“So, I caught the minor lord who was trying to have me assassinated.”
“Why the hell!?”
General Wageris shouted as energetically as ever today, but this time even he was clutching his head.
The minor lord, tied up and sitting meekly on the floor, was already teary-eyed and trembling.
“I knew you’d summoned the lord, sure, but why is the man who got here less than an hour ago already in ropes!? At least discuss it with me beforehand!”
“I called him when I first went down to the town, and the minor lord was trying to summon me. You knew it was obviously a trap, didn’t you?”
“So I heard—from Sarvil—that you turned it around, threatened him by letter for having the nerve to summon an imperial prince, and ordered the minor lord himself to come all the way to a frontier village.”
General Wageris’s phrasing was rough, but that was more or less correct.
Even if I was not the legitimate heir, the title of First Prince still carried weight, so the minor lord, however reluctant, had been making arrangements to improve the road up the mountain.
But once four months had passed and he learned that Karu and Wabili were beginning to show signs of integrating because of the hot spring, he panicked.
“He rushed the repairs on the relatively safe old road and came today, didn’t he? And since there was no way he could make it a day trip, he told me to prepare lodging for the minor lords. That much was fine.”
Indeed, under that pretext, the minor lord had spent his own funds and materials to improve the road and come here.
Of course, I intended to make good use of it on the way back.
And with that same excuse, I had arranged to draw General Wageris away from this place for a while.
And this was the result.
“I extracted a confession and got him to promise to testify about the letters connected to my assassination.”
“I don’t know when you managed to make this lord hate you, but I can see you’re full of wicked schemes! Hey, Hely! Explain!”
“No, it’s exactly as he said. If I had to add anything, it wasn’t a personal grudge on the lord’s part, and His Highness merely presented terms the other party could accept.”
Helkof, asked by General Wageris to explain, answered just as he had seen it.
“You knew minor lords are weak to pressure in the first place. So we just offered him a reduced sentence. There’s a separate perpetrator too, so as far as the minor lord’s position goes, he’s an accomplice coerced into helping.”
“To be honest, catching a lord like this solves nothing. They would simply claim the matter was resolved on the surface and escape any further pursuit.”
Just as Ikuto said, that result was easy to predict, and there was only one thing I was aiming for now.
“They came to me, after all. If merely driving the criminal guild out of the imperial capital isn’t enough to teach them, then this time I’ll use this as a foothold to crush the Saipol Syndicate, the ones who created that ridiculous thing.”
“Hey, hey, are you sane? Countless people have been killed trying to lay a hand on them. It’s smarter to leave them alone, let them make their money, and keep them quiet.”
General Wageris tried to sound like an adult, but even as he said it, he looked dissatisfied.
It was true that the Saipol Syndicate itself did not do anything too risky.
Even so, they committed fraud like the mafia or yakuza, wielded their power with violence as a shield, and were a nuisance.
“They already have a prior offense. And yet, without any restraint, they came after me again. That means they’re looking down on the imperial family, or else, now that they’ve been driven out of the imperial capital, they’re in a position where they have to show strength and have no intention of giving up. In that case, the best thing to do is make them traitors who attacked the national army here and eliminate them.”
“Eek.”
Seeing the minor lord let out a frightened squeak, Wearelle moved to soothe him.
“As I said, you were threatened and are half a victim yourself. On those grounds, we will limit the punishment to you personally. I will put in a word so that your son can inherit your domain.”
“Hey, hey, can you really rely on a verbal promise like that?”
I understood General Wageris’s concern, but if we made a move against the Saipol Syndicate, the great nobles of the imperial capital probably would not care about the succession of a minor lord while dealing with that.
“Still, that’s a little weak, so I’ll summon his son now too, and we’ll make it so his son was the one who exposed his father’s wrongdoing.”
By making it look like there was a self-purifying function, we would create a pretext that there was no problem with the succession.
This land was on the frontier anyway and of low importance, and from what I had gathered, he did not have direct ties to any great noble in the imperial capital.
There was also the village integrated from Romlusi within his domain in His Majesty’s name, so His Majesty’s opinion would carry weight here.
“It’s still too early to move. So, General Wageris, I’d like you to treat it as though the minor lord hasn’t been captured, but is staying here to entertain me as an imperial prince.”
“Why do you need to keep up appearances?”
He asked because we had known each other for more than half a year now.
He kept telling me I was roundabout or soft, but he at least understood that if I did something, I had a reason for it.
“It seems part of the pressure placed on the minor lord to kill me had to do with the Imperial Guards.”
The Imperial Guards had plotted a rebellion, but we had prevented it before it happened.
On top of that, I had sent the top five back to the imperial capital as criminals.
Apparently, that alone had caused a huge uproar in the imperial capital.
“See, the prison carriage took quite a while to arrive, didn’t it? As expected, people connected to the Imperial Guards were apparently putting up all sorts of resistance. And as part of that resistance, someone pushed him to target me.”
It did not matter whether I was killed or not.
The minor lord had overheard that they wanted me to be targeted again, to become the source of another uproar, then shift the focus by saying I was at fault, that I lacked the qualifications, and should be removed from my position of responsibility.
Moreover, it seemed the same request had come from multiple parties, and even the assassin sent by the Saipol Syndicate had apparently been astonished at what an outrageous prince I was.
Why does that make me outrageous?
The Saipol Syndicate, accepting the same request from multiple clients, was the one doing something outrageous beyond merely double-dipping.
“Whatever the reason, if they remove me, they can use it as an opportunity to muddle everything I’m doing. Without authority, even matters involving the Imperial Guards can’t be handled by the military alone.”
It would be troublesome if they forced through such a ridiculous argument.
On top of that, the purpose of this assignment was to keep me away from the politics of the imperial capital.
Even if I were removed from the army and made to return to the imperial capital, my reputation would drop sharply as a prince who failed to fulfill his duty.
I wanted General Wageris to understand that there were adults out there who were even more full of wicked schemes than I was.
“In reality, I’ve prevented it before anything happened, so there’s no uproar. If you turn it into one, General Wageris, I’ll be in trouble.”
“Is that really possible?”
“I think it’s a common tactic, though? Manipulating impressions and turning things into established facts. Besides, the rebellion charges against the Imperial Guards we sent back to the imperial capital still haven’t been finalized, have they?”
Though we sent them to the imperial capital more than two months ago.
On our side, it was an accusation jointly signed by the commanders, and in terms of military procedure, the charges could already be called clear.
And yet I still had not heard that they had been judged, so some powerful person must be holding it up.
“The upper ranks of the military are nobles too, so in the worst case, they may keep resisting until we return to the imperial capital.”
“So His Highness provoking them to make them more likely to slip up didn’t bear fruit after all?”
“We selected those who seemed short-tempered and guided them into justifying themselves, but…”
“Did they lose their nerve during the month they were carried off in cages?”
After Helkof and Wearelle, Ikuto muttered in a voice that sounded like he was about to click his tongue.
That part was fine. There were still more Imperial Guards, after all.
There were a lot of them, and their ranks differed in various small ways, so a certain number would probably slip up and affirm the rebellion.
I had also told them to send another prison carriage like the cart with cages on it, and next time, perhaps I would tell them to confess honestly if they wanted their crimes lightened.
“The Imperial Guards woke someone they should never have woken and made him take action.”
Céline, who had been silent until now, murmured while staring off into the distance.
“You should have said it more clearly, Wold…”
Then she began taking out her resentment on an absent relative.
I had also revealed the internal situation because I thought Wold’s words would not be given much weight, and I had assumed he would quit after a year.
Now, in his second year, he is a good subordinate who handles things like room inspections even when I am not there.
General Wageris crossed his arms and groaned.
“To think someone trying to set up the Saipol Syndicate would really… Why in the world…? Or is it precisely because you don’t know?”
“Huh? I told you my life was targeted, didn’t I? I know. At least, I know they’re dangerous.”
“Then why are you now going out of your way to get yourself hit and pin guilt on them?”
What am I, a shakedown artist?
No, but if you put it crudely, that was what it amounted to.
I would provoke them with, You did it, didn’t you? You did, right? and push them until they made a move.
Then I would use the fact that they had made a move as a shield and treat them as traitors.
After that, once I returned to the imperial capital and formally brought charges, they could not ignore me, at least officially, since I was leading troops.
“Yes, that understanding is more or less correct.”
“Lord Asha, please try to dress it up a little more. Do not imitate that general.”
Wearelle admonished me like that.
“If we resolve it, return quickly, and pick up some military merit on the way home, then it’s a fine job, isn’t it, Rock?”
At Helkof’s words, General Wageris’s expression grew even more severe.
“At first, we were worn down by petty harassment, but we were able to get through it precisely because of Prince Asha’s abilities. You should not be able to deny that now.”
Urged further by Ikuto, General Wageris fell silent in dissatisfaction.
“I understand that you want to keep me away because it’s dangerous, but I’m the type to do things myself too… Just like when I investigated and created the hot spring.”
General Wageris seemed to realize there was no point denying it and uncrossed his arms.
If anything, it was strange how much the hot spring had raised the evaluation of alchemy and of me.
Regular Update
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