Chapter 109: Ch-110: Queen Maker (10)
You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.
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"…Only your esteemed selves can come in and out. And each can only be accompanied by up to four escorts."
Having finished his part, the messenger of Lupus bowed his head.
He did it to keep his manners, but more so because he couldn't overcome the heavy air hovering in the tent and the stinging glares directed at him.
"…It was not enough to make us wait for several hours, now you're limiting the number of people who can enter."
One of the men sitting at the table murmured.
"Is this the will of Her Highness?"
Calion Oller.
As the eldest son of the Oller family, the de facto ruler of the southern region of the Kingdom of Prona, he revealed his displeasure without filter.
The messenger opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. For he had been commanded not to answer whatever they asked.
"Looks so."
And that silence was accepted by Calion as affirmation.
"Haha! It seems that Her Highness, the new Queen, is quite apprehensive of us."
The name of the man smiling cheerfully adjacent to Lorian was Louis Sentry.
He was the eldest son of Count Sentry, who heralded the eastern region of the Kingdom of Prona.
"It would be more correct to see it as a wiser choice."
The brown-haired handsome man shook his head.
Lorian Cartar.
The powerful successor to the Kingdom of Carta, and one of the only four Heroes on the continent.
When he spoke, the nobles who had been whispering among themselves all paid attention to him.
Which was enough to show his place in this alliance.
He quietly enjoyed the silence and continued.
"But that doesn't change it becomes risky for us too, there are too few people you are allowing to enter."
The ones allowed to enter Lupus were Lorian and his party members, Calion and Lewis, and four of their own escort knights.
"Suppose, I assume there will be very little of that, but if an impure intention begets on the other side, we will be helpless. How is this not different from asking us to deliver ourselves into the tiger's mouth?"
"…"
"Go back. Go and speak our mind to your master."
"Understood."
Just when the messenger, who had lightly bowed, turned his back and was about to leave the tent.
"If there's no rectification, you better not come back."
Words Lorian spat out quietly turned into a proverbial dagger and flew at the messenger. The messenger swallowed a mouthful of saliva in cold sweat.
"…I'll keep that in mind."
The messenger bowed his head once more toward the inside of the tent and hurried for the castle. After the messenger left, Lorian's expression, which had been solemnly stiff, turned somewhat lukewarm.
Seeing that, Lewis quickly flattered.
"As expected, those who inherit the lineage of the royal family are different no matter what. There is a candid dignity to your voice. When you said those words to the messenger just now, his face dropped dramatically, haha."
""
"I just said what I had to say, it's unnecessary to bring it up like that."
Lorian smiled lightly and accepted Lewis' blatant flattery. Other aristocrats, who had been paying attention to him, began to flatter him in order to get his attention.
The tent, which was freezing until just now, was filled with laughter.
Time passed like that.
'These people know no shame.'
Lorraine, who was accompanying Lorain soon got tired with the banal fawning.
They were an alliance, there wasn't a need to stoop so low…
'Older brother would always listen to it in moderation and make them stop. Why is he liking it so much today?'
Lorraine let out a small sigh as she skillfully received flatteries around her. She should know. That was all for managing image and personal connections.
But it wasn't just today's instance that made her think this way.
Lately, Lorian had been more likely to hold a pen than a sword.
He was certain he would inherit the throne, so he slowly worked for the latter.
Solidifying his support base was certainly a good move.
'But there are priorities.'
Lorraine wasn't happy with Lorian's behavior lately.
Because, just like she thought, he played with the pen rather than the sword.
No.
He wasn't neglecting martial arts either.
He regularly went out to cull monsters, practised every night so that his skills wouldn't go dull, and recently acquired an incredible set of equipment.
Far from declining, he was much stronger than before.
Then, what was the real reason for Lorraine's bad mood?
The answer was not difficult.
'…Even if I ask for sparring, he won't do it because he's always busy.'
She felt disgruntled with her older brother, who neglected her with the excuse of being busy.
While a grumpy expression was creeping on Lorraine's face, the knight guarding the doorway of the tent walked inside. Seeing him enter, Lorian raised his right hand. The nobles shut their mouths as if they had been perfectly silent.
Lorraine propped her gaze over on the knight.
"The Hero Cloud has arrived."
The knight's words, more precisely the name of the man he had spoken, stuck in Lorraine's ears. She opened her eyes wide as if she had been hit in the back of the head with a sledgehammer.
She wasn't the only one surprised.
The other nobles in the tent, as well as Lorian, were momentarily agitated.
It was not unusual for the leadership from both camps to meet and talk. However, it was strange, the leader of the enemy side was visiting the other camp.
Of course, they were not at war right now.
Though, they didn't seem far off either.
It required gut and self-confidence.
"He is bold. Great. Please let him in."
Shortly after the knight left, a man with a crimson flag for hair came inside. His appearance was the most outstanding of the ones in the tent.
Hero Cloud.
In the past, he was an insignificant Hero who was below nondescript, but now he was a man who had literally created a miracle.
All attention was focused on him.
Among them was Lorraine.
'Cloud…!'
'Cloud…!'
The demonic man who had trampled on her innocence and virtue!
Lorraine glared at him with a hot, smothering gaze. Perhaps he felt the look in her eyes, he turned his head right towards her.
'Uh?!'
The one left embarrassed was Lorraine.
Cloud peeked at her and gave her a wink. It happened so quickly that others couldn't see it, but she saw it clearly.
'This lip rapis†?!'
Lorraine's eyelids quivered.
But when she snarled, he had already turned his gaze elsewhere.
Cloud left the trembling Lorraine behind and slumped into the chair brought by the knight. As he leaned back against the backrest, for some reason, a slightly lackadaisical attitude was portrayed.
In the silence that ensued for a moment, it was Lorian who spoke first.
"Long time no see. The last time I saw…"
"Cull the greetings, let's get right to the point."
Cloud interrupted Lorian with an openly exasperated voice. His rudeness made the people who were boot licking Lorian croak. However, Lorian, the person in charge, only slightly wiggled his eyebrows.
"Did you ask for an increase in the number of people allowed to enter? I'll start with the conclusion. No."
"Why?"
"You're not asking because you don't know, are you?"
"I don't want myself satisfied with such a vague answer. Kindly explain properly why you can't provide a place to rest for the staff of the Army marching to support the Kingdom of Alitia."
"First military pressure, then just motive, got yourself quite the toys to play, uh?"
Cloud looked at Lorian with a disgruntled expression. When that expression was combined with his slightly informal posture, it birthed a great synergy.
"Hero Warrior. Your behavior is a bit rude. Even though you are a Hero, just the same, Hero Lorian is the Prince of the Kingdom of Carta. We'll want you to be polite."
One of the nobles of the Kingdom of Carta, who could not hold back his anger, said it as if to bludgeon him.
At his words, Lorian clicked his tongue inwardly, and Cloud responded as if he had just been waiting.
"Politeness? Who gave you the right to stand on high moral ground and demand politeness and civility when you barge your way, with an army, pounding at the doors of an uninformed host's house?"
"…We are sorry about that."
Cloud snickered at the apology that didn't look boding well for the aristocrat.
"Didn't consider apologizing to the messenger, did you, then? As soon as the poor guy arrived, he flopped down, sweating loads. So I halted writing my 'polite' letter and came all the way here."
His words were uncourtly, coarse.
But no one objected.
Even if this plan were to succeed, it didn't mean Cloud will lose out. Judging from his rapid growth, there was a high possibility that he would continue to win and hoist up in the future.
That's why they didn't want to be remembered by him for nothing.
There was no love lost between Lorian and Cloud, but just because Lorian was present currently didn't mean he would always protect them.
Maybe if things got complicated, he might even cast away a sacrifice or two.
So the nobles kept their mouths shut.
Sweeping his gaze at the nobles who remained silent, Lorian sighed.
"I present my deep apologies both to you and the princess. But we couldn't help it either. The request for support from the Kingdom of Alitia seemed very urgent. We forgot the basics because we only thought about advancing briskly. Accept our sincere apologies."
Lorian lightly tipped his head forward.
In response to his apology, Cloud's demeanor became colder rather than milder.
His frivolousness erased, he said coldly.
"You know how farcical this looks? You guys seemed to be declaring war on the Kingdom of Prona. That's no different from questioning the authority of the Church when this is the site where a Heavenly King was vanquished."
"We never intended to do that."
"Even if you didn't mean it, the result won't change. I will send a letter to the Empire and the Church to formally protest on this matter."
"Once again, we present our apologies on the matter, but it will only get complicated to stretch this further."
"What complications? No matter where you look, the fault's yours."
"I concur. However, if our forces are forced to retreat now, the Kingdom of Alitia will suffer devastating damage from the Orcs. You know they're coming."
"Ah, what bothers me is not the Kingdom of Alitia, but you. The scattered-brained slipshod idea to impose the moral absurdity no sane mind would believe. Huh, could this be called a political threat?"
A chilling conversation.
The aristocrats in the tent darted their gazes at each other, the atmosphere was heavy, where blades colliding against each other seemed likely to happen any moment.
If a fight broke out between the two Heroes, they would be the first to be swept to death, so they had no choice but to be perceptive to momentary changes.
Fortunately, the pensive atmosphere did not last long.
"I have no intention of threatening you. I just said that all three Kingdoms could suffer great losses from this incident."
"If we let you go beyond this, only we will lose."
"Then, we will make amends for those losses."
"How?"
"I'm aware the damage the Heavenly King has done to the city is great. To the point where citizens are not even equipped with basic food, clothing, and shelter."
They would provide food, water, and sustenance.
They could afford enough because they'd have prepared enough supplies for various situations.
Lorian's proposal was something like that.
After thinking about it for a while, Cloud added one more condition.
"That's not enough."
""
"…anything more you want? Tell me. I shall accept it as long as it is not unreasonable."
"Huh, not unreasonable? Then pay the toll."
This time, Lorian was silent.
Again, it wasn't long.
"All right. We will remunerate. How much will it be?"
When Lorian accepted his last offer, Cloud grinned.
"Welcome to Lupus, guests. Please, let's negotiate the intricate details inside."
The cold expression from before morphed into a warm smile so bright that the distant demeanor was nowhere to be found.
* * *
Something was disconcerting.
Lorian thought so.
The plan had worked.
The number of people allowed to enter the city had also been elevated.
As desired, all nobles were being allowed to enter the city. Instead, the number of escorts assorted to each person; the retainers they could bring with was reduced to two, but that was no big issue.
What mattered, and important was that they all came together.
Pretending to sympathize and stealthily unpacking and distributing the ration supply was also successful. With their overwhelming quantity and quality, it would not be a that hard task to capture the food flow of the city.
And to seize the food flow in crumbling, starving cities like these was to seize power.
From that perspective, in retrospect, the toll negotiations were an advantageous happenstance for them.
Because time was on their side.
'…Strange.'
It was nice that the plan had worked out faithfully.
But it had worked out… too well.
Like puzzle pieces fitting together…
The doubt that kept gnawing at his heart was largely resolved the moment he entered Lupus.
'The damage is more serious than expected.'
The streets were lined with beggars begging for just a quarter penny, the sight was aggravating for anyone to believe it was the Capital City of a Kingdom.
'They must be horribly starving.'
To the point they fought and devoured the apple he gave out to the core, even the seeds.
Then what he ought to do was simple.
All he would have to do was to make the apples so sweet they wouldn't realise they were swallowing poison.
Yes, that was it.
Then he can…
Something stuck.
'Why? What's the matter?'
Lorian, who continued to think, immediately recalled the conversation he had with Cloud at the camp.
He had apparently came out in the middle of writing a letter.
'Why had he been writing a letter?'
Maybe the letter could be a variable.
Lorian, who wanted to thoroughly prune out the variable from the plan, stuck next to Cloud and quietly inquired.
"Oh, that? Frillite."
He answered airily, to the extent as if Lorian was vain to ask about it.
"Right. My apologies for being intrusive…"
It was so airily that he almost slipped by.
'Wait.'
Lorian's steps stalled.
"…what did you just say? A letter to whom?"
"Did you not hear? It's a letter to Frillite."
Was it an illusion that Cloud subtlety brightened mentioning Frillite?
No. In the grand scheme of things, that didn't credit importance. For now.
Lorian frowned and criticized.
"Why are you writing a letter to Frillite? You should know she is very busy. The time to get your letter—"
"I know, she's busy. But if you receive a letter, you have to write a reply in regard out of courtesy, Prince Lorian."
Thud! Lorian felt his heart drop.
"The letter… you got it..? You got..? From her..?"
His voice, which had not been affected even in the freezing battle of wills, quivered violently.
It was gibberish.
Frillite had said she had never written a letter to anyone. When she needed to send a letter, she had someone else ghostwrite it.
She couldn't have written a letter to this man…
"Really. Wanna see?"
Cloud pulled out a parchment of paper from his bosom.
It was a letter envelope.
Treated with such great care that even the sealing wax used to seal the letter still adorned the letter.
"Look. Isn't it real?"
He tapped the center of the wax seal with his index finger.
The motif stamped in the center of the wax was a crest Lorian knew well.
How could he not.
It was the family crest of the woman he loved.
Lorian tipped his head forward.
He couldn't believe it.
He just didn't want to believe it.
However, no matter how much he denied reality, it didn't mean that nothing had happened.
He had to admit.
Frillite wrote her first letter.
Not to Lorian, but to Cloud.
His heart ached and eyes watered.
He bit his lower lip to fight back the pooling tears from dripping, but it was not enough to stop the blood that trickled down his heart.
Tuk. Tuk.
Tears fell drop by drop, soaking the floor.
'Why… only do the likes of you always decorate her first memories?'
After light skinship and drinks, now even a letter.
What was next?
Just imagining it makes his heart rattle painfully.
"What? Why are you like this?"
Cloud's voice sounded flustered.
Bastard.
He clearly knew about Lorian's adoration and love for Frillite, considering the smirk he showed Lorian the other day; but was now pretending to be naive. Disgusting bastard.
'Wait, does he…?'
Lorian's head whirred quickly as he recalled the past.
When talking in the tent, Cloud was sarcastic and intoned his words in a pulling tone.
Lorian thought it was just psychological warfare he was using to take the lead in the conversation.
But what if it was not?
What if it was just groundwork for mentioning the letter rather than a psychological warfare?
"Hey, are you really crying?"
Lorian raised his head.
He saw Cloud's face desperately suppressing a crackling laugh.
"You son of a b!tch!"
Lorian couldn't hold it in any longer and threw out his fist.
You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.
p(a)treon.com/Daoist02
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