kscans

Chapter 114 - Chapter 4, Part 1. The Law of Psychological Inertia

The grand council chamber of the royal palace was dominated by needlessly thick pillars and walls covered in ornate, ostentatious murals. One by one, the lords of the kingdom filed in. Seeing the seats fill up from the back, it seemed they were being seated according to rank after all.

From my perspective, the Second Prince's faction, our enemies, sat to my left, while the Third Prince's faction, our allies, sat to my right.

Sandwiched between them were the neutral nobles, or rather, the great majority, who looked uncomfortably from side to side. Only the Commander of the First Knight Order, seated squarely in the center of the front row, maintained a composed, dignified air.

At the far end of the chamber, a temporary dais had been erected. Seated in a garish chair between a blackwood lectern and a large map was Fulsy, looking thoroughly displeased. I stood behind him in my role as his assistant. I was, of course, just as displeased, but I kept it from showing on my face.

Eight on the right, our allies. Eight on the left, our enemies. And a little over twenty neutrals. A total audience of just under forty people. These were the leading figures among the nobility. I think the kingdom had just over three hundred nobles of baronial rank or higher. If I recall, the number of daimyo families during the Edo period was about the same. I'm sure there was a phrase, the "three hundred lords."

The elderly, newly-minted baron sitting in front of me was treated as a so-called expert, though he likely had no voting rights. As for me, I was probably not even counted as a human being by more than half the people here.

The last of the subjects to arrive were our own Grand Duchess Euphillia of Bertold and the Grand Duke of Kurtheite. Without so much as a nod to one another, they parted ways and moved to the front row seats on the right and left, respectively.

Zatt.

As I wondered why both Grand Dukes remained standing, everyone else suddenly rose to their feet. A beat later, Fulsy also stood. Then, they all bowed their heads toward the entrance.

Oh, right. This is a royal council.

I, who should have been a beat or two slower, was perfectly composed. I had been standing from the start.

Led by the Chancellor, the King and the Second and Third Princes took their seats on a raised platform. The central seat was, of course, the throne.

How could I see this, you ask. Because I forgot to lower my head. But it's fine. A piece of decoration doesn't need to bow, right.

"This royal council to determine our policy toward the Empire will now commence."

The meeting began with the Chancellor's declaration. First came the explanation of the situation. This was why Fulsy had been summoned.

"...The most terrifying aspect of this monster is that its true form is a swarm."

First, it was explained that the recent disaster was caused by a monster unleashed by the Empire. Fulsy became eloquent only when describing the monster's biology, but no one in the chamber was focused on that.

For the first time in fifty years, and for the first time in the twenty years since the Fellbach Rebellion, the Empire had made a move against the kingdom.

The neutral faction began to murmur. To the left, in the Second Prince's faction, the Grand Duke of Kurtheite looked as though he had bitten into a bitter bug. Agitation was visible among his retinue. For some reason, even the Second Prince had a look of surprise on his face.

Next, the fact that the Empire was using monsters more powerful than horses was explained. This was the result of the dung analysis I conducted with Dalgan and Mia's codebreaking. Incidentally, the decoded message suggested the Empire could mobilize at least several hundred Horse-Dragons.

Prince Craig and Euphillia, seated on the right, maintained a calm demeanor. The nobles in the center were showing their agitation openly. And as for the Grand Duke of Kurtheite and the Second Prince, the ones I should be watching most closely...

Huh, why do they look so shaken? Are they flustered that we know this much about the Empire's internal affairs?

Incidentally, the decoded message had also hinted at the existence of another unit comparable to the Horse-Dragon force. That information was being withheld for now. Unlike the Horse-Dragons, there was no clear evidence, and the details were unknown. Why I know things most of the kingdom's nobles don't is a mystery to me.

Fulsy finished his explanation and returned to his seat. He might have gotten a little too carried away with his personal interests, but I thought it was a good presentation. The Empire had conspired to throw the kingdom into chaos using a monster called a slime mold and was now preparing for an invasion with another monster, the Horse-Dragon.

It was a clear, simple scenario revolving around the Empire's monster weaponry.

"The Empire's hostility towards the kingdom, a first since the last war, is clear. Nevertheless, the Empire accuses the kingdom of unilaterally expelling their envoy and capturing Princess Lisabet, and has demanded outrageous reparations. I have gathered you, my lords, to discuss how to respond to this situation."

The Chancellor added an update on the diplomatic situation.

Now, how will the kingdom's great and powerful leaders judge the information they've been given. I hope they'll show judgment worthy of the fat salaries they're paid. After all, the continuation of those fat salaries is on the line.

"Hold a moment. Is the baron's explanation not somewhat exaggerated. For an 'attack by the Empire,' not a single knight was lost in the recent disaster, let alone a single commoner. Am I wrong."

"Indeed. Is this not simply the Anti-Monster Knight Order exaggerating a trivial incident to promote their achievements in their first campaign. I have also received reports that this so-called powerful monster was burned away by mere villagers."

The one who stood was the Grand Duke of Kurtheite. The one who chimed in was the Second Prince. The prince's words were true. To prepare for any stragglers from the cleanup, we had informed the surrounding villages how to deal with the Mucus if it appeared. The Mucus in this area could be handled that way.

My fists clenched involuntarily. It's natural for an enemy to be hostile. In state-level relations, 'enemy' and 'ally' are merely positions. You don't have the luxury of hatred, and contempt is out of the question. What's needed, first and foremost, is vigilance. Furthermore, you must never close the door to dialogue. That holds true even for the Empire. The enemy is human. But traitors aren't even enemies. They don't deserve to be treated as humans. It's not because they literally aren't, I'm sure they have their own positions and justifications. It's just that they are that dangerous of a presence. Yet the unwitting traitor is the one who gets angry at being treated as an enemy in the first place. Well, looking at the history of my old world, such factions existed regardless of time or place, east or west. In that sense, I guess they're a perfectly normal phenomenon.

"However, it is a fact that the Imperial envoy and princess fled without any explanation."

The Commander of the First Knight Order stood up. The gazes of the neutral faction focused on him. He was a military man, at least. I wanted to expect some decent judgment from him.

"But I must admit I have my doubts about these so-called Horse-Dragons. Can mere humans, the Empire of all people, truly tame such a powerful monster. I hate to suspect it, but could this be a ploy by the Commander of the Anti-Monster Knight Order to assert that he should have command in a war with the Empire."

I hadn't thought of that. What an original opinion. Instead of the threat these monsters pose to the kingdom, his first thought is of the threat to his own authority.

Please, just shut your mouth, and while you're at it, stop breathing. Preferably forever. No, wait, that might be a bad idea. In cases like this, the number two is usually even worse. At the very least, I'd have to assess whoever would rise up to replace him before chopping his head off. And I don't have the time for that.

"Indeed. If such a thing truly exists, I would like to see it for myself."

A comment flew from the group in the middle. Judging by his seat in the back, he was likely a viscount. As a commoner, I barely knew the faces of any of the kingdom's nobles. You think I'm unprepared for a meeting like this. Fulsy's communication error meant I only heard about it two days ago.

"In any case, our border defenses have grown lax over the past fifty years. Would it not be meaningful to review them, regardless of the cause."

The noble sitting next to the First Knight Commander spoke. Ah, that was the First Princess's husband, a duke. His comment was noncommittal, and insufficient given the circumstances, but it was at least a reasonable opinion.

"Would such a move not merely provoke the Empire. The Empire cannot survive without our kingdom's food. Defying the kingdom would be a suicidal act, one I cannot believe they would commit."

The Grand Duke of Kurtheite said. The nobles around him immediately voiced their agreement, going on about how their fiefs' finances were strained from dragon damages. In short, they didn't want to spend money on national defense.

"If it comes to repairing forts that haven't been properly used in fifty years, the burden on us alone would be..."

Here and there, dissenting opinions began to rise from the neutral faction. From what they were saying, they sounded like nobles with territory in the west.

The Chancellor watched the conflict between east and west, and the flustered neutral faction caught in the middle, with a blank expression. A rather disjointed debate continued. With the Commander of the First Knight Order being critical of Craig, the hawks, our allies, were gradually put at a disadvantage.

The expressions on Euphillia and Craig were stern, but they hadn't changed much from the beginning. Was this all within their expectations?

It seemed I was the only naive one here. I had thought that if I just provided accurate and clear information, that the Empire was preparing to attack the kingdom using monster weapons, everyone would naturally unite against the enemy.

With the Second Prince's faction having recently lost much of its influence, and with the Chancellor having pulled the neutrals back to his side, I had mistakenly thought it wouldn't matter what they said.

In short, the psychological inertia regarding the current situation was strong. The unreality of this crisis that had fallen from the sky only helped it along. Looking at the ages of the participants, none of them had directly experienced the last war with the Empire.

In the end, the meeting, which was nothing more than an exchange of self-serving arguments, continued until the Chancellor proposed a recess.