Chapter 61
A great third-in-command lived out his full natural lifespan and departed for the heavens.
He was neither a powerful superhuman nor a master of political maneuvering.
He had merely lent the First-in-Command the wisdom he needed,
and assisted the Second-in-Command with administrative matters.
An old man who had attained such a high position through nothing but wisdom, without slander, exploitation, or corruption.
He was even famous for living far too frugally for someone of the third-in-command’s stature, which only deepened the citizens’ grief.
- “Thank you, Elder. We’ll work hard and live well, too.”
- “Child. You may not understand now, but when you grow up, you’ll learn what kind of person this man was.”
- “I’ll remember you, Your Excellency Clambel.”
The old man had never accepted any official post while alive, so even after he closed his eyes, Rex did not grant him the title of count.
He did not hold an extravagant funeral or grant him a great mountain to serve as his tomb.
Just as the old man had written in his will.
He merely prepared a modest grave for him in the cemetery where those who had sacrificed themselves to establish the duchy were buried.
- <75th Hero: Clambel>
It was an ordinary grave, no more elaborate than those of the other heroes, with no place of honor or flashy decorations.
The citizens and bereaved families expressed their gratitude for the Providence ducal house’s treatment of him.
If the ducal house had wanted to put on a political performance of benevolence, it would have ignored the old man’s will and granted all kinds of meaningless medals and titles, then held an extravagant ceremony.
If it had begrudged him land or proper treatment, it would have treated the old man poorly.
But the ducal house offered the greatest respect it could, in keeping with the old man’s final will—not too extravagant, nor too meager.
Naturally, the citizens viewed the ducal house’s attitude very favorably.
- “If I serve the ducal house, too…”
- “Even if I give my life, my children will be treated this well?”
- “So this is what loyalty gets you…”
They were tiny things, but all those little things added up to patriotism.
And so the citizens’ average loyalty rose by a tiny amount.
<Public sentiment +3!>
Rex’s system sent him this notification as well, but in his eyes, this was only the proper treatment of a loyal retainer he had lost, so he paid it little mind.
But some interpreted the atmosphere differently.
“They say the ducal house is in serious turmoil. This is our chance.”
In the south of the Providence Duchy.
The Esirik royal family, whom the Providence ducal house officially called the southern puppet regime.
Officially, neither side recognized the other as a nation, and since their truce had only been signed recently, they were keeping a close eye on each other.
With both sides sending spies to one another, the royal intelligence agency detected unrest in the duchy.
“They say riots are breaking out simultaneously across the duchy. Since the duke has legally permitted demonstrations, everyone and their mother is making demands of him.”
The director of the intelligence agency submitted the report with confidence.
After reviewing the report, the ministers and the king looked toward the Providence ducal house with scorn.
“Honestly. To be swayed by cheap sympathy…”
“You treat the common rabble well, and they’re bound to get above themselves.”
“As expected, with their lowborn origins, they’re bringing about their own ruin.”
To them, the people were subjects to be periodically controlled and oppressed, and exploited to a reasonable degree.
They could not understand a constitutional monarchy like Rex’s, where the monarch was bound by the laws he himself had made.
They saw the demonstrations breaking out throughout the duchy as signs of civil war.
“So, what are they demonstrating about?”
At the Minister of the Interior’s question, the director confidently presented the information.
“They say it’s the succession issue.”
“The succession issue?”
“They say that since there’s no heir, the mayors and retainers are clamoring for the duke to adopt them.”
That was completely wrong.
The field agents had merely reported, briefly, that the protests concerned the question of an heir; the reality was entirely different.
But to the director who received the report, this interpretation made the most sense.
Another reason was the director’s negligence.
High-ranking officials tended to report whatever their subordinates had prepared without checking whether the information was true.
It was an eternal human failing, one that persisted even in civilizations thousands of years more advanced than this world.
“Hahaha. Just as I thought!”
The king, however, seemed to take this information differently.
He knew Ari was Rex’s close aide and mistress.
A creation of the filthy demon-king worshippers, who imitated his beloved princess, Arabella.
A king of a nation like Rex’s surely must have slept with a woman, and he assumed the duke’s mistress—the mimic—was infertile due to the side effects of black magic.
‘That’s a relief.’
He no longer had to worry about that filthy bloodline continuing.
The Esirik king gave a faint smile and pressed the director for more.
“Is that all?”
“No. They say the third-in-command of the ducal house recently died.”
“Cause of death?”
“Natural causes.”
The ministers were disappointed by the report.
If it had been an assassination or purge as part of a power struggle, it could have stirred up even more confusion.
But the director continued the report with a proud smile, as if expecting that reaction.
“However, the ducal house doesn’t seem to have liked the man very much.”
The director presented the details of Clambel’s funeral.
Clambel had been granted no title, fief, tomb, or medal.
He was even buried in a national cemetery where ordinary knights were interred together.
Considering that a nation’s third-in-command was usually on the level of a marshal or prime minister, there could hardly be worse treatment.
“What’s more, none of his children seem to have taken up public office, either.”
The children of a third-in-command could have leveraged their connections to secure positions in all sorts of places.
But the eldest son had been demoted to some obscure post as a records officer,
and the best the second son through youngest daughter had managed was a position as mayor.
Given the size of the duchy, they could have granted them at least one lordship—and in fact, Sneria and several ministers had become lords.
The fact that the third-in-command’s children had ended up as mayors showed just how poorly they were being treated.
And to make matters worse, some had no home and wandered throughout the duchy as homeless people. There could hardly be a more complete downfall.
“Hahaha! His knack for cultivating talent clearly wasn’t very good!”
“As though that sort of thing could happen overnight.”
Since they considered it common sense that glory came from power and wealth, they had no doubt that Clambel’s family had fallen into decline.
“Their loyalty must be at rock bottom, too.”
Who would pledge loyalty to a house that treated its founding contributor and third-in-command so poorly?
It was clear proof that the duchy was in deep turmoil.
“The prime minister is dead, so they must be in a period of chaos over there, too, right?”
If you asked when an organization, nation, or domain was most vulnerable, first was when its leader died, and second was when a close aide died.
The royal family assumed Clambel’s position had been that of prime minister, so with him dead, the duchy was now at its most vulnerable.
Naturally, the director agreed with the king’s assumption.
‘Grand Academician? What kind of position is that?’
Clambel’s title was listed as Grand Academician in the report, but the director had guessed it was some high post, roughly equivalent to prime minister.
In reality, it was an honorary position like an outside advisor who had retired from public office and did nothing but nag and advise the lord,
but they could not imagine that the third-in-command of a domain would be content with a position that brought neither money nor power.
A warm atmosphere filled the Esirik royal family’s meeting.
They were not particularly united by patriotism, but they were pleased to hear that the northern puppet state was having a hard time.
It was only natural, since humans were creatures who took joy in other people’s misfortune.
Meanwhile, as the director continued to deliver reassuring reports, the director’s expression suddenly grew grave.
“However, there is one crucial piece of intelligence to report first.”
“Speak.”
“Clambel… is said to have created a secret manual for the people of the duchy.”
“!!!”
Lightning flashed through the minds of everyone in the meeting room.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. Duke himself declared that it was a book written by Clambel.”
“The man must have gone senile in his final years.”
It was usually the norm for people to keep secret manuals containing mental cultivation formulas for themselves, or secretly pass them on to their children or prized disciples near the end of their lives.
They could not understand the idea of distributing such a manual to the entire populace.
It was no different from arming every citizen to the teeth.
It would not only increase the risk of rebellion, but might also suddenly produce a reclusive master who could destabilize the regime.
There were apparently twelve different kinds of the secret manual, too, as if they were telling people to read through all of them until they found an insight suited to their talents.
“Why would he make that choice…?”
“Your Majesty. This is only my speculation, but…”
The director speculated on the reason for distributing the secret manual, based on the information gathered so far.
“I believe they may have sacrificed Clambel to quell the unrest in the duchy.”
According to the reports, the riots broke out first, Clambel died afterward, and several months later Duke found the secret manual in his house and decided to distribute it to the people.
The director pieced together a story based on this.
First, Rex had coddled the people until his subjects had lost all sense of their place and started a riot.
The duke, too softhearted to crush the people by force now, decided to sacrifice the third-in-command’s family to appease public sentiment.
Then, just as the third-in-command passed away, he cast aside the man’s children and had Duke seize the family’s secret manual.
And then he distributed the manual among the people to appease public sentiment.
‘Something about this doesn’t quite add up…’
Of course, even the man telling this story knew there was something a little awkward about it.
But in this royal court where the incompetent were purged, if the director honestly said, ‘I don’t know!’, the director would be made to commit suicide the next day.
At the very least, the director had to make up a story like this, even if it was a little far-fetched.
Of course, to keep the king from noticing anything odd, the director had also prepared evidence that was sensational and sure to capture his attention.
“In the long run, it’s a foolish idea… but it will be very effective for the next ten years.”
With the citizens’ average rank rising, the duchy would have an advantage in war.
Naturally, ten years later, those commoners would once again start getting uppity with their new strength, but that would be more than enough time to bring down the Esirik royal family.
The evidence the director presented was very effective.
No one in the meeting room noticed anything awkward about the story.
‘Phew…’
The director’s thirty years of experience in this position hadn’t gone to waste.
At that moment, the Minister of Magic raised a hand.
“Perhaps they planted a trap in the manual. No, I’m certain of it.”
If they inserted false insights or techniques into the mental cultivation formulas of the secret manual, they could use them to control the people later.
For example, a trap that would be hard to notice while learning it, but would cause someone to suffer qi deviation after breaking through a barrier if Rex later told them a certain spell or piece of information.
If that was the case, they would still be safe ten years from now.
“That’s what I would have done.”
The Minister of Magic could be certain because the minister controlled disciples and subordinates in exactly that way.
There was no reason not to do it.
At those words, the expressions of the people in the meeting room darkened.
“Then…”
“The duke is likely to start a war within the next ten years.”
“Shouldn’t we invade them first?”
“Are you an idiot? We’re no more prepared than they are.”
If anything, the royal family’s situation was worse.
The lords were still fending for themselves, and the royal family didn’t want to suffer losses either.
If they started a war and weakened the royal family, the marquises and counts who had been preserving their strength in the background would gobble them up.
I’ve emphasized this several times, but the royal family was ultimately just the strongest lord, not the rightful ruler of the kingdom.
“Damn… How can this be…”
At that moment, they could only marvel at the duke, who somehow managed to maintain centralization despite the duchy’s size.
“It must be because of that knight named Duke, right?”
That knight, a strategic weapon who flashed into action in the south and then the east, must have been what allowed the duke to maintain perfect centralization.
“And the duke who controls such a knight is shrouded in mystery, too…”
They could hardly imagine what kind of monster Rex Providence was, to hold the leash of such a monster.
The ministers all rubbed their faces.
Some of them especially regretted their past actions.
Back when Rex was a student at the academy, their children had lost to him academically, so they had hired a scientist to make Rex disappear.
That had snowballed into Rex gaining some kind of ability from the doctor, meeting Duke, and using the data from that place to train countless superhumans.
Their careless response had come back to haunt them as a massive blunder.
‘We should’ve just assassinated him.’
The problem was that they’d had the doctor do it because they didn’t want to get their hands dirty.
The gloomy silence was broken by the king.
“Is there any chance… that we could steal the secret manual?”
The king’s proposal offered a way to solve all of these problems.
If the original copy of the secret manual disappeared, public sentiment would grow turbulent again when the people, who had been promised copies, failed to receive them, and the duchy would weaken even further.
At the question, the director nodded.
“They haven’t distributed the manual yet; they say it’s planned. They’re currently developing a printing press using metal movable type, and plan to start distributing it once it’s finished.”
The director offered a plan with all his might, sweating profusely.
“The original is currently kept by the knight named Duke, but once the printing press is complete, they’ll have to send the original to the factory. We should be able to steal it then.”
“That’s good. Then how long do you think it’ll take?”
“We expect development to take about three years.”
“Prepare for that time.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The director saluted, wiping the sweat from the forehead with a handkerchief.
The king did not even glance at the subordinate and sank into thought.
‘I must stop this.’
He could not tolerate the man who had taken the life of his beloved mistress and now tormented his daughter as well.
‘I will put an end to that filthy demi-human bloodline.’
If they seized the original secret manual, the duchy would fall into even deeper chaos.
And it would be even better if they stole that printing press while they were at it.
Then, when the duchy was at its weakest, they could start another war.
That way, the royal family could destroy the duchy while keeping its losses to a minimum and keeping the lords in check.
The truce agreement?
Who cared about that?
Who would give a damn about a scrap of paper like that?
For the sake of his one and only beloved daughter, he was willing to wage war.
He did not care how many of those replaceable commoners he had to grind up.