Lost Then Found

Little Secrets

Unlike Subaru, Anastasia Hoshin proved to be much greater of an issue. After all, she simply disappeared when the battle for Pristella was won. Yes, for almost a year there hadn't been any new information regarding her, and possible additional misfortune that may have befallen her. Similar to Subaru, Anastasia was an active person, and most importantly, as far as the council knew, not a persecuted individual. Even with her name eaten, she should have been able to use her skill and cunning to acquire some wealth in trading, a year is more than enough time for her to make a decent amount of money, If not a small fortune. Yet, for some reason, she didn't, and in addition, they have no idea where she might be. One need not mention the possible conclusion that can be drawn from this, candidate Anastasia wasn't a strong person, more accurately wasn't a physically strong person, so It is hard to simply dismiss the idea that she might have been killed. The council couldn't dismiss the possibility that they had, granted unintentionally, gotten a dragon maiden killed. Even If that was untrue and she is alive that would only be marginally better for them, after all, they had still lost a throne candidate. If the people would learn the extent of the council's failure, they would naturally feel angered and scared. The anger is simple, they'll be angry for being led by people who are capable of such a blunder, but fright is even simpler. If even the throne candidates, arguably one of the most important and therefore most protected individuals in the country, can be victimized by the cult to this extent, what hope do the regular people have? How can the council or the knights claim to guarantee their safety, If they are seemingly incapable of protecting five women? They can't protect five, already powerful women, but they can the entire nation. No, the people wouldn't believe them and most importantly, they might stop believing that the council and the knights have the right to rule over the land. While this is highly unlikely, such a situation is still not to be taken lightly.

That makes their current situation Oh so more difficult, for they can't simply brush her under rug as they did with Subaru. No, she is too relevant for that, they can't simply award her posthumously or make her a statue. If they are to achieve their goal of remaining in power, they need to reintroduce Anastasia into Lagunicas' political scene. But most importantly, they need to reintroduce her their way, in a way that will make them look like heroes, or at very least not failures. That is no easy task, not only do they need to worry about the reactions of the people but also the reaction of the woman in question, If she is alive that is. If she doesn't go along with this, due to her possible dislike of the council or any other reason, the effect would be the same, if not worse than had they not found her in the first place. Yes, this is a delicate matter, which makes the newest news so much more disappointing.

"We are yet to discover any signs of her." The voice that spoke those words was stoic and calm, unsurprising considering that it belonged to the Captain of the Royal Guard. Marcus was, like always, wearing his armor with a sword on his belt, as expected of a knight. It is unknown if he had any feelings on the matter in question, If he did, he had done well to hide them.

"What measures had you taken to find her?" An equally calm response came back, a response worthy of a sage. The council was sitting in their usual place while listening to Marcus's report, on a surface level it looked like a normal day, but everyone in the room knew that this was far from normal.

"I had one-third of the royal knights sent throughout the country, enlisted aid from nobles that are well known for secrecy and offered merchants financial benefit if they give any useful information."

"You employed merchants? I assume that you took necessary precautions when dealing with them." Bordeaux true to his nature inquired about the safety of the operation.

" You are correct, at no point had I used Anastasia-sama's name directly or anything that might reawaken their memories of her." With an equally stoic voice, he added," Although, the information we might get from them will be rather vague and for the most part useless."