Chapter 57
Fwoooosh.
“…W-what in the world is this.”
The Chireun Kingdom’s army.
“The Bellos Empire…?”
And the Maselin Kingdom’s army too.
Seeing the intense sun right before their eyes, they couldn’t even begin to grasp how to react.
That was not a power one could imitate just by trying.
There had been countless attempts to do so in the first place.
Sol Bellos.
If only they could properly analyze and possess that power.
Or if they could just figure out its weakness.
The Empire would no longer be able to remain the Empire.
Since long ago, all nations had secretly tried to dissect the power of Sol Bellos.
And no one had managed to produce even a proper result.
That very power was right before their eyes.
“…What should we do?”
“Nothing, do absolutely nothing.”
Even without communicating, both sides came up with the exact same response.
They couldn’t even entertain the thought of protesting to the Empire.
It was clearly a war between the Maselin Kingdom and the Chireun Kingdom.
And they had been clashing with clear justifications.
But the moment they witnessed the Empire’s intervention, all of that was treated as trivial.
If the Empire had descended upon such a periphery, there had to be a good reason.
Therefore, they absolutely must not act rashly.
In fact.
CRACK.
Mana that felt like it could tear space apart suddenly coalesced beneath the sun.
“Even without being told, everyone has stopped what they were doing and is staying quiet. A very proper attitude.”
“Hmm, it seems there are many who consider it an honor to be under the shadow of the Great Empire.”
“Haha, as expected, I can’t beat your eloquence, Teo. I put quite a bit of thought into that line, too.”
“I am still just all talk, aren’t I? I hope to grow up one day and have a heavy presence like you, Grand General.”
“I do have quite a heavy presence overall.”
Piercing through the coalesced mana, two men revealed themselves.
A middle-aged man wearing red armor and a boy wearing a light robe.
Even if the people didn’t know the boy’s identity, they certainly knew the middle-aged man’s.
The moment they saw the middle-aged man, everyone’s expressions stiffened as if on cue.
“The Grand General?!”
“…The Sword of the Empire.”
Grand General, Akam Bellos.
With the appearance of the being known as the Strongest Sword on the Continent, the atmosphere of the Battlefield died down coldly.
If there had been a strange tension beneath the sun before.
Now, even that tension could not be felt.
Some units even dropped their weapons to the Ground entirely.
Because they had already learned from history that getting on his bad side meant death.
“T-the Shadow Knight Commander…!”
And those who had experienced history firsthand could not hold back their shock the moment they saw the Grand General.
“Oh, is there still someone who remembers the Shadow Knights? What an honor.”
“May I ask what the Shadow Knights are?”
“We just used to handle various noises.”
In the past.
During a time when various kingdoms were wondering just how long the Empire would remain the Empire.
The Empire personally dispatched a Knight Order to provide the answer to that question.
Named the Shadow Knights because they stood closest beneath the Sun of the Empire.
A group where every member of the Knight Order was a Sword Master, and the Knight Commander was a Grand Master.
They kindly paid direct visits to the nations that doubted the Empire’s eternity.
And they resolved all doubts by demonstrating an answer through direct action that everyone could be satisfied with.
And this process was a mandatory subject in the history classes of every nation.
Never rashly provoke the Empire.
“…Do not make any rash moves, absolutely.”
“From this moment on, if anyone moves rashly, it will be a Summary Execution. Keep that in mind.”
Such people had suddenly appeared in the middle of the Battlefield?
This was practically the same as telling them to stop the war altogether.
“Anyway, the weather is so nice, it’s a shame to be fighting each other.”
“The noise was so excessive that it reached the ears of the Empire, haha, this is quite troubling.”
As the conversation that drained their will to fight continued.
Both armies naturally looked to their superiors.
And those superiors looked to their own superiors.
How many steps up the chain of command did they go?
“…Withdraw the Troops for now. With the Empire’s intentions unknown… there is nothing we can do.”
The Chireun Kingdom, which had started the war in the name of love, hastily withdrew its soldiers.
They didn’t know if the Empire had come to temporarily halt the war or end it completely.
But what they had to do remained unchanged.
Not getting on the Empire’s bad side.
To ensure this, it was no time to be worrying about love.
However, even withdrawing the Troops.
“I would like everyone to stay exactly where they are. Do nothing, and just hold your positions.”
The Grand General did not permit it.
As if he had no intention of letting the attention gathered here turn elsewhere.
“Save my face, won’t you.”
The Grand General sat in the chair Teo had prepared, looking around with a faint smile.
“Your Highness, I have tied down the Troops and their attention.”
Then, he slowly looked up at the sky.
Everything is for the Empire.
Just as he was thinking that.
“Everything is for the Empire, so everyone better listen well.”
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s Staff #1, Teo, spoke aloud the very line the Grand General had only been thinking.
“Haha.”
He thought it was indeed a fitting display for the rising star among loyal subjects.
+++++
BOOM!
“Looking around is pointless. No one is coming here to help you.”
“A-aaagh…!”
The wounds were not healing properly.
The Water Spirit, Limparis, was clinging tightly to her body to accelerate the healing, but.
That alone was not enough to heal all the wounds.
The Earth Spirit, Nomon, was also clearly lacking the strength to defend against all of the Crown Prince’s attacks.
The Fire Spirit, Pyro, who possessed the strongest offensive power among the spirits, was.
“To think you’d try to attack me with flames, and with a Spirit you haven’t even contracted with yet.”
“Hrk… Uuugh…”
Struggling in the Crown Prince’s grasp.
But even that was only for a moment.
“Choose. Will you be annihilated like this, or will you contract with me.”
“Kieeeek…!!!”
Unable to overcome the fear of its existence being annihilated, Pyro contracted with the Crown Prince right then and there.
Following Silphiner, now even Pyro.
She had once again been robbed of a Spirit with the vessel to become a Spirit King of its respective domain.
“Mirne, I don’t know why you have such an aggrieved expression. You thought nothing of it when you stole what belonged to the Empire… but to make such a face when yours is taken. Did you not know? If you steal, you should expect to be stolen from.”
“T-that’s…! How is that the same as this!”
“I don’t see what’s different.”
“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince… Your Highness knows nothing.”
“Right, and I plan to never know for the rest of my life.”
Slash!
The swing of the Crown Prince’s sword entered her vision.
And when she blinked, another sword wound was carved into her body.
Tremble.
RUMBLE.
She could see the Water Spirit and the Earth Spirit desperately struggling to minimize the damage.
The only fortunate thing was that she had contracted with these two, so they couldn’t be taken away.
“…How on earth did he get here? No, before that, does the Crown Prince know about the Executioner”s Covenant?'
Mirne couldn’t even think of attacking the Crown Prince and continued to make defensive movements.
“How can he even attack me in the first place? Wasn”t that supposed to be impossible?'
For her, who had the setting of being favored by the world, to take “direct damage”.
This was somehow strange.
She admitted that the Original Plot Development was ruined.
Most of the things that would happen from now on probably wouldn’t flow As per the Original Story.
But even so, the character settings should still be valid.
How could she be hurt?
The Center of the world and the Protagonist of the story getting hurt in this situation by a character who barely even appeared in the Original Novel?
She couldn’t believe it.
[ No Death in Strange Places!: The Protagonist does not get hurt in strange places. Ignore All Absurdities. ]
“This is working perfectly fine, yet I got hurt?”
The fact that she got hurt despite having the ability to Ignore All Absurdities meant.
Was the current situation rational?
'Why?'
Could it be because I messed with an Executioner while the Empire’s covenant is still being maintained?
Honestly, if that wasn’t it, there was no way to explain the development unfolding right now.
In a situation where Arveda should have come, the Crown Prince appeared instead.
And now, the Crown Prince was unilaterally attacking her.
If she had to find the cause, she could only see it as entirely her own fault.
“…Your Highness! I made a mistake. I found a Dragon’s Name while looking through ancient texts, and… I acted rashly, not knowing it was related to an Executioner. I apologize!”
As soon as she identified the problem, she prostrated herself flat to quickly resolve the incident.
However.
“I never said anything about an Executioner, so how is it that the Crown Princess of the Maselin Kingdom… is mentioning the existence of an Executioner, something not even the Northern Grand Duke properly knew about.”
The Crown Prince hadn’t appeared here just to see such behavior.
Slash.
He swung his red blade and thrust the sword into Mirne’s stomach.
“Keuk, kahk…!”
“It’s a situation where I can only think you called her knowing she was an Executioner. You were the one who brought up the story about the dragon first, after all.”
Squelch.
Slowly twisting the sword, the Crown Prince forcefully stood Mirne’s body up.
“Actually, none of that matters. I didn’t come here to confirm those things one by one, so what was it?”
“Y-yes?”
“The true name. I’m asking what Arveda’s true name is.”
The Crown Prince, Bellon, intended to extract everything he could from this place.
Only by doing that much would the calculations balance out.
“Arveda, Lilaberry… Danium… it is.”
As soon as Arveda’s true name slowly came out of Mirne’s mouth.
Bellon withdrew the embedded sword without a single change in expression.
“You shouldn’t try to manipulate a kid who wants to reclaim her name just because you know it. Especially someone on our side.”
“…T-then, is it over?”
“Did you think the crime of mocking the Empire would be this light?”
Right after that, he took a stance.
“Summary Execution.”
He swung his sword to cut off her head right then and there.
And right at that moment.
[ The Protagonist must not die. ]
“Hmm?”
A System Message emerging from Mirne’s body entered Bellon’s vision.
+++++
The moment I tried to cut her neck, my body stopped.
To be precise, the world stopped.
As if time had frozen.
The blade stopped the moment it was about to touch Mirne’s neck.
And appearing at the same time.
[ The Protagonist must not die. ]
A System Message.
A font and box shape completely different from the form of the messages I usually saw.
It seemed that was indeed Mirne’s system.
Perhaps this was exactly the “state of not dying even when killed” that the Crown Prince had mentioned.
To not despair even after experiencing something like this, and to continue regressing.
It was a part that showed just how ridiculous the Crown Prince’s mental fortitude was.
[ Remove Fundamental Cause of the situation the Protagonist is currently facing. ]
Like that.
[ Erase Past Actions of Mirne attempting to break the covenant. ]
[ Modify Past. ]
One by one, Mirne’s system continued to string out messages.
Right when it was about to nullify what was happening now.
[ Deny Current Situation… ]
Screeeech.
“…!”
My sword moved.
- We must prepare a sword for the next… for the next time.
- When exactly is this next time you speak of?
- That day for the Great Empire… the next time for that day.
At the same time, the Crown Prince’s memories surfaced once again.
And with that memory as the end.
Slash!
My sword descended, drawing a perfect straight line.
“Your Highness! This Humble Woman has learned how to cook this time. Unghi! I will cook for you myself later!”
“…?”
When I came to my senses, I was beside Arveda, not Mirne.
“Did time end up turning back after all?”
That thought lasted only a moment.
I immediately summoned the Fire Spirit to grasp the situation.
“Pyro.”
Fwoosh!
The Fire Spirit, Pyro, appeared at my fingertips the moment my words ended.
“Hah.”
What this meant was clear.
“Not everything was turned back.”
A Save & Load-like situation occurred due to the system, but.
That didn’t mean everything that had just happened disappeared.
“All the damage dealt to Mirne remained valid.”
And the memory of hearing the true name was still perfectly intact in my head.
Then, if it’s like this.
“…Didn’t I get everything I came to get?”
It could be seen that I had gained a considerable amount of profit.
Since I hadn’t interfered in the war, it also meant the situation caused by the Confession Attack was still being maintained.
“Haha.”
A situation where I could consider having properly screwed her over.
I smiled deeply and stroked Arveda’s hair as she pretended to cook beside me.
“Unghihi, Your Highness seems to be in a good mood!”
“I certainly am.”
To be able to watch a war and resolve Arveda’s Covenant too?
“Finally, Mirne, you”ve started generously giving to the Empire in various ways.'
Thanks for the fun.