Seeing the half-smile on Six of Clubs' face, Earl Levin pressed his lips together, lowered his head, and fell into a long silence.
This... this really was a tempting proposal.
Rather than having the government and military publicly admit that their incompetence and dereliction of duty had caused this string of incidents in Backlund, shifting all the blame onto hostile nations and calling it deliberate sabotage was clearly more in keeping with those politicians' usual buck-passing.
Besides, the public would find this explanation easier to accept. After all, hostility toward Intis and Feysac was nothing new in Loen. Nationalism and blind xenophobia had long run deep among the people.
Earl Levin himself had no idea whether Feysac spies really were behind all the recent chaos in Backlund. But rumors about foreign spies had gradually begun circulating over the past two days, while the authorities remained silent and no one stepped forward to stop them. It did seem as though they intended to exploit the issue to redirect public anger...
But even if the authorities wanted to blame an enemy nation, the government and military were undoubtedly guilty of serious negligence. Directing the public's fury abroad was certainly a good approach, but it would never be enough to quell their anger outright. The furious populace needed a concrete target they could punish.
Why had foreign spies been able to cause this string of incidents so easily in the capital?
Was it because the government and military were too incompetent to prevent them? If not, what was the reason?
There had to be a traitor on the inside!
There were moles within Loen, selling out the nation's interests.
The angry masses needed an outlet. An earl who wielded immense power and possessed wealth rivaling a nation's certainly carried enough weight.
"But that