The Talks Begin

After hearing Ururu’s report once more, I let out a sigh in my heart.

“Good work. If I come up with anything I want to ask, I’ll ask again, so you may relax for a while.”

“…Yes.”

The content of Ururu’s report was a summary of the current state of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, its ties to the Kingdom of Sorakil, and what the Chancellor had been doing up to now.

At present, the ones in the conference room were me, Kiriku, Ururu, and Lynferia standing by my side as my guard.

And from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, there were Efaria, Count Heldio, and one civil official from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom whose name I had forgotten.

Incidentally, as for the postwar handling of the Est Kingdom, Ilmitt had headed there in Kiriku’s place together with Viktor.

Well, there was probably no need to worry about that side.

If it was Ilmitt and Viktor, they would surely handle it well.

I steeled myself so I could focus on these talks.

“I had thought it was probably true, but… just as you heard, we have obtained confirmation that what you told us was the truth.”

Incidentally, though this was only natural, this was not the first time I had heard Ururu’s report regarding the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.

I had already heard the same content, or rather, a more detailed version of it before this meeting.

The reason I had her report it again here was to show Efaria and the others that we had investigated this much and obtained confirmation.

“It seems to include information even we could not be certain of, and information we had not yet grasped either, but…”

In addition to Ururu’s oral explanation, Efaria and the others had also been given a written report.

Looking down at it, Count Heldio spoke with visible trepidation.

Efaria sitting beside him was also staring at the documents with her eyes wide open.

“Our diplomat is excellent. She is especially good at negotiations, it seems.”

“Good at negotiations, you say… although that is certainly an essential ability for a diplomat, I do not think it is normally possible to obtain this much information from a counterpart that is not even yet a formally signed friendly nation… no, judging by the content of the information, these are matters that should not even be spoken of to outsiders in the first place…”

I thought there was quite a gap between the kind of “negotiation” our diplomat used and the kind Count Heldio meant, but naturally I did not explain that.

“No matter how much caution one takes, it is difficult to hide something once it has already happened. In the hands of Einheria’s diplomat, bringing such things to light is not difficult.”

Well, I did not know exactly how our diplomat did her work, and I did not think she accomplished it without effort, but the nuance that I placed absolute trust in the diplomats must have gotten across to both Count Heldio and Ururu.

Ururu was expressionless as always, but she somehow seemed faintly pleased.

“However, the Chancellor’s faction seems to have become rather deeply entangled with the Kingdom of Sorakil. It seems they have already exchanged pledges regarding the next Holy King as well.”

“…”

At my words, the expressions of the three from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom turned very dark.

Still, this Chancellor.

He should be the second-highest in the country… no, with a Regent there, maybe third? Well, either way, it should be a position with only a handful of people who could even be considered his peers, yet he could still so readily do something tantamount to selling out his country.

If it were because he wanted to become king himself, I still might have understood it, but… apparently he intended to remain Chancellor of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom even after handing the country over to the Kingdom of Sorakil… I truly did not understand.

It did not even seem like he wanted to gain some respectable post in the Kingdom of Sorakil, which was a larger country than the Lufelon Holy Kingdom… naturally, even our diplomats had not investigated the reason why the Chancellor was trying to do such a thing.

If we wanted to know that, we would have to negotiate with the Chancellor directly.

It was not like we were forbidden from doing that, but… there was no need to go that far just to learn why the Chancellor wanted to betray his country.

Once we intervened, the Chancellor’s fate was effectively decided anyway… and I did not particularly care to hear that the enemy had reasons too. Mentally, it was much better if an enemy I had to defeat remained overwhelmingly villainous.

Or rather, in terms of selling out one’s country, the top figure, the Holy King, had been trying to do exactly that with us. From the Chancellor’s point of view, he would probably say I had no right to talk.

“If things continue like this, the next Holy King will be that rumored prince brought in from the Kingdom of Sorakil, huh… there is a report on him as well… hmm, if this one becomes Holy King, the country looks like it would collapse in an instant.”

It did not seem to have become public, but it said he had gotten palace maids pregnant, purchased slaves and killed them under the pretense of hunting, and so on… well, for a sixteen-year-old brat, the content was pretty grotesque. Or was that adulthood in this world? Well, whatever.

Still, I had heard that maids who worked in the palace were often daughters of fairly high-ranking families… was that the case in the Kingdom of Sorakil too?

If so, it did not seem like the kind of thing that could possibly be covered up.

Well, in any case… bringing this one in either as royal consort or as king was no good… this was absolutely a coup route.

Hmm… in that case, did the Chancellor want to destroy the country?

Or perhaps he wanted to defeat a king who was clearly evil to anyone who looked and then become the next king…?

No, if this prince were killed, the Kingdom of Sorakil would not stay silent, so maybe that was not it? Besides, that felt too roundabout…

Well, it seemed the Holy Kings of past generations had often been called wise rulers, so unless they brought in some fool from elsewhere, it would be hard to obtain a legitimate cause for overthrowing one.

…No, the Chancellor’s intentions did not matter.

“There is something we had kept secret from Count Heldio and the others, but…”

“…?”

At my words, the three of them turned their faces toward me.

“At present, we have secretly placed guards on both your Regent and the Holy King-dono’s double.”

““!””

All three of them looked shocked at once, and seeing how perfectly their timing lined up, I, the Overlord, barely managed to suppress the urge to burst out laughing.

“You have planted agents in our royal castle…?”

“We have. Ah, I do not want you to misunderstand, however: we only infiltrated operatives into the royal castle of the Lufelon Holy Kingdom after you all visited our country. Naturally, we had already been gathering simple information even before that.”

“…At this point, I have no intention of condemning that. But let me ask just one thing: are the Regent and the others safe?”

Efaria… no, in this case, the Holy King. With an exceedingly serious expression, she asked me that.

“Yes. There is no problem. However, it seems that assassins were sent after the double twice.”

This was information that had not been written in the documents we had handed over earlier. When Ururu told me this beforehand, I had felt relieved in more ways than one.

However, Count Heldio clearly had not reacted the same way.

“Assassins!?”

He cried out without thinking, rising halfway from his seat.

The civil official beside him did not cry out, but his eyes were bulging so wide they looked ready to pop out.

However, both of them immediately seemed to regain themselves and bowed their heads.

“My apologies, I lost my composure.”

“There is no need to mind it. That reaction is only natural. Had you arrived in our country even a little later, you would hardly have remained calm.”

““…”””

Efaria really had been cutting it close. Well, the double who had actually been targeted by assassins had been in even greater danger, though. I really was glad we had made it in time.

Even if she was only a double… she was still a young girl. It was enough to make me admire her for being able to serve as the Holy King’s double at all.

“Incidentally, the attacks have not been made public, nor have we informed the Regent. We will likely make contact with the Regent from our side after today’s meeting is over.”

“…If the attacks have not become public knowledge… does that mean you prevented them before they happened?”

“Yes. We neutralized them immediately before the attack. We then took them prisoner and confined them so they could not even commit suicide.”

“My word…”

“As for the attackers, we can squeeze information out of them here, or we can hand them over to you without doing anything. After all, we are the ones who put operatives into your royal castle without permission. We will hand them over unconditionally as an apology.”

“N-no… we could not possibly ask you to do that much…”

Count Heldio began to shake his head with visible confusion, but I continued speaking as if to cut him off.

“It is merely a side matter. If, while the Holy King-dono is in our country, the double were to be killed back in the homeland, that would be troublesome. I simply put up precautions so that nothing strange would happen.”

When I said that with an air of it being nothing of importance, Count Heldio asked me with a serious expression.

“…If, hypothetically, we asked your side to obtain the information, would those assassins remain alive?”

“Ururu.”

“…No… problem. Heal them… make them forget… and they go back… to normal…”

How sinister!?

Heal them, make them forget, and they go back to normal!? Is that really what “normal” means!?

…Break them, heal them, and if they forget, then they go back to normal… right? …Normal… maybe… it might be… normal… yeah, that did sound normal.

Good, they were back to normal.

I felt a moment of internal conflict at Ururu’s words, but since I was broadly convinced, I let it pass.

Count Heldio also made a somewhat difficult face, but apparently he accepted it as it was.

“…I believe your country would be able to obtain information from prisoners more efficiently than we could. However, if you would permit it, even if they are merely husks after you have drained the information from them, could you please hand over the prisoners to us alive? Of course, we will offer suitable thanks.”

“Hmm, we have no problem with that at all. Did I not say we would hand them over unconditionally?”

“No… but thinking of what lies ahead…”

Did he simply not want the debt he owed us to grow too large?

But well, was that not a little late for that by now?

The point was already long past, considering that we had effectively taken their king into shelter in our country by force, or in something close to deception.

“Then let us speak of what comes next. The future of Einheria and of your Lufelon Holy Kingdom… Holy King-dono, do you remember what you said before?”

“Of course. It was a statement I made once as Holy King. I have no intention of retracting it.”

“So your thinking has not changed.”

At Efaria’s exceedingly stubborn manner, I relaxed my expression slightly into something of a wry smile.

“I would like to say naturally, but… rather, by learning more about this country, those feelings have only grown stronger.”

“That hardly sounds like the words of a Holy King. You are saying you would sell your own country.”

“For the sake of the people, would it not be better for them to be guided by a better country and a better king?”

With that, Efaria smiled softly.

She seemed to have remarkable nerve, but… well, I had only asked for the time being.

Kiriku and the others and I had already discussed what to do with the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.

“Then I shall convey our demand.”

When I said that with a tightening of my expression, the expressions of Efaria and the others also turned tense.

“We of Einheria shall take the Lufelon Holy Kingdom under our rule as a vassal state. Holy King-dono, that is our answer to your words.”