The Medieval-Modern Man with a Gamer Mindset

6. The Aftermath

It was after dark when I was called to the Duke of Aselton.

The Duke’s office looked very different from during the day. The sunlight had disappeared, and the once vibrant furniture now looked like withered, twisted old trees. The Duke’s expression contributed to this effect.

The Duke, with his gaze lowered, pressed his right hand firmly against his eyelids. He looked like a chief mourner in front of a coffin. It was only when the wax from the flickering candles began to drip down that the Duke parted his lips.

“Is this the secret weapon you spoke of?”

“It was a crucial element.”

“Narba. You have insulted the daughter of Yubas. Severely. If, as you say, they have conspired, they will use every trick to have you acknowledge the child as yours. I have a duty and a will to protect you as your lord and father, but…”

The Duke lowered his right hand from his eyelids. He slightly bowed his head and looked up sharply, his eyes holding a candle flame sharp as an arrowhead.

“If you cannot present adequate evidence, I will have no choice but to impose a punishment that will satisfy Yubas and make them retreat.”

If it were truly his child, one might feel a slight resentment. But I, as an understanding modern person, comprehended the Duke’s judgment. There’s a limit to indulging a child because they are dear.

Yubas, the family into which one marries, commands the most powerful army in the vicinity. Protecting the child’s honor would only invite ridicule, as the daughter already bears a blemish.

Moreover, the Duke of Aselton had more than just me to protect. A ruler must be responsible for the lives of all those living under him. Decisions made solely for family are insufficient for a leader.

Fortunately, the Duke of Aselton was a rare example of someone who possessed both the awareness of a ruler and the love for his family. A medieval standard father would have taken up a whip and lashed out at a speed surpassing sound if his child behaved like me.

It was time to persuade. What’s important here is unwavering confidence. I nodded and then, putting a bit of strength into my stomach, spoke out more clearly.

“I have previously suggested to Your Highness that there may be a rift between Yubas and the Church. Whether it’s speculation or truth, I thought, what if we could take the Church’s hand in place of Yubas?”

“…Continue.”

“So, I have been meeting continuously with the priest residing in the fortress, confirming each other’s positions and reaching a compromise.”

Even when cooking rice, one must let it simmer slightly. It’s similar with words. The important parts should not be blurted out in passing, but rather, one should pause mid-sentence to capture attention. That way, you won’t hear “What was that again?” later on.

Don’t drag it out too much, just a little bit. Just that much is appropriate.

“I was able to understand why the church excommunicated Yubas, both before and after the fact.”

Just like now.

***

Around the time when Miriam was full-term. My overtures to the Vatican and the church seemed to have been ignored for a while.

It wasn’t that meetings with the priest became scarce. On the contrary, they increased, but that was all. As if by mutual agreement, we did not engage in conversations about what had happened or how things were going.

The priest continued to talk about the facts I was curious about. For instance, he only talked about doctrines or local saints. Perhaps because the world was similar to medieval Europe, the doctrines rarely had any outstanding aspects.

The stories of the local saints were also mundane, like someone cutting down a tree and blood spurting from the stump, after which the drought disappeared. However, such folklore inevitably permeates people’s perceptions and ways of thinking.

That’s why, even when slightly sleepy, one had to bite their tongue and forcibly stay awake. There were, after all, some mysterious and interesting parts. Namely, the stories about magic and the various races that once roamed the world.

“The gods bestowed miracles upon their favored followers, and the followers offered sacrifices for the gods. This period, when many old gods generously granted miracles to their favorites, is called the Age of Ys. Many races thrived under their favor, but… for us humans, it was a time of suffering.”

The Age of Ys, a time when non-human beings flourished. It is said to be the era inhabited by fantasy creatures like elves, dwarves, beastmen, or giants made of rock. Naturally, coexisting with such beings was a great pain for humans.

Especially since the old gods of the Age of Ys didn’t particularly favor humans. Being mediocre was the main reason. From the gods’ perspective, humans were like a thorn in their side. Not the worst, but not the best either, kind of a ‘why bother?’ attitude.

The war-loving god of war favored the orcs, with their impressive muscles and ferocity. The nature god, who valued harmony with surrounding life, favored the elves. The arrogant dragon god favored the kobolds, who he thought resembled him a bit.

In this way, each had their own favorite race, leaving humans alone and abandoned. Humans, receiving no favor from anyone, were left to desperately grovel for divine attention, and the vast majority became slaves to other races.

The problem was that humans were not a despised race. If they had been utterly abandoned, they might have enjoyed a primitive life in some remote wilderness. But that was not the case.

The gods considered humans to be somewhat decent offerings. As a result, the races of the Age of Ys used humans without restraint as sacrificial offerings for human sacrifices. For thousands of years, the earnest pleas of humans were thoroughly ignored.

From this point, the priest recited the scriptures with an elevated voice.

“However, after a long period of pleading, Lux Stella, the starlight of the Age of In, rose. An extraterrestrial god of entirely different origin appeared and led humans to the starlight.”

It was here that I first learned whom the church served.

Lux Stella, the starlight of the Age of In.

The extraterrestrial god, who arrived from outer space, chose the mediocre humans as his favorite race. It was probably just to expand his domain, but for the humans of that era, it must have been a moment of deep emotion.

When humans eventually rallied under the name of Lux Stella and revolted, the old gods of the Age of Ys just scratched their bellies and accepted it. There had been rebellions throughout the long years, and they never ended with just one or two. Humans had always been defeated, and the gods believed it would be the same this time.

But Lux Stella led humans to victory.

As numerous races of the Age of Ys fell, the old gods hurriedly chose humans, but it was too late. Lux Stella had long been established as the dominant faith among humans.

The followers of Lux Stella thoroughly rejected the faith in the old gods, demonized them, downgraded their miracles to mere magic, and suppressed the opposing forces.

After listening to the myth told by the priest with interest, I asked a question.

“There must be a reason you chose to share this story now, not during worship, but in private.”

If this bastard had just wanted to tell the story for the sake of it, I was ready to pull his tongue out. Fortunately, our priest is a civilized barbarian who knows better. The priest’s face hardened, and he slightly bared his teeth, showing his anger towards Yubas.

“For us, who follow the starlight of the Age of In, the relics of the Age of Ys are utterly detestable. Considering that most of their mysterious artifacts were obtained through human sacrifice, it wouldn’t be enough to smash them all! Yet Yubas has been eyeing the objects of the Age of Ys!”

“Is that really true?”

“It is a fact confirmed by the monks who were moved by suspicious rumors. Yubas has been secretly excavating and studying the relics of another world!”

Caught up in the sensibilities of a medieval clergyman, I unwittingly slapped my knee. Ah, this is quite significant. It’s more than enough reason for the church to turn its back on Yubas. But it seems that’s not all there is to it.

“The absence from the feast day of Saint Ilenio was due to such reasons. How can one who handles the blood-stained cultural artifacts of another world wish to stand under the starlight of this human world? Of course, it would have been proper to repent and seek atonement for my sins.”

The priest, who had been fervently speaking until just now, suddenly began to mumble. His words trailed off as he fiddled with the nape of his neck and repeatedly cleared his throat. This was not merely a pause.

It means that the deeds committed by Yubas are too grievous to be spoken of. Perhaps it’s so shocking that he needs to compose himself… While matters of this world and another may be the domain of the clergy, this part is my domain.

My intuition, honed in the game Fantasy Monarch, tells me how the situation has unfolded.

“Instead of repenting, Yubas sought his own survival, choosing to disgrace our family as his method. But that was not all, I’m sure.”

“…Your Highness, could it be?”

A look of astonishment is directed at me. It’s a natural reaction for a boy who’s barely twelve years old, too explicit and vile a scheme for him to know.

But for me, who has dipped my toes in the grand battle of pure evil, the multiplayer of Fantasy Monarch, it was a fact I could easily guess.

“The Yubas sent Miriam, my wife, to the right. Wasn’t it the head of the Yubas family who impregnated her?”

***

I have previously mentioned that such schemes exist in Fantasy Monarch.

[Send a pregnant daughter to the landlord to cause confusion, then claim guardianship over the child as a pretext to seize the land.]

When I first spoke of it, I called it a triple-strike strategy, but this plan had a fatal flaw. It was extremely difficult to meet all the prerequisites.

The importance of swiftness in a conspiracy is not for nothing. A conspiracy is a strategy, and so is life. If you miss the moment, it’s meaningless to contrive it later. A little thought brings the answer immediately.

If the landlord already has a partner or children, marriage is out of the question, invalid. If you manage to marry and think of having a child, but the landlord dies suddenly, the inheritance becomes chaotic before you can have the child, invalid. If the daughter fails to get pregnant in the first place, it’s simply invalid.

Users who initially slapped their knees at this strategy soon realized its fatal flaws and began to give up. There were more than one or two problems, after all.

Then some madman thought of a way to improve this strategy.

[Why not just send a pregnant daughter who got into trouble before marriage?]

After all, a confused child is doomed to be beheaded or live under house arrest for life. Who cares whose seed it carries? That was the logic of the improvement. The key to the plan was that even if the child’s paternity is unknown, it won’t be treated as illegitimate if born after marriage.

But still, a critical problem remained.

The honor of the family.

Role-playing users who felt antipathy to the idea of treating their daughters so carelessly pointed this out. My family is such that we cannot act in this manner, they continued to say.

The fierce debate among these computerized medieval lords eventually led to the completion of the improvement as VER.2.

[If the father impregnates and sends her, there’s no dispute over lineage, and the problem is solved.]

A truly vile and inhuman strategy.

“….”

The young prince, having heard my entire story, seemed to have completely forgotten the strict etiquette of the nobility, his mouth agape. Even by the faint candlelight, his wide-open eyes were discernible.

Trembling hands filled with horror,

Shaking so fiercely, anything held would have dropped to the ground.

“Father… he is my father?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t believe it.”

The Prince of Aesulton was shaking more than a kitten shivering in the spring chill. I understand his disbelief. But the Prince of Aesulton is my lord and the ruler of the duchy.

As repulsive as it was, I had to know why Yubas made such a choice.

“Secrecy is crucial in a conspiracy. And the fewer people who know a secret, the better it is kept. There might have been thoughts of not letting just any man in, but more so, it was deemed risky to involve a man with no connections to the plan.”

“….”

“With already lacking legitimacy and the discord with the church, it’s a chaotic state. For the unestablished heirs and the sons prepared for unforeseen circumstances, there must be no flaws; hence, a head of the family with authority would have stepped in. It was arranged so that succession would proceed smoothly in case of any eventuality.”

“Not out of lust, but for rational reasons?”

“Of course, I cannot say there were no base desires like lust or treachery…”

It wasn’t for no reason that I acted like a madman, insulting the mother and child. It was during my probing, with a vague suspicion, that the church’s cooperation turned it into certainty.

“Your Majesty. My insult, questioning the lowliness of my seed, was not merely targeting the mother. To the unknowing, it may seem an attack on her chastity, but those within Yubas who are aware will think differently. The head of Yubas and his close associates will be too busy doubting each other to act.”

“Did the church reveal all this to you?”

The Prince of Aesulton kept wiping his face dry. The shock must have been strong. His voice was weary and slightly hoarse. I answered the Prince of Aesulton’s question affirmatively.

“The church too had been reluctantly hiding it, unable to find a force to represent Yubas. They feared that revealing the truth about Yubas would lead to their military might expelling the church’s influence. However, if we could gather a force to pressure Yubas, this truth could become a powerful weapon to shake Yubas both internally and externally. Or it could enforce peace.”

“Even knowing the truth, annulment may be difficult.”

The Prince of Aesulton was in agony as a powerless father. He had roughly uncovered the full extent of the vile scheme behind this marriage, yet he felt helpless to act.

But preparations for annulment had long been underway.

I looked at the Prince of Aesulton with a confident smile, hands clasped behind my back.

“To those unaware, my actions may seem excessive, no matter the suspicion. And everyone knows Your Majesty fears Yubas’s wrath.”

“…”

“Please strip me of all my inheritance rights, expel me from the family, and send me to take monastic vows.”

At that moment, the Prince of Aesulton’s head, weighed down by fatigue, suddenly lifted. He stared at me for a while, then covered his face with his left hand and said,

“You would go to such lengths.”

“Father, there’s no need for sorrow. In fact, it’s a cause for celebration.”

“Celebration?”

“Yes.”

Naturally, there’s a benefit to taking monastic vows. One might think becoming a monk means no more pleasures, no money, and a boring life… but that’s only half true.

Clerics also indulge in luxuries, earn well, and live as they please. If they were all incorruptible, there would be no term for corrupt officials. Living by the doctrine is similarly challenging for clerics.

Moreover, my attempt to court the capital’s monastery to forge ties with the church was not without other reasons.

“Who do you think would appear more commendable in the eyes of the holy: one who is supported by the church or one who is part of the church?”

I will become an unwavering entity, carrying the church’s support on my back, in place of Yubas.