The Confession Attack (1)
"You all remember the principles for killing Black Mages, right?"
"Yes, sir!"
At the command of the Captain of the Azure Flame Knights, the knights all nodded in unison. Their eyes showed they hadn't forgotten, but the Captain seemed unsatisfied.
"Mages are like that by nature, but Black Mages are even more insidious and vile. Kill them on sight, no exceptions."
He reiterated the principle of exterminating Black Mages once more.
"Even if they attempt to surrender, kill them. Burn the corpses without fail. Furthermore, no matter how much evidence or documentation is present, do not touch it until the mages... no, until the Wands arrive. However, if you judge the situation to be dangerous, eliminate it immediately."
An unknown enemy they hadn't properly fought yet. To make matters worse, their current mission was to enter the very lair of these unknown foes.
'I suppose we got the better end of the deal.'
The Captain looked at the ordinary-looking cabin before him. It was the kind of atmosphere where, if you opened the door, a happy family might pop out at any moment. But the moment he knew it was a Black Mage's hideout, the feeling changed completely. Still, what brought him some relief was that their assigned target was quite manageable. He had heard that other knight orders were being sent into underground caverns, so a residential house at least offered an open space, providing some psychological stability.
"Moving in."
At the Captain's order, everyone drew their swords as if they had been waiting. In reality, though, "moving in" was just a figure of speech.
"Everyone, suppress from a distance!"
It was a method of bombardment using highly compressed Mana. There was no need to open the lid of a place deemed dangerous. They had chosen to erase it entirely.
From Mana to Aura. Using every means at their disposal, they unilaterally blasted the house from afar. There was no need to worry about anyone else being nearby. It was a place not even marked on the map. Everyone knew how unrealistic it was for a single cabin to be sitting in the middle of a deep mountain. The entire knight order continued their assault without caring about collateral damage, and by the time the Mana and Aura had churned the earth and a cloud of dust completely obscured the cabin...
"Stop. Maintain a defensive stance until the dust settles."
After issuing the order to cease fire, the Captain tore open a Wind Magic Scroll he had received in advance, clearing the dust away in an instant. The cabin was now unrecognizable. And the human corpses that should have been inside were nowhere to be seen.
Did they die? Did they finish them off? He didn't entertain such thoughts.
'There is no room for complacency.'
He immediately expanded his Ki-sense to detect any unidentified foreign objects nearby. As soon as he felt a sense of dissonance in the air—a classic pattern—the Captain instantly fired a wave of Aura in that direction.
Slash!
He was the only Sword Master on the scene right now. If he hesitated in his judgment and died, the nation would lose a significant military asset. The Captain didn't hesitate to strike.
"Damn it...!"
The Black Mage hit by the attack was flustered but didn't dodge. To be precise, it would be more accurate to say he couldn't respond. When would a Black Mage have ever experienced the attack of a Sword Master? But even so, they didn't die.
"I thought we could at least talk, but to attack right away... who gave the order?"
The entity presumed to be a Black Mage appeared incredibly relaxed. Perhaps because he knew he wouldn't die, he continued to look down at the knights from the sky, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered.
"...."
"Not saying anything? Are the Empire's knights always this reticent?"
There was no need for conversation. The Captain kept his eyes on the Black Mage floating in the sky, muttering to himself. In that state, he calmly sprinkled Holy Water onto his blade and fired another wave of Aura at the mage.
"Hmm?"
And the ending that awaited the Black Mage, who hadn't properly seen the Holy Water, was—
Ssssssssss!
"Argh, ugh, huff, k-kuh...!"
It was a fall without resistance.
Holy Water confirmed as an effective countermeasure against Black Mages.
"Wand No. 1 Teo! Reporting the situation."
"I'm listening."
"The knight captains currently moving to suppress the Black Mages attempted attacks using Aura, but it didn't work properly. Immediately after, they sprinkled Holy Water on their blades and attempted the attack again, and they report achieving very significant results."
"So Holy Water was the answer after all."
"I am truly in awe of Your Highness's foresight!"
"Save the flattery. Is everyone uninjured?"
"Yes, there are none. There have been no reports of casualties yet, and they are currently transporting several perfectly suppressed Black Mages along with the Wands!"
The situation is good.
'So, they are suppressing the Black Mages without anyone getting hurt.'
Just as I had predicted after the report that Black Mages had appeared. As soon as one popped up, they started showing off their presence in droves nearby like bugs. If I hadn't prepared in advance, a situation could have easily occurred where anything might have happened. This is a part where Mirne's clues were incredibly helpful.
'That makes it even more confusing.'
Why would she give such a big hint? Did she feel her life was threatened because she didn't know yet that she wouldn't die? Is she acting friendly at this stage, only to change at a certain moment?
'I can't tell.'
Looking at the Crown Prince's memories, Mirne had never once been cooperative with the Empire. She treated others as dolls for her own sake and acted thoroughly for the Maserin Kingdom. But what she did just now was completely different. Of course, it was only once, and she had been desperately trying to suck the Empire dry before that, but the fact that she helped me at all bothered me.
'It doesn't seem like a good intention...'
If there's a worst-case scenario I can assume, it would probably be that the result remains unchanged even if she tells me like this.
'Is the reason Mirne acts so self-righteous in the regression because of an obsession that she must do it according to the original plot?'
Does Mirne have her own circumstances? Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to suddenly change my mind and alter my plans to try and get along. Understanding her circumstances and not being hostile are two completely different problems. I don't like the kind of development where, at the very end, someone says, "Yeah, actually you had those circumstances too, let's be friends." There's no such "sweet potato" (frustrating plot) in my dictionary.
"Is there nothing related to the Demons either?"
"That is correct."
By the time I had finished organizing my thoughts and heard most of the report:
"Maintain the alert status, and for the places where the Black Mages stayed, deploy the Wands and priests to purify them quickly."
"We will implement that immediately."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I ordered Teo and Rowena to perform a perfect cleanup of the scene so that I wouldn't leave any future trouble behind. Usually, Black Mages often resort to dirty tricks, so there was no harm in cleaning up the situation to an excessive degree.
"Report immediately if there are any special details."
With that, I was the first to rise from my seat. Everyone had been issuing operational commands for two days straight without even getting proper sleep.
'I should be the first to leave so they can at least pretend to rest.'
When the boss isn't around, people can breathe a little easier and relax their tension, can't they?
Even as I headed to my bedroom, the stray thoughts in my head continued to linger.
'The probability of destruction is still 40%... They said it might not be destroyed within 5 years, so does that mean it won't be destroyed if I leave it as is? If so, what happens to the Covenant?'
Starting with the probability of destruction.
'There are three male leads identified right now, but most of them have lost their function... What else can Mirne do here?'
Even the existence of the male leads. There were one or two things to consider. The part about the male leads was especially a mystery.
In the case of a male-oriented harem fantasy, there are cases where at least 7 or more heroines appear.
'It's impossible to completely rule out the possibility that "Ju-Peo-Bae" (The Foolish Crown Prince) will turn out that way too.'
Moreover, looking at the flow of the story in "Ju-Peo-Bae," it would likely be a structure where she chooses one person in the end. If she only had to pick one anyway, I thought it wouldn't matter if there were many sub-protagonists.
'No matter how many there are, if they die like the Northern Grand Duke right now... I can just create another male lead.'
As my thoughts continued like that:
"Wait."
Only then did I realize why I could kill the male lead once enough narrative was built up.
"...Because they can be replaced anyway? If it were an irreplaceable male lead, they wouldn't have died at all, like Mirne."
Male leads are refillable. Just like how a new male lead was refilled with the setting of a Northern Great Warrior as soon as the Northern Grand Duke died. If a specific narrative didn't exist, it was a structure where male leads were supplied infinitely.
Then does that mean the real male lead doesn't die even if I kill them? To be precise, it means they don't die even if killed, and they aren't replaced either. And usually, such a character doesn't suddenly appear while the story is progressing. They are directed to be the person who reveals the strongest presence while naturally building up a narrative from the beginning.
"Huh?"
Then there was only one person right now. From the beginning of the story. The only male lead who had continuously revealed a crazy presence up to the 50th chapter I had read. The only one who showed crazy love, continuously pouring it out infinitely, even though other male leads tried to give it secretly.
"Bedin, you crazy bastard."
If this guy is the real male lead of "Ju-Peo-Bae," the position that will truly marry Mirne.
'Yeah, that's why it didn't make sense for me to marry her.'
What if I just marry them off right now? If this is true, Mirne will have no choice but to marry Bedin. Because that's how the development will go. It's just that the timing would be moved up a little.
It didn't matter if it was an engagement, not a marriage.
'I shouldn't have been catching Gorhan and setting up a dating avatar like that.'
There was a more certain method.
"Call Bedin immediately."
I'll marry Bedin off. It doesn't matter if he doesn't get married.
'I can just make him do a confession attack.'
As the saying goes, there's nothing like this for cutting ties.
'If Bedin is the real male lead, he won't be able to cut ties even if he does a confession attack.'
My heart wanted to make a public confession to apply political pressure, but if they have the invincible setting of a kingdom that doesn't fall anyway, it was a gain just to confirm that he was the male lead.
'It doesn't have to be him, it's fine if the ties are cut.'
I realized it. From now on, I will catch every male lead I meet and make them do a confession attack on Mirne.
She wants to do it according to the original plot?
'Yeah, I'll do it for you.'
Instead, it will be the original plot in my own way.