“Mmmgh!” If she was recalling properly, he was a fellow student at the academy. If she’d been kidnapped by a student, that made this whole thing even more baffling. And more importantly, where was she?! Based on the way the whole room was gently being rocked by the waves, she could tell she was on board a ship, but it was clearly not a Western Imperial ship. In fact, it didn’t appear to be a ship from the kingdom either. The room was filled with strange designs she’d never even seen before. Juana had interacted with plenty of other countries before, but she couldn’t imagine there was a country out there where she wouldn’t even recognize the material the floor was made of. The ceiling was being lit liberally with magic tools powered by magic stones that she had never seen even in the castle, making it so that even though the sun was setting outside, the inside of the room was as bright as midday.
“Well, this won’t do. Why would the kingdom’s consecrated saint be aboard a Western Imperial ship? How did you get to the Simmons region from the castle? Would a guest like you not be required to have the queen’s permission to travel so far away? I can’t imagine she would give that permission while the king’s away either. This certainly is a mystery, isn’t it?” The freckled boy didn’t seem especially troubled or surprised, and seemed to be tilting his head to sell his act more than anything.
“Mmmgh!” This is bad. This boy knows Juana. That meant that he knew she was a saint, he knew the ship was associated with the Western Empire, and that it was strange for her to be here. A chill ran down her spine. She had a terrible feeling.
He can’t know about our plan too, can he? No. Calm yourself, Juana. It was impossible for this plan to leak.
Those who knew the plan were all bound by a restriction magic that made them unable to speak of it to anyone. They’d used some of their meager stocks of magic stones and charm magic to further prevent anyone speaking about it, all to keep the information confidential.
Besides, it was next to impossible for anyone to figure out the plan in the first place. Nobody in this world would possibly have the ability to think of something as patently ridiculous as a country attacking another country. Even if an exceptional spy were to infiltrate the Western Empire and see just what they were dealing with, only a truly eccentric genius would be able to come to this conclusion. There was no precedent, so it was unimaginable. And even if one was certain of this plan, you would have to be some kind of superhuman: even more of an eccentric genius who was proactive, had tremendous military power, and crisis management skills. Like hell someone like that would be here, today of all days.
“Sorry, but I won’t be untying you, even if you are a saint. I can’t have you firing those cannons on your ship, after all. It seems you have some mages with you, meaning you’d be capable of firing them as far as the castle, which is even more unacceptable.”
“Mmmgh!” Maybe she was wrong. Maybe there really was a superhuman eccentric genius right here on the ship with her. He’d found it all out and had seen right through their plans. But that still wouldn’t be a problem. After all, he was from the kingdom, and they hadn’t had a mage in over thirty years. They had no idea what sort of things magic was capable of anymore.
Juana gave her fellow mages a look. This was nothing to them. Even if their bodies were bound and they couldn’t speak, they could still use magic. A person from a backwater country like the kingdom who didn’t even know that much had no chance of winning. They could easily undo the knots on thread like...thread like...thread...like...?
“Mmgh? Mmmmgh?!”
Apparently, they couldn’t.
“Mmgh?”
“Mmmgh! Mmmgh! Mmmmmgh!”
It wasn’t just Juana who couldn’t undo her bindings. None of her underlings could either, and they were all shaking their heads frantically.
We can’t...use magic?! There’s not a single reason we shouldn’t be able to use magic!
Maybe their mana reserves had run out? But they’d been using the absolute minimum amount of charm magic necessary so they could preserve their mana for firing the cannons. There was no way they were out of mana. In fact, they could all feel the mana flowing throughout their bodies as proof. Yet something was blocking them from using it. It was the first time they’d ever felt this. Even if they wanted to try, they had no idea what it was that was blocking their ability.
“Now, I personally would love for you to lower those awful cannons of yours and have all you Western Imperials head back home peacefully, promising you’ll never do a thing like this again. Could you agree to something like that?” The freckled boy gave a confident smirk at the bewildered saint. “There were too many soldiers and sailors to fit in here, but they’re all tied up too.”
“Mmgh! Mmmmgh!”
But that’s impossible! Even if it was a scheme she was reluctant to carry out, she’d planned it so scrupulously. She’d designed the cannons, trained the mages, and done the major reinforcements on the ships to be able to handle the shock of firing the cannons. It was a grand-scale plan that had cost so much money, manpower, and magic stones. She couldn’t just agree to this and go back home. If she returned without having fulfilled her duty, Juana and all of her underlings would be sent to the borders. Juana and all of the other mages here were researchers. It was no exaggeration to say that the magic technology they’d developed was what had made the Western Empire into the prosperous country it was. But now, their organization wasn’t nearly as valued as it used to be. The Western Empire had used up so much of its magic stone reserves that they couldn’t provide the stones for research or development any longer.
“Oh, goodness. Why, you can’t answer if your mouths are covered, can you?” The freckled boy took a small, ivory-colored knife from his inner pocket and cut the thread covering Juana’s mouth. The thread (that she’d been unable to undo no matter how much she struggled) fell easily to the ground.
“What...?”
“Oh, Lady Juana... Have you been drinking?” The boy had gotten close enough to cut the thread, so he sniffed the air again to check.
“What?”
“By the smell of it...this must be Château L’encafé wine. An elusive red wine produced only in very small quantities each year from the Western Imperial Alder region, if I’m not mistaken?” Juana had just downed an entire bottle of it moments before, so it was natural she smelled of it, but this was freaky accurate.
There were winemaking places scattered all throughout the various regions of the Western Empire; in fact, it was well-known for having far more wineries than other countries. Each location had so much history, so much background, and so much to admire. In fact, it was said that once someone had fallen into the pit of wine obsession in the Western Empire, they’d wind up trapped in an unending cycle of learning and never emerge again. It was doubtful this boy was even old enough to drink, yet he was able to identify such an obscure wine, known only to a select few obsessives, by the smell alone? At the very least, Juana didn’t know anyone capable of that among the wine lovers she knew. If only she hadn’t met him here, she would have loved to have a nice chat with him about wine.
However, she knew it was wise to keep her mouth shut. As much as she would have killed to wine it up with the boy, this was not the time or place. Only an idiot would talk in a disadvantageous situation like this.
“Keeping quiet, are we? Well, I’ve already reported this to the castle and requested they send the knights in, so they should be here in a few hours. That’ll be when it’s time for a regular civilian like me to withdraw. I’ll leave the inquiry to the experts.” Even seeing Juana very clearly refusing to answer, the freckled boy didn’t seem worried in the least.
While Juana wanted to interject saying that someone who could swiftly overwhelm five mages (Juana included), the Western Empire’s proud soldiers, and a bunch of massive sailors could hardly call himself a regular civilian, but she resisted. After all, it was almost time for the cannons to fire. Juana let a small laugh escape her lips.
“Hmm? Is something funny to you?” The small change in Juana’s expression didn’t escape the boy’s notice. More proof that he definitely wasn’t a “regular civilian,” in Juana’s eyes.
“Heh heh.” As Juana lay prone and bound on the ground, she could see a certain someone before her. Their eyes met, and he nodded with a nervous expression. Standing there was a human. One small enough that one might mistake him for a bug. He was no larger than the tip of one’s thumb.
“What?!” Even the freckled boy couldn’t hide his surprise at a thumb-sized human. Even if he’d noticed the human, it was too late. That human was also a mage. Because he’d suddenly appeared before Juana, she realized that meant he could use magic. Thus, their victory was assured.
The thumb-sized mage raised his finger in the air and shouted in a high-pitched voice, “Kaboom!”
Kaboom!
The very same moment the thumb-sized mage cried out, they heard the sound of an explosion.
“No!” The freckled boy looked in the direction of the explosion. Though there were no windows in this room, Juana knew that the Western Imperial ships were in the direction the freckled boy was looking.
The ninjas had made certain there was nobody on the Western Imperial ships. Yet right then, the Western Imperial bombardment on the capital began.