Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The War Hero Pretends to be OOOO (2)
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Late at night.
In a certain forest a short distance from the Elf Kingdom.
"Ahahaha! With this, it's all over!!"
A Dark Elf, her entire body etched with glowing purple tattoos, clutched something dark red and burst into maniacal laughter toward her surroundings.
"Stop this, Master Cadensia!"
"It's no use, Elf Queen! It's already beyond control!"
The Elf Queen led her wounded Elf unit in an attempt to stop the Dark Elf, but Cadensia poured mana into the red core fusing with her hand and raised her voice.
"The Empire's S-grade magic core, [Pafnil]!! Using this purgatory flame, I will ignite the flames of war across the continent once more! And that beacon... will be the World Tree!"
Flames began to blaze from the Dark Elf Cadensia.
The wildly surging flames enveloped her entire body, and her hair started to shimmer like molten lava.
"Master Cadensia! Stop! If you do this, you'll die too!"
A black-haired woman in an Imperial uniform—the head of the Imperial Intelligence Agency—shouted in desperation.
"Stealing an S-grade core from the Empire just to restart a continental war...! Are you insane?!"
"Yes! Perfectly sane! War doesn't stop! If it could end with just a treaty, we never would have joined in the first place!"
Cadensia floated into the air, spreading her arms wide and bellowing.
"This is the war you started! The Dark Elves will burn the World Tree and never stop for the advancement of the Elves! This isn't mere terrorism! It's a noble sacrifice to truly advance the world!"
"Nonsense."
Thud.
With heavy footsteps, a man stepped forward gripping a greatsword.
"The world's hard-won peace must not be shattered by more war."
"Sir Wilhelm...!"
Hans Wilhelm.
The Continental Shield raised his head toward the Dark Elf rising into the sky, greatsword in hand.
"Twelve years is enough. There must be no more war."
"No way, you...!!"
Hans Wilhelm aimed his greatsword at the sky, and mana exploded outward from him.
"No! Your wounds from the last battle...!"
"This is nothing!"
Blood trickled from Hans Wilhelm's mouth as his mana twisted violently, but he gripped his greatsword tightly and leaped into the air.
"For the continent's peace!!"
"Sir Wilhelm!!"
Hans Wilhelm soared high from the ground toward the Dark Elf Cadensia.
His greatsword blazed with immense aura, and Cadensia extended her core-fused hand toward him.
"Burn, Red Devil!! Once you're dead, the continent will enter a new era of war!!"
A barrage of flames erupted in a demonic shriek.
But Hans Wilhelm propelled himself upward with mana from behind, slicing through the flames with his mana-infused greatsword, pressing onward even as they engulfed him—
Slash!
He swung his greatsword, cleaving the Dark Elf in two.
However.
"Kih, kiheheh...! Useless...! Even if I die, the core will explode...!"
As she died, Dark Elf Cadensia poured her remaining mana into the core, detonating it.
"Sir Wilhelm!"
"Urgh, the core's rampaging...! No...! That'll cause a massive explosion...!"
"I pray."
Gripping his greatsword in one hand, Hans Wilhelm seized the rampaging core with the other.
"That the continent."
"N-No! That's...!"
"Sees no more war."
BOOOOOOM!!
A world-shattering explosion surged toward the sky.
......
Crackle, crackle.
The footage rewound from the explosion, returning to the beginning on the monitor.
"Director, is this version of the video good enough?"
"Can you make it look more like covert footage? Lower the quality a bit?"
"It's not the quality—doesn't the scenario and dialogue feel a bit off?"
"It's fine. This is just propaganda footage for the Alliance Kingdoms' populace anyway."
Crackle, crackle.
"Even the Empire's hawks won't push for war after seeing Hans Wilhelm go this far."
"Those war fanatics don't seem like the type to feel sympathy for a hero's death... And why are we from the Imperial Intelligence Agency glorifying Hans Wilhelm?"
"Because."
Imperial Intelligence Agency.
"If we build up goodwill like this, should Hans Wilhelm ever defect to the Empire, every one of these actions could justify it later?"
The truth about a certain someone's disappearance was top-secret, forever hidden from the general public.
"Anyway, call in the illusion mages to redo the opening. Make it look like we took more damage, amp up war criminal Cadensia's rampage."
"In reality, it wasn't that bad..."
"The dead can't speak. And Cadensia did try to arson the World Tree, right? We're just trimming the facts and padding them out for redistribution."
Slurp.
"By order of His Imperial Majesty."
The war between the Alliance Kingdoms and the Empire was over.
For a fleeting moment, amid worries, there was hope for peace.
A massive explosion in the Elf Kingdom.
It shook the entire continent so violently that one might think a meteor had plummeted from the sky, and news spread to every corner via the Elf Kingdom.
The disappearance of the Continental Shield, Hans Wilhelm.
Grand Swordmaster Hans Wilhelm was gone.
The Alliance demanded detailed explanations from the Empire and Elf Kingdom regarding the Continental Shield's disappearance, dispatching a joint investigation team led by Princess Sylvia.
But the results were grim.
The Empire's magic recording devices—the 'body cams' embedded in Imperial uniforms—showed only the rampaging war criminal Cadensia and the Continental Shield suppressing the core.
Rumors swirled of war reigniting, but two weeks after that massive blast, no major incidents had occurred.
Was it the shock of Hans Wilhelm's disappearance due to war criminal Cadensia's terrorism?
Or suspicion that, with no body found, Hans Wilhelm might still be alive somewhere?
—Bullshit! There's no way he's dead!
Or faith that a Grand Swordmaster like Hans Wilhelm couldn't perish from an S-grade core explosion, no matter how rampaging?
Even with Hans Wilhelm gone, the armistice held firm, uncrumpled and intact.
Anyway.
With the war hero vanished, Princess Sylvia suddenly found herself half-widowed overnight from a marriage(?) promise to a missing man.
"Diela!"
Here, in a small rural village of the Senderan Duchy.
"Diela! Where are you?!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
A plainly dressed woman hurried down the stairs of the barony's mansion—known to the world as the Arsin Barony—at the sound of her name.
A woman with long white braids swaying left and right.
Her timid demeanor was striking, but so was her figure: ample enough to exude motherhood even without a corset under a dress.
Perhaps some women felt fierce envy or resentment toward dresses because of what they lacked.
"Get your lazy self down here this instant?!"
"S-Sorry...!"
Yet the youngest of Baron Arsin's three daughters looked utterly deflated, shoulders slumped.
"Sorry I'm late, ma'am...!"
The tall middle-aged woman glaring venomously at Diela wore a strikingly red dress and scowled at the girl who called her "ma'am."
"Ma'am?"
"S-Sorry. Baroness."
"Right. Call me that. Anyone hearing might think you're my own flesh and blood."
"......"
The vassals of the barony couldn't miss the subtle tension between the baron's wife and his third daughter.
After the first wife's death and the stepmother's remarriage, one might expect more focus on the eldest legitimate daughters over 20—but
"What's wrong? Are you looking down on me because I rolled in the dirt on the battlefield?"
"N-No."
The baroness had saved Baron Arsin's life during the war with the Empire, earning her position through that debt.
"Good. Watch yourself. People like us who staked our lives on the battlefield let idlers like you live comfortably."
"......"
"Answer me."
"O-Of course, Baroness. The kingdom will never forget your contributions. Yes."
"Good. You know it well. Now go write those invitations. We need to prep the party properly and find husbands for your sisters."
"H-How many invitations should I prepare?"
"Send them to every noble house, of course. Reply immediately to any we receive. Ah, I'm busy—later."
The baroness fanned herself with a duke's feather fan and stepped out.
Creak.
The mansion door closed, leaving Diela alone in the hall with a deep sigh.
"Miss, um..."
"It's fine. Things might change when Father wakes up."
A maid approached cautiously, offering a handkerchief. Diela took it, dabbing her eyes and forcing a smile.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Ah, well... That... man has woken up."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. But..."
Thud, thud.
A young man appeared from the second-floor hallway.
Wearing only a white shirt and pants—like any commoner or servant—he stared blankly at them.
"Um..."
"Are you alright?"
"I."
Diela rushed to the puzzled young man, who glanced around in panic.
"Who... are you?"
"Ah. I'm..."
"And."
The young man swallowed hard and spoke cautiously.
"Should I call you 'miss'?"