――That was the throne room.
In that place where only the king was permitted to sit, Ceres was lounging with her feet resting on the back of Remis, who was prostrating himself on the floor.
The one who appeared in such a place was a young man with a center-parted hairstyle and black hair grown longer than before — Bread Bumper, who had claimed for himself the armor of the knight who once stood against Ceres.
He had formerly been lovers with Doris, the daughter of Viscount Sakurai — now a baron — but he had since joined Ceres's personal guard and now had eyes only for her.
Having achieved the advancement he had always desired, he now commanded thirty thousand soldiers of Central.
"Lady Ceres, I, Bread, shall lead thirty thousand elite soldiers against Baim, who has insulted Lady Ceres. Please await the good news."
Bread Bumper had intended to show off his prized armor before departing and report to Ceres, hoping she would finally take notice of him.
However, Ceres was being fed fruit by Rufus — the Crown Prince — who stood nearby holding a large platter.
She then made a slight gesture of contemplation, her mouth chewing away. That alone was enough to make the men around her blush. These were men who wore risqué clothing completely out of place for the room — men whom Ceres had taken into her keep.
They were all handsome, and all of them loved Ceres. No — they were captivated by her. Having cast aside their wives and lovers of old, they had all become Ceres's playthings.
"Baim? Oh, now that you mention it, I did say something about that, didn't I? Lately it's been so boring — there haven't been any nobles with the spirit to rebel within the country. But moving all the way to Baim sounds like a hassle... I left it to Bread, didn't I?"
"Yes! Even if it costs me my life, I will eradicate every last one of Baim's people!"
The personal guard's morale was incredibly high, for they had been told that those who insulted Ceres would pay with their very lives. This was an army of men who had long since abandoned any regard for their own lives, utterly captivated by Ceres.
Ceres seemed utterly uninterested.
"Bring me back something interesting as a souvenir. Also, one of the hostages I've had my eye on for a while finally yielded to me today. So I'd like to hurry back to the harem, if you don't mind?"
Bread Bumper hastily apologized.
"I-I'm terribly sorry! I'll depart immediately!"
But Ceres just giggled.
"Wait. Come to think of it, Baim has that bastard, doesn't it? Bread, take that 'medicine' with you. Use it as an absolute last resort."
That medicine — it was a substance brought in from Zayin, then perfected in Banseim through repeated human experimentation, a drug designed to fuse humans and Monsters together.
Those words left Bread stunned.
"Y-Your Excellency Ceres, surely there's no need to go that far —"
Ceres stepped up onto the dais, gazing down at Bread from her elevated position.
"Who gave you permission to talk back? This isn't the kind of drug that kills you right away, you know. Besides, can you not risk your life for me?"
At those words, killing intent from the surrounding men converged on Bread. Their sharp gazes looked ready to pounce on him at any moment.
"Th-That is not the case at all! Before ever resorting to such a drug, I wanted to meet Your Excellency Ceres's expectations! I, Bread, belong to Your Excellency Ceres in entirety. Name your orders, and I shall carry out any mission, no matter what!"
Ceres watched Bread scramble to make his excuses with a smile. She had seen right through his desperate lie. Her expression made it clear she understood — he desperately did not want to become something grotesque.
Cold sweat trickled down Bread's back.
"Very well. I'll forgive you. But in return, you will work for me."
With that, Ceres descended from the dais and headed back to the harem at the break of dawn. The men around her followed. Crown Prince Rufus trailed behind as well.
Bread exhaled in relief and thought to himself:
*(I've finally seized my chance. I want to serve under Your Excellency Ceres for as long as possible. I have no desire to take a drug that would turn me into a monster. In that case, I'll need to earn distinction in Baim. There just so happens to be someone there… Laiel. I'll have him die for me. I'll present his head before Your Excellency Ceres, and then I too will enter her harem. That way, both as a man and as a vassal, Your Excellency Ceres will finally look my way.)*
Bread, whose sense of values had long since been twisted, swore within his heart to claim the head of Laiel — the man who had once shown him just how vast the gap between them truly was.
—The front lines of Banseim.
At the very place where a neighboring nation once stood, Broa Cadel watched the armies gathering in steadily increasing numbers.
The largest forces numbered in the thousands. The smallest ranged from a handful to several dozen.
From Knight Baron households to Duchy-level nobility, a wide spectrum of noble armies had assembled.
Broa surveyed the assembled forces and let out a sigh.
"Here we are, struggling with a shortage of manpower, while those who have plenty just keep on having plenty."
The two of them—the knight serving as adjutant and himself—watched from a room in the castle once used by a neighboring kingdom's king as military forces arrived one after another.
"Receiving preparations threw our schedule way off, I'll admit."
Broa was smiling.
"Truly. Stocking up for the reception of hundreds of thousands of troops, then gathering materials for the strategy conference on the Baim campaign—it was a nightmare all around. Now, if there's one problem to worry about—"
The adjutant knight nodded with a serious expression.
"The Royal Guard and elite units coming from Central. They have an impressive track record, no question, but the rumors about them are all bad. That they carry out massacres for the fun of it. They haven't given a single thought to postwar governance."
Broa returned to his desk and picked up a dossier.
"Bread Bumper. Born into a knightly family that wasn't even hereditary. He distinguished himself in battle, earned full knighthood, and was promoted straight into the Royal Guard. His résumé looks impeccable on paper—the knight he defeated was a well-known name in Banseim, too."
The adjutant knight looked disgruntled.
"Apparently he participated in the previous Griffon extermination. He might know the eldest son of House Walt over in Baim. Shouldn't we keep an eye on him?"
At those words, Broa shook his head. The adjutant knight had never seen Ceres up close. Because of that, he underestimated her in some way.
"That won't be an issue. If the Royal Guard accepted a man like that, he must absolutely adore Lady Ceres. The real concern is that he's never had any proper experience commanding a unit. And yet they've handed him thirty thousand men for what will be his first real large-scale battle. All I can hope is that he stays out of the way."
Broa half-expected Bread to turn the battlefield into chaos.
The two of them watched the black column of troops snaking along the road and predicted that the coming invasion of Baim would be a grim affair.
Broa had this to say—
"I'd like to keep casualties to a minimum, if at all possible. I know that might be asking too much, though."
We had set out to seek Fonbeau's cooperation, and now we were heading back to South Baim via Cartafus by sea.
When we arrived aboard the Vera Trace, loaded to the brim with cargo, Novem and the others—who had gotten there ahead of us—along with Adele and the rest were there to greet us.
Lianne, her pink hair pulled back in a ponytail, was dressed in practical, easy-to-move-in clothing. She came down the gangway carrying a travel bag stuffed full of supplies they had procured in Cartafus.
She didn't look like a princess, but she had an air about her all the same.
"So this is South Baim. I'd heard about it, but it's developed quite a bit. There are a lot of ships too, and the port is packed with cargo."
She was smiling softly, seemingly understanding that the cargo had everything to do with the coming war.
Ever since Banseim declared war on Baim, preparations at South Baim had been racing forward at breakneck speed.
As Novem approached us, Miranda waved at me. She was watching Shannon, who had come ashore with her.
"Shannon, you haven't been causing anyone trouble, have you?"
At Miranda's cheerful smile, Shannon averted her gaze.
"Of course I haven't. Do you have any idea how many crises I've gotten us out of with my quick thinking? Rael was a real pain, you know."
It had certainly been a pain. The biggest crisis of all had been having the pink-haired demon smiling beside me while she strangled me with a murderous look on her face.
But the one who'd saved me hadn't been Shannon — it had been Parselena, who'd been taken hostage.
Seeing Shannon casting desperate looks around for someone to rescue her, Clara, who had just disembodied, gave Miranda an apologetic nod.
But Miranda seemed to figure it out from that alone.
"You caused trouble, didn't you? Well, I figured as much."
"I... I really tried my best, you know."
Listening to the sisters' conversation, I asked Novem for her report. I'd already gotten information through Monica, but I'd wanted to hear it confirmed directly.
No — maybe I'd just wanted to talk to Novem.
"Any new intelligence?"
"None. Baim still seems to believe they can handle this on their own. I've heard reports that they've reinforced Redant Fortress, and that over a hundred thousand people — including Baim's own citizens — have gathered for the defense..."
The neighboring countries were reluctant to assist Baim.
Baim had cut me loose. That single act of abandonment was now entangling the surrounding nations and pushing Baim into an increasingly desperate situation.
I looked at Novem.
"I want Baim to hold on. I'd like them to hold out as long as possible."
Novem nodded in agreement.
"Everything is proceeding exactly as Lord Raierel predicted. Once the trap is sprung, the rest should fall into place as planned."
Novem seemed fully convinced that the strategy I — no, the strategy the Successive Heads inside the Jewel and Mireia and the others had devised together would succeed without fail.
And so I spoke to Novem.
"Hey, Novem."
"Yes?"
Looking at Novem's face as she waited for my words, I swallowed what I was about to say. I felt a twinge of shame at myself for almost blurting out something like "Do you love me? Setting aside House Walt, I mean."
I hadn't grown at all.
Besides, this wasn't the place to ask something like that.
"No, it's nothing. I'm going back to rest a bit. Oh, and this is Lianne. You've met before, I think."
Lianne greeted Novem.
"Nice to meet you — well, we've met, but let's get along. Novem, please teach me lots of things as my senior. Back in Kartafus, Ludmilla kept her guard up around me, so I couldn't really have a proper conversation with her. Let's be friends!"
Novem returned Lianne's greeting with a smile.
"Of course. Let's get along, Lianne."
"Just Lianne is fine."
"Then I'm fine with just Novem too."
Their smiling exchange might have looked heartwarming to anyone watching from the outside. But for some reason… it felt like they were sizing each other up. I was probably just tired. That had to be it.
Between the visions I'd seen inside the Jewel, being threatened by the Fifth Generation, and having the Sixth Generation's failures paraded before me, I was probably just worn thin.
I shook my head and noticed that Aria, Clara, Miranda, and Shannon — who were standing nearby — kept glancing back and forth between Novem and me.
And then, Shannon speaks.
"That's incredible. Their magical energy is clashing violently. Novem is deflecting it, but that princess, Lianne, is extremely aggressive."
Miranda, looking at Lianne.
"She's a troublesome opponent. I don't think she'd lose, but dealing with her will be a real handful."
Watching Miranda say such things, Aria looked exasperated.
"At least try to get along a little. Seriously, why do we have to be so on guard with each other when we're on the same side?"
Clara said to the exasperated Aria.
"You're mistaken, Aria. It's precisely because we're comrades that we must be on guard. It's the same within a family."
As we were having that conversation at the dock, Vera and Monica descended from the gangplank.
"Oh? You're still here? You should head back and get some rest soon. Once things get busy, you won't be able to get proper sleep."
Feeling Vera's kind concern, I tell myself that surely Novem and Lianne aren't engaged in a subtle standoff.
—Baim.
Tanja, who handles reception at the Guild, brushed the hair from her ear.
Normally, while working the front desk, she had a hidden identity as a cleaner—or Sweeper. Lately, she had been feeling the silence in the Guild.
Even though troublemakers were as common as ever, she exhaled softly upon seeing the state of the Eastern Branch, which felt a touch lonely.
It had been quite busy since Lyle's party left Baim. Moreover, the atmosphere within Baim had been tilting daily toward war, and now many adventurers were being assigned to the city's defense instead of their usual work.
When that happened, fewer adventurers returned to the Guild after completing their jobs.
This was the calm before the storm, Tanja thought.
"I just hope it ends without any incidents."
Lyle's actions, and the great nation of Banseim.
As those forces were about to swallow Baim, Tahnia felt a palpable sense of dread —.