Death's Daughter and the Ebony Blade: Volume 7 Exordium [Parts 1 to 7] by Maito Ayamine

Author:Maito Ayamine
Language: eng
Format: epub

V

The Third City of Bay Grand, the United City-States of Sutherland

Julius lila Fiphus, a tall, young man with a gentle brightness in his eyes, passed by windows revealing a sky covered by a thin sheet of cloud as he walked down a long corridor on his way to the highest floor of Rizen Castle. At last, a door of agate with a dynamic swirl of flowers etched into its surface came into view before him. The guards flanking the door gave a two-handed salute, which Julius returned, before turning and gently rapping on the door.

“I wasn’t expecting you to get here nearly this soon,” came a mellifluous voice from the other side of the door, not sounding especially concerned. Stifling a grimace, Julius opened the door to where Marshal Leon von Elfriede, master of the Third City, stood gazing out the window at the rooftops below. Without a word, he went over to stand at Leon’s side and for a time, they took in the view together.

“And?” Leon broke the silence first. “What did you think?”

Julius did not ask him what he meant. “There’s no doubt that something highly unusual has occurred within the Asvelt Empire. On the surface, at least, we had established friendly relations, after all.”

“How are the other city lords taking the news?”

“Suffice it to say that it is just as your lordship imagines.”

Pulling out a chair for himself, Leon sat down. He placed his elbow on the table, resting his cheek on his knuckles, then let out a soft snort of laughter.

The shocking news that Ramza the Good himself had ceded his imperial throne had taken Sutherland by storm. Succeeding the man who had earned that epithet was his former Chancellor, Darmés. Julius had met Darmés once, at the signing of the non-aggression pact that had required them to cut off the supply of food to the Kingdom of Fernest. He had seemed shrewd, but a shadowy air hung about his figure, and the impression Julius had come away with was one of inscrutability. This secret treaty had come from none other than Darmés himself. Of course, this meant he was breaching an agreement of his own creation. It would have made sense if said breach had come after the empire had conquered Fernest, but the kingdom remained as stalwart as ever—indeed, they’d received word that the Royal Army was in the middle of a large-scale counter operation against the empire. This alone was enough to strongly suggest that the empire’s dominance was beginning to fray. That they had, in spite of this, not only unilaterally violated the treaty, but also demanded Sutherland’s unconditional vassalage, had understandably left Julius entirely baffled.

Julius poured all this out to Leon, who, gazing at the golden scales that rested on his work table, said, “There’s no need to complicate matters so. The emperor stepped down, policies changed. Happens all the time.”

“It does, but always on the precondition that the previous emperor has died.”

Leon gave an emphatic nod, as though to say that this had been just his point.

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