Each Person's Circumstances
Noel was the first one I called aside. It wasn’t anything special. Now that we were sisters, I told her we needed an honest conversation. Yeah. That was the only reason.
“You damn woman, how dare you drag me into this? Are you trying to turn me into a bard? Or what, you want me to become a dancer?”
I grabbed the collar of Noel, who had followed me out.
“You’re the one who sold me out first!”
She conveniently left out everything she had done. How the hell was I supposed to deal with this girl? I hated childish fights, but when she came at me like this, it put me in a tough spot.
“Don’t you remember that you started teasing me first? Huh?”
“You’re the one who conveniently forgot what you did?”
She had confessed to the hero and got rejected, yet here she was trying to pin everything on me?
“Shut up!”
I slammed her into the ground. But she shot right back up.
“Do you still think I’m the same person I was in the past?”
“You only listen when you get beaten, don’t you?”
Noel needed to be put in her place at least once.
“No, you’re just being completely selfish. Let me say it again. Thinking of me as the old me is a huge mistake. No matter how much you’re my sister, I won’t forgive you for this!”
“Oh? Looks like I caught you at just the right time. You’ve really earned yourself a beating, haven’t you?”
Perfect timing. It seemed the man known as Noah had become a woman and was now being looked down on quite a bit. But even like this, I hadn’t skipped a single day of physical training in this body.
“What are you going to do? Hit me? You’re weaker than before, aren’t you? If we’re talking pure strength, I’d win. At the very least, I could mess up that pretty face of yours. Want to test it in a spar?”
A spar, huh. Want to try? No. I had no intention of losing, but this place would turn into a battlefield. In that case, I needed to make her listen properly. Time to establish a new hierarchy.
“So that’s how you want to play it? You’ve really met your match today.”
“Hmph. So what are you going to pull out?”
The moment Noel let out a snort, I activated sword magic. And then.
A pitch-black mana sword that radiated a dark, ominous aura formed in my hand.
A pitch-black mana blade forged from pure destructive mana. It carries the Authority of Despair.
“Come at me.”
“No, that’s not fair, you bitch! You’re seriously trying to turn your little sister into dust! Wow, damn. Sis, you’re totally acting like one of the Four Heavenly Kings right now?”
One of the Four Heavenly Kings? That was harsh. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Once I took Pector’s power, this wouldn’t be the Authority of the Four Heavenly Kings anymore. It would be mine. Besides.
“Yep~ Right now I’m Olivia, a complete stranger.”
“You only use the name Olivia when it’s convenient for you?”
Who was trying to appeal to sisterly emotions now? I was Olivia now. I even prepared a meteor strike. Of course, it was just a bluff.
“The service menu also includes meteor drops.”
“Fuck, you can’t use a meteor in a sibling fight!”
I could drop one right now. Right on my little sister’s head, brutally. Noel, who knew my personality well, pointed at the sword in my hand.
“Sis. We can cooperate. So let’s put away that creepy thing first, okay?”
Yeah. Right. It did look creepy. Anyone could see it was ominous. But hierarchy had to be established when she was scared.
“Oh? You think my Authority is creepy?”
“Ah, come on. That’s enough. What do you want?”
She caught on quickly. I hadn’t called her just to beat her up anyway. If we were going to do this, the biggest problem was the hero. That bastard had zero ability to fight the Four Heavenly Kings.
“Keep that Eugene bastard under control. Make sure he doesn’t join the battle if possible. Honestly, he’ll probably just get in the way.”
“Huh? Wouldn’t it be good for him to earn some merit this time?”
“The Duke will take care of that after the war. Anyway, it’s obvious he’ll be a hindrance.”
Later, we could just say the hero participated in the battle too. As I always said, even if we didn’t want to, we had to put the hero’s name on the record for the sake of the allied Kingdom and humanity’s representative. This was also preparation for the next generation of heroes that might come. If another confrontation between the Demon King and humanity happened after this era, a hero would appear. If the perception of heroes was ruined because of Eugene, it would be a problem. In other words, if we didn’t correct the damaged image of heroes caused by Eugene’s actions—
The Demon King has revived.
📍 Public Opinion: The hero is useless anyway. We're fucked.
🎁 Result: The hero will be discarded immediately.
“Normally demons can be fought by the hero, so why?”
That was true. No matter how pathetic the hero was, he could at least handle Berna’s army. That wasn’t the issue.
“This is a revenge war they’ve been sharpening their blades for for decades after Eldacrad’s failure. We can’t allow even the slightest variable. If news spreads that the hero is here, Berna might join the battle with the mindset of ‘I can just corrupt the army again.’”
Even though she was crazy about Eldacrad. As a subordinate of the Demon King, she had instincts. Hatred toward the hero. The absolute need to kill him. After all, since he possessed the Holy Sword, the hero had to be eliminated. It was simple if you thought of them as natural enemies.
“Ah, that makes sense.”
“Exactly. So don’t ever let that bastard loose.”
If it was Eugene, he would definitely be in the back hugging the elf and the fallen saint in a completely different kind of corruption, grinning like an idiot. Yeah. It might actually be better to bring the women from the brothel along too.
“But aren’t you the Imperial Tutor? Can’t you contact the Empress?”
Was she really saying that right now?
“Thanks to someone, it seems like messages have already been exchanged from Ashtar.”
Whose fault was that? I slightly raised the sword.
“Hey, put the sword away!”
“Let me remind you again. Did you understand?”
“I got it.”
Good. Even though this sister who knew her brother like a dog would stay quiet if it was for humanity’s sake.
“If you get any weird ideas, I’ll seriously just—”
“Ah. I won’t, okay? I know your personality. Would I do that?”
Why was she suddenly insulting my personality? Where was there a woman as kind as me?
“What about my personality?”
“You became even nastier after turning into Olivia, you know?”
Should I really show her what a nasty personality looked like?
“Want me to show you a truly nasty personality?”
“Ah. I got it. I was wrong. So put that away.”
It would be annoying if the hero caused trouble during the expedition. It was best to set up a lock with Noel in advance.
“But will the hero listen to you?”
“Yeah, he listens pretty well. Don’t worry. I’ll handle it properly.”
Good. It was nice that the hero listened to her.
Around the time the Holy Kingdom was organizing its expeditionary force to support Ashtar, a messenger from Ashtar entered the Holy Kingdom and delivered the family head’s letter.
Pope Gleisia, who received the letter, shook her head.
“The Fallen Saint Berna… was Bernoa? She didn’t die in a holy war alongside Eldacrad in the Demon King’s territory, but fell into corruption?”
“Yes.”
She had already received a preliminary report from the cardinal, but seeing the letter sent directly by Ashtar made her feel extremely uneasy. Of all people, Bernoa had become Berna. She had suspected it because the names were too similar, but still.
“This has become a headache. Of all things, for a saint of our Holy Kingdom to fall into corruption. And to be discovered by Ashtar, who supports the Empire’s Goddess Church that has no roots.”
The Pope slowly read through the document sent by the Ashtar family head. No matter how many times she read it, nothing changed.
“How should we handle this matter?”
“Hmm.”
In response to the cardinal’s question, Gleisia tapped her temple with her finger. This situation had taken a strange turn. Rather than being a problem to nitpick, it might actually benefit the Holy Kingdom.
“They say they will attack the whore who spread her legs for the Demon King, and they’re asking for support from the clergy.”
The whore who spread her legs would be Berna. The fact that the head of a family—especially the head of Ashtar—used such vulgar language showed just how furious they were. Now that the existence of the one who caused their father’s death had become clear, it was natural for rage to boil over.
“You mean the priests? That’s impossible. Asking for the Holy Kingdom’s clergy for free! Is a mere noble family treating us like a vassal state?”
The Holy Kingdom was different from other nations. It was a country founded by believers of the Goddess Church, gathered around the Pope. It could not be compared to other countries ruled by emperors or kings. And yet. A mere noble family head who wasn’t even the Emperor of the Empire was being rude.
“There is nothing wrong with that.”
“Pardon?”
Except for the vassal state part, there was nothing wrong.
“Saint Bernoa dared to betray our God and serve the Demon King. From our Holy Kingdom’s perspective, this is truly shameful. If we had learned of this first, we would have requested troops from Ashtar instead.”
The reason Bernoa had fallen was because Eldacrad failed to prevent her kidnapping. In the end, both Ashtar and the Holy Kingdom had no choice but to help each other. Moreover.
The hero party’s performance was far too poor. After the mage Noah disappeared, the hero party had handed Berta Fortress over to Pector and lost every battle since. On the other hand, the Empire’s saint had defeated Pector, so there was nothing more to say. If that saint participated in subjugating Berna, they could have high expectations. Since they were only providing support to the Ashtar campaign anyway, there was no need to feel too regretful.
“Still, suddenly attacking the Demon King’s territory… What happened?”
“It seems Berna desecrated the mausoleum.”
“Ah.”
Eldacrad’s mausoleum was considered sacred to the Ashtar clan. He was also praised by the people of Ashtar. For the Fallen Saint Berna to attack such a holy place, it was natural that Ashtar would lose their minds. There was no helping it. They had to catch her anyway. The headquarters of the Goddess Church could not hold its breath against the Demon King’s army.
“Prepare the clergy as requested and also send paladins to escort them.”
That should be sufficient.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
At Pope Gleisia’s command, the Holy Kingdom dispatched a group of high-ranking priests and a paladin order to Ashtar.
The Eltia Kingdom, which had become a battlefield due to direct clashes with the Demon King’s army, received a secret letter from the Ashtar family head. The king summoned the nobles as soon as dawn broke.
“Ashtar has sent a letter.”
“No matter how small our nation is compared to the Empire, for a mere noble family to send a letter directly to Your Majesty.”
The nobles did not have favorable feelings toward Ashtar. When the kingdom’s nobles had to send all their able-bodied men to fight while also handling supplies and farming, the Empire’s nobles had simply stood by with their hands behind their backs. Simply put, they just didn’t like them.
However, Princess Revia’s thoughts were different.
“Even if the Empire’s royal family sent a delegation without official procedures and deserves criticism for their rudeness, we must consider our relationship with Ashtar.”
Ashtar had continuously provided support in the form of small-scale military aid and supplies to the kingdom.
“Hmm. There is indeed a long-standing relationship built since Eldacrad’s time. Moreover, the contents of this letter are truly the worst.”
The king of Eltia could not simply ignore this secret letter. In any case, it contained the information that they must subjugate one of the Four Heavenly Kings together, along with the background. It also stated that, considering the kingdom’s circumstances, they would only request supplies.
“What do you mean?”
“The Fallen Saint Berna… was Bernoa.”
At those words, the nobles gasped.
“If it’s Bernoa, isn’t she the saint who was said to have died alongside Eldacrad in the Demon King’s territory in the past? Why…”
“That Berna fell to the Demon King and corrupted half of Eldacrad’s army, leading to their annihilation in the Demon King’s territory.”
Eldacrad was famous even in the kingdom. So much so that fairy tales modeled after Ashtar’s Eldacrad had been published for the battles against the Demon King’s army. And yet, there had been betrayal behind Eldacrad’s death. The Fallen Saint Bernoa was a saint from the kingdom, so the kingdom also bore responsibility.
“Are they trying to hold our kingdom responsible? If we’re being precise, isn’t Eldacrad also at fault for failing to prevent Bernoa’s corruption?”
“Whatever the cause. For a saint to fall into corruption. If she was caught by evil, she should have taken her own life. Instead, she chose the humiliating path of prolonging her life by falling.”
At this point, they could no longer turn a blind eye and pretend not to know.
“What does Ashtar desire?”
“Since Berta Fortress also needs to be rebuilt, they are not requesting military support. However, they ask for weapons and medical supplies. What do you think, Princess?”
“It is entirely reasonable.”
Considering the support goods Ashtar had provided so far, the kingdom should also provide support. Especially since it was for the subjugation of one of the Four Heavenly Kings. From the kingdom’s perspective, which desperately needed time to catch its breath, Ashtar’s raising of troops was directly connected to the kingdom’s safety.
“Reasonable, you say. Does the princess mean we should give Ashtar everything we have?”
“Sir Noah passed away together with the Demon King. Right now, anyone must step up to capture the Four Heavenly Kings. The hero is an incompetent man who even gave up Berta Fortress. If Ashtar steps forward, it is not a bad thing. Moreover, Bernoa is originally from our kingdom. There are more than enough reasons to provide support.”
Was that the only reason for support? The kingdom’s nobles knew exactly what kind of person the princess was.
“Hah. Didn’t the princess love Sir Noah? You must also consider our nobles’ circumstances. Unlike the Empire, we do not have many mages who can bless the farmlands.”
The kingdom had deployed a large army in the fight against the Demon King. The same went for mages. The kingdom’s losses were far greater than the Empire knew. In a situation where they had to keep their mouths shut and wait for the harvest, supplying goods was—
“However, we must also consider the possibility that Berna’s corrupted army could come to our kingdom. Isn’t that right? If Ashtar handles it beforehand, the kingdom can buy time.”
That was also true.
“That’s true, but…”
“Once this matter is over, we can request a dispatch of a mage unit from Ashtar for blessings.”
At the princess’s words, the nobles could find no justification to refuse. And so, the kingdom accepted Ashtar’s request and sent weapons and various supplies to Ashtar.