About a week after our conversation, the men I had requested His Highness send finally arrived in Stonegaze.
Gale was not among them, of course. His promotion to company commander probably made him too busy to travel, so there was nothing we could do about it.
Anyway, after the civil servants got here, showing them what we needed them to do work-wise went amazingly smoothly. This was mainly because Nia had compiled a manual of instructions, so they had what, when, and how to do things all in one place. They’d all been chosen by His Highness, so they were all skilled, and in a blink of an eye they were comfortably handling their duties. All we had to do afterwards was decide who would be in charge of what.
I helped with it too, okay?
While we were waiting for their arrival, we managed to get in contact with community leaders in both Stonehunt and Diamoncut. It seemed they were starting to worry about the situation, so us reaching out gave them a little relief. The only potential problem now was that their worry would worsen if we didn’t go.
And so, despite only having been in the province for hardly a week, we quickly set off to travel around the territory.
“I see. They were right to say that something felt off,” I murmured to myself quietly on horseback, almost immediately after we set off from Bigden, nominally considered the territory’s capital.
We were traveling on the main highways connecting the regions, but they were deserted. There was barely anyone traveling the roads, not even merchants.
“If things are this bad, then the impact it’s having on goods distribution must be substantial,” Nia agreed, having opened the window of the carriage beside me to look out. I would’ve made my usual internal “cute” comment, but the grave look on her face kept my feelings in check. Unlike me, she had acquaintances ahead in Stonehunt and Diamoncut, so of course she’d be this worried.
That was why I nodded, giving her a serious look of my own.
“If we’d just stayed cooped up in Bigden, then we wouldn’t have been able to understand just how grave the situation is,” I said.
“Exactly... Bigden still has plenty of goods coming in, after all.”
Nia was correct. The city was the gateway to other provinces, and since they also got goods that way, they still had energy to spare. If we’d assumed the situation in Bigden reflected the status of other regions, then things might have deteriorated to a fatal degree. It was enough to send a chill down my spine.
“I’m glad we were able to leave before winter. It was a good thing that we rushed our wedding ceremony a tad.”
“If we had ended up being too late, I would never have forgiven myself,” Nia sighed, clearly relieved as she glanced around inside the carriage. We had packed some things on our trip that would probably help us during our visits.
Most of the mayors and major community members she knew were, of course, getting on in years. If winter had arrived while they still hadn’t solved their supply issue, then it was easy to guess that the worst-case scenario would have happened. There were also infants and toddlers without much stamina who would be in danger too.
This was something I had to face not only as a concerned citizen, but as part of my responsibility as the lord of the region. You could say that the fact that we were able to stop that worst-case scenario from happening was better than nothing, but merely preventing the worst from happening wasn’t enough in this case. Life was truly harsh.
We have to stop the Sylvarians’ plot, no matter what.
“It was a good thing that you were able to get in touch with your acquaintances. It’ll make it easier to move around when we get there,” I commented.
“Yes, I’m so glad that they were safe. It means I can get to work without worries.” She nodded in response.
Apparently, as Princess Sonia, she’d resolved an issue that required the cooperation of all three regions. And it turned out that one of the central figures she’d dealt with was in Bigden, which allowed us to secretly get in touch with the mayors in Stonehunt and Diamoncut to let them know about Nia.
We still wanted to keep Nia’s secret under wraps, of course, but since the two mayors were in her debt, we were probably okay here. Seeing as how Sylvario had neglected them all this time and even now was merely using them to advance their own plot, it was safe to assume that any loyalty they’d once had to their kingdom had well and truly died out. We probably would’ve looked a bit closer at any of her contacts if the province was still part of Sylvario, but we did what we had to do since we didn’t have the luxury of time.
“Without worry, huh... I’m sorry to say this, but you’ll have to be on the defensive, both on the road and in town. The fake bandits probably have some lackeys among the general population.”
“So you’re thinking that as well. Them having informants among the populace would alert them to any and all supply movement. I’ll be careful not to let anything slip.”
“I think I should be more worried about that than you. If we were only talking about one person, then I would be able to chase them down, but from what we’ve heard, the bandits probably have multiple people placed.”
“Yes. The culprit is capable of that much, at least.”
During our conversation, the two of us made sure not to mention the actual name of “the culprit.” It probably would’ve been all right if the knights accompanying us as guards overheard us, since they were all members of the Special Battalion, but it would definitely be a better idea to start being careful early on.
But the more I heard about “the culprit,” the more weirded out I was by Sylvario’s second prince, Balthazar.
“Is it just me, or are they playing like they’re some master tactician great at ruses?”
“Um... I can’t really deny that.”
When I voiced my honest impressions, Nia gave me a strained smile but didn’t refute them. He might’ve been her blood-related older brother, but from her perspective, he was her abuser. Nia would be completely justified to bad-mouth him, but she was far too nice to ever do something like that. But even so, the fact that she was able to view him as just another opponent clearly demonstrated her worth.
“They’re shortsighted, true. It should just be one piece of the puzzle, something contributing towards a larger objective, but they end up mistaking the success of their scheme as achieving the goal itself,” she continued.
“I see. So their weak spot is getting carried away. If that’s the case, would they be the type to push through with a strategy even if it doesn’t work, simply because they believe it should?”
“Yes, exactly. And that tendency of theirs meant that I always had to go around picking up their messes...” Nia sighed.
I, too, had experience fixing my higher-up’s mistakes, so I knew just how much of a pain in the ass it was. If something went well, it was your boss’s achievement. If something went bad, it was your responsibility. Plus, any suggestion of a plan B had to be done with the utmost delicacy.
Huh? Wait, then...
“Nia. Would they have someone to clean up after them now?”
“They probably have someone, but it would be a different case than before. The person would have fewer powers, after all.”
Her answer was just as I had expected. No matter how mistreated she had been, Princess Sonia had still been a princess. If a normal noble tried to do what she did, they wouldn’t get far, simply because their station wouldn’t let them.
“The culprit might get pretty cranky, then?”
“Probably very much so.”
“And if we were to make even more of their plans fail, then the likelihood that they’d get impatient and make a move would increase.”
“Exactly.”
Nia gave me a bright smile—one that would give His Highness a run for his money.
If we were able to bring Balthazar down there, it would be a massive coup in our overall plan to conquer Sylvario. But the questions remained. Did our opponent truly understand what was at stake? And regardless of whether they did, were we prepared to take them down, here and now?
“If we want to deal them a really painful blow, then our visit now needs to lead to some results.”
“Yes, let’s focus on that.”
Decision made, the two of us nodded at each other. When my eyes went back to the road, I could see the town we were headed to was close. A lot more time had passed while we chatted than I’d thought.
Let’s see how much help we can get, I thought to myself, refocusing my mind.