The Sabnock Plains of the demon realm.
Its master, the Corrosion Beast lord… Sabnock, had been subjugated.
The monsters that had been rampaging, emboldened by Sabnock's emergence from the depths, were also slain by the knight order led by Marquis Cattleya.
The commotion had been brought under a measure of control.
However, the end of one crisis heralded the birth of another.
"…So the cause of this incident truly lies with Rodele, then?"
"…That is almost certainly the case."
The royal capital of the Kingdom of Aiwood. Within the royal palace at its heart.
Having received the report, the king — Davit Aiwood — clutched his head and slumped over his desk.
On the face of the king who stood at the apex of the nation, what surfaced was deep anguish and regret.
An annual event held at the Royal Academy — the Magic Hunt Festival.
There, a stampede of monsters had suddenly erupted, and dangerous creatures had poured out in vast numbers from the depths of the plains that served as the event's stage.
As a result, the damage inflicted was far from negligible.
Of the students and staff who had been participating, twenty-three were dead. Fifty-eight suffered serious or minor injuries.
There were even those who had been so traumatized by witnessing their comrades devoured by monsters before their very eyes that they had lost their minds and left the academy.
This event was supposed to nurture the next generation of talent that would support the Kingdom of Aiwood, yet it had ended with the loss of a great many of those very people.
One week had passed since the incident.
What the ministers who had been investigating the cause delivered was a report stating that the source of this commotion lay with Rodele Aiwood, the king's third son.
"We were able to recover the body of the court magician that had been attached to His Highness Rodele. It had been mauled by monsters, but fortunately the brain appears to have been intact. Upon examining its contents, it seems that it was His Highness Rodele who provoked Sabnock, the master of the demon realm, and that the true mastermind behind it all is Marquis Eiger.
"I would also like to report the results of the knight order's investigation. We've found evidence that 'Monster Lure' magic tools, which are prohibited, were imported from another country. Several intermediaries were involved, but... the buyer is believed to be Marquis Eiger. We have posted watchmen at his estate in the royal capital, so he can be apprehended at any time."
The two delivering their reports one after another to the king were Albert Rosemary, chief court mage, and Iljas Cattleya, knight commander.
The two had each been investigating from their respective positions—one from the court magicians, the other from the knight order—but their findings had led them to the same individual.
At this point, there could be no doubt about the involvement of Rodele and Marquis Eiger.
"Those fools... what in the world were they trying to achieve...?"
"......"
The king asked with a pained expression, but only a heavy silence returned from the room.
Deep within the royal palace was a conference chamber. The room, where only a select few were permitted entry, held six people.
The king, master of the palace; his son, Crown Prince Richard; Second Prince Andrew; Albert and Iljas; and Prime Minister Velios Crocus.
The six who had taken their seats around the conference table wore grim expressions, as though in the midst of a funeral.
"...Father, may I speak?"
"Andrew, go ahead."
"Yes."
Andrew, the Second Prince and student council president of the Royal Academy, rose to his feet.
"There is no point in even considering what goes on in my foolish brother's head. What a fool thinks is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people."
"......"
"However... even so, Marquis Eiger has been supporting Rodele, pushing for him to become the next king. Could this scheme not be part of that larger effort?"
"What gain is there in having monsters attack students? Wouldn't Rodele simply end up bearing the responsibility, and that would be the end of it?"
"Perhaps they never intended to limit it to just the students. It's possible that... they were hoping Sabnock itself would attack the royal capital."
"......!"
The lord of the demon realm, Sabnock, had approached the royal capital once before, twenty years ago, causing no small amount of chaos.
This time, they had narrowly avoided the very same thing happening all over again.
Upon hearing his younger brother's theory, Crown Prince Richard let out a low "Hmm..."
"...So they intended to have Sabnock attack the royal capital in order to weaken the Royalist faction?"
The Kingdom of Aiwood had several factions, but the one considered the mainstream was the "Royalist faction." This was the faction that supported the king and sought to establish Richard as the next king.
What this faction aimed for was political stability. Peaceful relations with other nations. Protecting the kingdom without stirring up any trouble.
On the other hand, the faction Marquis Eiger belonged to was the "Reformist faction," or perhaps it was more fitting to call it the "Queen Dowager faction."
They were not pleased with Richard becoming the next king.
Inheriting the will of the late queen dowager, who had once commanded a great number of followers as the nation's ruler, they backed Rodele — her favorite.
Andrew's thinking was that they had schemed to topple the Royalist faction by having monsters attack the royal capital...
"Perhaps they were even preparing to storm the royal palace at the same time the capital was attacked. They may have stationed hidden soldiers throughout the capital, intending to target Father and older brother..."
"...Indeed, if Sabnock had approached the royal capital, the royal palace would have been left undermanned as well."
Richard affirmed his brother's reasoning with a grim expression.
It made sense. It was heavy-handed, but the logic held together... and yet, it was still an idea that was hard to accept.
"They would go so far as to use the potential destruction of the royal capital — the possible fall of the Kingdom of Aiwood — just to seat Rodele on the throne?"
A noble was supposed to put the nation first.
Sacrificing the country for the sake of ambition was putting the cart before the horse.
It was incomprehensible how anyone could arrive at such warped thinking.
"...Marquis Eiger, he too was a decent man once, wasn't he..."
The one who muttered those words, heavy as mud, was Velios, the prime minister.
"As a prestigious family of magic standing alongside House Rosemary, they dedicated themselves to the previous king's abdication... and played an active role in suppressing external forces and rebel factions that tried to exploit the chaos. They were undeniably one of the heroes who held this kingdom together, yet..."
"Everyone who got involved with Her Majesty the Queen Dowager ended up losing their minds, didn't they? Just like our parents' generation."
Albert said with a grimace, and Iljas beside him nodded vigorously.
There were many who had been driven to madness after becoming entangled with the queen dowager, who possessed an abnormal level of manipulation over others' hearts.
And yet, it was also a fact that the queen dowager could not necessarily be classified as "evil."
She had undoubtedly been the key figure in deposing the tyrant and building the peace they now enjoyed.
"Thinking about it again... I really am incompetent as a king, aren't I."
The king's expression twisted with self-deprecation.
"I couldn't even correct my own son, I allowed Marquis Eiger, my own vassal, to run rampant... and I couldn't prevent this crisis from occurring. Looking back now, my father was a tyrant, but perhaps he was more capable as a king than I am."
The previous king, a tyrant, had been an evil and selfish man, but before the queen dowager had stripped him of his backbone, he had tolerated no seeds of rebellion whatsoever.
He may have had problems as a person, but his abilities as a ruler were surely superior to those of the current king.
"Your Majesty is not at fault. Maintaining the balance despite both internal and external troubles is unquestionably your accomplishment. There is no way to deal with this any further under the current system."
"...I'd like to believe that."
At the prime minister's words, the king let out a sigh as deep as the bottom of the sea.
The previous tyrant king had been eliminated, and centralized power had collapsed. The authority once held by the royal family had been dispersed among the nobles.
This had successfully prevented another tyrant from emerging, but in exchange, the king could no longer punish even blatant traitors by his will alone.
It was only thanks to the powerful figures present in this room that the regime could be maintained at all... otherwise, the response to Marquis Eiger would undoubtedly have been even further delayed.
There was not much that could be done.
Still, they had to keep applying symptomatic treatment for the sake of peace.
"...Bring Marquis Eiger to the royal palace. With this much evidence gathered, there is no need for restraint. If he resists, apprehend him."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Iljas bowed respectfully and moved to mobilize the knights to capture Marquis Eiger.
However, the only people at Marquis Eiger's residence in the royal capital were his family. Sometime before, the marquis himself had vanished without a trace.
A few days later.
Marquis Eiger, who held domain south of the royal capital, raised his army and declared war on the royal family, taking Third Prince Rodele as his banner.