Profiting from the Strife

"Was that really all right?"

I had some paperwork to put together, so I was working on it in my room when Fiene, who had been making tea, tossed me a casual question.

"All right about what?"

"About bringing Count Beltz over to our side. There are certainly aspects of his situation that I can sympathize with, but there's no denying that he brought it upon himself. He gave his young wife so many things, then divorced her when he could no longer control her... As a woman, I find that difficult to accept."

"Well, if you look at only that part, Count Beltz is a truly awful man."

"Is there another way to look at it?"

The fact that she was being so direct meant she must have been quite dissatisfied. Well, from a woman's perspective, it would be hard not to resent a man who talked about love, then cut her loose once things became troublesome.

But this wasn't a problem concerning just the two of them.

As I sorted the documents, I explained.

"Count Beltz's ex-wife, Bettina, was born into House Daum, a noble family from the south. House Daum is related to House Kruger, the greatest noble house in the south. Have you heard of them?"

"Of course. If I remember correctly, one of His Majesty the Emperor's consorts also came from House Kruger, did she not?"

"That's right. The Fifth Consort is the younger sister of the current Duke Kruger. In other words, House Kruger has close ties to the Imperial Family. Now, here's a question. Who are the Fifth Consort's children?"

After thinking about my question for a while, Fiene clapped her hands as though she had remembered.

But she answered hesitantly.

"Princess Zandra and..."

"The Ninth Prince. Her younger brother isn't relevant here. What's important is that Bettina is connected to Zandra."

"Connected to her...? But I don't think being related through her mother's family is that close a connection, is it?"

"Normally, no. But this case is a little different. By the way, Fiene, do you remember what kind of support bases our rivals have?"

"Oh, yes. Prince Erich has the civil officials, Prince Gordon has the military officials, and Princess Zandra has the mages, right?"

At least she remembered.

I'd have been in trouble if she couldn't remember something this basic.

When I told her she was right, Fiene cheered, delighted with her success. The bar was pretty low for her, but I continued.

"So which of those support bases do you think is the weakest in the Imperial Capital?"

"The Imperial Capital? Not the Empire as a whole?"

"That's right, the Imperial Capital."

"Um... Prince Erich is obviously the strongest. So it's either Prince Gordon or Princess Zandra, but... Hmm, I know! Prince Gordon!"

"Why?"

"The military officials are at the front lines, so I thought they might be weaker in the Imperial Capital."

"Your reasoning isn't wrong, but that's not the answer. Not every military official is stationed at the front. The answer is Zandra."

"Aww, I got it wrong... Why is Princess Zandra weak?"

I considered how to explain it in a way she would understand, then picked up the snacks sitting on the desk. They were probably animal-shaped cookies because Christa had liked them so much. Today's cookies were shaped like animals.

I took the lion, bird, and wolf cookies. I placed the lion and bird on a plate near me, then crushed the wolf cookie and scattered the crumbs around them.

"Aww... They were so nicely made..."

"I'm sorry about that. Now, these two on the plate are Erich and Gordon, while the scattered crumbs are Zandra. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"???"

"You don't get it. Okay, then. Civil officials and military officials are often in the Imperial Capital because of the nature of their positions. But being a mage isn't a government position. There are mages among government officials, of course, but others are local nobles or military officials stationed at the borders. They're spread out all over the place."

"I see! So Princess Zandra doesn't have many supporters in the Imperial Capital?"

"That's more or less it. And now we get to the main point."

"Huh...? That wasn't the main point?"

Fiene took a step back, frightened at the thought that things were about to get even more difficult.

I gave her a wry smile and tried to explain it as simply as possible.

"I'll keep it simple. Because of her support base, Zandra has fewer supporters in important government positions than the other two. Gordon can convey his intentions to the Emperor through the military officials, and Erich can do the same through the civil officials. Zandra doesn't have that channel. That puts her at a disadvantage, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes. I imagine there's an enormous difference between having supporters capable of attending the Council of Ministers and having none at all."

"Exactly. That's why Zandra has been plotting to place her supporters in ministerial positions."

"Is that even possible? Doesn't His Majesty the Emperor decide who becomes a minister?"

"There are ways around that."

As I said that, I stacked the cookies on the plate vertically.

Fiene tilted her head as she watched. It was such an adorable gesture that anyone unaccustomed to seeing it would be utterly captivated. I couldn't let Count Beltz see Fiene like this. He'd probably propose to her.

But I wasn't distracted by her cuteness. I crushed the lion cookie on top.

"Ah!? Again!?"

"You're going to eat it anyway, so what's the problem? This is how you get the person you want appointed as a minister."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's put it another way. The lion I crushed a moment ago is the current minister. The bird underneath it is a candidate for the position. Once the lion on top is crushed, the ministerial position falls to the bird."

"I see! So you win over a ministerial candidate in advance, then bring down the current minister!"

She was getting pretty good at grasping things. It wasn't that she was unintelligent; she was simply bad at this kind of scheming. Though she was sometimes so straightforward that it frightened me.

"That's right. You place a supporter in a vice-ministerial or similar position, or win someone in such a position over to your side. Then, if you bring down the minister above them, you can bring the ministerial post into your faction."

"I see... But what does that have to do with Count Beltz?"

"Sigh... What position does Count Beltz hold?"

"Vice Minister of Public Works... Huh!?"

At last, the various pieces seemed to connect for her.

Well, it was a fairly complicated matter, so I couldn't blame her.

"Zandra was manipulating Bettina through her mother's family. Since the instruction was to spend lavishly, Bettina must have jumped at it. And recently, Zandra gave Bettina another instruction."

"There's more...?"

"This is the important part. Bettina was having an affair with the current Minister of Public Works. Apparently he was the one who proposed the relationship, but Bettina was probably the one who seduced him. The minister's wife is the daughter of one of the Emperor's friends. The Emperor apparently introduced the two of them as well. His Majesty will obviously be furious if he learns about the affair."

"...Don't tell me this was all part of the plan from the beginning?"

"That's right. It was Zandra's plan. She gave a beautiful woman to Count Beltz, who couldn't attract any women's attention, then used that woman to torment him. At the same time, she set her scheme against the Minister of Public Works in motion, preparing to bring him down. Then, when the time was right, she would help Count Beltz and have him report the minister's affair to the Emperor. And then, lo and behold, her own supporter would become a minister."

"W-wait a minute! Th-then..."

Fiene wore a look of disbelief, and I grinned.

A plan that had taken years to develop. She had probably set it in motion when the Crown Prince died, but she had blundered at the very last step.

"That's right. I stole Zandra's plan wholesale. She's probably furious by now."

"What!? You and Leo-sama are about to leave the Imperial Capital! What are you going to do after angering Princess Zandra!?"

"We need to make our move against Zandra precisely because we're leaving the Imperial Capital. Once we leave, we can't avoid being attacked. But we couldn't withstand attacks from all three factions. What happens if the balance between those three factions collapses? Zandra has lost an important plan after taking a blow from us. Her faction will be thrown into confusion. Erich and Gordon won't overlook that. The others can take us out at any time, but Zandra can only be attacked while she's weakened. If I were them, I'd move to cut down Zandra's faction."

"You had thought that far ahead...?"

"It's all thanks to Sebas. He extracted important information from the assassin, and he also investigated the area around Count Beltz."

Zandra had done something foolish.

She had sent me the assassin she used in her plot against Count Beltz. Thanks to that, her entire plan had been exposed. She probably hadn't expected him to talk, but she had underestimated us.

"Um... I've been wondering for a while now. What exactly is Sebas-san?"

"Hmm? Didn't I tell you? Sebas used to be an assassin. A master known across the entire continent by the alias 'Grim Reaper.'"

"!? Why is someone like that serving as Al-sama's butler!?"

"I'll tell you another time. It's a long story. Now, after hearing all that, do you still object to our helping Count Beltz?"

"N-no..."

"That's what I thought. Zandra probably had a hand in women ignoring him, too. He's been a vice minister for three years. Normally, women would be throwing themselves at him."

"I'm starting to feel terribly sorry for him..."

"Yes. He was manipulated for years, from his marriage onward. That's why we helped such a pitiful man as Count Beltz. Though we're no different from Zandra when it comes to using him."

With that, I finished sorting the documents.

They concerned the Minister of Public Works' affair. I would have Count Beltz submit them to Father.

For the time being, this meant a covert struggle with Zandra. Gordon would certainly make his move now, and the struggle for the throne was about to intensify.

But that was fine. Gordon regarded Zandra as his mortal enemy, and given Zandra's personality, the one thing she couldn't stand was being defeated by Gordon.

If the two of them wore each other down, we would profit. As long as things remained that way, Erich wouldn't move aggressively either.

While we were away from the Imperial Capital, I would let the two factions wear themselves out.

With that thought in mind, I put the crushed cookie into my mouth.