The Kingdom of Fonbeau.
In a room within the castle of its capital, I had gathered the other four to hold a strategy meeting against Lianne.
"—And that’s the situation. It seems she’s in quite a corner. However, we can’t afford to let Fonbeau collapse just like that. Surely there’s some way?"
Aria, her expression strained, glanced around at the others present before turning her gaze back to me.
"What? Is the princess in that dire a situation?"
I nodded. I explained that the Kingdom of Fonbeau had been seized by Lianne, that this same Lianne was burning for revenge against Rufus and Ceres, and further, that she was eager to gleefully carry out torture.
Aria’s reaction was perhaps understandable.
"She’s in quite a corner. I think it’s partly because the situation was already terrible when she returned."
A princess discarded by her fiancé. While it certainly sounded pitiful depending on how you heard it, the world was colder than one might think. There were even those who said, "Wasn't there some problem with Lianne?" It wasn't just her family. It included the nation's influential figures, and even the lesser ranks beyond that.
In the midst of this, Lianne used her ability to seize control of the country. Or rather, it was perhaps more a matter of her inherent qualities...
"I thought she was a real princess, but her image is quite different from what I expected. Before, she seemed so fragile or pitiful, somehow..."
Clara adjusted her glasses slightly, then, straightening them, addressed me.
"If she agrees to cooperate, wouldn't that be acceptable? Or does Master Lyle intend to add Lianne to your harem as well?"
Certainly, if the goal was simply to achieve victory over Ceres, the current arrangement might suffice.
However, the nation of Fonbeau would remain a ticking time bomb. Even if victorious, the prospect of Lianne becoming apathetic and withdrawing from state affairs was more frightening.
Would Fonbeau, which harbored resentment toward House Walt, willingly listen to our counsel? If order suddenly broke down and they exploded, that would be problematic.
"The issue is what comes after victory. Thinking about the aftermath before the battle even begins might invite ridicule, but that part is crucial. It doesn’t end with just winning."
Clara nodded as if satisfied. However.
"If that’s the case, Fonbeau will need Lianne. Or alternatively, we’ll need to bring her over to our side. Given how much she resents House Walt, the emotional hurdle might be too high, but..."
At Clara's words, the Seventh Generation inside the Jewel seemed embarrassed.
"Heh heh, it was such a massive victory—no, you could call it a complete rout. The Crown Prince and all the major nobles were captured as hostages, which meant a huge payoff in ransom. The troublesome ones died in battle, so it took them decades to recover... and those who ended up as prisoners must have felt even more humiliated."
In other words, the Sixth and Seventh Generations were the cause.
No, I understood. Losing was out of the question, and we had to win. But winning so decisively that it became traumatic was the problem. Thanks to that, Fonbeau had carried the stigma of being weak in war for decades.
If I were in the opposite position, I'd certainly resent it.
Aria wore a troubled expression.
"Wait? If that's the case, then wouldn't it be better for Lianne to stay in Fonbeau? The harem thing doesn't matter — if she just makes Fonbeau acknowledge Lyle, wouldn't that settle it?"
Monica, who had been listening in silence, checked the contents of the cup placed in front of us and prepared to pour a refill.
"Making them acknowledge him is difficult enough, but the real problem is that once their revenge is complete, the formidable woman who unified Fonbeau after the victory loses her motivation. Why not try taking it from them in the future?"
I rejected Monica's suggestion.
"Banseim alone already has a considerable amount of territory. Governing that would be difficult enough. I'd rather resolve any extra problems in advance if possible."
The Fifth Generation, inside the Jewel, agreed with my opinion.
"Agreed. Stealing a country is flashy enough, but everything after that is rather mundane. More importantly, we'd need the whole continent to be sufficiently weakened first. With wars on top of territorial losses... I feel like Fonbeau alone wouldn't be enough to stop the momentum."
The Third Generation said the same.
"It's a deeply rooted problem. The people in power happen to be from a traumatized generation, which makes everything even more complicated. Why not just... quietly swap them out?"
Scary. The Third Generation says terrifying things. But maybe forcing a generational change was the right opinion.
Shannon sipped the tea Monica had brewed and looked somewhat puzzled.
"You know, I think that princess still has feelings for the Crown Prince. That's why she can't forgive him, isn't it?"
I looked at Shannon, exasperated.
"That's exactly the problem. The deeper the love, the greater the hatred it breeds."
Shannon, on the other hand, was the one staring at me with exasperation.
"I... am... saying! What I'm trying to tell you is that the princess will definitely hate the person she killed! If things stay like this, it won't be Fonbeau without the princess we need to worry about — it'll be Fonbeau with the princess that bares its fangs!"
Aria, Clara, and I all looked at Shannon. Come to think of it, while Shannon was usually hopeless, she had eyes that could sense people's hearts through the flow and fluctuations of magic power.
"...Is that true?"
Shannon puffed out her not-so-confident chest and nodded.
"Hmph, the eyes of Lady Shannon are remarkable. Right now she hates him, but she still loves him deeply. That's exactly why she can't forgive him — that's the feeling."
Aria gasped.
"Wait. If that's the case, we'd have to fight the princess who took over an entire country on her own? I mean, I don't really understand that whole behind-the-scenes stuff, but I think Lady Lianne is dangerous."
Clara grabbed my sleeve with her fingertips and looked up at my face.
"Lyle... this is a job for Lyle-san. We need to take down the princess of Fonbeau. She's definitely going to be trouble, that princess."
Monica placed her hand on her chin and offered her own take.
"Hmm. Even in a fight, she's not the type to shine on the front lines — she's the type that works behind the scenes. If what the Chicken said is true, she's a slippery and dangerous Skills user. Definitely the troublesome type. And honestly, she'd be far worse than someone with mind-manipulation Skills. Compared to our current lineup... she might be more dangerous than Ludmilla. She's on par with that fox-eyed Novem in terms of how troublesome she is. No — if she becomes a clear enemy, she could be even worse than that. There's no telling what kind of methods she'd use."
Shannon looked at me and spoke.
"That princess... scares me more than my big sister. I mean, if they fought, my sister would definitely win — but it's not that kind of scary. She's genuinely terrifying."
The flow of events had been that defeating Ceres would, at worst, give birth to a monster on par with Ceres. No, the threat was different from Ceres, so the two couldn't really be compared.
"...What should I do?"
Inside the Jewel.
I had extended my right arm toward Lyle. Lyle was repairing the flow of blue light running through my right arm while humoring my complaints.
"What is it? Another scary princess this time? Why do you keep attracting nothing but old women? Lyle really has his hands full with old women."
A room within my memories. It was the room where I had been confined.
Sitting on the bed, I averted my gaze from Lyle.
"...Ev-everyone's always been kind to me."
"That's right. Kind to 'you,' at least. If you let your guard down, it seems like they'd start a full-on fight to the death. ...Oh my, this is bad too. Why break things so meticulously? And the neglect period has been too long—repairs are harder than I thought."
The flow of mana inside me, torn to shreds by Ceres. Lyle, working to repair it, pressed her hands together against my back.
Small hands were stroking my back.
"Revenge. You don't understand true revenge. Besides, a self-destructive approach is second-rate as revenge. True revenge is—ugh, this is bad too."
Lyle was laughing, saying things like "I should have treated this earlier."
And then she said to me.
"...I've told you before, haven't I? That I want you to save your family. Here's a question—what do you think salvation means, for 'my and your' family?"
I answered Lyle's question, looking down.
"Killing them. Killing them so they don't suffer."
I couldn't see what expression Lyle was wearing. But she certainly didn't look like she was enjoying this.
"Correct. And that's the greatest salvation available to manipulated parents. There's also the option of hiding them somewhere, I suppose. But the parents I know would never accept that. A father who was more noble than anyone. A gentle, proud mother. If they were freed from Ceres, they'd both choose death. That's who they were."
Hearing Lyle's words, I felt a deep sadness.
"I don't even have those memories. Hey, give them back to me. I... I only have vague memories. I want memories of my family. I want to remember!"
Lyle didn't answer. Then she placed her hands on both my shoulders. I felt my body grow warm, and the silent Lyle finally spoke.
"...I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
I raised my face. I tried to turn around, but with her hands pressing down on my shoulders, I couldn't. Even craning my neck, Lyle was looking down, so I couldn't see her face.
"I think returning the memories is the right thing to do. The memories that were released from Ceres's seal by the Jewel—that's what I am. For a person, memories are precious. So precious they can determine the very course of one's life..."
"Then!"
"That's exactly why!"
Lyle shouted at the top of their lungs.
"That's exactly why I can't give you the memories. I don't want to. What's important to the Jewel isn't the Lyle of now. It's a Lyle who can defeat Ceres. That's why the Jewel wants to make me stronger. But that's not it. I—"
Lyle released their hands from both my shoulders.
When I turned around, the room was dyed gray and crumbled away like sand. A gray sandstorm blew, and what remained was a room that recreated the inside of the Jewel.
In the recreated room, the First, Fourth, and Sixth Generations were sitting in their chairs. The inside of the Jewel, dyed gray.
Even looking around, none of the four reacted to me.
The round table expanded, becoming like an arena, and Lyle gripped the saber in their right hand. The saber received on their birthday. The saber I had kept wielding.
A ten-year-old figure. That very version of me had taken a stance with the saber.
"...If I win, you'll return them, right?"
I extended my left hand forward, and the katana I had been using appeared. Gripping the sheath, I grasped the hilt with my right hand and drew the blade.
Lyle was smiling.
"Now, the treatment is over. Even in this state, you can draw out power from four to five. Come at me seriously. If you want those memories so badly, then defeat me and take them!"
Even more power entered my body than before. Power that couldn't quite fit was now settling into me. I felt lines of blue light racing through my entire being.
Lyle was the same. In an instant, they closed the distance and thrust the saber at me. But I caught the saber's blade between my side and arm, and in that same motion, launched a kick.
Lyle swiftly released the saber, flew sideways, and landed on the floor.
"I can see it!"
Me, who until now couldn't even easily keep up with them, could now match Lyle's speed. And then, I slammed the sheath in my left hand down onto Lyle. It struck the floor violently, shattering that section.
Leaping up, Lyle, still holding the saber, swung it straight down at me.
I caught it with the katana in my right hand, and sparks flew.
"—This is the next stage. Lyle, you still don't understand. The weapons of the successive heads can be used like this too!"
What appeared in Lyle's left hand was the Sixth Generation's halberd. It swung sideways, and I caught it with the sheath in my left hand. I pinned the shaft and tried to kick it away, but Lyle pulled the halberd back.
The blade of the axe slashed my left arm, and blood gushed out.
Lyle tossed the saber aside and was swinging the halberd with both arms. I let go of the sheath, and the moment it touched the floor, it shattered like glass and vanished.
"Wh-why?"
"I told you, didn't I? You're not the only one who can use them. I'm 'Lyle Walt' too. I can use the weapons of the successive heads."
The halberd Lyle held looked strange. The shape of the axe, the spear, and the length of the shaft—they were all different.
I drove the katana into the floor, gripped the halberd with both hands, and a familiar-shaped halberd appeared.
As Lyle closed in, they skillfully swung the halberd around. Meanwhile, I, who had been drawn too close, was slow to react.
"The reach is—"
"Wrong. That's right—the Sixth Generation's halberd can change the shape of its blade and the length of its shaft. Why couldn't you figure that out?"
When I shortened the shaft in response, this time Lyle did the opposite and extended the shaft—stretching it out ten meters—and when it reached the ceiling of the room, they transformed the halberd into a bow.
I quickly prepared the Fourth Generation's short swords and deployed them in front of me. The blades spun in a circle, but the arrows Lyle released didn't come at me—they scattered in every direction, and then, just barely above the ground, they changed course.
"Tch!"
I deflected two arrows of light with the short swords in both hands, but an arrow of light pierced my right arm and left thigh.
"You haven't mastered the Second Generation's bow, have you? With the right technique, you could do something like this too. And besides—"
What Lyle was gripping was the Fourth Generation's short sword. I felt them activate their Skill, and I quickly used a Skill of my own.
"—Too slow."
Before I knew it, silver short swords were embedded all over my body. My knees buckled and I collapsed, and then the short swords vanished and the wounds on my body began to heal.
Managing to drag myself upright, I found Lyle standing atop the floating short swords. She had created footholds out of the blades, and when she leaped into the air, she drew out a greatsword next. The greatsword the First Generation had wielded was a weapon specialized entirely for destruction.
I prepared a greatsword of my own. The greatsword — a hunk of solid metal — clashed against hers, and I was the one sent flying.
I tumbled across the ground, barely managing not to let go of my greatsword.
Lyle had the greatsword resting on her shoulder. A child carrying a greatsword larger than her own body, she turned to look at me.
"Your Skills and your weapons... you really are terrible with all of it. Each one is already powerful enough on its own, but you never bothered to think about how to actually use them. Did you seriously think you could beat Ceres like this? I certainly can't return your memories like this."
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to my feet. I drove the First Generation's greatsword into the ground and pushed myself up. Nearby stood the First Generation from within my memories. I had the feeling her gaze was directed at me.
"Easy for you to say... what would you even know about it? My memories were stolen, I can't even make sense of that, and I don't understand anything! I'm causing trouble for everyone around me, and they keep telling me it's still not enough — but those are my memories! Give them back to me!"
Lyle said nothing. She simply lowered the greatsword from her shoulder and took her stance. As she drew in my mana, the savage greatsword shifted its form.
I couldn't understand it. Lyle was supposed to have the goal of returning my memories to me — so why would she refuse?
But if I had to imagine one reason...
"You're just afraid of disappearing yourself, aren't you? If you give my memories back, who knows what'll happen to you!"
Lyle smiled sadly.
"Yeah, that's right. That's exactly it. I'm scared of disappearing too! So if you want them back, try killing me! Go ahead — try to wipe me out!!"
Imitating Lyle, I flooded my greatsword with mana. It emitted a blue light and transformed its shape. Once it had taken on a form different from Lyle's, we both unleashed every Skill we had and charged forward.
When the greatwords collided, a violent shockwave ripped through the room.