Seven people would head to the Church — the initial members of the Third Princess's faction, plus Niina.
Sending all key personnel to Church headquarters from the start carried too great a risk. To keep the surrounding nobles in check, Lucius and the soldiers from the former Northern Alliance and Harvest territory were left behind in the north.
With Lucius and the army's fighting strength in place, Niina herself guaranteed that even if something happened, things wouldn't collapse easily. They could depart with a reasonable degree of peace of mind.
And so, having completed their preparations, the day of departure for Church headquarters arrived.
...Naturally, even the Church wouldn't go so far as to summon royalty without sending a welcome party — and sure enough, they did arrange a carriage and an escort of soldiers.
...However.
The carriage they sent was the sort of bare-bones vehicle that could barely fit seven or eight people, and to make matters worse, the neurotic-looking young man who appeared to be in charge of the welcoming soldiers opened with this:
"—So, from today onward, I shall be assisting with your
attendance
at Church headquarters."
"...Excuse me?"
A perfunctory greeting that barely rose above the bare minimum, plus... the word "attendance." That was a term carrying the nuance of a criminal appearing before a tribunal of their own accord. The soldiers around him showed no objection whatsoever — on the contrary, they seemed entirely satisfied with that phrasing. It was crystal clear what they thought of them.
And then, after that:
"Well then, we're rather pressed for time as well, so please board the carriage at once. —Ah, rest assured, we shall see to your safety along the way... I do ask that you keep that firmly in mind."
With the Third Princess Liliana present, no less.
They more or less forced them inside in a half-shoving manner, closed the windows until nothing of the scenery could be seen, and...
Just before shutting the heavy carriage door, the young man added:
"—Should this carriage happen to come under attack from anyone... I do ask that you refrain from interfering with that unspeakable, dreadful magic of yours, won't you? ...It would dirty even us by association."
And with that, the door slammed shut.
Leaving Liliana standing there in a daze, without giving her a chance to say a word in protest, the carriage set off.
◆
"...Well, well. To think it would be this blatant."
By the time the group had recovered from the shock of their treatment, Yurugen looked around at everyone and spoke with a bitter smile:
"Quite so... I'd rather not say it myself, but... this hardly qualifies as treatment befitting royalty, does it?"
"......Well, it can't be helped, I suppose."
The one who spoke after Liliana was Niina. She wore a solemn expression as she shared her own understanding of the matter.
"Ermes and the others already know, of course, and those of us who fought alongside them know perfectly well how amazing Liliana's magic is — how amazing Liliana is. But..."
"...For the others at the Church, that's not the case..."
"That's exactly right, Sara."
Niina nodded with satisfaction at Sara's murmured agreement.
"Especially something like 'a magic that lets every ally use Bloodline Magic' — those people will absolutely refuse to believe it. They'll dismiss it as nothing but bragging. So for them, Liliana is still — still just the 'useless princess who can't use Bloodline Magic.'"
"Nn..."
—which was precisely why they could so brazenly treat royalty this way.
A blunt fact. Upon hearing it, Liliana involuntarily lowered her gaze, and Niina hurriedly spoke up:
"A-Ah, s-sorry! I'm not saying you should just accept it, of course! It's awful, shoving such a cute princess into a place like this. Well, from the standpoint of being close together, it works out for me~"
"H-Hey! Honestly...!"
Whether to lighten the mood or not, Niina ended on a bright note and, riding that momentum, hugged Liliana who was sitting next to her. Liliana showed a trace of surprise and mild reproach on her face, but she could tell Niina was genuinely trying to cheer her up, so she quietly accepted the embrace.
...As a side note, despite apparently being hostile toward each other from their very first meeting, Niina and Liliana's relationship was now extremely good. At first, once the Northern Rebellion concluded, Niina had tried to adopt a more deferential attitude, but Liliana permitted her the same casual manner she allowed Ermes and the others, saying "It's far too late for that." Niina, who was naturally warm and personable, took to it immediately.
...Well, even so, her tone and manner were perhaps a touch too familiar toward royalty. But that was simply who she was, and Liliana didn't seem to mind, so that was fine.
And with that exchange between them, the air in the carriage had somewhat recovered. It was Katia who then spoke up — her tone slightly stiffer than usual, but speaking nonetheless:
"...Still, this is a bit much, isn't it? It's practically... the way you'd treat prisoners. The welcoming carriage is bare-bones, and the soldiers are... no—"
But then—
Katia seemed to notice something and murmured. A beat after her, the others noticed as well and voiced it:
"—There were an unusually large number of soldiers, though."
"...That's true. If they were accounting for every possible contingency in escorting Liliana, that level of manpower would be reasonable. But in that case, the fact that only the carriage was so bare-bones is hard to explain..."
Sara elaborated on Katia's concern.
Now that she mentioned it, that was right. Could it possibly be...
"...Don't tell me. They think we'd cause trouble in this situation?"
"That's certainly possible, but..."
Albert voiced that concern. Ermes conceded it might be true as well, but after everything they'd heard, something nagged at him — and then, it struck him.
The words of the soldier, before they'd boarded this carriage.
"—Should this carriage happen to come under attack from anyone... I do ask that you refrain from interfering with that unspeakable, dreadful magic of yours, won't you? ...It would dirty even us by association."
Yes. Those words.
Along the road from here to Church headquarters, it was hard to imagine any fearless bandit who would deliberately pick a fight with a Church carriage. As far as threats went, the likelihood of a Monster attack was far higher.
And yet, he'd said "attack from anyone."
—that was a remarkably specific concern.
Could it be—?
The instant that thought crystallized—
BOOM. A tremendous impact shook the carriage so hard it nearly threw them off their feet.
Immediately after, without a moment's gap, came the shouts of the soldiers outside and—on top of that—what sounded like the furious yelling of another group entirely.
The carriage had screeched to a halt. All of this combined could only mean one thing.
"Wh—"
"...It appears we've been subjected to that very 'attack from anyone,' as it were."
Yurugen, who seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion as Ermes, spoke in a calm voice to the startled Liliana.
There were plenty of things to be concerned about, but if they were being attacked, they certainly couldn't sit idle. Ermes and the others moved to stand—
"—Lady Liliana and her entourage! You are forbidden from stepping outside!"
The person in charge outside had apparently detected the commotion. His voice rang out sharp and loud.
"...Why is that?"
"I told you at departure, didn't I? To brandish that filthy magic of yours before us, the sacred knights of God, is absolutely inexcusable! You overstep your station with your meddling — it's more than we can bear! We are more than capable of handling this on our own! Know your place as those under our protection, and do not open those windows under any circumstances!!"
His tone was frantically desperate.
The contempt it contained toward them was palpable — that much was certain. This was absolutely not born from some noble sentiment of "we can't trouble those we're escorting."
But beyond that... the intent that "under no circumstances do we want Ermes and the others to step outside at this moment" shone through unmistakably.
And then there was the unnatural increase in soldiers.
All of those pieces of information... coalesced into a single hypothesis in Ermes's mind.
"—It appears that the Church soldiers escorting us had a high degree of certainty that an 'attack from anyone' would occur along the way."
And then, without mercy, Ermes stated the conclusion:
"And it seems they absolutely do not want us...
to find out
who the
attackers
are."
"I see. So that's why they said 'don't even open the windows.'"
Yurugen spoke in a tone of understanding, and the others nodded.
And if that was the case, then the course of action was clear.
"Lady Katia."
"It's already active."
This carriage could block their line of sight physically, but it offered zero magical countermeasures.
In that case, how unfortunate for them — because here they had a young woman who could perceive the surrounding situation even with her vision sealed away.
Having grasped what Ermes needed even before he finished speaking, Katia activated her magic at once.
Before long, slipping right through the carriage wall, a semi-transparent humanoid familiar arrived.
After receiving its report and affectionately patting the head of the familiar — the ghost soldier — Ermes said:
"It'll be faster to just see what's happening."
With a grave expression, he declared:
"More importantly... it looks like 'the attackers have the upper hand.'"
"!"
Once they heard that, there was no more room for hesitation.
They broke the carriage lock with the least possible effort, split three ways through the windows and the door, and burst out simultaneously.
"Wh—! What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm sorry, but if we're wiped out before you even deliver us, that would be rather inconvenient."
The person in charge was screaming at Ermes, who had ignored orders and leaped out, but Ermes paid him no mind as he surveyed the area.
"...I see."
"You — you irreverent incarnation of demons, listen to what I'm—!"
He no longer cared about the voice. He had found something far more worthy of his attention.
It was the attackers — who were still fighting — and their attire.
"...We've been assuming that the soldiers escorting us represented the Church and its will. But then why is it that—"
He posed the question simply:
"—They appear to be Church soldiers attacking... other Church soldiers?"
Looking at the attackers — who vastly outnumbered the defenders — and seeing the exact same Church insignia emblazoned on their armor as the soldiers escorting them, he understood. Yes, the contradiction was plain as day.
And it seemed that...
"There are 'shady dealings within the Church as well.' ...The Duke's speculation has suddenly become far more credible."
Just confirming this alone made the trip to Church headquarters worthwhile.
As Ermes's conviction deepened, the person in charge continued to rage:
"G-Get back inside this instant! Those people are not the 'Church'! They are remnants of past evils, heretical usurpers! More importantly, to defy us, the ones tasked with escorting you—"
"That's of no consequence. More to the point—"
Cutting the man off with words and intimidation, returning the earlier treatment in kind, Ermes declared:
"We, for our part, need you to deliver us safely as well. ...So please, by all means, take your time and observe what you call our 'polluting power' up close."
Even Ermes — he could not stay silent when the magic he had inherited from his master was being denigrated so thoroughly.
Originally, demonstrating this magic carried significance for the reform of an entire nation. For the moment, though — it was perhaps not the most tactful thing to say — this served as a fine
demonstration of force
to shut them up.
He would show them the true capabilities of Creation Magic, up close and personal.
With that resolve, Ermes — alongside his reliable disciple and companions —
activated the magic to personally ensure their safety along the road.