Chapter 25: Envoy from the Capital
The royal capital of the Kingdom of Berstein—Londinium.
In one of the white marble chambers of the towering royal castle, King Edward IV sat heavily upon his throne, releasing a long, weary sigh.
Before him stood the kingdom’s highest officials, including the chancellor, all wearing expressions as though they had swallowed bitter medicine.
The only sounds in the room were the crackling of the fireplace and the oppressive silence that hung over them.
“…Unbelievable.”
The king himself was the one to break that silence.
“This tax report from the Arkwright Territory—surely there must be some mistake?”
He pointed to the parchment laid before him.
On it was written a figure that defied reason— a tax income more than ten times that of the previous year.
Only a year ago, the frontier Arckwright family had been rumored to be on the brink of bankruptcy.
And yet now, in the span of a single year, they had amassed a fortune rivaling that of the richest nobles in the entire kingdom.
“There is no error, Your Majesty.”
Replied the chancellor stiffly.
“According to reports from merchants across the realm, the Arkwright territory is experiencing astonishing economic growth. Their newly developed specialties—such as Arkwright Ale and smoked ham—are so popular that even here in the capital, they’re constantly sold out.”
“It is also said,”
Added another minister.
“…that the roads there have been rebuilt with incredible speed. Merchants claim the highways—once muddy and treacherous—are now smoother than the main boulevard of the royal city itself.”
Each report brimmed with admiration.
But the faces of the king and the high nobles only grew darker.
A single noble house growing that powerful, that quickly—such rapid expansion was not merely unusual; it was dangerous.
It threatened to disrupt the delicate balance of power upon which the kingdom rested.
“The problem,”
Said Prince Alphonse, the king’s eldest son and commander of the Royal Knights.
“…is that the one responsible is none other than Zenon von Arkwright, the third son of that family.”
The young prince—a paragon of chivalry and justice—spoke with barely concealed disdain.
“He has cast out his corrupt retainers without mercy and brought the venerable Merchant Guild to heel through sheer coercion. His methods are ruthless—unworthy of a noble. The people obey him out of fear, not respect. That is not true governance!”
Many conservative nobles nodded in agreement.
To them, Zenon’s brand of cold, rational reform was an affront to everything they stood for—tradition, hierarchy, and the sanctity of noble authority.
“Yet it’s also true,”
The king said bitterly.
“….that his people are prospering. They say there’s not a single soul left hungry in his land.”
“Which,”
Alphonse replied sharply.
“…is exactly what makes him dangerous, Father. He gives the people both fear and bread. That is the way of history’s most perilous demagogues. If left unchecked, Arkwright could become a kingdom within the kingdom itself. We must act—before that happens.”
The growing suspicion and hostility toward Zenon spread even beyond the palace walls—
reaching the Great Cathedral, not far from the castle.
Within a chamber bathed in divine light from its stained glass windows, the High Priest, leader of the church, spoke gently to a young girl kneeling in prayer.
“Saint Liliana, I trust you have heard the rumors about the happenings in the land of Arkwright?”
“Yes, Your Eminence,”
She replied, her voice pure and serene.
Liliana—hailed as the current Saint—was revered throughout the kingdom for her boundless compassion and miraculous healing powers.
“They say,”
She continued softly,.
“…that a young noble rumored to be possessed by a demon has brought about miraculous harvests through mysterious means, misleading the hearts of the people…”
“Indeed,”
Murmured the High Priest gravely.
“As servants of the divine, we must discern whether these so-called miracles are truly the work of God—or the deceit of the Devil cloaked in false prosperity. We cannot sit idly by while the souls of the faithful stray from the righteous path.”
The Church’s concern was clear:
Zenon’s existence itself threatened to undermine divine authority.
If one man’s intellect and will could create “miracles” without prayer or divine blessing, then the church’s spiritual influence would inevitably wane.
“Liliana,”
Said the High Priest, placing a hand upon her shoulder.
“With your sacred eyes, go to Arkwright and see the truth for yourself. If evil has taken root there, then you shall cleanse it with the light of God. That is the holy mission entrusted to you.”
“…I understand,”
Liliana answered, raising her clear eyes to meet his.
“As Saint, it is my duty to save those who have been deceived by darkness. I, Liliana, will fulfill this mission—without fail.”
She could not yet know that this pure conviction of hers would soon give rise to a grand and tragic misunderstanding.
The royal family’s political calculation and the church’s religious anxiety— two immense powers, each with their own motives— intersected at a single point: Zenon von Arkwright.
Their conclusion was unanimous.
Saint Liliana’s dispatch to the Arkwright Territory.
Officially, it was a “mission of inspection.”
In truth, it was the opening move in a quiet plan—
a plan to judge and condemn the man who had become too powerful for the world’s comfort.
A few days later—
Before the Arkwright estate, a solemn procession bearing the royal crest arrived.
At its head rode a middle-aged knight clad in the armor of the Royal Guard.
He carried himself with the imposing dignity of a royal envoy and ordered the gates of the mansion to be struck.
The envoy was led into the reception hall, where Zenon awaited him.
Unfurling a parchment scroll, the envoy began to read in a flat, formal tone:
“By the name of His Majesty, King Edward IV, this royal decree is delivered to Zenon von Arkwright, third son of the Arkwright duke house.”
In addition to Zenon, Gray, Rio, and Marc were waiting in the room with nervous expressions on their faces.
“In recognition of the remarkable prosperity your territory has achieved in recent years—an accomplishment most worthy of praise—and for the purpose of investigating the true nature of this miraculous development, we hereby dispatch Her Holiness, Saint Liliana Cresswell, as our representative. You are to make due preparations to receive and properly welcome her.
Thus is the royal command.”
The Saint… coming here.
The impact of those words was immense.
Marc and Rio exchanged bewildered glances, their expressions a mix of disbelief and awe.
For the Saint herself to visit this remote frontier land— that was an honor beyond imagining.
But Gray, ever perceptive, understood the political undertone behind the decree.
His face stiffened. This was no blessing. It was a warning—a calculated move by the royal family to keep them in check.
Zenon, however, did not so much as flinch.
Even after the envoy departed, he stood by the window in silence, gazing at the gray sky beyond.
Inside his mind, calculations were already running at high speed—risk assessment, contingency planning, predictive modeling.
Saint Liliana.
The heroine of the “game.”
The central figure of every destruction flag.
The royal family and the Church have deemed me a potential threat—and are now sending their probe.
In the worst case, this will end in judgment… or execution.
How troublesome. Truly, how irrationally troublesome.
Just when I had finally built a rational, comfortable environment, the world insists on intruding again with its chaos.
“…Zenon-sama, is something the matter?”
Gray spoke softly, concern in his voice.
Zenon turned to him quietly.
There was no emotion in his blue eyes—only the cold, analytical gleam
of an engineer examining a virus that had just infiltrated his system.
“Ah, no problem,”
He said, calmly—as if discussing the weather.
“Only that the greatest irrationality… is about to arrive.”
End of Part I.
His reforms had brought prosperity to one small domain.
But that very success was only the opening signal—
the move that would drag him onto a far larger, far more complex game board.