Episode 87: The Assault
My father was the first to react to my grandfather’s appearance.
“Father, the ceasefire was decided by me, Marquis Ortenos. Please, refrain from interfering.”
My father directed a sharp gaze at my grandfather.
He’s a little angry, I see.
“Radnock, this is also a warning to you. Do not be lenient with Naia.”
“It’s not leniency, Father; it’s a matter of procedure. Could you please be quiet for now?”
“Kuku, ahahaha, you’ve found your voice, haven’t you?”
My father told my grandfather in a stern tone.
Even before it started, my father probably anticipated this would happen.
In the first place, the ceasefire itself was something my father pushed through despite opposition from those around him.
He doesn’t have time to deal with my grandfather now.
“Ulgool, how dare you show your face before us?”
“Yo, Marquis Hoshiros. It’s been a while since we met on the battlefield. How are you doing?”
This time, Galtano spoke to my grandfather with a grimace.
My grandfather spoke frankly to Galtano, whom he had been trying to kill just the other day.
“…What did you come here for?”
“Can’t I even have a chat? How boring. I brought you guys a souvenir.”
He tossed the burlap sack he was holding roughly onto the table.
Old blood had solidified darkly on the burlap sack.
“Open it.”
My grandfather urged Galtano to open it.
I had a bad feeling and mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen.
Galtano removed the contents of the burlap sack without changing his expression.
It was—the head of an elderly man.
(Ah, geez.)
“The previous Marquis…!”
“…”
A sorrowful voice leaked from David’s mouth.
Galtano maintained an eerie silence with a Noh mask-like expression.
“One of the usurpers, the previous Marquis Hoshiros, Dalmeneos’s head. Do you like it?”
Dalmeneos de Hoshiros.
He was a person who cooperated in the royal family usurpation incident more than sixty years ago, and he also participated in the recent subjugation operation against my grandfather.
It seems that my grandfather’s advance did not stop because I defeated Barbat, and the previous Marquis Hoshiros, Dalmeneos, became the rearguard.
As a result, he was defeated by my grandfather.
“You… how dare you, how dare you!”
David trembled, radiating anger.
Compared to his father, his emotional control still seems lacking.
“There are only a few great sinners left who know the past. We will send you, who inherit Dalmeneos’s will, to the afterlife soon. …No, that wasn’t the purpose of this meeting, was it? What will you do, Hoshiros—will you still have a ceasefire?”
My grandfather wore a thin smile.
A provocation to try and have a ceasefire if they could.
My grandfather’s words were clearly thrown out with the intention of blocking Hoshiros’s retreat.
“Such humiliation, I won’t allow it!”
David became enraged, and Magical Power began to gather.
“Haha, that’s what I wanted to see…”
My grandfather also began to gather Magical Power.
(Well, well, so it’s come to this.)
My grandfather’s aim was probably to destroy the ceasefire talks.
Start a war using David’s rampage as an excuse.
I feel hopeless about what all our efforts have been for, but there’s nothing I can do now that it’s come to this.
I decided to switch gears and focus on suppressing the situation.
(…But I have to think of a way to keep only Luna alive somehow.)
As I was thinking about that, someone jumped into the line of fire.
“—Please, stop it!”
It was Luna who stood between David and my grandfather.
(Eh, what are you doing?)
I immediately facepalmed.
I couldn’t possibly imagine my grandfather showing mercy to Luna.
◇◇◇◇
Luna had jumped out before she knew it.
If this place becomes a battlefield as it is, war will break out between Naia and Ortenos immediately.
If that happens, it’ll be back to square one, no, it’ll be a worse situation than if we hadn’t done anything at all.
“That blonde hair and emerald eyes, you’re the princess of Naia, aren’t you?”
“I am Luna von Naia. You must be Lord Ulgool, but this is a place for ceasefire talks. Please put away your spear.”
“Hmm, are you aware that you have the blood of a great sinner?”
Luna flinched, pierced by Ulgool’s cold golden eyes.
“…Naia’s past actions towards Ortenos are nothing to be proud of. I understand Ortenos’s feelings of hatred for this blood. But the war must end now.”
“Everything about you people grates on me. It makes me sick that the word ‘ceasefire’ comes out of the mouth that has killed so many of my comrades. Considering what you people did to my mother, killing you a hundred times wouldn’t be enough.”
Luna had never directly received the hatred of a generation like Ulgool’s before.
No matter how many words she uses, she will never be understood.
Luna understood that.
The darkness inherited by Ulgool, the eldest son of the former Ortenos princess Ilmina, was deeper than she had imagined.
“…I understand that it’s a selfish request. But please… I don’t want to lose any more family…”
All Luna could do was plead.
Of course, that wouldn’t work…
“…I see, then die.”
Ulgool unleashed an extreme Meteor Ray.
“Lunaaaaa!”
She heard her brother Nicholas’s scream, but it was too late.
The heat ray of enormous Magical Power completely covered her vision.
Overwhelming killing intent.
Luna was certain of her death.
But that ray did not reach Luna.
A shadow that appeared in front of Luna in an instant, because it had received all of that light.
“What exactly do you intend to do?”
A black-haired boy stood between Luna and Ulgool.
Ulgool questioned the boy.
“—Sharka.”
Luna’s chest tightened unbearably as she looked at his back.
The surface of the boy’s left arm was charred black.
He had sacrificed his left arm.
“Lord Sharka, why…?”
Luna asked Sharka.
The boy, Sharka, looked at Luna and smiled shyly without saying anything.
Seeing that gesture, Luna’s chest tightened again.
“Grandfather, this is a place for ceasefire talks—please, won’t you save face for me and stop?”
Sharka offered his opinion to Ulgool.
His figure was like a hero facing a powerful enemy.
Why is my body so hot?
Why does it throb so much?
“Sharka, do you also want a ceasefire?”
“Yes.”
“Kaa~! Tch, if you’re just following Radnock’s orders, stop it. It’s smarter to follow me, you know?”
“No, this is my will, so please.”
Ulgool sighed as he looked at Sharka, who seemed to have a firm resolve.
Ulgool understood that it was useless to rampage any further.
“Haa… half of it is your achievement. I’ll withdraw this time for Sharka’s sake.”
Ulgool said that, turned on his heel, and sat down in his chair with a sulk.
Luna wondered if Sharka wasn’t against the ceasefire.
But Sharka protected Luna with his life and affirmed it with his own mouth.
That fact alone was enough for Luna.
She felt the flame that had once been about to disappear rekindle within her chest.
On the contrary, the flame showed an unprecedented brilliance, burning so intensely that it scorched her body.
She heard the sound of something heavy that had been weighing her down falling off.
It was different from before, as if she had met a new version of herself.
That flame—began to melt the snow that had accumulated in Luna.
◇◇◇◇
I’m more than just amazed by my grandfather’s boldness; I’m impressed.
Suddenly blasting a Meteor Ray is going too far.
Luna would have been reduced to ashes if things had continued like that.
It was really a close call.
(It hurts…)
I activated multiple layers of Magical Power Shield and this is what happened.
I might have been able to block it if I had used a Magical Barrier, but it was too late, and I had no choice but to receive it with my left hand.
“Luna, are you okay!”
“…Hah.”
Luna seemed to have awakened at her brother Nicholas’s voice.
She let out a small scream when she saw my left arm, which had been charred black.
“T-This is terrible! Lord Sharka, I’ll heal you right away.”
Luna took my hand and poured Magical Power into it.
My arm regenerated with a squirming sensation, and the pain subsided.
It’s warm.
“…Haa… haa… uuu…”
Luna let out a hot breath.
The Magical Power being sent was mixed with emotions that had never been there before.
It was like a sweet, viscous beastly desire for me, slowly seeping out of a flower’s nectar pot.
Luna’s emotions seemed to have just been born, and it was like she was regressing to infancy and repeatedly saying “I wuv you.”
It’s clumsier than Elmia’s, but in a way, it’s the right form of biased love.
“Lady Luna, are you alright?”
“Wh-wh-what is it? …Haa… haa.”
Luna doesn’t seem to be aware of it.
However, a dramatic change is happening within me.
If possible, I want Luna to slowly nurture and elevate these feelings.
“Y-You bastard! Luna-san is clearly uncomfortable! Let her go, let her go!”
Nicolas protests with his legs wide apart.
The sight is somewhat comical.
“Are you uncomfortable, Luna-dono?”
“…I’m not.”
My left hand is already completely healed, but Luna continues to send me Magical Power.
What’s more, she pulled it to her chest.
A soft, plump sensation is transmitted to the back of my hand.
“N-No way… Luna-san… overcame her distrust…?”
Nicolas clutches his head as if he’s seen something unbelievable.
“Nicolas-dono, are you alright?”
“…Kill him? Should I kill him? No, but if I do, Luna-san will hate me! Ugh, what should I do!”
Nicolas is conflicted to the point where his handsome face is distorted.
…Luna’s brothers, aren’t there too many weirdos?
There was such a scene—but it comes to an abrupt end.
“—Internal strife is foolish.”
Galtano suddenly muttered, drawing everyone’s attention.
Ah, come to think of it, I had forgotten about these guys.
“What?”
“Ulgool, you asked earlier if we would call a truce. —The answer is, of course, no. We had already decided to eliminate you Ortenos here with the hands of Hoshilos.”
An expression of confidence appeared on Galtano’s face.
At this point, I had a bad feeling that made my spine tingle.
“Huh?”
“And—the preparations are already complete.”
The man who didn’t even flinch when he saw Dalmeneos’s head.
That man is no longer even trying to hide his unfathomable malice.
Father also noticed Galtano’s strange behavior and is urging Roa to be cautious.
(Are they planning something?)
Luna is a bit spacey, and Nicolas is just wearing a look of despair at Luna’s transformation.
I don’t think these two are involved.
(Then, an attack by a third party—huh?)
I immediately launched a Detection Magic sonar.
Then, as expected, my bad premonition was right.
From a completely unexpected direction, and multiple—.
“Father, above! Four Stella-Class, incoming!”
“What?!”
Father let out a rare, panicked voice.
“You have a good sense, Shalka. But it’s too late even if you realize it.”
Immediately after Galtano’s words, it fell to the ground.
The ground collapsed as if it had exploded.
Dust and smoke rose, and when it cleared, figures appeared.
“Aww, I hit my head, what a pain.”
One of the attackers said, rotating his neck.
He was a slender man with lion-like orange hair.
In this world where parachutes don’t exist, only Stella-Class could make a desperate dive from several thousand meters above.
Whether they can do it or not is another matter, but the fact that they even thought of doing it is terrifying.
(Someone who can pull off such a stunt isn’t a noble.)
As for the means of getting up there, they probably used a flying creature.
I’ve heard that there are Phantom Beasts called ‘Floating Dragons’ that drift in the sky, about several tens of meters long.
“…Shalka, Roa, be careful, the enemies have Star Tools.”
Father urged us to be cautious.
One of the Stella-Class men who had fallen threw Star Tools to the two Hoshilos.
So they were connected to Hoshilos after all.
(This is a slightly bad situation.)
It’s disadvantageous to challenge Stella-Class wielding Star Tools empty-handed.
It would be especially disadvantageous for Father, Roa, and Luna, let alone me.
(Now, what should I do?)
As I began to think that, there was already someone moving unnoticed.
—It was my grandfather.
“…Did you think you could win with Star Tools?”
“Ugh!”
Grandfather had already captured one of the attackers.
He grabbed his neck and lifted him up.
And then—
“—Disappear.”
“Gyaaaaah…!”
Grandfather mercilessly unleashed Meteor Ray.
One of the attackers screamed in his death throes, swallowed by an intense torrent of light and disappearing.
Everything happened in an instant.
“Tch, that’s why you can’t use the underlings.”
The orange-haired attacker coldly saw off his comrade who had just disappeared.
“Don’t say that, Leoriel, thanks to him we got to see Ulgool’s ‘Hollow Shadow’.”
“Well, that’s true, Corvus. But I don’t think I can do it after seeing it just once. I’ll leave dealing with that to Hoshilos, who are used to it.”
The man called Leoriel said, and threw a cube-shaped ornament with strange patterns drawn on it to Galtano.
Galtano looked at it with interest.
“Hmph, can something like this really be used?”
“Of course. Don’t misuse it.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Hoshilos and the attackers were having a suspicious conversation.
However, this made it certain that Hoshilos was in league with the attackers.
It’s a pity for Luna, but there was no path to a truce from the start.