“Has there been no contact from the Imperial Palace yet?!”
“Yes! His Majesty hasn’t granted an audience at all!”
“Ugh…”
Roman raised his head, clicking his tongue.
The First Division’s airship was floating over there.
Taking off without launch permission and now ignoring all communications.
Even when he grilled the First Division about why they allowed such a thing to take off on its own, their explanation was that the division commander had boarded to command directly, so there was nothing they could do.
If that’s the case, there were only two possibilities.
Either the division commander had lost his mind and was unilaterally trying to kill Schlus Hainkel.
Or, he was executing a secret mission under the Emperor’s orders…
He had sent a knight to the palace to inquire about this, but whether the Emperor was intentionally ignoring him or genuinely unable to hear, he remained silent.
*Thud…!*
At that moment, a fierce gust of wind struck the airship’s barrier.
It was Schlus Hainkel’s last struggle.
Roman, who had been furrowing his brows in thought, made a decision.
He had to shoot the airship down.
After all, hadn’t he come here leading the anti-air forces under the assumption that he would shoot it down?
“Annihilation Cannon, fire!”
“What?!”
At that moment, with a *bang*, a burst of light fell down.
It wasn’t actually a flash but a shell, though its speed made it appear as if it were just a bright light.
Upon hitting, it was poised to engulf the residential area, but—
*Boom…!*
“Wha…?”
With a clear sound, the trajectory curved, rising again.
The shell zoomed off, gracefully tracing a parabola before crashing into the plains, causing an explosion.
For a moment, Roman blinked, unable to grasp what had transpired.
“Someone… deflected the Annihilation Cannon…?”
Not a Majin, but a human?
No, it was a weapon developed to kill Majins.
Even if it were a Majin, it shouldn’t be able to deflect it.
At that moment when Roman was lost in thought—
“Commander! The airship is loading its second round!”
“Shoot it down.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I’ll confirm it twice. I, Roman von Byrne, Commander of the 3rd Division, order you to shoot down the airship.”
“Confirmed!”
Now that a formal order had been given, there was no room for hesitation.
The anti-air forces’ magicians hurriedly moved to check the artifacts and deployed magic spells.
In an instant, dozens of cannons aligned toward the sky.
“Fire at will!”
With the commander’s order, the spells erupted simultaneously.
Alongside them, explosive artifacts containing magic stones soared into the sky.
The first two explosive artifacts reached and shattered the barrier, and immediately afterward, the incoming explosive artifacts struck the airship, causing a massive explosion.
There was no need for a second salvo.
The airship was already crashing, burning all its fuel from the inside.
*Kaboom!*
In no time, the crashed airship caused a colossal explosion.
It was a surprisingly deliberate explosion.
At that speed of descent, the hull shouldn’t have been significantly damaged.
It felt as if someone had ‘accidentally’ triggered the Annihilation Cannon.
Roman momentarily lost for words, saluted the direction of the explosion.
“Call the Imperial Guard and the 1st Division Commander. I’ll leave the scene management to them. You should wait here, just in case.”
“Yes!”
Things had escalated beyond imagination.
Adjusting his military uniform, Roman only took his aide as he headed toward the Duke’s residential area.
It was the original target the Annihilation Cannon had set its sights on.
“You’ve come. I’ve been waiting.”
“You seem safe, young knight.”
“Thanks to you.”
There, Schlus was slumped against the wall, utterly exhausted.
Approaching him slowly, Roman smiled.
He had thought Schlus was resilient, but he never imagined he would endure this much.
It was almost as if the goddess of fate had led him to death.
Not expecting a weapon designed to face Majins to be deflected only made Roman chuckle nervously.
By now, the Emperor probably had a similar reaction.
“I’ve paid off my debt with this.”
On the Day of Magic, he had owed his life due to the threat of terrorism.
In return, Schlus Hainkel had asked for every possible means of support in times of ‘crisis.’
He had just paid that price.
Now, he was free of debt.
Thinking this, Roman extended his hand toward Schlus.
Schlus grasped his hand and groaned as he stood up.
“Ugh… Didn’t you say it was fine to help as long as it doesn’t violate military law?”
“True, but breaking military law does count. Since the Annihilation Cannon was fired toward the Duke’s capital, isn’t it a soldier’s duty to stop that?”
Schlus nodded quietly, agreeing.
The problem was Roman’s situation.
The generals, who could never bite back at him, would be eager to label Roman as a traitor using this incident as an opportunity.
But Schlus had no doubts that Roman could withstand it.
In the original story, he had overcome various media slanders.
“Can you handle it?”
“We’ll have to take it on together. We’ve already boarded the same ship.”
“Are you dragging me in with you…?”
“You dragged me in.”
“…”
Schlus was left speechless.
He alone bore the responsibility for how matters had turned out.
The division commander had acted unilaterally, there was live ammunition loaded on an airship scheduled for no training, and the fact that the Emperor had denied all audiences at that timing was no coincidence.
There was no material evidence, but everyone knew.
The Emperor had sent the division commander to attempt to kill Schlus Hainkel.
Roman had merely become entangled in saving Schlus, who was facing a crisis.
“Once your political standing improves, can I expect some favor in return?”
“You want to add to the debt?”
“Hahaha. Another debt? I want to give and receive help without any further debts from now on.”
Roman’s playful laughter.
But hidden within, he was making a chilling proposal.
What Roman suggested was, after all, a mutually cooperative relationship.
A general scorned by all other generals of the Imperial Army, and a knight with a life targeted by the Emperor—a cooperative relationship.
Staring intently at Roman’s outstretched hand, Schlus took it.
“Alright. If things get better, I’ll promote you to a count.”
“Haha, what a witty joke.”
“…”
“Is that really a joke?”
As Roman shook hands with the speechless Schlus, he felt a chill.
If someone else had said it, he would have laughed it off.
But hearing it from the very person who had deflected the Annihilation Cannon, it didn’t come across as merely a joke.
“By the way, how did that shell—”
“I think we should stop here.”
At that moment, Schlus suddenly turned around.
In an instant, the sound of footsteps thundered as the Imperial police rushed in.
“Commander of the 3rd Division!”
“I didn’t realize the Lieutenant General would come personally. May I ask what the situation is with the Imperial Army?”
“Haha.”
Surrounded by a crowd in an instant, Roman could do nothing but laugh emptily.
Before he knew it, Schlus had completely vanished.
Usually, Roman was known for being an unpredictable person.
But this was the first he had ever encountered someone whom he couldn’t predict even an inch ahead.
In some ways, Schlus looked like someone who wanted to turn the world against him and make every single entity an enemy. He also appeared as a tyrant, wanting to dominate everything under his control.
Nonetheless, whatever path Schlus chose to walk down, Roman would surely be walking alongside him.
The two had already boarded the same ship.
Live together, die together.
*
“Louise! Robin!”
“Sister!”
“Noona…!”
The two little ones who let go of my hand dashed forward.
With tears in their eyes, Erwin knelt down to hug both children tightly.
As I watched them happily reunite, I suddenly noticed Emilia’s worried expression at a distance.
“You two stay here in this mansion for a while. Our house has been wrecked, so we can’t do much until we find a new place.”
“W-What?! Our house is wrecked?!”
“I’m just going to talk for a bit, so you can be with your siblings.”
“….”
I signaled Emilia to come out and stepped outside the mansion.
There was so much I wanted to say.
So much that I was now lost in thought about where to even start.
But I soon decided to give up.
I felt that conveying my true feelings to Emilia was better than saying something neatly organized and coherent.
As Emilia came out, closing the front door behind her, she hung her head and joined me.
We walked quietly through the garden.
As I struggled to deploy the recognition interference barrier due to a lack of mana, Emilia stepped in to help.
“Oh, how’s my brother— I mean, Hertlocker…?”
“Don’t worry. He’s safe.”
“….”
“Really. Not even a minor injury.”
“T-That’s good…”
I decided not to mention Eric’s death.
That’s something for Hertlocker to handle, not mine.
“Emilia.”
*Sniff…*
As I stopped, Emilia burst into hiccups.
She seemed to be trying to hold them back, but it looked difficult.
“Now that I think about it, I feel like my explanation was too lacking. I genuinely need the strength of your intelligence agency; it wasn’t just a joke. I might seem insane, but it’s true. Politically we’re unstable now, but one day the Empire will formally ally with the Kingdom. I’m just suggesting we expedite that process a bit.”
“I don’t understand at all…”
“Then let me explain it more simply. Emilia, humanity will soon enter a war with the Majins. It’s an enemy we might struggle to win against, even if we unite all races and nations.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a moment! Majins?!”
“Yeah. The ones we’re fighting against aren’t just the fanatics worshipping the Majins at the Asylum. Soon, the Majins themselves will start turning against humans due to the manipulations of those fanatics.”
How many would truly turn against us remained a mystery.
In the original story, Alexia and Tiltitz had kept a neutral stance until the end, only to be attacked by their own kind.
But in this world, it wouldn’t be strange if they betrayed humanity altogether.
“Did you understand?”
“I-I understood, but… my head is just too complicated…”
“Then how about a simpler topic?”
“What is it?”
“Let’s get married.”
“……”
Emilia’s eyes widened.
