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Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes
The Two Nations’ Moves
One morning, two days before the new year.
「Aaaahhh! That asshole! What in the world is he?!」
King Gerhardt Vatex Anchor’s mood was at its worst. When he woke up this morning, he found the lost treasure Blade of Severance on his table, including a note where it came from.
This weapon was in the holy city Agiapole’s Tower. Ryver, a rank A adventurer, is most likely the one who stole it. He works for the Pope.
Gerhardt and his men knew Ryver was from Agiapole, but the adventurer never stepped foot in a church. He worked with Rising Falls without a problem, much to the king’s surprise.
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Indeed, Ryver had entered the treasure house and had the qualifications to do so. Right now, his party was heading back to Hopestadt after withdrawing from the war against Ponsonia. The king sent a platoon to bring him in for questioning.
I believe you already know the price for bringing this back. Silver Face.
Gerhardt knew indeed. The masked boy wanted Einbeast to stop its attack on Ponsonia.
「How could he sneak in so easily?! Are you all a bunch of brainless twats?!」
「W-We’re terribly sorry, Your Majesty…」The knights hung their heads low.
They were in the audience chamber. The throne had already been replaced as Gerhardt didn’t want to even catch a glimpse of the one the intruder sat on. A new throne was brought in in a hurry.
By “throne,” however, it was nothing more than an extravagant chair. After all, procuring a new throne wasn’t easy. While a replacement was being built, whether it would be finished by the king selection tournament this spring was doubtful. Gerhardt might not even win. In that case, the throne would quite literally be handed to a new king.
「I understand your anger, Your Majesty, but please try to understand.」
The old turtle man tried to calm him down. He told the knights who were tasked to guard the king’s bedroom to leave them and they did, crestfallen.
「It’s not like they were slacking. They’re the best soldiers we have. You won’t find anyone better than them. Right?」
The clan representatives present nodded in agreement.
「We even set 82 magic traps, but not one was triggered. It’s quite admirable.」
The old man seemed to have given up on dealing with the intruder and Gerhardt didn’t like that.
「Whose side are you on?!」
「What I’m saying is: Unless we have a platoon of soldiers as strong as you, he can always sneak in here.」
「So he got us wrapped around his fingers?! First, our intel unit can’t operate smoothly in Ponsonia. On top of that, the adventurer we hired is a traitor!」
「We still don’t know if Sir Ryver is a traitor or not.」
「Maybe we should just crush Bios.」
「You mustn’t, Your Majesty! It is the wish of the clans to rescue Lady Jillarty safely.」
Several minor clans, the turtle clan included, owed a debt of gratitude to the Dragonewt king who ruled the country for a long time. During his term, he let the minor clans participate in national politics. There was information that his daughter was most likely being held captive in Ponsonia.
「Pardon me, Your Majesty! We just received an urgent message!」A soldier burst into the room and kneeled down by the door.
「An urgent message?」Gerhardt nodded at the old man who also nodded back.「Out with it.」
「W-Will that be all right, Your Majesty?」
「It’s fine if the clan representatives hear it.」
While violent and hot-headed, Gerhardt always maintained transparency, immediately disclosing any sort of information. Clans supported him precisely because he didn’t hide anything.
「Understood. A secret transmission came from Princess Kudyastoria of Ponsonia just now. She said “I want to release all the citizens of Einbeast held in the castle.” We have a list of the names for the first batch… Your Majesty?」
It was understandable that the soldier looked puzzled. Perched on his throne, Gerhardt seemed greatly perplexed. Even the old turtle man had his head turned towards the sky.
「Hey, geezer…」the king said.
「I understand. Just to make sure, is Lady Jillarty’s name included in the list?」
「Yes, Sir!」
Heavy silence descended upon the room. The soldier wondered if he did something wrong. A moment later, the old man approached him and received a copy of the message, then ordered the soldier to leave.
「I’ll never forgive that brat.」Gerhardt said.「If there’s one thing I hate the most, it’s being toyed with.」
He thought this was Silver Face’s doing as well, considering the timing.
「Go meet the His Holiness in Agiapole, old man. Depending on the circumstances, we might fight Bios first.」
「Are you certain about this? You just said you hated being toyed with.」
「That’s true, but I don’t want to always be on the losing end.」
「You could say the same for Ponsonia, then.」
「We’ll just take Leather Elka for now and deal with them later.」
「What if we incur the wrath of the assassin if we occupied Leather Elka?」
「No need for sarcasm. I’m sure that brat saw this coming. Am I wrong?」
「No. It is just as you say. Now then, I will go request an audience with His Holiness.」
「…Make sure you come back alive.」
The old man’s narrow eyes opened wide.
「Oh, my. Did you hear that, everyone? It is an honor to receive such words. I can brag about this to my grandchildren. So I will come back alive, no matter what it takes.」
「Oh, cut the crap. You already have great-grandchildren. I want you to tell the Pope this: “You’ll pay for playing us like fools.”」
「Understood.」
And thus, Einbeast sent a messenger to demand an explanation from Bios.
Inside Ponsonia’s royal castle, Kudyastoria heaved a deep sigh unbefitting a seventeen-year old girl.
「You seem tired, Your Majesty.」her close aide, the high-ranking official, said.
「Who wouldn’t be? Lord Valves was right. I didn’t think returning Lady Jillarty would make Einbeast back down.」
Gafrasti N. Valves, a surviving member of the ancient Poelnxinia royal family, visited Kudyastoria late last night. It was still fresh in the princess’ mind how his accusation of the late king caused the kingdom’s nobility to be divided in half.
After the king’s death, Margrave Grugschilt and Captain Lawrence, who was now in this room, nominated Kudyastoria to be the next ruler.
Gafrasti had been staying in the Margrave’s place, but moved to the royal capital yesterday. The moment he arrived last night, the first thing he blurted out was: “We have a chance for a ceasefire!”
He was waving a jet-black cloth, surprising the princess. The historian said he received the Dark Night Cloak from a boy who called himself Silver Face and that it was one of the holy mana items from the ancient Poenlxinian dynasty. He also talked about the conflict between Einbeast and Bios, the cause of which was the Blade of Severance, another one of these holy mana items.
I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. But this Silver Face fellow left this. It is no doubt the Dark Night Cloak. It matches the records that my family has on the item. This means King Gerhardt’s rage is currently directed at Bios. This is our chance to settle things with them.
To do that, they would return Jillarty to them. The kingdom could’ve just apologized and blamed all the wrongdoings to the late king, which would stop Einbeast, but fortunately a different target for their wrath appeared: Bios.
Releasing the prisoners was nothing but a measure to buy time, but if there was something Kudyastoria desperately needed, it was time—time to solidify her rule.
Gafrasti suggested the idea as they wouldn’t really lose anything by sending a message anyway. Fortunately, half a day later, they received a reply acknowledging the deal. The message also contained instructions on how the prisoners would be delivered.
「But this means Leather Elka will be taken…」
The delivery would be done at Leather Elka. Choosing the place was the same as saying they owned the city.
「If I may, Your Majesty.」Lawrence spoke up.「Losing Leather Elka is indeed unfortunate, but luckily, the land there is not fit for agriculture. We have plenty of substitutes. First of all, we must fortify Pond as it is located between Leather Elka and the royal capital.」
「Yes, you’re absolutely right.」
「There will be a tournament this year to choose the next king of Einbeast. There’s a chance that they will have a new ruler. They will need time for things to settle down. In the meantime, we’ll fully prepare ourselves. We must come to a mutual understanding with Emperor Kaglai as well.」
「So this civil war didn’t all result in losses.」
The request for an alliance provided great relief to Kudyastoria, who was completely stumped. It didn’t matter that Quinbland simply didn’t want Einbeast growing in power.
There’s a silver lining and we should make sure to take full advantage of that. Kudyastoria switched her mindset.
She really is fit to rule this kingdom.
What splendid recovery.
Deep down, the high-ranking official and Lawrence were impressed at the change in her expression. This wasn’t an easy thing to do for a seventeen-year-old girl.
「Anyway, Silver Face, huh…」
Suddenly, she recalled the night when Lawrence was attacked. The enemy, a boy wearing a Sun God mask, saved her from the collapsing building.
Kudyastoria saw the boy’s face by coincidence. She thought it bore a close resemblance to Roland N. Zaracia, a name she hadn’t heard of these days.
「I wonder what happened to Roland…」
Her words simply drifted in the wind.