I rode May down into the rear of the Galleria camp, heading straight for the tent where Leold was.
"Whoa, you can see it from here too, huh? What a shame... If I'd known it was this interesting, I should have watched from the front-row seat."
At my words, May glanced to the side. There, a large hole had been gouged in the earth, blasted by incoming magic.
"Don't worry about it. In a way, I think Lyle always has a front-row seat. I've been figuring out a few things lately."
The giant serpent with nine heads, and the eight-armed lion warrior. Nearby, a giant fire warrior was battling a monster shaped like a woman made of ice. Watching Novem's group, they seemed to be testing the power of the spells they'd seen.
(They've got talent when it comes to magic. While Aria specializes in close combat, the two of them excel at ranged battles with magic too.)
Thinking this was quite exciting, I arrived at the bustling Galleria tent just as Leold spotted me.
"Lord Lyle!!"
He threw his arms around me, his face pale and on the verge of collapsing, tears welling in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm Lord Lyle. Now then, Leold... shall we earn some merit in your first battle?"
I gave him a thumbs-up, informing Leold that a Rusworth unit was approaching nearby. Apparently, some of the lords had deliberately let Rusworth's soldiers through.
Observing this, I'd come to the Galleria tent. While everyone else was distracted by the flashy battlefields elsewhere, I planned to quietly accrue some military exploits here.
"Um, but! Wouldn't it be better to stop my sisters first?"
I laughed.
"Nah, that's entertaining, or rather, necessary. They need to let off some steam. Besides, it's actually convenient for me if they're tired."
Saying that, I had Leold gather the surrounding soldiers and form up to wait for the Rusworth unit.
I held back from direct command, only answering when asked a question, and watched Leold's leadership. It wasn't bad at all; it felt safe and competent.
His fundamentals were solid, and there were no issues. I left him to it as we surrounded the enemy attempting a surprise attack, then pinched them from both sides once they committed.
It was a plain little battle on a spectacular field, but a military exploit is still a military exploit.
Even so, cutting down fifty soldiers who had stormed in with the resolve to die, surrounded by nearly three hundred — that was still a military achievement.
"You've earned your stripes on your very first battle. Well, that makes Leold a proper knight now."
I let Leold claim the credit, then left the cleanup to him while I turned my gaze to the battlefield where the massive Golems clashed.
"...If it were the Fourth Generation, he'd probably say something about how there's money in it."
Muttering that, I called May over to me.
—Gracia was commanding a giant forged from flame.
"Now we're talking! This boosts both the power and the range!"
Elza had likewise conjured a giant from ice, gripping the hair ornament of her female-shaped titan to control it from atop its head.
Perched on her giant's shoulder, Gracia dodged a spell fired from the side and turned her attention toward it.
One of the great serpents had swung its head in her direction. To be precise, Miranda's Golem had forced it to turn, but the fact remained that she was under attack.
"Don't you dare interfere—"
As she moved to retaliate, Elza's Golem slammed into her with a body check. Passing right through the fire Golem, the ice Golem had already melted down to a slender form.
But Elza was nowhere to be seen.
"—Above!"
When Gracia looked up, Elza had conjured a great ice sword on the tip of her staff and was swinging it downward.
But midair Elza twisted her body away and retreated into the distance. When Gracia glanced toward Novem and the others, the great serpent had coiled around the lion warrior and was forcing its gaping maw to face in her direction.
Mana gathered, and the lion warrior unleashed a barrage of wind from its jaws.
Caught in the gale, Gracia's fire Golem crumbled apart. It was proof that she hadn't yet grown accustomed to controlling her Golem in the heat of battle.
Then, from behind, a slender ice Golem with arms as thin as a woman's seized Gracia in a crushing grip.
Elza came running along her own Golem's arm to close the distance toward Gracia.
"Got you!!"
She had aimed for Gracia's neck, flashing her greatsword in a swift arc. But Elza's control was still rough around the edges, and Gracia wrapped her body in flames, melting the Golem's hand before dropping straight down.
As the melted, gouged Golems crashed into the churned-up ground, Gracia was already gasping for breath.
Elza's Golem crumbled apart like shattering ice, and both of them—having landed before Gracia—were equally winded.
Part of it was sheer inexperience, but this was the first time either of them had pushed themselves to fight at full power for this long. Their pacing had completely fallen apart.
With Novem and Miranda battling with their Golems nearby, the two faced each other and raised their weapons.
They both thought to end it with one final blow—until a voice rang down from the sky.
"Both of you, drop your weapons! Look around you!"
It was Lyle—.
—Aria had arrived at the spot where the Elves were watching the battlefield.
Having burned through her Skills in rapid succession while dashing across the battlefield, Aria was utterly spent and collapsed in front of Eva.
"...Where's Lyle?"
As sweat streamed down Aria's face, Eva held out a canteen and pointed skyward. Cruelly, she was telling Aria she was too late.
"He's up there now. See? It's already the climax."
Receiving Eva's resigned smile, Aria looked in the direction she was pointing. There, bathed in light breaking through the clouds, she could see Lyle riding atop the Kirin.
Aria's consciousness began to fade right there on the ground. And even as it did—
"I'll never forgive you for this, Lyle..."
She cursed him with what little breath she had left—.
Everyone was staring at me—the one straddling the Kirin-shaped May.
Under the eyes of every soldier on the battlefield, I slowly gave May the order to descend.
Drawing everyone's gaze, Novem and Miranda—the ones who had conjured the colossal Golems—returned them both to mere mounds of dirt.
The battlefield was a wreck.
It was a welcome miscalculation how far Novem and Miranda's abilities had risen after having experienced their respective "growth." Laughter threatened to bubble up, but the looks both of them were giving me were colder than usual.
Novem genuinely seemed angry, and Miranda still wore a dissatisfied expression. She had probably been intending to one-up Novem.
Once I descended to the ground, I raised my voice from atop May's back.
"Look around you!"
There, collapsed across the field, were not only Elza and Gracia but soldiers from every faction who had been caught up in the fighting between Novem and Miranda.
It was certainly a sorry sight—but it was also true that this was exactly what I had been aiming for.
(They were traitors who had trampled on others and grown fat off the profits, but even so, seeing them like this stirs a bit of pity.)
There were plenty more who had been too frightened to move, frozen in place. Considering what they had all done up until now, this was perhaps far too lenient a punishment.
(They've been crushing the weak underfoot themselves, after all. Well then—the time has come to put the Fourth Generation's teachings into practice!)
I surveyed the surroundings and declared,
"What a pathetic display! You've dragged friend and foe alike into the carnage! There are no victors in this war—not for either side! If anyone wishes to keep fighting, then I, Lyle Walt, will be your opponent!"
I drew the sword Aria had entrusted to me and thrust it skyward from May's back. The soldiers from both factions sank to their knees.
They probably never expected a battle on this scale. And at the same time, they had never imagined that the beings they had been using could grow this powerful.
What's more, I had been able to demonstrate that such beings still existed out there in the wider world.
(Perfect. Absolutely perfect, if I do say so myself.)
What would have happened if Gracia and Elza had cooperated and fought against Novem and Miranda together…? They might very well have lost.
But as it stood, it looked like the two of them had burned through their reserves first and collapsed. Timing-wise, could it have been any more ideal?
I had been able to maneuver behind the scenes in all sorts of ways, and I'd even let young Leord contribute a small but real accomplishment of his own. The outcome of this whole affair was deeply satisfying.
Soldiers from both camps began to lay down their weapons. One by one, they released their grips and let them fall.
I dismounted from May and walked across the muddy ground, then looked down at the two women who had crumpled to their knees.
"...Honestly, doing something like this."
I spoke with exasperation. The two women, both older than me, averted their gazes with awkward expressions. I'd suspected they had no immunity to men, but this was even better than I'd hoped.
"This wasn't part of the plan, was it?"
Gracia began speaking in halting bursts.
"No, at first I just wanted you to see Leord looking his best... that's all it was. But then the Automaton pulled back and we lost contact."
Elza looked up at me as she spoke.
"N-No! I was told the envoy had been taken, and so..."
I shook my head. After that, they went on about how once I'd supposedly been kidnapped, I'd sent out an envoy, and then they'd fallen into mutual suspicion. Just as I'd predicted — and it made me fear my own cunning.
(Now then, let's knock them down a peg first.)
I looked down at the two of them with cold eyes and spoke in an icy tone.
"When did I ever become your subordinate? Besides, looking at you two right now, you seem more like lovers fighting over the same man. Let me make this perfectly clear. I do not belong to either of you."
I declared it boldly and with absolute confidence. Before Gracia or Elza could bow their heads and put on frustrated looks, they seemed to be feeling something closer to shame.
They were probably fully aware they'd gotten carried away.
(Now's the time.)
"I don't belong to you. But the two of you already belong to me. You are not permitted to go getting yourselves hurt on your own. Now, show me your faces."
I crouched down and wiped the mud from their faces. Both of them stared blankly. Then their cheeks flushed red. As expected — my good looks were top-class even across this entire continent.
A smile can fix just about anything. I helped them to their feet and spoke to the two of them.
"Everything about you is mine. From now on, you serve me. And in return... I'll give you a future with me — the man who will claim this entire continent."
Being tired and having one's judgment blunted is also a key point. You create this delicate atmosphere, wear them down so they don't sense the incongruity, and then you're gentle.
(Fourth Generation… right now, I'm putting your teachings into practice. Setting the mood, tiring them out and robbing them of judgment, then being gentle to a woman… all thanks to your teachings, Fourth Generation.)
You said setting the mood was important. But tiring them out to blunt their judgment and then keeping them on edge—that was for battle. I don't recall you saying to be cold before being gentle to a woman… but if I think of it as an application, there's no problem.
And then, both of them looked at me with expressions of deep emotion and—.
"Yes. I swear on this spear."
"I swear on this staff… I will work for your sake, Lord Lyle."
Was their immunity to men that nonexistent? Both of them looked at me with sparkling eyes. Wasn't that cute? But around us, others were watching with very different gazes.
But if we just look at the results… .
(Alright, mission com–plete!)
I transported Elza and Gracia on May's back to both camps.
There, surrounded by Rusworth's high officials, I was interrogated.
*'You said it! You said the Queen was your own, didn't you?! You'll take responsibility, right?!'*
It was the same in Galleria. With the lords surrounding Leord.
*'You'll take her, right? If you're lying, that will be a real problem! A real problem!'*
That's what they said. I had caused quite a ruckus, after all. Both sides would have realized just how dangerous their situations had been.
And for the first time, both Elza and Gracia had truly clashed and surely had a measure of their own strength.
After everything was done and I was heading back to my tent, my companions were waiting there with complicated expressions.
Novem looked like she was worried, her gaze even sharper than usual.
Miranda was smiling, but her eyes weren't laughing. She was probably angry that I had disappeared partway through.
Aria had a tired expression as she glared at me. She must have been searching all over for me and failed to find me.
Shannon was looking around in a daze. The atmosphere was tense, and she couldn't cling to anyone, so she seemed to have no idea what to do.
Clara was muttering complaints under her breath. She kept glancing at Miranda, so she was probably furious about the fact that she'd hidden the ability to use the Golem's magic.
Eva was... checking her notes, completely ignoring the mood around her.
May was the same. Or rather, she was my accomplice who had fled together with me.
Good grief, getting angry over something like this... How adorable.
Monica came toward me, trembling from head to toe.
"C-Chicken!! The line! The line with this Chicken isn't recovering! The bond between me and this Chicken is!!"
To Monica, Number One, who carried an external battery, murmured quietly.
"What a fragile bond it was."
That was what was whispered behind Monica's back. Numbers Two and Three, upon seeing Monica, were undoubtedly thinking the same thing.
Come to think of it, Monica's behavior had been oddly off. I was still using the Mana Tool. Holding the hilt, I considered that everything was over, and thought about how angry the Successive Heads and Mireia would be...
Oh crap. I forgot. Well, it doesn't affect the outcome, so I guess it's fine. Still, just getting yelled at again would be boring.
"Alright, you all line up. It's time for your reward."
...An idea for a secret plan came to mind.