Inside the cathedral of the Church of Valtherus.
Bishop Alvato had summoned Esther sol Ciliad, a promising genius of the Church and a candidate for becoming the next saint.
“Did you call me, sir?”
“Indeed. How is Sullivian?”
“She’s still healthy.”
In reality, she was getting weaker day by day, but Esther purposefully didn’t mention that.
“That’s good, that’s good. But I called you here for something else…”
Alvato handed over a newspaper.
Esther furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at a certain passage printed on it.
“Judge?”
It was a story about a man called ‘the Judge’.
A man she knew well.
Callius von Jervain.
It was about him.
“He… I heard he’s become a count.”
“The inheritances and titular appointments of the four noble houses don’t need permission from the kingdom. Have you heard what’s happened in the North yet?”
“Yes. I know the gist.”
An attack by the orcs. The appearance of a warlord.
Fierce battles.
The shadow of the empire behind them.
And a hero who had ended the war.
“Do you mean him?”
“According to the report… yes. The verification process has already been completed. I can’t believe it either, same as you. He has changed, and is changing.”
“Yeah. He certainly has…”
But it was still pretty hard to believe.
Because the man in question was the kingdom’s biggest lunatic.
‘Did he even take the enemy commander’s head?’
The saga of the North was an ancient one.
The North had always been fighting with the barbarians and steadily expanding the territory of the kingdom.
But they hadn’t won every single battle.
In the history of the painful defeats the North had suffered in the past, the word ‘warlord’ could be found repeating again and again.
“Now that the orcs’ great general is dead, the North will be at peace for a while. It’s a good thing. The dead should also be able to close their eyes and rest in peace.”
“Yes, that’s good.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure if he really could’ve beheaded the warlord. Written reports are not completely credible. That’s why I called you.”
“What do you…”
“How was Callius at that time? No, I should call him Count Jervain now.”
Anyway –
“How was he? Did he seem capable of killing a warlord? Was the bit about getting help from a relic, really nonsense?”
“When I met him back then…”
His skills were on the higher side, even among the pilgrims devoted to the sword.
Perhaps similar to a low-level paladin?
The Silver Flower Wave Sword art had given Esther a powerful blow, but if his ability was only at that level, the first great warrior he’d met would’ve finished him off, forget about killing a warlord.
‘But if I tell the truth…’
In the Church, Callius was suspected of monopolizing a sacred relic.
Her testimony might put him in danger again.
Did that really matter, though?
– He might have put in all that effort to become a person that suits you.
Sullivian’s earlier words suddenly resurfaced in her mind.
Esther felt hesitant to speak.
‘During this short period, he grew to the point where he can kill a warlord?’
Could such a thing really happen?
Was Stella’s swordsmanship really capable of that?
Was there really a relic? Such doubts were arising one after another, but Esther simply shrugged them off.
“I can’t be sure. I unquestionably lost, so I can’t really swear to the full extent of his abilities. Maybe he’s been hiding his skills all this time.”
She didn’t lie.
She might not have been speaking the objective truth, however.
“To say he hid his skills… Why would you think so?”
“It might be because of the sword art he’s learned. It’s not some ordinary technique, it’s the Silver Flower Wave Sword art of Stella herself. He must’ve been learning her swordsmanship from a young age.”
This was, naturally, all conjecture.
Just one of the many assumptions in Esther’s heart. But the one who spoke it out loud was none other than Esther sol Ciliad.
That alone carried weight.
“He must’ve thoroughly hidden it to avoid people’s attention.”
Although Esther wasn’t very good at wordplay –
She wasn’t lying.
She truly didn’t think that Callius could’ve learned that sword art in a short time.
Unlike the paladins of the Church, who relied solely on the might of their swords –
Stella’s swordsmanship rather depended on maximizing one’s own skill with the sword, so it must’ve taken a long time to learn.
“That makes sense. If he’d been learning Stella’s swordsmanship since he was young, he wouldn’t have shown it off recklessly. Rather, he would’ve tried to avoid attracting attention by acting like a fool. So that’s how it is.”
As she watched Alvato exhale as if deeply impressed, complex emotions warred inside her head.
Although she was just talking about some of her guesses, she couldn’t escape the shameful feeling that came with lying.
“Now that he’s started showing his skills… a storm is sure to come.”
An irresistible tempest of blood.
“Esther sol Ciliad.”
“Sir.”
Massaging his shining bald head, Alvato asked sternly.
“That Count Jervain, can you convince him to come to our side?”
“You mean the moderate faction?”
“Callius is a more attractive card now than he was three years ago. The radicals will probably try to recruit him, too. Of course, Milliman doesn’t know his true potential yet, so now is our chance.”
The infamy of the kingdom’s biggest piece of garbage was not so easily erased.
Moreover, Bishop Milliman, the leader of the extremist faction, was still suspicious that Callius was hoarding a relic.
“It’d be good to rein in Bishop Milliman before he takes any reckless action. Now is the time to avoid war, even for our timid queen.”
If he could use the man, Alvato might be able to cool off the old warhawks of Carpe.
If they could stabilize the country for a bit, maybe a ray of light would shine even on the kingdom that was so covered with dark clouds.
What you do for God is for the country, and what you do for the country is for God.
The royal audience chamber.
Somewhat young –
Looking sad and uneasy –
A woman with silver hair, braided straight, sat upon the throne.
The timid queen of the Carpe Kingdom.
[Clara von Agatha Bright].
Silver hair that was the stigma of God.
Sacred silver pupils.
The head and the eyes filled with the grace of God, that allowed one to understand all the things in the world, and see through all reason –
Proved her royal bloodline.
“I have seen Your Majesty.”
The Queen of Carpe, whose eyelashes had also turned silver –
Clara, despite her subject’s brass-necked rude behaviour, greeted him with a gentle face.
“Archbishop Alhamtra. Long time no see.”
“Yes, being able to see you grow up day by day truly is the grace of God, is it not? I am once again reminded of the majesty of God.”
Whether she understood the hidden meaning of the archbishop or not, who could say? The Queen of Carpe, whose throne seemed too wide for her frame, only smiled silently.
“This is also why I wanted to see you, Your Majesty. This time, the prince managed to put the rebellion at Aliorro to rest, but the damage has been great. And even in the West, the imperial spears are diligently digging into the wounds of our kingdom. Now it’s time to make a decision. What do you think?”
It wasn’t something he should’ve dared to say before his monarch, but Clara didn’t say anything.
‘Tsk.’
The powerless monarch. Clara, the Timid Queen.
A queen who couldn’t make any decisions by herself.
That was how the world evaluated the Queen of Carpe.
“How about Prince Chloe?”
“… The people of the Church have worked hard, and he seems to have gotten a good night’s sleep.”
“I see. They’ve indeed worked hard.”
The Mad Prince, Chloe.
He turned Oliorro into ruins, and he didn’t even stop there, so there was a lot of slaughter and unrest, until recently when he barely managed to fall asleep.
Once he fell asleep, he’d be quiet for several months, so it was fortunate in a way.
“Your Majesty, rather than that –”
“Archbishop, I’m tired and a little unwell. Could you please go back?”
“… Today, I see.”
The archbishop rose from his seat, glancing at the knight standing firmly by the queen’s side.
The ‘Guardian Sword’ of the kingdom –
Victor.
And next to him stood the Lord of Tristar –
Gerald.
As long as these two swords guarded her –
There was no one who could resist the Timid Queen.
Creak. Thud.
The archbishop, after a final glance back at the tightly closed door to the royal audience chamber, started walking down the hallway.
The more he walked down the long corridor, the more nobles and priests gathered by his side.
“We have to use Lutheon’s failure as an opportunity, but the queen is far too timid. All we need to do is to withdraw a few troops from the West.”
Then everything would be over.
“If it weren’t for that old man taking the queen’s side, the work would’ve finished by now. He’s being a nuisance.”
Even though the pope himself didn’t have the same power as he used to have…
“Archbishop. Actually…”
“Callius?”
“Yeah, he’s, well, he’s ruining the work we’ve done for our cause.”
“What should I do with him…”
Couldn’t they even handle an idiot lunatic and had to come complain before him?
Since the officials of the country were so useless and empty-headed, how could the country work properly?
“Do I have to personally catch and crush every annoying fly one by one?”
“M-, my apologies!”
However, as if he’d never said anything harsh to begin with, the archbishop patted the nobleman’s shoulder with a gentle expression.
“No need to apologize. Look away from what you don’t want to see, and cover your ears if you don’t want to hear it.”
“Then…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it myself. I’ll deal with it just like I’ve done before.”
“Now that you’ve said that, archbishop, I can finally feel relieved. Truly, as long as you stand at the top of Carpe, the empire wouldn’t be able to hurt us…”
The archbishop smiled silently.
‘They really are just brain-dead idiots.’
That’s why the country was like this.
They were all nodding their heads to the same beat, not understanding that their actions were slowly devouring Carpe’s foundations.
It was truly a miserable country.
Nobles who had no idea they were ruining their own dynasties, senior officials who had no firm principles, and the queen who did not make any decisions.
“This country is bound to collapse.”
“Yes? What did you just say?”
“No, no. The day’s so nice that I’d gotten a bit distracted, and was thinking of something else.”
His thoughts ran a little differently, mused the archbishop.
He wanted to paint a different landscape.
“Then, that bastard…”
“He must be dealt with, yes. Anything that disturbs our cause must be wiped clean.”
“For God. And for the country.”
“For God, and for the country!”
『Kingdom Quest』
◆ Save the kingdom from ruin by killing the imperial spies.
◆ Number of spies killed: 7/?
<Reward>: 「Monarch’s Flag」
“This is fine.”
Catching the spies was still going smoothly. To cut the necks of those bastards, and purely incidentally swallow down half their wealth – it was a very satisfying process.
“Once I dispose of the thunder wolf dragon, I should get about 40,000. I already had about 10,000 in hand. And cleaning up the nobles has gotten me around 30,000.”
About eighty thousand gold in total.
It was a respectable enough amount.
Originally, he might’ve needed to exchange the money for goods for easier transportation, but Callius didn’t need any of that.
Because he could keep everything inside his subspace.
“Where are you going to spend all that money? Want me to take care of it for you?”
“I refuse.”
“Of course, gold coins should be put to work rather than hoarded. If you entrust them to me, I can guarantee a profit of more than 30 percent!”
“What about the fee?”
“Half the revenue!”
“I refuse.”
“Then 30 percent! How about it?”
“I’ll agree to 10 percent.”
“That won’t even cover the labour costs! 25 percent!”
“20 percent. You don’t need more than that.”
Helena’s ability to work with money was unquestionable.
She would always be able to make money somehow.
The current growth of the Bolivian family owed a large part of it to Helena’s involvement in business since her childhood.
And the reason was deeply rooted in the unique ability of her sword.
“Okay, 20 percent! How much are you investing?”
Callius had eighty thousand gold coins in his hand right now.
“Twenty thousand gold to start with.”
“Eh! What about the rest?”
The remaining sixty thousand gold had to be spent elsewhere.
After all, how could one catch rats without sprinkling some bait?