half-reptilian girl was the granddaughter of Chief De.
Given that, her desire to see the outside world should be genuine.
However, more than that, by entrusting his precious granddaughter to me, he was likely testing whether I could be a trustworthy trading partner for the future. It was similar to why Are, the Dragon Maid princess, was sent to the Kingdom of Castilia as a guest general.
In the end, Are deemed the Kingdom of Castilia unworthy and chose the Kingdom of Silesie instead. This was a test of my character.
「How about it? Can you do this for me?」
「Yeah, understood. I’ll take this on with all my integrity.」
「Good. I want to become close to kita human because I have an interest in you.」
「Yeah, I appreciate that. I want to get along too.」
「If we get along, we might be able to have children together?」
「Wait, what?」
「I want to mix my clan’s blood with that of kita human.」
「Um, how should I put this… Haha…」
This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
Well, whatever.
The half-reptilian girl sitting next to Chief De looked to be around twelve or thirteen at most. If it were a child, there shouldn’t be any worries about being pressured into breeding.
If it were that snake-like older reptilian sister from yesterday, I’d have to worry about infidelity. But a child felt safe.
「Then, you should come with me. I am Takeru Sado, the general of the Kingdom of Silesie. What’s your name?」
「Ra… Ra Sheba Deba.」
「So, Rara-chan, huh?」
「Ra Sheba Deba. If you find it easier to call me Rara, that’s fine too.」
The old chief was ‘De’, while his half-reptilian granddaughter was ‘Ra’.
It seemed that the Sheba tribe didn’t place much importance on names.
Regardless, I was now accompanied by my new friend, Rara-chan, as I prepared to return with Kaara’s flying magic.
It was an extremely unstable flight, with Kaara carrying me while I held Rara-chan, but since the distance wasn’t far, we managed to make it work.
※※※
When I returned to the town, I found the small port of Hadasht filled with pirate ships captured by Drake.
Most were small galleys, but there were also eight large xebecs.
What on earth did Drake do?
Well, it was obvious just by looking at the port.
「Drake… this is a bit excessive, don’t you think?」
「Uhahaha! Maybe I went a bit overboard!」
That was his attitude. I heard that he had achieved five consecutive victories in five sorties.
After all, the local pirates didn’t have cannons, so it must have been enjoyable to crush and intimidate them while squeezing out all their money.
It really felt like the lines between who the pirate was had blurred. He must have gotten carried away with his old pirate blood.
Well, the opponents were rogue pirates, after all. Bringing back the spoils was fine, but the problem lay with the large number of captured ships.
Originally, the Silesie ocean fleet didn’t carry many combat personnel, as long voyages were planned. Even if we needed to transport this many ships, there simply weren’t enough crew members.
We couldn’t just use the captured pirates as crew members, either. The small port of Hadasht was overwhelmingly short on available sailors.
In the end, we decided to leave the captured ships in Hadasht for safekeeping and call for Jean Darlan’s second fleet.
We would have to load it up with sailors from the port of Nantes in the homeland and bring them here.
Even Admiral Jean was busy with his usual duties, so sailing all the way to the port of Hadasht would be quite the hassle for him.
Well, there was no point in complaining about that.
The second fleet, which primarily consisted of supply ships, was mainly tasked with supporting the two major military factions of the Silesie Navy, Admiral Mearid and Admiral Drake.
I could only hope he would accept this as part of the job; I felt bad for making him deal with this every time.
「Well, let’s think positively. The Adrea Sea expansion for Sawatari Company was something I had originally planned for, so this just accelerated the schedule. It wouldn’t be bad to convert the galleys into escort ships and the xebecs into merchant ships for trade in the Adrea Sea.」
The xebec was a large sailing ship with ample cargo capacity, making it quite suitable for trade. However, venturing out into the open sea might be a bit challenging.
「Exactly, that’s what I was thinking, King General! I’ve been planning this all along!」
Drake seemed relieved by my words, slapping his knee with his prosthetic leg and laughing heartily.
I got it; let’s just leave it at that for now.
Governor Marcus, who had initially been pleased with the eradication of the nearby pirates, now wore a somewhat awkward expression as the port began to fill with the captured ships. There apparently weren’t any more cells available to confine the captured pirates.
Originally, the town of Hadasht wasn’t that large. There are limits to everything.
I planned to establish a branch of Sawatari Company at this port for long-term business. It might be wise to consider offering Governor Marcus a few of the captured galleys as a sort of rent for using the port.
If the governor increased the number of patrol boats, it would raise the port’s safety level without adding to my expenses. That wouldn’t be a bad decision at all.
※※※
While waiting for Admiral Jean’s second fleet, I had some time, so I returned to the castle of Silesie from the magic circle of the Black Cedar Ship and spent some time with Orakeru and the others when Ria showed up.
I thought she was coming to joke around again, but she seemed unusually serious.
「Takeru, you’re really planning to go outside the continent, aren’t you?」
「That’s the plan. There are things I want.」
What I wanted were new crops like potatoes and corn. If energy-efficient crops from the New continent could be introduced to the wheat-dominated continent of Eura, it would help alleviate the hunger problem, especially in the northern regions.
Even with the current Black Cedar ships, it was essentially just a galleon. I understood the risks of long-distance voyages, but seeing my determination, Ria made a suggestion.
「Let’s go to the land of beginnings, the holy city of Ravenna.」
「The capital of the Papal State? Why?」
「Asama is calling for Takeru.」
「If it’s just to talk, can’t he descend to you like usual?」
「It’s a special divine revelation. She wants you to come to the holy land of the ancestors. We’ve also received an invitation from her holiness the pope.」
「Ravenna is a holy city, huh? Well, if I’m told to go, I don’t mind taking care of some errands along the way.」
The Talia Peninsula, where the Papal State of Ravenna is located, isn’t far from the port of Hadasht. The capital, the holy city of Ravenna, is a port town, so I can go by ship.
It would also be a good idea to stop by and stock up on sugar and grains. The nearby island of Sicily, known as the granary of Ravenna, offers cheap wheat.
「Then it’s settled.」
「Okay, let’s set the fleet toward the port of the Talia Peninsula. From there, we’ll head to Ravenna.」
A divine revelation from Asama.
I would soon embark on a journey to the far western new continent.
It was likely related to that matter.
It wouldn’t hurt to hear what she had to say.
※※※
And so, I arrived at the St. Ravenna Church.
There was no particular rush, so it took about two days of sailing with the fleet. Traveling by ship is much faster compared to land.
My ocean fleet was officially welcomed since we had an invitation from the pope, but they were taken aback by the presence of demons. Ah, right, this is the holy capital, so having demons here isn’t good…
It seems bringing demons to the headquarters of the Asama Church is a bit difficult, so my companions, the half-reptilian girl Rara and Kaara, had to wait at the port.
I followed Ria up the slope leading to the temple.
「You sure know the way well, Ria.」
「I’ve only been here once, when I became a missionary nun and received my Level Three Hero certification.」
Actually, she was supposed to come when she was recognized as a saintess, but she didn’t have the time. She had been quite busy. If Ria hadn’t married me and left the sisterhood, she would have likely been given charge of a major church in a big city by now.
Once we reached the top, the magnificent white temple stood proudly on the hill, the holy city of the Goddess of Creation Asama, Ravenna.
Upon entering the temple, I was greeted by a grand and colorful fresco painted across the ceiling.
I’m not particularly interested in art, so my first impression was simply, ‘They spent a lot of money on this’. Even the pink-hued marble columns supporting the temple were impressive—where on earth did they even bring these from?
The intricate murals adorning the walls held immeasurable artistic value.
The Talia Peninsula is warm and humid, with access to the sea, making commercial activity quite active. The donations gathered for the Asama Church must amount to a staggering sum.
With such substantial patrons, the level of craftsmanship and art would surely rise. This, in turn, becomes a specialty that enriches the town further, creating a positive cycle between the economy and culture.
Religious figures definitely make more profit than kings or merchants.
Well, I’m not looking to become a prophet now anyway.
「Hey, hero.」
「Huh? What?」
「This way!」
「Little girl?」
As I was being guided by a cleric of the temple to a place called the Pope’s Chamber, a little girl tugged at my sleeve.
She was dressed in an oversized white robe adorned with a lavish gold-embroidered cape.
It felt like she was just a child dressed in luxurious clothing. From the reactions of those around, even I, who am generally quite slow on the uptake, could read the situation.
「W-wait! Takeru, what kind of rude thing are you saying? This is her holiness Anastasia II, the Pope of the Asama Church, who stands at the pinnacle of the faithful!」
「Eh? I knew it…..」
With soft silver hair, she wore a small flower crown atop her head. She looked like nothing more than an adorable girl with chubby cheeks.
While I understood that one shouldn’t judge based solely on appearance, given that there are many youths in the upper ranks of the Asama Church, this girl looked more like a child than a pope.
So, the higher-ups in the Asama Church are younger than I thought, but the pinnacle is a loli-baba?
I couldn’t help but think that she resembled Oracle, and I couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.