Twilight Alchemist 151

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151. We Need To Be Careful With The Selection, Isn’t It?

The giant paddle of the steamship slowly rotates.

“We’ve finally made it here.” 

“Yeah, it’s all thanks to Kyle’s efforts.” 

“It’s because of Craft-niisama and Leafan-san too.”

Kyle looks at the steamship with satisfaction. The great iron ship, capable of withstanding aquatic monsters, being completed just before the completion of the bridge is significant.

Raidoc and the others are waving from the bridge of the large ship that slowly started moving. We also wave back, sending them off with big gestures.

“Raidoc! We’re counting on you!” 

“We’re just patrolling the other shore! We won’t mess up!”

Well, that's true. There’s no way the Raidoc party, now including the three Eva sisters, would fail at something like reconnaissance.

While also conducting a test of the steam engine, the steamship carrying Raidoc and his crew heads toward the far shore of the great river. The reason we’re doing this is that the king, Van, entrusted us with the mission of sending envoys to officially open diplomatic relations with the small nations on the northern side of the river. And for some reason, Van left the selection of that team to me.

The envoy members haven’t been decided yet, but the Raidoc party is confirmed as the escort. That’s obvious. For that reason, they’re going ahead to the other side, where we still don’t have much information, to set up a base camp and thin out the surrounding monsters. Once the envoy members are confirmed, we’ll meet up at the base camp and proceed north together through the small nations.

After the steamship disappears over the horizon, I turn to face Kyle, who had been standing beside me.

“So, about the envoy... you still haven’t changed your mind?” 

“Yes, I’ll be going.”

That's right. Of all things, Kyle insists on going himself. Normally, it wouldn’t be allowed for the lord himself to go to an unknown land, but Kyle has his reasons.

“As I’ve said many times, there isn’t anyone who can make political decisions in my place. The civil officials sent by His Majesty the King are excellent, but they can’t fully grasp the needs of the domain.” 

“But still...”

When I frown, Kyle looks up at me with strong determination. In truth, it’s something I absolutely shouldn’t allow, but I haven’t come up with a better plan.

“...Let me think about it a bit more.”

Without waiting for Kyle’s reply, I head to the production guild. Inside the guild building, many trading companies and merchants are lined up at the reception, and the staff are busy dealing with them. I wave lightly and head further inside, where Leafan and the guildmaster are hard at work.

“Oh, Craft. Did Raidoc and the others leave safely?” 

“Yeah, no problem. But about Kyle...”

Leafan stops her paperwork and looks up at me.

“He’s still insisting on going with you?” 

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem to want to back down.” 

“I understand Lord Kyle’s reasoning, though.”

No one in Golden Dawn could serve as the kingdom’s representative. And it seems Van also wants Kyle to go personally. Van’s likely still uncertain himself, which is probably why he pushed the task of selecting the envoy members onto me instead of Kyle. When I complained, “Don’t shove such a big responsibility onto a production guild member!”, his prepared excuse, “This is part of frontier development,” came right back at me, so I reluctantly accepted the job... Even so, I’m still struggling to make a decision.

“We can’t delay the envoy’s departure too much longer.” 

“Yeah. I want to leave within a month, so we’ll have to decide on the members within the next few days.”

Even if Kyle were to go to the small nations, no one could be left in charge of Golden Dawn. In that case, Kyle has to stay. That’s what I plan to persuade him of, but if Kyle ultimately insists on going, I’m not sure I’ll be able to refuse him.

“Well, let’s put Kyle aside for now and think about the other members of the envoy.” 

“I was thinking of going myself.”

Having Leafan come along would be reassuring, but will the guild be okay? I glance at the guildmaster, who is swamped with paperwork, looking like he’s on the verge of tears. By the way, Sindely, the guildmaster’s loyal right-hand woman, also came to Golden Dawn with him.

“Hey, guildmaster. Is it alright if I bring Leafan along?”

The guildmaster lifts his head from the paperwork.

“Huh? Well, somehow it’ll work. There aren’t many people with both the technical skill and combat ability to send into dangerous areas, so Leafan’s one of the few who can go. And recently, a lot of talented craftsmen have moved here, so the production work should be manageable... except for the equipment that only Leafan can make.” 

“Alright, Leafan is confirmed, then.” 

“Yep! But with Craft coming too, isn’t that already enough?” 

“True, but if we don’t bring Jitaro, he’ll be a hassle later.” 

“Ahh.”

Leafan squints and lets out a knowing sound. She must have realized how troublesome it’d be if we didn’t invite him.

“Whether Kyle comes or not, having Jitaro there makes a huge difference in terms of strength.”

 “Yeah, since Jitaro got the Matagi crest, he’s become incredibly strong.”

That’s right. Not only is Jitaro an excellent hunter, but his skills as a ranger are also top-notch. Solar’s transition from a ranger to the Bow Goddess Artemis' crest made me slightly anxious about our exploration abilities, but Jitaro can fill that gap now.

“...Well, we’ll have to bring him, I guess.” 

“Yeah.”

We’ll have more than enough strength to guard the envoy. I just need to make sure no one embarrasses us.

“What about Alphard and Persia?” 

“Alphard is essential for defense. He absolutely has to stay. Persia too, for Myrna’s sake.” 

“Agreed.” 

“Even if Kyle comes, we’ll have enough strength with our current team.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I’ll also have Jabil-sensei stay behind. We can’t afford to interrupt our potion supply.” 

“Imagining life without Jabil-sensei is terrifying.” 

“Exactly.”

Thanks to the Twilight Alchemist’s crest, I’m able to produce a lot of legendary-quality potions. The only one who can fill that role besides me is Jabil-sensei. He might not be able to make as much as I do, but he can still produce the same high-quality or standard-level potions. That’s something no other alchemist can match. Jabil-sensei is truly exceptional. If he had the Twilight crest, I wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Next is Ryuuko.” 

“Ryuuko?”

Ryuuko is a human-shaped familiar created with the help of Jabil-sensei. She’s a man-made golem, an artificial creature, and a Dragon Tooth Warrior all in one. In other words, a lot is packed into one being. She looks and acts just like a human maid. Thanks to the personality data of the world’s best maid, which Jabil-sensei provided, she serves as an ideal maid and familiar in my mansion.

“Yeah. Whether Kyle goes or not, he’ll need someone to take care of him, right? During the Mithril ore exploration, I relied way too much on Leafan for meals and stuff.”

I should reflect on how much I depended on Leafan during our previous adventures.

“Hmm. I’d love to have Ryuuko with us, but can we protect her? She’s just an ordinary maid, after all.” 

“Of course. She’s an important ally, and we’ll protect her...”

I tighten my expression.

“But in the worst-case scenario, it’s better for Ryuuko to die than for Kyle’s maid or butler.”

I don’t want to say something like this. I don’t think I could ever abandon a comrade. But if I have to consider the worst-case scenario, Ryuuko is the only option.

After all, Ryuuko is as strong as a normal person.

“Well, Raidoc will be with us, so we should be fine.” 

“Yeah.”

With that, we’ve decided on the members aside from Kyle.

Raidoc, Solar, Eva, Camille, Marilyn, me, Leafan, Jitaro, and Ryuuko — nine in total. Plus a deputy in charge of negotiations in place of Kyle, making it ten.

With this team, we should be able to reach the northernmost part of the small nations, the Mizuho Divine Kingdom. Thus, we continue our preparations.