Chapter 13 – The Commoner with Every Attribute
There was a tightness under my ribs as I went into His Majesty’s study in the royal castle. I am this kingdom’s Chancellor; the room has never troubled me. What troubles me is that I must tell His Majesty about the boy named Leon who came to the house yesterday.
Leon. No, Master Leon, I ought to say. His Majesty and I have spoken of Master Leon once already. At that point he was simply a person to be watched, a commoner who had come into contact with Her Highness the Princess. That he should turn out to hold every attribute…
Now. How will His Majesty take it? He is a man who steadily raises up the able whatever their birth, so he will make no objection to the ducal house looking after Master Leon. If anything, once he hears about the attributes he is perfectly capable of declaring that the royal house will take the boy instead.
Master Leon states that he is not the Apostle. But the intelligence, the polished bearing, the speech: none of it belongs to a commoner, and every part of it says he is one. And what settles the matter is every attribute.
So long as Master Leon has not declared himself the Apostle, we cannot treat him as one. That leaves looking after him through the ducal house as the most that can be done. Neither can we make him a noble by special dispensation, and if another country or a hostile camp learns what he can do as things stand, he will be in very real danger. He must be handled carefully.
It may be that he has some reason for not revealing himself. If so, then we must pretend not to have noticed and guard him with everything we have. For that I need His Majesty’s cooperation.
“Good morning, Your Majesty.”
“Ah. Good morning, Richard.”
“Might I have a little of your time before the day’s business? And I would ask that the room be cleared, if you will permit it.”
“That’s no trouble. But is it the sort of talk that wants the room cleared?”
“I believe it would be better so.”
“Understood. Have the room cleared, then.”
His Majesty is Alexis Lathlasia, and he is a remarkable man: very able, and possessed of kindness and severity in equal measure. Once the study held nobody but the two of us, we moved to the sofas and sat facing one another.
“So. What’s this about?”
“Yes. It concerns Master Leon.”
“Master… Leon? The commoner we spoke of the other day? You had him to dinner yesterday, didn’t you.”
“Yes. We invited him to dinner at the ducal house yesterday, and the truth of it is that Master Leon is… the Apostle.”
“The Apostle… Did you say the Apostle?!”
It shook His Majesty enough that he came to his feet without meaning to. I am shaken enough myself, even now, to wonder whether I dreamed the whole thing. But it is fact.
“I said the Apostle, Your Majesty.”
“And did Master Leon tell you so himself?”
“No. He denied it outright. But a great deal else points to his being the Apostle all the same.”
“How so?”
His Majesty had steadied a little. He sat back down on the sofa, and asked it.
“To begin with, his speech and his bearing are the equal of a properly brought-up noble child’s. They do not belong to a commoner, still less to the son of a restaurant family out at the edge of the royal capital. He follows difficult conversation without the least trouble, so the mind is quick as well. All of that alone had me disbelieving what was in front of me. And beyond it, he can use magic of every attribute.”
“Every attribute?! Richard… that’s the Apostle. There’s no doubt about it.”
“I thought so at once and asked him outright. Master Leon says he is not. My own view is that he has some reason for it and is concealing what he is. How does it strike Your Majesty?”
“I’m of the same mind. If he means to stay hidden, we look the other way and keep him safe. It would be a catastrophe if commoner-hating nobles got their hands on him.”
So His Majesty has arrived where I did.
“That is precisely what I fear.”
“And what’s Master Leon to do now?”
“Master Leon himself says he wishes to attend the Royal Academy. Frederick handed him the study materials, and it seems he said he had no need of reading, writing or arithmetic. He will study only history.”
“That… Richard, there’s another piece of evidence for you. There’s a life of the Apostle that only a man who has become king may read, and it says that the Apostle was perfect at reading, writing and arithmetic, but learned history from the beginning.”
Such a life exists, and I had no idea of it. There is a door in this kingdom closed even to me.
“Then we may take it that Master Leon is the Apostle. But he must never learn that we have concluded it.”
“Agreed. For now this goes no further than this room.”
“Quite so, Your Majesty. And what is to be done about Master Leon using every attribute? I advised him myself to keep it hidden until he has graduated from the Royal Academy.”
“That’ll serve for now. Master Leon can hardly want it coming out, with all the noise and the danger that would follow. Once he has graduated from the Royal Academy and been made a noble, the commoner-hating nobles will not be able to touch him, and other countries will find it hard to. And should Master Leon say that he wishes to be king, I would hand him the throne. Until then, will the ducal house keep him safe? The royal house will of course give every assistance it can.”
“Of course we shall. He is to attend the Royal Academy from our house. My son’s eldest, Lucien, is exactly Master Leon’s age, and I would hope the two of them become good friends.”
Lucien is a clever boy, and I am told there is no prejudice in him, so it should do well enough.
“That’s good to hear. My own children are of an age with him, come to that. Ought they to be told that he has every attribute?”
“No. Clever as they are, they are still children. There is no need to go out of our way to tell them. Surely it is enough to say that he is a remarkably able commoner and that they should be friendly with him.”
“There is that. I’d like to meet him myself, once. Would that be difficult?”
To meet His Majesty, Master Leon would have to be brought to the royal castle. That would draw far too many eyes.
“I am afraid that would be difficult. It is better that he not be conspicuous yet. Master Leon himself we can protect. His family we cannot, and that is what worries me.”
“There is that as well… And yet once he’s at the Royal Academy he’ll stand out whether he wishes it or not. With the backing of House Townsend, at the head of the camp, no less.”
That is a problem I have been turning over myself. Seizing the family to draw Master Leon out is entirely conceivable. And if something were to happen to Master Leon’s family and he were angered by it, the result would be a disaster, because the Apostle must never be angered.
The best answer of all would be to declare Master Leon the Apostle and have him use every attribute openly, but he is concealing what he is, so that is out of reach. It may be that the family ought to be sheltered at the ducal house as well.
“I intend to put shadows on Master Leon’s family as guards. Or, should they wish it, to consider taking them into the ducal house’s service.”
“Yes, do that. I’ll lend you the royal house’s shadows as well.”
“You have my thanks.”
With the matter settled for the moment, His Majesty and I drank the tea his valet had left for us, which had gone a little cold.
“We’re going to be busy. I wonder whether the Apostle appearing at this particular juncture has anything to do with the spreading of the monster forest.”
“I wondered the same thing. For the Apostle to appear at a time like this can only be the will of God.”
“Unless we somehow hold the monster forest back, this world will be under monsters in a bit over ten years. I would like the Apostle to be the one thing standing between us and that…”
“Which is why the Apostle must be guarded with everything we have.”
“Yes. Draw me up a list of the more dangerous noble houses, would you. We’ll tighten the watch.”
“Certainly. By tomorrow, without fail.”
And that was the end of my secret meeting with His Majesty. Privately, I have hoped for a long time that the Apostle would prove to be this world’s savior.
Before anything else, Master Leon must be protected, while we go on pretending we have not seen what he is. I do not believe there is anyone in my household who would let the secret out, but I shall put the word around once more that he is not to be spoken of. Another busy day tomorrow, then, and a good many after it. I set about the day’s business.