Apprehension

"To all the knights in the castle, I am Fiene von Kleinert, His Majesty the Emperor's envoy."

Fiene called out toward the castle from its main gate.

A loudspeaker stood nearby. It was originally meant for calling out from the castle to the city, but Fiene and the others had seized it and were now using it to address the castle.

"We have rescued many of the nobles who were being held hostage. We will rescue the remaining nobles as well. If you can hear my voice, please lay down your swords! We have no reason to fight you!"

There was no response to Fiene's call.

Even so, Fiene continued calling out.

"We understand that you were forced to fight because hostages had been taken. By the authority granted to me as His Majesty the Emperor's envoy, I will not punish you. Please listen to my voice. You must not devote yourselves to a battle that goes against your pride. The one you should be protecting is not Duke Kruger!"

If they answered, their location would be exposed.

Knights began gathering around Fiene and the others.

They were wearing the armor of Duke Kruger's household.

Linfia and the others readied their swords, but Fiene addressed them.

"If you intend to fight, I will not stop you... But step forward prepared to face the consequences. Think carefully about what it means to point your blade at His Majesty the Emperor's envoy, then take that first step. Only those whose sense of justice remains unsullied have the right to fight my knights."

The knights, challenged on their resolve and sense of justice, stopped despite themselves.

They were not all bad people. Most of them had simply served Duke Kruger as knights.

They were fighting only because they had been ordered to, never thinking for themselves. They had never dared to think that way because they would have been punished for it.

But when the question was put to them so directly, they had no choice but to think about it.

As this was happening, another group of knights came rushing over.

"Count! Count Tarnaut!!"

"Oh! You lot!"

The group of knights belonged to the nobles who had been held hostage.

After confirming that their lords were safe, they wept and fell to their knees on the spot.

Seeing them repeatedly apologize caused hesitation to arise among Duke Kruger's knights as well.

"We may be able to win them over now, Fiene-sama."

"Understood."

When Linfia whispered this to Fiene, Fiene began trying to persuade the knights.

"You only fought because your lords ordered you to, did you not? If you lay down your swords and cooperate with us now, you will not be charged with any crime. However, if you point your blades at us here, your families will suffer the consequences as well. You are raising your blades against the Empire right now."

Linfia was surprised by Fiene's stronger-than-expected tone.

Using such an effective threat in addition to persuasion was hardly like Fiene.

At that moment, Linfia remembered what Sebas had said earlier.

Fiene-sama is becoming more like Arnold-sama. Remembering those words, Linfia smiled wryly.

"I see. Fiene-sama may indeed be becoming more like him."

That prince would have no qualms about using threats.

Because they were the most effective means available.

The knights were not fighting because they enjoyed it. They followed Kruger because they valued their own lives and those of their families.

But Kruger was now at a disadvantage. People like that were quick to side with the stronger party.

"Y-you really won't charge us with any crime!?"

"No, I will not. Even if you have committed any number of evil deeds, I will not hold you accountable. However, I will expect you to render service commensurate with that leniency."

The knights faltered at Fiene's words.

The knights knew that Kruger had been committing crimes. Of course, they had helped him as well.

Fiene knew that. Even so, she had deliberately said they would not be charged because, given Kruger's personality, she believed he would never entrust important matters to low-ranking knights.

After maintaining their silence for some time, Duke Kruger's knights began dropping to their knees one after another.

"We will obey you, Imperial Envoy-sama."

"I thank you for your courage. Now, can you tell us where the other nobles being held hostage are?"

"That is..."

The knights exchanged glances.

They were not withholding information even now.

They simply did not know.

"All we know is that they were taken down to the castle's underground levels. Ordinary knights cannot approach them, so we do not know their exact location..."

"Underground..."

Linfia reacted to the ominous word.

The children captured in Bassau had also been underground. They had clearly been subjected to what appeared to be experiments as well.

Linfia's face twisted in disgust at the knowledge.

After all, this was the headquarters of the very person who had ordered it.

"Fiene-sama. I am sorry, but I think we should wait a little before investigating the underground levels."

"Why?"

"We can hold our own against the castle's knights, but in the worst case, a demon could emerge. If that happens, we will not have enough forces. Please wait until the castle has been subdued."

"...You mean the same thing that happened in Bassau could happen here?"

"I cannot say that it is impossible. In the worst case, the entire castle could be blown away. We should wait until the battle above has been decided."

"I agree. We should be prepared in case something emerges from below. If no one is there to contain it, Leonart-sama and the others will not be able to withdraw."

Sebas offered that advice from a strategic perspective.

Fiene lowered her eyes. She had already taken risks and imposed her will on everyone. Since the two people who had been taking her feelings into consideration were urging caution, she could not continue insisting on getting her way.

"Understood. I will continue persuading the knights here."

After announcing the plan, Fiene called out to the castle again.

She prayed that the battle would end even a second sooner.

■■■

"Hurry!"

Kruger had fled to the top floor of the castle and barricaded himself there.

Kruger's last hope was a new drug that he and Zandra had developed.

Kruger was urging the elderly researcher to hurry so that he could take the drug himself.

"Please wait a little longer!"

The drug took time to refine. Moreover, Kruger himself had never expected to use it.

He had failed repeatedly while creating it.

Even this new drug was not guaranteed to be safe. Even so, Kruger reached out for it. He wanted to survive.

But someone stood in Kruger's way.

"Haaaaaaaah!"

Leo hacked through the barricaded door and came tumbling into the room.

The knights pointed their swords at him, but Leo cut them down in an instant without even crossing swords with them.

"Your Highness! It's dangerous!"

Lars warned Leo as he charged ahead, but Leo did not listen.

Leo's intuition was telling him something.

It would be bad to let Kruger take the drug. If he did, too many things would be rendered meaningless.

Following that intuition, Leo charged even farther ahead.

He cut into the knights alone, cutting down every knight in his path with his own sword.

"Amazing..."

A Nerbe Ritter soldier fighting other knights outside the room muttered.

Even among the elite soldiers of the Nerbe Ritter, Leo stood out.

He had charged alone into the enemy and swept them all aside.

It was almost like the princess general they had heard about in rumors. Even as they had that thought, the Nerbe Ritter soldiers entered the room as well, reducing the number of knights approaching Leo as much as they could.

Meanwhile, Leo saw only Kruger.

He avoided every blade rushing at him from all directions by letting his reflexes guide him. The Leo of old would never have taken such risks, nor would he have fought this way. He would have searched for a safe way to win. He would never even have considered acting on intuition.

But now, Leo entrusted himself to his intuition. Of course, he had not abandoned thought entirely.

He was not thinking deeply, but he calmly predicted his next move and let his body react as he cut down the enemy knights.

It was the optimal course of action and the best possible decision.

It was a fighting style for battling numerous enemies amid a melee of soldiers. Liese had learned it on the battlefield, and Leo had acquired it during the incident in the south.

That fighting style, which placed breaking through the enemy above all else, far exceeded Kruger's expectations.

Kruger had believed that, despite Leo's excellence in martial arts, he was merely skilled with a sword. But the Leo before him now even possessed the air of a one-man army capable of defeating a thousand men.

He would not make it in time. Reaching that conclusion, Kruger grabbed the new drug, which was still being refined.

"It isn't finished yet!"

"It doesn't matter if it's unfinished!"

He would rather become a monster and turn the tables on them than be captured here.

That was why he acted.

It was practically a gamble, but it was a courageous decision in Kruger's own way.

However, when Leo saw this, he followed his intuition and took an even greater gamble. Just as Kruger had abandoned his safety, Leo abandoned his as well.

They had gone through so many hardships to get this far, and so many people had helped them. If all of that came to nothing, he would never be able to face the people waiting for him in the Imperial capital.

Thinking this, Leo readied his sword while surrounded by knights.

"I won't let you!"

He threw the sword at Kruger.

The sword flew straight at Kruger, struck the arm holding the drug, and cleanly severed it.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Kruger screamed, but Leo was not unscathed either.

He was surrounded by armed knights and had no weapon.

Swords closed in on him, and although he could dodge them, he could not keep it up for long without being able to block them.

One sword closed in on Leo's chest.

Leo sensed that he was in trouble.

But the sword never reached him.

"Good grief, what a troublesome man."

Lars intercepted the sword as he said this.

Shielding Leo with his back, Lars instantly cut off the heads of the knights surrounding him.

"Thank you... Colonel."

"No. It is our job to protect you."

Lars smiled as he said this, then looked at Kruger, who was still screaming.

"Seize him. And do not forget to tend his wounds."

"Yes, sir!"

"We made it in time..."

"It was thanks to Your Highness's efforts. Magnificent."

"My body just moved on its own."

Leo said this modestly.

But his face was filled with satisfaction.

Kruger, the man who could be called the root cause of this entire affair, had been captured. His final resort had also been prevented before he could use it.

"You there. What kind of drug is this?"

"Eek! P-please spare me..."

"Just answer me!"

"I-it is a vampire-transformation drug! It uses vampire blood to turn humans into vampires!"

Hearing those words, Leo frowned.

The mention of vampires inevitably brought to mind the incident in the east.

"Were you pulling the strings behind the incident in the east as well?"

"Uuugh... F-fuhahaha... I was merely supplied with the blood... Stop jumping to conclusions..."

"Then if we trace that route, we'll learn who was behind the vampire incident as well."

"Do you really think you have time for that...?"

"What...?"

"A strange drug was produced while we were developing this one... Its effects are about to show themselves..."

The moment Kruger said this,

A tremendous number of screams rose from beneath the castle.

The battle in the south was still not over.