Chapter 105
When Mirne said she would support the lion beastman Creed.
The answer to how she would support him came quickly.
'She'd support him with equipment rather than combat experience.'
It was obvious.
There was no one in the Kingdom of Maselin who could make the lion beastman Creed stronger in a short period,
and increasing his strength through a month's training was virtually impossible.
Considering everything point by point, providing equipment was the rational choice.
However, while that might have been the best choice, it could not be called the optimal one.
Abandon his usual equipment, put on new equipment, and adapt to it in just one month?
Without training that came close to actual combat?
No matter how much better the equipment was, its limitations were clear.
Then what was the best method?
'Both.'
I looked calmly at Vark's back.
What Vark had experienced over the past month was not limited to training close to actual combat with the Grand General, a Grand Master.
There was also the equipment Gilbat had custom-made solely for the beastman Vark.
If Creed had merely been equipped.
Vark had been equipped and had also finished adapting to everything perfectly.
'Vark was originally stronger anyway, so I should assume she will win without fail.'
That was assuming there were no variables.
Mirne had said she had installed many mods, so there might even be a Forced Victory mod.
Of course, if such a thing existed, there would have been no reason to support him with equipment separately, so it was reasonable to assume there was no such mod.
Considering Mirne's actions so far, I had to assume there was no chance she would let this pass quietly.
"It must be difficult enough to look after even one kingdom. Yet you're worrying about the beastmen's future too. You're living with a broad view of the world, Mirne."
"...The Kingdom of Maselin has beastmen too, and I receive so much help from them, so shouldn't I help them as well?"
"Even if that help leads them down a path exactly opposite to the Empire's?"
"I-I didn't know that. I'm sorry."
The moment Mirne instinctively began to bow after hearing my words.
Swish.
Creed appeared in front of Mirne and cut into the conversation.
"Your Highness, I apologize for daring to interrupt, but this is the beastmen's place. Please show mercy."
It was a textbook intervention.
When the woman he liked was in trouble, he barged in and even solved the problem for her.
Should I call it the position of a prince on a white horse?
You know, the kind of scene where he saves the heroine from a thug.
"Yes, you dared."
But this situation was very different from that.
A sudden intrusion by a third party while the Empire's Crown Prince was leading the conversation?
Even if I wanted to let it pass, he had created a situation in which I could not.
Clack.
Still, he would have to fight Vark soon.
So, as Creed had requested, I decided to show mercy.
"I'll keep you alive."
After kindly showing him even the gesture of gripping my sword's hilt,
I swung my sword with benevolent intent.
Stab.
That single sword strike, which normally should have made his head drop without him even being able to react,
accurately pierced Creed's lung to protect the beastmen's place.
"The contest to determine the leader will begin soon, so I wish you a speedy recovery."
I did not forget to turn the hilt about half a rotation when pulling out the blade.
"You have a talent for stepping in and making things much worse."
What should have ended with Mirne prostrating herself had been blown up this much.
I could understand wanting to look cool in front of the person you liked,
but unfortunately, he had chosen a terrible place to make a stand, and this was the result.
"Lord Creed!"
"N-no, what happened...!"
"Bring every medicine we have!"
"Lady Mirne! Please! Your divinity... please!"
"Don't worry! I'll... I'll heal him!"
A tragic result brought about by a slip of the tongue.
After that, the winner of the contest to determine the leader was all but decided; there was no need to watch any further.
+++++
"The winner of this contest to determine the leader is Vark, the tiger beastman. As a result, until the next contest, the overall direction of the beastmen will be decided by the tiger beastman Vark."
"Hoorayyyyy!!!"
Even if Mirne could use divinity through various perks and rapidly heal the hole in Creed's lung with it,
Creed's condition was no longer what it had been, while Vark had continuously meditated, honing her senses.
The contest to determine the leader ended without any fierce back-and-forth, with Vark winning by an overwhelming margin.
The moment Vark, the tiger beastman, was chosen as the leader of the beastmen,
"Hear me, beastmen. You need not abandon your existing homes. But if you wish to come under the Empire's shadow, speak up at any time."
Vark continued her declaration as leader, proudly revealing that the Empire stood behind her.
Since these were the words she had uttered immediately after becoming leader, every beastman focused on what Vark said.
"Recently, the lion beastmen must have told you to abandon your existing homes and move to the Kingdom of Maselin. That must have been Creed's goal, but I am different. As I said just now, you don't have to come if you don't want to. But if you do come, you will be welcomed no matter how many of you there are. The tiger beastmen will now stand with the Empire."
"What benefits are there to standing with the Empire? Why mention the Empire immediately after becoming leader?"
The beastmen looked puzzled as they questioned Vark's words.
They knew the tiger beastmen were receiving the Empire's support through the Crown Prince's arrival.
But that did not seem like sufficient reason to mention the Empire so emphatically and tell them to live alongside it.
"I merely applied the law of the beastmen's world to the continent."
The law of the beastmen's world.
There was only one.
'The law of the jungle.'
Did applying it to the continent mean that a situation warranting it might soon arise?
Was this not a matter that would end with the beastmen alone?
Was there a possibility that something would happen to which the law of the jungle could be applied across the entire continent? Was that why they were trying to come under the Empire?
All the species except the tiger beastmen began whispering as they imagined the uncertainty of the future.
Regardless, Vark, the tiger beastman, naturally moved behind the Crown Prince as soon as she finished speaking.
The beastman representative was not originally a position from which one could wield the entire race.
It was merely a position for presenting a general direction.
But when that representative declared that they would come under the Empire, the situation changed.
'Under the Empire's shadow... we can enter?'
Why would the beastmen not want to come under the Empire?
Of course, some refused communal living itself because of the traits of their species.
But aside from such cases, the Empire was practically a utopia for the beastmen.
Its vast lands and livable environment, among other things.
If they did not have to worry about discrimination based on their species, it was a place they would rush to live in.
But the representative was telling them to come to such a place? And the Empire was guaranteeing it?
Just as the Crown Prince and Vark were slowly moving away.
"...Shouldn't we follow them now?"
"She didn't say anything about first come, first served... But isn't it impossible for all the beastmen to live in the Empire in the first place? That makes no sense."
"That too... No, no matter how vast the land is... No, before that, we'd have to build houses...."
"Come to think of it, I heard the Great Forest is Imperial territory... so we can live there too."
"We can live in the Great Forest? In that incredible wilderness?"
The beastmen, suddenly growing anxious, began creeping toward Vark.
The most important thing to beastmen was their keen instinct for survival.
And that instinct was telling them to go to the Empire at once.
+++++
"...We really lost."
Having lost the contest to determine the leader, Mirne watched the entire situation vacantly beside the unconscious Creed.
Since Creed had failed to become the beastman representative, it would take him a long time to obtain a noble title.
First, she needed to have the beastman representative on her side.
To do that, Creed would have to defeat Vark, the tiger beastman receiving the Empire's support, again.
'Does that... make any sense? Even now, the difference is this great.'
Could he win later?
If she had known this would happen, she should not have given up on the academy's construction.
If she had been able to monopolize the countless hidden pieces that would come from there, things would have been different.
The academy's main stage would be the Empire.
'I can't even run wild throughout the Empire.'
It was hopeless.
If things turned out like this, the people around her clearly would not keep feeding her generously.
No, forget being well-fed—she might starve now.
'Ah... Aah.'
She would continue working to obtain a noble title.
But she hated it terribly that she could not accomplish things at the timing she wanted.
'Can't I reset? I want to go back. Just from the beginning... again....'
If she had known this would happen, she should have installed something other than Forced Save & Load.
For example, a Reset mod.
The moment she had that thought.
Rumbleeeeeee.
A black rift formed above Bellon's head as though it had been waiting for that moment.
"Ha, so this is how the demon realm transformation happens?"
At the same time, an enormous number of messages appeared in Bellon's field of vision,
and the Crown Prince's memories poured out madly.
"Thanks for the hint."
Flames imbued with divinity, light, and the sea sliced through the black rift in an instant.
The black rift, barely large enough for one person to enter, disappeared cleanly beneath Bellon's sword.
As though such a thing had never existed in the first place.