“Where do you think Grevanas would keep something so important?”
“Ah...” His eyes opened wide.
“That’s right, Blue Knight. Grevanas is going to keep those residual thoughts in their main base or somewhere similar. Right where you’re itching to get into right now.”
“So that’s why you hurried here,” Koutarou said.
“That’s right.” Crimson nodded. “We need you to act as a decoy to draw Grevanas and Maxfern away until we can get those residual thoughts. Naturally, that means not blasting it away with your main batteries.”
That was the reason Crimson and Green had come to see Maki. They needed Maki and the others to cooperate with them in order to bring Ralgwin back.
It was a very slim chance. There was no guarantee that there were any extra residual thoughts at all. But they couldn’t disregard the possibility, given their indignation at the evil act of hijacking a soul.
“I don’t mind.” Elfaria calmly smiled. “Do as you wish, Koutarou-sama.”
He had come to report to Elfaria, but her response was strangely casual. He had decided to work with Elexis and the others, but the court magicians reported directly to Elfaria. Koutarou had visited her room to talk things over with her.
“Are you sure?” Koutarou asked. “Elexis did try to overthrow Forthorthe, you know.”
“I can’t say that I don’t have any repulsive feelings toward him,” Elfaria answered. “Not after everything he’s done.”
“Then—”
“Even so...there are some things that must be protected. Maxfern’s actions go against the laws of the human world. A world where you can live as yourself must be protected.”
Elfaria hadn’t forgiven Elexis, but there were things more unforgivable than what he had done. Stealing somebody’s soul was an offense that had to be corrected. And for that, she was willing to overlook Elexis’s attempt to overthrow the country for the moment.
“I see,” Koutarou said with a smile. “You’re kind...or perhaps strict is more accurate?”
Elfaria’s desire to save Ralgwin could be considered kindness. But that wasn’t all. She would never forgive Maxfern, and that was the strictness of an empress.
“That said, there is a calculated decision mixed in,” Elfaria said.
“Calculated? What do you mean?”
“If we resurrect Ralgwin, we will get our hands on a lot of information from Maxfern’s side,” Elfaria explained.
Overwritten or not, the soul belonged to Ralgwin. So if he was returned to normal, he should remember everything that Maxfern had done. The information they could extract from him would be well worth the risk.
“I see...” Koutarou nodded. “It would help shorten the war and the cleanup afterward.”
Ralgwin would have all sorts of information on Maxfern’s dealings, from the locations of strongholds and armies and what politicians they had dealings with. That information would hasten the end of the war and subsequent restoration efforts. In other words, Elfaria had concluded that resurrecting Ralgwin would bring about a better result.
“As empress, I need to always be looking at the greater picture,” Elfaria said.
As such, she had decided to cooperate with Elexis to resurrect Ralgwin. Considering how much they stood to gain, she was willing to overlook his past crimes. In other words, it was the same treatment given to Darkness Rainbow, which had been reborn as the court magicians.
“So you’ll look the other way regarding his crimes to reduce the strain on the citizens.” Koutarou smiled. “It makes me happy to hear that the royal families haven’t changed in two thousand years.”
“There were times where that ideal was in peril,” Elfaria added.
“That’s just how things go.” Koutarou shrugged. “Nothing is ever perfect, be it people or countries.”
“So you say, but you are always perfect, Koutarou-sama,” Elfaria replied. “When are you going to show some proper selfishness and desires?”
“Well, not right now at any rate,” Koutarou said. “We have to end this war quickly. Once that’s over, I’ll do as I please.”
“As you wish. For as long as you please, until you’re satisfied...”
“All right, then let’s go!”
“Yes.” Elfaria nodded.
Having finished their secret talk, the two stood up. A strategy meeting awaited them. They’d asked everyone to hold off until they arrived. Before they talked about their plans with the group, Koutarou had needed to talk things through with Elfaria.
Leaving her private room behind, they quickly headed for the palace’s command room.
Forthorthe wanted to bring an end to the war as soon as possible. Nothing good would come of dragging it out. Not to mention that they were still in the middle of a restoration after the previous war. Everyone was of one mind in that regard, from politicians to soldiers.
“Giving Maxfern time will let him move strongholds and reinforce his defenses,” Kiriha warned them.
“Which means that we’ll have to initiate things, even if it’s risky,” Koutarou concluded.
Although this course had been roughly decided on some time ago, subsequent information they had gathered further corroborated their decision, and it was made official.
“The faster the attack, the better. That way, we’ll be able to seize the initiative,” Kiriha agreed. She, Clan, and Ruth had put their lives at risk to get information from Maxfern’s side. A quick attack was necessary in order to make the most of that.
“Are we fine troop-wise?” Koutarou did have some doubts. The sooner they moved, the fewer troops they would be able to deploy. Gathering forces took time, so if they were too fast, they might not be able to gather the necessary forces. As the supreme commander, it was a serious risk that he could not ignore.
“I will be able to handle that,” Ruth confidently stated. “I have made plenty of preparations.”
The three women had been preparing for battle ever since they’d chosen to get shot down. Even if they didn’t strike a main base, they were likely to find an important facility, so they had gathered troops for a surprise attack.
“The ideal would be to end this before they have a chance to move their main fleet,” Clan said, her arms crossed as she studied a war map.
Hostilities were yet to begin, but the map had plenty of information on it already. The problem was that it was mostly just information on their allies. They had almost no intel on the enemy troops, forcing the Imperial Army to spread itself thin. Facing Maxfern’s army head-on would lead to a lot of casualties. So Clan wanted to take down the main base with a surprise attack.
“Of course, they should be on guard against that as well,” Koutarou remarked.
“They might be scheming something themselves...or they might be looking to intercept us at a key point.”