Chapter 155 - The Golden Council

Ferda arrived at the entrance to the Golden Council.

The nobles who had come as spectators had their eyes fixed on him.

Their stares were as if they were looking at someone who had committed a terrible murder and walked in afterward.

A moment later, a man pushed through the frozen audience and came running.

It was Alexander.

'As expected, my imagination is shallow.'

Ferda had thought that if Alexander saw this procession, he would naturally come to find fault with it.

But there was something he had not expected, and the sight was uglier than he had imagined.

"I greet His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince of the Empire."

He offered a willfully oblivious greeting, as if to make Alexander's blood boil.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"As a noble of the Empire, do you have no pride at all? What is the meaning of this behavior that disgraces the nobles of the Empire!"

In truth, what Ferda had prepared came close to taboo.

A noble was a being who must always shine.

Because they were objects to be looked up to, daring to win the sympathy of commoners only made them appear weak.

"I was told there were no dress uniforms that fit them."

"No dress uniforms?!"

"Yes. That armor was the only armor the soldiers from the far east here had been issued by the Empire."

"Don't make me laugh! You joined hands with the Pascal trading company, and yet you don't even have dress uniforms?!"

"If something does not exist, I say it does not exist. Wouldn't saying something exists when it does not be deception?"

"How dare you...!"

Alexander glared at Ferda and tried to unleash his presence.

But Ferda did not budge in the slightest.

Rather, Alexander turned his head away from the chilling feeling that he might be sucked into those eyes.

"Count Concillus!"

"Yes."

He turned his arrow toward the old man standing as if he were Ferda's aide.

Concillus quietly bowed his head.

"Do you think that procession was befitting the dignity of nobles?!"

"I do not think there is any problem with it."

"W-what did you say?!"

Concillus answered calmly.

"In my eyes, all of them showed a response fitting for this situation."

"A fitting response?"

"Yes. This was not a time to laugh and cheer. Should we not take time to honor the annihilation of an entire legion and the soldiers who died in the far east? I believe it suited the situation."

"How dare you... So you mean to say this is my fault, and that you people did nothing wrong?!"

"How could that be? Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince will soon be His Majesty the Emperor..."

His head was bowed, but his words were clear.

Alexander felt as if he wanted to execute the two disobedient men resisting his authority then and there.

Just as he was about to lose patience and spew some outburst, it happened.

"A pleasure to meet you, Regent."

There was a voice that seized control of the atmosphere by voice alone.

Waldemar Gold, the man who held real power in the current Crisis Response Headquarters.

Even the Crown Prince, that runaway locomotive of a man, changed color when he stepped forward.

Ferda moved to step forward as the representative.

Then Concillus went ahead of him and subtly gestured to Ferda.

It meant he would handle this.

"It is truly an honor to meet you again, Grand Duke Gold, great hero that you are."

A faint coldness seeped through his courteous voice.

From that greeting, Ferda realized the two of them knew each other.

"A pleasure to see you, Ulvera. Life in the far east must have been quite trying."

"Where in all the world is life not trying?"

"There is no place that is not trying. But is it not important to present a steadfast appearance in such places?"

He prodded him indirectly on the matter of the dress uniforms.

Concillus bowed his head once more.

"My apologies. The knights of the far east were not in a financial position to set aside separate dress uniforms."

"It seems your finances are quite strained. Did you not send a request to the Empire?"

"Is this not a difficult situation for everyone? The Empire is suffering just the same, so how could I send such a letter?"

"Nobles may not cross the barrier, so perhaps they would not know, but private soldiers are different, are they not? What would happen if their weapons were too old to be used when it mattered, and they died because of it?"

Concillus's body flinched.

That was about the time before Ferda joined hands with Stephan, when an old weapon had failed to hold and snapped, causing one soldier to meet an absurd death.

Concillus remembered how incompetent he had been then.

"You need not worry about that any longer. I will no longer show you such disappointing conduct."

"Hm, that would be good."

After finishing his conversation with Concillus, Waldemar turned his gaze to Ferda.

"A pleasure to meet you, Regent Ferda."

"It is an honor to meet you, Grand Duke Gold."

"I was sincerely impressed. To think you would overturn public sentiment by deliberately dressing them in that armor."

"We merely showed what work we had done."

"Yes. After all, even if one does the work, if no one notices, it is all for nothing."

Waldemar glanced at Alexander, then turned away.

"I shall look forward to your other preparations."

Ferda knew, and Waldemar knew as well.

That this public hearing would not be a fight against Alexander, but a fight against the far east.

Ferda quietly watched his back.

'What an utterly bizarre old man.'

He looked like a wrinkled old man whose body ought to suit a hunched back, but his body was exceedingly straight.

In fact, Ferda had checked several times because it seemed strange, but it was certain.

'His skin may be in its nineties, but his insides have remained around their thirties.'

It was ironic.

If one could usually rejuvenate, one would restore both skin and insides, and if forced to choose only one, they would prioritize the skin.

Because people tended to look down on you if you looked old.

'He must be trying to make people let their guard down.'

If he appeared to have returned to his thirties, others would be wary, but what about an old man?

It was more profitable to flatter an old man with one foot in the grave than to oppose him.

If, someday, when he left his inheritance, one's name was written in even one line of his will, it would be a gain.

Using himself as bait, was it?

Olivia's face suddenly came to mind.

"Regent, you must enter..."

"I know."

Ferda passed through the corridor and headed toward the council chamber.

There he saw groups of nobles and knights lining the nobles up in order.

They were the only people permitted to use force in a council that fought with words, the security officers.

Unlike the Grand Council, this was a human building, so they conducted body searches one by one.

They repeated the same line to every noble like parrots.

"Weapons are prohibited from being brought into the postwar conference. Please be aware that if you bring in a weapon, you may be removed regardless of reason, or face equivalent penalties."

"Understood."

Concillus handed his sword over to the escort knights, and before his own turn came, Ferda also removed his ceremonial sword in advance and handed it over.

It was similar to what Concillus had done, but for Ferda, one more sentence was added.

"Regent Ferda, I understand you are a mage?"

"That is correct."

"Please wear this."

What the security officer held out was a mana restraint.

It was a magical device that interfered with spell incantation, suppressed the release of mana, and had the effect of knocking the wearer unconscious when they suddenly concentrated a large amount of mana.

He did not like being treated like a criminal for being a mage.

However, there had been a historical case of a mage attempting to blow himself up, so it could not be helped.

"Understood."

Ferda accepted it humbly.

When Ferda put on the restraint and tried to go inside, they blocked him again.

"You cannot bring that staff in either."

He said it while looking at the handsome staff Ferda was holding.

"Do I look as if I will beat someone to death with this staff?"

"An ordinary cane is fine, but magic items cannot be brought inside."

"Unfortunately for you, it is not a magic item."

"Then may we request a direct appraisal from a mage?"

If this had been a magic item, the natural thing would have been to deny it here and move on.

Letting someone else touch one's magic item was a humiliating thing for a mage.

"Inspect it."

But Ferda had nothing to hide.

The security officer found that attitude strange, but requested an appraisal from the mages.

In truth, that staff was an item made by the First Witch, Lucy Philiaz, so it was indeed a magic item.

However, the reason Ferda could be so confident was that he had verified it again and again before coming.

No one but Ferda could use that staff as a magic item.

It had no residual mana and no trace of a formula written on it, so it could not be determined to be a magic item.

'Which is stronger, the First Witch or the Empire...?'

The result came out.

"It is simply a staff. Our apologies."

The inspector returned the staff and added a comment.

"It is a fine staff."

"Thank you, even if that is only flattery."

Ferda took the staff and went inside.

The Golden Council chamber, which he was seeing for the first time while fully sober, came into view.

He had seen the Grand Council for the first time, but he had seen the Golden Council many times before.

Even so, the feeling it gave him was always the same.

It was magnificent, splendid, and at the same time fresh, befitting the Empire.

A place designed so that the nobles who stepped inside would be filled with pride.

'And a place that amplifies the desire to hold onto one's seat no matter what.'

It deepened factionalism, and the new factions for the sake of advancement, and the traditional factions for the sake of maintaining their positions, became unhesitating in doing filthy things to one another.

In short, not only commoners, but even nobles were no more than expendable pieces to them.

Ferda had no interest in that fight.

Whether they were new blood or old guard, he had clearly shown what happened to those who touched him.

People gathered in the Golden Council.

The council seats were packed with nobles, and the second floor was filled tightly with reporters and spectators.

"We shall now open the Arken Empire crisis response meeting."

The man conducting the opening ceremony was Waldemar's close aide and one of the senior committee members, Akkad Debelung.

Unlike Waldemar, a gaunt old man, he was middle-aged, plump, and gave the impression of being an amiable person.

His warm smile naturally made people feel at ease.

That man stood at the chairman's seat and solemnly opened his mouth.

"Our Empire."

There was a bone-striking weight in that solemnity.

"Has a long and glorious history, and has set forth the slogan that there is nothing humanity cannot conquer. We have a duty to inherit, protect, and develop the legacy of our ancestors. However, one month ago, due to this large-scale demonic creature summoning incident, one-tenth of the Empire's territory was contaminated. One legion of our great subjects was annihilated. The damage to nearby small villages has also been severe. Had we responded somewhat faster to this situation, we could have reduced the damage by half."

His heavy tone guided the flow of the opening into an emotional direction.

"Unable to sit by and watch this matter, we have convened the Crisis Response Headquarters committee members for the first time in twelve years. From now on, we begin the postwar conference, the post-mortem."

Akkad turned over the document.

"Witness, Alexander Arken, Emperor's proxy and Crown Prince, please come to the stand and give your testimony."

Alexander, who had been seated in front, rose and walked forward.

His expression was heavy and twisted with gloom, but even that was obviously an act.

"I am Crown Prince Alexander Arken. I swear to speak only the truth in this sacred Golden Council. First, I shall begin by offering my deepest condolences to the officers and men of the legion who were sacrificed in this situation."

Alexander's story continued in that way.

How he had constructed the strategy, and how he had intended to deal with the demonic creatures.

It was flowing exactly according to the scenario Ferda had grasped.

"Crown Prince."

"Yes, committee member."

"According to this, there is a record of you speaking with Regent Ferda through an imperial mage. What did you discuss?"

"That was contact from the far east when the first colossal demonic creature was forming an encirclement."

"And what did you discuss?"

"Regent Ferda made a request, and I said I would send reinforcements."

Naturally, he neatly left out the part where he had engaged in a battle of nerves with Ferda.

"But you did not send reinforcements, did you?"

The person who suddenly spoke up was Erdes.

The woman, who had been braiding her hair with a bored expression, suddenly threw out a remark.

"Councilor Roton, please obtain the right to speak before you make a statement."

"Ah, yes. Yes. So are you not going to give me the right to speak?"

"... I will grant it."

Debelung sent her an extremely displeased look, but Erdes, as if she did not care about that, asked again.

"As far as I know, the annihilation happened one month after the incident occurred, you see? I hear rumors that during that month, you did not send a subjugation force, and then sortied in a hurry. Did I hear that wrong?"

"Ah, that contains some distortions of the truth..."

Alexander desperately began making excuses.

"The unit formed was the 4th Legion, a unit focused on monster subjugation. To deal with demonic creatures rather than large-scale monsters, we had to construct a meticulous strategy. As you know, demonic creatures and ordinary monsters are different, are they not?"

"I know. But it seems your legion of fools did something stupid even after taking a month to figure that out?"

"Yes. As the holder of supreme command, I feel responsibility for that point."

"Mm, fine."

She waved her hand as if bored, as though telling them to end it and move on.

Just as it seemed about to pass on unsatisfyingly, someone raised a hand.

"Regarding that question, I too cannot help but ask a question, so I shall speak."

"Yes, please speak."

Waldemar courteously obtained the right to speak and looked at Alexander.

In the old man's eyes dwelled a keen sword that could split a great mountain in two.

"Crown Prince Alexander. In the case of Valdrova Grand Duchy's territory, it moved while divided into two divisions. The first division was the existing alliance of the far east, and the second was recorded as being commanded by Princess Olivia Arken."

"That is correct."

"After carefully reviewing the records sent by Valdrova Grand Duchy's territory and the legion's records, two possible conclusions remain. First, the far east received divine blessing and achieved an absurd victory. Second, the entire 4th Legion got drunk, agreed to an absurd tactic, and threw themselves into the flame like moths. Which direction do you personally think is the case?"

Alexander put on an awkward expression and answered without confidence.

"That... In the case of the far east, they knew how to respond to demonic creatures on a regular basis, and their forces were overwhelmingly different from ours."

"Did the far east not fight with a colossal demonic creature present?"

"From what we confirmed, aside from production, it had no combat power, so it should effectively be regarded as a noncombatant entity."

"Then you are saying that if it had been struck early, there was a greater chance this disaster would not have occurred?"

"... That is correct."

As expected of a grand duke.

Ferda thought that, as familiar as he was with this, he was also skilled at cornering people.

'Of course, that must be part of the scenario too.'

If he had not received Hellus's report, even Ferda might have been somewhat mistaken by how Waldemar prodded Alexander.

However, Waldemar's objective was Ferda to the end.

That was nothing more than buildup.

Ferda subtly turned his eyes and signaled to Concillus.

It was a question asking whether things seemed likely to go smoothly.

Naturally, Concillus shook his head.

"We shall end the questioning here. Then we shall move on to the next witness."

Alexander, who had been sweating profusely, stepped down.

Akkad called the next name.

"Representative of the far east, Regent Ferda Valdrova, would you please come forward?"

Hearing those words, Ferda rose from his seat.

"May Altes's blessing be with you."

Concillus muttered a prayer to himself.

Would that god truly help someone who had cursed him all his life?

'The only ones who can help humans are humans.'

Ferda stood on the platform.