"
"Output stable at thirty percent!"
"Ready to move at any time!"
Soldiers were bustling about — this was the bridge of the Arcadia.
The bridge of the mobile fortress was very spacious, and Bartholt was looking out at the view from there.
Outside, not only monsters but also nearly all of the Empire's military forces had gathered.
"It's finally time."
They had tried to corner the Kingdom not only with military power but also by making full use of diplomacy.
However, due to the Kingdom's resistance, the results they had aimed for were not obtained.
Beside Bartholt sat Mia, the master of the Arcadia, looking tense.
Even now, Mia stood against the war.
But Bartholt would absolutely not avoid this war.
(Mia, you stay the kind child you are. All the sin lies with me.)
In order for them to survive, they would destroy the Kingdom, which represented the
He could not let his daughter bear that sin.
"—Launch."
At Bartholt's command, the Arcadia and a great many other airships began to move.
Mia hung her head.
"I'm sorry."
She was probably crying for her friends in the Kingdom.
(You grew up to be a kind child. For your sake, I would shoulder any amount of sin.)
Bartholt did not speak to the weeping Mia.
◇ A certain room on the Arcadia.
It was the lounge for the knights ranked from first to tenth.
The room had a luxurious interior, and servants attended to the knights' needs.
The Empire's Sword Saint — Leinhart — was looking at the juice in his glass.
"Amazing, isn't it? An object this huge is moving, yet there's no shaking at all."
After confirming that the liquid in the glass wasn't moving, he downed it in one gulp and tossed the glass to a woman in a maid uniform.
Seeing this, Finn narrowed his eyes.
"Leinhart, your attitude is poor."
"Ohhh, scary. You're so kind, senpai."
Leinhart, grinning casually, received a new drink and started gazing again.
"Senpai, aren't you a little tense? It'll be fine. According to our information, few countries sided with the Kingdom. Besides, the nobles guarding the borders can't move, apparently."
Finn drove a nail into the careless Leinhart.
"In the Kingdom, there's
"I know you're concerned about him, senpai. Besides, he's the most important figure. If we defeat that Duke, the war is as good as over."
Finn turned his gaze to the floor.
(Why do we have to fight?)
Memories of his time in the Kingdom flickered through Finn's head.
Those fun days would never return.
Because he was on the Empire's side, and Leon was on the Kingdom's side.
Finn understood that, but he couldn't accept it.
Still, since they had to fight, he intended to win.
"—If the Duke comes out, I'll be his opponent."
He didn't want to yield him to anyone, and at the same time he felt that Leon was too dangerous to leave to others.
Hearing this, Leinhart shrugged.
"Then leave the Kingdom's Sword Saint to me. Also, the Sword Saint has a son, right?"
Finn recalled
"Chris? If I remember right, in the Kingdom he was called the Sword Master."
"Yes, him! The Sword Saint might be past his prime due to age, so let me have him too. If I recall, Chris defeated the Black Knight of
Officially, it was Chris who had defeated the Black Knight, hero of the Principality of Fanoss.
That was why Leinhart wanted to fight Chris.
It was almost like a game to him.
"—Depending on the situation. But if the Duke comes out, call me. That guy is dangerous."
The other knights wore expressions of dissatisfaction.
Then Brave, who was beside Finn, spoke up.
"Partner, if those guys come out, we'll have to hit them in numbers, or it's no good."
"I know. But I don't want to assign multiple knights with magic armor to take on Leon alone."
The Empire was winning in numbers, but even so, it couldn't be said they had no concerns.
The number of knights clad in the magical creatures called magic armor was small.
In contrast, on Leon's side, the weapons of the Old Humanity had gathered.
(I can't imagine the Arcadia being sunk, but it never hurts to be cautious.)
◇ In the royal palace of the
"What's the status of the fleet's movement!?"
"Twenty percent has yet to arrive at their destination!"
"Hurry them! We must not let the Empire's bastards enter this country!"
Inside the palace, knights and military men were running about.
Civil officials were also rushing around with documents in hand.
The maids were also working busily.
Amid all this —
(Another war is starting.)
She found herself recalling the battles with the Principality and in the Republic.
(Each time, Mr. Leon was hurt — so, this time...)
Behind her followed
Yumeria was deemed necessary for operating the sapling of the
"Yumeria, are you really going to be all right?"
Noelle, worried about the stiffly tense Yumeria, also looked tense herself.
Yumeria nodded awkwardly.
"I-I'm fine! Besides, Kyle is going to board with me."
Kyle was scheduled to board as
When she headed to the palace's airship dock,
"Angie."
Seeing them, Livia was a little surprised.
◇ Marie, who had come to the boarding ramp of the Licorne, ran into Angelica there.
Marie, clad in the Saint's vestments, was bad at dealing with Angelica.
Behind Marie, Kyle and Kahla were troubled at the sight of Angelica.
After all, Marie had a history of stealing Angelica's fiancé.
Up until now, whenever they met, Angelica had directed sharp glances at her.
She had no idea what Angelica was about to say now either.
When Marie tried to board the Licorne, Angie called her to a stop.
"Wait. I want to talk for a moment."
Marie pulled her foot back from the ramp and turned to face Angelica.
"What? If it's a complaint, I'll hear you out after I get back."
What was she going to be told?
Marie thought this, but inwardly, she didn't mind whatever was said.
(I'm the one who messed up this girl's life. So I should at least listen to her complaints.)
She didn't know what might happen next.
Then, Angelica gripped her left elbow with her right hand, lowered her gaze, and made a request of Marie.
By doing so, her large bust was emphasized, and Marie was a little envious.
"The Licorne needs your power. Please — I want you to help Leon. From here on out, I won't be of any use."
The important ones were Livia, Noelle — and Marie, the three of them.
There was nothing Angelica could help with.
Marie, having been asked, was let down and exasperated.
"You don't have to tell me. I'll do my best. More importantly, why are you asking me? From your point of view, I'm someone you should hate, aren't I?"
Told this, Angelica gave Marie a smile for the first time.
It was a smile with no hidden meaning at all.
"There were many times I hated you. But I'm grateful to you."
"Grateful?"
"Because thanks to you, I got to meet Leon and Livia. For me, now, Leon is more important than even His Highness
Marie looked down.
(—What the hell, even though you're the villainess. —You're really a great woman. This makes me look so miserable.)
Before, she had thought she had won against Angelica — that she had stolen Julius from her.
Marie became disgusted with her own ugliness.
Besides, Julius, who had chosen her, had lost his position as Crown Prince because of it.
From Marie's perspective, she had just dragged a lot of people down because of herself.
Many people had become unhappy.
(Aaah, I really am a no-good woman after all. No wonder only worthless men gather around me.)
Marie raised her face and puffed out her chest.
She put up a brave front to the best of her ability.
"Since I'm lending a hand, we're absolutely going to win. I am a Saint, after all."
Angelica chuckled.
"Ah, that's right. I'll be expecting much of you."
Then Olivia, worried about Marie and Angelica, hurried over.
"Angie!"
She probably thought Angelica was reproaching Marie.
But seeing the smiling Angelica, Olivia was surprised.
"What's going on?"
"It's nothing. More importantly, let's hurry and board. From here on, we're counting on you all."
Just as Marie was about to board, another person whose life she had ruined came over.
—It was
Seeing Clarice approaching, Marie braced herself for a slap.
Clarice was
While Marie was on her guard against such Clarice, she walked past Marie and spoke to Angelica.
"Angelica, there's no need for you to go aboard too."
"Don't stop me. —I want to be by Leon's side."
"Do you understand your own position?"
"Sorry, but I've decided."
"Haa— fine. But when you get back, be ready. You'll be so busy for a while you won't have time to sleep."
It seemed Clarice was helping with the civil officials' work, as her hands were stained with ink.
Clarice waved her hand and walked away.
"I'm busy, so I'll see you off only this far. Come back properly."
As Clarice walked away, she passed by Marie's side.
Then Clarice murmured.
"You come back properly too. I have a mountain of things I want to say."
Marie looked down and clenched her staff.
(Every single one of them — why aren't they all more — terrible people?)
If they had only shown her more of the messy, ugly side of women, then Marie's heart would have been saved.
She couldn't help but see herself as ugly.
Marie looked up at the sky.
(—But, this is fine. Because even someone like me can be useful, and I've learned that the ones left behind are all good people. Bro — this time, you'd absolutely better survive.)
Convinced that in this life Leon was happy, Marie set her foot toward the ramp.
Kyle was tense.
"We'll win this time too, right?"
Kahla put on a brave act.
"We'll win. Lady Marie is cooperating, and Duke Bartfort is serious. He'll definitely defeat the Empire."
She probably wanted to believe that.
Kahla seemed to be telling it to herself.
Marie shouldered her staff and turned toward the two of them.
"Don't worry, we'll definitely win, so rest easy. More importantly, Kyle, make sure to look after your mother properly."
"Eh? B-but..."
Embarrassed though he was, Kyle was concerned about Yumeria.
"You — you don't know how long you'll be able to be with your parent."
"I-I know."
Watching Kyle head toward Yumeria, Marie boarded the Licorne.
Kahla worried about Marie.
"Lady Marie? You seem different from usual today. Um, somehow—"
"I'm the same as always. More importantly, I need to think about your future too, Kahla. If you stay with me forever, you won't be able to get married."
"No! I'll stay by Lady Marie's side forever!"
"—You should think about your own happiness."
"My happiness is being together with Lady Marie!"
Watching Kahla declare this with a smile, Marie gave a wry smile.
Kyle pointed at the sky.
"Master! It's the temple's airships!"
When Marie looked up at the sky, there were airships flying the temple's flag along with the Saint's flag.
Their numbers weren't many, but it was the maximum the temple side could scrape together.
(So they're joining in too.)
Marie raised her staff toward those airships.
◇ I was about to board the airship to depart.
What appeared before me was— "You guys."
—my friends from the academy.
Daniel had his arms crossed.
"You're late, Leon."
Raymond adjusted his glasses with his index finger and spoke to me.
"I got tired of waiting."
The others looked a bit bashful too.
"You guys — why are you here? Didn't you run away?"
A little while back, the ones treated most coldly were my group of friends.
They bowed their heads to girls to be married, only to be looked down on as country nobles and ignored.
Without a doubt, they were the ones who got the rawest deal from the Kingdom's policies.
I never thought they'd participate in a fight like this.
Daniel pounded his own chest.
"Because you're here. If we win this time too and get medals, it'll give us some prestige, right?"
He said that, but I could tell right away it was a lie.
I had properly told them that our chances of winning were low.
"Idiot. No one would blame you for running."
Raymond looked exasperated at me for that.
"It's not for Leon's sake or anything. We're participating because it's better to participate. Besides, staying near Leon seems like the best way to survive."
He was saying something shrewd, but this was also a lie.
"—Staying near me, the chances of dying are higher. You guys, don't you get that?"
Everyone looked at each other, then put on resigned expressions.
And then they were laughing.
Daniel threw his arm around my shoulder.
"Idiot! We know that much. But you know — up until now, we've abandoned you so many times. If we abandon you this time too, we'd really be trash, wouldn't we?"
"You guys..."
Raymond removed his glasses.
"There was that duel uproar, and a lot of other things too. Besides, we'll still be in Leon's care from now on, so it's scary not to put you in our debt."
I scratched my hair.
"—Don't push yourselves too hard."
Daniel and Raymond nodded, and those around them laughed.
"Of course not!"
"I don't want to die, after all."