A Delayed Discovery

His original objectives of gathering information at the salon and greeting Queen Tianis and the others had been accomplished. This was the limit for now.

Getting roped into helping with work was par for the course.

"Well then, I'll be heading out."

"Mm, understood. Thanks for the help. Good work."

"Not at all. This much is nothing."

At his worst, he'd been dragged in with Orleans for an all-night work session.

Compared to that, an hour's worth of paperwork was a breeze.

But something had caught his attention.

"You're redoing the census registry from scratch?"

"Yes. You know the circumstances of how I came to the throne, but there was a lot of turmoil among the nobility too. With the Secretary of Military Affairs's faction gone en masse, plenty of work was left without a proper handoff. The royalist nobles who stepped into those posts had often been sidelined for years, so they lacked the know-how. It was chaos."

"Everything happened so suddenly. Honestly, I'm impressed things have recovered this much."

"Tell me about it. I'm so glad Anatia-neesan was around. Who would have ever guessed I'd become queen? On the bright side, I don't have to defer to anyone."

"I was covered in full-body burns and had bigger problems at the time. Well, sitting on the throne sounds too stuffy for my taste. I'd rather not."

"Want to take it now? You may have lost your succession rights, but I doubt anyone would object to you, Yupe-neesan."

"You can't be queen on popularity alone. The throne is too heavy for me right now."

Back when Queen Tianis was still a princess, her succession rank had been low, and no noble had even considered putting her on the throne.

She'd been in charge of food-related affairs, but the kingdom sat on fertile land, and barring an extreme famine, food was never a pressing issue.

From the nobles' perspective, her domain simply hadn't mattered much.

Yet through a chain of events, the princess with the lowest claim to the throne had ascended with Duke Baroba's backing.

And Duke Baroba's proxy was Lady Anatia, someone she was close to and knew well.

While she owed a degree of consideration to the duke who'd supported her, she could otherwise wield royal authority without answering to anyone.

In other words, there were no sacred cows. That was significant.

What would have happened if Princess Yupe had become queen instead?

It might have been a kind of perfect dictatorship.

"After things settled down, I had my right hand, Kanon, start auditing the census registry. She'd returned from her injuries but wasn't at full strength, so it seemed like a good fit. And guess what she found?"

Queen Tianis rested both elbows on the desk and propped her chin in her hands.

Then she let out a weary sigh.

The results must have been dire.

"The records hadn't been updated in ages… possibly over a decade. They'd been receiving applications for citizenship, birth certificates, death certificates and such, but none of it had been entered. And there were signs of tampering on top of that. An absolute mess, apparently."

"That's shockingly negligent. Who was responsible before?"

"It wasn't the Internal Affairs Bureau. It was someone from the Secretary of Military Affairs's faction. The role had been passed down through generations. So the idea that there was no handover doesn't hold water. They did this on purpose."

"What could they possibly gain from that…?"

An incomplete census meant tax collection would be affected.

Population trends would become impossible to track. There was nothing but downside.

If someone went missing due to an accident and no report had been filed, they could be treated as if they'd never existed at all.

"Ah—"

"What is it?"

"If citizens with no registry entries disappeared, families and all, wouldn't they simply be treated as if they were never there? At the very least, it would take much longer to notice."

"… Hold on."

Queen Tianis said something to one of the maids.

The maid left the room immediately.

She returned with a bureaucrat in tow.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I was told Her Majesty summoned me."

"The census registry falls under the Internal Affairs Bureau now, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct. Under Kanon-sama's direction, we are currently conducting a full review."

"I'm not here to rush you. I understand the situation from Kanon's reports. What I want to know today is something else. How many missing persons reports and search requests have been filed since the registry stopped being updated? And whether those numbers increased compared to before."

"That area has largely been sorted through already. Both have increased… and many of those cases involved residents with no census entry. The searches were ultimately called off and left unresolved."

A chill ran down his spine.

People had been vanishing from the Royal Capital without anyone noticing.

"Wait, if that were happening, wouldn't there be petitions or something? I've never heard anything like that."

"With none of the original staff remaining, it's hard to say… The Secretary of Military Affairs's office handled both the intake of reports and the actual searches, so they could have easily buried them. Given the evidence of tampering, it seems likely."

"I can't believe this."

Stunned silence.

Kidnappings by the Church of the Sun God. He'd always assumed they only took people no one would look for, like slum dwellers.

But to think they'd worked with the Secretary of Military Affairs and extended their reach to ordinary citizens of the Royal Capital…

"… So that's why he defected the moment the throne changed hands? Because he'd been a traitor all along and wanted out before it came to light? Then getting close to me was just… insurance? That bastard."

"That's what it looks like."

"This is insane! The Secretary of Military Affairs also served as Marshal, the keystone of national defense! This is exactly why hereditary nobles are—"

"Isn't it a bit awkward for royalty to say that?"

"Let her vent, Azu. She needs to get it out of her system right now."

"Don't just calmly analyze me like that…"

Queen Tianis and Princess Yupe were visibly shaken.

The Secretary of Military Affairs's betrayal alone had been a crisis. Now it turned out he might have been colluding with the enemy long before that.

"Humans sure have it rough. You come together to accomplish great things, then turn around and betray each other, throwing everything into chaos."

Evalin was unconcernedly stuffing her cheeks with cake.

From her perspective, this spectacle must have been baffling.

Someone who didn't move in groups, complete as an individual.

A perspective only someone like her could have.

"… At any rate, the situation appears to be resolved now. There shouldn't be any more incidents. Prioritize the census update. We won't let this happen again."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The bureaucrat bowed and departed.

What an unpleasant thing to have stumbled into.

"Yohane. I hate to ask, but…"

"… I can see where this is going."

"Sharp as always. I need you to help Kanon. I can't afford to take this slowly anymore."

"Understood. The Insurance Association isn't something I can resolve quickly anyway."

"That's on my mind too, but… I just don't have the resources."

If only Lady Anatia would come back soon.