"...I see. I understand the situation."
After stripping Count Harvist of his title as a northern noble and having him arrested.
From there, Ermes and the others made their way to where the Count's soldiers had gathered. The purpose was, naturally, to discuss the future treatment of the Count and his troops.
"Regarding the Count's ties to the Church — well, I'll be honest, I had my suspicions about that. I have no doubts on that front."
The one who came out to greet them was an early elderly man called Toa. He had the bearing of a seasoned warrior through and through, with sharp eyes and an aura of intimidation that didn't feel remotely like that of an old man — enough to make Liliana flinch slightly.
Given that he was the knight commander here, that presence of his made sense.
And then, after Toa had summarized the situation, he spoke.
"So. The Count's position will be taken over by you from now on — is that what you're saying, Lady Liliana?"
"Y-Yes, that is correct."
Despite his quiet gaze and the overwhelming difference in their builds — like a great bear standing before a small deer — Liliana nodded in affirmation.
From among the soldiers watching the exchange, one who appeared to be a squad captain stepped forward.
"C-Commander. I... I believe these people are trustworthy."
His face was familiar.
He was the captain of the squad they had encountered right after arriving here — the one who had been driven into a corner by the Northern Rebellion forces.
Looking past Liliana toward Ermes standing behind her, he said:
"They... they understood they were in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position, yet they still came to our aid. So, uh —"
He made his appeal with genuine sincerity.
This was the fruit of what they had earned in the previous battle. Ermes had thought that with this, convincing the soldiers would go smoothly.
"...Yeah. Maybe not so much."
Then, from yet another direction, a voice rang out.
Turning to look, there was another soldier. A man with the bearing of a seasoned veteran, yet carrying a rough, coarse air about him, glared straight at Ermes.
There was not a shred of trust or gratitude in that gaze — that much was obvious at a glance.
"In the end, it's just the whims of some lord or noble. The only reason they helped us was to curry favor and because it'd be a hassle if we died. You people don't have any noble sentiment about valuing life, so don't pretend you do."
"Hey, cut it out —"
"Listen up, we—"
Before the knight-commander could put a stop to it, the man shouted.
"We're not things! Sure, we're soldiers — I'm not saying don't treat us like pieces on a board. But we're sick and tired of being toyed with on your whims, unable to do anything, and having our lives thrown away for nothing! Every lord before was the same — where's your guarantee that you're any different?!"
"Yeah! We're not going to let you drag us around wherever you please anymore!"
"You people look down on anyone who doesn't have Bloodline Magic fit for battle — you think we're nothing but scraps!"
At those accusations, the surrounding soldiers raised their voices too.
Every last one of them must have shared the same fear. Everyone except the squad that Ermes had personally saved joined in, and the chorus grew unstoppable —
"—
Silence.
"
One word from Knight-Commander Toa crushed it all.
Every soldier stood rigid at attention, frozen in place. Even Ermes and the others listening from behind felt their spines go straight — the sheer pressure was staggering. The soldiers who had taken that verbal barrage head-on must have been utterly broken by it.
Without pause, the knight-commander turned back to face them and bowed once.
"I must apologize for my subordinates' behavior. I will speak to them firmly afterward — however,"
His voice changed once more, and with eyes sharp as blades he fixed them in his stare.
"To be honest, I share some of that sentiment. As much as we had absolutely no respect for the previous lord, for him to unilaterally strip our employer of his title and decree that we now answer to him — we simply cannot trust people like you yet."
"—"
Liliana catches her breath.
At the same time, Ermes and the others glance at the other soldiers... and understand.
They were exhausted.
Drained, worn to the bone. On top of the external injustice of the invaders who had attacked without warning, there was undoubtedly the internal injustice of a lord who had treated the soldiers with tyranny as well.
And more than that — they were soldiers. Put bluntly,
those who
lacked
useful
magic power,
and therefore
had no choice
but to become
soldiers.
In this kingdom that worshipped Bloodline Magic above all else, they had surely been treated terribly. By the current lord's... and perhaps even by those who came before him.
The accumulation of all that had made it impossible to trust. Nobles. Bloodline Magic users — as beings fundamentally different from themselves.
"...Forgive me. That doesn't mean we wish to drive you away."
After regarding the group struggling for words, Knight-Commander Toa spoke once more.
"There is only one thing I wish to ask of you... Your Highness."
With pride and sincerity. Looking them straight in the eye.
"Will you protect this land of Harvist — this place where our families live and to which we are so deeply attached?
Will you — let us protect our homeland?"
Directly and sincerely. That was what she said.
It was the weighty question of someone who had likely been protecting this land for many years. In response,
"That... that is..."
"—That is not something that can be shown through words."
Ermes answered in place of Lilliana, who had faltered.
"...Master."
"Oh?"
Lilliana looked up at Ermes, and Knight-Commander Toa turned an intrigued gaze upon him. Perhaps with a veteran's instinct, she had vaguely sensed something of Ermes' true capability.
"Whether we can protect this land or not — even if I told you we could, I doubt you would be convinced. So let me say this: we can only prove it through action. Through the result of having protected it completely."
His quiet yet compelling words drew everyone in. And just as Toa was about to break that silence—
"—Enemy attack!"
A tense report shattered the calm of the negotiations.
Everyone turned toward the voice. A soldier who appeared to be a messenger came running in, gasping for breath,
"Soldiers from the Northern Alliance are attacking from the west side of the fortress! They're already within visual range!"
"The — how many?"
"Approximately — five hundred. And at least three Bloodline Magic users!"
Hearing that, cries of despair rose among the soldiers.
Of course. Five hundred — the same as the total number of soldiers here. And with every man among them already exhausted, not to mention the presence of Bloodline Magic users, the balance of advantage was obvious to anyone.
In theory, if they committed to a siege, they could probably hold the line... but there was no denying they would be dragged into a battle with no end in sight. The Knight Commander was about to deliver his difficult verdict when—
"— How convenient."
Ermes said that without a shred of strain, and then—
"Toa, Commander. And all of you knights as well. Please rest this time.
—
We
alone
will
drive
them
back."
At those words—
Even Toa was dumbfounded — and when he glanced at the people around him, he was struck by an even greater shock.
"El, can you do it?"
"Yes. Judging from the scale, the primary objective was reconnaissance in force, and if they happened to deal a devastating blow, all the better — that's about the size of it. Besides, from the magic power I'm sensing, neither Lord Lucius nor Lady Niina is present."
"Who's going?"
"Me, Lady Katia, and Lord Albert. I don't think recovery magic will be necessary, so Sara — please go tend to the wounded soldiers. Lady Lily and the Duke, please look after them."
"Y-yes."
"O-of course!"
"That sounds reasonable. Understood."
He couldn't believe it.
If the enemy consisted solely of soldiers, he might have understood. It wasn't uncommon for a powerful Bloodline Magic user to be worth a hundred or more soldiers on their own.
But this time, the other side also had Bloodline Magic users. They had properly assembled both the military strength and individual combat power that were essential prerequisites for a fight.
Even so, to propose challenging them with only three people... from his experience until now, that was nothing short of reckless.
Before the Knight Commander, who was seriously debating whether to stop this as mere childish prattle, Ermes simply smiled and spoke.
"I hesitate to celebrate the crisis on your side, but for us, this is in a sense a favorable opportunity. -- Please, allow me the chance to earn your trust?"
His demeanor was so utterly composed, and—contrary to his tone—his bearing spoke volumes of having passed through countless hellish battlefields. The Knight Commander could say nothing more in the face of it.
He watched the young man and woman walk boldly toward the battlefield.
And then.
"...No way."
A certain soldier was struck with astonishment.
He was the soldier who had first lashed out at Ermes and the others. Just as they had said, he was someone grown weary from the repeated tyranny of the nobles and had stubbornly decided not to trust anyone at all.
For such a person, the nobility were objects of scorn.
It was true they possessed powerful Bloodline Magic. But most of them were the type to be corrupted by that power, and he never thought they were all that impressive.
If they fought head-on, their Bloodline Magic might overwhelm you, but honestly-- even if they clashed with the local lord, he believed his side could win.
That was the kind of foe they were: strong, yes, but not a problem if they set their minds to it. Unreliable, and someone it was fine to look down upon.
But look at them now.
That-- the sight viewed from the top of the fort. Those three magic users fighting against an enormous number of soldiers and Bloodline Magic users over there.
They were shattering them.
They couldn't have cared less.
They wouldn't even permit the slightest resistance.
What was most astonishing of all—was that they were "the same."
The way they handled the soldiers over there, and the Bloodline Magic users over there.
To them, they were all the same... handled as "inconsequential things." The soldiers, and the Bloodline Magic users whose power rivalled over a hundred soldiers—to them, both were treated equally as targets to scatter, and they achieved exactly those results.
The purple girl summoned countless underworld soldiers and single-handedly held an entire army at bay with ease.
The wind boy soared across the battlefield with his Bloodline Magic, disrupting the enemy, blocking any attempt to breach the fort, and controlling the flow of the battle.
And then there was that silver-haired boy.
He wielded magic that was clearly on the level of Bloodline Magic—no, magic that in some respects surpassed it—freely and at will, and with every spell he cast, he mowed down enormous swaths of soldiers and rendered them combat-ineffective.
They knew—they couldn't win.
Against those three, especially that silver-haired boy. Even if their entire knight order charged in together, there was absolutely no vision in which they could prevail.
Now that things had come to this, there was no choice but to acknowledge it.
Those magic users... they were different from the Bloodline Magic users he had seen until now. Different from the nobles. Something about them was—
"...You must have been treated terribly by nobles until now, haven't you?"
That was when a voice came from behind.
Turning around, he found a beautiful girl with flowing blonde hair—the same girl who had been tirelessly dedicating powerful healing magic to the soldiers and her companions with astonishing sincerity and devotion this whole time.
With a pained, concerned expression on her face, she spoke again.
"Regarding that, there's nothing we can do. ...I'd like to apologize as a fellow noble, saying I'm sorry... but that would just be self-satisfaction, wouldn't it? It wouldn't save you."
She paused for a moment, then fixed her gaze on him with eyes full of determination.
"So... as Ermes said, I'll show you through action."
"Please... if you could watch without looking away. Ermes's feelings... our feelings, our differences. — I won't betray you, not now or ever."
Under the light of resolve blazing from those azure eyes, the soldier averted his gaze as though conceding defeat.
...Because he had been secretly hoping for something, after all.
He had thought it was a battlefield with no way out.
Both in number and quality of troops, and in maximum magic power, the enemy held an overwhelming advantage. He had believed this was a fight where, under that incompetent lord, nothing awaited them but being ground to dust.
But — if they were here.
If that boy, whose strength was enough to inspire even fear, was by their side — perhaps, just perhaps, a glimmer of hope could be seen. And he had —
— not wanted them to notice that hope.
The soldier continued to avoid looking in Sara's direction.
But he did not look away from the battlefield either, watching over it until the three returned in complete victory.
And so, Ermes and the others repelled the enemy's raid with a mere three people.
The opportunity to demonstrate their strength and resolve had closed on the most perfect of notes — or so it seemed.
In the end, there was one more thing.
A grave — though whether it could truly be called that was difficult to judge — incident occurred.
"— S-sir, it's an emergency!"
Upon Ermes and the others' return to the knight commander's post, having driven back the advance guard of the Northern Alliance—
Just as before, a breathless reporting soldier came rushing in.
And delivered the news.
"A moment ago, we discovered signs of an intruder in the lord's chambers!
The count — the very one Ermes and the others were supposed to have restrained — is...!"
At the same moment.
"Ha-ha-ha, ha ha ha ha ha!"
Escorted by masked soldiers of the Northern Alliance and the Church.
Laughing out loud was — Count Harvist.
"Fools, those brats let their guard down! Those soldiers clearly lack real combat experience — they were nothing more than a diversion. The real objective was 'my rescue,' and those idiots didn't even realize it!"
Fueled by the humiliation of being bound without question, his thirst for revenge against those responsible, and his burning ambition.
Aslak von Harvist shouted.
"If it rubs you the wrong way, that's no reason to get rid of me, you despicable villains! Be prepared — along with the Church, I will bury you and every last soldier who defied me at every turn!"
◆
And, just as the Count who was supposed to be captured had vanished — likely taken in from the start by the Church, with whom he had been connected all along.
"Well then... won't you tell me, El?"
In the lord's chamber — now curiously devoid of its owner — the members of Liliana's faction had gathered.
There, Katya spoke up, as if seeking confirmation.
"Why —
did you
deliberately
let the Count
go?"
The other four were not surprised. After all, Ermes had detected it well before — even before they set foot on the battlefield — and based on that, had made the judgment to "deliberately let him escape," just as Katya said.
Ermes, who had been asked the natural question that followed, responded calmly.
"There are several reasons. First, simply considering the forces they dispatched to rescue the Count, diverting personnel to that side would have carried a certain amount of risk. Additionally, I judged that even if he got away, the Count wouldn't amount to much."
"But the biggest reason is—"
After laying all that out, he looked around at the group and delivered one final line.
"—To 'test how the other side responds.'"
"The other side's... response...?"
Nodding at Liliana's straightforward question, he continued.
"Yes. As I told you before my discussion with the Count, there are still many opaque aspects to the other side's—to Archbishop Johann's—magic and methods."
"That thing involving the so-called enigmatic technology?"
"Correct. I've continued to speculate from that angle, but... as expected, there are many unnatural—or rather, abnormal aspects to their methods."
At this point, every person present—from Knight Commander Toa on down—was a trusted insider. There were no outsiders here. That was precisely why Ermes spoke without hesitation, sharing critical information.
"Their rescuing of the Count this time is no different. To begin with—"
"Why—"
"—did they go out of their way—"
"—to save him?"
"That Count isn't particularly competent, and I can't imagine he has any use whatsoever."
"And yet, they went out of their way—even shouldering the risk—to rescue him. That Archbishop isn't the type to act out of obligation or sentiment. Which means there must be some ulterior motive."
Of course, that "ulterior motive" was no doubt something that worked to their advantage. Thinking about it that way, letting him escape might have been a bad move, but—
"Even bearing that risk, I judged it more important to obtain hints about their methods—that 'enigmatic technology.'"
"—or rather, I've already pinned down a few leads."
"!"
That remark, predictably, sent a stir through the group.
"Really!? Then, at least just that deduction—"
"I'm sorry, Lady Katia. I can't do that, because—"
But to Katia's urgent question, Ermes, though apologetic, stated flatly—with an unbelievable declaration:
"
Right
,
here,
me
speaking
itself
could
work
against
us.
"
—In a space where not a single outsider was present. Despite having Sera set up a soundproof barrier, just as a precaution.
Ermes had declared it without hesitation.
It was a claim hard to swallow on the spot... but weighing Ermes's earnest expression against the accomplishments that everyone present knew he'd achieved—
And above all, their unwavering trust in him.
"If that's the case, Ermes. I'll leave it in your hands—though"
"Yes. Once I'm certain, I'll be sure to let you know."
Yurugen spoke on behalf of them all.
After hearing Ermes's reply and nodding, he proceeded to wrap things up.
"In any case, if you had your reasons, I won't hold it against you. ...To be honest, I don't think the count is capable of much either.
Our work doesn't change. Earning the soldiers' trust and analyzing the other side. In a way, neither was perfect this time, but we certainly made progress."
Indeed.
The soldiers' attitude had been unexpected, but... on reflection, it was perfectly natural. And it had confirmed that they bore no malice like the count did. Going forward, they simply needed to repeatedly prove themselves.
That was precisely why their work wouldn't change.
Rally the soldiers, understand the enemy, and bring down the Northern Federation. Despite everything that had happened this time, they shared a solid step forward. Together, they turned toward what came next.
Building trust with the soldiers, and unraveling the mysteries of the other side.
These will proceed in parallel, and next time the story will move forward with the church side included. Look forward to it!