11 (Toko’s Perspective)
Late at night at the Sakuragi Ducal House.
Toko entered the head of the family’s study at an even later hour than usual and let out a deep sigh as soon as she slumped into a chair. Toko wish Suzuha-nii would at least give me a shoulder rub or something, she thought.
The Duke of Sakuragi, who had entered after her, handed her a cup of hot tea, which she took a sip from.
“You seem exhausted.”
“Seriously…! I knew things were bad, but I never expected public order in the territories to deteriorate this much!”
“We did purge most of them, after all.”
Currently, public order in the Drosselmeyer Kingdom was worsening.
The reason was simple: there had been a coup.
To be more precise, when Toko became queen, she had thoroughly purged the nobles who sided with the princes.
One of the major duties of nobility was maintaining order within their territories.
So, once the majority of nobles had been purged, the decline in public order was inevitable.
“Well, I did cause this mess by becoming queen, so I can’t exactly complain…”
“That may be so, but had either of the princes become king, the state of public order would’ve been incomparably worse. After all, those fools were the kind who’d stage a coup and then squeeze their subjects dry with oppressive governance. Spending money on maintaining order would’ve been the last thing on their minds.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true…”
She decided not to point out that they themselves had also planned a coup. Mostly because she didn’t have the energy to argue.
“Still, the rate of decline is faster than I expected. Why is that?”
“I have a theory about that.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
The Duke stroked his chin before speaking.
“That man.”
“That man… You mean Suzuha-nii? How does this involve him?”
“This is merely a hypothesis proposed by our ducal butler, but—”
—Long ago, our kingdom was a great power that posed a threat to neighboring nations.
As a result, those nations focused on bolstering their defenses, leaving little room for covert operations.
But then, Suzuha’s elder brother appeared.
He single-handedly reclaimed his own territory and crushed a million-strong invading army without deploying a single soldier.
Logically speaking, no amount of military force could oppose such overwhelming power.
So, the only remaining option would be to resort to underhanded tactics—
Hearing the Duke’s theory, Toko scratched her head in frustration.
“So they’re giving up on direct confrontation and instead sabotaging our public order to weaken us!?”
“Precisely.”
“Ugh… That does sound plausible…!”
“If I were an enemy nation, I’d send in bandits to destabilize the region and even support existing ones. After all, even if those bandits are caught, tracing their connections to nobility is nearly impossible.”
“Honestly, it’d be easier if they just attacked us outright…”
“But that offers no benefit to them. Reports indicate that neighboring countries have drastically reduced their border garrisons against us. They have more than enough surplus manpower to redirect toward this.”
“Ugh…!”
“Here’s another interesting tidbit. Right now, the territory with the best public order in the kingdom—by a landslide—is the Lohengrin Margraviate. Meaning, no foreign power is interfering there.”
“Well, if anyone did meddle and risked Suzuha-nii’s wrath, they’d end up like the Calandor Territory—utterly annihilated. Nobody’s stupid enough to mess with his lands!”
Now she understood why public order was deteriorating faster than expected. This was undoubtedly the reason.
“Sigh… Just when I thought things couldn’t get more troublesome thanks to Suzuha-nii. Not that I can complain, since the benefits we’ve gotten from him outweigh the trouble a million times over!”
“Oh? What happened this time?”
“A summons from the Holy Theocracy.”
The Holy Theocracy was a religious nation centered around the headquarters of the dominant faith across the continent.
Though the Drosselmeyer Kingdom had its own state religion, it had originally branched off from the Holy Theocracy.
Of course, the former pope—who should’ve been the head of the state religion—had been purged as one of the coup’s ringleaders, leaving the position vacant.
Upon hearing that the Holy Theocracy had taken action, the Duke immediately grasped the situation.
“I see. They’re curious about that man, so they’re probing for information. The Holy Maiden is involved, no doubt—along with the Pope and the archbishops.”
“Ugh, if they’re so interested in Suzuha-nii, why don’t they just come themselves!?”
“Give it up. Traditionally, when a new monarch ascends, it’s customary for us to visit them to pay respects.”
Complaining wouldn’t change anything. Toko knew that.
The real question was—what should they do about it?
And since she couldn’t think of a solution, she was stuck like this.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
“Well, I will go greet the Holy Theocracy, but… back to the main topic—if that’s the case, the only solution is to steadily invest in public order, huh? Isn’t there an easier way?”
“No ruler has it easier than you. Be grateful to that man.”
“I am grateful, but still…”
Then, a thought struck her.
The Duke also had to be struggling with deteriorating public order in his own territory. In fact, he’d been busy dealing with it until recently.
But now, he seemed… oddly composed?
“Hey. Do you have some kind of secret plan?”
She asked, though she doubted it as she sipped her tea. Delicious.
“Not a plan, but the ducal butler sent word earlier.”
“About what?”
“—Apparently, after visiting the ducal estate, that man declared he would eliminate all eighty-eight designated targets across the territory before departing the premises.”
“PFFFFFFFFT—!?”
She spat out her tea in spectacular fashion.
The Duke, who had apparently anticipated this reaction, quickly raised some documents as a shield.
“Cough, cough— Wh-What was that!?”
“Given his abilities, it’s entirely possible.”
“Well, yeah, but still! …Wait, that might actually work…?”
“Assuming we overlook the fact that it reduces the number of favors we can call in from him in emergencies, it’s a viable solution. Though I heard Yuzuriha scolded him for accepting the extermination requests.”
“Of course she did. If you casually assign work to Suzuha-nii, she’ll get mad. Though Suzuha-nii himself probably doesn’t care at all.”
“Indeed.”
Neither of them entertained even the slightest doubt that Suzuha’s elder brother might fail.
In fact, if there were any opponent who could so much as trouble him even a little, the Duke would’ve already sent an urgent report to the queen.
“Hmph. Lucky you. I wish Suzuha-nii would handle the royal direct territories too.”
“Ask him. He likely won’t refuse. Why not request he clear out the entire kingdom?”
“Ah, no, that’s a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Because humans are creatures who take the path of least resistance.”
If they asked, Suzuha’s elder brother would accept, and the nobles would be grateful.
But if that kept happening, it would become a habit.
And then, one day, when Suzuha’s elder brother was no longer around—
The nobles would have completely forgotten that they were supposed to protect their own lands.
“Don’t get me wrong—what you just described is fine. Like, ‘Oh, Suzuha-nii happened to be here, so we had him repay a favor by handling it.’ But that’s not something to do regularly. Most nobles don’t even have favors to call in from him in the first place.”
“The ones we purged would’ve exploited him to the fullest and then refused to repay their debts.”
“Which is why they got purged… If Suzuha-nii ever gets fed up and abandons the kingdom, that’s the fastest path to ruin.”
“I take it you have no intention of asking the royal family to mediate extermination requests?”
“Nope. He’d probably grill us endlessly about our current understanding of the situation first.”
Toko tilted her head slightly.
“Not that I’d hesitate in an emergency, of course. Like if some monster appeared that only Suzuha-nii could handle.”
“Oh?”
“I’m talking about the highest-level threats, you know? Stuff like, say… the legendary Jörmungandr, sealed by the first Duke of Sakuragi, being resurrected!”
Jörmungandr was a mythical serpent said to have existed in the age of legends.
The first Duke of Sakuragi had fought it in a months-long battle to the death, ultimately sealing it away in a sacred mountain—where a hot spring supposedly emerged afterward.
Though no reliable eyewitness accounts remained, and in modern times, it was considered a creature of myth.
“……Don’t even joke about that. The mere thought of a monster capable of destroying the Sakuragi Duchy existing is unbearable.”
“Ah. Sorry.”
After discussing a few more matters,
their usual late-night secret meeting came to an end.
Approximately a month and a half later,
the Duke of Sakuragi would receive an urgent report that the evil serpent had resurrected—only to be slain instantly, leaving him utterly stunned—
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