“The younger brother of the King of Myzahn,” Lord Nazel answered.
My eyes opened wide in shock; I now realized why Defi had reacted earlier. He had always been by Prince Rivage’s side, so he’d recognized his former boss even from a distance.
“So you mean that this man is Rivage Myzahn. According to rumors, he’s a cruel, ruthless man. He isn’t moving a muscle. Is he all right?” Prince Valen looked at Prince Rivage warily. It seemed that while the two of them knew about each other, they had never met.
“He’s alive. Davier paralyzed him.”
Lord Davier’s magic couldn’t paralyze anyone, but since he could control small animals of all kinds, one of the creatures under his command had probably possessed that ability.
“Davier would be the former duke...no, I won’t dig too deeply into it. So that’s why he can’t move right now. I see, this is certainly a wonderful ‘souvenir.’ I’m indebted to you two. That’s yet another favor I owe you. With him here, an armistice should be possible,” Prince Valen said.
“I’m not so sure about that. Myzahn as a whole has a rigid way of thinking, and that applies to this fellow too,” Lord Davier said as he stared at Prince Rivage.
That’s true. Prince Rivage easily abandoned Defi. But in the end, coming to Sutrena had been a positive for Defi. If the Margrave of Sutrena had been a cruel man, Defi might have been killed back then. Defi himself said that it was better than being killed outright, though... That was the decision that Prince Rivage had once made. I personally found him an indifferent and scary person who talked about “getting rid of” people like they were objects.
“Defi, are you okay?” I whispered to Defi so that the others couldn’t hear us.
“Yes, I’m fine. I can’t get over it easily, but I’ve somewhat come to terms with it. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how Prince Rivage will be treated. But I can’t do anything as I am now. It’s also my fault that he got captured, and I helped Sutrena knowing it would come to this.” It looked like Defi was blaming himself.
“Don’t worry, Defi. I doubt Prince Valen will impose an extreme punishment. Given what Prince Rivage has done, he probably won’t get off lightly, tho— Ah, I’m sorry! Why did I go and say that?!” As I was finishing my sentence, I realized I wasn’t comforting him at all.
“It’s exactly as you say, Lady Agnes. I’m fine. But perhaps we should have informed Polpystan better about Prince Rivage’s sealing magic. Also, I didn’t know that Myzahn would start its invasion so soon. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more useful.”
“You’ve done more than enough.”
“I foolishly believed that Prince Rivage’s magic was just sealing. I didn’t notice anything despite being close to him for so long. I should have known that given his position, he wouldn’t trust anyone other than his older brother the king. I could have considered the possibility he wasn’t being truthful with me.”
“Defi...” My heart ached for him when I watched him being so hard on himself.
“Because of my misunderstanding, it became difficult to arrive at the possibility of Prince Rivage possessing duplication magic. The mayhem in Polpystan is my fault, because I provided incomplete information...”
“However, you nullified all of Prince Rivage’s magic.”
“Yeah, but still.” Defi hesitated but continued speaking in a quivering voice. “If I had observed my surroundings more proactively from the beginning, maybe something would have been different. Back then, I was only following orders out of habit.” He regretted his past.
“Your inner struggle is easy to imagine. Even so, I still think that you were a great help this time. Thank you, truly,” I told Defi while looking up at him gently. “I’m really happy that Lord Nazel and everyone else made it back safely.”
“Lady Agnes...” Defi still looked depressed, but his eyes wavered a little. “Your words always help me out.” Defi looked to be on the verge of tears. I wanted to comfort him properly, but since we were hiding right now, I was limited in how I could move.
The two of us felt kind of embarrassed as we continued observing things in secret. On the other side of the rock, Prince Valen was about to speak with Prince Rivage, but Lord Nazel warned him.
“It’s dangerous to get closer to Prince Rivage than that. He was the one using the magic that threw the soldiers into disarray. When Robin escaped in Desnim, Myzahn was pulling the strings.”
“Yes, I heard the summary when I was in Desnim. Myzahni spies helped Robin escape.”
“Prince Rivage’s magic is duplication, and he most likely has Robin’s magic. Robin’s magic is mental recovery and psychosomatic purification, but depending on how it’s used, it can temporarily daze people. Magic that affects the mind is very rare, but also truly dangerous.”
“What? Then that disturbing magic...”
“Was Prince Rivage’s. He was using his magic to sow chaos into the battlefield.”
Prince Valen looked convinced.
“So that’s how the soldiers ended up like that,” he said.
“Prince Rivage’s magic is duplication, an extremely rare kind. According to old records, a high-level user can possess multiple kinds of magic at once. It’s unclear how many kinds of magic Prince Rivage has at the moment, so we mustn’t be careless.”
“After our soldiers temporarily blacked out, they all had their mana sealed. It’s possible Prince Rivage also has sealing magic.”
“Yes, that’s one of his magics.”
“In that case, we need to have a Polpystani mana sealer seal Prince Rivage’s mana. We can’t approach him carelessly.” Prince Valen ordered a nearby subordinate to call for a mana sealer. One was likely nearby. Apparently, in addition to providing an advantage in combat, mana sealers were often dispatched to battlefields to seal the mana of prisoners of war.
Some time later, a Polpystani mana sealer appeared and sealed Prince Rivage’s mana. Now he couldn’t use Master Robin’s magic, his sealing magic, and any other kind of magic he might have, so we could rest easy.
“Now then, we will keep Prince Rivage under our custody until the armistice negotiations. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but we will treat him with courtesy.”
Several of Prince Valen’s subordinates picked up the immobilized Prince Rivage and carried him away. After they left, Defi and I sneakily came out from behind the rock; we didn’t need to hide anymore.
“Please don’t blame yourself, Defi.”
“Lady Agnes...”
“Like I said earlier, everyone was safe thanks to you. Thanks to cutting short this pointless conflict, there were significantly fewer casualties for both enemies and allies. I thank you as the Margravine of Sutrena. You did an excellent job and contributed greatly during this incident.”
The soldiers summoned here hadn’t gathered because they wanted to fight; many had been conscripted against their will. Some of them were here because it was their job, but excluding the ones who had come for the money, even they should want to avoid conflict. So there was no reason for them to get injured and die.
“It would be best if wars fought for the convenience of those in power disappeared. If they want to fight, they should go to some deserted island by themselves and squabble without dragging everyone around them into it.”
To begin with, the battle between Myzahn and Polpystan was rooted in historical reasons. Neither country had any particular problems making a living at the moment. Polpystan had its struggles, like a food shortage, but thanks to Desnim’s help, the Polpystanis could continue living the same way. Myzahn also faced the hardships typical of being near the desert, but it wasn’t a completely inhospitable environment or anything. To be blunt, their circumstances were much better than the Sutrena of the past. And yet the two countries were still fighting over a long-standing grudge that had been born from a conflict over the desert region. Getting dragged into that kind of conflict was nothing but a nuisance for ordinary people living in the present. This wasn’t something royalty and nobility should be doing.
Defi still looked unsettled and worried, but he nodded at my words.
“I might have fallen in love with you if you weren’t married, Lady Agnes.”
“You’re exaggerating.” I vigorously slapped Defi on the back. “Okay, everything has been resolved, so let’s all go home after we watch the conclusion.”
“Yes, let’s do that, Lady Agnes.”
When I surveyed the battlefield from atop the hill, I saw that the Myzahni army was retreating, having lost Prince Rivage. Negotiations would likely take place soon after this.