Oran Knight is out (1/3 chapters for today)
Carrying Thoughts (2): Conspiracy
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“All of them! What do you think I’m paying so much money to keep you around for?” (Baxwal)
On the top floor of the Oran Knight Military Academy, there was an exceptionally luxurious room the size of a classroom, and there sat Baxwal, the head of the Deran family. Of course, this was not a room prepared for Bowman Deran Baxwal. Originally, it was a room that belonged to the lord of this land, Follet, to be used when he visited. However, the lord, Follet, was relegated to a building constructed for the inter-academy competition, and Baxwal was lounging in this room.
Normally, this would be an extremely disrespectful act, but since Baxwal had taken over the school building under the guise of security, he was free to do as he pleased. Initially, this room was supposed to serve as a venue for peace negotiations, but due to Baxwal’s selfishness in wanting it as his own room, it was changed to the director’s office. Even though Baxwal had fortified himself in this room, he was only in a good mood at first. Since coming to this academy, everything had gone wrong.
The reason Baxwal was in a foul mood was solely this. It was good that he had secured students to serve as sacrifices for the traps he had set before his arrival. He managed to capture the young girl from the Bell Household as planned. That was as far as things had gone well. For some reason, there were an incredibly large number of people concerned about these brats.
First, there was Follet. Just because the team that was supposed to participate in a mere recreational competition had changed, he pressed for reasons and ordered a detailed investigation. Then, there was Princess Beretta of the Principality of Remnos, who claimed to be acquainted with the captured individuals. According to the information that reached Baxwal later, it turned out that those who were with Beretta when she was attacked were these kids. However, the hastily gathered information did not indicate such a story.
It was no wonder Baxwal was unaware. Only the team members and a few instructors knew that Lux and the others had accompanied Beretta. They had been in the carriage the entire time, so there were hardly any witnesses. Even more troublesome was that brat from the Principality of Solar, Sarel Gain Willard. This mere student, flaunting the prestige of the Gain Household, was demanding an official explanation because he couldn’t greet the daughter of the Bell Household. Moreover, he said that unless he could confirm the safety of the Bell Household’s daughter, he questioned his own safety, and thus the competition could not proceed. It seemed he was throwing a tantrum.
Why on earth would a kid from the north care about the daughter of the Bell Household?
If the Solar delegation were to return like this, Baxwal would of course have the obligation to explain the situation. No matter how much Baxwal claimed he had merely captured rebels, as time passed, the carelessness of the information source would be exposed. After all, he was acting based on the ambiguous information of a mere student.
That would not bode well for Baxwal’s position either. Once the captured students had served their purpose, they needed to be swiftly taken to the royal capital to receive punishment. Specifically, they would need to cause a commotion on the way to the capital and then be executed together.
If the Solar side returned before anything happened, there was a considerable possibility that the peace negotiations would need to be restarted. That was something Baxwal wanted to avoid. While it would be advantageous to buy time until a restart, if this incident turned into a blunder on his part, it would become increasingly difficult to send guards aligned with Baxwal for the next time.
Adding to that, the venue for this competition was a location favorable to Baxwal. He was aware that Follet had inserted himself into his own territory, but Baxwal had also maneuvered to ensure the competition venue would be set near “that” Mount Paro. Near the summit of Mount Paro, there were currently experimental weapons undergoing secret trials.
There were still few personnel, making it difficult to deploy them in actual combat: Artillerymen (Gunner) and cannons. At the academy’s research facility, they were finally developing something that had a certain degree of power, accuracy, and range, and a no-entry zone had been established near the summit of Mount Paro for distance measurement and other testing.
Baxwal had invested a significant amount of money into the research of these cannons, and he had surrounded himself with researchers closely tied to him for what he considered a future main firepower. He had never expected that it would be useful in this way, but he thought that luck was still on his side.
Once the competition began, he intended to randomly fire one of these massive shells into the competition venue. Ideally, it would involve enough Solar students to make it even better. Few would have seen a cannon before. They would never dream that a huge bomb was coming from a distance.
When chaos erupted, Baxwal’s soldiers would capture and kill the culprits. Then he would declare that it was the work of the captured students’ companions. The target would be the Solar students, and the purpose would be revenge against Solar.
This would leave a significant grudge. Restarting the peace negotiations would not be easily conducted. After that, all he had to do was skillfully sway public opinion towards restarting the war with the northern nobles.
In Baxwal’s mind, this was a foolproof plan, and at worst, if the cannons became unusable for some reason, he could have that student named Mogi burst into the peace talks and shoot one or two people. In that case, he would be slightly blamed for the lax security, but he was confident he could pin the blame on the academy officials.
However, the Solar brat was saying they would return if they could not see the Bell Household daughter, and perhaps because of that, key figures for the secret meeting were not coming to the school building. It might be that Follet was on guard and preventing them from coming.
On top of that, the captured kids had somehow managed to defeat the soldiers in the research building and had begun to occupy it in resistance. If the commotion grew too large, it would likely reach the ears of the Solar students, Follet, and Princess Beretta.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” (Baxwal)
Baxwal threw a decorative object at a nearby soldier.
“Hey, what are you struggling with against a mere handful of brats? Quickly suppress the research building!” (Baxwal)
Baxwal commanded, and to another soldier, he declared, “Until the commotion settles down, no one is to enter! No one is to leave! The Oran Knight Military Academy is now closed!”.
While Baxwal was shouting, one of his aides returned and whispered in his ear.
“Are the Solar brats still throwing a tantrum? Should I kill them?” (Aide)
The information brought by the aide only fueled Baxwal’s anger.
However, the aide’s next words made his shouting stop abruptly.
“What did you say? Is that true?” (Baxwal)
“Yes. It seems that with so many civilian spectators present, if nothing begins, it would be bad for appearances. Follet, Princess Beretta, and Ambassador Minka from Solar are reportedly going to give greetings.” (Aide)
“…Target them.” (Baxwal)
“Huh?” (Aide)
“I said to target that greeting with the cannon.” (Baxwal)
“B-but Princess Beretta will be present, right? What about our relationship with the Principality of Remnos…?” (Aide)
“I’ve had it with that country, which pretends to be neutral while acting all high and mighty. Enough is enough. If need be, I’ll make it all seem like Follet’s scheme!” (Baxwal)
The aide, who was about to voice another opinion, was taken aback and held his breath upon seeing Baxwal’s expression. His bloodshot eyes were gleaming ominously. If he said anything now, he would likely have his head blown off.
“I’ll cut off this troublesome grudge right here! Follet! This is your place of death!” (Baxwal)
Baxwal shouted with a grotesque smile, spitting as he did.
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