Ch.205205. The Royal Palace (4)

A moment later, in the secret reception room of the royal palace.

“….I wondered why I was awakened in the middle of the night, but seeing this, I can’t even be angry.”

Louis VII, dressed in attire that appeared somewhat more comfortable than before yet still maintained the dignity befitting a ruler, was reacting as if he had a headache after hearing my somewhat disorganized story about bringing this maid here.

Understandably so, as the current complicated and tangled situation seemed impossible for anyone to resolve.

It had been revealed that a maid who had served in the palace for over ten years was a foreign deity worshipper, and judging by her movements and the curious fact that palace guards were absent from specific areas, these cultists likely had connections reaching as high as senior officials at the chamberlain level.

To put it in modern terms, it was like discovering that a high-ranking official equivalent to a chief of staff and close confidant was actually a spy for hostile forces.

Furthermore, based on the circumstances, these cultists had shared some kind of secret agreement with part of the nobility faction that sought to check royal power… perhaps even the entire nobility faction.

Considering that allegations of collusion with cultists were one of the few legal grounds that permitted summary execution of the accused, this was no joke—it contained the potential to develop into a massive political scandal that could overturn the entire country.

The moment this became known, it would be an incident so serious that they couldn’t legitimately object even if the Holy Empire invaded the kingdom on charges of heresy.

“Well… the situation seems to be roughly like this.”

But perhaps even this situation was ultimately within Louis VII’s household matters. After appearing to be lost in thought for a moment, organizing his ideas, he soon began to explain to me his conjectures about the current affair step by step.

First, the Duchess of Orleans has nothing to do with this matter.

“She’s not the type of woman who would devise such a foolish plan. There must be a different mastermind. Besides, she and I have been corresponding by letter.”

“I… see.”

The woman who had been the primary suspect in these incidents was actually in an intimate relationship with Louis VII, and contrary to their outwardly antagonistic relationship, they were partners who secretly communicated with each other to lead the political situation.

…It strongly gives off the impression of an affair, but let’s just gloss over it as “affairs being affairs.”

After all, they’re both married with children.

On the other hand, he says there might not be much of a connection between the cultists and the nobility.

“…So there might not be a relationship between the two.”

“That’s right. This maid was originally a cultist in addition to being bought by the nobility faction. It might seem impossible, but sometimes this is the correct answer.”

This maid of ten years was merely the illegitimate daughter of a knight and his mistress, who entered service at age twelve and remained in a mediocre position without promotion for ten years.

Typically, servants who have been in the palace for about ten years often rise to middle management positions, but for whatever reason, she was working in a field position two ranks lower.

So it’s not entirely incomprehensible that she would become discontented with her situation and harbor ulterior motives.

However, it was simply pathetic that she had crossed the point of no return by worshipping foreign deities.

“…Did she become a cultist first, and then get recruited by the nobles?”

“That seems most likely. If she had been recruited by the nobility faction first, worshipping foreign deities wouldn’t have been a good choice.”

Anyway, the same conclusion we both reached simultaneously was that this maid became a cultist before being recruited.

Since the collusion between the nobility faction and cultists isn’t expected to be particularly strong, while it might not be enough to send them away together, perhaps it would be possible to extract information from them?

“…I thought we were going to round up all those nobles who were trying to use me, but why are cultists involved in this?”

“That’s just how these villainous cultists are, I suppose.”

In any case, as someone who had intended to round up the nobles who were trying to use me, this was quite an awkward situation.

And finally, regarding how far these cultists or people recruited by the nobility faction have spread…

“I’m not sure about that either. It seems one high-ranking palace official is involved, but I don’t know exactly who.”

“…What?”

“What can I do without information? Rather… in the current situation, gathering information would be the right approach.”

Perhaps because it was impossible to grasp everything through simple reasoning, Louis VII spoke in a very ominous tone about needing to gather information from her, and then…

“…Wake up.”

“—?!!”

He placed his hand, glowing with golden light, on the head of the traitorous maid, causing her to startle awake as if having a seizure.

“Wh-what…?”

She had been recruited to guide me, then was knocked unconscious. Now she regained consciousness to find the king and me, whom she had been guiding earlier, right in front of her…

[O Almighty Faceless One, may Your glory destroy those in the heav—]

—BANG!

The moment I saw her starting to cast a suicide spell—or more precisely, a spell to completely erase her own memories to prevent information leakage—I didn’t hesitate to strike her head again, knocking her unconscious.

“…The incantation was interrupted midway. Her memories should not have evaporated.”

“That’s fortunate… That could have been disastrous.”

While explaining in abbreviated form how I had disrupted the imperfectly formed “oblivion” by channeling magical power, I was looking with disgusted eyes at the face of this person who still maintained a determined expression despite having a slightly torn head that was bleeding profusely.

“This can’t be simply explained as the power of oblivion, so I suspect that she is… deeply immersed in the ideology of that ‘Faceless One.'”

“A cultist ideologue…”

“Things that are repulsive separately have merged into one. …It would be difficult to make her talk through simple interrogation.”

Cultists—those who worship demons or foreign deities that can essentially be called absolute evil.

Typically, cultists are either fallen beings or those who couldn’t overcome their own desires and reached for the darkest powers, but there are also those who genuinely believe they’ve been saved and develop real faith.

Of course, in reality, far from being saved, they’ve sold their souls to a slave master, but these types try to justify themselves through the ignorance and beliefs rooted in their minds.

…And thus, cult fanatics are born.

On the other hand, ideologues. In terms of being stubborn, they’re no less than cultists.

They don’t care about good and evil at all, entrusting their identity to the ideology in their heads—they’re just fanatics worshipping a religion called ideology, different only in name.

They consider the ideology they believe in and revere to be the absolute and unchanging truth of this world, so their psychological foundation essentially contains a psychology similar to extreme egoism.

Thus, both sides have entrusted and subordinated their selves to something intangible…

“What would be the best course of action?”

“…”

Honestly, neither of us thought that this maid, possessing all these conditions, would talk under normal interrogation.

Assuming violence isn’t used, the scariest thing in the world is a fanatic who won’t listen to reason, and the maid lying here fits that description exactly.

Moreover, unlike those amateur fashion fanatics from my previous life, the fanatics in this world are genuine in a sense.

Even if we employed the ultimate weapon of search engine set (Jiggle, Boggle, Tangle, and Whiptity), I don’t think she would talk at all.

“…Is there no method?”

So when I cautiously asked Louis VII if there might be some way…

“Sigh, there is one.”

With a deep breath that could have been either a sigh or lamentation, Louis VII took out a small bottle containing a reddish-brown liquid from one of the drawers placed around the secret reception room.

“Is that…”

“A truth serum. It’s potent stuff. Anyone who drinks this becomes a machine that speaks only the truth.”

“…A creation of alchemists?”

“That’s right.”

Perhaps there was some unpleasant incident connected to the truth serum. Holding the palm-sized bottle with an expression that seemed to reflect mixed emotions, he carefully opened the lid and poured its contents down her throat…

—Flash!

The maid opened her eyes. Clearly not in her right mind, she looked at Louis VII as if ready to answer any question.