by Mamare Touno
Apparently, since Shiroe had caught it gently, the fist the Person of the Earth had brought down hadn’t even been counted as an attack. There was no sign that a guard was on its way.
Even as Shiroe stopped the middle-aged merchant’s fist with his left arm, he had his right arm wrapped around Akatsuki’s slim torso. He’d probably stopped her from drawing a kunai. Akatsuki was looking up at Shiroe with a disgruntled expression.
“You will leave, won’t you?”
Shiroe smiled as he spoke.
However, Henrietta was a Bard, and she could clearly sense the invisible power that was gathering around him.
Shiroe was drawing mana from the air. Like Enchanters, Bards were in charge of supplying their companions with mana, so she’d sensed it quickly.
The expressions of several of the other Adventurers on the floor clearly showed that they had also picked up on the change in Shiroe.
Shiroe was smiling, but even with that tolerant smile on his face, he was rapidly building an oppressive aura. Eerie was the only word to describe it.
He hadn’t chanted a spell, though.
He’d only gathered mana in preparation for doing so.
As a result, this didn’t count as an aggressive act. It wasn’t the sort of thing that would bring down the guards, and there wasn’t the slightest hint of battle in Shiroe’s smiling expression.
However, even People of the Earth—who were much less sensitive than Adventurers when it came to combat or magic—could vaguely sense the aura of dense mana that Shiroe was radiating.
Even as they watched, the blood drained from the face of the middle-aged merchant. Pale-faced, he knocked Shiroe’s hand away with the fist that had still been caught.
“Disgusting. I’m going home!”
With that parting shot, the middle-aged merchant left as though he were running away.
“He was quite a hot-blooded fellow, wasn’t he?”
“You pressed him pretty hard as well, my liege.”
“If I’d left him to you, Akatsuki, you would have taken his head off.”
“After I’d cut off his arms and legs, yes.”
Shiroe gently admonished Akatsuki, who was sulking with her cheeks puffed out.
As Shiroe shrugged, looking mildly appalled, the Cocoa Brown members thanked him. An adorably round dwarf girl clasped Shiroe’s hand, so happy she was nearly in tears.
“Master Shiroe.”
As she spoke, Henrietta was just a little startled. Her voice had sounded cross.
“What’s the matter?”
“No… I mean…”
“My liege, she probably wants you to do your job.”
“I see.”
At Akatsuki’s retort, Shiroe scratched the back of his head. The power of a moment ago had vanished completely. The spectators who’d gathered also scattered, seemingly satisfied by the scene.
“Miss Henrietta?”
“Yes, Master Shiroe?”
“This venue’s pretty noisy, isn’t it.”
Henrietta, who’d instantly chased away the question of why she’d been irritated, tried to follow what Shiroe’s words meant.
A noisy venue.
Did he mean the merchant? When she thought back, it seemed as though there had been some sales that had been very close to arguments. Henrietta had assumed this was because they were dealing with People of the Earth, and because they were former Earthlings with very little experience… But did Shiroe see it differently?
What is Master Shiroe seeing?… But, come to think of it…
Henrietta wavered. Hadn’t there been some information which she hadn’t been sure whether or not to pass on to Shiroe?
“Master Shiroe, I…”
“The People of the Earth merchants are acting suspicious. I don’t understand it, though. The resolution isn’t high enough. It feels as if I don’t have all the information.”
On hearing Shiroe’s murmuring, Henrietta understood: Shiroe had also noticed that indefinable oddness.
Akatsuki looked up at Shiroe, as if she was worried.
Henrietta tried to speak to him. His vision might give new shape to the doubt she was feeling.
However, by then, Shiroe had already shifted into action. He muttered a few words, and he wasn’t talking to himself. He was asking a question, through empty space.
He was listening hard to a telechat.
Before long, he nodded. Turning to Henrietta, he informed her of the results in a clear voice:
“It sounds as though someone is attacking Akiba.”
2
That day, Raynesia had been busy since morning.
Against her will, of course.
She should have been able to take things at a more leisurely pace during this festival.
She’d planned to spend it vegetatively, indolently, to be as bad as she wanted to be.
However, she’d been hard-pressed to respond to the letters of invitation and greetings that arrived one after another, and she hadn’t even been able to take a decent nap. Elissa was flying about the room like a honeybee, pulling together and examining accessories from there, dresses from here…
But Elissa’s actions weren’t those of an empty-headed girl who loved fashion.
In aristocratic society, dining together and receiving visitors were important occasions that demonstrated rank. For example, when worn, every single accessory sent a message to the other party through its value, its colors, and the meaning of its precious stones. One could say that society was the exchange of these vague, almost metaphorical messages.
For example, Raynesia was the second daughter of a duchy, but since the eldest daughter had already married below her station, she was treated as the eldest. In addition, although it had been generally advertised as being an apology to the Adventurers, as well as discipline, it was clear that she was living in this town as one of the nobles affiliated with Eastal, the League of Free Cities, and as a representative of the House of Cowen.
Since this was the case, when she gave official audiences, they could not be anything that would damage the dignity of the House of Cowen, the greatest noble family in the East. However, on the other hand, in order to preserve the shield of her status as a representative, it was desirable to let a few unofficial nuances remain as well. When she met with merchants, if she didn’t wear something that had cost a suitable sum, they’d look down on her, and when she met with nobles, her pedigree and status would be questioned. If she knew the circumstances of the other party’s house, she’d conduct complicated mind games, such as avoiding the color of the hair of the other party’s family members who were also at court, or possibly matching it.
Elissa was selecting an outfit based on these particulars. No new maid treated as a lady-in-waiting could handle consideration on this level. This was a job for an Elder Maid like Elissa, who was well acquainted with the relationships between the aristocracy and prestigious families.
Naturally, she couldn’t wear the same thing all day.
She was quite busy, changing clothes and accessories for each new visitor.
Nobles attached great importance to honor. For example, the act of having a request you’d made to someone’s face turned down by the other party was strictly avoided among nobles. This was true even if the noble refusing the request was of higher rank than the noble who’d made the request. All requests from nobles should be granted, if only superficially.
To that end, the lower the rank of the petitioning noble, the more careful they were not to make requests the other party couldn’t agree to. Higher-ranking nobles were expected to induce the other party to restrain themselves before they put their request into words. In these unspoken maneuvers, the important things were clothing, trifling light conversation, and the articles exchanged as gifts.
“Oh, gracious! Whatever are we going to do for the dinner party? I really cannot comprehend the Adventurers.”
“Wouldn’t the usual be all right?”
“What d
o you mean by ‘the usual’?”
“Um… Something floaty?”
“Honestly, Princess Raynesia…”
Apparently even Elissa didn’t yet have a complete grasp of Adventurer etiquette and customs.
Common sense in Eastal dictated that feelings of gratitude must be conveyed through action. However, they were dealing with Adventurers. It wasn’t possible to expect them to understand the nobles’ style of gratitude: conferring decorations, or the blessing of being made to kneel. It would be even less possible to convey their intentions through clothing and subtleties of etiquette.
As that was the case, there was no way the dinner party could be anything but incredibly vague. When it came to food preparations, nearly half depended on the cooperation of the restaurants of Akiba, in addition to the palace cooks invited from Maihama. Had this been the court of Maihama, they probably would have been accused of slighting the invited guests, but apparently, in the fashion of the Adventurers, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Because everything went that way with them, there was no point in worrying about a dinner party that hadn’t even begun. Raynesia herself had planned to laze around until the actual event, without worrying about this and that. Of course, this was true even if she couldn’t deny the fact that it was also because she liked spacing out and not meeting people.
However, the situation had changed.
“Will this do, do you suppose? …No, let’s add one more chain of jade. Just a moment; I know we received one for your birthday last year…”
Elissa’s voice was tense as well.
“You’re right. We mustn’t neglect the formalities…correct?”
The situation had been far too abrupt.
They’d received word that Lord Malves, a merchant from the West, would be visiting.
In addition to being a merchant, Lord Malves was a prominent aristocrat from the Holy Empire of Westlande. The status of Sergiad’s family wasn’t lower, but he certainly wasn’t someone they could treat lightly. On top of that, if he’d been sent at a time like this, they couldn’t deny the possibility that the House of Saimiya might be behind it.
The talk of a coup d’etat in the West must have been true, then.
Raynesia bit her lip.
Naturally, there was a reason behind the pressure she felt.
Two hundred and eighty years ago, the archipelago of Yamato had been united as one nation. The country had been governed by an imperial family, and its name had been the Westlande Imperial Dynasty. It was now known as the Ancient Dynasty. During this Ancient Dynasty, the imperial family had reigned in Yamato with enormous power.
However, the imperial house had fallen in the midst of the tumultuous changes of history, particularly the Ruquinjé affair. With the extinction of the imperial family, Yamato had lost the bond that had unified it as one nation, and it had split apart.
That said, even now, the nobles that governed Yamato were descended from the governing bodies of the days of the Ancient Dynasty. During the dark age that had followed the dynasty’s collapse, when the human society of Yamato had lost its focus, it had been governed by the regional lords who’d served the Westlande Imperial Dynasty.
This was conspicuous in Eastal as well.
For example, the Cowen ducal family, into which Raynesia had been born, was one of only two remaining duchies in current Yamato. The title of duke had originally been bestowed on them by the Westlande imperial family. Each of the lords of Eastal governed the People of the Earth by right of titles that had been granted to their ancestors.
The unified nation of Yamato had collapsed, and the entities that drew the most influence from the Westlande Imperial Dynasty were Eastal, the League of Free Cities; and the Holy Empire of Westlande, which, between them, nearly divided Yamato in two.
The Holy Empire of Westlande was led by the House of Saimiya, which they acknowledged as the successors of the imperial family of Westlande.
Raynesia didn’t personally know that much history, but she was aware that the House of Saimiya had been a sort of branch family of the ancient Westlande imperial family. The Saimiya family’s bloodline had been split off from the imperial family of Westlande for political reasons, in order to preside over religious rituals. Because they had been split off and had transferred their residence to Ise, the House of Saimiya had survived the fall of the Westlande imperial family.
The Holy Empire of Westlande had raised up the House of Saimiya as its rulers and had styled itself the leader of Yamato. The intent to strongly promote itself as the rightful successor to the Westlande Imperial Dynasty was apparent from its name, the Holy Empire of Westlande.
However, naturally, not all the aristocrats of Yamato acknowledged the House of Saimiya as the imperial family itself. In fact, Eastal—with which Raynesia was affiliated, and in which the town of Akiba was located—hadn’t accepted the House of Saimiya as their leader.
To them, the House of Saimiya was a branch family that had inherited the blood of the imperial family, and nothing more.
They took the stance that once split off, a bloodline could not be returned to its original place.
In any case, if the issue was one of whether or not bloodlines had been inherited, this was the ancient aristocracy: Due to complicated marital relationships, even the House of Cowen had the blood of the imperial family in its veins.
In the current situation, in which various factors came into play and tangled with each other, the House of Saimiya was not in a direct position of leadership over the Cowen duchy. However, although they might not be leaders per se, it was true that the family did share the blood of the leaders—the imperial family—and on their own they weren’t a family that could be treated lightly or disregarded.
In the peerage system left behind by the Westlande Ancient Dynasty, the House of Saimiya was the one exceptional clan to outrank the duchies. Based on this political situation, although both the League of Free Cities in the East and the Holy Empire of Westlande of the West were still influenced by the imperial family, they had been locked in tense opposition.
Lord Malves, who had been dispatched here, was a great noble of the Holy Empire of Westlande and was in charge of their commerce. Raynesia seemed to recall hearing that he was also called the Prince of Noble Merchants, and that he had great power in marine transportation.
The objective of the dinner party was to deepen friendships with the Adventurers, but if he said he wanted to pay his respects, she had no choice but to invite him. With his rank, she couldn’t just turn him down with a “Some other time, perhaps.”
Raynesia shook her head, chasing away the premonition of trouble.
However, like Raynesia, Lord Malves was a Person of the Earth. He was also a noble who’d inherited the culture of the imperial family in Yamato, as she had. In that sense, it should be possible to deal with him on equal terms in the same arena: in aristocratic manners and culture.
At least…
Raynesia felt that all she could do was carry out her responsibilities.
Her role was that of a daughter of the House of Cowen who had been dispatched to Akiba; in other words, the role of “Princess Raynesia.” She thought that if she were able to repay Akiba for saving her homeland in some way, she would probably have done her duty.
Raynesia stood, flaring out the skirt of a dress that was as white and misty as a light snowfall.
She didn’t know what this noble of the West wanted, but she intended to bear the full brunt of it herself.
3
“What…?”
“It’s an attack. Most likely some sort of psychological or information warfare. What lousy taste.”
Shiroe snorted.
Not only was it tasteless, it was rude.
Their methods were terribly transparent.
Their forces had entered Akiba, and the goal of their attack was to destroy trust in the Round Table Council and to weaken the bonds that existed in the town. However, their methods were far too slip
shod.
Was it because the enemy who was conducting this attack was incompetent? Or…
“…Are they arrogant?”
At Shiroe’s murmur, Akatsuki cocked her head.
Seeing this, Shiroe waved his hand slightly.
“Never mind, just put the kunai away.”
“But my liege…”
“We won’t need it this time.”
Reluctantly, Akatsuki slipped the rough blade back inside her skirt. Averting his gaze from an accidental glimpse of her calf, Shiroe turned to Henrietta.
“The town of Akiba is under attack.”
“Yes.”
Henrietta nodded. Her expression was tense.
Henrietta had also been vaguely aware of it, Shiroe realized. In that case, he decided, it would be best to fill her in on the circumstances, up to a point.
“Their methods are probably to infiltrate, then to engineer mild disturbances and spread rumors. Their objective is to damage trust in the Round Table Council.”
“…Let’s take action as soon as possible. Depending on the situation, we might have to cancel the festival…”
“That wouldn’t be a good move.”
Shiroe responded to Henrietta, who had jumped to conclusions.
“If the festival is cancelled, people will doubt the Round Table Council’s ability to cope with crises, and as a result, they’ll lose confidence in it. That’s just what they want. The best course of action here is to get through by minimizing the trouble. That means the festival has to go on.”
“That’s… Yes, that’s true.”
Henrietta’s expression looked a little gray.
The fact that they were taking an attack from an unknown enemy, in a form that wasn’t directly visible, was putting her under that much pressure. Shiroe wasn’t entirely immune to that pressure, either. He could “see” a bit more of it than Henrietta, so he was calm. That was all.
Shiroe had a hunch that this attack came from the People of the Earth. There were various reasons for this, but the greatest was the sense of wrongness in the key phrase “loss of trust in the governing organization.”
