Chapter 57 - Episode 28 (Interlude: In the Royal Castle Conference Room)
On that day, the royal castle was shaken to its core.
News had arrived that the head of House Fruitier, one of the long-standing prestigious families, had met a mysterious death.
Furthermore, the eldest son and heir of House Fruitier was missing.
To make matters worse, the Fruitier warehouses had been engulfed in flames, and their winery had suffered devastating damage due to a massive slime outbreak. Other reports included the brutal slaughter of a merchant ship's crew, a villa being burned down, and servants going missing... After a string of misfortunes, House Fruitier had fallen into ruin.
However, the series of calamities occurring in such rapid succession made everyone intuitively feel that this was not something that could be dismissed as mere 'bad luck.'
...Yes. These events certainly made one feel the presence of someone's malice lurking behind them.
And if there were a master behind this malice... there was only one candidate.
The girl who had insulted the Royal Family upon the execution platform, thrown the populace into chaos, and—impossibly—managed to escape from the platform itself.
Violia Nico Fortesia, also known as 'The girl who sold her soul to the devil.'
Whispers were spreading through the royal castle, claiming she was the very person who had brought this disaster upon House Fruitier.
"...How could this be?"
the King lamented upon receiving the news of House Fruitier's downfall.
For over half a year now, nothing good had happened. Ever since House Fortesia fell, the country had been slowly but steadily sinking into an abyss of chaos.
...Of course, the Royal Family had not been idle. When they had pressured the Guild in Elsemarin to obtain clues regarding Violia Nico Fortesia, they had managed to capture Violia Nico Fortesia herself with the Guild's cooperation.
In addition to obtaining a fine of one Black Gold Coin from the Elsemarin Guild, the internal conflict caused by rebel elements within the Guild in Elsemarin had been successfully suppressed by a mysterious knight. Now, Elsemarin was operating with its original tranquility and even greater order than before.
Yes. There had certainly been some successes.
...However, the Violia Nico Fortesia they had gone to such lengths to capture had audaciously insulted the Royal Family on the execution platform, spat out words of a curse, and finally vanished without a trace.
The Black Gold Coin collected from the Guild had apparently been swapped when it was snatched from the soldiers' hands during transport; upon appraisal, it was discovered to be counterfeit.
The Elsemarin Guild remained the only success, but many mysteries lingered, such as why the rebel elements had risen up and who the mysterious knight who saved Elsemarin from the rebellion actually was.
And there were two more things troubling the King.
One was the corruption of the nobility, particularly in the provinces.
...It seemed that recently, drugs had been spreading among the nobles. Since the provinces lacked proper entertainment, it might be inevitable for an evil presence like drugs to proliferate. However, if drugs were spreading, there had to be someone selling them. If there was someone dealing illegal drugs and reaping exorbitant profits, the state had to capture and punish them.
Yet, they could not be found.
If drugs were being cultivated on a large scale, there should be drug fields somewhere. And yet, no such sightings had been reported.
Furthermore, drugs based on magic potions seemed to be circulating as well, but they hadn't even been able to analyze those. They had no idea where, by whom, or how they were being manufactured.
Plant-based drugs and potion-based drugs. It was hard to believe the two were the same, but neither could be located. This was a grave situation.
The other issue was the mysterious mass outbreaks of slimes.
The memory of slimes covering the entire town of Poaris was still fresh, but since then, mass outbreaks of slimes had been confirmed here and there. This time, the Fruitier winery had suffered catastrophic damage, and the cause was also crop damage by slimes.
...Here, too, no progress had been made in determining the cause.
To begin with, the ecology of slimes was not well understood. They were weak creatures that didn't serve as resources; they simply multiplied and died off randomly. While there was some research into the uses of their mucus, no one would ever think to study the ecology of slimes themselves.
Consequently, the cause of the mass outbreaks was completely unknown.
Without knowing the cause, no countermeasures could be taken. Currently, the Royal Family was forced into a reactive stance, increasing production of slime repellent and spraying it whenever an outbreak occurred.
"The populace is expressing outrage over the damage caused by the mass slime outbreaks. They say there are no countermeasures and the soldiers' response is too slow... Furthermore, due to the words Violia Nico Fortesia spoke on the execution platform, it seems the people's antipathy toward the Royal Family has been stoked..."
"Silence! Any more of that and I shall deem it an insult to the Royal Family!"
When the King barked, the minister trembled and fell silent.
...the King understood that it wasn't the minister's fault and that what the minister said was the truth.
However, he could not help the mounting frustration and irritation. the King was being cornered to that extent.
"...The slimes are more troublesome than expected. The people's anger would not have reached this point if not for the mass slime outbreaks..."
It was hard to believe the slime outbreaks were man-made. Regarding the mass slime outbreaks, which were like a type of natural disaster, no one could be held responsible.
In that case... the people's anger would turn toward the 'State.'
Why are there no countermeasures? Why is the cause unknown? What about compensation?
The voices of the people reached the King like a collective tantrum. Voice called to voice, and the people's anger had risen to a level that could no longer be ignored.
"If only Violia Nico Fortesia weren't here...!"
...The cause of the people's anger was undoubtedly the slimes. Or perhaps the heinous criminals who had escaped prison and the numerous incidents they brought about were also causes.
But.
The reason they had 'begun to raise their voices'... he didn't want to admit it, but it was surely Violia Nico Fortesia.
The words Violia Nico Fortesia had uttered on the execution platform had spread like a curse, leading this entire country toward chaos.
...Yes. It was a curse.
The situation that refused to improve, the numerous incidents, and the downfall of House Fruitier.
He couldn't help but feel that everything was the curse of Fortesia.
"...Father. First, we must do something about the people's anger before dealing with the Fortesia girl."
At the statement from one of the princes, the King nodded.
He didn't want to think about Violia Nico Fortesia right now. He didn't have the time. After all, the anger of the masses tended to swell quite selfishly and capriciously, and before one knew it, it would reach a point of no return.
"You are right. ...Everyone. Does anyone have a good idea?"
Taking the prince's words, the King looked around the conference room.
Gathered in the room were the King, the princes and princesses, ministers, aides, experts, castle officials, and influential nobles... but everyone was merely looking at one another and whispering.
After all, there couldn't possibly be a 'good idea.'
There was no proper way to suppress the people's anger.
...However.
"Wouldn't it be nice if there was a festival or something to brighten everyone's spirits~?"
Someone appeared who said such a carefree thing.
"...Amavire Rent. What do you mean by that?"
"Eh~? Well, isn't everyone just lacking energy because nothing good is happening~? So, wouldn't it be better to do something fun~?"
...One couldn't help but think how carefree she was.
The one who made the out-of-place remark, Amavire Rent, was a former clerk of the Elsemarin Guild.
She had brought information about Violia Nico Fortesia, and from her statement that 'the Elsemarin Guild was protecting Violia Nico Fortesia and surely still has ties to her,' they had proceeded to investigate the Elsemarin Guild. As a result, they had forced the Guild staff to cooperate and succeeded in capturing Violia Nico Fortesia, albeit temporarily.
...However, despite being the person who brought such information, she was a commoner. She apparently understood nothing of politics, and every time she spoke in a meeting until now, a strange atmosphere had filled the conference room.
But there was a reason they kept her here.
It was to spread the truth to the commoners that 'she, who brought information on Violia Nico Fortesia, has been taken into the royal castle and is living a considerably good life for a commoner.'
The commoners would look at Amavire Rent and think, 'If I get information on Violia Nico Fortesia, I can live a good life.' Thus, they would move the commoners to search for Violia Nico Fortesia.
She was personnel for that purpose—in other words, bait. However... a commoner's perspective could sometimes be useful.
"Are~? Did I say something strange~?"
"No... it is a good opinion."
A festival, huh.
the King suddenly thought.
The method of quelling anger by providing entertainment to the masses was effective in its own way.
If possible, he had wanted that entertainment to be the 'public execution of Violia Nico Fortesia,' but...
"We shall hold this year's Kingdom Festival on a grand scale. We shall give the people entertainment."
the King made his decision.
the King himself was feeling depressed. Putting aside bloody talk, it would be fine to have something that could be enjoyed grandly. Since Amavire was saying this, the people must feel the same way.
...And perhaps, it might serve as bait to lure out Violia Nico Fortesia.
With such faint hopes, the King began to roughly plan the festival as a form of escapism.