Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume4 Chapter3 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

''That fool''.

Jeremie for his part was sneering at his younger brother.

He was in one of the rooms of the main palace. An embroidery of gold and silver thread on black velvet was spread over the walls and three-cornered shelves were crammed with books, rare old ones as well as new publications. It was Jeremie's personal study.

The banquet had ended half an hour ago. Within the wine cup that Jeremie was turning on his palm was something that hadn't been served at the feast earlier, namely black water lily powder of which he had added a single pinch.

''That cur, I gave him advice as he was leaving and he openly looked down on me''.

At that time, Jeremie truly lamented that his younger brother was popular due to his meritorious military service. However, in truth it could be said that the current situation was progressing entirely according to his expectations.

It seemed like Eric was pretending to be enraged at Garbera for going back on the alliance agreement, but of course that probably wasn't his only reason for rising to action. He must be impatient now that Grand Duke Malchior's life was at risk and that it was rumoured that he chosen his eldest son Jeremie as a worthy successor to Ende, and because of that was in a hurry to show off his strength in front of the vassals.

Regarding the next successor as the Grand Duke, Jeremie had not himself clearly obtained his father's agreement. However, he had deliberately set about the rumour that he seemed to have been chosen. And when the vassals asked him whether this was true or not, he did not deny it outright.

"Really, you shouldn't hurry too much. I too am still green. Grand Duke Malchior Le Doria needs to remain in good health until I have grown to adulthood." He would say some such thing and smile.

Whether it was circulating the information of Garbera's current weakening, or whether it was encouraging his little brother's self-conceit by pretending not to know about the exchange of promises between Mephius and Eric, all of it was for the sake of getting his brother to take military action.

As had become clear at this evening's ritual, Eric was not popular at Court. Even though he was not hated or shunned, he was a man who was poor at both laying the groundwork and at flattery. He was not the type to be able to navigate through the Court, where, beneath the flowery words that flitted all about, money and suspicious transactions whirled.

Since he himself understood that, he usually retired to the northern region of Dairan.

''After all, he is more suited to riding horses there and waving his sword at barbarians''.

"However, that Dairan..."

As spoke the name of that place, Jeremie's thin lips twisted slightly. As Dairan could be said to be Eric's base of power, it could also be said to be the only region that was a nuisance to Jeremie. It had its own local particularities and the people who were gathered there were different in nature from those of Ende's centre. That place was completely unlike Jeremie's predilection, which was for the scent of face powder and perfume, the swirling of intrigue and desire; there it was fodder and steel, the stench of gunpowder hung over it and swordsmanship and valour were praised.

''That land is an obstacle to my becoming Grand Duke''.

The problem wasn’t that the northern border risked being breached but that, even supposing Eric were to take a step away from the power struggle, the warriors from that region who could not accept Jeremie might appoint Eric as their leader and raise the banner of revolt. But say he were to decide to treat Eric in a way that kept him away from Dairan, in that case his dissatisfaction and that of the people of Dairan might grow even more violent.

Although Jeremie disdained his younger brother as 'a man without a brain', his existence itself was something he had never made light of.

"Are you there, Hezel?"

"Yes."

Behind Jeremie, something like a black spot could be seen to materialise and shift into the shape of a black-clad human being. Although its arrival was such that one could only think that it had appeared by assimilating with the shadows, or perhaps by teleportation, Jeremie didn't seem surprised.

"Eric is finally sending forces towards Garbera. How did the divination for their success come out?"

"Because many matters are not settled, the details are as though covered by dark clouds and cannot be seen. However this war will by certainly not be a disadvantageous move for Prince Eric."

"Really, it can't be said that sorcery is convenient to use!"

Ende's "Bureau of Sorcery" was a special organisation that wasn't to be found in other countries. Composed of 32 sorcerers in all, it had connections to the political centre only through the reliance and requests of the Grand Ducal house and the nobles. Although it was called sorcery, it couldn't achieve the various kinds of miracles – blowing away a mountain, cleaving straight through the ocean – that were brought forth during the ancient magic dynasty of king Zodias. At most it was to a degree where they divined the future through the agency of spirits, supervised festivals or functions handed down from ancient times, and, because they were well-versed in geography, history, medicine, philosophy and every kind of learning, bestowed their varied wisdom on statesmen.

Although it was said that among them there were those possessing the power to move boulders or to produce fog, but it was well-nigh impossible to use them for things like assisting with public engineering works or for gaining an advantage in war. Besides, they were said to be uninterested in politics, or even in the very life and death of Ende itself.

Furthermore, their foreknowledge of the future was no more than a sort of fortune-telling or prediction. Because the Bureau of Sorcery was said to have amassed all possible knowledge from the creation of the universe to the present day, their predictions that were backed by this knowledge had unusually strong authority, however what Jeremie currently wanted was a clear picture of the future.

Aware of what was on his mind, the man dressed in black called Hezel elaborated in more detail,

"As I stated previously, it is first of all a fact that Garbera has been weakened by Ryucown's rebellion. There is still a large number of people opposed to the alliance with Mephius and there is a trend amongst those who did not rush to take part in his uprising to openly view him a hero."

"Hmm", Jeremie assented. He had deliberately diverted that information towards Eric.

In addition, Ende – or rather, Jeremie – had also participated in Ryucown's rebellion. When Ryucown was going to rise to action, it was at Jeremie's own discretion that a secret messenger was received at Ende's Court. He had promised to supply Zaim with goods and provisions, and by prolonging Ryucown's life as much as possible, he intended to entrap Garbera into chaos.

After which, would he aim for Mephius or would he aim for the weakened Garbera? In any case, he had judged that this would be an opportunity to break the stalemate between the three countries.

In other words, although in comparison to his younger brother, Jeremie was rumoured to be of the moderate faction, in fact that calmly deliberate prince had taken action earlier than Eric.

Hezel continued,

"Furthermore, however much the newly appointed protector of Zaim, Prince Zenonn Owell, is a military commander of considerable repute, he is not particularly shrewd. And he is on bad terms with Noue Salzantes, who displays exceptional innate intelligence. Garbera's king made a mistake in his choice of who to send. Since those two are unable to work well together, they will not be able to make a full demonstration of power. As long as talented people have a good affinity for each other, even if they are individually weak, together they can multiply their strength two or three times over. Those two however will drag each other down and neither will be able to demonstrate even half of their natural abilities."

"I see. Everything is to my brother's advantage and is further developing to his advantage."

Jeremie drank a mouthful of the wine cup's contents and savoured the taste. For a moment he closed his eyes in ecstasy at that stimulus then,

"Well then", he opened his eyes. "Should we hasten 'this' development too? It seems the time and opportunity for Eric to cross over the border without the Grand Duke's permission and invade a foreign country will match up."

"Prince Eric's military manoeuvres should however receive your father's approval."

"Hezel."

"Yes."

"You said that the Bureau of Sorcery wants a large amount of monetary financing."

"Yes."

"There is no precedent for the Bureau of Sorcery negotiating directly with the people of the Grand Ducal House. Sorcerers are careful not to be pulled into vulgar strife and be tainted by it. Therefore, if this should be leaked around, not only you but the continued existence of the Bureau itself would be at risk. Whereas an ordinary person would have flatly turned down your proposal, I generously agreed to be linked to you through a shared secret."

"At that time, I was greatly impressed."

Beneath the thick hood that he wore, Hezel seemed to be made of shadows and his features were indistinguishable. He merely lowered his head.

"A month ago, Father's condition took a sudden turn. It was a good opportunity for Eric, and he falsified Father's words that were originally opposed to his army's march. And after Eric has marched, I will hear of this from Father's own mouth as he lies on his sickbed. Is that not so?"

"Yes", once again, Hezel bowed his head in praising assent. "Then, will you, Prince, also mobilise soldiers?"

"My role is merely to rebuke my younger brother on his return. If I were to mobilise soldiers now, I would be the same as him. However, I recently heard a disquieting rumour. They say that a large number of wild dragons have been sighted near Dairan."

His back turned to Hezel, Jeremie's eyes seemed to gaze at something far away.

"Fafnir," Hezel muttered from behind him.

When Jeremie heard that, he shook and his thin lips formed into a smile.

Jeremie had only recently drawn closer to the Bureau of Sorcery. The purpose he had had researched in exchange for a large amount of monetary financing was related to dragons. Unlike Mephius and the western provinces of Tauran, in Garbera and Ende dragons were made almost no use of in war. This was largely related to the fact that there were no habitats for dragons in the vicinity, but Jeremie had perused secret books from the ancient magic dynasty and had discovered that there had once been a way to manipulate dragons through sorcery.

Jeremie had many times and without permission searched through the artefacts in the underground treasury and had the people of the Bureau of Sorcery test the effects of ether on them. Artefacts – vessels for sorcery – that had been handed down from the ancient era of the Magic Dynastic were the symbol of the Grand Duchy of Ende and not even a prince was allowed to take them out as he pleased.

But Jeremie had entrusted them to the Bureau of Sorcery under the veil of secrecy. Eventually they would be able to do something close to what was written in the secret books. By bringing together and studying the descriptions from the books, they hoped to recreate something like the ancient vessels of sorcery.

And thus, they had recently arrived at a prototype. Jeremie had purchased several dragons from merchants of the coastal countries and had immediately tested the vessel's effectiveness.

As anticipated, although it couldn’t perfectly control the movements of violent wild dragons, it was possible even at the current stage to guide them to a certain extent. Training dragons for military use took time and above all else was always accompanied by risks. However, with no more than this one vessel, it was possible at all times to throw an enemy into chaos by directing dragons towards them.

Jeremie had called the dragons manipulated in that way "Fafnir".
<ref> Katakana read "Fabnir" and the kanji read "Demon Dragon Regiment" (魔竜隊).</ref>

"Although my pitiful little brother will fight hard in Garbera's territory and will certainly obtain meritorious achievements, on his return, he will be publicly disgraced after being charged with the crime of having falsified the Grand Duke's words in order to arbitrarily take military action. In addition to which, while most of the soldiers were away from Dairan, the retainers to the Plutos family will have been tragically attacked and massacred by wild dragons – it appears something like that might happen."

As though toasting an invisible partner, Jeremie lifted his wine cup in the air.

Both Eric's political and military power would be largely whittled away. If he wanted to continue living in the Grand Duchy of Ende, he would have no choice but to rely on Jeremie. As the commander who, with Jeremie's backing, would lead the military after the deaths of the Plutos family's retainers, even his little brother would surely become a useful sword for "Grand Duke Jeremie".

"If this war between Garbera and Eric were to extend indefinitely, so much the better. I will be able to deal with the increasingly weakened Garbera with my own hands."

The night wore on for the two princes of Ende, each filled with their respective expectations.

Three days later, a disturbance occurred near Mephius' border.