Soudouki Vol 7 Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Circle of Destiny

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Part 1

There was an organization that was in control over around twenty percent of Trystovy Dukedom’s coastal territory.

That organization was Trystovy maritime guild.

Almost all the merchants who were doing their business on land had  run away or surrendered to the nobles, but only the maritime guild was  still maintaining their autonomy using their abundant fund and navy  power.

If Trystovy maritime guild’s military force was compared with the  self-defense force that other merchants possessed, then there was no  doubt that they possessed the strongest maritime force at the continent.

Their strength rivaled even the navy of Trystovy Kingdom at their  heyday. They were even called as the monarch of the south seas.

However their force had been exhausted through the long civil war. In  addition there was their quarrel with Sanpaniradeon. Right now they  were in a situation where they were only barely on par with Trystovy  Dukedom’s navy.

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「I have a good news and a bad news, which one should I report first?」

The speaker had tanned skin and bright smile. He looked exactly like a  nice man of the sea, but the merchants who gathered here were  thoroughly aware of just how cunning and dangerous this man was.

He was a man who was just about to reach his thirty, but he was also a  tough guy who had sunk several ships of Trystovy Dukedom’s fleet on the  sea.

Furthermore he had crushed three large companies that could pass  themselves as veteran even within the maritime guild, and he finally  even climbed up until he became one of the Seven Elders that was the  highest decision-making body of the guild. He was a person whose success  story still hadn’t shown any sign of reaching the peak.

No, to be more accurate he was a proxy, the one who was tasked to carry out the policy of the one he represented.

This man, August Garibaldi(アウグスト・ガリバルディ) was what was commonly known  as a second generation. Originally it was his father, Bennett  Garibaldi(ベネート・ガリバルディ) who should be present in this meeting, but he was  rumored as the illusive head because he never showed himself even once.

Furthermore August was a beastman.

Of course it wasn’t like there was no prejudice toward him because of  that, but in the world of merchant, money and bargaining were  prioritized above all else, so the criticism for him in regard to that  aspect was only at the minimum.

「Please start from the bad news first. Be as gentle as possible to the heart of old man like us.」

The chairman of the Seven Elders, Piaggio Delvecchio(ピアージョ・デルベッキオ)  spoke with a feeble voice, but only his eyes were shining like blazing  fire.

August stuck out his tongue inside his heart at this old man who was  saying that despite having a heart that was even harder than steel.

「Then I’ll start from the bad news. It seems Answerer Kingdom is  seriously starting to support the dukedom. They have already finished  delivering ten ships of the line.」

「Admiral Barbarino(バルバリーノ), how will our defense fleet fare in case the enemy send those ships of the line to the frontline?」

Admiral Barbarino who was in control of maritime guild’s defense fleet frowned while stroking his prided beard.

「I won’t have any trouble to lead them by the nose and guard our  merchant ships. After all the skill of our sailors is still superior.  However if I challenge them into a fleet battle with all of our ships,  our chance of victory will be 40% at best.」

「Do you think that their intention is to have a decisive battle with us?」

「What reason they have to fight a war of attrition with us? Even  Answerer Kingdom won’t do something stupid like giving assistance for an  effort that they don’t know when it will end.」

In other words, there was a high chance that the enemy would launch a  large scale land invasion and decisive sea battle at the same time  against this maritime guild.

「So we’re going to have to strengthen our armada and recruit mercenaries again. What a headache.」

The military expense increased each time there was an invasion. In  the end it would deal a serious blow to the human resource and financial  situation of both allies and enemies. It was the negative spiral of  civil war that had been repeated many times until now.

Although now that Answerer Kingdom was involved, the danger would be greater than ever before.

「Then can you tell us what is the good news you have? At this rate this old body might suddenly drop dead from anxiety.」

「Then allow me to answer your expectation.」

August spread out his arms with an exaggerated gesture like an actor and grinned complacently.

「Apparently that prodigal son Bernardi  made a formal announcment at  Mauricia Kingdom about the search of Princess Marguerite who should have  died already.」

「──Hou」

Piaggio narrowed his eyes in delight.

However behind those eyes he was busily carrying out calculation in a dizzying speed.

Why did the son of the archduke Bernardi had to search for an old and  forgotten existence like Princess Marguerite at this timing?

「I’m told that they found the diary of the late King Umberto when  there was a construction work in the palace. Now they are scheming to us  Princess Marguerite as figurehead to reconcile with the royalist  faction by Answerer Kingdom’s intermediation.」

August shrugged and laughed, but it wasn’t a talk that could be laughed off at all.

If archduke faction and royalist faction really reconciled with each  other, the disadvantageous position of the maritime guild would become  even more precarious.

If Answerer Kingdom was setting out to support the dukedom in  earnest, the guild would have to prepare themselves for a high chance of  defeat.

「Perhaps I have grown senile. This doesn’t sound like a good news at all to me though.」

Far from being a good news, this was nearly the worst news possible.

Depending on the situation, they might even have to consider  abandoning the autonomy of maritime guild and asked to negotiate for  reconciliation themselves with the dukedom.

「Perhaps the time has come for us to make a decision too.」

A man was looking over the table with a smug expression. Piaggio  looked back at the man with a feeling of loathing inside his heart.

The man’s name was Gastone Rebecchini(ガストーネ・レベッキーニ).

Even Piaggio and the other members were harboring bitter thought  toward Gastone’s statement. It was because this man was advocating  reconciliation with the nobles.

Gastone’s main customers were the moderate nobles. He was claiming  that unlike the past, now even the nobles had understood that they  couldn’t possibly live without merchant.

Gastone was building an influence among the merchants who were tired  of the increasing military spending that was burdening them in this long  civil war. Even the guild was unable to ignore his growing influence.

Even so Gastone’s faction was still in the minority because as  expected the scars and distrust of the merchants from the violence of  the nobles still ran deep.

When the coup d’etat occurred, the nobles not only avoided paying  their debt, they even seized the assets and executed the merchants with  trumped up charge. A merchant who could still trust the nobles after  that was normally thought as someone without talent for long-term  management.

Perhaps the problem was that the end of this civil still couldn’t be  seen even now that some thought it might be better to compromise even  after such thing had happened in the past rather than continuing the  current situation forever.

「──Gastone, you still haven’t given up reconciling with the nobles?」

Barbarino glared at Gastone with his disgust clear to see.

As the one who fought at the frontline against Trystovy Dukedom’s  navy, Gastone who was exploring the option to form peace with the  dukedom was an abhorrent existence.

「Don’t you think that the wind has changed? If Answerer Kingdom is  interfering, then the nobles too won’t dare to act outrageously.」

Certainly there was no country in the continent that would dare to  violate an agreement that involved Answerer Kingdom, the greatest nation  in this continent.

But the possibility of Answerer Kingdom favoring the maritime guild  was nonexistent. There was no doubt that the maritime guild would have  disadvantageous conditions pushed on them.

And then once the situation was inclined toward reconciliation, it  would be difficult for the guild to maintain their fighting stance  anymore.

Barbarino wondered if perhaps Gastone’s sense for such military  matter was lacking, or perhaps he actually knew that and tried to sell  the guild to the enemy.

Merchant who was blessed with business talent but lacking political or military sense wasn’t that rare.

Normally such merchant wouldn’t be chosen to be one of the Seven  Elders, but Gastone possessed abundant economic clout and he had  solidified his influence in the pro peace faction, so he succeeded in  becoming a member of the Seven Elders.

「There are a lot of nobles who regret turning us into enemy. In  reality they have become even poorer now compared to before the  revolution. That’s only natural! The wheel of economy won’t turn if they  only squeeze the merchants dry. They too have finally noticed that.」

Gastone was speaking the truth.

The tax yields had sharply decreased because the wealthy merchants  who were supporting the foundation of Trystovy rebelled or ran away to  other country. And then it also caused a catastrophic damage to the  circulation of goods.

As the result, even after the nobles caught the merchants, executed  them, and seized all their fortunes, they ended up being greatly in the  red at the long term.

Only the archduke and very few great nobles around him who had even more luxurious living than before the revolution.

It would be better if we don’t revolt if this is how it turns out in the end──the number of nobles who thought that was many.

「Even if that’s the case, I still won’t choose the archduke faction as the contract partner if it’s me.」

A man past middle-aged who had kept quiet until now opened his mouth.

He had black hair and black eyes, and a gentle look, but he had  intellectual eyes that didn’t allow compromise. His strictness was truly  represented from his appearance.

Pietro Milano(ピエトロ・ミラーノ). He managed the clerical affair and  insurance business of the maritime guild. He was a man who honored trust  toward contract above all else.

Trust was life for merchant.

Merchants who rested on their laurels while clinging on tradition and  ended up losing trust and fell into ruin were too many to count.

It was a truth that even Gastone couldn’t deny.

As expected, even Gastone was unable to carelessly answered the question of what should they based their trust on.

「C-certainly it might not be worth it to trust the nobles. However,  can we do anything else in this current situation where the archduke  faction and the royalist faction are going to reconcile!?」

It was foolish to continue fighting a battle that they knew would end in defeat.

Rather than losing, they should choose reconciliation even if it  caused their privilege to be limited and they lost their profit.

Certainly Gastone’s opinion was also one way of looking at this situation.

The remaining elders also understood that. They folded their arms and didn’t hide their bitterness.

The one who broke that atmosphere was August’s amused chuckle.

「Everyone, why are you all looking that grave? And here I thought  that this report is an unparalleled good news for the maritime guild.」

As expected even Piaggio was unable to hide his loathing expression seeing August’s smug face.

Did this man know what they were feeling right now?

If not for his position as an elder, Piaggio would already yell Whose fault do you think this is!

「It seems that there is a reasoning here that an old  geezer like me  is unable to comprehend. Can you explain it to me with a bit more  detail?」

He wouldn’t let him off freely if August’s reason was actually something stupid.

Piaggio glared at August with such intention filling his gaze.

Of course August wasn’t shaken at all by such thing and he clapped his hands in delight.

「We had a good relationship with the late king. It can even be said  that a king is an indispensable existence to protect our fortune from  the nobles’ tyranny and regulate the friction with the foreign  countries.」

However because the merchants tried to obtain political strength that  was fitting for their economic strength, their confrontation with the  nobles deepened even further.

Looking back, there wasn’t any need for them to corner the nobles  until that far. The old-timers who had been elders since that time were  reflecting.

「It’s just as you say. However it’s not like we can resurrect his majesty at this point.」

August continued further in front of the sarcastic Piaggio.

「The royal family was our protector, they were irreplaceable ally who  we should support. Then why did we choose the path of autonomy rather  than backing the king? It was because there was no legitimate heir to  the throne and the only available figurehead was just a noble’s  daughter.」

The noble’s daughter that he mentioned here referred to none other than Silk.

She wasn’t someone who they could trust just like the archduke faction.

「──And then right now it has come to light that there is a heir to the throne who hasn’t been influenced by anyone.」

August let out a complacent smile.

There was no way the shrewd merchants who were chosen as elders didn’t understand what he was hinting at.

「That reasoning is interesting but impracticable. We are already one  or two steps behind those dukedom bunches you know? We also don’t have  any connection in Mauricia Kingdom, so how do you suggest we find her?」

Gastone snorted roughly and ridiculed this suggestion.

August’s suggestion was relaly attractive that Gastone judged he had to cause it to be declined no matter what.

It didn’t matter whether he was actually able to do that or not.

「I see, there won’t be any better dream come true than this if we can  forestall the nobles and declare our support to the princess first.」

「Yeah, the problem is how do we find her. And then there is also the  matter of how to proof her legitimacy even if we do find her……」

Sure enough Barbarino and Pietro started thinking about how feasible it could be. Gastone hit the table in panic seeing that.

「This isn’t the time to discuss about wild dream like this! The most  important thing for us right now is how to realistically deal with the  approaching danger!」

「Are you saying that surrendering to the nobles is a realistic method?」

「It’s not surrendering! It will be a peace between equal!」

「Equal? Now you are also talking about a wild dream.」

Piaggio shut up Gastone with a pressure that would break no argument before he faced August once more.

The senile and gentle old man atmosphere from before couldn’t be found anywhere.

He was the chairman who ruled over the maritime guild and the head of  Delvecchio Company that possessed the biggest merchant fleet in  Trystovy. He spoke with the smile of a predator in front of a prey.

「I know you. You said that this is a good news so you must have a  considerable reason behind it. Can you stop teasing us like this and  tell everything?」

His tone was gentle, but there was no question that it was a command.

(Now then, the old geezer is showing his true face now.)

August still dared to smiled thinly and bowed his head politely to show his obedience.

The elders renewed their evaluation toward August seeing how he wasn’t flustered at all even while under Piaggio’s pressure.

It was impossible to endure Piaggio’s pressure just because one was a  shrewd merchant. They would also have to possess the experience of  struggling through many carnages.

「Just as everyone here has known, my Garibaldi Company is in a deep relationship with Dowding Company at Mauricia Kingdom.」

「──As annoying as it is.」

There were a lot of companies that wanted to work together with  Dowding Company that was at the peak of its popularity right now.

Garibaldi Company had been building a tight relationship of trust ever since Dowding Company was still a normal company.

Not only that, Garibaldi Company was also signing a contract with  Savaran Company that was hiding in the shadow of Dowding Company.

The elders didn’t know about this fact.

「They are intimate with that hero, Baldr Antrim Cornelius. I asked  them with my connection so that we are allowed to give our greeting to  him too.」

「What an envious story, but what is the relation of that with this?」

「No no. Using that connection, I asked to be allowed to get close  with Ramillies-dono, the general of Mauricia Kingdom and also the  headmaster of the royal knight academy.」

「I told you to stop teasing us.」

August continued while treating Piaggio’s displeased words like a small breeze.

「Strangely, Ramillies-dono is exceedingly preferring Trystovy products. If it’s just that then even I won’t find it unusual but」

「Are you saying, there is more to it?」

「His knowledge regarding Trystovy nobles, his knowledge of this  country’s geography, both of them are at the level that is unthinkable  for a foreigner, so I mobilized all of my connections to investigate  about him too and what I found was……」

August paused there and looked over the faces of the elders.

It was frustrating, but they couldn’t help themselves from getting drawn in.

August’s story was just that shocking.

「His age is just about right with the knight who served Princess  Marguerite in the past. That skilled knight’s name was also Ramillies  and he vanished from Trystovy together with a maid in the past.」

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Part 2

The meeting was adjourned with an oath of silence that would see them lose their lives if they broke it.

First they had to move as quickly as possible to put together the  evidences and asked about the whereabouts of Princess Marguerite’s  whereabouts from Ramillies.

After the result came out, the maritime guild would harden their resolve to put their all into this gamble.

August passed through the magnificent gate of his mansion in high  spirits and got out from his carriage. The maids who lined up at his  left and right were serving his need while he walked toward his study.

「Return back all of you.」

August dismissed the maids with a cold voice before he opened the door to his study alone.

「──Everything went just as you planned, father.」

August didn’t show any timidity at all even against Piaggio, but now he was clearly acting nervously.

「Even so, was it really alright to give out Ramillies-dono’s name at  this time? There is a risk Gastone leaking out this information……」

「That person is Viktor’s knight to the core. He won’t do anything that inconvenient us.」

No matter how much success he had achieved in Mauricia, and even if  he actually had formed a family, Ramillies’s true nature would stay as  the knight of Viktor who was staying loyal for his whole life. This man  knew that.

「August, you are the one who resemble me the most among all of my  children. Things will become interesting from here on. You better  resolve yourself.」

「If it’s something that father is looking forward to then it will be  surely nothing but troubles. In the first place father being here in  itself is already a big problem you know?」

His life had been exposed to danger many times until now because of his father’s recklessness.

Even so August admitted that he certainly resembled his father.

He had the blood of revolutionary that wished for upheaval rather than stability.

「Please learn a little how to be prudent father, no, Count Valerie Ost-sama.」

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There was a person who was called Trystovy’s shadow prime minister.

This person obtained the king’s trust and it was thought that he  would respect the commoner’s right, and yet he then changed side to the  archduke faction and made the coup d’etat a success. He was a person who  was showered with both praise and censure in equal amount.

He never stood at the center stage even once and his name had never been assigned to an important office at all.

However, he wielded a shrewdness that was indispensable for the  governance of Trystovy Dukedom the government structure of the dukedom  that was apt to descend into anarchy in this chaotic situation was  barely maintained solely thanks to this man’s capability.

Without him, the tyranny of the nobles would have run wild endlessly  and Trystovy Dukedom would have broken up at the early stage.

And so once the government had managed to settle down temporarily,  the man obtained an influence in the government system that couldn’t be  rivaled by anyone in Tyrstovy Dukedom. It was only natural because he  was the person who discovered and selected almost all the people in  charge of all the government departments.

The name of that man was Count Valerie Ost. It was a well-known fact.

He was a meritorious retainer for the founding of the country and the trust of Archduke Antonio to him was deep.

However even though he possessed such vast influence, Valerie  continued to keep his silence while never showing himself at the center  stage.

What was mysterious was despite not having any important post and he  only had his territory slightly increased, Valerie was maintaining a  fortune that was disproportionate to his station.

An influential noble without any office.

Many nobles made light of Valerie like that and harassed him or aimed  to snatch his fortunes, but they all fell into ruin without exception.

Even a great noble at marquis class wasn’t an exception. Sometimes  those nobles would have their scandal discovered, but many times they  would be visited by an accidental misfortune. Before anyone knew it  there was no more people who rashly tried something with Valerie.

The influential person whose true form couldn’t be grasped even by  the governing body of the dukedom, the one who had the darkness of  Trystovy under his thumb.

Valerie had shut himself within his mansion for more than ten years  and he was considered to be half retired, but he was still an ominous  existence that was feared within Trystovy.

.

「Then what are we going to do now? Even Answerer Kingdom is putting their earnest effort this time.」

Valerie had many wrinkles and his body had completely become thin. August peered into his father’s eyes and grinned.

「Recently the sudden change of the world affairs is surpassing my imagination but……」

Valerie slowly closed his eyes with his mind running toward somebody far away.

At times he would also worry whether he would be able to achieve his objective before he died or not.

Time had helped him to remove the obstacles in his way.

However there was no successoricon which was essential to succeed Valerie’s ideal.

(……Perhaps there is nobody else in this world that is seeking something like ideal.)

Once he even had such thought and considered dying gloriously while  bringing everything to destruction to accompany him in his death.

He didn’t do that perhaps because somewhere in his heart he had a premonition that this time would come as he expected.

(Viktor! Perhaps your great grandson will change the world.)

Yes, the keystone of everything was Baldr.

He was childhood friend with the future queen of Sanjuan Kingdom. He  was also close with the Mauricia king, and he was also liked by Majorca  Kingdom’s navy minister who subdued that atrocious pirate Sanpaniradeon.

If the maritime guild could cooperate with the navies of both  countries, the maritime guild’s fleet would be able to fight even if  they turned the whole world into enemy.

They would be able to beat the like of Trystovy Dukedom’s fleet with a single blow.

「My expectation is going off course in a good direction. That moron  Bernardi turned the gear of destiny on his own. No one can stop this  anymore.」

Anything and everything was starting to move as though it had been  preordained by fate. If not it was unthinkable that Baldr was able to  obtain good acquaintance in Sanjuan Kingdom, Majorca Kingdom, and even  Nordland Empire.

Perhaps even Valerie was also just a clown that had his string pulled by fate.

However he didn’t mind being a clown.

If it enabled him to play a dramatic role in the never seen before  stage that would start after this, then that was just what he asked for.

His late friendViktor would surely scold him, but he had decided the role that he would play since that day in the past a long time ago.

「Don’t take your eyes off from Dowding Company. Also──contact your relatives in Nordland too. Do you understand, August?」

「Good grief, going to Nordland in this situation? Well, it’ll also be fun to meet uncle after so long.」

August who had a beastman as a mother recalled how his mother’s brother doted on him very much.

That uncle had a candid disposition that was really like a beastman.  He hadn’t visited him for ten years already, but he heard that his uncle  had become a cavalry inspector general right now, an authority with  established reputation.

That man possessed martial skill that was among the top five in the  whole Nordland and acknowledged even by that Thunder of Helsing  Gina──his name was Gitze Mannerheim(ギッツェ・マンネルハイム).

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Part 3

Mauricia king Welkin was lately feeling depressed with worry.

The last time he was feeling worried like this was during the great  failure due to the nobles running wild at the first Antrim war more than  ten years ago.

Welkin was fundamentally a positive and forward-looking person. Even  when he faced a difficult situation politically, he possessed the  impudence to enjoy it instead.

He was especially like that since he overcame the war and grew as king.

At the very least Harold couldn’t remember Welkin looking this depressed in his memory.

「……And is there any progress with their search?」

「The time has passed too much……won’t it be faster to pull up a hoax instead?」

As the prime minister, Harold was more troubled with how to deal with  Answerer Kingdom that was rapidly backing up Trystovy Dukedom.

According to the information that he obtained just now, they learned  that Answerer Kingdom was assisting the archduke faction with ten  state-of-the-art battleships.

It would be impossible to use those ships right away, but as soon as  the training for using the ships finished, the archduke faction would  definitely carry out a large scale military action in order to bring the  civil war to an end.

If the maritime guild was destroyed by that, Mauricia Kingdom that  was supporting the royalist faction would lose any ground for  interfering.

That was because militarily speaking it would be too risky to turn  the united Trystovy and the strongest nation in the continent Answerer  Kingdom into enemy.

「It will be a great scandal if we fabricate a hoax and then Princess Marguerite get found later on you know?」

「True. For the archduke faction, they just need to buy time until  they manage to unite the country without any care of this search’s  result.」

Due to the joker card called Princess Marguerite, the royalist  faction that was centered around Marquis Randolph was stopped cold from  taking any action.

Currently many nobles were ignoring any talk for invasion to focus on searching for Marguerite instead.

Those nobles who tried to court Silk until just recently changed  their attitude as easily as turning their hand. It enraged Alford so  much that he wanted to kill them if he could.

「──Your majesty.」

「Oo, so you have come Baron Simpson.」

A gloomy looking gangly man silently stepped forward and kneeled in front of Welkin. He courteously lowered his head.

Baron Abel Simpson(アーベ・シンプソン) was the one in charge of controlling the intelligence agency in the shadow for Welkin.

Because of that he didn’t have any post at the surface and other  people were told that he was shutting himself in his own territory  because of his weak body.

「My subordinates had searched Cardiff just as your majesty commanded. They have brought me their report.」

「Umu.」

Harold sent his gaze toward Welkin to ask What is this about?

「──The mother and daughter who migrated to that city were undoubtedly Princess Marguerite.」

「Wha-!?」

Harold couldn’t ignore that comment and interrupted.

「What is the meaning of this your majesty? Is there something that you know!?」

「I’ll tell you later. And? Were you able to confirm the corpses?」

「With all due respect, the princess wasn’t killed. I believe that it is almost a certainty that she managed to survive.」

「……I see.」

Welkin let out a long sigh while leaning back heavily on his throne.

Welkin usually looked younger than his age, but now he looked like he  had grown older than his actual age in just several seconds.

「Do you know her whereabouts?」

「Unfortunately not……however I found a man who is in possession of a clue.」

From the result of investigating the trace of Princess Marguerite,  there was a woman who seemed to fit her description crossing to  Nordland, but the trace was cut off from there.

After that as expected even the intelligence agency had no way to  know where and what the woman was doing after she left to other country.

「Who is this man?」

「It’s the knight who was thought as the guard of the princess. His  name is……Ramillies. From his age and appearance, there is one person who  is highly possible person to be the same person.」

「Don’t tell me, you mean that Ramillies!?」

The veteran general who returned back to his post as the headmaster of the knight academy after the second Antrim war was over.

He boasted a peerless leadership and at the first Antrim war, he was a  hero who created the impetus for overturning the situation using less  than a company of troops.

He was granted a noble rank, but he firmly refused it and stayed a  commoner. Because of that his popularity among the commoners was also  high.

For a former mercenary who climbed up to his current position, he had  insight and upright personality that didn’t match his background. Even  Welkin himself was puzzled by that.

「Then it’s unavoidable. Call Ramillies here.」

「By your will.」

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Abel swiftly left like a shadow without any sound. Then Harold  questioned Welkin with a bitter face as though he had bitten a sour  grape.

「What’s the meaning of this? How did your majesty know her whereabouts!?」

As the prime minister who was entrusted with the national politic, it  angered Harold that he didn’t know anything about such significant  matter.

Sometimes Welkin could also get carried away and failed, but Harold  believed of Welkin as his close partner that wouldn’t keep any secret  from him.

「Any royal family would naturally have one or two skeletons inside  their closet. This is something that I couldn’t say even to you.」

Something like a pure and honest royal family didn’t exist in this world.

It didn’t matter how wise and king a king was, the bloodline that was  flowing within a royal family with long history usually would have  rotten smell clinging in it.

「I once received an extremely secretive contact from Catalina. It  said that a maid that the king laid his hand on escaped and gave birth  to a child. Furthermore that child was apparently a boy.」

At that time there was a baby boom in Trystovy royal family after Sforza House was eliminated.

The first queen Catalina also gave birth to a boy and a girl, but her  body was harmed after the childbirth and she was told that she wouldn’t  be able to expect a third child.

If nothing happened, the boy would inherit the kingdom as the crown prince.

But the only boy that Catalina gave birth to had natural defect with his sight.

He could still see image faintly with his eyes, so it didn’t affect  his daily life that much, but it would be definitely discovered when his  education as the crown prince began.

If he was the eldest son then this problem could be solved by simply  giving him an excellent aide. However what if there was a king’s son who  was older than him?

Because of that Welkin could understand why Catalina would be so fearful.

「And so your majesty sent assassins to kill the boy?」

「I also considered that. For some reason, Catalina was really  insistent that I have to kill the boy no matter what so that he won’t  become a source of disaster in the future. However his mother was just a  maid without any backing. So I sent some knights to secure the boy,  thinking that there won’t be any problem if that boy could be secured.  However──」

Welkin completely misjudged the violent emotion and persistence of Catalian.

「The report that I received was that both mother and child were killed.」

「How can that be! That was a breach of order!」

「There was a dependent of Duke Beaufort among the knights. It seemed  that knight had kept in contact with Catalina without my knowledge.」

That was how much Catalian wanted to kill a mere maid’s child no  matter what. She even worked together with Duke Arnold Beaufort who was  the political enemy of her brother Welkin for that.

Although it was Duke Beaufort who was taking action proactively.

「It seemed that Catalina promised Duke Beaufort to reward him with  the assistance of Trystovy Kingdom against the coming war with Haurelia  Kingdom and also marrying her eldest daughter with his grandson.」

At that time, the majority of the nobles were greatly looking forward  to the war with Haurelia Kingdom. Duke Beaufort whose eldest son died  in battle was right at the forefront of those nobles.

At that time Duke Beaufort was at the top of the ten great nobles.  Welkin didn’t have the authority to restrain him behind the scene.  Furthermore this was about a secret matter of the royal family that  couldn’t be made public.

「What is the reason that she wanted to kill the child by that much?」

「Catalina wouldn’t tell me no matter how much I hounded her. She even  hinted that she would sever the diplomatic relations between Mauricia  and Trystovy if I kept asking. I couldn’t even imagine the reason of why  she had to go that far to hide it.」

Even if the child was the result of adultery like incest of the king  and her sister or the king cheating with the wife of a high ranked  noble, one might still not reacted excessively like that.

「The rest is just like what you know. Because it was also a demand  from Catalina, I didn’t even doubt the report that they were killed.  Furthermore we were facing the nobles and also Haurelia at that time, so  I didn’t even have the leeway to ponder about it.」

「That’s……understandable.」

Harold recalled the hellish political dispute at that time and let out a gloomy sigh.

He lost himself in his work at that time after the war ended. Those  days were extremely busy for him that he couldn’t even remember what he  was actually doing until things settled down.

「I noticed the possibility that the one who was killed might be  Princess Marguerite after listening to the story of that greenhorn  Bernardi the other day. This matter had to be kept hidden no matter  what, and it’s also necessary to ascertain whether the one killed was  really a boy or the princess. But I never expected that she is still  alive.」

It would be the worst if the princess was alive and worked together with Trystovy Dukedom.

「She must be……harboring a grudge.」

「It’ll be unreasonable to ask her to not resent us.」

Welkin and Harold looked at each other silently.

They couldn’t see any way to get out of this situation safely even  though the situation was going more and more disadvantageous for them  even while they were talking like this.

Should they just take the plunge and fabricate a hoax for covering this up?

It was while Welkin was seriously thinking of such possibility.

「──Ramillies-sama has arrived.」

A chamberlain announced the arrival of the old general.

.

Part 4

His face was noticeably covered with wrinkles and almost all of his  hair had turned white, but his splendid physique that had been trained  in the tumult of wars hadn’t withered at the slightest.

While he had entered the old age of 70, Ramillies’s dignity as a general felt as though it had heightened even more instead.

Welkin knew that even a flock of sheep would fight like wolves if they were led by this old man.

It was also clear when looking at the distinguished reputations of  the subordinates that this person had raised that he was the one who had  advanced through battlefields and accumulated experience the most in  Mauricia Kingdom.

The only commoner that Welkin had be considerate to this degree was Ramillies alone.

「I have arrived just as your majesty commanded.」

His veteran dignity wasn’t marred at all even while he was courteously kneeling and bowing like this.

Rather with his large body it felt like that his pressure was increasing.

Of course Welkin wasn’t someone who would flinch just from something  to that degree, but he couldn’t help himself from naturally using polite  wording.

「Umu, forgive me for summoning you like this so suddenly.」

Welkin was well aware of this old man’s honest disposition and solemn personality that wasn’t greedy for honor.

The trust of his subordinates was incomparably high compared to the other nobles.

That was exactly why Welkin was still unable to fully believe that  Ramillies was hiding his relationship with Princess Marguerite.

「There is a matter that I wish to talk with you good sir. My  subordinates had given me a report. It mentioned that you Sir Ramillies  was the guard of Princess Marguerite. Is this true?」

Ramillies answered indifferently without showing any surprise or regret outwardly.

「It’s true.」

Ramillies’s answer was short.

Welkin realized that his word was true because of how short it was.

Because Welkin wouldn’t promote Ramillies to be a general if he was someone who would make excuses incoherently.

「I won’t question why you decided to keep it a secret until now.  However let me ask you where is Princess Marguerite’s whereabouts right  now?」

Welkin was feeling resentful that Ramillies had been keeping quiet  about such serious matter that shook the palace greatly like that, but  Ramillies’s value as general was too valuable to be discarded just  because of that.

Welkin had a simple thought that perhaps this old man merely disliked for his background to be known.

However that thought was splendidly betrayed.

「Your majesty, there I have nothing to speak about this from my mouth.」

「What……did you say?」

It was a clear rejection without the slightest hesitation. As expected, even Welkin was speechless from being struck dumb.

Harold came to his senses slightly earlier and shouted toward Ramillies with a strong tone.

「Know your place as a retainer! That’s not an attitude that you  should take toward his majesty who not only promoted you to be general  but also granted you the rank of baron!」

「Isn’t it my lord who has forgotten? Far from being a baron, I’m not even a knight.」

「That’s……」

After being told that, both Harold and even Welkin realized for the  first time that Ramillies wasn’t even a formal knight of the kingdom.

As a matter of fact, Ramillies’s status as a knight wasn’t any different from a mercenary who received battlefield commission.

His position as a general was just a job in the end while actually he didn’t have any official rank.

At present Ramillies had already let go of his general rank to work as the knight academy’s headmaster.

The hero originally should be appointed to a high rank of baron, so  they couldn’t possibly confer decorations to him as knight after this  late. Ramillies’s position so to speak was just a provisional knight.

「I have never doubted your loyalty until now. You had always  fulfilled my order and answered my expectation. Were all those just a  lie?」

「I too have always thought of your majesty as a good employer.  However, pardon my rudeness, although your majesty is very good in  gauging someone’s capability, your majesty is third rate when it comes  to seeing through feeling.」

Welkin only evaluated Ramillies’s ability highly and granted him tasks that were worthy of his skill.

He saw his subordinate moving like he planned and thought that  subordinate was loyal to him. He was correct if it was only based on the  result.

However there wasn’t any causal relationship between loyalty and producing result that was appropriate for one’s capability.

Welkin and Harold displayed their anger at Ramillies’s blunt words.  Baron Abel Simpson had his hand on his sword’s handle, ready to behead  Ramillies immediately if he was ordered to do so.

「You sir are saying, that I’m you’re your employer?」

「Yes. Before talking about baron rank and the like, your majesty  would immediately realize this if only I was asked whether I would offer  my sword to your majesty.」

Now that Ramillies mentioned it, it was clearly an oversight from the kingdom’s side.

Although it was just a formality, the ceremony of noble or knight  offering their sword to the king and swore their loyalty was something  essential.

Ramillies had never done that, so in effect Ramillies’s position wasn’t any different from a mercenary.

Of course the salary and treatment that he received were better  compared to the average noble, but at the very least it was clear that  the king wasn’t in the position to demand Ramillies’s loyalty.

「Then, to whom you sir offer your sword and loyalty to?」

Welkin was sensing a shapeless shadow behind every single word of Ramillies.

Ramillies said that it was impossible for him to offer his sword to  Welkin. It wasn’t because he simply disliked doing so, but because there  was already someone who he offered his sword to.

Welkin still believed that it wasn’t Ramillies’s nature to maliciously deceive other.

「A knight offer their sword only to one person for their whole life.  For me it’s none other than Count Pazarov, Viktor-sama. He is my one and  only master.」

「……Count Pazarov……he was the grandfather of Princess Margaret wasn’t he?」

「As expected from your excellency, you possess extensive knowledge.」

「I only heard that name for the first time after investigating the matter of Princess Marguerite.」

Pazarov House was already exterminated and forgotten when Harol became prime minister.

He would never hear about this name if not for the case this time.

「──I see, so you protected Princess Marguerite because of that link.」

「I’m just a fool who abandoned even that duty midway.」

Ramillies smiled self-depreciatingly.

.

Several years ago after he left those mother and daughter, Ramillies  who had immediately distinguished himself as a mercenary returned back  to Cardiff bringing with him so many souvenirs.

However what he found there were only a small grave and Marguerite’s  massage that was engraved onto the pillar of the house that had become  dilapidated.

And then Ramillies realized that he had lost the thing that he should be protecting.

As he thought, he should have stayed and watched over the two until the very end no matter what they said.

Even if as the result of that he only hastened the assassins’  discovery of their whereabouts or that he ended up wasting away in  obscurity, he shouldn’t have left them no matter what.

In the first place his thinking of wanting to retrain himself once more because he had lost against Marguerite was a mistake.

A future of being a farmer while working as bodyguard for the city  and living in peace was also possible for him. If only he lived like  that, then perhaps Lisha too would live longer.

When he thought that, Ramillies became unable to contain himself.

He went through many battles that brought him to the verge of death  that he became called 「The suicidal Ramillies」 among the mercenaries.

During those times, he accomplished a decisive role that became the  division point of the war by chance. Because of that he was kicked  upstairs to become general, but Ramillies never considered it as a honor  even once.

It was because Ramillies’s long-cherished desire as a knight had long been lost for eternity together with Viktor’s death.

At the same time, there was also a duty that he had to accomplish no matter what because of it.

There was an oath that he wanted to fulfill before he died.

If the passed down bloodline wished to inherit Viktor-sama’s ideal by any chance.

.

「──Your majesty, your command?」

The one who broke the heavy silence with a monotone voice was Abel.

Welkin wasn’t a ruler who rarely dealt with shady business that he couldn’t understand the meaning of Abel’s words.

Abel was asking if he should torture Ramillies to find out the whereabouts of Princess Marguerite.

「──It won’t work.」

If they were dealing with a normal knight, Welkin would choose torture without any hesitation.

However they were dealing with Ramillies.

It was unthinkable that he would speak because of torture or the like.

Ramillies too shouldn’t show any hostility if their side didn’t do anything unnecessary.

「I believe that the answer will come out within several months.」

「What do you mean?」

Welkin tilted his head at Ramillies’s words.

「To keep quiet and live in peace, or to speak up and fight even  knowing the danger, these two are the only available choices. It won’t  take that much time regardless of which option will be taken.」

If they chose to live in peace, Ramillies intended to bring this secret to his grave.

She had given birth to twins recently and her son was going to marry  in the near future. Perhaps it would be better to choose to keep quiet  in such situation. As long as the secret was kept, a bright future that  would be envied by everyone would open up to them.

However if they chose to fight──.

「I wish to make a wish to your majesty with all due respect.」

Perhaps he kept living in disgrace until now all for this chance.

「If by any chance that person choose to fight, this Ramillies wish to be allowed to relinquish his post and leave.」

At that time he would never leave anymore.

He would offer all that remained of his short life and fought for their sake. That was Ramillies’s vow.

「You won’t listen even if I tell you no right?」

「Yes.」

Ramillies was a valuable man for the kingdom, but he wasn’t an  indispensable personage now that Mauricia had emerged victorious against  Haurelia. It was irritating, but Welkin thought that the best option  here would be to sell favor to the other side.

「I won’t stop you. I shall allow it out of respect for your contributions to this country until now.」

「My many thanks.」

「──By the way.」

Welkin changed his expression and asked Ramillies with a detached voice as though they were just having an idle talk.

「You can just tell me your own opinion. Do you think that the  princess will stay in hiding? Or do you think that she will show herself  to the world?」

Normally when someone had stayed in hiding for dozens of years like  this, it was hard to believe that they would choose to stand on the  center stage at this point.

If Welkin was in the princess’s position, he could declare with absolute certainty that he wouldn’t show himself.

No one could be trusted at all in this situation. Not the archduke  faction and royalist faction of Trystovy, and not even Mauricia Kingdom.

If the princess didn’t have any force with firm authority to act as  her backer, she would only be used for all her worth before getting  assassinated in the future. Welkin could only imagine such future for  her.

For Welkin, he would be thankful if the princess kept hiding in the  shadow like this and vanished forever. Such wish was mixed into his  heart.

「Ku-ku-ku……aahahhahhahhah!」

Despite not intending to, Ramillies burst into loud laughter when he  imagined Baldr and Maggot ticking their tails between their legs and  spent their life quietly.

He was in the presence of Welkin, but he was still unable to suppress this impulse no matter what.

Just what was he thinking?

There were two options?

No, if those two knew the truth, then only one choice was available right from the start.

Besides there was no way the words tranquility and peace had any relation with those overly problematic mother and son.

「……What is so funny?」

「P-please pardon my rudeness. It was really stupid of me. This senile  brain have completely forgotten the nature of that person.」

Ramillies wiped the tears at the corner of his eyes and answered.

That stubborn tomboy who was his favorite pupil shined the most  radiantly when she was in the middle of battle. Ramillies knew that  better than anyone.

And then her son Baldr had also inherited from her mother the nature  of trouble magnet that drew all kind of stormy drama to himself. Though  the person himself wouldn’t want to admit it.

Even if those two actually decided to keep quiet and live in peace, destiny would never allow that.

The goddess of destiny would never allow hero to get away from her.

「It seems the answer has been decided.」

「Yes. That person will surely choose to stand on the grand stage and  fight. It doesn’t matter how small the chance of victory actually is.」

「What a troubling personality. The appearance of Trystovy’s heir at this late will only become a trigger of even longer war.」

That was how it would be if the person in question was just a normal person who happened to inherit the blood of royalty.

「If that person is simply the successor of Trystovy, then I won’t  even need to lend my help. However, if he is the successor of  Viktor-sama, then perhaps this will even become a trigger that change  the world.」