A Situation More Serious Than Expected

“Are you out of your mind, Regent!?”

Ureas, who had not been able to get a word in edgewise, shouted the moment he left the tent.

His eyes were fixed on Ferda.

“What are you talking about?”

“How dare you conduct negotiations however you please and settle on 40%!?”

They say brothers resemble each other.

For a moment, Alexander's face showed in his.

Ureas had genuinely wanted 45%.

But just because one wants something does not mean everything goes one's way.

The allied forces had proposed 27%.

Even after considering a compromise, it would never have exceeded 35%.

With Ureas's personality and diplomatic ability, getting 30% would have been a miracle.

It was only because Ferda seized the opportunity and stepped forward that they had managed to reach 40%.

Yet Ureas was still angry at Ferda, unable to let go of that extra 5%.

That was why Ferda said,

“Don't misunderstand.”

“What did you say?!”

“Raising it to 40% was only so the Far Eastern forces could take 10%.”

“Are you saying we should take 30% for our share? When we only brought around 500 troops!?”

“You're taking 3% more than they offered, so what exactly are you dissatisfied with?”

“Unbelievable! Count Rooster! What do you think of this situation!?”

Count Rooster, who had been watching in silence, merely cast him a sidelong glance before looking away.

He did not answer.

Even if it made him seem greedy like a thief, he had ample reason.

Ureas shouted again, embarrassed.

“And if you fail, we get only 20%, so aren't we the ones bearing that risk!?”

“If our retreat means you receive only a 20% share, you may take all of it. And we will make up the shortfall with the Far Eastern forces' assets and give it to you.”

When Ferda declared this, Ureas's expression hardened.

“What do you mean by the Far Eastern forces' assets?”

“The magitech weapons Your Highness had his eye on. We will provide Second Prince Ureas's army with every item we have researched to date. How does that sound?”

His face showed he could barely contain his delight at the prospect of strengthening his army.

Yet greed was even stronger than that.

“Even so, we only have 30%, don't we? I would like you to make up a little more of the difference.”

What a disgustingly greedy bastard.

But it was exactly what Ferda had expected.

“Very well. Whether we fail or succeed, we will provide the magitech weapons. However, we will provide only enough to arm the imperial guard. Will that suffice?”

Ureas liked the exhilaration that came from conquest and displays of force, so it was not a bad offer.

“That will not do.”

Count Rooster, who had been watching the situation, cut in.

“If you are going to provide weapons to the army, you should provide enough to benefit the entire Imperial army. Receiving only enough to form a personal guard is of no benefit.”

Did he think we were too stupid to covet the Far Eastern weapons?

That was the look on his face.

Ferda did not answer him.

Ureas spoke up instead.

“What is it that you find so objectionable?”

Count Rooster lowered his head and replied.

“The limited support Regent Ferda is offering will do nothing to strengthen the Empire's defenses.”

“The Empire is the Emperor, and I am the one who will become the Empire. If strengthening the imperial guard that protects me is not strengthening national defense, then what is?”

“……”

“I know you've continued to disregard me, but if you keep harping on this matter, I will have you disciplined under military law.”

Only then did Count Rooster realize Ferda's intention.

That was why Count Rooster said nothing more.

Anger toward Ferda showed on his face.

Ureas cleared his throat and left Ferda with one final remark.

“Do not fail. No matter what.”

Ureas mounted his horse and returned to the forward base.

Simple as he was, he certainly knew how to use both carrots and sticks.

Count Rooster also glared at Ferda disapprovingly before going his own way.

“It seems you gain more enemies every time you do something, Lord Ferda.”

Luri, standing beside him, said so.

“But they still can't lay a hand on me carelessly, can they?”

“Isn't that also because I'm here?”

While the kings and generals were accompanied by escorting knights, Ferda alone traveled with a young girl.

A girl dressed as a maid, at that.

Her ill-fitting attire created such incongruity that it made her even more threatening than the knights.

And in reality, that was exactly the case.

“There is something I'm curious about.”

“What is it?”

“When Count Rooster stepped forward for the national interest, why did the Second Prince stop him?”

It was a question about what had just happened.

Ferda answered.

“What do you think would happen if everyone else were fighting with their fists while one person alone held a sword?”

“It would be an unfair fight.”

“That's how it is. Ureas likes strength, but he likes having weaker people he can crush underfoot even more.”

The same applied to the other factions within the Empire.

“From Ureas's perspective, he has no choice now but to hope for my success.”

“If that happens, the Imperial army will cooperate smoothly as well.”

That was why Count Rooster could not easily stop Ferda even after seeing through his intentions.

It was a truly clever strategy.

“Let's head back now. I don't want to stay here any longer because of the filthy smell.”

“There is one more thing I need to check.”

Even though the others were returning, Ferda had another reason for remaining here.

While looking around near the tent, Ferda spotted a man.

He was a knight of Heian, gathering up the remains of the soldiers who had come with him, along with the chunks of flesh.

Ferda walked over to him and asked,

“Are you a knight of the Kingdom of Heian?”

The dazed knight jumped in surprise and nodded.

“Y-Yes, I am.”

“I will pray for the repose of the deceased.”

“Ah, yes…… Thank you.”

The knight was bewildered.

The man who had calmly negotiated in that blood-spattered scene had just spoken of praying for the dead.

“I heard you will withdraw after this matter is concluded.”

“That is correct.”

“I need some information before you withdraw. I want to ask about your king and the scout who blew himself up, Yuan. Can you answer me?”

He hesitated at those words.

But soon he nodded.

“I will tell you as much as I can.”

The man answered feebly, and Ferda asked,

“Was that man named Yuan originally capable of using magic?”

The man thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“Not as far as I know. Yuan was an excellent tracker and good at concealing his presence, since he had been a hunter, but he had never once undergone magical training.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. If he had been capable of wielding magic like that in the first place, they would not have used him as an infiltrator.”

That made sense.

There would have been no reason to send a talented mage into such a dangerous place.

“Let us move on to the second question. When did you carry out the operation to enter the inner fortress?”

“If you mean the day the operation was carried out, it would be the last time I saw Yuan, so…… a week ago. The last thing I heard was that he was being sent into the outer fortress, and he disappeared around then.”

“Thank you. You have helped me learn a great deal.”

“……I hope justice is served to those filthy demons.”

Ferda patted him on the shoulder, and the man resumed gathering the flesh with a complicated expression.

As Ferda moved away from him, he muttered,

“That confirms it.”

“Confirms what?”

Luri asked, unable to let the words pass, and Ferda answered.

“The situation is more serious than I thought.”

* * *

Magic is a wondrous, multicolored force that manifests through various mediums, languages, and diagrams.

But when one traces magic back to its source, there is one element they all have in common.

Mana.

Mana is a pure substance capable of taking shape after being distorted and transformed according to language and the user's will.

Mages are beings who harbor and produce that pure substance within their bodies.

In humans, the process involves circles increasing in number, compressing mana and forging it into high-density mana, thereby enabling the use of powerful magic.

Since mana is a pure substance that can become anything, it is equally dangerous.

What every mage must be most wary of is a circle runaway.

A circle runaway occurs when the circle that shapes the pure mana within the body consumes all the body's nourishment, swells beyond what it can withstand, and then explodes.

The higher a mage's circle stage, the harder it inevitably becomes to control mana, and the more closely they live with the threat of a circle runaway.

“That man named Yuan exploded because of a circle runaway.”

Ferda said this, but Luri did not understand.

“Circle runaways only happen to mages, don't they? And that man had no connection to magic.”

“That's right.”

“Then are you saying he had been hiding his ability to use magic all this time?”

“I doubt it.”

If he had possessed a talent for magic, as the knight said, the kingdom would have noticed first.

They would have made him a mage rather than a special agent used for infiltration.

“I think he must have formed a circle after entering that castle.”

“Are you saying there's a power within the Kingdom of Heinkel's castle that can create mages?”

Luri racked her own brain and considered the possibility.

But she had no way of knowing how to create mages, so she soon gave up.

“It would be possible with a Red Circle.”

Unlike a Blue Circle, which is built up gradually, a Red Circle is formed from mana generated by an upheaval of emotions.

As the owner of a Red Circle, Ferda knew this well.

“If someone experiences emotions powerful enough to form a circle and endures them, a Red Circle will be created.”

“Is it really that easy?”

“No, it isn't. Repeating those emotions over and over to create a circle is by no means easy.”

Sustained joy becomes pain, and sustained sorrow leads to numbness.

Even so, Ferda thought it possible because the demons possessed one unusual item.

“Trauma.”

When Ferda uttered the word, Luri flinched and trembled.

The memory of that time was still vivid for Luri as well.

“If they make good use of it, it would certainly be possible.”

Ferda regretted that object when he saw it.

The depth of that regret had been so intense that it led Ferda to a new stage.

“If all it takes is creating something called a Red Circle, can they really become bombs like that?”

“A First Circle would not produce that kind of power. Even the strongest explosion from a First Circle would at most cause cardiac arrest; it would not take on the form of an actual explosion until the Second Circle.”

“Then are you saying that one reached the Second Circle?”

Ferda shook his head.

“Judging by the explosive power, it was a Third Circle.”

Third Circle.

Luri knew how difficult it was to reach that stage.

“Are you saying, Lord Ferda, that he reached the Third Circle in less than a week?”

“I am certain.”

“Is that possible?”

No matter how much faster it formed than a Blue Circle, reaching the Third Circle in such a short time was difficult.

But it was not impossible.

It simply came at no small cost.

“No wonder he was so insane.”

He had become a demon follower and blown himself up alongside his own king for the sake of that cause.

He was certainly not a normal human being.

Only then did Luri understand what Ferda meant when he said the situation was serious.

“If they can mass-produce suicide troops like that through trauma, then the situation really is serious, just as you said, Lord Ferda.”

“Yes. The alliance of kingdoms alone may not be enough for this.”

A hundred-thousand-strong army had gathered, yet they could not even capture a single castle.

Imagining the castle crawling with Third Circle bombs, it seemed like an impossibly high wall.

“Then we need additional troops?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have somewhere you can request them from?”

“There is someone I have in mind.”

One person he thought would be the first to come running if something like this happened.

At the same time, he wondered why this person had not shown himself until now.

The only reason he was merely thinking about it was that Ferda could not simply approach this man.

He wondered what he should do now.

That was when it happened.

A chill wind, out of place beneath the scorching sunlight, touched Ferda's skin.

As a mage, Ferda was intimately familiar with that sensation.

That sensation occurred when a massive flow of magical power shook the surroundings.

Just as clearly as Ferda felt it, Luri did too.

“Lord Ferda?”

Luri asked in case Ferda had caused it.

Ferda cast his gaze toward one place and said,

“It seems they were curious about it too.”

A round portal had opened in the sky above him.

Terrifying magical power was pouring out from that portal.

At the same time, vibrations rose from the ground.

They were vibrations produced by a herd of horses racing along, not mana.

Ureas and his men, who had gone ahead on the way back, were returning.

Their faces looked as though a fire had broken out at their feet.

“Regent! Turn back and join us at once!”

Ureas said,

“Erdes—that crazy bitch—is about to run wild!”