—Within the royal castle of Rolfis.
The room belonged to Dario Selva, the Second Prince of Selva and fiancé of Selva.
He paced the spacious interior, biting his thumbnail, restless and agitated.
Among the guards Selva had sent along, a knight who served as his bodyguard tried to calm Dario.
"Your Highness, I would advise against such an attitude. We have already sent word of the situation back to the kingdom. All that remains is to await instructions."
Dario turned on the knight and erupted.
"Don't screw with me! You think you understand how I feel?! How it felt to be sent off to Galleria and Rusworth, only to be humiliated and turned away?! I was the spare to my brother — the one chance I finally had to get my own domain! And that brat took it from me, that brat!!"
Dario snatched up a vase and hurled it against the wall. Gasping for breath, he collapsed to the floor where he stood.
Second son. A life as a spare, living under his brother's roof. Once his elder brother grew up without incident and produced an heir, Dario would be shipped off to some foreign country as a political husband.
But the so-called war maidens — the princesses of Galleria and Rusworth — had no interest in him. In the end, he was sent to the minor kingdom of Rolfis to serve as a groom instead.
"If I had become king, I would have turned us into a vassal state in no time! If Selva had allied with Zayin, we would have had enough military strength to stand against Galleria and Rusworth..."
Selva bordered both Galleria and Rusworth, two kingdoms locked in fierce warfare, so it too needed to bolster its national strength.
The plan in partnering with Zayin was that Zayin would rampage through Rolfis and pillage freely, after which Selva would step in to govern what remained.
A devastated Rolfis would have no choice but to lean on Selva for support. A backroom deal had already been struck with Zayin — Selva would mediate and bring the war to an end. That was the scenario.
"And that brat! Because of him, everyone looks at me with contempt again!"
The knight let out a sigh and spoke to Dario.
"We are moving carefully so as not to have our location discovered, but escape is impossible. You will never reach Neunir Fortress."
At those words, Dario—
"Then bring me his head immediately! That one brat has put the entire kingdom of Selva in a crisis! Why are you being so laid-back about this?!"
Dario may be lashing out at the knight assigned to guard him, but his mind is completely consumed with figuring out a way out of this dire situation.
He had reported to the kingdom, but the fact that he was desperate to resolve this himself probably stemmed from his own impatience.
"Women, and one old man... I'll deal with them immediately."
The knight, believing Lyle and the others hadn't left the manor, was completely nonchalant. After all, no report had come in that Rolfis had departed—
Rolfis's castle town.
As I walked with Miranda, I sensed an approaching presence.
They were radiating hostility, yet even in the daylight, they kept a fixed distance from us.
I tried using the Skill: [Real Spec] to get information on them, but there was too much data to filter.
When I held my head, Miranda linked her arm with mine.
"Are you okay? You don't look well."
When she said that, I shook my head.
"They're closing in. There are six signatures. Three pairs of two. They're watching us."
"You can tell even that?"
I continued walking with Miranda.
"I can now. I'm just not used to using it yet."
Miranda nodded a few times, scanning the surroundings. The six seemed ready to close the distance at any moment, and when she spotted a food stall, she said:
"Lyle, I want to eat that."
"Hm? Well, sure. We haven't even had a chance to look around. What should we get?"
Maybe because of the atmosphere that suggested a war might break out, the faces of the people walking around held a hint of anxiety. The only topics of conversation were rumors of war.
After we bought food at the stall, the surrounding presences seemed to relax their vigilance and moved in closer again.
Miranda noticed the hostility around us too, and spoke to me while eating.
"Do you think they'll make a move here?"
They were probably tailing us, trying to figure out where Aura and the others were staying. They still assumed we were lingering around and hadn't left town.
"If we head back to the inn, it's a real possibility. Well, I figured this would happen... but it looks like it's just Selva acting alone."
Only Selva was pursuing us. There was no visible activity from Rolfis.
From inside the Jewel, the Third Generation spoke up.
"Maybe Rolfis doesn't have that many allies on the inside. Well, with only a single direct-line princess, I suppose they'd compromise by choosing a prince from Selva."
Considering the surrounding territory, Zayin had no royal family. A short distance away, Galleria and Rusworth existed, but it seemed a woman was ruling there. The records didn't mention any children either.
The Fourth Generation added:
"They sure seemed impatient. Still, if they'd coordinated with Rolfis and attacked us together, things could've gotten interesting after we took back the Jewel."
When it came to attacking, they clearly wanted Rolfis to make a move too.
The Fifth Generation chimed in as well.
"We could've flushed out whoever's been cooperating with Selva, too. Well, if they're not going to show their hand, I guess that's fine."
I finished off the festival snack in my hand and turned to Miranda.
"Want to keep walking through the city?"
Miranda looked slightly bored.
"While being watched by a bunch of tasteless people? I'm up for a date, though."
I gave a wry smile.
"A date while being watched? I don't know about that."
We continued walking through the streets of Rolfis. When noon came, we ate, then walked on. After taking a break, the sun began to set and foot traffic thinned out.
That's when the pursuers made their move.
I deliberately ducked into a narrow alley, and sure enough, three of the six-person group had circled ahead to box us in.
Watching them through the map in my mind, the sight of them scrambling ahead to cut us off was actually rather amusing.
(They're not locals, so they're a bit lost.)
Miranda and I walked briskly ahead, arriving at what was clearly a dead end.
"This is the place."
I raised my hand and cast a spell.
"Fire Bullet."
The fireball soared into the sky, swallowed up by the purple-and-orange mix of the twilight.
The area was slightly open but looked like a garbage dump.
As I watched the entrance, three of the knights who had been chasing us appeared—
They were dressed in adventurer-style gear.
They looked somewhat tired, though they were trying hard not to show it. They'd been made to keep watch for hours before finally luring us in. Of course they'd be exhausted.
"...So you really are Laiel and Miranda. Why don't you take us to the Saint of Zayin?"
The three drew their swords and advanced toward us.
I spoke.
"The three on the roofs still haven't caught up, you know. You would've been better off waiting a bit longer before making your move."
The leader didn't show any signs of panic. A little disappointing, honestly.
"A Skills user, huh? If it's just support-type, nothing to worry about in a fight. Two of you take the man, one takes the woman. Reinforcements will be here soon."
I felt the leader's magic power surge. In an instant, his body swelled dramatically, and his jacket burst apart.
His muscles swelled up even more, turning him into a literal mountain of muscle.
Miranda said,
"Whoa, so there's a Skill like this too, huh?"
The opponent was grinning, his tone even rougher than before.
"There's no way you can beat me with a support-type Skill when I've got front-line Skills of my own. Kill the man. As for the woman, once you get the location of the Saint out of her, you can do whatever you want with her."
His eyes were bloodshot — he seemed to be in some kind of frenzy.
The two subordinates were keeping their distance from the leader. But perhaps he didn't like that, because the leader backhanded one of them.
The man slammed into the wall and collapsed to the floor without moving. He wasn't breathing.
The Seventh Generation said,
*So enhancing his strength has made him lose all self-control? Hmm, could be a Skill called [Berserk]? Though I can't believe they'd send someone with this kind of Skill after us again.*
His voice was calm despite the exasperation.
The leader said,
"Answer me!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
When the subordinate hastily responded, the leader turned around and charged straight at me. I held up a hand to stop Miranda from stepping forward, then drew my saber.
He was so massive that even the sword he was gripping looked thin by comparison, but I didn't hesitate. I moved straight in.
No Skills. Not yet.
I dodged his downward slash, then sliced into his arm with my saber. But the strike I'd intended to sever the arm entirely only cut shallowly, drawing a trickle of blood.
"Hard, huh?"
"You got inside my guard, you little bastard!"
As the leader tried to grab me with his left hand, I tossed my saber aside and seized his arm. A crunching sound rang out, and the leader's cocky grin twisted into a grimace.
A skill—Limit Burst—the First Generation's second-stage skill.
"...Nobody said I only had one skill."
"You— you bastard!"
The leader raised his right arm—the one holding the sword—and I swept his legs out from under him. As the leader crumpled, I turned my gaze to the other enemy, who was rolling around on the ground with limbs bound by Miranda's threads.
The leader must have thought I'd let my guard down, because he tried to thrust his sword at me. I sidestepped half a pace and dodged the blade.
I drew my spare saber and plunged it straight into his head, then looked up at the sky. After several flashes of light, May descended in the form of a Kirin.
I sheathed the saber, picked up the fallen one, and looked toward Miranda.
"So, what do we do now?"
The man lying on the ground looked at us with a pale expression. But he kept his mouth shut, glaring at us the entire time.
Once May touched down on the ground—
"The three up there... I took them out, but that's fine, right?"
Hearing that, I said—
"Then let's have this man deliver a message. 'Your Highness, I'm afraid the response from your end was most disappointing.' Could you relay that for us?"
The man stared at the ground in frustration.
"I don't know anything. Who's Your Highness?"
Whether it was his last act of resistance or not, the man was trying to play dumb.
Whether he delivered the message or not, it didn't matter to me one way or the other.
What mattered was the fact that a fight had broken out here. Of course, nothing on them directly tied them to Selva as assassins. But I now understood how Selva had responded.
I looked at Miranda.
"Will the threads come undone?"
"They'll disappear after a while. Well, they might stay like this for a few hours."
After glancing at the man on the ground, I placed Miranda on May's back. Once I climbed on too, May surged up into the sky.
The sky over Rolfis had grown dark, so no one would be able to spot May. Even if they could, it wouldn't matter.
As we rapidly left Rolfis behind, May explained to me.
"People had been gathering at the fortress from the surrounding area. Around two hundred, maybe? Also, there's still been no movement from Zayin."
Hearing that, the Fourth Generation seemed puzzled.
'Still nothing? It was already going to be a close call by the schedule. Why is it taking this long?'
The Third Generation weighed in on that opinion.
'...You did get them out safely, right? Come to think of it, only one knight managed to escape, didn't he?'
The Fifth Generation said.
'Maybe they got attacked by Monsters on the way. But if that's the case, it buys us more time. Still, I'd rather not drag this out.'
There were plenty of worries. Things were going well enough, but food, weapons, gear—maintaining all of it with just our party had its limits.
The Seventh Generation spoke.
'Or perhaps they're trying to send a larger force than planned. A hundred or so... Given the importance of this, I expected them to mobilize around a thousand, though.'
The Third Generation offered a theory.
'Even if the knight made it back safely, there's no guarantee he reported our numbers accurately. They might be moving a considerably larger force than we think.'
The Fifth Generation gave me an order.
'Lael, we'll scout the enemy's movements on the way back. I know it's a lot to ask of May, but survey the terrain while you're at it.'
I turned to May.
"May, can you keep flying a bit longer? I want to check the enemy's movements on our way back."
And then May—
"Again? Sure, I guess..."
She seemed exasperated. Miranda had wrapped her arms around my waist from behind and spoke over my shoulder.
"Lael, what are you thinking?"
I turned to Miranda.
"Well, it's not what you'd expect—"
—Meanwhile, in a castle rather than the temple in the city of Zayin, the Knight Commander was receiving reports.
He was dressed in ornate armor, ready to deploy at any moment, when the news arrived.
"You... could have at least fled to one of our fortresses!"
The man who hurled documents at the bedraggled knight was Arman Benal. The Knight Commander in his mid-forties was one of the proponents of the current war.
The knight was trembling, but he explained the situation.
"We had no way of knowing where the enemy's forces were! Five hundred soldiers suddenly appeared at the fortress — there's no way to move without being spotted! I risked everything, pushing my horse to its limit, to bring back this report!"
Arman scowled, but noticing the knight before him was without armor, he grew suspicious.
"Without even your weapons? Don't tell me you deserted!"
"I lost them fighting Monsters! Even so, I pushed on desperately to make it here—"
Perhaps because the shouting in the Knight Commander's office had been going on for a while, it could be heard outside. A young girl, accompanied by a shrine maiden, entered the room.
Her long silver hair curled at the tips in ringlets. She wore the vestments of a saint and fixed the Knight Commander with her green eyes.
"Arman, what is the meaning of this? Didn't you deal with Aura and Selma after they deserted?"
When Arman dropped to one knee, the bedraggled knight knelt as well.
"N-no, this is still unconfirmed information."
Remis Zayin — the current Saintess — spoke aloud the rumors spreading throughout Zayin.
"There were rumors that Aura, who escaped my assassination, was gathering soldiers in Baim to stage an uprising, yes?"
"Th-that — there's no evidence. It's surely just a rumor."
Remis replied in a tone of exasperation.
"She has indeed risen up. The rumor said around a hundred, but apparently it's five hundred soldiers? Someone must have become her backer, right? You're not going to leave this unattended, are you?"
Arman, the Knight Commander, wanted nothing more than to head to the front lines and take command immediately. He had waited for this day for so long.
(This little brat. She should just stay put and play the decoration she's supposed to be. But... I really can't leave this be, can I... I could mobilize one to two thousand. But if even that fails...)
Nearly twenty thousand soldiers were on the move.
Mercenary companies were among them, so the exact count couldn't be determined. But not all of them were front-line fighters — some units served in rear support roles. The reality was that only roughly fourteen to fifteen thousand could actually fight.
(If I send too few, it'll be hard to push Rolfis back on the front lines. And who should I even send? The mercenary companies only agreed to lower fees because I gave them the freedom to plunder. I doubt they'd move for this.)
Even Arman hesitated at the idea of permitting plundering within his own territory.
But if not, how many soldiers should he commit?
(Just leave it alone? I don't think they can actually do anything, but...)
As Arman was desperately racking his brain, Remis spoke up.
"Enough. I'll make the decision. Send three thousand."
"Three thousand?! That's overkill! We should send a thousand to scope things out and keep them pinned down. They may have taken the fortress, but they shouldn't be able to move from there. Once we return, we can deal with them at our leisure!"
But Remis, growing increasingly irritated,
"You want me to tolerate the rumor that I'm afraid of Aura's uprising? And when everyone already believes the enemy numbers only a hundred, I should just endure being thought too scared to handle even that?"
Arman panicked.
What was going on? How had that rumor spread so quickly — too fast from the time this man brought the news back. Could it be that there really was a mole? No, everyone who had sided with Selma had already been sent away to the border. So they'd let it through on purpose!
Zayin's current situation was exactly what one would expect.
If he wasn't inside the temple, then there was a high chance he'd slipped into the city. But with mercenaries coming and going so freely, finding him would be difficult… Who should be sent? If there really was a mole among their allies in a situation like this… At this point, perhaps I should go myself.
Setting the knight's judgment aside for now, Arman stood up.
"Understood. I'll immediately lead three thousand elite troops to Neunil Fortress."
Three thousand — with that many, Arman was confident they could crush even the five hundred the knight had mentioned.
Remis was surprised by how abruptly Arman's attitude had changed.
Whether there really were five hundred was questionable. The knight could have inflated a smaller number. But even if that many truly were there, three thousand would be more than enough to crush them.
Arman didn't trust the knight's report entirely. Still, he figured that even if the enemy didn't come out of the fortress, sheer numbers would overwhelm them.
Then Remis spoke up.
"That's out of the question, obviously. Besides, your job is to guard me."
The Holy Knights. Their original role was to protect the saint — to be the saint's shield. But although this was ostensibly a religious nation, it was in truth a country that plundered and waged wars against its neighbors.
That role had become nothing more than lip service.
In reality, Arman's family had served as knights for generations. They simply didn't claim the title of nobility, but they were no different from those in other nations.
"Wasn't it the saint herself who said this was important? Allow me to lead the charge personally, and I will offer the traitors as a blood sacrifice — I swear it."
Arman pressed the matter through and then called out to the knight.
"Come. I want to hear the details. Now then, Saint, I'll take my leave."
Hmph, there are plenty of people who could replace you.
If Remis were to be killed, Aura and her assassins would never win the support of the people. Arman reasoned as much, and he wouldn't have cared if Remis died.
Remis watched Arman walk away with a look of deep resentment.