The Best Defense Is a Good Offense
The best defense is a good offense. While the Centralers caught between the two factions suffered, Hornst, Aron, and Veronika—who had been chatting amicably—stepped in just as the two groups were about to clash in earnest.
"Save the fighting for when you actually have the chance. Right now, focus on getting to the North."
"Lord Hornst is correct. Fighting isn't the priority at the moment, so let's get moving."
"Why is everyone so jumpy? Even if your skills are top-notch, you've all got chicken hearts."
Their words calmed the atmosphere at the train station. Just as they said, what mattered now wasn't a brawl—it was heading north. With the important task in mind, the people at the station swallowed their boiling competitive spirits and began checking their equipment. No fool would attack a force of over a hundred, but it never hurt to be prepared. The escort unit finished their maintenance and formed ranks in case of the unexpected.
Watching the escort unit line up with Aron, Hornst, and Veronika at the center, the Marquis of Morken took a step back.
"Seems my role ends here."
"I'll pay you back for your hospitality once I return."
"It's a long way. How do you plan to manage?"
"I'll put in a request with some Silver-rank adventurers or have some idle knights handle it."
"......Do as you will."
The terror of being able to command high-ranking knight-level personnel for such a trivial matter. The Marquis of Morken, his face pale at the feat only the North could accomplish, moved to the edge of the city to see the escort unit off as they headed north. He stood quietly watching the figures disappear into the distance until they were completely out of sight. The elderly butler who had been standing silently beside him wore a worried expression.
"I wonder if they'll be all right."
"What do you mean?"
"The Empire is growing chaotic, is it not?"
A short sentence, yet heavy with implication. The Marquis of Morken, realizing the butler was worried that the chaos might spill over to them through an attack, opened his mouth.
"It's true the Empire is in turmoil. The Emperor is aging and dying, and the heirs to the throne are tearing into each other behind the scenes to seize power."
"In the process, the entire Central region is being swallowed by chaos."
"The organization that shook the Holy Kingdom recently, the Flame of Doom that's currently threatening the Empire, and the hidden factions that have been lying low—they've all started moving. Even with that level of force, there's a chance they could be attacked."
Having said that much, the Marquis of Morken narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the escort unit vanishing from view.
"But something like that won't be enough to shake them."
Objectively speaking, the Central region's strength wasn't weak. Compared to other regions, it possessed an undeniable advantage: a massive population and the exceptional talents that came with it. Especially the resources from its vast territory and fertile lands—none could ignore those. After all, eighty percent of the crops consumed in the North were imported from the Central region. That said it all.
Yet the Central region could never defeat the other regions.
"They possess something the Central region lacks."
"And what is that?"
"A hunger for survival. The will to move forward. The drive for progress and the fighting spirit born from those things are things a prosperous and secure Central region could never possess."
And usually, people who possessed those qualities weren't the sort to cause trouble for others when something bad happened to them. If anything, they'd probably turn the tables on their attackers and fill their own pockets. That was why the Marquis of Morken welcomed the chaos in the Central region.
"When peace lasts too long, corruption sets in."
Whether it was due to human nature or the abundance of jackals running rampant in times of peace, problems caused by prolonged peace were usually swept away and purified through chaos.
"This chaos will bring hardship to the Central region, but many things will change because of it."
Whether those changes would be in people, systems, or nations—no one knew. At the very least, if the Count of Morken's house wanted to survive, they would need extensive preparations.
"There's nothing more pointless than worrying about people who don't need worrying about."
With those words, the Marquis of Morken returned to his castle. In the coming age of upheaval, his house would need many preparations to survive.
Several days had passed since departing from the gate city. Having covered a considerable distance, the escort unit stopped their march as evening fell and began setting up camp in a clearing.
"Argo! One tent over here!"
"One here too, if you don't mind."
"Over here as well!"
While everyone else bustled about preparing, I fully enjoyed my complete freedom from labor. Ruin and Runa, who had been diligently pitching tents, looked at me with envy.
"How petty, running away from all the annoying work by yourself."
"If it bothers you that much, why don't you take over the supply management?"
"Kaaah! If only I had a Mystery like that!"
As Runa twisted her body in frustration, I responded with a victor's smile. Ruin, who had naturally lifted the screaming Runa to calm her down, smoothly changed the subject.
"By the way, I'm jealous. You have an extradimensional bag with an enormous capacity, don't you?"
"It's convenient, at least."
Since the game system was essentially composed of convenience features, it was useful in many ways. In fact, just having this one thing made accepting the Mystery more than worthwhile.
While Ruin and Runa, who had finished setting up the tents in an instant, caught their breath, I casually asked about their recent activities.
"How have you two been?"
"We've been grinding under Professor Veronika."
"During break, we went to the beach with our friends and wiped out a social club."
"We also stopped an attack by Imperial separatists during finals."
"Every time we go out on a request, some incident happens. It's exhausting."
They were doing well. Their protagonist-level achievements made me nod as if it were only natural. I'd thought there wouldn't be many opportunities for real combat in the Central region, but it seemed they'd accumulated plenty of practical experience. The aura I sensed from them didn't feel any weaker than mine.
"Just what exactly happened at the Academy?"
"A lot of things happened."
"Haha. What are you talking about? The Academy is always like that, isn't it?"
I gave an awkward laugh at the siblings' smiles, which carried many layers of meaning. If my guess was right, with their protagonist-level fates, they would never have a quiet Academy life. They'd probably spend their time until graduation resolving one incident after another.
"That many incidents happened, yet the Empire didn't take any measures?"
"Who knows. Things aren't normal over there either these days."
"It seems the succession struggle has intensified recently."
It hadn't been normal to begin with, but if even the students were saying such things, the situation must have become quite chaotic. Perhaps because they'd built up a lot during that time, Ruin and Runa began recounting all sorts of bizarre incidents. Even the nearby cadets, though they didn't show it openly, seemed to relate and nodded unconsciously. If the Academy, where foreign dignitaries gathered, was like this, things were seriously bad.
"If it's that chaotic, wouldn't the foreign dignitaries quit Academy life and go home?"
"The other kingdoms aren't normal either, so it's difficult."
"Perhaps because of the Empire's influence, dangerous organizations have started operating in other countries as well."
"One kingdom even had its royal castle attacked."
Oho. That kind of plausibility? Since the entire Central region was in chaos, they were probably thinking it was safer to stay at the relatively secure Academy. Having satisfied my curiosity, I decided to reward them for it.
"Ruin, Runa. Do you have time?"
"Time? We've got plenty."
"You're planning something fun, aren't you?"
Perhaps because we'd known each other since childhood, they instantly understood what I was about to say from just one sentence and wore meaningful expressions. As expected of my friends.
"But what are you planning?"
"It's about time for an attack to come."
"An attack?"
"What do you two think the Academy is?"
"A public facility?"
"An automatic door?"
Perhaps because they'd spent so much time with me as children, their thinking was similar. I nodded at Ruin and Runa's words, then pointed in one direction with my finger. Following the direction of my outstretched finger, they turned their heads to see Adela, who was sniffing the air intently.
As she moved her nose around, sniffing, Neon, who had been pitching a tent nearby, gave her a puzzled look.
"What are you doing over there?"
"I smell dark mana."
"From me? I washed with water-attribute magic and Clean magic, though."
"Not from you. It's a different dark mana scent."
At her words, Neon, who had been pondering, snapped his fingers with a look of realization.
"Ah! There's another black mage hiding nearby?"
"Seems like it. The scent is varied, so there appear to be quite a few of them."
"......Why are they trying to commit suicide in such a novel way?"
"Hmm....because they're black mages?"
"Just what exactly are black mages to you?"
"Black mages are black mages. There are no words to describe them beyond that."
After watching the two's comedy routine from start to finish, Ruin and Runa turned their gazes to me. After meeting their eyes for a moment, I took out my sword-spear from my inventory. Ruin and Runa also naturally picked up the weapons that had been inside the tent. And when our eyes met again—
Without anyone saying a word, we smiled at the same time.
"Want to go hunt for some new spending money?"
""Me!""
At my invitation, Ruin and Runa shouted simultaneously. Their loud response drew everyone's attention.
"What is it?"
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
When I explained the situation to those asking what was going on—
"What? There are black mages nearby?"
"I've never fought black mages before!"
"Could they be the attackers?"
"Let's attack first and think later."
With the most enthusiastic Northerner at the center, a subjugation party was formed on the spot. Of course, there were opinions that if they had the nerve to attack an escort unit full of skilled individuals, wouldn't it be dangerous?
"Are you....scared, perhaps?"
"If you're that afraid, hide in a safe tent. We'll take care of it and come back."
"Oh my, didn't you lose to me and my brother, Professor?"
"Wasn't that because I was sparring with a penalty, Lady Runa?!"
"You lost anyway, didn't you? I don't listen to people weaker than me."
Through smooth conversation, unanimous agreement was reached, and a subjugation party was formed to intercept the black mages before they could make their move.