The massacre itself was resolved extremely easily. To be precise, I resolved it easily.
Elisabeth's gambit could be summarized as follows: "Neither acknowledge the massacre nor deny it." However, Elisabeth had overlooked the fact that I am not particularly squeamish about my methods.
I picked out a suitable company commander from among the human forces participating in the expedition. When I summoned him from headquarters, the officer arrived looking thoroughly nervous. I addressed the company commander without preamble.
"Our forces are currently in a rather difficult situation. Do you know why?"
"I—my apologies, sir. I have no idea."
The man standing before me was relatively low-ranking. He probably hadn't heard about the massacre yet.
"An unidentified army has been conducting raids in southern Frank under our banner. Apparently, this has been quite egregious, and the southern ministers are furious. They're pressuring us to take responsibility for the massacre."
"Ah..."
The company commander nodded awkwardly. He clearly didn't understand why he was being told this.
"The problem is that even if we wanted to take responsibility, there's no one to pin it on. Since we didn't actually commit the massacre. But if we play dumb, the ministers will only ramp up their criticism. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes. Whatever it takes."
"A government sympathetic to us has only just taken power in Frank. If things go cold between us right from the start, it'll be no laughing matter. We need to demonstrate a political gesture..."
The company commander furrowed his brow, looking troubled.
I interlocked my fingers and continued.
"The point is to take a responsible stance. Whether we actually bear responsibility isn't important. What the government in Parisiorum expects from us is attitude."
"..."
"You have quite a large family, don't you?"
The officer blinked.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Don't worry about your parents and children. We'll take good care of them."
At my signal, Sitri drew his sword. The company commander initially wore a bewildered expression, but it gradually twisted into horror. He immediately dropped to his knees on the floor.
"Y-your Excellency! I haven't committed any crime!"
"I know. You are perfectly innocent."
Sitri strode toward the officer.
"The crime isn't yours—it's mine."
The moment the company commander screamed, the blade severed his neck in a single stroke. Blood splattered across the floor. That was the moment the first sacrifice was prepared.
That day, the company under the officer's command was utterly destroyed. Eighty-seven cavalrymen were seized without question. I explained to the company's soldiers exactly as I had told their commander. All eighty-seven human soldiers were baffled at first, then turned pale and began wailing.
"Please, just spare our lives!"
"You don't have to give us money... we've already earned plenty—just our lives!"
"Why do we have to die?!"
This wasn't persuasion—it was simply an order.
Under my command, the slaughter was carried out thoroughly. This time, there was no need for anything like burning at the stake. The objective was simply to kill swiftly and efficiently. In less than half an hour, eighty-seven heads had been collected.
The heads were salted and sent to Parisiorum.
Our forces expressed our deepest regret over the unfortunate incident in southern Frank. Through a thorough investigation, we identified the main culprits who had carried out the illegal raids. These men, serving as a detachment force, had cunningly distorted the will of headquarters. They had committed the unsanctioned raids and massacre...
Although our forces did not issue the orders, we will not shy away from responsibility for this matter. We will continue investigating the criminals who have not yet been apprehended, and any who are captured will be delivered to Parisiorum.
That was roughly the explanation we offered.
As a bonus, we showered the southern ministers with the wealth plundered from the Bretagne forces. With massive bribes flowing in, the ministers slowly began to hold their tongues.
The honeymoon between Frank's new government and our forces continued.
Blood is thicker than water. I interpret the proverb as follows: blood can never be washed away by water. Only more blood can wash away blood...
Elisabeth was impressive. To imitate a massacre in order to sow political division on our side—that was an idea no ordinary person could have conceived. And someone who could actually execute such an idea would be limited to someone like Elisabeth.
But through this incident, she must have realized something for certain: I will not hesitate to create sacrifices.
If you scheme against me, I will respond in kind with schemes of my own. Because I orchestrated a massacre, you too committed a massacre?
Very well. Then let us massacre more. Let us wash blood with blood. Let us stage a purgatory where that blood is washed away with blood once more.
It is a purgatory from which neither side will ever emerge, as long as neither gives up. If you wish to dance with me, Elisabeth, you had better have the nerve to waltz through purgatory. Learn this lesson well—that I am not squeamish about anything.
The Consul's office was gloomy as usual today.
Foreign Minister Wolfram Heidelberg of the Habsburg Republic sighed as he entered the office. Across the room, Elisabeth stood by the window, gazing endlessly outside.
"Your Excellency. The documents."
"..."
There was no answer. Ever since her secret excursion last month, the Consul had fallen into a depression. She had become noticeably quieter. She was no different now.
As if deaf to the world, Elisabeth continued staring out the window. Drip. Drip. The sound of rain echoed quietly through the room. She stared vacantly at the rainwater sliding down the glass.
Her eyes were ephemeral and forlorn.
Like a mirage, they seemed as though they might vanish at any moment.
What an ominous thought.
Heidelberg shook his head. He raised his voice slightly.
"Your Excellency."
"Ah? It's the Foreign Minister."
Only then did Elisabeth turn her head.
"Forgive me. Lately, I've been having trouble hearing things."
"Hoo. I worry that these may already be the first signs of aging."
"What a thing to say to a fresh-faced young lady."
Elisabeth offered a faint smile. To Heidelberg, even that smile seemed hazy.
"Your Excellency. The ministers and officials of the Republic are worried about you."
"..."
"Of course, it's only natural for you to feel guilty about what happened in Frank."
Heidelberg was one of the very few people who knew what Elisabeth's secret mission had been. The Consul had orchestrated a massive raid in Frank. Heidelberg judged this to be the cause of her depression.
"But you are the Consul of the Republic. The face of the nation. I wouldn't presume to tell you to pull yourself together, but..."
"The face of the nation..."
Elisabeth murmured vacantly once more. Her mind was clearly elsewhere.
"Wolfram. The Habsburg Regency sent a sealed letter a week ago."
"Yes?"
"The letter contained only a single word: 'All Under Heaven.'"
All Under Heaven.
Heidelberg's eyebrows knitted together. A sealed letter from the Regency was highly unusual in itself, but the content was even stranger.
"Could it be some kind of code, Your Excellency?"
"It's not a code. They've figured out that I was the one behind the massacre in southern Frank."
"..."
Heidelberg's expression darkened further. The massacre operation had been the concerted effort of the Republic's highest echelons. It had been merely fifteen hundred soldiers, but deploying even that number in absolute secrecy was no easy feat.
That was how confident they had been that no one would find out. Not only the Republic's citizens—most of the ministers themselves hadn't known. How had the Regency uncovered the truth?
"It must have been Dantalion. I should have gone out of my way to hire demon soldiers. Then even Dantalion wouldn't have been able to easily determine whether the mastermind behind the massacre was the Demon Lord or me."
"..."
"It was a mistake. It would have been better to hire the dwarf mercenaries and silence them after the job was done. But I hesitated over whether demons could be trusted... that was my mistake..."
Elisabeth murmured with a blank expression.
"Dantalion was mocking me. 'Behold—this is the All Under Heaven you desired. How does it feel to look down upon the world and toy with it?' That's what he's asking."
"..."
"I feel... depressed."
Elisabeth turned her gaze back to the window. The rain was still falling.
"Once, I believed that conquering All Under Heaven was the ultimate mission. I never doubted it. Even if I fell into despair countless times along the way, I still thought the world itself was a beautiful dream. Now I realize... there is nothing beautiful about this world."
"Your Excellency..."
"To deceive and manipulate all the peoples of the continent. To unleash storms of blood whenever it serves a political purpose. All that exists is deception and cunning."
A faint smile touched Elisabeth's lips. It was a self-deprecating smile.
"Come to think of it, I should have realized it the day I killed Robert. How foolish I am... Brother Rudolf murdered his sisters for power. I was no different. What on earth is the difference between him and me? What have I been looking at all this time... what have I been living for..."
Heidelberg could not bring himself to speak.
He didn't believe the Consul was wrong. Sometimes, sacrifices were necessary to achieve one's goals. A leader's duty was to remember those sacrifices and never forget them. He believed that. But was there something wrong with that as well?
"Your Excellency, that is precisely why we must build a good nation. That is the greatest tribute we can offer at the graves of the fallen."
"...The dead have no need for nations. Even if we achieve peace and prosperity, what does it matter to the victims? It's nothing but self-justification and self-consolation."
Elisabeth sighed softly.
"So this is the All Under Heaven that Dantalion sees. A gloomy, gray world. There is no romance or ideology—only mockery and vengeance drift through it like ghosts. To Dantalion, the continent must be nothing more than a vast tomb and a memorial stele."
"..."
Heidelberg found it hard to grasp. But he sensed, somehow, that no comfort he offered right now would ever reach the Consul's heart.
"However, there are things I cannot concede. Call it deception if you like. If my becoming a deceiver can steer this nation in the right direction, then I don't care..."
Elisabeth turned her head to look at Heidelberg. In her golden eyes, the fighting spirit of old was gone. But a gaze, dark and hardened like something compressed and frozen solid, rested there.
"Heidelberg. Foreign Minister."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"I intend to make contact with the cities in southern Frank. If free cities have been established in the north, there is no reason they cannot be established in the south as well. If the Regency controls the north, then our Republic will exert influence in the south."
Heidelberg bowed to the lord he so deeply respected.
"Understood. I will activate our network immediately."
"So the Regency, ruled by the Emperor, supports the republicans in the north, while our Republic supports the monarchists in the south. To dismiss it as a joke would be far too understated—this is nothing short of catastrophic."
Elisabeth smiled thinly.
"But very well. This is the world we live in. Even if the only thing beneath the heavens is purgatory, there should be at least enough space for two people to dance together. I'll dance with you to my heart's content..."
In the office, where the sound of rain echoed, Elisabeth's voice drifted quietly through the air.