Immediately after the festival concluded, I headed straight for the Forest of Deep Magic to rendezvous with Anna, who had been looking after Faf and Mew. Sure enough, Faf was suffering from master-absence withdrawal and in an exceedingly foul mood. After stroking her head to her heart's content, I carried the finally satisfied, sleeping Faf on my shoulders, boarded Phoenix's back, and set off for Akinashi.
Two weeks passed after that.
Directly following Deboa's subjugation, I flew to the royal capital on Phoenix, made contact with Johannes Roosevelt, the Prime Minister of the Holy Amelia Kingdom, and ironed out several matters. Thanks to that vile prime minister being immensely eager, things moved largely according to my plan.
First came the elimination of that nuisance, Ketzer Kusar.
The scheme to let the King personally witness Ketzer's absolute filth went off without a hitch. The scoundrel exposed his abhorrent tastes right in front of the King and was apprehended on the spot. Afterward, he must have been subjected to fairly brutal torture. He coughed up every single one of his past misdeeds and was duly sentenced to death. House Kusar was naturally dissolved. Furthermore, the wealthy merchants and officials who had traded with House Kusar and lined their pockets through illicit means were all rounded up without exception.
And as recognition for his aid in subjugating the evil dragon Deboa, the vast Kusar Domain was granted to the Lord of Akinashi Domain, Oliver Akinashi.
With this, I no longer had to worry about that piece of garbage meddling with us. Well, Rose had plenty of enemies. In fact, she was surrounded by almost nothing but enemies. Eliminating a single Ketzer Kusar was hardly enough to grant even a shred of peace of mind.
The second matter was granting the Three Great Underground Powers and the Wind Cats citizenship in the territory ruled by Rosemary, which was effortlessly approved on the merits of Deboa's defeat.
Regarding the Wind Cats' naturalization, the King likely desired to return Felice to the public eye anyway, so I imagine it would have been approved even under the flimsiest of pretexts. In short, when it came to the Wind Cats where Felice resided, the whole thing was virtually a done deal.
What surprised me was the permission for the Three Great Powers to become citizens. They were ruffians referred to as underworld royalty, and none of them were even Amelian. I truly hadn't believed that slaying a single giant lizard would be enough to grant them citizenship in Eastend. That was precisely why I had devised various schemes and contingencies, but in a good way, they all ended up being unnecessary.
The third matter was the fate of the surviving members of Snake Blood. They obediently followed my instructions and exposed Ketzer Kusar's crimes in an official setting. Additionally, thanks to their contribution to Deboa's subjugation, their lives were spared, and they were sent as laborers to a state-run development district in the west. If they faithfully completed fifteen years of labor, they would be granted freedom and wages within the bounds of that district. Considering what they had done up to now, it was an unimaginable act of mercy.
The fourth matter was dealing with the massive crater that had opened near the Akinashi Domain.
Either way, formal negotiations with the Holy Amelia Kingdom were to be held between official envoys from the royal capital and this Akinashi Domain. Therefore, I had figured it would be fine to handle the crater before those talks concluded, but upon commanding the earth-attribute monsters from the Subjugation Compendium, they patched it up in barely a few hours.
Incidentally, I had originally considered having Felice, who commanded Titan, handle the crater, but after Deboa was slain, she had immediately scurried back to the cave hideout under the excuse of being worried about the Wind Cats.
I had a pretty good idea why her departure looked so much like fleeing. However, Felice's presence was indispensable for the negotiations with the kingdom. I was under no obligation to keep indulging that spoiled princess's whims any further. And so, one thing leading to another, I had just had Felice brought here by force.
A white-haired gentleman entered the reception room of the Akinashi lord's manor, carrying a large cloth sack on his back.
"Sorry for the trouble, Lucas."
"Not at all. If it is the order of our master."
The white-haired gentleman, Lucas, placed the package—which was still thrashing violently on his back—onto the floor, pressed a hand to his chest, and bowed deferentially to me.
While the others present in the room fixed strange looks upon the elderly gentleman, a humanoid figure burst out of the conspicuously large cloth sack.
"Lucas! How dare you trap me in such a thing! My head is spinning from all the shaking, I thought I was going to... d-die...?"
She blustered triumphantly at first, but under the piercing glares of several people, her voice quickly trailed off.
"Elder Sister Felice, please have a seat there."
Rose gave an uncompromising command to Felice while smiling sweetly.
I had learned recently that whenever she wore such a radiant, doll-like smile, her stress levels were almost always at their absolute maximum. At times like this, Rose was practically on the verge of exploding. Even Faf and Mew never went near her.
"Y-Yeah."
Like a meek, frightened cat, Felice took the seat opposite Rose.
"It has been quite a while, hasn't it? Elder Sister Felice."
Seriously, drop that malicious smile—you're terrifying the children. In fact, Faf was clinging tightly to me, and Mew was peeking out cautiously from behind Anna, poking only her head out to gauge the room.
"I-It has been a while, indeed."
Sweating buckets, Felice cast darting glances at Rose and the figures behind her.
Standing behind Rose were a maid with blue braided hair and an armored knight with long golden sideburns, both maintaining equally unnatural smiles.
I had met that man with the long golden sideburns once before. If I remembered correctly, he was Geralt, the Captain of the Royal Guard. From the looks of it, he seemed to have a deep connection with Felice.
"There are heaps of things I wish to ask. But first, let us hear your side of the story, Elder Sister."
Rose's smile deepened to an even more chilling degree. Honestly, even I got goosebumps looking at it. One could only imagine Felice's current state of mind.
"Well, if I had stayed in the royal capital back then..."
Sure enough, as Felice looked down like a small child and began mumbling evasively, I gave the top of her head a light swat with my palm.
"Before making excuses, there's something you ought to say first, isn't there?"
I threw her a lifeline. It would be troublesome if Rose's temper didn't subside, after all.
Felice fidgeted and wrung her hands before finally speaking.
"I am sorry."
She bowed her head deeply.
After that, we received an explanation as to why Felice had fled the royal capital and joined the Wind Cats.
At the time, the war with the demon race was escalating, and Felice learned that certain high-ranking officials in the Holy Amelia Kingdom's military were plotting to mobilize the evil spirit Titan by sacrificing the poor. After securing the aid of Lucas—who had just stepped down as the leader of the Mage Knights at the time—and several sympathizers within the kingdom, she attempted to flee the capital. In the midst of this, she was suddenly attacked by the Holy Amelia Kingdom's government and was forced to abandon the royal capital in a desperate escape.
Afterward, while hiding in the vicinity of Eastend, she witnessed the unfortunate plight of her current Wind Cats companions and took them under her protection. She brought them along to live in that cave.
Initially, she had merely lived alongside them, but her fury mounted over the Ksar Domain lord's excessively inhumane conduct, ultimately leading her to start something akin to a resistance.
"So there was zero planning behind any of it. You really are short-sighted, aren't you?"
To repeatedly act on mere impulse like this, it was a wonder she had managed to survive in a world teeming with the strong. Past the point of exasperation, I was almost impressed.
"Leave me be."
Felice turned away with a huff. Despite her delicate appearance that looked as if it would break at a touch, this woman actually had quite the thick skin.
"Lady Felice, I am so glad you are safe..."
The blue-haired maid with braided hair hugged Felice's small frame, her voice trembling.
"Yes. Forgive me."
Perhaps this woman was the childhood friend maid mentioned in the documents—the one who hovered between life and death after Felice paid a price to Titan when they were attacked by bandits in the past.
The blond knight captain with long sideburns was also watching the two embrace with a gentle gaze, so there must have been a deep bond among the three of them. Well, I didn't care in the slightest. I'd let them sort it out amongst themselves.
"Early tomorrow morning, we head for the Wind Cats' hideout in Eastend. From here on, there's a mountain of things to do. Rest up and regain your strength as best you can."
After delivering those succinct words to Felice and the others, I left the lord's manor with Faf and the rest.