The situation got way too complicated.
Just the fact that I knew about the secret base of the Papal State created potential diplomatic issues. Lutetia, being directly under the Velbur royal family, meant that whatever the king did there would usually be far less interfered with by other nobles. However, the problem was that this secret base was located under the Cathedral of St. Latina.
While the royal authority of the Kingdom of Velbur was pretty solid, it wasn’t strong enough to completely crush other nobles like the Empire. Plus, the royal family maintained a neutral stance toward religion, but many nobles were devout adherents of the Goddess.
Naturally, if the royal guards directly attacked a place that was one of the holy sites, there would be immense backlash. Nobles would surely recall the oppression faced by the adherents of the Goddess many years ago.
Ironically, the reason that only two people from the Kingdom, Charlotte and Sophia, could dig up that facility was exactly that. The recent battle should ideally remain a secret from the Kingdom. The troops that surrounded the cathedral, unbeknownst to anyone, were all part of the Velbur royal guard and the loyalist knights, hence why they were so on edge.
But then, bam!
A gryphon leaped out from the cathedral’s underground.
Thanks to that, the Papal State forces stationed in the cathedral were obliterated.
Of course, while the gryphon is a symbol of the Empire, it never did anything particularly impressive before. Since taming one is out of the question, using it for military purposes was also impossible. Even if Lutetia’s citizens thought about the Empire at the sight of the gryphon bursting out from the cathedral, they could simply say, “Not my problem.”
The real trouble was the series of events that happened shortly after.
With some kind of incident occurring in the cathedral, strange things also happened in the Papal State.
To make matters worse, the two princesses of the Empire were visiting the royal capital at the same time.
And ‘coincidentally’ the imperial throne was vacant, and there was nobody from “the Emperor’s kids” around.
There were no orders from the Emperor regarding this situation. Typically, when the Emperor is absent, all imperial troops are put on high alert and advised to remain tense.
The nobles of the Empire were restless, and the adherents of the Goddess in the Kingdom were starting to boil over.
“Let’s rest a bit first,” I concluded after hearing all that.
We seriously needed to sleep.
We had been fighting all night, after all. Thanks to that recovery device, my physical fatigue was pretty much restored, but the problem was mental fatigue. Plus, ‘physical fatigue’ and ‘sleepiness’ are completely different matters.
It’s not completely morning yet, and the sun hasn’t come up, but being awake in this state would just leave my brain and my conclusions in shambles.
Thank goodness everyone agreed with me.
“I promise to wake you if anything happens,” the king said.
I kind of wished he wouldn’t, though.
If something happens, I’d prefer to stay asleep. Waking up to find the situation resolved would be great.
But that probably won’t happen. The first one to wake me would be none other than…
*
“……”
And my bad guess turned out to be correct.
“To think you’ve just been sleeping until this hour! I almost want to regret teaching you my meditation techniques,” said none other than Sword Saint Frederick.
With my eyes still heavy, I blinked a few times. Bright sunlight filtered in through the curtains. However, even if the sun was up, it couldn’t possibly be that late. This guy wouldn’t let me sleep in like that.
… To be honest, from my perspective, we’ve spent enough time side by side to build a certain sense of intimacy, but from the Sword Saint’s perspective, I was probably just a kid he had only seen a few times. I was merely a talentless kid he gave a few pointers to during the holidays.
“Actually, if I think about it, it may have been more that you found the method by yourself rather than me teaching it to you.”
“……”
I slowly sat up.
After considering whether to rub my eyes or not, I opted against it. I wasn’t that relaxed yet around the Sword Saint. I might have behaved differently if it were Claire or Alice waking me up.
“How did you come all the way here?”
“I rode on the train.”
The Sword Saint smiled as he responded, fully aware that I wasn’t talking about the method of arrival.
“……”
“Oh, were you asking ‘why’?”
Unfazed in front of the Crown Princess, the Sword Saint spoke with a grin.
“I heard rumors last night. Apparently, a gryphon flew up in the city where you were.”
“Is that why you came all the way here?”
Were you planning on hunting gryphons or something?
No, more importantly, how fast did those rumors spread?
“Well, it wasn’t exactly a rumor everyone knew about. Honestly, I overheard some communications.”
“……”
“And then I blended in among the knights dispatched here.”
“A knight order has been dispatched?”
“It seems it wasn’t summoned from the Kingdom. However, there’s a pretext of ‘we don’t know what happened to His Majesty the Emperor, so we’ll protect the two princesses.’ The Kingdom reluctantly accepted it, even though they found it massively unsettling. Thanks to this, there’s chaos outside right now.”
“……”
I kept my mouth shut as I briefly fell into thought before collapsing back onto the bed.
“……Why did you just get back into bed after finally getting up?”
“If I go out now, I’ll run into the chaotic crowd in the royal capital.”
“The crowd is being effectively blocked by the Kingdom’s forces. The Velbur royal family is pretty respected, so it’s unlikely the crowd would just storm over the walls without reason.”
“……What about the nobles residing in Lutetia?”
“I heard they’ve been gathering at the Lutetia royal palace since last evening. By the way, since you spent the night not in a hotel but here, all the academy students who stayed in the hotel have relocated to the Lutetia royal palace. I learned that this morning.”
“I think I’d prefer to just sleep again. If possible, I’d like you to wake me after the situation has been resolved.”
“It might take a few months, you know?”
“Then please wake me a few months later.”
“I can’t say that to my master.”
But does this mean he’s treating me as a disciple? I mean, given that he’s a Sword Saint, it’s well within reason.
“If you don’t get up, your sisters will have to solve everything on their own, you know?”
“……”
I was very much aware of that fact.
Well, I had no intention of sleeping for months. That’s biologically impossible too.
Most importantly, if I don’t step in now, I don’t know how things will unfold. At least, I should be with the children to determine whether I can save them or if I must rewind time.
“……”
That said, I lay back on the ceiling in silence and contemplated.
After all that, I still wanted to sleep a little longer.
Yeah, well.
I needed to check out my abilities in this situation anyway.
Back again.
*
Even amidst the turmoil in the Papal State, oddly enough, I found that I could still use my abilities.
Whether it’s truly a barrier or whether the story inside changes is still a mystery. If I think about the case with the mask girl, it seems that even a little separation could mean my abilities would become unusable right away.
Well, it’s good that it’s good.
For now, I’d decided not to think too much about it. I needed to use whatever abilities I had and find the safest way to tidy up this situation.
“Sylvia.”
I almost fainted for a moment upon seeing the people gathered behind the Sword Saint.
In addition to the cardinal I had saved last time, there was also the King of Velbur, the academy teachers who came with the students, and many influential nobles from Velbur. Plus, I guessed Alice was there as a ‘princess’, and a few members of the imperial knight order that had rushed over last night.
All the faces of these people seemed a bit angry for their own reasons.
Seeing all those angry faces directed at me, I seriously contemplated whether it would be better to just pretend like this situation never happened.
But that wouldn’t do.
Even if I rewinded time, it was essential to ascertain the current situation.
I had some premeditated thoughts ready. Before anyone could say anything to me, I entered the meeting room and immediately spoke up.
“We need to form a special task force to enter the Papal State.”
As I entered, all eyes turned to me, and a heavy silence fell for a moment.
Then, shortly after, voices began to burst out from all around.
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
