Chapter 79 Nearing CheckMate
“Second-san! ”
After breaking the wall and declaring so to the Court Mages, Maine came running up to me.
“You came? Let’s hurry and get away before those guys see I’m here and wig out.”
Since I’m under suspicion of murdering the King, there’s a small possibility that the Prime Minister will try to come and arrest me. If it comes to that, this will turn into an all-out war. But given that there’s currently a difference in the military power, I want to avoid that scenario. And also, that would mess up with Windfield’s strategy. This escape is one step of her plans.
“Certainly! I’ll follow you! ”
Maine replied with a happy-looking face. Behind him, Minister Hairai had a sour face. Oops, my bad. It might’ve been no good to utter the word “wig” in front of Minister Hairai.
(TLN: This was a bit hard to put into words that made sense in English. It involves a word that had several meanings, a type of wig, and a slang word in Japanese, and in this next sentence, Second corrects himself. Sadly, this was actually quite funny in Japanese.)
“Let’s leave before they find out I’m here.”
“Eh? Why did you rephrase it? ”
“You idiot, don’t worry about the small details.”
“You! How dare someone like you to speak like that to His Highness!? ”
And so, the old man who was next to Minister Hairai suddenly got angry. He was a sharp-tongued old man dressed in a military uniform with a funny mustache.
“Who’re you?”
“Wh-, bastard, how much do you want to disrespect us!? ”
“He’s the Second Knight Order’s Captain. Memphis, that’s just how this person speaks, don’t worry about it. It’s no use trying to change him.”
“Okay. If this is what Your Highness wants, I shall comply.”
Apparently, funny mustache is called Memphis. If he’s the Second Knight Order’s Captain, it means he’s also an ally. Rather, is that really how Maine sees me?
“Alright. Then, Captain Memphis, can I leave the Second Knight Order to you and have you lead them as the rear unit? I’m sure you’re already ready, right? “()
“I was going to follow His Highness even without you bastard having to tell me so. And you don’t have to worry about the preparations.”
His first impression on me seemed to be the worst, although I can blame him. Well, whatever. I have no time to worry about that right now.
“Then, Captain Zephyr, bring all the Court Mages.”
“Wa-wait. I understand we have to move, but where are we going? ”
“To my house.”
“……Haaa? ”
It’s been a while since I last heard Sherry-chan’s shocked voice. I was somewhat glad to see her, whose eyes were slightly red, so I patted her head.
With her face turning red, Sherry-chan said: “Please stop it”. Still, I think that the fact she hasn’t slapped my hand is proof she had become a bit more amicable.
I could hear her outcry a little from over the wall. This is why I just can’t stop patting her head.
Now that Maine and I have appeared, looks like the Court Mages have made their choice. It’s really good that Sherry-chan’s speech didn’t go to waste.
“This will inevitably start the war.”
While the Court Mages lined up, Minister Hairai said those words. That’s correct. The Prime Minister will soon join the Empire and raise an army to kill all those who sided with the Second Prince.
“That’s obvious. What we need to consider now is how to win.”
“……Excuse me. It was a bit chaotic, but I will go too.”
“By the way, who’s that woman? ”
“For God’s sake, that’s the problem with people like you…… This esteemed person is-”
With an exasperated face, Hairai tried to introduce the mysterious woman who came and stood next to Maine, but she was the first to speak.
“I am Barwell Castall’s Second Queen, Freon Castall. You are Second-sama, aren’t you? I’ve heard a lot of rumors about you. Thank you for always been there for Maine.”
“Oh, thank you very much for your kind words. I’m Second Firstest.”
“Firstest? ”
“It means the number one. I thought I would be the perfect name for my team since I’ll be the world’s number one, but it turned into my family name before I knew it.”
“Oh my, fufufufu.”
Apparently, she’s Maine’s mom. She laughed elegantly covering her mouth with her hand. Her eyes look just like Maine’s, and it feels almost as if she were an older version of Maine. This is so weird, after all their genders are different.
“Hey, Second-san! This is no time to be taking it this easy! ”
While I chatted with Freon-san for a while, Maine yelled at me with an impatient expression. Geez, he doesn’t have to get angry……
“Alright. Let’s go then.”
And so, along with my order, the Second Prince faction left the castle.
And we moved to our new base, house Firstest――
＊ ＊ ＊
“I wonder what they were going to do, but at last, they left. Prime Minister.”
“Yeah. Seems like we didn’t need to use force.”
The Third Knight Order Captain, Djarum was surprised by the explosion by the castle wall but calmed down after seeing the Second Prince leave. He mistook this for a “de facto victory”.
The Prime Minister, on the other side, was also a bit relieved. The reason being, he was still not completely prepared to face against them, so the Prime Minister wanted to avoid that sort of scenario for now. If he was to crush them, he wanted to make sure to crush them completely. He planned to line up his pockets for the rest of his life after being placed in a central position in the Kingdom.
“With this, the next King will be His Highness, Klaus. The problem now is, when should he be crowned?”
“The earlier the better. However, unless we increase our strength and completely eradicate them, the unshakable rule I’m aiming for won’t be realized.”
“How do you plan to do that? ”
“By borrowing the might of the Empire. Reinforcements have already been requested.”
“What!? You mean to say, inviting imperial soldiers? But, if t that’s the case, then our Kingdom……”
“You’re wrong, Djarum. The Kingdom will enter a new era. One where it will walk alongside the Empire.”
“……Will it become a vassal nation of the Empire? ”
“It doesn’t matter what shape it takes. All we have to do is suck the sweet nectar from it. Isn’t that right? ”
“Ha, hahaha! You’re right! As expected of you, revered Prime Minister! ”
“Ahh, Klaus. Finally, finally, you will become King! ”
“……Yes. You’re right, Mother.”
“I’m very proud of you! Here, have a look! That child of the concubine is running with his tail behind his legs! ”
“…………”
Rather than feeling joy, when Klaus looked at the scene beyond the window, his chest tightened.
Second, that hateful person who killed his father. Seeing the figure of Freon happily smiling next to that man immediately threw his feelings into disarray.
Moreover. The more he thought about it, the more the doubts on the Prime Minister grew bigger. The lawfulness of their actions felt shakier.
“Mother…… Is that man my father’s-”
“What are you talking about Klaus!? Didn’t I tell you that you only need to think about becoming the King!? ”
This woman thought nothing of Barwell’s death――But this was something Klaus already knew.
And, there was that too. Both the Prime Minister and the Captain of the Third Knight Order were the same.
“I will go cool down my head a little.”
Saying his usual words, Klaus ran from his mother. However, there was nobody left in the Royal Palace with whom he could consult.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Second-san. It might come as weird for me to say this but, haven’t you had any problems with it until now?”
“About what? ”
“Well, your house is too large. Isn’t it larger than the Royal Palace? ”
“Amazing, right? ”
“……Well, yeah.”
The over 3,000 people, including the Royal Court Mages and the Second Knight Order knights could easily fit on the grounds of House Firstest. The rooms were a bit too short, but it was at a level where they could still manage.
Maine wasn’t the only one surprised, but also Minister Hairai, Captain Memphis, Captain Zephyr, and Sherry-chan. Meanwhile, the Second Queen Freon was curiously looking around.
“It looks like we’re running out of rooms and servants, so you’ll have to do something about it yourselves.”
“I think the Second Knight Order will be fine since they are camping, but……incidentally, how many servants do you have? ”
“I was surprised when I heard it the other day, but apparently there are three hundred.”
“Why do you look so happy when saying that?”
“Because I’m proud of my servants. Everyone here is quite strong.”
“Wait a minute, that sounds scary. Second-san, does that mean they do some special training like what you did with the First Royal Court Magician Division every day? ”
“Well, it hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but eventually.”
“P-Please do it in moderation. Seriously.”
I guess he means to say that the Kingdom wouldn’t be able to ignore a group of three hundred strong people. When I tried to tease him with an “It seems you’re becoming more self-conscious of being a King now”, he changed the subject saying “Rather, shouldn’t we have a meeting?”
“Ah, Second-san. Welcome back. How did it go? ”
“Oh, Windfield. As you can see.”
As soon as I entered the lakeside mansion with the main members in tow, Windfield appeared.
In the living room, there were also the figures of Silvia, Eko, and Yukari. Cubero, the butler, seemed to be working hard dealing with the over 3,000 guests.
“Well then, we just arrived, but let’s hold a meeting.”
Surrounding the round table, Minister Hairai was the first to speak. I wonder if the mansion seemed strange? Sherry-chan was looking all around while in her seat.
“Hmm. Even if you call this, a meeting, well.”
Windfield tilted her head at the words of Minister Hairai.
I’m sure everyone but me was thinking this: “We’re the ones who want to tilt our heads in wonder”.
“Tomorrow, afternoon, they will be, annihilated. Meeting adjourned.”
“…………HAA!? ”
Everyone was equally surprised.
That’s only obvious. After all, they just ran away with the tail between their legs. And they never expected this to take place as early as tomorrow despite that.
However――Exactly because the other party thinks so too, this is the chance to strike.
“W-Wait. I don’t think something like that can happen.”
Maine said, not believing. Minister Hairai, Captain Memphis, and Captain Zephyr also agreed with him.
“Windfield-san. Do you have a plan? ”
The Second Queen Freon asked calmly. For the sake of moving the talks along, she enquired about Windfield’s strategy.
“Of course. As we are now, with our current strength, we can’t crush them, right?”
“! I see, so we need to increase our fighting power. However, where would we……?”
Captain Zephyr said, noticing the meaning. Immediately after, Sherry-chan turned towards me and raised her hand.
“Uh, what is it? ”
“No. Maybe it isn’t related to this, but……”
After giving a little preface, she looked around the room before opening her mouth again.
“Chérie-sama should also be here, wouldn’t she? ”
How sharp, Sherry-chan. She’s right.
Chérie Lumberjack. She, the Earl’s daughter, hasn’t been here since the day the King was assassinated. It should be obvious who gave her directions.
“Correct. How did Second-san, made the money needed, to buy this house? That’s because he sold, Mithril alloy, in large quantities to Earl Lumberjack.”
“Mithril alloy……Ahh, I see, from the Proline Dungeon……”
Sherry-chan nodded Windfield’s statement. The rest of them seemed to be still unaware of the key point here.
“The Earl is, sharp and capable, isn’t he? Most likely, in anticipation for something like this, he carried that endeavor of mithril alloy weaponry and armor in his territory.”
“No way, Earl Lumberjack’s soldiers will……?”
“That’s, right. He wanted to, prepare his own soldiers, first.”
And as for the meaning of those words.
It means 2,000 people geared with mithril alloy equipment will be coming here as reinforcements.
They are not simple soldiers. They are reinforcements equipped with mithril alloy gear. Their reliance is without comparison.
“It’s a, game of speed. We’ll completely, destroy them, tomorrow afternoon. If we don’t, their reinforcements will come, and we will lose due to the difference in numbers.”
In the current situation, most of the nobles from the country couldn’t still make up their mind whether to support the First or Second Princes yet. If we move faster than the nobles from the First Prince faction send their reinforcements, we’ll have them cut off and it’ll be our win.
“That’s a great strategy…… however, I’m scared of what the Empire will do. Just like Second-san said before, I’m sure the Prime Minister must’ve already communicated with them and requested for reinforcements.”
Maine pointed that out. But Windfield’s replied to him wearing a smile.
“They won’t, come.”
Why? She continued as if to answer what everyone asked in their minds.
“Because we’ll use the Sacred Country Kamel.”
Everyone had question marks floating on their heads wondering what she meant. When I first heard of her scheme, I knew it had to do something the Caramelia, but I didn’t understand. From the fact they are most likely unaware of the Caramelia epidemy, they must be lost as to what she was saying.
“The Empire is moving, behind the scenes, but so is the Sacred Country. In the Kingdom, there’s currently a drug called Caramelia. Right now, the Sacred Country should also be preparing. I’m certain they are, by now, gathering soldiers near the border.”
“What!? ”
The minister shouted.
Well, that’s to be expected. Even with the nation in this current critical situation, he just realized the need to deal with the Sacred Country on top of the Empire, this could no longer be considered just a crisis.
“They wanted to take the opportunity, to set up a war, and settle under the pretense of a peace treaty, the push for the importation of Caramelia. This could be the worst outcome, for the Kingdom because, on top of being already overtaken with this drug, now they will also rip off its money.”
“…………”
Silence flowed after those words.
Right now, they seemed to understand how bad the situation the Kingdom was in.
“This is something we both the Kingdom, and the Empire, want to avoid. That’s why the Empire, knowing what the Sacred Country Kamel is trying to set up, should feel reluctant to send reinforcements.”
“Why so? ”
“It simply is a high risk, low return move, to protect the Kingdom while it has already been bitten by the Sacred Country. For them, a situation where the Kingdom comes to an agreement after being exhausted by the war against the Sacred Country might look like a better prospect.”
“Does that mean an invasion has little sense for them?”
“Indeed. They have already profited enough, of the secrets of the Kingdom, through the Prime Minister. They’ve already, made enough gain. Right now, they should have, no reason to send reinforcements. The Prime Minister, has already, served his purpose.”
How pity, she almost seemed to add. However, there was nobody present sympathetic to the Prime Minister.
Well then. This being the case, the problem at hand was not dealing with the Empire, but with the Sacred Country. Even knowing the reinforcements from the Empire might not come, this was not a time to be relieved.
“……First of all, it’s necessary to enact a Caramelia Control Law. Next, we should build a specialized Knight unit to guard the country.”
Minister Hairai, spoke very minister-like and threw an idea. However, that’s a story for if we’re able to cope up with the machinations of the Sacred Country Kamel. If we let this war started, we should prepare ourselves to even have the borders changed.
“Excuse me. But unless we do something to start it, it’s unlikely they will start a war, won’t they? ”
Captain Memphis expressed his thoughts. This was from a military point of view.
He’s right. Speaking of war, it needs a reason to be waged.
“Yes, and here, lies the problem. There’s currently, no good reason, to start up a war. However, they might want to take the opportunity while we’re having problems with the Empire and the civil war issue. Well, if you were the Sacred Country, what would you do? ”
To Windfield’s sudden question, Maine made a face as if he had figured the answer. She then told him, “Go ahead”.
“They will make up a cause.”
“Hmm, half, correct.”
And the other half? She quickly answered that question too.
“If it was me, I would make it, so that the other party, made the first move. Maybe.”
Everyone consented with an “I see”, however, that brought up a new question. How would they do that……?
“If they raise an army while giving no reason whatsoever, the frontier troops would have no choice, but to gather to stop it. And they’ll remain at the border, glaring at each other. And there, they might make some kind of provocation, to those troops? ”
The military power at the frontier is large, but that’s because they are key to the national defense. However, they alone are not enough to stop an all-out attack from the Sacred Country Kamel on their own. Reinforcements would, without a doubt, be needed. However, currently, there is no room to spare some reinforcements.
And, what if there’s an excellent strategist like Windfield in Kamel? They might hide soldiers in advance, and make some plot while glaring at each other to invite the Kingdom’s soldiers to attack thinking they can win, and after they make the first move, come out and annihilate them. There’s the possibility they might have a similar strategy. And Windfield was quite wary of it. With their cunning, cautiously and swift use of drugs to shrewdly weaken the Kingdom systematically and setting up the stage to devour it viciously, we can’t help but consider the existence of such person among their ranks.
“How about splitting the reinforcements coming from Lord Barel? ……No, but then……”
“If everything settles tomorrow afternoon, then we can go as reinforcements.”
“However, in that case, there’s the chance we won’t be able to make it.”
Memphis and Zephyr both discussed it among themselves. However, they couldn’t come up with a good answer.
The reason being, the movements of the Sacred Country Kamel were done too fast. If this civil war issue was a game of speed, that issue was one too. Every option would take time since everything already started to move.
“Well, we already, have an answer, right?”
Windfield said like she had plenty of leeways. She had a face full of confidence that said: “I’ve already read it all the way through”.
And so, everyone paid close attention to her next remark. But the words she uttered took everyone aback.
“For the, reinforcements to the border, Second-san, will go.”
“…………”
Everyone was at loss for words.
They all understood what she was saying, but they still failed to completely comprehend the meaning.
After a few seconds of silence, Maine was the one to break it.
“Eh……He will go, alone? ”
When I nodded with a smile, Maine’s jaw looked like it was about to drop to the floor. That’s not a very princely face to make, to be honest.
“I won’t be killing everyone. I’ll just go and scare them a little.”
“Scare them a little? That’s nonsense! It’s too reckless to deal with thousands of soldiers on your own! ”
Well, certainly, if I were to stand alone on the battlefield, there’s a limit to what I could do. 《Spirit Possession》 only increases my stats by 5.4 times. If it were 1,000 times the story would be different, but still, it’s probably impossible to do it on my own.
However, if you were to ask if I’d do it alone, the answer would be no. While Windfield hasn’t revealed everything, there’s a trump card up my sleeve.
It’s a trump card that makes me think that with this one, I could easily become the world’s top, so I’m filled with confidence.
“It’s alright, leave it to me. You’ll have Mithril alloy geared soldiers to fight against the Prime Minister, and more than anything, Silvia and Eko will come with you too. With those two, you can’t lose.”
“That might be the case, but…… they might also have someone who has already participated in a Title match. It won’t be that easy.”
“That’s wrong. Windfield is the one moving the powerful pieces, namely Silvia and Eko. You know what that means, right? ”
No matter how strong a piece is, it’s meaningless if the person using it is weak.
That was also the case for Mobius’s 『Team Battles』. No matter how great one’s abilities were, they were powerless before the might of numbers. Especially, high ranked team battles had several ways to contain the opponent’s main players.
Shogi, Chess, Team Battles, they were all games where you win after getting the King. They aren’t games where the strongest pieces win.
That’s right. In other words, this is a match between Windfield and the Prime Minister.
Who’s be the winner? I’d bet all my money on Windfield without batting an eye.
“Maine. Don’t worry about other people, just worry about what you’ll do after becoming King. Let’s see, I would like to request that this year’s Title match is held at any cost.”
Probably this guy is worried. Therefore, I laughed and cheerfully said that.
“……Ehehe, you’re right. I need to give my best at doing my job. Haaa, I feel just by thinking about how to treat you, Second-san, after everything is over will be giving me a terrible headache.”
At least he seemed well enough to return my remark with some humor. I wonder if the King’s duty is simple and easy? I’m more anxious about him completely changing. Minister Hairai also seemed to be having a hard time. His barcode might now start a countdown to disappear.
“Well then, let’s begin. You guys have luck with Windfield’s strategy.”
Well, I think that someone from the Marubell Empire or the Sacred Country Kamel will go bald before the Minister will.
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