Nina continued to think.
(...There were concerns, too.)
The source of Archbishop Johann's power was the extraordinary—
Ancient magical tool
—Skaldrogia's future-prediction ability.
But whether that alone could explain everything—no, it couldn't.
What she especially couldn't figure out was—
(Brainwashing Bloodline Magic......
Why—
why
is it
so powerful?
)
The fourth characteristic of thought-manipulation magic.
—The severity of the activation conditions is proportional to the strength of the effect.
In other words, the stricter the conditions that must be met for the magic to take effect, the more powerful it became once activated; conversely, the more lenient the conditions, the easier the casting, but the weaker the results.
Nina's "Fairy Dream Palace" leaned toward the former—
...And the Archbishop's magic should have been the latter.
Presumably, something like touching the target for a set period and channeling magic power into them—not particularly difficult conditions. In exchange, the range of thoughts that could be altered was extremely limited. That was the kind of magic it should have been: one that enabled broad but shallow changes.
Despite all of that, Johan's magic was running rampant throughout the Northern Federation.
Nearly every person close to the core of the Northern Federation had been heavily influenced by the thought alteration. That influence had played a major role in the Federation coming together so quickly.
And above all—Lucius himself had fallen under its sway.
Manipulating someone of Lucius's extraordinary magical ability, who also possessed such unwavering conviction, should not have been easy... rather, it should have been extremely—arguably the most—difficult task imaginable.
Based on the fact that he had shielded Nina just moments ago, it didn't seem like he'd been completely subjugated—but conversely, the fact that he "could only resist to that extent" was clearly abnormal.
By any measure, this was abnormal power. Bloodline Magic of this type wasn't supposed to be that convenient... and yet he was effortlessly manipulating a number of people approaching double digits to his will. This, too, was performance beyond specification.
Perhaps... no, there was certainly some secret at play.
That he still hadn't uncovered the mechanism only confirmed that the Archbishop remained unfathomable—but.
(*Even so... it's not like he has no openings...!*)
Nina thought this. She believed it.
Because—the Archbishop was,
using
Nina.
He knew about her precognitive ability, yet he was sending Nina—someone who was openly defying the Archbishop—out on missions.
(*'He has no choice.' In other words, Er and the others are so troublesome that he can't corner them without sending someone as strong as me.*)
Otherwise, he would never have been so proactive in deploying Nina, who was a risk even with the contract binding her. In the extreme, all he'd have to do was say "stay hidden and keep quiet," and there would have been absolutely zero risk of information leaking.
That was the opening.
And she was the only one who could exploit it.
And by sheer coincidence, that
Ancient Magical Tool
By touching it, she gained the same power of foresight as the Archbishop.
The only one who could see the same board, the same state of play as the Archbishop — was Niina alone.
Moreover, the defining characteristic of mind-manipulation magic applied here as well: "It doesn't work on those who wield the same type of magic."
This apparently held true for her foresight ability, too.
In other words — the Archbishop could not foresee Niina's future alone.
Therefore, the conclusion was a stalemate.
From here on, it would be a battle of wits between Johan and Niina,
with the "Northern Rebellion" as the board between them.
There was more than enough room to resist.
She would prove it — she, right now. With the power he had given her, the strength not merely to be swept along but to push forward.
She would shatter the birdcage the Archbishop had so carefully constructed. She alone could do it —
◆
— but that drowsy fantasy was immediately smashed to pieces.
(...No... way)
She couldn't change it.
No matter what she did, no matter how she fought back.
The one future she could not change — was Ermes's death.
Naturally, Niina had fought back as hard as she could. Within the bounds of not defying the Archbishop's orders, she used her foresight advantage to the fullest, maneuvering to create situations favorable to Ermes and his allies.
In the first skirmish, she deliberately pressured Ermes's forces early on, sealing off the slim possibility that they would be killed by the Archbishop's "Divine Punishment" — a perfectly timed surprise strike.
During the mission where Count Harvist was deployed to sow distrust among the soldiers, she guided them along routes that only someone with keen perception could barely detect, and managed to summon Lilliana before a single fatal word could be spoken. This, in turn, slightly weakened the possibility of "Lucius launching a surprise assault on Ermes once he was completely exhausted."
She had also mounted every possible resistance to help Ermes avoid "checkmate" scenarios — both large and small.
However,
no matter how she struggled, the range of what Niina could alter was minuscule... No, the Archbishop simply didn't permit significant changes. He constructed orders and missions specifically to prevent her from rebelling, leaving no room for resistance while still effectively utilizing her power alone. He had maneuvered things to be this way.
And no matter how much she resisted, the worst possible future stubbornly remained.
Even if she crushed one factor, another would appear.
Even if she sealed off every path she could see, new roads to checkmate would emerge — no, they would be deliberately laid out by the Archbishop.
—
That man
alone
would absolutely be killed.
.
From that seemingly aloof attitude of the Archbishop, it was impossible to imagine the depth of his killing intent — bottomless and absolute.
Unlike any enemy before, it was an uncompromising negation born from recognizing Ermes as the utmost threat, a will to annihilate completely.
Because of that... Niina was barely allowed any resistance, and the probability of arriving at the future where Ermes was steadily murdered continued to rise.
It wasn't Ermes's fault.
He was strong. In every possible sense, he was strong. That was undeniable.
But — precisely because of that. His compatibility with the Archbishop... no, with this magic, was the absolute worst.
After all.
Ancient Magical Tool
: Skaldrogia's Precognition.
Because the condition that makes it easier to divine a target through this ability is.
──'
the stronger
a person is
the easier they are
to read'.
A strong person — in other words, a person who has a greater impact on the future.
The stronger the individual, the more completely this foresight ability can seize upon them. It denies human progress; in every sense, conventional wisdom does not apply here, and that is precisely what makes it extraordinary.
That was why Ermes had been forced into such a bitter struggle.
Furthermore — that was why Archbishop Johann had, in a sense, succeeded in defeating even Rose, the Sky Witch.
And so that man had.
Anyone who possessed the power to potentially shatter his gilded cage — he would use this foresight ability to read their every move, then manipulate the populace with his mind-control power to eliminate them without ever dirtying his own hands.
He had been protecting his own authority, the Kingdom of God he preached, all this time.
And this time was no different.
"……It's still not over……"
She jolted awake from a nightmare in which Ermes was being killed.
What she had seen this time was the scenario with the highest probability in the present — 'Ermes, utterly exhausted, is cut down helplessly by Lucius who launches a surprise attack' — and simultaneously, for her, the worst possible development: her brother killing Ermes.
There were others too — Ermes, driven out by soldiers, growing increasingly exhausted as he fails one after another to fend off assassins coming at him in his solitude, finally killed at the breaking point of fatigue. Ermes, having had all his actions read like an open book, surrounded by reinforcements dispatched by the Church, fighting desperately before perishing along with every last one of his would-be saviors. And so on.
Countless possibilities — countless ways for Ermes to die, repeating over and over again.
There was no way anyone could sleep properly after witnessing such things, and the exhaustion only piled up. The result was that she would often doze off even during the day, only to be shown yet more nightmares — a vicious cycle with no end in sight.
By now, the very ability of future sight itself had bared its fangs at her.
And so, again, and again, and again, she witnessed hell.
"...But still..."
—And yet, she still rose.
Believing that somewhere, there simply had to be a breakthrough, she pushed her fatigue-dulled thoughts onward and continued her solitary struggle yet another day.
◆
And then, at last.
"That time" had arrived.
"A new mission, Nina von Frodoit."
With a calm, composed air—in other words, with an attitude that made clear he didn't consider Nina a threat in the slightest.
The mission Archbishop Johann delivered, as always, was the catalyst.
"Go and attack Toa, the knight commander of the Harvist territory."
"!"
"Right now, the relationship between the Harvist soldiers and the Third Princess's faction is close to its worst. If they learn that Toa—one of the pillars holding their spirits together—has been taken out, they'll waver even further. To the point where they'll have no room left to trust those utterly inscrutable people."
"...So you're sending me?"
"Yes. Wound him—at least enough to leave a lasting mark. You can do that, can't you? Someone like you."
...Knight Commander Toa was a formidable opponent.
But he was the great guardian revered by every soul in the north. And because of that, Nina's magic would work on him. Johann had probably anticipated as much and chosen her for exactly that reason.
As always, she couldn't help but marvel at this man's knack for putting the right person in the right place—and his bottomless spitefulness.
"...Understood."
Briefly, that was Nina's answer.
"Oh my, not even one of your usual biting remarks today?"
"Saying that would only make you happy. ...This isn't something I want to do, so I'll go get it over with quickly."
She brushed aside the ensuing sarcasm with ease and left the Archbishop's office immediately.
She closed the door... and clenched her fist at the feel of it.
—He had finally shown a gap in his defenses.
The mission Nina had accepted was solely to attack Knight Commander Toa. Of course she would carry it out. She had to.
But—
anything beyond that
don't attack—
that
was never
what she was told
.
She knew. That Johann had planted brainwashed spies among the soldiers of the Harvest territory. That this had shut the door on even the slimmest chance of reconciliation.
Besides, she had been told not to harm the soldiers of the Northern Alliance... but she had never been told not to harm the spies from the Harvest territory.
If that was the case, then this was a perfect opportunity.
She would quietly incapacitate those spies... They had been on her side once, so she felt bad about it, but she'd only hurt them enough to put them out of action—nothing permanent.
That way, she could eliminate the uncertainty standing in the way of reconciliation.
The Archbishop would surely find out right away, but she couldn't care less.
Even if I end up being punished for it—as long as it can help Ermes and the others, I don't mind.
With that resolve, clinging to this sole opportunity as though it were her last hope, she completed her mission—assaulting Knight Captain Toa and eliminating the spies, just as instructed.
And then.
"—Well done, Niina von Frodaite."
Niina, having returned—
"Now that this is done—
I—
yesterday—
spread—
the rumors—
and the soldiers of Harvist territory will be fully convinced that Ermes and his lot used you to forcibly eliminate the opposition."
She realized she had been played.
"With this, the soldiers' hearts will turn completely away from them. How can anyone swear loyalty to people who use force to silence those who merely voiced a different opinion?"
"B-But! Those people were spies you prepared—"
"So what? ...Surely you don't think the current Ermes and his people could say something like that and be believed?"
"!"
"The spies were going to be discovered by Ermes soon enough anyway. So I simply decided to use them—and you—to plant one last, massive bomb of distrust before the end. Have I made myself clear?"
....She had been manipulated.
The Archbishop had never allowed her the slightest resistance regarding the future.
He had tormented her with nightmares all along, draining her of composure and critical thinking. Then he deliberately left an opening for her—her judgment already dulled—to seize upon it and rush off to eliminate the spies. Every single step had been calculated.
"Even if she had managed to get through that situation, repairing the relationship would have been impossible by then. Those foolish, powerless soldiers who know nothing but following the path of least resistance—there's no way they'd trust her after being put through something like that. And I've actually seen that future play out."
"——"
"The only wild card is that princess, but... well, it shouldn't matter."
"I"
"can't even"
"read"
"such a"
"weak"
"little princess—what could she possibly do? The resemblance to that 'Sky Witch' is only skin deep, it seems."
The Archbishop appeared to have foreseen that future as of yesterday, and he harbored no doubts about the events he had extrapolated from it.
...But none of that mattered anymore.
"Ah, you may withdraw now. ...Or have you given up and decided to become a servant of God?"
Unable to react to a single word of Johan's parting words, Niina left the scene.
...Whether the future Johan envisioned would actually come to pass, she still didn't know.
——But that wasn't what had truly broken her.
(...From the very beginning. I was being moved around. Exactly as he wanted.)
She had believed she alone could do something about it.
She had believed that she, who possessed the same power, could help them. That she could save them.
But the reality looked like this.
Not only was she powerless to do anything—even the fact that she shared their power had been exploited to manipulate her movements. She had been dancing in the palm of their hand.
——It was because they were looking at the same board, that's all. Something like that was, in the end, *nothing more than that*.
Even if by some stroke of luck she managed to interject into the game... from the very start, between her and Johann,
the gap in their strength as players
was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
Someone like her could never defeat Johann, no matter how hard she struggled.
Just as his attitude made clear... the Archbishop had never once considered her any kind of threat.
"............"
More than the vision of the future, more than anything at all, it was that fact—
the fact that she had been unable to serve any purpose for them, for Ermes and the others—that gnawed at her heart.
(...As expected. I'm just not cut out for this, am I...)
Someone who had lived her entire life being swept along by the current, with neither strong convictions nor real power.
In a battle where the very future hung in the balance, she was nothing more than a convenient pawn.
As her heart, worn thin by exhaustion and nightmares, grew more ragged by the moment,
and a helpless resignation began to creep in—
"—Well then. Sorry to keep interrupting back to back, but here's your next assignment."
Once again, Archbishop Johann had summoned her—and in a tone that belied his words entirely, utterly devoid of any genuine remorse,
the order was given: deliver the finishing blow to Harvist territory.
◆
"..."
That evening,
Nyyna had once again infiltrated the Harvist territory—the very same region she had visited just that afternoon for the assault on the Knight Commander.
The infiltration was easy.
Their defensive setup wasn't poor, by any means. To begin with, they were critically short on the sheer manpower needed to defend this sprawling fortress, and on top of that—
—above all, the precognitive ability was simply too overpowered.
Her mission this time was sabotage.
According to Johan's near-certain prediction, the Harvist territory's defense forces, who had broken with Ermes's group, were already on the verge of collapse.
Which was exactly why now seemed the perfect time. The plan was to crush the Harvist territory in one fell swoop—while simultaneously deploying their trump card, Lucius, to kill the exhausted Ermes. This sabotage was to create physical vulnerabilities in the fortress beforehand, making the assault easier when the time came.
If this succeeded, tomorrow the Northern Alliance would swarm this fortress en masse—and the worst possible future, Ermes's death, would become reality.
Even understanding all that...
Contract.
Bound as she was, she could think of no way to avert it.
Above all... what could someone like her possibly do?
With her spirit thoroughly broken, she couldn't muster any defiance. All she could do was follow orders and continue her work in a dull haze.
...It wasn't as though anyone would come sniffing around.
No matter how much she wished for it, she already knew. Thanks to Johan—and the precognitive ability he possessed—this place, at this time, was a complete blind spot in the defensive battle.
So no matter how much she prayed...
There was no one who would stop her—stop the work that would bring ruin.
Not the person who should be nearby, the one she desperately wanted to see—she wouldn't be able to meet a single soul—
—or so she had thought.
"...Eh?"
She sensed a presence.
At the same time, there was the sound of incredibly light footsteps.
She turned around reflexively. And there, in the place where no one was supposed to visit—
"Well, saying 'nice to meet you' wouldn't quite be accurate, would it?"
She wasn't the person she wanted to see the most.
But certainly, she was the only one who could completely escape the Grand Bishop's sinister grasp.
"…Might I have a word with you, Miss Nina von Frodite?"
Liliana Yosef von Yustia—
—gazed at her with even more certainty and resolve than the first time they had met.
Precognition is granted in the form of prophetic dreams.
Conversely, this means that you don't know until you go to sleep that night how much of what you foresaw in yesterday's dream has actually come to pass, or how things have changed.
That's why Johan still doesn't know that the future related to the Harvest Domain has changed dramatically, which is what gives rise to the exchange in this chapter.
The timeline around this point got a bit tangled, so it may have been confusing. I'm sorry if it was hard to follow…!
Next time: a conversation between Lady Lilii and Nina. I plan to delve into what these two talk about and how things unfold when they essentially meet for the first time, along with Ermes's schemes. I'd be happy if you're looking forward to it!