TN: this chapter contians sexual assault/attempted rape and is an extension of the 18th chapter of the manga. If you feel offended by this kind of stuff and have read the manga it is not necessary to read through this chapter to follow the story
Zeshald returned to Paula after receiving the circlet created by Yuusuke. The circlet was said to be a sacred treasure that was bestowed by her majesty queen Rishause. The queen had also made a major announcement at the opening speech during of the harvest festival. Using the combined turmoil of these two events, Zeshald announced the establishment of the [Water Mirror], an organization that was under the queen’s direct control.
As the supreme commander Izapnar had mostly foreseen this, he called a meeting of the royalists of the former king and advocated to restrain the forming of [Water Mirror] and avoid putting the country through the Fonclanc’s conspiracy.
Still, the former royalists disliked Izapnar’s current policies and his view towards the queen so they ignored his warnings. One by one they announced their wishes to become the members of the [Water Mirror] and were welcomed into the upper echelons of the organization. Even if they weren’t part of the commanding executives of Paula, they had prior experience of running the country during the former king’s reign.
Using their experience and skills from their time on active duty, they had started the [Water Mirror] in no time and turned it into a functioning group. At the same time, as there were a lot of supporters of the queen within the active duty soldiers, many hopeful applications were coming in every day.
Although the members of the elite groups, mostly loyal to Izapnar, skeptically viewed the [Water Mirror], some of them, who were loyal to the former king, saw some meaning in the queen’s faction and showed some interest towards its activity.
By the second day of the harvest festival, members and executives of the [Water Mirror] had expanded to one fourth of the general population and the elites of the Blue Garden. And it could be felt that this expansion would further increase after the end of the harvest festival.
“Almost all of the royalist members have been confirmed. There are also signs of some members of the elite groups being swayed towards them.”(Volmes)
“Khe… I have expected this, but their influence is becoming bothersome. Where are they planning to create their base of operations?”(Izapnar)
“I’m afraid they seem to be using the empty rooms in a section of the main fortress. They are based in the upper levels. While their defenses are not hard to attack, they are also easy to defend…”(Volmes)
“They are not hard to attack, but spying on them is meaningless, eh?. At any rate the assassination of the queen is now out of the question.”(Izapnar)
If the queen would be assassinated now, it would be obvious that the culprit would be the Izapnar’s faction. Zeshald’s assassination was difficult for the exact same reason, but in this case it could somehow be disguised as an internal strife.
Presently they had to undertake urgent measures to stop the expansion of the [Water Mirror]. Using the festive mood of the harvest festival this organization could gain sufficient power to undertake political actions and increase the influence of the queen. In the worst case scenario there was a possibility of them using the queen’s influence to dismiss the supreme commander from his post.
Although it was regretful, Izapnar could not publicly denounce Zeshald’s actions to be a plot of Fonclanc.
Although he successfully started rumors that queen’s treatment of [artless] in Cofta was like that because [of her wounded heart], he had no leads pointing to Zeshald being a spy of Fonclanc.
Zeshald arrived to Blue Garden after receiving a personal invitation. If he blamed that such a person gained the queen’s trust, was directly appointed as her personal aide, and yet was a spy of an enemy country, it would also destroy their own reputation as that would also mean that Paula’s central command was also deceived by Fonclanc. They were also in no place to make a protest so, in the end, they would have to deal with the [Water Mirror] as an internal problem.
“There are also reports of Fonclanc movements within their side of the national border.”(Volmes)
“Esvobus, that sly rat, order the troops to strengthen the security at the border.”(Izapnar)
In this critical moment, Izapnar struggled to deal with the government’s affairs trying to preserve the foundations of the Blue Garden dynasty that he had laid during the long years.
***
Third day of the harvest festival, morning. Fonke, performing the duties of a messenger, arrived on a fast horse carrying a message that an emergency meeting was being called and Yuusuke was hurriedly preparing for his departure.
As this was the third day of the festival, a lot of villagers gathered to bid him farewell. Having said that, everyone hesitated to talk. Yuusuke, clad in the uniform of the darkness god corps, returning back to the appointment in the city with a palace knight as his subordinate, it has finally started to sink in for everyone that he really is the man from the gossips, the elite of the palace, the hero of Gearhawk.
“Y-you somehow look like an entirely different person.”(Bahana)
Muttered Bahana in an unusually nervous voice. Sun stepped out of the crowd, approached Yuusuke, and softly grabbed his hand before withdrawing her’s after a moment, just like that time in the carriage on their trip back from the palace. That made Bahana’s eyes go wide from astonishment, as she could only gasp, “Oh my!”
“Good bye Yuusuke san. Take care of yourself.”(Sun)
“Ah, I’m off, goodbye Sun.”(Yuusuke)
To Yuusuke, this seemed like some sort of good luck charm from Sun, so he received the act naturally. Bahana helplessly hung her head regarding Sun’s innocence as Yuusuke waved goodbye to the villagers and boarded the carriage.