Guided by the kingdom’s Chasseurs, the imperial fleet made port in Barlama, the capital of Charlgia. From their anchoring point, Ras and the rest of Fiarca’s entourage were brought to the city proper by camion trucks. For the crown prince himself, special lodging quarters had been prepared to the north of the city—within the private villa of the fourth royal princess, Tishna Lumedienne Charlgiana.
“Eh-hem, quite a fine room, I must say. That’s Charlgian craftsmanship for you.”
As she entered the room bequeathed to her, Fiarca gave her thanks to the maids who had guided her there. The maids all bowed, obviously quite relieved, and left the room, blushing.
Disguised as her brother, Fiarca’s charming looks made her seem as though she had stepped right out of a fairy tale. That was in no way diminished by the black mask covering the bottom half of her face. No doubt the villa would soon be abuzz with rumors of their newest guest: a kindhearted prince who treated commoners and aristocrats alike with grace and warmth.
Of course, even that was part of Fiarca’s calculations, all carried out with the aim of gaining even the slightest favor toward her marriage with Princess Tishna.
“I’ve ordered half the men to remain aboard the Rito in case of emergency, while the other half have been granted shore leave,” said a man standing beside Fiarca. “Is that to your liking, Your Highness?”
“Make sure they don’t get too rowdy,” the princess replied. “We don’t need any more trouble on our plate.”
The man accompanying the crown prince was a major general of Central Command named Count Adamkus, in charge of the 1st Division. In contrast to the heroics of Major General Hunlahan, Adamkus was more famed for his brilliant political mind. He was the right choice to bring along on a mission like this one.
“Count Alcor, you shall be in charge of foreign affairs,” said Fiarca. “I want you to keep an eye on the eastern states for me. Especially Lumede, if you can.”
“As you wish.”
“Viscount Oz, I want you to handle commercial affairs. Investigate all trade routes leading in and out of the kingdom. You may offer the merchants special trade deals on grain if you must.”
“Understood.”
Fiarca continued to assign tasks to the various court officials, until at last, the only ones left in the room were her, Ras, Kanalayka, and Valdemar.
“And what would you ask of me, Your Highness?” the young lord asked with a grin, after observing the crown prince’s duties with curiosity. Fiarca tossed him a small cloth bag, and after catching it, Valdemar’s eyes widened at its surprising heft.
“What would this be?” he asked.
“There are twenty fleurs inside,” said Fiarca. “Use them as you wish and get to the bottom of this assassination plot.”
Valdemar’s face stiffened. “Twenty fleurs? Why, the imperial family certainly is generous. Nothing like my penny-pinching father at all.”
One fleur was equivalent in value to ten gold pieces. The yearly salary of a junior officer in Central Command averaged about five gold, and even the luxurious stipend enjoyed by imperial guardsmen and -women was only about twenty. In other words, two fleurs. That meant that the coins in Valdemar’s possession were enough to hire ten aura knights of Kanalayka’s standard for a whole year.
“I’ve made arrangements for a member of the Silver Fangs to get in touch. If you have trouble, just follow his commands.”
“I might have expected you’d keep tabs on me, Your Highness. I hope this agent of yours tells lovely Kanalayka what a good boy I’m being.”
Valdemar had brought with him six men from the northern march to assist him on his mission. While he seemed like a rich, libertine fellow at first glance, Valdemar obviously possessed the keen mind of his father. It certainly made him better suited for reconnaissance and investigation than the other stuffy bureaucrats in Fiarca’s entourage, but it was still unclear how far Ras and the group could trust him.
After watching him leave, Kanalayka continued to stare at the door.
“Are you sure we should be leaving such an important job in his hands?” she asked, annoyed. Evidently, the man’s overly familiar attitude rubbed her the wrong way.
“It’s fine,” Fiarca answered. “All we really need him to do is throw a bit of money around and attract some attention.”
“Why’s that? You’re going to use him as a decoy?” asked Ras, puzzled. Fiarca made a sly grin that was only visible due to the creasing of her eyes.
“You said it first,” she said. “We can’t argue with a girl who knows the future. Which is why we’re going to change that future, into one Princess Tishna knows nothing about.”
“I see. So that’s what you meant by ‘abnormal circumstances.’”
“Exactly. Originally, Val was not meant to be here at this time. We let him do what he wants, and perhaps that’s going to pose a problem for Princess Tishna. It might pressure her into coming forward a little earlier than she planned.”
An angelic smile, deeply at odds with her devilish suggestion, graced the princess’s face. Ras sighed inwardly, then said, “You realize it’s not necessarily in our best interests to change the future, right?”
“I know. But it’s better than letting her control the board as she wishes.”
“I suppose.”
“Plus, Princess Tishna has one very important weakness. One that works to our advantage.”
“And what’s that?”
“Her options. Tishna’s main weapon is knowledge. And knowledge grows less impactful with the more people who know it. In other words, she has a vested interest in keeping that number low.”
“That’s why you brought Valdemar along?” Ras groaned.
Fiarca’s main advantage over Princess Tishna was that the number of pieces she had to move was much greater. That was why she had decided to recruit Valdemar, even at the cost of sharing classified state secrets with him regarding Tishna’s assassination.
Having studied alongside him at the same academy, albeit in different years, Ras and Fiarca understood Valdemar’s personality and skills well. Princess Tishna, on the other hand, didn’t know him at all. Under normal circumstances, it was practically unheard of for a member of the border patrol force to be operating under the direct command of Prince Auriol.
“And Val isn’t our only asset,” Fiarca went on. “We know about Tishna’s power of knowledge of the future. That’s one thing that she will have to plan against.”
“I see,” said Ras. “The more people in on our plan, the more difficult it becomes for her.”
“That’s right. And that’s why I asked one more person to join us, as well.”
“Who?”
Following Fiarca’s gaze, Ras spun around, and when he saw who was standing there, his face fell. Being led into the room by a maid of the villa was the woman who was the spitting image of the late imperial princess.
“E-Elmira?!”
Ras sensed the woman’s wrath, and his voice trembled. Her violet eyes, the color altered by auramancy, were oozing with malice.
Elmira Almathe was a member of the Silver Fangs, Argyll’s top spies. She, like Ras, had been tasked with infiltrating Charlgia and rooting out the Argyllian assassins. After Ras was sent home, she presumably continued his mission by herself.
But for some reason, when she saw Ras, she marched right up to him without even greeting Fiarca. With both hands balled into fists, she yelled, “Sir Talion, prepare to receive a beating!”
“What?”
“Why!” she screamed between punches, “Did you! Leave me! Alone! Without! Notice?! Do you have any idea how worried I was when I heard you’d been seen fighting a dragon?!”
Ras was too shocked to even defend himself. “C-calm down, Miss Almathe!” he cried.
Even Kanalayka stared in mute amazement. She had never once seen Elmira lose her temper, especially not to this extent.
“I’m sorry for making you worry, Miss Almathe, but I wasn’t given much choice!”
“Worry?! Who said I was worried about you?!”
“You did! Just now!”
“I was worried about our ability to complete the mission!”
“Oh. Well, I must admit you did slip my mind. Apologies.”
“You forgot about me?!”
“I thought the Silver Fangs would let you know!”
“They did! After a week, when the letter finally made its way from Argyll to Charlgia!”
Elmira sank a fist into Ras’s gut, causing him to double over and groan. Ras was used to all sorts of trickery on the field of battle but was left at a loss against an opponent like Elmira, who declared her attacks in advance.
And so he did nothing as the silver-haired agent let out her pent-up stress. Off to the side, Fiarca was trying her hardest not to laugh, while the maid who had escorted Elmira stood frozen in horror.