Ferdinand continued, “Gervasio’s schtappe has already been sealed, and as he was imprisoned three days ago, I imagine he has weakened to some degree. He should survive another week or so, depending on the number and quality of rejuvenation potions at his disposal. I recommend taking around ten knights when going to capture him.”
Judging by the instant-death poison he had tried to use atop the altar, Gervasio probably had other Lanzenavian tools he could surprise us with. Ferdinand warned that Eglantine would probably be attacked as soon as she teleported in.
“On the other hand, if we do not need his memories to convict any criminals, we could simply leave him there. Murder was forbidden by the gods, but they said nothing about natural deaths.”
Ferdinand must not think highly of Gervasio to propose letting him starve to death...
“That said,” Ferdinand continued, “Gervasio knows much about obtaining the Grutrissheit. I would propose that Lady Eglantine view his memories; they could prove crucial to her future as the next Zent.”
“Enough,” Anastasius snapped, no longer able to contain his frustration. “Even considering the circumstances, the memories of the Lanzenavians are too much for Eglantine to bear.”
“The duties of the throne are not light, by any means. It is your role as Lady Eglantine’s husband to help her carry that burden, not run away from it.”
The couple swallowed hard. Trauerqual, who had created this predicament to begin with by abandoning his duties as the Zent, apologetically lowered his gaze.
“Now, as for the criminals other than Gervasio...”
I was trying to move our conversation along when Ferdinand stood up and gave a cloth-covered registration medal to Eglantine. “I retrieved this from the Sovereign temple. It belongs to the Lanzenavian king who did not come to Yurgenschmidt. As the future Zent, it falls to you to destroy it.”
“Oh my...” Eglantine said, cocking her head as she accepted the medal. “Should we not at least attempt to negotiate with Lanzenave? We could demand reparations and get them to take full responsibility for the incident.”
“Lanzenavians view Yurgenschmidt nobles not as humans but as a means to obtain mana. They were confirmed to be advancing the development of mana-sealing tools and instant-death poison, among other weapons. If you demand reparations, do so only with the understanding that any delegates you send are likely to be imprisoned or murdered for their feystones. As someone who has dealt with Lanzenavians in Ahrensbach, I consider it best to close the country gate and leave them to their own devices.”
The royals froze. They had witnessed and experienced the impact of trug on the Sovereign nobles, but they hadn’t encountered instant-death poison, nor had they received detailed reports about the slaughter of Ahrensbach nobles using silver cloth and weapons or the mass kidnapping of noblewomen. In short, they didn’t understand the true threat that Lanzenave posed.
I decided to weigh in as an aub.
“Considering the danger, I refuse to open the gate to Lanzenave or send anyone from Ahrensbach as an envoy. In fact, I would rather the gate lead somewhere else. Lady Eglantine—I will not protest if you wish to prepare a delegation of Sovereign nobles and send them to Lanzenave, but I will charge you to use our ships.”
Asking for money seemed reasonable enough. I doubted the ships would ever return, and the more funds I could put toward my library city, the better.
“Do you not intend to send the Lanzenavian prisoners back home?” Sigiswald asked. “Keeping too many will cause problems in terms of security and expenses.”
Though I wouldn’t have minded returning them to Lanzenave, I shook my head. “Erwaermen has not permitted us to refuse those who came to Yurgenschmidt in search of asylum. He does not mind us treating them in accordance with the rules of our society, but we cannot expel them after they went to so much trouble to come here and obtain their schtappes.”
I repeated what Erwaermen had told us about the country’s founding and the contrast between divine and mortal perspectives. Everyone sighed in response.
“It makes the most sense for the royal family to punish those responsible for the war,” Ferdinand said. “Their crimes exceed Ahrensbach’s jurisdiction.”
To prevent anyone from blaming the royals for allowing the Lanzenave invasion, we had to stress how much they had participated in the fight and make it known that they were the ones who captured the criminals.
“Mass executions were carried out during the purge that followed the civil war, wiping out not just those deemed to be criminals but also those associated with them,” Sieglinde remarked. “The nobles of the losing duchies will not be pleased to hear that traitors who abetted an invasion of the Royal Academy are being allowed to live. How do you intend to mitigate their outrage?”
This wasn’t pleasant to discuss, but it needed to be done. I sat up straight and prepared to answer.
“Though the gods have forbidden us from executing anyone in the aftermath of this incident, I doubt that will change how the nobles feel. As the old adage goes, the law is not in heaven. To punish them severely enough to satisfy the country’s aubs and to prevent them from ever being treated as nobles again, I think we should destroy their medals while they are in another duchy.”
“So... destroy their schtappes?” Adolphine asked. “Are the Lanzenavians registered as Yurgenschmidt nobles?”
I nodded. “One cannot obtain a schtappe otherwise. To that end, Alstede registered them all as Ahrensbach nobles. By destroying their medals while they are still in the Sovereignty, I could remove their noble authority without taking their lives. Would anyone be opposed to this?”
Nobody was.