Chapter 48
"─The promise is not different!"
"I don't know what you mean by the promise being different."
"Wasn't the original agreement that all participating nations would work together to retaliate against any other nation that engaged in military action immediately after the World Military Exhibition?"
~That time, the Breton Empire~
The elderly gentleman, formerly the head of the Secret Intelligence Service and now the 'Prime Minister of the Empire', replied.
"The agreement will be honored."
He sipped his tea leisurely in the presence of the Holy Kingdom's messenger.
"However, the Demilitarized Zone, where the Duchy of Germania has troops stationed, is not technically part of the Holy Kingdom's territory."
It was the territory of the Duchy of Germania, which had been defeated in a war once called 'the war to end all wars', and whose troops had been taken as payment for the defeat.
And needless to say, there was no such thing as the war to end all wars.
"Unless the Duchy is directly invading the Holy Kingdom's territory, we need to look a little further to see if it fits the definition of 'military action' in the agreement."
"You're talking about it now, what outrageous losses we suffered on the spot-!"
"The appearance of the 'Black Snake' was a tragedy for us all in more ways than one."
The Queen's rabbit, Oswald, replied. In any case, the Duchy of Germania's military provocations have been met with an attitude of inaction.
It was, therefore, a bitter pill to swallow for the Holy Kingdom, which trusted that the Empire would form a common front as promised.
Especially after suffering irreparable losses at the hands of the snake at the fair that day.
"But since the Duchy of Germania also claims justification for their actions, we need to reconsider this situation more carefully."
*
"Hail Wheatley!"
"Hail Germania!"
Along the boulevards of the capital city of Germania, a carriage drawn by a horse of steel marched.
Not a living animal, but a horse composed of flesh and steel fittings and other mechanical devices. It was an automated carriage made by Mercedes, pulled by four steam horses that snorted steam instead of breath.
The man in the carriage is Gustav Wheatley, the Führer of the Duchy– or, more precisely, my henchman, who is impersonating him.
The people of the Duchy, unaware of the fact, are united in their unbounded patriotism as they salute Ergo with the ducal salute.
Thirteenth in the hierarchy, Ergo of Finesse.
We blended into the crowd and watched wordlessly along with the many comrades of the Black Snake who were gathering there one by one.
Once upon a time, there was a war that scarred this continent beyond repair.
A war so devastating that it engulfed the entire continent, and was dubbed the war to end all wars.
The Duchy of Germania was the losing side in that war and it was the player from the previous game that thwarted their victory and brought peace to the world.
No one else, but a hero of my own making.
And I was about to break that peace with my own hands.
" Defeated."
The Führer's voice rumbled to a halt in the marching carriages and the machinery that had been installed throughout the capital for propaganda and incitement.
"Defeated nation."
The voice was never passionate. Rather, it was cold, quiet, and flat.
"Someone will define this country and its people as such."
However, his words did not inspire any of the masses.
"Who would that be? A noble of the Breton Empire, a priest of the Holy Kingdom, a lord of the Northern Alliance?"
His words were nothing more than a slap in the face and a wound to the deep-seated sense of inferiority in their country.
"Nein!"
It should have been.
"Today, I, as a patriot of the Duchy, have news for all to rejoice in! Today, we have earned the right to defend our borders on our own! Today, our dear Duchy's SS has stationed troops on our western borders! But now, who calls us losers? Who stands in the way and halts the will and actions of this nation? Where is this someone, this someone who calls us losers, where is this someone?"
The Führer shouted. It was not Ergo; it was the Führer's voice.
"That someone is only ourselves, that someone is the weakness that hides inside us like a parasite, the sense of defeat that grows like a tumor in the depths of our souls, the rat-like cowardice that eats away at our pride!"
By then, once again, the streets had become a crucible of frenzy. I watched the man there, still with emotionless eyes. I wondered who he was now: Ergo? The Führer? I couldn't tell but it didn't make any difference.
"From now on, I will no longer listen to the soul-devouring voice of <someone >! I will only listen to my own voice! And so must you, by our voice, by our will, by our actions!"
"...."
The world will be plunged into irreversible chaos once again, and in the midst of chaos, people will once again yearn for heroes.
Whether it will be the 18 heroes in the Mausoleum, or the 20th hero who has yet to appear, or <someone > who is the only one in the Mausoleum who hasn't shown up, we don't know.
But at the very least, someone will definitely show up to fulfill their role as heroes in the hearts of men.
This is like entering a tiger's den to catch a tiger.
Furthermore, the catcher who enters the tiger's den is not there to be eaten.
He goes in to hunt.
*
~That night, a luxury hotel in the capital city of Germania~
A large group of Black Snakes were gathered, and someone spoke up.
"Ah, as expected, the border dispute with the Holy Kingdom will intensify."
I nodded wordlessly at the Golden Lord's report.
"Jeanne."
"Master...."
I nodded and called her over.
She was once called the Holy Maiden, but she no longer had the virtue and purity of her youth.
As if trying to forget who she was, she adorned and decorated herself with lavish, extravagant, almost obsessive jewelry and adornments-all in the name of feminine beauty to affirm all the desires and beauties of this world.
"When the conflict with the Holy Kingdom begins in earnest, you will reveal that you have been abandoned by the Kingdom as a 'Holy Maiden' and switched to the side of the Duchy."
"It would be a great trump card to use to pressure the Holy King."
"As for...political talk, I'm afraid I'm not up to speed."
"Don't worry, junior, Alice doesn't know much either!"
Aria and I chatted back and forth, and Jeanne replied in a calm tone. Let's just say Alice didn't hear us.
It's always been that way, she didn't understand the politics of it all. She didn't understand but followed.
"I will simply obey your orders. Whatever you tell me to do."
As if a child doesn't want to know something complicated and difficult to understand.
With that, she lost interest and turned her attention back to the jewelry that adorned her.
"Hoo-hoo," she said, "but this jewel is even more beautiful."
As if nothing could be better than the ecstasy it exuded.
"I would love to have a pair of earrings set with this gem."
"Well, Miss Jeanne, you have quite the eye."
As soon as she saw it, the Golden Lord smiled and replied. He is a man who wears gold on his fingers and his tinnitus on the continent when it's synonymous with luxury.
"Koh-i-Noor. It means Mountain of Light, and it is so rare that it symbolizes the Queen of the Breton Empire, for it is found only in the forests of the elves, the Great Forest."
"A mountain of light, indeed, as you say...."
She, the Holy Maiden, still loved the light, but it was no longer the light of faith. Nor was it starlight.
"It was the light that led the Breton Empire to establish the Eastern Empire Company and begin the plunder of the Great Forest."
The dark elf, Selena of the Dark Moon, frowned at that.
The Great Forest, the forest inhabited by elves, the country that the elves call the Empire of Trees.
A land of elves now captured by the Breton Empire and colonized by their queen.
"By the way, Miss Alina, I have an idea."
Just then, Jeanne spoke to the Immortal Swordswoman.
"We should match our earrings with this gemstone. It will definitely look good on Miss Alina."
"Ms. Jeanne...."
"Miss Alina, because you're so beautiful."
Jeanne laughed in front of Alina, whose words were clouded with concern for her. Not denying the loveliness of her immortal's body.
"...."
At the expectant smile of the holy maiden who said so, Alina said nothing. She couldn't.
It would make no difference for she already had fallen into the pit of evil, covered in mud and filth.
It was a quagmire called the Black Snake.