23. I Became the Finance Director of a Kingdom on the Brink of Civil War
23. I Became the Finance Director of a Kingdom on the Brink of Civil War
"......It has been a long time, Your Highness Beatrice."
"Truly, a very long time, General Karthea. You were the last person to see me off when I was taken as a hostage."
"A hostage? That is not—Your Highness was simply studying abroad——"
"You don't actually mean that, do you?"
"......The border dispute with the Kingdom of Aken Delminos remains unresolved. Your Highness, why on earth have you come here?"
It was the largest command tent in the camp.
Karthea, the commander of the army stationed here and one of the generals of the Delphia Kingdom, let out a weary sigh.
The reason, of course, was Amatrius Delphia Beatrice, standing before him with a beaming smile.
"Did you perhaps receive permission from King Aken Delminos?"
"There's no way. Just look at the state of this country."
"Then you escaped without authorization! You must return at once. If it comes to light that you came back without permission——"
"If it comes to light?"
"......Your Highness?"
"What happens if it comes to light? There might not even be a Delphia Kingdom left to answer to. If Grand Duke Wiguk wins, they'll just put a new kingdom in its place."
"............."
She said it first.
Princess Beatrice herself was a member of the Delphia royal family. It went without saying that the thing every royal feared most was Grand Duke Wiguk—who had committed treason—winning the civil war and founding a new kingdom bearing his own name.
The other royals Karthea had met had only let themselves think it, never daring to voice the possibility.
Yet here Beatrice was, discussing the royal family's end with a smile.
"Do you really think Grand Duke Wiguk would spare the royal family? Ah, maybe a few of my older brothers and sisters dream of it. A dream of becoming a puppet king or queen, barely clinging to life."
"......Your Highness."
"It's a truly foolish notion. You've seen far more of Grand Duke Wiguk than I ever could, holed up in a corner of the palace as I was. That greedy man... he received treatment worthy of a king and still, in the end, committed treason. He won't stop until he stands at the very top."
Grand Duke Wiguk—the Defender of the State. What sort of treatment had the Delphia Kingdom lavished on him to draw him in and keep him here?
A nation without an 8th Rank is, after all, a weak nation, with no right even to interfere in international affairs. Such was the significance of an 8th Rank that the Delphia royal family had poured all manner of support and privilege onto the former mercenary Grand Duke Wiguk to make him stay.
They carved out a tenth of the kingdom's territory and made it his duchy, they abolished the existing duke and bestowed upon him the grandiose title of Grand Duke Wiguk, they exempted him from taxes, granted him all manner of commercial rights and special favors, and even sent a royal princess to him as a concubine.
"The moment he took my third-eldest sister not as his legal wife but as a concubine, we should have been on our guard and preparing."
"Your Highness, how could we prepare? Our kingdom could stand above other weak nations precisely because of Grand Duke Wiguk. Have you forgotten every humiliation that the previous king suffered when the Holy Kingdom was the hegemon?"
"In that case, you might as well have handed him the throne from the start. Grand Duke Wiguk was indeed a necessary existence, but we clung to him far too desperately."
Just look at the neighboring kingdom: they do not simply give unconditional support to the Chairwoman, who is called the strongest among 8th Ranks; they subject her to every sort of check imaginable.
Royals who stand above by status and 8th Ranks who stand above by power inevitably coexist while also clashing. Of course, Aken Delminos was capable of such checks because it had three other 8th Ranks remaining even if you excluded the Chairwoman.
Could one say with certainty that the current king's policy was wrong? It was undeniable that Grand Duke Wiguk's presence gave the Delphia Kingdom at least some voice in international affairs.
And moreover.
"Without Grand Duke Wiguk, we would have been conquered by Aken Delminos long ago. Just as the Empire conquered other weak nations."
"......In the end, it's all outcome-based. The outcome is that Grand Duke Wiguk committed treason. I might be wrong, but reality is clear."
The Grand Duke Wiguk seen by a powerless royal and the Grand Duke Wiguk seen by a general charged with defending the nation were clearly different. One could argue Beatrice knew too little of the world and judged only by results.
Yet the result was a single one: Grand Duke Wiguk had committed treason, seized the current king, and intended to execute him a week later.
He meant, in the end, to sever the Delphia Kingdom in two.
And so.
"Where is my brother?"
"His Highness Crown Prince Zeke is confronting Grand Duke Wiguk."
"Where, exactly?"
"He is fighting desperately against Grand Duke Wiguk's forces."
"So you still have no intention of telling me."
"......Things have come to this, but I am still a general of the Delphia Kingdom. I cannot stand by and watch a member of the royal family march off to a meaningless death."
"Meaningless, you say."
"Return to the academy now while you still can. Even Grand Duke Wiguk cannot interfere there. I will pretend I never saw——"
"That is ultimately because you still think I'm a half-wit, isn't it? Born with an incurable disease that prevents me from controlling my magic, a pathetic wretch who can't even use her own talent."
[Jade Shackles]
"Grk!?"
Karthea was among the lower-ranked generals of the Delphia Kingdom. Though only 6th Rank now, it was believed he could reach 7th Rank if he trained steadily for another ten years.
He had been appointed general because of that future potential and his genius, yet he had not even sensed the faintest hint of magic. That meant Beatrice had reached a level that surpassed even the 6th Rank.
In an instant, violet chains surged up, binding General Karthea's arms, legs, sword, and even his body fast.
Releasing the mana she had been concealing, Beatrice rose and looked down at the general.
"Do you still see me as a half-wit now?"
"Y-Your Highness! Surely you haven't cured the chronic disease——!!"
"I haven't been completely healed, but I succeeded in fixing it. I suppose I should say it's as expected of one of the finest academies on the continent, shouldn't I?"
Beatrice glanced sharply toward something outside the tent for an instant, then jangled the row of ten artifacts at her waist.
She still fell into a state of mana exhaustion and had to rely on artifacts to cast spells, but her transcendent talent had long since made even that feel natural.
By now, she found it awkward whenever she was not in mana exhaustion.
Without mentioning that secret, Beatrice overwhelmed Karthea and fixed him with a cold stare.
"I will ask one last time."
"............."
"Where is my brother?"
"......He is in Mactern Direct Territory, near the capital. That is all I know."
"When do you plan to lead this army there?"
"W-We are scheduled to depart in two days. To prevent His Majesty the King's execution, we intend to concentrate our forces there two days before the execution."
"Good."
"Urk!"
Thud!
She retracted the chains, but with absolutely no regard for Karthea's well-being, the roughly released chains lashed his entire body. He was instantly covered in wounds, but Karthea neither grimaced nor protested.
He simply dropped to his knees at once before Beatrice.
"I congratulate you on curing your chronic illness! With Your Highness's current power, His Highness the Crown Prince will be overjoyed!
"......I have two companions. I will wait with them, so depart as quickly as you possibly can."
"I shall obey!"
Leaving those words behind, Beatrice walked straight out of the tent. Yet even after she was gone, Karthea remained motionless on his knees, head bowed.
She was at minimum a mage of 6th Rank or higher. He would need to wait until she was far enough away that his energy sense could no longer detect her before he could so much as evade her watchful gaze.
Only after Beatrice had put enough distance between them did Karthea rise.
"......It hasn't even been a year since she left for the academy."
To think she had cured the chronic disease that not even the Delphia royal family could solve, and in such a short time—and on top of that, risen to the 6th Rank.
They said her talent was something the Archmage himself had praised—a truly transcendent, almost staggering talent.
Karthea himself had only reached the 6th Rank after decades of training and real combat. Yet she had done it in less than a year.
After letting out a brief hollow laugh, Karthea's face turned serious.
'If this is how things stand... should I send Grand Duke Wiguk information about Beatrice as well?'
He had been pretending to be a loyal subject on the surface, but secretly colluding with Grand Duke Wiguk's faction and waiting for the moment to betray them. For Karthea, the situation couldn't be more inconvenient.
As a general, the outcome of the civil war was obvious. Most of the regular army had already sided with Grand Duke Wiguk to begin with, and even if Crown Prince Zeke had superior numbers, the vast majority of them were freshly conscripted peasant soldiers.
He had planned to arrive at Mactern Direct Territory, then attack them from behind to sow confusion and slip away with his own skin intact.
'If I do that, I could end up killed by that princess.'
If she were still the half-wit princess she'd always been, he would have kidnapped her and delivered her to Grand Duke Wiguk. How on earth had she returned as such a monster in barely a year?
......His head ached, but in truth, there was a problem even more pressing than that.
This place was the border of the neighboring kingdom, at the southern edge, so reaching Mactern Direct Territory meant a very long march.
'We have no supplies.'
The nobles of the surrounding territories had long since fled with their assets, and the local people and farmers had been press-ganged into service as soldiers. They had been holding out by looting supplies along the way, but making it all the way to the center like this was impossible.
Betrayal or not, he had to get there first, yet even that was beginning to look hopeless.
If he couldn't perform properly, then even after Grand Duke Wiguk's victory, a purge or dismissal was all that awaited Karthea.
'What should I do? I've already picked the surrounding area nearly clean.'
It wasn't just a shortage in general—what they lacked most urgently was food and horse feed.
To be precise, it was fine for now. The problem was that in a day or two it would all rot or spoil.
'We've slaughtered plenty of nearby livestock, but the meat spoils fast. We're also short on hay and salt to feed the horses.'
As the country slid toward civil war, merchants had stopped coming to the Delphia Kingdom entirely, and trade with neighboring countries was impossible. To make matters worse, what fertile regions there were that produced food, salt, water, and the like were mostly in the north, where Grand Duke Wiguk was entrenched.
He had to figure out some way to preserve the meat and vegetables that were already beginning to spoil.
Just as Karthea's worries were deepening—
"G-General Karthea! An urgent report!"
"What? Did Her Highness Beatrice send you? Or perhaps the Crown Prince?"
"No. It's a soldier... from the palisade's rear gate."
"What?"
The palisade's rear gate was exactly where Princess Beatrice had arrived.
Why would some soldier from there matter?
"I have more than enough troubles already, so if this is a pointless report——"
"It's about Her Highness's traveling companion."
"Her companion......? It's bound to be the guard who went with her to the academy, isn't it."
"N-No. It's a man named Karl Marx."
Marx? Not Susanne?
Karthea remembered because he had personally seen Beatrice off at the border when she left as a hostage under the pretext of studying abroad. Had there been someone besides Susanne, her 5th Rank guard?
"What about it?"
"This man called Marx says he's a merchant."
"A merchant? He's alone, isn't he? He didn't bring anything. What kind of merchant is he?"
"......He says he's a salt merchant."
"Salt? Salt?"
Karthea's eyes flew wide open. Salt was precisely the precious material that could solve every single problem he had.
Meat and vegetables could be cured with it, it was an essential feed for the horses, and on top of that, it was the hardest commodity to acquire right now—bringing it along when he betrayed to Grand Duke Wiguk might even count as a major achievement.
Grand Duke Wiguk had monopolized what salt there was, but salt was always in short supply.
Finding this miraculous lifeline, Karthea shouted urgently.
"B-Bring him here! Now!"
"No need to hurry, General. He's already here."
The one who answered Karthea's barked command was not the messenger, but a white-haired man who stepped into the tent. Naturally, there was no mistaking that this was the salt merchant named Marx.
Karthea promptly smiled, gestured for the messenger to leave, and exaggeratedly threw his arms wide to welcome Marx.
"Marx! I'm late with my greetings. I am Karthea Draudville. Unworthy as I am, I serve as a general."
"I am Karl Marx. A humble salt merchant."
"Humble, he says! In times of war like these, aren't the most important people precisely men like you who sell salt? I should have sought you out first—my apologies."
He had, of course, never had any intention of seeking him out, but right now it was no exaggeration to say that Marx was Karthea's lifeline. Flattering words poured from Karthea without a shred of sincerity, and his eyes gleamed with a hidden intent.
"I don't know why you happened to travel with Her Highness Beatrice, but as a merchant, you must have come here to seize a share of the profits, no?"
"Naturally. I am merely humbled that my path happened to overlap with Her Highness the Princess's."
"Is that so. There's no need to draw things out, then. I will purchase the salt you've brought. All of it!"
If Marx hadn't been Beatrice's companion, he would have simply killed this fool of a merchant who'd come alone into a country on the brink of civil war and taken the salt for himself.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment, but in any case, the salt he bought now would return to him multiplied several times over later. Most importantly, whatever salt this merchant called Marx had brought seemed to be a paltry amount.
'Still, I hope it's enough to hold out for a few days.'
If not, he would have to use it as sparingly as possible while increasing the amount of salt he could offer to Grand Duke Wiguk.
Just after Karthea finished his mental calculations and met Marx's eyes.
"Thank you for your words, but shouldn't you first take a look at the quantity?"
"......Hm, yes, that's true. How much is there? I'll tell you in advance: there are about a thousand soldiers here. I'd like it if the amount is enough for them to use comfortably."
"It should be about this much."
"............."
Karthea took the single sheet of paper from Marx and lost the ability to speak.
Not because the quantity was insufficient.
'How on earth do I handle this...?'
It was far too much.
Even if he emptied out all his remaining assets, it felt as if he wouldn't have nearly enough coin......