"What became of the agent dispatched after Zion Riobelt?"
At Arist's question, one of the Liberation Army's officers delivered a report.
"She succeeded in entering Deber illegally without incident. Word came that she would ascertain all the particulars for carrying out the operation over three days and then make a final report."
"Is that so. It is bitter that one must infiltrate to enter one's own homeland's soil, but there is no helping it. Then now...... I must address the matter that has made me summon all of you again after a mere few days."
Only a few days had passed since the meeting that had ended in a hopeful mood not long ago.
And yet more than ten years' worth of time had settled onto Arist's face.
It was due to the stress and worry caused by the grim news that had arrived just yesterday.
At present the Liberation Army's principal undertakings were two: the assassination of the Ninth Prince, and repayment of the Republican Assembly's debt through a loan.
In practice the debt side had to be considered the most important...... and the envoys sent to request the loan had returned bearing grim news.
"As you all know, we requested loans from three nations and... hoo. The answer from every one of them was refusal."
Immediately one of the officers rose in a blaze of indignation.
"At least one of those three owed our Deber a great debt in the past, and their relations with us were close until Litania invaded, were they not. How could they!"
How close, exactly? Close enough that Deber royal blood flowed in their dynasty.
Meaning marriages between the royal houses had been arranged for the sake of friendship.
But.
The past was nothing more than the past.
"They said loans to a fallen nation are impossible. And they sent along advice through the envoy. That if we have failed to reclaim our nation in fifty years, they wonder whether it is not time to look at reality."
"......"
"......"
Amid everyone's silence, only the sound of grinding teeth came through.
"Another of the nations said a loan would be difficult for fear of retaliation from the Litania Empire. The sum itself is not large, but regardless of scale they said they must mind the Empire's eyes."
It was a reason no one could condemn.
Because Litania was a great power powerful enough to style itself an empire.
"......On what grounds did the last nation refuse? Was it the same reason, Vice-Commander."
"They said they had no capacity to extend a loan. However, they attached a condition, that they would consider it if we handed over the Stem of the North Star as collateral."
The sum the Liberation Army had requested was a great deal of money to an individual, but from the standpoint of running an entire nation it was trifling in the extreme.
And they claimed to have no capacity even so. And factoring in the demand for collateral on top of that......
"Stuffed full of greed and trying to suck the liver out of a flea."
The grief of a fallen nation came flooding in. As recently as a mere hundred-odd years ago Deber had been a nation ranked at the top of the neighboring region in national strength.
However coldhearted international relations may be, how on earth had they come to such a state.
The grief soon turned into rage.
"Did the Republican Assembly's side find the money?"
"You know how it is. Those fellows are hopeless where finding money is concerned."
"Incompetent bastards."
The Liberation Army is divided into two heads, the Republican Assembly and the Liberation Order.
The reason was simple. Because they pursue the same great cause in different directions.
The Republican Assembly pursues independence solely through peace and legality, and through just cause and diplomacy.
Which is to say, they are dreamers.
The proof was that the very symbolism of the Republican Assembly's assembly hall was in danger of being taken from them over a mere debt.
"Five million Luon...... must we have the assembly building and grounds taken from us because we cannot find that pittance of pocket change."
"Never mind anything else, to think our Deber must suffer this humiliation because it has no money. This makes no sense. It makes no sense at all."
Everyone in the Order had done their utmost. But the outcome had raced toward the worst.
Had the problem been believing that since they had obtained the Stem of the North Star a loan would naturally follow, or ordering that no one serve as mercenaries under Gizkal's warlords because they hated to see comrades' blood shed in vain?
"Vice-Commander...... it seems you must render a decision. How would it be to shoot the creditor dead? Do we not all know the Empire stands behind the man."
"Whichever way you decide, if you mean to take part in the final negotiation you had best depart soon."
Arist let out a heavy sigh, drew a hand down his face, and rose.
"For now, for now, let us squeeze out a plan as we travel."
Two days and half a day after that.
A port city within Gizkal opened to the overseas great powers.
"Chairman Kinkuon."
A middle-aged gentleman with an arrogant air stroked his goatee and looked down at Chairman Kinkuon of the Deber Republican Assembly.
He was Viscount Redsion, the holder of the debt against the Republican Assembly's assembly building and grounds.
"The repayment date has come, at last! I bought up the debt and have waited for this day alone. Four hundred seventy-two thousand seven hundred twenty-four Pen; I trust you have it prepared."
Pen, the Empire's currency, is worth roughly ten times a Luon.
So the debt amounted to about 4.7 million Luon.
A fortune they could not raise even if they sold off every last thing the Liberation Army owned.
'Kinkuon... you have aged a great deal too.'
Arist, a wanted man by the Empire's designation, was watching Viscount Redsion and Chairman Kinkuon while concealing himself at some distance with his whole body covered by a robe.
Kinkuon's slight back seen from behind. Though their paths differed, Arist and Kinkuon were comrades who had devoted their whole lives to the great work of liberation, so seeing that diminished frame pained his heart.
"Let me say in advance, do not look to me for mercy. If you have failed to prepare the full debt amount, then from today the assembly hall and grounds are mine."
"About that...... Viscount. Might there not be room for negotiation?"
A base smile settled onto the viscount's face as he realized Kinkuon had failed to prepare the money.
From the viscount's standpoint there was not a single reason to entertain a negotiation.
Because whatever benefit the remnants of a fallen nation could offer was obviously small and paltry.
"There is nothing further to see!"
Clap clap!
When the viscount rose and clapped his hands, the aides who had been standing in attendance ran off quickly.
The viscount leisurely made his way out of the assembly hall after them, and then.
Clank! Bang!
A crash coming out of nowhere. Kinkuon, his eyes going round, hurried out, and Arist followed after.
"V-Viscount! What in the world is this you are doing!"
Workmen the viscount had brought along in advance were setting up a ladder and climbing up with tools in hand.
At the very top of the ladder was the placard reading Republican Assembly.
"You have not even signed the debt contract and you begin with demolition; Gizkal's laws do not permit such lawless conduct!"
"But that bribes create flexibility is common to all nations. To begin with."
Viscount Redsion closed the distance in a rush and drew out the contract.
"Answer yes or no. Can you repay the debt before the day is out, or can you not?"
"......"
"I shall take silence as affirmation. Can you, or can you not."
"......"
"You cannot. Then what is the problem, pray tell?"
The viscount forced a pen into Kinkuon's hand.
"Sign, quickly. The Republican Assembly has failed to fulfill the debt contract, and as the price it hands over the assembly hall and grounds, which were the collateral, to me. It is an entirely lawful procedure, and afterward there will be no problem whatsoever if I fit out the assembly building as a Litania Empire victory memorial hall. Hahahahaha!"
The louder the viscount's laughter grew, the more violently Kinkuon's hand convulsed as well.
Arist watched and deliberated over last resorts.
Use of force. Terrorism. Threats. Theft. Plunder.
None of them...... was permitted.
The reason was simple.
Because as a result it would be a loss.
The instant the debt was resolved by the Liberation Order's methods, everything of value the Republican Assembly held would lose its light.
It would be a greater loss than having the assembly hall and grounds taken, and it would also mean Arist ruining Kinkuon's whole life with his own hands.
"Sign, quickly, Chairman! Quickly!"
It was at that very moment.
"Master Arist!"
Leianna, having run over at full speed, whispered.
"A r-report from Lady Creina, haah, money, the money, haah, the Ninth Prince......!"
Arist's eyes went as wide as lanterns.
***
The Liberation Army had always been short of money. That Zion, the crown prince, could not have a single set of formal attire fitted said it all.
Which was why the moment Zion saw the five million Luon Winter had earned, the first thing he recalled was the Liberation Army's financial circumstances.
'It's such a relief that Creina is there. Now I can hand funds to the Liberation Army while acting out behavior befitting the Ninth Prince.'
Except he was also feeling a slight bitterness along with it.
Creina had felt anger looking at Zion himself, and had been struggling to hide the emotion.
Her habit of stroking the back of her hand was the proof.
'Creina. If I spoke the Liberation Army's passphrase and cipher even now. Would you believe I was Zion Bliese possessing the Ninth Prince's body, or would you think I was the Ninth Prince who tortured Zion Bliese to learn the cipher?'
With high probability the latter.
"Your Highness. Why are you wearing such a rueful expression?"
It was Winter.
"You enjoyed five million Luon worth of luxury a short while ago, so you ought to be smiling."
"Winter. It seems you already feel more familiarity toward me than is proper. Your speech is impertinent."
Despite the warning Winter did not blunt his momentum. If something like this happened again going forward it would be troublesome in various ways, so Winter's resolve was that he had to secure a minimum of assurance.
"I am out of the back alleys, so please be magnanimous and understand. And it is because I feel hollow and rueful. Five million Luon is by no means a small sum for the Your Highness of right now, is it. Are you aware that you have become penniless again?"
"Aha. So it was earnest counsel welling up from loyalty. I shall take it to heart. However, this prince still has five million Luon remaining, so do not worry."
"......Pardon?"
Watching the single strand of unease flit across Winter's face, Zion twisted the line of his mouth.
This shopping trip had also been part of taming Winter.
"I do mean the five million Luon you squirreled away. Seeing you setting aside an emergency fund already, it seems you have talent as an aide, Winter?"
The hidden five million Luon was the share Winter had skimmed for himself.
The money he had won borrowing the prince's station had been ten million Luon to begin with, and he had hidden half of it as a hedge in case things went wrong.
"......How did you know......"
The question Winter spat out after mulling over excuses for a long while with a guilty expression and then abandoning everything.
"I told you, didn't I. That I can use clairvoyance magic."
"...Ah......"
"There's no need to beg saying you've committed a capital offense. It's an emergency fund for this prince, isn't it."
"Th-that is so."
"You can't be keeping a sum that large in gold coins. Go to the bank tomorrow and deposit it all into my account. Understood?"
"......I accept the command."
As a result, it amounted to handing five million Luon to the Liberation Army under the guise of luxury while retaining five million Luon in hand.
'This much is all your lord, absent for a year, can do for you.'
Even so, he believed it would be help on the order of a single cup of water drunk while crossing a desert.
***
"A report has come in from the agent dispatched to assassinate the Ninth Prince. She says the Ninth Prince visited Lady Creina's Madame de Gallery!"
"Lady Creina has sent funds along with a message, and the amount is...... more than five million Luon, no less!"
Was this how it felt to encounter an oasis while crossing a desert?
Arist, hearing Leianna's report, clenched his fist despite himself.
Unbearable exultation shot up to the top of his head.
A message written in Creina's distinctive hand, and a bundle of checks.
However many times he counted again it was the same. He had read the amount correctly.
'Kinkuon.'
A foolish and pitiable man.
At the same time, a man more righteous than anyone.
The pen nib trembling above the contract.
Kinkuon was precisely the man who ought not to be placed in such a position.
"Leianna. Stand by."
Arist pulled his robe down deep and stooped his back. It was the moment a descendant of House Reishal, Deber's foremost distinguished ducal house, transformed into a mere assembly errand runner.
The Liberation Order, composed mostly of wanted criminals, was publicly known to have no connection whatsoever to the Republican Assembly, but.
Stepping forward not as Arist Reishal but as an old errand runner was another matter entirely!
"Sign, quickly, Chairman! This viscount's magnanimity ends here!"
Clank. Krrrik.
The workmen tearing out the placard's second fastening.
Pull out just one more and the placard reading Republican Assembly would tilt and sway precariously.
Add one more after that and the four characters holding Kinkuon's whole life would drop clean off.
"Chairman."
Just as the trembling pen tip was finally about to touch the signature line.
Kinkuon turned around and his eyes went wide.
"That which you have been awaiting has arrived."
How could he fail to recognize the voice of a man who had fought alongside him for half a century.
And moreover......
"Haugh!"
Kinkuon's eyes moved busily between the document folder and the old errand runner.
The errand runner quietly gave him a nod.
"Ach, what are you dawdling for! Do you imagine that will make money you do not have appear!"
"That is right."
"What did you say?"
Kinkuon's shoulders began to tremble violently.
It was half a century's worth of rage.
"You wretccchhh! I said that is right!"
When the slight old frame straightened its back, he grew so large one wondered whether he had always been this big.
A thunderous bellow, and then.
SMAAACK!
Viscount Redsion landed on his backside.
A bright red handprint carved into his cheek, wearing an utterly dumbfounded expression.
"Wh-what impertinence is this all of a sudden? Chairman!"
"Impertinence? Does a man of matchless lawlessness speak of impertinence!"
"And you do not fear the consequences of......"
The document folder dropped in front of the viscount.
"Four hundred seventy-two thousand seven hundred twenty-four Pen. The debt has been repaid in full, today, on this spot."
The viscount's face flushed crimson and then drained white.
"Th-this is preposterous......! The likes of the remnants of a fallen nation dare!"
It was as the viscount raised his fist.
The stoop-backed errand runner quietly lifted his head.
A gaze shot out from beneath the shade of the robe.
A presence like a blade's edge stabbed at the viscount's neck.
"Hiik......"
The raised fist lowered of its own accord.
It was killing intent such that merely not having his groin turn warm ought to be taken as a lifelong point of pride.
"I-I have received it! I confirm the repayment!"
The viscount, clutching the checks, turned tail without looking back.
"Th-the placard, what shall we do with it......"
When a workman who had been gauging the situation from atop the ladder asked, Kinkuon answered.
"Back where it was. Securely."
Waaaaaah!
The front of the assembly hall erupted.
Republican Assembly. Four characters upheld with pride.
Watching the placard being fastened back in its place, the old clerk collapsed and wept, and the young assemblymen embraced one another and leapt about.
Cries of hurrah pierced the harbor's briny smell and shot up toward the sky.
A short while later, in the assembly hall's back garden, set apart from the commotion.
"Master Arist. How on earth did you obtain the money...?"
Kinkuon's question, mixed half of guilt and half of gratitude.
Arist answered cheerfully.
"Thanks to a certain piece of trash squandering five million Luon on a mere single night's shopping."
It was the moment Ninth Prince Zion Riobelt's luxury spending protected the symbol of the Deber Republican Assembly.
'Now that I think of it, the date set for carrying out the Ninth Prince's assassination is today.'
Arist deliberated for a long while, until Kinkuon sensed something odd and spoke to him again.
And at last he rendered a decision.
"Leianna. Go and convey this. That it seems we must prepare an additional meeting. The item of business is......"
A short while later, Leianna kicked off the ground with a single letter held to her chest.
The contents of the letter Leianna carried were as follows.
「Comrades, our Liberation Order has a duty to carry out in proxy the mission that brought hardship upon our lord the Crown Prince, and to enact revenge. Namely, to shoot Ninth Prince Zion Riobelt dead.
Yet at the same time, we have a duty not to shed blood in vain.
Therefore we must use, learn, and obtain everything possible to the utmost and render the optimal and best decision. To prevent the mistake of falling into the same trap, and ultimately for the liberation of our homeland.」
「The Ninth Prince may be the Empire's worst piece of trash, yet the thought comes to me that he might also become a card of ours. On this matter I wish to gather the comrades' wisdom.」
Suspend the assassination of Ninth Prince Zion Riobelt, and instead use him as a card for Deber's liberation.
Use the bastard to the utmost for Deber's independence, and shoot him dead at the optimal moment that can draw out the greatest shock.
It was the Liberation Army's new decision.