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After everyone I’d given a task had left, I turned to those remaining in the tent. “We will be participating in the raid,” I said. “As part of the cannon sabotage unit.”
Count Palatine Vodedt’s eyes narrowed. “Unthinkable, Your Majesty. It’s far too dangerous.”
“There is no faster and more efficient method of destroying the cannons than our magic,” I said bluntly. “Or are we mistaken?”
The Count Palatine had no response.
“Our Flamma Lux does not require us to make direct contact with the target,” I continued. “It is also capable of producing multiple beams at once.”
“I will admit that is true,” he conceded. “But does that mean you will be unleashing your magic’s full potency? Throwing caution to the wind and bearing the risk of discovery?”
The objective for this plan was to destroy the enemy’s cannons, which were gathered in one place. What was more, we had a tight window of opportunity. This was no time to be miserly with our resources—myself included. “Yes,” I said. “Ensuring the cannons’ destruction takes priority, and our magic is the best option for that. Of course, if you have a better proposal, we are all ears.”
“I could participate myself,” he suggested.
Oh? That meant he considered himself to be capable of at least as much firepower as me. That piqued my curiosity, since he was secretive about his level of skill, but in the end, it wouldn’t change much. “That would only mean we would accompany the Atúr cavalry for the diversion effort instead,” I pointed out. “As we are able to fight within the mana-sealing wards.”
Diversion or not, when you compared a battle against enemy mages to the sabotage of the cannons, it went without saying which was more dangerous. There was a long stretch of silence from Count Palatine Vodedt before he eventually spoke. “Understood,” he said, in a tone that made his reluctance very obvious.
Still, I’d kept my magic a secret for my entire life, saving it as an ace in the hole for if I was ever attacked, or betrayed by the nobility. Making a show of it now would cause all that effort to go to waste, so I wanted to be as stealthy about this as I could.
“Nevertheless, we will not be participating as ‘Emperor Carmine,’” I said. “Count Palatine, we would like to borrow two sets of your agents’ attire and join the raid in secret, as communications and overwatch. Inform only Balthazar of this.”
I was confident I could trust Balthazar. Well, it was more that if I couldn’t trust the guy who headed up my imperial guard, there’d be nothing I could do to prevent the secret coming out eventually anyway.
“Apologies, Salomon, but in the event our presence is exposed, we shall be explaining away our spellcasting as yours,” I finished. “There will be skeptics, but it should at least serve to muddy the waters.”
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
As for Salomon, he was a member of the Belvérian royal family, and would not betray me as long as I did not treat Rosaria poorly.