Diversionary Operation
This bastard was stupid.
Stupid to a degree that defied belief.
What was his name again? No, that didn't matter. He was nothing more and nothing less than Fake Fram.
"Then you ought to know where that army was actually used."
"What are you talking about?"
"You people only see what you want to see and then bail. The nuns I raised already took a fat pile of money and used it to save the poor."
"Lies!"
No wonder people trusted the demonkin.
Demons were vicious; these idiots were just plain stupid.
"Those nuns were raised under the support of Ashtar's assassin guild. We didn't squeeze the blood out of the common folk for it."
"L-Lies..."
"And those same nuns were used in Ashtar's second expedition into the Demon Realm to subjugate the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's army—the ones who dared invade Ashtar and slaughter civilians."
"That's impossible!"
"In other words, that's about your level. With information networks that pathetic and brains that only process what they want to see, of course you got played by the Mains."
"Nooooo!"
Crunch!
I poured mana into my foot and shattered his leg bone.
"Fair warning—just dealing with trash like you is already getting on my nerves."
"Gyaaaaaah!"
"But after becoming this body and a noble, I finally get it. Crushing the weak like this... turns out it's pretty fun."
Back in the Hero Party days, I wouldn't even have dreamed of it.
That damned party had kept me caged instead. I'd endured and endured, because getting along with people was one of the few things I was good at.
Once I became this body and started wielding real authority, I realized just how worthless this world was—and how entertaining it could be to swing the power you held.
In a place like this I could kill whatever irritated me without anyone ever knowing.
Yeah. That was a good thing.
The Ruined Land where I'd lived had at least been cut off from the outside, so I'd been free to dispose of anything I disliked.
In the Hero Party there had been limits.
Still, things were better now.
Too many morons crowded around me.
Because I was a duke's daughter.
Because I was both Saint and Taesa.
A little abuse of authority was fine. At least that was how I saw it.
"Graaaaah—!"
"Ah, of course that doesn't mean other nobles aren't pieces of shit too. I just want to catch nobles, catch demonkin, and catch idiots like you all the same."
Thud!
Anything that pissed me off got cleared away.
Human, demonkin—didn't matter. If it was annoying, it got wiped out.
Though in the process the Emperor and the nobles still had their uses. Especially the Emperor of the Empire—he knew something I didn't.
I'd told Aslan once.
Atelina was a miniature empire.
Sorry, but to your former fiancée, the Empire itself was nothing more than a toy to play with on the palm of her hand.
"Khh... Are you an evil witch?"
I ground my heel into him even harder.
Come to think of it, that Hero bastard used to love getting stepped on by Siria or Ella.
The thought that this garbage might be the same type made me pull my foot away.
"Who knows?"
"How can a Saint do something like this?!"
Was there actually a rule that said a Saint couldn't?
"What, just because I'm a Saint I'm supposed to grit my teeth and put up with idiots like you?"
"Kh... Khrrrk..."
Yeah. Looks like things over there are pretty much finished.
I couldn't hear weapons clashing or sense any flow of mana anymore.
A quick glance showed the Atelina students all still alive—just a few with minor injuries.
Not a single fatality.
That alone proved those noble morons were right: raise them properly and they'd fight just fine on their own.
"Well, while I was playing with you, the other side already wrapped up."
"H-Hah?!"
Why so surprised?
No, of course he was. He'd borrowed a Main's power—even if it was only a shallow sip of water—and still gotten beaten black and blue. Tsk tsk.
"I only toyed with you to look like I was doing Saint work. Seems everything's over now."
A glance at the survivors showed a handful still breathing.
"Ugh... S-Spare me..."
"Please, spare us!"
They begged for their lives. But would they get them?
I kept my boot on Fake Fram and laughed boldly.
"What a pathetic sight. See that? Your buddies are begging to live."
"Miss Olivia!"
"Yes, Croissant?"
That was the one moment Croissant was actually useful.
"What do we do with the rest?"
"That's your choice. Kill them so they never crawl back—to prove that nobles are strong. Or show those maggots a little mercy."
Honestly, they might choose mercy.
"Hmm... I'm not sure."
"One thing you should know."
"Please tell us."
Well, since she asked, I'd tell her.
These people clearly needed a justification.
"If they had won, would any of you have lived? Absolutely not. Trash like them figure that because you're nobles, you'll spare them for the sake of noble dignity and honor. They look down on you. They think they can kill nobles, but that you won't kill them."
You could tell at a glance. It was obvious.
The kingdom had the same type—guys who weren't really trying to overthrow the crown so much as cut a deal with the demonkin and use the chaos to purge nobles.
Why? Because it was wartime. You couldn't afford to waste even one warm body, so you never finished them off.
"Ah."
"That should be answer enough, right?"
A perfect answer, if I said so myself.
"Just a moment. Normally in cases like this don't we need to dig out the mastermind behind them?"
True enough. At least they hadn't completely wasted their time at Atelina.
I raised a single finger.
"One is enough for that."
Then I pointed downward at the Fake Fram pinned under my boot.
Slash!
One of the nobles cut down a man who had just begged for his life.
Yes. That was the way. Kill without hesitation.
These anti-imperialist scum needed the rod, not the carrot.
They were traitors to the Empire. Even bandits caught outside a city could be executed on the spot if you had the power—what about open rebels?
So the nobles drew their swords and loosed their magic one after another.
"Whoa, the kids have gone completely feral, haven't they?"
Celia appeared, riding her teddy bear.
Of course I hadn't come here alone.
I'd planned for the possibility these fools might get overwhelmed.
"Tell me about it."
"Just in case, I'd set up a teddy-bear ambush."
Good thinking, though this time the nobles had actually put up a decent fight.
Celia pouted, clearly disappointed.
"Anyway, that ends the battle. The practical combat test is perfect now."
No need for the knight order to evaluate their grades separately.
Everyone had scored a perfect mark. After a fight like that, anything less would have been strange.
Naturally Ryan was delighted—immensely so.
When we met face to face he praised me as the representative.
"Oh! Outstanding! You took them all down! Atelina's standards are as high as ever. At first I was a little dubious when I heard something might come out of the dungeon, but you really are the young lady of Ashtar. That confidence of yours is well-earned. Like father, like daughter."
I wanted to ask how he had raised his own child so poorly, but I held my tongue.
Whining forever about the Lily incident would just make me sound like a sniveling little girl.
"By the way, what kind of house was the Fram family?"
"An old friend of ours. There's a last survivor of that house in the knight order, you know. I couldn't show favoritism just because we were close, but I did order the knights to watch his back a little."
"Ah, is that so?"
Who would have guessed they were actually close?
Judging by the atmosphere it hadn't been a casual relationship either. If he found out the truth he'd completely lose his mind.
"Don't tell me that man is already dead?"
"No. That one is a fake."
"A fake?"
His reaction proved they really had been close.
"The so-called survivor murdered the entire Fram clan and pretended he was the sole remaining member."
"What?!"
Ryan slammed the table and flared up like a wildfire.
Still, this matter was mine to handle.
I needed to know what was behind these people.
"I understand you're furious, but would you leave the Fram business to me? As Saint and Taesa, this falls under my authority."
"Very well."
Ryan frowned and nodded.
"Of course I have no intention of letting him live."
"As you should."
I simply needed one person left alive to interrogate after slaughtering the rest.
That he happened to be the last one was pure coincidence.
"Ah—before that, I'd still like to hear about the Fram family."
"Hmm. Information you'll need for the torture, I suppose. I'll tell you."
Ryan explained the Fram house to me.
And so I learned the truly astonishing fact that the Fram family, as a house of knights, had cherished the common people.
Ridiculous.
That nameless idiot had murdered nobles who treated commoners well—and in the process had become exactly the same kind of scum.
Now then... how should I shatter his mind?
Western outskirts of the Imperial Capital
Around the same time the anti-imperialists were being butchered in Plant Territory, a group of people held a secret meeting in Pega on the western edge of the capital.
"What do we do if things go wrong at the Plant house?"
"They only need to buy a little time. The kids at Plant aren't our real target anyway."
"Then what is?"
"Nobles who were cast out by the Emperor and the central houses like Ashtar have agreed to open the sluice gates that connect to the capital's sewers. They're also supplying private soldiers."
Yes. Every member of this secret meeting was an anti-imperialist. They had already joined hands with the heretical New World Group and with Empire nobles whose strings had been cut.
"The nobles are connected to us?"
"They're still seething over how Ashtar used his own daughter to purge them last time. Not only did the Imperial family side with Ashtar—they quietly cut the throats of nobles trying to build their own power bases. After seeing that, anyone would start wondering when their own head would roll, so resentment toward the throne has only grown. The New World Group is backing us, so the discarded nobles figure they might as well throw in with us once."
The capital was an impregnable fortress no one could breach—unless it was opened from the inside.
Even discarded nobles were not restricted from moving about the capital. If they pulled this off cleanly they could topple only the Imperial family and then vanish.
"Still, joining hands with nobles isn't exactly what we want, is it? And being used by them feels wrong."
"So what if it's different? We only need to aim at the throne. Once the Imperial family falls the nobles will start fighting among themselves for supremacy. That will create our opportunity. Just think of it as us using them."
Those who found the logic sound smiled with satisfaction.
"So we rise up while the nobles are locked in their own power struggle?"
"Exactly."
"Heh heh heh. Sounds fun."
"But isn't the Saint a danger? I hear that Ashtar girl is quite strong."
One of them voiced concern over the Saint's power, but several others shook their heads.
"Keh. Unless she can teleport all that distance, what's a girl who only got famous by borrowing her family's name going to do?"
"True."
"All right—prepare yourselves. The overthrow of the Empire is almost here!"
A man who appeared to be a cadre of the anti-imperialists shouted to his subordinates.
It would not be long now.
When dawn arrived, the gates of the Imperial capital would finally open.