One hour after the attack.
After disposing of the corpses, we set up camp deeper in the forest.
We surrounded our campfire with a stone barrier to keep the light contained, and held a strategy meeting.
"This is insane... this can't be..."
Luke wore an expression of stunned disbelief.
Ever since hearing that Pyremon had turned against us, he'd been muttering to himself with vacant eyes.
Was it really that shocking?
Well, maybe it was just Luke.
Ariel and the other retainers seemed perfectly composed.
They must have considered this possibility all along.
The only reason Luke was shaken was because Pyremon was family.
Or perhaps the
What could the
And had he just discovered that those whispers were lies?
That guy basically only ever said things that suited his own purposes, after all.
...Should I press him about this?
No, let's move on for now.
"Princess Ariel."
"Yes,
"Obert was screaming about 'starting over.' I expect he'll keep launching attacks — in this forest, at the border, or even after we've crossed it."
Ariel tilted her head.
"Yes, I'm sure. And?"
Her expression said, *That much was obvious from the start.*
"We managed to drive them off this time, but Obert was a far more formidable opponent than I expected, and there were more enemy soldiers than anticipated... It looks like they're genuinely trying to eliminate you, Princess Ariel. Next time, they'll come with even more thorough preparation."
"So you're saying it will be difficult to repel them?"
At Ariel's words, I nodded firmly.
"I wouldn't say impossible... But if they launch another attack, it'll most likely be at the checkpoint. I'm sure they'll have set traps."
"But we don't have a teleportation magic circle. We have to keep moving forward, don't we?"
The conversation was unfolding exactly as I'd expected.
Ariel was remarkably easy to talk to.
It was as if she already knew what I was going to say.
"Yes. But there's no need to charge headlong into a place we know is a trap."
"Well... then you're saying there's a way to cross the border without going through the checkpoint?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Before long, everyone around us had stopped what they were doing and was listening intently to my conversation with Ariel.
It made me a bit self-conscious, but I couldn't very well stop now.
"I've heard that smugglers and slavers operate near this border. We could try to make contact with them. If things go well, we might be able to enter the country without passing through the checkpoint."
At this, Ariel struck a thoughtful pose, going "Hmm."
"
"Yes. That hasn't changed.
But it seems I underestimated how dire our situation is. Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"I see..."
With that, Ariel nodded as if convinced.
She looked around, then met
"
"...I think it's fine.
I don't know how trustworthy those smugglers are, but if
She said this, though she still looked somewhat displeased.
Was I wrong for not telling her beforehand?
But if I'd proposed this and then an attack came, it would look like I was orchestrating the ambush myself.
"And you, Luke?"
Ariel turned her head and looked at Luke.
There, Luke slowly raised his face like a ghost.
His eyes were somewhat glazed as he stared at me.
"What are you scheming...?"
He muttered.
His voice was trembling.
His face was full of suspicion.
He was glaring right at me.
"The way you moved — it was as if you knew Obert was going to ambush us."
"I anticipated it."
"It was as if you knew what kind of tactics he'd use."
"I have foresight, you know."
*Luke, of all people* — he'd been in my blind spot so I could barely see him, yet he seemed to know everything.
"Your timing when Obert retreated was awfully clean, too."
"If he'd killed me in the first strike, he wouldn't have retreated. He would have kept attacking."
"You could have stopped him from fleeing, couldn't you?"
"...I could have. If I'd used large-scale magic.
But that would have caught
"...I wonder."
Whoa there.
That was practically accusing me of being in cahoots with Obert.
...Oh, right.
That was the script, wasn't it?
The simplest explanation would be that I was working together with Obert — and by extension, Darius.
That was annoying.
If you thought about it for even a second, it should be obvious that I wasn't colluding with Darius or Obert...
"...Senior Luke. I agreed to help Princess Ariel because you asked me to, didn't you?"
"I did ask... but something's wrong. Father would never betray us. Father..."
Luke's behavior was suspicious.
Just as I'd thought — the
What exactly had the
Wait — maybe the
I was wearing that bracelet
The bracelet served as a jammer against the
That meant the
...Or perhaps the
"...What's your problem already?"
She looked ready to punch him at any moment.
Beside her, Girene had a question mark hovering over her head.
"Princess Ariel."
Luke's face was stern as he turned to Ariel.
"I'm opposed.
"...Has he?"
"I don't know if those smugglers can be trusted. I agree we shouldn't go through the checkpoint, but I think we should turn back and request assistance from Lord Perugius."
Asking Perugius for aid.
It did make a certain amount of sense.
Having one or two of Perugius's spirits accompany us as bodyguards to bolster our combat power and force our way through.
Yeah, that did seem like the better option.
As long as Ariel was safe, anything was fine by me.
I just wanted to make contact with Triss among the smugglers.
I didn't need to be with Ariel twenty-four/seven.
There was a risk that separating could lead to Ariel's death, but...
"...Elmoa, Kline. What do you think?"
"I support Lord Luke."
"As do I."
"I see."
Both retainers sided with Luke.
That made it two against three.
Of course, this group wasn't a democracy.
The leader of this party was Ariel.
It was Ariel's decision alone.
Well, if it didn't work out, I could try to contact Triss on my own.
I could say something like, "Let me go scout ahead in the country first."
But going alone might arouse suspicion.
Maybe I should bring
"..."
Ariel didn't ask for opinions from
A shadow fell over her face, and she sank into thought.
She narrowed her eyes, staring into the campfire's flames, lost in deep contemplation.
"Alright."
After a while, she raised her head.
She looked back and forth between me and Luke.
Her gaze drifted twice before settling on Luke.
"We'll go with
"Wh-what?!"
Luke's face darkened with anger.
"Why?!"
"Lord Perugius would never acknowledge as queen someone who fled home without even being able to return to her own country. We cannot 'rely on him' for something as minor as this."
As she spoke, Ariel shot me a meaningful glance.
...Had she intentionally taken my side?
What was that about?
Why would Ariel side with me?
It was convenient, but...
"But if you die, there'll be nothing left! Those smugglers might be planning to sell you out, Princess Ariel—"
"Luke."
At Ariel's sharp call, Luke fell silent.
"What's gotten into you? Why would
"But Father..."
"The possibility of Pyremon betraying us was something we'd anticipated from the start. You yourself had said before that your father might do something like that, hadn't you?"
"Y-yes, I did think that before.
But I personally heard with my own ears that—"
Luke stopped mid-sentence, suddenly clamping a hand over his mouth.
Ariel seemed startled by this reaction.
Her eyes went wide, and her lips trembled.
"Luke — I hesitate to ask, but did your brother..."
Ariel cut herself off there.
Then, choosing her words carefully, she posed a single question:
"Luke Notos
Luke looked at Ariel with a start.
He looked at
Seeing the worried expressions on their faces, he turned back to meet Ariel's gaze.
Without averting his eyes, he knelt and looked up at her.
"Your knight."
"Yes. And I am your princess."
Luke lowered his head, and Ariel nodded.
Both of them wore expressions of contentment, as if a weight had been lifted from them.
It was as if they were saying, *As long as that can be said, that's enough. As long as that can be heard, that's enough.*
As if that alone was all they needed.
The two of them looked satisfied, and
"Then let us depart,
"Yes."
And so, we set off toward the smugglers' territory.
Luke wouldn't betray us.
But my unease lingered.
Because with that one exchange, it was now confirmed that Luke was the
---
We returned to the main road, then re-entered the forest.
We'd already pinpointed the smugglers' location.
We entered the forest from a landmark boulder and headed due east.
The smugglers were said to be at the eastern edge of the forest, at the base of a cliff along the mountain.
Our pace was slow, however, because we had to lead the horses pulling our dismantled wagon.
At first, Ariel had been riding, but upon seeing how enormous the trees were, she'd dismounted.
The risk of being thrown was too great.
We navigated through the forest, leading the horses and searching for passable routes.
When we needed to make a wide detour, I used magic to clear a path.
That left traces that could be used to track us, of course.
But fighting monsters along the way would leave traces regardless.
Probably best not to worry about it too much.
We took numerous rest breaks along the way.
Ariel kept complaining about pain in her feet.
She wasn't used to walking through forests.
To her credit, she never whined about it.
"..."
There was little conversation.
What occupied my thoughts was the matter of the
And what kind of advice the
Luke was the
He had received some kind of advice.
That much was certain.
But when, and of what nature — that remained unclear.
Taking my own experience as an example, the
He'd appeared in short bursts now and then, but there was typically a year-long gap between visits.
If Luke's situation was similar, the advice he'd received this time was probably only once or twice.
The most likely timing was right before Luke came to me.
Something like: *It would benefit Ariel — recruit* me *as an ally.*
That was advice directly tied to Luke's actions.
But looking at how he reacted to this ambush, it seemed like something was off.
The advice he'd received was probably about something related to the Notos family.
And this time, he'd been biting my head off as if I were the culprit.
As if he was declaring that I was the one threatening the Notos family.
So for example... *"I'm trying to seize the Notos family"* or something like that?
No, that was ridiculous.
Anyone with half a brain would realize I had no interest in such things.
If I wanted that kind of power, I wouldn't be living in the magic city Shariah — I would have been much more actively currying favor with Ariel.
But everyone had their own values.
The thing you wanted most was always invaluable to you.
If someone told you that thing was being targeted, you might not hesitate to suspect them.
Oh — so Luke wanted to become the head of the Notos family?
He didn't seem like the type.
This time, Pyremon had betrayed Ariel.
Could that have been the
The diary didn't mention anything about that, but...
No — in the diary's world,
Looking at it that way, Pyremon might have betrayed us regardless of the
Hmm, so Pyremon was probably a dead end after all.
Considering his capabilities and influence, he was just a lower-tier version of Darius.
Right — Darius.
The other apostle.
Darius Silvain Ganius, Minister of the Right.
What kind of advice had he been given?
At the very least, he must have known that Ariel was heading toward the royal capital.
Ariel had said, "Darius must have predicted my return the moment the king fell ill."
But if that was the case, the enemy had deployed too many forces.
A North Emperor and a North King.
Both were extremely valuable combat assets.
Would you really deploy them against an opponent whose arrival was uncertain?
You'd keep them in reserve as a safeguard against the Second Prince.
We had arrived via teleportation magic circle.
I didn't know how quickly information could travel from the magic city Shariah to the
But even after receiving intelligence, it would take time to deploy Obert and Witter.
Incidentally, Obert had come straight for me.
Not for Ariel — for me.
Should I factor that in?
The possibility that Darius was targeting me rather than Ariel...
Whatever.
Both Ariel and I were obstacles to Darius and the
The advice he'd received would have been something along those lines.
Straightforward and easy to understand.
The last one remained as opaque as ever.
Was it Obert?
Obert had known our party's composition and mentioned that we'd brought Witter along.
If that was the case...
No — Darius probably knew that too.
Based on this encounter alone, it was probably too early to determine whether Obert was a
He seemed to know about my existence, but I could learn that from Darius as well.
Either way, Obert was someone I needed to defeat.
Still, Obert was a strange fighter in his own way.
Not only did he use magic-imbued items, he was also skilled with various other tools.
Oil, tear bombs, and more.
He surely had plenty more tricks up his sleeve.
His performance today had come across as somewhat gimmicky, but according to
I'd heard as much, but hearing about it and seeing it firsthand were completely different things.
I hadn't been careless, and I'd had to support Girene at that moment, but a single wrong choice had allowed him to get behind me.
I'd want to finish him off for sure next time, but...
Despite how conspicuous he'd been, the moment he entered the forest, he'd vanished completely.
So the title of North Emperor wasn't just for show.
Well, "North Emperor" and "Peacock Sword" aside, he felt more like a ninja.
Actually, NINJA.
NINJA existed in this other world.
Maybe I should try copying those tear bombs and oil tricks...
---
Late at night.
I contacted
There was a lot to report from a single battle.
"You let Obert escape?"
"Yes, my apologies. Even though I'd been given instructions on how to handle him..."
"No, it's fine. Knowing the theory doesn't make you able to execute it.
Besides, no one can finish off Obert once he's decided to retreat."
Obert's movements after deciding to withdraw had been fast.
His patterns were varied, and he used magic-imbued items I'd never seen before.
Still, I thought, if
...No, let's not go in that direction.
Relying on others wouldn't solve anything.
The job of dealing with Obert was mine.
I had to handle it myself.
I'd keep that in mind.
"That said, who exactly is this Witter?"
"Someone must have called him in. Probably the
"...What kind of person is he?"
I should at least ask about the enemy's combat strength.
"Witter of 'Light and Darkness.'
An eccentric-type North King and a disciple of Karlman the Third.
If I recall correctly, he'd been serving as the Notos family's bodyguard for quite some time."
The Notos family?
Wait — could he be one of
"As his epithet suggests, he specializes in blinding opponents with light.
During the day, he uses polished armor and mirrors.
At night, he covers himself in soot and uses magic devices that produce black smoke to blend into the darkness."
The countermeasure, apparently, was to dirty his armor during the day and keep fires burning at night to illuminate the area.
"It's not that his swordsmanship is poor... but if you take away those tricks,
So his specialty was flashy support techniques, nothing more.
Yeah, you wouldn't become a North King just by blinding people.
"But I doubt Witter is the only one. He may have hired several more."
"Someone at the North King level?"
"There probably aren't any Sword Kings... but there might be a few Water Kings, Water Saints, or Sword Saints."
"They're hiring in bulk to crush us with numbers?"
"No — if the Water God were already present, Darius wouldn't hire that many mercenaries. One or two at most."
Having the Water God as an absolute combat force meant they were getting complacent.
The
After all, it was just advice.
"But during this period, all three of the North God's Three Swordsmen should have been within the
There's a chance he's hired every single one of them."
"North God Three Swordsmen? There are people like that?"
"Yes. Let me tell you about how to deal with them as well."
The North God Three Swordsmen.
Four swordsmen who self-proclaimed to be at the top of the North God style.
Every one of them had eccentric techniques, and they were all attention-seekers.
After
"What about Luke?"
"It's a good sign.
The
When manipulating multiple apostles, these kinds of contradictions tend to arise."
In other words, the
The reason Luke had been so stunned was that the advice he'd received contradicted whatever had been given to Darius or Obert.
The
He'd probably wrapped Luke's advice in convenient falsehoods as well.
"I'm also wondering whether the
"That's entirely possible.
Luke's fate is weak. The
He's merely a surveillance tool to observe your actions.
But with me nearby, that surveillance function is likely all but useless."
"...But would he really discard one of only three pawns? That seems like a waste."
Hearing this,
"For the
There's no greater reason needed for assigning a watcher."
"...I see."
From the
Without Luke, he couldn't even predict the shifting futures.
He'd be forced to face his weaknesses without even the faintest hint.
Thinking about it that way, there was reason for the
Including as a form of deterrence.
Hmm, this was getting too complicated to sort out cleanly.
"For now, is it safe to leave Luke be?"
"Yes. But stay vigilant.
The
"Yeah... that's right."
Like, say, setting me loose on
"If he starts making large, conspicuous moves, kill him."
"...Before that, would it be all right if I made contact with Luke?"
"What do you plan to discuss?"
"Whether he's had contact with the
If possible, I'd like to convince him not to follow the
"Oh..."
I didn't think I could pull it off.
Luke was suspicious of me.
The
Even if it came down to a question of whom to trust, I hadn't built up enough credibility with Luke for him to believe me.
Our relationship was just that shallow.
"...I don't think it'll work, but give it a try."
Good — I had permission.
Now I just needed to pick the right moment to talk.
It might be opening a can of worms, though.
"For now, things are proceeding smoothly.
The
Keep it up."
"Ha ha!"
And with that, the regular check-in was concluded.
---
I left
The plan was progressing smoothly.
That much was true.
Fight Obert with the Red Dragon's Jaw Whisker, then recruit Triss.
There were minor deviations from the original plan, but nothing that required a full revision.
That was all the more reason to push forward with confidence.
...I understood that reasoning, but honestly, I was getting anxious about how smoothly things were going.
Because I kept catching glimpses of things — Luke's behavior, little cracks in the plan.
But
Maybe because he hadn't seen the situation firsthand.
Or maybe he considered these minor cracks acceptable.
Or maybe I was overthinking it.
I couldn't tell what
I understood that inaction was sometimes the right call.
Rushing into things and making matters worse happened all the time.
"If you'll regret not doing it, better to do it and regret it" — I'd heard that saying often in my previous life.
But that only applied when both options led to regret.
Maintaining the status quo was also a choice.
If possible, I wanted to choose the option I'd regret least.
In my opinion, we should have dealt more directly with Ariel and Luke.
I was already planning to speak with Luke when the time was right.
I hadn't decided on the specifics, and it might backfire.
But I probably should warn him about the
Or maybe it would be better not to.
"..."
Thinking all of this, I made my way back to where everyone was sleeping.
I emerged from the forest with a casual air and told the two people on fire watch that the surrounding area was safe.
Tonight, the ones sharing fire-watch duty with me were
I'd been walking for — what, maybe thirty minutes at most?
In that span of time, the number of figures around the campfire had increased by one.
Three now.
Had someone woken up?
If monsters had attacked while I was gone,
But the figure wasn't that large.
Bigger than the petite, slender
Kline was of average build for a woman, and the figure was about the same size as her.
Then it had to be the retainer Elmoa.
Why was she awake?
As I approached with this thought, one of the figures stood up.
"It's a lovely night, isn't it,
It was Ariel.
She stood with the campfire behind her.
The flames cast shadows across her beautiful face.
"Won't you go for a little walk with me?"
Ariel said this with a fearless smile on her lips.