Chapter 214 - What a Nuisance

The lands of the Heinkel Kingdom lay in the continent's midwest. The weather was bright, without a cloud in the sky, yet the kingdom was steeped in a deep gray, as though heavy storm clouds hung overhead.

Though it was midsummer, when life should have flourished, the moss on the walls had withered and died, falling to the ground. Not a single weed remained. Not a rat, nor even an ant, roamed about. Only the bleak sound of the wind drifted through the streets.

This place was dead.

“Once, they called this the land of peace.”

Sigmund Heinkel stood at the highest point of the kingdom's castle, looking down upon his realm.

“But it seems they never meant it kindly. They say the nickname was coined to mock a king who loved peace too much. But do you know something?”

The king glanced behind him as he asked. A man stood there, watching him quietly.

“I was happy even to be mocked. If enduring those words meant we could avoid fighting, I thought that was preferable.”

Then he gave a hollow laugh.

“But it was meaningless. I never imagined resolving things peacefully could be such an illusion... That everything... could be so utterly meaningless.”

The king walked quietly over to the man and knelt at his feet.

“Allow me to offer my thanks once again. Thank you for helping enlighten this ignorant king and his people.”

The man was Gokma, a Demon with snow-white skin.

“There is no need to thank me. All of this was shaped by your own will. It was possible because you wished to change.”

“Will alone cannot bring about change. I stand here today because the attendant of the great Godwin spared no effort in helping me.”

The king reached into the air, and a black book appeared in his hand. Gokma stroked its cover and murmured,

“Gamigin's Legion is an exceedingly demanding spell.”

Gamigin, the demon of immortality and dominion. The largest of all devils, a Great Demon who claimed the interior of his own body as his domain and watched over everything within it. Legion was the magic that even this Great Demon had held up as an ideal, only to fail at it time and again.

“All lives beneath the heavens are equal, and in their equality, any may replace another...”

Gokma clenched his hand around empty air.

“A sovereign shall reign with all lives in his grasp, and those who follow him shall wield power befitting their station.”

The words he recited were written on the book's first page, and explained everything about the spell. Gokma looked down at the king.

“With every life in the Heinkel Kingdom in your grasp, you can now wield the power of a 6th Circle mage.”

“I still cannot believe it. To think that I, a mere incompetent king, may now be called a Great Mage...”

Overcome with emotion, the king wept. Watching him, Gokma spoke.

“I am afraid your outpouring of emotion will have to wait.”

He tipped his chin toward the window.

“Your friend has arrived.”

The king turned to look outside. Just as Gokma had said, a great army was advancing from the direction of the Yurei duchy.

“Perry...”

The name escaped him on a sigh. To have spent so many decades together and still understand each other so little made him feel like the protagonist of a tragedy.

“They, too, are your subjects. If they come to understand, you could reach the 7th Circle,” Gokma said.

“The 7th Circle... That would put me on roughly the same level as the chairman of the Magical Society. Could I surpass him?”

“Why ever not? Yours is magic that a mere human would struggle to break. Even the dragons you fear so much will find it difficult to lay a hand on you.”

“No one could touch me...”

The days when he could only sigh at the provocations of neighboring countries flashed before his eyes. He looked back on that life and dwelled on those words once more.

No one could touch him. It was an ideal he had thought forever beyond his reach. Yet now it rested upon his shoulders.

Now that power was within his grasp, everything looked different. He believed he had become the true king he had never managed to be.

“I shall prepare for battle,” the king said, rising.

“You intend to go yourself?”

“I must.”

The king fixed his gaze on one man among the vast advancing army. Normally, he should have seen no more than a speck, yet now the view was so vivid he could make out even the moles on Perry Yurei's face. He knew he had become a monster beyond the bounds of humanity.

“My dear friend is about to take the wrong path. What good would any of this be if I did not guide him myself?”

He wanted nothing more than to teach Yurei what this felt like.

* * *

Ferda's office, Valdrova Castle.

“You will already be well aware of this, Regent, but I ought to tell you once more.”

A lilting voice came from the crystal ball. Olivia, princess of the Arken Empire, went straight to the point.

“It has been officially announced that the Heinkel Kingdom has allied with Demons. Until now, it was only a suspicion.”

It had begun with news that Duke Yurei's army had attacked the capital of the Heinkel Kingdom. This was blatant insubordination and rebellion. But an exhaustive investigation into the circumstances of that rebellion had uncovered a startling truth: the Heinkel Kingdom really had been occupied by Demons.

“Haven't they been going on about that all this time?”

“An official announcement carries weight, doesn't it? Until then, people regarded it as little more than the ravings of a doomsayer proclaiming the end of the world. Besides, without a proper understanding of the situation, it does sound rather incoherent.”

Ferda gave a slight nod of agreement. How was anyone supposed to make a coherent report of this madness? Duke Yurei, tortured as a traitor, had escaped the Empire only to immediately march against his own sovereign, the king of Heinkel. His behavior was so abrupt that even imperial brainwashing was difficult to accept as an explanation.

“Ureas and Waldemar Gold announced this personally. So there is no longer any room for dispute.”

“How are the neighboring powers reacting?”

Olivia laughed.

“They must be terribly flustered. Just a few days ago, they were thinking of nothing but nibbling away at Heinkel's lands and wealth. Now they face a full-scale war, don't they? And against the most fearsome beings of all, whom they thought had been wiped out long ago.”

Even a glance through the history books showed that nothing had ever been as terrible as the Demons. This was a war in which even victory would mean a loss.

“Worse still, the outcome of Duke Yurei's battle was devastating. He led more than ten thousand soldiers, but they faced just one opponent: the king of Heinkel. And that entire army was annihilated.”

“The king fought them alone?”

“That detail is still being verified. Even if it is true, it will be difficult to establish conclusively.”

Ferda knew what sort of reputation the king of Heinkel had.

[“The king of Heinkel was a man who wanted to resolve everything peacefully.”]

That was what Duke Yurei had said. He had wanted only to avoid needless conflict and let everyone live in harmony. But a king who pursued peace without power was bound to be looked down upon. The king and his underlings had been nobodies.

Now that same man had the power to sweep away an army of ten thousand single-handedly. If a king who allied with Demons possessed such power, what of the others? No one would dare make a move lightly.

“This calls for the White House to intervene.”

Blancaros had declared absolute neutrality for the sake of peace on the continent. With the Demons now out in the open, surely it was time for him to act.

“Lord Blancaros intended to convene the council, but it seems the Empire forestalled him.”

“What do you mean, forestalled him?”

“They prevented the council from being convened. They said the Empire would deal with this threat to the continent's safety.”

Ferda frowned.

“And he simply accepted that?”

“That is one of the Grand Council's purposes. They were going to discuss whether humans could resolve this themselves, or whether intervention was necessary. But if the Empire says humans can handle it, there is nothing left to discuss.”

He had made that decision even after the Demons had nearly wiped out half the continent? Ferda could not tell whether it was complacency or faith in humanity.

“And the Empire was not the only one to make that request.”

“The Heodret Kingdom?”

“That's right.”

Like the Empire, Heodret was subtly revealing its appetite for expansion. Having occupied the duke's castle without shedding a drop of blood, its army's morale was at its peak. It intended to ride that momentum into the Heinkel Kingdom and expand its territory.

“Even at a time like this, they're desperate to grab more land.”

“Isn't that what nobles do? Too busy lining their own pockets even as people die... They're even busy slandering a man who took as much responsibility as Duke Yurei did.”

“What sort of slander?”

“Ureas tried to stir people up by claiming that Duke Yurei's attack on Heinkel was a sham staged by the Demons.”

“His greed truly knows no bounds.”

“Shall I tell you something even more surprising? Grand Duke Gold stopped him.”

“Grand Duke Gold?”

That was indeed surprising, just as Olivia had said. Ureas was hardly the only one fond of war.

“He said something about no longer dishonoring the noble dead. Isn't that funny? The men who tortured the duke were Gold's own confidants, yet suddenly Ureas was the only shameless, warmongering son of a bitch.”

“It seems the grand duke's love extends beyond the Empire to the whole continent.”

“Indeed. If he has so much to love, I wish he'd at least let me go.”

Olivia gave a weary sigh. The old man really was remarkably capable, spotting the potential backlash and responding so quickly.

“Let's move on to our own situation. The Second Prince now has his justification for war. He will want you involved, Regent.”

“He'll throw a tantrum demanding magical engineering weapons.”

“Yes.”

When Ferda had explained to Ureas why he could not participate in the war, he had cited his convictions and the possibility of innocent civilians being caught up in it. But now that the kingdom had become a Demon stronghold, that justification no longer held.

He was still reluctant to join the war. Yet, as with Ureas, throwing a tantrum would solve nothing. What should he do?

“May I offer my thoughts first?” Olivia asked.

“Go ahead.”

“I think you should manufacture and supply magical engineering weapons. Our attempt to screw over the Empire failed, so perhaps we should press ahead with a new plan instead.”

“What sort of plan?”

“Earning great distinction in battle to undermine Alexander's standing.”

“You want to promote the idea that Ureas is the one fit for the throne?”

“As you know, that fat bastard is working with Gold. We don't want to sit back and watch the two of them play together, do we?”

“True enough.”

“Ureas is weak at domestic affairs. So we help him distinguish himself greatly in this war and give his path to the throne another push. To that end, I think arming him with new weapons would be an excellent way to let him demonstrate his strength.”

It sounded plausible. If Olivia and Ureas were one team, Alexander and Waldemar were the other. If those two sides were to compete, helping Olivia was the right choice.

But just as Ferda was about to answer, the words stuck in his mouth. He wondered why, then heard his instincts speaking.

'Is this really right?'

He had tried to prevent a war, but now that war seemed likely, he had to help it along. And since he could not support Alexander, he would support Ureas. He had a feeling something was wrong.

Before he fully understood it himself, Ferda answered.

“No,” he said.

“You won't?”

“As I told you, the magical engineering rifles were made to protect the far east. I cannot supply them directly to the imperial army.”

“Wouldn't that give them a pretext to bring the hammer down on Valdrova's Grand Duchy?”

“There is a way to prevent that.”

“What is it?”

Ferda offered his alternative.

“I will join the war instead.”

“Join the war?”

Olivia considered it briefly, then agreed.

“If you take that approach... it is a more active form of support than supplying weapons, so no one in the Empire could really object.”

“That's not all.”

Ferda also knew how he could use this to screw Alexander over.

“Princess, you have already commanded tactical infantry once before.”

“You don't mean...”

“What if you demonstrated your command abilities before a large audience this time?”

“...”

The imperial soldiers could hardly deny what they saw with their own eyes. That would give Olivia a chance to shine, rather than Ureas or Alexander. Ferda had proposed it because he thought it a good idea, but strangely, no answer came.

“How can you keep making me...”

He heard something murmured very softly.

“Pardon?”

“My thoughts wandered for a moment. In short, you want me to show them the abilities I demonstrated during the subjugation campaign?”

“Exactly.”

“I understand the idea. I'll work out a more detailed plan along those lines. Ureas is an extremely proud man, after all. He'll be furious if I say I'm going to command troops.”

Having said that, Olivia ended with a gentle whisper.

“Have a lovely day, Regent.”

The mana in the communication crystal cut off, and Ferda took a breath. His gaze drifted aimlessly, coming to rest on Luri. Her eyes were filled with disapproval.

Ferda knew that look. It was the one she gave Zed and Penelope whenever she saw them.

“Her Highness Valdrova is the only one for me.”

“Did I say anything?”

What a nuisance.