Behind the Scenes I
THE NEWS ARRIVED a few days after the ball celebrating the end of the monster threat, when the prime minister received a letter from the delegation that had been sent to Zaidera. It was stamped to indicate its urgency, so the servant immediately delivered it to the prime minister.
The prime minister carefully broke the seal and read it over. The contents made him furrow his brow. The second he was done, he stood from his seat and headed to the king’s office.
As the prime minister entered, his demeanor was, at a glance, no different from usual. However, the king had known him for a very long time, so he detected that something was amiss. That something terrible had happened.
This hunch turned into confidence as the prime minister asked everyone else in the room to step outside.
“What’s happened?”
“Read this first.”
The king stopped working to accept the proffered letter. His gaze moved left and right as he read, but for a moment, at a certain point, it stopped. Then he continued. As the king came to the end of the letter, he heaved a deep sigh.
“So, someone in our delegation has fallen ill.”
“Indeed. And their symptoms include headache, high fever, and nausea, until they fell unconscious. They have yet to wake.”
“Is it contagious?”
“It seems only one person has contracted the illness thus far, but the situation could have changed since this letter was sent.”
“So we don’t have any further details. The letter doesn’t even indicate if it’s a local disease.”
“Indeed.”
The king smiled, as if he had solved some manner of puzzle. “Quite sparing in the details, despite the urgency of the missive.”
“This is true. Which brings me to the points of concern.”
The king looked up from the letter. “Which are?”
Now that the prime minister knew he had the king’s attention, he explained himself. The things he’d noticed weren’t technically concerning, given the context. First, the letter had come from an individual other than the leader of the delegation, who would typically be the one who sent such reports. While this individual was themselves of high standing, they weren’t even the leader’s assistant. However, this wasn’t wholly unusual given the crisis they were dealing with.
Second, the prime minister was troubled by the ship that had brought the letter. The regular reports were typically carried by Salutanian vessels. However, according to the servant who brought this report, it had arrived on a Zaideran merchant ship. This was also technically understandable, when one considered the urgency with which the report was sent.
“What about the seal?”
“It was legitimate. And there are no traces of the letter being opened.”
“But this still concerns you.”
Seals were used to verify the sender and prevent people from peeking at or doctoring the contents of a letter. The crest on the seal was meant to prove beyond a doubt that the letter was legitimately from its sender. The wax seal was intact, so the contents didn’t appear to have been falsified en route.
However, the prime minister couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. It was a hunch, but the king trusted his prime minister and the intuition he’d built over his long tenure. So, the king was willing to consider that the letter might have been forged. If this report was false, then they could simply ignore it. However, the letter’s claims could not be so easily ignored.
“The unconscious patient is the greatest concern,” the king said, his tone troubled.
“Yes,” the prime minister responded with a look of pointed calm.
The letter had named the person who was now unconscious. The king glanced back at the name and furrowed his brow.
It was his son: the crown prince, Kyle.
As the ruler of the nation, the king was prepared to abandon his son, should it ever prove necessary. However, Kyle was one of his sons by his late wife. At present, he didn’t have enough concrete evidence to dismiss the contents of this letter. And his heart wanted to send aid.
“It would take a great deal of time to confirm the veracity of this letter,” the king voiced his thoughts.
The prime minister understood what he was getting at. “At any rate, I believe it would be wise to deploy a mage to Zaidera. If the letter is indeed true, then the prince’s condition could very well worsen while we await verification. Others may even contract the disease.”
The prime minister provided multiple justifications, but he said this more because he knew the weight of the king’s feelings.
The king allowed a small smile of appreciation for his prime minister’s consideration, thanking him from his heart as he accepted the proposal. “Yes. As for who we should send, our choices are few, as they will need to be able to use Holy Magic.”
Since the patient was the king’s son, it was only natural that he would want to send the best. However, that posed a problem: the person in Salutania most gifted in Holy Magic was the Saint.
A king rarely left his kingdom because of all the potential problems that entailed. If he were to do so, the kingdom would need to enact all manner of security measures, and he would require numerous guards. This went for the Saint as well, since her rank was equivalent to the king’s.
Furthermore, the Saint possessed powers far beyond her commonly known ability to purify the miasma. If the kingdom lost her while she was abroad, it would be an immeasurable loss. As such, both the king and prime minister were reluctant to let her go—especially as there was an even more pressing reason not to do so.