The eyes *twinkled* and opened wide.
At that moment, I sensed it.
“I’m screwed,” I thought.
“Damn… how long did I sleep?”
“I don’t know.”
Looking beside me, Serika sat with her arms crossed, speaking bluntly.
Well, I guess there was no reason for Serika to wake me up.
With a deep *sigh*, I lifted my body from the bed.
No one came to wake me, so it seemed there were no urgent matters.
“While you were sleeping, I thought long and hard.”
“Yeah? Good job.”
What Serika thought was none of my business.
Her opinions wouldn’t affect what was to happen.
I fastened the longsword leaning against the wall to my right hip and tidied my clothes.
“Don’t just listen half-heartedly…”
“Speak up. I’ll listen.”
“You plan to start a war, don’t you.”
“Hah. A war? With your Elves? I would have brought an army if that were the case.”
“No, with the Majins.”
“……”
For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard her.
Pretending not to be flustered, I secretly observed Serika’s expression.
Her gaze was resolute.
She wasn’t just fishing for information.
She was asking me with conviction.
“How on earth did you arrive at such an absurd conclusion?”
“It’s simple. You’re subtly drawing in allies while pretending to involve yourself in conflicts. You entered the Great Forest under the guise of suppressing the southern rebellion.”
“And?”
“And somehow, I don’t know how, you assassinated the Emperor of the Freya Empire and gained an incredible post.”
“What an interesting conspiracy theory.”
“Also, the military coup and rebellion in the kingdom aren’t unrelated. You must have taken control of the intelligence agency, instigating the Trud Kingdom to rely on the Empire. You came here to recruit the Elves as allies.”
There was a mix of truth and falsehood in her words.
But since most of it was true, I was a bit surprised by Serika’s speculation.
It was too accurate to just be a random guess…
“What is it you’re trying to unite all humanity for? It’s obvious. War against something that’s not human. A war against the Majins.”
“That’s wrong.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’d deny it. Of course—”
“The wrong part is that I intend to start a war. The war has already begun.”
“Wha-what?”
“The Empire is already under attack by the Majins. When will the desert be attacked?”
“Wait a second. Right now—”
“I’ve got an urgent matter to attend to. I need to go.”
I opened the barred door, leaving Serika, who looked as startled as a shocked rabbit, behind.
With a *thud*, I closed the door, and Serika rushed to hang onto the bars.
“I think I can help you.”
“Really appreciate it, but I’ll just take your intentions.”
“I’m serious! I genuinely believe the Elves can aid the humans!”
“I’ll think it over. You just rest easy.”
“You bastard…! You’re not even listening to me!”
That was incredibly tempting.
Although Serika was a princess of a fallen nation, lacking foundation and wealth, her voice was rather substantial.
If Serika actively helped, it wouldn’t be hard to forge positive treaties with the tribal leaders.
But that was a matter for later.
For now, I decided to give Serika some time to think and left the room.
“Your Excellency, you’re out…”
“Yeah.”
When I stepped out, the guards were gathered at the door.
But they all avoided making eye contact with me, which felt suspicious.
“Your Excellency, your top shirt button is… *ahem*.”
“Oh. Thanks for that.”
One of the guards cleared his throat and pointed it out, thanks to which I finally noticed.
But why were they all outside, not at their posts inside the room?
What if Serika decided to take her sword and chop off my head?
These guys really weren’t cutting it.
*Schlus!*
At that moment, through the communication magic, I heard Erica’s voice.
It was unencrypted, raw communication.
It sounded like something urgent was happening.
“Trie and Hertlocker got into a fight!”
“What…?”
Why on earth would those two fight?
Just as I was pondering whether one mistook a duel for a fight—
“Oh.”
I recalled a potential reason for their fight and let out a *sigh*.
This was bad.
Hertlocker was going to get killed.
*
“So I came to the desert to meet my old master. I focused solely on training for four weeks.”
“I was at the development area in the desert for investigation… It’s possible we might have crossed paths at some point.”
“Right?”
Sitting across from Trie, Hertlocker chugged down a beer.
He had just finished a duel with Trie in the arena moments ago.
They faced each other five times, and he had been overwhelmingly crushed four times, only managing to win the last one by a hair’s breadth.
“What a coincidence…”
While rambling, Hertlocker tried hard to hide his embarrassment.
At first, he couldn’t believe that such a well-armed woman was the guard of Schlus Hainkel.
He thought she was either a magician disguised as a knight or one of Schlus’s lovers.
Since they requested a duel, he expected her to be a low-grade knight of some sort.
But the last win he barely scraped by was practically luck.
Using the rule that whoever landed the first hit wins, he managed to deliver a blow that would leave only light scratches in real combat.
The fact he lost five times to a woman he had dismissed made Hertlocker want to jump up and flee immediately.
“When did you start using a sword?”
“Hmm? About five years old? Or was it six? Around that age. How about you?”
“About ten. After I participated in the war.”
“Oh.”
When sensitive topics came up, Trie realized her mistake and let out a *sigh*.
Hertlocker was a spy from the kingdom’s military.
Trie had temporarily forgotten that fact.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just that the Trud Kingdom was so desperate at the time they had to send even the talented boys to the battlefield.”
“If it’s not too much trouble, can I ask more about what happened on the battlefield?”
“Of course.”
He was curious about what had transpired in that hellish battlefield.
Just how devastating must it have been for even his renowned genius father to lose his life?
He wanted to hear it from the perspective of a boy soldier who had fought on the opposite side.
“I wasn’t a combatant at first. That much is obvious. No matter how chaotic the nation, would they really send kids to the battlefield as fodder? I was simply a lackey, carrying loads, assisting officers, or delivering messages between units. That day was like any other. My company was a highly elite unit known as Siegfried. But the opposition was daunting. It was a detachment of magicians who had just returned with reinforcements from the rear.”
“And then?”
“We were wiped out. Everyone except me.”
“And you fled?”
“No. I pushed forward and took the enemy commander’s head, disrupting their forces.”
“……”
Later, I heard that the commander of that unit was Count Lichtenburg.
Of course, Hertlocker wasn’t reckless enough to mention that name here since Count Lichtenburg’s daughter was present.
“I found out I had a high talent for sensing magic waves. Using that talent, I evaded the magician’s observation spells, broke through barriers, and was assigned missions to assassinate enemy commanders or magicians.”
“Hmm. How many did you kill?”
“……”
“Oh, dear. I didn’t mean to ask that.”
“No, it’s fine. I didn’t count, but it’s at least over a hundred.”
“A hundred… Did you have any particular memories of battles?”
“Are you sure it’s okay to talk about it?”
“Of course.”
Hertlocker glanced at Trie.
Even though they were united in their current situation, just a few years ago, the Empire and the Kingdom were at war over their survival.
To me, they were enemies, but to them, I was an ally.
Yet the listener didn’t seem to care about that kind of thing.
Hertlocker felt relieved and began to speak up.
“Once, I encountered an incredibly strong man in the snowy mountains.”
“The snowy mountains?”
“I don’t recall the exact location, but… right. It was the snowy mountain where we ambushed and annihilated the enemy supplies after receiving some unknown intel about their large scale mobilization. After that ambush, I was sent to ascertain the situation because communication with our units had been lost.”
“Hmm…”
There was something unnervingly familiar about his explanation.
Trie began to focus on his story with a somewhat serious expression.
“As it turned out, both sides were wiped out. There was absolutely nothing left. Supplies had either fallen below the cliff or burned away, and all that was left were bodies buried under the snow. But in the middle of it all, there was something alive. A tall man holding a large longsword. By the look of his clothing, he appeared to be a general.”
“Uh…”
“He looked as if he had been stranded for several days, with a disheveled beard and a visibly tired and worn appearance. The moment I saw him, I thought to myself, ‘Easy prey.’ But I was mistaken. A fierce battle ensued, and I poured all my strength into finally stabbing my dagger into his chest. I wanted to take away the medals he had on his chest, but at the last moment, I accidentally dropped the corpse down into the crevice, which is something I still remember.”
“Wait a second.”
Trie narrowed her eyes.
The supply unit that was suddenly ambushed and annihilated.
And the general leading that unit, adorned with medals on his chest.
Also, even though he had been trapped for days, he still had combat skills to rival a seasoned assassin.
No matter how she thought about it, it resembled the fate of someone Trie was familiar with.
“Do you remember what kind of sword that man had?”
“Sort of.”
“What did it look like?”
“I don’t remember clearly… but it was definitely an impressive sword.”
“Did it possibly have a jewel on the end of the hilt?”
“Oh. It definitely had one. It was a red jewel, but at some point, it lost its light.”
“……”
Trie’s clenched fist began to tremble.
The Malice Stone.
A gem that loses its light and color when its user dies.
That was the very gem on her father’s sword, Judgment Day.
Especially the fact that it was a red Malice Stone.
“Hertlocker.”
“W-what is it?”
Noticing that Trie’s demeanor was strange, Hertlocker started to tense up.
He was mentally preparing to bolt at a moment’s notice.
At that moment, Trie’s hand swiftly moved to her waist.
“I’ve never really thought about seeking vengeance for my father. I’ve never felt the need to exact revenge. But you know… now that you’re standing right in front of me… it’s nothing like I imagined.”
“Trie—”
*Bang!*
Trie drew her sword and charged at Hertlocker.
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