Arc 8: Vincent Vollachia
Arc 8, Chapter 31 "The Stone Block"
--The "Stone Block" Muspel.
Named one of the Four Great Spirits, an ancient Great Spirit rooted in the land of the Vollachia Empire.
Unlike the "holy beasts", "slashers", and "arbitrators" of other countries, it is an existence that has not left any voluntary actions or claims in history. Although it is known to exist in Vollachia, no further information or sightings of it have surfaced, making it perhaps the most spirit-like spirit of all.
That was just the way it was in Muspel, the "stone block" that is considered a sacred place there.
"Well, Beako explained it to me in a cute way, but I think we're talking about different things."
Beatrice told them an anecdote about Muspel for Subaru, who lacked knowledge about the four major spirits. He listened to it with great interest, but the content of the anecdote differed greatly from the actual situation.
The story is that Muspel is a great spirit whose whereabouts and identity are unknown,
"The fact that you are so sure that they have taken it from you is the flip side of the coin of knowing where you are. That means, on the contrary, Muspel was here in the fortified city. --Am I wrong?"
Then, Subaru puts his index finger and question firmly on Abel's sour face.
Abel's dark eyes narrowed at Subaru's pursuit. But before he can open his mouth--,
"Hey, how dare you talk to the Emperor like that?"
An unexpected rough tone, it interrupted Subaru and Abel, and the wind blew. Immediately after, the toe of Subaru's prodding finger, the white part of it, was suddenly scraped off.
With a whiz, the white blade slices through the wind and claws, and Subaru involuntarily screams, "Whoa!"
And then--,
"You little brat! Stand your damn ground, stand your ground!"
"That's our line! Don't suddenly claw a child's fingertips with a sword!"
Holding his hands in sudden outrage, Subaru spat at the underling of the heinous act--Jamal.
For some reason, Jamal, who has been allowed to accompany Abel since he arrived in Garkla, suddenly clawed Subaru deeply with the white blade he pulled out.
Subaru looked at him with incredulity at his so shortsightedness,
"I thought I was doing a little better, but still, I hate you!"
"Oh? I don't want you kids to like me either. ......And..."
When he told Katya the news of Todd's passing, he was naive to think that we could have a rational conversation.
When Subaru protested against Jamal's unchanged coarse attitude, he tried to glare at him, not minding the age difference, but a raised hand stopped his mature attitude.
Whoever it was, Abel, sitting at the round table, ordered him to do so, "Stop."
"Don't start any unnecessary disputes. Be aware that being a relatively easy-to-use pawn is your value that I recognize. Now is not the time to fight with the Kingdom."
"Fight with the Kingdom.......? Ah."
Subaru raised an eyebrow at Abel's way of saying this, and then turned around to see what his intentions were.
Then, the kingdom side, which saw the current exchange between Subaru and the others--naturally, Emilia, Beatrice, and Spica turned their reproachful eyes toward Jamal.
He also said that if this standoff continues, the girls will not be spared from joining the fight anytime soon.
However, Jamal, who seemed to have no idea of the gravity of the situation, frowned and reluctantly sheathed the brunt of his outburst.
"If the Emperor says so. ......Tsk, you saved my life, kid."
"It's amazing you still have the guts to say that in this situation....... I feel like we're on the brink of an alliance breakup and the empire is about to be destroyed."
Sighing at the emperor's stop, the stares of Subaru's friends, and Jamal's attitude, which was still not offended by it, Subaru looked at Abel.
He described Jamal as easy to handle, but he doesn't think so very much.
"You're not going to accidentally get assassinated at this point, are you?"
In fact, if you were to surrender me with my head in my arms, you wouldn't be made to feel bad about it. This is a very normal attitude for an Imperial soldier...... a little too shortsighted, but not as shortsighted as Cecilus."
"It's not fair to put Cessy out there for comparison......!"
Subaru is indignant at Abel for making a joke that is not funny and a case that cannot be said with or without. With that aside, Abel made Jamal back down with a hand gesture and looked at Subaru again.
Earlier, the finger pointed at Subaru and his readiness to answer the question, i.e., disclosure of information about the "stone block" that almost sidetracked him.
"The question you were snickering about earlier is affirmative. The 'stone block' was in this fortified city. It used the means to keep it in place and made this city its sanctuary."
......I can't believe it, I suppose."
Tapping the round table again with his finger and making a hard sound, Abel tells the truth. And it was Beatrice who involuntarily cleared her throat at Abel's answer.
She has that pretty profile, with her lips in a tight knot,
"It's a crazy story, in fact. My mother told me that the hardest one of the four great spirits to communicate with is a 'stone block', I suppose."
"The hardest one of the four great spirits......"
"The one that does not listen to you the most is the 'holy beast', and the one that is the most difficult to talk to is the 'slasher'. The most useless one to talk to is the 'arbitrator', in fact."
"I'm not sure any of them are much better than the others! Puck, come home!"
He can't hide his surprise at the lineup, which makes him miss Puck more and more.
First of all, it is understandable that the "slasher" and "arbitrator" are in an atmosphere of not being able to speak, but what does it mean that even the great spirits known as "holy beasts" are in a category where they cannot speak?
"Mother said that the Holy Beast is a benevolent ghost, I suppose."
"Hey, I'm inclined to see all the landmarks in this world, but not a single celebrity I'd like to meet...... Isn't that great in reverse?"
Subaru has also spent more than a year in this world, so he sometimes hears the names of famous people, but all of them are so prestigious that he is a bit weary of their titles.
The fact that he is already acquainted with positive celebrities, such as the king-elect candidate and the "Sword Saint", may be significant, though.
In any case--,
"I've never heard of the phrase "to hold a 'stone block' and the expression 'sanctuary' before. Perhaps it is a phrase unique to Vollachia, but what does it mean?"
"To put it simply, the 'stone block' is a great spirit that controls the attributes of the earth. Therefore, the land where it sleeps naturally receives the protection of its properties. In addition to producing soil rich in fruitfulness, it also helps to nourish those who live on the land."
"......I see. That's a much more significant role than I thought."
Otto, interrupting the questioning, puts his hand over his mouth and marvels at Abel's answer.
After all, it is said that within the reach of Muspel's influence, agriculture will flourish and the sick and injured will heal faster, just like a hot spring with all the good things that come with it.
If you were free to place that Muspel at will, it would be--,
"It is true that such a story is much more important to hide than the lie that the fortress city is being rebuilt. The story is that one of the pillars supporting the high national power of the empire was a 'stone block'."
"He disclosed it to us, the people of another country. --I believe that we can see the extent of Emperor Vincent's resolve."
"I don't think it's too much of a risk to be too open about it, but...... I agree with you when you say you don't like infighting."
Anastasia and Julius, their attitude is natural for an expatriate power.
Of course, as Anastasia added at the end, there is no prospect of revealing too much information that is detrimental to the empire.
"If that's what he really wanted to keep hidden, Abel could have misled us in many more ways, couldn't he? The fact that he didn't do so suggests that he didn't."
"Emilia is right. He has a bad character and is very clever. He could have fooled Roswaal and Anastasia if he wanted to. It may not look like it, but this is Abel's best effort at sincerity."
"I am surprised that the half-elf girl is not still more disrespectful. You are not often given such a reputation in this world."
Subaru's lips twitched at the reply, which was not worth following up even though he had gone to the trouble of following up.
The one act of Subaru and the others was brought to a halt by Flop, who clapped his hands to get their attention. He nodded, "You're right, misters",
"The Emperor revealed the facts. He did so because of the urgency of the matter and because it was an unavoidable topic to explain the worst-case scenario."
"Worst-case scenario...... is that it's the end of the imperial lands as the Emperor said?"
"That's what happens!"
Nodding vigorously, Flop affirms Roswaal's confirmation.
The end of the land of the empire--that is the worst scenario of the "Great Calamity" that will strike this Vollachia empire with the use of the "stone block" Muspel.
And before that scenario was revealed to Subaru and his friends, Abel was accompanied by Flop who was supposed to be nothing more than a civilian--,
"It was the fake emperor who entrusted me with the information about the sacred area....... His true intention was not to cooperate with the Great Spirit Stone Block, but to warn me of the possibility that the Stone Block is being used in his opponent's plans."
"I see. Flop must have had a face-to-face meeting with Abel's impostor."
"Yes. I don't have an answer or an opinion as to why he was behaving the way he was, but...... I'm a man who wants to do what is entrusted to me."
Flop still looks pale from the blood he has lost. His answer shows his righteousness as usual, and Subaru, saved by it, inwardly thinks of the false emperor.
The false emperor who drove Abel from his throne and lost his life instead--they can only guess at his true intentions, just as we did with Abel, and we will never hear the answer.
Still, it would have been one of the best moves for the false emperor that the person to whom he entrusted the message to was Flop.
"Well, I guess that would mean that the Empire and Muspel had a contractual relationship, wouldn't it?"
"If your idea of a contract is a contract between a spirit and a magician, you are in denial. The 'stone block' has no such self-consciousness. There is no way to offer a contract of superiority or equality."
"It's Vollachia that brings up the subject of advantageous or disadvantageous contracts with spirits, isn't it? Look at the clean, righteous, smiling relationship between me and Beako."
"It's the way it is, in fact."
"It looks to me like a child playing at being a child."
Abel's comment came as he and Beatrice held hands and took a few light steps together. Abel and Beatrice both puffed out their cheeks, but Abel ignored them and went on with his story.
"No promises were made to the 'stone block'. But it continued to stay within the territory of the empire. Hence the use of it, but...... at the same time it continued to move and take root in the foundations of the Empire."
"Take root?"
"Think of it like the roots of a tree. The earth is strong with long, thick branches, but what happens to the soil after the tree is pulled out?"
"......It would be so full of holes and brittle that it would crumble with just a poke."
Anastasia summarized Abel's question in a nutshell.
Muspel, which continued to enrich the land of Vollachia, in exchange tied its own fate to the empire itself.
And then--,
"I mean, if Muspel dies, that's the end of Vollachia in the literal sense of the word, isn't it? That's a hell of a story!"
In other words, it was like revealing the existence of a bomb that would blow the empire itself to pieces.
A state secret that must be kept hidden, not only this time, but forever more, that Vollachia must deal with. Subaru's surprise at this fact finally catches up with the intellectuals.
However--,
"Don't panic, fool."
"How can you not be in a panic? Ha! Don't tell me you're going to keep all of us who know the secret quiet when this is all over......"
"Do not underestimate me. If I intended to do so, I would not even give you the benefit of the doubt. Intrigue and warfare are not the prerogative of the Kingdom alone."
"Shouldn't the empire that brags about it, and the Kingdom that is famous for it, be destroyed?"
Because of the magnitude of the situation, talk of a national scale is booming, but the Kingdom, not to mention the Empire, does not seem to be a bonus. Subaru also thinks he's had it pretty bad, but even so, he is reminded that the Kingdom of Lugnica is a much more pleasant place to live.
"Well, I am sure that the Kingdom of Lugnica is the most heavenly place on earth, even if it was hell on earth when I met Emilia and her friends."
"Sorry, I just don't know what you're talking about."
Okay, okay, I'll talk about it over here. --So, the truth of what I just said is on that side."
Laughing at Emilia, who tilted her head, Subaru turned the waters of the conversation back to Abel. In response, he quietly closed one eye and crossed his arms,
"The ruler was not in his right mind to leave the heart of the people in the hands of others. Naturally, we had already separated the 'stone block' from the root. Your concern is also a nonsense, not knowing the difficulty of finding it and taking its life. It would be like challenging a dragon with a brush."
"I see! That's a relief! If that's the case, then you can't connect what I said earlier about not having enough time. You might have actually been working on the detachment, but you didn't get it done in time...... so isn't that what's going on here?"
"----"
"Don't shut up just because your portion is getting worse!"
Abel's response, silenced by the figurehead, is proof that Subaru's suspicions were right on target.
Eventually, Vollachia may be able to break the fate of Muspel and its one and only. But that is not now, and it is not a clue to an imminent breakthrough.
"In other words, the fate of the people of the emperor and the 'stone block' are still tied together. If the hordes of corpses pursue them and we continue to kick them away, the mana of the 'stone block' will eventually run out, and our land will inevitably perish. I hear that even soldiers martyred in battle will soon be resurrected. In other words--"
"We don't want to overkill them, and we don't want to have too many deaths on oooour side."
"We shouldn't. It's a wretched, mind-blowing absurdity of the highest order."
In addition to being forced to take a backseat, even the conditions of the defensive battle were viciously set.
He doesn't know why Serena is enjoying herself, but the enemy's relentless scheming, which is more than just a forceful push by the wights, reveals an artifice to ensure the destruction of the empire--,
"--But, why would Sphinx do this, I suppose?"
"Huh?"
Subaru blinked at Emilia's words, who suddenly uttered a question that came to mind.
The identity and plans of the "Witch" Sphinx--a fearsome enemy who is planning to resurrect many of the dead who lie in the land of the empire, and who is planning for the destruction of the "Great Calamity", were revealed in a very concrete manner.
But the motive of the "Witch," as Emilia wondered, is--,
"Well, that's because I want to destroy the empire ......I don't know how you feel either."
"I don't care what Mr. Natsuki's true intentions are, that is not a sufficient answer to Lady Emilia's question. If the identity of the enemy's ringleader, as confirmed by the Margrave and Beatrice, is the 'Witch"'who once raged in the kingdom of Lugnica, then the brunt of the resentment should be directed at the kingdom."
"Yet the 'witch' have raised the dead in the empire. It certainly doesn't add up. But it is possible that it was the empire that fit the bill."
"The bill, sir?"
Otto and Julius exchange glances, starting with a question that Emilia had.
Otto asked Otto for a tip of the reasoning, while Julius put his finger on his own thin chin,
"The existence of the four great spirits possessing substandard mana was indispensable for the realization of the army of zombies...... which mixed the 'Sacrament of the Immortal King' with restoration magic. Therefore, the 'witch' realized the formula in the empire--"
Then Julius paused for a beat and looked around at all the faces in the conference room,
"Perhaps the plan is to destroy the empire and then invade the kingdom."
"Wha......"
"--Don't be an idiot!!"
When Subaru exclaimed at the possibility of Julius's fears, Goz shouted angrily, with the force to paint over it. Goz clenched his fist as big as a child's head tightly and gritted his teeth while maintaining a minimum level of rationality that would not destroy the round table."
"If you are right! Our Vollachia is about to be destroyed in the nick of time!"
"Well, technically, it's just the first phase of the plan to hit the real target. No, I'm sure the location of the 'stone block' and the zombies were in the works much, much earlier."
"Grrrrrrr......!!"
Anastasia probably had no intention of doing so, but her supplement did nothing to appease Goz's anger. Goz growled in frustration, and Jamal seemed to be just as agitated as Anastasia, but no one can be convinced that the crisis in his hometown is just an incidental incident.
Subaru is thinking about his heart, but then he notices the expression on Beatrice's face beside him.
"Beako?"
"--. You know what Julius thinks, I suppose. It's just...... Roswaal."
"Yes, I understand your concern. --I wonder if Sphinx has any human feelings of retaliation against the kingdom. I have a feeling that only half of what Julius the Knight thinks is true."
"What's half of Julius's idea......?"
"In the Empire, the conditions were right. That's why I did it. That's it."
Subaru gasped at Roswaal's words, leaving the yellow eye and closing the other one. Beatrice, next to him with a grim expression on her face, says nothing because she agrees with him.
If Julius is right, the events in the empire are no stranger to the kingdom.
But if Beatrice and Roswaal's idea is correct, that is even more unhelpful.
And then--,
"In any case, the Witch has already made her bow to the Empire. Since even the lives of members of the royal family have been shamed, we no longer have any choice but to destroy our enemies. Am I wrong?"
"The Prime Minister's remarks were very bloodthirsty. As I thought, His Highness the Prime Minister was not pleased with the situation of Her Excellency Lamia."
"--Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
Perhaps there was a plot to make fun of her, but if so, Serena's intentions were off.
Berstetz, with his emotionless, threadbare face, still carrying a clearly felt anger toward his enemies, maintains only a surface demeanor of serenity.
At Berstetz's words, Serena traced the sword wound on her face,
"No? The current Prime Minister is much more my kind of man."
"You say terrible things."
"Hahaha! I'm going to be of good character as long as I can keep my eyes on the wound."
Serena laughs boldly as she describes Berstetz, who has had a change of heart.
Aside from the exchange between the two, the inside story is just as Berstetz described. There is no other option but to have a doe with Sphinx, who leads the army of the dead.
No matter what the purpose of the project.
"So, is Emilia-tan going to be okay?"
"--Hm. I guess that means that even though I've been thinking hard about it, I don't know right now. I wish I had a chance to hear it directly from Sphinx......"
"We ran into each other for a moment, but it didn't feel like we could talk much."
"Betty agrees with Subaru, in fact. It will be difficult to have a dialogue with her, I suppose."
Sphinx, who targeted the dragon carriage by "Escaping by Death" using her own life.
She did not feel any heat in the dialogue, which was not many, as well as the battle strategy of using up her life. An opponent who is emotionally unmoved will not be provoked. This is Subaru's weak point.
Therefore, even "Return by Death" is a difficult enemy--.
"The other side is steadily increasing the number of zombies, and Muspel is slowly reducing the remaining strength of the Great Spirits. The endurance game will only put us at a disadvantage."
"But it's also not a good idea to gather all the forces in the empire and attack the imperial capital again....... A clash of large armies would be a battle of life and death. The damage would be even greater."
"The bounded conditions that cannot cause damage to either us or the other party...... meaning that there is almost a single strategy to save the empire from the impending 'Great Calamity'."
Subaru, Anastasia, and Otto continued their words, and their gazes naturally fell on Abel, who was seated at the round table. He said that all the people of the empire were parties to the event, and that the man standing at the top of the list of parties would take their gazes for granted,
"--A small group of elite forces will attack the Imperial Capital and seize the leader, the Witch, and dismantle the path of the 'Great Calamity' that she has laid out."
--This, the final phase of the battle that had begun in the Vollachia Empire, the campaign to stop the "Great Calamity" was clearly declared as such.
△▼△▼△▼△
The conclusion of the meeting around the round table was reached, and a pause was made.
In accordance with the policy established, from this point forward, the selection of personnel for the blitzkrieg and the plan for the attack on the Imperial Capital would be developed.
But before those discussions begin in earnest--,
"--It did not occur to me that the 'stone block' had been placed in Garkla."
And so it was Berstetz who began in the conference room, where only the emperor and the prime minister remained.
It was a time when not only the members of the allied kingdoms, but also those on the imperial side, such as Serena and Goz, were not present. Jamal, the escort, was also made to wait outside the room, and it was a discussion among the leaders of the empire alone--although if it were true, there would have been one more person here.
"So, in other words, you've been played right into Chisha's hands."
"It appears so. If everything had gone according to schedule, this time of the year...... the sacred area should have been near the cloud city of Mezoreia in the southwest. At what point did they catch us off guard?"
"He looks at me like I'm closing my eyes. It must have been easy to steal."
"They seem to be closed, but they are not. Hence, that's why it's so effective in prevention...... is only a losing proposition if you say it after you've actually been conspired against."
Shaking his head loosely, Berstetz mutters a lament about his blunder. Vincent, however, does not consider this to be Berstetz's fault.
As is often the case, Chisha simply outperformed Vincent and Berstetz's intentions.
In addition to deceiving both the emperor and the prime minister, Chisha was also prepared to find out what the coming "Great Calamity" would entail.
"If the 'stone block' had not been used, the fortified city is a good base from which to fortify the city. If the 'stone block' has been taken, it is--"
"In other words, they are used for the plot of the 'Great Calamity'. It seems that the great fool has thought of many ways to destroy the empire and has carried them out in his mind. Hence, he was right on target."
"I had no idea that the goal was to destroy them, even if it was to counter usurp their usurpation. From now on, I shall endeavor to be stern."
"--. Do so."
Vincent was slightly taken aback when Berstetz spoke of his vision for the future.
This was because Berstetz believed that after this matter was settled, it was not out of the realm of possibility that he would resign his position as Prime Minister and seek to martyr himself for Lamia.
"Since Her Excellency Lamia refused to do so."
Finding the question in that momentary void, Berstetz answered it himself.
Hearing this, Vincent says nothing. He merely gave a small sniff. In response to Vincent's reaction, Berstetz continued, "Even so,"
"I was surprised to hear Your Excellency speak of the 'stone block' and the sacred lands. It is difficult to say that the separation of the 'stone block' from the land is also in sight."
"As soon as this matter is settled, we will start the national policy that we have stopped. If we cannot produce results by the time the non-aggression pact with the Kingdom expires in two years' time, there will be no tomorrow, even if we go beyond today."
"I guess so. By the way,"
Berstetz paused a beat and opened his threadbare eyes slightly.
"As you can see, we will not reveal how to fasten the 'stone block'. Not only is it an Imperial secret, but it is also a matter of concern to our allies."
"Natsuki Subaru and the half-elf who is a Spirit Arts user, will be very fastidious. --It will be troublesome for them to know that they are taking mortal sinners as their contractors for the 'stone block' and disposing of them until death."
"Your Excellency."
Vincent shrugged his shoulders at Berstetz, who nailed him for not speaking out of turn.
During the meeting, Emilia asked if there was a contractual relationship between the "stone block" and the empire, to which Vincent replied that there was no contractual relationship that she was aware of.
That was not a lie, it was just a fact that he was boasting so.
The quickest way to keep a "stone block" in place is to make a contract between a spirit and a human being.
However, the "stone block" has no self-consciousness, and there is no room or window for negotiation in the contract. Therefore, the cost of contracting with a "stone block" is the enormous burden of emptiness that flows into the contractor.
The sensation of sharing one's body 24/7 with an impossibly large, unintelligible entity can easily break the human spirit and drive it into a state where it cannot retain its original form.
In exchange for inescapable crippling, the "stone block" is the property of staying in the contractor's current location.
Therefore, in the empire, the dead criminals who are forcibly contracted to stay with the "stone block" in the lands that need the sanctuary, and the benefits of the sanctuary are distributed to the various regions. Once the location of the "stone block" is lost, it is extremely difficult to find them, so replenishing the ranks of the dead is one of the most important tasks.
And before the battle of the Imperial City began, Chisha, dressed as the emperor, had the "stone block" moved to the fortified city of Garkla to prepare for the "Great Calamity".
However, there were no dead sinners in the city who had contracted with that "stone block".
"If they have been moved, it would be impossible to find them without clues. If so, the only thing that can be gained by going into detail is the distrust of your allies."
"Some of you would have guessed that even if I hadn't bothered to mention it."
Recalling the faces at the meeting, Vincent closed one eye as he floated over a few applicable names.
As Berstetz said, we do not want to create internal discord in this situation. That is exactly the intention of the people who have not spoken out.
In any case, once taken from the citadel, the "stone block" was no longer a usable pawn, but a time-limited ruin whose whereabouts were no longer known.
If there is no other solution than to seize the "witch" that is Sphinx, there is no point in being particularly concerned about her existence--.
"----"
Sir?"
Suddenly, wondering about Vincent's reaction to the stifled Vincent, Berstetz called the emperor.
At the call, Vincent shook his head, "No."
For a moment, a thought crossed his mind, but it was too thin a line of possibility to include in our future plans.
And it is the most difficult thing to handle, next to the most difficult thing to rein in in the empire--.
The only thing that might be able to locate it would be a hound dog with a nose for the unreasonable, but that would be a long shot.
△▼△▼△▼△
--At the same time, somewhere in the imperial capital Lupgana.
In the darkness, it lay sprawled on the hard, damp ground, unable to move.
The wounds are heavy. The wear and tear on both mind and body is also significant. But the biggest reason why they cannot move is because of the wounds inflicted by something higher than the mind, something in the most important part of themself--the damage to their soul.
All along, what they had believed and prayed for was denied and dropped to the ground.
From the time they were born until today, there has never been anything that they valued more than that, and yet they were rejected by the very thing that they valued so much.
They had lost sight of the meaning of life, the reason for it.
They had given away their value, their raison d'etre, what they could do.
Just lying there on the damp ground, they mutter, their chest rising and falling as they breathe.
"Princess......"
They mutter in a thin voice, as if clinging or praying to the person whose meaning they had been denied.
It was weak and just kept muttering.
Arc 8, Chapter 31 "The Stone Block"
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--The "Stone Block" Muspel.
Named one of the Four Great Spirits, an ancient Great Spirit rooted in the land of the Vollachia Empire.
Unlike the "holy beasts", "slashers", and "arbitrators" of other countries, it is an existence that has not left any voluntary actions or claims in history. Although it is known to exist in Vollachia, no further information or sightings of it have surfaced, making it perhaps the most spirit-like spirit of all.
That was just the way it was in Muspel, the "stone block" that is considered a sacred place there.
"Well, Beako explained it to me in a cute way, but I think we're talking about different things."
Beatrice told them an anecdote about Muspel for Subaru, who lacked knowledge about the four major spirits. He listened to it with great interest, but the content of the anecdote differed greatly from the actual situation.
The story is that Muspel is a great spirit whose whereabouts and identity are unknown,
"The fact that you are so sure that they have taken it from you is the flip side of the coin of knowing where you are. That means, on the contrary, Muspel was here in the fortified city. --Am I wrong?"
Then, Subaru puts his index finger and question firmly on Abel's sour face.
Abel's dark eyes narrowed at Subaru's pursuit. But before he can open his mouth--,
"Hey, how dare you talk to the Emperor like that?"
An unexpected rough tone, it interrupted Subaru and Abel, and the wind blew. Immediately after, the toe of Subaru's prodding finger, the white part of it, was suddenly scraped off.
With a whiz, the white blade slices through the wind and claws, and Subaru involuntarily screams, "Whoa!"
And then--,
"You little brat! Stand your damn ground, stand your ground!"
"That's our line! Don't suddenly claw a child's fingertips with a sword!"
Holding his hands in sudden outrage, Subaru spat at the underling of the heinous act--Jamal.
For some reason, Jamal, who has been allowed to accompany Abel since he arrived in Garkla, suddenly clawed Subaru deeply with the white blade he pulled out.
Subaru looked at him with incredulity at his so shortsightedness,
"I thought I was doing a little better, but still, I hate you!"
"Oh? I don't want you kids to like me either. ......And..."
When he told Katya the news of Todd's passing, he was naive to think that we could have a rational conversation.
When Subaru protested against Jamal's unchanged coarse attitude, he tried to glare at him, not minding the age difference, but a raised hand stopped his mature attitude.
Whoever it was, Abel, sitting at the round table, ordered him to do so, "Stop."
"Don't start any unnecessary disputes. Be aware that being a relatively easy-to-use pawn is your value that I recognize. Now is not the time to fight with the Kingdom."
"Fight with the Kingdom.......? Ah."
Subaru raised an eyebrow at Abel's way of saying this, and then turned around to see what his intentions were.
Then, the kingdom side, which saw the current exchange between Subaru and the others--naturally, Emilia, Beatrice, and Spica turned their reproachful eyes toward Jamal.
He also said that if this standoff continues, the girls will not be spared from joining the fight anytime soon.
However, Jamal, who seemed to have no idea of the gravity of the situation, frowned and reluctantly sheathed the brunt of his outburst.
"If the Emperor says so. ......Tsk, you saved my life, kid."
"It's amazing you still have the guts to say that in this situation....... I feel like we're on the brink of an alliance breakup and the empire is about to be destroyed."
Sighing at the emperor's stop, the stares of Subaru's friends, and Jamal's attitude, which was still not offended by it, Subaru looked at Abel.
He described Jamal as easy to handle, but he doesn't think so very much.
"You're not going to accidentally get assassinated at this point, are you?"
In fact, if you were to surrender me with my head in my arms, you wouldn't be made to feel bad about it. This is a very normal attitude for an Imperial soldier...... a little too shortsighted, but not as shortsighted as Cecilus."
"It's not fair to put Cessy out there for comparison......!"
Subaru is indignant at Abel for making a joke that is not funny and a case that cannot be said with or without. With that aside, Abel made Jamal back down with a hand gesture and looked at Subaru again.
Earlier, the finger pointed at Subaru and his readiness to answer the question, i.e., disclosure of information about the "stone block" that almost sidetracked him.
"The question you were snickering about earlier is affirmative. The 'stone block' was in this fortified city. It used the means to keep it in place and made this city its sanctuary."
......I can't believe it, I suppose."
Tapping the round table again with his finger and making a hard sound, Abel tells the truth. And it was Beatrice who involuntarily cleared her throat at Abel's answer.
She has that pretty profile, with her lips in a tight knot,
"It's a crazy story, in fact. My mother told me that the hardest one of the four great spirits to communicate with is a 'stone block', I suppose."
"The hardest one of the four great spirits......"
"The one that does not listen to you the most is the 'holy beast', and the one that is the most difficult to talk to is the 'slasher'. The most useless one to talk to is the 'arbitrator', in fact."
"I'm not sure any of them are much better than the others! Puck, come home!"
He can't hide his surprise at the lineup, which makes him miss Puck more and more.
First of all, it is understandable that the "slasher" and "arbitrator" are in an atmosphere of not being able to speak, but what does it mean that even the great spirits known as "holy beasts" are in a category where they cannot speak?
"Mother said that the Holy Beast is a benevolent ghost, I suppose."
"Hey, I'm inclined to see all the landmarks in this world, but not a single celebrity I'd like to meet...... Isn't that great in reverse?"
Subaru has also spent more than a year in this world, so he sometimes hears the names of famous people, but all of them are so prestigious that he is a bit weary of their titles.
The fact that he is already acquainted with positive celebrities, such as the king-elect candidate and the "Sword Saint", may be significant, though.
In any case--,
"I've never heard of the phrase "to hold a 'stone block' and the expression 'sanctuary' before. Perhaps it is a phrase unique to Vollachia, but what does it mean?"
"To put it simply, the 'stone block' is a great spirit that controls the attributes of the earth. Therefore, the land where it sleeps naturally receives the protection of its properties. In addition to producing soil rich in fruitfulness, it also helps to nourish those who live on the land."
"......I see. That's a much more significant role than I thought."
Otto, interrupting the questioning, puts his hand over his mouth and marvels at Abel's answer.
After all, it is said that within the reach of Muspel's influence, agriculture will flourish and the sick and injured will heal faster, just like a hot spring with all the good things that come with it.
If you were free to place that Muspel at will, it would be--,
"It is true that such a story is much more important to hide than the lie that the fortress city is being rebuilt. The story is that one of the pillars supporting the high national power of the empire was a 'stone block'."
"He disclosed it to us, the people of another country. --I believe that we can see the extent of Emperor Vincent's resolve."
"I don't think it's too much of a risk to be too open about it, but...... I agree with you when you say you don't like infighting."
Anastasia and Julius, their attitude is natural for an expatriate power.
Of course, as Anastasia added at the end, there is no prospect of revealing too much information that is detrimental to the empire.
"If that's what he really wanted to keep hidden, Abel could have misled us in many more ways, couldn't he? The fact that he didn't do so suggests that he didn't."
"Emilia is right. He has a bad character and is very clever. He could have fooled Roswaal and Anastasia if he wanted to. It may not look like it, but this is Abel's best effort at sincerity."
"I am surprised that the half-elf girl is not still more disrespectful. You are not often given such a reputation in this world."
Subaru's lips twitched at the reply, which was not worth following up even though he had gone to the trouble of following up.
The one act of Subaru and the others was brought to a halt by Flop, who clapped his hands to get their attention. He nodded, "You're right, misters",
"The Emperor revealed the facts. He did so because of the urgency of the matter and because it was an unavoidable topic to explain the worst-case scenario."
"Worst-case scenario...... is that it's the end of the imperial lands as the Emperor said?"
"That's what happens!"
Nodding vigorously, Flop affirms Roswaal's confirmation.
The end of the land of the empire--that is the worst scenario of the "Great Calamity" that will strike this Vollachia empire with the use of the "stone block" Muspel.
And before that scenario was revealed to Subaru and his friends, Abel was accompanied by Flop who was supposed to be nothing more than a civilian--,
"It was the fake emperor who entrusted me with the information about the sacred area....... His true intention was not to cooperate with the Great Spirit Stone Block, but to warn me of the possibility that the Stone Block is being used in his opponent's plans."
"I see. Flop must have had a face-to-face meeting with Abel's impostor."
"Yes. I don't have an answer or an opinion as to why he was behaving the way he was, but...... I'm a man who wants to do what is entrusted to me."
Flop still looks pale from the blood he has lost. His answer shows his righteousness as usual, and Subaru, saved by it, inwardly thinks of the false emperor.
The false emperor who drove Abel from his throne and lost his life instead--they can only guess at his true intentions, just as we did with Abel, and we will never hear the answer.
Still, it would have been one of the best moves for the false emperor that the person to whom he entrusted the message to was Flop.
"Well, I guess that would mean that the Empire and Muspel had a contractual relationship, wouldn't it?"
"If your idea of a contract is a contract between a spirit and a magician, you are in denial. The 'stone block' has no such self-consciousness. There is no way to offer a contract of superiority or equality."
"It's Vollachia that brings up the subject of advantageous or disadvantageous contracts with spirits, isn't it? Look at the clean, righteous, smiling relationship between me and Beako."
"It's the way it is, in fact."
"It looks to me like a child playing at being a child."
Abel's comment came as he and Beatrice held hands and took a few light steps together. Abel and Beatrice both puffed out their cheeks, but Abel ignored them and went on with his story.
"No promises were made to the 'stone block'. But it continued to stay within the territory of the empire. Hence the use of it, but...... at the same time it continued to move and take root in the foundations of the Empire."
"Take root?"
"Think of it like the roots of a tree. The earth is strong with long, thick branches, but what happens to the soil after the tree is pulled out?"
"......It would be so full of holes and brittle that it would crumble with just a poke."
Anastasia summarized Abel's question in a nutshell.
Muspel, which continued to enrich the land of Vollachia, in exchange tied its own fate to the empire itself.
And then--,
"I mean, if Muspel dies, that's the end of Vollachia in the literal sense of the word, isn't it? That's a hell of a story!"
In other words, it was like revealing the existence of a bomb that would blow the empire itself to pieces.
A state secret that must be kept hidden, not only this time, but forever more, that Vollachia must deal with. Subaru's surprise at this fact finally catches up with the intellectuals.
However--,
"Don't panic, fool."
"How can you not be in a panic? Ha! Don't tell me you're going to keep all of us who know the secret quiet when this is all over......"
"Do not underestimate me. If I intended to do so, I would not even give you the benefit of the doubt. Intrigue and warfare are not the prerogative of the Kingdom alone."
"Shouldn't the empire that brags about it, and the Kingdom that is famous for it, be destroyed?"
Because of the magnitude of the situation, talk of a national scale is booming, but the Kingdom, not to mention the Empire, does not seem to be a bonus. Subaru also thinks he's had it pretty bad, but even so, he is reminded that the Kingdom of Lugnica is a much more pleasant place to live.
"Well, I am sure that the Kingdom of Lugnica is the most heavenly place on earth, even if it was hell on earth when I met Emilia and her friends."
"Sorry, I just don't know what you're talking about."
Okay, okay, I'll talk about it over here. --So, the truth of what I just said is on that side."
Laughing at Emilia, who tilted her head, Subaru turned the waters of the conversation back to Abel. In response, he quietly closed one eye and crossed his arms,
"The ruler was not in his right mind to leave the heart of the people in the hands of others. Naturally, we had already separated the 'stone block' from the root. Your concern is also a nonsense, not knowing the difficulty of finding it and taking its life. It would be like challenging a dragon with a brush."
"I see! That's a relief! If that's the case, then you can't connect what I said earlier about not having enough time. You might have actually been working on the detachment, but you didn't get it done in time...... so isn't that what's going on here?"
"----"
"Don't shut up just because your portion is getting worse!"
Abel's response, silenced by the figurehead, is proof that Subaru's suspicions were right on target.
Eventually, Vollachia may be able to break the fate of Muspel and its one and only. But that is not now, and it is not a clue to an imminent breakthrough.
"In other words, the fate of the people of the emperor and the 'stone block' are still tied together. If the hordes of corpses pursue them and we continue to kick them away, the mana of the 'stone block' will eventually run out, and our land will inevitably perish. I hear that even soldiers martyred in battle will soon be resurrected. In other words--"
"We don't want to overkill them, and we don't want to have too many deaths on oooour side."
"We shouldn't. It's a wretched, mind-blowing absurdity of the highest order."
In addition to being forced to take a backseat, even the conditions of the defensive battle were viciously set.
He doesn't know why Serena is enjoying herself, but the enemy's relentless scheming, which is more than just a forceful push by the wights, reveals an artifice to ensure the destruction of the empire--,
"--But, why would Sphinx do this, I suppose?"
"Huh?"
Subaru blinked at Emilia's words, who suddenly uttered a question that came to mind.
The identity and plans of the "Witch" Sphinx--a fearsome enemy who is planning to resurrect many of the dead who lie in the land of the empire, and who is planning for the destruction of the "Great Calamity", were revealed in a very concrete manner.
But the motive of the "Witch," as Emilia wondered, is--,
"Well, that's because I want to destroy the empire ......I don't know how you feel either."
"I don't care what Mr. Natsuki's true intentions are, that is not a sufficient answer to Lady Emilia's question. If the identity of the enemy's ringleader, as confirmed by the Margrave and Beatrice, is the 'Witch"'who once raged in the kingdom of Lugnica, then the brunt of the resentment should be directed at the kingdom."
"Yet the 'witch' have raised the dead in the empire. It certainly doesn't add up. But it is possible that it was the empire that fit the bill."
"The bill, sir?"
Otto and Julius exchange glances, starting with a question that Emilia had.
Otto asked Otto for a tip of the reasoning, while Julius put his finger on his own thin chin,
"The existence of the four great spirits possessing substandard mana was indispensable for the realization of the army of zombies...... which mixed the 'Sacrament of the Immortal King' with restoration magic. Therefore, the 'witch' realized the formula in the empire--"
Then Julius paused for a beat and looked around at all the faces in the conference room,
"Perhaps the plan is to destroy the empire and then invade the kingdom."
"Wha......"
"--Don't be an idiot!!"
When Subaru exclaimed at the possibility of Julius's fears, Goz shouted angrily, with the force to paint over it. Goz clenched his fist as big as a child's head tightly and gritted his teeth while maintaining a minimum level of rationality that would not destroy the round table."
"If you are right! Our Vollachia is about to be destroyed in the nick of time!"
"Well, technically, it's just the first phase of the plan to hit the real target. No, I'm sure the location of the 'stone block' and the zombies were in the works much, much earlier."
"Grrrrrrr......!!"
Anastasia probably had no intention of doing so, but her supplement did nothing to appease Goz's anger. Goz growled in frustration, and Jamal seemed to be just as agitated as Anastasia, but no one can be convinced that the crisis in his hometown is just an incidental incident.
Subaru is thinking about his heart, but then he notices the expression on Beatrice's face beside him.
"Beako?"
"--. You know what Julius thinks, I suppose. It's just...... Roswaal."
"Yes, I understand your concern. --I wonder if Sphinx has any human feelings of retaliation against the kingdom. I have a feeling that only half of what Julius the Knight thinks is true."
"What's half of Julius's idea......?"
"In the Empire, the conditions were right. That's why I did it. That's it."
Subaru gasped at Roswaal's words, leaving the yellow eye and closing the other one. Beatrice, next to him with a grim expression on her face, says nothing because she agrees with him.
If Julius is right, the events in the empire are no stranger to the kingdom.
But if Beatrice and Roswaal's idea is correct, that is even more unhelpful.
And then--,
"In any case, the Witch has already made her bow to the Empire. Since even the lives of members of the royal family have been shamed, we no longer have any choice but to destroy our enemies. Am I wrong?"
"The Prime Minister's remarks were very bloodthirsty. As I thought, His Highness the Prime Minister was not pleased with the situation of Her Excellency Lamia."
"--Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
Perhaps there was a plot to make fun of her, but if so, Serena's intentions were off.
Berstetz, with his emotionless, threadbare face, still carrying a clearly felt anger toward his enemies, maintains only a surface demeanor of serenity.
At Berstetz's words, Serena traced the sword wound on her face,
"No? The current Prime Minister is much more my kind of man."
"You say terrible things."
"Hahaha! I'm going to be of good character as long as I can keep my eyes on the wound."
Serena laughs boldly as she describes Berstetz, who has had a change of heart.
Aside from the exchange between the two, the inside story is just as Berstetz described. There is no other option but to have a doe with Sphinx, who leads the army of the dead.
No matter what the purpose of the project.
"So, is Emilia-tan going to be okay?"
"--Hm. I guess that means that even though I've been thinking hard about it, I don't know right now. I wish I had a chance to hear it directly from Sphinx......"
"We ran into each other for a moment, but it didn't feel like we could talk much."
"Betty agrees with Subaru, in fact. It will be difficult to have a dialogue with her, I suppose."
Sphinx, who targeted the dragon carriage by "Escaping by Death" using her own life.
She did not feel any heat in the dialogue, which was not many, as well as the battle strategy of using up her life. An opponent who is emotionally unmoved will not be provoked. This is Subaru's weak point.
Therefore, even "Return by Death" is a difficult enemy--.
"The other side is steadily increasing the number of zombies, and Muspel is slowly reducing the remaining strength of the Great Spirits. The endurance game will only put us at a disadvantage."
"But it's also not a good idea to gather all the forces in the empire and attack the imperial capital again....... A clash of large armies would be a battle of life and death. The damage would be even greater."
"The bounded conditions that cannot cause damage to either us or the other party...... meaning that there is almost a single strategy to save the empire from the impending 'Great Calamity'."
Subaru, Anastasia, and Otto continued their words, and their gazes naturally fell on Abel, who was seated at the round table. He said that all the people of the empire were parties to the event, and that the man standing at the top of the list of parties would take their gazes for granted,
"--A small group of elite forces will attack the Imperial Capital and seize the leader, the Witch, and dismantle the path of the 'Great Calamity' that she has laid out."
--This, the final phase of the battle that had begun in the Vollachia Empire, the campaign to stop the "Great Calamity" was clearly declared as such.
△▼△▼△▼△
The conclusion of the meeting around the round table was reached, and a pause was made.
In accordance with the policy established, from this point forward, the selection of personnel for the blitzkrieg and the plan for the attack on the Imperial Capital would be developed.
But before those discussions begin in earnest--,
"--It did not occur to me that the 'stone block' had been placed in Garkla."
And so it was Berstetz who began in the conference room, where only the emperor and the prime minister remained.
It was a time when not only the members of the allied kingdoms, but also those on the imperial side, such as Serena and Goz, were not present. Jamal, the escort, was also made to wait outside the room, and it was a discussion among the leaders of the empire alone--although if it were true, there would have been one more person here.
"So, in other words, you've been played right into Chisha's hands."
"It appears so. If everything had gone according to schedule, this time of the year...... the sacred area should have been near the cloud city of Mezoreia in the southwest. At what point did they catch us off guard?"
"He looks at me like I'm closing my eyes. It must have been easy to steal."
"They seem to be closed, but they are not. Hence, that's why it's so effective in prevention...... is only a losing proposition if you say it after you've actually been conspired against."
Shaking his head loosely, Berstetz mutters a lament about his blunder. Vincent, however, does not consider this to be Berstetz's fault.
As is often the case, Chisha simply outperformed Vincent and Berstetz's intentions.
In addition to deceiving both the emperor and the prime minister, Chisha was also prepared to find out what the coming "Great Calamity" would entail.
"If the 'stone block' had not been used, the fortified city is a good base from which to fortify the city. If the 'stone block' has been taken, it is--"
"In other words, they are used for the plot of the 'Great Calamity'. It seems that the great fool has thought of many ways to destroy the empire and has carried them out in his mind. Hence, he was right on target."
"I had no idea that the goal was to destroy them, even if it was to counter usurp their usurpation. From now on, I shall endeavor to be stern."
"--. Do so."
Vincent was slightly taken aback when Berstetz spoke of his vision for the future.
This was because Berstetz believed that after this matter was settled, it was not out of the realm of possibility that he would resign his position as Prime Minister and seek to martyr himself for Lamia.
"Since Her Excellency Lamia refused to do so."
Finding the question in that momentary void, Berstetz answered it himself.
Hearing this, Vincent says nothing. He merely gave a small sniff. In response to Vincent's reaction, Berstetz continued, "Even so,"
"I was surprised to hear Your Excellency speak of the 'stone block' and the sacred lands. It is difficult to say that the separation of the 'stone block' from the land is also in sight."
"As soon as this matter is settled, we will start the national policy that we have stopped. If we cannot produce results by the time the non-aggression pact with the Kingdom expires in two years' time, there will be no tomorrow, even if we go beyond today."
"I guess so. By the way,"
Berstetz paused a beat and opened his threadbare eyes slightly.
"As you can see, we will not reveal how to fasten the 'stone block'. Not only is it an Imperial secret, but it is also a matter of concern to our allies."
"Natsuki Subaru and the half-elf who is a Spirit Arts user, will be very fastidious. --It will be troublesome for them to know that they are taking mortal sinners as their contractors for the 'stone block' and disposing of them until death."
"Your Excellency."
Vincent shrugged his shoulders at Berstetz, who nailed him for not speaking out of turn.
During the meeting, Emilia asked if there was a contractual relationship between the "stone block" and the empire, to which Vincent replied that there was no contractual relationship that she was aware of.
That was not a lie, it was just a fact that he was boasting so.
The quickest way to keep a "stone block" in place is to make a contract between a spirit and a human being.
However, the "stone block" has no self-consciousness, and there is no room or window for negotiation in the contract. Therefore, the cost of contracting with a "stone block" is the enormous burden of emptiness that flows into the contractor.
The sensation of sharing one's body 24/7 with an impossibly large, unintelligible entity can easily break the human spirit and drive it into a state where it cannot retain its original form.
In exchange for inescapable crippling, the "stone block" is the property of staying in the contractor's current location.
Therefore, in the empire, the dead criminals who are forcibly contracted to stay with the "stone block" in the lands that need the sanctuary, and the benefits of the sanctuary are distributed to the various regions. Once the location of the "stone block" is lost, it is extremely difficult to find them, so replenishing the ranks of the dead is one of the most important tasks.
And before the battle of the Imperial City began, Chisha, dressed as the emperor, had the "stone block" moved to the fortified city of Garkla to prepare for the "Great Calamity".
However, there were no dead sinners in the city who had contracted with that "stone block".
"If they have been moved, it would be impossible to find them without clues. If so, the only thing that can be gained by going into detail is the distrust of your allies."
"Some of you would have guessed that even if I hadn't bothered to mention it."
Recalling the faces at the meeting, Vincent closed one eye as he floated over a few applicable names.
As Berstetz said, we do not want to create internal discord in this situation. That is exactly the intention of the people who have not spoken out.
In any case, once taken from the citadel, the "stone block" was no longer a usable pawn, but a time-limited ruin whose whereabouts were no longer known.
If there is no other solution than to seize the "witch" that is Sphinx, there is no point in being particularly concerned about her existence--.
"----"
Sir?"
Suddenly, wondering about Vincent's reaction to the stifled Vincent, Berstetz called the emperor.
At the call, Vincent shook his head, "No."
For a moment, a thought crossed his mind, but it was too thin a line of possibility to include in our future plans.
And it is the most difficult thing to handle, next to the most difficult thing to rein in in the empire--.
The only thing that might be able to locate it would be a hound dog with a nose for the unreasonable, but that would be a long shot.
△▼△▼△▼△
--At the same time, somewhere in the imperial capital Lupgana.
In the darkness, it lay sprawled on the hard, damp ground, unable to move.
The wounds are heavy. The wear and tear on both mind and body is also significant. But the biggest reason why they cannot move is because of the wounds inflicted by something higher than the mind, something in the most important part of themself--the damage to their soul.
All along, what they had believed and prayed for was denied and dropped to the ground.
From the time they were born until today, there has never been anything that they valued more than that, and yet they were rejected by the very thing that they valued so much.
They had lost sight of the meaning of life, the reason for it.
They had given away their value, their raison d'etre, what they could do.
Just lying there on the damp ground, they mutter, their chest rising and falling as they breathe.
"Princess......"
They mutter in a thin voice, as if clinging or praying to the person whose meaning they had been denied.
It was weak and just kept muttering.