The day after Nia told Ark of her plan...
“Aha ha ha ha! This is good, this is great!”
Inside the office of Prince Alphonse, second prince of the Kingdom of Brigandia, an excited laugh echoed throughout the room. Seeing their master suddenly burst out into laughter, the civil and military officials doing their work around him immediately turned to him, startled. Some of them even clenched their stomachs, as if remembering some past pain.
When the prince made a face like that, it was almost guaranteed to lead to trouble. Not a soul present was ignorant of that, and many were nursing stomachaches because of it. But at the same time, they knew that whatever unreasonable request Alphonse would soon make would almost always lead to something important getting cleaned up, so they could neither run nor deny him. The entire reason they worked there was because of their work ethic and their sense of responsibility.
“What is it, Your Highness? And isn’t that...” one civil official bravely asked, before trailing off. He was usually the first one to do so, seeing as he usually had it better than the military officials, who had to deal with the more physical or material unreasonable requests. Because putting himself out there like this usually ended up with a severe burden being put on him mentally, the military officials would later do things like treat him to booze as a show of gratitude, but whether that would be enough to make, for all intents and purposes, putting one’s neck on the chopping block worth it was still questionable.
Whatever the case, someone had to ask.
“Ah, I actually got an urgent message from Ark, asking for permission to execute a plan. Ohh, it’s fun enough that it was Ark of all people to suggest it, but the plan itself is even more entertaining!”
“M-More amusing...? And it’s Lord McGuine suggesting it?”
Alphonse’s explanation came with a wave of the paper in his hand. It was the size that would allow a carrier pigeon to deliver it when the sender needed to make contact urgently, and seeing that, the official was confused. The Ark McGuine that he knew was understanding and smart, but he was the type to follow orders, and he rarely suggested anything himself. The official had also seen him jokingly arguing with the prince on a number of occasions, but seeing as he was more the serious, dependable type, he just couldn’t imagine him suggesting any schemes that would qualify as entertaining.
“Your Highness, is it truly from Lord McGuine?”
Alphonse burst out laughing again when he heard that. It wasn’t unreasonable for someone who knew Ark well to doubt that, but after he finished laughing, Alphonse showed the paper again.
“There’s no mistaking it. This is his handwriting. It also doesn’t contain the watchword for when something is wrong, so he wouldn’t have been forced to write it either. The plan was probably from his wife.”
“Ah, the one he married a short time ago. To think she would be someone Your Highness approves of...”
“Yep. I confirmed it when I met her directly, but she’s good. She knows the local situation very well, so it isn’t odd she’d think up something like this.”
“For you to say something like that means there isn’t anything that I should say.”
Alphonse’s response was so confident that the civil official stopped complaining. If the prince, who’d known Ark from their time together in the academy, was saying it, then it must have been true. All that was left for them was to act.
“Apparently they’re sending a letter with the details by horse, so we should get that either tomorrow or the day after. I want to send ‘them’ out with it.”
“There should be no problems with that, but just ‘them’?” the civil official asked for confirmation.
Prince Alphonse gave another amused grin. All he had to do was say one thing, and they’d understand the rest. Most of the people around him were smart. Though you could also say that they had to be smart in order for them to be able to work alongside him.
“It would be dangerous for them to be on the road alone, so we’ll need to assign them guards. Make me a list of the platoons that I can mobilize. Also, arrange ready transport for the goods they’ll need.”
The civil official nodded again, and one of the military officials listening immediately began readying the list. Other civil officials exited the office, probably off to check on the goods or arrange transportation.
Seeing his subordinates get to work, Alphonse stood up. “Well then, I should go get permission from my brother, just to be safe.”
His smile was very, very amused. And slightly dangerous.
✦ ✦ ✦
About a week later, somewhere inside Sylvario’s royal palace.
“Are you sure this is true?!”
“Yes, there’s no doubt about it!”
A young man, who had been reclining arrogantly just a moment ago, shot to his feet. In front of him was a middle-aged man wringing his hands, answering vigorously. The younger man’s high-strung face, framed by the golden hair of the nation’s royal family, warped with glee.
“To think that the territory had mines. That explains precisely why they wanted it. This is a glorious achievement, Gorthuk!”
“Thank you so very much! I, too, doubted the reports when I first heard them, but when I investigated further, I was able to confirm that mining engineers had arrived in Stonegaze!”
“Hmph. So you did further investigations. Nothing gets past you!”
“Everything was thanks to your guidance and encouragement, Your Highness Prince Balthazar!”
When the middle-aged merchant called Gorthuk toadied up to him, all the much younger Prince Balthazar did was nod in satisfaction.
Had Gorthuk only heard about such things, then he might have been a bit more careful, but he believed everything once he heard about the mining engineers. Said engineers were the “they” that Alphonse had been talking about, but of course, the Sylvarian duo had no way of knowing anything about that. Thanks to this distraction, Balthazar completely forgot to ask about the operations out in Stonegaze, and Gorthuk made sure not to let any of the relief he was feeling show on his face.
The room they were in was deep within the palace, and it was one they frequently used for their secret talks. Balthazar had sent everyone away, so the two of them didn’t bother to hold back their greedy grins.
“If we take back the territory now, then not only will I take the lead in the fight for the crown, but I might be able to claim dominion over the province itself. Then, if I develop the mines myself, I could generate heaps of profit!”
“Exactly! Iron and coal would be fine enough, but imagine the profits if the mines contained gold and silver!”
“With those funds, I could hire even more soldiers. Then, we could invade that horrible Brigandia! Ah, this must be divine providence!”
Balthazar was happily making a rather delusional plan for the future, but there was no one there to admonish him. In fact, Gorthuk being there would only stir him up more, making him spiral out of control.
“You haven’t told anyone else, have you?” Balthazar asked.
“Perish the thought,” Gorthuk said. “I would never speak of this to anyone but you, Your Highness, the future king!”
“What an admirable attitude! When we retake Stonegaze, I will allow you to handle all of the gold and silver that come from the mines!”
Gleeful of the flattery, Balthazar was making generous promises to Gorthuk about the gold and silver trade as if he already had them under ownership. And even though it was just a verbal promise, and not binding, Gorthuk gave him a vulgar smile back.
“Thank you so very much! You’re just as bighearted as I would expect, Your Highness!”
“Ha ha ha, of course I am!”
“While it may not be nearly enough for your big heart, I shall share the profits from those sales with you as usual. So please, do continue to do business with me...”
“He he he, Gorthuk, you’re an evil one.”
There wasn’t even a speck of royal dignity in Balthazar’s grin. He was drooling like a beast, completely unaware that the opportunity he was being given was just bait. And Gorthuk was much more of the same.
“But if there are mines, then we’ll need to take control of them before anyone else notices.”
“Yes, exactly. But fear not! I’ve prepared plenty of provisions!”
“How dependable! Then I must quickly gather soldiers and attack!”
Nodding at Gorthuk’s words, Balthazar hurried out of the room to begin preparing to dispatch troops. All of this without saying a word to his older brother the first prince or his still-healthy father the king. If he did, then they would find out about the mines. Either that, or they would talk him into stopping, which was exactly what would happen.
But he was making a fundamental misunderstanding and was rushing into things without anyone correcting him—rushing towards ruin.