To the South
To the South
Princess Diana headed south to pursue Lord Bellosa, accompanied by Mikkelson, the magic Tower's tower master and a great mage, and Saint Amelia.
"Lord Bellosa may dominate the west, but his reach extends into the south. He has ties to the southern nobility."
"That is correct, Your Highness."
"Assuming the testimony that he fled south is true, there are three likely locations."
Mikkelson, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
"Count Poke's territory, Baron Romonel's territory, and the city of Lilyan."
"Count Poke has already sent us support troops, along with a letter stating his house has no connection to the demon king worshipers."
That left two candidates: Baron Romonel's territory and the city of Lilyan.
"Lilyan is unlikely. That is where the Saintess was rescued. If demon king worshipers were already entrenched there, she would never have reached the teleport gate safely."
"...A fair point."
"Then it must be Baron Romonel's territory..."
It was not far. They could march troops and arrive in no time. Diana expected that searching the area for Bellosa would be over quickly.
"We will dispatch part of our forces to Count Poke's territory and Lilyan, and take the rest to Romonel."
Saint Amelia raised her hand.
"One moment. Something strikes me as odd."
"What is it, Saint Amelia?"
"The holy knights who threw off Bellosa's pursuit in my stead mentioned something strange."
"Strange how?"
"My escort, Sister Mika, told me about it. While fleeing Bellosa's knights, they sought aid from the territory of Count Purt, Bellosa's rival. They were ultimately expelled."
"Count Purt refused to help?"
"Yes."
Amelia's escort, Mika, was a woman Diana knew well. A holy knight with pink hair like Amelia's, her piety exceeded that of any other holy knight.
"Is this true?"
Mikkelson asked again.
"My sister is on watch at the tent entrance. You may hear it from her directly if you wish."
"I do not mean to doubt you, Saintess. I only—"
His reaction was hardly surprising. After all.
"Is Count Purt not the sworn enemy of the Bellosa line, generation after generation? He would never let an opportunity like this slip."
The two houses were infamous blood rivals, known to every soul in the empire.
Count Purt, representing the south, and Count Velosa, representing the west.
Tales of the previous Count Purt losing his head to Bellosa's grandfather, and of the current Count Purt slaughtering Bellosa's maternal relatives to the last, were well known. Houses that hated each other with genuine murderous intent. They would do anything to see the other line extinguished.
"That is indeed strange."
"For Count Purt to pass up a chance to destroy Bellosa..."
"Was he told the Saintess had been attacked?"
"I heard Mika told him herself."
Diana rubbed her chin.
"There is the possibility he simply did not believe Holy Knight Mika's account, but..."
"Too many things don't add up. What will you do, Your Highness?"
"Mikkelson, take a thousand imperial troops to Baron Romonel's territory. Even if they resist, a thousand imperial soldiers under your command should be more than sufficient."
"Understood. And Your Highness...?"
"I will go to Count Purt's territory. I cannot simply ignore the inconsistencies."
"As you command. What of Count Poke's territory and Lilyan?"
"I will rule them out. Dividing our forces further might prove troublesome."
The princess's subjugation force split in two.
Diana to Purt, Mikkelson to Romonel.
Two weeks later, Princess Diana arrived in Purt with Saint Amelia and her troops, only to find Count Purt openly hostile.
"Even an imperial princess has no right to act so high-handedly! How can you hope to gain the nobility's support with such utter disregard for mutual respect!"
Despite a thorough explanation, he glared at the imperial forces and raged. Diana only grew more certain of her suspicion.
"The likelihood Count Velosa is hiding here is high, so I'm afraid we'll need to conduct a search. Can you not assist us?"
While they stood at an impasse, the Saintess prayed and scanned the castle for demonic energy.
"Thick magi is emanating from inside the castle. A concentration too dense to come from a mere artifact. Something is clearly underway."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
The holy knights and priests who accompanied them all reported the same thing.
Something ominous was boiling inside that castle.
'Count Velosa... What on earth are you doing?'
"If you do not open the gates at once, I will take it you have thrown your lot in with the demon king worshipers yourself."
"Princess, this is tyranny!"
"The matter of demon king worshipers lies beyond even the imperial household's power to overlook. You must know this. And yet I cannot shake the thought that you are simply stalling."
"..."
"How strange. You, who have such bad blood with Count Velosa — why are you so intent on shielding him?"
"This is a question of noble rights! Bellosa is not the issue!"
"We shall see."
Princess Diana raised her hand.
"Do you truly mean to commit such tyranny?!"
"Not tyranny. Justice. And do not fret. If you are indeed innocent, I will take responsibility for the aftermath."
The soldiers readied for battle.
"Count Purt, for sheltering demon king worshipers, is hereby deemed a heretic. I declare a holy war. Does the Saintess concur?"
"Yes. I do."
Under normal circumstances, this would be unthinkable. Summary execution on the spot. But with the existence of demon king worshipers confirmed, and such thick, dense magi inside that even the Saintess could sense it—
'I cannot let this stand.'
Diana was never going to let this chance slip.
The armed soldiers advanced on the castle walls. Blessings rained down, and the Order's holy knights and the Princess's own knights scaled the walls without ladders, pressing forward.
"Kyaaaak!"
The forces of a mere count stood no chance of stopping them.
***
Diana found Count Velosa in Count Purt's territory.
However.
"...He died long ago."
Count Velosa was a corpse, crumpled on the basement floor. He showed no marks of a struggle. Where his body lay, a horrifying magic circle of a kind Diana had never seen was drawn. He had died on top of it, as though every drop of life had been drained out of him.
At the circle's center.
"The red sword and the sun impaled upon it — the symbol of the demon."
The demon's symbol was inscribed. Diana clicked her tongue at Saint Amelia's words.
"That such a magic circle existed in the lord's own basement..."
"It is damning evidence. No room for denial."
"Were the two houses' feuds merely a performance all along?"
Count Purt was still alive. They could investigate at leisure. Why two sworn enemy houses had both fallen into worshiping the demon king.
Diana stood still, staring at the circle, and felt the ghastly energy saturating the air. The power clung like grease, pressing down on everyone present.
In the end, Count Velosa, who had tried to assassinate the Saintess, was found dead. With the principal dead, no one could say why he had devised such a reckless plan.
'Count Purt too...'
The demon king worshipers might run deeper through the empire than she had thought.
'Does Duke Perdes know about this, as head of the Noble Faction?'
She considered whether this might be his doing, then dismissed the thought. Perdes was a man of reason. Between worshiping the demon king and losing everything, or building his power with his own hands, he would choose the latter.
He was not the reckless type.
'Not that I can claim to see into that old duke's mind.'
If he had known, he would not have stood by.
'But I cannot let the nobles run rampant.'
She imagined the day she became empress.
She would sweep them all away, crush them so thoroughly they could not even entertain the thought.
To do that, she needed firm allies.
"Kh—!"
Exposed to the magi, Princess Diana felt her head throb.
-Can you hear? You can hear it at last, can't you?
-Ah, what a splendid atmosphere.
-A fascinating sight.
-Corpses and blood. They will soothe your pain.
-Kill. Kill everyone who wrought such a terrible spell.
Voices. The voices she had not heard for some time.
'Reacting to the magi?'
Forcing herself to ignore them, Diana staggered out of the basement.
"Your Highness, are you all right?"
"I am fine. A sudden dizziness..."
"That is only natural. Magi this dense is little different from poison to an ordinary person."
Saint Amelia clasped her hands in prayer, and holy radiance filled the space. The magi pressing down on the air thinned noticeably.
"What was Count Velosa trying to accomplish here?"
Saint Amelia shook her head.
"I do not know. I have never seen this form of spell before. It will require the bishops and the magic Tower's expertise."
Princess Diana turned to look back at the basement she had just left. Whatever was inside, the voices that tormented her had responded to it. Voices long dormant had surged as though they'd come home — and the moment she stepped out, they subsided.
"I hope we learn what it is quickly."
So that she might understand her own condition as well.
"You should rest for a while, Your Highness."
It was Andy, the vice-commander of the Princess's Knight Order, who had been attending her.
"I shall."
"I will have a meal prepared. The cook here wishes to serve Your Highness in thanks for driving out the demon king worshiper, Count Purt."
"Can they be trusted? This territory's lord was a demon king worshiper."
"Yes. These are people who could no longer endure the lord's tyranny and exposed his crimes. The priests and mages we brought have verified their story. You need not worry."
"Very well."
Perhaps the long march had merely tired her.
Leaving the Saintess and the clergy to purify the magi-stained basement, she returned to the reception room assigned to her quarters.
Some time passed. A cook, guarded by soldiers, entered the room.
"A new dish, prepared by the local cooks. It has been checked for poison — you may eat without concern."
Trembling under the soldiers' gaze, the cook offered Diana a tray. And on it—
"Oh?"
The dish was at once familiar and utterly foreign.
"Cook."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Your name?"
"R-Robert, Your Highness."
"What is this dish called?"
"It, ah... It is called Coco-dori-tang. A dish that has begun to gain popularity in the south of late..."
A peculiar name. The dish had passed through other hands, its aroma altered — but beneath it all, a familiar scent made Diana's eyes gleam.
"Coco-dori-tang. What an amusing name."
She knew exactly one man with this kind of naming sense.
-This one is called kimchi stew.
-Would you care to try some acorn jelly?
-This is called bossam — you take a whole pork belly or shoulder and simmer it until it's tender...
-Have you heard of mapo tofu? You've never tried it?
Lucas's cooking — now a scent and taste she missed — rose to mind.
This dish was clearly different from his, but the spicy gochujang aroma needling her nose was unmistakably his mark.
"Do you know where the cook who popularized this dish can be found?"
The cook bowed his head low.
"Th-this humble one only picked it up over someone's shoulder while visiting Lilyan..."
"Lilyan, you say?"
"Yes."
"Thank you."
She lifted the spoon and spoke.
"Andy."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Prepare to move. Lilyan is our destination."
"Understood."
She could not ignore the trouble the cooks had taken for her.
***
Princess Diana rode for Lilyan at the head of her knight order. She had summoned Mikkelson to Purt; he would set things in order. In the meantime, she meant to find Lucas — the man who had turned the dish she'd just eaten into a trend.
"The man told me he was going home. And instead he went south, to a place with no connection to his homeland whatsoever. Did I overwork him?"
"I am sorry, Your Highness."
"Well. I can ask him myself. Exactly why he keeps avoiding me."
Not long after Diana and her knight order spurred their horses—
Dagadak-dagadak.
A group of riders came galloping toward them from the opposite direction. And at their head.
"Lady Wagon?"
There was Camilla Wagon.
"You must turn back, Your Highness. You have come much too far."