Of course, he was fundamentally just a hired commander, so being able to use those forces for his own ends wasn’t likely. Still, as things stood, it would have been enough of a possibility to be considered a risk.
While he might have only been a contracted officer, the combination of a victory and having won their trust meant a fair few squads might have followed his orders if he’d declared a change of plan and another site to attack. Of course, he would have to have been willing to throw away all of his credibility and achievements as a mercenary to do so, yet that seemed eminently possible as far as the priest was concerned.
“I wonder how he will act,” Aura commented. “From what I’ve heard, he seems unlikely to give up on carrying out a rescue just because he doesn’t have enough men.”
“They said that in Uppasala as well. He’s apparently covering his tracks, so he’s definitely planning something. They know where the majority of his most trusted soldiers are, though, so he’s either going it alone or with a bare minimum of aid. They are fairly sure he is still at least somewhat rational.”
Yan led his own mercenary group, but the majority of his troop had received rewards for their victory in the recent battle and were currently relaxing and spending that money.
“If he is concealing himself then he is certainly planning something. With his most trusted people being left behind, though, it seems he still has the wherewithal not to attempt a direct fight.”
Zenjirou nodded at the queen’s analysis. “Yeah, he might be strong with a weapon and one of the best commanders on the continent, but he isn’t some superhuman who can take on hundreds or thousands of opponents with minimal allies. We think he might infiltrate the place Priest Yan is being held and try to free him.”
“But despite taking that into account, Uppasala believes the execution will occur? Is that because they see Commander Yan’s chances as low or nonexistent?”
“That’s half of it. The other half is that even if he does get inside, Priest Yan would probably refuse the assistance.”
“He is that stubborn?” Aura asked, an eyebrow rising in surprise.
Zenjirou sighed before answering.
“It certainly seems so. Or at least Uppasala thinks so.”
Gustav and the other leaders of the country hadn’t personally been acquainted with the priest, so their assumptions about him were based on hearsay and what they knew about his public actions. It was dangerous to assume anything, but what they knew made them believe that Yan would not pursue the illegal route and would instead continue appealing his own legitimacy from within prison up until the moment of his execution.
“I am glad that the man is not on the Southern Continent,” Aura muttered.
He must have been insufferable from a statesman’s perspective. He had the charisma to rally people and the will to lead those people to try to change the world, while also being so righteous that he would not allow threats or backroom deals to make him stray from his course. There was no type of person a ruler would want in their country less.
“Still, it is a shame,” she continued. “If he survived, he could buy us quite a lot of time.”
There was a long pause.
“Zenjirou?” she prompted, her face growing even more serious.
“Yeah?” he replied, straightening reflexively.
“This Priest Yan has absolutely no mana, correct?”
“That’s right. He said so himself, and I certainly couldn’t sense any from him. He said that he had some other way of making the soul of language work for him. Aura, what’s going on?”
Her question about that oddity gave Zenjirou a fair idea of what she wanted to say. He gulped and gingerly put his assumption into words.
“Are you planning on testing time reversal on Priest Yan? On...his corpse?”
Time reversal was a spell passed down in utter secrecy through the Capuan royal family. It was, as the name implied, a spell that rewound time on the target. However, the suitable targets were limited to targets with no mana. Therefore, it was almost unused apart from repairing treasured swords broken from use, pieces of art burnt to a cinder, or expensive nonmagic tools. It had been tested on creatures with no mana of their own as well—insects, small fish, and similar animals—and had been found to rejuvenate them too.
Priest Yan was in the extremely rare—or unique, as far as anyone knew—position of being a human with no mana.
“Yes, that would be worth testing,” Aura answered.
Zenjirou then responded harshly and seriously to her answer. It was a conscious decision to do so, of course. After all, he was the only one present other than Aura, and she had come up with the idea. There was no one but him who could point out holes in the plan or any dangers. “And worth the risk it carries? He will have been executed by that point. Even getting his corpse will be rather difficult.”
In terms of planning and scheming, Aura was by far his superior. That did not mean that there was no point in questioning her, though. Even veteran craftsmen could make an error that a newly minted one would not. A pro could potentially miss something even an amateur could point out.
That was why it was necessary for strategies and plans to be looked over by someone other than the person who came up with them. Ideally, many people, in fact. However, more people checking over such things also reduced the secrecy of it. Striking the right balance between the spread of information and how the matter was approached was difficult.
Regardless, Zenjirou was the only person capable of speaking about the plan. He didn’t have the option of assuming ignorance and letting things go unquestioned. He had to ask the obvious questions, the seemingly pointless ones, as well as the seemingly absurd ones. All of those together might expose a blind spot in Aura’s thinking.
The queen’s own understanding of that fact meant that she answered the obvious criticism with no reproach and in detail. “You are quite right; it is not worth exposing us to danger. So we shall not. Instead, we would contact someone trustworthy in the vicinity. If the mercenary could retrieve the priest’s corpse, then I would restore it. If Commander Yan incited his mercenaries to action and is listed as wanted by the church before we contact him, we would scrap the plan.”
The risks would be placed on the mercenary as much as possible. Considering his apparent devotion to the priest, it seemed rather likely that he would accept any risks that a potential restoration incurred.
“So if we can minimize the risks, we’ll do it, and if not, we’ll completely drop it? That sounds good to me, yeah. Still, it seems like letting Commander Yan know about our circumstances will still be a risk in and of itself,” Zenjirou mused.
The commander was a veteran mercenary and intelligent individual. Letting someone like him know about the secret spell’s existence, and indeed the plan to restore the priest, was quite risky. There was a definite truth to Zenjirou’s words.
Of course, Aura had also thought of that. “On that front, I would like to decide after gathering more information on the man. The final step would be meeting him personally, and if I am concerned, I would scrap the plan then too. I would also only inform him of any certainties regarding the spell, to avoid giving him premature hope. If he is unwilling to accept our terms, that will be the end of it.”
“What are we certain of?”