The Siege of Pride
Two aerial fortresses were closing in on each other high above the sky. One was Inarinax, the flying fortress of the Tanalif Grand Duchy.
Clad in full plate armor, Mina entered the Grand Duke’s chamber and delivered her report. “It is the Ella Magic Academy’s flying fortress, Bellarinixa. They are demanding that we withdraw immediately and cease our approach toward the academy.”
Lua drew in a slow breath, then nodded. “Let’s go. Mina, brother.”
“Understood.”
“H-huh? Me too?”
This was a situation that could easily erupt into battle. Sia had never been useful in a fight—especially not in combat—and she couldn’t fathom why Lua would drag her along.
“I can only feel at ease when you remain by my side. No matter what happens, I will protect you without fail.”
Lua offered her older brother a warm, reassuring smile. Yet Sia caught the dark, obscene glint hidden behind it.
Sia dashed forward and spread both arms wide, blocking Lua from leaving the room. Lua blinked in surprise, watching her older brother behave like a dog trying to stop its owner from going to work.
“…Brother?”
“You—you never intended to settle this peacefully from the start, did you?”
Oh dear. Quite sharp today, aren’t we?
“What are you talking about? Of course I prepared for the possibility that things might not end amicably, but…”
“Liar! I—I won’t allow it!”
“Brother… weren’t you the one who respected my will as Grand Duke more than anyone else? If you act like this, I’ll be very sad.”
When his little sister made a face as if she were truly heartbroken, Sia felt his heart sink.
“Ugh… E-even so, you can’t… A Grand Duke mustn’t do something like this…!”
Letting one’s lord do whatever she pleased wasn’t the act of a loyal subject—it was the act of a loyal dog. Sia did not want Lua to leave a stain on her record as ruler.
“Hmm~ What should I do about this~?”
Lua shrugged as if troubled, but her voice carried the delighted tone of someone whose only options were exactly what she wanted.
“Mina. Go stall them for about fifteen minutes. You may tell them our business exactly as it is.”
“As you command.”
Mina bowed her head, stepped past Sia, and left the room.
Sia remained standing with arms outstretched, blocking Lua’s path. He swallowed hard and steeled himself.
“Ten minutes. If you can endure that long, I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
“H-huh?”
“I happen to need to pull out urgently anyway.”
“W-wait—!”
The sound of Lua pinning her older brother down and the wet, obscene plap plap♡ and squelch squelch♥ noises filled the room.
Less than five minutes later.
“Ahn♡ O-ohhh…♡”
“My victory♥”
Sia lay on his back with legs splayed like a bitch in heat, eyes rolled back, tongue lolling, body trembling violently. From between his thighs, clear fluid spurted in rhythmic gushes while thick semen overflowed in heavy spurts.
“Now you’ll obey my orders, won’t you?”
“Ugh…♡ I-I said nooo…♡”
A doll who couldn’t move a single finger or toe had no right to defy her master. Lua tucked her softening, monstrous cock away, roughly cleaned up the ruined Sia, then hoisted him over her shoulder and left the room.
From both Inarinax and Bellarinixa, groups of fairies stepped forward. They floated into the open air, forming ranks between the two fortresses as they faced each other.
From Inarinax came the White Rose Knights led by Mina. The fairies emerging from Bellarinixa were all women. At their head stood a female fairy nearly as tall and powerfully built as Mina herself.
“I am Mina Tanalif, knight in service to Her Highness the Grand Duke of Tanalif.”
“Strange. Where did Ruben go?”
It seemed the other side was acquainted with the former Knight Commander. Ruben had been imprisoned for treason, but there was no need to disclose such a disgraceful matter.
“You must be Commander Olivier of the Blue Butterfly Mercenary Company?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
The Ella Magic Academy was, at least in name, an educational institution and therefore did not maintain its own standing army. Instead, it hired mercenaries to handle security and defense. The Blue Butterfly was an all-female mercenary band that had worked for a long time under Brigitte, who harbored an intense hatred of men.
“No need to be so formal. We’re the ones who came barging in rudely.”
“We have no intention of resorting to force. We came only to request the academy’s cooperation.”
“The Ella Magic Academy maintains complete neutrality. We have no intention of cooperating with anyone.”
“I heard that the Principal, Lady Brigitte, once had a conversation with Her Highness the Grand Duke.”
“Ah, could you wait a moment?”
Olivier lifted a crumpled sheet of paper in front of her eyes.
“Um… Is this it? The Principal said, ‘It was merely a private conversation; there were no binding agreements, so overinterpreting it would be problematic.’”
“…Furthermore, I heard she received assistance from the Grand Duke in the imperial capital.”
“Regarding that… she said, ‘I respect the noble spirit of the Grand Duke who faced the vile wyverns for the sake of the vassals, but the academy could have escaped that situation on its own without anyone’s help.’”
On the day the vassals had gathered before the Emperor, when vile wyverns attacked the imperial harbor, it was true that Grand Duke Lyona Arpis and Grand Duke Lua Tanalif had bought time, allowing the other vassals’ flying fortresses to escape. The fortress Valeranixa that Principal Brigitte had ridden was also at that harbor. However, Brigitte had possessed the ability to escape under her own power without Lua’s help, and therefore owed the Grand Duke no personal debt.
Mina thought that the Principal’s ironclad refusal was enough to leave even Lua feeling rather hurt, regardless of official stance.
“What else is written there?”
“Let’s see… Um… When asked, ‘Isn’t the ideology of the magical community supposed to be using magic for the benefit of the empire?’ she instructed to answer, ‘The empire no longer exists.’”
“I see. I was indeed going to say that as well. But ‘the empire no longer exists’—what kind of blasphemous statement is that?”
“How should I know what those scholars are thinking? Even if it wasn’t written here, I can only tell you to turn back. This conversation has gone on long enough. I’ll give you five minutes—turn your flying fortress around. If you don’t…”
Rumble…!
“Eh?”
Olivier whipped her head around to locate the source of the ominous sound. The Bellarinixa she had just been riding was slowly turning its massive hull.
“What the— We haven’t even boarded yet, why—”
Olivier couldn’t finish her sentence. When she turned back, Mina was already right in front of her.
The wolf-headed mace hurtled toward Olivier. She hastily raised her greatsword to block.
Clanggg!
“Ugh! What is this?! A cowardly surprise attack! Where did your knightly honor go?!”
“I am not such a noble person. I have already committed sins, and both my body and heart have been thoroughly defiled.”
Beginning with Mina, the rest of the White Rose Knights launched their assault on the Blue Butterfly mercenaries. Olivier glanced desperately toward Bellarinixa, but the flying fortress continued to ignore them and head back toward the academy.
“Damn it! Don’t tell me the Grand Duke already infiltrated it?! When the hell did she—?!”
“We have no desire to shed blood. Please wait patiently until Her Highness finishes her business.”
Mina gripped her mace tighter and tried to shove Olivier back. But for some reason, she couldn’t push her even an inch. It should have been impossible for an upper fairy to withstand the raw physical strength of a Grand Elf like Mina head-on.
“What kind of strength…?!”
Olivier looked at the bewildered wolf and let out a strained laugh.
“Heh heh… Did you think bloodline was everything? These days, good gear matters just as much!”
A strange blue glow began to emanate from the armor Olivier wore.
Grand Duke Lyona Arpis, Grand Duke Lua Tanalif, and the other Grand Elves hailed as the strongest in the empire—countless powerful warriors longed to test themselves against them. Yet everyone treated Lua as an exception. Even those who loved battle had no desire to fight her. Unless the opponent was of equal standing, there could be no such thing as a “match” against her.
“Will you continue fighting?”
“N-no. We surrender.”
In the control room of Bellarinixa, the Blue Butterfly mercenaries guarding it all lowered their weapons and knelt before Lua. They had witnessed their most skilled female warriors fall helplessly without being able to put up any resistance.
The gap in power was simply too vast; fighting was meaningless. The mercenaries had tried area attacks since they couldn’t detect Lua’s stealth, but she either let the spells pass through her or absorbed them completely. They tried to pinpoint her location by watching their comrades fall one by one, but tracking a Lua who kept using instantaneous movement was impossible. Even when they raised shields to block, her sword—backed by monstrous strength—split both shield and wielder in two.
Moon-attribute magic was generally looked down upon because its destructive power was noticeably low and it only provided supplementary effects in battle. However, when used by a Grand Elf on an entirely different level, any attribute became an absolute force.
“Ugh…♡”
When she finally dropped her stealth, they saw that Lua had been fighting them with only one hand the entire time. She was cradling a small-statured woman against her side. The woman had striking pink hair longer than her own height and was twitching and shuddering in a strange way.
Lua grabbed the highest-ranking mercenary among those still standing and began issuing orders.
“No one is dead, so handle the aftermath yourselves and turn the fortress around.”
“T-to where, exactly?”
“Is there anywhere else besides the Magic Academy? Proceed at full speed.”
“E-excuse me? That’s far too close. If we accelerate to maximum speed now, we won’t be able to stop in time—Hik!”
When Lua placed a hand on the mercenary’s shoulder, the woman immediately fell silent.
The Grand Duke smiled sweetly and spoke.
“Did you think I would give an order without knowing that much?”