215 - The Witches
――Movement finally occurred between the two staring camps once their respective representatives took the lead.
Initially, neither Glacia nor Elsa had intended to stand at the front. However, once the two suddenly showed enthusiasm, they took the lead with more fighting spirit than ever before.
Around them, those who had betrayed their lords or were simply looking to profit stood in formation.
A cloudy sky.
On the battlefield of the desolate border, Glacia sat atop a horse, gripping a spear nearly as tall as herself in her right hand. The grip was long, and it was protected by a small shield.
The surrounding lords looked at Glacia, who was radiating anger.
"Acting Archduke, isn't it dangerous for you to enter the battlefield without an escort? Until now, members of the Archducal Family have always been by your side."
"Even if we are to charge, if you do that, then there will be no turn for us――"
Glacia glared at one of the lords who was laughing with a troubled expression. Her purple eyes were filled with killing intent.
"What of it? You lot should just fight as well. Or have you forgotten that you've been hiding in the rear while pushing me to the front until now?"
"T-that is..."
Glacia spoke to one of the lords.
"...Do not worry, I will handle that witch. You lot just fight the enemies in front of you. That is all, is it not?"
Sensing an atmosphere that allowed no rebuttal, the lords nodded, agreeing for this one time. Some among them even wore vulgar smiles.
It seemed they intended to flee once Glacia began fighting, claiming it was too dangerous.
While watching the lords' behavior, Glacia glared at Elsa, who was visible in the distance――.
――Facing Glacia's glare, Elsa was positioned as if looking down from a slightly higher vantage point.
Astride her horse, she carried a staff on her shoulder, tapping it against her shoulder several times as if using it as a mace.
The soldiers around her were bewildered by Elsa's unusual atmosphere.
"Elsa-sama?"
Elsa remained expressionless.
"You lot fight the enemies in front of you. Since you volunteered, I expect you to do at least that much."
However, the man leading the soldiers turned pale.
"But! What if we get caught up in the battle between Elsa-sama and the witch!"
He pleaded, arguing that they would die if caught in the crossfire between Elsa and Glacia, but Elsa remained expressionless.
"What of it?"
She didn't listen to a word. Whether it was Elsa or Glacia, pitting the traitors of both camps against each other was Liel's plan. Even though she suspected the opponent had betrayed them along the way, she had no intention of changing that.
"N-no..."
When the soldier captain, who had been colluding with the enemy, fell silent, Elsa's hair fluttered in the wind. She brushed the hair away from her face with her left hand, and her purple eyes glinted coldly.
"I will absolutely not forgive you today. Glacia..."
Elsa and Glacia. The fighting spirit of both was higher than it had ever been――.
――Upon hearing the signal to charge, Miranda grabbed the back collar of Shannon's clothes, who was clinging to her from behind without looking forward, from the ceiling of the Porter.
"Shannon, confirm Novem's position. Tell me if Aria is there too."
Seeing Miranda's smile, Shannon nodded her head violently up and down. It wasn't that she could see her face, but she felt through the flow of magic that Miranda was truly angry.
Shannon was not so foolish as to resist such a Miranda.
Near Miranda, Clara, who was riding in the Porter, held a large staff as if embracing it, pushing up her glasses with her fingertips to adjust their position.
"Did Novem-san blame it on Miranda-san? Or rather, the ones who didn't notice Liel-san had disappeared were Novem-san and the others, weren't they?"
Shannon, who was desperately watching the battlefield as it sprang into motion, said nothing, but Miranda, who was monitoring her, spoke to Clara.
"Knowing Liel, I'm sure he's safe, but if the plan was thrown off because of it, Novem needs a punishment. If Liel doesn't hand down a punishment, wouldn't it be right for us to do it?"
Clara replied flatly.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say it's right, but I am curious as to why Novem-san said such a thing. Or rather, do you intend to make me provide support as well?"
Miranda smiled.
"Of course. After all, it would be tough if I were alone."
Miranda was quite something herself, simply not saying that she couldn't win against Novem. Clara let out a sigh and decided to side with Miranda this time.
However.
"Well, the biggest problem is that Liel-san has vanished,"
Clara muttered. Then, Shannon shouted loudly.
"There! He's there! I found him, Onee-sama! He's coming straight toward us!"
When the flustered Shannon said that, Miranda spoke to Clara.
"I see. Aria isn't there, then. In that case, Clara... please get us close to Novem."
Clara moved her staff, and the Porter began to move. Moving like an armored vehicle, the Porter stood out even on the battlefield.
Miranda was certain that Novem would undoubtedly come this way.
"Now, time for some reflection, Novem!"
Whether he heard Miranda's enraged voice or not, Novem was also riding a horse and coming straight toward them――.
――Leaping from her horse, Glacia swept her spear horizontally.
While flames enveloped the surroundings, a pillar of ice appeared before her. The only one capable of creating ice that wouldn't easily melt even under Glacia's flames was Elsa.
Glacia blocked Elsa's strike, as Elsa swung her staff down from atop the ice pillar, with her spear.
Due to Elsa's strike, which employed a fighting style that made her seem far from a magic user, Glacia was about to be slammed into the ground.
However――.
"You traitor!!"
As Glacia opened her palm toward the ground with her left hand, flames erupted violently from it, killing the momentum and instead pushing Elsa back.
After being knocked away by the spear, Elsa spun her body once in mid-air before recovering and landing. The ice Elsa had created melted, leaving the ground soaked. However, the surrounding flames had also lost their intensity.
On a battlefield where one might go mad from the hot winds and cold air, the two faced each other.
Elsa pointed her staff at Glacia.
"You were the one who betrayed first!!"
Hundreds of spears made of ice appeared in the surroundings. The tips of the spears, which appeared in the air as if surrounding Glacia, were extremely sharp and shrouded in white smoke, clad in cold air.
They all attacked Glacia at once, but Glacia stood with her legs slightly apart and blasted flames from her own body.
As pale blue flames covered Glacia's body, the ice spears evaporated and vanished before they could pierce her.
While the surroundings were shrouded in mist from the evaporation, Elsa readied her staff and froze the tip to create a giant sword of ice. Swinging it backward with one hand, she blew the mist away.
Elsa had blocked Glacia's strike, which had been a serious attempt to stab her from behind.
Elsa's ice blade melted, but ignoring that, Elsa swung the great ice sword down at Glacia, but――.
"...Fire Bullet."
Bullet-type magic, which magic users treat as elementary, is also magic that makes it difficult to inflict fatal wounds. It can be thought of as throwing small clumps of magic.
However, for someone of Glacia's caliber, bullet-types were convenient due to their casting speed.
From Glacia's outstretched left hand, several fireballs several meters wide were fired.
Elsa clicked her tongue.
"Tch... Ice Wall!"
Swinging her left hand sideways, she created a wall of ice over ten meters thick in front of her.
When the giant fireballs collided, white smoke was generated, and the wall began to be shaved away.
While Elsa began to move in order to flank, she widened her eyes upon seeing the ice wall she had created.
There stood Glacia, who had broken through the ice wall.
Elsa hastily created an ice shield, but unable to kill the momentum completely, she was blown away. The wet ground had become muddy, and Elsa became covered in mud. The splashed mud froze, creating several pillars of brown ice around her.
Standing up, Elsa looked at her clothes.
"You muscle-brain!"
Cold air raged around Elsa with an intensity that seemed to freeze everything in the soaked surroundings. As Glacia's vision was blocked by the storm-like cold air, she felt the ground beneath her feet freeze.
"You magic idiot!"
Increasing the output of the blue flames she wore, the ice around Glacia began to melt all at once.
The battlefield was in an absurd state, covered in cold that surpassed the dead of winter in this region, and at times attacked by heat that surpassed summer――.
――In a different place, Novem was in a duel with Miranda.
No, Miranda was receiving support from Shannon and Clara, so it wasn't exactly a duel.
Novem was fighting Miranda with his staff shaped like a great scythe, but the moment he moved to use magic, Shannon, riding in the Porter, spoke.
"T-the next one is fire! A really big pillar one!"
Since it was known what he would release before Novem could even exercise his magic, Miranda moved to crush that action.
Under circumstances where he could not use magic, Novem fought Miranda in close-quarters combat.
Miranda, fighting skillfully with two daggers, blocked Novem's downward swing of the great scythe with the two daggers and immediately launched a kick.
Novem leaped back and said a word.
"You have a bad habit of kicking."
Unlike usual, he muttered with an expression that lacked much emotion. Miranda kept her smile.
"Oh, sorry. Even so, despite me anticipating and crushing your actions, you aren't breaking at all. Aren't you getting impatient?"
While sensing Clara's presence as she moved behind him, Novem immediately began to move.
It lacked the flashiness of the battlefield where Elsa and Glacia fought, but soldiers who had tried to attack Novem and the others lay fallen around them.
Soldiers from both camps had approached, thinking they could defeat the likes of Novem. Thus, they were sunk into the muddy ground.
When Miranda sank deep once and then accelerated all at once, mud danced behind her.
While parrying Miranda's consecutive attacks, as their distance closed――.
"...Do you know where Liel-sama is?"
Novem had been saying nothing but that for a while. Miranda laughed.
"I don't. But, I see... Novem, you're quite distraught in that state!"
"!"
Miranda felt Novem's expression change slightly. Not one to miss the opening of a panicked Novem, she immediately took action.
She thrust her dagger, and Novem dodged. However, Miranda discarded the dagger, grabbed Novem's side-tail, and forcibly slammed his head into the ground.
Adding a leg sweep, she took advantage of the opening and slammed Novem into the ground.
However――.
"Onee-sama, get away!"
At Shannon's words, Miranda immediately leaped back, and wind was dancing around Novem. The water on the ground began to move in an unnatural way due to the wind, swirling around Novem.
Then, as Novem put his hand on the ground and stood up, snakes made of mud appeared from the surroundings—one, two, and finally nine.
Without even wiping the mud from his face, Novem changed his staff into the shape of a spear. One giant snake placed Novem on its head and lifted him up.
"As expected, Miranda-san is excellent. I am grateful that you wield that power for Liel-sama. However... do not get carried away."
Novem was different from usual. It was different from the flat voice from before. At that voice filled with emotion, a chill ran down Miranda's spine.
But that was all.
"You don't think you're the only one hiding your true strength, do you? How about this?"
The ground Miranda stood on swelled, and the form of a giant cat-like animal slowly emerged from the earth.
Seeing that magic, Clara clicked her tongue.
"Tch... so you can create and operate golems. You should have said so sooner."
Shannon moved away from Clara, who was scarier than usual, and shrank back in the place that had become a battlefield where giant golems fought.
Novem looked at Miranda.
"A cat? It's cute."
To the composed Novem, Miranda declared.
"Who said it stopped here?"
With a smile, the four-legged feline golem made of mud stood up on two legs, grew a mane, bared its fangs, and six thick arms emerged from its back. Each held a weapon, and its body was covered in armor, as a lion warrior appeared there.
The giant snake and the lion warrior glared at each other, beginning to stand out as much as the battlefield of Glacia and Elsa――.
Mei and Eva.
On a hill away from the battlefield with the two of them, I sat and watched the war.
Around me were the elves Eva had brought, who were excitedly taking notes on the state of the battlefield. Some were even drawing pictures.
Mei was sitting and eating bread, and Eva looked at me with a strained smile.
I looked at the battlefield.
"It's like a storm. Over where Novem and the others are, it looks like a battle between giant monsters. Don't you think it's quite a sight?"
I smiled at Eva and brushed back my hair. Eva shook her head.
"Liel, why are you here?"
To Eva's question, I answered simply.
"Because I came with Mei."
"Why aren't you commanding the battlefield?"
"Due to various circumstances, and because this is more interesting."
"Why are the two great Valkyries and Novem's group fighting in earnest!"
"It's for my sake!"
At the fact that beautiful women were fighting for my sake, I felt that I was a sinful man. However, since it was necessary, I did not step in to stop it. Yes, not yet.
It was not yet time to step in.
"Do you realize you're the one who created this situation? How are you going to settle this later!"
I shrugged my shoulders at the worrywart and cute Eva.
"Rest assured, Eva. ...I have confidence in taking the best part for myself. While we're at it, don't you think it's fitting to make a Valkyrie confess on the battlefield?"
Eva covered her face with her left hand.
"I thought you'd increase the number, but two at once is just stupid. Besides, if you increase them this much and become Emperor, it'll just increase again."
I laughed loudly.
"Huhahaha! Do not worry, they have already fallen. All that's left is for me to pick them up. Also... once I become Emperor, I will give the rest of my life to you all and the people."
When I became serious, perhaps because my face is good, whatever I said looked like a picture. Surely the surrounding elves would pass down my divinity for generations to come.
"...Is Nihil's daughter caught up with a strange man?"
"But it seems more fun that way. Still, it ruins the image of a Holy Knight, so I don't really want to watch too much."
"Someone a bit disappointing is more interesting because they aren't perfect. You know, like having an unexpected side."
The surroundings could not evaluate me accurately. I knew it, but as expected, I am solitary.
"Hmph, to be called solitary even before becoming Emperor. I am a man fit to be Emperor from birth!"
To such a me, Mei, who had finished eating his bread, said a word.
"Liel, I feel like the meaning is different from the 'solitary' I know."
It seemed I had to make Mei understand what being solitary meant. Eva ignored me and was taking notes on the state of the battlefield. Seeing her cheeks slightly red, I realized she was just hiding her embarrassment.
"Well, putting that aside. At what timing should I charge in... timing is important, after all."
I pondered the timing of my appearance.