Chapter 66
Bathed in gentle sunshine, Das was enjoying an unusually leisurely day. Despite his usual busyness, it was amusing that days with nothing at all going on occasionally came along.
But that day did not end peacefully. Doran came rushing into the office where Das was enjoying tea, looking utterly flustered.
It was the first time Das had ever seen Doran so distraught. Startled, Das froze with his teacup still raised, and the freshly brewed tea nearly spilled into his lap.
"Doran-dono, what has happened?"
"Her Highness has been detained in Rudek. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say she has been taken into protective custody..."
"What!? Is that true!?"
"Well, we do not know the exact details yet..."
Doran's words were unusually vague for him, and Das made no attempt to hide his irritation as he demanded, "What exactly do you mean?"
"The source is a merchant who returned from Rudek. Just as the merchant was leaving Rudek by sea and heading south, a ship flying the flag of Fezaris was apparently being towed to Gadeland by a warship. He reported it to one of our merchants, who then informed me."
"Is it possible that he mistook the flag?"
"I cannot say that is impossible, but it seems unlikely. I have never heard of a ship flying something made to resemble a national flag. And the only ship currently flying our flag is the one carrying Luluria-sama. Furthermore, quite some time has already passed since the merchant spotted it..."
Doran's grim expression may have been due in part to this considerable loss of time. The fact that so much time had passed before we could do anything was certainly a serious blow.
"But... why was it wandering around near Rudek? Wasn't the original plan for it to head directly to Greedle?"
"That is still unknown. We only received word a moment ago. I reported it to the king, then came straight to you. In any case, enough time has passed that we should soon receive some kind of envoy from either Rudek or Greedle. You may need to hurry to Rudek."
This might have become a very serious situation. Relations between Fezaris and Rudek were neither good nor bad, but Rudek and Greedle were at war. The ship carrying Luluria was one Greedle had sent to fetch her from the Southern Continent. Most of its crew were Greedle soldiers.
Das did not want to consider it, but perhaps the ship had gotten into a dispute with a Rudek warship along the way. If only he had sent his own merchant vessel with them.
The reason he had not done so was out of consideration for Greedle. Had his attempt to send Princess Luluria to Greedle as secretly as possible backfired?
"Understood. I will head to the port where my merchant vessel is moored at once."
"Please do. I will continue gathering whatever information I can and notify you as quickly as possible."
Das literally leaped onto a horse and hurried to the port.
As he rode, grim possibilities crossed his mind several times, and he desperately shook them off.
Stay calm. Panicking now will accomplish nothing.
At any rate, he had to anticipate Rudek's possible responses and determine the best way to act in each case.
Even Rudek, once it learned that Princess Luluria was from Fezaris, would not do anything rash. No, it was highly unlikely to do so.
Rudek was a trading nation. If it were to execute a princess from the Southern Continent, the backlash from the south would be considerable. Rudek could not possibly be foolish enough to do such a thing.
Once he reached that conclusion, Das's mind cleared a little. He had been so agitated without realizing it that he had failed to see something that should have been obvious.
Then let us assume that the princess was simply being detained. There were three broad possibilities: send her back, keep her there, or send her to the Empire.
Of these, sending her to Greedle seemed the least likely. The only way he could imagine it happening was if Greedle settled the matter with money. In that case, of course, our country would have to provide the funds.
Would Rudek demand an exorbitant sum? No—if money could settle the matter, that would be the best possible outcome.
What if they sent her back? In that case, it would presumably be out of consideration for friendship with our country. Rudek might impose some unfavorable conditions, but we would have no choice but to accept them. I would need to discuss with Doran how much we could concede.
The worst possibility would be for them to keep her.
If Rudek refused to hand over the princess, that would be the worst of all. Of all the possibilities he could imagine, this was the worst. Fezaris would lose both Greedle's backing and the princess, leaving Fezaris under Rudek's thumb.
From Rudek's perspective, this would allow Rudek to humiliate Greedle and gain leverage over Fezaris. If the marriage led Rudek to judge Fezaris a country aligned with Greedle, such a move was entirely possible.
Then Das had to think of a way to get the princess back.
This might be the defining moment of his career as a diplomat. He racked his brain and even steeled himself to sacrifice his personal fortune.
Dark clouds loomed in the direction Das was headed. Feeling as though he were plunging straight into them, he urged his horse on with a sharp lash of the whip.