If Luminous was planning to make a vampire his vessel, would he leave Martini and Stella dead, just keeping Jeil alive?
No way. Three samples are better than one, and if he had to keep one alive, Martini would be stronger than Jeil.
So, if Jeil is alive, it’s likely that Martini and Stella are also alive.
“Did Duke Banteker and Grand Duke Sahelryn…?”
“Indeed, that’s a reasonable assumption.”
An overwhelming joy awakened every cell in my body. For this moment, I didn’t even think about how desperate the current situation was.
“Even so, it’s not the worst. As long as we’re alive, there’s a chance.”
How many times had I prayed to just stay alive? How many times had I longed for just one more opportunity?
This is the last chance. There won’t be another one. I must accomplish this whatever it takes.
I have to take down Luminous and rescue them. That now becomes the top priority.
“Master, are you planning to fight?”
“Of course. It would be unthinkable to give up while they are still alive.”
Before I could respond to Eleonora’s worried question, Bianca quickly interjected.
She seemed overly happy at my implication that I wouldn’t abandon Jeil, but her anxiousness was palpable.
“Bianca, that’s rude in the presence of royalty.”
Just as Plona’s brows were about to narrow, it was surprisingly Slein, a duke from Helraig Duchy, who admonished Bianca.
Bianca’s eyes widened in realization. After a moment, she unexpectedly bowed her head.
“…I apologize.”
“I forgive you. I know very well what Duke Serneff must be feeling.”
I had no intention of blaming Bianca. If I was struggling with these complicated emotions, how could she, who had been with Jeil for hundreds, perhaps over a thousand years, remain unscathed?
I could understand if she felt resentment for putting Jeil in danger. It was remarkable that she was still holding on to her sanity.
“Your Majesty, while I appreciate your assurance of not abandoning them, realistically, do you think it’s possible to succeed?”
“I would like to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think?”
In response to Slein’s cautious question, I countered.
Well, if merely wishing for something could make it happen, then what was there to worry about?
Reality is harsh. Knowing that three vampires had not returned meant nothing; the fact that they were in the hands of an overwhelmingly stronger enemy didn’t change.
“Honestly, I don’t think we have a chance.”
“It seems realistic is rather difficult.”
Plona and Lavina, who had faced Luminous directly, immediately voiced their uncomfortable opinions.
Bianca didn’t disagree either. She was not foolish enough to deny the strong opponent who had defeated the lord she believed in and followed.
I pondered for a moment.
Returning here, if Martini was alive, I desperately thought about how I could rescue them, but I couldn’t be sure if telling them the truth was the right thing to do.
Perhaps it would confuse things even more with an unrealistic story. But if I stopped here, I would only be stagnating.
“Just a hypothetical question… do you think it would be impossible, even if all the strong ones of the continent were gathered in one place?”
“What do you mean by gathering them all?”
“If we assume that we have the duke’s elite guards left in Bertica Duchy and Armes Duchy, along with elves and beastmen beneath them, and also the power from Suwong Kingdom and Greysia Empire.”
“That seems like a highly impractical assumption.”
Slein showed a grim expression.
I knew it was difficult.
The war between Greysia Empire and Suwong Kingdom had momentarily halted with Luminous’s emergence, but asking for cooperation from an empire that had been at odds was not simple.
Without the empire’s support, direct assistance from Suwong Kingdom could not be expected either.
The only way to get here without going through the empire was to cross the Perkina Mountain Range, which is not suitable for a large number of people.
But for now, it was more important to find out if there’s even a possibility, whether it’s 0 or 1.
Is there a chance for humanity? If it exists, how much would we have to achieve to ignite that possibility?
“Again, just a hypothetical… What do you think? If we gathered all the elite forces of the continent, would there be any chance at all?”
“Honestly, I think it’s impossible. Even if we had tens of thousands, it wouldn’t matter. Perhaps we could buy ourselves a few more days with our lives, but it wouldn’t affect the final outcome.”
So, that’s how it is.
So far, I had expected this.
Of course, achieving this was no easy task either.
“If we could also enlist the power of the dragonkin, what about that?”
“…No way.”
Bianca looked at me in shock.
“Are you thinking of going all the way to the Dragon’s Abyss?”
“If it would give us a chance.”
Dragonkin. After the race wars, they have shut themselves away in the Dragon’s Abyss, living even more isolated than the elves before the fall of Albresia.
Since I had never met another dragonkin besides Eleonora, they were practically treated as non-existent, but they could be an unaccounted variable in our calculations.
Plona and Slein exchanged glances.
The vampires here who knew Luminous’s power best, and those who understood our forces well, nodded as if they had reached the same conclusion.
“I hadn’t even thought of dragonkin. Based solely on their racial traits, they’d be an incredibly powerful presence in a fight like this.”
Dragonkin are few in number, which is their greatest weakness, yet each individual’s power overwhelmingly surpasses other races.
In a battle against Luminous, even the weakest would be a hindrance.
In that sense, the small elite of dragonkin would be the most effective force, and the fact that their tough skin was effective against divine magic was demonstrated by Eleonora when she fought alone while Plona and Lavina protected me.
“But we can’t make any assertions. We have no idea how many dragonkin there are or what their levels might be, making it impossible to calculate ‘the forces including dragonkin.'”
Unlike before, Plona’s answer hinted at possibilities, and Slein adjusted slightly.
Seemingly calculating the required forces in his head, he added carefully.
“However, if we assume there are ten strong individuals like Miss Eleonora, plus over two hundred elite from the United Kingdom, there’s a sliver of hope. Mind you, that’s based on previous battlefield information—back when Luminous had yet to recover his strength.”
Ten, huh? It may seem small, but it’s not negligible.
Before Luminous’s appearance, the Scarlet United Kingdom was the strongest entity in the continent despite being a fledgling nation.
And Eleonora is among the top ten powerhouses in my forces. Since returning from negotiations with Suwong Kingdom, her strength has reached nearly that of a duke-class vampire, and considering she is unaffected by divine magic and day-night cycles, she can be deemed almost among the top three powers in direct combat against Luminous, considering Martini and Jeil are absent.
Having not met other dragonkin, I have no idea how Eleonora’s strength compares to the standards of their race.
But if there were enough individuals of that caliber… wouldn’t they have already attempted to break out of hiding in the Abyss and take control of the continent?
“Setting aside the feasibility of reality, the chances are still too slim.”
“Yet it’s not zero. Unlike before.”
How can we win a battle with unfavorable odds? I pondered again and again.
Thus far, I had only heard answers that led to failure. The prevailing opinion suggested that we were merely awaiting a confirmed demise—a mere difference in when, not if.
Seventeen days. The time it takes for Luminous to adapt to a new vessel and recover his strength.
If I keep my hands tied and wait, a certain doom will arrive in seventeen days. Having revealed himself to the world after abandoning everything built over many years, he’d demand even more than what we lost, and it wouldn’t be a price just our lives could cover.
“I’ll go negotiate with the dragonkin myself. You handle the negotiations with Suwong Kingdom and Greysia Empire.”
“…I know you have a personal grievance with Greysia Empire, but are you alright with that?”
“Yes. To draw their cooperation, I can promise the safety of the royal family. If setting aside my emotions can save us hope, I will happily do it.”
If there’s even a slight chance that everyone can achieve a happy ending, I won’t pass up this opportunity.
And the next day, as we stood sixteen days away from the final showdown, I headed straight to the Dragon’s Abyss.
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