Chapter 88 — The Road to the West (5)
Chapter 88 — The Road to the West (5)
Escorted by the knights of the West Blood Territory who had come to meet the Grand Duke, his officials, and their party, Roan entered Zeno, the West Blood Territory's frontier city, for the first time.
Most of the borderland between Evirgio and Merde fell under the West Blood Territory. Zeno was the heart of that territory.
It was a city built around the walls that faced the border with Merde and the fortress linked to them—a place where the lord who commanded that fortress,
its soldiers, and its administrators all lived. Because the city housed soldiers and their families,
Zeno was stricter and quieter than other places.
The truce negotiations were to take place at the very outskirts of Zeno, in a makeshift structure erected in the no-man's-land between the walls of Merde and Evirgio. Since neither side trusted the other enough to cross into its territory.
"You have endured many hardships."
"Not at all, Your Majesty. Was your long journey not taxing?"
Aranya, who had arrived first in Zeno and waited there, greeted the emperor as he entered the castle.
After the Lord of the West Blood Territory and the chancellor exchanged brief greetings, they immediately began to discuss the next day's negotiations.
"The gist is that we are now accepting the truce offer Merde once made."
"That is correct."
"Even for Merde, having to accept terms like these must be undesirable."
"It will be humiliating for them."
The smile on Aranya's face was one of joy. Merde had been an enemy nation for years.
An enemy's sorrow is one's own delight.
"Surely Merde, too, would have been wise to end the war sooner. To let circumstances deteriorate to such a disadvantageous pass..."
"Your Majesty, there are many in this world who understand yet cannot act. That is one reason Your Majesty is so great."
The chancellor nodded at the Lord of the West Blood Territory's words.
At first hearing, it sounded like flattery, but the Grand Duke was surely only stating what he considered fact.
Embarrassing as it was, knowing that even the lords' gazes had changed like this was deeply moving.
"Because if the war ends here, Merde gains nothing."
Grünent spoke quietly.
"With demonkind currently overwhelmingly superior, if Merde agrees to Evirgio's declaration of an end to hostilities, Merde will have been defeated. Someone will have to bear the anger of the populace—and the nobility."
Witnessing the emperor's human concubine speak for the first time, the Grand Duke of the Red Rampart's eyes went wide.
The sight of a human attending a council,
of that human standing unintimidated before the chancellor and a great lord,
and of that human speaking dispassionately about Merde was all startlingly novel to the Grand Duke.
"War was a fine opportunity to weaken the nobility's power, and a pretext was ready at hand.
If one claimed the demon army was invading, few outside a handful of border-guarding lords could verify the truth of it.
And almost no human ever seeks to exert political influence on demonkind, confirm the facts, and follow due process."
Although Aranya had already heard a brief explanation from Grünent, the chancellor's face twisted with displeasure at hearing the words again.
Humans did not see demonkind as a party to be negotiated with. They considered them only as quarry to be hunted.
"But if Spros III admits defeat..."
"Then everything becomes the Merde king's responsibility. So he must have needed to buy time somehow—whether to reorganize his forces again, or to find someone else to shoulder the blame."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The former Demon King had already handed them one such pretext, so Roan was not in a position to reproach Merde for gleefully rushing into war, but still...
Now that he thought about it, even Spros III, the so-called king of Merde, struck him as a short-sighted man.
Simply to reduce the nobility's influence—
that is, to strengthen his own royal authority—he drove countless knights and commoners to their deaths and cast aside his own daughter, sending her dead or alive into an enemy nation.
In the end, even Merde's fertile lands were left to lie waste, with no one to farm them.
'The Hero ought to be after that bastard, really...'
Compared to my current state, I'd still have come out marginally better.
The thought left him feeling slightly wistful.
But the Hero probably didn't know much of Roan's recent circumstances—since he hadn't followed Helen to Evirgio—and from his perspective, they were probably all just villains of varying degree.
"...It leaves a bitter taste."
At Roan's words, which sounded as if he were reproaching himself, the Grand Duke, the chancellor, Grünent, and all the officials in the conference room fell silent.
The human king who began the war, the Demon King who had stood idle while it raged, and the human princess and demon officials who, for various reasons, had been unable to add their voices—everyone in that conference room now knew that they all bore a measure of responsibility.
"Yet, Your Majesty, is that not precisely why you now strive to change the future?
Regrettably, Merde did not easily agree, but even this temporary truce will gladden and relieve many of our people. Please do not let it weigh too heavily upon you."
It was Grünent who offered the words of comfort.
For she had seen, at close hand, that the emperor—the one with the greatest responsibility and power here—was the one who had stepped forward first to try to stop the war.
"Lady Grünent speaks truly, Your Majesty. It is unfortunate that the king of Merde did not accept Your Majesty's wise counsel, but does this truce not grant us the winter to regroup and time to prepare for what comes next?"
"You said you wished first to look to the lives of the people. Your servant believes that this time Your Majesty has secured will be precious time for them to catch their breath."
Aranya and the Lord of the West Blood Territory each added their own remarks.
Once the truce was properly in effect, most lords and soldiers would return home—apart from the forces of the West Blood Territory, the South Black Territory, and a portion of the North White Territory who had originally guarded the border.
The chancellor, who had caught on that the emperor was preparing something even if she did not know precisely what,
and the Lord of the West Blood Territory, who had learned that Roan intended to prepare to farm for the people—an undertaking that might prove a wild and empty dream—
both trusted the emperor's word and sought to encourage him, even without knowing everything.
Their sincerity, conveyed through Attentive Hearing, made Roan smile faintly.
"...To think I now have such staunchly loyal people around me. I am truly grateful to have realized it, even now."
It would have been nice if the former Demon King had known this, too. Roan felt a pang of pity for him.
That fellow had constantly warned him to be wary of the great lords.
But the will and trust Roan sensed from the Lord of the West Blood Territory and the Lord of the East Yellow Territory through Attentive Hearing and Detection were genuine.
If the former Demon King had shifted his thinking only a little.
If he had been able to trust them a little more.
If he had trained his skills to perceive their sincerity.
Then perhaps demonkind— even that fellow himself—
might have been a little happier.
'Even now...'
Yes. It was not too late.
It felt a little awkward to say he was doing it on the man's behalf, but the fellow seemed to be watching what Roan did, so—
since things had already come to this, he'd give it his all.
True, the man's reckless actions had caused him plenty of trouble,
but that vastly superior body and all the Demon King's excellent circumstances had also brought him countless enjoyable experiences.
He'd think of this as repayment.
Roan nodded, and everyone in the chamber received the emperor's gratitude with visible gladness.
*
Yet the negotiations proved more difficult than expected.
"Your Majesty, you must not permit this."
The man whispering something to the king of Merde—wasn't he supposed to be the Merdean Court Wizard?
Wearing a worried expression, the Merdean king, Spros III, cast sidelong glances at Roan, Grünent, and the demons and nodded repeatedly at the wizard's words.
At first, the human negotiating party
had stood frozen, intimidated by the sight of Aranya and the other massive demonkind.
Then, when Roan and Grünent entered the chamber a little later, they began to glare at them.
'They're definitely bad-mouthing me as the Demon King who seduced the princess.'
Being handsome was its own burden, it seemed.
A few human female officials and nobles looked at Roan's face with admiration, but most of the male officials and nobles made no attempt to hide their wariness.
The practical work of negotiation was the ministers' task.
In this setting, a person of Roan's station was expected merely to exchange courtesies, engage in posturing, and set the general direction.
Yet Spros III consulted the Court Wizard before uttering a word, and the wizard, with a sinister look, urged the king to be as unyielding as possible.
'I can hear every word they're whispering, you know.'
Roan sighed and asked Grünent,
"Grünent. Is that Court Wizard the chancellor?"
"No. Merde has a separate Prime Minister... but, whether one considers it strange or perfectly natural, he did not attend this meeting."
Her smile was tinged with emptiness.
"The Prime Minister leads the nobility faction. Even if he wished to be here, Spros III would have refused him."
By now, she referred to her royal father as if speaking of a foreign king.
"Then is that wizard qualified to stand in the Prime Minister's stead?"
"...He lacks the ability, but..."
"So he won his position with sly words. He did not participate in the war, either, did he?"
Grünent answered only with a silent nod.
The Merdean wizard kept whispering to the king, and all the while the human officials were looking to them, waiting for the king's reply.
Because of this, the talks began to drag on and on.
"If you simply turn back now, you will be in great trouble. Think of all the unseemly things the Prime Minister and the other nobles will rail at Your Majesty."
"That is unpardonable. Then what would you have me do?"
Spros III sought the wizard's counsel.
The Court Wizard stroked his white beard, and after a moment's thought spoke.
"The Demon King is the king of evil. To yield ground to him is unthinkable. What if you were to provoke him, so that his side refuses the truce?"
"Hmm."
Roan knit his brow without realizing it.
Listening in was impolite, but...
he was not magnanimous enough to remain unbothered when he could plainly hear them scheming to make him out as the villain.
"Grünent. That man is troublesome."
"Your Majesty's eye is as keen as ever."
Roan gave an awkward laugh.
I'd just overheard everything, that was all...
"Yes. He entered the court just before the war and swiftly became Spros III's closest confidant. In all probability, he was also the one who conveyed the tale of the 'Dark Forest Seed.' He is a man deeply versed in ancient records and superstitions. And..."
Grünent's face twisted subtly.
"It was also that man who caused me to be sent here."
Roan broke into a laugh.
"...Then, should I thank him?"
"...Your Majesty."
Grünent gave him a fond sidelong glare, then answered the emperor's laughter with a smile of her own.
In the meantime, Spros III, who had been muttering with his side for quite a while as though settling on an approach, addressed Roan.
"Emperor of Evirgio. When Merde, mindful of the well-being of both nations' peoples, proposed a truce, you gave no reply. What reason have you, having come all this way, for now suggesting on your own whim that we end the war?"
Aranya's delicate face turned menacing.
Her foreleg spines began to click. It was a simple habit she had when concentrating her nerves, yet it was more than enough to drain the blood from the humans' faces.
Roan opened his mouth to speak.
"I merely required time to consider. As you said, it was a proposal, and a proposal may be refused. One is not obligated to yield to your side's every unilateral demand."
At Roan's measured and perfectly proper reply, Aranya turned to look at him with an expression that said, 'Well done!'
Roan continued.
"And if I must find a reason, it is the same reason you offered us a truce. Did you not write it yourself in your correspondence? That the people of both nations are suffering."
At that, the faces of the Merdean king and his Court Wizard contorted. Spros III spoke, making no effort to conceal his displeasure.
"You speak of the suffering of both nations' people, yet it seems you show no consideration for the suffering of my daughter and the Saintess. Do you intend to hold Merde's princess and the Saintess hostage while pursuing a supposedly just negotiation? Is that not the very definition of an ignoble, cowardly act?"
A stir ran through the chamber.
The demons' expressions turned fierce, and Aranya began to rap her forelegs against the table.
Roan regarded Spros III with a cold expression. But the person who spoke first, before the emperor himself, was his consort, the Demon King's Favorite Concubine, who was now attending the truce talks in the capacity of his aide: Grünent.