Having finished their inspection visits to both the Martial Nation of Godba and the Magic Nation of Kasorla, Luna and Zel passed through the <Otherworld Gate> and returned to Zel’s log house in the Holy Kingdom.
“Phew, I’m exhausted……”
The Saint, very much in tired mode, throws off the heavy plate armor and flops loosely onto the sofa.
“You’ve worked hard. I’ll brew some coffee now.”
“Mm, thanks.”
Three minutes later, a cup with warm steam rising from it is placed on the table with a quiet clink.
Luna pours in generous quantities of sugar and milk, performing the ‘Deluxe Treatment,’ and gulps it down with noisy relish.
“Ahhh, feels like it’s seeping into me……. Sugar after using your brain really is something special.”
“Heh, I’m glad.”
Zel smiles softly and sits on the sofa across from her, rolling his shoulders and spreading his wings wide in a large stretch. The relaxed pose of the avian beastfolk.
“Now then, Saint-sama——both inspection visits have concluded successfully. What are your impressions?”
“The Martial Nation and the Magic Nation both had all sorts of distinctive features and were impressive. Both Leticia-san and Natasha-san had this ‘ruler!’ feeling to them and seemed wonderful, and nation-building looks a lot harder than I thought it would be. ……Can someone like me actually manage it.”
Faced with the great undertaking of building a nation, Luna had lost a little confidence.
Seeing this, Zel shrugs with a ‘good grief’ sort of air.
“Really, what are you saying……. I have lived three hundred years now, but I have never seen an individual of your caliber, Saint-sama. You will surely become the finest ruler in the world.”
“Oh, you think so……?”
“Yes, I guarantee it myself.”
“……Oh good, I really am something after all!”
The Saint’s self-esteem shoots back up considerably.
Quick to be discouraged, quick to recover.
This single-mindedness is both one of the Saint’s good points and one of her problematic ones.
In any case, with Luna’s mental state back in order, Zel takes out a quill pen and parchment.
“While the memories of the inspection visits are still fresh, let us organize the potential benefits of forming an alliance with each nation.”
“Yes, please.”
Luna gives a nod and Zel’s quill pen moves fluidly across the page.
“First, the ‘foreseeable benefits’ we might enjoy upon forming an alliance with the Martial Nation of Godba are roughly the following three. ① Industrial development through the spread of smelting techniques. ② Introduction of farming made efficient through magical breeding improvements. ③ Strengthening of military power through the passing down of the Flow Technique.”
“I see……”
The Saint, looking focused, tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Next, the benefits of forming an alliance with the Magic Nation can be broadly divided into two. ① Acquisition of magestones and magical instruments through trade. ② The spread of advanced magestone research.”
“Mm-hmm……”
With the benefits of each summarized, Zel moves to his conclusion.
“As a premise, we will be forming an alliance with whichever nation wins the next war——but, speaking personally: while the Martial Nation is also attractive, I believe choosing the Magic Nation would be the wiser move. The magestone industry is, after all, the key point——it is likely a field that will continue to grow significantly over the next several decades. Adding to that, the majority of their people appear to be devoted to the Saint, and they seem to have built a good relationship with the Empire as well. As an allied nation, they could not be more ideal.”
Zel held a favorable impression of the Magic Nation——but Luna’s expression is conflicted.
“Hmm……I know, that makes sense……. If you think about it rationally, that would be the normal choice……”
“Is there something about the Magic Nation that concerns you?”
“It’s not that I dislike them or anything like that but……something feels off.”
“I see……”
Zel thinks seriously.
When Luna puts that vaunted Saint brain to use and desperately works out a conclusion——it misses with astonishing frequency. It cannot be trusted by any stretch.
However, when she thinks nothing at all and arrives at a conclusion purely through intuition——it hits with frightening accuracy. Setting aside rational reasoning, it has value worth taking seriously.
Zel knew this from past experience.
“Sorry, I think you’re right that teaming up with the Magic Nation would be more advantageous. This kind of decision shouldn’t be made based on feelings——I need to think it through properly——”
“——No. The Saint-sama’s ‘wild instinct’ is extraordinary. In fact, looking back with a clear head, there were a few things about the Magic Nation that gave me pause. Taking everything into consideration, the Martial Nation would be the cautious and stable choice.”
“Oh, you think so……?”
“Yes. The hard-to-articulate sense of wrongness, and the delicate perception to catch it precisely……as expected of the Saint-sama.”
“Oh come on, it’s not that big a deal——wait!“
Luna, happily scratching the back of her head in a flattered way, suddenly snaps her eyes open wide.
“This whole thing is about ‘forming an alliance with the nation that wins the war,’ right?”
“Yes, that’s correct——what is it?”
“If the ideal partner is the Martial Nation, what about forming an alliance right now? That way tomorrow’s war wouldn’t happen either, and maybe we could even build some kind of three-nation alliance with the Holy Kingdom, the Martial Nation, and the Magic Nation all together……!”
The Saint raises her signature cowlick, clearly convinced she has come up with a brilliant idea.
However, Zel’s reaction is not enthusiastic.
“A very peaceful proposal——but personally, I would not recommend it.”
“Why not?”
“If the Holy Kingdom and the Martial Nation form an alliance at this stage, the Magic Nation, having taken a significant disadvantage in terms of military power, would have no choice but to steer toward avoiding the war and sit down for peace talks. However, in that case Natasha-dono would be lowering a fist she had already raised, and the nation’s face would be lost. In every era and every corner of the world, this kind of lingering grievance drags on and eventually creates a deep rift.”
“Oh, that makes sense……. Then what about calling for a ‘three-nation alliance from the start,’ right at the beginning?”
“If we call for a three-nation alliance, the Martial Nation and the Magic Nation would probably agree, out of respect for the Saint’s face. However, the resentment between both nations would remain unresolved. That would merely be putting a lid on something unpleasant, and we would be sitting on a ‘large bomb’ that could go off at any moment.”
“That’s……a little not good……”
Luna furrows her brow and holds her head——and Zel shares his own thinking.
“In the current situation where the Martial Nation and the Magic Nation are evenly matched, the side that the Holy Kingdom supports would become somewhat too advantageous. For that reason, this time I believe the right move is to ‘observe’——to watch.”
“To watch?”
“Yes. As originally planned, we stay entirely uninvolved in the dispute between the two nations and form an alliance with whichever side wins the next battle.”
He wets his throat with coffee, then narrows his eyes.
“Through this round of inspection visits, we have come to understand that both nations carry historical ties, that each has its own justice. In a situation like this, for outsiders like ourselves to push our way in and play a decisive hand in how the battle tilts……would be the wrong move. In order not to draw unnecessary resentment, the final move must ultimately be played by those who are parties to the conflict.”
“……I see……”
Steam begins to faintly rise from the Saint’s head.
(Hmm, she’s approaching her limit.)
Magestone-critical: Saint brain overflow from information overload.
Having gauged this precisely, Zel moves smoothly into a summary.
“To put my thoughts simply: we of the Holy Kingdom maintain our position as observers in tomorrow’s war, and form an alliance with the nation that prevails. And toward the nation that is barely defeated, we promptly render humanitarian aid. In short——’staying faithful to the role of referee.’ This is, I believe, the most ideal approach.”
Luna listens to Zel’s clear summary, turns it over slowly in her head——and gives a nod.
“——Yeah, you’re right. That does seem the most equal and fair.”
“Thank you.”
“Then tomorrow, we’ll watch how the battle unfolds from a bit of a distance.”
“Yes, understood.”
Around the time Luna and Zel settled on the Holy Kingdom’s basic policy for the coming war——
In the Albas Empire, where the sun has long since set, Emperor Adrinus Odo Albas returns from the ‘Northern Expedition.’
Waiting to greet him upon his return to the throne room was his closest aide, Rado Tzezgenia.
“——Your Majesty, I offer my heartfelt congratulations on your return from the expedition.”
“Mm.”
For roughly the past month, the Emperor had been absent from the imperial palace and had gone out to beat back the demons and demi-humans pressing in from the ‘Outer Reaches’——the territory beyond the boundary of human habitation that spreads across the Empire’s north.
This northern expedition was something the reigning Emperor would lead the regular army in personally, conducted with a frequency of once every few years——but in recent years, due to the increasing activity of demons and demi-humans, it is now carried out nearly every year.
Adrinus, having been decked head to toe in sacred relics, stores them in <Dimensional Storage> and settles into the throne.
“I took the head of Daddario Dodgraas, leader of the southern demi-human tribes. That should keep those savages quiet for a while.”
“Magnificent as always, Your Majesty. The imperial citizens of the north will be able to live in peace of mind.”
The Emperor, with a certain fatigue seeping through, leisurely takes up an empty glass, and Rado opens a bottle prepared in advance.
The wine poured is a fifty-year ‘Nemesia.’
Normally Adrinus prefers something dry——but on the day he returns from the Northern Expedition alone, he drinks this, with its soft touch and restrained bitterness.
“Hmm……not bad.”
“A vintage year, Your Majesty.”
In the wide and solemn throne room, only the Emperor and his closest aide.
Yet there is no sense of emptiness here——on the contrary, it feels complete.
The absolute monarch Adrinus Odo Albas——simply by being present, the throne room is made whole.
“Now then, I can finally turn to the ‘most critical matter’ at hand——the question of the Saint and Silver.”
“Yes. We have been keeping in contact via regular <Transmission> reports, but I have also compiled detailed materials in chronological order here, just in case. Please use them as needed.”
“Hmph, as thorough as ever.”
Adrinus commends his right-hand man’s work and picks up the thick sheaf of parchment.
“First——hmm, the Grandize Holy Nation matter. It seems my obedient little errand boy, Cardinal Kerkis, is dead.”
“Yes. The ‘Curse of Sealed Words’ we had placed on him was activated. He likely received a harsh interrogation from Silver after failing the Saint’s assassination, and then attempted to reveal Your Majesty’s information. Truly……a hopeless fool, to make such a blunder and then try to betray you on top of it.”
“Well, that was always the extent of his usefulness. Which is precisely why I had the curse as insurance. ——But that is a minor matter. The real issue is this.”
Adrinus glosses over the traitor smoothly and stares hard at a specific point in the documents with a serious expression.
“The manifestation of the death god Distil. This points to only one thing——the taboo of ‘resurrection’ was performed.”
“Yes. And five minutes later, Distil’s magical energy signature disappeared. That would mean……?”
“Yes, this is roughly how I read the sequence of events. Kerkis, by some means, succeeded in the assassination of the Saint, Ro Steinclaw. However, Silver arrived on the scene immediately after and deployed a resurrection spell, and to prevent it, the death god Distil manifested. After a fierce battle to the death, Silver eliminated Distil.”
The Emperor’s prediction was perfect.
Except for the part where the Saint’s true identity is not Ro, but Luna.
“One thing I did not predict was the extent of Silver’s military power. There was no doubt he was a person of great strength——but I never imagined he was a man capable of slaying the death god single-handedly. I’ll be honest, that surprised me.”
“With an enemy who can strike down even gods, how should we position ourselves……?”
“……Indeed, Silver’s existence is a threat. Enough to make even the dull-witted northern demi-humans seem like infants by comparison. ——However, through this affair, I have seen the ‘bottom’ of him.”
Adrinus swirls his glass and turns his gaze to the following two documents.
“The meeting held in secret with the Leyton Conglomerate the other day, and the ongoing inspection visits to the Martial and Magic Nations——Rado, how do you read these?”
“The Saint faction is laying the groundwork for their expansion into the world.”
“Heh, indeed, one might see it that way. No, most would understand it that way.”
“But Your Majesty saw it differently?”
In response to Rado’s question, the Emperor gives a nod.
“I will state it plainly. This is without question ‘buying time.'”
“Laying groundwork is……buying time……?”
A hard combination to reconcile. A look of confusion crosses Rado’s face.
“Think about it. Silver is a transcendent being who can even slay gods. Why, then, does such a person team up with Leyton? Why seek allied nations? Possessing overwhelming military force, why seek solutions from others? Does that not strike you as strange?”
“……Now that you put it that way……”
“Judging by everything up to now, it is obvious that Silver is an exceptionally sharp mind. He never does anything pointless. Everything he does carries some deeper meaning. Taking that as our premise and analyzing the Holy Kingdom’s movements, two possibilities emerge.”
Crossing his legs, Adrinus rests his cheek in his hand and shares his thinking.
“① Silver is currently carrying injuries serious enough to be life-threatening. ② The Saint’s complete recovery still requires considerable time.”
Rado listens with quiet attention, not missing a single word his master says.
“① goes without saying. Having gone up against that death god, there is no way he came out unscathed. Silver must currently be carrying quite serious wounds.”
In actual fact, the battle between the Saint and Distil had been a one-sided slaughter from start to finish——but there is no way for him to know that.
“② is a deduction built from circumstantial evidence. Quite some time has passed since the Holy Kingdom’s declaration, yet the Saint shows no sign of taking the public stage. She is most likely taking longer than originally expected to recover from the reincarnation. The death and resurrection this time may have further accelerated her weakening.”
The Saint is in fine spirits as always today, running around ineffectively as usual——but aside from her attendant Zel, no one knows this.
“Factoring in ① and ②, it is most natural to read this groundwork as ‘buying time until Silver and the Saint recover.'”
“I see……!”
“A somewhat clumsy if cautious move——but not bad. The Holy Kingdom’s pivot to a cooperative approach has genuinely caused the situation to stagnate. We of the four great powers can only move our pieces aimlessly about the board, allowing them time to regroup. If anything, it would have been easier to deal with had they gone the dictatorial route. We could have built a four-nation alliance under the banner of ‘liberating the Holy Kingdom’s people,’ creating a Holy Kingdom versus the world scenario.”
“That speaks to three hundred years of being a great hero——an excellent grasp of the broad picture.”
Adrinus nods at Rado’s opinion.
“However, in exchange for a certain amount of time, Silver has revealed a new card. Specifically, the bottom of his strength. His military power is on a level with the death god Distil, or perhaps slightly above.”
“Power on par with a god——I cannot even imagine it.”
“Indeed, a formidable enemy. But ‘god-slaying’ is not the exclusive privilege of the Saint or the Demon King. Small in number though they are, there is precedent for humans slaying gods.”
“Meaning——if we exhaust our full cunning, it would be possible to cut Silver down!?”
“Precisely. Heh, that Kerkis……for all his stupidity, he did good work.”
Adrinus’s shoulders shake with amusement. Rado, on the other hand, wears a strangely grave expression.
“What is it? Is something nagging at you?”
“……A ‘terrifying possibility’ has crossed my mind.”
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
“This is purely hypothetical——but. If the equation Silver = Saint were to hold, if the Saint herself were inside that armor——everything up to this point in our discussion would change entirely, would it not.”
As Rado voices his thinking aloud, he deepens the thought.
(The Sacred Purging Movement erased almost all records of the Saint. The few surviving documents have much that is suspicious about their sources and are set aside as apocrypha. However, among those with some possibility of being genuine——canonical——there are scattered references to ‘the Saint being terrifyingly stupid.’)
Could it be they are overestimating the Saint?
Could it be that in reality, she is simply doing what she feels like, and they are overthinking things?
Such a terrifying possibility grazed Rado’s mind.
Receiving this opinion——which had come extraordinarily close to the truth——the Emperor involuntarily bursts out.
“Pfft……bwahahaha……! Rado, what’s this——so you did have a sense of humor!”
“N-no, I did not mean this as a joke at all……”
“If it were some worthless drivel, I’d cut it down——but. Well done, that was rather well put!”
After laughing with genuine amusement, Adrinus declares with a face full of confidence.
“I will say it plainly. That kind of hypothesis could not hold true if heaven and earth were turned upside down. The Saint is a being who combines absolute martial power with supreme intellect. Those who possess great power have the pride to match. The Saint, climbing inside that armor and playing the role of a representative? Such a laughable thing could never be.”
The Saint’s natural obliviousness and the Emperor’s wisdom——the compatibility of the two was, in the most literal sense, ‘the worst possible.’
“I see, that is how it is. (The Emperor states it so firmly. I’m sure he is not wrong.)”
Rado, who places his full and unconditional trust in Adrinus, offers no objection and settles into an attitude of acceptance.
“Now then, next, regarding Silver and Zel having gone on inspection visits——mm?”
Just as he finishes summing up the Grandize Holy Nation matter and moves to the next topic, a <Transmission> arrives from the court mages.
“——Your Majesty, the grand ritual preparations are complete. We can deploy the <Otherworld Gate> at any time.”
“Good, then connect it now.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The next moment, an <Otherworld Gate> appears in the throne room.
Through the gate deployed by the Empire’s mages, Natasha Lindria, Sovereign of the Magic Nation of Kasorla, steps through.
“——Your Majesty the Emperor, I am deeply honored by your invitation.”
Natasha kneels before the throne and holds her face downward in a formal bow.
“Mm, sorry to call for you so suddenly.”
“Not at all, please think nothing of it.”
Adrinus and Natasha are both rulers of their respective nations——but.
Naturally, there is such a thing as ‘standing’ between them.
The Albas Empire is a great power competing for supremacy over the world.
The Magic Nation of Kasorla is a small nation in a corner of the world map.
Despite both holding positions of leadership over their nations, there is an absolute difference between them.
“So, how do things stand?”
“All matters are without issue. The highest-quality iron weapons Your Majesty was so kind to supply, and the magical beast army you specially lent to us. The military power of our Magic Nation now surpasses that of the Martial Nation.”
“Very good. However……be cautious of that ‘Beast’ alone. He is one who could take a nation single-handedly——if that one is left to move freely, there is no telling what may happen.”
What crosses the Emperor’s mind is a memory from ten years ago——on his way back from making an example of a noble who opposed his slum redevelopment project.
A filthy child he had come across by chance.
[Well now……you’re young, but you have fine eyes. Eyes of emptiness without hope, slowly dying. You are, to put it aptly——like a ‘beast.’]
[……Huh?]
Adrinus’s eyes had seen through to it——the natural-born talent dwelling in the boy.
“Please do not worry. I already have Ramza’s weakness in hand.”
“Good work.”
“You are too kind, Your Majesty.”
Having conveyed her thanks, Natasha keeps her head lowered and gives voice to a small wish.
“Your Majesty, I request permission to speak.”
“Go ahead.”
“I know this is a repeated confirmation and I apologize for the intrusion——but once we have prevailed in tomorrow’s battle and achieved the merger of the Magic Nation and the Martial Nation, that is to say the unification of the Nation of Lindria——”
“——Mm. I shall add the Nation of Lindria to the Albas Empire’s sphere, and grant you the rank of ‘Margrave.'”
“As expected of His Majesty——I am filled with gratitude.”
Natasha expresses her thanks——and
“……Hmph.”
Adrinus, who hates nothing more than men’s lies and women’s flattery, snorts with a vaguely displeased air.
“Now, that is all. Rest tonight in preparation for tomorrow.”
“Your consideration is most appreciated.”
Bowing deeply, Natasha rises with graceful movements and passes through the <Otherworld Gate>.
Returning to her bedroom on the top floor of Kasorla Castle, she——wears an expression of burning fury and punches the ornate full-length mirror to pieces.
As crimson blood and shards of glass fly, a horrifying, hair-raising surge of tremendous magical power blows through the room.
“……First, tomorrow——the Martial Nation is mine. Next comes you, Adrinus……! The preparations are already in place. In the near future, I will strike down the Albas Empire, and I will stand at the summit of this world!”
In the dark and murky room, the empress’s wicked ambition seethes and boils.