84 - Chapter 10: Stirring Malice and the End of the Flight
In one of the rooms of the royal castle of the royal capital, Albestein, an old man was processing documents on his desk.
A bald crown and a body bloated from years of sedentary work and poor health. Yet, with a speed that belied his physique, his fingertips flew across the paper with his brush.
Marquis Gardel Vertex.
He was sometimes called Gardel of the Iron Arm, a rugged name, but his physical capabilities were only as rugged as his appearance. The reason he was called the Iron Arm was due to the speed of his paperwork.
As the Prime Minister wielding great power in service to the royal family, a mountain of documents avalanched upon him daily. As a result of his relentless brushwork to handle them, his nicknames shifted from "The Automatic Scribe of Albestein" to "The Undead of the Royal Palace" and "When the Hell Do You Rest?" before finally settling on the current "Gardel of the Iron Arm."
Originally, the position of Prime Minister was a hereditary office held by the four great Marquis houses. It was passed around in rotation with each generation, and in this era, it simply became the duty of the Vertex house.
(He's here. At a time like this...)
As he continued his desk work in his usual silence, loud, clumsy footsteps echoed from outside the door, from the hallway. There were only a few people so tactless.
"Lord Vertex! Has Lumilia still not been captured!?"
As expected, the door was flung open without a knock, and a complaint flew out the moment it opened.
The man who entered was a middle-aged man with a mustache. He wore incredibly flamboyant clothing, and it was surprising to learn that this was his casual wear. To Gardel, who preferred simplicity and steadiness, it surpassed flamboyance and entered the realm of warning colors. Well, noble clothing included the intent to intimidate others, so that impression was not entirely off the mark.
Regardless, Gardel opened his mouth while feeling inwardly disgusted by this tactless man who lacked any semblance of etiquette, Duke Fritz von Leblanc.
"Centaur is currently leading his subordinates in pursuit. Please wait a little longer, Lord Leblanc."
"Hurry it up! If that thing escapes...!"
He likely wanted to say that they would become traitors. However.
"It will work out regardless, please rest assured."
"What...?"
"She will undoubtedly seek refuge with Count Radock, and from there, she can either live in seclusion or flee. Even if she were to rise up, her cause would be the unstable legitimacy of a shaken royal authority. The failure of the ritual four years ago was that painful."
Gardel understood that the political tide still favored them, the "Prime Minister's Faction."
The reason the royal family was the royal family. Royal authority in this country culminated in the success or failure of the ritual held every four years. For eight hundred years since the founding, the ritual had continued without incident, but four years ago, it failed.
When something people have always taken for granted collapses, they become lost. All the more so when it is directly linked to the foundation of their lives. If a single ray of light shines through, it is only natural that they would try to cling to it.
And Gardel had not driven Lumilia out. He had merely tried to take an alternative measure with an eye toward the next generation, and it was Lumilia who had refused. Well, he was the one who had cornered her to give her a sense of claustrophobia.
There was no great cause. However, it was not a coup d'état that those with loud mouths would condemn. It was simply that the will of Lumilia, the royal, was not there.
"B-But...!"
"In short, we just want facts sufficient to convince the citizens. Whether that thing flees, dies, or falls into our hands, the result does not change."
"But without the blood of Albestein, the control of the Dragon Veins..."
That was the keystone of this country and the greatest concern of the "Prime Minister's Faction." The control of the Dragon Veins flowing through this land. For that, the blood of the royal family was required.
"Lord Leblanc, that blood flows in you as well, does it not? It is true that your position is that of a Duke, but therefore you are originally a supplementary bloodline to the royal family. Thus, you should also possess that qualification."
"But I have no fairy crest! To think that..."
"Then we simply need to manage the state without relying on the Dragon Veins until the next generation. Other countries do it, and there is no reason we cannot. In the meantime, you can have her bear a child and pass it to the next generation. Originally, this matter was supposed to be that kind of arrangement, was it not?"
"U-Umu... indeed, that was the case..."
The cycle of Dragon Vein control was four years. For now, the next cycle was this year, but doubts lingered as to whether Lumilia, who had failed once, could succeed. If she could, then fine; if not, there was a need to raise the next generation. As a result of those discussions, they had put forward Fritz and pushed him as Lumilia's fiancé, but it seemed he didn't even understand that much.
Even though he had chosen him with the intent to make him a puppet, Gardel opened his mouth without letting it show on his face, thinking that talking to an idiot was as always a waste of time.
"Now, please speak to those beneath you. If you are like this, your kin will also be anxious."
"Umu... then, I shall go. I leave it to you, Gardel."
After seeing off Fritz, who he didn't even know what he had come for in the end, Gardel leaned back in his chair and covered his face.
"Honestly... dealing with idiots is exhausting. To think he is a Duke, how carefree."
Venting his complaints with a deep sigh, Gardel stared at the ceiling.
(From here on, it depends on Count Radock's movements, but... she is a remarkable woman, just like her husband. She will likely rise up as planned...)
The one who held the key to future movements was undoubtedly the wife of the Radock house, and the current head, Julia Radock.
She sat in the head's seat because she had the first right of succession under domestic law, but she originally came from a Baron house. Moreover, she had risen from a knightly house, but Gardel evaluated her great skill. After all, she had a useless person who was nothing but bloodline by her side. If one had ability, origin ceased to matter.
If anything, he wanted to pull her to his side as a strategist, but he could not call out to her, as she was both an enemy and a keystone of the plan. If he made her an enemy, she would notice his intentions and dance for him.
(Well, fine. In any case, the plan is proceeding smoothly. No matter how it turns out, the conclusion is already decided.)
Yes, the plan, the story, had already begun.
Even Gardel, the mastermind, could no longer stop it.
●
The Serious Breakers had two vanguard roles. Later, and one other, Lilitia.
At the time of the party's formation, the Three Idiots had tilted their heads, wondering, "A Saint, and especially a healer, should be a rear role, right?" but that was the value system of their previous lives. In this world, the title of Saint was based on complete meritocracy.
Certainly, excellence in healing formulas was necessary, but that was merely a prerequisite. They were questioned on whether they could handle the formula tiers from ten to zero to the deepest level possible for that era, and whether they could handle them without deficiency. This "handling without deficiency" was quite ambiguous, and the general standard was the first Saint.
For example, if there were multiple Saint candidates in the same era who could use up to the second healing formula, the element required to choose among them was simple combat power, in other words, a slugfest.
When they learned that fact, those Three Idiots all looked up at the sky together. "Isn't a Saint supposed to be that? The distilled essence of purity and grace, so why are they so barbarian-like?"
As mentioned before, the selection of the Saint was based on complete meritocracy. Yes, following the example of the first Saint, Toko Yokoi, who was called the Iron-Blooded Saint.
Since the first Saint herself was a runaway Saint of the type who led an army with a divine artifact in hand, charging into the enemy army while scattering buffs and heals to her allies, that lineage inevitably became that way.
And upon meeting those standards, being chosen by the divine artifact the Iron-Blooded Saint used, Rasayana, became the condition for being a Saint.
Because this divine artifact called Rasayana looked like a battle mace, the Saint was inevitably required to be a vanguard tank healer rather than a rear professional healer.
Therefore, Lilitia had also mastered close-combat techniques to some extent, and especially since she had been acting with the three girls recently, she often took the vanguard during combat.
Turning to the present.
"Die!"
"Whoa, you've got a foul mouth. Even though you're a Saint. Or is that why?"
Against Richter, who held his spear, Lilitia was swinging Rasayana, the battle mace, without hesitation. Against that, Richter avoided it with just body movements without getting worked up.
It was not that Lilitia was slow.
From the perspective of a general adventurer, it was an astonishing explosive power, and that vicious weapon promised powerful destructive force as its appearance suggested. However, that was a buff to the user provided by Rasayana.
She had sense. She had trained. But she was still a fourteen-year-old girl.
Against a master class opponent who had surpassed skill, surpassed proficiency, and reached the depths of formula logic, the burden was too heavy.
"Tch!"
Every time Lilitia swung and brought down the mace, wind pressure and explosive sounds that would chill the heart of an ordinary person echoed, but Richter shrugged with an exasperated expression.
"Listen, Saint-sama. If you want to win, even swinging a stick requires technique, you know? If you just swing it with brute force, it's like this, see!?"
"Gah!?"
As he spoke, in the next moment he stepped into Lilitia's space, hooked the shaft of the spear around her neck, and simultaneously swept Lilitia's legs with his stepping foot to throw her. Lilitia, who did a clean half-turn, was slammed onto the ground on her back and writhed.
"Glass Steel!"
To protect Lilitia, Kazuha threw a talisman and deployed a barrier between Lilitia and Richter. A honeycomb-structured wall of light appeared, but.
"It has hardness, but that's about it, hup!"
With a single thrust from Richter, who lowered his hips and readied his spear, it shattered. From the scattering phosphorescence, it was clear that mana was riding that strike. That was likely what had broken Kazuha's barrier earlier.
"Then, how about this!?"
"Oops! What's that? A magic tool I've never seen. Well, if it's a projectile, the way to deal with it isn't much different from a bow."
Since Lilitia might counterattack while trying to recover her posture if left alone, Latia provided cover with her magic gun, but that too was intercepted and deflected by the spear. She fired in rapid succession to buy time and push him back, but after he avoided them with light steps, they didn't even get on a direct hit course.
(This is... no good. I've never heard of the style, but as expected of something calling itself a secret technique, it's outrageous.)
While not stopping her offensive, Latia was calmly grasping the situation in her mind.
Just as mages were ranked by how many formulas from ten to zero they could use, warriors had a similar framework.
As a premise, there were styles considered the two great martial arts on this continent.
The Albert style, which primarily mixed magic and martial arts.
The Enrai style, which used mana-based physical ability enhancement as its logic.
Both were suddenly born and took root in this world about 1500 years ago. Since then, various factions increased like branch shops, but the basic flows were these two. Among the many factions, there was a common rule, which was the transmission of ranks.
First transmission, middle transmission, inner transmission, full transmission, and then the secret technique.
Richter had just claimed the secret technique of the Centaur branch of the Albert style. In other words, it indicated that he had mastered the Centaur branch within the Albert style that mixed magic and martial arts, and that he was the highest rank within it.
If ranked roughly, he was a so-called master class, and to correspond, one would have to bring someone who was also master class to even stand on the same playing field.
In terms of a fair comparison of strength, Later among the Three Idiots would qualify.
In other words, for the three girls, the opponent's strength was far superior. It would be pointless unless they brought at least one of the Three Idiots. As expected of someone called the highest combat power of the Albestein Kingdom.
(It would be different with those three, but just us...)
The reason a superior Richter did not immediately come to kill the three girls was because of the shackle that was Lilitia, the Saint.
Considering the impact of killing the Saint herself and her companions, he likely did not actively attack Latia or Kazuha. Otherwise, holes would have been punched through their bodies long ago.
"Now then, it's about time to end this."
Richter, who had seemed to be doing nothing but avoiding and circling, spoke those words, and Latia gasped. Immediately after, a warning color from the spirits flew into her vision, and she sensed the situation.
"Lilitia! Don't move!"
"Eh?"
Just after Lilitia finished casting a healing formula on herself and tried to return to the battle line, she was warned by Latia and stopped her movement. Just a few centimeters from the tip of her nose, a white blade suddenly appeared and sliced through the void. If she hadn't stopped, Lilitia would have taken a direct hit and lost everything from her right shoulder down.
"Heh, good intuition. You could probably heal it yourself anyway, so I was planning to take a limb or two."
To the speechless Lilitia, Richter spoke nonchalantly.
"Well, it's not a great technique. Even if it's called Afterglow, the logic is just leaving a slash behind. I've had time, and I've left quite a few while you were running away. There's no place left for you to run."
Of course, he had circled around to suppress Lilitia, the Saint, but during that time, he had been continuously planting delayed slashes in the surrounding area.
If the Three Idiots had been here, they would have retorted, "With the look of a buff power fighter, you're a trap character!? What a visual scam!!"
The movements of the three girls stopped. They didn't know where the delayed slashes were. They didn't know how many had been planted. They didn't know if they could be activated at will. But they could sense that the power of that white blade would certainly carve through their bodies.
Therefore, they were completely frozen. After all, the opponent was someone who easily penetrated Kazuha's barrier. It was obvious that even if they charged relying on formulas, they would be sliced to pieces.
And if they didn't move, Richter would come to kill the three girls who had stopped.
Thus, at this point, the three realized they were checkmated.
"I'll surrender."
Amidst this, Latia spoke as the leader. No, she had no choice but to speak before the opponent moved.
"Whoa. You girls think you're in a position to negotiate..."
"Do you know the reason why we are in this country?"
"That's..."
At her words, Richter trailed off and narrowed his eyes.
If they were just adventurers, he wouldn't have cared. But Lilitia Harvard, the Saint, was here. Of course, from the perspective of the three girls, it was just a pile of accidents and coincidences, but there was no way Richter would know such complicated circumstances.
And currently, the national administration was unstable. In such a situation, it was not good to take on an additional massive international problem. No, the moment he engaged them, it was already a significant international problem, but he had let Lilitia attack enough to claim self-defense. That said, any more would be undesirable.
Seeing that hesitation as an affirmation, Latia pressed on with conditions.
"The condition is our safety. Treat us as guests."
"You're not sticking with the Princess?"
"We were just accompanying her to her destination."
"What is in the Radock territory?"
"That's part of the negotiation."
Richter showed some hesitation, but after a while, he let out a large sigh and nodded.
"...Don't try anything strange. You know the difference in power, but next time, I'll punch a hole through you."
Thus, the three girls became prisoners.
●
In the forest dominated by the veil of night as the sun set, there was a streak of light racing.
Flapping wings of mana and running as if weaving through the trees, that light, however, was only moving at the speed of a person running.
It was not a strong light. Irregularly, as if out of breath, it repeated fine flickers, racing through the nighttime mountains relying only on the moonlight. An outsider who knew nothing would see it as a will-o'-the-wisp, and someone rooted in this country might see it as a fairy.
(Just... a little... more...!!)
Yes, a fairy, Lumilia, who had transformed into one.
Lumilia, who had been thrown by Lilitia, had landed while being protected by the barrier Kazuha deployed immediately after. And then she headed for the Radock territory alone.
It was one of the plans the four had decided on when passing through the Idra Valley.
In the worst case, the three girls would become decoys to let Lumilia escape. Though, she hadn't expected to be thrown so carelessly. Nevertheless, thanks to that, she had already passed through the Viscounty of Hall and was now just a breath away from the Radock territory.
But.
"There she is! Over there!!"
Behind her, there was a pursuit by imposing knights.
After all, Lumilia was flying while remaining a fairy. Flying while scattering phosphorescence of mana, she would be a good lighthouse for them. However, even if she canceled the fairy transformation, as a sheltered girl, she would struggle to even walk, let alone run through this forest. On top of that, Mule Grey was among the pursuers.
As a wolf-beastman, he had high physical abilities and a keen nose, and he possessed a special magic eye called Hundred Eyes that allowed him to see mana as colors, making him the best as a pursuer.
Even if she canceled the fairy transformation, returned to human form, and hid, he would pinpoint her location by following the scent with the olfactory sense unique to beastmen.
As a result, Lumilia ended up flying through the night forest continuously without resting while remaining a fairy.
(Just a little more... just a little more...!!)
She was just a little further from the Radock territory. However, due to the effect of this several-hour chase, her mana was about to run out. At first, she had increased her altitude to take shortcuts and put distance between them, but against the stamina of the knight order, a contest of mana consumption was too disadvantageous.
Although Lumilia's mana capacity was quite high compared to ordinary people, this was her first time flying continuously for several hours. Tension and exhaustion overlapped, gradually robbing her of her will, physical strength, and mana, and now, as she left the forest and reached the highway.
"Ah...!"
"Honestly, please be quiet, Princess. We also do not wish to harm you."
Lumilia, who rolled onto the earth along with the limit of her mana, or rather, her will, was caught by the knight order led by Mule, who still had plenty of room. The fairy transformation canceled, she returned to human form and was completely checkmated.
Even if they had been absorbed by the Prime Minister's Faction, they were those who bore the name of knights. They likely would not do anything rough to a member of the royal family. But even so.
(Help me! Shannon!!)
She screamed that name in her heart.
"Honestly, you're making quite a scene in someone else's territory."
Immediately after, just as that voice echoed in the night, a roar raced past Lumilia.
The recognition of the sound came before the situation. Almost simultaneously with the gust of wind hitting her ears, the trees of the forest in front of Lumilia and behind the Imperial Guards were mowed down. And Lumilia turned around, catching the footsteps from the direction the voice had come from.
Standing illuminated by the moonlight was a woman.
A tall, large woman. She must have been nearly one hundred and eighty centimeters. Clad in a gray military uniform, the woman had her arms loosely crossed, and her chilly blue eyes glared down at the knights.
"What a state for knights who should protect the kingdom. If you were just weak, there would be some salvation, but to turn your blades toward the lord you should protect."
"Ah..."
At the large woman's alcohol-burned voice, Lumilia lost her strength. She was not the person she had hoped for, but it was a voice she knew. A nostalgic voice.
"You... who are you!?"
"Who am I? It seems you lot don't understand your position. Pierce, Ice Bullet."
Simultaneously with the shortened chant and activation formula, a magic circle appeared behind the woman, and immediately after, pointed ice shards were shot out at ultra-high speed, piercing the feet of the Imperial Guards and blowing about ten of them away together with the impact of the hit.
"Do you understand now? You bandits rampaging in my territory."
●
Beyond the rising dust. Squinting using the moonlight, finding those ice-like blue eyes, Mule finally remembered.
That there was once a knight who, despite being from a knightly family, excelled in magic. That person was a woman, and because she could not match men in simple strength, she polished her magic and eventually rose to become an Imperial Guard attached to the royal family. Coming from a knightly house, such a promotion could be called the height of prosperity, but one day she suddenly married into a Margrave house and resigned.
He knew she had continued to wield great power in the territory she married into, but if he were to dare speak the name she had when she belonged to the knight order...
"Julia Forsemeyer... no, Count Radock...!"
"It's been a while since I was called by my maiden name. Then, you should know the reason why I'm not dead, right? It just wasn't the time yet."
Julia Radock spoke with a twist of her lips. At those words, when Mule looked behind him, his subordinates who had been blown away were down but still breathing. Many were seriously injured to the point where he questioned if they were beyond recovery, with limbs bent unnaturally.
"Now, get out of my sight quickly, foot soldiers. If you trample upon my territory one more step from here, next time, I'll blow your heads off."
With a thud, Julia stepped forward, moving to shield Lumilia.
In accordance with that, Mule also took a step back. At the same time, he hesitated. He was conflicted in his judgment. His target, Lumilia, was before his eyes, but if he asked himself whether he could oppose Julia with his current strength, the answer was no.
The opponent was just one person, but Mule knew that that one person was an abnormal combat force. Once, in a friendly mock battle of the knight order held when he was still a new recruit, this woman had achieved an overwhelming victory in a one-versus-two-hundred situation.
It was a kind of exhibition match organized under the guise of knocking the noses of the recruits, but everyone present saw hell.
After all, this woman, with a bright smile, had said, "Your spirit and guts, and your legs and hips are weak, recruit. Then, first, dance," and had shot out a massive amount of her specialty ice magic at ultra-high speed like hail, slamming them into the recruits' feet.
The recruits who underestimated them as mere ice pebbles were pierced through along with their metal armor and shields, and the terrified recruits were forced to dance an unsightly dance until their strength ran out, and for the recruits who tried to flee, after warning them, "Shall I shove this into your ass for your lack of knightly resolve?" she actually did it.
Furthermore, Mule was on the receiving end of the shoving. The fact that his backside stung now as he faced her was likely not just his imagination.
Julia Radock was a woman who displayed unparalleled strength against groups and armies. And she was a ruthless militarist. If she said she would do it, she would. This time, it wouldn't end with just a split backside.
On top of that.
"Kuh... we retreat!"
"I-Is that alright, Vice-Commander? Now, while there are no attendants...!"
"Precisely because of that. Consider a situation where we don't fight our own allies to be that person's true specialty. Besides, as for attendants, they are here."
As he scanned the area, he could see the flow of mana. To Mule, the possessor of the magic eye, the soldiers lurking in the surroundings were visible. It was certain they were Julia's private soldiers. They were avoiding the range of her attacks, but if a gap was shown, they would likely attack immediately.
"You understand, don't you. Then I shall apologize for the rudeness of calling you a foot soldier. Your name?"
"Vice-Commander of the Albestein First Knight Order, Mule Grey. I am about two successors after you."
"Hoh, Mule of the Hundred Eyes. I've heard the rumors. But even a possessor of a magic eye could see the ambush but not the big picture, eh?"
"I am a knight. I should move under the orders of my superiors without being swayed by personal feelings."
At those words, Julia narrowed her eyes.
"In other words, you are only to that extent. Honestly... how pathetic."
"What...?"
"No, it's nothing. Then I'll upgrade you from a foot soldier. Now get lost, lapdog! Before that boasted eye of yours is shot through!!"
Intimidated, Mule gritted his teeth and withdrew with his subordinates.
●
"What shall we do?"
"Let them go. In any case, we'll meet on the battlefield before long, and this is likely a pawn for Centaur. That Hundred Eyes is an actor for after the war, not the current protagonist."
"As you wish."
The moment those figures disappeared, a question came from the darkness, and Julia answered the opponent who did not show themselves before turning to Lumilia.
"Julia-sama... no, Count Radock..."
Acknowledging the figure looking up at her, Julia smiled slightly and knelt.
"The old way of calling me is fine, Princess. Even so... to be in such a ragged state."
"U... uu... uuuuuh..."
Clinging to Julia, who embraced her, Lumilia let out a sob.
Thinking it was disrespectful, but as if to heal the wounded girl, Julia remained that way for a while.
Thus, the fairy princess's flight came to a close with tears, and the casting for the future of the Albestein Kingdom was finally complete.
Next time, next week.