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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
Marquis Marshall of Flores Kingdom was on his way to the King’s private chambers because he had been summoned by King Filip.
He had no particular questions, as he was often summoned to the private chambers rather than to the audience chamber when he personally had to deal with domestic aristocrats.
He was rather excited in anticipation, wondering if he would be entrusted with some honor, as he was often entrusted with something special.
Marquis Marshall at this time was completely oblivious to the commotion in the town of Eiren.
The commotion caused by an adventurer in a local town was nothing to Marquis Marshall.
Like a poor ant trapped in an ant-hole, he was sucked in.
At King Filip’s words, Marquis Marshall’s mind went blank.
“What…?”
“Oh, dear. You’re younger than me, and you’re losing your hearing?”
Filip cracked a joke at the stunned Marquis Marshall.
Of course, the person who was told the joke had no time to react to it.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, just as I said, the Marshals will be stripped of any right to be members of the nobility for the foreseeable future. We’ll also confiscate your property to make up for what you’ve done.”
Filip repeated the same words with a nonchalant expression on his face as he looked at the whitening Marquis Marshall.
In his heart, he believed that a man like him would never be remorseful, but he did not express it in words.
He tried not to say anything that would make no sense, even if he were to say it.
“Wha, wha, why!”
Marquis Marshall, who had no idea what was going on, shouted out loud, even though he was talking to the King.
“Shut up! You don’t have to shout so loud, I can hear you.”
Filip frowned as he deliberately held one hand over his ear.
“Why? Did you think you could just take extra money from adventurers and not be blamed for anything?”
Marquis Marshall had not expected the King to bring up the subject, but then he remembered a piece of information.
“Well, you are probably wondering why I know about it?”
The Marquis had heard that Prince Renald, grandson of King Filip, was on his way to the town of Eiren.
But his arrival should have been some time in the future.
That was why he allowed the regular army to be dispatched in order to hasten the settlement of the matter.
However, if they had been sent to investigate this matter immediately, the story would be different.
As soon as a military order was received, a small group of elite soldiers could go there immediately, using transfer magic or something like that.
And Marquis Marshall had an idea that they could do so.
The reason Marquis Marshall did not realize this was because he did not expect the King to know about the tax from the beginning.
It had worked so well in the past, he thought it would work this time, as well.
Still, a question arose.
Why was the King suddenly receiving this information?
He wondered how the king had suddenly been able to obtain this information.
Of course, he knew that the King had been using <shadows> just like him, but it didn’t seem like the information had come from that source.
Because the King himself signed the military order with his own hand.
Realizing that he could no longer get away with it, Marquis Marshall asked his question.
“How on earth did you know about this?”
What he wanted to know was how he had heard about this latest fiasco.
Similar disturbances have occurred all over the place, so it didn’t quite make sense that the king would have chosen this information alone to find out about the tax irregularities.
He could only have heard the story from someone else.
“I would like to say that I have my sources in various places… but it was from them this time around.”
Filip tipped off Marquis Marshall, who from the start had been miserably unwilling to budge.
Of course, it was not out of concern for Marquis Marshall.
He was hoping that the information would be spread through him.
It was completely political, as Filip was the King.
“So, where…?”
“What, you still don’t get it? I got the information via Alec.”
Filip shrugged his shoulders as he simply stated.
It was already known in the Flores Kingdom that Alec was the Prime Minister of Razequa Amamiya.
On the contrary, his daughter, Floria, was the Queen.
In the past, there had been various attempts to gain access to her Divine Blessing, but to their dismay, it was still fresh in the minds of those who had been involved in the negotiations.
Marquis Marshall was one of them.
It would be rare to find a nobleman of the Flores Kingdom who was not involved in the power struggle.
It was a brilliant move, because he was successfully foiled.
It was not easy to mess with the Queen of another country, after all.
Moreover, it was widely rumored that the country was under the protection of the Goddesses.
It was only natural to assume so, since Amamiya Tower itself was controlled by a God.
On the surface, it was announced that the God was not directly involved in politics, but no one believed that.
Razequa Amamiya had become such a powerful entity that other continental nations had no choice but to take a position of basic non-intervention at the moment.
Be that as it may, Marquis Marshall tilted his head at the involvement of ex-Prince Alec in this matter.
“Why is Razequa Amamiya involved in this?”
“Don’t get me wrong. We have not been involved as a nation. I was just told about it as an individual.”
“…Are you saying that Alec-sama knew about this?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say. …I think that’s enough. I don’t want you to take up any more of my time.”
Filip said and forcefully ended the conversation.
He had no intention of telling them that the God himself had come to this country.
Even Marquis Marshall, who was to be punished, could not pursue the matter any further.
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King Filip’s words were met with astonishment by all but one of the heavyweights in the room.
Filip’s declaration on the spot was a surprise to them.
The only one who remained calm was Filip’s son, the Crown Prince Maxim.
“May I ask you one more time?”
One of the heavyweights said, involuntarily.
Filip slowly repeated his previous words.
“I said that I would take responsibility for this matter and retire from the throne.”
The heavyweights looked flustered by the sudden words.
Among them, only the Crown Prince Maxim was calm, not because he had heard the news beforehand, but because he was convinced of it.
“Do you want to see your new great-grandchildren so soon?”
“Of course!”
The words of the Crown Prince Maxim and King Filip quieted the noisy conference room.
Soon after, sighs began to leak out from all corners of the room.
Filip’s doting on his grandchildren and great-grandchildren was well known to the heavyweights.
“New great-grandchildren?”
One of the heavyweights nodded his head.
He had not heard that Filip’s immediate grandchildren and their spouses were pregnant.
After all, Filip’s great-grandson would be a candidate for King three generations from now.
The prince who was to be King for the next three generations was currently growing up well, so he would be the King unless something happened to him.
However, in a world where the mortality rate of children was high, one could not be too careful.
“What, You didn’t tell anyone that Floria was pregnant?”
Hearing this, the heavyweights all understood at once.
Since Floria was already ostensibly unrelated to the Flores Kingdom, it had slipped the minds of the heavyweights.
“I see. So you are saying that you want to retire because of this incident and want to see your great-grandchildren’s faces as soon as possible.”
Filip nodded with a straight face at those direct words.
“Perfect reason, isn’t it? If the current punishment is too light, we may not be able to restrain the adventurers.”
It turned out that several pro-nobles were involved in the current fiasco.
To punish all of them would have had too great an impact, and therefore, serious charges such as stripping them of their titles could not be imposed.
That would have caused the adventurers to leave the Flores Kingdom.
The King himself would have to take responsibility for the situation, and this would show both the adventurers and the nobles that he was willing to do what the Royal Family believed was best for them.
Filip nodded his head in satisfaction as he watched the heavyweights engage in a full-fledged discussion after hearing Filip’s words.
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