Episode(68) Heavy is the head that wears the crown
SOVEREIGN OF DEATH~(68)
Several days flashed by in the blink of an eye.
The prior demon incident almost seemed like a distant legend to most.
Yet, for some it still lingered in their hearts making even closing their eyes a difficult feat.
For the people of the capital, it had been an incident that happened days ago.
However for areas outside of the capital, this was no doubt a sensational event that reached their ears mere hours or even minutes ago.
Despite Princess Maria's efforts to keep a lid on the situation by placing a gag order, it was hard to stop word from spreading out.
With as many as thousands of people heading out of the capital on a daily basis, trying to keep every mouth shut was too grueling a task.
At any rate, since it was bound to get out sooner or later they had to change tactics.
Rather than prevent the spread of information, they would only change a few facts in order to keep public peace and prevent a commotion from being stirred up.
[I know!-]
In a large room filled with decorations, majestic paintings and murals applied directly to the walls and ceilings.
Several people dressed in fine expensive suits and dresses sat around the table.
It was an excessively large table, almost too big for any other use than for meetings.
At the end of the table sat Maria, her usual pink hair as beautiful as ever.
Today she wore a light blue dress with light blue gloves and blue glasses that fit perfectly on her face.
Sitting with both eyes closed, hands crossed over each other on her thighs.
She was the perfect picture of elegance.
It almost seemed as if she was asleep but, everyone present knew she was listening keenly to the conversation.
Never missing a single remark.
As if he'd been struck with a brilliant idea, a stubby noble with a stupid grin stood up while holding a fan.
[Why don't we just say the hero, through his kind heart and overflowing love for justice fought while disregarding his safety and eventually the demon was scared off by his noble spirit?]
After speaking, the noble looking around at the others.
Counting in total, there had to be at least 30 nobles in attendance at this meeting.
Most would say this was quite few, but considering this was a gathering of the top most influential nobility in the empire this was quite a lot.
There was none under the rank of count and even some higher nobility didn't even have the right to attend.
When all of this was taken into account, it was difficult to imagine just how large the Floren empire was and how many nobles actually existed.
Even the stubby noble with an idiotic expression belonged to such an prestigious circle, it was a wonder but I was a fact nonetheless.
[Quite the exaggeration]
A middle aged man, sitting with his arms crossed while wearing an expression oozing with dissatisfaction spoke his mind.
His name was Gizmodo.
He looked around after his opening remarks, taking in the room before continuing.
[If not for the princess and the sage along with the supreme commander's daughter, most of us would have become fodder that night]
With every word that left his mouth, his frown grew longer and longer.
If it continued to spread wouldn't his mouth just fall off his face?
But another noble man, slammed his hands on the table angrily.
Fat, greasy hair that smoothly stuck to his scalp only a single antenna standing tall, the man glared at Gizmodo.
[Sir Gizmodo! How dare you deface a hero sent by God!]
Gizmodo looked at the man mockingly and simply shrugged.
[It's not defacing, it's simply stating the truth Porco, my friend]
Gizmodo relaxed his crossed arms, caressed his temples and sighed in exasperation as he recalled that night.
[You were present so you should have seen, even with the strongest joining forces we couldn't cause an itch to that monster!]
Porco opened and closed his mouth several times to speak making a 'paka* paka*' sound, but in the end he couldn't say a word.
That was because although he hated how the man spoke, it wasn't as if he was wrong.
And for Gizmodo who was usually so confident in his strength to speak this way, what could he even say when he hadn't even fought?
The place fell silent and no one could speak.
They couldn't as they had seen and had been present for the bloodshed that night.
To begin with, hadn't they been broadcasting to the entire capital?
Even if they wanted to twist it to the benefit of the hero it was impossible.
Unless they were willing to 'silence' the entire population of the capital.
However the kind princess Maria would never allow such atrocity.
At this moment, as if seeing her chance, a noblewoman, maybe in her late thirties spoke up.
[It might be the truth that the hero did nothing but make a fool of himself, but word of his failure against demon kind should never get out]
Her fan flapped open dramatically and she waved the frilly fan back and forth enjoying the soft breeze it provided.
After her words sank in, she glanced around the pensive nobles and made sure to drive it home with the following words.
[Not to say anything of what the demon worshippers hiding near the border will do but...the other countries may also start to move]
Yes-
The current balance was created based on the fact that the summoned heroes were all competent and could do their job.
As long as such a competent force was still in Floren, it prevented other countries from making a move so long as they couldn't sway the heroes to their sides.
In this way, just a single trembling of a domino could cause a chain reaction and tip over that very balance that allowed the current pseudo peace to exist.
The noblewoman, after glancing around at the pale faces of the nobles turned to the princess with slight anticipation in her eyes.
[Your highness, forgive my overstepping but might I inquire your stance in this matter?]
After that, the woman, Duchess Illyasphia sat back in her chair.
All eyes fell upon the princess.
Her lush pink hair that resembled cotton candy.
Her beautiful portrait that no one would tire to look at and her elegant air were all so captivating.
She considered her words carefully. Then after a while, she opened her eyes and spoke.
[...In my opinion, Count Aldus's idea to sing praises of the hero is not bad…]
Aldus, his stupid expression ever present grinned at Gizmodo who clicked his tongue.
Maria sensed this but ignored it and continued without trailing off.
[It is indeed a fact that the hero, unfortunate as it is, was no match for the demon]
However, humanity needed hope.
If the one thing that should bring them hope, if that light were to dim even a little it might cause serious problems.
Forget giving in to despair, human actions were unpredictable during times of chaos.
If they lost the hope of tomorrow it was no doubt that riots, assaults, murders and various crimes would start popping up all over the empire.
No, not just the empire. The entire continent would be embroiled in a storm.
They didn't have so many hands to spare.
[We also must take into consideration what Duchess Illyasphia brought to light]
The only reason Floren was able to survive this long without a single country making a move on them was simply due to the heroes presence.
No country knew their actual strength.
They could only speculate that the heroes were powerful based on past records and facts.
Even then, even without knowledge of their strength and potential to fight and defeat the demon king-
What made other nations truly wary was that all heroes had potential to transcend the level cap and even earn rights to transcend and become gods.
Should they start a war, would the heroes side with Floren?
It wasn't worth the trouble.
And without the heroes they couldn't defeat the demon king anyway so they couldn't kill any heroes.
With all these things to worry about, no country would run the risk of attacking and lose such valuable forces.
But what if they figured out that the true hero, the one blessed by god was actually useless?
It was too scary to think about what would happen.
At the moment the common enemy was demon kind so Floren had leeway.
As long as she could flourish the empire within the span of time before the demon kings fall then, after the demon kings defeat they didn't need to worry about other countries retaliation or hatred.
By then they'd have long built up forces capable of annihilating countless troops and the heroes would have integrated into the empire making it all the more powerful.
[As such I am fine with that regulation]
She had no other choice.
Maria didn't like to be calculating but she had no choice.
Heavy was the head that wore the crown, it just happened to be hers.
[But princess!...]
Another noble, dissatisfied stood up.
Just like Gizmodo, he too was unhappy with the hero.
However, rather than taking his side, it could be seen by the resentment in his eyes that he had lost someone in the fiasco last night.
But what he wanted was simple.
He wanted the hero to pay for being incompetent.
This couldn't happen however.
No matter how useless he was, a hero chosen by a patron god couldn't be touched casually.
Who knew what curse would fall upon the empire because of this?
The other nations might even use this as a chance to spread false rumors among the heroes and bring them to their sides.
It would even provide valid reason for the empire's destruction.
So, if she couldn't punish the hero to quiet down the dissatisfaction then the only other thing she could so was handsomely reward all those that participated in defense.
Then, those that didn't even fight would have no chance to intervene.
In under a few seconds she thought of all this, opened her eyes and spoke with confidence.
[I know]