“… by developing military weapons that use mana stone as the energy source.”

“Yes. You are telling me we should not have people killed and try to save them as much as possible but, to be honest, you have already been spending blood money. What you wear, what you eat, even what you sleep on. Everything has been bought with blood. That is how Claymore earns its money. Make the other kingdoms bleed to feed its own people.”

Rubica felt like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water on her. Edgar tried his best not to scold her and say the truth, but it was no good. Rubica felt like he was shouting right next to her ear, telling her to get rid of that hypocrisy.

The lips that had desperately moved to convince him were now shut tightly. She wasn’t ignorant enough to tell him to stop developing weapons then.

There were always small and big wars in the world. In the south of the continent, monsters and humans were still fighting, and some kingdoms were in long wars about their rights of inheritance.

The kingdom of Seritos was rather safe from the wars as it was at the end of the continent and was surrounded by the Seris Mountains, Ios’ territory on the bottom and Iber’s on top.

Except for the fact that the kingdom lacked food because dragon Ios now had all the fertile land, it had been one of the few peaceful kingdoms for centuries.

‘And, its only and biggest problem, lack of food, was solved through selling the military weapons developed by Claymore.’

Claymore’s immense wealth had been built on wars and blood. However, ironically, the kingdom’s people were able to not starve to death thanks to that blood money. And, Rubica couldn’t say she wasn’t benefiting from it.

More than half of what she had eaten from childhood had been imported. Without Claymore, she would have starved to death before even turning ten.

Rubica looked at Edgar sitting on the opposite sofa. He looked quite stern. He was probably thinking she was just a naïve idealist, but she didn’t want to give up yet. Not yet…

She wanted to convince him more. She still believed he could think of a good way, and she didn’t want to miss the chance to save lives just because she would be considered stubborn and naïve.

“I… I know many people in this kingdom will starve to death without Claymore’s weapons. I won’t ask you to stop making weapons, but can’t we at least minimalize the casualties? If we don’t get mana quartz, we can save twenty to a thousand lives. I, I’m not as smart as you, but… I’ll help you to find a good way. We will find a way if we work together, and I believe you will find a good way.”

“And why should I do that?”

The voice sounded so tired. His blue eyes were now colder than winter itself. Rubica could no longer find the warmth of spring and sunlight she had sometimes seen in those eyes.

“… Edgar.”

“Finding and getting mana quartz is part of the family’s long tradition. Many relatives are also proud of it.”

“But…”

“You talked of another way? Of course, I can find another way to test the weapon’s efficiency and safety, but the tradition started because of the promotion effect that fighting the dragons’ underlings bring. Rubica have you heard of the tradition’s history?”

Rubica shook her head. In a kingdom where women were thought to be homemakers and homemakers only, a woman could only get limited education. Claymore was rather an exception for teaching classics and history to its ward regardless of their gender.

Most women would get basic education and that was it. Moreover, that basic education meant knowing enough to read ‘The Ladies’ Guide’ and write one’s name. To women, learning to embroider their families’ clothes and learning to play the piano to entertain them in winter and on festival days were much more important than learning history.

Rubica had learned a lot more than most ladies or prestigious ladies while helping her merchant father and hearing about trade and calculation. However, that wasn’t proper education.

About Claymore’s start, she knew simple facts on the book of nobles and part about the kingdom’s legend. She didn’t know the details.

“Do you think Claymore’s weapons always sold well? What kind of crazy king would buy untested weapons made by an inventor at the end of the continent? Currently, everyone knows mana stone has a great amount of energy but, back then, it was just a black rock.”

Edgar blurted that out and gulped down the rest of the drink Rubica had poured out for him earlier. It was bitter. It had turned cold and the scent of cinnamon he hated was now even stronger.

Rubica looked even sadder at seeing him frown. Her eyes were wet. It made Edgar want to shout he was sorry, and she could do as she wanted.

However, he couldn’t afford to be weak now. If he couldn’t stop her, he would have to see those wild-dog like relatives bite her off. No, he couldn’t see that.

It would be better to hurt her himself, he couldn’t bring others into it.

“After the first Claymore finished making his weapon, he decided he couldn’t sell it at a high price by fighting monsters in a rather safer area. So, he joined forces with the king and led knights to a dragon’s territory. Everyone said it was crazy and they were going straight to their death, but they were about to starve to death anyway in winter if they failed to sell weapons. So, they were brave.

“And, do you know what happened? They defeated the strong ogre captain that even the bravest knights couldn’t defeat and killed multiple griffins that used to bite and kill countless peasants.

“Now, no one is afraid of such monsters but, at the time, even the Reta Empire, the strongest nation of all, had to gather many armies to fight those things. Claymore, however, defeated all of them at once with less than 50 of the king’s knights.”

It was a story Edgar had always heard as he grew up. His relatives also heard the story that had been passed down from generation after generation. They were proud of that story and loved it.

Their ancestor hadn’t been just an inventor. He had been a great man who was courageous enough to willingly choose death during the moment between life and death.

That story was carved on many Claymore’s hearts and left an indestructible pride and honor. That pride had turned firm in a thousand years’ time.

They could turn into mad dogs if anyone tried to break that firm pride.

“Words spread and the first Claymore’s weapons were sold at an extremely high price. The demand was so high that they had to work all day and night in the factories. Thanks to that weapon, they could import wheat, and that year no one starved to death in Seritos for the first time ever.

“If the monsters the first Claymore defeated had just been ordinary monsters instead of the dragon’s underlings, that wouldn’t have happened.”

Rubica looked down. She could see Edgar wasn’t going to side with her, and she could understand him.

Still, she wanted to convince him. However, no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t find any good words to convince him.

Rubica could see it was time to back off and, although her head ordered so, her heart didn’t move.

‘I’m being stubborn. I must… give up now.’

However, she just couldn’t bring herself to say she understood Edgar’s reasons. She bit her shaking lips hard and looked down.

She didn’t dare to see Edgar’s blue eyes anymore. She didn’t want to act like a little girl in front of him. It was time to behave like an adult.

There were many things that no one could change in this world, and even she hadn’t lived a perfectly clean life.

Edgar was only doing his best at his position.

‘However, this isn’t the time of the first Claymore. Everybody now knows the greatness of the mana stone’s energy and Claymore’s weapons effectiveness.’

No matter how hard she tried to console herself, she couldn’t stop asking herself that question.

‘Do we really have to risk lives? Isn’t there a safer way?’

In the end, tears started to form in her big eyes. Emotions weren’t something she couldn’t easily control, even at her old age.

Being an adult, being mature. Sometimes she just didn’t know what those things were.

She just couldn’t accept it. Was it really mature to just back off despite all that?

In the end, she couldn’t hold it in and drops of tears fell from her eyes. No matter how many times she told herself she had to accept the sad reality, she couldn’t think about the people who were about to die to get mana quartz and their families who were about to lose their loved ones.