Chapter 52
“You all remember the Black Mage Execution Principle, right?”
“Yes!”
At the Blue Flame Knight Commander’s words, the Knight Order all nodded their heads.
They all sent gazes indicating they hadn’t forgotten, but as if the Blue Flame Knight Commander couldn’t be satisfied with just that.
“Wizards are like that by nature, but Black Mages are bound to be especially more insidious and despicable, so for now, execute them unconditionally.”
He reiterated the Black Mage Eradication Principle.
“Even if they try to surrender, execute them unconditionally, and make sure to incinerate the corpses. Also, no matter if it’s a record containing evidence, do not touch it until the Wizards… no, the Staff-wielders arrive. However, if it is judged to be dangerous, eliminate it immediately.”
An unknown enemy they hadn’t properly fought yet.
Furthermore, what they had to do from now on was enter the lair where those unknown enemies resided.
“Is our side at least better off?”
The Blue Flame Knight Commander stared at the ordinary-looking cabin in front of him.
It had an atmosphere where a happy Family might pop right out if you opened the door.
But as soon as he knew it was a Black Mage’s hideout, the feeling was completely different.
Still, what brought some relief was that the side deployed to the cabin had it very good.
Hearing stories from the other Knight Orders, there were cases where they had to go straight into an underground cave.
A Family home was definitely wide open, providing psychological stability.
“We’re going in.”
At the Blue Flame Knight Commander’s words, everyone drew their swords as if they had been waiting.
Actually, saying they were going in was just words; in reality.
“Everyone, pressure them from a distance!”
It was a method of bombarding them by launching mana compressed to the limit.
Because there was no need to deliberately open the lid of a place judged to be dangerous.
They had chosen to just erase it entirely.
Starting from mana to Aura.
Using every means possible, they unilaterally blew up a single Family home from a distance.
There was no need to worry about anyone being nearby.
A place not even marked on the map.
Because everyone knew how unrealistic it was for a single cabin to be sitting alone deep in the mountains.
The entire Knight Order continued their attacks without caring about collateral damage.
At the point when mana and Aura intertwined and hit the Ground, creating a dust cloud that completely obscured the cabin.
“Halt, maintain a state of alert until the dust settles.”
After the Blue Flame Knight Commander gave the order to cease the attack.
He tore the Wind Magic scroll he had received in advance, blowing all the dust away.
The cabin, whose original form was hard to even recognize.
And the corpse of the person who should rightfully be inside was nowhere to be seen.
Did they die? Did we get them? He didn’t have such thoughts.
“There is no carelessness.”
He immediately spread his Aura Sense to detect if there were any unconfirmed foreign entities nearby.
As soon as he felt a sense of disparity in the air in an obvious pattern, the Knight Commander instantly launched Aura in that direction.
Slash!
Right now, he was the only Sword Master present at the scene.
If he hesitated in his judgment and died, a great military power of the country would be reduced.
The Blue Flame Knight Commander didn’t hesitate and launched an attack straight away.
“Damn it…!”
And the Black Mage hit by that attack was flustered but didn’t dodge the attack.
To be precise, it would be more accurate to say they couldn’t respond.
When would a Black Mage have ever experienced a Sword Master’s attack?
But even so, they didn’t die.
“I thought we’d at least have a conversation, but to attack right away like this… Whose orders are these?”
The entity presumed to be a Black Mage showed a very relaxed demeanor.
Was it because they knew they wouldn’t die, despite being overwhelmingly outmatched in power?
Whether they were confident they could escape, they were still looking down at the knights from the sky.
“…”
“You’re not saying anything. Are Imperial Knights originally this taciturn?”
There was no need to converse.
The Blue Flame Knight Commander kept his gaze on the Black Mage floating in the sky talking to themselves.
In that state, he calmly sprinkled holy water on his sword blade and immediately launched Aura at the Black Mage.
“Hmm?”
And the ending met by the Black Mage who hadn’t properly seen the holy water was.
Sizzle.
“Urgh, ugh, gasp, cough…!”
A fall without resistance.
++++++
“Staff #1 Teo! I will report the situation.”
“I’m listening.”
“The Knight Commanders currently moving for the Black Mage Subjugation attempted attacks using Aura, but they say it didn’t work properly. Immediately after, they sprinkled holy water on their blades and attempted to attack again, and they say they achieved very meaningful results.”
“So holy water was the answer after all.”
“I am simply amazed by Your Highness’s insight!”
“Enough flattery. Is everyone uninjured?”
“Yes, there are none. No damage reports have come in yet, and they say they have currently perfectly Subjugated several Black Mages and are transporting them together with the Staff-wielders!”
The situation is good.
“No one is hurt, and they are subjugating the Black Mages.”
Just as I expected after the report that a Black Mage had appeared.
As soon as one popped up, they suddenly started showing off their presence all around like some kind of bugs.
A situation where something could have easily gone wrong if we hadn’t prepared in advance.
This is a part where Mirne’s clue can be seen as having been incredibly helpful.
“Which is why I understand it even less.”
What was the reason for giving such a big hint?
Did she feel a threat to her life because she was still in a state of not knowing she couldn’t die?
Is she acting friendly at this stage, only to change from a certain moment?
“I can”t tell.'
Looking at the Crown Prince’s Memory, Mirne was never once cooperative with the Empire’s side.
She treated others as dolls for her own sake and acted thoroughly for the Maselin Kingdom.
But the action she took now was completely different.
Of course, it was just this once, and before that she had moved desperately to plant a Parasite in the Empire.
The fact that she helped at all weighed on my mind.
“It also feels like it wasn”t with good intentions…'
If there was the worst possible case I could assume.
That would probably be “a case where the result itself doesn”t change even if she tells me like this'.
“Is the reason Mirne comes off as self-righteous in the regressions because she has some sort of obsession that she absolutely must do things As per the Original Story?”
Does that mean Mirne has her own circumstances too?
Of course, even so, there was no way I would suddenly change my mind and alter my plans to try and get along with her.
Understanding someone’s circumstances and not being hostile to them were completely different matters.
I don’t like developments where at the very end it goes, “Yeah, actually you had those circumstances too, let”s be friends.'
Such frustrating developments aren’t in my dictionary.
“So there’s nothing related to the Demon Race either?”
“That is correct.”
The point when I had almost finished listening to the report while organizing my thoughts.
“Maintain the state of alert, and deploy Staff-wielders and Priests to the places where the Black Mages stayed to perform a rapid Purification.”
“I will implement it immediately.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
To leave absolutely no future trouble, I ordered Teo and Rowena to do a perfect cleanup of the scenes.
Because usually, when it comes to Black Mages, there are many cases where they pull dirty tricks.
There was nothing bad about cleaning up the situation so neatly that it bordered on excessive.
“Ensure that any unusual matters are reported immediately.”
With those words, I stood up from my seat first.
Since everyone had been issuing operational commands without getting proper sleep for two whole days.
“I have to leave first so they can at least pretend to rest.”
At times like this, wouldn’t they be able to breathe a little easier and relax their tension only if their boss wasn’t around?
Even as I headed to my bedroom like that, the distracting thoughts in my head continued to linger with me.
“The Chance of Annihilation is still 40%… They said it might not fall within 5 years, so does that mean it won”t fall even if I leave it like this? If so, what happens to the covenant?'
Starting from the Chance of Annihilation.
“Right now, there are three identified Male Leads, but most of them have lost their functions… What more could Mirne possibly do here?”
To the existence of the Male Leads.
There wasn’t just one or two things to consider.
Especially the part about the Male Leads was still a question.
In cases like a Male-oriented Harem Fantasy, there are instances where at least 7 or more Heroines appear.
I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that 'Jupeobae' would turn out like that as well.
Besides, looking at the story flow of 'Jupeobae', it would ultimately be a structure where she chooses 1 person at the end.
I also thought that if she only had to pick 1 person anyway, it wouldn’t matter if there were many sub-protagonists.
“No matter how many there are, if they die right away like the Northern Grand Duke… she can just make another Protagonist right away.”
As my thoughts continued like that.
“Don’t tell me.”
Only then did I realize why a Male Lead could be killed once enough narrative had built up.
“…Because they can be replaced anyway? If it was an irreplaceable Male Lead, they wouldn’t have died at all, just like Mirne.”
Male Leads can be refilled.
Just like how a new Male Lead was refilled with the setting of the Northern Great Warrior as soon as the Northern Grand Duke died.
If a specific narrative didn’t exist, it was a structure where Male Leads could be continuously supplied as much as needed.
Then does that mean the real Male Lead wouldn’t die even if killed?
More accurately, it would mean they wouldn’t die even if killed, and they wouldn’t be replaced either.
And usually, such a character doesn’t suddenly appear while the story is progressing.
They naturally build up their narrative from the early parts, steering in the direction of the character who reveals the strongest presence.
“Huh?”
Then there was only one person right now.
Starting from the early parts of the story.
The only Male Lead who had continuously revealed an insane presence up to the 50th chapter that I had read.
While the other Male Leads tried to secretly give her everything, he was the only one who continuously and infinitely gave her everything, showing a crazy love.
“Bedin, this crazy bastard.”
If this guy was the real Male Lead of 'Jupeobae', the one truly in the position to marry Mirne.
“Right, that”s why it made no sense for her to marry me.'
What if I just made them get married right now?
If this was real, Mirne would have no choice but to marry Bedin.
Because that was the development.
It would just be that the timing was moved up a little.
It didn’t matter if it was an engagement instead of a marriage.
“This wasn”t a matter of grabbing Gorhan and setting up a romance avatar or anything like that.'
There was a more certain method.
“Call Bedin immediately.”
I’ll marry Bedin off.
It didn’t matter if he didn’t get married.
“I just have to make him do a Confession Attack.”
Traditionally, there was nothing better than this for cutting ties.
“If Bedin is the real Male Lead, she won”t be able to cut ties even if he does a Confession Attack.'
In my heart, I wanted him to confess publicly to apply political pressure or something.
If she had the invincible setting of a Kingdom that wouldn’t fall anyway, just confirming that he was the Male Lead was a profit.
'It’s fine if he isn’t. It’s fine if their ties are cut.'
I realized it.
From now on, I will catch every single Male Lead I meet and make them do a Confession Attack on Mirne.
She wants to do things As per the Original Story?
“Sure, I”ll do it for you.'
Instead, it’ll be As per the Original Story in my own way.