Chapter 304: Chapter 268: Skip (3)

“…You guys turned the entire comital into a wasteland for such a reason?”

“Mm?”

Eleanor replied, her tone suggested that she didn’t understand what was wrong with what I had just said.

As if trying to tell me that what she had done was nothing and she could go even further if my life was actually in danger.

“…”

While yes, it was something I should be extremely grateful of…

It was still…

“…Don’t you think you’ve gone a little too far?”

Count Ravel’s territory was small compared to those extremely large territories like Duke Tristan’s, but it was one of the more stable territories in the empire.

It was like a self-sustaining mid-sized territory, I guess.

But all I could see in this place was ruins with no trace of its former glory.

It was almost a miracle that there were no casualties at all.

[…No, it actually is a miracle.]

What?

[Just think about it, in a normal situation, there’s bound to be a few casualties out of this. The fact that there was none at all meant that those guys showed their mercy at them. Which means, everyone’s gradually getting better at ‘handling’ their own power.]

Caliban’s words made my eyes turn wide.

Because it wasn’t so hard to see what he was trying to say from there.

[Just like how your ‘devilization’ is accelerated, their ‘fusion’ with their Fragments is also gradually getting faster.]

“…”

As he had said…

I was aware that the more I opened the Seal, the more active the interaction between the Vessels and their Devils became.

They had grown so skillful in handling their power to the point that even though they were causing something that was close to a disaster like this incident, they didn’t cause any bloodshed whatsoever.

But, at the same time, this meant…

The progression of the main scenario had begun to completely deviate from the ‘knowledge’ that I had.

Because I couldn’t find the knowledge of this kind of situation—where the Devil’s Vessels would cooperate with me while handling their power ‘skillfully’—in the game, not even a hint of it

This meant, while I could still use my knowledge for the rest of Chapter 5 to some extent, the following Chapters, from 6 to the Final Chapter…

Would be completely unknown for me.

It meant that for the first time, the future would be filled with things that I couldn’t predict at all.

“…”

That revelation made chills run down my spine. Meanwhile, Eleanor let out a bitter smile before opening her mouth.

“…It isn’t like we did something like this without thinking.”

“What?”

“We wanted to show a clear example to those guys, to tell them the consequences of their actions… But, there are a lot of people in the world who simply don’t have the ability to learn.”

As she said so, she threw something in my direction and I caught it.

It was a capsule. Inside it was all kinds of news covered by the media, grouped together.

All of them covered the same topic.

The news about the Upper Nobles Association’s military forces that were active near Count Ravel’s territory—which had turned into a wasteland now.

[What a noisy bunch those guys are.]

Well, logically speaking this is the correct move to take, you know?

I nodded at Caliban words while letting out a bitter smile.

Those guys were probably those who had received a request for reinforcements. If we exclude both Bogut and Nicholas, Count Ravel was the highest ranked personnel in the Upper Nobles Association. There was no way the other guys wouldn’t help him when his territory was being turned into a wasteland.

What Eleanor was trying to say here was that, she thought they’d at least think twice before deploying their troops after finding out that she and the others had utterly destroyed the count’s territory like this, but… If they were that smart, they would’ve thought twice about this whole thing the moment they heard about what I did back at the School Festival.

“In any case, I believe it would be better for us to report this matter to Her Imperial Majesty and…Chancellor Sullivan, although I dislike the latter. The war is going to happen either way, but it feels as if it is going to happen way sooner than expected.”

Logically speaking, Eleanor was correct here.

Sure, they weren’t on the level of Count Ravel’s soldier, but they were still the ‘essence’ of the military power that the Upper Nobles Association had been preparing silently for. They still should have enough power to throw the whole empire into the pit of war.

Even if we had all the Devil’s Vessels gathered on our side, no one knew what kind of variables would occur and from what direction it would occur. There were countless cases in the past where the scenario derailed out of my expectations after all, and I doubted that this would be any different.

However…

This time…

[ Entering Chapter 5 Branching Route: ‘Skip’. ]

[ Once you make the right choice, the Main Quest, ‘Empire’s Great Turmoil’ will be skipped and you will immediately enter the boss battle! ]

Such a window had popped up.

It was written in that window, once I made the ‘right choice’, the whole chapter would be skipped.

“…Dowd?”

I was lost in my thoughts for a moment there, so I ended up not replying to Eleanor’s words right away.

Skip, huh?

Skip…

“…Nothing.”

Hearing my reply, Eleanor grinned.

It was such a clear expression of emotion that I rarely saw from her.

She looked as if she already knew what I was going to say.

“Neither Her Imperial Majesty nor the chancellor would say much as long as we produce good results, even if we didn’t report anything to them before taking action. This is a good opportunity.”

“A good opportunity?”

“Yes. A good opportunity to prevent the civil war from happening in the first place.”

I said so while stroking my chest.

Originally, I planned on using this against Count Ravel’s military, but I could use it against those guys for a bit.

What I’ve shown the people at the School Festival was like…the ‘trial version’ of what I was going to do.

Since I had given the stage, I should naturally perform on it.

What was the worst that could happen, anyway?

“As expected of my husband.”

“…”

Eleanor said in a content tone as she linked her arms with me. I threw out an awkward smile at her.

Could she not use that ominous word here…?

I have a feeling that Gideon will come to me and shove a related topic into my face after this Chapter is over…

“By the way, in order to do that, I need some of you to cooperate with me.”

The moment I said those words…

All the women near me averted their gazes from me.

“…?”

What’s with their reactions?

What did I do to be treated this way…?

“Um, you know, normally, whenever you request something like that to any of us… We’d have to go through quite a horrible experience, Teach…”

“…”

“…You know, you’ve done a lot of crazy things…”

Alright, sure, I get it, but…

I really needed the cooperation of some of them, so…

“Seras, Victoria, come here.”

“…”

“…”

Seras and Victoria—both wearing the expressions that college freshmen had when their names called to join a group assignment they never wanted to participate in—waddled towards me at the same time.

“A-At least tell us what it is that you want us to do…”

“It’s nothing big.”

Seeing Seras talking hesitantly, I let out a smile.

“I need you guys to reconcile.”

“…”

“And what we’re going to do is definitely going to be helpful for your sisterly relationship.”

An expression that was close to horrified appeared on their faces at the same time.

Probably because they both had a terrible premonition about this whole thing.

Well, I was sorry to say this, but…

That ominous premonition they had… It would probably happen, to some extent, at least.

●

Hanson was just a soldier who belonged to the Upper Nobles Association, and he knew nothing.

There was no better sentence than that if someone were to ask him to introduce himself.

He was just a common peasant, he had kids, he had a wife, and nothing much else.

It was to the point where he sometimes wondered if the word ‘common’ was made for him.

And such a common person was bound to face a lot of extremely absurd situations, more than he had ever expected.

“Move quickly, you useless fucks! Just wait and see, if the place for the viscount to sleep turns out to be shabby even a little just because of you punk, I’ll punish you all following the military law!”

What kind of military law in this world explicitly stated punishment for a conscript’s failure to decorate their superior’s bedroom properly?

Just from that instruction and the tone that such an instruction was delivered, it was clear how the appointed conscripts were treated.

“…Sigh.”

Those noblemen… I thought they hate to sleep in the same place as us, why are they asking a lot for it…?

Hanson had heard those noblemen saying that the people were the rightful owner of the empire, that the empress was fake, and this was time for the people to fight for their future…

And yet, they treated him and other soldiers like dirt—as if those sentences were just a bunch of empty words.

“That’s just how wars are.”

One of the senior soldiers grumbled while taking out a sleeping bag.

“No one really cares who’s gonna win. For people like us, as long as we could return home safely to see our families, that’s already fortunate enough.”

“I know, right?”

Hanson agreed while letting out a deep sigh.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“…There are a lot of us here who have to return to our homes, Sergeant…”

Hanson said as he looked around the open field where the military force was camping.

As he stared at the whole ground that was filled with troops until the horizon, he couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the imaginary enemy who had to fight them.

“Nothing big would happen, don’t worry. Neither the empress nor the chancellor has the power to rally soldiers on their own. The only thing we need to do is to go to the defenseless Imperial Palace and change the flag, that’s it.”

The sergeant said so while letting out a chuckle.

He had a basis for saying so. Even though they had marched all the way here to help some count in the next territory, they hadn’t found any danger whatsoever.

“Once this whole farce is over, I’m going to go on a vacation with my daughter. Maybe I should go to see the sea somewhere.”

“…”

Um…

I’m sure you aren’t supposed to say something like that…

That’s the kind of sentence that could turn a good situation into a full-blown disaster, you know…?

Before Hanson could even say anything to stop the sergeant from running his mouth…

Something actually started.

“…Huh?”

The hands of the soldiers around him—who were immersed in their task—stopped.

A huge ‘column of light’ descended from the front.

It looked like a light from a myth had descended from heaven. The spectacle was so beautiful that everyone who saw it became mesmerized by it.

Such an intense sight drew the attention of everyone in this vast plain.

And they all noticed someone walking out of such light.

“…A man?”

A young man who seemed to be about the age of Hanson’s son at best.

And he looked strangely familiar to Hanson.

He tilted his head at the odd thoughts, but after seeing the sergeant’s reaction next to him, he found out that the man had similar thoughts as well.

What he said after proved it.

“…I think I saw his face often in the newspaper.”

“Um?”

“Uh, you know, the bastard who’s said to cause all kinds of incidents in the school the nobles attend—”

“…”

But, why is that kind of guy walking out of that sacred-looking column of light?

I swear, someone might mistake him for the messenger of God.

Using that thought as a base, Hanson tried to refute the sergeant.

“…Still, the media tends to exaggerate a bit—”

However, his words were cut off.

Why? Because he noticed that the man was walking out with a woman on each of his arms.

The so-called ‘flowers in both hands’.

He was leading the two women—who looked very embarrassed—while holding their hands in each of his hands with such a calm expression.

On one side was a petite woman, and on the other was a curvy woman—she looked like the matured version of the first woman.

“…I swear, I’m going to kill him one day… Just wait…”

“…Kill…me…”

The two women muttered words that contrasted each other’s.

Even though both of them were in the same predicament; experiencing something that they never wanted to experience because of this man.

“…”

“…”

Seeing this scene, Hanson thought that the word ‘bastard’ suited the man perfectly.

“Nice, nice.”

And as if confirming that thought…

The man opened his mouth.

“It’s finally time for the three of us to become one.”

“…”

That sentence…

Was indeed something that made people who heard it doubted their ears.