I looked up at the king amid the tumult. This all comes back to you. If you’d had it together, you wouldn’t have had an opening to be taken advantage of... Everyone would have had no choice but to follow what you said.
You were functional to an extent before. Why did you become a puppet in this life? Did the queen’s side overreact because of Schneider’s action?
“This is a royal order!”
The queen’s grating voice interrupted my inner monologue.
“Capture that girl! You have all sworn an oath of absolute loyalty to the crown, except for Trundle! Now is the time to show me proof that you are not a traitor! Do you think you can betray the royal family and survive in this country?”
“A royal order?” my father growled in response, glancing at the king and then back at the queen.
“The king has entrusted me with his seal! My orders are royal orders!”
“And you’re going to use that seal without a cabinet meeting?”
“This is an emergency!”
Has the kingdom fallen apart this much...?
The immobile queen wielded her royal decree over her immobile vassals. It was all too ridiculous. If they followed her royal order (?) and attacked us, we would just defeat them in turn. We headed for the exit.
Crash! The door that we had come up to was suddenly smashed into dust. Everyone turned their heads to look at once.
Once all the little pieces of the entrance had settled onto the floor, I saw Elise standing there wearing a pure white shrine maiden outfit, her ankle still curved in a beautiful high kick form. She was buzzing with static electricity.
“Saint!” The faithful among us desperately bent over and lowered their heads.
“Hold back!” a loud voice boomed.
It’s been a while, Kaku... Your voice is as penetrating as ever!
After Elise looked all around the room with a fierce glare, she entered alongside Suke-Kaku, radiating electricity from her whole body. Once she came up to us next to the exit, she winked at Miyu on my chest.
Miyu opened her eyes wide, nodded, jumped onto Elise, and toned down her illusion magic. Her outline appeared faintly next to Elise, and those who could see her trembled. Elise then knelt at my feet along with Suke-Kaku, took my hand, and gracefully kissed it. Are you some kind of actress?!
Elise and Miyu haven’t seen each other for all this time, right? How are they so in tune with each other?
“The saint is positively...crackling...with divinity!”
“That shadow next to her...is that the fabled holy beast?”
“Why are the saint and holy beast kneeling to the Trundle girl?”
“Oh! Look! It’s not just the holy beast of the east, the holy beast of the south is here too!”
Suke swooned and collapsed backward. Maybe he was able to see the holy beasts now both because he’d been working alongside someone of such deep faith as Elise and due to his respect for her.
I wasn’t sure if I could live up to the example she set as an actress, but I gently took Elise’s hand, stood her up, and embraced her. We whispered into each other’s ears.
“I-Is this good?”
“You’re doing great, Serephi.”
I recast illusion magic on Miyu, and she returned to my chest. Good work!
“Elise!” Sasara came running and joined the embrace. I was so glad to see that they’d both grown up into beautiful, pure women!
“Oh, the saints’ magic has grown so much!”
“Which one, Miyu?”
“Both of them. It’s so cute how they support each other!”
“You’re cute too!”
“I know!”
Oh, okay then...
Elise slowly turned toward the throne, leaving her pal Sasara at her side and hiding me behind her back. They were trying to protect me like an older sister would do, just like when we were in school together. It touched me.
The saint said just five words in a low voice.
“The queen is hereby excommunicated.”
To be excommunicated was to be abandoned by the gods of the earth that we worshipped at shrines as well as the moon goddess. It was the ultimate disgrace for people of this world. Silence fell over the room.
“I made it clear that I wished for this civil war to be resolved between the concerned parties and that if uninvolved people, including our holy Serephione, were harmed, you would be excommunicated. I deem it impermissible that you have tried to use Serephione to your own ends and caused repercussions on civilians with no connection to the royal family.”
“Oh ho ho... Excommunicated, you say? That won’t bother me in the slightest. There is no need for faith in the shrines in Judore. Most of the people of Judore respect the royal family itself as an object of faith.”
Elise responded, unfazed, in a cold tone. “The king of Judore is required to adhere to the faith. Have you forgotten the vow you swore at the shrine when you first took the throne?”
“Who can govern this kingdom if you excommunicate me? Schneider rebelled against the king, and Gardner is a minor! I am the only one capable. You have no way to excommunicate me! How dare you be so impudent as to meddle in the internal politics of Judore!”
“She calls what she’s been doing governing?” Asu scoffed. “The royal family of Judore always has something new to amuse me. I’ll have to tell Gillain about this clown show.”
Asu dissed my home country again... Sniff.
“I’ll back her up.” Lou’s boiling point had lowered after hearing about Matsuki’s injury. He moved behind Elise and shot off lightning as if it had come from Elise herself!
“Ahhhh!”
Lightning struck the ground in front of the queen. Immobilized by the paralysis spell, she lost consciousness in shock.
“It’s the saint’s divine punishment...just like the rumors said...”
“I can’t believe she mocked a saint...”
“Eek! Th-The gods are angry!”
You’re not wrong...my gods are angry. Or maybe just fed up?
Elise glanced at the queen, then gave a sad look to the king, who still had no reaction to everything going on around him. “She slipped poison to the king... This kingdom is worse than scum. Ha, I can’t believe I used to think of this kingdom as my home country. The king is permitted to rule by virtue of making an oath to the gods. Thus, to harm the king is to turn a sword on the gods. All involved will receive divine punishment in turn. Be prepared.”
Now that she was a saint, Elise had no nationality.
Many of the others in the room had gone pale. The prime minister was biting his lip. They’d all just seen a divine punishment before their very eyes. Elise was scary, almost as scary as my grandmother.
“Prime Minister? Who of high status in this kingdom does everybody agree is impartial, competent, and not affiliated with either faction? It would be in your best interest to answer truthfully.”
“Perhaps...the Minister of Finance, Granzeus.”
Oh, it’s my papa’s time to shine...
“I will entrust this kingdom’s sovereignty to the shrines temporarily while I look for an adult of the royal bloodline who is more suitable to rule. In the meantime, Count Granzeus, could you take the helm of the kingdom?”
“I’ll have to decline,” he answered bluntly. All the men who were desperate for political power had their jaws dropped.
“Please, Count...” Elise pleaded.
The moment Elise started speaking, I sensed a huge magical presence coming at me at high speed.
“Sere! Defense!” Lou shouted.
I didn’t know what exactly was going on, so I cast physical protection on the entire room and magical protection on myself and my companions.
Elise, Sasara, and Kodak instantly crowded around me, seeing that I’d picked up on something.
Then, my father crouched down, still glaring upward, and put his hands on the ground. “We didn’t get away fast enough,” he sighed.
“I guess it’s inevitable that so many important people in one room would be attacked,” Lou grumbled. “Here it comes! It’s fire!”
“Gather to me, vast ocean!” Miyu summoned ocean water to the ceiling, creating a thick wall.
Clang! Something gigantic struck the castle, crushing the ceiling into bits. Miyu’s wall of water caught the rubble as it fell.
Is this for real?! It’s a meteor! The air and earth shook with the impact.
My father distributed the shock away from our immediate surroundings. I realized that since Terl was a guardian of not only ice, but earth as well, my father had been practicing that sort of seismic defense magic... I knew I could count on him!
“It’s a meteorite, coming in hot! This place won’t hold for long! Evacuate!” I shouted. A huge meteorite came into view, burning red in the sky behind the wreckage of the castle. The water barrier wouldn’t be enough to stop it.
The nobles who were gathered in the room scattered like a bunch of baby spiders.
“It’s falling apart!” Miyu yelled. I recast the physical and magical protection around us.
The wall of water on the ceiling fell apart with a whoosh, with all of the water turning to steam at once. In the next moment, a ten-meter-wide meteorite fell with a boom into what had previously been the audience hall. Something moved above it.
“Stand back, everyone.”
“Yes!”
Sasara, Kodak, Elise, and her companions Suke-Kaku, looking at me with concern, jumped back instantly and put distance between us so as to not hinder me or the holy beasts.
“Father?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the meteorite.