Epilogue: Triple Motives
Epilogue: Triple Motives
Count Porque Nadar bore the responsibility for Lainur’s first line of defense against Imperial attack. He formerly held territory in the north, but due to his poor handling of the revolt and misgivings about the way he ran his domain, he was relocated to Nadar in the west. Nadar bordered the Empire, and the count was expected to preserve Lainur’s diplomatic relations. While it sounded impressive, the prestige merely sugarcoated the truth.
Should he fail to prevent a war, his territory would be the first to suffer. It was supposed to motivate him to do all he could to avoid that outcome, but all it really did was make him anxious. He had developed passable diplomatic skills, but little else had changed for the better since his relocation.
A few days past, a report had filtered up to him that sent him into a spiral of anger and panic that had yet to subside. The crown prince, Ceylan Crosellode, was coming for inspection. The moment he heard the news, his face drained of color. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t this.
If the crown had a complaint, it would usually send an official to the territory to investigate first; here, one of the most powerful people in the land threw that precedent out the window. It defied all logic.
Porque’s mind was whirring at full speed.
Has he learned of my corruption?
He can’t have. He would have summoned me to the palace—in chains, if it suited him.
Is he visiting to look for proof, then?
What’s going to happen?
Is he actually coming?
What will happen once he’s gone?
Porque’s thoughts blurred together and numbed his mind. At the same time, his pace picked up as he approached the drawing room. Though his servants called from behind him, he barely heard them.
“...wait...”
“...documents...”
They tried to keep up with him, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to even acknowledge their existence. He was keeping his guest and co-conspirator waiting. Porque stepped into the drawing room to find a man sitting on the couch. He looked to be in his mid-forties. Two of his attendants stood behind that fine leather couch, while he sat with his legs folded, smoking a cigarette in a manner unbefitting of one meeting a high-ranking noble. He was clearly treating this visit as a right, not as a privilege.
Porque was more than willing to overlook his insolence. Where his visitor hailed from, the kingdom’s noble titles meant nothing. If Porque were to compare his guest with him, he might well find himself outranked.
His black hair was painstakingly waxed into shape. Despite his disrespectful demeanor, his face was a picture of honesty. Looking at that face of his gave the impression that he acted this way because that was how he was supposed to behave. Which was the case; he was only showing through his actions that he held a higher position than the master of the house.
He was dressed in a fashion peculiar to the kingdom. The majority of his uniform was black. A golden aiguillette lay across his shoulder. He wore star- and cross-shaped medals on his chest. His uniform was perfect to the smallest detail—an immaculately tended uniform of an officer of the hostile Gillis Empire.
The man glanced at Porque, a small smile appearing on his lips. “Count Porque Nadar. Lovely to see you doing so well.”
“Well? I am not doing well at all! I’d prefer if you held off on the jokes, General Grantz.”
“Apologies. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Leon Grantz of the Gillis Empire’s eastern field army was one general of many, but he led as many as ten thousand men. Though Leon apologized, he made no move to bow his head. His was an air of complete relaxation—and it upset Porque greatly.
Leon held out his hand and asked, as though this was his estate, “Why don’t you have a seat?”
“Of course,” Porque replied meekly, despite taking exception to the dig at his pride. He slumped down on the couch.
“You must know why I asked you here if you read my letter.”
“The prince is coming for an inspection.”
“Yes! What could that little brat be thinking?”
“If he’s as clever as they say, he’s likely caught on to your malfeasance.”
“How could he have?! I covered all my tracks! Even the Surveillance Office’s spies wouldn’t have a clue!”
“That’s true.”
As far as Leon had investigated, there were no signs of suspicion from the Surveillance Office or the wider government. Porque was always careful to make sure he wasn’t suspected, and the moment he thought he might be, he always bribed the necessary parties. Leon could only admire him for that.
“You’ve taken good care of the officials, but the common people are a different matter.”
“What?”
“Our investigations revealed holes in your defenses. Don’t you know that merchants on the street like to talk?”
“Those rats!” Porque spat.
Leon smirked. “It’s perfect, isn’t it? Think about the timing of it all.”
“The timing...” Porque frowned and turned his attention to the documents Leon sent him before their meeting.
Those documents laid out a plan for Porque’s future, and came directly from the Empire. The plan was a tricky one. As a noble of Lainur, it had the power to completely destroy him should things go wrong. However, it was fast becoming apparent that Porque had no choice but to follow through.
“And this plan guarantees me a worthy position in the Empire?” Porque demanded.
The words out of his mouth never showed more than concern for his own interests and self-preservation. Leon was fed up with it. Porque Nadar. A portly man with a weak will, prone to irritation and disproportionate reaction. Even now he fidgeted and bit at his nails restlessly. This was how he always ended up the second something didn’t go his way. Leon watched him with a cold gaze.
“General Grantz!”
“There is no doubt about it. His Imperial Majesty already knows about your situation.”
“And I’m just supposed to take your word for it?! I need solid proof!”
“There is none. Perhaps I could furnish you with documents, but there’s no way to prove their validity.”
“I am doing more than committing treason here! I’m throwing away my territory and my title!”
Leon suppressed a sigh. Why was this man so unreasonable? Didn’t he realize this was a potential consequence of his actions all along? He had nothing to blame for this but his own avarice.
“You have no obligation to follow the plan if you don’t wish to. However, I don’t think you have a choice but to trust us here, do you?”
“Gngh...”
“If your crimes are discovered, you’ll lose everything anyway—including your life. You’ve thrown yourself at our mercy precisely because you don’t want that to happen. Am I right?”
The fact that Leon was here now was a sign that Porque had no options left. The prince was sharp. The moment he set foot in this place, Porque’s crimes were guaranteed exposure. The only path that didn’t lead to death was to betray the crown and side with the Empire.
“Tell me what I have to do next.”
“There’s no rush. We were always prepared for this outcome. In fact, the prince’s personal involvement is a blessing in disguise. All you need to do is follow the plan as we discussed at the very start.”
“Very well. I trust you will take care of everything else?”
“Of course.”
The moment Porque left the room, Leon let out the exhausted sigh he was holding back. He lived his whole life according to honest, steadfast values, and he considered Porque to be nothing more than a lazy, greedy swine. Beyond his dabbling in illicit relations with the Empire, he’d lined his pockets by quietly overlooking embargoes on the trade of certain goods, in a clear betrayal of Lainur’s royal family. Now that his crimes were about to be exposed, he clung to the Empire, completely forgetting all his own country had done for him. At the first sign of danger, he no longer cared how his actions looked to other people. You would be hard pressed to find a more perfect example of a corrupt nobleman.
Somehow, he still had an overdeveloped sense of pride. Even if he tried to hide it, it was clear how dissatisfied he was with the uncertainties of the plan as Leon spoke to him. It was all Leon could do not to burst out in laughter.
For a while, Leon sat and let the smoke from his cigarette clear his head. He disliked speaking with the greasy pig so much, he needed some time to recover. Once he finished his cigarette, he turned to one corner of the drawing room. At first glance, that spot was empty, but the next second, a floating white mask appeared. Next came the figure’s dark-blue robe, appearing as though dissolving the darkness around it. While Leon’s attendants stiffened up at the newcomer, Leon himself remained perfectly calm. The masked figure sat down across from him.
Leon pushed his cigarette into the ashtray and raised an eyebrow. “Aluas. How was that?”
“You did well. This is more than enough in exchange for my Three-Walled Altar,” a young woman’s voice declared from beneath the mask. Her voice placed her in her twenties, if not her late teens.
Behind the scenes, the conversation between Porque and Leon had never been about the deal they’d struck, nor the agreement between Leon and Aluas, but a deal between the Empire and Aluas’s organization. In exchange for a new kind of defensive spell, Porque Nadar was to betray Lainur.
“What exactly is your intention with all of this?” Leon asked. “Why do you want to destroy this particular noble? It sounds to me like you mean to start a war.”
“There’s no need for me to tell you, General Leon Grantz. This is a deal between us and His Imperial Majesty.”
“But—”
“You cannot comprehend it, can you? Not as a general...nor as an individual.”
“Of course not.”
Aluas’s organization was not a hostile country, nor a competing noble house, so why should they desire to see Porque fall? Something didn’t add up, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
“General Grantz. As a member of the military, surely you know to follow the orders of your superiors?”
Leon made a noncommittal grunt. As an honest man, he had no answer. A soldier was a single cogwheel in a bigger picture. If that cogwheel moved by itself, the entire structure would collapse. The Emperor had already decided on this matter, so whether Leon found out the meaning behind it or not, his course of action would not change.
“This is advantageous to the Empire too,” he said, “is it not?”
Leon could hear the faint smile behind her mask.
“Well...”
She was correct. There were more and more reports of Lainur’s magic troops’ meteoric rise in power. Said reports remained unconfirmed, and if they were true, it was ambiguous how dramatic the change really was. Whether the rumors were true or not, the Empire would want the kingdom’s newfound strength for itself somehow. That was why Aluas’s appearance could be considered very fortunate indeed.
If the plan worked, the Empire could avoid war with Lainur, learn the information it needed, and carry on as though nothing had happened.
“As long as you understand, I don’t see why you would have any objections.”
“I understand, yes.”
A rise in the quality of Lainur’s magicians was a threat to the Empire. Their magic was already strong enough as it was, and this new development could only mean trouble for the Empire’s plans to extend its territory out to the south. The Empire was already struggling to bring its own magicians to the kingdom’s standards. The molehill that was Lainur’s magic troops was fast becoming a mountain. The only option was to find out what was really going on.
“Have you got any new information, Aluas?”
“We are still looking into it, but it is almost certain it has something to do with their increased silver consumption.”
“I thought so.”
The kingdom’s consumption of silver gradually started increasing around the same time the rumors began to circulate. Porque was the Empire’s probe into the matter, and now things were coming to a head.
“Let us sacrifice Porque Nadar.”
That was what Aluas had said before the count was even involved. The memory of those words sent a chill down Leon’s spine even now. An elegant laugh chimed through the drawing room like a silver bell. It was a sound most unbefitting of someone planning the downfall of an otherwise unconcerned party. The disconnect made it sound even eerier.
Aluas stood up from her seat and melted away into the darkness of the room’s corner once more.
“The Silver Heralds of the Dawn, huh?” Leon murmured, sending a puff of smoke up towards the ceiling.