“L-Lord!?”
“Is it alright to address a representative of an enemy nation with an honorific, Kenya-kun?”
It was so natural, it was hard to even feel wary.
Normally, I should have immediately drawn my gun and mounted Takemikazuchi.
However, the situation was so natural that Kenya couldn’t move.
“It’s alright. I don’t intend to fight. Please lower your guard, though I know it’s hard to believe.”
“You want me to believe that after we were just killing each other?”
“If I intended to kill you, I would have already shot you. I could have snipers waiting. I thought you were invincible on the battlefield, but you’re just a human now.”
The Lord smiled.
Indeed, it would have been easy to shoot Kenya, who had carelessly come down.
Reina probably wouldn’t have been able to do it, but it was easy to imagine her asking and him coming down without hesitation.
If Reina asked, I’d charge into a death trap.
“Zeke, could you prepare?”
“Yes, sir!”
Then, from the military vehicle, a table and chairs were prepared.
It was simple, but it was assembled as if they were going camping.
“Please, have a seat.”
Kenya silently sat in the chair that was prepared.
Kenya, Tanaka, Zeke, Reina, and the Lord.
The main figures of this battle were all gathered around the table.
However, the atmosphere was not one of pleasant conversation.
An important discussion that could determine the fate of this country had begun.
“There are many things to talk about… but first, you’ve really done it now.”
“That’s my line.”
The representative of Earthgards, with whom they had been killing each other until just now, and the Japanese Knight who had cut down everything.
Kenya was angry too.
How much blood had been shed?
“It’s the first time I’ve experienced such a battle. And a defeat too. But strangely, I’m convinced that if it was you, if my intuition chose you, then it’s understandable. But you really do reckless things.”
The Lord looked around at the wreckage.
“Oh, and I think you’re curious about my sister, Ymir Earthgards.”
“The princess I let escape… I have to get revenge on her someday, she caused this mess…”
“No, that’s impossible. She’s already dead. I killed her.”
“What!?” “Huh!?”
Kenya, Reina, and Tanaka looked at the Lord with shocked expressions, as if to say, “That’s ridiculous.”
The Lord sipped the tea on the table, as if it were nothing.
“That woman was a big problem even within the Empire. She killed too many people in the colonies, for no good reason, just for her own perversions.”
Then, the Lord looked around the battlefield.
The wreckage of the KOG, the wreckage of the slums, and the corpses of people.
“It’s terrible, isn’t it? I told them not to fight anyone but the resistance, but I guess it was pointless.”
Hearing that, Kenya remembered a fact he had forgotten due to the shock of the situation.
He remembered, but immediately, his blood rushed to his head, and he remembered his anger.
That’s right, this guy is royalty. He’s the one who killed Azusa, who killed everyone.
Immediately, he stood up and roughly grabbed the Lord’s collar.
“Y-you guys did it, didn’t you!!”
“Mitsurugi!”
Zeke tried to pull Kenya away, but the Lord raised his hand to stop Zeke.
“It’s alright, Zeke. I understand, Kenya-kun. You hate us, don’t you? It’s true that the Earthgards Empire and we are the ones who killed your loved ones. But don’t think that what happened today is special. It’s an everyday occurrence that’s happening somewhere even now…”
“Ugh!”
The Lord looked straight at Kenya with eyes that seemed to see right through him.
“I swear this much. I don’t do meaningless killings, and I haven’t. I destroyed several slums this time, but everyone is being treated respectfully as 3rd class Asgardians.
I had nothing to do with this mess here. I will never hurt anyone who is not prepared to fight.”
Then, Zeke chimed in.
“That’s true, Mitsurugi. No one has died on the battlefields that the Lord has controlled. Except for here.”
“B-but! Azusa! Everyone! Y-you! You’re royalty, you could have saved them! You’re the commander, aren’t you!”
Kenya was distraught, grabbing the Lord’s chest tightly.
However, the Lord grabbed his hand tightly, and Kenya flinched for a moment.
Then, in a terrifyingly low voice, the Lord said to Kenya.
“If things continue like this, the same thing will happen all over the world.”
“What!?”
Kenya involuntarily released his grip due to the Lord’s intensity.
“I couldn’t save them. Because Ymir Earthgards had more power than me. If it was a command from me or my sister, the military would listen to my sister’s command, and I couldn’t order that woman around. Even though we’re both royalty, my right to the throne is lower.”
“…”
Kenya was silenced by the intensity.
Then, the Lord began to speak rapidly.
“And my brother. Odin Asgard is a man who wouldn’t hesitate to cause what happened today all over the world. He’s a man who seriously intends to dominate the world with force alone. Killing my sister wasn’t because of personal likes or dislikes. It’s because she would have undoubtedly sided with my brother in the succession battle.”
The reason the Lord killed Ymir.
It was because she was an obstacle in the succession battle.
What that meant was.
“That means…”
“Yes, I killed her to become Emperor. The Emperor of the Earthgards Empire. To defeat my brother.”
Hearing that goal, Zeke and Reina were as speechless as Kenya and Tanaka.
Normally, the first prince, Odin Asgard, would inherit the throne.
However, the Lord had declared that he would interfere with that.
“You know that my father, the current Emperor, doesn’t have long to live, right?”
“I know that. That’s why the Earthgards Empire’s invasions around the world have been temporarily halted.”
Kenya answered the Lord’s question.
Since he recognized him as an enemy, he stopped using honorifics and became more casual, but it wasn’t the atmosphere of friends, so they spoke plainly.
“Yes, I was on the battlefield too, but the war is temporarily suspended. However, the EU, though it’s not for me to say, is already exhausted. It’s only a matter of time before they join hands with the Asian Union.”
The Lord, who had almost destroyed the EU himself, but the war was temporarily suspended due to the Emperor’s illness.
And it was the Lord’s prediction that it was only a matter of time before the dying EU and the Asian Union joined hands.
The two allied nations had originally been on bad terms.
However, the Lord’s view was that they would have no choice but to join hands in the face of a common, enormous enemy.
“Getting back to the topic, the current Emperor is going to die, soon. And what will happen next is the succession battle. To be clear, if things continue as they are, my brother will become Emperor.”
“Odin-sama currently holds most of the power… I think so too.”
“Yes, but I will become Emperor.”
“Lord, does that mean a coup d’état!?”
“No, it’s different. This is the main topic of today. I’m going to talk about my plan to become Emperor. You could say that this was proposed by my father… My father originally intended for me to become Emperor. However, my brother’s faction, anticipating this, has taken in powerful nobles and has gained so much power that my father, who is not long for this world, is at a disadvantage.”
It seems that Odin Asgard has already begun preparations to take the Emperor’s seat.
The Emperor is an absolute ruler, but he doesn’t have much time left, and nobles who have sided with Odin’s faction have appeared, making it impossible to control the situation.
“I can’t think of such a method…”
“Zeke should know this well. The Earthgards Empire has a centuries-old traditional ceremony for the succession of the throne. A traditional battle, a duel, whose true meaning has been forgotten now.”
“A duel?… Are you perhaps talking about the Imperial Sword Tournament? That’s just a festival now!”
Then, Zeke, who had been listening silently, raised his voice.
Kenya and Tanaka had question marks floating above their heads, and Reina also looked surprised.
“That’s it. Our country’s greatest martial arts festival. Now, it’s lost its original meaning and is just a tournament to decide the strongest KOG Knight of the year.”
“Explain it to me, Lord. Why does a mere festival have anything to do with the succession of the throne?”
Kenya, who couldn’t see the point at all, asked the Lord.
“Yes, I’ll explain.”
The Imperial Sword Tournament was a tournament created by a past Emperor who had engaged in endless battles with his brothers.
He had his excellent subordinates fight, and sometimes he himself would fight, and the one who won would become Emperor, and from then on, all assassinations were prohibited.
Now, it has changed its form and become an entertainment for the Empire, a tournament where those who are proud of their skills compete.
A battle that embodies the Empire’s philosophy that the strongest should become Emperor.
The Emperor’s worth is to use excellent people, gather excellent subordinates, and win.
As if to embody that, it was a festival born from the desire to prevent the brothers who fought for the throne from shedding meaningless blood, and the one who won would inherit the throne.
“I will win against my brother’s faction there. On that condition, my father has decided to declare me Emperor. To the entire nation, that I am the next Emperor. My father knows that the Empire will be divided.
That’s why he needs proof to make the declaration, proof that I won against my brother. Only then can he declare me the next Emperor.”
“Can such a thing happen? Deciding the Emperor based on the result of a mere duel…”
Kenya, feeling doubtful, asked the Lord.
It was just an old tradition, and he felt that they could just ignore it no matter what the result was.
He felt that they could just ignore it and have him recognized as Emperor through power and force.
“No, that’s not right, Mitsurugi. If victory were a matter of luck, then you would be correct. However, if Lord-sama becomes the victor, the situation changes.”
Zeke, who had been surprised, began to speak after considering the matter.
“Lord-sama’s name is feared throughout the world. Due to his intellect and battle records, the results…!? …Could it be that the EU Great War was for this purpose!?”
“Ah, that’s right. If there are no results, no one will follow.”
“At that time, you were only ten years old… Could it be that it has been since that day, Lord-sama?”
He answered Zeke’s question with silence, remembering the past that only Zeke and Lord knew.
“What does that mean?”
Reina, unable to follow the conversation, asked her father.
“The Imperial Sword Tournament is certainly a tradition, but it doesn’t have any legal binding force. In the first place, there is no law to decide the Emperor. However, if Lord-sama wins, it has a different meaning.”
“The victor will have more capable subordinates than the loser, which is proof of power. And Lord-sama’s exceptional command ability became known throughout the world, throughout Earthgards, during the previous EU Great War. And if what we just discussed is true, the current Emperor will declare him the next Emperor. In other words, if Odin-sama were to resist, it would become a coup d’état. If those conditions are met, do you understand what will happen, Reina?”
“The other nobles will defect…?”
“That’s right. If a battle that divides the Empire were to occur, many nobles would appear who would side with Lord-sama. That’s why he has the achievements in the EU. A commander with a perfect record, undefeated. Our Empire knows all too well what it means to make Lord-sama an enemy, from that greatest war in the past. And we have the justification of the current Emperor’s recommendation.”
It seems that simply seizing power through a coup d’état is not enough. Come to think of it, in the history of my previous world, the Imperial Standard was the Emperor’s army, the official army. It seems that which side has justice is very important.
That’s why in history, they even incorporated the Imperial Court.
In this case, it’s easy to understand that Lord is justice for the people, and Odin is evil.
“Yes, under the banner of justice, we can fight my brother head-on. As a regular army. Against the army of the First Prince who is rebelling. But when I thought of this plan, honestly, it was a pipe dream. I myself thought it was incredibly reckless.”
Lord affirms Zeke’s explanation.
But at the same time, he denies it, saying it was impossible.
Because.
“In military matters, my brother has more power than I do, and he controls all the Holy Knights and the Holy Knight Captains. Well, Zeke is retired as a Knight, so it doesn’t matter, but there are probably people stronger than Zeke anyway. That’s why, after hearing the rumors, I came to this country expecting the Silver Ice Princess, Reina-kun, who is still an apprentice and not under my brother’s influence. Even so, I knew she didn’t have the strength to fight against the Holy Knight Captains. But…”
There, Lord looks directly at Kenyya.
“I found you.”