The Black Serpent #2
“Absolutely not!”
Everyone gritted their teeth in opposition. But well, am I the type to listen? I remained steadfast. I had even packed my bags well in advance.
“Your Majesty, it’s not as if you can’t just unpack them again.”
That was true. It was a fair point, but still.
“Hmm.”
“…….”
As I let my displeasure show, everyone fell silent. Who told them to make fair points in front of me anyway?
“Your Majesty, everyone is just worried about you…….”
Elizabeth, who had stepped forward to mediate, let her voice trail off. She then added awkwardly, “Well, worried. I suppose that is what they are doing.”
“Doesn’t that sound awkward even to you?”
“Ahem.”
Exactly. Who is worrying about whom? Elizabeth cleared her throat, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“That may be so, but I can understand why they are against it.”
At those words, the high-ranking officials looked at her, seemingly thinking she was on their side.
“Proxy, please, say something to him.”
“Pardon?”
Elizabeth tilted her head slightly.
“I am, for the record, on His Majesty’s side.”
“Excuse me?”
I had received Hecate’s letter right in front of her, after all. There was no way she didn’t know my plan. She had remained silent precisely because she was on my side. But the officials, ignorant of this fact, looked at her as if they’d been betrayed.
“You’ve always been lukewarm regarding matters of black magic, so I assumed you would oppose this as well.”
“Ahem! That is unrelated, isn’t it?”
Elizabeth, really….
When the attempt to pull her to their side failed, the Minister of Finance stepped up as their representative.
“Your Majesty, send the Knights Order instead.”
I feel like we had this conversation during the Barca Kingdom incident, too. Back then, it was impossible because time was too tight.
“According to the information you provided, Your Majesty, time is not that pressing this time, is it?”
That is true. It was a request to clear them out in advance to prevent any accidents. In the original work, it wasn’t even the time for the incident to occur yet. However.
“I cannot send the Knights.”
“And why is that?”
Why, indeed.
“The distance is too great.”
“Just where exactly is it that you say that….”
I unfolded the map. The empire’s territory, which ruled over the vast west of the continent, stood out. And on the empire’s eastern border sat a massive mountain range. They say dwarves and dragons live there. In the original work, it was just a setting; I’d never been there, so I didn’t know.
Below the mountain range, small kingdoms and free cities were clustered together. What kind of place is it? It’s the kind of place used in the original work whenever an event was needed, with a vague line like, ‘In a certain country in the east~.’
And only after passing through those places.
“Here.”
“Oh my.”
The Trier Kingdom, a tiny territory, occupied a corner of the map. One might wonder why it’s in such a remote place, but when you’re plotting a conspiracy, you have to do it in a corner. If you act out in the open, you’re bound to get caught.
And look.
“……I suppose it is true that we cannot send the Knights to such a place.”
It also has the advantage of blocking foreign invasions. The Minister of Finance groaned softly. It was only natural; to send the Knights there, they would have to cross several countries. If a force as large as the Imperial Knights were to swarm over there? It was obvious the surrounding nations would have a fit.
I could just ignore them, but the bureaucrats here would want to avoid such chaos if possible. Besides, it wasn’t even an issue within the empire. If I sent the Knights to another country and said, ‘We received information that black mages are hiding in your country, so move aside,’ it would just look like an invasion under the guise of hunting black mages.
“Ahem.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs cleared his throat. Right. Even from your perspective, isn’t it better for me to go alone, where I can slip in and out secretly?
“Even so, for Your Majesty to go personally….”
“What about Sir Alto? I heard he was the top graduate. As a disciple of the Protector and a Swordmaster, isn’t he suitable for such a mission?”
Adela, who had been listening while standing next to Elizabeth, flinched. In truth, for any normal level, that would be correct. Naturally, it would be better for me to send Adela and wait behind.
“Sir Alto has been assigned another mission.”
Adela’s mouth hung open. It looked like she was saying, ‘Me? I am?’ Of course, the ‘other mission’ was a lie. This mission was on a scale that Adela couldn’t handle alone. How could a single Swordmaster resolve a branch of the world’s largest black mage organization?
“Hmm.”
The officials seemed to be somewhat convinced.
“Seeing how you insist, if we stop you, you’ll just go secretly anyway.”
“If that’s the case, it’s better if we prepare in advance.”
“The top priority must be ensuring the fact that Your Majesty is away does not leak…….”
It felt less like they were convinced and more like they were forced to accept it because they had no other choice, but it was a fair point.
“In the first place, if I wanted to go, I could do so without any of you knowing. Tsk tsk.”
“Your Majesty….”
“Don’t look at me like that. Why do you think I told you all, even though I could have gone secretly? It’s so you wouldn’t worry too much. If you’ve understood, you are dismissed.”
That should be enough. I waved my hand and dismissed them.
A few days later, Lily handed me a travel bag. Although, it was just a small pouch enchanted with subspace magic.
Shall we get going?
“Your Majesty.”
“Why do you call?”
“You aren’t going on a vacation, are you?”
“Hardly.”
Elizabeth, who had come to see me off, glared at me.
“I’ll buy you a souvenir on my way back.”
“See, you are going on a vacation!”
I told you, I’m not.
I arrived. The Trier Kingdom. The journey was comfortable. Since it was just Lily and me, there were no difficulties in planning the schedule.
“It’s been a while since I’ve traveled with just you, Your Majesty.”
Perhaps it was because we had traveled like this a few times to find hidden pieces, but there was nothing particularly uncomfortable about it.
“What business brings you here?”
As we reached the entrance of the castle that surrounded the entire kingdom, a guard stopped me. I pulled out my adventurer’s identification badge from my pocket and showed it to him. I figured it would be easier to introduce myself as an adventurer rather than pulling out something that made my status look too high.
“Are you an adventurer?”
I nodded.
“Welcome to our kingdom. Please, enter.”
Polite, aren’t they? The Imperial guards should learn from this.
“Are the Imperial guards a bit different?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“….”
Lily, who had popped out from the shadows, shut her mouth. How would I know? I never meet them anyway.
“Anyway, it’s a peaceful place.”
Just as Lily said. This was the stronghold where the hardliners of the ‘Black Serpent’ gathered? It was an unbelievably peaceful and charming kingdom.
“Tsk.”
However, I know. The fact that this place will transform into a living hell in the not-so-distant future. If not for the information Hecate provided, I would have only realized this was the place I knew from the original work after the incident had already occurred.
-This place is… hell.
-Ah, who on earth would do such a thing?
Serena’s script, traumatized, came to mind. This is why it’s a problem. Even if you know the information from the original work, it’s useless in cases like this. Knowing that countless people will be sacrificed isn’t the important part. The important part is the exchange of emotions between the protagonists that unfolds as a result.
I don’t think it’s bad. I, too, was the type to be satisfied just watching Serena’s pretty CGs rather than caring about where, why, or how the enemies did what they did. You can’t get annoyed at a Chinese restaurant for not serving pasta.
“Hoo.”
The problem is that since it’s become reality, the lack of information is a real issue. Still, it’s not that I have zero information. If you synthesize the fragments scattered throughout the original work, you could at least predict the big picture the enemies had drawn.
“Your Majesty, you don’t seem to be in a good mood. Your complexion is poor.”
Lily tugged at my collar.
“That’s not it, but….”
I crossed my arms. I wasn’t in a bad mood. It was just annoying that I had to piece together information like a puzzle even after having played the game. I roughly understood the enemies’ plans, but……. I didn’t really know where their stronghold was.
I came because Hecate told me, but no matter how small a kingdom is, a kingdom is still a kingdom. It’s the size of a city. I couldn’t just go around searching the whole place.
“Lily, how should we find their stronghold here?”
“I’m not sure either.”
Lily said, looking troubled.
Hmm.
“Should I have brought Elizabeth?”
“If you had, we wouldn’t even be halfway here yet.”
That’s true. Still, if I had brought her, she would have found the black mages in no time. It’s not that there’s no way. I have a hunch. But it’s a shame, thinking it would have been easier if a professional black mage had been in our party.
“For now, I’ll go in and out of the shadows to gather information, so…….”
“Hey, big sister and big brother.”
Just as I was planning with Lily, a young voice reached us. What is it? Looking down, a small girl was looking up at us.
“Aren’t you adventurer big sister and big brother?”
Since I was wearing a robe, I suppose I looked like an adventurer to anyone. When I nodded, the girl beamed.
“My parents run an inn, so why don’t you stay there tonight?”
So that was it. Was she soliciting travelers? In this era, it wasn’t that rare for children to work like this. Especially in businesses like inns.
“What shall we do, Your Majesty?”
“I told you not to call me that here.”
“……What shall we do, Khalid-nim?”
I decided to follow her for now. It wasn’t like I could expect luxurious facilities here, and since we’d met, it was fate—even if it was just decent, it would be fine.
“Oh my, we only have one room left. That’s alright, right?”
“Then let’s just go somewhere else─.”
“That’s fine. Just give us the one room.”
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