Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

Solon, the capital of Mephius.

Although there had been no magnificent and ceremonial departure, the populace was, of course, aware that an army led by Folker Baran had started off on its march some time earlier. It was headed towards Apta Fortress by way of Birac to go and suppress the fool that was arrogantly pretending to be Crown Prince Gil – who had been assassinated by the West – and the Generals Rogue Saian and Odyne Lorgo, who had shown signs of rebellion.

But it lost.

The Mephian host, organised by the emperor himself, had been defeated in battle against the impostor crown prince and even Birac, the centre for foreign trade, had been taken. Fedom Aulin, the lord of Birac, had whole-heartedly welcomed the crown prince and it was even said that “Birac treated it like the return of a true king.”

The people trembled.

Although the omens indicated that the fires of war might swallow the whole of Mephius, what they feared even more than that was Emperor Guhl Mephius. From their manner, it was as though they truly dreaded that the emperor’s fury might transform at any moment into dark clouds swirling over Solon from which bolts of lightning would come crashing.

Endless rumours were already being whispered throughout the city.

They said that in his unabating rage, the emperor had taken more than half of the soldiers who had escaped and had thrown them to the dragons.

They said that the emperor’s sycophantic vassal lords had presented him with a hundred slaves each and that in retaliation for having lost the battle, the emperor had personally cut off each of their heads until the temple of the Dragon Gods’ faith had been steeped in blood.

They said that the emperor intended to soon call up Mephius’ entire army, including the border garrisons, to Solon and send all of it to attack Birac.

The Emperor’s behaviour had recently been tyrannical, and a terrifying image of him was firmly taking root among the people.

For them, because so many projects had been put off in favour of constructing the Dragon Gods’ temple, the emperor and the Dragon Gods’ faith were one and the same. They dreaded that, in the depths of the temple, where none of them were ever allowed to tread, sinister schemes were, even now, moving forward.

“What will happen from now on?” They asked each other when they met.

Fundamentally, in Apta, Birac, Solon, and the rest of Mephius, the people shared the same unfathomable fear for the future.
 


Just as the rumours said, Guhl Mephius was certainly enraged. Those who were gathered at the main palace all had their heads lowered, like a group of apostates fearing the wrath of a god.

However, the emperor, separated from them by a long flight of stairs, neither burst into angry words nor struck the ground before him with his crystal-ornamented staff.

“So Folker lost as well?” Facing the people who always gathered for the morning council, the emperor spoke in the same tone as if nothing had happened the previous day. “And moreover, Folker, Yuriah and Zaas are all three being held captive in Birac? Has there been any demand for ransom from the enemy, Colyne?”

“Yes. I-I mean, no, that is... not yet.” Not even Colyne Isphan, the noble who was currently closest to the emperor, dared to look him full in the face.

“So they can’t even assess how much the defeated generals are worth in ransom money. Even for them, that’s disappointing.”

He spoke dispassionately as he sat on his throne, but that in itself seemed to call down a silence as still as death within the audience chamber.

Emperor Guhl Mephius had not killed slaves or soldiers with his own hands, as was whispered in the city.

“Rogue and Odyne’s families are being detained in Solon, are they not?” Guhl asked Colyne just as he rose from the throne, exactly as though he were getting confirmation on some trivial matter.

“Y-Yes!”

“Lock them up in the dungeons of the Tower of Four Wings. The two generals will of course have been prepared for at least that much.”

“Is he serious?”

After the emperor had left the audience hall, the nobles and military men who had remained behind talked in hushed voices.

“Is His Majesty really planning to execute the families of the generals?”

“Of course not. It’s just a threat.”

“Then what if Rogue and the others don’t let themselves be intimidated by that threat?”

“Then at that point…”

They gulped. There was a silence in which each seemed to shrink into themselves.

“If only Lord Simon were here at a time like this.”

“Don’t.”

“No, it’s not too late, even now. We can talk with Lord Rodloom and ask him to write a letter to His Majesty.”

“How would we talk with him? Lord Simon is under house arrest. His estate is under watch and you can be sure that His Majesty receives reports about every person who comes or leaves from it.”

Silence once more.

The principal lords and military commanders of Mephius had naturally received a shock when Birac was seized. They were curious about the person who claimed to be the crown prince and also felt an indistinct anxiety about the future. But what prevailed above all other emotions was, unsurprisingly, fear of the emperor.
 


What the real feelings of the Dragon-hearted Emperor – as Guhl Mephius was called in both awe and derision – were at this time not easy to guess. Guhl had immediately hurried the reorganisation of his forces, but at the same time, he seemed concerned that if he pursued the brute force approach any further, the insurrection would spread.

As proof of his worry, after giving his order to the retainers, he summoned a certain group.

The place was a corner of the temple of the Dragon Gods’ faith. The time was late at night.

There was a strange group of six. All of them had hoods drawn low over their faces. All of them were silently kneeling on one knee on the floor cut from rock. They looked for all the world like sacrifices waiting quietly for the moment when their heads were to be ceremonially severed.

All of them had arrived in Solon only a few days before. Each, however, through a different process.

This one, for example, had been serving as a mercenary in the defence forces at Idoro, but had slipped away like a deserter and had arrived in Solon seven days ago. That other one had established himself in one of the poor villages in the north that dotted the buffer zone with Zonga, living there with his family; but then, again about seven days ago, he and his family had suddenly appeared to have vanished, only for him to show up in Solon. Besides them, there were those who had been in the east until half a month ago, one working as a tool craftsman in Garbera, another as a pedlar wandering between villages in Ende.

The truth was that they were secret agents, in service to the emperor since their youth. Their main duty was to gather intelligence throughout the land and in foreign countries; and so they were sent to live and take root in those various areas. There were those among them who had families in foreign countries who had been living there for generations.

Of those, six who were particularly competent had been summoned.

Within the flickering light from a single candle, a man with a stooped back, his face also hidden by a hood, appeared before the group that crouched silently and motionlessly.

“We have received a secret letter,” he told them.

The document was unfolded under the light and six pairs of eyes converged towards it.

''Steal into Birac and gather information'' – it read.

The scale of the military forces, the movements of the generals, confirmation of the Garberan princess’ survival, the layout of the guards, the atmosphere within the city – the list of items was endless.

They also included ones about the crown prince, Gil Mephius. They were to verify his identity of course, but also –

“If you see an opportunity, kill him.” Just as the man with the bent back had said with his viscous voice, this too was written in the letter.

In other words, an order of assassination.

“However, His Majesty’s involvement is not to be divulged. Killing him with poison is out of the question. Frame it as the deed of a loyalist distressed by the country’s internal chaos.”

Nobody said a word.

Which meant that they had not a single question or hesitation towards this difficult mission.

“Now then. You will act at the peril of your lives for His Majesty the Emperor.”

“We will.”

It was the first time that they spoke, and the six voices did so in perfect unison.
 


At that same moment, and also in the Dragon Gods’ temple in Solon, another meeting was being held in great secrecy.

Although it was late at night, the leading members of the Dragon Gods’ faith were all assembled in a room in the deepest recesses of the temple. At its centre was a crystal table.

It was only the barest of light which illuminated the faces of the old men, but when someone gave the order “Put it out,” the room was plunged into darkness.

But only for an instant.

Had a new light been lit beneath the table? Innumerable pale luminous points glowed within the crystal slab. At first one, then two lit up at a leisurely pace, but the speed with which they appeared gradually increased until finally they were multiplying in a literal flash.

A starry night sky seemed to be appearing before the elders.

The same old man who had given the order to “put out” the light placed his hands on that sky and rose from his seat. He was comparatively young among the elders but everyone there looked at him with reverence.

“We are small,” the old man spoke again. “Terribly small and weak existences. If they were to be compared to this sky, the strength of each individual would amount to no more than that of stars that are invisible to the eye.” He pointed to a space on the long table. There, a point of light was glimmering, so faintly that you could only make it out by straining your eyes. 

“However, if, for example, we can serve to guide a different, much stronger light,” the old man moved his finger to another spot, where a much brighter light was shining. As the elder pressed down hard with his finger, the luminous point shook greatly, then started to move along with the finger. While leaving behind it a faint trail, it approached the other light and, perhaps because both were being illuminated, both lights shone more clearly. 

The old man nimbly moved both hands and, sometimes gathering the scattered lights together, sometimes pulling them apart, he drew countless glimmering trails across the illusionary sky.

“If we guide one, another will be caught up, and that other will pull along a great many other fates.”

There was a certain artistry to it. Whenever the old man waved a finger, the brilliance of the stars increased, whenever he pulled his finger along, the trail emitted light, constructing some kind of figure.
“This is a diagram of fate. Even without nudging it from outside, because these fates are in resonance, they will eventually start to move by themselves in search of the golden mean and will build the ideal world that I imagine. Soon this world will be waxing full with of ether, which will allow us to oppose ‘that’ which plans to hold sovereignty over it.”

The crystal now shone with a blueish light so bright that it was impossible to look at it directly. The elders closed their eyes as though dazzled, or perhaps it was out of awe, as the mysterious, impossible light washed over their faces.

But –

The lights suddenly vanished. Like the flames of a row of candles, blown out in a strong breeze. Some of the stars just barely managed to resist and continue twinkling, but before long, their feeble, struggling light died out just as the others had.

In a world that had once more been plunged into darkness, as though waiting for the elders to open their eyes –

“''Gil Mephius''.”

The same man whispered a name that echoed eerily. “Strange. A star which should already have vanished has come and is emitting an unexpected radiance. More than unexpected. Great enough to throw into disarray the diagram of fate centred around Guhl that we had constructed for Mephius.”

“An impostor,” one of the elders said in a hoarse voice. “…He must be. Without a doubt. The crown prince of yore did not have a radiance that could affect the diagram of fate to that extent.”

“Just what have you been looking at until now?” Another interposed. “A person’s radiance can change easily. Among those that we have guided, there have been many who have similarly changed.”

“It doesn’t matter whether he is an impostor or the real thing,” yet another gravely interrupted. He looked up towards the first elder. “Let us extinguish him.”

The others followed in agreement but –

“We cannot directly intervene with those who already emit such radiance,” the old man’s words were strange. “It has already started to guide a great many other fates. Perhaps this too is the result of having moved the stars with our own hands but, no, we cannot speak of there being one single cause. If we forcefully intervene, the resonance of fates will collapse and we will have to build everything up again from scratch.”

Hatred burned clearly in the old man’s eyes that were usually like empty pits.

“When we were going to extinguish Ax, we wasted a great many stars and their surrounding trails. And the result was that it ended in failure. Thanks to that, we lost a considerable amount of influence in the west. That damnable Barbaroi, their intervention was faster than anticipated.”

“Then, could the crown prince possibly have been involved in that?”

“No. Even if it was not completely unrelated, I intend to find out at whose instigation that was. For those reasons, we cannot use ether and have to leave the crown prince’s fate to the workings of humans. …Don’t worry, there are many number of ways of doing it.”

When the old man spoke, he once again extended his finger towards the lower edge of the table from which all the lights had died out. Lights like small grains of sands then appeared there.

“We will set our hands to guiding new destinies. These were originally people who were unnecessary to the diagram that we drew, but… there’s no help for it. We will guide them. Guide them, and then…” The old man’s tone once more returned to something reminiscent of nothingness. “We will have them kill Gil Mephius.”