After the audience, we made our way to a detached residence within the imperial palace grounds, meant for important guests to stay in. It turned out to be where Fiona usually lived. The moment the audience ended, we declined the officials’ offer to guide us elsewhere and instead asked her to take us somewhere we could speak in private.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded. I knew she was doing her best, but the situation was dire. There were several things I needed to confirm. “You didn’t mention anything about Amyu being ordered to put down a revolt. We never would’ve come back here if I’d known this was going to happen.”
“I didn’t foresee it either.” Fiona, wearing a grim expression, raised a hand to her lips as she spoke. “I, of course, knew about the revolt and that the military had been slow to react, but I certainly didn’t anticipate that he planned to send Amyu.” Fiona pondered for a moment. “How did you respond?”
Yifa and Mabel looked at each other, then answered.
“Seika said something complicated to dodge the issue,” said Mabel.
“Umm... He told His Majesty that due to the gravity of the matter, we’d like to request some time to deliberate,” Yifa followed up.
“Very good. If that was enough for His Majesty to let you leave without trouble, then we’re quite fortunate.” A hint of relief appeared on Fiona’s face, and she fell back into thought.
“This is our first time hearing about the revolt. What the emperor said was a little hard to believe. Is it true that slaves and religious believers are working together?”
“Yes.” Fiona nodded. “News first reached the capital about half a month ago. Both of the initial revolts occurred around the same time. Since joining forces, their numbers seem to be around twenty or thirty thousand, though they’re split into several groups. I’m told they’re supplying themselves by occupying cities and plundering food.”
“I see.” It was unlucky that two major revolts had occurred together, both for the empire and for us. Perhaps the reason I had never heard of any similar cases was simply that such an unfortunate coincidence rarely occurred. “I heard they captured a fortress city. How did that happen? If the gates were shut, they should’ve been helpless. Do they actually have a chain of command capable of acquiring and operating siege weapons?”
“It’s difficult to say at this point in time.” Fiona slightly averted her eyes as she answered. “No specific leader has been identified, but it does seem likely that some form of command structure exists. It’s difficult to imagine that they managed to steal siege weaponry, so I suspect they used another method, such as collaborators opening the gate from the inside.”
“That makes sense.” It seemed plausible. For a group of slaves and commoners, it was a much simpler method. As I spoke with Fiona, I began to grasp the situation little by little. It might not have been as strange an uprising as I had initially thought. However, that did little to improve our situation. I let out a deep sigh.
“If only we could’ve stayed hidden from the imperial court for another six months or so. The revolt would surely have been dealt with by then. It was only a matter of time, but I still didn’t expect them to find us so quickly.”
“I do believe that’s your own fault,” Fiona said.
“Huh?” I looked at Fiona in surprise.
“You all used your real names while adventuring in Rakana,” Fiona replied, fixing a sharp, lingering gaze on me.
“Oh.”
“Even uneducated criminals and runaway slaves come up with the idea to use fake names.”
“I... I guess I was careless.” Spitting out an excuse, I inadvertently looked away from Fiona. It hadn’t even occurred to me. I had assumed we’d be fine even if they found out we were in Rakana, so I hadn’t paid it any mind.
“I panicked when the information came through one of my affiliated trading companies,” Fiona said with a hint of resentment in her voice. “People frequently come and go in Rakana, and word spreads if you stand out. We circulated tales of another adventurer named Amyu in other cities as a precaution, but the stampede proved to be too much. While your names didn’t spread all the way to the capital, His Majesty no doubt learned of your exploits through his own information network.”
“Ugh...”
“I suppose some of the blame lies with me for not explicitly telling you to take on fake identities. I also failed to foresee the stampede in time.”
“S-Sorry...” I apologized, relieved that she didn’t seem to blame me too much.
“By the way, did you happen to leave Rakana at any point?”
“Uhh...”
“You cannot be serious.”
“We took some adventuring work in Keltz at one point...”
“Excuse me?!”
“I-It was just for a month...”
“Anything else?”
“W-Well...” I couldn’t look her in the eyes as I lied. “No. We didn’t go anywhere else.”
Fiona let out a weighty sigh. “You lot are far too lax. I would tell you to be mindful of the fact that you’re fugitives, but I suppose it’s too late for that.”
“Sorry.” Though I apologized, I was relieved deep down. It seemed that they at least hadn’t found out that we went to demon territory. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been exposed by her future sight, but perhaps that meant she wouldn’t uncover our deeds at any point in the future. Or it could just be that it was coming later. That was a frightening thought. I shook my head and recomposed myself. We had more important matters to tend to.