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Count Atlaus was an important member of the neutral faction.
A group of nobles had distanced themselves from the power struggle in the imperial capital to focus on their territories, forming what was called the neutral faction. In other words, they had no intention of backing either Arthur or Lance.
The situation, however, was subject to change. In this case, Count Atlaus had decided to side with Lance after being saved from a wyvern outbreak in his domain. With the help of his friends in the neutral faction, he had managed to raise a twenty-thousand-strong army that was currently heading through a mountain pass in the direction of Berwick.
“I’m sorry for involving you in my affairs,” Count Atlaus remarked to the man next to him as they marched at the center of the army.
“I don’t mind, Brother. We’re family, after all,” answered Viscount Wieber. Not only was he the husband of Count Atlaus’s little sister, making him Atlaus’s brother-in-law, but their families had known each other even before the marriage, and the two of them were sworn friends.
“But it’s obvious that Prince Lance is at a disadvantage against Prince Arthur. I might be leading you to a losing battle,” Count Atlaus said, his expression clouded. Both of the princes had their strengths and weaknesses, but when it came to warfare, Arthur was far ahead of his brother. Most of the nobles were practically certain that Arthur would win. “I decided to side with Prince Lance because of my debt toward Princess Millicia, but that doesn’t apply to you.”
“Never mind that. Even without the matter of owing Prince Lance and Princess Millicia, I would still help you. You’re always taking care of me, after all,” Viscount Wieber replied with a smile, as though all of this was nothing. Then he continued, “Also, to be honest, I don’t want Prince Arthur to become the next emperor. If he does, it’s basically guaranteed that we’ll start to invade the neighboring nations.”
He wasn’t the only noble who thought this. After all, Arthur was quite belligerent and didn’t even try to hide his desire to expand the empire. If he became the new emperor, he would surely go to war against otherwise friendly countries.
“If such a thing happens, then even the nobles from the neutral faction will be forced to fight, leading to the deaths of many of our people...” Viscount Wieber continued. The neutral faction stayed neutral because they had no desire to fight. However, if their neutrality led to them being drawn into even more conflict, then it was a pointless pursuit. “No matter how strong the empire is, I don’t think we can win while surrounded by enemies. If we want to protect our country and our people, we must ally with Prince Lance.”
If they sided with Lance and lost, they would forfeit their domains—or worse, be executed as rebels. Still, that was better than letting the nation go to its ruin.
In the end, both choices had their consequences, and there was no guarantee that either answer was correct.
“You’re right. We should have joined Prince Lance’s side from the start. But we lacked the resolve...” Count Atlaus agreed—they should have allied with Lance, but they had been too afraid of the consequences for their lands and their people, so they opted to sit on the fence instead. “But now that we’ve decided to help, we’ll fight with everything we have to repay Princess Millicia for saving my territory and make Prince Lance the next empe—”
An explosion rang out before Count Atlaus could finish his sentence. He and Viscount Wieber quickly tried to calm their horses, which had been surprised by the noise.
“What’s happened?!” Count Atlaus asked one of his subordinates.
“W-We don’t know! Only that something exploded—”
Another explosion echoed, followed by several more. Were they being attacked? Count Atlaus couldn’t see anything amiss in his immediate surroundings, at least.
“Look!”
“Smoke...”
They spotted black smoke rising from afar.
“Is that a wildfire?” Count Atlaus was confused. What exactly was happening? Should he order his army to resume its advance, or should they stop to investigate?
Just as Count Atlaus was about to voice instructions to his men, someone suddenly landed next to him. “What?!” he exclaimed.
“Stand back, Brother!” Viscount Wieber and the nearby soldiers quickly turned their weapons toward the intruder.
“Wait... Aren’t you...?” However, the individual was someone Count Atlaus knew, and he couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise at the unexpected arrival.
A little earlier, when the neutral faction army arrived at the mountain pass, the mages from the Ladies of the Lake started to make their move.
“Well then, let’s eliminate the traitors!”
“The mountain pass is narrow, which means a large number of troops will have trouble fighting there. We’ll block the entrance and the exit with earth magic to cut off their escape. Then we’ll create explosions to collapse the pass and send them to the bottom of the ravine!” declared one of the mages clad in black robes with a white mask.
With this strategy, they could fight even though they were outnumbered—in fact, because the pass was so narrow, being numerous was actually a disadvantage. Soldiers might end up striking one another in the confusion or sliding down the mountain pass.
“For exceptional mages like us, this is a trivial task. As her disciples, let us fight well and not bring shame upon Master Merlin!”
“Yes, let’s! For Master Merlin!”
“And for Prince Arthur, the greatest conqueror of all!”
All fired up, the mages began to manipulate their mana for casting magic. If their plan succeeded, Lance would lose the help of twenty thousand soldiers, putting him at an even greater disadvantage.
Unfortunately for the members of the Ladies of the Lake, though, Count Atlaus and his men weren’t the ones who would be dying today.
“I see. So that’s how you’re gonna do it. Awfully courageous of you to take on twenty thousand men with just the ten of you,” someone suddenly interjected.
The masked mages turned toward the source of the voice and found a young man with purple hair.
“What?!”
“When did you get here?!”
“I’ve been here for a while... Like, seriously, how did you not notice me?” The young man with purple hair—Caim—scratched his head, exasperated. While he had concealed his mana and thinned his presence as much as possible to creep up behind the members of the Ladies of the Lake, he had never expected to get so close without being spotted. “You’re too specialized in magic. You should train your bodies more.”
“Wait, isn’t he...?”
“Yes, he’s the rebel who attacked the imperial palace!”
The mages’ enmity welled up within them. While this was their first time seeing Caim, they had heard about him—he was the young man who had targeted Arthur, fought Gawain and Merlin, and managed to escape the castle alive despite the strength of his three opponents.
“He’s Princess Millicia’s paramour!”
“Hey, don’t call me that. It sounds indecent,” Caim protested, offended, though it wasn’t that far from the truth. “Oh well, whatever. Not like it matters what people call me if they’re just gonna die soon.”
“Kill him!”
The mages started to activate their spells to murder Caim, but they had waited too long to make their move.