The Report and What Comes Next

"Now, let us hear the details."

With that, Father began the discussion.

Only Father and Chancellor Franz were beside the throne. Leo and I were the only ones facing them.

Leo had been asked to give his report as an imperial inspector before the council of senior ministers, and he had instead requested that everyone else leave.

Since that was the case, I hadn't intended to take part either, but Father said it would be a hassle and made me stay. After that, he would probably ask about Liese and Jurgen.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Allow me to report. To put it simply, the refugees in the South have fallen victim to kidnappers, and the southern nobles appear to be involved with those kidnappers."

"...Continue."

"Yes. The basement beneath the lord's mansion in the city of Bassau, where the anomaly occurred, had become a base for imprisoning the women and children they had kidnapped. This matches the testimony of the children we rescued, so there is no doubt that, at the very least, Count Sitterheim, whose domain capital is Bassau, was involved."

After the rift connected to the Demon Realm closed, the mansion and its basement appeared there.

They hadn't been swallowed by the rift. It seemed they had simply been overwritten.

Thanks to that, our investigation uncovered a great deal.

"And? What happened to this Count Sitterheim?"

"He is dead. According to a knight who knew Count Sitterheim, the demon Silver fought looked almost identical to Count Sitterheim. Since his head had been cut off, perhaps his corpse was made into a vessel after his death."

"..."

Father remained silent as he looked outside.

Father probably didn't want to hear this. But he had to.

I had already heard quite a bit from Leo, but this problem ran surprisingly deep.

"Prince Leonart. The story I heard was that the children ran amok and summoned a demon. Where are those children now?"

"...We declared them dead and had them placed under the protection of my elder sister's Eastern Border Army via a secure route. The adventurer who was the older sister of the child at the center of the incident, and who told us about the situation in the South, is with them as well."

That's right. Linfia was now at the eastern border.

She was there to look after her younger sister and the children who had been around her.

Linfia herself must have been worried, and Leo had apparently readily agreed to let her go. She had said she would return eventually, but no one knew when that would be.

The very existence of the children made this problem even more complicated.

"Why did you fake their deaths? Do you really think I would punish the children?"

Father demanded, sounding somewhat angry.

The anomaly in the South had been caused by the summoning of a demon. The children were victims, but they were also perpetrators. That meant Father might have punished them.

But that wasn't why their deaths had been faked.

"No. It was because we found a troubling document."

With that, Leo handed a sheet of paper to Franz.

The paper was stained with dark red blood. It was a document discovered in the basement, and the blood probably belonged to someone who had been killed while trying to dispose of it.

"What is this...!?"

Father took the paper from Franz and cried out in surprise.

When he showed it to Franz, the chancellor openly grimaced.

It described how they were to be used.

A child with immense power, along with numerous children who possessed a limited ability to strengthen others. By combining them, they could be turned into a kind of weapon.

That was the method outlined in the document.

In other words, someone had devised a plan to cause other countries to suffer anomalies like the one in the southern Empire.

Moreover, one term appeared repeatedly in the document.

"Are you saying the 'military' came up with something like this...?"

"The document makes it clear that this was commissioned by the military. The Eastern Border Army is safe because my elder sister has command of it, but the other military personnel cannot be trusted. That is why we faked the children's deaths. We wanted to prevent them from being used as weapons and hunted down. Please forgive us."

"That was a sound decision. However, judging from the document, this appears to have been merely a trial run. They received a request, so they gathered children of that sort. That seems to be all there was to it."

"The trial ended up producing results. If we caused a similar anomaly in another country, it would create the perfect opportunity for invasion. Even the demon that appeared would be nothing to fear, considering that the Empire has the House of Valor."

That's right. This was a plan for invasion.

And Father had no intention of invading. That meant this was not aimed at anything immediate. They were preparing for a possible invasion someday.

Considering that, I could see where this was going.

"Gordon..."

"I can't say for certain. I have one more report."

"There's more...?"

"Unfortunately. While fighting monsters in the South, we were present for the final moments of a knight from the House of Count Sitterheim. If his account is to be believed, Count Sitterheim had been threatened. However, just before we arrived, he rose up to save the children and challenged them to battle."

"I see... In other words, the kidnapping organization is powerful enough to threaten a territorial lord?"

"Yes. A powerful noble may be behind them. It is even possible that the nobles throughout the South are involved."

The deeper we dug, the darker things became.

And anyone tainted by that darkness would have to be punished. If there were too many of them, the Empire might no longer be able to function.

We couldn't leave the matter alone, but we had to choose the right time to expose it.

"What a mess. A kidnapping organization potentially involving southern nobles commissioned human weapons from the military. The threads are all tangled together. Where do we even begin?"

"Given the seriousness of this problem, I believe we should seek Your Majesty's judgment."

"..."

Father fell silent for a while, then looked toward me.

I had a bad feeling and shook my head, but Father ignored me and asked anyway.

"What do you think we should do, Arnold?"

"Why are you asking me...?"

I let out a sigh and put my mind to work.

Whatever I answered, I couldn't see a right answer.

Even if we started with the military, we'd have to move against Gordon's faction. If we started with the southern nobles, we'd have to move against Zandra's faction.

The safest course would be to declare the matter settled with the demon's defeat. That would be best.

However...

"You aren't looking for the safe answer, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Haaah..."

After a deep sigh, I arrived at one solution.

But I wasn't sure whether it was a good answer.

Still, I couldn't refuse to answer.

"I think we should set the military matter aside for now. The fact that they commissioned weapons from a criminal organization is unforgivable, and I am curious what they intended to use those weapons for. But the immediate problem is the southern nobles. If we dig deeper, most of the southern nobles may be involved with the criminal organization. At worst, the South could rebel. If that happens, we should use the military hardliners to suppress the rebellion. Having the two sides weaken each other would make the investigation easier. If we reversed the order, we might not be able to deal with a rebellion in the South."

"You are aiming for them to destroy one another? In that case, no special measures are necessary. We can observe the military's conduct and decide what to do afterward. If we deem it dangerous, we can investigate; if not, we can put the matter on hold. I believe it is a good plan."

"So you've stopped pretending to be incompetent?"

At Father's words, I shook my head.

I had never actually pretended to be incompetent in front of Father.

I had simply never been proactive.

But this matter was too serious for that.

"You hadn't asked me anything important, so I simply hadn't answered until now. But this matter runs deep. Besides, Leo must have reached the same conclusion... though he can't say it given his position."

"So I am to understand that you are proposing they turn on one another so you can win the struggle for the throne?"

"It wouldn't be strange for you to take it that way. It would be a bad idea for me to suggest it, too, but less so than if Leo did."

At that, Father nodded as though satisfied.

Franz also looked impressed.

Leo met my gaze. He thanked me with his eyes, and I shrugged to tell him not to worry.

Then Father made his decision.

"We cannot leave this alone. Leonart, continue investigating the problems in the South. Do you have any leads?"

"According to the knight, Count Sitterheim entrusted a letter to someone named Rebecca. We will start by finding her."

"I see. Count Sitterheim... left a letter behind."

If he had a letter to entrust to someone, he must have been waiting for a chance to make a formal accusation.

What Count Sitterheim had done was unforgivable to Father, but Father must have had his own thoughts about the matter.

"By the way, Arnold. Changing the subject, how are the two marriage arrangements coming along?"

"Huh?"

Caught off guard that he would bring that up now, I told him we'd made a little progress.

Father visibly grimaced, and then the lecture began.

Oh, come on. So this is how it ends up after all...

While wishing it would end soon, I let out a small sigh.