Chapter 209 – Negotiations and ActionsAfter pretending to leave, Hikaru waited inside the palace with bated breath. Surprisingly, he only found a few traps with his Mana Detection, perhaps an indication of the king"s confidence. This worked in Hikaru"s favor.
Gerhardt was sitting on his throne, annoyance clear on his face. He might be thinking of the boy who was here just a while ago. Besides the old man from the turtle clan, more and more representatives from the other tribes arrived.
Working hard even in the middle of the night, huh?
The darkness of the night was Hikaru"s friend. Even if people with Instincts were around, he should be able to keep himself hidden.
The representatives had already heard what happened before coming here. They didn"t have to ask every single time about the utter embarra.s.sment that happened earlier in front of the king.
「O" Wise King. What do you propose we do?」the old turtle man asked.
「Huh?! What do we do?! Do you want to say something?!」
「Surely, you will not give in to that intruder"s demands. It has been our dearest wish to crush the kingdom of Ponsonia. Now is our best chance to free the ones imprisoned in the castle under false charges.」
「Exactly.」
「Indeed.」
The representatives agreed.
Hmm… So there are falsely-charged prisoners inside the castle, huh? I"m pretty sure Princess Kudyastoria will release them if they just asked, Hikaru thought.
「But the dragonewt king"s Blade of Severance…」
「That is not your problem, Your Majesty. It was an oversight on the part of the custodian.」
「Only the ones present here, high-ranking adventurers, guards, and maintenance personnel can enter the treasure house. Perhaps some guests as well, but we can exclude them. When the Blade of Severance was stolen, I recall you saying “We shouldn"t search for the culprit. It"ll only sow discord.” And now this Ponsonian kid barges in here, saying he knows where it is! What the h.e.l.l is going on here?!」
「So Your Majesty thinks Ponsonia stole it? Then all the more reason to attack—」
「No, you moron!」
Even when verbally abused, the old man didn"t seem to care a bit. He was acting stupid to make the king explain. Somewhere in the king"s mind—the part that still barely retained its composure—he knew this, which only annoyed him further.
「If we a.s.sume that the kid works for Ponsonia, then having the Blade of Severance here inside the country is much more favorable for him. All he has to do is move it around somewhere in Einbeast.」
The representatives looked surprised.
「Y-Your Majesty, are you saying the thief is among us?」
「In that case, they"re not just a thief, but a traitor to the country!」
「Impossible!」
Hikaru already expected this to happen. He knew, of course, that the Blade wasn"t in Einbeast anymore, but in the capital of Bios, Agiapole. But they didn"t know that, which raised suspicion among themselves.
Silver Face showed he could sneak into the palace. Everyone would then think that sneaking into the representatives" houses would be easy for him. That he could take the Blade back from the traitor.
All Hikaru had to do now was wait for them to be at each other"s throats and everything would be perfect. They couldn"t go to war knowing there was a traitor among them.
All right. Guess it"s time for me to return to Agiapole.
Hikaru watched chaos ensue before leaving the palace. Hikaru already had an idea who stole the Blade of Severance. Whether he would tell the king or not, he"d decide at a later time.
Three days later.
In Ponsonia"s royal castle, Princess Kudyastoria received a report.
「Einbeast suspended their preparations?」
The word came from the high-ranking official. Being the princess"s close aide, various kinds of information reached him.
「Yes. Emperor Kaglai himself informed me in secret. Quinbland"s intelligence network reaches even Hopestadt, Einbeast"s capital. He believes the information to be accurate.」
「I wonder what happened.」
「That, we do not know. What do we do?」
「We must not be complacent. The Foreign Minister should be back in a few days. We"ll keep our alert status to maximum.」the princess said. 「Lawrence.」
「Yes, Your Highness!」
「Can you come with me for a bit?」
「Of course.」
「Your Highness, if it"s something I can do—」
「This is something I have to ask of Lawrence.」
「…I understand.」
For a moment, the high-ranking official who wanted to know Kudyastoria"s every move looked vexed, but quickly regained his composure and watched the two go.
Kudyastoria left the room together with Lawrence and started walking inside the castle. She never brought people around with her before and she didn"t intend to change that now. As for security, there was no better guard than Lawrence.
「I see. So we"re going underground.」the captain said.
「Yes.」
They were headed to the underground dungeon where those deemed guilty of crimes by the late king were held. Kudyastoria knew about the prison long before, but she couldn"t make a move. What kind of people were in there was top secret as well. But with Prince Austrin and his followers gone, she could now enter it.
What surprised her at first was how filthy the place was. Those in chains soiled themselves. Kudyastoria quickly ordered the prison to be cleaned. Right now, while it was still damp as a result of being underground, the stench and filth were all gone.
An iron door separated the inside from the outside. The princess could feel eyes watching them from the surveillance window.
Barely any records of the prisoners" crimes remained. Most were already lost. As such, she couldn"t let them go immediately. If she released a guilty criminal, that would be an irredeemable mistake. The prisoners" records were being reexamined at a rapid pace, but it would still take some time.
While they were free from their chains, the prisoners" fear, suspicions, and anger remained extremely strong.
「It"s you again.」
A cell in the deepest part of the dungeon held a jade-scaled girl of the dragonewt race. Dragonewts were a race that came from dragons that used magic to transform themselves into humans and mated with them. Very few in numbers, they were a species with high physical strength and magical abilities.
Reviewing Einbeast"s history, one would find that many past kings were dragonewts.
「I came to ask for advice, daughter of the Dragonewt King, Jillarty.」
Lawrence opened the iron door for Kudyastoria to get in. The girl"s body was human, but the back of her hand and part of her back were covered in jade-colored scales.
「I don"t need your apology. You will pay for all you"ve done with your own blood.」
Jillarty glared at Kudyastoria with bloodshot eyes. Why did my father leave such a burden on me? the princess thought.
Hikaru returned from the palace and took a nap before heading out for Agiapole, Drake wrapped around his neck. Before he left, Lavia and Paula provided him with some interesting information.
「By the way, apparently the current king feels ashamed around the dragonewt king.」Lavia said.「The Blade of Severance"s theft plays a part in it, but also because the dragonewt king"s daughter was kidnapped while travelling in Ponsonia. She still hasn"t been found.」
「I heard that when the Beastman King was young, he learned martial arts from the Dragonewt King. They even competed under the same tutelage.」
So the Beastman King"s weakness lies with the Dragonewt King. My plan to stop the war might just work, Hikaru thought. After thanking the girls for the crucial information, he asked them to gather more intel about the two kings.
One had to move their feet, roaming around, in order to gather the kind of info that most citizens knew about. Hikaru welcomed the girls" help.
Hikaru, of course, had no way of knowing that the Dragonewt King"s daughter was in fact held captive in Ponsonia"s royal castle, vowing for revenge.
「It doesn"t really feel like we"ve come to a faraway place when using the Drakon"s Pa.s.sage. Such a shame.」
That very same day, Hikaru arrived at a town a day"s distance away from Agiapole. Lavia shared some of her mana to Drake, but unfortunately, they couldn"t use the Drakon"s Pa.s.sage all the time.
「We"re leaving first thing in the morning, so let"s go to bed early.」
『Let"s go to a food cart first! Food cart!』
「You sure love your junk food. There are no food carts in Bios anyway.」
『Whaaat?! No fair!』
「What do you want me to do? Geez.」
In the end, they booked a room in a dingy, but lively inn targeted at adventurers. When they stepped into the dining room, more than half of the ten tables were occupied by adventurers having dinner.
I"ve never really eaten meals in a rowdy place like this, Hikaru thought as he sat down. He had deep-fried chicken—the inn"s special—and gave some to Drake as well, who lay curled up on his lap.
「Are you sure?」
「Yeah. The capital is in an uproar right now.」
Oh, sounds interesting, Hikaru thought as he strained his ears.
「Blue Knights committing…」
Mutiny. Blue Knight. Even without any proof, the first person that came to Hikaru"s mind was Conia Mercury—a girl who resembled Hazuki and the only person who evoked feelings of nostalgia inside him.