“…Leave it to me.”
“Really?”
The discovery that Shizu’s tastes were unexpectedly good would be a matter for later.
Caspond’s workload had increased dramatically after the recapture of Kalinsha. He had to work on organizing the people who had been rescued, the resulting amount of information which needed to be processed had increased greatly, and both the verification and assignment work was very time-consuming.
During this busy period, only one paladin was stationed by Caspond’s side for his safety.
This represented a lack of security, but one could not use a skilled paladin — they could read, write, do accounts, conduct religious rites, and keep the peace — as a mere bodyguard. In that respect, it would have been most efficient to assign Remedios to him, but after considering her mental state, he decided to have her train with other paladins.
When Neia and Shizu had returned with Kelart Custodio’s head, her resulting frenzy caused such a disturbance that it was a wonder nobody died as a result. While she did calm down eventually, they still had to handle her with care.
In truth, nobody could do anything by themselves. He had to be grateful to his maker for blessing him with wisdom. As he deepened his devotion to said maker, Caspond threw himself into his work, his pen flashing over the pages.
While it was practice for the future, this work was still very annoying. His paladin aide either could not read the mood or he was indeed very bothered, but he spoke to Caspond, who was trying to bury his grumbling in the depths of his heart.
“—My Prince, is it really okay to let the Neia Baraja situation continue as it is?”
Caspond understood the meaning of that question, and he smiled tiredly without taking his eyes off his documents.
“It can’t be helped, can it? Just leave it as it is. Also, Prince will do.”
“Thank you very much. However, what do you mean by it can’t be helped?”
The paladin could not seem to accept that, so Caspond lifted his head from his documents and looked him in the eye.
“What do you think would happen if we did anything to her, like say, pressuring her to stop?”
“I don’t think anything would happen, my Prince. All she is doing is causing unrest in the nation.”
“I see. So, her speeches — while I’m not sure if asking is appropriate — have you heard her speak?…Judging by the look of things, I guess not, but you’ve probably read a summary of what she’s talking about… Now, my first question… has she lied?”
Caspond watched the paladin search his memory before answering:
“She has not… well, it would be better if she was lying. Next, anyone with a modicum of intellect can check what she has said and find that almost all of it is justified. The Sorcerer King did free them, and he is a hero who single-handedly recaptured a city too.”
He took a drink of water from the glass on the table to wet his throat before continuing.
“And then, Neia Baraja is a hero who helped liberate Kalinsha. We declared that ourselves. As for the maid demon — we introduced her as a minion of the Sorcerer King. That led to a sky-high opinion of the Sorcerer King, and so we had to go a little overboard in praising her. Also, her equipment befits a hero.”
The sight of Neia carrying the marvellous bow which the Sorcerer King had loaned her and wearing the Grand King Buser’s armor was nothing less than heroic.
“Now, let’s go back to the original question. If we try to silence her, how will the world view us? Do you not think they would see us as trying to shut a hero up because she’s saying something inconvenient for the royal family?”
“But that…”
The paladin tried to stammer out a denial, but his face already said that he understood better than his words could. He knew what would happen.
“On one hand, you have a hero whose stardom is rising, and on the other you have the royal family which is on the decline. Who do you think the people will believe?”
“—My Prince! Please don’t say that!”
“I apologize… but more to the point, what do you think the Sorcerer King’s maid demon will do if we try to interfere with Neia Baraja?”
“Uuu…”
The paladin’s face went stiff, and a ghastly look came to Caspond’s face.
“Heheh. The fact that she’s protected by that maid demon means she commands the most power in this city, you know? Trying to directly silence her with force is extremely dangerous, so we’ll have to leave things as they are. I understand your concerns, but every move available to us is a bad one.”
There was a knocking on the door, and one of the soldiers from the outside entered.
“My Prince, the Vice Captain-sama wishes to speak with you.”
“Send him in right away.”
Perhaps he had heard Caspond’s voice, but Gustav rushed in from where he had been waiting outside. The slight panting in his breath showed that he had come here in a hurry.
“Forgive me, Your Highness Prince Caspond!”
Gustav’s work took him further afield than Caspond, and made him more busy, so he very rarely came here. That was why Caspond knew that this was a sticky situation. If he had come here in person, he had brought with him a difficult problem that he could not handle on his own.
“I tell you every time, don’t worry about it. Also, you don’t need to bow if we’re the only ones around. Since you’re in such a rush, it must be quite urgent, right?”
“Yes, sir! Our scouts report a 50,000-strong army flying the flag of the Southern Nobles heading for this city!”
“I see… don’t tell me the South has already overcome Jaldabaoth’s forces? In any event, prepare for battle, because we do not know whether the Southern armies are being controlled by Jaldabaoth. Be careful. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes, sir!”
“You are not to attack under any circumstances until the enemy makes a move. If they want to talk, bring them here. After that—” Caspond turned to the paladin. “You will be in charge of welcoming our guests. If they’re what I think they are, there ought to be several high ranking nobles present. Prepare food and wine that would please them.”
Both men replied, “Yes sir!” and then left the room. As Caspond watched them leave, he muttered to himself.
“Now then… I wonder if this is a good time?”
“I am truly glad you came, Marquis Bodipo, Count Cohen, Count Domingues, Count Granero, Count Randalse, and Viscount Santz.”
“Oh, think nothing of it, I’m glad to see you’re well, My Prince.”
“Indeed! Indeed! We were so worried about you, Your Highness!”
After a toast, Caspond and the Southern nobles were all smiles, drank to their respective safety, and exchanged greetings again.
The nobles described the situation and spoke of their travails. Caspond listened attentively, because doing so was playing to their vanity about how hard they had worked — how much they had given up for the sake of their loyalty to the Holy Kingdom.
Count Cohen, who had been speaking for a very long time, suddenly seemed to have noticed something and asked a question.
“—Oya, Prince-denka. Is it me, or do you seem slightly different now?”
“Ahh, but of course. I trust you know how Jaldabaoth invaded the North? It greatly changed me inside. In addition, I think the parts you cannot see have changed even more… do you not think I have become thinner?”
Caspond indicated his belly. “Well, that does seem to be the case,” everyone cheerfully replied. At the same time, there was a keen glint in the nobles’ eyes.
Caspond did not miss that. He instantly realized that they were evaluating the worth of Caspond in the past to the present Caspond.
While they had carefully concealed that fact, he understood that the appraisal was still in progress.