Chapter 21
“……What on earth is going on outside?”
Guildford should clearly have been grinning since the novel was doing well, but his face had grown noticeably gaunt.
It had to be related to the protest.
“Sigh... It’s just one of those customary events. You don’t need to worry about it, author──”
“I heard something about scorched-earth tactics.”
“Haha......”
Guildford let out a deep sigh.
“Those pointy-eared bitches have been causing trouble forever. They even kicked up a fuss about newspapers being made of paper, so Truth Daily uses a slightly different material, doesn’t it? It’s all a loss because of them.”
He started venting his racist fury.
Come to think of it.
Unlike the other newspapers, Truth Daily alone had an oddly fluffy texture.
It even felt like it could be used as toilet paper in an emergency.
But.
“Why bother? It’s not like the Empire’s—no, the elves—are more than a handful, right?”
“That’s because Truth Daily’s biggest sponsor is the Wisperaud ducal house.”
“Ah.”
I had no choice but to understand.
Last time I’d had dinner with Duke Bertus, I’d listened to overly detailed TMI about the Empire’s four great ducal houses, which I hadn’t even been curious about.
One of them.
The Wisperaud ducal house, run by pointy-ears.
Once I realized that, I couldn’t help reevaluating Guildford.
To think he’d planned to publish a novel loudly glorifying war and making a huge spectacle of environmental destruction, all while his main sponsor was a band of hardline eco-fascists.
A true journalist, and a true man of letters.
And an exemplar of true racism.
“Then what do you do about the riot...?”
“Ah, well. Like I said earlier, it’s a customary event. If we just wear them down a bit, stamp a forged seal on a pledge not to do it again, and toss it to them, they’ll quiet down for a while.”
“......”
It felt eerily similar to the way modern media baits everyone with a sensational headline, then six months later quietly drops a one-line correction and washes its hands of it.
Life is probably pretty much the same whether it’s on Earth or in another world.
.
.
.
- The Roman senators flee straight to Greece without even fighting? Isn’t that way too convenient? You’re basically giving up your own justification.
It’s historically accurate.
- Pompey is sharpening his sword in Greece, and you invaded the Iberian Peninsula first? And on top of that, you even surrounded the many with the few, only to be counterattacked and defeated? Author, the readers are going to flood you with complaints.
......It’s historically accurate.
- Um... if possible, you might as well have Caesar cut off Pompey’s head himself. I feel like people are definitely going to complain that this doesn’t provide enough catharsis......
That too is historically accurate......
After somehow fending off Guildford’s unreasonable nitpicking—he had mastered the psychology of the pointy-ears, but regrettably knew nothing about Earth history—and forcing the manuscript through.
“Let’s burn Ulysses!”
“Plants have human rights!”
“The anti-tentacle-breeding law is an evil law!”
Why are you burning me, you crazy bastards?
What’s the anti-tentacle-breeding law supposed to be?
I carefully pushed through the pointy-ear protesters, who seemed a little more aggressive than before, and returned to the square.
Nearby, alongside a rift whose energy seemed even more restrained than before, I saw Roselyn sitting slumped on a bench and gazing up at the sky.
I thought about just passing by, but.
Our eyes met, like she was challenging me to a Pokémon battle.
Seeing the gentle smile curve over the pocket of divine power, it seemed she had noticed me too.
“Phew.”
She was pretty, all right.
Just thinking about her going on and on about love again today made my head hurt a little.
Still, though.
Cleopatra would be appearing soon enough.
So today I could hold my head high.
* * *
“Commander, it’s been a while.”
“Oh! Hero Seraphine. I’m glad you’re safe and haven’t lost any arms or legs.”
“Haha......”
Taking the hand offered by Kuordi, the Western Commander of the Allied Army, whose words at every meeting were impossible to tell apart from praise or insult, Seraphine forced a smile.
The conquest of the Demon Lands proceeded in an extremely systematic manner.
When the hero party, acting as a special-operations unit on the front line, took out the monsters’ key strongholds or beasts.
The coalition army conscripted from across the continent advanced behind them, colliding with the monsters’ large forces that had lost their center and gradually pushing them back.
On that patch of Demon Lands temporarily secured like that.
They neutralized it with mana so that no new monsters would spawn there anymore.
That was the basic principle of anti-Demon Lands tactics.
“Thanks to you handling the bronze giant, we were able to advance a little further. My, oh my, your achievements are truly remarkable.”
“It wasn’t my accomplishment alone; it was because the entire party worked together.”
Seraphine recalled that memory.
Against a giant so powerful that even a holy sword couldn’t be drawn, and every strike could deal a fatal blow.
How hard it had been to work her way up to its ankle and pierce the core of that giant.
I had narrowly escaped death at least seven times.
If the party members who had endured the hardships of the Demon Lands with her all that time hadn’t supported her, she probably wouldn’t be here now.
And.
Whether it was coincidence or inevitability, she didn’t know.
Seraphine also thought Kim Yul, the author, had played a big part by once again handing over the crucial clue: the ankle.
“How are things on the other fronts?”
“The southern front can’t get past a giant basin-like hollow, as if a meteor had struck there, and the eastern front is being blocked by endlessly spawning earth soldiers.”
There’s not a single easy front.
Seraphine sighed inwardly.
How many more heroes would die from here on, and how long would the will of the holy sword endure?
Even her own holy sword,
Fragarach had already changed hands six times.
“And how are things on your side, Commander?”
“Ahem, honestly, not good. Monsters are spawning faster than before, so if we force ourselves forward even a little too much, it often drags both fronts into the mess.”
“A two-front war......”
Seraphine suddenly recalled a novel by Kim Yul she had recently read.
Seraphine didn’t know much about military strategy, but.
Still, there was something about Caesar pushing through hardship and adversity to overcome unfavorable fronts that stirred a man’s heart.
For this poor commander, who was surely rotting away inside even if he acted cheerful on the outside.
“Here, take this.”
“What is it? A bribe?”
“Haha, nothing like that.”
“A book...?”
Seraphine nodded in answer to the commander’s question.
“It’s a book by an author I like. It’s a pretty breezy read, so give it a try when you’re bored.”
“It’s not like I’ll have time to be bored... haha, but since it’s your recommendation, I’ll give it a read.”
After that, they continued chatting about how to deal with the newly discovered species of monsters.
But.
“Urgent report! Urgent report!”
The brief peace was shattered by the sudden appearance of a messenger.
“A rift has appeared in the Imperial capital’s grand square! They’ve requested the urgent dispatch of a hero!”
“Oh.”
“Mm...”
The commander and Seraphine both swallowed back a groan.
But this wasn’t without precedent.
“On your way back, bring me something tasty besides the book. I’m in the mood for chocolate bread.”
“Haha... If I don’t forget, I’ll make sure to pick some up.”
After tightly clasping the commander’s hand, which he offered again with a joke as if trying to lift the mood.
Seraphine hurried toward the nearest Great Rift leading near the imperial capital.
* * *
Roselyn’s reaction was exactly as Kim Yul had expected.
“It’s the men’s bathhouse! The men’s bathhouse!”
Kim Yul let out a sigh, wondering how the saintess’s very first words could be something like that.
And.
Bang, bang!
At the smack of Roselyn’s hand on the empty seat beside her.
Kim Yul obediently sat down there like a puppy.
Because violence is stronger than divine power.
Looking at him like that, Roselyn smiled faintly.
.
.
.
And for a while, they exchanged all sorts of stories.
She poured out a long-winded lament, full of regret, that the recent plot developments had shown not even a trace of a woman, let alone romance.
Having secured the promise that a new heroine would appear soon, Roselyn smiled with satisfaction.
After that, their everyday conversation continued for a bit, then.
“Can that be closed?”
Roselyn also turned her gaze to where Kim Yul was looking.
Kim Yul was clearly 'looking' straight at the exact spot where the rift had formed.
“Of course! That’s what heroes exist for, after all?”
Roselyn smiled brightly and affirmed Kim Yul’s words.
“Then I’ll be off.”
“Take care on your way, author!”
Roselyn personally shared her divine power with Kim Yul, whose expression had begun to show a hint of fatigue, and bolstered his strength.
For a moment, she swallowed the thought that he was always such a fun man to tease.
But......
“I can see the rift.”
Not only that.
He could even feel the dreadful demonic miasma the rift was spewing out.
An ordinary person couldn’t do that.
As she watched Kim Yul’s trudging back, Roselyn’s eyes suddenly
widened in an instant.
“Uh, uh...?”
The direction Kim Yul was walking was the so-called bakery street.
It was a place where several bakeries had clustered together to realize agglomeration benefits.
It wasn’t considered a normal control zone, but it was still fairly close to the rift.
“Yul──”
Sensing something ominous, Roselyn called out his name, but.
Riiip──
As if the rift were alive, it instantly swelled in size.
and swallowed Kim Yul whole.