kscans

Chapter 109 - Chapter 10. What Was Left Behind

Thump!

The thick wooden tabletop trembled.

"You're telling me they couldn't even touch Bertold's walls? Impossible! What kind of magic did Craig use?"

Biral's furious voice echoed through the top floor of the Imperial Residence in the early morning. The man in the black robe who had reported the outcome of the Castle-Eating Worm operation, Dagolius, a man with the official title of an Imperial merchant, calmly absorbed his superior's anger.

"It seems they used the timber we had transported to Bertold as a marker."

"But that would be impossible unless they had a complete understanding of the worm's biology, one even deeper than our own."

Biral's face twisted in astonishment at the explanation of using the wood to lure and incinerate the worms. It meant their own strategy had been completely turned against them. For Biral, who had used the carriage race to scatter the monster's spores, it was the same story. But there was a more important report to make now.

"Craig will be returning to the Royal Capital far sooner than we anticipated."

At his subordinate's words, Biral struggled to unclench his fist.

"...If they knew the connection between the timber and the worms, then they've realized it was our operation."

"There can be no doubt. It seems most of the Knight Order's units have been left between Bertold and the Royal Capital under the pretext of mopping up the remaining monsters."

"...I will take the letters from our main collaborators and the information on operational locations for our units in the kingdom. Dispose of everything else."

His superior made the decision to escape in an instant.

"I will remain undercover in the kingdom," Dagolius said.

As his superior understood, Craig's strategy this time had been clearly unorthodox. The common wisdom was to fight monsters with magic. But this time, Craig had defeated the giant monsters using almost no magic at all. For Dagolius, who had long been troubled by the gap between the Knight Order's strength and their actual results in dragon subjugations, this was an inconsistency he could not ignore.

"...I can't tell you not to push yourself if you are to cross the River of Hope. But do not forget that your knowledge and experience are assets to be utilized after we have crossed that river."

Dagolius nodded at his superior's words.

"Your Excellency, there are suspicious movements around the residence. I believe we are being monitored by the Royal Guard," a maid reported as she opened the door.

"So they've already made their move. Prepare a carriage. Once we're out of the Royal Capital, we can manage somehow."

Biral took a double-locked box from a drawer and tossed its contents into the fireplace. Then, he returned to his desk and began wrestling with a bundle of letters.

"What shall we do about the Imperial Princess?" the maid asked.

"We have few means of transport near the Royal Capital. We can't take any dead weight. ...No, that's right. Prepare another carriage," Biral said dismissively as he threw the bundle of papers into the fireplace.

◇◇

"Is this it?" I asked the butler who had guided me.

It was the Grand Duchess's residence, a place I knew well, though I wish I didn't. Still, this was the first time I'd ventured this deep inside. At the end of the corridor, a heavy door illuminated by candlelight seemed to intimidate the commoner that I was.

The butler simply bowed in silence. It seemed he was telling me to hurry.

When I opened the door, I saw a round table in the center of the room. Euphillia and Craig were already seated. I wish they'd show a little more consideration for a commoner. This feels like a part-timer waltzing late into a board meeting with the top brass.

Just as I was about to sigh, I noticed another person in the room. An old man I didn't recognize. ...No, he was an old man I had seen once before, in the audience chamber.

A prince and a grand duchess are one thing, but please spare me the duke...

This was no time to get things mixed up.

...Now that the Empire's hostility is clear, I guess they can't worry about maintaining a balance.

Before me was a gathering of members you probably couldn't assemble even for a council before the king. The commander of the Anti-Monster Knight Order, the most powerful military force in the kingdom and the Third Prince. The Grand Duchess who governs the west, which is set to become the future economic heart of the kingdom. And the Duke who stands at the pinnacle of the nation's government.

There were four seats around the table, and one was empty.

I wonder whose seat that is? I glanced back at the door. Don't tell me the king is coming too.

The Grand Duchess pointed to the empty seat with her feathered fan. See, I'm telling you, be a little more considerate of commoners. I'd be far more at ease if I were left standing.

I'll never listen to Noel complain again about becoming an apprentice court magician over all her seniors. Same goes for Fulsy, who says he doesn't want to be ennobled for this achievement.

Oh, right. I'd love to show Sherry this grand spectacle. I bet she'd get a real kick out of this.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and sit down."

"Yes..."

I clutched the papers in my hand as the old man's glare bore down on me. Well, having the Chancellor here isn't a bad thing. It would be no exaggeration to say the figures I have here are of the utmost importance.

"——And that concludes the report on the recent monster subjugation," Craig said.

"Two villages in the west have been effectively lost. And while the villages themselves are intact, five others have had parts of their farmland carved away," the Grand Duchess added.

"...It is fortunate that the Knight Order suffered no losses. And it is a relief that the damage to the farming villages remains within a manageable scope," the Chancellor remarked.

"I am the one who will be managing it, however," Euphillia said.

The Chancellor's expression didn't change at the words from Craig and the Grand Duchess. But suddenly, his sharp gaze shot toward me.

"And this boy planned the entire thing?"

"That's right. The discovery of the Mucus, the extermination of the Mucus before they could grow, thereby preventing the emergence of giant monsters, and the subjugation of the two monsters that did appear. It was all Ricardo's strategy."

"It was all thanks to the valor of Prince Craig, the prophetic power of Princess Alfina, and the prestige of the Grand Duchess. And the great sage Fulsy-sama, and the apprentice court magician Noel, and, um, the Transportation Guild..."

"It's as if you knew everything in advance. I find I have no choice but to be suspicious," the Chancellor said, ignoring my desperate attempts to name anyone but myself.

Well, anyone with a decent brain would think so. But I can't very well say I knew about slime molds before I was even born, can I?

"I understand how the Chancellor feels. But the one possibility we can rule out is this one being a pawn of the Empire."

"Indeed. Everything Ricardo has done up to this point could be considered an obstruction to the Empire. If Ricardo had done nothing at all, both the east and west of the kingdom would have suffered a huge blow, a fatal one for the west in particular. More to the point, what of the Chancellor, who so brilliantly let the Imperial envoy escape?" Craig changed the subject with a sarcastic tone.

"This may sound like an excuse, but I did not anticipate they would use the Imperial Princess as a decoy. However, the Royal Guards who entered the residence did obtain some of their confidential materials."

"A sacrificial pawn of a girl who was likely told nothing, and encrypted documents that cannot be read, I presume. Besides, I hear it was the First Knight Order that secured the Imperial Princess," Euphillia said cuttingly.

So, in the kingdom's way of thinking, using an Imperial Princess as a decoy was completely outside their expectations.

"The prince who laid a trap on the road to the great river also let them get away, so we are in the same boat," the Chancellor retorted.

"We did spot them, but they fled at a speed we couldn't possibly match on horseback in the dead of night," Craig explained to me. The knights had found an abandoned carriage near a forest north of the capital. They had searched the area with all their might, but had only managed to catch a glimpse of figures running off into the darkness. Apparently, it wasn't the carriage they had been in.

"Um, excuse me..." I raised my hand timidly. The prince, the grand duchess, and the duke all looked at me.

"Around the carriage, could you have someone look for, well, any unusual tracks, or droppings, that sort of thing?"

"For what reason?"

I remembered what Dolph had told me before I left Bertold. The undercarriage of the Imperial carriage was made entirely of metal, and there were signs that the position of the triple tree had been changed. In other words, it was over-engineered for a horse-drawn vehicle.

"This is just a hunch, but maybe there are three-toed footprints, or white droppings. There probably won't be many, but if you could cooperate with local hunters..."

"I'll arrange it at once."

Craig nodded. The droppings in particular would be important.

"Now then, with that information shared, let us move on to the main topic. The Empire's next move," Craig said.

"To unleash monsters upon the kingdom is an unforgivable act. Setting that aside, I find it difficult to understand what they are thinking. The Empire must constantly devote forces to fighting monsters. To take the risk of antagonizing the kingdom, on which they rely for their food supply, is..." the Chancellor trailed off.

"...Um, about that, just a moment."

"There is no need to ask for permission for every little thing."

"No, I'm being reserved because I'm a commoner. This situation is a form of bullying, you know," I said to Euphillia. Does she have any idea what it's like to be walking on eggshells, choosing every word so carefully? Thanks to her, I think I just broke through the ice.

"...This is the achievement of the great sage Fulsy-sama and his disciples, the alchemists Noel and Mia. We were able to extract a record of the Empire's magic vein activity from the timber sold to Bertold to attract the monsters. Of course, it is only a record from one region, but another piece of timber we acquired through the Kenwell Company showed the same trend. This is a summary of that data."

I spread a graph out on the table. A record of the Empire's magic vein activity for the past seventy years. This graph was the star of this meeting.

Every eye was glued to the single sheet of paper. Silence fell over the table. The flickering candlelight cast the still shadows of the three figures onto the wall.

"So, it wouldn't be surprising if they were to invade tomorrow," Euphillia said with a groan.

We were overwhelmingly short on information, and most likely, on time as well.

First, we had to start by analyzing the parting gifts the Empire left behind. The droppings and footprints, the encrypted documents, and...