This was far too outlandish for him to process, and his brain struggled to catch up. As such, Oscar could do nothing but stare at the woman like a fool. In the meantime, Martina went on talking. By the time she finished, Oscar was in a state of blank astonishment.
“You are telling me that Emperor Ramza abdicated the throne, after which Chancellor Darmés succeeded him as our new emperor. Lord Felix was dissatisfied with this, and so led the Azure Knights in a rebellion. Do I have that right?”
“That is all correct,” Martina confirmed. She spoke as though none of it had anything to do with her. Oscar grew more and more unsettled by the way she appeared not to feel anything at all. “One thing,” she cautioned. “The Azure Knights are rebels. I would take care before giving titles to their ringleader.”
“I-Indeed...”
“I shall now relay His Imperial Majesty’s decree.”
Oscar knelt, ready to accept the emperor’s words, and Martina nodded.
“In the name of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Darmés Guski of the Asvelt Empire, you are commanded to exterminate the renegade Azure Knights.”
“The emperor’s wish is our command...” Oscar hesitated. “But we are fighting the Royal Army,” he went on, his voice naturally growing stronger. “What does His Imperial Majesty have to say about that?” Ordering them to go after the Azure Knights under the circumstances could only be described as ludicrous.
“The Royal Army will soon learn that their operation was a failure. Once this happens, it is His Imperial Majesty’s belief that they will withdraw.”
As Oscar listened, he wondered if things would really work out so tidily. It seemed equally possible that after failing to take the imperial capital, they would set their sights on retaking Kier Fortress instead. However, he could hardly contradict the word of the emperor, so he could only express this indirectly.
“It would be ideal if the Royal Army were to quietly withdraw, yes...”
“There is no cause for concern. The possibilities that you fear have naturally been taken into account. The emperor has sent a mighty host as reinforcements.”
“A mighty host?”
“Yes, it will not be long...” Martina paused. “I believe they have arrived,” she said, looking to the east, just as a pale-faced soldier in the armor of the Helios Knights burst into the room.
“Major General Oscar! Ghouls...! There are ghouls...!!!”
The woman’s artificial expression and the word “ghoul” seemed to fit seamlessly together. Before he knew it, Oscar’s legs carried him over to where the soldier was pointing.
“What the...?!” They had not been exaggerating. A disordered horde of grotesque creatures was lumbering toward the Royal Army’s flank, letting out moans that chilled the blood.
“How ill-mannered your soldiers are. Calling the soldiers sent by His Imperial Majesty himself ‘ghouls’...” Oscar realized Martina was standing at his side. Contrary to her words, her face was utterly vacant. It only made her all the more unsettling.
“Are...are those people?”
“They used to be. Now, they pledge their undying loyalty to our glorious emperor. Rest assured that unlike a certain order of knights, these will not betray us.” The discordance between her unchanging expression and the excitement in her voice was what finally pushed Oscar into feeling afraid of Martina. “Now, I must attend to my duties. Excuse me.”
Martina left, and the figures in their silver masks who had stood there like ghosts through it all without uttering a word followed her out. Oscar stared after them as though possessed.
“You’ve got more important things to do than stand around gaping, Oscar Remnand,” he told himself. His gaze fixed upon the stage that reared up behind him.
“—the hell is that?” Rosenmarie was keeping up a steady stream of arrows when, emerging out of nowhere from the east, she sighted the grotesque horde as it fell upon the Royal Army. She stared as chaos swept up both armies in the blink of an eye, soon followed by the sound of frantic footsteps coming up the ladder.
“Hey, what’s—”
“They’re imperial soldiers!”
Rosenmarie blinked, then looked closely at Oscar, whose shoulders rose and fell with his heaving breaths.
“Those things are with the imperial army? Is this some sort of joke?”
Oscar looked down at the battlefield, coughed loudly, then said, “I am assuredly not joking, my lady. Not one of them has raised a hand against our allies.” He went on to explain that they were reinforcements dispatched from the imperial capital.
“‘Reinforcements’? I didn’t ask for reinforcements, and if the imperial army has been keeping ghouls like those as pets, it’s news to me.”
Even accepting that they were of the imperial army for argument’s sake, it would have been entirely unnatural for her, one of the empire’s Three Generals, to not have heard about such a military concern. All her doubts, however, were swept aside by what Oscar said next.
“They were sent to us by His Imperial Majesty, the newly ascended Emperor Darmés.”
“Say wha...?!”
“I will explain, my lady.”
The story that began to spill out of Oscar’s mouth only served to disorient Rosenmarie further. Finally, when they reached the part about the Azure Knights’ defection, she held up a hand to cut him off.
“Hold up a moment. I’m processing.”
As Oscar nodded, she started off by breaking down what he had said.
To begin with, we have the change of emperor... she thought. The first thing that comes to mind is illness, but I never heard so much as a whisper that His Imperial Majesty was ill. Even if they were keeping it quiet, it’s unnatural that not even a hint of it reached my ears. The former emperor did come down with an unidentified illness and passed away young, though, when he was only in his forties. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that he passed the risk on to his son...