In the flickering firelight of the hearth, Salsi II showed Jenkins the paper. At last, Jenkins could read its contents.
"B-07-5-7325, King Stanley's Covenant? This was in your family's treasury all along?"
Jenkins asked, astonished. Even the inventory list Dolores had provided didn't ntion this item.
"You know what it is?"
"Of course. It's a divine artifact from the 12th Epoch, obtained when a human king sacrificed his entire family to a god whose na was never recorded. So long as a recognized king touches this parchnt and recites the words written on it at dawn, noon, and dusk each day, the nation he rules will never suffer a rebellion."
"In that case, did that kingdom last for a very long ti?"
Princess Yani Stuart, standing nearby, couldn't help but ask.
"No, the kingdom was annihilated by an anomalous teor shower the very next year. Not a single soul survived. After that, no king ever dared to touch it again."
Jenkins sighed and added:
"That's why you should never ask for power from any being you don't understand. It's an incredibly dangerous thing to do."
Salsi II remained unconcerned, likely pretending not to hear the hidden aning in Jenkins's words. He pressed the parchnt onto an empty space on the chessboard.
"By the ancient contract, I swear that in the coming war, none of the combatants will die easily. As a price, the farmlands surrounding Ruen will be barren for the year."
"Oh? Are you sure about this?"
Jenkins asked, perplexed. Salsi II wasn't helping Sarrot's side; instead, he was aiding everyone involved in the coming turmoil. Jenkins could understand the sentint—after all, they were his children and his subjects—but causing the fields to go barren was an exceptionally cruel price to pay.
The northern capital of Ruen sat on the edge of a rare plain, backed by the northern mountains. It was a crucial breadbasket for the kingdom. Although it only yielded one harvest a year, the soil's incredible fertility ant the farmlands around Ruen could feed a seventh of the entire kingdom's population.
"Rest assured, I have my own arrangents for this matter,"
Salsi II said calmly.
"I'm quite curious, though. Where did you get this chessboard? Don't tell it was in the royal treasury. I can't believe your family would possess a treasure of this caliber."
Jenkins finally posed the question that had been on his mind.
"It was a gift from the sa ancestor who gave my enlightennt, who made realize the flaws in my ways."
"An ancestor?"
Jenkins mulled it over, guessing that an ancestor of the Stuart family was passing ssages to his descendants. If that ancestor had, by so fate connected to the Ice Archer chess piece, been fortunate enough to enter the domain of a higher power, it seed plausible that he could "reappear" at this point in ti to guide his progeny.
After Salsi's turn, it was Jenkins's. He continued to give Dolores instructions to fortify the royal palace. Though Dolores's forces were small, they were well-stocked with firearms. Coupled with the fact that the palace itself was built on a small hill in the city's center, making it easy to defend and hard to attack, holding the palace was far more manageable than defending the entirety of Ruen.
Jenkins also hadn't forgotten about Salsi II's missing doppelgänger, nor the item the king had entrusted to Duke Rodbyre for safekeeping. And so, he instructed Dolores to use a "symbolic Sin Coin" to bribe the duke directly and retrieve the object.
"Are you certain you wish to expend that ancient coin?"
"Of course. Don't we acquire items so we can use them?"
Using the item in the duel was rely symbolic; it didn't consu the actual Gem of Ages. It simply ant the gem would no longer be considered a piece on the board and couldn't be played again during this match.
"Finally, the item I will place this round is this."
Jenkins pulled another coin from his pocket, this ti a green wooden one that represented blasphemy.
"Blasphemy born from the most terrible knowledge, sin drawn from the depths of the soul—that is the aning of this coin. It is a priceless treasure, representing the deepest secrets of this world. Its effect is the sa as the one that will be used this turn."
With a soft click, he pressed the coin onto the table, once again intercepting his cat's attempt to bat it away.
"You don't happen to carry a whole pouch full of these bizarre currencies, do you?"
Salsi II inquired.
"Of course not. I only brought four,"
Jenkins answered truthfully, but it seed even the princesses at the table didn't believe him.
The situation in Ruen was changing by the second. Less than ten minutes into the round, Sarrot received reliable intelligence that a fully ard military force was advancing on the city from the nearby mountains. Fortunately, in the previous round, another Stuart on Sarrot's side had spotted the northern garrison's movents, so while arranging a defense now was hurried, it wasn't too late.
Of course, no one yet knew the army's objective, and Sarrot had no desire to fight his own people in his own capital for no reason. He had already dispatched an envoy to inquire about their purpose, but a reply had yet to arrive.
anwhile, Dolores had her people search the palace but found nothing left by Salsi II. So, just as Jenkins had planned, she used the first symbolic Sin Coin to "bribe" Duke Rodbyre. The duke, in turn, surrendered the item he had been entrusted with—the Stuart family's heirloom ring, the symbol of the family's patriarch.
At the very mont Dolores received the ring from the kneeling Duke Rodbyre, Salsi II's voice, in the dry tone of an official proclamation, echoed in the minds of every Stuart in Ruen.
"In the Universal Calendar year 1866, at the end of the 18th Epoch, the Stuart family will decide the next monarch through a sacred duel. In the contest between Stuart and Middleton, the condition for victory is the complete control of Ruen. Gaining full control of the city by normal ans in a single night is difficult. Therefore, the side that gathers three items symbolizing the power of the nation will automatically achieve victory."
"I knew it."
Jenkins, sitting opposite Salsi II, smiled.
"You never intended for your children to fight to the death in Ruen for the throne."
"Why would I want them to fight to the death, Viscount?"
After announcing the rules, the old king's energy seed to drain away, returning him to the weary state he was in at the start of the ga. The eldest princess moved behind her father to massage his shoulders. Salsi II didn't speak to her, but continued addressing Jenkins.
"This was only to let them display their potential as much as possible, not to have them kill each other until only one remains. I may be strict with myself, and sowhat callous towards my country and my subjects, but I still care deeply for my family. You must all rember..."
His tone shifted as he spoke to his daughters.
"Even if the kingdom demands coldness, never let yourselves beco like blocks of ice. Try to love life, to love your own lives. Don't let your entire existence be imprisoned by a power you cannot escape."
The Stuarts in Ruen simultaneously heard Salsi II's newly announced rules. Dolores, holding the ring, felt a flicker of intuition about the other symbols of power and made new arrangents accordingly.
As for Sarrot Stuart and his younger siblings, they guessed that Dolores's side had made so new progress, and that defending the city was now clearly irrelevant to obtaining the symbols of the kingdom's power.
"We cannot fight this battle."
These were Sarrot's own words, seen on the chessboard's display. More than ever, he didn't want to waste manpower on sothing so pointless.
So he reduced the number of defenders at the old city walls, urgently redeploying about a third of his army to the city proper to surround the low hill where the royal palace complex stood.
On the other hand, because Dolores had withdrawn nearly all her troops and personnel into the palace, she had essentially ceded the entire city of Ruen to Sarrot. This allowed him to easily search locations related to the royal family, seeking the artifacts that could lead to the throne.
"Your eldest son has chosen the wrong path."
Jenkins gently shook his head beside the chessboard, tapping his finger on its surface.
"I would bet that at least one of the symbols of power you ntioned is with that army outside the city. If he had actively mounted a defense, demonstrating his caliber and capability as this country's heir, that item would have been his. Now that his mind is set on letting the army enter the city, he will absolutely never obtain it."
"But brother still has a coin for bribery,"
one of the princesses at the table reminded him.
"Yes, but to bribe soone with a coin, you must at least et the person you're bribing. Sarrot is very unlikely to et them now. I imagine you've already arranged for those who hold the important artifacts to appear in the most appropriate circumstances."
The last sentence was directed at Salsi II. The king heard him and gave a slight nod.
"If only you were my son, how wonderful that would be."
The statent bordered on an insult, but it also echoed a famous saying the traveler had heard before. So, despite his discomfort, Jenkins didn't challenge his "father-in-law's" words.
Seeing Jenkins remain silent, Salsi II spoke again.
"Yes, every symbol of power that represents the glory of the Hamparvo Kingdom has a corresponding guardian. Dolores finding Duke Rodbyre so easily was indeed beyond my expectations. In that respect, this match is also unfair to . Because of you, Viscount Williatte. I suspect you knew everything in advance."
"No, I know nothing."
Jenkins flatly denied it. Salsi II then remarked to the princesses at the table with a sigh:
"To be able to lie so shalessly is also an indispensable skill for a monarch.
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