Still, he was part of the royal family and had been given the title of duke (not the duke who had his own faction and was opposing Marius). As a duke, he couldn’t possibly do menial tasks for those lower on the ladder. But he also wasn’t given an important role either, lest he shoulder too much responsibility and gain influence unbefitting of his rank. And so, he’d been given a cushy post that required a decent rank, but he never had to do much work.
The man didn’t seem to be humiliated or vexed by his position, and unless he was called out for meetings like these, he usually spent his time kicking back and taking it easy. Are we sure that he isn’t gathering intel, though?
Marius and the margrave had been present, of course. Just like I was a normal blacksmith, Camilo was a normal merchant, so he wasn’t allowed to attend. The envoy of the empire was the same slender man that I’d seen before—he’d looked a touch surprised when he’d seen Anne, but he’d immediately regained his composure. A man allowed to travel across nations has to have some nerves of steel.
The meeting had kicked off with fairly mundane conversation. The two sides had mainly spoken of the current state of the nation and had confirmed a few details here and there. The fact that Anne was being kept as a hostage in the Black Forest was the only detail kept secret, though it was likely that the duke’s faction and Prince Louis knew already. Since it wasn’t publicized, there was no need to touch upon the topic anyway.
The conversation had then shifted to the orichalcum knife. Anne recalled the scene in vivid detail.
⌗⌗⌗
According to Anne, the meeting started with a glance: Marius looked at Prince Louis, who calmly nodded back.
“Now then, here is our gift to the empire.” Marius offered a small box to the envoy. He knew that it was far too rude to personally present this item to Anne, the imperial princess.
“May I take a look?” the envoy asked.
“Certainly. Go right ahead.”
Marius smiled at the envoy, who wore a mask of indifference and gave only a slight nod. The envoy remained calm, even in front of the king’s younger brother—this was likely just his innate temperament. He placed his hand atop the lid and slowly opened it to reveal the blade. The metal gleamed like a large talon at the tip of a finger.
“Was this forged to mimic a dragon’s claw?” the envoy asked.
Marius nodded. “It was indeed. In fact, the smith actually named this piece Divine Dragon’s Claw.”
“Oho...”
The envoy gingerly raised Divine Dragon’s Claw into the air. Suddenly, a loud clatter rang out. When Marius glanced at the noise, he noticed that the prince had risen from his seat in hopes of getting a better look. This was the first time he’d laid eyes on the blade. Though he had a cushy job, he was certainly no fool—he must’ve already gotten intel describing roughly what the gift would be. And while it was typically customary to show gifts to higher-ups before they were presented to the emissaries of other nations, the prince would have certainly begged to purchase it. Thus, to avoid that troublesome behavior, he hadn’t been able to see the gift with his own eyes until now.
Those from the duke’s faction subtly scowled, though they physically remained as subdued as the envoy. Still, they made no attempt to hide the fury and annoyance on their faces—after all, the very important role of providing a gift to the empire had been stolen away from them by the main faction. Marius internally tried to give the enemy a word of advice: During times like these, it’s abundantly important to act happy and affable.
Marius couldn’t see the margrave’s face, but the man would’ve no doubt been guffawing had he not been in this solemn meeting. The count had a sneaking suspicion that the margrave was flashing the brightest of smiles—one that made him seem on the verge of bursting into laughter.
Distracted by the noise, the envoy glanced at the prince for a split second, but he quickly returned his focus to Divine Dragon’s Claw. He then turned to the imperial princess, who nodded in response, and quietly offered the blade to her. Naturally, Anne was well-informed on the blade and how exactly it’d been made, but she feigned ignorance and inspected the weapon carefully. For a split second, she wondered whether she should act like she didn’t know how to wield a blade at all—needless to say, she could wield not only small knives but even greatswords with expert precision. Still, acting like a frail princess would sometimes help accentuate her social rank. She abandoned that idea ultimately, thinking that she’d be going a bit overboard with her acting.
As she mentally chuckled a little, she scrutinized the orichalcum knife. What did Eizo call this type of blade? A karambit, was it? He made one for that assassin too. Anne recalled that the weapon type was very unique and needed to be wielded in a specific way; even Helen had expressed her struggles with using it.
“This is wonderful,” Anne said, returning the knife to the envoy.
She did her best to crack a calm, gentle smile, causing the prince and the duke’s faction to smile back.
“Indeed. It seems the kingdom is home to an excellent blacksmith capable of forging such an exquisite blade,” said the envoy.
“Your words are far too kind. Truly, it brings me great honor to hear them.” Marius offered a deep bow.
The envoy narrowed his eyes. “Ah, yes... That reminds me—there has been a popular model of knife making its rounds in the kingdom as of late.”
“I’ve heard of those rumors myself, I confess. They’re not worth reaching the ears of His Highness.”
“I see.”
The envoy nodded as he placed a hand into his pocket. Marius and the others were alert, just in case. The envoy revealed a small knife—a knife that looked identical to the ones made by Eizo.
“During my trip here, I had the chance to speak with some people on the streets,” the envoy explained. “I was told that this blade is very popular and highly rated, so I decided to purchase one for myself. If the knife is just as fine as rumored, I’d like to request quite a few. I’ll happily pay the market price, of course.”
He smiled as he showed the knife to the count.
“I see,” Marius said. “Indeed, this knife is... Oh?”
He furrowed his brow, causing the envoy to also frown in concern.
“Is something the matter?” the envoy asked.
“This...is a counterfeit, good sir,” Marius replied.
“Preposterous!”
The envoy clearly looked shocked, though Anne felt that his acting was a little too...exaggerated. His poor skills would give the farce away, and she felt compelled to bury her face in her hands. However, the prince and the duke’s faction ignored the envoy’s poor acting and didn’t say a word.
“Ahem, pardon me, but may I take a closer look?” Marius asked.
“O-Of course. Most certainly,” the envoy replied. “Here it is.”
“Thank you.”
He offered the knife to Marius, who accepted it gingerly. Needless to say, this was all part of the scheme; both the envoy and Marius were abundantly aware that this knife was a bona fide fake.
Marius carefully inspected the knife as he snuck a glance at the duke’s faction. One looked genuinely surprised while the other grimaced uncomfortably, implying his knowledge of the duke’s plot. Marius felt like this clear display of emotion was rather careless of the opposing faction. But I can’t tell if he’s the ringleader or if he just knows a bit of the duke’s plan, Marius thought. And cornering his enemies now wouldn’t lead him to the duke. No doubt the people present today were carefully selected to protect the duke from being questioned.
Marius expelled a sigh from deep in his heart and focused back on the knife. He couldn’t help but be impressed by this fake—he’d seen it before, and it was indeed well-made. At least at a glance, it looked almost identical to the ones that his friend, Eizo, made. However, there were striking differences—it couldn’t truly compare to even Eizo’s entry-level models.
“Truth be told, I’ve got a knife of this model as well,” Marius said, digging through his pocket.
He took out his own blade and compared the two. They did look very similar. But of course, Marius’s blade was genuine and made by Forge Eizo.
“See here. This looks a bit off, don’t you agree?” Marius asked, lining the two knives up side by side. He pointed to a part of the blade and indicated the differences.
“I see... It’s evident when you do a direct comparison,” the envoy agreed.
Once again, this was all a silly farce. Since the duke’s faction was present, Marius went out of his way to point out differences, though he didn’t actually identify any deviations—he would just randomly point to a certain area, and the envoy would play along. I’m sure the duke’s faction knows that the two blades are slightly different, but there’s no reason to tell them where those differences are, Marius thought. That would only help them make better fakes.
All the while, he and the envoy waited for the next cue.