The Great Plains #3
There are forces attempting to sabotage this summit.
At that realization, Elizabeth’s pupils trembled slightly.
“Are you saying there are already spies infiltrated within the Imperial Capital?”
“Yes. Quite a few.”
Elizabeth bit her lip. Managing the interior of the Imperial Capital was her duty. Naturally, if one were to hold someone accountable for this, the ultimate responsibility would fall on her.
However, I had no intention of blaming Elizabeth for this.
“Don’t blame yourself too much. I left them alone on purpose, without catching them.”
“That means….”
I didn’t catch them on purpose. That also meant I had already given instructions to Lily.
Because the shadows of the Imperial Capital were entirely in Lily’s hands.
“……You could have told me as well.”
Elizabeth pouted. It seemed she was deeply offended that I had only given orders to Lily.
“You were busy, weren’t you? As for telling Lily, I did so because that is the domain she is in charge of in the first place.”
“Ugh.”
Anyway.
“……I understand. Heretics and demons, is it?”
I had mentioned it once before.
As befitting a romance fantasy world, the main story here usually revolves around conflicts between humans and humans.
Because of that, the villains in the story are often just ordinary humans.
However, there are villainous factions that persistently appear even amidst that.
Those are the Black Mages, the Heretics, and the Demons.
It’s a ‘romance’ fantasy, but it’s also a romance ‘fantasy’.
“……Couldn’t you leave out the Black Mages?”
“Hmm.”
Scratch, scratch. Elizabeth, who had been peeking at the faction map I’d drawn on parchment out of boredom, spoke up abruptly.
Well, I suppose.
There’s really no room for Black Mages to cause trouble anymore.
Elizabeth, the most significant named character despite her slightly lower standing as a mage, is on my side.
And Hecate, the progenitor, is also on my side for now.
I’d recently dealt with the biggest threat among the hostile factions, too.
“Fine. I’ll remove the Black Mages.”
I drew a line right through the word ‘Black Mages’ written on the faction map.
Anyway, what’s left are the Heretics and the Demons.
“……Why would they want to disrupt this summit?”
Elizabeth tilted her head.
“The Heretics are people who don’t pay any attention unless it concerns their own interests, and the Demons are….”
“The Demons aren’t in a situation to do so?”
“Yes. They are currently in the midst of a struggle to select a new king.”
As Elizabeth’s words suggest.
The current King of the Demons—the Demon King—is absent.
“Then why would they be interested in the Empire’s affairs?”
“Why do you think?”
“Hmm….”
Elizabeth fell into deep thought. I hinted at it.
“Think about it from a Black Mage’s perspective.”
“……Are you teasing me?”
“No.”
She glared at me and toyed with her lips with her slender fingers. After agonizing over it for a while with a small, “Hmm…,” she sighed.
“……There’s no reason at all, no matter how much I think about it.”
“You only just realized that?”
“Are you serious??”
Perhaps finding my chuckling annoying, Elizabeth tapped my shoulder with her soft fists.
“You said yourself they had no reason to interfere, so why were you still worrying about it?”
“It’s because Your Majesty spoke as if there was something serious going on!”
Elizabeth shouted, her cheeks flushing red. How cute. She fanned herself with her hand as if to cool the heat rising to her face, then glared at me primly.
“Besides, it’s even stranger that there’s no reason at all.”
“It’s not that there’s no reason at all. It’s just that it’s not a rational reason from our perspective. Isn’t it even stranger for Heretics to act rationally?”
“That may be true, but….”
Just as we discussed.
The motives of those trying to disrupt the summit are nonexistent. If I had to pick one, it exists, but it’s not a reason that could persuade others.
A trivial matter to one person can be a matter of life and death to another.
And for those with twisted beliefs, that can be like the spark of a fuse.
“Perhaps the harmony between the Empire and the Great Plains shouldn’t exist according to the heretical doctrine.”
“Is that for real?”
“No, it’s just a guess.”
“What is this….”
To begin with, the background of those committing terrorism is random. Even among Heretics, they aren’t all the same; they serve different deities.
Their doctrines are all different, and their patterns of behavior are all different. Naturally, I have no choice but to guess the reasons.
The same goes for the Demons.
“……What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”
I spread out the map of the Imperial Capital.
“Since they’ve gathered for us, I should catch them all at once.”
There won’t be another opportunity like this.
The darkness of the Imperial Capital.
In a small, vacant space tucked away in the shadows of a back alley, a man in a robe opened the door to a small building that appeared after turning a few corners.
“……So, you’ve gathered.”
“A new brother, is it? Show us your mark.”
At the voice of a middle-aged man wearing an identical robe, the man pulled out a token engraved with a strangely twisted eye from inside his coat.
“Oh. A brother serving the 「Watcher」. Welcome. Come on in.”
As the man entered, those wearing identical robes were huddled together, reciting ominous words one after another.
“Who are these?”
“They are all brothers and sisters who are with us. In a sense, aren’t we here the true family?”
“That is correct, brother.”
“Hehe.”
At the middle-aged man’s words, voices of agreement erupted from all sides.
Those who had offered their souls to the Outer Gods.
Not all of them served the same deity. But that didn’t matter to those present.
To them, the Outer Gods were the same existence, and they firmly believed that the deities they served were merely different facets of one great being.
Therefore, they were spiritual brothers who shared souls instead of blood, serving the same deity.
“I serve 「Intellect」. It is more than I deserve, but I hold the task of leading my brothers here.”
“I see.”
The robed man nodded. He looked around for a moment, then discovered a shadow sitting in the corner and pointed at it with his finger.
“What is that?”
“Ah. That is a beastman brother who gladly agreed to join this plan. A truly grateful brother.”
“Is that so?”
Twitch. The figure that heard the middle-aged man’s voice shook slightly. Looking closely, its entire body was covered in large and small wounds, to the point where it couldn’t even move properly.
“Strange.”
The man muttered quietly.
No blood flowed from the fallen beastman’s wounds. Instead, black letters forming a spell were dripping down like blood.
“Is it some kind of curse?”
“I referenced Black Magic. The Black Mage who was a good trading partner until recently suddenly cut off contact. It’s quite troublesome.”
“Hmm.”
Twitch, twitch.
The man who saw the shaking shadow said.
“Won’t it die?”
“Hehe. Don’t worry. I’ve taken measures in advance so that will never happen.”
I see. The man nodded silently.
“How much does the brother know about this plan?”
“I know only as much as I need to know.”
“Then I shall explain. We have been preparing for this plan for a very long time. Of course, we decided how to execute it recently, after hearing that the Empire was contacting the Plains.”
The middle-aged man laughed gloomily.
“It doesn’t matter in what form. It is enough if we can incite chaos in the Empire and take advantage of that gap to spread our gospel and bring about the descent of ‘Him’.”
“Hmm.”
“The Emperor was originally very much in line with our goals in that sense. But for some reason, he started acting in ways that went against our will. Tsk tsk. I don’t know why he changed like that.”
In other words, the goal of the Heretics gathered here was to bring about chaos in the Empire.
This was different from Khalid’s expectations. It was a variable created by Khalid’s very existence.
The Empire in the original work had already half-collapsed by this point. So there was no reason for the Heretics to gather and incite chaos in the Empire.
Rather, because they caused terrorism for different reasons, it was a headache for the player because it couldn’t be inferred.
“The current Empire is too stable.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
“Anyway, welcome to joining us, brother. In that sense, I will assign one beastman brother to you as well, so why don’t you prepare slowly until we execute the plan?”
However, the Heretics were now gathered with one heart and one mind.
What does that mean?
“I’ve heard enough of you filthy Heretics, I really can’t stand it anymore.”
“W-what?”
It means it’s easy to predict, and easy to wipe them out all at once.
The man took off his robe.
The man—no, the knight dressed as a man—Adela shouted, suppressing her contempt and anger.
“Charge!”
BOOM──!
The wall shattered, and sunlight invaded the pitch-black space.
“K-Knights!”
“I-Intruders!”
“They’re the Empire’s dogs!”
“Why are the Imperial Knights here?!”
The Heretics were terrified. Adela let out a dry laugh and drew her sword.
“That’s right, you bastards. I am the Empire’s dog!”
“……Sword Aura? It’s a Sword Master……!”
“Why would a Sword Master come here—!”
The Heretics who saw the shimmering Sword Aura were agitated. The middle-aged man who had first welcomed Adela shouted in a trembling voice.
“H-how did you imitate the mark? That is something that could never be known unless you were one of our brothers!”
Inside the hood that had fallen off in the wind.
The beastman-specific animal ears that had been hidden were revealed.
Seeing that, clear contempt settled in Adela’s eyes.
“How did I know, you ask.”
Adela smirked.
Before leaving for this place, she recalled the Emperor who had called her out and was carefully toying with the fragment.
‘Did it look like this?’
‘Are the Heretics really fooled by something like this?’
‘If you’re suspected, just draw your sword.’
Clear aura shimmered.
“His Majesty personally gave it to me as a gift. Consider it an honor. Because His Majesty personally spent precious time on trash like you.”