To put it bluntly, Fonbeau ended up taking on one corner of the Banseim siege network.
The terms could only be described as extraordinary: Fonbeau would take the lead in rallying the surrounding nations to unify the western continent.
The reason they were motivated was the return of territory governed by the Lesnoto Margrave — former Fonbeau land — and, most of all, one other reason.
With a disheveled woman straddling him, I was lying on the floor of the Porter's cargo hold. Our clothes were both in disarray, and we were both breathing heavily.
Hearing that much, it might sound like a rather intimate story, but when you factor in that the one being straddled happened to be me, you can probably guess.
"Nngh... grgh..."
"How dare you... how dare you ruin my plans!"
Her expression was positively demonic. And looking up at Lady Lianne from below was absolutely terrifying — the kind of face that'd show up in my nightmares. What's more, her outstretched arm — her hand — was squeezing my neck.
"Hey, get off Lyle!"
Aria rushed to pull Lianne off, but even the physically trained Aria was struggling. Monica, too, stashed the tools she'd been holding and lunged toward me, trying to pry the two of us apart.
But her nails were digging into my neck, and it hurt. Blood was trickling out.
"B-Blood! There's blood!"
Monica turned to Shannon.
"She's thrashing around in this cramped space. Could you get the medicine?"
Shannon opened the seating portion of the Porter's sofa and retrieved medicine from inside. Braubey, grandson of the Lesnoto Margrave, saw this woman's demonic behavior and clung to his mother, Parcerena, terrified.
When the Porter came to a sudden stop, Clara poked her head out from the cargo hold.
"Um, it's awfully noisy in— whoa."
Having grasped the situation, Clara glanced at me and Lianne, then came over. She took the medicine case from Shannon, extracted some medicine, soaked it in a cloth, and pressed it against my neck. The wound stung, and to make matters worse, Lianne was thrashing right in front of me, looking like she might lunge at any moment.
—In other words, that's how it went. Fonbeau, upon learning that Lianne — who'd seized the castle — would be dumped on me, had joyfully promised their cooperation. On the surface they gave all sorts of reasons, but what they were really celebrating was being freed from Lianne.
Lianne had her power in Fonbeau stripped away by me and my family.
The Fifth Generation was worried about Braubei, who was trembling in fear.
"This is going to leave a scar. Third Generation, couldn't you seal her memories with Mind or something—"
The Third Generation laughed.
"Ha ha ha, no good, I'm afraid. My Skills aren't that powerful anyway, and there's always a chance she might remember something out of the blue, so I can't recommend it. Imagine her having a panic attack at some critical moment down the road. Still... this is more than I expected."
Indeed, Lianne was far more problematic than anyone had anticipated. Taking in someone like Lianne — that was the final strategy Laiel had left behind. In practice, Fonbeau had agreed to cooperate, and they'd even shown the illusion of the Seventh Generation to the dignitaries and the king alike, triggering their trauma all over again.
That should keep them from making a move on our side for a while.
When Clara finished wrapping the bandage around my neck, I touched it gingerly.
"Does it hurt?"
"No, I'm fine. Thanks. Make sure you look after Aria too."
When I stood up, Lianne — pinned in a headlock by Monica — was flailing wildly, her hair a disheveled mess. Aria had blood running from her hand, apparently scratched by Lianne's nails.
Lianne's own nails were cracked and bleeding too, but she still tried to lunge at me, looking every bit like a wild animal.
Then Parselena rose to her feet, stepping away from Braubei. She walked right up to Lianne and delivered a sharp slap.
"What should I..."
As I stood there flustered, Mireia appeared from inside the Jewel. Then Parselena spoke to me.
"Laiel, just stand back and watch."
"I know I'm overstepping, but I can't simply stand by. Please, just watch for a moment. The princess of Fonbeau — Her Highness Princess Lianne, correct? I am Parselena... Parselena Lesneau."
Lianne hung her head before the woman introducing herself, her tangled hair curtaining her face, still trapped in the headlock.
"What was that little performance just now? Making a scene because you refuse to accept something that's already been decided? You are a princess of the realm... Learn to accept that you cannot defy the will of the kingdom."
The calm, soft-spoken woman stood poised and dignified before Lianne. Aria, Monica, Shannon, Clara — not one of them said a word.
Through the gap in the hair concealing her face, violet eyes were visible. The same violet eyes as Novem's, but without a shred of kindness in them.
"The wife of a border lord's heir, putting on such airs toward me—"
Being held in a headlock, Lianne tried to snap the fingers of her right hand. It was the gesture used to activate a skill—
The Third Generation spoke to me.
'Lyle, if you scramble that kind of skill just a little, it won't activate. Use any skill you have — try interfering with Lyle's.'
—In a panic, I deployed the Second Generation's skill — Field — and interfered, and Lianne's skill failed to activate.
Her fingers had merely snapped. Lianne stared at her own right hand. Then she looked at me.
"Interfering with me again… I believed in you… I believed you were someone seeking the same revenge!"
Thinking I didn't need that kind of trust anyway, I nevertheless felt relieved that I had sealed her skill. Parselema spoke to Lianne.
"I have heard about what happened with His Highness the Crown Prince. It was an important matter for House Lesno as well. However, what you are doing now is wrong."
Lianne was glaring at Parselema.
"I am not telling you not to seek revenge. Nor do I have the right to say so. But the reason you cling to it so desperately — is it not because you still love him?"
Parselema had neither Shannon's kind of eyes nor any special skill, yet she saw straight through to what was buried in Lianne's heart — Lianne, who burned with the desire for revenge against Crown Prince Rufus.
Lianne fell silent. Tears were pattering down her cheeks.
"That's not it. I am…"
Parselema spoke.
"You were not discarded. You are alive. And you have not been bewitched by Ceres either. …Why not consider this instead: perhaps you were pushed away precisely because you were loved."
Lianne said nothing. Her expression showed she was not convinced.
But hearing Parselema's words, I remembered what the First Generation had said. That I had survived while my parents lived under Ceres's dominion — it may have been partly luck, but it might also have been my parents' desperate resistance.
There was no way to verify it. Still, I wished it were true.
Parserena offered her words to Lianne, who remained silent.
"Be happy. Even if it means taking revenge—even if you were loved, it will serve you well."
It felt as though those words were directed at me.
Night.
I was preparing to make camp after halting Porter when I noticed May's reaction.
Stepping outside, I found May arriving with luggage in hand. She raised her bag with a grin.
"Special delivery!"
She said it beaming. Seeing May approach with that smile, I recalled the events of the day—and—
"You stay exactly the way you are. Really, just the way you are—"
That was when May tilted her head.
The Fifth Generation, seeing that gesture from within the Jewel, seemed to be chuckling softly.
"Don't be an idiot. May's a good girl. Too good for you... and too good for me, honestly."
May held the bag out to me.
"This letter is for Shannon to see too. And this one's from Jampeir, and this one is..."
Looking inside, May explained each item. After going through them, I asked May about her plans going forward.
"So, May—what are you going to do after this?"
May stretched her back.
"I'm tired, so I think I'll take it easy. Eat a lot and spend a few days relaxing. Novem and the others are heading from Jampeir into Banseim, then south toward the west, right? Something about heading southwest, that's what I heard."
The Seventh Generation then spoke up from within the Jewel.
"Southwest Banseim... that'd be House Walt's territory. Well, I suppose there's nothing to worry about if it's Novem and the others..."
In Banseim, the one who holds the largest territory among the lords, after the king, is House Walt. The lands they have expanded over generations have now become the number one territory in Banseim. Because of that, when you say southwest, you mean House Walt's domain. There were vassals around it as well... no, the territory of House Foxes was also there.
"That was the plan all along, to head there if there was room. It means Novem and the others are doing well, right?"
May was smiling.
"That's right. The king of Jampeir, you see. He wants to drink sake with Lyle. Just the two of them."
I was opening the letter, but hearing those words, my hands stopped. Slowly, I raised my head and spoke to May.
"...I can't drink alcohol, you know."
"That's true! But Novem accepted the offer, so you can do it."
With some anxiety about a drinking party with the king of Jampeir, I spread the letter and checked its contents. Inside the letter were the results from Jampeir. And written there was information about how much military force they could deploy.
It contained not only Miranda's insights but also information Eva had heard from her kin.
"...Jampeir has no issue with the quality of its soldiers, but there is concern about combat on flat land. They were already strong in mountains and forests, so if we could somehow utilize that..."
As I was deep in thought, I heard the sound of a stomach rumbling. It was May.
"I'm hungry."
I smiled, and decided to return to Porter and have Monika prepare a meal.
The next morning.
Shannon stood before Monika, holding a letter with a troubled expression on her face.
"Umm, this one says that the weather in Jampeir had been continuously sunny, and this one says the fruit was delicious..."
As Shannon read the letter and spoke in vague terms, Monika swung down her hammer. It was a hammer, but its material was not iron but something light. It wasn't paper either, but when it hit, it made a "ping!" sound which was amusing.
"I want one of those."
When I said that, Braubei-kun also looked at Monika's hammer—which had a yellow handle, a red hammer part, and dented upon impact but immediately returned to its original shape—with his eyes shining.
Monika was facing Shannon.
"That's right, it's wrong. Be careful about what you say. Since checking answers counts as a failure, your allowance for this month is cut in half. Now, if these failures keep piling up, it'll only get worse."
"What?! I worked really hard! Besides, you should've told me to write bigger and more neatly! My handwriting's all wobbly and hard to read!"
Seeing Shannon on the verge of tears, Clara threw her a lifeline.
"Well, picture books are written to be easy to understand, after all. With a regular letter, the difficulty level might still be a bit high."
Shannon, who had been thrown the lifeline, turned a smile toward Clara. But Aria spoke up.
"Still, if you can't read this, it's going to be tough. Do your best, Shannon."
In reality, it was a problem because we needed her to read them accurately. Shannon's education would become necessary for the strategies ahead.
On Porter's cargo bed.
Seeing Lianne sitting off in a corner, I hesitated over how to approach her. While everyone had gathered around Shannon, Lianne alone was sitting at a remove from the group.
That was when Parselena spoke to me.
"Please leave her be for now. She's eating too, and simply watching over her is enough. That child is a strong one. I'm sure she'll pull through on her own."
Seeing Parselena beside Braubei-kun, I caught a faint glimpse of what it meant to be a mother.
"Understood. I'll do that. ...We'll be returning to Baron Lesnoy's domain before long. She'll stay with us for a while, but after that she'll be released, so please bear with it."
Parselena wore a slightly troubled expression.
"...You say that as though you intend to use it as a bargaining chip, yet you're remarkably kind about it."
I replied with a straight face.
"The fact that she has value as a bargaining chip is precisely why I'd say I'm handling her with care. Then again, there are some personal feelings involved too, so it varies from person to person."
Having secured Fonbeau's cooperation, we were on our way back to Baron Lesnoy's territory.
Shannon, eyes brimming with tears, was checking the last letter. Then, suddenly, her hand stopped. She looked over toward Monika.
"...Tell her I figured it out."
Monika apparently relayed that to the Valkyries. The Valkyries' response came back with no apparent issues.
"They say Miranda said it was fine too. Now then, today's evaluation is… dessert banned for two days, and this month's allowance is halved. You should consider yourself lucky — if everything had failed, it would've been a week without dessert and no allowance at all."
Shannon scowled at Monika's bright, cheerful smile. But she was clutching the letter to her chest protectively.
"Just you wait. Someday I'll get you back for this!"
Monika snorted at Shannon's words.
"Do your best, then. Though I suppose it'll be interesting to see how much you can manage in the remaining few months."
May was watching Monika and Shannon while lying on her side.
"Monika's not really honest, is she? Actually, Miranda probably gave Shannon—"
Before May could finish, Clara cut her off.
"Please don't say it. Well, I suppose that's what sisterly affection is."
Miranda had surely given Shannon an easy problem to solve.