A fairly large delegation entered the hall. The Emperor, accompanied by Iria, the head of the imperial guards, was just the first guest. Following them came three dragons with smooth blue horns, two ancient red dragons, previously encountered by Seleria, and the queen of black dragons settled peacefully next to the rector. A composed man with semi-circular golden horns, one of which was slightly shorter than the other, calmly sat in the far corner of the hall, distancing himself from the others. Two dragons, one black and one red, whom we had seen after the victory over Ultras, sat next to him. The familiar white dragon, known to Katrina and the others, accompanied by two peers, concluded the procession of dragons. And following them, the procession of people began.
"It seems they forgot to invite us, although I wouldn't mind participating," the king swaggered into the hall, wearing a lavish crimson robe. "After all, we also have some connection to this matter."
"And I didn't expect you to decide on a trial without us for the girl arrested at the Academy with permission from the three of us," the mighty warrior, not known for royal politeness, glared menacingly at King Henry.
"Cough, my apologies. It seems the invitation got lost on the way, but the assassination attempt was repeated, and I could no longer delay."
"No worries, I won't even insist on being a judge, but I hope for your impartiality," Severin peacefully settled in the front row. "And also, I have brought some guests, I hope you don't mind?"
"Oh, not at all," a genial smile crossed Henry's face as a new crowd of guests began to fill the hall.
The heads of the wealthiest trading houses, important officials of Leran, the chief librarian in a red robe, smoothly made their way behind the king. Two suspicious figures in black and gray cloaks inconspicuously took places next to the king. With the clank of armor, the delegation from Nordrune entered the hall: the Valkyrie leader with her three companions, five Thanes, including the head Thane, and representatives of traders dealing with other countries.
And so, in a couple of minutes, the concentration of power reached its maximum in the chosen room, and almost unnoticed under the cover of the crowd, four more shadowy figures slipped into the room.
"It was dangerous to gather them all here," Katrina nervously scratched the table.
"And no kidding, it's like putting all venomous snakes in a jar," I smirked as I settled in an empty seat next to the defender.
"Hmm?" The princess quickly turned around, only now noticing the suspicious figure beside her. "Krito? Have you been here for a while?"
"Just arrived, and brought all these with me," I pulled back the hood of my black cloak, remaining inconspicuous to the other guests.
"Well then, what's the verdict? You were so eager to accuse my subordinate, so why not bring the charges directly to me?" Uraz calmly approached Aileen.
"Emperor, you don't have to do this."
"Why not? If they are so eager to shift the blame onto the Empire, let them go ahead, and I'll listen."
"Do you want to take the defendant's place?" King Henry looked disdainfully at the audacious ruler.
"Why not? Besides, I'll answer all your questions if you insist."
After a brief consultation with the other judges, the king allowed this substitution.
"Cough, unexpected, but it might make things easier," Wilhelm grumbled disapprovingly but still approached the new suspect. "You must have overheard our recent debate. Can you answer to it?"
"Are you talking about the coins? It's easily explained. Two hundred fifty years ago, we conducted a monetary reform with a massive withdrawal of old coins and their replacement with new ones. It was prompted by an increase in counterfeit coin cases. After large-scale raids on counterfeiters, we decided to withdraw all old coins from circulation and replace them with new ones. We even slightly altered their markings," the dragon ran his finger along the edge of the coin. "If you examine them, you'll notice notches on the edge of the new coins."
"Hmm," the treasurer of Verania looked at the coins again. "I didn't notice that at first, I thought it was just a common defect in the production."
"No, it was a specific mark to distinguish them from the old coins."
"Do you have any evidence in favor of this reform?"
"We do, but it's all in the Imperial archives, so you might not trust it," the Emperor shrugged.
"But I have some," I had already discreetly settled on the edge of the bench reserved for the defendants, and the assassin's cloak proved surprisingly useful for this task. "You need evidence that such coins existed in the old days. For example, if I were to take them from some sealed storage, would that satisfy you?"
"It's doubtful if there's any place whose security you can be sure of."
"Oh, but there is, great Jarl. You brought what I asked for," I said.
"Yes, an old chest from one of the storages of Nordrune rulers, filled with coins from various countries," Siegfried placed a small dusty chest on the table.
"What is this?" Wilhelm tried to open the chest, but the lock resisted.
"It's one of the chests from the storage where my predecessors gathered treasures for many centuries."
"I would like to clarify, can someone enter it unnoticed and plant something extra?"
"Doubtful, unless you know how to walk through walls, ha-ha," Siegfried took out an old-fashioned key and tried to turn it in the lock. However, after half a turn, the key snapped. "Well, the chest was sealed according to the record book before the demon invasion."
After discarding the remains of the broken key, the Jarl struck the lid, and the lock crumbled. Inside, there were mostly gold coins, not only from Verania and Leran but also some that no one had ever seen before.
"Oh, what an oddity," Vina pulled out a coin resembling a golden ribbed circle with a ruby in the center. "I thought such coins no longer existed."
"And what is this?" I looked at the peculiar coin. "It looks more like an ornament."
"You can ask them about it," the trader smirked and tossed the coin to the red dragons sitting behind the King of Leran.
"Heh, someone still has them... brings back memories," Serezar caught the coin. "During the elemental war, the country split into dozens of small territories, and many tried to issue their own currency. The more successful the house was in the war, the more valuable their currency became. That's when we also released our own currency, although we were not directly involved in the war. Our coins were considered one of the most stable monetary units on the continent. They were made of high-purity gold with genuine rubies, which is why they were valued in tens, even hundreds of gold coins in other principalities. They were called the coins of the Red Kingdom, although we never declared independence from Leran. Only five thousand of them were made, and most were lost over the years. I'm surprised that someone still remembers them."
The dragon tossed the coin to the trader and smiled contentedly.
"Well, studying history can be useful too, but if there's such an antique here, the chest must be quite old," I said.
"It was sealed after the demon war, and since then, it has been collecting dust in the storage, so judge for yourself," the Jarl reached into the chest and picked up large coins with a dragon on the reverse. "These coins are what you needed, right?"
"Treasurer, won't you verify?" The coins were passed to the old official on my request. "Would anyone from the Empire like to share their savings?"
"As you wish," the golden dragon sitting in the corner of the room calmly took out a small purse and handed it forward. Inside, a couple of coins clinked.
"Hmm," after performing simple procedures with the new coins, the treasurer nodded. "I have nothing to object to their words."
"So, are you saying that most of these coins were not brought from the Empire but obtained here? It's hard to believe," the inquisitor did not give up.
"Well, why not?" Seleria, along with Rizel, began distributing small pouches to everyone present. "This is what we obtained in Leran just over the past two days."
Inside were gold coins from the Empire, so many that there were enough to give each of those present three or four pieces.
"In contrast to Verania, gold is highly valued in Leran, so many kept these coins in their treasuries," Seleria smirked cunningly and continued, "and there are still quite a few of them left in Nordrune. Getting them on our continent is not a problem, and after the threat of war, many traders started buying them up feverishly from all the black markets."
"But what benefit would there be in this assassination? Do you think eliminating leaders would be more advantageous to someone from our countries?" the inquisitor asked.
"I beg your pardon," Uraz smiled this time, "but eliminating leaders to sow chaos wouldn't help us. It would be much more effective to eliminate someone from the royal family without leaving any signs. Wait until suspicions start to grow among you, and then remove someone else from another country, one of lower rank. In this way, step by step, you can eliminate dozens of important dignitaries, so you would not trust anyone, suspecting other governments, your own subordinates, and even ordinary people. That would be truly effective. I could shatter the alliance between your countries in no time and annihilate each of you individually."
"You speak as if our treaties mean nothing, and with such machinations, you could really sow discord among old allies!" Henry stood up abruptly and glared menacingly at the smiling Uraz.
"Unfortunately, he's right," the Queen of Black Dragons sighed wearily. "Suspicions, mistrust, and old grudges, if awakened in a tense situation, reveal the true faces of allies. He's done it before... haven't you, Uraz?"
"Heh-heh, and you can't forgive me for all of that? You asked for my help yourself, and I did what I deemed necessary," Uraz replied.
"Could you please explain your exchange of pleasantries?" The inquisitor frowned unhappily.
"Some time ago, ah, forgive me, about five thousand years ago, a dragoness helped humans defeat the last god, but she did not achieve the desired peace. When humans turned against all dragons, she asked me for help."
"Dragons oppressed humans for many centuries, and you know that," Henry gave representatives of other races a disdainful look.
"And that's why you deprived dragons of all rights, essentially equating us with animals and organized hunts. I merely punished you for your arrogance."
"You killed the first summoner, a hero who liberated humans."
"Not 'we,' but 'I' did! And though he may have been a hero to you, to me, he was a spineless man whose inaction brought the world to such a state. I merely spurred your first leaders towards more civilized behavior."
"What does that mean?!"
"He, ha-ha," Ignis sighed heavily. "He manipulated Rimmel's generals, pitting them against each other. Murders, petty clashes, and bribes did the trick."
"That's right, you were united and prospering while the terrifying nemesis, Nihilim, threatened humanity, but then you didn't know what to do. I gave you a purpose—I divided you into three nations, and each thought it should be better than its neighbor. That's what your diplomacy is based on now. You no longer kill each other, but you can't call yourselves friends either. And your squabbles allowed me, with a much smaller army, to invade the eastern continent and confront the summoner. You were so consumed by disputes with each other that you couldn't come to the aid of the one you pledged loyalty to."
"And you calmly speak of it now? Do you know how many wars followed that schism?" Henry ground his teeth in anger.
"I don't approve of his methods, but I can't help but be grateful to him for it. Losing a leader who could fight a god on equal terms, humans started fearing dragons again, and it forced you to make peace with us. We agreed to settle in isolated areas, remaining conditionally under your rule but trying not to interfere in human affairs. You may hate Uraz—that's your right—but would you be happy if the ancient races left this world?"
"Why should we believe then that it wasn't you who organized these assassination attempts?"
"You can believe whatever you want, but I wouldn't act so crudely. I defeated you before, and I could do it again if I wanted."
"And who else in this world could be seeking this? Is there someone else who arranged all of this?" Henry turned his gaze sharply towards his daughter. "You, who took it upon yourself to defend them, who insisted that the Empire had nothing to do with this. So tell me, who orchestrated all of this?!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know."