Machiavelli had likened fortune to a raging river.
He said that, though the sudden change of fortune cannot be stopped, if one
prepares for that change in advance, its flow can be made less unrestrained and
dangerous.
The important thing was to not be optimistic about one's situation, but to be
resolute and do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.
In regards to this, Machiavelli said, "Fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep
her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her," a way of putting it that would upset
any feminist who heard it. Setting aside his choice of words, in order to ensure that
the roots of calamity didn't remain, I had given the order to strike down twelve
nobles here.
When she heard my explanation, Liscia slowly nodded. "I understand your
reasoning, Souma. What will you do with the Houses of Saracen and Jabana, the ones
you had leave?"
"Allow me to explain that," Hakuya said, stepping forward. "The Houses of
Saracen and Jabana had worked alongside the other twelve under their former
heads, but that connection between them was broken with their deaths. The present
head of the House of Saracen, Sir Piltory, is a fine young man who excels with both
the pen and sword, while the head of House Jabana, Sir Owen, is a sober and honest
hotblooded man. They can be counted on to serve His Majesty without duplicity. I
believe you could see that from the way they acted while being led out of the great
hall."
"...So you showed some discretion about who was to be executed, then," Liscia
said.
"That is correct." Hakuya nodded. "The ones executed were all up to somethingor-another. Now we are investigating their mansions in the capital, collecting
evidence of what that was for each of them. The punishment for the crime and the
finding of evidence are in the wrong order, which is hardly praiseworthy, but I ask
you to understand."
With that said, Hakuya bowed his head.
He was probably trying to back me up. By telling her I hadn't murdered twelve
people on my suspicion alone, he was trying to keep it from doing anything strange
to my relationship with Liscia.
Liscia seemed to understand that, too, so she didn't press the issue any further.
"Okay, I understand the twelve, but what if the other two had agreed with you,
Souma? Would you have killed them, too?"
Hakuya shook his head. "In that event, the plan was for me to provoke them.
Though, if they had attempted to curry favor with His Majesty like the other twelve
houses, we would have had little use for them after this."
"You'd thought it through that far..." Liscia looked at me, scandalized.
No, this sort of plan that involved reading the vagaries of people's hearts is
Hakuya's department, I thought. I don't have that nasty a personality... I think.
Seeing me avert my eyes, Liscia let out a sigh of resignation. "So, what happens to
Carla and her father now?"
"...I'm getting to that." I walked over to stand in front of the bound Castor. Having
seen everything that had just unfolded, he looked dumbfounded. The blade he'd
expected to fall on his own neck had fallen on another's. It was little wonder he was
so bewildered.
"Castor Vargas," I said. "Because you refused to heed my ultimatum, you are
guilty of treason."
Castor bowed his head. "...I understand."
Then he bowed his head even lower than before, grinding his forehead against
the floor this time. "That's why, I beg you. The crime is mine alone. So, please, spare
just Carla."
"You are not the one who decides that," I said coldly. "This is your judgment. Your
crime of treason is plain to see. ...However, as both Piltory and Owen said earlier, I
will recognize your contribution to this country in the more than one hundred years
you have protected it. I have already taken your post, your lands, your assets, and
even your family name from you. Therefore, I will spare you your life, and that
alone."
I turned to Excel, who was silently watching to see how things developed.
"Castor will be left in your custody. However, he is forbidden from entering the
former Duchy of Vargas, and also forbidden from contacting his son Carl, or the
boy's mother, Accela. Excel, your son-in-law is the one who did all this, so you must
keep a proper watch on him."
"Ah! ...Yes. It will be as you command." There were tears forming in Excel's eyes
as she gave me a proper bow.
When she raised her face, I saw her mouth the words "Thank you," to me. I
showed no reaction, moving on to Carla.
Even though her father had been spared, Carla still wore a quiet expression.
"Carla," I said, "you are guilty of the same crime. What's more, you don't have
Castor's distinguished record of having protected the country for one hundred years.
I'm sad to say it, but I don't see any way I could lessen your punishment."
"...I understand," she said quietly.
"W-Wait! Then kill me!" Castor exclaimed, grinding his face against the floor in
desperation. "Carla turned her blade on you at my orders! So let my record be used
for Carla..."
"Take him away."
My attendants dragged him from the room. He kept screaming "I'll take her
place!" until he was out of the room, but I was under no obligation to listen to him.
Once things had quieted down, I continued. "You have clearly committed the
crime of treason. However, if I let the mastermind, Castor, live, it would reflect
poorly on me to kill his daughter. Therefore, I will spare your life, but you will live as
a slave. Your owners will be the royal family—that is to say, Liscia and myself."
The second most heavy punishment in this world was forced labor as a convict
slave. There was no such thing as life imprisonment. Those who became convict
slaves, unless they were granted an amnesty, would be forced to do endless hard
labor in the coal mines. Though, in Carla's case, because I had chosen to give
ownership of her to the royal family, she would be spared the coal mines and kept in
the royal house as a servant who had to be absolutely submissive.
"...Okay." Carla accepted my order, nodding weakly.
Excel was about to say something, but she held it in. She must have decided it
was better than her being killed, at least. Hakuya closed his eyes in silence, while
Aisha was flustered by the atmosphere in the room. And finally, Liscia watched what
I would do in silence, her expression unchanging.
"I will give you further directions later, but, for now, I have an order to give you,"
I said.
"...As you wish."
I walked over to Carla, who was hanging her head, crouched down and
whispered a certain order, quietly, so that only she could hear. Carla's eyes went
wide.
◇ ◇ ◇
When Souma quietly whispered the order, I doubted my own ears.
"If it comes to it, kill me."
When he saw my eyes widen in surprise, Souma needed to me with a serious look
on his face. "Not now, of course. If I become a tyrant, I want you to be the one to stop
me. With your martial ability, you could kill me easily, right?"
Kill him if he becomes a tyrant...?! Why would he suddenly say that to me?!
I kept my voice low, asking him, "Why would you say that? And why to me, of all
people?!"
"Because Liscia and the others might not be able to," Souma whispered, a
troubled smile on his face. "At some point, I found myself surrounded by many
people I care about. Just recently, I got engaged to another person on top of Liscia.
It's Aisha, over there."
He got engaged to that dark elf without me hearing about it? I thought, stunned.
Has Liscia accepted it? Well, knowing her personality, she's probably being pragmatic
about it...
"Well... Congratulations?" I whispered.
"Thanks," he whispered back. "So you see, I have more and more people I care
about. In itself, that's a good thing, but when I think of what would happen if,
someday, I grew drunk on power and become a tyrant... it starts to scare me. If that
came to pass, I worry whether Liscia and the others could stop me like they should,
you know?"
"Liscia would stop you," I whispered. "You know her straight-laced personality."
"Would she?" he retorted, still whispering. "Sure, if I started indulging in too
much debauchery, or started massacring the townspeople, she'd admonish me for it,
but what about if I had a good justification, like I did this time? Individual purges
aren't that much of a problem on their own. But when they happen repeatedly,
eventually you reach a point of no return. When it comes to that, will Liscia and the
others be able to abandon me?"
That's... No, probably not, I realized.
"It's not my place to say it, but... Liscia is head over heels in love with you," I
whispered. "If you fall into hell, I'm sure she'll be right there beside you."
Liscia was too serious and too devoted a girl. Probably, no matter what
happened, she would follow Souma loyally to the bitter end.
Souma nodded. "I know, right? Aisha's sort of the same way. Do you think Juna
would do it, maybe? Anyway, there are a lot of people who would try to suffer
alongside me. I don't want that. If there were a revolution in response to my
tyrannical rule, it wouldn't just be me who got executed, it would be Liscia and the
rest, too. I don't want Liscia and the others to turn out like Marie Antoinette."
Marie... who?
While I still had a question mark hovering over my head, Souma whispered with
a serious look, "That's why, Carla, before those I care about can suffer with me, I
want you to take on the role of putting an end to me."
"...I'm a slave now," I whispered. "If I kill my master, the collar will kill me, you
know?"
"Yeah," he whispered back. "So, please, only do it if you're prepared to die, too.
And, if I manage to hand the crown on to the next generation, I will set you free."
This man... he says the most incredible things as if they were nothing. I was
stunned.
Souma had told me, if he became a tyrant, to become the blade that struck him
down. Then, having killed him, to die myself. By keeping me at his side as his slave,
he was hoping to use me as a personal deterrent against his becoming a tyrant.
"You really... don't show any mercy," I whispered.
"I only hold back for those I care about," he whispered back.
"I meant towards yourself," I whispered. "Though I suppose the meaning still got
through."
I had thought the same thing in the battle with Amidonia, but this man treated
himself far too poorly. If he didn't take better care of himself, he was going to cause
no end of worry for those around him.
Liscia, you've fallen for a real troublesome guy... I thought to myself.
That was right. In order to keep my best friend's love life from a sad future, I
decided to act as his deterrent.
Sitting up straight, I bowed deeply. "I have received your order. Until the day
comes that I must act on it, I will work my hardest for you, praying that that day
never comes."
Souma nodded in satisfaction at my response. "At this moment, we have no work
meant exclusively for a slave. For now, you will join the maid force... But... Well... Uh,
get the details from the head maid yourself."
When he gave me that order, he sounded a bit hesitant towards the end. I
wondered what was up, so I followed Souma's gaze to see a beautiful maid who
seemed to be around twenty years old smiling happily.
When I wondered what it was about her, I realized Liscia was looking in my
direction, an expression of utter pity on her face.
...Huh?