Chapter 104
Needless to say.
'What a lie.'
I did not take Second Prince Bedin's words at face value.
Strictly speaking, love lies in a realm that cannot be resolved rationally.
No matter how much the Grand General followed him around and disciplined him, it was not something that could be resolved in the blink of an eye.
Of course, the confession attack had such a powerful effect that his feelings might have changed.
Even so, there was only one reason I could not trust Bedin's words.
- So you do love her, after all.
- You don't need to feel sorry.
- When you think you've drifted apart for a moment, you start to dislike them, but once your connection is restored, your feelings grow stronger.
As if warning me not to let my guard down even for this brief moment,
the Crown Prince's memory began playing in my head.
- You've reached the stage of love and hate.
The love-hate stage.
To put this another way,
'An antagonistic relationship.'
It could be summed up as an antagonistic relationship, an abbreviation for a relationship of mutual hatred.
A subtle relationship in which the two people hated each other to death but continued to become entangled.
'Don't fall to someone other than me, or something like that.'
Those were the lines that came to mind right away.
So, to put it simply, Second Prince Bedin did not want to hate Mirne,
but his current state was very far from the kind of hatred I had in mind.
They had become enemies, but perhaps he could be called the enemy of my enemy.
One thing was certain: the moment Mirne found herself in danger,
Second Prince Bedin would choose to save her.
'Right. Thinking about the Crown Prince's countless regressions, there couldn't have been no cases like this.'
Perhaps there had even been a regression in which he trusted a younger brother like that, only to be betrayed at a crucial moment.
Thinking that made me feel bitter.
'What a shame.'
But even after going through something like the confession attack and seeing Mirne's web of romantic prospects,
was he still unable to let go of his feelings for Mirne, even now that he was calling her a promiscuous woman?
It was difficult to consider this a normal case.
I wondered whether this, too, might be part of a mod.
If she had installed a mod that forcibly fixed their affection levels even if their relationship changed,
that would explain exactly why the Crown Prince's memory had surfaced.
'It's a warning.'
If things worked this way, did that mean Ailoren was also highly likely to naturally fall for Mirne again as time passed?
'Then what about the real Theo?'
Theo had even proudly declared that he had finally severed his ties with Mirne.
And his actions afterward had truly matched his words.
If Theo were the one who would betray me later, the Crown Prince's memory would have reacted first.
It remained silent with Theo but surfaced immediately with Second Prince Bedin? That meant Theo could be trusted.
'Ailoren, to begin with, cannot be said to have completely broken free.'
Although he had become hostile toward Mirne, there had been no further development in their relationship after that.
It was difficult to say that he had completely severed his ties with her.
To put it bluntly, some event could suddenly happen later, and the two of them might end up together.
At this stage, Theo was the only one I could be certain had completely escaped Mirne's brainwashing.
I could not afford to trust the others prematurely.
'An antagonistic relationship... Wait, then couldn't Ailoren get dragged into one too?'
If they felt emotions toward Mirne, did that mean they would become entangled with her somehow?
They could become entangled because they liked her, or because they hated her.
It meant that unless they were completely indifferent, they could return to being male protagonists at any time.
"Good. If you're not contacting her, that's enough."
Let's not expect too much from the start.
For now, it seemed better to be satisfied with merely having him call her a promiscuous woman.
"I'm also doing my best to come to my senses. It may not be enough, but... I'll work hard."
"Good. I expect you to."
One of the hypotheses I had made in the past was that Bedin was the true endgame husband.
If that was correct, Bedin's potential was sure to be absurdly high.
It meant that if I could truly make him come to his senses, he could reach an absurdly high peak.
'I can only hope so.'
Muttering that inwardly, I checked when the contest to determine the beastman leader would take place.
'About a month left?'
By then, it was certain that many things would have changed.
+++++
A month could be a long time or a short time, but
needless to say, I was not sitting around doing nothing.
While the Grand General had time to train Vark rigorously, I traveled throughout the Empire.
The first place I visited was the North.
"I'm sorry I haven't been able to pay enough attention to you. There have been too many things going on lately."
"Not at all. It's fine. In fact, it is an honor that you took the time to visit us like this."
Estella, who had first appeared under the title of Villainess, and Gorkan, the Northern Great Warrior who had appeared after the Northern Grand Duke died.
Since the stage I needed to focus on lately had not been the North, it had been difficult to pay much attention to this region.
[ The North is currently being managed extremely stably. ]
[ Initially, there was a problem with the northern tribes and the Empire's northern citizens failing to blend together. ]
[ However, everyone is currently blending together under the perfect command of Estella, the current Northern Grand Duke. ]
[ The Northern Great Warrior Gorkan is gradually eliminating the great demonic beasts of the North. ]
[ If Gorkan succeeds in capturing all the great demonic beasts, he will break through his limits and grow. ]
'The situation in the North is absurdly good.'
Hadn't someone once said that one should not casually wipe away the dust accumulated on a machine that was functioning normally?
The current situation seemed exactly like that.
'The only possible variable is whether Gorkan has been meeting Mirne periodically.'
Considering Mirne's actions so far, it was right to assume that he was definitely in contact with her.
But when I considered whether I should prepare for that, I concluded that there was no need.
I had already taken most of the measures available against the Northern Great Warrior.
In other words, if the Northern Great Warrior betrayed the Empire here and joined Mirne,
that alone would complete a sufficient death narrative for him.
If that happened, I could simply cut off his head immediately, without hesitation.
"Continue to take good care of the North. I am counting on you."
"...I will do my best to live up to Your Highness's trust."
"That is reassuring."
And so, when I visited the North, I did not set aside any time to meet with the Northern Great Warrior Gorkan separately.
As soon as I finished my business in the North, the next place I checked was the Holy Kingdom.
The Holy Kingdom, which had become a vassal state of the Empire, had begun worshiping Romper beneath the sun.
Naturally, discord was unavoidable in this process.
Faith was not something that would easily change simply because the foundation of a nation's faith had changed.
Therefore,
"Quite a few people fled during the process of changing the foundation of the nation."
"I'm sorry."
"No. How could we catch people who were determined to flee?"
The believers who still followed the former Romper Church had left the Holy Kingdom.
It was obvious where they had gone after leaving.
'Did they all go to Maselin?'
They might not be able to live there openly and proudly,
but the Saint Mirne they had once served was in the Kingdom of Maselin, so that was the only possible destination for them.
It was actually for the best.
When filling a new wineskin, one had to find a way to discard the rotten contents of the old one.
They had fled of their own accord and would naturally become a means of pressuring the Kingdom of Maselin later.
It was practically a situation that had given me a reason to express my gratitude.
"As for the holy relics, we always leave open the possibility of suitable people using them on their own."
"Right. If an opportunity to use them arises, actively taking advantage of it is the correct choice."
The treasures possessed by the Holy Kingdom were now being used in a completely different manner than before.
The greatest difference was that they were being used proactively.
Other than the holy relics that seemed fragile or appeared to have a limited number of uses,
we had decided to actively use any relics that seemed safe to operate continuously.
[ The Holy Kingdom is currently beneath the Empire's sun. ]
[ The Empire's divinity will continue to grow stronger. ]
[ The probability of Imperial holy knights appearing naturally will increase. ]
It was clear from both what I saw and the system messages that the Holy Kingdom was also growing steadily.
'How should I put it? The Holy Kingdom has become a resource farm for producing divine power.'
The North provided byproducts obtained from monsters and underground resources.
The Holy Kingdom provided matters related to divine power.
Thinking of them as constantly supplying resources from above and below made the whole arrangement feel extremely productive.
Finally, I checked the East and the merfolk kingdom of Corallia.
The East had recently undergone a disaster evacuation, and the Kingdom of Corallia was only just beginning to find its footing.
"If there is anything we can do to support you, we will continue to do so, so tell us without hesitation. It would be far more serious if your development slowed because you were worried about imposing."
"I will bear that in mind."
I told them not to hesitate when requesting support.
'Come to think of it, I need to obtain the merfolk's treasure too.'
I would bring it up once the Kingdom of Corallia was on a normal footing.
After visiting those three places, I finally stopped by Gilbat and told him the news that I had obtained Fairite.
'Did I really have this much to do?'
As I handled things one by one, a month passed in the blink of an eye.
When I came to my senses,
"I'm looking forward to it."
the day of the contest to determine the leader had arrived.
+++++
Naturally, beastmen made up the largest portion of the other-race population.
Therefore, gaining the cooperation of the beastmen was extremely important.
'We have no choice but to be mindful of the cooperation of other countries, but if the beastmen who normally live scattered across the continent joined a nation, it would immediately provide an enormous boost to its military strength.'
That was why Mirne had put tremendous effort into raising Creed.
She had made him practically incapable of losing.
'I invested excessively, but if I can gain the authority to command all the beastmen, it won't be a waste at all.'
To put Creed's current state simply, he was like a wallet warrior who had spent an absurd amount of money.
All his equipment had been enhanced to the extreme, to the point that even letting his guard down would not cause a problem.
Moreover, Mirne was extremely confident in the current situation.
Across her countless playthroughs, Creed had never once lost to Vark.
Of course, before installing the mod, she had always been somewhat uncertain.
But after installing Baby Mode, there was no longer any reason for her to worry about that.
"I'll be back, Mirne."
"Yeah! Creed! I'm counting on you!"
"I promise you victory."
On the stage where the contest to determine the leader would take place,
Mirne continued raising Creed's affection stat without paying any attention to the opponent who had yet to arrive.
And just as the time for the decisive battle gradually approached,
"Mirne, you really do go everywhere."
a voice that absolutely should not have reached Mirne's ears pierced through them.
...C-Crown Prince?
Why were you suddenly here?
That thought lasted only a moment.
In Mirne's field of vision,
'Huh?'
Vark appeared, looking completely different from a month ago.
What on earth had she done over the past month?
Could it be...
'No way.'
Am I going to lose this?
The word defeat slammed into Mirne's mind with overwhelming force.