Once Jessica's matter was settled, I moved through the rest of my administrative duties one after another.
Most of it was routine business. I processed each item without delay, delegating tasks between Don and Gigi as needed.
A modest knock sounded at the door.
Don opened it, took a fresh batch of documents from someone waiting in the corridor, and returned to my side.
"These are from the Second and Third Prime Ministers. Here is a summary of the broad points, and here is a document they judged best for you to inspect in its original text. Furthermore—"
"The original text? That's rare. Let me see it."
"Right away, Sire."
I took it from Don.
The unedited document forwarded directly to me was a report from Henry.
To make governing more efficient, I had altered the workflow slightly from how Father used to run things.
First, the Second through Fourth Prime Ministers would review incoming reports from across the provinces, summarize the key points, and forward those summaries to my desk.
Reports arriving from the provinces were a mixed bag. Some were purely routine, while others were mere formalities.
Worse yet, quite a few were so packed with hollow flattery and florid praise aimed at currying favor with me that the actual information was buried.
The Prime Ministers sifted through all of that, boiled it down to the essentials, and passed it up to me.
Only on the rarest occasions, when an issue exceeded the Prime Ministers' authority or the scope of responsibility they could bear, would a report bypass summarization and reach me in its original text.
What I held in my hands right now was one of those exceptions—sent straight from Henry on the front lines.
I opened the report and read it from beginning to end.
"...Hm."
"What are the contents, Your Majesty?"
"A faction claiming to be remnants of Eiler propped up a fake Divine Palanquin, and he wiped them out in a single stroke."
"I see."
"No prisoners taken, either."
"As expected of the Fourth Imperial Prince."
"Something's off..."
Staring fixedly at the document, I tried to read between the lines to see what might be lurking underneath.
"Is there an issue?"
There was nothing between the lines—only a distinct sense of incongruity.
Having finished reading, I looked up and explained my thought process to the puzzled Don.
"This doesn't fit Henry's usual way of doing things."
"How so?"
"They propped up a fake Divine Palanquin. In other words, an impostor claiming to carry Eiler's bloodline."
"Is that not a common occurrence?"
"It is. And precisely because it's so common, the standard protocol is to capture them and stage a public execution to prove that the ringleader's bloodline has been thoroughly wiped out."
Setting aside the mercy I had shown that boy without bringing it up, I continued.
"Furthermore, when an impostor emerges, you have to capture them alive so you can verify and prove whether their claim is genuine or false."
"Ah..."
"Henry knows that full well, of course. Yet he wiped them out in a single stroke... It's unnatural."
"I see... Ah."
"What is it?"
"Brilliant, Your Majesty."
With those words, Don produced a Huwawa's Box from among his stack of papers.
There were several Huwawa's Boxes mixed into the documents; Don had started to mention them earlier before I cut him off.
He held the box out to me.
"Is this from Henry?"
"It appears there was a confidential report meant solely for Your Majesty's eyes. Truly perceptive, Sire."
"Henry and I go back a long way, after all."
Saying so, I opened the Huwawa's Box from Henry.
I pulled out the report inside and scanned the contents.
"...I see."
"May I inquire as to what happened?"
"Yeah. It seems Neil and the Duelist Unit went out of control."
I handed the report over to Don.
According to Henry's report, it was Neil and his men who had eradicated the impostors.
Neil Noble.
He was the third son of Damian Noble, who remained renowned as the Empire's greatest general.
Damian was utterly devoted to Father, harboring no disloyalty toward the Empire, but he had a doting side as a father and often used his connections to advance his children's careers.
Among Damian's sons, Neil was the only one who hadn't benefited from his father's pull or prestige.
When I looked into why, it turned out Damian recognized Neil's talent above all his other children, believing Neil could rise through the ranks on his own merits without needing family strings pulled.
Once I learned that, I met Neil in person, confirmed his capabilities, and promoted him directly.
I had assigned Neil to accompany this personal campaign, but...
"I see. He was fired up by Jerry Eisen, was he?"
"General Eisen?"
"Apparently, after seeing that fireworks display, Neil and his unit felt they had to make a splash of their own."
"I see. So they were overly eager for glory."
"Well, their recklessness ended in the complete annihilation of the enemy force, so it's a blessing in disguise."
"Indeed. In these situations, the usual outcome is dragging friendly forces into danger, so all things considered..."
"..."
"How do you wish to handle this?"
"We have no choice but to commend him."
I gave a faint, wry smile.
"You intend to commend him?"
"Henry was the one who deployed Neil, meaning it wasn't an unauthorized sortie. I just ran through the Imperial Law in my head, and since all he did was wipe out the enemy, there's no law under which he can be punished."
"Certainly not something that can be resolved by the letter of the law."
"It comes down to Neil's lack of experience and Henry's failure to issue tight enough constraints. That's all there is to it."
"Indeed."
"So, officially, we will commend Neil. Openly, in front of the entire army."
"...And behind closed doors?"
"We'll have Henry give him an earful. That's about all we can do."
"Then I shall see to it at once."
"I leave it to you."
I penned a reply on Henry's report and handed it over to Gigi.
Gigi took it, her face set with sheer concentration as if she were desperately searing the scene into her memory.
With that settled, I pressed on with state affairs.
After clearing away the summarized reports, I turned my attention to the remaining Huwawa's Boxes.
Opening one, I found a collection of mismatched scraps of paper in various sizes.
I pulled them out and looked them over.
"...Hm."
"What might those be?"
"Commodity prices."
"Prices?"
Don tilted his head in confusion.
"I started having this done recently. I've dispatched agents to various regions to track the local price of goods."
"Ah..."
Gigi let out a small gasp.
Don glanced at Gigi, a subtle frown touching his brow.
He understood Gigi's role from my prior explanation.
Even so, he couldn't help but view any reaction to state affairs as an attempt to meddle, which soured his mood.
"What is it? Don't worry about it—speak up."
"Ah, yes. Um... Do you mean Reiji and the others?"
"That's right. You were close with that group, weren't you, Gigi?"
"Yes! They always spoke of how they owed their lives to Master, constantly expressing their gratitude."
"I see."
I nodded.
Reiji was one of the men I had sent out to investigate prices.
"If I recall correctly, Reiji was... a former slave rescued from Gilbert's slave trader."
"Yes!"
"Which means he is a man who has served under Your Majesty for quite some time."
"Indeed. He has no flashy talents, but his earnestness and dogged loyalty are his greatest strengths."
Recalling that most of the former slaves I saved back then were of a similar mold, I drew on my memories of them.
"That's why I gave them Huwawa's Boxes and scattered them across the realm to gather price data."
"Brilliant, Your Majesty. You have found a way for even those without conventional talent to play an active role."
"That reliability is its own kind of talent."
I gave a faint chuckle and spread out the assorted slips of paper inscribed with the prices of the designated goods.
I had told them that as long as the items and numbers were clear, they could record them however was easiest.
Perhaps because of those loose instructions, a closer look revealed that some reports were written not on paper, but on tattered scraps of cloth.
I examined them one by one.
"Hm..."
"Can something be gleaned from such figures?"
"Plenty of things, but the biggest would be signs of rebellion."
"A rebellion?"
"Wheat and rice are among the monitored goods. A rebellion requires the mobilization of massive numbers of people. If it's a premeditated plot, you'll see food supplies being bought up and hoarded. If it's born of desperation, it will stem from poor harvests or merchants price-gouging."
"I see... Put that way, those events naturally go hand in hand."
"...Hm."
I stared intently at the price logs that had been sent in.
Then, looking up, I addressed Gigi.
"Gigi, remember this."
"Y-Yes?!"
"When analyzing this data, comparing it against past figures is crucial. That's how we'll operate moving forward, so whenever reports with these numbers arrive, make sure you memorize them thoroughly so we can pull up past records the moment we need to make a comparison. It's an important duty."
"Y-Yes, Sire!"
At my command, Gigi clenched her fists tightly, steeling her resolve.
"Your Majesty... Did something catch your eye?"
"Yeah."
As sharp as ever, Don.
"I was just thinking how useful it would be to pull up past records right now for a comparison. My own memory on the matter is a bit hazy, after all."
"What is it that concerns you?"
"This."
Saying so, I held out one of the slips of paper toward Don.
Don took it and scanned the writing.
"This is... the price of rice in Almeria?"
To Don's question, I gave a quiet nod.