Chapter 339 - Chapter 331: Freedom and Morality ①
The Grand Ducal Noeina Theater Company, as a bearer of entertainment, culture, and art for the Grand Duchy of Arqvist, had come to establish a significant presence within a year of the base's founding.
Starting with only fifteen people, the company now hired backstage staff from among the Grand Duchy's citizens and had even welcomed several applicants wishing to join as actors, continuing its performances while expanding in scale.
The content of the performances varied from large-scale plays praising the achievements of the sovereign, Grand Duke Noein Arqvist, to highly entertaining comedies and romances performed by a few actors. All were well-received by the citizens.
And alongside the Noeina Theater Company, another entity playing a role in fostering the cultural education of children was the library established at the Grand Ducal Noeina High School.
From the books collected by Noein and Clara, transcriptions of storybooks, poetry collections, and history books were made and lined the shelves, and many of the enrolled students read them fervently. The collection, which had begun with only a few volumes, had increased to over fifty, continuing to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the children.
Theater and books. Among the children and youth who discovered the charm of creative works through these, a certain trend was born. It was a trend of not merely consuming existing stories, but "creating stories themselves."
It began around the summer of Royal Year 220 as a pastime for a few young people, and it spread explosively during the winter when many had too much idle time. Centered around teenagers and twenty-somethings from independent farming families, merchant houses, and artisan homes, dozens of people began to enjoy the creation of stories and poetry.
They penned stories as they pleased—ranging from romance and ghost stories to fictional war chronicles—or wrote poetry to express their feelings and thoughts, showcasing them to those who shared their hobbies.
Eventually, these creations gained more readers, primarily among their siblings and friends, and soon came to the attention of the parent generation.
.....
Late April, Royal Year 221, Public Year 2. In the office of the Grand Duchy of Arqvist Women's Association, the leading women of the country had gathered to hold a regular meeting.
The sovereign, Grand Duke Noein Arqvist, well understood the strength of women's connections in society, and to ensure that women could cooperate to give birth to and raise children and focus on protecting their respective homes, he assisted in the operation of the Women's Association, a mutual aid organization for women. He also frequently utilized the Women's Association to transmit information to the people.
For this reason, the Women's Association had held a certain amount of power since the time this land was still called the Arqvist territory, and it continued to operate for the stability of society even now, with regular meetings held by these influential women.
"—Now finally, if anyone has any opinions or proposals, please raise your hand."
As this month's meeting neared its end, the one who made the proposal was the president of the Women's Association, Baroness Mai Granat.
In response to her inquiry, a single hand went up.
"Please, Daniela-san."
"Thank you, Mrs. Granat. Then... what I would like to speak about is the creation of poetry and stories that has been trending among the youth and children since last year," the woman permitted to speak by Mai—Daniela—began.
"Not only being able to read letters and understand their content, but being able to write sentences oneself is proof of high education. I believe that the fact they are engaging in creation is something the parent generation should rejoice in. However, I felt that the content of some of the creations they are writing is somewhat problematic."
Hearing her statement, Mai did not sigh, but internally thought, Here we go again.
Daniela's family were landowners possessing a reasonably large amount of farmland, and her husband was counted as one of the influential commoners. As a couple, they were exemplary commoners, and their loyalty to the Arqvist family and the Grand Duchy was deep.
However, as someone whose father had been a retainer to a southwestern noble, she had a tendency to be slightly too strict in personality.
"My son is also one of those enjoying creation, but when I read a story my son wrote the other day, the content was about a protagonist who made a name for himself as a knight entering into a sexual relationship with a former love who had already married another... I believe there is no doubt that this is morally problematic."
Daniela's following words were roughly as Mai had predicted.
Mai's son, Yakov, was also one of those enjoying creation. While he didn't seem to be writing them himself, he had spoken happily at home about being allowed to read stories written by his older classmates.
She had heard a bit about the content, and as expected of a generation in the middle of puberty, there seemed to be works where the desire for recognition and desire for the opposite sex were honestly scattered throughout. The moment Daniela brought this matter up, Mai could predict that she would likely raise such "problems."
"If such creations proliferate among the youth and children, is there not a risk that it will adversely affect their mental growth? What do you think, Mrs. Granat?"
"...I see, I can understand your concern."
Mai, who had originally been a mercenary, had seen many cruel scenes on actual battlefields. Considering the depth of the innate karma of humans, she felt that the influence of mere imaginary stories was nothing. However, she could not actually voice that thought and dismiss Daniela.
Given her place among the influential, she possessed no small amount of speaking power among the women within the capital city of Noeina. There were a certain number of people who agreed with her strict way of thinking. In fact, even now, several people were nodding at Daniela's words.
To prevent division among the people and maintain the tranquility of society, she had to show a certain level of consideration to her and her supporters. As a noble of the Grand Duchy, Mai had that responsibility.
"In that case, should we not correctly supervise the creations being carried out in a disorderly fashion? For example, forbidding the depiction of illegal acts such as theft or adultery, or forbidding cruel and violent expressions..."
"Isn't that a bit too simplistic?"
The one who expressed doubt at Daniela's opinion was a Women's Association executive, Baroness Michelle Heidemann.
"There are stories where theft and adultery are depicted as evil, and a righteous character corrects them. Regarding violent expressions, for example, even in the Noeina Theater Company's play depicting the first half of His Excellency Arqvist's life, there are depictions of people being killed. Wouldn't it be difficult to simply forbid specific expressions?"
"...Indeed, it is as Mrs. Heidemann says."
Whether she harbored some dissatisfaction, there was a short pause before Daniela answered.
In this meeting, speaking was permitted regardless of status or position, but commoners still hesitated to clash too strongly with nobles. Above all, since Michelle had indirectly pointed out that "it would result in denying His Excellency Arqvist's story," a simple rebuttal was likely impossible.
"We are not experts in culture and art, nor can the Women's Association alone decide on some regulations. For now, let us watch how the creations of the children and youth spread, and if necessary, provide dialogue and advice."
Mai said this, closing the session as president. Daniela did not assert anything further with strength, and the regular meeting ended.
The attendees departed, and only the operational executives remained. As Mai returned to the president's executive desk and took a breath, tea was served to her.
"Thank you for your hard work, President."
"...Thank you, Gina. Yes, I am tired."
The one who served the tea and offered words of appreciation to Mai was Radley's wife, Gina, who was currently also the person in charge of the Aspida branch of the Women's Association.
Though she technically lived in a different city now, Noeina and Aspida were close, so there was no need to rush back. She had enough leeway to engage in tea-time chatter after the meeting.
"Michelle, you helped me out earlier. Thank you."
"It was a good assist, wasn't it? If you use Lord Noein's biographical play as an example, even Daniela can't talk back. Not bad, Michelle."
"No, not at all. I simply wondered about it myself..."
Together with Gina and Michelle, who were now fellow noble wives, Mai sat around the tea.
"Daniela... she's not a bad person, but."
"That's true. Rather, she's actually a good person."
Gina agreed with Mai's words. Daniela fell into the older category within Grand Duchy society, and due to her earnest personality, she often looked after the younger women. Many had received her help with childbirth and child-rearing. This time, that earnestness had simply worked in a stubborn direction.
"Well, for now, we have no choice but to watch the situation. Along with the matter of the creations."
As she spoke, Mai took a sip of her tea.
On that day, the topic of the creation trend ended there.
.....
Two weeks after the trend of creation became a topic at the Women's Association's regular meeting, an incident occurred.
"President!"
The moment Michelle rushed into the office, she called Mai in a panicked manner. From that expression and voice, Mai sensed that while it wasn't something involving the loss of human life, some unfavorable situation had occurred.
"What happened?"
"It's a dispute involving the Women's Association. At Daniela-san's house..."
"...I understand. I'll go immediately. Tell me the situation while we head to the scene."
Mai stood up immediately and, out of habit, carried her sword as she left the office.
From the Women's Association office standing in the center of the capital city of Noeina, it was a few minutes' walk southeast to Daniela's house. While walking that short distance, Mai received Michelle's explanation.
"I don't know the details myself, but... it's a continuation of the matter of creations that came up at the last regular meeting. It seems Daniela-san and those who share her opinion investigated the creations of their own children and young relatives. Then, those they judged to be excessively immoral..."
"...Are being burned in the garden, I presume?"
"Yes. Naturally, the youth and children who wrote those creations are reacting strongly, and it seems to have become quite a large commotion."
"I see... I might have been a bit too careless."
Mai muttered with a mix of a sigh. She had not imagined that Daniela would do something so forceful, so quickly. How on earth had she interpreted "dialogue and advice"?
While talking, the two arrived at Daniela's house. Seeing the scene unfolding in the reasonably wide garden of a reasonably large house, befitting the residence of a landowner—Mai let out another large sigh.
Daniela and others were burning bundles of paper in a ritualistic atmosphere, while five or six youth and children tried to stop them while shouting or crying. Their families were restraining them. It was quite a picture of hell.
There were a dozen involved parties in the garden and dozens of onlookers who had gathered to see what was happening. The crowd was so large that even guards had stood by to observe.
Burning small amounts of trash etc. at each home was legal as long as it didn't cause a fire. Daniela and the others had prepared water in a bucket and were only lighting a very small fire in the center of the wide garden, so there was no problem.
However, it stood out far too much.
"I wonder how I should handle this..."
Feeling a slight dizziness, Mai approached the scene.