Akatsuki Translations

“…Not envious at all of that normie and celebrity-like scene.” -Ricardo

Walking down a hallway with little foot traffic, I look out the window. The roofs of the pavilions lining the courtyard are visible. Students who have finished their classes are enjoying a graceful tea party. In Japan, it would be fast food after school. The difference is that for them, it’s a serious game with their futures at stake.

Commoners look for future patrons, while nobles scout for future subordinates. Commoners exchange information among themselves, and nobles align and re-align according to their parents’ factions. Who invited whom and what conversations were had hold great significance. It looks glamorous, but it’s essentially a battlefield of socialization, I guess.

It’s a world that has I, who three days before, after the recent commotion with Drefano, was labeled a presumptuous commoner in numerous letters, have nothing to do with.

I admit I have flaws in my social skills, but please, just give me someone who can communicate in numbers. Just one or two people would do. I don’t ask for a hundred friends; that would be economically disastrous. There’s even a legend about a commoner who went bankrupt after being invited to a birthday party by a great noble.

For now, I’ll focus on my other goal. I’m much better with non-human interactions, and I have subordinates who can handle personal relationships normally.

“Senpai.”

“Ah, Mia, perfect timing.” -Ricardo

As I reached the end of the hallway, near the library entrance, a girl with black hair joined me. She’s petite, with her shoulder-length black hair tied in small braids, and her youthful face still retains some childlike features. Compared to the glamorous upper-class female students, she might seem plain, but I know she possesses the delicate beauty of a wildflower and the toughness of a weed.

She calls me ‘senpai’ even though we’re classmates. Apparently, it’s because I’m a senior member of the Vinder Company. Well, her exact age isn’t clear; she might be a year or two younger.

Her uniform, reminiscent of a religious school’s, is a far cry from the patchwork clothes she wore five years ago. My father has seriously started to worry that bad influences might cling to her. There was talk of adopting her, but it was put off until I got married.

Apparently, I’m prone to being deceived by bad women, and if she were my sister, I wouldn’t have the option of not calling such a woman my sister-in-law. The reasoning is a bit too indirect for me to understand.

In my previous life, I had all brothers. Here, I’m an only child. I don’t understand girls’ feelings.

She’s a real genius who got a scholarship to this academy. I’m in the same boat, but technically I’ve committed age fraud. Mia’s academic ability, especially in mathematics, is the real deal.

And though far behind her, she still has better social skills than me. She’s properly integrated into the network of commoner students. If it weren’t for Drefano’s interference, I might have made at least one friend…

“I’ve gathered the information on the Count of Rowan’s family. The head of the family is the vice-captain of the Second Knight Order, and the eldest son also holds a position as a commanding officer. That girl’s father, the head of the Adel family, is also a commanding officer in the Second Knight Order.” -Mia

“That girl? You mean Claudia, right? Don’t say that in front of others.”  -Ricardo

“Don’t worry, I’m not the one who picks a fight with the heir of a guild leader and the second son of a count in front of the fourth princess.”  -Mia

Mia looked at me with reproachful eyes.

“That was unexpected. But about Drefano, is he aiming to get into the military supplies for the Second Knight Order?” -Ricardo

“Likely, considering the Second Knight Order has an expedition mission to deal with the Monster Flood in the east, unlike the First Knight Order, whose role is to guard the capital.” -Mia

I see, there have been no foreign wars for fifty years, and the original five knight orders have been reduced to three. The smallest, the Third Knight Order, became a topic of discussion when the third prince joined them.

Military downsizing essentially means personnel restructuring, so it’s done gradually. For major merchants living off rigidly divided market shares, it feels like being slowly strangled with silk.

To muscle in with the power of a guild leader…

“…There must have been a merchant house meeting the demand for these expedition missions, right?” -Ricardo

“Yes. The Kenwell Company, which competed with Drefano for the position of Food Guild leader, was involved.” -Mia

“I see. So, Kenwell holds a grudge against Drefano but is now in a situation where they can’t oppose him…” -Ricardo

That’s a potential weak point for Drefano. It’s not useful unless conditions materialize to make it evident, but if prodded at the right time…

“Even if there’s only a 10% chance each piece of information is useful, with ten such conditions…” -Ricardo

“0.9 to the power of 10, so flipping it around, there’s a 65% chance it will be useful.” -Mia

She’s like a human calculator. As expected for someone for whom numbers and formulas are visible in color and shape. Although, I only found out about that by chance before taking her in. However…

“…” -Ricardo

“Did I… make a mistake?” -Mia

Mia tilted her head.

“No, your calculation is correct. But in reality, those ten conditions aren’t independent.” -Ricardo

There was once a crisis where giant banks connected by complex financial products nearly collapsed the world, calculating individual bankruptcy probabilities. A tire puncture is normally rare. If one tire has a 0.01% chance of puncturing, two puncturing simultaneously is one in a hundred million. One spare tire should undoubtedly last till the repair shop.

But if caltrops are spread on the road, it’s a different story. What if it happens on a highway where cars are racing bumper to bumper?

“That sounds like a case for you, senpai… So, what about the fourth princess?” -Mia

“No need to rush there. Nothing has happened since then.” -Ricardo

“Understood. I’ll continue investigating Drefano, the Second Knight Order, and Kenwell.” -Mia

I nodded. Mia nodded silently and walked away. In front of me was the library door at the end of the hallway. My other, more bothersome reason for coming to this place.

Opening the door with its relief carving, a quiet space opened up. Reading seats lined the center, surrounded by bookshelves. The size was comparable to a large university lecture hall. It was silent, not a soul in sight.

In this world, not only the strongest assassination techniques but even the smallest of trade secrets are often passed down only within families. The transfer of information is person-to-person, and only a fraction of it is compiled into books. After all, the literacy rate is low, and due to technological limitations in forest resources, paper is expensive.

Most books here are just compilations of nobles’ hobbies. There’s inaccuracy in descriptions and a lack of effort to systemize. Frankly, it’s like they’re written on a whim. There’s no distinction between science fiction and science books.

Macro-economic information, like what was published in my original world, is mostly state secrets here, or doesn’t even exist. There might be rough data on harvest volumes or warnings about the tax evasion of nobles, but the reliability of such information is questionable.

Still, there’s no place within my reach that gathers more information than here. What I’m looking for is what’s called natural history in this world – knowledge about flora and fauna.

My evaluation standards are as follows: I look for books with accurate information about regions I’m directly familiar with. Then, I search for the information I want in those books. If it’s not there, I look for other books by the same author. Even though they are books, in the end, it’s still about the person who wrote them. That might be true in my original world as well.

I’m searching for things like cocoa, silkworms, rubber – so-called commodities in the form of plants and animals. There’s no guarantee they conveniently exist in this world, but the odds are in my favor. The origin of both humans and the flora and fauna in this world is Earth. Like clover flowers blooming in summer, they’re not exactly the same, but the basic biological structure is too similar.

I was reincarnated, but there must have been some large-scale “transference” between this world and Earth. It probably occurred once around Earth’s prehistoric era, bringing humans here. It’s likely it happened several times in even older eras. There are creatures here corresponding to Earth’s giant reptiles and megafauna.

If it were possible to examine their DNA, one could probably determine when and to what extent these transferences occurred.

Interestingly, animals that came in older eras seem more adapted to this world, having lived here for longer.

I stopped at a certain page. It depicted an animal with a large stone on its forehead. A giant wolf. If the description is to be believed, it’s as long as a human and about 70% as tall. A slender, hairless creature that walks on the ground like a gorilla, an ape-like animal. There’s a tiger with long canines resembling elephant tusks.

And then, there are creatures more like dragons than dinosaurs. Apparently, they breathe fire – I’m a bit skeptical about their Earthly origins.

These are creatures adapted to the unique magic of this world, called magical beasts. Magical beasts cannot act far from their source of magic, which flows along mountain ranges. This country has large mountain ranges to the east and west, with magical beast habitats in the forests adjacent to these ranges. The forests, known as the Rubel Wald (Red Forest), are characterized by trees with bright red leaves, resembling autumn foliage.

Humans in this country do not enter these areas. With the exception of the East, where herds of magical beasts sometimes appear from the forests at the foot of the mountains, and the knights are dispatched to subdue them before an outbreak occurs.

So, even if there are useful plants and animals there, it’s like a conflict zone – not somewhere you can easily get involved with. The Empire to the northwest, which shares a border with this country, has a mountainous terrain and experiences many encounters with magical beasts. They must hold differing information there.

“There’s a sort of romance to magical beasts, but I need to find a new product, something more accessible.” -Ricardo

Expanding the clover honey business is the priority, but I need a second and third option for negotiations. You can’t negotiate with the powerful unless they believe they can continuously profit from you. And if betrayed and information is stolen, there’s no way to retaliate. Equal negotiation doesn’t exist – it can’t happen unless it’s unequal.

If you’re at least winning in some areas, you can create conditions for equality under certain terms.

Information is intangible. Hidden, it’s safe from others but unusable; revealed, it’s easily stolen. It’s difficult to handle, but that’s how it is.

“What the hell, the crucial part of the description is missing.” -Ricardo

I stood up. I remember there should be more books by the same author in the archive.

Opening the door to the archive, a dusty air hit my nose. The space, illuminated only by light from clerestory windows, is dim. Hardly anyone besides me comes in and out.

I peered at the disorderly packed bookshelves and finally found the one volume I was looking for. To examine this atlas, I moved closer to a window in the corner.

That’s when I abruptly stopped. There was an unexpected visitor.

Under the window, a chair was placed, and the girl with silvery-blue hair I had seen in the hallway was sitting there. Unlike when I saw her earlier, her long hair was tied up and draped over her shoulder. She was absorbed in a book.

Her slender, pale fingers slowly turned the pages. Her beauty, highlighted by the streaming sunlight, and her innocent eyes were completely focused on the book.

It was a scene so out of place, as if I had stumbled upon an angel who had descended unnoticed.

“Why are…?” -Ricardo

“W-who’s there?” -Alfina

The words slipped out unintentionally. Startled, the princess quickly closed her book and looked at me. But I was too captivated by her presence to respond immediately.