395 - Leonardo's Perspective. The Sedovara Church's Retaliation
When autumn approached, Alfred returned to the capital for the wedding at the Harvest Festival.
My hair had grown out enough, so I had left all the work at the fortress to Rannvald.
I took care of work that did not require showing my face at the residence, but Alf had taken over things like appearing in public to command the Black Knights or patrolling the city.
...A year since Tina was taken, huh.
There was a commotion at the Harvest Festival, and Tina, who was injured, was taken from the Sedovara Church where she should have been left in their care.
By the time I realized Tina had been taken, all that remained was Kalisa's body, who should have been with her, and what seemed to be the culprit's finger and ring.
The guard dog I had set on Tina still had lingering paralysis from poison and struggled even to walk, and Aaron, who had been assigned as her guard, had recovered enough to walk on his own but was nearly blind.
Both had recovered compared to when they were first found, but honestly, it was hard to say they had recovered to their original state or anywhere close.
...I should be able to head out soon.
My hair had grown, so I was ready for a disguise.
Conveniently, Jean-Jacques had also returned.
I had carefully gathered information, and for details about the fallen kingdom, I had relied on Claudine, who was in the Divine King's Domain of Quebia.
With her tenacity, she should be able to find information faster, more accurately, and in greater volume than if I went directly to Quebia myself to search for materials.
That being the case, I thought it was about time to go after Tina and enter the Zugari Empire.
Once Alfred returned from the capital, I wanted to leave the rest to him and head for the Zugari Empire.
"Moving within the Kingdom of Saenard went frighteningly smoothly. ...Or rather, it went so much more easily than usual that it was scary."
After the Harvest Festival ended, Cody returned from the Divine King's Domain of Quebia via the Zugari Empire.
He seemed to have traveled safely within the Kingdom of Saenard and kept tilting his head in puzzlement.
At the border, where even their own nationals were checked to some degree, he said they were allowed through with barely any inspection this time.
Cody looked puzzled about what kind of connections had been used, but I kept quiet about that.
There was no doubt that the Court was an acquaintance of mine, but it was better not to publicize that there was a friendship between me and the Court.
That was for both our sakes.
"The sales of the guidebook within the Kingdom of Saenard went frighteningly well, but..."
"An acquaintance probably spread rumors in advance. After all, in the Kingdom of Ivizia, a princess famous for her beauty like a goddess wore it at her wedding."
To Cody, who found it strange that bobbin lace was spreading too quickly, I replied that it was not that surprising.
Alfred had deliberately promoted bobbin lace and used Felicia to spread it throughout the kingdom.
It would not be strange if an acquaintance in a key position in a neighboring country had picked up rumors about bobbin lace itself.
If they knew about bobbin lace even as a rumor, they would notice Alfred moving to spread it, and from there, they could connect it to me and Tina as well.
It was nothing special. It was just an acquaintance's way of supporting me regarding the William incident.
"I wanted to report that I have safely delivered the items Lord Alfred asked for... but where is Lord Alfred?"
"Alfred is in the capital now. Since the wedding was supposed to be at the Harvest Festival, the wedding itself should already be over."
Alfred was probably in the capital promoting bobbin lace as a final push.
Even though bobbin lace was already known in the Kingdom of Saenard and had been carried all the way to the Divine King's Domain of Quebia, I wondered if there was any need for more promotion. But if Alfred thought it was necessary, then it probably was.
For my part, it looked like demand for the guidebook in the Zugari Empire would arise sooner than expected, which was all the better.
"It seems Lord Remihio took a liking to Aurelian lace, and he had portraits of himself wearing the lace printed."
Alfred had apparently been aiming for a promotional effect from Remihio, and Remihio seemed to have picked up on that intention. His actions were frighteningly fast.
He had Cody carry his own portraits as merchandise and had already conducted promotion in the Zugari Empire.
Thanks to that, while the central part of the Empire was one thing, it seemed bobbin lace's recognition had risen in the northern region.
Speaking of the northern region, it overlapped with the area where the aforementioned fallen kingdom had existed, so it was a sufficient achievement for the purpose of using bobbin lace.
"Also, this is the report I received from the priestess of the War God Herkeles's temple."
What Cody handed over with a "Here you go" was a thick bundle of papers.
Considering the time it took to travel back and forth, I could not imagine he had stayed in the Divine King's Domain of Quebia for long, but even so, it was an incredible amount.
"...She was reliable when you entrusted her with paperwork."
She was a princess born into royalty, who had at one time received an education aiming to obtain a Royal Peerage.
In the end, she did not choose the path of engaging in state affairs or territory management, but she undoubtedly possessed excellent abilities as a civil official.
She was good at extracting key points from materials and excelled at summarizing them concisely.
...If only she had not gotten involved with me, she would have become a Royal Peerage supporting Christoph-sama, like Felicia-sama.
She was a princess with an extremely brilliant mind, but she openly declared that she had no intention of using that brilliance for anything other than my sake, and when her troublesome royal personality ran wild, she would go to the extreme of spending five thousand gold coins on a single painting.
She was someone who, by a hair's breadth, leaned heavily toward the troublesome side.
"On Lady Claudine's instructions, I scouted out several territories."
I received additional information from Cody while looking over the report that Claudine had compiled.
As expected of her, it seemed Claudine had sent Cody ahead to places she felt had insufficient information.
I really did think she would have become a reliable Royal Peerage if she had not gotten involved with me.
"The current lord of Augun is an elderly woman, and she governs her territory conscientiously for the Empire, huh. That is rare, a lord in the Empire adjusting taxes based on the circumstances of the people."
"The lord of Augun seemed to be beloved by the people. On the other hand, the lord of Slaurum had a bad reputation. As a branch family, it seems they sometimes ask the lord of Augun for loans, and they are apparently carrying debt from the previous generation's time."
Perhaps because Remihio's portraits had become a topic of conversation, it seemed that by the time Cody passed through the northern region, messengers from nobles interested in bobbin lace had come to visit him.
He said he had been told to be sure to stop by their territories once he obtained the guidebook.
"...Did you come across anyone who had bobbin lace?"
"No. I did not hear anything like that. Just as Lady Christina refrained from wearing it after being chased by a strange merchant, perhaps they are keeping it stored away, thinking it can bring misfortune."
"If that is the case, we really have no choice but to let them find us."
I had thought that if they were acquaintances of Aurelia, they might lend us a hand, but it did not seem we would find them that conveniently.
According to Alfred, there were not even five people to whom Aurelia had given bobbin lace.
If they felt indebted to Aurelia, I believed they would definitely help with Tina's plight, but it was impossible to rely on people we could not find.
Even if the five Alfred mentioned were found, if they were not from the Zugari Empire, they would not be of much help this time.
"Lord Remihio sent word that the 'Spirit's Seat' remaining in Quebia has definitely been destroyed."
"They managed to destroy the 'Spirit's Seat' in Quebia... I heard even adults could not break it in Gumons."
The fact that they could destroy a 'Spirit's Seat' that even adults could not break in Gumons meant there was probably a Spirit's Favored Child in Quebia too.
I received word that Nils, whom I sent to Gumons, had destroyed the 'Spirit's Seat' without difficulty, and the common point between Nils and Tina was that they were 'Spirit's Favored Children.'
Since they could destroy it in Quebia as well, there must have been a Spirit's Favored Child there.
"...But that means half of the 'Spirit's Seats' are left now."
"Half?"
"According to what Tina heard from the Divine King, there are six in total... What is wrong?"
"No, the Divine King-sama... From the myths..."
"Yeah. That is the Divine King, no mistake..."
We both tilted our heads, feeling something was off.
It felt like our conversation was slightly out of sync.
As far as I was concerned, I was just casually talking about what I had heard from Tina, but Cody had an indescribably puzzled look on his face.
"...Cody, did you not know why Tina was taken?"
"In the first place, what exactly is Lady Christina? She is Lord Leonardo's sister, but she is not a princess who is Lord Alfred's sister, right? Lord Remihio called her a saintly woman, but...?"
"Tina and I are brother and sister through our name-giver. Lord Remihio calling Tina a saintly woman is probably because she has met the Divine King several times."
"Huh? Not the acting king Lord Remihio?"
"According to Tina, it is the Divine King from the myths. At the Recollection Festival in the capital, he took Tina away twice."
Since taking Tina in, I had had many strange experiences. I counted them on my fingers.
The first strange experience was on the night of the Divine King Festival.
Tina, who should have been in the city of Grenore, appeared inside the hearth of the Mandez residence, far away.
If I were to count the next strange thing, it would be the kidnapping in Lagarette.
It was as if to stall the kidnapper who had taken Tina, the carriage wheel came off, and a large tree fell across the road blocking the way.
She said she met the Divine King at the Recollection Festival where she first participated as a Spirit's Favored Child, but since Tina had not moved from her spot, I could not tell if she really met him or not.
However, I remembered Tina and Remihio eating flavorless egg sandwiches with indescribable expressions on their faces.
At the Recollection Festival in the capital, she was taken away twice.
The first time, she vanished before Alfred's eyes and returned to the 'Spirit's Seat' beneath the royal castle.
The second time, she vanished before my eyes and returned to the 'Spirit's Seat' beneath the royal castle, covered in blood.
Tina explained her injuries by saying she had incurred a spirit's wrath, but it seemed that later, that same spirit came to treat her injuries as well.
Spirit's Favored Children appeared rarely, but a Favored Child as involved with spirits as Tina was probably rare.
"...So Lady Christina was taken because she was a saintly woman beloved by the Divine King."
"Huh? The reason someone would kidnap Tina is because she is a reincarnator who can read Japanese, is it not?"
"Huh? Reincarnator?"
"A reincarnator, yeah. The Sedovara Church said they wanted to revive Saint Yuuta Hiraga's secret arts, did they not?"
"Yes. And so Lady Christina was going to get the necessary ingredients and... Huh? Wait? So that means Lady Christina was the reincarnator reading Saint Yuuta Hiraga's prescriptions at the Sedovara Church?!"
Cody's mouth fell open as he blinked.
I had thought there was some discrepancy in our understanding, but I had not realized he knew nothing about Tina.
But indeed, neither I nor Alfred had gone out of our way to spread information about Tina.
"Huh? Ah, whaaat!? This is bad! We have to rescue Lady Christina!!"
"That is what I have been looking into now, but..."
"This is serious! If there is anything I can do, please tell me. I will do anything."
Cody, who seemed to have had some interaction with Aurelia, appeared to understand Tina's importance just from the fact that she was a reincarnator who could read Japanese.
He also realized that the revival of Saint Yuuta Hiraga's secret arts had halted due to Tina's kidnapping, and started complaining about the kidnapper.
How many lives that could have been saved, he said, would be lost because they took Tina.
"...Ah. But, that explains it. Why some pharmacists were moving from the Zugari Empire to Quebia."
"What do you mean?"
"I saw it while traveling within the Empire. The Sedovara Church was gradually moving pharmacists to Quebia. With just one or two, I thought their training period had ended, you know? But in small towns, the Sedovara Church was sometimes completely empty."
Tina had been taken from the Sedovara Church and was missing.
Therefore, to prove they had not been complicit in the kidnapping, the Sedovara Church had been cooperative with the search for Tina from the start.
I wanted a lot of information, so I had passed on whatever I could from my side to the Sedovara Church as well, but this was probably the effect of telling them that the westward-facing Adorutoru crest was a crest used by the fallen kingdom swallowed by the Empire.
It seemed the Sedovara Church had begun sanctions against the entire Zugari Empire, thinking that if it was someone from the Zugari Empire who had taken Tina.
"That is way too hasty, even for them. The clue to the culprit was indeed a crest from the northern Empire, but it has not been decided yet that this is a nationwide kidnapping."
As her brother, taking Tina was an unforgivable outrage, but that did not mean I could accept effects spilling over to people other than the culprit.
If it was a national crime, I could understand the Sedovara Church's sanctions, but it was not clear yet whether the culprit was an individual or the Empire itself.
Carrying out retaliation that would affect all the Empire's citizens was premature, not just a little, but far too much.
...It was bad for the effects to reach innocent people.
Even if they were citizens of the Empire, they would not want to lose their pharmacists due to a kidnapping they had nothing to do with.
It did not seem they had struck back by suddenly pulling all their pharmacists, but if even one pharmacist disappeared from a small town, even gradually, that would become a major problem.
In a way, it was a threat from the Sedovara Church to the Zugari Empire.
They were saying, give Tina back, using the people's lives as a shield.
...I think this is going to backfire.
If the Zugari Empire as a nation had kidnapped Tina, since they would know they did it, it might serve as a deterrent. Though I thought that possibility was extremely low.
However, if the Empire as a nation had absolutely no recollection of this, the existence of the reincarnator would instead become known.
If Tina was taken from the individual kidnapper to the Empire as a nation before we could find her, it would become even harder to get Tina back.
...The Sedovara Church was too short-sighted.
From altering Tina's letter and angering Aurelia, to someone pocketing the embroidered handkerchief Tina had sewn for Aurelia, it felt like there were many people in the Sedovara Church who took short-sighted actions.
This retaliation was the same.
Whether they intended to earn Tina's favor or it was retaliation for someone picking a fight with the Sedovara Church, either way, it was not the kind of action someone with influence in the church should take.
...Why did I, whose little sister had been taken, have to worry about the Empire's citizens?
The ones I should hate were the culprits who took Tina, not the Empire's citizens.
That is what I thought, but it did not sit right with me that I, the victim's brother, was acting for the Empire's sake.
It did not sit well with me, but I could not leave it alone either, so I picked up my pen.
I needed to confirm the facts, and if the retaliation was indeed happening, I had to stop it immediately.
Alfred became married without anyone noticing.
It seems the mystery of Lady Tina's identity, which had been left unresolved in Cody's mind, was finally revealed.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.