“The Church would like to make use of a caravan to send supplies to the viscount’s region,” Father Birkan started.
“I see. That’ll take up one transport route...but won’t that mean there won’t be enough caravans to go to Sacula?” I answered.
“You’re right...what a bother.” We both sighed while looking down at a map spread out on the table. We were working out which trade routes would be the most expensive to travel. The caravans would carry a certain number of people and they would need to pay for lodging, food, and shopping. Currency would make its way into those regions, and since a lot of nobles had donated to the Church in anticipation of this, we couldn’t neglect that fact. Not only did we have to take into account the amount of donations, but we also had to come up with an efficient route, make sure we had a decent amount of supplies, and consider the conditions of the roads. This is making my head hurt... I looked up, and I saw that Father Birkan was pulling the same anguished face.
“This much should be easy, seeing as we haven’t received many requests from your faction...” Father Birkan said. My faction, which was more or less made up of lords from the Frontier Alliance, were easy to handle. We did have to be careful with a few, but even if it was looking like there wouldn’t be much return from delivering supplies, we would still be able to offer information and technology from the Sacula research laboratory. On the other hand, if we didn’t give the central region lords an idea of how they might benefit, they might put themselves in the debt of Crown Prince Albert, which would temporarily pause the relief supplies. Although it was a problem, it seemed that dealing with the central nobles wouldn’t be as difficult as we first thought.
“Prince Albert continues to be a thorn in our sides,” Father Birkan muttered while shaking his head. This time, Prince Albert had tried to stir things up among the central region nobles.
“With these supplies, the royal capital’s wealth would spill into the remote regions.”
“Is Sacula going overboard with their military prowess?”
“Is the Frontier Alliance even needed by the kingdom?”
“Wouldn’t it be all right to just leave the current Yanga situation to the distant region nobles?”
He was spouting a lot of contradictions, however, Prince Albert didn’t really care about that. The state of internal politics within the capital was everything to him, and he hadn’t even spared a thought to responding to the disaster within the remote regions. It was safe to say that as far as palace politics were concerned, the crown prince was probably somewhat suspicious of Princess Alicia’s movements. But instead of focusing on the princess and her connections with the remote regions, he instead was choosing to focus on the wealth of the central regions.
Those who understood the prince’s obsession with wealth were more inclined to gravitate toward him. But I believe I can provide actual results rather than just promises. Or at least I think so...
“I want the heir to show us his true intentions.”
I agreed completely. Prince Albert’s actions were slowly hardening the remote region lords’ behavior against him. The fact that he was still ignoring how the central regions continued to make fools out of the remote regions was starting to seem hostile. The central nobles were acting as an obstacle in our path to band together and overcome the disaster in the Yanga region. However, together, our union had become stronger and we were standing our ground. In a way, this was expected. It appeared that Prince Albert was trying to take advantage of the situation to get the central nobles on his side. Much like the recent actions of those among Datara’s faction of nobles...
“His Highness Prince Albert is probably thinking this is a good opportunity to strengthen his own faction...”
“It could be a good opportunity. Working out if they are friend or foe, and not forgiving those who stay neutral is a good way of knowing.”
“I don’t think it a clever idea,” Father Birkan said bitterly. “Anyone can destroy a book, however, it takes skill to restore it. It’s something all priests learn how to do as a part of their training. Our teachings tell us not to destroy or break books but to preserve them instead.”
I nodded in absolute agreement. Ash often passed out when he saw that a book was damaged.
“As a priest of the Church, I consider his actions to be akin to destroying and disposing of a book. He is only interested in what he can gain from it. Thus I believe I have to take some distance from him.”
Prince Albert had lost a big playing piece. Father Birkan had always been cold to Prince Albert in his role as Head Priest and always friendly with me—although he was supposed to remain neutral.
He continued, “For that reason, I find what you are doing to be magnificent. The support you are giving Sacula is just like carefully restoring the pages of a broken book. It is a clear indicator of the care in your heart.”
“Thank you. You’re going to make me blush if you keep complimenting me like that.” In reality, I was doing it for selfish reasons—I wanted to show the person I loved what I could do. That’s why I sometimes felt a little guilty when praised. But surely it’s all right. Ash often said that he liked lies, so he would probably laugh at a lie like this.
“So, Father Birkan, regarding the allocation of the caravans.”
“Your Highness Alicia, you’ve really got the endurance of a boulder,” Father Birkan said, looking to take a longer break. I was still doing fine.
“I’ve always been like this. Not to mention, Sir Fenix is about ten times busier, yet he carries on.” Winter hell at Sacula was rough...
We were somehow able to send out the first caravan of relief supplies. It would take a while until they arrived, but they should make it to Sacula by winter.
“Excellent work, Your Highness,” said Head Maid Amin while I sipped on herbal tea in my private quarters.
“Thank you. I had hoped we could have completed preparations a little sooner, though.”
“The situation changed. There was nothing you could do. Even with that, you still managed to complete it quite quickly.” I had started hearing more and more often that I was quick at my work. It first started with the royal head priest, but now I was hearing it at the palace as well.
“Do you mean to say that I’m faster than other central nobles?”
“I wonder if they are at a disadvantage compared to the house that managed to organize the Royal Sword Fighting Tournament in just one night,” Amin said. She really understood me. This was just the standard for me.
I could have used the excuse that I was not used to working with the Church, but Ash had done the same the moment he arrived in the royal capital. He was also very aware of the importance of networking. Why would a new knight who had just arrived in the capital be able to order Count Sacula around and even give out orders to the princess? Well, that’s because it was Ash. Comparing myself to him was no doubt a little strange, but Amin comparing me to the central region nobles was also strange.
“The central regions act too slowly. I wonder why they’ve yet to decide who will take over as Viscount Yanga?” I mused. Before disaster struck the Yanga region, Count Gentoh had already started researching who could take over. Maybe the situation had changed due to the demon attack? Even then, since the situation had changed, that would mean it would be better to decide his successor sooner.