CH 300

–After leaving Lars and the others, Basleigh immediately went to the castle and went to the audience hall to report her return. As she was about to leave the hall, she was approached by a voice.

“You’re back, Basleigh-chan. Good work.”

“I managed to get back. I’m glad you’re okay too, big brother. Is His Majesty here?”

“I think it’ll be fine at this hour. Let’s go to the conference room instead of the audience hall. I have a few things I want to tell everyone.”

Himmel, my brother, greeted me and asked me to meet him in the same room as before we left. Basleigh raises one eyebrow as she has a feeling that this is going to be a long day, even though she only intended to report on her return.

After a short wait, the ministers, including King Albert, entered the room, took their seats, and waited for Albert’s words.

“Everyone, make yourselves comfortable. Now, I have heard your reports. Inquisitor Himmel, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Basleigh, thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your kind words. In the Glasco territory, the “Gospel’s Descent” is in the dark, and we were almost taken advantage of. Now, the former lord, Zanbia, has lost his position and his son has taken over.”

After slurring his words and bowing his head, Albert sighed and said to Basleigh.

“Seriously, for you to brazenly …… say that he took the medallion that’s why take over the position, what a seriously extreme argument. Normally, we should have held a temporary election.”

“Well, my former student was working hard, and the tax revenue was higher than the Gust territory at one time thanks to the efforts of Zanbia, so I thought it was okay.”

“It’s not good, but …… well, let’s offset that by successfully destroying their plan. The reward will be less, though.”

“Yes, that’s fine. I hope that Lars-kun and the others will be given their share properly.”

Albert laughs at Basleigh, who says it without any sign of offense, and says, “I’ll think about it”. The mood was friendly, but soon Albert’s face returned to seriousness and he became tense again.

“Now then, not long after Oriola territory, they made their move in Glasco territory as well. Fortunately, the incident was cleared up, but we don’t know when they will start their dark activities again. I think we should be more vigilant than ever.”

Everyone nodded at Albert’s words, and Himmel raised his hand to continue.

“We’ve been on the back foot until now, but from now on there’s a lot we can do. We are planning to inaugurate a law that will allow us to detain at least anyone who claims to be a Gospel’s Descent if they appear. And–“

The door to the conference room opened as Himmel clapped his hands, and the shackled Oburaien and Kelbrem entered with Flugel. Albert raised his hand to quiet the room, and Himmel continued.

“Now, Kelbrem, who was working in Oriola territory, and Oburaien, who was working as the mastermind in Glasco territory. I’d like you to listen to what they have to say for a moment, if you don’t mind.”

“Umu. That’s okay for everyone, right? …… especially Basleigh.”

“Ha!? Oh, I’m sorry, I got a little bear sickness ……”

“What’s that ……”

When Basleigh is rebuked for dozing off, the scene relaxes a bit, and Oburaien moves his mouth slowly. 

“Haha, this is great. It’s a spectacular sight to see all the important people together at once. Now, what do you want to ask me?”

“Well …… it would be nice to know what the Founder’s purpose is, how about it?”

Himmel smiled at Oburaien’s words and asked, looking around.

“By the way, is that Lars guy around?”

“He’s not someone working at the castle, after all. Is there a problem?”

“No, I just wanted to express my gratitude to him. So, to answer your question, the answer is no. Rather, just like I said in the carriage, I really don’t know. We are like slaves, even though they first made us their friends with sweet words. We can never go against them …… as long as we have the tattoo.”

And there Kelbrem opens his mouth.

“It’s a very important role, as Oburaien said, but we’re never told what’s their purpose. They just say, ‘Secure the territory’. Of course, we will be given methods and personnel, but ……”

“Well, in the end, it turns out that we don’t know what the Founder Apollos has in mind.”

After Oburaien lowered his shoulders and laughed, Kelbrem looked at all the ministers with a straight face and said.

“We can talk like this because we don’t have the tattoo anymore, but there are many others who joined the gospel out of tears or because they were tricked. But there’s one thing you need to be aware of.”

“Hmm …… what is it?”

“There are ten people under the Founder who are not treated as slaves. I’ve only met them once, when I was explaining my plan to seize the territory–“

Kelbrem said, sweating and muttering, and Oburaien spoke along with him.

“They’re the loyal retainers. It’s the same as you ministers praising the king. There are ten of them who will never betray him. They’ve got a good fighting ability too. Apollos himself is dangerous, but those ten guys seem to be just as good. So far, the only ones who seem to be able to win are Fath the Thunderbolt and her husband. And …… Lars, I guess. If you’re going to pick a fight with them, you’d better prepare a substantial force, because they have the strength of the Berias Kingdom.”

“…… Thank you”

“You don’t have to thank me. This is the information provided by removing that tattoo. Besides, it won’t be easy to die here. I’ll …… pay for my sins.”

Oburaien nodded at Kelbrem’s words and was taken back to his cell, saying that the conversation was over. The remaining ministers seemed to be pondering with difficult faces.

“As expected, he has close aides ……”

“What should we do? We can retaliate if we find out that the Founder is in the Berias Kingdom.”

“It could lead to war if we carelessly do something, but we must make an example of them. Reduce the amount of ore exported to Berias, which can only be extracted in our country.”

“Ha, I’ll arrange it that way.”

After raiding Everlide and taking possession of it, we have not been engaged in a war of aggression, and we have been doing proper trade. As a decision of each country, it is not advisable to refuse, and there is also the reason that it is easier to receive information if they continue to trade.

However, in a case like this, it would look like they were preparing to invade the country, so they narrowed down the ore to make it harder to produce armor.

“Do you want to send more scouts to gather more information?”

“Oh, I’ve already made some arrangements for that, so it’s okay.”

“Oh. That was quick. Do you trust them?”

“No, not at all. But I’m sure they will come in handy when the time comes.”

Albert nodded to Basleigh, who smiled wryly, and stood up to tell everyone.

“We can expect some kind of retaliation for squeezing the ore. Notify the territories. And send your best men to the guild to help defend the town. And send scouts to the Berias Kingdom.”

“What!? You don’t trust me!?”

“No, I didn’t say it myself …… You said you arranged for someone you didn’t trust ……”

The meeting ended with everyone saying that it was the usual Basleigh.

–While feeling uneasy about the existence of the twelve close aides.–

◆ 　 ◇ 　 ◆

“Ha! Ya! …… Then “Instant lightning”!”

“Yes, not only do you need to anticipate your opponent, but you also need to guide and limit their actions! See, I’m faster than you.”

“Agu ……!?”

The next day after we came back, Makina and Fath-san were training in the garden for the first time in a long time. I think Fath-san is especially excited because she couldn’t do anything while she was in Glasco territory. Anyway, the garden is looking amazing.

Of course, this is due to the presence of the monsters. The yard used to be so big, but now it’s taking up a lot of space with deadly bears laying around. It’s pleasant to see the little bear so relieved, and the Viking Wolf sneezing in the sun is proof of the peace.

…… Well, peace is a good thing, I thought as I sipped tea at the garden table, thinking about my plans for the garden. What I need to do now is to name these three.

“I’m not very good at naming, though …… Three monsters is a lot for one person to name ……”

I spent a leisurely morning flipping through a book I had bought while shopping for something to quote from. Then I heard a voice coming from the doorway.

“This is Lars-oniichan’s house! Welcome home, Oniichan! Good morning, Sephiro!”

“Oh, it’s you, Chelle. We’re back. Have you been talking to anyone?”

As I walked to the door and called out to Chelle who was running towards me, someone I hadn’t seen in a while appeared behind her.

“Hello, Lars-kun. It’s been a long time.”

“Ah, Leor-san!”

He smiled and raised one hand, and it was Leor-san, the distributor of the clothes I designed.

Well, it’s a disturbing new chapter, but the gospel will come into play later!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“Oh, a comedy chapter?”

I’m thinking of ending this here soon, but …… I wonder what will happen?