“Hmm… Then if we were to arrange a post for you as Chief Librarian of the Imperial Archives, would you come to our country?” Jeanne asked. “I imagine our archives have a more extensive collection of books than the kingdom’s.”
“Ahh. That is an alluring proposal, yes.”
“But you can’t do it?” Jeanne asked.
“Had you asked me before I volunteered my services, I’m sure I would have jumped at the offer without a moment’s hesitation,” he said.
Nowadays, Hakuya thought these busy days weren’t so bad. There had been a time when, for Hakuya, history was a thing to be found in books. However, now he felt it was a thing that they themselves would make. When he was serving under Souma, the one trying to push this country forward, he felt like he himself was one of the characters in history. It wasn’t a bad feeling.
“But now, I wish to move forward into a new era alongside His Majesty and the others,” he continued. “Then, once I raise my successor, I hope to become a historian and record what happened in these times.”
“A comfortable retirement, huh…” Jeanne said. “That may be a luxury in the times we live in.”
She was most likely right. The times were too hard to allow for an easy retirement.
The threat of the Demon Lord’s Domain was slowly encroaching from the north, and various countries were forging alliances to advance their own goals, or opposing one another. For Hakuya to have his quiet retirement, all of that would have to be resolved. As for whether that was possible, even with all of Hakuya’s wisdom, he couldn’t see the answer to that.
“Well then, I will be looking forward to our next talk, Sir Hakuya,” she said.
“Yes. Let’s speak again sometime, Madam Jeanne.”
The transmission cut out on Jeanne’s side.
Whew… Hakuya exhaled, then rose to his feet. He reached out to the pile of Amidonian books.
These precious books had been paid no attention while they were in Amidonia, and were now sorely in need of repair. If Hakuya hadn’t taken custody of them, some of these books might have been lost forever.
With a sigh, Hakuya reached out and picked up one book. As soon as he did…
“Prime Minister.”
There was a man in black clothes kneeling in one corner of the room. There was a black cloth wrapped around his face as well, and he looked like he was melting into the darkness of the closed off, dimly lit room.
Hakuya asked the man, “How are the preparations?”
“They proceed apace. However…” The man seemed to hesitate.
Hakuya furrowed his brow. “Did something happen?”
“The thing is… I feel as though things are going entirely too well,” said the man. “Almost as if there was the will of another actor in play here…”
“I see…”
Hakuya dismissed the man, then flipped through the book he had picked up.
When he had taken the books in Amidonia’s archives as collateral against the war reparations, Hakuya had had a certain expectation. He had expected there would be family registers and materials regarding rights and ownership. Those sorts of writings tended to be in the archives in a nation’s capital, after all. To have those books in hand was to grasp the heart of the nation itself.
When he’d advised Souma to take the books as collateral, it had been because the Amidonian royal family was more inclined towards military matters, and he’d hoped they wouldn’t realize the importance of them. However, contrary to Hakuya’s expectations, there was only one book of that variety in the collection he’d seized.
That book, the one Hakuya held now, was on the recent genealogy of the royal family of Amidonia. When he flipped through it, there was a folded piece of paper stuck between the last page and the cover.
When Hakuya unfolded the piece of paper, he saw there was a drawing of a small animal with black circles around its eyes holding down one of its eyelids as it stuck its tongue out at him.
When he saw that, Hakuya blinked a few times, then chuckled to himself. “I see. There would have to be someone like this in Amidonia, yes.”
“What is it, teacher?” a sudden voice asked.
Hakuya turned and saw Tomoe there, looking at him blankly. He was embarrassed to have been caught with his guard down, and he cleared his throat loudly to mask it.
“Why, little sister, I’m sorry I didn’t notice you there.”
“No, I just got here,” Tomoe said. “I came in because it seemed like you were done talking. You looked like you were having fun, right? What were you looking at?”
“Oh, this?” Hakuya showed Tomoe a picture with a little animal drawn on it.
Tomoe held the piece of paper up to her face, then held it at a distance, then held it up to the ceiling to look at it, before finally tilting her head to the side. “Was this animal what you found so funny? I’ll admit it’s cute.”
“It’s a drawing of an animal called a bronze raccoon.” Taking the piece of paper back, Hakuya patted Tomoe on the head and said, “They are commonly said to play tricks on people.”
Chapter 8: Crime and Punishment
Early in the 11th month, 1546th year, Continental Calendar — Midnight
It happened in the domain of a certain noble within the Elfrieden Kingdom.
In the manor of the important noble who was lord of that domain, twelve shadowy figures were holding a secret meeting in the darkness.
“What do the rest of you make of this summons?” one of them asked.
“Of all the nobles in the land, our fourteen families have been summoned. Most likely… the kingdom has caught on to us.”
“There have been reports of the black-robed one’s dogs sniffing around us, as well.”
“Then, the intent of this summons is…”
“…to make an example of the others, no doubt.”
“To make an example? It isn’t a trap?” one suggested in a hysterical voice.
Another laughed dryly. “Heh heh heh. Unlike the nobles who have engaged in corruption, we haven’t been caught doing anything. With no crime to condemn us for, that king and the black-robed one cannot bring us to justice.”
“I see… That is why he is making an example of the others.”
“Indeed,” one of them agreed. “To keep us in line by making us think, ‘Tomorrow, that could be me.’”
“Two of the three dukes have fallen, and those nobles who didn’t participate in the recent war have lost their influence. If he can just keep us quiet, there will be nothing left to stop that king.”
“Hmph… All as the king planned,” one of them said. “Or was it the black-robed one?”
“It doesn’t matter which of them it was. But, if we look at it from another perspective, we can say that this was the best the king could do against us.”
“Heh heh heh, you are quite right,” another chuckled. He added, with a sneer, “That is why, for now, we must lay low. We must act in a way that will not anger that king, that will not give him reason to punish us. No, if anything, we must cooperate with what the king does.”
“It galls me to do it,” another one said irately.
“It’s no matter… I doubt it will take long,” the sneerer replied. “Once all obstacles have been removed, I am sure that king will rush forward with revolutionary policies at an even faster rate than he has been. Reform taken too quickly will breed resistance. We need only support those people from the shadows. The more of them he executes, the more that king will be seen as a tyrant, and that will only breed more resistance.”