Chapter 70
Chapter 70
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: To Whom - 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kantread Territory was a domain located in the western part of the kingdom, famous for its fertile soil and vast vineyards.
Most of the territory's residents worked in the vineyards owned by the lord or in the breweries that turned the grapes from those fields into wine.
The specialty product of Kantread Territory, the wine 'Kantread,' was considered top-quality, favored not just by humans but also by elves, dwarves, beastkin, lizardmen, and other races alike. Because of this, Kantread Territory received less influence from the royal family compared to other domains in the kingdom.
After all, it was budgets that ruled the world.
Even Kantread Territory had naturally been affected by the Demon King's aftermath.
But having accumulated vast wealth over a long time, it could hire numerous mercenaries and adventurers, who protected the territory and absorbed refugees.
And now.
After the Demon King fell and the demonic beasts were defeated, Kantread Territory had grown into a massive city rivaling the kingdom's capital.
Immense wealth, and people.
Plus, enough military power to protect them.
With all that combined, how could the territory not develop?
By reclaiming farmlands lost to demonic beasts, clearing them, and absorbing those coming in search of jobs, the city was steadily expanding.
"It's definitely bigger than before."
My impression upon arriving at Kantread Territory, the setting for Main Story Chapter 10, could be summed up in one sentence.
The city, wrapped in a faint grape aroma, had grown much larger than when I'd last seen it. The roads were wider, the residential areas for accommodating the residents had expanded, and even the farmlands outside the outer walls had grown broader.
The living quarters for the people had at least doubled, and it looked like the lord was building a new mansion, as a huge construction site had sprung up next to the existing lord's residence.
I sat on the roof of the tallest building in the territory, surveying the entire landscape, then focused on one spot.
The construction site next to the lord's mansion.
In the game, there had been a dungeon there.
That was the base of the Black Rebels, and the boss had been Bronze Kantread, the lord of Kantread Territory.
"Hmm..."
Should I go alone? Or recruit some of the adventurers probably milling around here?
I'd sent Claire and Leventia to the capital, so if Lark had any brains, he'd attach support to them.
Then the Lily Knight Order members would handle the outside... and if Claire took care of the other side...?
As I quickly brainstormed strategies in my head, I tilted my head.
I spotted a familiar face in the alley.
"...Huh? Why is she here?"
Even I couldn't help but be surprised to see her face here.
And that was because.
"Cecil?"
The Archduke Cecil was in the kingdom.
She seemed to be in some kind of disguise, but it wouldn't fool me.
Dressed as a scholar rather than a mage, walking the streets with a few escorts, she was gesturing here and there while giving instructions to her guards.
Was she just happily shopping around?
Sure, Kantread Territory was a hub for goods with so many people and logistics flowing in, but what did the Archduke lack that she had to come shop in person?
Something was up.
I jumped down right away and approached her.
"Hey! You there!"
"How dare you approach!"
As I tried to speak, a woman who looked like a knight from the duchy—not just an escort—grabbed my arm. But I wasn't weak enough to be stopped by something like that.
I shook off her hand and lightly pushed the knightess away. Was it my reaction? The other knights disguised as escorts immediately went for their weapons.
"It's fine. Another one smitten by my looks and approaching..."
This must happen often. Cecil pushed up her glasses with a weary expression and turned around, only to freeze stiff. Well, of course.
I wasn't disguised at all.
"...Come with me for a sec."
There were too many eyes around. If she'd come hiding her identity, she probably didn't want to talk here.
Cecil took me to what seemed like the high-end inn where she was staying.
As expected, she had plenty of money. Staying at such an expensive place.
"Why are you here?"
"That's what I want to ask you. Why are you here?"
This wasn't the time for her to be leisurely strolling around, was it?
Especially when there were forces in the duchy trying to kill her.
I gave her an incredulous look, and Cecil shrugged lightly.
"What era are you talking about?"
"Oh... you already took care of that?"
An assassination plot against the Archduke. Investigating it and cleaning up already, to the point of leaving the duchy?
I expressed admiration, and Cecil puffed up proudly, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she laughed.
"Ohohoho! See my abilities? How about it? Isn't this enough to be a master worth serving?"
"Not enough."
"You little..."
"If you thought I'd just go 'good job, good job' because you're good at that stuff, you're mistaken."
"Tch. Anyway. I wiped out three generations of the ones who attacked me. And when I dug into it, turns out their backer is here. Bronze Kantread. Apparently, he led the charge to kill me. And... he's the leader of the Black Rebels."
"You did a thorough investigation. But why only so few troops?"
She couldn't use portals like Claire, after all.
"They're just a portion. The rest are disguised as merchants or laborers, waiting on standby."
Sent in batches? That was a way to avoid detection. But was it okay for the duchy's knight order to infiltrate the kingdom like this?
"As long as we don't get caught, right?"
I grinned back at her as she winked with one eye and smiled brightly.
"What a shame. You got caught—by me."
"Oh? You. You're the queen's subordinate? This is unexpected~ I didn't know the renowned Sage of the continent was a servant of the royals."
"Cut the lame provocations. I have no intention of reporting you."
Unless Cecil was an idiot, she'd finish her business and leave immediately. What could she do with just her knight order?
At most, some disruption, which the kingdom could handle.
"But wouldn't it be better to formally protest to the kingdom? From their perspective..."
"What are you saying, Sage? Would you let someone else touch the ones who tried to kill you?"
"Hmm. Fair point."
I was the type who had to crush those who messed with me myself to feel satisfied.
"Same for me."
She was going to handle her own business? Admirable attitude, but...
"Still, I won't forgive anyone who gets in my way."
"Who's one to talk... More importantly, Sage. You came to catch the Black Rebels too, right? How about we team up? You can't save the world alone."
"Alone? Who said I'm alone?"
"You're not?"
Of course, I was alone right now. But Claire and Leventia would come, and the queen would send additional reinforcements.
And...
"Lucille's probably here too."
"Hoo. Why would the princess come here?"
"It's a chance for her to grow while handling this. If the queen has any sense, she won't miss it."
Stopping the Demon King's resurrection could earn fame comparable to the journey to slay him, if done right.
Lucille had improved a lot lately, but as the next queen, she still lacked impact.
So the queen wouldn't pass up this opportunity.
Especially since I and the hero party were involved—she'd see it as even better.
"But... is that okay? The hero party and Princess Lucille don't seem to get along that well?"
"As long as Lucille is my disciple, Claire will protect her whether she likes it or not. And..."
I looked at Cecil and smiled.
Lucille wasn't some pushover who'd get done in easily.
Not after who raised her.
"Your Highness!"
Just then, a rough knock sounded at the door. Cecil opened it, and in came the knightess who'd grabbed my arm earlier.
"Come out and see right now!"
"What's going on?"
Puzzled, Cecil and I stepped outside, and I burst out laughing.
Haha. Things were getting interesting.
"What... the hell? That...?"
Already cleared Phase 1?
A black pillar was shooting up into the sky from the construction site. Cecil blinked in confusion at the anomaly and asked me, and I recalled the scene from the game.
"It's the ritual to resurrect the Demon King."
"...What? The Demon King can resurrect?"
"No."
They couldn't meet the conditions anyway, so even if they did it, the Demon King wouldn't revive. To bring back someone of that level required a plague-level wave of deaths.
But the Archduke had survived, and the pope was captured—the Black Rebels' plan had gone up in smoke.
So the Demon King couldn't revive even if he woke from the dead.
"Then what's that?"
"Just a ritual. Nothing big."
"Doesn't look like nothing..."
"Seeing that thing activate, Bronze must be shitting bricks right now. It's basically suicide."
"How do you know that?"
"Haven't you heard the rumors? I'm the Sage."
Thanks to all the groundwork I'd laid, Cecil nodded as if convinced.
Was it because of the black pillar piercing the sky? The clear sky from moments ago was now being enveloped in dark clouds. Cecil gripped her staff tensely.
"...Wait. This energy? That sky..."
The energy of death was spreading. What would the deathly land created by the black sky blanketing Kantread Territory summon?
Just then, sturdy women in various disguises poured out from the alleys.
"Your Highness! You must evacuate! The city is swarming everywhere with..."
"You gonna run? Fine by me. No, just go."
"Hmph! Who's running!! All units, battle ready!!"
"...Yes!"
At her words, the knightesses flinched and glanced at me. What was that about? I wondered, but their activation phrase cleared it up instantly.
"Activating Magic Knight mode now!"
With the phrase, the clothes they wore glowed and vanished...
"Whoa."
It was the Bikini Knight Order!
Every knightess here was clad in bikini armor.
A real-life Bikini Knight Order.
Some of the knightesses blushed under my admiration and gaze, but given the situation, they quickly regained their cool composure.
And toward them, Cecil looked immensely proud and boastful.
"Cool, right? It's our duchy's knight order's new armor."
I'd thought it was good before, but this level!
"You know good armor?!"
"Bikini armor is the ultimate armor. Efficiency, performance—even accounting for the penalties, it's superior in every way. The king of armors, you could say. And aesthetically too."
I looked at her. Then seriously extended my hand, and Cecil, puzzled, took it.
"From now on, we're friends!!"
Those who appreciated style were worthy of friendship.
"Y-Yeah, sure, friends are good. So? Friend. What's the plan now?"
"What else."
-Scraaaape... scraaaape...
In this world, undead were created in one of two ways.
The dead rising.
Or crawling out from death itself.
The death settling here was now unleashing those bound to it.
I looked down the street. From the darkness cast by the black pillar, the footsteps of death echoed.
"Piercing through the undead spawned by the sky of death."
Like moonlight standing lone and proud in the night sky, the moonlight glowed.
I transformed the moonlight into a staff and aimed it at the zombies emerging from the darkness.
"Time to uproot that pillar."
-KABOOOOOM!!
The moment light shot from the moonlight staff and swept the zombies, Cecil shouted to her duchy's knight order.
"Target is that black pillar! Charge straight through!!"
Beyond the design, there was another reason I liked bikini armor.
Performance.
It was ridiculously expensive, but in the game, the ultimate armor for female characters was bikini armor.
Sure, without exhibitionism, just wearing it increased stress and risked mental illness. But even factoring that in, the performance was overwhelmingly superior.
Great mobility, excellent magic and shamanic defense, and killer additional options.
Look at them fight so well.
"Light! Take root here!!"
Raising the Divine Mark activated the sanctuary, healing the injuries of the duchy's knights in range.
Thanks to the armor's performance, their recovery speed was far faster than those in regular armor.
Why didn't everyone wear this great armor?
At the same time, the undead weakened, and the knights swiftly smashed their heads.
"Almost there!"
When Cecil shouted, I spotted those guarding the mansion from the swarming undead and tilted my head.
"Huh? You guys?"
"Ah! Sage!"
As expected, they'd come.
Members of the Lily Knight Order. They lit up seeing me, then stared in bewilderment at Cecil and the Bikini Knight Order behind me before asking.
"...What are those sluts?"
Author's Note (Afterword)
Hello! It's Malmoomalmoo! A bit late todayㅠ Sorry, I felt a cold coming on so I took some medicine and dozed off...ㅠ
Enjoy the read, see you tomorrow! Bye~