Side Story: The Directive to Tsuia

"What? Kehma-dono is to become the Margrave governing the whole of the Tsuia Mountain region, and we are to place ourselves under his command…?"

An order of urgent communication, delivered by magic transmission.

Its contents, upon reaching Vonodoru Tsuia, Lord of Tsuia, were at first glance utterly outrageous.

He half suspected forgery, but forging a communication of this kind was no easy thing. It would demand espionage skill enough to outwit the Empire's own Four Heavenly Kings.

"… No mistaking it, that's the Imperial Seal."

And it was a seal whose forgery meant the death penalty as a matter of course, should the fraud ever be uncovered. It was hard to imagine anyone forging something this momentous, something that, were it a lie, would be exposed the very instant anyone thought to inquire.

This, then… was surely the genuine article, Vonodoru concluded.

"Hmm. Kehma-dono is the founder of Beddhism, so I've no particular objection to revering him…"

And on top of that, Vonodoru was a Gold Sacred Seal believer of Beddhism.

What's more, there was Golen Village, where his daughter stayed so often. It had already outgrown any scale one could rightly call a village, and henceforth was apparently to become Golen, the domain capital of the Tsuia region; Vonodoru himself was devout enough to make the journey there in person to offer his prayers.

And so, at the thought of Kehma, who until now had stood beneath him, coming to stand above him instead, Vonodoru felt not the slightest twinge of objection.

There was even an effective tax cut, slipped in almost as an afterthought, so if anything he could only regard the whole thing as cause for celebration.

"… Well, I'm fine with it, but my vassals do seem likely to kick up a fuss. And Pavera's side, too."

The tax cut, no doubt, was meant to quell his subordinates' pushback.

A sufficient hand of cards. The same proposal had surely been put to Pavera as well.

"I'll have to convene a council at once. Though it seems the matter's already settled… Now then, as for the ones likely to push back, hmm, the more senior the retainer, the more troublesome, it seems… Those fellows still think of us as royalty, after all. Even though that was several generations back now."

Originally Tsuia, or rather all the towns throughout this area, had once been a cluster of nations, each of which the Empire had invaded and reduced to a single city.

(The former royal house that had ruled this Tsuia was the Tsuia family, and it was the same with Pavera.)

Since the Empire had, in some cases, wiped out a ruling clan root and branch, he even counted it a stroke of fortune that his ancestors had surrendered early and let the invasion end peacefully.

"I suppose I'll send Pavera a confirmation of our stance, just to be safe. … Though either way, I imagine they'll have no choice but to agree."

Were they to push back, hypothetically, an order would come down telling Kehma to deal with it somehow.

… And there was no way that wouldn't be accomplished. Of that, Vonodoru was convinced.

After all, this was Kehma-dono. And because the coded portion of the documents he'd received had borne the words 'Holy Kingdom', 'into his hands', and 'in secret'.

One city against an entire nation would be a walk in the park for him, surely… Vonodoru gazed off into the distance.

And so, the next morning, when the council convened, objections were raised, exactly as he had predicted.

"I-i-i-impossible! Why must we place ourselves beneath some out-of-nowhere, lowborn village headman of unknown lineage?!"

"Indeed, indeed! What is to become of the pride of the Tsuia royal house?!"

"I think it's fine. That Karisoto District, those slimecrete buildings, were truly a sight to behold."

"Silence, you brat! Vonodoru-sama, naturally you oppose this directive, do you not?!"

"Ah, whatever you all may say, this is a settled matter. And the moment we bent the knee to the Empire several hundred years ago, any such thing as the pride of the Tsuia royal house ceased to exist."

To the senior retainers reacting exactly as he'd anticipated, Vonodoru answered with a genial smile.

"Besides, I happen to think he's not a bad choice at all."

"But, sir!"

"You spoke of his origins… but do you even know the color of Kehma-dono's hair and eyes?"

"… Kh, i-if I recall, black hair and black eyes."

"At that point, it's no exaggeration to say his lineage is all but certain, wouldn't you agree? Though he does seem to be keeping it hidden."

Black hair and black eyes. That was the color, the combination, that marked the bloodline of a Hero.

When one demanded proof of lineage, the ancestor to be proud of, in his case, was a Hero.

"B-but, Vonodoru-sama. The very fact that he keeps it hidden means there's something shady about it…"

"To begin with! Lineage is a matter of having an ancestor to be proud of. And in his case, he himself would be that illustrious progenitor, the first Golen. And there are deeds to match by the mountainful. The pioneering and development of Golen, for one; the founding of Beddhism, for another; and… yes, this next one can't be made public, and it's the very deed that clinched this whole affair, but… it seems Kehma-dono brought down the Holy Kingdom, you know?"

"Wha…?! Such a thing, that can't possibly…"

"It's a secret, but it's surely fact. I've obtained information that lets me be certain of it. … Now then. A hero of the shadows able to topple a nation in secret; a genius who raised a town up from nothing; martial valor that even Hero Wataru acknowledges — is there any hero among your ancestors greater than that?"

"…"

Even the senior retainers who had been barking so loudly could only fall silent at this.

The old Tsuia royal house itself had done no more than build a single town. There was no way the ancestors of these men, mere vassals of that house, had achieved anything greater.

"… Ah, that's right. There's one thing I mustn't forget to mention. We of Tsuia already have plans to take in Kehma-dono's bloodline."

"Meaning…?"

"Kehma-dono's child, Kuroinu-dono. An illegitimate child, we presume, but… Maiodoru is still betrothed to her, is she not?"

"Hahaha, as expected of Vonodoru-sama! I'd been quite certain you'd merely lost track of the moment to dissolve the engagement and forgotten all about it, but to think you'd laid such groundwork!"

A vassal in favor seized on Vonodoru's remark and shot the objecting senior retainers a glare, as if to say, 'Still got complaints, you old geezers?'

The bunch who'd been grumbling fell silent at last.

Well, the senior retainers surely understood full well that this had been a settled matter from the very start.

They had merely wanted a path they could accept.

"Besides, none of us have any intention of raising the banner of revolt against the Empire."

And with that, the agenda item of becoming Kehma-dono's subordinates was brought to a close.

… Now then, the next item on the agenda is what to do about a gift to celebrate his investiture as Margrave. And so Vonodoru moved the discussion along.