novelraw Chapter 208 : Declaration of the Beastkin Nation (13)
Chapter 208 : Declaration of the Beastkin Nation (13)
We had succeeded in capturing all four base camps.
Although Valencia and Tom had not yet arrived from the western camp, the last one we captured.
Even without their arrival, it wasn't hard to tell that the capture of the camp had been a success.
The reason was simple.
[The Fourth Great Migration of the Beastkin. What in the World is Happening?]
[Northern Regions Fear Climate Change. Some Speculate an Earthquake.]
[Fourth Beastkin Great Migration. No Known Damage to Date.]
The articles that popped up each time a base camp was captured were now openly reporting the movements of the Beastkin, as if broadcasting it live.
It didn't just stop at occupying the front page of the newspapers.
Special daily reports were being published on the matter, and there were even maps showing that our guild's territory was the gathering place for the migrating Beastkin.
‘…This is too much.’
Too fast.
Too deliberate.
At this point, it didn't seem like the UMC was simply turning a blind eye to our activities.
It was to the extent that I suspected the UMC was intentionally leaking information.
Even when the first article came out, I thought it was a bit fast, but as time went on, I couldn't shake the feeling that Ludwig Allegro's influence was involved.
Fueling that thought were the articles about the ‘Reconstruction of the Beastkin’ that were slowly making their way to the forefront, following the news of the Beastkin's great migration.
At first, they didn't even take up a full page, only mentioning the existence of the rumor in a few lines of text.
But now, the rumors about the ‘reconstruction’ of the Beastkin Nation were being reported as news, proudly occupying the third page of the papers.
It was strange.
Certainly, one could find the great migration of the Beastkin strange, as it was an unprecedented mystery, but connecting it to the ‘reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation’ was a matter of a completely different domain.
The Beastkin Nation was a country that had fallen a full 100 years ago.
Moreover, the royal lineage was known to have ended with Allen Tigris III, and Valencia’s very existence was completely unknown to the public.
It was only natural, as it was a tradition of the Beastkin Nation not to publicly announce the existence of royalty before their coming-of-age ceremony, even back when the nation was intact.
In that case, the number of people who knew of Valencia’s existence had to be extremely small, countable on one hand.
And among them, those who were still alive today would be even fewer.
In such a situation, rumors of the Beastkin Nation's reconstruction were spreading naturally?
This was just too strange.
I couldn't shake the feeling that it was contrived.
At first, I had also considered that either Valencia or Tom might have done it for some reason.
“…I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“…It's hard to explain in detail, but it's not the Beastkin way.”
After hearing Jerry's story, I also became convinced that wasn't the case.
Saying it wasn't the Beastkin way was a somewhat crude explanation.
But there was no reason more convincing than that.
If Tom had decided to spread such a story, it wouldn't have been in the style of ‘There is a rumor that~.’
[Mad Dog Beastkin Declares ‘Reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation’ in the Middle of the City]
The article would have read something like that.
Indeed, as Jerry said, it was not the Beastkin way.
Then, in the end, there were only about four people who could gauge Valencia's existence and the possibility of the Beastkin Nation's reconstruction.
Isaac Einstein, Jerry, me, and Ludwig Allegro.
It wasn't Jerry or me, and I didn't think Isaac Einstein would have bothered with such a thing.
Using the process of elimination, the only person left was Ludwig Allegro.
In other words, if my speculation was correct, it meant the UMC itself had intentionally spread the rumors about the ‘Reconstruction of the Beastkin’.
At first glance, it didn't make sense, but I could intuit the reason without much difficulty.
“…This old man. Looks like he’s getting more serious than I thought.”
I had already been thinking that something was a little strange for a while now.
Until we received the coordinates for the base camps, the UMC had clearly been maintaining a certain distance from us.
That is, to a degree where they could cut ties and pull out of this series of events at any moment.
It was only natural.
No matter how long the UMC had been observing me, as a top-secret organization of the Order, they couldn't just intervene in any matter.
To prevent unexpected problems later, they had no choice but to maintain that line.
In the first place, it was absurd to place trust in a person they had only just met.
However, them cleaning up the mess after Tom hunted the Market Maker was an intervention that went a step further than I had anticipated.
An intervention that would surely hold the UMC accountable if it became a problem later.
If I thought that much, it meant that the conservative Order had intervened while assuming they would almost certainly have to take responsibility.
It seemed they had either become convinced about me along the way, or they had some other ulterior motive... They didn't seem to intend to end it with just one foot in the door.
The UMC spreading rumors meant they intended to directly intervene in the ‘Reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation’.
Thinking it over, there was only one reason for the UMC to go this far, even shouldering the risks.
Pfft—
“Looks like they got permission.”
A decision from the Order's headquarters to intervene in the reconstruction of the Beastkin.
If it wasn't something of that scale, I didn't think they would go to the trouble of taking such risks.
Given the gravity of the matter, if the decision had been made in an unofficial meeting like the ‘Inverted Cross Council’ rather than a formal assembly, the timing would also make some sense.
Of course, that was all just speculation, so if there were variables I had missed, there was always a chance I was wrong.
It wouldn't be long before I realized my guess was not wrong.
Sure enough.
“…Huh?”
Because another article had suddenly surfaced, eclipsing the news of the Beastkin migration and taking over the front page.
[Guardian Cross Order, Guild Establishment Approved for the First Time in 100 Years.]
Eliya, who first spotted the article, said to me with her eyes wide in disbelief.
“H-Hero. We haven't received an approval notice from the Order's headquarters yet, have we?”
“Yeah. Not yet.”
“This... this seems like a misreport. It says the Order approved a guild's establishment for the first time in 100 years. That would have to be us.”
“Right. Since we’re probably the only ones who applied?”
“We haven't gotten an approval notice... and there's no way it would be approved, so the article itself must be a misreport. I'll contact them about this…”
Pfft—
I snatched the newspaper from the fussing Eliya's grasp.
“It could be true, why are you making such a fuss?”
“What...? How could it be true? There's no way. Even if they were to grant approval, there's no way they'd approve the first guild establishment in 100 years without any confirmation or review. We only just applied a short while ago.”
“...”
“Besides, does it make sense for the news article to come out before we even receive the approval notice?”
“It does.”
“...”
“If it’s an article released directly by the Order.”
“...!”
Just as Eliya said, it was indeed absurd for an article to be published before the person in question had even received an approval notice.
But in this case, it could make sense.
The Order's administrative system was notoriously slow, for one.
And judging by how things were unfolding, it seemed the Order was planning to seriously help with the reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation on an organizational level.
At this point, it was no longer just about ‘approving a guild's establishment’; it was tantamount to them declaring their support for the revival of the Beastkin forces by spreading the news throughout the entire Order Territory.
The ‘Period of Intensified Crackdown on Slavery’ subtly mentioned below the front-page article solidified that thought.
That was practically an advertisement aimed at the Beastkin slaves scattered across the continent.
At this rate, the approval notice would probably arrive before long.
“The Order released the article themselves? About the guild establishment approval?”
Eliya asked back, unable to comprehend.
It was a natural reaction.
The last guild establishment approval had been a full 100 years ago, and given that its abolition was related to Isaac Einstein, the Order had no choice but to be cautious about the current decision.
It was nonsensical for the conservative Order to openly advertise such a decision.
This matter alone could cause a great deal of the Order's manpower to be wasted on issues of fairness.
The Order's efforts in keeping the floodgates for guilds firmly shut for 100 years could crumble in an instant.
However, that too made sense if you assumed the Order's headquarters had decided to make such a decision.
You had to lose one thing to gain another, after all.
Approving the guild's establishment would inevitably be a burden on the Order, but if you placed ‘The Saintess's Execution’ at the center of the puzzle, all the incomprehensible mysteries of the current situation fit perfectly into place.
Just as I had thought before, it seemed they planned to use the establishment of the Beastkin Nation as a tool to cover up ‘The Saintess's Execution’.
However, there was a slight difference in that they were supporting the revival of the Beastkin forces more deliberately and actively than I had previously thought.
In any case, the way things were turning out wasn't all that bad.
It was merely a difference in the degree to which the Order was participating in the same ultimate goal of rebuilding the Beastkin Nation.
From our perspective, it was a plus factor, if anything; there were no particular minus factors.
In fact, it was a welcome development as it reduced the number of things we had to do.
However, there was one thing that bothered me.
“…The dates for the slavery crackdown period. They extend to after The Saintess's Execution.”
This meant they intended to drag out the current level of public attention until after The Saintess's Execution.
If that happened, it would become impossible for me to finish all matters related to the ‘Reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation’ as I had originally planned, and then go to meet the Saintess as the next step.
Even if they didn't say so directly, they would probably manipulate the external environment to ensure the coronation ceremony could only proceed after the execution was carried out.
But opposing the Order's headquarters was out of the question.
On the assumption that the Order's goal was to divert attention from The Saintess's Execution, that part would be a non-negotiable area.
In that case, it was right for me to change my plans.
The situation of having to change them so suddenly wasn't exactly satisfying, but what could I do?
‘...I'll have to prepare for this instead.’
I'll go meet the Saintess before the Beastkin Nation's coronation ceremony.
The plan had gotten twisted and a bit more complicated, but it couldn't be helped.
If you don't like the situation, you have to change yourself; blaming the environment wouldn't change anything.
Just as I was thinking that.
The news I had been waiting for finally came from the basement.
Emily had completed the prototype.