“That would be good. Thanks to the Sorcerer King’s power, almost 40,000 demihumans have been wiped out. The demihumans have lost a great deal of their fighting strength, no? The remainder ought to be staring down the South. If we rally all the people this city has rescued for an all-out attack and strike them from the back in a pincer attack, we ought to be able to rout the demihuman army. That way, we will be able to join up with the Southern forces and take back our land.”
“―I propose the opposite. We will take back the closest major city in the west, which is the northern stronghold of Kalinsha.”
“Why is that, may I ask?”
“Exactly! All the major cities to the west such as Kalinsha, Prart, Rimun and the capital of Hoburns will be very hard to take. Many lives will be lost. Why don’t we fight the southern demihumans instead? Would destroying the demihumans’ fighting power not fit more with your plans, my Prince?”
“I see. All of your concerns are valid. I am grateful for the fact that many of the people present here are wise. However, is that an action which everyone can understand?”
There were baffled looks on the faces of many of the people present.
“How about this? Going to the south implies that we will be abandoning ― though it is only temporary, we are still abandoning them ― all the imprisoned people that we will not rescue as a result. Can the masses ― can the people understand that?”
“That, that… but that makes more sense, there’ll be a higher chance of saving them, no?”“You’re a baron, I believe?”
Caspond turned to look at the middle-aged man who had asked the question.
“Y-Yes. I believe we met once, My Prince.”
“Ahh, just so. Now, have all the people of your domain been rescued?”
“Ah, no, not yet. I was imprisoned when I took the field beside Her Majesty, so I don’t know about my domain…”
“I see. So when you join up with the Southern forces and take back the North, people might say you fled to the South.”
The nobleman’s face froze up.
When one thought calmly about it, the nobleman was right. However, there was no guarantee that everyone ― especially those who were writhing in agony ― would be able to see the sense in what the nobleman had said. It was possible that there would be people who would say “Why didn’t you save us earlier, our families were slaughtered by the demihumans,” and turn the blades of their hatred on the nobles. Neia had seen such people before.
However, nobody had said that in the prison camps which the Sorcerer King had liberated. Given his overwhelmingly potent magic ― which could sometimes wreck city walls in a single blast ― and the fact that he was the king of another nation, nobody would dare take their anger out on him.
“Also, I had been intending to speak to the landholders one-on-one after this. In this case, we might as well do it now… We are all exhausted. In contrast, what will the nobles of the South do? In particular, what will the other nobles do about nobles who have abandoned their fiefs?”
The cloying stench of politics and power began to fill the air.
While it sounded unbelievable to Neia, was this what the nobles wanted? They nodded repeatedly.
“My Prince. Our domains…”
“I want you to pretend that you did not hear what comes next. That is because I cannot guarantee you anything. However, the Southern nobles will probably grow more powerful all of a sudden. That is why you must pick the best move to make, with an eye for what happens after the war.”
“A moment please!”
One of the paladins called out to him.
“How can we shed more of the people’s blood for courtly disputes!?”
“Indeed! Indeed!” The priest called Siliaco shouted in a voice which was said to have been trained for volume. “What’s important is how to save more people!”
“…Driving out the demihumans doesn’t mean it’s all over, you know? If the South takes all the credit, then we’ll have a hard time refusing the demands of the Southern nobles. And there’s no guarantee that they won’t impose heavy taxes on the exhausted people.”
“…Now that the Holy Queen is dead, it would be very bad if the next Holy King were to be chosen by the Southern nobles. However, if we can show concrete results with our strength, then at least…”
There were two factions in the room now.
They were the nobles’ faction and the paladins and priests’ faction.
Both sides were at odds. Speaking of Remedios, the paladins were trying to spoonfeed her a simplified version of what the Prince had said.
Neia was not part of either faction. She simply followed the flow of the conversation in silence. That was because Neia had already made up her mind about what she would be doing, so it did not matter what conclusion they reached in the end. Rather she wanted to bring up her own suggestion and set out as soon as possible.
That said, talking about irrelevant things here will only ruin the mood, and people who might have helped me won’t come to my aid…
After listening to numerous boring topics, she decided to toss the ball back to Caspond once both sides had worn themselves out with arguing.
“The My Prince brought up this topic. Perhaps we should let him finish speaking?”
“Ahh. Like I said earlier, I intend to take back Kalinsha. This is also militarily advantageous. In truth, this city is far too cramped, and much of it has already been destroyed. Living here is difficult, so I would like to have a larger, more solid home base. In addition, by taking back a major city, we’ll have an advantage when dealing with the Southern nobles. Also, Kalinsha was meant to stop enemy advances, so it ought to have ample stores of military supplies, assuming they haven’t been moved out yet.”
“…I support the proposal to secure a better base.”
“Ahhh, I’m a little uneasy about the sanitation of a city like this. Many people are shivering from the cold too.”
However, they went on to say, “We need to avoid large numbers of deaths.”
“Indeed. That is why it is the best time to attack the enemy strongholds. After all, Jaldabaoth cannot take action now.”
There was no telling how long Jaldabaoth’s wounds would take to heal, but surely he would recover before the demihuman army was completely defeated.
In addition, it was very unlikely that he would show his face before making a complete recovery. After knowing of the existence of a powerful warrior like Momon, he would surely take the possibility of Momon showing up into consideration before doing anything. Therefore, if he acted, it would not happen before he was almost completely recovered.
That said, once Jaldabaoth took the field, it would not matter how much force the Holy Kingdom could muster. Therefore, they had to take the fortress now.
So that was it. After listening to that agreeable explanation, Neia expressed her approval as well.
“―In that case, it seems the only thing you are unhappy with is the number of people who must die for this. Can I take that to mean that you will give me your support if I can minimize the number of deaths?”
Everyone present nodded, with the exception of Remedios. Neia did not mind either way, but after considering the flow of the conversation, she realized that it would be bad if only one person was not nodding, and so she nodded with everyone else.
As for Remedios, several people looked at her face and saw that she did not seem to have any special reasons for what she did, so they chose to ignore her.
“It’s decided then. We will discuss the details of retaking Kalinsha afterwards. Now then ― our next item.”
Caspond sighed loudly and then turned to Neia.
“This concerns the death of the Sorcerer King.”
“My Prince, I sincerely apologize, but I hope you will amend that statement immediately. The Sorcerer King’s death remains in question. That was simply what Jaldabaoth told us. It would be foolish to take a demon’s words at face value.”