Chapter 21 – In which Mimosa and Saffra talk
Third day since Saffaron woke up in a new body and became Saffra.
On the surface, she had a leisure and relaxing day. Hours were passing by without her doing anything.
But inside, Saffra was dying.
‘I want to work!’
Among her siblings, she was the best at managing her work and breaks, but if compared to ordinary people, she still was a horrible workaholic.
‘No wedges to calculate, no food warehouse to examine, no debates to hold, no training…’
Saffra, who even if she was staying in her room, was doing physical and mana training for the past two days, was now forbidden from doing anything.
The reason was in front of her.
Mimosa was expressionlessly drinking a cherry cocktail with a pinch of salt.
This morning, Mimosa heard a ‘loud sound’ from Saffra’s room and rushed in, only to discover Saffra on the floor.
Saffra wasn’t able to explain that she just had lost balance while doing an eagle pose and she was completely alright, before Mimosa grabbed her and dragged her to the family doctor at the Manor.
The poor old man probably got more traumatized by the whole incident (Mimosa barging in, holding Saffra in her arms and shouting at him to save her sister), than Saffra was actually hurt.
But he ended up recommending her to rest, because apparently her body was showing signs of exhaustion.
Then Mimosa said ‘I’ll take responsibility’, something which Saffra still couldn’t comprehend what she meant by, and spent the entire day with Saffra.
That also meant that Saffra couldn’t do anything.
‘It’s not that I have a lot to do, but…’
For now, the rumors about an ominous flower garden would be spreading.
Saffra’s goal was to install superstition in people, and lead them to unconsciously associate Orche with ill omens.
This way, when things start to crumble, people will easily blame it on Orche.
Flavun wasn’t a democracy. It was oligarchy, created around the people who emerged as main victors during the war 50 years ago, when Sulfious came to power.
But ordinary citizens still were an important political factor.
Flavun had a history of being overturned by lower class citizens. It happened quite a few times.
So a dissatisfied with them mob wasn’t something Orche or Mimosa wanted to see.
They needed the general population's support, or they would effectively turn their rule into a sand castle.
Saffra aimed to turn that general population against Orche.
His reputation was already worse than Mimosa, but actually most of Flavun was indifferent to politics and wasn’t paying much attention to who the next ruler will be.
In the first place, they didn’t have anything to say about that, right?
Therefore, Saffra planned to use the most powerful weapon, fear and superstition, to manipulate public opinion.
At least that was her plan, but she was stuck here!
Out of desperation, she poured herself another cherry cocktail and added a pinch of salt.
Mimosa in front of her, still hadn't finished her first one, she seemed to be contemplating something.
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“What are you thinking about?”
“Work.”
It was a short answer, but Saffra wasn’t going to give up. She was bored and needed something to do.
“Something serious?”
“Maybe… I don’t know.”
“Do you want to talk about it? It’s sometimes easier to find an answer to a problem if you talk about it to someone.”
Mimosa hesitated, then glanced at Tangeri who was with them, serving them drinks and refreshments when needed.
“She is trustworthy. And she can keep her mouth shut when needed.”
“Yes! Lady Mimosa, you can rest assured that your secrets will go with me to the grave.”
“... What if you climb out of the grave?”
“I’ll leave your secrets in the grave and then destroy the grave, Lady Mimosa.”
Tangeri even saluted Mimosa, as if she was a soldier receiving their last orders.
Mimosa nodded.
“It’s Orche.”
Well, that wasn’t particularly surprising.
“It seems that he is trying to cause a war.”
That was a bit more surprising, but still within expectations.
‘People are easier to unite if they’re threatened by an external enemy.’
In times of war, a harsh and brutal ruler like Orche, who doesn’t hesitate to call for arms, would be seen in a better light than Mimosa, who was rather known for meditating conflicts.
“And he is taunting me to look into the Archmage’s younger brother’s coming of age ceremony.”
Archmage’s younger brother’s coming of age ceremony?
Now, that was unexpected.
“What do you mean taunting you to look into it?”
“He indicated something may happen there.”
“Why?”
“That’s what bothers me.”
Mimosa sighed and then added:
“There is a lot happening in Purplus and Rubrun too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmm… Let's see, in Purplus, their Saint was almost assassinated. There is an uproar to punish the culprit behind it. They captured the assassin, but it probably won’t end on that only. We may expect more terrorist attacks.”
An attempt on Saint’s life was akin to wedging a war, but…
Saffra frowned as she continued to listen.
“The identity of the assassin wasn’t revealed yet. I think they want to make a big show out of it. As for Rubrun, there are rumors about new technology.”
“New technology?”
“I’m still gathering intel, but two days ago, a person wearing a mockery of a mask, a yellow fox mask, who also called themselves ‘Crow’, presented a new spell on one of the big Magic Exchanges. The guilds went crazy for that spell.”
Yellow fox mask?
Saffra thought it was quite a fashionable choice, but she understood that in the current political landscape wearing mixed symbols of enemy states, which are barely maintaining peaceful treaty, would be considered an enormous insult.
“... I want one too…”
She still mumbled under her breath.
Mimosa who was about to take a sip of her cocktail paused as if she caught it.
Her hearing was really amazing.
“... There is a vendor selling masks downstreet…. I can buy you one… or two…or more…”
Saffra blinked and then said:
“I thought that the manor is surrounded by three square kilometers of forests and gardens?”
“Downstreet in like… If you go ten kilometers from the main gates.”
“Oh… No, thank you. You don’t have to bother.”
“Is that so…”
Mimosa’s eyes behind her dark glasses seemed regretful.
Did she want to go shopping with her younger sister?
But Saffra had other things to consider first.
She quickly analyzed what Mimosa told her about.
“‘Crow’ seems like an insider in Rubrun. The current Rubrun is very unstable, so they may be exploiting that instability for their own purpose. With this little information it is hard to guess what their goal is though. Using a mocking mask like that may signal that they loathe Purplus and Falvun, but did you say they themselves were wearing it? That doesn’t match the behavior of someone who loathes something… Rather, it adds them an element of chaos and unpredictability.”
She crossed her arms and tapped her arms with one finger.
“They also call themselves Crow… In other words, though they’re probably an insider, they don’t affiliate themselves with any of the states. They should be aiming for instability, but war won’t be their goal if that’s the case.”
Mimosa nodded slowly.
Saffra continued.
“The Saint’s assassination case is strange too. Did Saint say no word about it?”
“Saint is known to be indifferent to all worldly affairs and very rarely appears in public. They also may be saving his speech for that big show I mentioned.”
“Perhaps, but… when was the assassination?”
“Two days ago from what I heard.”
“Isn’t that too quick? Saint was almost assassinated, but they don’t try to hide this information? It’s a breach in security, in other words, it’s really bad for Purplus' reputation. Yet that information was spread so quickly and easily… It seems like someone is trying to fire up an angry mob…”
“You think someone is trying to start a war in Purplus?”
“I’m not sure if it’s a war, or they’re trying to distract public opinion with something…”
Saffra then returned to the first topic. The Archmage’s younger brother’s coming of age ceremony.
“Rubrun is the most openly chaotic right now. It’s easy for something to explode. In other words, it’s very likely that something will happen during that ceremony.”
“So you don’t think that shit Orche is trying to divert my attention with this?”
“He also may be trying to divert your attention, whether you look into it or not probably doesn’t matter to him.”
“...?”
“Let's say that something big happens there, something that may even cause a war between states. It won’t matter if you were there and were looking into it, or weren’t there and didn’t look into it. If you were there and looked into it, you became one of the suspects responsible for the incident. Someone would notice you snooping around. That could be used against you and with bad luck you may become a culprit. And even with good luck, you will have to deal with an annoying situation. In other words, all good for Orche the shit.”
Saffra broke a biscuit in half and put it in her mouth.
“But, if you were not there and did not look into it, then you also become a strong suspect. Orche was taunting you to go and to look into it, but you did nothing. It’s as if you already knew what would happen. In other words, it can be used against you and you will be in an annoying situation. All good for Orche the shit.”
Saffra ate another half of the biscuit.
Mimosa took a sip of her cherry cocktail and then said:
“That’s reasonable.”
And then added after a short thought.
“But I didn’t know you’re so good with politics. Were you studying a lot these days?”
Saffra put the entire biscuit in her mouth and turned her head away.
Somehow, it was very embarrassing.