Soy Sauce 3. Daejeon Conference
by Foreigner Β· 2026-08-21
Ellin: Baron will only last until this year.
Court Mage Ellin said so.
A map of the continent hung on the wall of the meeting room. Ellin stood in front of it and pointed west with a stick.
Ellin: Last year, we lost the Remitian River basin, and this spring, we lost three southern territories. The royal capital is two hundred li away.
Noble: This year, you say.
Someone muttered.
Ellin: If Baron falls, the Inder Empire will have secured the west.
Ellin moved the stick.
It was pointing east.
Ellin: Then, here will be next.
The tip of the stick touched Heness.
Heness was small.
On the map, the Inder Empire was the size of a palm, and the Baron Empire was slightly smaller. Heness was sandwiched between them, about two finger-widths wide.
Yet, it was the place on the map that had been colored over the most times.
There were two reasons.
One was the Hains Plain, the continent's largest granary. Heness sold what it didn't consume and used that money to help surrounding small nations. So, if Heness fell, six countries would be in trouble.
The other was the sea.
Heness's sea had almost no monsters. There were only two such seas on the continent. So, ships sailed, and goods circulated.
The land was small, but there was money.
Every king on the continent knew what such a country was called.
Cale: So, you're saying we should strike now?
Cale said.
Cale: Before the Inder Empire finishes with Baron.
Herrington: Your Grace.
Baron Herrington raised his hand. The bandage wrapped around his ribs was still there.
Herrington: This was already discussed at the last meeting.
Cale: Since we haven't reached a conclusion, we're doing it again.
Herrington: We did reach a conclusion. The conclusion that we have no troops.
Cale: That's why I asked you to bring out your private soldiers, didn't I?
Herrington: Your Grace should bring yours out first.
Cale looked at Herrington.
Herrington looked back.
Just then, the door opened.
It was a messenger. To open the door during a meeting, there had to be a good reason.
The messenger handed a paper to Ellin.
Ellin read it.
She stopped reading.
Yuris III: Ellin.
Yuris III asked.
Yuris III: What is it?
Ellin: ...Your Majesty.
Ellin folded the paper, then unfolded it again.
Ellin: It's from Seton City.
Yuris III: Seton.
The king repeated the name. He seemed unsure where it was.
Ellin: They say orcs have arrived.
Yuris III: Orcs.
Ellin: Yes.
Yuris III: How many?
Ellin didn't answer for a moment.
Ellin: They say it's over 300.
The meeting hall fell silent.
Gering: ...Say that again.
Viscount Gering said.
Gering: Did you say 300?
Ellin: Yes.
Gering: Orcs?
Ellin: Yes.
Gering: Do you know how orcs move?
Ellin: I do.
Ellin said.
Ellin: Ten to thirty.
Gering: But 300?
Ellin: That's what's written.
Gering looked at the person next to him. The person next to him looked back.
Gering: They must have miscounted.
Ellin: The Seton garrison captain wrote it himself.
Ellin held up the paper.
Ellin: Would you like to see it?
No one reached out a hand.
Henri: Where is Seton?
Marquis Henri Bedwell asked. He was the oldest in the meeting hall and hard of hearing.
Ellin: It's at the eastern end.
Ellin answered.
Ellin: It's 17 days away from the capital.
Henri: 17 days.
Ellin: Yes.
Henri: Then even if we send them now, they won't arrive for 17 days, will they?
Ellin: That is correct.
Henri: Can the castle hold out for 17 days?
Ellin did not answer.
Henri: Where did you say Seton was located?
Henri asked again.
Ellin: It's at the eastern edge.
Henri: What's at the eastern edge?
Ellin: There's a mountain.
Henri: What mountain?
Ellin: ...It's Mount Dedon.
The sound of a chair scraping was heard from inside the meeting room.
Duke Hail raised his head.
Cale: We must dispatch troops.
Cale said.
He was quick.
Cale: Seton is small, but it's the eastern gate. If that falls, the next is Leif, and then Garon.
Herrington: Didn't you say it would take 17 days?
Herrington asked.
Cale: If we only send cavalry, it's 9 days.
Herrington: Can cavalry take on 300 orcs?
Cale: We can send 1,000.
Herrington: Where do we get 1,000 from?
Cale paused for a moment.
Then he spoke.
Cale: I will send the Elion Knights.
The meeting room fell silent again.
This time, it was a different kind of silence.
Gering: ...Your Grace.
Gering asked.
Gering: What did you just say?
Cale: I said I would send my knights.
Gering: You mean the Elion Knights?
Cale: That's right.
Gering: All of them, Your Grace?
Cale: Isn't 1,000 enough?
Cale looked around the meeting room.
Cale: Didn't I say I wouldn't send my private army? I will send them.
Herrington looked at him.
Cale did not look at Herrington.
Ains: I will go.
A voice said that.
It was Prince Ains.
Ellin: Your Highness.
Ellin reacted first.
Ellin: You cannot.
Ains: Why can't I?
Ellin: It is not a place for my lord to go.
Ains: The Elion Knights will go.
Ains said.
Ains: The Elion Knights are the Mailon family's knights. They obey the duke's orders, not the royal family's.
Ellin: ......
Ains: 1,000 men are leaving the capital and heading east. Isn't it important whose orders those 1,000 men obey?
Cale: Your Highness.
Cale said.
Cale: Are you saying you don't trust my knights?
Ains: I trust them.
Ains said.
Ains: I trust them, but I still need to confirm.
Cale looked at him.
This time, he smiled.
Cale: ......Your Highness is truly precise in your calculations.
After the meeting, Ellin went to the Queen's chambers.
Court Mage Ellin was forty-three.
She was the second woman to become a court mage in Heness.
The first was a hundred years ago.
Ellin: Your Majesty.
Roena: Ellin.
Ellin: The meeting has concluded.
Roena: I heard.
Roena was looking at documents.
She asked as she looked.
Roena: That child volunteered?
Ellin: Yes, Your Majesty.
Roena turned a page of the documents.
She turned one page.
Roena: Did you try to stop him?
Ellin: I did.
Roena: Thank you.
Ellin bowed her head.
Ellin: Your Majesty.
Roena: Yes.
Ellin: If Your Majesty stops him, His Highness will not go.
Roena took her eyes off the documents.
Roena: Ellin.
Ellin: Yes.
Roena: I will not stop him.
Ellin: ......
Roena: If I stop him.
Roena said.
Roena: That child will suspect me.
Ellin couldn't say anything.
Roena: I know what they say in the court.
Roena looked at the documents again.
Roena: They'll say the Queen Consort sent her predecessor's son to war.
Ellin: ......
Roena: If I hadn't sent him, they would have said I was plotting for the future.
Ellin: ......
Roena: Either way, they'll talk.
Roena picked up a brush.
Roena: So I'm going to do what she wants.
Ellin: ......
Roena: That's all I can do.
Ellin withdrew.
After the door closed, Roena put down her brush.
She read the same line of the document three times.
All three times, she didn't understand what it meant.
Yuris III raised his hand.
Yuris III: No.
Ains: Father.
Yuris III: No. You are my only one.
Ains: Father.
Yuris III: No.
The king's voice grew louder. It had been years since he had raised his voice in the council chamber.
Yuris III: ......I said no.
Ains knelt.
Ains: Your Majesty.
Yuris III: ......
Ains: The fact that 300 came means that 300 gathered somewhere. I've never even read in books about orcs gathering like that.
Ains raised his head.
Ains: Someone has to go and see.
For a long time, no one spoke.
Then Duke Hail stood up.
He was the one who hadn't said a word from the beginning of the meeting until then.
Hail: Your Majesty.
Yuris III: ......Hail.
Hail: Send him.
Yuris III looked at him.
Yuris III: You.
Hail: I will attach five Bronzestorms to 1000 cavalry.
Yuris III: Hail.
Hail: Someone must accompany the prince.
Hail said that and sat down.
That was all.
Yuris III looked at his brother for a long time.
And no one asked Hail why.
He was someone who wouldn't answer even if asked.
The meeting ended.
People left.
Duke Hail remained seated.
'.......'
He was looking at a map.
There was a mountain drawn at the eastern edge. No path was drawn on that mountain. Because there was nothing to draw.
Below it was a single dot.
Seton.
Hail looked at that dot for a long time.
'.......'
1,000 people are going.
1,000 cavalry are going to the eastern edge. To catch orcs.
And there's a mountain nearby.
Hail knew what he had just done.
He did it knowing.
Cale's mansion.
Zekin: Your Grace.
Zekin closed the door.
Zekin: You're sending all of the Elion Knights?
Cale: Yes.
Zekin: Th-then our territory's defense will be...
Cale: I'm only sending 500.
Zekin: ......Pardon?
Cale: The other 500 will remain.
Cale poured some wine.
Cale: I'll make the list.
Zekin: The list, you say?
Cale: The Knight Commander will be Caron. And...
Cale unfolded a piece of paper.
Cale: Exclude these five.
Zekin looked at it.
After reading it, he tilted his head slightly.
Zekin: Your Grace, these five are...
Cale: They're skilled.
Zekin: Yes. Very skilled.
Cale: So exclude them.
Zekin: ......
Cale: I have a use for them.
Zekin folded the paper.
Zekin: Your Grace.
Cale: Speak.
Zekin: Which path should we take?
Cale: The prince will decide.
Zekin: ......Aren't you the one who decides, Your Grace?
Cale drank his wine.
Cale: The prince will take the shortest route.
Zekin: Yes.
Cale: If he takes the shortest route, he'll pass through Laypro, and after Laypro, he'll have to go through a forest.
Zekin: A forest, you say?
Cale put down his glass.
Cale: Owen Forest.
Zekin went out.
Cale stood by the window.
It was dark outside.
'.......'
He replayed today's meeting in his mind.
The prince volunteered. It was as expected. Even though the child was eighteen, his calculations were precise, and precise calculators easily reached the conclusion that it was most efficient for him to go.
The problem was Hail.
He hadn't expected Hail to agree.
'Why did he agree?'
Cale thought about it for a long time.
And he found the answer.
'.......Ah.'
Cale smiled slightly.
'It's because of that child.'
The eastern edge. Below Mount Dedan.
'He wanted to send a thousand people to the place where his dead son disappeared.'
Cale looked at his own face reflected in the window.
Cale: ......Pathetic.
He said.
He didn't even know who he was talking about.