Episode 50.6

Chubby came back just as Lecan and Eda finished having dinner.

"Welcome back, Chubby-san."

"It's Gwislan. I have returned."

Chubby took the gold coin bag Lecan gave him.

"I ended up using 25 gold coins. Here is the rest."

"Keep it with you. No telling when you're gonna need them."

"I understand. Now then, for the report. The impetus for all this was Lady Rubianafale."

"What?"

"On Kingdom Year 116, Lady Rubianafale was married to House of Shadrest, awoke to <Purification> and then was named as <Maiden of Solace>. Chief, how much do you know about <Maiden of Solace>?"

"It's like a saint recognized by temple or something. Dunno the detail."

"Then allow me to explain. The history of <Maiden of Solace> was a history of Yufu Kingdom itself since time immemorial, those maidens led Holy Yufu Kingdom to prosperity through their prayers. Whenever the previous maiden was nearing her death, the next maiden would emerge. The succession was not through bloodline, one maiden of the temple would simply awoke to <Purification>."

"Hou. That's curious."

"But then, around the founding of Zaka Kingdom, <Maiden of Solace>'s succession ceased to be. The Holy Kingdom immediately experienced a long bout of famine that brought it down to its knee. Submitting to Zaka Kingdom was what afforded the Holy Yufu Kingdom to survive."

"Hmm?"

Could they have been bringing food from outside? However, even with <Boxes> around, could you really bring enough amount to support the entirety of this vast land. And were there really territory lords who could offer that much food back then.

"As such, Yufu's citizens had always harbored a desire to revive Holy Kingdom of Yufu deep in their heart. Radical factions of nobles who would work toward independence were always around to a degree. That was when Lady Rubianafale showed up and named as <Maiden of Solace>. She then performed the complete form of <Rite of Harvest> after more than 100 years, after which Yufu experienced a grand harvest the same year. Yields from the forest and the lake were unlike anything before it as well. Then the next year surpassed even that and the year after that broke the record once again. This was fall last year. People began raising voices, saying they don't need to submit under Zaka Kingdom anymore."

"I see. And."

"On the 22nd of month nine, Dungeon Knights began their expedition into Dungeon Yufu."

Dungeon Knights would go into Dungeon Yufu after the harvest period, then they would come back out around the end of month four or the beginning of month five. Bringing back heaps upon heaps of items. That is their duty as Dungeon Knights.

"Immediately following that, Viscount Hokkori Bono passed away. Do you know who Viscount Bono is?"

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"Nah."

"There are three viscounts serving the Marquis House here, House of Viscount Rukka is in charge of dungeons, House of Viscount Bono takes cares of administration, and House of Viscount Waido deals with public order. Hokkori Bono was a moderate, he was the person who had been keeping radical factions in check."

"I see."

"Viscount Waido was the forerunner of the radical factions. Viscount Waido holds the command on Peacekeeping Knights. After the death of Viscount Hokkori Bono, he started mobilizing the Peacekeeping Knights. They gathered en masse at District Makana, District Holt, and District Galila, occupied the place where the townlord was staying and urged him to declare independence. Several members of Yufonia upper echelons were in on it too."

"So Peacekeeping Knights worked under Viscount Waido."

"Of course. Viscount Waido was the person who pressed the townlord for independence."

"Did Viscount Bono not have a successor."

"Naturally he had one. Viscount Rukkori Bono. The strangest thing with this heir is that he has declared his full support of Viscount Waido."

"Hou. Guessing he's a debauchery son then."

"No, apparently that's the weirdest part. According to another source of mine, Viscount Rukkori Bono respected his late father a great deal, he wasn't the type of person who would put shame on his father's name."

"That's just humans, they backstab when they can. Especially when the person keeping you in line is gone."

"I suppose that's true. Now then, the Peacekeeping Knights might have occupied the townlord's palace, but the situation had not escalated into armed conflicts yet at this point. Peacekeeping Knights dispatched their members in all of Yufonia, asking sympathizers among the populace to beg the townlord to declare their independence. Drumming, 'Now is the time for the return of Holy Yufu Kingdom.' all over the place"

"I see. And then?"

"Lord Knights only consist of 30 individuals, at the time they were protecting the townlord. But Peacekeeping Knights have 500 knights, 1000 squires and 50 mages under them. Various nobles dispatched their knights to help but this was when the unforeseen happened. The Southern House declared their support for radical faction."

"Southern House?"

"Yes, Southern House of the south tower. It's a branch family headed by the older brother of Yufu's current lord, Parkuglein Shadrest-sama. They are known as Southern House."

"The older brother is a branch family?"

"He has a weak constitution, see. It's said that he wouldn't have had his first birthday had he not born in House of Yufu's lord. Thus the branch family was established, but he was also granted the <Southern Tower>, signifying his higher standing. He's married. The pair couldn't conceive children, thus they adopted a son from a relative. This adopted son is the current head of Southern House, Geitglein Shadrest-sama."

"Sounds like a bigshot with lots of authority."

"Geitglein-sama is the leader of Assembly of Elders."

Assembly of Elders is a congregation that makes a careful deliberation on all proposals the three viscounts put forward toward the townlord. An assembly formed by 20 present heads of most upper ranking nobles in Yufu.

"Led by the Southern House, the majority of noble houses ended up allying themselves with the radical faction and the townlord was cornered in all directions. But this was when Knight Estfarin Umber showed up."