And so fell the capital of Sylvario.
By taking control of their palace, we cut off what little direction their defenses had. Before the Sylvarian guards knew what was happening, the palace doors were opened and the Brigandian army came in droves, completely unstoppable.
And even when we relayed their king’s orders to stand down, hardly any of the soldiers put up a fuss. It’s to be expected for the average soldiers, but still.
Next on the agenda had been solemnly dealing with the aftermath of the battle and annexing Sylvario, but...
“What the hell did you two do?” His Highness groaned, clutching his head in a way I’d seen just once before.
We were currently in a room inside Sylvario’s palace that His Highness had requisitioned to be his personal office. Nia and I were present, as well as the other main players on our side, and we were supposedly all here to discuss our next steps. Supposedly.
“So you could see it from the outside?”
“Yes. Perfectly.”
I’m sure you can get a grasp of the situation from those two lines of banter.
The black mist that had appeared when the third princess Olivia screamed, and the white light that had cleared it away. Though the whole incident took place indoors, apparently it was visible from outside the palace.
“How in the world has something you’d only hear of in storybooks happened here?”
“I have no idea either. Seriously. And the one person who might know isn’t exactly taking questions at the moment.”
His Highness was complaining in an uncharacteristically grouchy way, but I, of course, didn’t know either. And we couldn’t ask the third princess, who might have had an idea of things. To say it plainly, she couldn’t be asked.
Sylvario’s third princess, Olivia, had fainted after the strange white light had poured into her, and she hadn’t woken up since. According to a doctor, she was breathing, so she was alive. But she showed absolutely no response when subjected to light being shone into her eyes or any other stimuli. So even though her body was alive, her mind—her brain—had died.
“Well, whatever,” His Highness said. “She’s going to be either confined, poisoned, or beheaded, anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.”
So it doesn’t matter? I sniped back internally, glancing over to Nia out of the corner of my eyes. Even after hearing something like that, she didn’t look shaken. I’d been pretty sure she’d be okay, and it seemed like His Highness had thought the same, if he was being so frank with it all. And if Nia wasn’t showing anything on her face, then there wasn’t really any reason to tiptoe around her.
Which was why His Highness continued talking.
“So what I want is a ‘story’ to tell the people who witnessed it,” he said, “and to the people who might’ve heard any rumors those witnesses have already spread.”
“I see. A story,” I repeated.
“Yes, a story. We can’t help the fact that people saw it or the fact that it’s going to spread. But we need to ensure this incident doesn’t get overly exaggerated. Hence the need for some kind of explanation that more or less works in our favor.”
I see, so that’s what he’s talking about. I nodded along in understanding. There was nothing we could do about the people who loved wild rumors, since it was simply in their nature to be that way. But since it’d be a pain for us if those rumors caused unnecessary speculation and distress, we needed to frame the incident in such a way that both satisfied the people who heard it and helped us control the overall narrative of events.
“Shouldn’t that be easy for you, Your Highness?” I said. “Wasn’t one of your specialties making up stories off the top of your head?”
“I understand very well how you see me. But there’s an issue. As a foreigner, I’m concerned that I wouldn’t be able to formulate something that would be properly rooted in Sylvarian culture,” His Majesty continued, uncommonly subdued.
He had a point. While Brigandia and Sylvario shared a border and worshipped the same god, their cultures were somewhat different. Due to their propensity for trade, Sylvarian commoners in particular adhered to customs that were quite different from those held by Brigandian commoners. Which would mean...
“So this is where Nia comes in?” I asked, guessing.
“I did, of course, consider that, but no.”
I’d said it as more of a confirmation than anything, but his reply was unexpected. I had thought that would’ve been the reason he asked for Nia to be present, but His Highness now wore a mighty smirk on his face, like he’d just pulled off a massive prank of some kind. Well, it was technically a smile, but still. This was dangerous. If he were a mind reader, I would’ve been in serious trouble.
“Ark?”
“Nothing! Absolutely nothing!”
Very serious danger, I think, maybe. Anyway, if it wasn’t that, then what was he thinking? I gave him a look to urge more of an explanation, and he apparently didn’t plan on putting on any more airs, because he immediately continued.
“I thought you might have some good ideas, Lady Laura Albashaf.”
At His Highness’s words, all eyes fell on Laura, who was waiting at Nia’s side. Even with so many eyes suddenly on her, she stayed calm. She’s tough. And at the same time I thought that, something else popped to mind.
“Your Highness, did you just say ‘Albashaf’? The family name sounds familiar. Wasn’t that the name of a kingdom that used to be nearby, with a royal family of the same name?”
“You’re exactly right. Thank goodness. If that hadn’t come to mind after I said that, then we wouldn’t be able to continue this chat.”
His Highness said it like a joke, but I was pretty sure I would’ve been at risk of losing my job if I hadn’t remembered that fact.
It wasn’t at all rare for me and the other members of the Special Battalion to maneuver behind the scenes on His Highness’s orders. And in those cases, knowledge about the nobility—nearby royalty, formerly important noble lines, and even the royalty of fallen kingdoms—was some of the bare minimum information that we had to know.
More accurately, it was the latter group of nobles that we needed to be the most familiar with, because folks from that group were often trying to jockey for higher positions or outright attempting to revive their fallen kingdoms. This meant that His Highness had probably spoken on the assumption that I knew the family name. But there was one weird thing about this.
“Why did I never think about Laura’s family name before?” I said, thinking out loud.
I had known that she was the daughter of a baron and that she served Princess Nia. But I hadn’t even thought about learning which house she was part of. And not doing so was pretty unusual for me.
When I looked at the maid again, she had her usual expressionless look on her face. Nia, standing beside her, looked bewildered.
“I’d be happy to get an explanation about that bit as well,” His Highness added.
Seeing the prince look at her again, Laura heaved a sigh, seemingly resigning herself to her fate. “May I interpret that as permission to speak directly to you, Your Highness?”
“Yes, of course. You even have permission to speak directly to me after this, as well.”
It was only a tiny hint, but I could almost swear that Laura looked a little bit taken aback at that. It was probably a rare attitude for a member of a royal family to take, but His Highness spoke normally even to Gale, who was common-born. In a way it was natural for him to treat Laura, the daughter of a baron, like this.