[V7C11] More of a Con Artist than the Con Man
Translated by Jodas 7: To the NorthThe morning after Sophie laid out her ‘Operation: Destined Encounter,’ they received an explanation on the situation in Darwock from Guidance Office Director Hegelich.
Monsters had occupied the Darwock Royal Palace.
The Wedge Tower would provide shelter for Prince Axel and send scouts towards the Crystal Territory and the border.
As she listened to this explanation, Tia thought ‘Wait, what?’
Sevil had told her that some of the Wedge Tower’s mages were going to cross the border and head for the Darwock Royal Palace.
This was something she’d had Wren tell her about afterwards, but apparently humans cannot simply just cross international borders.
To put it in a way Monsters understand: it would be like if you entered another Monster’s territory without their permission.
Even though the Wedge Tower had cut off its ties with the Emperor, if they were to dispatch mages into another country, things would nonetheless get complicated.
Therefore, the higher-ups at the Wedge Tower elected not to let the Apprentices know that they were planning to send mages to the Darwock Royal Palace anyways.
From the beginning, the higher-ups had no intentions of getting Apprentices involved with the mission to take back the Darwock Royal Palace.
“Considering the unusual situation we are under, I shall have you all conduct some unusual training. I expect you to take this seriously.”
Despite the grave way Director Hegelich framed it, the so-called unusual training he had them do was a simple evacuation drill.
Their assignment for the day was to locate and familiarize themselves with escape routes to be used in the event of an emergency. They could sense Director Hegelich’s intense desire not to get the Apprentices involved with front-line fighting.
Tia thought as she stared at the escape routes drawn on the blackboard.
(If we had to escape from an emergency, I’d be in a little trouble…)
To the West of the Wedge Tower, there was an invisible Wall that prevented any and all Monsters from passing through. The village they were to evacuate to was on the other side of that Wall.
Since Tia was a Monster and could not cross the Wall, her identity would be exposed.
Once they’d finished looking over the evacuation routes, someone walked into the group lesson classroom.
A short but elegant old lady with white strands mixed in her black hair — Spiremaster Abel, of the First Spire: White Smoke.
It was clear that Abel’s arrival came as a surprise to Director Hegelich, too. Hegelich visibly trembled and fidgeted with his round glasses.
“I apologize for interrupting your lesson.”
She had a gentle, soothing voice that could calm anyone who listened to it.
Her smile was similar to her voice: properly arranged with all of the thorns and bumps shaved off.
Abel’s eyes landed on Sevil and she spoke.
“His Highness, Prince Axel, has expressed his wishes to converse with Her Highness Princess Adelheid once more. How do you respond, Apprentice Mage Sevil?”
The tension in Hegelich’s face was self-evident.
His grim expression radiated ‘Nothing good’s going to come of this, so please don’t.’
Alas, Sevil would not heed his warning. If anything, Prince Axel’s suggestion was convenient for her.
“I shall accept.”
Saying that, Sevil lifted the corners of her lips.
‘Ah!’ Tia realized.
This meant Sophie’s ‘Operation: Destined Encounter’ had begun.
The top floor of the First Spire: White Smoke contained rooms whose interiors were furnished at significantly greater expense compared to the other floors. In particular, the guest rooms for hosting guests of high status.
That room would be where Sevil and Prince Axel would hold their conversation.
To begin with, the main players — Sevil and Axel — sat on sofas, facing each other.
Standing behind Axel’s sofa was his aide, a middle-aged knight. Then, standing behind Sevil’s sofa was the third-rate con man Smoke Fox, also known as Caspar Hütter.
(…Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Why am I here?)
Internally, Hütter was sweating bullets, but he did his best to maintain his dignified appearance.
Ordinarily, wouldn’t you expect someone like Spiremaster Abel or Director Hegelich to serve as Sevil’s witness for this meeting? This was a meeting between the Emperor’s sister and the prince of a foreign country, right? This wasn’t the sort of thing you should just leave to some small-time Instructor.
This had been the source of the first disagreement between the two.
“We are going to discuss important matters that decide the fate of nations. As this will necessarily involve heavily guarded secrets from both the Empire and the Kingdom of Darwock, I would like to request we be allowed to speak in private.”
While Sevil’s argument did make a certain amount of sense, it would be hard for the Wedge Tower to accept a one-on-one meeting considering the gravity of the emergency at hand. In the worst case scenario, if something were to happen to either Sevil or Prince Axel, the headache would only worsen.
Therefore, without missing a beat, Sevil offered a concession.
“In that case, let us appoint one witness each. I select Mr. Hütter to be my witness.”
Since the Dream Mage Caspar Hütter was a mage dispatched by the Imperial Mage Association, he wasn’t technically a member of the Wedge Tower.
She forced the point with the sophism that, should the discussion touch on national secrets, he would act as befitting a man of the Mage Association.
By starting with the ludicrous demand of a one-on-one meeting, then pretending to compromise in order to secure her original goal — she demonstrated the refined talents of an expert con artist.
The third-rate con man thought:
(That Sevil… She’s more cut out to be a con artist than I am!)
“Well then, shall we begin our discussion?”
Leaning back on her sofa, Sevil confidently got the ball rolling.
“Before that…” Sitting on the opposite sofa, Prince Axel cut off whatever Sevil was going to say next.
“I would like to apologize for my indiscretion earlier. Whatever the reason, it was not my place to lay any responsibility on you.”
(Ah, yes, of course. He’s talking about the whole ‘because you ran away from the marriage, my father strayed from the path’ thing, huh.)
While his attitude then certainly hadn’t been commendable, Sevil’s attitude was far more impolite.
Nevertheless, Prince Axel said nothing of Sevil’s indiscretions, only apologizing for his own impoliteness.
Prince Axel was a large man with glasses and pale blond hair tied behind his head. He had the body of a warrior, but at the same time he gave off an air of wisdom. This man was not some narrow-minded aristocrat.
(I’ve never heard any bad rumors about him, so I assume he must be reasonably competent.)
Then, how would Sevil respond to Prince Axel’s apologies?
Hütter could only stand there and watch her work her magic.
“Your apologies are unnecessary, Your Highness. I too made statements that must have tested your patience.”
(Oh, she’s surprisingly tactful.)
No, no, he can’t let himself relax just yet. This was Sevil we were talking about.
It wasn’t unusual for her to follow up an admirable and considerate like with an outrageous statement.
“I would like for us to be completely open with each other. Prince Axel, do you wish to retake Darwock?”
If the King of Darwock joined hands with the Monsters and established his new state religion, the first thing he would do would be to divorce his current wife. That would put Axel, her son, in a precarious position.
Therefore, Axel did have the option of seeking asylum in the Empire and living in exile instead.
However, Axel’s answer was definitive.
“Of course I do. As soon as I regain my strength, I plan to head back to the Palace at once.”
So exile wasn’t even on his mind. He intended to stop his father, the King.
To Axel, his visit to the Wedge Tower was a temporary refuge as well as an opportunity to seek the support of the Wedge Tower’s Monster experts.
(The Queen’s faction should have been reasonably influential within Darwock… He must have assumed that he had a chance of winning if he returned to his country and linked up with the Queen’s faction.)
He didn’t know how powerful the Monsters that the King of Darwock joined hands with were, but he doubted the Queen’s faction would give in easily.
Trying to establish a new religion within Darwock were the King of Darwock and the Monsters.
Standing in opposition to these were the Queen’s faction and the Wedge Tower.
Should this materialize into a larger conflict, how would the Black Lion Emperor respond?
As Hütter plotted the major players and their standings in his head, Sevil smirked.
This was what passed for Sevil’s friendly and approachable smile.
“I see, you are a rather gallant man, Your Highness.”
“So much is only natural for a member of my nation’s Royal Family.”
“I am heartened to hear that you intend to return to the Palace. That established, I would like to move to the main topic.”
Sevil stretched her delicately shaped lips and narrowed her purple eyes.
It was a beautiful smile, but her eyes were those of a predator sizing up its prey.
“Your Highness, Prince Axel, I would like to have a destined encounter with you.”
Trying his hardest to maintain a straight face, Hütter held his stomach.
—You’ve said something weird again, you tactless princess!