Just like that, House Riga’s generations of hard work were torn down by another house.
Conversely, there were also cases where House Riga trampled other houses underfoot and showed them the foolishness of their desires.
The extermination of House Vald was one such example.
At the time, Alkan’s father, Molzora, was nineteen years old, and Molzora’s father, Krelm, was forty-nine years old. Krelm had held the positions of head of the cabinet and prime minister when the king declared he wanted to appoint Mazel Sou La Vald, a common knight of the Imperial Guard, to the position of Royal Inspector. Krelm advised the king that the knight’s social rank and personal history made him unfit for the position, but in his heart, he actually welcomed the appointment.
The king would come to be known after death as Shana Eran, or the Kindhearted, but he was too idealistic and too purehearted. Krelm always ended up passing political measures that went against the king’s wishes, and he felt bad about it. If selecting his favorite knight would make the king feel better, then Krelm was perfectly okay with it.
Also, government affairs at the royal palace had become extremely inefficient and unproductive due to being bogged down by complicated issues of power and prestige, so he had hopes that a young Royal Inspector could come in and win people over by breathing new life into the court.
However, the newly appointed Royal Inspector very quickly took action that was equivalent to bringing a poisoned blade to a friendly training match. He suddenly launched an investigation into the government offices of the Marquis of Anpoan, and then he implemented punishment without any consultation.
It was true that three viscounts under the jurisdiction of House Riga had been using their position to line their own pockets, and they were clearly in the wrong. If Krelm had been consulted about this, he would not have hesitated to make them take responsibility and reflect on what they had done.
But what the Royal Inspector called unfair trade with foreign countries was definitely not unfair trade. They were beneficial investments that were necessary for maintaining friendly relations with an eye on opening trade routes in the future.
Normally these kinds of practices should have been implemented as national policy after consulting with the Privy Council. However, whenever former heads of House Riga brought this to the Privy Council, the response would always be that if they had the leeway to give beneficial deals to foreign countries, then they should lower the prices on salt and other goods stored in the royal palace. In other words, they demanded profit for themselves.
There was no other country that had such disregard for diplomacy.
That left House Riga with no other choice but to bestow favors on foreign nobility at their own discretion in order to maintain favorable relations with foreign nations. Those nobility were the window of their respective territories.
If Krelm had been asked about their dealings with foreign countries, he would have been able to explain himself in a dignified manner, as it was not behavior he had to feel guilty for in the least. Nevertheless, the investigation was performed and judgment was delivered without any questions asked, resulting in House Riga losing face with foreign countries and with the coastal regions. People began to scorn the trustworthiness of promises made by House Riga, which did nothing but hurt the future profits of the kingdom.
This event was also likely going to lead to Anpoan losing its status as a center for shipping and industry on the coast, ruining years of hard work to build it into a marquis’s domain.
“That idiot inspector can’t see the big picture. He’ll pay for this.”
Krelm reacted violently. He framed the Royal Inspector for rebellion and killed his entire family, as well as all his retainers.
Some days later, an unusual sound came from Krelm’s room. Molzora rushed into the room and found Krelm striking his desk repeatedly, blood streaming from his hands. He was screaming the following as he did so.
“I made a mistake. I made a mistake.”
That day, Krelm had looked through the Anpoan investigation files that were collected from the royal palace.
The documents were perfect.
They were precise with no wasted space. The points of comparison, the depiction of the fluctuation of numbers, and everything else about the documents could be described only as exceptional.
The responsibility of each person involved in the event was explained in a concise and well-reasoned manner, and the writing was powerful and beautiful.
The documents concerned the potential of under-the-table payoffs to foreign countries, but they eloquently explained the reason for the judgment given.
They didn’t simply follow the law but laid a path to return back to the original spirit of it. A compassionate legal principle was present in the documents that wished for the growth of systems and people.
The person who wrote this report was the kind of government official who came along once every hundred years.
The Royal Inspector was an outstanding person who House Riga should have humbly invited to be their master of law. Judging by the number of documents he put together in such a short period of time, he must have had truly gifted subordinates as well.
And Krelm had killed them all.
They were talented, righteous, and worldly—they were the government officials this country needed the most. He had failed to realize this and stamped them all out.
Krelm felt that he needed to take responsibility for inflicting such tremendous harm on the future of the country and decided to resign.
Before he tendered his resignation, he reinstated the Marquis of Anpoan as well as the three viscounts who had been punished in the incident. He then appointed the Marquis of Anpoan to the cabinet as Black Minister. Given that he couldn’t turn back time, he needed to do what he could to suppress the damage.
Then, just as he was about to resign, the king died.
Baldemost always spent a year in mourning after the king’s death and refrained from decisions on important political measures or changes in important offices.
Krelm then applied for resignation the next year, along with the new king’s coronation. The reason he gave for his departure was being unfit to rule, citing poor health and other factors, so naturally, he stepped down as the head of House Riga as well.
His oldest son, Molzora, succeeded him to become the Duke of Riga, inherited the seat of head of the house, and assumed the post of Black Minister.
The failures of Krelm were a bitter lesson for House Riga.
Alkan had a thought. Krelm must have had arrogance and self-righteousness in his heart.
The anger of being defaced by an insignificant government official caused him to react that violently.
When distinguished families quarreled, sometimes it would end with one family killing every member of the other. This was done because if even one child was left alive, they would one day seek revenge.
But House Riga had never done such a thing. What’s more, given the size and station of House Vald, there was no reason for House Riga to pick a fight with them.
It was difficult for people with power to escape from arrogance. Whenever House Riga forgot that, it became poison to the country.
Through their simple existence, humans always served as a hindrance to some and poison to others. If a person possessed great wealth and power, that became even truer.
Working hard at the center of this country for so long had ended up giving birth to a rotten stagnation.
What could they do to purify themselves of that stagnation?