Chapter 6:
Sly Rae and Me
THE NEXT DAY, I was in my room reading through all the books and newspaper articles on the Bauer government system that I could get my hands on. Now that I’d made up my mind to get involved, I was diving into the subject head first, holding nothing back.
Rae told me visiting a church might prove to be a good reference as one of the Spiritual Church’s objectives was to decrease the wealth disparity, so I asked her to arrange a visit. After she left, I read through a peculiar newspaper article.
“Human trafficking…?”
The article, which had been published while I was off on holiday in Euclid, detailed how some nobles were secretly engaging in human trafficking. My father told me it had caused a temporary stir in noble circles, but things died down just as quickly. Apparently, the reporter had gone missing, and the newspaper published no further reports on the subject.
“…So there was a cover-up.”
Human trafficking was a serious crime. Slavery existed in the Kingdom long ago, but it was strictly outlawed now. If there was really human trafficking going on, like the article claimed, then the guilty nobles would undoubtedly be stripped of all titles and assets. Said guilty parties probably put pressure on the newspaper to drop the issue. As for the missing reporter…well, that was perhaps best left unsaid.
Reading the article carefully, I could guess at least one noble who might be involved. Most nobles wouldn’t be able to figure out this much, but I was the daughter of the Minister of Finance, who controlled the flow of coin. The flow of coin was the flow of people, as well as information and influence. Utilizing my knowledge, the contents of the article, as well as the investigative capabilities of the people serving House François, I was able to paint a rough picture of the situation.
“Clément Achard…are you behind this?”
If all my information was correct, the ringleader of the human trafficking ring was Clément. I grimaced, recalling my encounter with him at his residence. He was a monster of a man, the personification of a noble supremacist. And now he’d sunk as low as human trafficking.
“Does he think his status will let him get off easy? You bring shame on the Achard name…” House Achard used to stand equal to House François at the rank of duke. It was in Clément’s generation, however, that the house fell to the rank of marquess. The reason why was simple: King l’Ausseil wanted to distance Clément from power.
As I was now, I could understand King l’Ausseil’s aims. He saw the corruption plaguing the nobility system and was striving to remove it. Unlike House François, House Achard had many shady dealings going on in the background. Whenever they were close to being caught, they’d scapegoat an underling to escape blame. However, this made their faction’s influence wane, causing them to be demoted from duke to marquess. King l’Ausseil’s move to weaken House Achard’s faction was one of the reasons he was hailed as wise.
“There are many disreputable rumors around Master Clément, but…would he really go this far?”
Personally, I did not like Clément. I did not think he deserved to be a noble. But regardless, a noble he was. Surely he had the dignity to not stoop this low?
“Regardless of his involvement…I am appalled at how deep the corruption among the nobility runs.”
The problem wasn’t just House Achard. None of this reached my ears in my lectures at the Academy, but apparently, many experts and critics had highlighted numerous flaws in the way nobility currently functioned in the Kingdom. Non-Academy-related books and newspapers were my only source of information, and I learned from them that despite King l’Ausseil’s best efforts, it appeared that the Academy still remained the playground of nobles, its classes still conservative-leaning in scope.
“I didn’t think things would be this bad…”
Having grown up observing my father, the ideal noble, I had believed all nobles were as virtuous and dutiful as him. In reality, however, aristocrats like him were few and far between.
I recalled the words I heard uttered by a student involved in the Commoner Movement: “You royals and nobles are all just parasites living off our tax money!” Even now, that statement made me fume with indignation. But when I really thought about it, I had to begrudgingly admit he wasn’t altogether wrong.
“…How could things have come to this?” An academic claimed the nobility system had propagated for far too long, and that a system with no checks and balances was doomed to rot. Nobles may spend their time vying for power with other nobles, but there had been no political force to oppose the nobility system itself. As a result, the ideals it stood for had been forgotten, or so the academic posited… Incidentally, this academic was exiled from scholarly society immediately after publishing this claim. This was back in the previous king’s time, when the influence of the nobility was stronger.
“…Are those close to me safe?” There were no negative rumors surrounding House Barlier and House Kugret—Pepi and Loretta’s families, respectively. But House Barlier had recently been making moves to strengthen ties with House Achard, and House Kugret went as far as to engage Loretta to Kristoff. I didn’t think Baron Barlier or Earl Kugret would be involved in anything shady, but it wasn’t impossible, especially with the power imbalance between them and Clément. Perhaps I should warn Pepi and Loretta to be careful.
“…There’s no way Father is involved in anything, right?” I knew it was highly insolent of me to doubt my esteemed father, but the more I learned about the poverty of the commoners and the corrupt nature of the nobility, the more I began to question what I’d previously taken for granted.
The horrific possibility continued to nag at me when…
“Guess who!”
“Eek!”
I heard a carefree voice just as my vision went dark.
“Rae?! What are you doing? Quit playing around!”
“But you weren’t responding when I called out to you. You had this downer look on your face too. Made me all sad.”
“Huh? O-oh, is that so? I apologize.” If I had accidentally ignored her, then the fault was with me. I meekly acknowledged my fault.
“…Is something wrong, Miss Claire? It’s not like you to apologize.”
“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, y’know, normally you’d just be like ‘oh, you were there?’ and turn away with a huff.”
“…Do you really think I’m so abrasive?” The fact I couldn’t outright deny that I might say something like that did vex me a little, however. “I’ve just been thinking a bit, that’s all.”
“About what?”
“Nothing important. What do you care?”
“Booo. C’mon, Miss Claire. Share your worries with me, won’t you? Just as happiness is worth double when shared, burdens are halved when shouldered with another.”
Those words struck a chord with me. “…That’s quite a good saying.”
“Thanks. A close friend of mine taught it to me.”
“It looks like I owe that friend of yours a thank you then. The truth is…”
I began to open up to her, revealing everything I’d been bottling up—from my suspicions of Clément to my doubts regarding my own father.
“You think there’s a chance Master Dole is corrupt?” she asked.
“I do not think he, of all people, could be corrupt—but then again, I did not suspect any noble could be corrupt not too long ago.”
She pondered for a brief moment, mumbling to herself. “Hmm… What do I say here? He isn’t not corrupt, but that’s just his cover, so…”
“What are you mumbling to yourself?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing. But, uh, yeah, I think Master Dole’s fine.”
“Based on what?”
“Hmm… Based on you, I’d say.”
“Me?” I gave her a quizzical look, urging her to elaborate.
“I do not think Master Dole could raise you to be so honest and straightforward if he were an ill-natured man. If he did do something questionable, it would be because he had good reason to.”
“…You think highly of my father, I see.”
“Well, yeah, we are partners in—ahem, I mean, he’s your father, after all.” For a moment, it sounded like she was about to say something else.
“…You’re right. My father isn’t the type of man to commit injustice out of self-interest.”
“Incidentally, I serve you a hundred percent out of self-interest.”
“Yes, yes, I know. Now be quiet.”
“Bah, so cold! But I love that part of you too!”
Rae reverted to her usual buffoonery…but it was thanks to her that I’d been able to shed my doubts. Frustrating as it was to admit, she made a very good confidant.
“This newspaper article is a bit strange, though,” she said.
“Strange? How so?”
“If they’ve done this much research, then the reporters and the newspaper should know the culprit is Clément, right? It’s weird that they wouldn’t just mention him by name.”
“Oh…” Now that she mentioned it, that was strange. “Perhaps they lacked concrete evidence?”
“They wouldn’t publish the article at all if they lacked concrete evidence. With how much influence the nobility wields, publishing an article like this without damning proof would just be asking to be squashed.”
“…You’re right.” The disappearance of the reporter lent weight to her claim, “Why do you think it was published like this?”
“Hmm. I can’t say, based on the information available to us. But it does feel like it was intentional. Not that I know what they’d have to gain from doing things this way.”
“Indeed…”
“I don’t see any point in thinking about it right now, though. Let’s start with something more concrete.”
“That’s an idea. The Church?”
“Yeah, I was able to book a visit. We can go tomorrow.”
“Well done.”
I could only do what I could. It was better to take action than torture myself with unanswerable questions.
I murmured, “…Perhaps I’m taking after you.”
“Hm? What’s that?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Rae donned a dumb expression. Looking at it brought me peace…not that I would ever admit such a thing to her.