Eve of the Civil War (1)
Eve of the Civil War (1)
We couldn't stay long at Soroka Fortress. The road back to the capital was simply too long.
Still, since the Princess had achieved her goal and everyone had enjoyed themselves, the atmosphere on the way back wasn't bad either.
But the atmosphere in the territories we passed through on our return was highly unusual.
Even on our way to Soroka Fortress, there had been hair-trigger tension in the air, but now it felt as though it had crossed a threshold.
First of all, inspections were carried out every time we crossed into a different territory.
Although our party was accompanied by knights and traveling in a royal carriage, they insisted on inspecting the carriage before letting us pass.
On top of that, we saw knights galloping down the road at least once a day.
There were also rumors that troops were moving toward the borders of the territories; it seemed everyone was now mobilizing their forces to fight.
"In a situation like this, even if the King is fine, a civil war will break out eventually."
Senior Benjamin muttered as he watched the conscripts passing by.
I was of the same mind.
Most of the conscripts were farmers, their heavily calloused hands gripping pitchforks.
Autumn hadn't even arrived yet, but they had already conscripted the farmers who should have been preparing for the harvest.
This was not a situation anyone could stop.
The critical point had already passed. It felt as though everything would explode the moment someone struck a spark.
The way people looked at the royal carriage was different from before.
There was no awe, and they no longer seemed to feel even the fear they once had.
It seemed an era had arrived in which the authority of the royal family no longer held sway.
Still, because the Princess and the Queen seemed to be preparing something, I could worry a little less.
It was just a little awkward that their collaborator appeared to be the Gracia Duke's estate, but I couldn't blame them for joining hands to survive.
It wasn't my place to say anything, anyway.
Fortunately, despite the turbulent atmosphere, the carriage continued to speed toward the capital.
When we arrived in the capital after more than a week, the restlessness was palpable there, too.
The capital knew nothing of the victory at Soroka Fortress.
No, everyone was too distracted by what was right in front of them to care.
Even after I parted ways with the group and returned to the mansion, I couldn't help overhearing the ominous rumors being traded among the servants.
Stories of someone dying in a duel between nobles, or someone being ambushed and killed at night—things one would never hear under normal circumstances.
On top of that, my second brother, Manuel, returned from his pilgrimage through the territories with a grim expression, casting an even darker shadow over the mansion's atmosphere.
Though the chaotic atmosphere persisted, time flowed as it always did, and the Academy's second semester began.
But even the Academy could not escape the world's turbulent waves.
Many of the students' seats were empty.
The students who had gone home for the summer had not returned.
Among those who were missing was someone I knew.
The Grand Archduchess was nowhere to be seen.
Grand Archduchess Frida, who had returned to the principality, had not come back to the Academy.
The bad news kept piling up.
During our first individual training session, the Duke of Ceuta told me it would be difficult to continue training.
"As you must have felt as well, the Kingdom is currently a mess. I thought we could hold out for at least a few years, but at this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if a civil war broke out as early as next year."
The old man sighed, tapping his cane against the innocent ground.
"The Commander is doing his best to hold the Royal Knights together, but it's not easy. Far from staying neutral, at this rate, they're going to be torn to shreds."
The Royal Knights, which the First Prince had almost completely secured, had ended up in an awkward position due to the arrival of a neutral Commander.
On top of that, the rumors I'd spread had miraculously continued to balloon, further unsettling the Royal Knights and the capital's nobles.
Perhaps because of that, the capital's political sphere was currently in absolute chaos.
"The Commander is running around frantically, so even though I'm just an old man in the back room, I should probably get involved in one thing or another. After all, there needs to be a place left for you to return to."
As expected, the Duke of Ceuta was eyeing me as a candidate for Commander.
"Well, there isn't much left to teach you anyway, so stopping now shouldn't make much difference."
I felt a little regret, but as the Duke of Ceuta had said, it was now time to make what I had learned my own rather than continue learning new things.
And so, on the day before the weekend, after our final training session.
I was waiting in the drawing room where we always gathered for our group project meetings.
Since the Grand Archduchess, who usually arrived first, was absent, I was the only one in the drawing room.
After spreading my mana to make sure no one was spying from the hallway, I pulled a note from my uniform pocket.
It was a note a staff member had discreetly slipped me earlier as I walked down the hallway.
As I unfolded it, phrases that clearly revealed who had sent it caught my eye.
[ To the Holy Knight.
I pray that the Goddess's grace is always with you.
I am passing along the information you requested.
It has been confirmed that the chief butler of the Duke of Gracia and the Queen have met.
Unfortunately, we were unable to find out what the two discussed, but based on the various circumstances that followed, we believe that the Duke of Gracia and the Queen have agreed to a political alliance.
The Rattenhamar Count Family, the Queen's maiden family, has begun to move actively, and it has also been confirmed that the Duke's chief butler visited several noble households in the capital.
Taken together, these circumstances suggest that the Queen and the Duke of Gracia have joined hands with the intention of establishing themselves as a major faction in the civil war.
Still, it remains a mystery why both the Queen and the Duke of Gracia have allied with each other.
It would make sense if the Princess possessed the royal family's inherited ability, 'Mana Resonance', but she inherited the Queen's ability instead.
Unfortunately, the cause seems far too weak to rally people around a Princess who cannot succeed to the throne.
Priest Lestiado.
P.S. 1: Since this concerns your family, Holy Knight, and the Princess, we have appended our analysis at the end. If this is not to your liking, we will refrain from including it next time.
P.S. 2: Please destroy this letter after reading. ]
For someone who claimed they couldn't overhear the conversation, what was written was practically no different from having heard the whole thing.
Until now, the information I had received from the Auction House Owner had been merely the tip of the iceberg.
This wasn't simply a matter of eavesdropping on the conversations of nobles who visited the auction house.
They were a formidable intelligence organization, capable of gathering stories from believers hidden everywhere, piecing them together, and even analyzing and processing the information.
Although they hadn't analyzed it completely because they didn't know the Princess possessed 'Mana Resonance', it seemed that if they dug a little deeper, they might even deduce that she knew about 'Mana Resonance'.
Marveling at the sheer capabilities of the Celine Cult, I reviewed the contents of the letter once more.
The news that the Duke of Gracia and the Queen had joined hands.
The note confirmed what I had already suspected to some extent.
'If so, that means the Duke has also found out that the Princess possesses 'Mana Resonance'...'
Otherwise, there was no way the Duke would have joined hands with the Queen.
If the Duke had joined hands with her knowing that fact, he might be planning to place Princess Aisha on the throne.
If he won the civil war and defeated the two princes, he would become the Kingdom's true power, not just one of its dukes.
Or, taking it a step further, he might be thinking of taking control of the Kingdom by becoming the young Princess's maternal relative through marriage.
Since his eldest son, Simon, was already married, if he married his second son, Manuel, to the Princess, he could become the young Princess's guardian and take the Carlos Kingdom into his hands.
For a Duke, it was a highly plausible scheme.
If the Duke of Gracia had joined, his in-laws, the Hierro Marquisate, would have joined in as well, and the letter also stated that the Queen's family, the Rattenhamar Count Family, was on the move.
By the looks of it, this faction was sizable too.
Was it a three-way struggle?
No, a four-way struggle.
Thinking of the Grand Archduchess, who had failed to return from the principality, a sigh escaped my lips.
Even though I was the Princess's escort knight, I couldn't completely ignore the Grand Archduchess either.
Because I still hadn't repaired the orb.
In the worst-case scenario, it seemed I'd have to invade the principality and carry the Grand Archduchess out on my back.
While I considered various options, my spread-out senses picked up a presence.
It was Balea.
I clenched the note and focused my mana.
Whoosh.
The note flared up and burned to ashes in my hand.
It was a crude technique, made possible by the training I'd done so far.
When I first succeeded, I had privately rejoiced that it resembled the 'Samadhi Flame' I'd read about in martial arts novels in my past life.
But on second thought, there were people in this world who could make such flames dozens of times larger and stronger.
If they used an artifact, even an ordinary person could produce such a flame with ease.
It was no different from boasting in my past life that I could summon a flame from my fingertip instead of using a lighter.
As I was lost in thought, Balea walked in and tilted her head.
"Are you alone? Where is Grand Archduchess Frida..."
She stopped mid-sentence and stuck her tongue out.
"Ah, right, she didn't come."
Sticking out her tongue was unseemly behavior for a noble, but since she only did it when she was with me, it was difficult to admonish her.
As soon as Balea sat down, she clasped her hands and looked at me.
We'd both been too busy lately to find any time to talk in private.
This was the first time we'd met alone in the second semester. I suddenly found myself terrified of what Balea might say.
Balea opened her mouth.
"I heard about Soroka Fortress. I heard you made a great contribution there, too."
Once again, her tone was strange. I replied at once.
"I only did reconnaissance. I was just lucky."
Balea pouted at my words.
"Eh, there's no way. If you only did reconnaissance, there's no reason Young Lord Glan would have made a secret contract, right?"
I was truly startled. It felt like she'd landed a decisive blow out of nowhere.
"Did you... hear that from Glan?"
I was so shocked that I blurted out a reply that practically amounted to half an admission.
Fortunately, Balea didn't seize on my slip of the tongue.
"How could I have heard it from him?"
"Then how..."
"When you ask questions this way and that, there are things people can't answer. I can tell just by seeing where they get stuck and what expression they make."
My jaw dropped.
To think someone could figure that out just by asking questions.
And to think she'd questioned her junior so relentlessly.
I silently offered my condolences to Glan.
Fortunately, Balea seemed satisfied by my shocked expression.
Could she have badgered Glan with questions just to see that look on my face?
Balea eagerly chattered about her trip to her territory.
"It seems our acting baron has grown a bit. The territory seems to have more or less stabilized. I don't think I'll need to go down next time. And my mother..."
Fortunately, it seemed her visit to the territory had gone well.
As I listened to Balea chatter, I heard footsteps outside.
They were light, yet hurried footsteps.
I knew they belonged to the Princess, but why was she in such a hurry?
Bang!
The door burst open, and the Princess stepped inside.
"...Ah! Your Highness."
Balea stopped speaking in surprise.
The Princess let out a sigh of relief when she saw me.
She got straight to the point.
"We must go to the royal palace right now."
The fact that she'd come here to say that meant I had to go with her.
I stood up immediately.
Even as I rose, I couldn't help feeling puzzled.
I couldn't imagine what could possibly require me to accompany her to the palace like this.
And my question was answered at once: the Princess immediately told me why we had to go.
"The King, my father, is in critical condition..."
"Gasp..."
Balea gasped, covering her mouth.
I was shocked as well.
For the King to be in critical condition—it was too soon.
Our decisions and preparations were still lacking.
But now was not the time to be shocked.
I reached into my chest and drew my greatsword.
The Princess's and Balea's eyes widened, but now was not the time to hide things.
This was the most dangerous time for the Princess.
It was time to fulfill my duty as her escort knight.
Holding my sword, I spoke to the Princess.
"I will escort you safely to the royal palace."