CH 115

It’s been a day since my appointment and today I stopped receiving the invitation letter to the tea party from the noble ladies. Maybe they thought that they no longer had any use for a noble who got demoted, or perhaps they thought I would be busy because of my new appointment, so they refrained from sending a new invitation letter. Either way, I was grateful that the letters had finally stopped coming.

According to Father, some stupid nobles offered to take care of Mazell’s family while I was in Anheim, but Father had dealt with them. Perhaps fishing out these nobles was also the royal family’s aim in appointing me as Anheim’s governor.

Now, I was in the middle of receiving a report regarding what happened to Count Bachem and Lestlatga after Lily’s kidnapping. His Highness was busy today, so he didn’t call me to receive the report but rather, an official came to my office.

“First of all, I have been entrusted with words of praise for Viscount’s hard work.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

I thought that ‘praise for hard work’ was just a formality, but apparently, it was not. What I did ended up making the Bain Kingdom gain the upper hand in diplomatic relations with other countries. Incidentally, even though he was an official, he was the kingdom’s messenger to me, so he spoke politely to me.

However, since our conversation was more about sharing information than an official report, our conversation was more relaxed.

“The fact that the devils have infiltrated our country was a rather embarrassing incident for our country internationally but it turns out, the devils had also infiltrated Lestlatga.”

“Oh, I see… Wait, demons also infiltrated Lestlatga!?”

The second half of the sentence surprised me. Now I understood the demons had also made moves against other countries.

“Lestlatga was currently in the middle of a succession conflict between the First Prince and the Second Prince.”

“Oh…”

Was the succession war so fierce that it was even known to the Bain Kingdom? Only the king of Lestlatga appeared in the game, but it seemed that the kingdom also had two princes. I wondered if the reason why these two princes didn’t appear in the game was the same as why the other nobles of the Bain Kingdom didn’t appear.

“From what I heard, the person who pulled the string behind this incident was a close aide of the Second Prince. Because of that, the First Prince’s faction have also extended gratitude to us, albeit unofficially.”

It seemed like Lestlatga’s newly appointed ambassador was a member of the First Prince’s faction. The old ambassador was being held responsible for the kidnapping incident.

I wondered if demons tempted the Second Prince’s faction to kidnap Mazell’s family, so that the Second Prince’s faction could force Mazell to become their subordinate? Maybe they were backed into a corner by the First Prince’s faction, so they chose this path, hoping to turn the table.

However, because now it was proven that Lestlatga had also been infiltrated by the devils, the devils might have also infiltrated other countries. Ah, so that was why he said ‘it was an embarrassing incident’.

“Our Bain Kingdom has already eliminated the devils who infiltrated our country. But what about your country? Was it something along that line?”

“Yes. All this time, other countries have been laughing at us behind our backs for allowing devils to infiltrate our capital, but now since it was known that the devils have also infiltrated Lestlatga, other countries have changed their attitude and now have been asking our ambassadors on how we can eliminate the devils and teach them to do the same.”

He might be speaking to me, a noble of his own country, even so, this person’s way of explaining was quite brazen. I wondered if he was an official who held a high position in the diplomatic field, or if he interacted daily with someone like that. Either way, he didn’t seem to be just a normal official. He might be a high-ranking official or a perhaps close aide of a noble.

In any case, I didn’t know his position, so I didn’t want to show my hands too much. I decided to seamlessly divert the conversation. 

“Is the merchant who called himself Rafed also a member of the Second Prince’s faction?”

“Yes, he is. Well, he begged and cried when he was captured, saying that he did not know that it was a plan made by a devil.”

Hmm… The Second Prince’s faction wanted to take Mazell’s family as a hostage so that they could force Mazell to work for them. However, they were unknowingly used by Devils. Devils’ original plan was probably to take Mazell’s family from Rafed before they entered Lestlatga, that was why demons were waiting for Rafed outside of the Lestlatga’s walls.

Because of this incident, the Second Prince’s faction fell, giving the First Prince a chance to consolidate his position as the heir to Lestlatga’s throne. On the other hand, our country was able to take advantage of the fact that the member of Lestlatga’s royal family was being used by the devil to gain the upper hand in the diplomatic relationship with Lestlatga.

The kingdom would probably use this incident to negotiate tariff prices or something along that line. Our country had also gained a diplomatic advantage over other countries because we successfully killed the devils that infiltrated the capital. His Highness and our ambassadors, I think they wouldn’t be able to get enough sleep in the future. Poor them.

“How about Count Bachem? Why did the Count of our country cooperate with a foreign country?”

“Well, that is… a quite complicated story.”

The official smiled bitterly. Why was your expression mixed with pity?

“The current Count Bachem became a Count after he married the former Count Bachem’s daughter and his current wife is his second wife.”

“Then?”

“He had a very good relationship with his first wife. Unfortunately, his first wife passed away because of illness. After that, Count Bachem remarried, but his relationship with his second wife was not very good.”

Then, the official continued to tell me that the current Count Bachem’s second wife was, in fact, the former Count Bachem’s younger sister! His wife was older than him. Whoah… your wife was your father-in-law’s younger sister, who was older than you. I could imagine how weak the current Count Bachem’s position was in his own home.

“Count Bachem’s eldest son was the son of his first wife while his second son was the son of his current wife, but his current wife insisted that the Count’s second son was the rightful heir, and she had pressed the Count to officially acknowledge that daily.”

“Well, that is… a quite common story.”

So, Count Bachem’s motive was also a family dispute. In any case, was the second son even Count Bachem’s biological son? Well, since this world didn’t have DNA tests, I guess no one would ever know.

“Unable to bear with his wife constantly pushing him, the Count finally left his estate and stayed in the capital with his eldest son. While constantly hoping that his wife would die in an accident or illness, the Count met Rafed.”

Rafed must have approached the Count because he needed someone to help him from inside. Rafed claimed to be a merchant, but also seemed to know a lot about poison. I remembered one of his men attempted to use a paralyzing poison back when Mazell’s family was kidnapped.

“Rafed would make the Count’s second wife die a natural death in exchange for the Count helping him to bring the Hero’s family to the capital.”

That was the reason!? What the hell? No wonder His Majesty was that angry. Ah, no, maybe the Count and his eldest son were constantly facing his wife’s assassination attempt, and that was why he took a desperate measure. I mean, the noble families were often chaotic behind the screen.

Either way, I’d like to tell him to not involve others in his own family affair.

“The Count explained to His Majesty that the reason why he did so was because the Hero was capable of killing two demon generals. He was a threat to our country, so for the sake of this country, the count wanted to chase Hero off while also sowing the seeds of political strife in another country.”

“What did His Majesty say against that?” 

I asked while keeping my poker face perfect and my voice calm. I had expected that someone would someday say something like that against Mazell.

Well, in Count Bachem’s case, it was used as a mere excuse and I was sure that His Majesty wouldn’t accept that excuse since if he did, that would be like declaring to the kingdom that the royal family saw Mazell as a threat. 

“His Majesty was extremely angry and said how could Sir’s personal opinion be an excuse for Sir to cooperate with another country to kidnap our people? Then, His Majesty ordered for the Count to be thrown into the rat hole.”

“Well, that was quite…”

I felt sorry for him, even though I didn’t want to sympathize with him.

When hearing the word prison, the image that commonly came to mind was a room with stone walls and iron bars filled with several people. Commoners’ prisons in this world were like that too.

On the other hand, the nobles’ prisons were different. A noble prison was more like a private room, although there was an iron bar in its window. Of course, there were also harsh prisons where the prisoners would be chained all day long….But the rat hole was on another level.

A Rat hole was a prison for criminals with heavy crime. It was about one meter high, 40 centimeters wide, and 60 centimeters deep. It was literally a hole surrounded by stone walls with only a thick board acting as a door.

As anyone could imagine by the size of the hole, an adult couldn’t stand up or even lie down inside of it. Count Bachem must sit while leaning on the wall, and he had to eat and sleep constantly in that position. There was no light inside, so it would be pitch black at night and there was no bathroom.

You would definitely get PTSD after you entered the rat hole. If a noble was thrown into a rat hole, I suspect that noble would bang their head to the wall and die an ‘accidental death’

“The Count’s eldest son was put into another prison. Soldiers have also been sent to arrest the count’s wife and second son. As for Bachem County, it was currently under the control of the royal family.”

“I see. I now understand the situation. Thank you for the information and the explanation.”

Although I understood the situation, I didn’t want to get involved. I mean, trial and such was the kingdom’s responsibility, not mine, so I thanked him politely and after that, he said goodbye to me and left.

After he had left, I let out a breath. As expected, someone finally brought up the ‘Mazell is dangerous’ card.

However, I was glad that His Majesty denied it. Plus I might be able to use His Majesty’s words.