CHAPTER 10 - III -
The flame. For many cultures on Earth, the flame was a symbol of hope, enlightenment, and of righteousness. It was even featured prominently on many government-sponsored educational institutions around the world, like in the agency that I worked for before.
Well, that’s because, on Earth, we had the concept of long, total darkness. However, in Chersea, it’s a different matter…
“Flame? It’s associated with destruction, Mister Kuro. Coincidentally, Seirna of the Flame made it her symbol as well, that’s why she’s called like that.” Eris explained to me when I went back to the Duke’s private study in the Braunhauer guesthouse.
Since it was taking time, Maddie and Lily remained at the town to watch over the negotiations between the nobility, while I researched about this saint named Seirna of the Flame. Good thing that Eris was here; she had been helpful to me in looking for the books I needed.
It pays to know the enemy you’re fighting, see. Why is she a potential enemy? What can be her motivation to go against her fellow saint? And what are her abilities?
Those were the questions I’d like to find the answers to. And hopefully, I could find some clues at the Braunhauer study room while waiting for the results of the nobility’s meeting.
“Seirna of the Flame is a saint and a former servant of the god, Lord Gaius.” she explained to me, confirming the information I was reading on the book, “According to the records, she was appointed as the overseer among the other saints after Lord Gaius left.”
“Left, as in he’s gone?”
“Hm…Eris only knows that Lord Gaius dreamed of being a mortal, and so he left his divine realm to become one. Eris just couldn’t remember from what book did she read that…” the young duchess further added, “Eris just couldn’t believe how a powerful god-like him would like to live as a human…”
“Oh…” Well, that’s interesting. I only read of vampires dreaming to be mortals, but this was the first time I learned about a god wanting to be one. For most of the time, the gods that I’ve encountered in literary and gaming worlds were jackasses bent on experimenting with humans.
That’s why an edgy Spartan boy got pissed when his family got played with by the gods…
“Here, Mister Kuro!” Eris gave me a book, “Eris thinks this book would help him know more about Saint Seirna.”
‘The Saints of the World’. Pretty simple for a title, if you asked me. I turned the pages, and my eyes were caught on a familiar name across the page…
‘Ruro of the Wolf is the 115th saint of the Beastmen race. She’s a big fan of the knight, Jimmy Nee Rubinforth, and loves cookies and tea. Her three sizes are—’
I got to the next page. I didn’t think I’d need that information.
‘Madelaine Ann Rubinforth is the 241st and the current saint of humanity. She was a former general under the famous Iron Princess of Nerfes and is well known for her advocacy in promoting harmony and peace in all kingdoms of Chersea, the human realm. Saint Madelaine also gained prominence back in the Nerfes’ Dawson Valley campaign, where, in the middle of an ambush, she went berserk while leaking herself—’
I felt this book would be forbidden by Maddie, on the pain of death and torture. Come on, where’s Seirna’s article?
“Are you having difficulty in looking for Saint Seirna, Mister Kuro?” I heard Eris asked.
“Y-Yeah…sorry, but this book’s got a lot of pages, it’s pretty hard to find the saint I’m looking for.”
“Give it to Eris.” she offered, to which I obliged. And then she flipped near the end, and with a few turns of pages, she gave back to me the book.
“…”
“Saint Seirna’s articles are always written at the back-end of the books about saints, Mister Kuro.” Eris giggled, “Eris thinks Mister Kuro knows it already.”
Well, I don’t mind, actually. In fact, I’m quite happy I found some information about those two saints I’m close with…albeit those are quite useless.
‘Seirna of the Flame, the overseer of the saints. Confidante and the most trusted among Lord Gaius’ servants. There had been a few sightings of her, and even fewer is the information about her. It has been documented that she was given the power over life, as well as influence the mortals on their thoughts. Below is the list of her ‘supposed’ abilities, documented over a long—’
“It’s ripped.”
“Mister Kuro?”
“Eris, this page is ripped.”
“Huh?” the young duchess was surprised, “Ripped? But that’s impossible, Mister Kuro! Daddy would never do that to a book, even if he hates the article!”
I showed to her the ripped page regarding Saint Seirna. Eris was utterly horrified. Yep, if I’m the owner of this book, my expression would be the same.
“B-But…who could have done such an atrocity?” she cried out, “Those pages were sturdy, it won’t easily get ripped!”
Well, I guess that explained the part where only a third of the page was missing. Maybe the one who did this was in a hurry, and since that person didn’t know the sturdiness of the pages, just ripped it apart without fully destroying the entire article.
Despite that, it’s way too coincidental for this to happen. First was the inability of Maddie to peer into the thoughts of the people involved with the mediation, second was this.
There’s got to be a ‘mole’ working against us.
“Kyaaaaa!!!”
Eris suddenly shouted. But it’s not because of her I almost jumped in surprise. I hurried to the window to check on the town, for there was a succession of explosions that came from that direction.
“What the heck?” I blurted out. From a distance, I saw a horse coming back to the Braunhauer guesthouse. It was a paladin, and she was sent by Maddie.
“Sir Kuro!” the paladin called out, “Her Holiness sent me here to tell you that the nobles accepted your suggestions! The mediation is a success!!!”
“Oh? Then what are those explosions that I’ve heard?”
“Ah, those were from the magicians. They were celebrating with magic explosions.”
So, it’s like fireworks, huh?
As our arrangement, Maddie sent a runner from the Duchy of Braunhauer back to the royal capital to ask for the royal faction’s presence at a ‘neutral’ field she had selected, between the duchy’s border and the royal lands. She had specifically asked for the crown prince to represent the royalty, and the Duke of Braunhauer would stand for the nobility.
I arrived back at the town hall to see Lily preparing the draft document we’ve written before, detailing the demands of each side to one another, as well as Maddie’s own demands, to seal the peace agreement. Well, we all knew it’s still a long journey ahead, but with this breakthrough, it’s no doubt that the peaceful end to this conflict was in sight.
Just don’t let that Saint, Seirna, spoil this moment.
“Where’s Maddie?” I asked.
“Oh, she said she’s going ahead.” Lily replied, “She had me prepare these papers to follow her. Don’t worry, the Marquise of Monfort and the other paladins are with her. Haha! Finally, Kuro, our efforts had borne fruit!”
“Of course!” I excitedly answered, “Well then, shall we go after them?”
“Ah yes, can you get those sets of documents? I’ll carry these.”
“Right!” I took the set of papers and parchments Lily told me to bring. However, I remembered something, “Hey, Lily, speaking of which, where should we hitch a ride?”
“Oh, about that…”
A black carriage suddenly came speeding in front of the town hall and then stopped. A paladin was driving it, but the coat of arms on its sides showed that it’s a property of the Duke of Braunhauer. Its door opened, and Eris came out.
“Big sis! Eris is all set!” she waved at us. Inside, I’m surprised to see that Lady Hanna Hanna was also waiting.
“The Duke’s wife would come with us?”
Lily nodded, “Well, His Excellency would never leave his fief without one of his wives accompanying him. It’s just that, Maddie was in a hurry, so he was forced to move even though without a companion. Anyway, we’ll be hitching a ride with the Lady Hanna.”
“Hmm…I guess, this is better than nothing,” I muttered.
“I wouldn’t move without being thoroughly prepared, Kuro.” Lily winked at me.
Our carriage hurried over to the border between the duchy of Braunhauer and the fief of the Amaranthine royal family. Once near, the path became crowded by various carriages and carts that carried the soldiers and other nobilities that went with the Duke of Rubinforth to the meeting site.
“…”
The field at which Maddie chose to meet with the leaders of the royal and the noble factions was carefully considered by her since it was an open place with a few—if there were any—obstacles to hide an army, should one decided to spring an ambush and sabotage the proceedings. She wanted to pick a more ‘central’ spot, since the current one was still inside the noble territory, only a few distances away from the royal lands, but that space was occupied by a royal army barricade that would take time to remove.
And Maddie was in a hurry to get something done, lest our ‘hidden enemy’ destroyed everything we had built so far.
“…”
The soldiers of both sides were kept away from the tent set up at the ‘neutral’ spot by the Paladin Corps. Only the leaders of the opposing factions, some of their most trusted people, and the Saint were allowed in.
The crown prince appeared with his Minister of the Right, the Margrave of Nocturna, and a royal army official, flanking him on either side. The Duke had two nobles behind him—one of them was the Ban of Kistral, and they stood to his right. Maddie had the Marquise of Monfort to her left, as the right was reserved for Lily.
When we arrived, to present an air of neutrality, Lily and I deliberately distanced ourselves from the Duke’s daughter and wife, who stood beside their old man at the negotiation table.
I could feel the eyes of the people from the royal faction looking at us with suspicion. Not only did we arrive late, Lily and I also came from the nobility’s side.
“I’m sorry for suddenly bringing up this matter, Your Highness, Your Excellency.” Maddie began, “It’s just that, I deemed it necessary to hurry, for time is of the essence. The people are suffering, and some people within this kingdom endeavors to derail the peace I’m offering.”
“Surely, it isn’t our side, Your Holiness!” the crown prince vehemently denied Maddie’s words.
“And neither do ours.” the Duke of Braunhauer answered.
“Please keep it down.” Maddie ordered them, “I did not specifically say whose side is it; I just informed you that there are some people within this kingdom that wanted to end this conflict through force of arms, which, in my terms, I had you signed before, is unacceptable. Be on your guard.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.” they both answered.
Then Maddie motioned for Lily to bring over the set of treaties she had written earlier to the negotiation table. The head maid also gestured for me to come—as I carried the rest, and we handed over the documents.
“Gentlemen, based on your complaints and from what I observed, these are the arrangements we could work out to preserve the peace of this kingdom. I’d like you to review it carefully, and air your reservations, so my servant here, Lilyhaven, could write them down, and iron it out later.”
The Duke and the Crown Prince read the terms that Maddie laid before them. Since Maddie had her own copy, I tried to peek at the terms she had written. Luckily, she seemed to understand what I wanted, so she deliberately exposed the paper to my side.
- No monarch nor noble nor commoner should be treated above the law.
- Anyone—including members of the royal family, the nobility, and the commoners, would be accorded equal rights to a fair trial, without the interference of higher authorities.
- The settling of disputes should take place on a court of law, rather than on the battlefield.
I’d say Maddie’s demands are good. The list went on further, but I could not read all the articles, since the spot where I stood was obstructed by Maddie’s back. Only the first three demands were visible to me.
“I see no problems with these demands.” the Duke was the first to agree.
“And as the representative of His Majesty the King, this is a good measure, Your Holiness.”
“Good.” Maddie continued, “Now please proceed to the demands of the nobility, Your Highness.”
“An establishment of a ‘parliament’ and a codification of the law of the land?” the Crown Prince’s voice had doubts, “What exactly does this mean?”
Maddie explained to him how a parliament works, and the benefits of the codification of the law. The Crown Prince listened intently, and I could feel cold sweat crawling down my cheeks as I waited for his answer.
“Hmm…I could say no objections to that if it quells the discontent of the nobility.” the Crown Prince agreed, “I agree that our authority is centralized, and this parliament thing could solve this problem. Did Sir Kuro offer this solution?”
“Certainly, he is, Your Highness,” Maddie confirmed.
The Crown Prince threw a glance at me and winked. It felt awkward. I mean, dude, I’m not used to a big, grown-up man winking at me like that.
“Your Excellency, now it’s your turn to look at the demands of the royal authority.”
The Duke silently read the text carefully, outlining the financial reforms I proposed to the Crown Prince. The look on the other nobles’ faces while reading their own copies was that of relief.
I think it’s a good sign of the success of this mediation attempt.
“I agree with the crown prince, Your Holiness. These demands, we could grant to the royalty,” he answered.
“Well, that’s great!” Maddie then produced a quill pen and a bottle of ink, “If you agree to those terms without reservations, then we could finish this affair with your signatures, gentlemen. I’d like you to sign all three copies of this document, which are in my hands. And then we could have it signed by the other nobility as well.”
At once, the Crown Prince took a step forward and grabbed the quill pen. Upon dipping it into the ink, he signed the treaty.
The Duke also followed his godson. He signed all three copies before returning to his seat.
Whew! Everything’s happening so fast and smooth, I’m getting nervous. It’s like anything can happen at any given moment…
“Now that both parties agreed to resolve this peacefully, I, the Saint of Chersea, Madelaine Ann Rubinforth, would now affix my signature here, so that its effectivity would be immediate.” Maddie declared. She took the quill pen, dipped it in the ink bottle…
“Maddie!”
“!!!”
I quickly dove towards my fiancée to shield her from an incoming magic attack from the Ban of Kistral. And then the tent exploded.
