Conspiracy

Silke Great Forest, deep in the mountain road.

The scenery was just like an endless sea of greenery. After cautiously

walking amongst the tall trees, which blocked the moonlight, Fracton

Sarmaj heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the two people waiting there.

Fracton was a bigshot public official in the Amelia kingdom, otherwise

known as a civil official. Properly speaking, he was a coward afraid of

battle. That was why this was his first time walking in the mountain's forest

at night.

「How's the situation over there?」

「Perfect! Everything has been in place. Armies of ogres and black

panthers summoned by thirty summoners of the empire will surround your

group. If you add the two of us, not even a rat will be able to escape from

our encirclement.」

The one who replied to Fracton's question was an old man with a red cloth

having the crest of a Twin-Headed Divine Bird covering the lower half of

his face.

「As expected of a unit led by [Supreme Summoner], Enzu-dono. I've

often heard the rumors about your deeds.」

Contrary to his nickname, the old man called Enzu had crew-cut hair. He

was an extremely muscular man on top of that, which could be seen from

his red robe. This man was one of the six generals, a position equivalent to

the strongest men in the Glitnir empire, the summoner. He was a literal,

strategic-class weapon of the Empire.

「It's just baseless flattery. How about the Princess's side?」

「Princess Rose was just chatting with the incompetent apostate a while

ago, but she has already returned to her tent to sleep. We just need to make

some disturbance later to separate the knight leader, Arnold, from her. The

only thing left will be for you to finish your job.」

The reason Fracton had betrayed the royalty of his own kingdom was that

as long as Princess Rose, the strongest contender to become the next ruler

of this kingdom, disappeared, the chances of Prince Gilbert, the prince

Fracton and co. supported, becoming the next ruler would increase.

「Hah! A bastard who sold out the royalty, the people they should serve,

huh! Such an audacious idea is unthinkable for soldiers of the empire like

us.」

The black-haired young man with a slightly wild appearance and a scar on

his face, who was leaning on the trunk of a tall tree on his back with his

arms crossed, couldn't help but spit out disdainful remarks in response to

Fracton's words.

「Sword Emperor-dono, are trying to say that we are shameless?」

This black-haired man was the current [Sword Emperor]―Signiel

Gastrea. He was a genius who had succeeded the title of the Sword

Emperor at a young age from the previous Sword Emperor, Ashburn

Gastrea. Despite his title, he was known as an extremely honest, yet rude

man.

「Humph, nothing good will come even if I answer your question. But

well, I guess I expressed it in a bad way. My apologies!」

「You don't even know the real situation in our kingdom, yet you dare to

say those extremely rude remarks! You think an apology alone is enough

for me to let go of this matter!」

Fracton felt humiliated by Signiel's harsh remark.

Fracton felt that what he was doing was the best course of action to prevent

the destruction of the order in his motherland. That was why he couldn't

allow a youngster who didn't even know the real situation in his motherland

to insult him like that.

「Hah, what are you blabbering about? It's a fact that you guys sold your

own master, right?」

「We're not selling her! We're marrying her off to the royalty of the

empire!」

「The heck! Instead of getting married, I think that the poor princess will

end up as the plaything of these gloomy and perverted summoners for her

entire life.」

Rosemary's gift was the Saint, a power that allowed her to summon the

hero from another world. Her unique power was the main reason the empire

wanted her.

The princess could summon a new hero, and this could lead to the

deterioration of the international relationship between the Amelia kingdom

and the Empire. Therefore, Gilbert's faction had prepared a plan to marry

off the princess to the royalty of the empire. Gilbert's faction did that

mainly to eliminate the woman who was the strongest contender for the

throne rather than because of their fear toward the military country.

「That's enough, Signiel! My apologies, Fracton-dono. He's just a little

excited since he has yet to become familiar with the atmosphere of a foreign

country.」

Enzu straightened his posture, bowed, and apologized to Fracton. Seeing

that, Signiel just smacked his lips and closed his eyes.

Fracton immediately snapped out of his rage. He realized that he had almost

started a quarrel because Signiel's remark had hurt his pride.

「Well, it doesn't matter! I shall go back and prepare to take action. When

worse comes to worst, I hope that Signiel-dono can help us to stop

Arnold.」

「…」

After signaling with a light gesture using his chin, Signiel vanished in the

depths of the forest. Enzu also bowed again before retreating into the forest

and vanishing like Signiel.

Left alone in that place, Fracton was elated right now. His faction could

finally exile the princess from her motherland.

For them, Princess Rose was a lunatic. She said that a kingdom should be

governed by competent people regardless of their social status. This meant

that even a commoner could enter the stage as long as they were competent.

These words of hers could bring about unspeakable chaos.

In accordance with the traditional law of the Amelia kingdom, the throne

should be inherited by the eldest son. However, the one who had the final

say was still the king.

As if that was not enough, the political enemy of Fracton's group was a

Saint. Rose was an existence chosen by God to summon the hero.

Therefore, like the priest, she was incredibly popular amongst the masses.

The support for her was guaranteed. What Gilbert's faction feared the most

was that the king might appoint Rose as the next ruler to raise the morale of

the army for the incoming battle against the Demon King army.

However, what would happen if Rose became the ruler of the Amelia

kingdom? One thing was for certain. She'd destroy the order; she would

uproot the order that these nobles had been protecting since their ancestors'

era.

That was why they had to prevent that at all costs. They had to save the

noble society. Therefore, even though Fracton's family had served the royal

family for generations, he still took the trouble to betray the person he

served.

（There's no way we'd fail with this kind of line up.）

They were accompanied by two of the six generals, the strongest men in the

Glitnir empire. According to Fracton's calculation, the leader of the

kingdom's knights, Arnold, was powerful; he was at least on par with the

Sword Emperor, Signiel. As long as the Sword Emperor kept Arnold in

check, Fracton thought the plan would be smooth sailing. As long as the

other general managed to bring the Princess to the Empire while Arnold

was kept occupied, Fracton and co. would have won.

（My loyalty is only for you, Prince Gilbert!）

Fracton retraced his way back to the camp after saluting his master, who

had been waiting for good news in the royal capital.