Otherworld Nation Founding Chronicles

Chapter 89 — Spy Countermeasures

Translator: Isekai Shousetsu

"Wew, the trip was quite fun, huh."

"Yeah. Cretian art and the like were beautiful."

"We also got lots of books."

It seems like Julia and Tetra are satisfied. Good, good.

……Well, a troublesome matter did happen though.

"Next would be preparing the housing and the like for the human resources that would come later from Cretia, yes?"

"Yeah, the next important matter is the counterespionage measures."

If I were a Cretian, I'd mix some spies among the large numbers of human resources.

What needs protection is paper and gunpowder technology. Especially important is gunpowder.

Paper is……well, it's something that's not that difficult so, I think it'd be copied even if it weren't stolen.

I don't have anything to worry about magic techniques. Those aren't things you could steal just because you'd think of stealing them. Rather, if they're that easy to steal then everyone won't have hardships.

Those are techniques similar to putting together computer software.

It's not something you learn by watching others.

"For the meantime, we need to consult with Raymond, huh."

"Yeah…After that, I'd like to introduce a new system of anti-spells."

"Hm?"

New?

Did you think up a new sorcery or something?

"Or perhaps I should say, it's just stealing Cretian technology. It's a defense system that borrowed the name of gods. (Edit: Check if plural or singular) If I were to explain it simply……"

Up until now, barriers are deployed using the sorcery powers of the sorcerers themselves.

In the system so far, each village would have their own anti-spell installations upon which third to second rate sorcerers would channel their powers to erect a barrier. Each village would have a sorcerer, even if they're just third rate.

There are also anti-spell installations centered on an area comprising of around 30 to 50 villages which will receive power from second class sorcerers to put up a barrier.

The directly controlled royal territories as well as the great clansmen territory, too, would also have such installations, but they would be powered by first-class sorcerers (of the level that can soul-ride) to put up the barriers.

Lastly, an anti-spell installation which can unify and supervise all the other installations within the country, the palace itself, shall be powered by Julia and several other first-class sorcerers.

Through these, we are protecting the country from spells.

This system was made about ten years ago (around the time when Ron and the others were abandoned) with that famine at that time in mind.

By the way, the other countries surrounding the Rosyth Kingdom also has a similar system constructed.

It seems that with this system, you would be able to mostly repel away spells and curses.

At the very least, it's a plan that would be able to protect against a spell like the famine from ten years ago, or so they say.

The problem, it would seem, is that all the sorcerers end up getting assigned to defense.

"So, explain what's the system of God's? name."

"Simply put, it's to put up a barrier using pure sorcery power converted from the religious piety of people. With this, we won't run out of power forever, so the sorcerers' responsibilities would decrease."

"Can we really do such a thing?"

"I suppose. However, we can only use it for natural barriers. We can't convert them into magic or curses. ……Well, it's just a plan after all. It's fine if we just lightly transmit it. I'll put it together into a document or something another time, okay?"

Hmm……well, if that's possible, then we'd be able to fairly reduce our sorcerers' responsibilities.

It would seem that we'd then be able to convert sorcerers into magicians, after all.

"Tetra, do you have anything?"

"Nothing much. I want more power invested into the book reproduction and magician training."

"I think we'll have to leave that for later."

We still can't say that we have enough sorcerers for the meantime after all.

Not to mention that the theory of magic is too difficult and that it's like incomprehensible jibberish to most of the sorcerers.

Sorcery is an art where you "don't think, feel!" while magic, in contrast, is an art where you "don't feel, think!" after all.

However, the sorcerers starting work on fields like medicinal research just like Julia has gotten comparatively high elementary attainments.

"As such, Raymond, I'm thinking of strengthening counterintelligence."

"I see. You are most correct. …… For the meantime, let us attach surveillance towards personnel involved in the manufacture of paper and gunpowder. Also, we should increase salaries to a reasonably high amount."

People quite fear that they'd lose their jobs.

Naturally, if they leak secrets, everyone understands that, far from unemployment, they'd be tried. Not to mention that it's easy to see that they'd suffer great misfortune if they divulge information but our competitors fell.

That said, there's bound to be someone who will rattle it out. Why?

In a word, it's because his salary is low.

Even in Japan, there are a lot who divulge technologies to foreign countries with such a nuance but the cause is tied to their salary being low.

In other words, if you give out a high salary and show them that………the country values them very much then there won't be any problems.

We'd still be able to profit considerably, after all, even if we raish the salary twice, even thrice, in the paper industry. Meanwhile, profit is not something you consider at all when it comes to gunpowder.

If we attach surveillance teams on top of giving out high salaries, then we'd probably be fine. With this, we'd just have to figure it out when the time comes that they do leak out.

Absolute security systems are impossible after all.

"Let's have Yal in the surveillance. It seems to be his area of expertise after all."

"I agree. That guy will do the job."

For the meantime, there won't be problems regarding technology leaks. However……

"As for me, rather than technology………I would like to crack down on those who divulge information of domestic military movements."

"There are people like that? People that would be capable of that would only be people around us, you know."

In other words, there exists traitors amongst the nobility and our relatives?

"That's……not true by all means……however, there's enough possibility that they'd accidentally betray us."

Accidentally?

In other words, they, themselves, might not think that they're betraying us. However, from our point of view, they're traitors………

They would, in otherwords, be………divulging information unconsciously, huh.

Is that…even possible?

"When do you think is the time a person is most defenseless against spells?"

"That's……during sex, right? I know that much but……"

"Heads of great clans are men. And then, sorcerers are basically female. You understand, yes?"

"No way, that's impossible. Even I am wearing light anti-spells. Although I'm confident that I'd certainly fall to Julia's hypnotism if she seriously did it during sex but……there aren't that much Julia-class sorcerers in the first place. Besides, escort sorcerers are able to smell the lingering smell of sorcery."

In sorcery, offensive spells are far more difficult than defensive spells. This is a foundation of sorcery.

If you wear a anti-spell of a certain level, you should be able to defend yourself from an enemy of a certain level.

"What would you do if those escort sorcerers were spies?……Well, I guess it's exaggerating it a bit if I say that they'd be directly targeting the nobles themselves. Reasonably speaking, they'd be targeting subordinates, bureaucrats posted in the palace, and those kinds of people, yes? After all, there are few people decently studying sorcery around them plus they won't be that vigilant against poisons and the like."

Certainly, there's a possibility of success in hypnotizing targets like those with little vigilance, huh……

"Then there's also the possibility that I might get suddenly stabbed by a servant?"

"……As expected, I think It's overstretching it that they'd make such direct action. Well, it's a different story if a lord caught the animosity of the servant through tormenting him everyday but……Your Majesty is different in that you're very popular even amongst the slaves living in the imperial palace."

I guess that's true. Then it's impossible huh.

Even Julia said that "It's extremely difficult to make someone do something that they don't like."

"That said, it's a simple matter if it's just getting someone to talk. There are those people who talk all to easily particularly even without sorcery, yes?"

"Maybe……there are a lot of people who talk too much even without malice, after all."

Those types, however, often say "I won't tell anyone!"

"So, I suppose you didn't say that just as a conjecture?"

"Yes, I don't have concrete evidence, but I have sufficiently vigilant sources of information."

Raymond hands over a bundle of paper. "National Registry of Sorcerers" is written on it.

It's a document that had just been finished. In the first place, those written here are just those sorcerers that had named themselves, so It's safe to believe that there are actually still much more sorcerers within the country.

"I've also looked over these. Did you find anything strange among them?"

"Amongst the sorcerers employed by the great clansmen, twelve aren't born in our country."

"That's not something particularly strange, yes? Aren't there a lot of sorcerers who wander around various places in search of employment?"

Sorcerers are human resources that everyone wants. Therefore, they look for high salaries, move around places, and try to become military officers.

They're irreplaceable human resources, so they can do these things.

"Did you read the interview documents?"

"………I looked over them but……"

I'm a busy man. There's no way I'd see anything and everything.

Do the bosses of large enterprises check all the exam records of new hires? They don't right?

Certainly, I did properly check those of a class that could soul ride but……I didn't bother for the others.

"Amongst the twelve, it seems there are eight with confirmed Gallian accents. In other words, they'd be born in the Rozel Kingdom. ……That country is long famed for the effectiveness of their ears, you know."

"Then let's tentatively classify those eight as spies from the Rozel Kingdom. However, it's not like those people had just recently come here. There are those that have been in this country for more than ten years, yes? Not to mention, if your theory is correct, it wouldn't be strange for other countries, too, aside from ours……especially our direct neighbor, the DeMorgal Kingdom, to have several number of spy sorcerers. Would they be deploying sorcerers to foreign countries for such a long amount of precious time?"

No way.

Certainly, information is important but…to begin with, would you use sorcerers as spies on the assumption that they're disposable pawns?

The most valuable among the sorcerers are the first class which are capable of soul riding but……it doesn't change that even those in the lower classes are important.

Aren't there only a little more than a hundred sorcerers of a level capable of reasonably high-grade sorcery called hypnotism?

"Your Highness. It is said the Rozel's population slightly surpasses 10,000,000. Around country only has roughly 250,000. Just their sorcerers should number around twelve more times than ours. Furthermore, there resides the world's oldest sorcerer, Merlin. That country is the world's leading advanced country in sorcery."

In other words, there's a wide difference with the amount of sorcerer resources with our country. It's twelve times so that should be around 1,200 sorcerers? If they have that much, then it wouldn't be difficult for them to mix several sorcerers into each countries, huh.

"Then shall we try and catch and interroaget one?"

"I've already done such."

……Hey hey, aren't you moving quite fast without my permission?

As expected, I can't just smile and let this pass you know.

"No, no, you got it wrong. It's a story from ten years ago. There's this sorcerer that I hired……A fourteen-year-old sorcerer that speaks with a Gallian accent. In the beginning, I wasn't specially concerned about her but…she began acting suspiciously little by little. When I had her watched, we discovered her sending off owls late at night."

"And then, what happened?"

Raymond shakes his head at my question.

"Really. No matter how much we interrogated her, she spoke not a thing. It couldn't be helped so I had her tortured but……"

……we're talking about a fourteen year old girl, yes? Did you ever consider even one bit that your accusations might have been false? Really, you.

"'Please forgive me! I'll talk! I'm a……' ……

Before she even began, she just died. The cause of death was the rupture of the heart."

"In other words, a curse, huh…It's true that she was a spy then. However, we don't have any evidence pointing to her being a spy of Rozel other than her Gallian accent."

In reality, it's not necessarily true that you're born in the Rozel Kingdom just because you have a Gallian accent. After all, if you go in the northern parts of the DeMorgal Kingdom, you'd be able to find mix-blood Gallians there.

"For the meantime, let's deploy certainly reliable sorcerers and have them investigate traces of sorcery. While it's difficult to understand it's traces so long as they're not aware of it, once they are, they should be able to clearly recognize it."

There's no mistaking that there are spies.

If you doubt that and wen't to investigate, for sure, you will be able to pull in some hits. Although this is just a talk about whether there are actually spies.

"Shall we try such things in our country? For the meantime, around DeMorgal…"

"That's great. It'll also become a verification of whether that is truly possible. There'd be little danger with using it on the lower soldiers and the like."

For the meantime, we'll be focusing on countermeasures. If we get some leeway, then we'll also gather foreign intelligence.

Alright, we've decided a policy on this area.

Ah, come to think of it, I haven't talked about Julia's proposal, huh.

"What do you think?"

Raymond starts brooding with a grumble.

He then seems like he had a flash of inspiration.

"This……this would not only be helpful in anti-spell defence but also in governance, yes? Please give me some time. I'll also think for a bit."

"Yeah, I understand. Please think over it as you like."

Umm, I'm sorry to say but I'm not that interestant in religious talks……

I completely don't understand it. I don't even know five or six gods, after all.

I finish the meeting with Raymond and return to the office.

Above my desk is a bundle of paper. All of them are documents regarding flood control.