Chapter 218 – The Queen"s DistressSnow fell softly outside, clinging to the roofs. Just staring at the white skies would make one sleepy. The pot whistled as steam jetted out. The room"s owner, a blonde girl— no, she looked like a young girl, but she was much older—groaned.
「Let me guess. You brought bad news again.」Marquedo Miralka Kirihal said.
「What do you mean “again”?」
Zofira Van Houtens, Forestia"s Prime Minister, gave a strained smile as she poured the boiling water to an actual teapot.
The two had a friendly relationship. After all, they shared a common enemy: the old-fashioned people at the top of Forestia who rejected change. They were “Allied Nations” only by name, never wishing to truly be one, as that would mean powerful people of each nation losing their rights.
But the times would not allow such a stance. The kingdom of Ponsonia was building its strength, preparing to invade the neighboring empire of Quinbland.
「I thought we finally had a chance to be united.」
「You mean the war between Ponsonia and Quinbland? Ponsonia lost its king and is in the middle of a civil war, but it"s not like they formed an alliance with the empire. The threat has not lessened.」
「I thought the civil war would prevent them from attacking. The delegates seem relaxed now.」
「I wish they understand that the two countries settling down means the power balance in the continent has collapsed. Here"s your tea.」
「Thanks… Blegh, too bitter!」
「No, it"s not. There"s just half the amount of sugar as usual.」
「Half?!」
「The G.o.ddess of good harvests seems to be smiling upon you this winter.」
「Are you saying I gained weight?! Really?!」Marquedo rummaged around for a hand-mirror.
「I don"t know about those on top, but those at the bottom might change.」Zofira said, sipping her sugarless tea with a straight face.
「The bottom?」the queen asked, confused. She had found a mirror in her desk, although what it was doing there, she didn"t know.
「You know, the ma.s.s wedding this coming spring where your fellow countryman Claude is taking the lead.」
「Ah…」
Marquedo"s expression turned slightly bitter. She herself cast a vote on the ma.s.s wedding. It went through as a result, but she didn"t expect what happened afterwards.
「There"s too many partic.i.p.ants…」
「Seven hundred pairs, was it?」
「It might even be over a thousand already.」
「Oh, my. The rift between the nations had that much effect on young couples, huh?」
「You talk like it doesn"t have anything to do with you, but there"s plenty of partic.i.p.ants from Jarazack, you know. What"s more, the couples are from the same nation.」
「I thought so. Jarazack"s customs are weird.」
Zofira heaved a sigh. Jarazack is a nation of martial arts, where skilled fighters can get away with a bit of selfishness. Young men used their skills to find a spouse. It didn"t matter if the girl already had a lover.
To counter this, men had to be strong, but people had their strengths and weaknesses. For them, the ma.s.s wedding was heaven-sent.
「That just shows how distorted the Alliance was.」Marquedo said.
Ten years per term was too short for a ruler. They couldn"t even accomplish anything remarkable. In fact, one could say that the regulation was there so the king or queen couldn"t do much.
The ma.s.s wedding was there to try to unite all seven nations. Because of this, there had been various movements all throughout this winter—Forestia"s political season—and factions were formed.
The Uniters, the faction that supported the unification of the nations, and the Separatists, those who were against it. Both factions didn"t choose these names themselves, but rather, people just started calling them that.
The Uniters were mostly composed of members from the smallest of the seven nations, Zubura, and Kotobi, a nation that welcomed new technology and talent. The latter didn"t explicitly state their stance, but rumors said the Alchemy King was backing the Uniters.
Rumania who explicitly declared being against any sort of unification belonged to the Separatists. Surprisingly, Kirihal, Marquedo"s home nation, and its archnemesis, Ludancia, didn"t make their positions clear. These two nations received the blunt of the impact from the current situation—the wedding between Claude, a member of a distinguished family from Kirihal and Luka, Ludancia"s third princess. Both nations were still in a state of chaos, with people having differing opinions. Some wouldn"t approve of the wedding, while some didn"t mind getting along with the other.
「Still, I can"t believe it got approved.」
「It probably wouldn"t have made it through if it weren"t for that masked brat.」Marquedo said, annoyance in her tone.
She meant Hikaru, of course. The delegates believed it was Zubura"s prince, Silvester, Ivan, Claude, and Luka, who suggested the wedding. Only a few people knew of the boy wearing a Sun G.o.d mask and black clothes who worked behind the scenes.
「Oh, right. Speaking of masks.」Zofira said.
「What? More bad news?」
Peering at the mirror, Marquedo didn"t try to hide her annoyance as she pulled her cheeks. She was checking to see if she really gained weight.
「Bandits were busted by the main roads.」
「What? Which main road? Is there even a need to report that to me?」
「Well, so far, we"ve confirmed five different locations where gangs of bandits were found tied up in ropes. There"s quite some distance between them too.」
「What"s going on exactly?」
Gangs of bandits tied up in five distant locations. Marquedo realized the abnormality of the case. Zofira, however, simply sighed.
「We"re not sure. The only thing common between them is that their organizations were destroyed overnight. One person was tied up on a tree by the road, complete with a note that detailed the location of their hideout. When authorities went to the hideout, everyone was tied up.」
「Is this some new kind of tactic to loot bandits?」
「Well actually, the valuables were left intact. Whoever did it left notes saying to return them to their owners.」
「In all five locations?」
「Yup.」
「Are they trying to play hero or something?」
Zofira smiled.「According to the bandits, it was a lone boy wearing a silver mask and black clothes who did it. He called himself Silver Face.」
「So that kid got a new mask.」
「Probably. I"m grateful for him exterminating these bandits, but not knowing what he"s thinking is just terrifying.」Zofira stood up and started cleaning up.「Okay, enough chatter about things we don"t have answers for, and get back to work. First, the maritime nation of Vireocean is making some strange moves…」