“…Then why don’t we paint the Sorcerer King as a villain and kill two birds with one stone? How about telling the masses that the Sorcerer King won’t help us any more?”
“Lying would be a very bad idea,” Gustav said. “The mood of the people is like a dam just before it bursts. If they learn the truth through one channel or another and discover that we were trying to hide the truth, the matter would spiral out of our control.”
“Well, we don’t have to tell a flat-out lie. We can do it in a roundabout way.”
“If the people think it’s a lie, then they’ll treat it as a lie.”
“Then all we need to do is keep them from seeing the Sorcerer King, no?”
“…So if a riot breaks out or if someone wants to plead with him in person, we’ll kill them off?”
“…I don’t want to do that.”
Gustav sighed heavily.
“This is frustrating. The Sorcerer King showed too much of his strength. I feel we wouldn’t be like this if we had taken this city back under our own power… If the worst comes to worst, the country itself might be torn apart. Who’s going to stop the Sorcerer King if he declares this land an enclave of the Sorcerous Kingdom?”
“This nation belongs to Her Majesty and the people who live upon it! Not to the undead! And besides, do you think the surrounding nations will accept that!?”
Remedios pounded on the table again. However, Gustav’s face did not change, and he interjected:
“They probably will. Captain, you saw them too, right… the monsters in his city. No other nation would want to become the enemy of the Sorcerous Kingdom, which possesses such frightening military power. It would be wiser to simply turn a blind eye to the Holy Kingdom, which is now impotent… and if this place becomes an enclave, the Sorcerous Kingdom’s defensive strength will be divided between two fronts, and many of the nearby countries will agree that it is a good thing. And if the people wish for this to happen as well, the Sorcerer King will have just cause for his actions.”
“…So being a country of the undead is better than being a nation whose people can’t even defend themselves… is that how it is, vice-captain?”
Gustav nodded at the paladin’s question. “Just so.”
“Gustav. Did I make a mistake in bringing the Sorcerer King back here?”
“Of course not, Captain. It was the best choice at the time. However… it is true that we’ve relied too much on the Sorcerer King’s power. Like I said earlier, if we had taken back those prison camps with our own strength, we wouldn’t be in this situation now. For all we know, the people might still fear and hate the Sorcerer King, being that he’s one of the undead.”
“…So what should we do?”
“We need to appease the people, buy time, and defeat the enemy army by ourselves. If we can’t even do that, then even if we defeat Jaldabaoth… the fighting might still continue.”
Remedios looked up to the ceiling.
“…Then that’s what we have to do. Damn that Sorcerer King… did he plan all this out beforehand?”
“I don’t know… I really don’t know. But he might have.”
“Maybe he desires to expand his domain. Is the Sorcerous Kingdom very small?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s very small, but it’s true that the Sorcerous Kingdom is only his city and the land around it, as well as that plain which is rumored to spawn large quantities of the undead.”
So that was why he had his eyes on the Holy Kingdom’s land. There was certainly more than enough evidence to lead to that conclusion.
“That damn undead creature! We should have asked for Momon’s strength after all!”
“Perhaps things might have ended the same if Momon had come. The shock would simply not have been as great as the impact which the Sorcerer King made. A king conquering a city by himself is an incredibly striking image. The fact that said king is one of the undead who are our nation’s sworn enemies is also a big factor in this.”
In other words, a villain doing a good thing had a greater impact than an average person doing the same thing.
“…Damn it.”
Now that silence had returned to the room, Remedios ― who finally realised that Gustav was asking for her opinion ― gave her orders.
“We’ll discuss this with Caspond-sama. If, perhaps, though I feel it’s not too likely, just in case, Her Majesty has passed away, then he is the most eligible person to be the next Holy King.”
“Since we have not yet found any other members of the royal family, that will certainly be the case. We’ll go ask his opinion of all this, then.”
Remedios left the paladins in the room and led Gustav to Caspond’s room.
In the end, things turned out just like Gustav had predicted. The conclusion was that they would delay in answering the people and if the enemy should attack during this time, they would face them without the assumption of the Sorcerer King’s assistance and beat them back, thus showing the world that the strength of the Holy Kingdom was still undiminished.
Part 3
There were large movements in the demihuman camp ― upon receiving that report, Neia knew that the time had come.
There was no doubt about it; this was a prelude to an attack.
Neia ran through the city, wearing in the gear she had borrowed from the Sorcerer King.
She knew that the people she was running past were staring at her.
Their line of sight was drawn to the magnificent bow she had borrowed from the Sorcerer King, and then they looked at the armor previously worn by the ex-ruler of the city, the Grand King Buser, and they were filled with shock. Neia’s acute hearing picked out people asking a question through the noise of the crowd: “Who is that warrior?” It was answered by “It’s the Sorcerer King’s squire” or “The woman from the Sorcerous Kingdom.”
I’m not from the Sorcerous Kingdom…
It bothered her every time she heard false rumors like that. Part of her wanted to know, yet did not want to know how the rumors had wrongly depicted her. However, she would need to clearly and firmly deny any rumors which might inconvenience the Sorcerer King.
Still, the Sorcerer King’s squire…
It pleased her, but just as she was about to smile, a quiet groan came from one of the people she ran past.
Even if he does resemble Father…
That thought passed through Neia’s mind as she arrived at the wall adjoining the west gate, where she had been assigned. That was also where practically all of the demihuman forces were gathered.
Close to eighty percent of all the paladins, priests, soldiers and able-bodied men in the city had been stationed at the west gate or in its vicinity. The remaining twenty were assigned to the east gate, while the women, children, old folks, and other non-combatants were keeping watch from the north and south city walls.
Remedios Custodio commanded the west gate. Gustav Montagnes commanded the east gate. Caspond Bessarez was the nominal supreme commander. Of course, the supreme commander stayed within the headquarters in the center of the city and did not venture out.
She could see the west gate at last.
The Sorcerer King had demolished the east gate’s portcullis, but the west gate’s portcullis was still intact. However, many demihumans were stronger than human beings. They could probably wreck it easily with logs.
Neia clenched her hand into a fist before it could tremble.
If they broke through this point and made their way inside, it would be very difficult to deal with the demihumans once they began spreading through the city. In other words, the city would be lost.
Given the circumstances, Neia could not run. She would probably fight and die in combat against a vast swarm of demihumans.