Pector of Despair (2)
The bandits’ ambush was less an attack and more an opportunity. A perfect chance to round up the nobles who were hiding in the shadows. Once we reached the capital, I could beat a few more of them down. But Seria was staring intently at the corpses of the fallen assailants.
“What?”
“I was just thinking… it would have been better if these idiots had crossed into Ashtar territory instead.”
“If that had happened, your teddy bears would have had their fun, right?”
“Wouldn’t our dear Saint have stepped in?”
“Ah.”
It would have been cleaner to wipe them out with magic in one go. I should have just left when Claire tried to stop me. Regretting my decision too late, I swallowed my tears and climbed back into the carriage with Aslan’s group.
This time, just in case, several of Ashtar’s knights and soldiers joined us. The assassins were one thing, but the real problem was the Four Heavenly King, Pector. We needed proper escorts.
And so we revised our plans.
“Let’s just head straight to the border like this.”
“What? What about the official tour?”
Who had time to drag this out for months? This kind of thing needed to be done quickly.
“The influential nobles in the area are already under our influence anyway, so stopping by or not won’t make much difference. Aside from the border region, there aren’t many places left where we can win over public sentiment.”
“Win over public sentiment, you say…”
Let’s be honest. That’s exactly what it is.
“Isn’t that how it always goes? Even when nobles inherit their family headship, they just do a little emotional appeal to their vassals and subjects and call it a day. We already secured half the support when we left the capital. And after the incident where the ‘prince continued his tour despite being attacked by bandits,’ His Highness has already put on more than enough of a show.”
At this point, rumors would spread not only through the capital but across the surrounding regions. That much was plenty. Even if he became crown prince, the real power would come from the parliament members originating from Ashtar territory anyway.
“No… the more I listen, the more you sound no different from the other nobles.”
“What else would you have me do? Keep getting attacked by bandits? There’s Ribelt, me, Claire, and Seria, so we won’t die, but it’s still a huge nuisance.”
“Hmm.”
His lack of decisiveness was painful to watch. Even if he became emperor, real power would still come from the parliament. There was no helping it. For the sake of this foolish and pitiful former crown prince, I would have to overstep my authority a little.
“Thinking of one’s subjects is also a way to win the people’s hearts. You must not forget that I also serve as Her Majesty the Empress’s tutor.”
“Eh?”
Why the surprised face? You already knew this.
“In other words, I am the Taesa. Are you going to treat my words lightly?”
“Ah… Taesa?”
It seemed this idiot had finally realized my position. That’s right. I am the Taesa. So don’t you dare act up. The emperor’s tutor is someone even the prince cannot treat carelessly.
“It is a position acknowledged by Her Majesty the Empress herself. Do you truly believe the former crown prince can reject the emperor’s tutor?”
You? You dare reject me?
“Ugh… Lady Olivia. That’s underhanded.”
Ryler clenched his fists and trembled.
“From this moment on, I am here not as the Saint or as Lady Olivia, but as the Taesa. Watch your tongue, Ryler. You know very well what kind of person Her Majesty the Empress is, don’t you?”
“I will not kneel before power!”
Power, my ass. That’s not the issue right now. Our lives are on the line. Or is this some kind of pervert thing where he only feels alive when threatened?
“Then are you saying we should continue like this until His Highness’s and everyone else’s heads are severed by traitors before you come to your senses?”
“Ah… that’s…”
Ryler placed the prince’s safety above all else. His family had originally been close aides to the prince. So if I used the prince’s life as leverage, Ryler had no choice but to yield.
“Your Highness, think about it logically. Why do you think Her Majesty sent me, the Taesa? It means she wants me to protect you.”
The empress wasn’t stupid. She might be a tyrant and a maniac, but she still cared for her own child.
“Still… what if the commoners find out later?”
“Wait, hold on. If Lady Olivia is the empress’s tutor, doesn’t that mean the country is doomed?”
At the puppet mage’s pale-faced remark as she smacked the back of her head against the carriage window, I slammed her forehead against the glass again and said,
“Politics is run by the parliament anyway, so what does it matter? The commoners knowing won’t change anything. The imperial family is ultimately just a symbol.”
“You really say that in front of the former crown prince and your former fiancé.”
“If Ribelt doesn’t want to be bothered, he should stay quiet. Or what? Should I say the imperial family is the center of power? If I do that, you’d have to give up your autonomy, wouldn’t you, Ribelt?”
I shot the same words at the sneering Ribelt.
“I’m not the type to play pretend. Anyway, that’s how it is. His Highness is a symbol. And if he’s aiming for the crown prince position again… well, even if he isn’t, he probably wants to avoid the constant annoyance of assassination attempts. So let’s just head straight to the border.”
“Understood.”
Aslan let out a sigh. A sigh. Who the hell did this bastard think had the right to sigh right now?
“Um, so we’re not going to visit anywhere else?”
Kanf’s younger sister, Shariel, smacked her lips in disappointment.
“I’ll show you around plenty later, Lady Shariel. There’s nothing to see on the way to the border anyway.”
“Alright.”
Using my authority as Taesa, I unilaterally decided that we would head straight for the border region. Yuria remained silent, but she looked clearly dissatisfied. If you’re so upset, go become a Taesa yourself.
Seria, who had been outside the carriage window, sent me another message.
— Isn’t this the wrong way? Why are there assassins running around?
— We’re already here, so we might as well drive off the Four Heavenly King too. Can you bring out your teddy bears?
— We’re not in the capital, so I can summon quite a few, but if it turns into a war, it would be better to get support from the surrounding lords.
— That would only increase the chaos. We have to finish this with just us.
The carriage completely left Ashtar territory. There wasn’t much to do. We passed through several villages in Ashtar’s lands and observed their conditions. We only observed. We didn’t get off to directly appeal to the commoners.
The closer we got to the border, the more people we saw struggling. Many had probably become refugees because of the war. They likely hadn’t received any compensation from the state.
When the prince got off the carriage in the border region, he asked an old man,
“What happened here?”
“Don’t even get me started. The war dragged on, the border became ruins, and refugees appeared. Other villages are overcrowded too, so people are starving to death or turning to banditry.”
“Don’t the authorities subjugate the bandits?”
“They do, but that’s the problem.”
What kind of problem could there be with subjugating bandits?
“What’s the problem with subjugating them?”
“After they wipe them out, the imperial army goes around searching everywhere to see if there are more bandits, and even the decent refugees end up half-crippled.”
Ah, that was unavoidable. With the Demon King around, everyone was on edge. Bandits? It was basically the same as asking them to arrest every able-bodied refugee.
“I will make sure better days come. Bear with it just a little longer. I will definitely return and inform the parliament.”
The prince comforted the refugees.
“They say there’s no land and not enough food. Isn’t there a better solution?”
“Wait, isn’t that a bit strange? Isn’t the empire overflowing with land? And food should be plentiful too.”
Ryler was right. That part was definitely odd. The empire was abundant. Even during the war, they had minimized the battlefield by pushing it into the kingdom.
“The biggest problem is that the nearby nobles refuse to accept them.”
“Is it because of corruption?”
No, that wasn’t it.
“In this case, it’s a little different.”
“What do you mean?”
Aslan looked at me with curiosity. In other words, rather than corrupt lords, the region was full of lords who were too busy protecting their own territories.
“I can’t say there are no corrupt lords, but the battle against the Demon King lasted a very long time. The war that started only in the kingdom eventually spread to the empire in its final stages.”
“That’s true.”
What do you mean, “that’s true”? You should have realized by now. Or maybe this guy really was raised in a greenhouse. Does he have no thoughts at all? Can’t he use his head even a little? Is that why he got caught by Lily?
“However, most of the frontline against the Demon King was defended by the border lords. They became the meat shields. Since it wasn’t a human invasion of the kingdom, the imperial parliament didn’t lead the supply efforts. The local lords of the empire supported the kingdom on their own.”
“And?”
Was this guy really Prince Aslan? Even that maniac emperor could understand what I was saying. No, he would have figured it out on his own before I even explained. At this point, he should have caught on. Fine. Since I used to be his fiancée, I decided to give him a special lecture.
“The lords near the border are all exhausted. They’re busy just feeding their own people, and some areas saw direct combat, so their farmlands can’t be in good shape. Some lords in the center probably receive support, right? Just look at how Young Master Ribelt from the north urgently led his cavalry to secure supply routes. It shows how heavy the military losses were for the lords in that region.”
“Then what Lady Olivia is saying… is that even if they wanted to accept these people, they can’t?”
“Exactly.”
Yuria at least had a brain. I didn’t know the lords’ true feelings, but when they could barely fill their own stomachs, there was no way they could take in commoners from other regions.
“Even so, couldn’t they at least give them empty land?”
“Do you think the refugees only want land to rest on for a while? They want food. They want houses where they can light warm fires. There’s also the risk of epidemics. Furthermore, the border lords have already suffered losses once when succubi and incubi were deployed. It would be difficult to see the refugees as nothing but ordinary humans.”
From the perspective of lords who had directly suffered the aftermath of war, it was a massive headache. That was why the refugees themselves knew this and couldn’t travel too far from their homelands. Bandits appearing meant a breakdown in public order, so the surrounding lords had no choice but to subjugate them.
“How could this be…”
“While Your Highness was being charmed by a succubus, this is what the imperial border looked like. The lords swept up in the war have already experienced it firsthand, so they had no room to become corrupt. Instead, they’re tightening their belts to protect their own lives.”
“Then is there no solution?”
It wasn’t that there was no solution. The problem was that the refugees wouldn’t follow it.
“There is a way. First, we feed them and send them to territories governed by central nobles near the capital.”
“Understood.”
Aslan didn’t wait for me to finish speaking. He walked straight toward the distant group of refugees.
“I cannot allow Her Majesty’s subjects to die on this cold ground! Everyone, follow us to the capital!”
But at the prince’s words, the refugees burst into bitter laughter.
“I don’t know who you are, but where are we supposed to go after leaving our homeland?”
“Huh?”
“The capital is so far away.”
“We can’t abandon our homeland and leave.”
That was the normal reaction. They weren’t young children. There was no way these old people would agree to go. If they stayed near their neighbors, they could return to their homeland someday. But if they went all the way to the capital or the center, returning would become nearly impossible.