Chapter 13: The Oldest and Weakest of the Loyal

Ludwig made full use of all his connections for his investigation. Paying secret visits to his fellow “disciples,” he collected every last scrap of information they offered.

“I figured I’d start by taking a closer look at what role the House of Yellowmoon and its associates played. In the process, I received word that a fellow pupil of my master wishes to speak with me. He works in the Azure Moon Ministry”

“Another one? You know, the scale of this pupil cabal of yours never fails to amaze me,” said Dion.

Ludwig smiled despite himself.

“They’re an eccentric bunch, but they can be rather useful in situations like these.”

The two were waiting in a private room of a large tavern on the outskirts of the capital. Soon, their guest arrived.

“Ah, it’s a pleasure to see you again, dear elder pupil of our master. It’s been too long.”

A young man entered, greeting Ludwig with an affable grin.

“Not long enough to wipe that cheeky look off your face, I see,” said Ludwig with a grimace. It was in jest, of course. Mostly. “Good to see you’re still as infuriatingly sociable as ever.”

“It’s a curse I endure with great reluctance, I assure you,” the young man said, smiling even more broadly than before. “And you, O elder pupil, seem as prone to poking your nose into sticky matters as ever. Oh? Might that handsome fellow behind you be the sword of Her Highness? The one that’s been making the rounds in the rumor mills these days?”

The young man peered at Dion, who shrugged.

“Don’t know for how long, but I’m still dangling from her belt for now. The name’s Dion Alaia.” He shot a sharp, scrutinizing gaze at the young man. “Still figuring out if I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Ha ha ha, you’re exactly as intimidating as they say! Ludwig, how do you spend so much time around this fine fellow and not soil yourself every other minute?”

Entirely unfazed by Dion’s menacing aura, the young man extended his hand.

“Gilbert Bouquet,” he said, with an accented flourish on the soft g. “Call me Gil, if it please you. It’ll please me, at least.”

Dion shook the hand, glancing at Ludwig while he did.

“Gotta say, Ludwig sure has some interesting friends. Are you as promising a young talent as the rest?”

“Oh, you flatter me. I’m but a lowly official of the Azure Moon Ministry.”

The Azure Moon Ministry was one of the five main branches of the Tearmoon government and dealt primarily with the administration of the imperial capital. As one would expect from such a broad description of purpose, this ministry’s duties were quite diverse. One of these duties was negotiating with the central nobility. It was common knowledge that if one wished to obtain information about the empire’s prominent nobles, asking someone from the Azure Moon Ministry was the surest path.

“Man, I have to say though, the last thing I expected was for the Great Detester of All Things Imperial himself to be working for Her Highness. What’s behind the change of heart, Ludwig?”

“Hah. You’d understand if you met her. Her Highness is someone who makes you feel like anything would be worth it to keep serving her. Even our master has firmly committed himself to her employment.”

“Yeah, that’s the craziest part. Not only you, but that old rock of a man too. I didn’t think he had it in him to change his opinions anymore.”

Gilbert pursed his lips in thought and nodded, evidently intrigued by the topic. And so the Great Sage Indoctrination Campaign sunk its claws into its next victim. As its most ardent member, Ludwig knew no rest. He worked whenever and wherever. Weekdays and weekends, on the clock and off, so long as there was a mind to be converted, he would be there converting it.

“Anyway, back on topic. You wanted to know more about the Yellowmoons?” said Gilbert, as a waiter arrived with a round of drinks.

“That’s right. If you have any interesting information, I’d like to hear it.”

“Well, I do have something, but it’s not so much information as it is...a warning.” Gilbert paused to scan the room before lowering his voice to a whisper. “By the way, smart move bringing that Dion fellow with you. If you’re sniffing around Duke Yellowmoon, you literally cannot be too careful.”

“That bad, huh? I figured I’d need to take extra precautions based on what I’ve found out so far, but...”

“...Just to be clear, I know your definition of ‘extra’ is orders of magnitude above most people’s, but even so, it probably wouldn’t hurt to tighten it another notch.” Gilbert leaned back and shook his head. “Honestly, I can’t for the life of me imagine why you’d want to pick a fight with these people... Anyway, where should I start? Let’s see... By the way, do you know how the Duke of Yellowmoon came to be known as the ‘weakest’ noble?”

“Of course. Lord Georgia’s uprising. It’s been so ever since.”

The event he spoke of had occurred almost two hundred years ago. It was arguably the largest insurrection in the history of the Tearmoon Empire. At the time, the house’s head had been Duke Georgia Etoile Yellowmoon. After conspiring with a number of powerful nobles, he rose up in rebellion against the imperial family. The scale and momentum of this revolt was so formidable that it threatened to rend the empire in two and plunge it into civil war. Despite its thunderous start, however, the uprising had ended with an astonishingly pathetic whimper.

Lord Georgia was killed by his younger brother, Gardier, and the rebel army crumbled soon after. The nobles who’d conspired in the uprising were all put to death, and their families’ reputations were ruined. Of particular note was that the younger brother, Gardier, despite his critical contribution to averting a costly rebellion, was placed not under a halo of glory but upon a bed of thorns. Many began to speak of him with disdain, pointing to the fact that the Yellowmoons had been the ones to cause the calamity in the first place, and he’d simply prevented his own treasonous family from doing more harm. Adding oil to the fire was his petition to spare the lives of those whose families were involved in the conspiracy, though the cost of treason was widely accepted to be the death of one’s entire house and clan.

In defending those guilty by association, Gardier earned himself no small amount of censure. In the end, public opinion on the two brothers diverged. The older came to be seen as a fearsome, ambitious figure with the heart and nerve to challenge the empire for his own ends. The younger was disparaged as a traitorous coward, betraying the nation and then his own house.

Even so, Gardier’s petition saved many lives, and grateful survivors from implicated houses gathered under the Yellowmoon banner. The entire Yellowmoon faction came to be known as an assembly of losers whose ranks consisted of those defeated in the power struggle. Over time, they were progressively joined by other nobles in similarly alienated positions, such as outland counts who suffered frequent contempt from the central nobility. Thus, a faction of misfits was born, resulting in the Yellowmoons being called “the oldest and weakest of all.”

“And that’s the gist of the story, which everybody knows. But what if I told you it was all planned? That the whole uprising was a calculated move? What would you think then?” Gilbert asked with the amused tone of a parent riddling a child.

“You mean, if the uprising wasn’t a simple uprising but a means to some other end...” said Ludwig, crossing his arms contemplatively. “A lure, then... A lamp for moths...”

Gilbert snapped his fingers at Ludwig’s answer.

“Bingo. I knew you’d get it. It’s not exactly hard to dig this information up, but some of these nobles in the Yellowmoon faction right now...their ties with the duke go way back. Before they even lost that power struggle. For example, around the time of the uprising, there was a marquess whose power and influence almost rivaled the emperor’s, but for some reason, he started losing heirs left and right. Specifically, his sons were succumbing to sickness one after another. Other nobles began looking at him askance, deeming him a source of bad luck, and eventually he was ostracized from high society. That’s when an old friend of his, the Duke of Yellowmoon, just happened to show up and invite him to join their faction.” Gilbert took a swig of wine and smirked. “Now doesn’t that just reek of something fishy?”

“I see. So you’re suggesting that the Yellowmoons assassinated the marquess’s sons to weaken his influence. Hm... They approach those who are a nuisance to the empire, gain their trust, and then cripple their power. The fact that they targeted not the marquess directly but his sons, along with the imperial family’s ostensible ambivalence toward them, shielded them from any substantial suspicion of wrongdoing.”

“And on top of that, the Yellowmoons are experts in botany and herbology. It really makes you wonder, you know?”

“They have a longstanding interest in medicinal horticulture...would be the benign explanation. But no. This is likely a case of medicine and poison being two sides of the same coin.”

“Precisely. The House of Yellowmoon is a clan of assassins who use poison to eliminate those who are a threat to the empire. That’s my theory,” Gilbert declared in a casual tone, completely at odds with the gravity of the subject matter.

Their fall from grace was camouflage. Being labeled “the weakest” hid that they performed a special function for the emperor. At the same time, they still existed as a faction, making their sphere of influence an alluring place for those conspiring against the empire to gather. The role of the Yellowmoons...was to be a lure. They were at once the lamp that drew the noxious moths of the empire in as well as the flame that exterminated them.

Every emperor needed someone to do his dirty work. There was no glory to it, but it was an important role that needed to be filled. It made perfect sense...for a normal empire. But Ludwig knew Tearmoon was no normal empire. When factoring in what he’d learned of the first emperor’s intentions...

“Being the weakest and most estranged from the central nobility makes the Yellowmoons an attractive ally...to new nobles. Those not affected by anti-agricultural beliefs. It would be easier for, say, outcounts to approach them. And, if said newcomer proved problematic, assassinate them. Is that their purpose?”

If this whole web of intrigue was a deliberate arrangement to help the empire propagate anti-agriculturalism, then the House of Yellowmoon would have played an extremely vital role. And by successfully doing so...

“I see. And that’s where the other version comes from. The oldest and weakest of the loyal...”

“The point is, watch your back. The Yellowmoons seem to have, you know, a bit of a knack for assassination,” said Gilbert with the same easy smirk.