40 The Death of Von Geld

After the meeting ended, Mia went to the mansion that her father kept in the capital city. It was near the city center, so it was not far from the Royal Palace. She went inside, and was greeted by one of her father's servants.

"Has my father arrived yet?" Asked Mia.

"No, my lady." Said the servant as Mia walked towards the parlor on the first floor and the servant poured Mia a beer.

Mia then went to the parlor and sat down in a chair to wait for her father. While she was waiting, she unlocked the smartphone with the passcode. She scrolled through it and opened one of the apps. There were words displayed. The words used the same letters as the ones that were used in Vorbei, but they were not words that Mia could understand.

[This must be Ethan's native language. It is interesting that it uses the same letters as we use. If I recall correctly, our modern Vorbei alphabet is originated from the alphabet of the ancient 'Magicae People' of the southern continent, the same people who developed the Magicae Language as well as most of the theories behind magic that are still used today. Centuries ago, the leaders of ancient Vorbei came across the Magicae alphabet in some scrolls that were shipped over, and adapted it slightly into the modern Vorbei alphabet by adding a few extra letters, adding spaces between words, adding punctuation and accent marks, and giving us lowercase as well as capital letters. Apparently, in the original Magicae alphabet, there was no capitalization, spaces, punctuation, or accent marks. It seems that the only major difference between these letters on this smartphone and our modern Vorbei alphabet is that none of these words have any accent marks. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that the alphabet of Ethan's language is also based on the Magicae alphabet, but that wouldn't make any sense based on what Ethan has told me about the people of his homeland. The ancient Magicae People created most of the magic theories that we still use today and one of the most prominent among that the ancient Magicae philosophers developed is that no human could possibly survive without mana because the underlying metaphysical reality of the human person is that of a union between body, soul, and magic, and without all three of those elements, the human is destroyed. In order to get knowledge of the ancient Magicae alphabet, they would have to either interact with the ancient Magicae people, or interact with those who do. If Ethan's people, who are human and categorically lack any magical energy, were to in any way have any dealings with the ancient Magicae people, that would immediately throw a wrench in their theories about the nature of the human person. Even if they were only to interact indirectly, word would still travel to the ancient Magicae philosophers about humans without mana, therefore causing them to revise their theories. Even if they were to only get the Magicae alphabet after the Magicae civilization had already collapsed from someone else in the known world, they would still be interacting with someone in the known world causing that theory to be rejected later on. Because we still have their theory about that, and that theory is still widely accepted everywhere in the known world, that must mean that Ethan's people have not interacted with anyone in the known world, which would lead to the conclusion that their alphabet is not based on the Magicae alphabet. But that still doesn't explain why their alphabet is so similar to the Magicae language's alphabet. It can't just be coincidence. I suppose that I should ask Ethan about his alphabet at some point.] thought Mia.

She then closed that app and opened the music app. She selected the same playlist that Ethan had played for her before, and pressed 'play'. Classical music filled the parlor, and Mia reflected on her day a little bit. A couple of hours later, Mia's father arrived. Mia then stopped the music.

"You truly are my daughter. To think that you were able to get Von Geld removed from his post less than 24 hours from arriving at the capital. How did you do it?" Said Augustus.

"I beat Von Weizen in Kartenmerken and I taught Von Buch something that he didn't know. In exchange, they both voted in favor of the motion. It wasn't all that hard. By the way, the King wants you to not make it too messy when you deal with Von Geld." Said Mia.

"It's a bit too late for that. I've already dealt with him before I came here. Anyway, that is very impressive to beat them both at their own games. It seems that I taught you well." Said Augustus.

[You already killed him? Please tell me that when you killed him, you didn't make it look too suspicious.] thought Mia.

"Did you at least make it something that could look like a suicide or an accident." Said Mia.

Augustus thought for a moment.

"Accident would be a bit of a stretch, unless he just happened to fall, torso first, onto his sword thirty times. As for suicide, anything can be called a suicide if you try hard enough and don't care about the truth." Said Augustus.

[He stabbed him thirty times?! Isn't that a bit overkill?] thought Mia.

"Why did he need to be stabbed thirty times. He's not a particularly big or strong man, and he can't use magic. Wouldn't stabbing him once or twice suffice?" Said Mia.

"He tried to murder my daughter." Said Augustus as if this was a perfectly reasonable response.

[There is his overprotective side. At least he waited until Von Geld was no longer a national minister, so there won't be as much backlash against us. Von Geld's kin and the Nobles' Faction still won't be happy about it, but there isn't a lot that they can do even when they inevitably figure out that it was the Von Ritters.] thought Mia.