Published at 3rd of June 2020 7:45 am

Volume 14, Prologue

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Ainz’s room was situated on the ninth floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The room, which had been converted from a bedroom to an office, was positioned the closest to the corridor. Inside, its owner was nowhere to be found yet the faint sound of paper being shuffled could be heard. Next to the desk frequently used by Ainz sat a smaller yet equally exceptional table and chair. It is upon such a chair that Albedo, the Guardian Overseer of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, sits upon to process the documents laid on the desk.

Ainz had already prepared a separate office specifically for her, one that was equal in status to his room, a room reserved for prospective guild members. At first, she had indeed been using that room as her own for clerical purposes, yet the day still came when she could no longer suppress her desire to work in the same room as her master. Although her requests were not met with any positive responses at first, her sincere pleas on the practical advantages of her proposal, in combination with a relentless barrage of complaints, had managed to receive an approval from her master.

Staring at the vacant seat, Albedo lowered her head and pouted slightly. The maid assigned to Ainz’s room for the day (not the one assigned to accompany him) was standing silently behind her. Due to that, Albedo’s rare expression went completely unseen. Her one and only master was currently out tending to his duties and so was absent from the Great Tomb of Nazarick. He was taking care of routine business in the city of E-Rantel.

If she had her master’s permission, she would have severely punished the idiots who, by setting up a meeting, had dared to encroach on the time she should be spending with him.

Of course, she knew that such a request would never be approved. As such she forcefully suppressed her pipedream to turn E-Rantel into a sea of flames but her efforts were in vain. The dissatisfaction in her heart grew and managed to boil over to manifest as complaints.

“How annoying…those insects…”

Laboured breaths filled with terror could be heard from the ceiling, yet they were intentionally ignored by Albedo. She still hadn’t forgotten the time they had ruined her chance and felt certain that they deserved to be scared at least a couple of times more. On the other hand, she had already forgiven Mare for his part in the incident for some reason. To regulate her emotions, Albedo sighed heavily. She gently twisted her shoulders a couple of times before turning to look at the remaining documents.

Following Nazarick’s - no, the Sorcerous Kingdom’s accelerated expansion, her workload had increased proportionally.

Regarding diplomacy:

Behind the curtains of the cordial interactions they’ve had with multiple other countries, the horns signaling the start of an espionage war had already been sounded.

Although they had confirmed the presence of spies from the Theocracy, Kingdom, and the City State Alliance in E-Rantel, the Sorcerous Kingdom chose to simply observe their actions for now. As Demiurge was in charge of these affairs, all Albedo had to do was to memorize the reports in front of her.

Regarding Internal Affairs:

E-Rantel hasn’t experienced many incidents caused by racial tensions. It wasn’t as though there were none to speak of but, compared to other countries, their numbers were shockingly low.

The citizens weren’t technically being threatened into this state either. They just had a clear understanding of exactly how terrifying the Sorcerer King and his undead subordinates could be, to the point where they’d choose to keep to themselves and live out peaceful lives by their own free will.

The crime rate was thus minimal. Although misdemeanors had occurred, none dared to commit a felony. E-Rantel had become a haven where women and children could walk the streets at night without worrying about their own safety. It had come to a point where they'd run out of criminals to experiment on and had to get some from the Empire.

A crime that occurs in such a peaceful city is then a matter of utmost importance to Albedo. According to Heinrich’s law, a major accident indicates the presence of 29 minor accidents which in turn could indicate over 300 anomalies. What needs to be done then is to respond to any and all oddities, no matter how small they may be.

The binder in her hand held a month’s worth of court records from E-Rantel.

Due to how detailed the reports were, reading even a single one of them would be a massive time commitment. However, Albedo could process these documents much faster than a regular person, giving onlookers the false impression that she’s just flipping through them without giving them much thought at all.

In conjunction, the pen that was held in her other hand moved at a blistering pace, noting down information she found interesting onto a white sheet of paper.

{Was the judge’s ruling appropriate? Why would the defendant commit such a crime? Surmise from the above the current state of public order and morale in E-Rantel. Is the creation of new laws in response to the above necessary?}

What would normally require intense scrutiny of records by officials gathered from every corner of a nation, Albedo was doing on her own: analyze, evaluate, process. To do this, one would require an intimate understanding of internal affairs on par with one's familiarity with backs of their hands as well as an inhuman level of lucidity.

Her pen stopped moving as soon as she finished reading the report and the process to transcribe the key words she had noted down began. After all it was something her master was about to read, illegible handwriting would be absolutely unacceptable. After spending more time transcribing the most important details, proposals, and other such documents than she had spent reading, it was finally ready.

Skimming over the completed document from top to bottom, Albedo’s lips formed the tiniest sliver of a smile. This wasn’t for the fact that she had just completed another task, but was simply borne from the gratification she experienced knowing that she’s proving herself to be useful to her master. She placed the documents back into the binder and raised it gently into the air where it was received by the maid on standby, who subsequently placed it onto her master’s desk.

This was the fifth binder she has had to go through today. A slightly concerned expression could be seen on her face, her current situation isn’t great to say the least.

The Sorcerous Kingdom has through direct or indirect means greatly expanded their territory, causing them no end of troubles. Compared to before, the number of documents that must be brought to her master’s attention had greatly increased. A leader being forced to sift through mountains of documents would imply flaws in the organization.

As originally intended, her superior would only have to dictate a general direction or goal for his subordinates to work towards. All he has to do is to sit back on his throne and observe the hard work of his creations.

The fact that reality did not match expectations was not her master’s fault. Those that could match his expectations were few and far between, in other words, they lack sufficient talent. As the one appointed to manage the internal affairs and human resources of Nazarick, Albedo couldn’t help but feel ashamed at herself. Though she had taken precautionary measures, the future remains uncertain.

{To bother my master over such trivialities would be absolutely ridiculous, but…racial unity policies, plans to trial national laws, economic policies, and more must be determined by my master… if I do all the progress checks on tasks assigned to the Floor Guardians, it would displease everybody because they won’t be able to see Momonga-sama, right?…}

For the moment, her master has given her free reign over all of his affairs no matter how important or insignificant they are. She was also told as long as she approved of something herself, it would be fine in his eyes. Still, to avoid any unnecessary complications it’s best to leave the right of final approval to her master. After all, even Albedo makes mistakes

There was one time when she was about to send some idiotic scum and his family to the Frozen Prison for an affront to her master (at least it was in her opinion) and asked if the conviction should be for indignity or idiocy. To her great surprise, her master objected to the punishment.

{I knew Momonga-sama was a merciful one, yet I still…}

Hmm… Albedo pouted her lips. For her it was truly a rare expression to make, and one that only surfaces for a moment when her master is not there.

Before long, her smile returned as she picked up the next binder. While reading, her mind became preoccupied with something else. Among all of the Floor Guardians, there was one that she should stay the most vigilant for - Demiurge.

As the operations against the Holy Kingdom drew to an end, Demiurge has been busy travelling far and wide to set up an intelligence agency with Nazarick at its center. To Albedo, the agency could prove to be problematic. It would have been fine if it were to be headed by Albedo, the Guardian Overseer herself, but it was not unlikely that the newly created position would be given to Demiurge. That would be a troublesome situation.

If possible, she would love to take that authority for herself by letting an easy to manipulate puppet chair the agency.

A few faces came to mind, but they were all lacking in some capacity.

{If I can’t get the job, then the only eligible candidate by a far margin would be Pandora’s Actor. It’d be very difficult to wrestle that much control authority from Demiurge…}

It wouldn’t be impossible for him to learn of Albedo’s true intentions if that were to happen.

If that were to be the case it would become a great cause of concern. It’s probably best not to do anything rash for now.

Her older sister might be a decent choice, but she was not an ally that Albedo could trust unconditionally. If she figures out Albedo’s true intentions, it’s entirely possible for them to become enemies.

Her younger sister, the strongest individual in Nazarick, would probably stay by her side even if she found out about Albedo’s plan. That, however, was because her master had ordered her to obey Albedo’s commands.

Sigh. What a mess.

They’re understaffed.

No, manpower wasn’t the only thing they lacked. There’s also the matter of the funds that Albedo herself could spend freely. In that case, her master’s plan to expand operations outside of Nazarick had worked to her favour.

{The reorganized Adventurer’s Guild can be by my…Mare’s actions…the need to be on the alert for Aura…under Cocytus’ command…intelligence from Victim…the value of Shalltear’s transport network…amassing a secret fund from the Merchant’s Guild…manpower…and also Demiurge and that girl, huh…}

It took a mere moment for Albedo to consider matters from multiple facets, a feat no ordinary person could do, after which her brows furrowed slightly.

{That wouldn’t work. I must remain cautious of Demiurge. Reaching out to that girl would also be too dangerous. If I’m not careful, she might become an opponent that I would have to be wary of, even more so than Demiurge…}

She completed another task while pondering about all sorts of strategies and reached for another binder.

The binder contained limited amounts of information. Either a new problem was being presented, or it was prepared by someone not used to paperwork, like Shalltear.

Albedo glanced at the cover titled “Regarding the problems faced by the team supporting the Holy Kingdom’s grain management”.

Apparently it’s the former. Albedo couldn’t recall anything in regards to such a problem.

Did something happen? Albedo blinked a few times as she read, her eyes opening wide into smooth circles. She read it again from the beginning and after confirming its content contained no metaphors or falsehoods, her mouth opened slightly as if in a daze.

“Huh?”

Her usually dignified face appeared to be more perplexed than anything else, as if she’s unable to comprehend what she’d read.

Albedo, one of the top minds of Nazarick, had an expression rarely seen by others, a testament to the situation's severity. Despite that, Albedo’s lucid mind still pushed onwards, contemplating the cause and possibility of the problem being presented.

{It’s highly likely that the girl betrayed us but… did she accept a better offer from another organization? But according to my judgement, that offer should’ve been impossible to trump… No, nothing is confirmed yet. A lack of intelligence again, huh.}

Whoever presented the report must explain it to her in detail. At the same time, she must discuss the matter with Demiurge, her colleague who’s probably deeply linked to the problem.

Reporting to her master will have to wait till afterwards.

She browsed the two other reports, confirmed that they were not that important, and said to the maid standing behind her,

“We must hold an emergency meeting. I will go to the Seventh Floor first to discuss matters with Demiurge. If anyone comes looking for me, tell them that I'm absent for the moment.”

She activated the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown on her left ring finger as soon as she finished dictating her orders.

As the Guardian Overseer, she had to keep in her mind where every Floor Guardian was at all times.

Demiurge had just finished his work in the Holy Kingdom. In order to prepare plans against the alliance of the Council State, Slane Theocracy, and the City-State Alliance, he should have returned to his abode on the Seventh Floor.

If Demiurge was not there she’d have to find Entoma and have her use [Message] or have her older sister investigate his whereabouts.

With that in mind, Albedo initiated the teleport.

--------

In the Kingdom of Re-Estize and in its capital, Re-Estize.

There lies the castle Ro Lente, which contains the Valencia Palace, within which is an office.

In the office where generations of kings performed their duties, its rightful owner, Ramposa III, was nowhere to be found. Instead, the room was being occupied by the second prince, Zanac Valleon Igana Ryle Vaiself.

Zanac’s face grew dark as he stared at the documents that were submitted, a heavy sigh escaped his mouth. Surely no one could keep a cheerful expression after reading through said documents, its contents detailed the current state of the Kingdom.

During the Battle of the Katze Plains, though it would be more accurate to call it a massacre, much of the Kingdom’s population lost their lives. Even so, it wasn’t as though the damage inflicted on the Kingdom was lethal. Its population was around nine million and of that, 180,000 died, a mere 2% loss. Plus, a multitude of them were the second or third sons of farmers so they were practically “spare men”. In other cases, they had lost apprentices with barely any experience. So although saying this out loud would sound cruel, nothing of value was lost through their deaths.

Still, they had lost 4% of their male population, those who were young and strong to boot. The negative impact of this loss was gradually becoming apparent and this was all clearly outlined in the document.

Zanac let out a groan as he placed the document on the table, his vision shifted focus to the other person in the room.

“Oy, sister. How would you deal with this if you were in charge?”

Upon hearing the question, his sister, Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself, who sat on a chaise longue far away from him, smiled as she raised her head. Renner, who was looking through a different set of documents had a worrisome smile.

“Even if you asked me what I would do…onii-sama, how can I give an answer when you haven’t even given me enough details in your question?”

“It’s about this.”

Zanac did not bother with an explanation, he just picked up the documents he had laid down and fanned them around. Renner stood up, walked towards Zanac, and took the documents from him.

“…This?”

After scanning the document from top to bottom, Renner replied in a casual tone.

“That…there’s nothing we can do about it, right?”

“Dear lord…”

Zanac raised his head towards the sky.

If his sister, who was much more brilliant than him, said this, then there really wasn’t anything they could do about it. However, as rulers, they could not just give up on something like this so easily.

“Is this matter really that troublesome? Though our nation’s strength has waned temporarily, but that’s all it is, it’s all temporary. I don’t believe that it’s serious enough to warrant us doing something about it?”

“If our nation’s power is weakened, then people will start to die from starvation right?”

Due to the repeated clashes they have had with the Empire, their inability to store sufficient grain had continued on to the present day. It was in these conditions that they ceded the crucial grain-producing region of E-Rantel, which was directly under the king’s rule, to the Sorcerous Kingdom. The loss of life on the battlefield also meant that they lost a sizable chunk of their labor force.

Perhaps the consequent effects were not as pronounced for now, but years down the line, it was highly likely that the decrease in grain production would cause the price of grain to skyrocket till the point where the poor could no longer afford it. No, it was safe to say that this was definitely going to happen.

“That makes sense.”

“That makes sO mUcH SeNsE. Say, sister, if it’s as iNsIGnIfIcAnT as you make it out to be, how will we deal with the chance that a drought or a cold snap occurs, causing crop failure?”

“High-level druids seem to have the ability to control the weather, so I believe we’ll at least have a way to deal with issues regarding sunlight. Since we’d only have to hire adventurers for it, it would be highly cost-effective. Still, whether or not such high-level druid adventurers exist is something we should find out as soon as possible. If this was in the past we could’ve always relied on adventurers from the Empire in cases of emergency, but now that the Empire has become a vassal state of the Sorcerous Kingdom, that could prove to be difficult.”

“Ah, I see, let’s handle droughts this way then. What about cold snaps, sister?”

“Druids would have to work hard on that as well.”

Zanac carefully observed Renner’s face, one that’s all too familiar to him.

{Does she not know about that?} Zanac thought.

As Renner said, high-level druids can cast spells to create temporary rain, so droughts could be dealt with. However, he

remembered hearing from Marquis Raeven, his confidant, that druid magic is powerless against cold snaps.

For a cold snap, the weather must be maintained through the entire season. To that end, a high-level druid must be assigned to each village. It was simply not realistic to gather a few hundred high level druids, which were rare to begin with.

This level of knowledge in magic was not part of conventional education, so it wasn’t taught even in noble families. This fact applied to the royalty as well. The only reason Prince Zanac knew what he knew about druids was because he had actively sought out that information.

The fact that magic casters didn’t hold any status in the Kingdom was probably to blame. If it was like the Empire where someone as great as the Tri-Arts Magic Caster exists, it might have been a completely different story. However, the Kingdom’s ignorance of magic and desire for brave, strong cavalrymen had already become deeply rooted in their culture. A magic caster capable of changing the status quo never appeared.

As a result, nobles who believed that “magic is cowardice” on the battlefield passed that notion along to the next generations. Ignorance about magic turned into disdain, and a vicious cycle was born.

To Zanac, magic was an art with incredible power. For people to distance themselves away from it due to old, boring traditions would bring about a day when the Kingdom would unconditionally lose in the struggle for power with its neighbouring countries akin to death by asphyxiation. Zanac had therefore considered hiring a teacher who’s knowledgeable in magic for his future children. Some nobles should follow suit once they find out the royalty is being educated in that field, right?

No, even without doing something like that, the appearance of the Sorcerer King, one who commands powerful magic caused a paradigm shift in the minds of the Kingdom’s citizens, noble or otherwise. Perhaps the era when everyone would want to learn about magic had finally come.

Though it was disappointing that the trigger for change was an external source, it was ultimately beneficial to the Kingdom so they acquiesced.

Considering the current state of the Kingdom, it was natural for Renner to not know. Even a genius would arrive at the wrong answer on unfamiliar turf. Blindly trusting in his sister could prove to be very dangerous.

Renner, however, was close with the Adamantite class adventurers team Blue Roses, so obtaining detailed information on a spell was probably not too difficult for her. Was it really possible that his sister, a person that could be described as a singularity of intelligence, knew of the problem but didn’t bother to check with her sources?

Then again, Renner had no reason to lie about such a small detail. It was probably just a rare manifestation of her human side; in other words, she’s being a dork.

It was clear that Renner had no interest in the throne, her goal seemed tiny to Zanac. It’s better to say that her goal would become unachievable should she ascend to the throne. Even if she’s plotting against him, it wouldn’t benefit her directly.

“-sister, a cold snap is difficult to deal with even with the power of a druid.”

“Is that so? If that’s the case then it would be quite unfortunate. Ah! But the problem is about grain, right? We have plenty of supplies so it’s not a problem. That’s excellent news, Onii-sama.”

Zanac made the exact opposite face as Renner’s smile.

“By grain, you meant that? I would not want to touch that…are you sure people won’t turn Undead from eating too much of it?”

If one were to ask the question “does the Kingdom have surplus grain?”, the answer would be yes: a generous supply sat waiting in some merchants’ warehouses. But, they shouldn’t make plans that relied on said grain, because it was technically not the Kingdom’s.

The Sorcerous Kingdom, ruled by the terror that was the Sorcerer King, leased those warehouses from merchants of the Kingdom and put grain there. Such a thing had never occurred throughout the entire history of the Kingdom.

Apparently the merchants were allowed to sell the grain, but its price was a bit higher than market price due to a tariff. The price was set by the Sorcerous Kingdom with no room for negotiation. As such, the people did not buy any of it and it had been sitting there, waiting in the warehouses.

The Kingdom’s wealth was not flowing into the Sorcerous Kingdom at the moment, so frankly this was not detrimental to the Kingdom. The current situation made it feel like everything was fine. But Zanac, concurring with Renner, thought that was part of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s strategy.

“The Holy Kingdom is consuming the same grain, so the grain itself should be harmless, right?”

“No, perhaps they wanted us to think that way and only the grain in the capital was tainted?”

Renner smiled bitterly.

“You don’t really think so, do you?”

“Well, I guess not. Afterall we checked the contents.”

Regarding the use of the warehouses in the capital, the Sorcerous Kingdom’s official statement was that it was to store grain to be used as food aid for the Holy Kingdom. Apparently plans were made to transport the grain to the Holy Kingdom from these warehouses.

Regarding the logistics. Due to a lack of protection for the caravans, if they were to be attacked by bandits or monsters, the responsibility for that would fall on the Sorcerous Kingdom. Hiring mercenaries would be the obvious solution, but the Sorcerous Kingdom proposed to simply install a flag that would make it extraordinarily obvious that those carriages belonged to them, apparently as some form of self-defense. The Kingdom, wishing to avoid unnecessary conflicts, agreed to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s proposals under the conditions that their undead are not to enter the Kingdom’s borders and that a transit tax must be paid. Looking back on it now, accepting it was undoubtedly an erroneous decision.

They had essentially allowed caravans hoisting the Sorcerous Kingdom’s flag to march through the royal capital in procession, all the way to the docks where they were bound for the Holy Kingdom. This clearly showed, to both domestic and foreign eyes, how weak the Kingdom appeared compared to the Sorcerous Kingdom. Nevermind the fact that the Sorcerous Kingdom appeared enthusiastic about such aid, and those shipments were frequent and continued on to this day.

If a nation’s dignity was lost bit by bit like this, sooner or later the Kingdom would have to choose between a full rebellion against the Sorcerous Kingdom or kneel in servitude to them. It’s theorized that the Empire had already experienced such an attack and was forced to choose the latter. It’s an insidious plot, but an undeniably effective one.

What’s worse is the fact that they were doing this in the name of humanitarian aid, it was virtually impossible for the Kingdom to refuse.

The Arch Fiend that had once turned the Kingdom's capital upside down, the one who was eventually defeated by the Sorcerer King, Jaldabaoth, had led an army of demihumans to attack the Holy Kingdom. The Northern region had been torn asunder and was barely even recognizable. Compared to the damage sustained by the Kingdom, the Holy Kingdom suffered a worse fate. At least according to what Zanac heard.

Though the northern half of the Holy Kingdom was almost completely destroyed, its southern half was barely touched.

After the Holy Queen passed away and the new king ascended to the throne, the death of the nobles in the north caused general unrest in their lands, the nobles to the south began feuding internally, and other similar incidents caused quite a bit of trouble for the Holy Kingdom.

The simultaneous conflicts caused the two halves of the Holy Kingdom to fight over power and their own interests.

The result was delayed aid for the people of the north, some could not even reliably acquire food.

Their saving grace was the grain provided by the Sorcerous Kingdom, the grain that was being shipped from the Kingdom’s warehouses to the Holy Kingdom through land and sea routes.

{An absolutely brilliant plan}, Zanac thought.

In such dire straits, they had no time for scruples about where the food came from, even if it was from one of the undead.

“If it were us providing the food aid instead, the goodwill that the Sorcerer King has been receiving would have undoubtedly been ours. But… there’s no way we could do that in these conditions.”

What if that battle never happened?

No, at the bare minimum, if Jaldabaoth had not plundered all kinds of resources during the chaos in the royal capital they would at least be in a better position than they were now. If they had been the ones to provide the Holy Kingdom with food aid, there would be no way that undead’s reputation would be as good as it is now.

But that was not what happened. After receiving news of the new king’s coronation, the diplomat sent by the Kingdom was given the cold shoulder according to reports afterward. This wasn’t a cold war caused by national policies that antagonized neighboring countries. The relationship between the two countries had never been this bad during the reign of the late Holy Queen, Calca Bessarez.

Perhaps relations began souring before the grain shortage, back when the Kingdom refused to provide military support against Jaldabaoth’s invasion of the Holy Kingdom. That might’ve dealt a fatal blow to their relationship.

Of course, sending aid at that time was completely out of the question.

After all, it had been an even more chaotic time for the Kingdom due to the heavy losses inflicted by the powerful magic of the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown. In addition, they had lost some of their most celebrated warriors, the most important of which was the Warrior Captain Gazef Stronoff, famed for being the strongest in the entire Kingdom. What aid could they have provided against such a powerful demon at that time?

Whatever they could say now would only sound like some bitter excuse from a heartless kingdom, but any other country in the same position as the Kingdom that received such a plea for help would respond in the same way. Only the Sorcerous Kingdom sent both military and domestic aid, so the Kingdom paled in comparison.

In fact, Northern Holy Kingdom had already become quite favourably inclined towards the Sorcerous Kingdom according to the diplomats.

“Problem after problem without solutions caused a delay in responding…”

It was at this moment when he could finally see the bigger picture and the equally bigger problem. Though this seemed to be the confluence of numerous coincidences, the situation could give one the false impression that everything was connected.

“No, could it be-”

“Onii-sama!”

“Oh! … oy sister. I can hear you alright, no need to shout. I’m not that old.”

“… because you’ve ignored your sister who’s standing right in front of you to drift off in your own thoughts, I’ll create some nasty memories for you as revenge. Or were you thinking about something?”

“Nothing…just…being a bit too paranoid.”

Renner turned towards him, her eyes filled with pity, “I’m not too sure, but that has to be it. You talk about negative things all the time, so naturally, every one of your trains of thought would inevitably veer towards the worst-case scenarios.”

That made sense.

“Maybe.”

“Mhm, that has to be it… About the Holy Kingdom, the schism between north and south means they’re only a step away from a civil war, right? If that’s the case, then which side will win? Though the exhausted north doesn’t seem to have a fighting chance at all…”

“Well, perhaps. The fact that someone of great renown from the north died is an influential factor. After all, that female paladin died too…”

“I don’t know much about that. Was it someone famous?”

“Mhm. From what I heard she could be tied with our Warrior Captain. She visited our Kingdom once, it’s a shame we couldn’t meet.”

Skipping the normal sequence of meetings to grant immediate audience to an unofficial envoy was not appropriate for both parties.

The royal family would be looked down upon if the meeting came too early. By the time diplomats made that judgment they had already left the capital.

If they knew what they do now, they should have set up a meeting with her no matter what. Perhaps it could’ve helped them gain a potential backup option for the future.

“Back then, your judgment was diplomatically correct. If it wasn’t for you telling me not to do it all the time, I would have thought that it was not that big of a deal to meet them. Having the king meet them right away would have definitely been inappropriate, but if a prince did so, it should have been fine.”

“Wasn’t it Onii-sama who made the final decision himself?…”

Renner pouted. It was an expression cute enough to easily win over the hearts of most men, a countless number of people had already fallen victim to it.

“Onii-sama is the current successor to the throne, but not everyone approves of you behind closed doors. Any possible cause of gossip, however small, must be avoided. It would trouble me a lot if you don’t secure the throne. Oh and causing a rebellion right now would be a problem as well. If that happens, you wouldn’t be able to fulfill your promise.”

“Mhm, that’s true…”

She did not disguise her intentions at all, but it was convincing nonetheless.

“Hm, normally this is how things would go… the Sorcerous Kingdom has been providing aid to the Northern Holy Kingdom, if all went according to their plans, they would have an easily manipulated country in their hands. Should we try to contact the south?”

If it was the Northern Holy Kingdom that was maintaining amicable relations with the Sorcerous Kingdom, then the south must view the Sorcerous Kingdom as their enemy. If the Kingdom were to form an alliance with the south, it was possible they could contain the Sorcerous Kingdom’s efforts somewhat.

“That’s true, it would certainly be a desirable development. There’s another reason the two halves are against each other, namely the faceless progenitor’s new teachings, that can’t be good for the Kingdom either.”

“Aaaaah, that one…”

The faceless one.

A nickname for the proselytizer who showed up after the chaos caused by Jaldabaoth. Though it appeared that her true name was made public, the nickname had already spread much further than her real name.

Her teaching, treasured by her many followers, was that “Weakness without the drive to improve one’s self is a sin, everyone must strive towards the goal of becoming stronger.” That was more or less an understandable concept for most people.

Though there was widespread support for her teachings in the north, it was not only unpopular but also shunned in the south.

However, this was the predictable outcome. To the ruling class, that kind of mentality would only invite instability to those who are at the top.

Perhaps that was the main reason why the nobles in the south, who still retained their authority, and the rapidly deteriorating north are at each other’s throats.

What was led by the faceless one was more of a community than a religion. Because of that, the Four Great Gods were still being worshipped as usual and problems with religious institutions never arose. At the same time, the newly crowned Holy King gave his acquiescence to the group, further dividing the north and the south.

“…by common sense, isn’t it odd to hide one’s face?”

Apparently the faceless one always appeared in public wearing a mask.

The diplomatic mission sent from the Kingdom had the same questions in mind as Zanac concerning the Faceless One, so they asked her followers. It did not matter who they asked, each and every one of their answers were vague at best, as if they would be breaking some form of taboo should they have answered truthfully.

It was incredibly suspicious.

By hiding her face, is she not creating the impression that she had done something unspeakable in the past?

“Her parents were apparently renowned warriors. If she had revealed her face and preached out in the open, it would probably have raised her reputation by a fair amount. Is it possible that she’s hiding her appearance because she’s been lying about her heritage?

“Why would someone spread such a boring lie? I don’t think any of the benefits of hiding one’s appearance would apply to her if that’s the case.

“That’s true…or perhaps she’s not human, but undead or something similar?”

“-you mean she’s serving under the Sorcerer King?”

“I just thought that if that were the case, things would start to make a lot more sense, wouldn’t they?”

“It could explain a lot of things, but why would someone like that risk arousing further suspicion from others by hiding their appearance?”

“That’s also true……but what other acceptable reasons are there to hide one’s appearance?”

It’s also possible that she had received some form of facial disfigurement during Jaldabaoth’s invasion, but then again it should have been treatable with magic. Unless wounds inflicted by a fiend as strong as Jaldabaoth cannot be healed with magic or something similar?

“Well, that’s more believable than your previous theory, especially since she’s female”

Exposing a facial scar could be beneficial in the sense that people would sympathize with you more, but that’s largely dependent on how severe the wound was.

“In any case, our first order was to gather detailed information on the inner workings of the Holy Kingdom. Let’s plan our operations out in a way where we could immediately aid in the south should that become necessary.”

“That would be best.”

“To our south is the Holy Kingdom, where half of the country is friendly to the Sorcerous Kingdom and to our east is the Empire, a vassal state of the Sorcerous Kingdom. This will be hard to deal with.”

“Yeah”

Zanac’s gaze remained affixed on Renner, who had been replying ever so nonchalantly.

“……You make it sound so simple.”

“Eh? But what more could be said about this? The situation is undeniably worse if you consider the current state of its neighboring countries. Other than what onii-sama has said so far, there’s also the matter of the persisting and prospering underground organizations in the Kingdom.”

“You’re talking about the Eight Fingers, correct? Recently there has been a number of people making a mess all over the place due to narcotics withdrawal. So have they really become active again? If it wasn’t for that archfiend (Jaldabaoth) appearing out of nowhere, we could’ve knocked the Eight Fingers down another peg or two for sure.”

Zanac sighed.

With the loss of Gazef Stronoff, the strongest warrior in the Kingdom, the government had shifted its policy to avoid direct confrontation with the Eight Fingers. They simply lacked the necessary amount of strong individuals to deal with the issue.

Except one.

The man employed by Renner, Brain Unglaus, had a lot of potential.

But, that man was only loyal to Renner, so there’s probably no chance at all that he’d be willing to serve Zanac. He had already attempted to gain favour with him, but it did not seem to have an effect on him at all.

{……I don’t plan on taking on the role of Warrior Captain myself, so it’s probably better to promote someone who’s talented enough for the job. Should we train him to become someone who’s worthy of the position of Warrior Captain? I wanted to at least give him the sword that’s part of the Kingdom's treasures, but father would never allow it.}

To his father, the king, Gazef Stronoff’s existence was far too important.

It’s lonely at the top as they say.

Knowing that soon it’ll be his turn to bear this burden, Zanac, unbeknownst to himself, is gradually grasping the true meaning of that proverb.

As a person, Gazef Stronoff’s existence was like that of a comforting bonfire to his lonely father. Despite the significant age difference between the two, one could say that they were closer than friends in some respects.

For his father to have someone like that in his life, Zanac couldn’t help but feel envious.

As the second prince, Zanac had never experienced that level of friendship before. His older brother was the heir apparent for the longest time, so no one would bother forming that deep of a connection with someone who was simply a spare. They probably judged that it was not worth the risk getting on Marquis Boullope’s radar by befriending a future Archduke.

The only one who’d keep in touch with him was Marquis Raeven, presumably out of his concern for the Kingdom’s future. Even then their relationship was closer to that of mutual supporters than friends; as a result, Zanac had had to suppress quite a bit of the resulting depression.

Will he remain lonely for the rest of his life?

Zanac shook his head, pushing his negative emotions aside. Renner looked back at him as if she was looking at a cryptid.

{Just Ignore her Zanac.}

Speaking of Brain, the moment Zanac is crowned king, his first action would likely be to retrieve the four treasures of the Kingdom from his father.

Though he was uncertain if his father would hand them over so easily, it’s imperative for him to entrust the treasures to Brain, otherwise it would be an insult to the sacrifices he’s made.

He wasn’t the Kingdom’s Warrior Captain, he was just Renner’s subordinate, a peasant with no fealty to speak of. If the Kingdom's treasures were to be given to him, there would be no doubt the nobles would have dissenting opinions against it.

Even so.

“How about we just declare that we intend to become a vassal state of the Sorcerous Kingdom?”

Renner’s goal was to live out her life in a small manor with Climb, which would still be achievable even if they became a vassal state. No, it’s safe to say that if the value of royalty fell, it would have an inverse effect on their personal safety. Perhaps Renner’s suggestion would create the best outcome for her.

“Hmph!” Zanac scoffed at Renner’s proposal, “the state of the internal affairs of our country and that of the Empire’s is completely different. Civil disorder would occur the moment we suggest it.”

Under the leadership of the Bloody Emperor, the Empire was as solid as a rock. Dissenting nobles had been purged long ago, which is why when they chose to become a vassal state, there was no opposition whatsoever. Nevermind the fact that the Empire hadn’t had a taste of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s wrath. Even if they were disgusted by the agreement on the inside, it’s not as though they had the desire to seek retribution. The Empire had a clear cut understanding of exactly how terrifying the Sorcerous Kingdom could be. The Kingdom, however, was in a different situation.

As of now, the Kingdom was split between the Royal Faction, the Noble Faction, independents, and a new faction that was formed after that battle. The distribution of power between the four factions was roughly 3:3:2:2.

The most troublesome of them all was the new faction. It was composed mostly of “spare men” from noble families that had lost both their head and successor, men who obtained power not meant for them. The other members lacked the common sensibilities that were expected of the aristocracy and had no respect for the unspoken rules. As a result, many of them lacked integrity and manners. Spy reports showed that more than a few of them were drunk on power.

They were the cancer of this nation.

However, since they had autonomy in their own lands, nothing could be done about them unless they broke the law of the Kingdom. Even if they did, there was no guarantee on how the other factions would react when the royal powers were exercised. This was no longer the pre-war era when the royal faction held the upper hand in political power.

Still, Renner’s suggestion of vassalization was not totally out of the question. It could be considered if the situation was to change drastically.

“No, that will not happen. There will not be any civil disorder, onii-sama.”

Renner naturally followed with a counter.

{Don’t lie to me}, Zanac thought.

Although he could tell that she wasn’t being serious, it would not have been a problem even if Zanac was stupid enough to fall for it. Zanac had learned to see through her facades long ago.

It was precisely because of this reason that women like her should not be trusted.

{If only Elias had returned.}

Zanac suddenly felt a sense of loneliness deep down in his heart. Though he couldn’t call Marquis Raeven a friend, he was still someone who shared Zanac's concerns for the Kingdom. Zanac was concerned by the fact that it may no longer be possible for them to work side by side with each other, as the marquis’ replacements at hand were all terrifyingly talented but also uncontrollable wildcards.

Zanac turned to face Renner in a pretentious manner, as if doing so would rid him of his sorrows.

“Still, I find it hard to believe that the Empire would actually import goods from the Sorcerous Kingdom.”

“…Well that was an awkward way to change the topic, not that I mind…hm, those things aren’t that bad for a vassal state like the Empire, right?”

The most exported goods from the Sorcerous Kingdom to the Empire in terms of the revenue they generated were undead creatures. Apparently they were distinguished by categories such as menial labor, military service, cargo transportation, and so on.

“Oy oy, we’re talking about the undead remember? The enemy of the living?”

“But they don’t require sustenance and don’t get tired. Frankly speaking, they’re the best kind of worker you could hope for. You’re correct in thinking that importing the Sorcerer King’s undead into our country would be risky since it would essentially be us allowing another nation’s soldiers onto our own soil. But on the other hand, it’s also a gesture to the Sorcerous Kingdom that its vassal does not have anything to hide from them. They’re basically handing the other end of the leash they’ve placed on themselves over to the Sorcerous Kingdom.”

Renner raised her head towards the ceiling.

“In some ways, this is an admirable attitude that we could learn from. It is a good way to show that they can easily threaten us.”

“That’s true, if a superior cannot trust their inferior, it’s definitely more reassuring to have a firm grasp on their weaknesses. I can somewhat understand the Empire’s actions if I look at it from that perspective. It looks as though E-Rantel and the dwarven nation in the Azerlisia mountains have initiated trade relations. They’re exchanging undead miners and fresh ingredients for ores and high-quality, dwarven-made farming equipment.”

This was according to the intel they had received from their spy in E-Rantel, who had met with some dwarves.

“Cargo hauling within the Azerlisia mountain range can simply be handled by the undead. Apparently the shipping and labor costs are basically negligible, so much so that it’s cheaper for them to buy from the dwarves than from us.”

“That’s right.”

“-are we abandoning the plans to form an alliance with the Council State?”

“Ah yes, that’s currently in progress, but the situation isn’t great. Though a Dragon Lord has agreed to it, we still need more time to convince the representatives of the other races. Though even if this falls through, the prospect of an alliance would not be completely ruled out, that much was said.”

That was only partly true.

The anti-Sorcerous Kingdom alliance was forming at a snail’s pace, but progress was smooth nonetheless. They were at the stage of relying on the generosity and solidarity of other countries to hopefully get them to sign the mutual reinforcement pact at all costs, in other words, it was an unreliable relationship without written agreements. Something like that could not be publicly announced as an alliance.

There were simply too many things to do to form a tight alliance, they would need at least a few months to sort it out.

“Is that so?… It would be great if we could form a military alliance as soon as possible. Now then, onii-sama, when do you plan to take the throne? I feel like it’s about time for you to fulfill your promise.”

The promise in question was that Renner would work alongside Zanac in exchange for a manor to live in secret with Climb, as well as the permission to do so.

“About that, just wait for a while. Surely you already knew of how the unofficial proposals are being dealt with soon? I’ve spoken to our father and we’ve decided to wait for him to put forward his last major policy before making any moves.”

If the king commits a fatal mistake in managing the state, he will bear the responsibility and abdicate.

If he made no mistakes, he would just propose more and more policies that are designed to upset the nobility, to allow the prince the opportunity to propose alleviating measures in order to reduce their dissatisfaction. The king would then be abdicating in a fashion that would gain him favour with the nobles. Although a stigma could be left on the elderly king’s reign, the benefits to the royal family far outweighed the detriments.

“Speaking of which, how’s the orphanage going? Are you planning to cook something for them again? Do you need any financial support?”

“That’s not necessary, my allowance is enough for its operations.”

There should be somewhere around 50 of them by now.

This was a significant figure, perhaps the greatest among all the orphanages in the Kingdom. Despite that, Renner had not sought external support in running the orphanage’s operations, which were funded entirely through her privy purse. Although as the third princess her allowance did not amount to much, it did substantially increase once her two older sisters were married off. It’s certainly not impossible for her to fund the orphanage on her own, but big cuts in the number of maids tending to her must’ve been made to allow for that.

Now that he thought about it, his sister seemed to only wear one set of clothes.

The royalty should never do something that’ll make the nobility look down on them. Zanac felt somewhat irritated but also proud that Renner knew how to spend her funds wisely.

“Hmm, do you want me to split some of my allowances with you? After all, the orphanage is an impressive feat in the eyes of the citizens.”

“I cannot allow that.”

Her rejection was uncharacteristically staunch.

“If there are outstanding children in the orphanage, I intend to take them with me to the manor. I will not allow you to take any of my prospective labor force~”

“Aah, so that’s your plan?……”

“Exactly, I’ve requested Brain-san to help train them in swordsmanship. They should also start schooling soon. My efforts to nurture them have just begun.”

“Then what about the children who are not so exceptional?”

“Even if they could only do simple calculations or write, there will be a job waiting for them somewhere. Everything will work out just fine.”

“So you would be fine with it if I take the rest of them?”

“If you would do that it would make me very happy. I won’t have to worry that some of the children will be left behi-”

Renner’s voice was interrupted by the sound of someone violently knocking on the door.

“-what, what’s going on? What’s with the commotion!”

Just as Zanac raised his voice, the door was suddenly opened.

“Your Highness! Emergency!”

A noble dressed in familiar court attire ran into the room. He was one of the officials in charge of internal affairs. Tightly gripped in his hand was a piece of parchment.

“What happened!”

Zanac took one look at the parchment presented to him and a surprised expression could be seen on his face. It was as though he could not comprehend its contents. No, it was more like he was in disbelief.

“What’s wrong?”

Zanac did not have the strength to reply, instead, he just passed the parchment paper to Renner in silence. And then-

“Hah?”

The sound that she made was uncharacteristic for her, it sounded like she was absolutely dumbfounded.

{Oh look, she’s exposing her human side again.} Zanac grinned in a way as if he had just given in to his despair.

End of Prologue

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