A few days ago.
No matter how many excuses one could make or how much forgiveness they sought, there was one person who had to be informed in advance about the plan to use a black mage in the upcoming operation.
That person was none other than the Emperor of the Empire.
Since the war against the black mages that happened 38 years ago, the Emperor had been openly hostile toward black mages.
Even though the incident hadn’t been caused by the black mages of the School of Life, they were not free from the Emperor’s wrath either.
“Impossible.”
And so, even though Olicia had come to speak to him personally, the Emperor firmly rejected the matter with a single word.
“There is no negotiating with those black mage bastards. Just look at the events from 38 years ago. We let them roam freely in the name of liberty, and do you know how that turned out?”
Ten years ago.
After losing both his wife and his eldest son, the Emperor’s health had steadily declined, perhaps due to the grief that followed.
Because of this, he rarely showed himself in public, yet his gaze still carried the force of a ruler holding up the Empire.
When Olicia faced the Emperor’s sharp piercing eyes, she worked hard to calm her trembling heart and forced the usual smile to her face.
She had not come here to convince the Emperor.
For the first time in her life.
She had come to defy her father.
And she planned to do it in the form of a threat.
“What I’m hearing is quite different from what I expected, Your Majesty.”
“What did you say?”
“Wasn’t it Your Majesty who received the greatest help from the black mages during the black mage extermination 38 years ago?”
“……”
Before coming here, Olicia had learned an unexpected truth from the black mages of the School of Life, who had been resting in the underground of Viduron Castle in Arunvida.
“At the time, before Father advanced on the underground city, you struggled to track down the black mages who were the target of the extermination.”
These were people who had always lived underground and had mastered the art of erasing their own traces.
Even with the Empire’s vast intelligence network, it had been nearly impossible to completely root them out.
It was then that a group came to the Emperor and offered help while also seeking it.
They were the black mages of the School of Life.
They claimed they simply wanted to continue their research and insisted that they had never been involved in terror attacks or any such acts.
In exchange for sparing them, they offered crucial information on the black mages who had engaged in terror attacks and were still preparing for war.
“Your Majesty accepted their plea and gave them a stern warning. You told them never to show themselves in the world again and never to speak of the deal you made with them.”
“……”
“Your Majesty, the world is changing. A world is coming where those who are ignorant will inevitably fall. We humans can no longer face the looming threats with just the power of magic alone.”
“Are you denying the power of humanity right now?”
“No, not at all. I’m just saying we need to break free from ignorance. Do you remember the time when most of the population couldn’t even read? Scammers were rampant across the land. Entire families lost the lands they had cultivated for generations, and the crops they grew with a year’s worth of blood and sweat were stolen because they couldn’t read. What did you do back then?”
It was a time when these things were widespread, just as the current emperor had begun taking charge of state affairs.
Back then, the emperor had ordered the development of technology to mass-produce paper. Thanks to the devices created, books became widespread, and now, illiteracy was nearly nonexistent.
“To solve a problem, you need to understand it thoroughly. Simply rejecting something as a corrupt power means we will always fall victim to it.”
Despite his sickly appearance, the emperor became even more aggressive and pressured Olicia.
“So, you’re saying we need to rely on something as vile as black magic? I only took information from those people at the time, but Olicia, you’re saying we should give them freedom once again.”
“Yes. But the freedom I’m offering them is not neglect. I’m shouldering the responsibility as well.”
“Even so, do you really think you can control them?”
“Of course. Just as the knives in the hands of a warrior and a cook have different roles, if I keep my mind clear, managing them won’t be impossible.”
“You’re wrong. A warrior doesn’t go to war with a kitchen knife, and a chef doesn’t cook with a longsword. The circumstances behind their creation are fundamentally different.”
“Yes, that’s right. Just as Your Majesty said, they didn’t learn black magic to kill people, but to save them.”
There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation in their exchange.
Like swordsmen locked in combat, neither was willing to back down, each holding firmly to their stance.
“And I’m not here to ask for Your Majesty’s permission. I’m here to inform you.”
“What?”
“I am also a proud bloodline of the Imperial family who is tasked with protecting the Empire. With the enemy’s indiscriminate terror potentially shifting from the coalition to the Empire, I have no intention of standing by idly.”
“It seems you’ve come here to disgrace your father, this so-called proud bloodline.”
“Disgrace? No, I speak these words with Your Majesty’s well-being in mind.”
The Emperor’s brow twitched at that.
“For me? In what way is this for me?”
“Your Majesty has been a wise and virtuous ruler, leading the Empire with compassion and justice. But even so, doesn’t the stain of having made a deal with black mages still remain?”
“So, you intend to bring the black mages to light and turn that stain into something honorable?”
“Yes. It’s the loyalty of a humble subject, thinking only of what’s best for Your Majesty.”
“……”
At Olicia’s words, the emperor closed his eyes for a moment.
His head still throbbed, and unlike in the past, his once powerful arms and legs had grown weak. He was losing muscle day by day to the point where even standing up from his seat had become difficult.
How long had it been?
The dark clouds and thunder that had once raged inside his mind had cleared, as if a huge storm had finally passed.
He found himself wanting to move, even if it meant forcing his unresponsive muscles into action.
“……”
The emperor opened his eyes and looked at Olicia.
The daughter who used to hide behind a bright, innocent smile while always searching for an opportunity was no longer there. In her place stood a dignified woman, standing tall, meeting his gaze directly.
“You’ve passed.”
“…Huh?”
“First you the other party’s weakness, brought out the main point, and explained the reason why it had to be done And even when the justification was lacking, you skillfully soothed the other party’s weakness and left them satisfied. Well done.”
“…Oh my.”
Meanwhile, Olicia couldn’t hide her own surprise.
Since childhood, her father had never once praised any of his children, except for the now absent eldest son.
“There’s no need to be so surprised. I’m simply saying you did well because you did. Until now, none of you had caught my eye. The second is too domineering; you were too hidden, and the youngest lacked ambition. That’s all.”
“…Is that so.”
“At least you seem to have broken out of your shell. Though it doesn’t seem like you did it alone, ruling the Empire is not something you can do alone. It is a virtue that a ruler must have to overcome his own shortcomings through his subordinates and achieve a greater goal. Even the youngest seems to have developed some ambition recently.”
“……”
“I will grant you permission. However, any backlash that arises, you must handle on your own.”
“Of course. If I couldn’t handle that much, I wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”
She had planned to crush any opposition herself anyway, but with the emperor’s direct permission, things would go more smoothly.
Olicia was satisfied with that, and so, the long-awaited meeting between father and daughter came to a warm conclusion.
***
And so, returning to the present.
“So, you intend to make use of the black mages; is that what you’re saying…?”
Mild nodded his head seriously after listening to Olicia’s full explanation. And she continued.
“‘Know your enemy and know yourself, and you’ll never be in danger’. It’s a saying many knights like and follow, isn’t it? If our enemies are attacking us with black magic and blood magic, we need to understand them too. We can’t keep hiding from it just because it’s a dangerous power.”
“That’s a reasonable point, but how do you plan to deal with the inevitable backlash?”
Just moments ago, Mild had been looking at the situation positively, but he knew he still had to expect some resistance.
However, Olicia’s response left him speechless.
“Isn’t it easier to ask for forgiveness than permission? Why don’t we focus on completing the task successfully first and think about the rest later?”
For a moment, Mild wondered if he could really trust this princess with such a critical matter, but…
She has a point, though.
Wasn’t he just thinking about using his authority as council head to declare a state of emergency and act first? Trying to appease the political nobles might waste time and even lead to information being leaked to their enemies.
“We’ll discuss that again later. For now, the remaining issue is striking at the enemy’s base. If we don’t root out the problem at its source, who knows when something like this might happen again?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
At this point, Mild had already told her the truth to some extent.
With the help of the elves of the Great Mezaiya Forest, they had read the memories of the trees, tracked down the inciters of hatred against other races, and captured them in one fell swoop.
“Though it’s unfortunate they died before enduring more torture. There might have been more we could’ve uncovered.”
The process of extracting information had been through torture, but other than that, the details were mostly the same.
“They likely didn’t have much more information. All four gave the same testimony. Since they’re a group of terrorists, it’s clear they wouldn’t see hostages as bargaining chips. Keeping them alive wouldn’t have been of much value.”
“That makes sense. They didn’t seem to know much in the first place. In any case, if it’s within the coalition, I will fully use my authority to provide support and troops. However, I will need to be kept informed of the situation as it progresses.”
“Of course. That’s why I’ve come to you. However, rather than eliminating the terrorist group, we’re planning to head to the place where they’re holding the non-human slaves, which is the heart of this attack.”
“Why is that?”
Mild’s question was understandable since he still couldn’t grasp the full scale of the group known as “Nameless”.
Olicia decided to address his doubt adequately.
Mild still had a significant amount of time left in his term, and even after he eventually retired, if he handled this incident well, one of the political nobles who supported him would likely succeed him.
For various reasons, it was necessary for Olicia to close the gap between herself and Mild in the coming days.
“This room… it’s soundproof, correct?”
“Of course.”
Since the room had been completely sealed off from the outside ever since the adjutant and the young noble had left, Mild nodded cautiously.
“It seems likely that King Haiel is somehow involved behind the scenes.”
“……!”
Mild had no choice but to immediately acknowledge that the situation was growing beyond his expectations.
***
Meanwhile, after successfully stopping the second rampage of non-humans, Shane returned to Arunvida and held a meeting with Osten.
Anastasia and Mimir were away on business at the imperial palace, and Olicia had also gone to meet the head of the coalition.
“For now, we’ve managed to keep things under control, but it’s just a temporary solution.”
Just like Osten said, it was just an action to buy time.
They couldn’t hold the line indefinitely, and the organization would likely reassess its approach after seeing Shane and his team perfectly handling the inciters.
“Yeah. It’s probably going to get even more intense.”
The chances of the organization using inciters and minor tricks to reveal themselves would now be slim.
Instead, they were bound to push their agenda more aggressively, to the point where inciters wouldn’t even be necessary.
“Do you think the reason they didn’t go all-out from the start was because they lacked enough doping drugs and wanted to lead us to their trail?”
“That’s probably a high possibility. Now that things have escalated this far, the next move will likely cover a broader range.”
Things were certainly not going to progress easily.
But despite the gravity of the situation, neither Shane nor Osten seemed particularly worried.
In fact, they acted all calm as if everything was going according to plan.
It was only natural, since the enemy would need time to make a bigger move, but neither Shane nor Osten had any intention of simply sitting back and watching.
Tap, tap, tap.
Just by hearing Adam’s brisk footsteps approaching from outside, Shane instinctively knew that the task he had entrusted to him had been handled successfully.
Knock, knock—
Sure enough, Adam entered with a bright expression on his face.
“A report has come in. It seems we’ve found the non-humans slave camp!”
The time had finally come to strike back at the enemy.
***
Dark Elf Arwen of the Twelfth Branch hid herself in the trees while silencing her presence under the cover of night.
She was currently positioned on a mountain quite a distance from the city. It was a remote location, with no man-made roads, only paths forged by wild animals.
It’s close.
Since the second rampage of non-humans, Arwen had been tracking the movements of the rampaging non-humans by reading the memories of trees, starting from the trees lining the streets of the incident site.
This investigation had led her here, and from the last tree she had read, she had discovered an underground tunnel where the non-humans had emerged. It wasn’t far from her current location.
I’d like to go in deeper, but…
She knew it was too dangerous to continue.
Right now, it was more important to inform Adam about the location where the non-humans were being held.
Still, maybe I should read a bit more of the memory, just in case.
It was too dangerous to delay any longer, but since the non-humans had emerged from underground, Arwen decided to approach more cautiously.
Since it was underground, there was a chance the tree roots were intertwined in some way, and if she continued her communion with the forest, she might be able to learn something more.
So Arwen read the memories of a tree from a further distance, and as expected.
As she traced the tree’s memories back for quite some time, she eventually reached one whose roots had spread near the underground tunnel. She was able to read its memory.
However, the distance was considerable, and much time had passed, so the images it revealed were not very clear.
What is that…?
Amidst the hazy memories surrounding it, there was one figure that stood out. It was clearer than anything she had ever seen.
This was a sign that the tree holding the memory had been deeply stirred by emotion.
Indeed, the tree connected to the underground tunnel had experienced an overwhelming surge of joy coupled with intense sorrow, all at once.
Such emotional turbulence was not something that occurred easily in a tree.
It was something Arwen herself had never encountered before, and just as she was reeling from the shock.
The figure revealed by the tree’s memory locked eyes with Arwen directly.
– Who… are you?
“……!!”
Arwen couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl; their appearance was androgynous.
The moment she looked into their iridescent eyes that were shining like a rainbow in the sky she was startled and abruptly broke off the communion.
What on earth… was that just now?
Overwhelmed by the sheer difference in presence, Arwen recalled the encounter that had just occurred.
Even though it had been the memory of a tree, the being she had just faced clearly spoke to her directly.
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