Alkan would occasionally reread letters he had received from Esseluleia.
He didn’t tell her to do anything for Riga when he married her off. He desired for her to put House Goran first and perform her duties as a wife and to find happiness. He thought that could lead to a friendship between Riga and Goran.
Esseluleia was very attached to her older half-brother Garrest, so he was a little worried about whether she would be able to get along with Panzel.
That fear turned out to be unnecessary. She almost immediately became Panzel’s wife in the fullest sense. He was surprised when he read the letters in which she gushed about how she adored her husband. He hadn’t thought she had that kind of personality.
Panzel had entrusted her with the internal affairs of House Goran, and she warmly watched over the estate as it struggled to find its footing. Alkan felt her love toward her father in those frequently delivered letters, and they brought him comfort.
After Panzel’s death, the letters suddenly ceased.
Esseluleia thought that her father was behind her husband’s death.
At first, everyone believed Panzel’s passing was an assassination. Given the blessings of his divine sword, it was difficult to imagine he died from an injury suffered on the battlefield. Apparently, his death was sudden, and his health had shown no signs of deteriorating. He had returned all of House Mercurius’s blessed items to Julius except for Alestra’s Bracelet, so death by curse or poison was a possibility.
But Alkan had been impressed by the precautions Panzel had taken against assassination and subterfuge.
Panzel had such integrity when it came to his fighting style and his tactics that his enemies had given him the nickname Panzel the Pure, but he did know how to play dirty as well. He likely gained that knowledge from the half-dwarf who was a former Adventurers Guild president and had come to live at the House Mercurius estate.
He would hire a great number of adventurers with the ability to work as spies in order to gain control over the information war, and he would begin his battles only after making preparations to ensure his opponent could not use any underhanded tactics. The adventurers were so skilled that the spies House Riga sent to Julius’s and Panzel’s respective camps reported that the adventurers turned a blind eye to them and allowed them to operate.
No matter how Alkan racked his brain, he could not figure out how Panzel’s life had been taken. Esseluleia probably didn’t know, either.
That would place suspicion on anyone who hated Panzel and would want to kill him in a way that Esseluleia could not discern.
I see. From Esseluleia’s perspective, she can think of no culprits other than me.
This misunderstanding would not be undone easily. The only thing he could do was wait for time to pass.
Esseluleia acted fast after Panzel’s funeral in order to get a jump on House Riga. She went to the royal capital and appealed directly to the king.
“My husband, Panzel, the Marquis of Banust, obeyed a royal order and achieved victory against the minotaur, but he was forced to leave the labyrinth without reaching a conclusion. That means the order has not yet been fulfilled. My husband promised to the monster in the labyrinth that he would return one day to settle things. Children inherit the will of their fathers. Please order my son, Arza, to fight the minotaur when he reaches the age of twenty-four, the same age my husband was when he fought it. Also, I do not have the ability to train Arza to be a knight. Please grant me permission to entrust Arza to House Mercurius until he settles things with the monster of the labyrinth, and I beg of you to order me to rule over Banust until that time comes.”
His daughter was considered the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and Alkan was sure the scene of her draped in black and holding her three-year-old son must have looked like a painting.
The king was deeply moved, and then he descended from the throne and granted her request. He appointed Esseluleia to the rank of marquis and ordered her to rule over the Banust domain until Arza completed his mission.
Draydol was enraged. In the Privy Council, it was said that Panzel’s heir, Arza, would inherit his father’s position of the Marquis of Banust, but he would be taken in and raised by House Riga, and Draydol would rule Banust as his representative until he came of age. However, a royal order from the king on his throne could not be overturned. This was Esseluleia’s victory.
This development meant that House Riga would no longer be able to freely raise Arza and shape him into their dog. Also, if Draydol had been allowed to rule Banust as Arza’s representative, he would have been able to manage the domain however he wanted, but with Esseluleia as the marquis, he would need her permission to pass important matters.
That said, it was clear that she would be unable to rule the domain without personnel support from House Riga, so Esseluleia wasn’t much more than a figurehead ruler.
By Alkan’s estimation, Esseluleia was more talented than Draydol. Esseluleia pretended to follow along with Draydol’s policies while in reality protecting House Goran from House Riga.
One good example of this was how, through the mediation of Logan, she appointed a former president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild named Palos as her officer of finance. Palos was a shrewd and capable official, and he rescued House Goran from being swallowed financially by House Riga by gaining control of the movement of its money and property. He also made effective use of the abolition of tariffs, expanded economic exchange with the lords of Fenks, and even repressed the profits of House Goran by sharing some of their wealth with the lords in the northern part of the kingdom. These preparations would help Arza immensely when it came time for him to take his seat as marquis.
Later on, the investigation into Panzel’s death made it clear he had died as a result of overuse of the divine sword’s blessings. Even that did not remove Esseluleia’s suspicion that Alkan had assassinated Panzel.
He really couldn’t blame her for thinking that way. As the Marquis of Banust, Esseluleia had likely thoroughly investigated the events that had happened around Panzel in the past. She surely knew that Alkan had tried to send Panzel to his death at the time of the Pantram Revolt, and that Draydol had sent assassins on a number of occasions to kill him. There was no way she wouldn’t suspect him.
Being hated by Esseluleia was very hard for Alkan.
Not being able to meet Arza was even harder.
No matter what Esseluleia or anyone else thought, to him, Arza was a cute grandson. He was the son of Panzel and Esseluleia. He had never once met him, never once heard his voice, and never once embraced him, but he had never gone a day without thinking of him.
What Alkan was looking forward to more than anything else was watching over Arza’s growth. He had laid out an information network around him.
When Arza was fourteen years old, he started delving into the labyrinth.
One day, Julius had Arza try to use Alestra’s Bracelet. Its blessings activated for him. And it didn’t stop with Alestra’s Bracelet—Arza was able to use all five of House Mercurius’s treasures.
When Alkan received this report, he was so excited, he thought his heart would burst.
My grandson might be a hero.
Arza then left on a journey. For better or worse, much happened on the road that Arza walked. He significantly changed the fates of people, he roused divine spirits, and he had an impact on countries and the future of the continent. He was no ordinary person.
Arza would likely fight the minotaur once his travels came to an end. He would then become a hero, and his real work would begin once he returned to Banust.
Esseluleia, Palos, and Panzel’s close aides were patiently waiting for that moment. He would become the Marquis of Banust seven years from now, so it was unlikely Alkan would get to see it.
That reminds me, Pan’ja Raban died when he was eighty-one years old—the same age I am now.
I wonder how deep and violent his hatred was of Riga and of myself.
I felt a chill when I heard that royal envoys were sent to his funeral.
The royal family hasn’t forgotten about Vald, either.
Pan’ja Raban achieved a lot in his life, but the king never tried to confer him with peerage.
The royal family probably learned about Pan’ja Raban’s identity early in his ife.
Once one is given peerage, they have to visit the royal palace. If anyone realized who he was, House Riga would not have been able to leave him alone.
If it had come to that, House Mercurius would have suffered a large blow.
That was why he had to live in the shadows.
But he made the best of his circumstances and died having given his utmost loyalty to House Mercurius and the royal family.
He is also the one who raised Panzel.
He was an impressive man.
How deep was the royal family’s grudge against Riga?
Riga had given its all toward the royal family for a millennium. They had taken a lot of harsh criticism when it came to the royal family. The royal family might have thought of the words of Riga as a curse and the embodiment of arrogance. There were a thousand years of baggage between Riga and the royal family.
That year, Julius became the Red Minister. Julius would likely become the next White Minister when Draydol retired.
Riga and Mercurius had always had a mutual respect for each other, but animosity had been born due to Alkan’s ignorance. He hoped that animosity would naturally come undone once Arza became the Marquis of Banust.
He hoped that would once again be the start of a grand era.
He was happy that he was able to live in anticipation of such a day.
Alkan had a thought.
There were a multitude of blessings in this world. Time itself may have been the greatest blessing bestowed by the gods.
Time healed wounds.
Time softened painful memories.
Time allowed living creatures to grow and progress.
Time provided a great sense of tranquility.
Time changed hatred to love, suspicion to trust, bitter enemies into friends.
Every moment one lives is rich with the blessing that puts things in order and eases things that had become entangled.
Riga had been waiting for a thousand years.
That gave birth to stagnation and distortion.
But at the same time, they had built up a thousand years’ worth of blessings.
When I die, it will be Draydol’s turn to wait on time.
Even if he won’t know what he is waiting for, the blessings of time always provide.
Alkan closed his eyes and prayed for the good fortune of those who would bear the future.