──The Royal Capital was regaining its calm.
The fires that had erupted throughout the city had been extinguished, and a gentle moonlight now draped over the Royal Capital.
The shouts and clamor that had echoed everywhere had finally faded into silence, and the stillness of a clear night returned.
This could only mean one thing: the takeover of the Royal Capital was now fully complete.
"...Well then."
Confirming the situation from his window, the man — Laplace — turned on his heel and walked through the corridors of the Royal Palace.
His destination was the Audience Chamber.
There, the next king — the prince whom he nominally served — should be waiting.
He would need to align their plans for the future. His footsteps echoed at a measured, unhurried pace—
—until they suddenly stopped.
His gaze fixed on a figure lurking in the shadow of a bend in the corridor.
Laplace... offered a wry smile tinged with faint surprise and spoke in a familiar tone.
"──Hey there. Boss."
The figure returned an identical expression.
Between the two of them, the rigid hierarchy one might expect within a strict organization was strikingly absent.
"You showed up, huh? Nobody spotted you, right? I thought you weren't supposed to appear in public yet for a while."
The figure apologized with a wry smile, conveying that it was out of concern.
Then they asked — how did things go?
"Everything went according to plan. The capture of the Royal Capital, which was an essential objective, was wrapped up so smoothly it was almost anticlimactic. The royal guard was nothing special either — honestly, I didn't even need to go myself for that. Everything went exactly as planned."
Even as he said it, Laplace's expression was bitter. The figure mercilessly pointed this out, and Laplace raised his hands in acknowledgment as if to say they'd seen through everything.
"...Fine, fine. You got me. That's right — Ermes and his little band managed to slip away from us spectacularly. We threw even more force at them than what we were certain would be enough to capture them, and they broke through all of it. Dammit."
Recalling the scene, Laplace analyzed.
"Ermes had prepared countermeasures of his own against us, and the Trackia bunch had grown even beyond what we'd analyzed at the academy. On top of all that — that princess had gone and learned some incomprehensible magic. No way I could've read that on first sight."
The cause was most likely that jade tablet. He knew that about a week ago, Ermes had become the princess's tutor. He suspected that during that time, she'd been made to acquire something.
"So that means the first crack in the plan was that academy business. If Ermes hadn't beaten me up there, this plan wouldn't have been delayed, the audience we'd been holding back would've happened sooner, the usurpation would've accelerated, and the princess wouldn't have grown at all.
...Seriously? When I think about it that way, he's been interfering with everything. And judging by how she was, next time I meet her she's going to be even more troublesome. — Ugh, damn it, I'm getting pissed off all over again."
Laplace muttered irritably, his hostility plain to see.
He reflected once more that letting them escape back there had been a painful miscalculation, but—
"──But like I said from the start.
Everything went according to plan."
Suppressing his personal anger, and once again assuming the role of an organization executive.
A cold smile returned to his face as Laplace declared.
"We let Princess Liliana slip away, and it seems they failed to capture the Second Princess too with their botched handling of the prince... but—"
He directed a gaze toward the figure that carried both familiarity and respect.
"Like I said from the beginning, our sole objective this time was the capture of the Royal Capital — nothing else. In fact, everything beyond that is irrelevant. Or rather—
No matter what turns out it's all designed so we win in the end."
He addressed his superior once more.
"That was the plan you drew up, wasn't it, Boss?"
The figure nodded in agreement.
Failure is inherent in any plan.
Therefore — even those failures had been accounted for as margins within the plan itself. They had missed the optimal outcome, but the current situation had not deviated from their expectations in the slightest.
As long as they could share that understanding, it was enough. The two nodded to each other.
"So, let's talk about what comes next. For now, I'll speak with the prince and determine our stance toward the domestic nobility going forward. ...Oh, I won't let my guard down. Prince Helck isn't brilliant, but he's no fool either. Manipulating him takes some effort, but — well, I'll handle that."
The figure said — the grand finale is approaching at last. Laplace nodded.
"And once the matter with the country reaches its conclusion, we move on to the real objective.
Boss. — We're going to retrieve 'your magic.' If we can do that, it's checkmate — the rest is just a mop-up operation."
And with that, the two shared a final laugh.
"The glorious destruction you've been dreaming of is just around the corner. — Shall we enjoy it?"
The two turned their backs on each other and resumed walking toward their respective destinations.
◆
At the same time, deep in a forest far from the Royal Capital.
At a distance and location where pursuit was no longer an immediate concern, six shadows sat facing each other around a campfire.
Ermes, Katia, Sara, Yurugen, Albert, and Liliana.
All that remained of the Third Princess's faction — just six people.
Opening on behalf of the group, Yurugen spoke.
"...Now then, I'd like to discuss our plans going forward."
As the only adult present, his words naturally drew everyone's attention.
"The Royal Capital has been seized by the First Prince's faction. To reclaim it, we must gather fighting strength above all else. I believe everyone is on the same page about this."
After confirming everyone's agreement, Yurugen continued.
"If that's the case, the question is where to go. There are several candidates.
The first one that comes to mind is — 'relying on Rose.'"
Reaction to this suggestion was split down the middle.
Rose — Roselia Kirsch von Yustia.
A former friend of Yurugen's, and Ermes's master's master.
Ermes and Katia, who knew of this relationship, nodded in understanding, while Sara, Albert, and Liliana — who had only just been told about it — showed fresh astonishment on their faces.
Among them, the girl who was surely most shaken — Liliana drew Ermes's gaze. Sensing this, Liliana spoke.
"...I was surprised. I never imagined that the 'Sky Witch' herself was my master's master's master. But — in a sense, it makes perfect sense.
There are many things I'd like to ask... but for now, if she's on our side, she's undoubtedly a reliable ally."
From her words, there was no trace of the wariness she had once felt toward Rose.
Liliana had apparently been subjected to slander on account of 'resembling the Sky Witch' — but she showed no signs of still being weighed down by it.
Albert and Sara were surprised but showed no aversion either. If that was the case — everyone turned to Yurugen. With that established, Yurugen opened his mouth.
"Relying on Rose is an option — but I would not recommend it."
This time, shock spread to everyone present.
"May we hear your reasons?"
"Of course."
But Ermes, who had already sensed what was coming, was the first to ask. Yurugen nodded and began his explanation.
"First and most importantly, the difference in the quality of the 'fighting strength' we need. Rose is strong. Incredibly strong. Within the scope of human capability, she is without question the strongest in the kingdom.
But — even so. She remains in the category of what Lord Laplace called 'merely strong.'"
That was right.
What the Liliana faction desperately lacked was not individual combat strength — it was numbers.
Having Rose join them would certainly be reassuring. But whether her addition alone would be enough to reclaim the Royal Capital — that was another matter entirely.
If it were... then Rose wouldn't have been driven out of the Royal Capital in the first place.
"That's the situation. Adding Rose is attractive, but it wouldn't be a decisive move. In fact, when it comes to gathering numbers — a cohesive military force — 'having her as an ally' could actually become a disadvantage."
"!"
Katia gritted her teeth. The rest showed a kind of reluctant understanding.
That was right. The people here were unusually free of bias, but the vast majority of this country was different.
What she had done in the Royal Capital, combined with nationwide information manipulation — the 'Sky Witch' was an undisputed villain to most nobles and commoners alike.
With her present, they risked losing potential allies who would otherwise have joined them. Regrettable as it was, this had to be acknowledged.
"In addition, there's her temperament. If we explained the situation, Rose would certainly shelter us. But... I honestly have no confidence that she would proactively commit to 'reclaiming the Royal Capital.'"
"...True. Master would probably say something like, 'Alright, let's all flee the country together!' — no. There's a high probability she'd actually say exactly that."
Even Ermes, who knew Rose well, said as much.
She loathed the Royal Capital. Her contact with Katia and the others had softened that feeling compared to the past, but when it came to actively pursuing the reclamation of a place where she had experienced something like that... he wasn't particularly confident.
"And finally... there's time.
Ermes, let me ask you directly. If you set out for Rose's location right now — how long would it take to reach her?"
Ermes thought for a few seconds.
"...Three days. Master lives at the very edge of the country, and even with the Seamless Great Eagle, I can't fly through the sky all day."
"Right. Three days, meaning six days round trip. Add in time for explanations and preparation, and it's a full week. — That's a fatal loss for us in our current situation. To put it in extreme terms, if we run into pursuers during that time, it's almost certainly game over. You understand — we are in the most dangerous situation right now."
For these reasons, Yurugen concluded that relying on Rose immediately was unwise, at least for now.
"Naturally, we'll need to find some way to communicate our situation to her eventually. But... I believe it would be dangerous to determine our future course based solely on Rose."
"..."
The reasoning was sound. Ermes had no objection.
The others seemed to agree as well. And then, Liliana asked.
"...So what should we do?"
Her voice carried both doubt and trust.
Ermes agreed as well. ...If Yurugen had gone this far, then paradoxically, he must have an alternative prepared.
True to that trust, Yurugen nodded and continued.
"As I said before, what we need right now is military strength. ...Unfortunately, the Trackia family is a house of civil officials, so they don't have any military forces we can call on in this situation. I can't think of any other house that could provide immediate support either.
—But there's one gamble I can take. I have a strong lead."
"!"
Everyone focused their attention once more. Yurugen spoke as if jogging their memory.
"Do you remember, Your Highness, what was said today in the Audience Chamber?"
"Huh...?"
"A great deal happened, and it slipped everyone's mind, but — you were told, were you not, that you should personally 'suppress the northern regional rebellion'?"
The significance of raising that topic now, in this situation.
Understanding it precisely, Katia spoke on behalf of them all.
"...Father. You don't mean—"
"I do. — I propose that we head there."
The group stirred.
"There are two reasons. The first is practical — if we succeed in suppressing the rebellion, we can win over the families currently being blamed for instigating it. I don't know how the rebellion has been affected by the events in the Royal Capital... but it certainly won't have returned to normal entirely."
"...I see."
"And the second reason. ...As I discussed with Ermes, there's a high probability that the 'Church' is involved in this rebellion."
This was something Yurugen had confirmed through conversation with Ermes after the audience.
"I don't know how deeply the Church is involved in this usurpation of the throne... but it's hard to imagine that an organization of the Church's scale is completely uninvolved. If so, then using this regional rebellion as a foothold — we might be able to dig into the mystery of why this event occurred."
...That was indeed significant.
Everything about this incident in the Royal Capital had been far too sudden. Without understanding the background, a proper reclamation would be impossible.
That was precisely why this proposal was being made.
Needless to say, the risk was extreme. The scale and nature of the rebellion were unknown, as were the enemy's forces. If they couldn't suppress it, it was game over right then and there.
But if they succeeded — both military strength and information about the usurpation of the throne. The two things they wanted most could potentially be obtained in one stroke.
It was truly a high-risk, high-reward proposal.
There were probably safer options to be found — but to reach their goal in the most efficient and shortest way possible, this was likely the best approach.
And they had no time. Since they broadly understood the purpose of Laplace, the First Prince's confidant, the importance of speed was beyond question.
The group deliberated, and all eyes turned to Liliana — who would make the final decision.
Liliana received their gaze and then... looked at Ermes.
This time, Ermes read the meaning in her look and spoke gently.
"I believe you should accept the Duke's proposal."
"...Master."
"The risk is undeniably extreme. But — the current situation is about as dire as it gets. Cautious moves alone won't be enough to turn the tables. This is the time to take a bold step."
Ermes's words drew nods from Katia, Sara, and Albert as well.
Receiving this, Liliana lowered her gaze for a moment, then lifted her head with resolve.
"...Very well. Yurugen, we'll go with your plan. We'll intervene in the northern rebellion and set out to gather allied forces and information."
"——"
"As Master says, this is a time when we must press forward despite the danger.
And above all... there are people in danger. As royalty, I cannot simply look the other way."
"...Very well."
Yurugen smiled and nodded.
And so, the Liliana faction's course of action was decided.
With the biggest issue resolved, the group exhaled in relief. At that point, Yurugen spoke again.
"I appreciate it, Your Highness. ...This northern rebellion happens to be something I've been personally concerned about for various reasons."
"...Concerned?"
"Yes. The Church connection is one thing, but also — this might be more relevant to you, Ermes, or rather to all of you."
At this, the other four besides Liliana focused their attention.
"After the audience ended, I did some independent research on the northern rebellion. And when I did... a rather interesting name came up."
"A name..."
As Ermes turned the word over in his mind, Yurugen's gaze sharpened.
"The name of a noble participating in the rebellion — in other words, one who is very likely to be our enemy. The records listed them as follows. The six northern families consist of: Baron Antira, Baron Svento, Viscount Markov, Viscount Melam, Earl Valentin,
and finally —
Viscount
Froidite."
"!"
The familiar house name.
Ermes, Katia, Sara, and Albert.
Four people sharing a common thread all opened their eyes wide at once.
◆
Sometime, somewhere.
In a narrow room bathed in moonlight, a silver-haired beautiful girl rose to her feet.
With eyes that held a multitude of emotions, and a certainty known only to her—
Nina von Froidite spoke.
"Is that so. — You're coming after all, aren't you, Erme?"