Chapter 21

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Nothing in particular. I was merely wondering what it is that you are going so far out of your way to protect. The Saintess… or perhaps something else?”

With that, Pope Blackham II slowly drank the tea that had already gone cold. Watching him, Aldridge raised one eyebrow ever so slightly, smiled faintly, and replied.

“Just as Your Holiness’s heart is always with the goddess Drāra, mine is always concerned with the welfare of the nation.”

“…Very well. Now, regarding the Saintess Investiture Ceremony, considering what I have just heard, it seems best to postpone it for the time being. Since you spoke to Marquis Blacker in that manner, I assume you intend to hold funerals for all three of them at once? In that case, we will also have to conduct the First Prince’s accession ceremony and coronation alongside them.”

He added that unless the temple hurried to begin preparations immediately, they might not make it in time, and concluded by saying that it was truly regrettable that they would be unable to ask the Saintess to attend.

Originally, the plan had been to hold the funerals for the royal consort and Second Prince, then formally invest the First Prince as crown prince. Afterward would come the king’s funeral, followed by the crown prince’s accession and coronation. However, in light of everything that had happened, Aldridge had unilaterally decided to finish all of it at once.

(Beaton and the others will probably bury me under a mountain of complaints, but so be it.)

From this point onward, the kingdom would have to mobilize all of its strength to oppose the empire. Yet after two years of magical-beast disasters had weakened the nation, Aldridge was convinced that the existence of an absolute evil would be an effective tool for uniting the country.

Therefore, by making the duke who had colluded with the empire into a scapegoat, he intended to heighten anti-imperial sentiment and use it as the driving force for what lay ahead.

Preparing the funerals of three royals, the First Prince’s accession ceremony, and his coronation all in parallel would certainly be difficult, but Aldridge was confident that he could manage it.

Moreover, this was an emergency. If they invited foreign dignitaries, there was no telling where spies might slip in. That also meant they could simply proceed on the assumption that no foreign guests would be invited at all.

“Indeed. Once the detailed schedule is finalized, I will inform you. However, if possible, I would ask that you refrain from making any plans to travel far from the capital for the next two weeks.”

It was an indirect way of saying, I will finish preparing everything within two weeks, so cooperate. Having said that much, Aldridge also moistened his throat with his now-cold tea.

Then he decided to ask the Pope something he had long wanted to know.

“By the way, I have been wondering whether Your Holiness might possess one as well.”

“One what?”

“A brooch modeled after the royal crest. Originally, four were made in total. The duke’s illegitimate son who was arrested this time possessed the one marked with the number II. A loss report for that one was filed twenty-five years ago. However, the one marked I was reported missing more than ten years before that. I wondered whether Your Holiness might possess it.”

The former duke, because of his delicate position, had always been careful when it came to women. However, tragedy struck when his wife and their second child both died during childbirth, and about three years later rumors began circulating that he had become close to another woman. That had been roughly thirty-five years ago.

The woman named in those rumors had been a Royal Court Magician skilled in earth and wind magic. However, not long afterward, she retired from service on the grounds of poor health.

Henry had once told Aldridge that the Pope bore a faint resemblance to her, which was why he had decided to ask. Yet the Pope showed not the slightest sign of agitation.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I am merely a commoner who entered the clergy because I happened to possess a little more magic than most. I could hardly possess something so grand. In any case, I shall await your notice as soon as possible.”

He stood and headed toward the door, but stopped there as though suddenly remembering something.

“Ah, yes. One request, Your Excellency. Once the suspicions against the duke’s wife and daughter have been cleared, I would like to take them into the Grand Temple’s care. Fortunately, we have a room prepared for when the Saintess visits. I thought they might spend some time there quietly.”

“…Understood. At present, nothing has surfaced indicating that either of them was involved, but I expect the questioning will take a little longer. Once it is complete, I will arrange for you to be notified.”

The Pope gave a single nod and then left without saying anything further.

From that point, Aldridge moved at once. His first step was to ask Princess Kana for help distributing letters announcing the convening of the Royal Palace Council.

The Royal Palace Council consisted of forty-two high-ranking nobles and twenty representatives selected from among the heads of the various professional guilds, for a total of sixty-two members. This time, excluding the duke, there would be sixty-one.

At present, most of the guild heads were in or near the royal capital, but among the noble councilors, only those whose territories were near the capital remained nearby. Most lords from more distant regions had returned to their own lands to deal with the magical-beast crisis. However, there was no time to wait for them to travel back to the capital.

There were two main proposals.

The first concerned the dates for the funerals of the king and the others, along with Prince William’s accession and coronation. The second concerned the punishment of those who had committed crimes in the present incident. These were matters Aldridge could not decide unilaterally, so he immediately arranged a meeting with the queen, Prince William, and Knight Commander Beaton.

As expected, Beaton showered him with complaints, but Aldridge nevertheless obtained the support of all three for every proposal.

There were also several smaller related matters, but the prince told him to handle those as he saw fit. From there, all that remained was to act without stopping.

The royal palace printing office mobilized every civil official it could spare to prepare documents detailing the incident and setting out the proposals. They also included response sheets for approval or rejection and return envelopes, placing everything inside special envelopes reserved for Royal Palace Council business and sealing them with enchanted wax that could only be opened by council members.

Afterward, Aldridge entrusted them to the princess together with maps drawn as precisely as possible. He also asked her to send letters to the same locations again later.

“To send this many, I shall need a somewhat larger Shiki. Aldridge, I will be demanding separate compensation for this.”

Princess Kana looked over the bundle of letters and maps, then laughed and agreed when Aldridge bowed his head and asked for her help.

For council members located in or near the capital, both nobles and guild heads, the same materials were delivered by members of the knight order through Beaton. It had also been deliberately planned that they would be subtly encouraged to “ask Marquis Blacker if they wished to know the details.”

Next came the temple. Aldridge sent them a schedule with a note explaining that while the decision had not yet been formally approved, it was unlikely to change, and asked them to arrange every temple-related procedure from the funerals through the coronation.

By the time all of that was finished, questions from council members in the capital had piled up like a mountain.

From among them, Aldridge selected only those from higher-ranked members and those that genuinely required answers, then orally dictated responses one after another to civil officials lined up with recording magic circles. By the time they finished everything, it was already deep into the night.

Then came the next day. From early morning onward, Princess Kana’s Shiki began returning one after another. Even while that happened, new tasks kept appearing in rapid succession, such as arranging Prince William’s ceremonial clothing and preparing notices for neighboring countries.

Anything that was not especially important or urgent was dumped onto subordinates or thrown into the pending box, while Aldridge focused solely on the highest-priority matters.

Two days later, replies had arrived from every council member. In order to demonstrate fairness, they called for as many councilors as possible to witness the opening. As a result, thirty-two council members currently in the capital gathered to observe the counting of approvals and rejections.

Several had added written objections regarding the urgency and short preparation period, but not a single person opposed the overall proposals.

With that, the dates for the funerals of the three royals, Prince William’s accession, and his coronation were officially decided, as was the hanging of former Duke Maxwell Arclight and all of his conspirators.

Aldridge was now in the underground dungeon to inform them of that decision.

Maxwell, inside his cell, had grown haggard, yet still appeared not to understand his situation. That much was evident from the fact that every day he demanded to be released, or at the very least moved to the noble guest cells.

“So you’ve finally come, Aldridge! Get me out of here at once. I’ve had enough. The air is foul, the food is terrible, and they only serve it once a day. Still, it seems you finally understand. You’ve realized who should be king of this nation. That prince is incapable of handling it…”

Aldridge cut off the former duke’s grandiose speech.

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. A man who betrayed his country, devastated its lands, harmed its people, and took their lives becoming king? Even as nonsense, that is too absurd to stomach.”

“It is not nonsense! If I become king, I will restore everything to how it was—no, I will make it prosper even more than before!”

“The lives that were lost will never return. A man who cannot even understand that belongs not on a throne, but on a gallows.”

“Gal…?”

“I came here today to inform you of precisely that. House Arclight has already had its lands confiscated and its title revoked. The council has resolved that everyone involved in this affair will be hanged. Naturally, Maxwell, that includes you.”

“That cannot possibly be allowed! I am a duke!”

“A former duke. And the council’s decision requires no one’s permission.”

The only person with the authority to object was the king, but the throne was currently vacant, and Prince William, first in the line of succession, had already approved the council’s decision.

“The sentence will be carried out after His Highness’s coronation. His first official duty as king will therefore be signing the order for your executions.”

Aldridge smiled faintly as he said it. After watching Maxwell slump down in a daze for a moment, he moved to stand before the neighboring cell.

The day after Princess Kana and the others used their trick on Darren, Maxwell had been imprisoned in the adjacent cell, yet even now, four days later, the two apparently still did not know who the other was.

(Well, we deliberately did not tell them.)

“Darren Garritson. You must have heard what I just said. Your hanging has also been decided.”

“Hey, Chancellor! Are you seriously going to pretend you still don’t know who I am?! Damn you! You know my true status and you’re trying to get rid of me anyway, aren’t you?!”

Aldridge cast a contemptuous look at the man shouting while gripping the iron bars.

“Who are you? You are the murderer who killed your cousin Cliff Stair, and an accomplice in the crimes of former Duke Arclight. We have already established that you went around burying cursed jars. We also know that you and your cousin carried out your Two Men Playing One Role scheme under the duke’s orders.”

“That’s not what I mean! I’m talking about the brooch! That…”

“Ah, that. It was reported missing by House Arclight twenty-five years ago. There is nothing strange about anyone possessing it. All the less so if that person is an accomplice in the family’s crimes.”

A sound came from the neighboring cell, apparently because Maxwell had heard those words, but Aldridge deliberately did not look in that direction.

“House Arclight? That can’t be… That was definitely the royal crest!”

“This is why commoners are troublesome. That brooch was a gift from the previous king to his younger brother when the latter married into House Arclight. In the first place, do you truly believe the royal family would use silver in its personal ornaments? Only gold is ever used for the royal crest.”

“…Then it wasn’t? Then what am I?”

“You are Darren Garritson. A criminal who murdered his cousin.”

With that final remark, Aldridge turned and left. From the neighboring cell came Maxwell’s shout, “Hey! What do you mean, ‘House Arclight’s silver brooch’?! Tell me, Aldridge!” but he ignored that as well.

(Let them torment themselves over it.)

Fewer than ten days remained until the sentences were carried out. Whether they discovered their father-and-son relationship or repented of their respective crimes made no difference whatsoever to Aldridge. The only thing that mattered was that the executions proceeded without incident.

The Babbage Trading Company had already been expelled from the Merchants’ Guild, and all of its shops had been ordered closed, but the whereabouts of its head were still unknown. Orders had been issued to arrest him as soon as he was found. In that regard, whether he was brought in alive or dead was considered irrelevant.

Likewise, the viscount and baron houses that were cadet branches of the ducal family and had cooperated with them were judged guilty of the same offenses. Their territories had been confiscated and their titles stripped.

Their wives, sons, and daughters had already had their property seized and been reduced to commoners, but most of them had since disappeared.

Aldridge was convinced that the Pope had intervened behind the scenes, but as long as they did not appear publicly again, he intended to remain silent.

(One more week. All I have to do is keep moving! Move!)

Imagining the framed picture on his desk, he encouraged himself and left the dungeon.

Once again, he asked Princess Kana to send letters announcing the council’s decision and the dates of the funerals, accession, and coronation.

At the same time, inexpensive printed sheets explaining the incident in simple terms were sold throughout the royal capital. Naturally, people were also hired to read them aloud in public.

Although many citizens were shocked by the sudden announcement of the king’s, royal consort’s, and Second Prince’s deaths, public sentiment moved largely in the direction Aldridge desired.

In other words, they came to understand that 【the cause of this tragic news was the wicked empire and the duke who joined forces with it, and that the magical beasts and mana pools that had tormented everyone for the past two years had likewise been engineered by those two parties】. And they also came to recognize that 【Prince William, who together with the Saintess had exposed the truth of the affair, would become their new king】.