kscans

Chapter 129 - 1. The Conqueror

An audience chamber so vast it could be mistaken for a royal palace. Before a lavish crimson chair that could easily pass for a throne, a dozen or so people stood in neat lines. They were divided by their attire into two groups, one light and one dark.

The ones dressed in light colors were more numerous. Until just the other day, they had stood on the side of the rulers. They were uniformly restless, stealing anxious glances at their new master. Even if they harbored resentment toward their conqueror, they lacked the courage to show it. After all, they had been utterly defeated by a force small enough to slip through a secret northern path, even with their own lord absent.

Seated before them, in the seat of the Grand Duke of Kurtheite, was a single girl. She had long, light purple hair and refined features. She wore a black robe interwoven with a pattern like golden thread. With the fingers of her right hand resting on her slender chin, she toyed with something in her left palm, looking down at the five people who had stepped out from the line.

"Number 11 and 17 to Crenne, 21 and 22 to Berit. Number 8... I will look at it later. Give it to Ally. Crenne, report on this along with the ongoing number 5 by the day after tomorrow."

The cold voice belonged to Maytyl, an Imperial Princess and the head of the army for the conquest of the Kingdom’s eastern territories. The four scrambled to their designated handlers. The one who remained looked left and right in confusion. Surrounded by four magic wands pointed directly at him, he trembled as he stepped forward.

The secretary waiting beside Maytyl silently accepted the item. Maytyl, as if the man had already vanished from her consciousness, shifted her gaze to the next line of people.

◇◇

"Finally, that tedious work is done. How is the research coming along," Maytyl said in a laboratory converted from the most magnificent dance hall in Kurtheite Castle. Inside the room, fifteen mages in black robes were working, divided into three groups.

Two robed figures, one old and one young, stepped before the princess.

"We have the results for the improved battering ram design."

The old man approached her. Maytyl extended her hand and accepted the results. The paper was covered in complex patterns.

"The optimization of the Castle-Eating Worm’s magic formation is progressing nicely. With this, we’ll be able to break through the Royal Capital’s gates. But wait... something about this part of the circuit feels off. The flow of magic is stagnating here."

"We will verify it at once."

Maytyl ran her pen over one of the equations that composed the magic formation. The old man accepted the corrected design.

"How is the other matter progressing."

Maytyl spun the metal ring in her palm. It was a carriage part from the west, a component of astonishing precision and design. It was the only thing that had captured her interest, as she had been thoroughly disappointed by the pitifully low level of the Kingdom’s magic.

"My apologies. At present, this is the best we can do."

The young woman in the robe offered a circular ring to Maytyl. It was a size larger than the one in Maytyl’s hand. Maytyl spun the two metal rings, one large and one small.

"The Kingdom’s moves more smoothly."

Maytyl said this not to blame her subordinate, but with a look of genuine disbelief.

"Yes, it is difficult to make all six spheres the exact same size."

The subordinate mage, seemingly aware of her superior’s personality, stated only what was necessary.

"Yours is larger, yet the margin of error is greater... The precision of this bearing is an order of magnitude higher than yours."

"You are correct. The precision of the metalwork is abnormal. As instructed, I examined the other carriage parts, but none displayed similar precision. Furthermore, fewer than one in ten carriages used this part, and all of them came from the west."

Amidst the Kingdom’s magical standards, which she had completely scorned, this small ring suddenly caught her eye. To her, it was an anomaly. It felt as if it had appeared out of thin air.

"The west... Bertold. I must investigate this at once. Hasn’t Dagobard conquered Bertold yet."

Maytyl bit her nail. It was a habit of hers when she couldn't immediately find out what she wanted to know.

"We have not yet received word."

"I even lent him the prototype battering ram... Does he even understand? To rule the Kingdom with the Empire’s population, we must display overwhelming power. Victory is a given, and even a difficult struggle is unacceptable. No, more important is this bearing. They probably used Sorcery Gold to create a mold and then forged the metal with it. Using precious Sorcery Gold as a mold instead of as a direct component. That in itself is a brilliant idea. But that’s not all. The process they use to derive the formula for a circle is likely different... To achieve this..."

Maytyl focused her attention on the bearing in her hand. Her subordinates slowly backed away from their superior, who stood frozen, lost in thought.
At that moment, a man in military attire entered the laboratory with brisk steps. A robed woman near the entrance hurriedly tried to stop him, but seeing the insignia of an envoy from the home country on his chest, she cleared the way.

"Princess Maytyl."

"Commander of the Eastern Conquest Army."

"...What is it."

Maytyl looked up, not bothering to hide her displeasure. A man, still in his travel-worn clothes, was kneeling before her.

"What? Dagobard was defeated." Maytyl cried out in shock. The envoy reported that Dagobard himself, along with many of his Horse-Dragon Knights, had been taken prisoner, and that the Western Conquest Army had retreated to Kazel.

"What is that man doing. And he lost more than half the Horse-Dragons? How could he possibly manage to lose so perfectly."

Maytyl shouted, heedless of the eyes around her. A decade’s worth of military strength had been lost. This meant that her own actions, despite her overwhelming victory in the east, would be severely constrained.

"...Purple smoke stopped the Horse-Dragons’ breathing... So they used poison. Purple... what does that mean. It shouldn’t have worked on Horse-Dragons. But, the symptoms are the same. I had already considered the possibility that they gave us a degraded version. Plus, it was gasified... and fast-acting. It must be related to the respiratory system."

Despite the envoy’s presence, Maytyl retreated into the confines of her own mind.

"Bring me the autopsy report for that dragon, Baguild. ...We will need to summon Lisabet from the home country."

She issued orders to her subordinate. In her brilliantly shining eyes, anger and curiosity swirled together.