Chapter 75

"Such nonsense..."

Leur muttered, his face full of bitterness.

Beside him, the High Priest’s attendant was holding his head.

The reports that kept arriving were that, according to the "instructions," the believers within the territory had been temporarily excommunicated.

Of course, he had given no such instructions. Realizing immediately that they were forgeries, and foreseeing the problems they would cause, he quickly sent out orders to halt the excommunications.

However, those orders never reached their destination.

To quickly send instructions to the Kleinzelt territory, one had to travel down the river in the Belpze Marquisate.

However, the Marquis Belpze, who had heard Sora’s plan, had restricted movement to the Kleinzelt territory.

By the time the instructions finally reached the Kleinzelt territory via a detour, the church was already being destroyed by the angry mob.

Leur and the others realized they had been completely outmaneuvered, but it was too late.

The situation was not limited to the Kleinzelt territory; gradually, it spread to other regions, increasing distrust of the church.

"We’ve been outsmarted..."

Leur recalled the day he had played a game with Sora.

An unconventional surprise attack, cutting off the coordination of the pieces, and assaulting the main camp at any opportunity.

"–Assaulting the main camp...?"

Leur felt a nagging doubt and searched his memory.

Had he overlooked something?

The contract with Sora was now meaningless.

–Then, the contract with the marquis...

The contract with the Marquis of Kleinzelt was for the protection of the church.

How would it look to a third party?

"–Wait! No matter how much you are the royal guard, such forceful interrogation is not permissible!"

Voices of contention could be heard from the corridor.

Leur’s face turned pale as he realized the gravity of the situation exceeded his imagination.

Before the chaos could subside, the door to the room was thrown open.

"High Priest Leur, I have some questions regarding the Marquis of Kleinzelt’s rebellion. I request your presence."

The deputy commander of the royal guard said this as soon as he entered the room.

"–Using the contract that proves the Marquis of Kleinzelt’s favoritism towards the church as evidence of collusion in the rebellion, and detaining him for a long time under the pretext of interrogation to slow down the church’s actions. The spark from the Kleinzelt territory spread to other churches, increasing distrust. Typical of a fox cub," the king sighed, looking at Sora, who sat before him.

The location was a tower on the outskirts of the capital, used as a prison, in a room on the top floor.

Sora had been summoned to this room, which was densely populated with three people and the captain of the royal guard.

"More importantly, how did you do this contract?"

The crown prince asked Sora with the casualness of a friend asking for homework answers.

On the table was the contract between Sora and the Marquis of Kleinzelt.

The entire document was covered in mold, but one part was particularly moldy.

It was where Sora had signed and stamped.

"I used an iodine-starch reaction solution instead of ink. It’s a blue-purple liquid that appears black in the dark. If left alone, it fades over time, but by growing mold, the starch decomposes, accelerating the fading process until it becomes indistinguishable from the original color of the parchment."

"I don’t understand. Iodine-starch—what language is that?"

"By the way, it can’t be misused. If you know about it, you’ll notice the color difference, and more people will pay attention after this incident."

As Sora pointed this out, the crown prince chuckled.

"I thought about getting some indecisive nobles to petition for your life."

"Forging a petition, huh. I didn’t think the crown prince would try to hinder me."

"I was hated, wasn’t I?" Sora covered his eyes and acted as if he were crying, which made the crown prince chuckle.

The king folded his arms at this.

"Brats. No matter what happens now, the execution will not be stopped."

The crown prince shrugged at the king’s words, clearly tired of hearing the answer to a known problem.

The execution was Sora’s own suggestion.

The House of Kleinzelt was accused of plotting a rebellion.

The bloodline of a rebel is surprisingly troublesome.

In the current era, where the truth is known, it might not surface, but when the memory fades, it could become a source of internal strife.

For the future of the nation, it was necessary to dismantle the House of Kleinzelt.

Sora Kleinzelt would be executed, the House of Kleinzelt would be extinguished, and the Kleinzelt territory would be given to a new noble appointed by the king to govern. This was the best choice for the state.

However, after Sora was gone, few could balance the abnormal culture that had sprouted in the Kleinzelt viscount territory and the devastated Kleinzelt marquis territory.

The church faction was out of the question, and the mage faction, consisting of former church believers living in the Kleinzelt marquis territory, would not be satisfied.

A neutral noble needed to be appointed as the lord, but there was a problem.

Sora’s vassals.

Razette and the others, who had rebuilt the security and infrastructure of the territory, were currently missing.

Without them, it would be impossible to secure funds for reconstruction.

–That fox must have anticipated this and made them disappear.

The king glared, and Sora smiled calmly.

Without Sora’s vassals, it would be difficult to produce pearls and compressed wood.

Thus, the Kleinzelt territory would appear less attractive and more troublesome to a neutral noble. It could even lead to the collapse of their own territory.

Now that the church faction’s influence had finally diminished, the king did not want to incur the wrath of the neutral faction.

Moreover, there was a greater concern.

What if Sora’s vassals did not recognize the new lord?

What if they, who had carried out the impressive transport of relief supplies, handled military supplies and used unknown weapons to rebel?

The actual probability of this happening was low.

However, it was a sufficient threat to make one hesitate.

In a deadlock, Sora’s proposal was somewhat brutal.

But it solved all the problems with little opposition. In fact, many nobles could not oppose it.

No one wanted to be saddled with bad debts.

"Fox cub"

The king muttered, and Sora and the crown prince exchanged glances and laughed.

After a while, Sora stood up and left the room.

The crown prince called out to his back.

"Lord Sora, let’s meet in paradise."

Pointing to the blue sky, the crown prince made a poor joke, and Sora smiled.

"I will go ahead and prepare it."

The next day, the news that Sora Kleinzelt had been executed in secret spread throughout the kingdom.