Epilogue: Prelude to Battle
The Emerald Star got back to Ganudos Port Country two days after leaving for the island. It was late, but everyone was safe. The whole Greenmoon group and the Princess Guard were waiting at the dock.
“Ah, we’re home at last… I’ve missed the scent of civilization.”
In general, the Emerald Star gave its passengers a lot of luxury and extravagance, but for Mia, not being able to take a comfortable bath was a big problem that kept her from enjoying her time on the yacht.
So, when the boat pulled into the harbour, she let out a sigh of relief. Most of her friends seemed to feel the same relief, as the tension left the faces of the two princes and all the servants, showing how tired everyone really was. It turned out that people who were not used to living on deserted islands had a hard time there. Esmeralda was the only one who kept her good mood.
“Your Highness, we are so happy that you are safe and sound.”
As soon as she got off the boat, Ludwig, Dion, and Vanos were right behind her.
“Yes, I’m happy to be back as well… I don’t want to go through that again any time soon.”
She tried hard not to yawn before looking up at Ludwig with tired eyes.
“The questions can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, I’m going to Esmeralda’s house to have some free time.”
“I see… In that case, I’d like to ask if Sir Dion and Sir Vanos can come with you as guards.”
“…Oh?”
She looked at him with a confused frown for a moment before she realised that his words were tense, and she could smell danger in the air.
“…I take it there have been some changes that mean we need to be more careful, right? All right, I’ll ask Esmeralda if I can bring some extra guards…”
Not only did Esmeralda agree to the request right away, but she also let Ludwig and the rest of the Princess Guards stay at her manor. Just how cooperative she was was unthinkable just a few days ago, and that was enough for Ludwig to come to a certain conclusion.
“Well, she finally did it… Lady Esmeralda is now part of the group because Her Highness has finally worked her magic on her.”
Mia and her friends went to a villa in Ganudos that belonged to the Greenmoons. The fact that the villa had a small but fully functional bathhouse meant to be used after a swim in the sea was very important. Mia went straight to it when she got there, so it’s not surprising that she soaked in the warm water for a while.
After that, she put on a fluffy dress and went to bed right away.
“Oho ho, it feels so good to be back in a soft bed,” she said, kicking her legs happily as she rubbed her cheeks against the blanket so hard that it looked like she was trying to dig through it with her face. Her digging for bedding was soon stopped when Ludwig’s party asked to talk to her.
“Oh, is Ludwig here? Hm… What he said at the dock was, to say the least, a little scary. It’s good. Let them in.”
Ludwig walked in with Dion by his side. Ludwig’s eyes grew wide when he saw Mia relaxing after her bath.
“I can tell you’re tired. I’m sorry to have disturbed your rest.”
“I’m fine with it. Even so, it’s a little too early to go to sleep.”
“A little too early” was an understatement, since it was only just getting dark, but no one said anything. Dion was the only one who seemed to find it funny. He just smiled in silence.
“I see,” Ludwig said next. “I came to see you quickly because we have some important news about Ganudos that I thought we should share with you as soon as possible.”
“There’s a lot more I need to tell you, too.”
“Certainly. Let’s start by listening to you.”
Ludwig then talked about his findings, which suggested that there was a conspiracy going on in Ganudos, but that its existence had been hidden by the fact that it was so complex. Who would have thought there was something like this going on behind the empire-wide revolution…
After he was done, she was so shocked that she had to gather herself before telling him what she’d found on the island. She still wasn’t sure if the stone slab was real or if what it said was true. Because of this, she didn’t know what to do with this piece of information going forward.
She was hoping that Ludwig the Thing-Figure-Outer could show her the way.
“You said you saw this stone slab… It seems to back up the idea that our ancestors crossed the Galilee Sea to get here,” Ludwig said with a deep sigh when Mia was done telling her story.
He walked over to the desk in the room and opened a map on it.
“It’s likely that the shrine you found is on one of these islands. The rest of the Galilee Sea and more land are on the other side of it. The theory says that somewhere out there is the place where our ancestors used to live. We don’t know why they went across the sea. From what’s written on that stone slab, though, it seems likely that they lost some kind of fight and were punished for it. It’s very likely that the loss cost a lot of lives. After losing so many people, these ancient people probably looked for a safe place across the sea, which is how they ended up on that island.”
“And the leader of these tired travellers was our first emperor. He was the one who gave hope to a group of poor people who were about to give up and told them to keep going. Taking them farther across the water, the place where they finally landed was…”
“…Was here,” Dion said to continue Ludwig’s line of thought. “Here in Ganudos. That’s it. Even back then, our first emperor was starting to get some ideas about how this plot would work. So, before moving on to the Fertile Crescent, he made a secret deal with the people here. He had to find a way to get food that he could cut off at any time.”
Ludwig nodded to show that he agreed, and then he was quiet for a while.
“Or,” he said at last, “the first emperor left someone here. Someone he could rely on. Local fishermen got together and made Ganudos Port Country, but the person who got those fishermen together might have been a relative of his. Then, the first emperor gave the Duke of Yellowmoon, another of his trusted subordinates, the job of helping the newly crowned King of Ganudos set up this whole plan.
“The weakest and oldest of the Four,” Mia said in a whisper. “Huh, the House of Yellowmoon…”
She suddenly realised that she didn’t have a clear idea of what the Duke of Yellowmoon was like. Mia thought that his daughter was at Saint-Noel Academy, but she didn’t know what she looked like. Almost everyone in their family seemed to be hiding from her. Or at least acting in a way that is meant to avoid being seen.
“So, Princess, what’ll it be? For simplicity’s sake, why don’t I just go and, y’know…”
Mia looked up just in time to see Dion move his hand in a way that looked like he was cutting. She was lost in her own thoughts, so it took her a moment to figure out what he meant.
“What? No! Not even close! Think of all the trouble you’d make!”
Whether or not there was a plot, they were dealing with an Etoiler. One of the four pillars of Tearmoon nobility being killed would cause a lot of trouble. More importantly, she had a deep confidence in herself that made her want to avoid the more cut-and-dry solutions to this problem. In particular, a strong belief in how good her enemy was.
If they killed him and he jumped back in time, she wouldn’t have a chance against someone who was so smart and knew what was going to happen. So she much preferred a solution in which the man didn’t die.
“Don’t forget, either, that the famine is coming next year… When that happens, all the nobles in the empire will have to help us. Getting rid of the Duke of Yellowmoon now won’t do anything but cause chaos in his faction.”
It would be easy if every single noble in the Yellowmoon faction was involved in a plot, but if there were a good number of innocents, getting rid of the whole group would actually help Yellowmoon because it would cause a lot of trouble. The best thing would be to find everyone in the House of Yellowmoon who is connected to the Chaos Serpents, round them up, and have someone else in his family take over as Duke. It would be great if the Duke was the only one who really did what the first emperor wanted and took part in this plot…
Mia shrugged and sighed.
“Can we keep an eye on the Duke of Yellowmoon and his people? And find out how deep this conspiracy goes in his group.”
Ludwig looked at her for a moment and then bowed his head.
“If that’s what Your Highness wants, I’ll make sure it happens or die trying…”
So, the battle started. It was a fight to get rid of the first emperor’s pact and free the Tearmoon Empire from his old chains.
What will happen? Who will come out on top? What will happen to the empire and the people who live there?
No one knows what the answers are yet.
Part 2: Girl of Guidance Fin…
Part 3: A New Covenant of the Moon and the Stars Coming Up
Author’s Note:
We are planning of having an activity report today. Hopefully we will have a good report.
