“Ah, Sir Fenix, you’re late,” Count Gentoh laughed with a wickedly predaceous smile. “It’s no matter, however. We’ve yet to begin.”
“Is that so? How fortunate—although quite strange,” I said as I turned to face the panicked knight at the door. “Sir Graham, I am quite sure you said that the meeting had already begun.” That really is strange. Why would you say something like that? I slowly sauntered over to Sir Graham. “Now, what was it again? You said the meeting had already begun, so you couldn’t let me in...”
“Eeep!”
I firmly grabbed Sir Graham’s shoulder. The guards’ spears were weak, but his shoulders were even more so. You should train more. The thought made me laugh.
“Hm, told that he wouldn’t be able to join midway?” Count Gentoh asked. “Since when was that a rule at a royal council meeting? I may not know much about this stuff, being a country bumpkin and all, but does anyone know if that was always the case?” Count Gentoh interrogated them like a thug giving someone a shakedown, but they answered in silence. “Hmm? Sir Graham, could you please give us an explanation?”
“I-I didn’t know! I’m also not too read up on royal council meeting rules! I just heard it from someone!”
“In that case, who did you hear it from? Or rather, who reported that the meeting had already begun?”
“Um, well, uh...” As Sir Graham struggled to get his words out, I noticed that his gaze had moved to someone behind me. His eyes said it all. As you all know, I am a kind person. A civilized person who loves peace, however, I have no such restraints when it comes to my enemy. I decided to go for the kill.
“You surely do not mean to say that regarding such an important event as the royal council meeting, you simply accepted an unknown person’s orders?”
“Ah, no, uh, well.”
“Then, just who needs to take responsibility for this? Your boss? Your boss’s boss? It has to be one of your bosses. Who is responsible for such a grand blunder?”
“U-Uh, I-I don’t really remember—”
“You ‘don’t really remember’? If you are unable to determine who is responsible, then that responsibility will fall to none other than His Majesty the King. Do you really not remember?” The knights served directly under the king, and the king was above everyone else. Any misconduct by the knights would then also be the king’s misconduct. Was the knight completely unaware of that? If so, I felt deeply sorry for him. However, even if he was unaware, a crime is a crime. “You risk damaging His Majesty the King’s authority with such a mistake. But if you were tricked by someone into making me purposely late for this meeting, it would then be a different matter...” Sir Graham went deeply pale, looking as if all the blood had left his body. I will make this a lot easier for you if you just own up to everything.
“That is enough, Sir Fenix.” The crown prince spoke up, putting a stop to it just as I was kindly giving the culprit a way out.
“Your Highness, may I ask why you stopped me? I believe that this is a highly important matter.”
“I agree that is important, however, there are more important matters at hand.”
“Ah yes, there are more important matters than the competence of a knight whose duty is to protect the royal family.”
“Exactly. You came all this way to discuss matters of paramount importance such as the disaster in the Yanga region, the subsequent emergence of refugees, and thousands of citizens’ lives. You should know which is more important.”
Know which is more important? I came here exactly to get that across. For someone with such a boring face, he sure says interesting things! I was unable to laugh, but I did my best to force a smile.
“Exactly! It is exactly as His Highness says! However, allow me one small correction, Your Highness. You said thousands of lives, but that is not quite correct.” Once you considered the population of Yanga’s territory, the number of refugees that flooded into Sacula, and added those who will be affected financially and logistically into the equation, the number of lives at stake jumped up quite considerably. “If we had mishandled this situation, we would have lost somewhere around two hundred thousand citizens. Thus ‘thousands’ isn’t quite accurate. ‘Tens of thousands’ would be closer, Your Highness.” The crown prince seemed a little daunted by the numbers, but after glancing at Sir Graham, he accepted the facts.
“I understand now, Sir Fenix.”
“Thank you. Now, building on that point...” I once again looked at Sir Graham. “The lives of tens of thousands of civilians are riding on this meeting, and yet one of the royal knights made such a blunder. I have reaffirmed that it is a matter that we must pursue for the sake of the kingdom.” What’s that? Did you really think I would listen to what the crown prince said? Ha ha ha, I’m just kidding. All I had reaffirmed was that this meeting was actually really, really important and that they would decide the outcome of tens of thousands of lives.
“First of all, Sir Graham. How do you plan to take responsibility?”
“Ah, um, whole— Wholeheartedly.”
“Wholeheartedly! How wonderful!”
If he is thinking he can get out of this with just that, then he really does have a brilliant mind. “However, unfortunately, no matter how many assets your family has, I am of the opinion that they will not cover the cost of compensation. As of right now, as far as I am aware, the number of refugees in Sacula has reached 12,153. There are one thousand tents to protect them from wind and rain, seven hundred temporary houses, and three thousand temporary residences. Not to mention that their food, medicine, and other essential daily items are equal to those consumed by one of Sacula’s cities. The area is unsafe, resulting in more work for the knights, and the region as a whole has taken a huge hit financially.”
I let out a grim sigh—not as a part of the act, but a genuine one—and glared at Sir Graham. The person I really want to glare at is behind you, but since I can’t say you are completely innocent, you will be my outlet for now. “And, while I regret to say it, our facilities are not the best for receiving the refugees. Because of that, we have people getting sick and dying. We’ve confirmed 2470 deaths, and the expenses they have incurred have also gotten quite high, meaning less money is available to help the refugees with.” I will speak on the behalf of the dead. “I believe you now understand just how much Sacula is struggling. Thus, I wish to ask, how do you plan to take responsibility?”