Today the next Beast King's name was going to be announced.
Lud was listening attentively for any news.
But what Lud ended up hearing was that a coup had been staged in Albahar.
"Is…is the Beast King alright?!"
(He beat her up so much the other day, but she's still worried for her father. I guess it's normal to care for one's parents.)
The moment the news of the coup reached her ears, Shea's first concern were her parents.
"Y-yes, he's safe. I hear the rebellion is also under control now. We probably should talk somewhere else though…"
"Ah, right. You have a point."
All the soldiers around them were looking at them.
This was the dining hall, so there were many soldiers having lunch.
Many of them had also been part of Shea's army in the past, so they were curious too.
Allen wanted to know all the details before telling his army about the news.
They moved to the room in the base dedicated for Allen's party.
"O-okay then, where should I start…"
Everyone looked at Lud, who was still in a daze with everything that had happened, unsure with what to tell them first.
(Wait, so it's not just a regular coup started by Bek?)
"E-everything, tell us everything!"
"You mentioned the rebellion is under control? Tell us from the start, what happened?"
Shea simply demanded to know everything, but Allen gave a more sensible starting point.
The reason why Lud had taken so long to come back was because he wanted to gather the most accurate information he could get before reporting back.
He would have returned faster if he felt any urgency in letting Shea know.
All Allen knew so far was that they would announce who would be the next Beast King.
The Beast King would counsel his aides and decide who to make the next Beast King.
Allen needed to know how that led to a coup being staged in order to decide how to react.
Maybe there were things specific to life in Albahar as a beastman.
"Okay, I'll start from the beginning then."
Hearing that, Shea looked a bit more calm too.
Lud explained that events in the Five Continents' Meeting had led to things turning this way.
The Beast King had called his aides and Astrologer Temi to decide with them if Zew or Shea should become the next Beast King.
He also mentioned he was thinking of rescinding his term as Beast King early.
It seemed that fighting Shea, and subsequently activating Beast King Mode, had pushed him to make that decision.
Losing to Dogora and Allen had pushed him to desperation, making him unleash his full power.
That was a massive blow to his reputation in Albahar.
He decided stepping down was the ideal way to atone for his acts, so he called his aides and Temi, who agreed with his decision.
"..."
Dogora listened to that silently.
He seemed worried that his acts had pushed the Beast King to change his decision.
"S-so all that was going on. I didn't know the Beast King wanted to step down…"
Allen was about to tell him "Don't worry, I also fought him," but Shea was faster to react.
Shea wanted to push the conversation forward so Dogora would not have time to overthink.
"Yes, the prime minister, his close aides, and Temi were the only ones who knew about it."
Shea and Lud were kept in the dark about that, even though it was a decision that would greatly affect Albahar's future.
He had gathered those people to discuss what to do with his position.
"So he already had no intention of making Bek the next Beast King by that point?"
"Bek…well, the conditions remained that anyone who completed their task would be eligible to become Beast King."
Allen had no hesitation to call Bek by his plain name, which made Lud take some time to process what he said.
Allen was not sure what drove Bek to start the coup, but he had no respect for someone who would interfere with the discussion to make Shea the next Beast King.
Lud also explained again what the tasks given to the beastmen princes were.
Usually the throne was given to the oldest son.
They really treasured first-borns in Albahar.
But there were times when a younger child would turn out to be more skilled, overshadowing their older siblings.
When that was the case, The Beast King's Tasks would be enacted.
The Beast King would give his children a task, and those who completed the task would be eligible to become the next Beast King even if they were not the oldest child.
It was a similar countermeasure like how the elves and dark elves allow the children of elders to become their next rulers as well, since sometimes there is no heir in their royal families.
With those tasks, a more capable child can inherit the throne.
"Wait, maybe this is the first time two princes completed their tasks, and so there was conflict?"
It felt like they had been discussing the next ruler for three months already.
Allen began to suspect that the reason why it was taking so long was because there had never been a time that two princes had managed to complete their tasks on time.
"It never happened in our entire history. It's a completely unprecedented event."
For the first time in more than a thousand years since Albahar was founded, two princes completed their tasks.
Shea's task had been to apprehend the leader of the Evil Cult that ran rampant in another continent.
Zew's task was to clear the S Rank Dungeon, which no one had managed to accomplish so far.
Usually only one prince every ten generations would complete their task.
There had never been a time when two completed theirs at the same time.
That made things trickier, which prolonged the time necessary to come up with a decision.
"What were their opinions so far then?"
"Opinions?"
"They were taking so long, so I assume there were various conflicting opinions about the candidates?"
Allen understood that conflicting opinions usually delayed such decisions.
He wanted to know what those opinions were though.
"Hmm, the Prime Minister and Home Minister wanted Prince Zew as Beast King."
The Prime Minister and Home Minister were supportive of Zew.
Many decades had already passed since the Five Continents' Alliance was founded, and its existence was starting to affect Albahar's interior affairs.
The Giamut Empire was at the lead, and they would force other countries to join the fight against the Demon King's Army as well, unless they wanted to be invaded by Giamut.
The Prime Minister had the second highest position of power in Albahar, while the Home Minister was third, so their participation in the meeting was expected.
Prince Zew had already established a favorable relationship with Giamut, so they felt he was the best choice to break the deadlock between the two countries
"But that wasn't enough for them to decide on Prince Zew then?"
Allen would not have been surprised if they simple chose Zew after that.
"No. Temi insisted that such a choice could not be rushed."
Temi was an astrologer who worked as the Beast King's personal advisor and attendant, and she was still not convinced about Zew's affinity for the throne.
"Hm? So her reading of Zew's fortune changed."
So far she had always said Zew would become the next Beast King.
"That sounds plausible. Her readings might have changed, so she's unsure of the correct choice now."
Temi kept checking what the future held for Zew and Shea, but there was nothing for Zew.
Shea's also came up empty.
She had essentially lost sight of who the next Beast King would be, and she announced so during the discussions.
The Prime Minister was enraged, yelling "How irresponsible can you be? You were the one who decided their tasks!!", and they continued to argue for months without arriving at a conclusion.
The stalemate seemed to seep out into the rest of the royal palace, with the nobles there starting to take one stance or another.
The only thing that was clear was that no decision could be reached.
(I guess Temi's empty reading eventually became reality that way.)
But the Beast King decided it was time to break the stalemate.
He still believed he had to step down from the throne.
So he decided that today he would announce to all of Albahar who the next Beast King would be. He asked the ministers to announce the date and time to the people as well.
He set off to properly announce to the people who the next ruler would be.
Since they told the people they would know who the next Beast King would be, all the ministers gathered with the Beast King and discussed since early in the morning.
While the people of Albahar waited anxiously, the coup started.
Prince Bek raised an army of his own and stormed the royal palace.
(So he attacked when the Beast King and all the ministers were gathered to attack. I guess he was waiting for such a chance.)
"You mentioned it was under control though, does that mean the coup failed?"
The coup was over, that was why Lud could afford to wait so long before reporting to Shea.
He had mentioned it was under control as well.
"No, the Beast King's Emblem was stolen…"
"Oh?"
"Wha-?! Just what does Prince Bek think that is?!"
Allen recalled the Beast King's Emblem, a set of equipment awarded to the Beast King.
Orichalcum armor, knuckle guards, and Kuwatoro's Sacred Bead.
Orichalcum had a golden sheen, the Sacred Bead was yellow as well, so it was a perfect matching set for the Beast King.
Allen was hoping Shea would wear all of it one day.
(This feels a lot like what happened to Freya's Divine Artifact. Though I guess it's not as important as that.)
The Demon King's Army had stormed Freya's temple in the Divine Realm, stealing her Divine Artifact and using it to gather souls.
This felt like the same thing all over again, except that Bek simply stole what could be considered a symbol of the Beast King.
"I know. There's a pursuit team going after him already, but they were rather well prepared and he escaped aboard a magic ship."
He had attacked with an escape prepared.
(Hmm, so he's not trying to defeat the Beast King and claim the throne for himself. He knows the Beast King's power after all, but he also won't give up.)
Allen was trying to think how Bek would.
Bek really wanted to become Beast King, even without any ministers supporting him.
He could not understand why the decision had been limited to Zew or Shea.
Bek could not defeat the Beast King.
The Beast King was strong enough to defeat even someone like the hero Helmios.
Even if Bek gathered soldiers while the Beast King fought alone, he would lose.
So the only option was to steal the Beast King's Emblem and escape somehow.
Otherwise he would not become Beast King.
There was nothing else he could do without allies.
Allen looked at Lud.
"Does he have any sort of allies? Giamut maybe?"
(Would he really get that far only with mercenaries? The Ten Heroic Beasts and the Beast King's personal guard must have been in the royal palace.)
Allen did not know how many mercenaries Bek had hired, but he knew the royal palace was guarded by the Beast King's personal guard, which were a group hand-picked to protect the palace.
They all had at least 2 Star Talents, and Lud had been part of it in the past as well.
General Hobah and some of the Ten Heroic Beasts were also enrolled there, so the royal palace must have been heavily guarded even against surprise attacks.
It was really odd for Bek to attack with an army too, since he always fought alone. Allen could not think of anyone who would be his ally.
"No. According to the reports, he was seen with a large number of mermen soldiers."
Apparently the army Bek used to storm the royal palace was composed mainly by mermen.
"Mermen?! Do you think Clebeur was behind it then?!"
Shea was flabbergasted, she was constantly in talks with Clebeur herself.
She almost felt betrayed by them.
(That's unexpected. Were Clebeur's ties to Bek the reason why they denied our recent request?)
At first Allen thought that Giamut had been secretly supporting Bek to split Albahar apart.
But it turned out that it was mermen collaborating with Bek.
Mermen pointed directly at Clebeur.
When it came to Clebeur, Allen had constantly been sending requests to enter Prostia Empire through them, but they only replied recently, formally rejecting the request.
They left them with no means of entering Prostia.
Now Allen wanted to know whether Clebeur had been supporting Bek instead then.
"We're still in talks with Clebeur, but their first response was strange. They were really confused wondering what happened…"
Albahar contacted Clebeur to ask why they were supporting Prince Bek's coup.
But Clebeur had no idea what they meant.
They claimed to have absolutely no knowledge of such an event, so they wanted time to investigate themselves.
"Oh…ohhh.."
(If Clebeur is in the dark, that leaves only one other option.)
Allen felt like the mystery was already solved.
He could only think of one country that would lend Bek soldiers, even though he had no allies or people on his side.
"Allen..? Wait, you can't mean..!"
Shea slowly also reached the same conclusion.
"Prostia might be behind this all."
Everyone gasped hearing Allen's declaration.
They had been trying to find a way of getting into Prostia for all this time, and now Bek turned out to have a connection with them.
Allen used that conclusion as the basis for his next plan.
