Chapter 32: Politics with Honoria Crown

"Are you to head to your private laboratory, sir?" Vincent asked once he recovered, all professional demeanor again.

Mattheus leaned back against the armchair and ran a hand through floppy black hair. His jacket button was still undone from when he sat with his mother, but he figured Honoria would overlook it both because of her preoccupation with the handkerchief and the fact this was their home.

Not like the staff wasn't aware that every single one of the Crowns were eccentric. It said something about the family when Brunilda told him that Honoria and Mattheus were the most normal of the bunch to the servants and their idea of aristocracy.

Mattheus Crown. There weren't that many secrets that "the help" wasn't privy to, so they thought an amnesiac transmigrator more normal than his older brother.

The nineteen-year-old was not surprised his father was eccentric—Albert IV was known to be an oddball of an earl. But Mattheus thought Edgar was rather normal…

Remembering the question the valet asked, Mattheus contemplated for a moment. Then, he replied, "No, not today. I will rest until dinner is ready."

"Very good, sir." Vincent bowed before dismissing himself, leaving Mattheus alone in his suite.

Standing up, he got comfortable by removing his jacket and undoing his shirt cuffs. The tie was loosened just a tad, considering he will need to fix it for dinner later, as he walked toward the méridienne couch.

He wasn't actually going to nap but it was better to keep up appearances even though he never hid that he talked to Brunilda from Vincent. Talking to an animal was less alarming than sitting down and staring at nothing for a long period of time. It also helped that Vincent was the type to talk to animals—at least, the valet informed Brunilda what he intended to do when acting as a groomer and spoke the menu to the cat like he would Mattheus and the baron's own meal.

Once lying down, he pulled up the System interface. The major upgrade gave it a new look and it seemed to have improved on its language in the Quests tab, but it was still a work in progress.

He checked the quests, which basically consisted of gathering materials nowadays that Brunilda helped with when it was too awkward for himself as an aristocrat to do so.

At least he now knew the constant updates were an effort to do something with the magic he simply couldn't get to work, along with an improvement to the Inventory. There was already some type of mechanic where he could convert items in the Inventory at a certain cost, but the cost at the System's current abilities was ridiculous.

There was a quest to improve this mechanic as well that also required gathering material.

The last quest had to do with the removal of size limits in the Inventory.

They were all gathering quests to allow the System to upgrade itself. He still wasn't sure if the materials were actually used to improve whatever hardware it used or it was just a weird ritual the System had to perform in order to upgrade itself.

But, honestly, if the System could develop and implement a way for Mattheus to use any non-healing magic, he would deal with the fact he felt like he was playing a super-simplified management/simulation game where he ran errands to improve things—the System, in this instance.

Mattheus had read everything front to back that his father gave him. He read the papers and notes of the Original.

He had basically memorized all the theory but was not able to actually put things into practice. Most everyone wasn't concerned since they assumed Mattheus's Color had intrinsically changed enough he wouldn't be able to do what he did before. But Mattheus knew better.

The transmigrator still remembered the reward for finding out who the original Mattheus Crown really was. He should be able to use the magic of this world. It's just that he didn't know how.

So, instead of studying pointlessly about magic in the lab, Mattheus had decided he needed to find out more about current events thanks to that handkerchief he received from the Queen. While it was apparent his mother didn't want to translate what the Queen meant, maybe he would be able to piece things together if they had more information—or, at least, Brunilda might.

He would need to wait until after dinner before he could set out to find more information though, which was why he was lying down and reorganizing the Inventory now that his and Brunilda's had been combined in that tab. On the plus side, he no longer needed to access her Inventory through the newly-renamed Companions tab. On the downside, it had been a giant mess since it lost Brunilda's previous organizational system.

A part of him knew he was at an impasse and something would break it. He honestly hoped it was the System demanding material not present in the Capital rather than the tension of his position as Court Healer that would bring about the change.

But he's never been that lucky, has he?

…

After dinner, he went to Honoria Crown.

Yes, his mother; his father would much rather read an alchemical journal than talk about politics.

And, honestly, everyone knew which one between the couple was the true political genius.

Honoria looked up from her embroidery. Seeing him, she seemed to have thought he came to broach the topic of earlier.

"Darling, I wrote Genevieve a letter of thanks that I sent back with the handkerchief."

Mattheus made a mental note but corrected her. "Thank you for informing me, Mother, but I sought your company after dinner for a more urgent reason."

"Oh?"

"With the loss of my memory, I am not exactly sure my conclusions about the political climate of New Albion are accurate. So I came to seek your wisdom, Mother."

Honoria's eyes brightened.

"Come, sit down." She then affected a slightly exasperated countenance, though her twinkling eyes implied otherwise. "Oh, what a heavy topic after dinner, darling. But I suppose it must be done."

Of course, her actions of setting her embroidery to the side without bothering to look suggested otherwise too.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well." He thought for a moment before slowly replying, "I am aware that Mithras and Panniore were at an armistice before they decided to see if an alliance was possible. I am also aware that they chose their mutual neighbor, New Albion, because of respect for General Grant—who had fought with both countries before in the past.

"I am not sure how much a risk it would be if the alliance failed. Or if it succeeded."

He paused for a beat before adding. "Mithras fought Panniore instead of us mostly because New Albion was too big a beast to truly anger. But Mithras wants access to sea travel without going through another country. Panniore has greedy eyes on our advanced alchemy and wants it for their own."

Honoria hummed.

"While an alliance between the two might make them a more formidable force against our country, a failed alliance would mean war again. We would have to direct more troops and money toward those borders for whenever the fighting bleeds over. There would also be potential resentment from other countries. New Albion possibly being blamed for the failed alliance," his mother simply laid it out.

"Ah."

The dark-haired noblewoman gained a solemn look. "But, most of all, such resources being moved means that Leonois might take the change to try to restart a crusade against New Albion again."

Mattheus is surprised.

Leonois, the Holy Country?

"I know about the previous wars that resulted in the bias against the people of Leonois and vice versa, but I thought that is in the past considering the lack of conflict?"

"My son. You were born in the Basilea Duchy and it had been the land of the Tellus line since the founding of Basilea. The Basilea Duchy has always had a lot of power and your father and my marriage was enough to have the previous Holy Emperor become wary and compromise. Our marriage was when Leonois laid down its arms against New Albion, not wanting to risk losing in their crusade."

He thought for a moment.

Honoria Crown was originally Honoria Tellus, the only child of Duke Tellus. The Basilea Duchy was the technologically richest region in the entirety of Yuropa. They were more an economical power than a military one but the small numbers of their army would not matter if one considered the potential of Albert IV Crown.

The last few generations of the Crown family were pacifists and intellectuals but that was only in the last century. If push came to shove, no one would be surprised blood will shine through.

It was why Edgar being a Knight-Captain was remarked upon not because he was capable of being a very effective military officer but what it would mean for the heir to the Crown line to specialize in war again.

"I see," Mattheus voiced.

Then his eyes widened.

Honoria mentioned the "previous" Holy Emperor. That was because the title had changed hands in the last few years.

And what with how the current Holy Emperor killed all his brothers to ascend the throne, Mattheus realized why his mother mentioned Leonois being a threat if the alliance failed.

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