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FRANCESCA viol etor Setrayu was the eldest daughter born between the current king of Setrayu, Lazlo, and the former queen consort, Lorraina. And, while this is normally something that would never be capable of happening, she was already removed from the line of inheritance, and had left the capital, meaning she should officially be calling herself Francesca viol Foster.
She lost her political standing because of her mother’s indiscretions. False accusations that she, in addition to her younger sister Monica, was also not the king’s daughter forced her to leave the capital, though even those saying it didn’t believe it to be true.
She was, however, allowed to work as an adventurer under the Duchy’s supervision as “combat training.” She managed to grasp a certain level of freedom as the King and Duchy defended her. She changed her name, hid her face behind tacky magic glasses, and formed a party with Timm, an adventurer specializing in protection, having him act as the leader for convenience’s sake. With experience, she grew into a top-class adventurer.
Her compatibility with the dracovitae was greater even than her father’s at 99.7 percent. As a result of both the bloodline management and pure chance, she was born with a rate that rivaled the first generation of dracovitae users.
It would be a shame to discard that talent, and many believed there might be use for her someday. Perhaps there would be a time they found themselves truly pushed to the brink and would want their most powerful dracovitae user, or perhaps they would need her to steal back the dracovitae when another user betrayed the country. That was why she was allowed her “combat training.”
Francesca, a.k.a. Viola, raised the azure staff, glittering like flowing water. Ripples cut through the clouds of destruction overhead, and rays of light streamed through the breaks to illuminate the rain-soaked battlefield. The divine sight left everyone breathless, nearly weak in the knees, forgetting the battle at hand.
“Sigh… I wish you had just told me about this from the beginning,” said Lushera, a little exasperated.
“It was bad timing,” said Timm, disguised as a Setrayuan knight and deployed in the formation, but appearing now at Lushera’s side out of nowhere. “You had your negotiations with the King, and Viola herself said she didn’t want to drag that down just ’cause everyone was being too conscientious of her. We decided to wait till everything was over.”
“That’s a bit of a weak excuse.”
“Eh, it is what it is.”
Lushera only learned of Viola’s true identity while they were setting up the plan for defending Mount Kugus. She was surprised, but there were some things that made sense now that she looked back on them. She had made that joke asking which was rarer, an adopted daughter of a dragon or a princess who lost her rank and became an adventurer.
“For Setrayu! Follow Her Highness the Princess!”
“Aaah!”
A battle cry as fierce as a dragon’s roar rose from all directions and echoed across the mountain.
The core of the defensive squad were soldiers under the command of the Foster Duchy, which governed the region around Mount Kugus. They still saw Francesca as their princess.
The sight of their princess standing on the frontline, delivering that decisive blow, gave knights and soldiers alike a morale boost that blurred the lines between life and death. Joy and zeal allowed them to fight to the very moment their bodies could no longer physically move, and they would die.
Marquess Angus’s formation broke like a piece of paper torn to shreds. The Setrayuan soldiers had a clear advantage, like they’d suddenly doubled in number. It was a turning point in the battle that you could see with your eyes, feel on your skin.
“Attack! The red dragon needs time to return. She can’t use the dracovitae right now! There are only three of them! What are you afraid of?! Everyone attack, crush them to death!” howled Julian, only louder now that he lost the dracovitae. It was a clear, carrying voice that managed to cut through the clamor of combat.
Now that Lushera thought about it, she remembered his father having a nice voice as well. Julian likely inherited it from him, it also being the reward gained from training his voice to be used to command soldiers in battle.
But the Martgarz knights stood frozen, despondent.
“We might win if we do that…but I’d probably die…” muttered someone.
It was a relatively quiet sound, but it rang across the battlefield like a bell.
Julian was clearly taken aback. “How dare you! Your lord is commanding you! We will win if you do as I say! Why do you not understand that?!”
“Protect our lord!”
“Follow me!”
Several of the younger knights responded to Julian’s temper-tantrum-like orders. They rushed Lushera, eyes bloodshot, feeling no concern for their own lives.
Lushera held her hand out over the ground. It melted to red and rose up. The lava lifted, then quickly cooled as water spiraled around it, letting off a mildly disturbing hiss of steam.
It was the same sword of cooled lava Shurei had given her.
She bolted forward like lightning and swung the sword, a mass of stone longer than she was tall.
“Gyah!”
“Argh!”
Armor crunched apart and several knights went flying at once.
But it was only those few who had acted. The rest of the knights remained standing still, looking weary.
There were no others who moved to attack Lushera.
“We have not yet lost! I have not yet lost! This is nothing more than a temporary setback! Do as I command! Do you want to be destroyed? If we lose but you survive, I’ll put all your heads on the chopping block!”
Julian screamed like a dog with its tail on fire. Perhaps this had even been part of his plan, to drag the knights into this act of violence and threaten them with a choice between victory and death, meaning they had no option but to fight.
And yet, the knights still didn’t move. Even if the only future awaiting them after defeat was the death sentence, they still gave up fighting, refusing to move as ordered like a marionette whose strings were cut, leaving it lying still on the floor.
Lushera stepped forward, and the knights pulled back in a wave. The fear they felt towards her was palpable.
Some of them even looked at Julian with disgust and frustration. Lushera could feel their emotions, how they loathed the idea of dying for a man like him.
Julian gripped the hilt of his sword with a trembling hand. It shook so much he couldn’t draw it. “Wh-Wh-What do I do now? Why didn’t you teach me what I should do, Father?!”
Lushera took another step forward, her giant sword of lava resting on her shoulder.
And a red flower bloomed. Hundreds of them already existed on this battlefield, and now another joined them. It was exactly the same as all the others, no larger or smaller, no more noble or lowly. Just a flower exactly the size of one life’s worth of blood.
“Ask him in hell,” Lushera spat.
“Gah…”
The shard of lava, roughly in the shape of a sword, pierced directly through Julian, straight through armor and all. Despite being cooled into a solid shape, it glowed red again, melting and burning, turning Julian’s innards to ash with primeval flame.