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HOW could this have happened?
The king of Eyland hung his head. He had returned to Gardon. The Farunian army had already arrived outside the city walls, and were bound to begin their assault at any moment.
All the king’s important vassals were present in the conference room—the refined furnishings of which were emblematic of Eylish culture—and all wore matching gloomy expressions. There had been a flood of desertions as they withdrew to the capital, and the army’s size had collapsed to less than half of what it had been before the sortie. More troops had run away than had been defeated by the Farunian army, and most of those who ran most likely intended to surrender to the Farunians. They had come to the conclusion that it would be better to submit to those monsters than to fight them.
This is all Maria’s fault, the king thought, gritting his teeth.
He had acquired information beforehand that apparently, Saint Maria’s relationship with Farune wasn’t actually that bad. Unfortunately, the king had underestimated her and assumed that it wouldn’t matter if she sided with Farune, that a single girl would be powerless as long as he won the battle—history was written by the victors, after all.
But that girl had outwitted him. He hadn’t expected that. In the past, the saints of the Theocracy of Mauve had always been mere window dressing, and their power had been insignificant—at least, as far as the king was aware. Sainthood was conferred upon those priestesses whose families had high status, and strength in restoration magic was irrelevant. Maria was of commoner origin, and the king had heard that she had the unusual honor of having been made a candidate for sainthood due to her ability, but he hadn’t thought she would be that powerful.
Then, the king of Eyland reconsidered it. No, she must have acquired all that power after she got to Farune.
He had heard a rumor that Maria was being forced to eat monsters. King Mars had surely jammed the meat right into her mouth, then robbed her of her purity so he could manipulate her body and mind as he wished.
What villainy, what horror!
Everything was because of King Mars’s schemes. Once the king of Eyland thought of it that way, all the pieces fit together. King Mars had won Maria over, granted her power by forcing her to eat monsters, then used her for Farune. Then, when Farune had fallen into dire straits, he had shown off her miraculous power, so everyone could see that justice was on his side.
As a matter of fact, after Eyland’s loss, all sorts of news was flying around: the saint, who had supposedly been kidnapped, was actually on Farune’s side; she had performed a miracle for Farune; she and the king of Farune seemed to be in an intimate relationship. Most of the Mauve faithful who had backed Eyland were now standing by and waiting to see how things were going to play out. The various western nations that had been secretly giving Eyland support were also beginning to withdraw.
It had been a singularly brilliant move—perhaps Farune’s struggle against the crossbow unit had also been a ruse by King Mars. Otherwise, there was no explanation for how the Hundred had suddenly charged right into the crossbows like they were nothing, despite the fact that they had been defeated by them once before.
At any rate, no one has talked for a while now, the king of Eyland thought. Even Count Wolf, who had pushed for a fight out in the field, and Count Broome, who had advocated for a siege, weren’t saying anything. It was probably unpleasantly clear to them that it would have been pointless no matter what they said.
In Vulcan, the Farunian faction led by Fourth Princess Sheila was struggling with the king’s faction, whose figurehead was the deceased king’s young son. However, it was reported that the Farunians had the upper hand. Apparently, Farune’s powerful monster army was being deployed in combat, to say nothing of Queen Frau’s Mages’ Guild, which was in Vulcan to aid Sheila. The monster army, mainly composed of Warwolves, could appear and disappear at will, and unlike wild monsters that ran amok as they pleased, these obeyed orders with extreme precision. They were especially good at ambushes and night raids, and they were physically and mentally wearing down the king’s faction.
King Mars being able to control monsters at will is proof that he’s got to be the Demon King! We were completely right from the start! The king of Eyland tried feeling outraged, but at this point, it was fruitless. Who could have expected that Eyland, Vulcan, and Kiel could join forces, obtain the Theocracy of Mauve’s support, and still be defeated?
With this, the whole eastern half of the continent of Ares would fall under Farunian control. Only the west, which was entirely made up of small countries, and the Ronzan Empire, which controlled the entire north, would remain. The west didn’t have the strength to resist Farune; perhaps the great Ronzan Empire, which was even more brutal and ruthless than Farune, could stand up to them, but that was it.
No, I can’t do this. I’m at a war council; I shouldn’t be thinking about what happens after our inevitable defeat.
The king of Eyland once again surveyed the faces of his vassals, but just as before, they had all lowered their eyes, and the room was dominated by silence.
“Should we surrender?” he asked, and as soon as he did, he felt at peace. He was certain that nearly everyone else was thinking the same thing, and had just been unable to bring themselves to say it.
There was a stir among his vassals.
“But my king, that’s just too…” Count Wolf said, distressed. The brave, seasoned general’s expression was full of anguish. The nobles of his faction were probably pushing him to surrender as well, but he was by no means opposed to the king himself. It put him in a difficult position.
“Indeed. It is still too soon to give up!” Count Broome said. “Gardon is a hardy fortress city. Farune has no experience in a full-scale siege. We may have lost strength, but the numerical advantage is ours. I believe now is the time to endure.”
The king of Eyland knew all that. However—
“We may hold the city, but we can’t count on anyone for reinforcements,” he said. “Vulcan is gradually falling to the Farunian advance. At this rate, Lightning Empress Frau will come to Eyland. That terrifying witch…”
Several of the gathered vassals shuddered at the mention of Frau’s name. They were probably remembering a certain incident from the recent past.
At one point not too long before, Eyland had attempted to abduct Frau’s son, Arthur. The plan itself had ended in failure, but the events that followed had been much worse: Frau had turned the kidnappers undead and set them loose in Eyland’s royal palace. It had been utter pandemonium. The one saving grace was that the undead hadn’t been that strong, so it hadn’t been difficult to put them down.
Naturally, the officers in charge of castle security and the wizards who maintained the barrier around the castle had been investigated for their responsibility in the incident, which had uncovered a shocking truth. The teleportation magic Frau had used on the undead had apparently been a flawed spell that, if used on a person, would kill them. Undead couldn’t be killed, so this had allowed Frau to send them into the castle in a way that had been impossible to anticipate. Had she turned them undead for the specific purpose of sending them into the castle, or had she sent them into the castle because she had turned them undead? Either way, it was a fiendish act of inhumanity beyond all imagining. Just like with King Mars, no one wanted to fight Frau directly if at all possible. And now, she might have been on her way to Eyland. It was unreasonable to expect anyone in the room not to feel shaken.
“But my king, Farune does not tolerate the existence of royalty or nobility,” Count Wolf said. “We nobles may survive with only our lives intact, but royals…” He hesitated to continue.
The king would most likely be killed. That was nothing unusual. Farune or otherwise, royalty was usually purged when their countries were conquered, and this was all the more likely given that Farune’s policy was to eliminate the nobility.
“That’s no object. We mustn’t needlessly shed blood. And, I doubt that any who still have the backbone to fight Farune are left in this castle. Any further resistance will—” Before the king of Eyland could finish speaking, Count Broome severely admonished him.
“My king, you are being too hasty! Farune’s reign of tyranny will not last long. It is but a house of cards erected during King Mars’s lifetime. It will surely collapse at the slightest gust of wind. Right now, it is Your Majesty’s duty to keep the royal bloodline from dying out until that comes to pass.”
“Hm…” the king grunted. Farune’s fall was certainly one possibility. He had been leaning toward surrender, but now his resolve weakened.
“Your Majesty must flee abroad now, to rebuild the future Eyland!” Count Broome proclaimed, and everyone nodded. Their expressions were determined.
“We shall buy time. Please, use that opportunity to flee,” Count Wolf advised emphatically. The king’s vassals remained silent, not out of resignation, but because they had resolved to meet their ends when the castle fell.
“I’m sorry,” the king of Eyland replied after a silence. Internally, he lamented how pathetic he was for being unable to say anything else. His life hadn’t mattered to him. But from the perspective of Eyland’s future, he reflected, perhaps it was only right for him to swallow his shame and flee.