Chapter 54: Three Wings of the Windmill (1)

Unlike when we first entered Stout, this time, the inspection passed smoothly.

Of course, since we had the 「Insignia of Alliance (Stout)」.

As soon as they saw the insignia I presented, the guards seemed to ponder its meaning for a moment, and then quickly let us in with a polite greeting.

Unlike the very calm outside of the city, the inside of the city was in a very clamorous atmosphere as soon as we entered.

“──Are you f*cking kidding me!?”

Definitely not in a good way.

The people gathered in the square were all very angry, and that anger was directed at one person they had surrounded.

“P-Please… everyone, please calm down…”

It was a priest of the Dairus sect, wearing a white hood.

“You think we can calm down right now!?”

“Bring someone higher up than you, someone higher up!”

“Why aren't the windmills turning!”

“Th-That’s… because the wind isn't blowing…”

“So why isn't the wind blowing!”

“It's all because you guys didn't pray properly!”

“None of the machines are working! I'm about to close up shop for the day, how are you going to take responsibility for this!?”

It wasn't yet at the stage of physically touching the priest, but it was clear to anyone that it would be soon.

If one of the people in the crowd were to grab the priest by the collar, it was obvious that everyone else would rush at the priest as well.

“E-Everyone…! Please calm down…”

“The God of Wind has abandoned us!”

“You rotten clerics!”

“Bring down the high prie── no, the Grand Priest!”

“Explain yourself!”

“The council must immediately oust the corrupt priests!”

“…There’s never a quiet day wherever we go.”

Ibi, who had been watching the scene, muttered in a dumbfounded tone.

“Is this kind of welcome the new trend these days?”

“Welcome to the turbulent times.”

And turbulent times always give birth to a hero.

“──Now, now, everyone.”

Just like me.

“Huh?”

“Who the hell are you!?”

“Just a passing bard.”

Pororong─

I gently plucked the strings of my lute.

“First, let's all calm down. If you get so worked up, you won't be able to get your point across.”

“So who are you…”

--

[Persuasion]

Success

--

“……No, on second thought, I think you're right.”

“Indeed… maybe we were too agitated.”

As the people, who were [Persuaded] by my one word, began to calm down, the priest soon let out a sigh of relief and quietly bowed his head to me.

“If you don't mind, could you explain what's going on?”

“…See that?”

At my words, a man who had let out a small sigh immediately pointed a finger at a… tower-like structure that was rising high in the middle of the square.

“Do you know what that is?”

How could I not?

I've been here so many times.

That tower is the… of Daian… of Daian……

--

[History] Failure

--

……What was it again?

“Uh…”

As I was unable to recall due to the fog that had once again clouded my memory due to the die's interference, the man eventually answered himself.

“To put it simply, the mana created by the wind is supplied to the entire city through that tower.”

“…Aah, right, that.”

You could think of it as a kind of power transmission tower.

Except it has no wires and sends mana instead of electricity.

“But that damn thing went out again today. It was supposed to be shining brightly even in broad daylight!”

The reason for that, of course, was.

“The stopped windmills… I see.”

At Lily's words, who nodded her head as if she understood, the man chimed in, “Now you get it.”

“The windmills stopping is the same as this city stopping.”

“B-But isn't that because the wind isn't blowing? Why are you blaming the priest…”

“Are you kidding me? How often has this city been without wind like this?”

Despite the man's words, Lily still had a look of incomprehension as to why the priest had to be the target, and eventually, another woman who had been listening from the side suddenly interjected and shouted.

“Why isn't the wind blowing in the city of wind? Because all the priests in this city are rotten!”

“Hear, hear!”

Then, a murmur arose from the crowd again.

“What? Is that woman a priest here too?”

“…But her clothes aren't from here.”

“No… that woman is a nun of the Sistina sect. That's their habit.”

Just as their attention began to focus on Lily──

“Citizens!”

──Piiik!

The loud sound of a whistle that echoed, drowned out all the murmuring at once.

“Disperse immediately!”

At that, when I turned around, a young man in uniform, after taking the whistle from his neck, began to shout at us.

“I warn you again! Disperse! Immediately!”

Then, following the young man, soldiers in armor, with thumping footsteps, soon formed a single line.

At the sight, a murmur arose from the citizens for a moment, but not long after, they began to leave one by one, grumbling, but obediently.

“Hey, let's go too.”

Ibi, as if she didn't want to get involved with such authority, also pulled my arm and urged me on.

However, soon, seeing the young man in uniform spot us and walk towards us with bold steps, she muttered, “Ah, f*ck… again?” and took a defensive stance.

“Um…”

“What? We haven't done anything yet.”

“…Yes? …Yet?”

“Just because I'm a dark elf, you think I'm a thief? You f*cking racist.”

“Pardon? Ah, no, I'm…”

“Let's hear him out first, Ibi.”

I stopped Ibi and then gestured for the troubled young man to continue.

At that, the young man, who had given a short bow, cleared his throat once and then continued.

“It's nothing, but are you by any chance the adventurers who possess the insignia of Stout?”

“That's right.”

When I replied with a grin, the young man spoke to us in an even more polite tone.

“If you don't mind, would you please follow me for a moment?”

* * *

The city of wind, Daian, was the most technologically advanced of the 12 cities.

This place, where the young man in uniform had guided us, the council, which could be called the heart of the city, had a rather ‘high-tech’ atmosphere, as if to prove the above fact.

“I don't want to hear any more excuses!”

However, no matter how advanced the technology was, it seemed that the soundproofing was not yet properly done.

“The citizens' complaints are getting bigger and bigger, Grand Priest Mistral!”

The sound of someone slamming a desk and shouting from beyond that door was echoing all the way to this corridor.

“I have already come up with a solution! So, I'm telling you to do your job properly!”

Or, maybe they deliberately didn't soundproof it so that people passing by outside could hear.

That's probably it.

“Now, now, don't be like that… shouldn't we work together at a time like this?”

“…I'll stop here for today, for General Ethesia's sake.”

Not long after the young man left, asking us to wait here for a moment, the door of the meeting room was thrown open.

Then a man came out from inside, roughly loosening his tie.

“Hmm? …Ah!”

As soon as he saw us, he said with a pleased look.

“It's you? The adventurers who are allies of Stout.”

The irritable voice from when the door was closed was gone, and he spoke in a very friendly tone.

“Instead of doing this here, let's have a drink and talk.”

And so he led us to his office, which was not far from the meeting room.

“──First, let me introduce myself.”

It hadn't been that long since Daian had become the most technologically advanced of the 12 cities.

And the reason that was possible was.

“My name is Khamsin. I am an inventor, and one of the three wings of the Daian council.”

This man.

To be precise, it was because this man had built the ‘tower’ we had seen in the square.

As a genius engineer who had turned the windmills, which were mainly used to turn mills, into a source of mana, and had spread the concept of ‘magical engineering’, which was still new to this world, throughout Daian.

“Nice to meet you.”

In recognition of his achievements, Khamsin was a self-made man who had risen from being a normal baker's son to the highest position in Daian, representing the citizens.

“And the beautiful ladies over there?”

And a famous celebrity with a strong playboy tendency.

“I’m Yubin. A traveling bard.”

Sure enough, as soon as Khamsin heard my greeting, he immediately gave a light kiss on the back of my hand.

And the confident smile he showed was not from someone who had done it once or twice.

“…Ibi.”

Then he immediately tried to do the same to Ibi, but he couldn't because Ibi had started to glare at him with a look that said, ‘if you touch me, I'll kill you’.

Next, Lily gently expressed her refusal by slyly pointing at her veil, as if to emphasize that she was a cleric, and in the case of Rine, who had not noticed his intentions at all, she unintentionally had a short staring contest with him, and in the end, he, who had become awkward, was the one to back down first.

“Ah, I’m Michael──”

“Nice to meet you, Michael.”

As for Miki, he didn't even approach him from the start.

So in the end, he had only made a pass at me, and because of that, Khamsin, as if he thought I was the easiest target, slyly closed the distance with me.

“There's a request I'd really like to offer you, who have received the recognition of Stout…”

At least, nominally, it was to pour a drink into the glass he had brought in front of me.

“Are you interested?”

“If the reward is sweet.”

“It won't just be sweet.”

After pouring a light caramel-colored distilled liquor, he slyly held out his glass and proposed a toast.

“I guarantee it.”

Clink! The clashing glasses trembled lightly.

“It’s about the windmills not turning, isn't it?”

“You’re quick-witted.”

I downed the strong distilled liquor in one gulp and then deliberately licked the drop that had formed on the rim of the glass.

At that, Khamsin, who was about to drink from his glass, stopped and stared at me as if he were possessed.

Honestly, I never get tired of seeing people who are so mesmerized by me that they can't think straight.

“Ha.”

Ibi, as if she had noticed that I was deliberately teasing Khamsin, let out a dry laugh and shook her head.

Then she took the glasses of Rine and Lily, who were not drinking, and downed them in one gulp.

“Ah… ahem. First, how much do you know about Daian's political system?”

A little later, Khamsin, who had regained his senses, asked as if to test me.

Normally, this would be the part where I would roll a die for a [History] check, but.

--

[History] Success (Bard)

--

You recall a traditional folk song of the Daian region called ‘The Three Wings of the Windmill’.

That did not apply to a bard.

The lyrics of that song contain the lesson that the city can only run properly if the three wings of the windmill turn properly.

That's why the people chose three people to represent the three wings and rule this city.

The ‘Grand Priest’, who represents the clerics who serve the God of Wind, Dairus.

The ‘Grand General’, who represents the soldiers who protect the city.

And the ‘Councilor’, who represents the citizens of the city.

“Will this be enough, Councilor Khamsin?”

“You know well.”

Having saved him the trouble of explaining, Khamsin nodded in satisfaction.

“As you said, the windmill can only turn properly if the three wings are intact. ──And as you know, it is not turning properly right now.”

But, the situation has changed now. Khamsin said.

“How so?”

“You have come.”

Khamsin, who had answered promptly, then gave a grin.

“You are the new wind that has come to this city where the windmills have stopped.”

Well, to get to the point, he was wrong.

We were not just some wind that had come to make the windmills turn again.

If anything, we were a typhoon that had come to tear off the wings of that windmill.