<h4>Chapter 47.1 : Ariadya For Those Who Bing Rich</h4>
[Editor’s Note: For rification purposes, you’ll see Republic Ariadya mentioned many times by either city or country. It’s not a mistake. In this novel, a city is a country, so the terms in this novel are interchangeable. Sometimes they have a satellite city, like a colony.]
◆ ck Haired Sage, Chiyuki
Republic Ariadya was located on the estuary of a great river that crossed the Minon in.
That river also served as the boundary between the western and eastern sides of the continent.
[ED: A partly enclosed coastal body of water in which river water is mixed with seawater is called an estuary.]
The number of citizens that lived in the Republic Ariadya probably numbered over one million. It could be considered the biggest city in the world. It also gathered the wealthiest people on the continent.
The Minon in that spread far and wide to the north of Ariadya was a vast plot ofnd that produced white barley-like grains. Those crops were carried to Ariadya through the Quiche River, which flowed from the Central Mountains to the Center ins.
South of Ariadyay the calm Ariad Gulf.
The gulf was too shallow, so it had never been home to the giant monsters that usually inhabited the deep seas.
Various countries around the gulf and the Minon in formed the Ariad Alliance. Its main purpose was to grant its members free ess to the Republic of Ariadya and its surrounding areas. For that reason, many people gathered in the Republic.
Also, many minerals such as gold and silver and various tools were transported to the Republic through the Quiche River. They were carried over from a certain dwarven country located to the northeast of the Minon in.
The Teyukam Coin, the world’s standard currency, was issued by the Republic Ariadya. Perhaps that was the reason its economy was leagues ahead of the other countries.
Even the currency used within the Holy Republic of Lenaria, where we lived, was also based on Teyukam.
[TL: Think of it as USD of Isekai]
Both Reiji and I headed to the central office of the Republic.
Sahoko, Rino, and Nao were busy doing something else. Rino and Nao expected the meeting to be boring, so they quickly found something else to do. Thus, Sahoko was tasked with monitoring those two to prevent things from getting out of hand.
The one who came to greet us was a man in his forties.
「It’s nice to meet you, Hero of Light-dono. I’m sus, themander of the Ariadya Republic.」
His position asmander meant that he was the one responsible with maintaining the public order and defending the Republic from invasions. The position of General was quite rare even in other countries.
In most cases, the king was the one who held both the posts of General and Consul. Also, in most countries, the Consul was usually the one responsible for maintaining public order and defending the city.
When it came to a metropolis like Ariadya, with such a vast area to protect, the Consul alone couldn’t handle the two duties at once. Thus, the job of public order was separated from the duties of the Consul.
The majority of countries in this world had troops and military service. However, those forces were not for the sake of fighting other humans. They were for fighting demons.
War among humans did not exist. With so many demons around, humanity did not have time to be waging war amongst themselves.
Since the number of demons that lived around that area was low, the job of a General was mainly to maintain public order.
But theck of a war between human countries did not mean that civil war did not exist. It was just like in our world. The number of people they had to feed was too overwhelming ifpared to other countries.
[TL: Game of Thrones]
Although sus was a former knight trained at our academy, it was obvious that he had never fought a demon. He hit his fist on his chest and bowed to Reiji. That was considered a polite greeting in this world.
「Yeah, I’m the Hero of Light, Reiji. Best regards.」
Despite the polite greeting, Reiji replied in an audacious manner. He never changed his attitude, no matter who he met. Even if it was the king of a country.
Hey, do you even realize how many times your attitude got us in trouble?
I nced at sus. Could it be that he didn’t mind Reiji’s attitude towards him?
「Hahaha. I can feel at ease since the Hero of Light has arrived in this country.」
sus smiled while he spoke. He truly didn’t seem to care about Reiji’s attitude. Rather, I felt like he was used to facing such types of people. Things would certainly be easier for us if he didn’t mind how Reiji behaved.
「Commander sus. I’ve heard about the general situation from Vice-President Tarabos before. However, I’d like to hear some more detailed information.」
I took the initiative and asked sus instead of letting Reiji cause trouble.
Negotiation was my job. From that moment on, it was my battlefield.
「I don’t mind... But I think it would be better if we continued the discussion inside. I’ve prepared some beverages for us to enjoy.」
Thus, we followed sus to the conference room.
The room was huge and full of ornaments, very fitting of a superpower like the Ariadya Republic. A big table with a few chairs had been prepared, and we took a seat.
After sus sat down, someone else entered the room.
「A Goblin?!! 」
I unintentionally raised my voice, surprised.
The one who entered the room wasn’t a person, but a Goblin. It pushed a cart filled with beverages and brought it close to us. It then proceeded to deliver the drinks.
「Here you gob.」
The Goblin bowed to us.
We sat there, frozen. We were simply perplexed that the enemy who we always fought was bowing their head to us.
To be honest, we had never seen a Goblin ve until that moment.
The Goblin ve industry was popr in the region. Unlike Orcs, Goblins were much easier to turn into ves. Even the Magician of Saria had told me something about it.
It seemed that the domination magic eased up the Goblins’ brutal instinct, making them more obedient. I even heard that on the Minon in severalrge-scale farms used Goblins as theirborers. Thanks to such cheapbor, the price of food in the region was much lower than in other areas.
Afterpleting its job, the Goblin bowed again to us and left the room.
I felt slightly ufortable after witnessing that.
「Oya? I suppose this was your first time seeing a Goblin ve, eh... Ah! Forgive me for only remembering it thiste. Rena-sama’s teachings forbid the envement of demons, right? How careless of me.」
sus apologized to us.
Rena was a goddess of war, one who protected mankind from the threat of demons. Thus, ording to her teachings, all demons had to be annihted. Therefore, ording to Rena’s religion, employing demons was considered a felony. In short, demons were supposed to be killed only.
Maybe the Rena religion’s influence was weaker here because the Ariadya Republic had a rtively low number of demons around. Also, the most popr religion in the area was the faith of the god Oudith, the god ofw.
Oudith’s Faith neither allowed nor banned very, hence themon sight of Goblin ves in the region.
The main reason the sight of a Goblin ve caused me such repulsion and difort was not because of the demon, but because of the word “very.” It was banned in our original world. That’s why I couldn’t get used to it.
[TL: It is not!!! ED: Sadly... Also, you have a problem with goblin ves but not killing them? What’s wrong with you?]
If the one enved had been a human and not a demon, I might even have told him to free the person.
「Yeah, I just can’t get used to it. Let’s drop that topic for now. Allow me to tell you about the reason we need your help.」
very was deeply rooted in that region. If we tried to force them to free the ves, we might end up shing with the people of the area. That was something we had to avoid at all costs.
Moreover, the aftermath of meddling with the very situation would be an even greater problem. Namely, how the released Goblins should be treated. That would take a lot of time to settle.
Then, it was best to drop that topic for the time being.
Reiji didn’t seem all that interested in the topic, either.