The Queen's Fury
When Tamer Territory finished its battle with the Hogrifons, the chief steward was passing along the outskirts of the capital.
“What are you doing? Hurry and keep up.”
“Ah, yes.”
At the messenger’s urging, Duonoraong quickened his pace.
Incredible. So this is Kainea. People say it’s not just the capital of our kingdom, but the center of the entire continent, and that’s no exaggeration at all.
He had never left the western plains in all his life, and the grandeur of the capital left him speechless.
Hmm. What on earth is that? A carriage that moves by itself without a horse?!
There was no end to the strange things he was seeing for the first time.
When he saw the rail-running trams gliding along their tracks, Duonoraong’s jaw nearly dropped.
It’s powered by magic?! A vehicle that runs on mana instead of horsepower. Hmm. Come to think of it, I think I heard there was something similar in Kihara Barony too. Maybe only the baronial family rides them.
But the people getting on and off these trams didn’t look especially noble.
Hmm. If you pay to ride them, I suppose they’re something like a covered wagon. And why are there so many streetlamps?
Back home, streetlamps stood only along the main roads, and even then at wide intervals. Here, they were planted every few steps.
In truth, Tamer Territory, or the former Auphocalypse City, was relatively well equipped compared with the cities of other countries, but Duonoraong, who had never been abroad, had no way of knowing that.
When Shrakhim kept going on about this being a backwater border dump with every other sentence, I got angry, but... now that I’m seeing the capital with my own eyes, it’s hard to find fault with the bastard’s words. Hmm.
Compared with Kainea, his hometown felt painfully shabby.
“Chief Steward, have you perhaps never been to the capital before?”
The messenger noticed his reaction and asked.
“Ah, yes. Shamefully, I have not.”
“The civil service examination is held in Kainea, is it not? I heard you served as a fiscal officer until recently.”
“Hmm-hmm. I entered office by recommendation rather than by taking the exam...”
That was why, despite his age, he had remained in a minor post of the Fourteenth-Rank bureaucracy.
“I see. If the chance comes later, I hope you’ll be able to take your time and see the capital properly.”
The messenger slowed his steps just a little.
“But what on earth caused His Majesty to summon our lord so urgently? Do you know anything about it?”
“I do not. I am merely delivering orders according to royal command.”
After that, they walked in silence for a while.
“We’ve arrived at the palace district.”
The wall was too vast to describe as merely huge.
When Duonoraong faced that overwhelming scale, his mouth fell open and his whole body shrank back.
“I-is that the palace? Where Her Majesty resides?”
He pointed toward the towering keep rising far inside the inner wall, and the messenger shook his head.
“No. That is only the keep — a fortified tower that serves as a defensive strongpoint. The palace guard is stationed there.”
“That magnificent building is only a keep? It’s so large and ornate...”
“It would be no surprise if you thought so. Even assassins were fooled by it.”
“A-ah, assassins? Such impious vermin existed here?”
Duonoraong was horrified.
“If you look through the treason records, four or five out of every ten assassins who aimed to slay the king mistook the keep for the palace and infiltrated it.”
Let us offer prayers for the assassins who walked of their own will into the place where the kingdom’s finest soldiers were stationed.
“After that, we deliberately kept expanding the keep to make it even larger and more splendid. It’s far better if fools mistake it for the palace.”
“I see. Hmm... then where exactly is the real palace?”
“I told you already. This is the palace district surrounding the palace. So the palace is inside that wall, of course. For reference, it’s much larger and taller than that keep.”
“Inside? Even taller? I can’t see anything like that at all.”
No matter how he looked, there was no such building in sight.
“You’ll understand once you follow me.”
The outer wall encircling the district in layers looked as though even a hundred ogres pounding on it all night wouldn’t be able to bring it down.
“I’ll take you to the Hall of Audience Gate.”
The messenger led him to a spot a little apart from the main gate. Carved into the center of the massive stone door was the symbol of the Haryad Faith: a cross whose horizontal bar was shaped like wings.
“Answer the question carefully.”
Duonoraong wondered if a gatekeeper was about to inspect them, but no one came out.
“The question...?”
When he cast a puzzled look upward,
“Are you an enemy of Kain?”
a low voice came from the cross. It was colder than the breath of a white dragon and more beautiful than an elf’s voice.
Duonoraong, who had frozen at that voice that seemed not to belong to this world, finally recalled the messenger’s words and cleared his throat.
“N-no. I-I am a good citizen of our kingdom—”
Before he could finish, the wings of the cross rose upward. With them, the massive door lifted by itself.
“This way, please.”
He followed the messenger’s unruffled entrance and only then saw the guards.
After passing through several more gates, the messenger stopped. Duonoraong was puzzled. There were no more gates ahead, only a dead-end wall.
“Now you must stand on the magic circle.”
“A magic circle? Where exactly do you mean?”
“Stand in front of the statue of Her Majesty, the Founding Queen, and it will appear. Right above the chief steward’s head.”
When he tilted his head back, he saw a bust sculpted from mana stone, modeled after Freiha, the wife of King Kain and the first mage.
“Yes, that is the spot. Please remain still.”
When the two of them stood before it, a magic circle appeared as though drawn into the ground. Bright light burst from the statue of the Founding Queen and enveloped the area.
When Duonoraong came to his senses, he had been transferred into the palace courtyard.
“Wh... wha—?!”
He nearly fainted. There, where nothing had been visible from outside, stood a colossal building of impossible height, its floors too many to count, as if it had simply risen from the earth.
“We’ve placed a spatial distortion spell over the entire courtyard so it can’t be seen from outside.”
The messenger said it with utter indifference.
“Over this whole enormous space, and the entire building?”
Duonoraong was aghast. He was no mage, of course, but he understood at least dimly that the larger the object, the harder it was to apply an invisibility spell to it.
“So that’s the real palace.”
“Yes. The palace’s location and method of entry are not exactly military secrets, but there’s no need to go shouting them from the rooftops. It could cause trouble. You understand what I mean, yes?”
“Ah, yes.”
“You don’t strike me as the sort of man who would do that, but I mention it out of caution.”
Among the people who came to the palace courtyard, there were always a few who liked to boast.
The sort of bragging that began with, “I went to the palace once, you know,” generally went unpunished, but the ones who talked too specifically tended to find themselves needing to visit the palace district again. Naturally, they never told stories about those second visits.
“Since I’ve brought it up, let me add one more thing: before your audience, would it not be wise to set your clothes in order?”
“My clothes? I came in such a hurry that I didn’t have time to put on formal wear.”
If the lord himself was throwing himself into every kind of work, how could the chief steward expect to put his feet up and rest? Duonoraong looked down at his mud-stained clothes and sighed.
“It may calm Her Majesty’s anger even a little. It might be needless meddling on my part.”
“Hmm...”
After a brief thought, he shook his head.
“No. I prefer it this way.”
“Then let us go.”
The messenger did not know the reason, but he did not press the matter further. In truth, the first place the king’s fury would fall was elsewhere.
* * *
Queen Daisyares Marie Kain of the Kain Kingdom was in a very foul mood.
“I clearly ordered you to bring Joren Tamer here.”
The queen sprang up from the throne.
“That man’s face is not the same as the one I remember.”
She descended the steps slowly.
“Has Joren Tamer possessed a different body in the meantime?”
Her glance brushed over Duonoraong, then fixed on the messenger. The messenger immediately slammed his forehead to the floor and prostrated himself.
“Please forgive me, Your Majesty! Joren Tamer earnestly begged to remain where he was because the Byeonbangbaek territory was in crisis and he could not leave his post, so I brought his representative first.”
The queen’s brow twitched.
“A crisis? Could not leave his post? A representative?”
Duonoraong swallowed hard.
“...Explain. If you cannot convince me, I shall sentence both you and Joren Tamer for disobedience to a royal command.”
It was only the lifting of an eyebrow, yet the aura that surged from her was like a dragon awakened from sleep.
“From what I saw and heard...”
“Briefly.”
“Fifty or sixty Hogrifons appeared in large numbers in Tamer Territory, and the border count said he could not answer the summons at once because he had to command the troops.”
The messenger was a fine soldier, but no great master of eloquence. He chose his words as best he could and compressed his sentences as tightly as possible, but he still failed to convince the queen.
“Hogrifons? Four or five, perhaps, but you expect me to believe that around sixty of them suddenly came swarming in a pack? Did you witness this yourself?”
“I did not witness it directly, but I was present when the territory residents reported it—”
“What a pathetic excuse! And you still call yourself a knight?!”
Unlike the messenger, who had already covered his ears with his aura in anticipation of the queen’s wrath, Duonoraong was exposed directly to the roar.
Th-there’s no way even a hundred mandrakes all screaming at once would be this bad...
He staggered, then nearly collapsed.
“If all you were going to do was deliver the message, a communication spell would have been enough. Why send a person, and a Famous Sword knight at that? Why do you think I spent a scroll to send you? Because I needed eyes to watch that bastard Tamer’s schemes, and hands to stop any resistance. Yet you were useless in both respects.”
Daisy had already come to stand by the messenger’s head.
“If those eyes cannot see what they should, and those hands cannot act when they must...”
Her sword struck the floor.
“Would it not be proper to cut them out? What do you think, sir?”
The messenger desperately searched for his head and his tongue.
“Please punish me under military law for failing to carry out the order properly! But, Your Majesty, Joren Tamer earnestly begged that protecting your precious people had to come first. He also swore that once the situation was calmed, he would come to the capital himself. In my judgment, he did not seem to be deceiving Your Majesty with a false excuse. He also swore it on a knight’s honor, so I believe it was sincere. Please, I beg you to consider it deeply!”
Perhaps his sincerity reached her, for Daisy’s eyebrows lowered just a fraction.
“Protecting my precious people had to come first? Did he say that?”
“He did, Your Majesty.”
The scene flashed through the queen’s mind.
Congratulations. From this day forth, you are the one and only Byeonbangbaek in the history of the continent. Make sure you protect my precious people well.
I did say that when I granted him his title. Then had the man deliberately invoked those words as his own way of showing loyalty?
Her heart softened a little.
And he swore it on a knight’s honor. Then perhaps it is worth believing him once.
The maxim of the Royal Military Academy came to mind: Even if you lose a battle, do not abandon your honor.
A knight’s honor was considered literally more important than life itself, so breaking a vow sworn upon that honor meant social ruin. Not only that, but when one faced judgment of the soul after death, it was treated as a sin and believed to burden one’s next life with terrible karmic debt.
“Rise. You have made repeated long-distance spatial transfers, so you must be exhausted. Withdraw and rest.”
Spatial transfer scrolls were certainly convenient, but the user suffered side effects proportional to the distance traveled, such as dizziness and headaches.
“Yes, Your Majesty! I am deeply honored.”
As the messenger withdrew backward from the chamber, Duonoraong felt overwhelming fear. The royal guards standing in the great hall did not spare him even a glance, and they brought him more unease than comfort.
“Now then. Joren Tamer’s representative. Who are you?”
The chief steward’s lips trembled.
What should I say? No, what should I even begin with? Did I properly pay respects to Her Majesty? I didn’t. But the messenger saluted before me, so does that count?
“Eternal glory longer than eternity to Daisyares Marie Kain, hero who protects the Western Continent and sovereign who most firmly carries out the most righteous will! Long live Her Majesty the Queen!”
He forced his chattering jaw into some measure of control and shouted the salute.
“I asked who you are. I shall accept your cheers with thanks, but still.”
Daisy looked slightly thrown off.
“I-I am Duonoraong, chief steward in service to Joren Tamer.”
“Duonoraong? That name sounds familiar... hmm.”
“Your Majesty. He is a recommended official of the Fourteenth-Rank bureaucracy and served as fiscal officer of the former Auphocalypse City.”
The court mage stepped forward to inform her.
“Is that so? Then you are the one who served as temporary mayor until recently?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I received a position far beyond my worth through Your Majesty’s grace.”
“I hear you played a large part in resolving the situation and aiding the displaced. I commend your diligence.”
“I-I am unworthy, Your Majesty. How could such credit belong to me alone? It was because all the citizens worked together.”
“Do not be modest. Seeing your clothing and roughened hands, it is plain that you did not hide your station and instead took your share of labor at the front lines. Admirable.”
The chief steward’s decision not to change out of his shabby clothes had worked.
Seeing Duonoraong’s filthy attire, pity entered Daisy’s eyes.
“Thank you, Your Majesty! Much of the reconstruction has now been completed. All of it is thanks to Your Majesty for sending us a capable lord.”
“A capable lord... I had thought Joren Tamer was born with nothing but battlefield talent, but he has a statesman’s gift as well? That is unexpected.”
As Daisy wore a surprised expression, the court mage approached again.
“Your Majesty, although this man is now praising Your Majesty’s benevolence, we should not take the words of the Tamer Territory people at face value.”
“What do you mean?”
“According to reports from Kihara Barony, there were those who shouted ‘Long live’ to Byeonbangbaek Joren Tamer on multiple occasions.”
The court mage was wise, so he did not bother adding, “What do you suppose that means?”
“They shouted ‘Long live’? Repeatedly, you say.”
As the moon waxed and waned, so too did the queen’s gaze sharpen once more.
* * *
At that same time, the capable lord was busy cleaning up after the battle.
“This one’s vegan? Edify! That one’s carnivore? Convert!”
Hogrifons differed in diet from individual to individual. Those with stronger boar tendencies were herbivores, while those with stronger eagle tendencies were carnivores.
That, in turn, affected edification as well. The herbivorous ones were generally easier to convert, while the carnivorous ones were not.
“Have the ones we saved treated with healing ointment. Send the rest straight to Cook Jerry for a meat party. Wow, pork belly and chicken legs together? That’s dream meat.”
Important notice!
Once he’d finished the sorting work in a rush, the status window flickered.
Ah, right. I guess I should go to the capital now. The chief steward must be sweating buckets by now.
But the alert had nothing to do with the capital summons.
The defense is not over yet. Prepare for the Hogrifons’ second assault. Time remaining until arrival at the current location: 30 minutes.