Book 8: Chapter 40

Second Princess Eltrinde was also known as “the female general.” Sometimes she would gather troops on her own to lead them into battle against monsters.

On top of a blindingly vibrant set of golden armor she wore a white cape that seemed to radiate her aura of justice. In addition to being an incredible magic user that earned her the title of “the second coming of the Great Sage Teria,” her swordsmanship was the best in the entire kingdom. With very high intelligence to top it all off, she was by far the most popular of the three princesses.

Despite this popularity, Eltrinde did not want to rise to the throne, claiming that she “wasn’t well-suited for politics.” But in the end, she gave into the pleas of those around her.

First Princess Narika tried her best to distant herself from Eltrinde, but her dislike for Eltrinde was completely different from her hate for Celis.

This is because Eltrinde is incredibly popular among the kingdom’s people. Her honesty, straightforwardness and work ethic captured the hearts of everyone around her.

Though Narika was fairly skilled at making people like her, her selfishness clashed with the public interest. Though she was loved by the people around her, her bad image lead to being her being hated by the masses.

Perhaps, if it were not for Eltrinde, Narika might have been able to create a better image for herself. The people saw Eltrinde as “an ideal ruler,” and were constantly comparing her to Narika. Narika couldn’t handle this situation. One day, she took control of the castle, having the king dispatch Eltrinde somewhere far away, outside of the kingdom. She tried to distance herself as much as possible, using Eltrinde’s absence to try to expand her influence over the kingdom.

However, tricks like these were bound to fail.

Though she was able to gain more political power over the kingdom, the hearts of the people grew more and more distant. They quickly came to the conclusion that Narika had purposely sent away Eltrinde to take advantage of her absence. To them, Narika was just another corrupt leader that manipulated others for her own selfish goals.

「…When I went to kill my father, Eltrinde was the one who accompanied me in the castle. I couldn’t have succeeded with the plan on my own.」

In an ultimate act of revolution, Celis had killed her own father. This was not something that could be done easily, especially by Celis. Vermudol had thought that Reina was the one who made this possible, but it turns out that it was Eltrinde.

「…I see. I’ve heard many different rumors about the previous king, about how he’s owned slaves, about how he’s performed unforgivably horrible experiments. But if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to…」

「It’s all true.」

「All of it?」

Looking at Vermudol, Celis nodded her head.

「Yes, all of it. My father… no, the previous king, he would kidnap people of other races and perform horrible experiments on them using forbidden magic. And… he forced the other people he kidnapped to assist him.」

There were several different forms of magic whose usage was strictly forbidden.

One example was slavery-inducing magic. There were several variations of this, including milder spells that would deliver a shock to the target upon any form of retaliation. Other variations could do things so horrible that they should not even be spoken of. There were even spells that tried to replicate the “brainwashing” effect used by the Demon King Shuklous, and even the research of these types of spells was forbidden.

Human transformation magic was also forbidden. This type of magic was invented to turn humans into incredible beings that could surpass humans. However, more often than not, these spells would end up transforming their target into twisted, grotesque figures that could not even be recognized as human. Interpreting this horrible phenomenon as the wrath of the gods, the usage of this magic was quickly banned.

Another example would be spells that provide the user with eternal life and eternal youth. Life is a very limited thing. Even the long-living Sylphids don’t live forever. However, “eternal youth” was possible to some degree, so people thought that “eternal life” must be possible as well. However, as soon as it became known that some people were unethically using Sylphids as experimental subjects, research on this magic was banned.

「The previous king experimented with almost all of these forms of magic. When Eltrinde, the knights and I stepped into the castle underground… Oh, that was a horrible sight.」

A thick stench of blood hung in the air of Fyblis castle’s underground research laboratory. The “experimental subjects” were no longer even recognizable as human, transformed into gruesome, abnormal creatures. They made strange movements.

One of them lunged at Celis. Every inch of his skin was covered in strange metal shells. Panicking, the knight besides her cut him down. Watching this all unfold, Celis understood that they were too late.

「…I wonder how long he had been doing this. I couldn’t even tell that he was insane. If only I could have stopped my father before he became that way…」

「There’s no point in talking about “could have” happened. In the end, Celis, you succeeded in stopping him before he went any further.」

Celis nodded quietly.

「I understand that you killed the king was because of these forbidden experiments. So from now on, you’re going to rise up to the throne, with Eltrinde as your guardian, correct?」

「That is correct. To put it more accurately, Eltrinde and the leader of the Swords of Light Chivalric Order will support me, and the leader of the Staves of Light Chivalric Order will follow as well.」

The specifics of the king’s crimes were not to be announced to the public. There was no way they could tell the full details of the story. It would undoubtedly cause turmoil within the kingdom, and if everything goes wrong, it might even lead to war.

…Therefore, they had no choice but to sweep it under the rug.

As she said this to Vermudol, Celis’ face seemed to be sunken in sadness. However, there was no sign of weakness in her eyes.

「Is it really okay for you to tell this to me?」

「Yes. I promised you that I would give you my full friendship and trust. I shouldn’t be hiding any part of the truth from you.」

「…I see. I really appreciate the consideration. However, I do feel like this is something that you should hide. Moving forward, this kind of honesty might allow your enemies to take advantage of you.」

Celis giggled quietly.

「Thank you very much. However, can you really say that? I think that it’d be more advantageous for your kingdom if I just remained a naive little girl.」

「Well, I did also promise that I would give you my full friendship and trust. Think of that as part of my promise to you.」

They both laughed.

After this brief moment of friendliness, Vermudol quickly switched back to a serious expression.

「But I guess the real problems will present themselves later on. You talked about the Swords of Light Chivalric Order and the Staves of Light Chivalric Order, did you not?」

「Yes. The Shields of Light Chivalric Order and the Imperial Guard Chivalric Order were both on Narika’s side. It’s all part of a conspiracy to seize the throne… or so it’s said.」

「I see. So it sounds like there must be a possibility that they were also involved in the king’s crimes.」

Celis nodded silently.

Though there was no evidence to support this, there was no way the king could have pulled all of this off on his. If that was the case, it was only natural to suspect that one of the knight armies was also involved.

「Also, there’s just one more person I’d like to talk about… The court magic user Mazenda, who had also supported Narika.」

Vermudol had already heard of the name in a report from Ein.

「So, this Mazenda…」

「She’s the successor of the previous court magic user, who is now deceased. Because she was the apprentice of this previous court magic user, she was very well-trusted. I have heard that her level of magic completely surpasses that of her master.」

Vermudol wondered why her description was not first-hand, but he assumed that it was because she did not know due to her cold treatment. Deciding not to interrupt her to ask about it, Vermudol nodded silently.

「…Mazenda had strong relationships with the King and Narika, and she established a very firm position for herself.」

She was close to the king and also happened to be the best magic user in the kingdom. Because of this, Eltrinde and Celis were very suspicious of her.

「I have only come face-to-face with Mazenda a couple of times, but… I’ll never forget those eyes.」

Mazenda had gone to greet her one time after she got her position. Even though, at the time, Celis’ only friend in the castle was Eltrinde, she thought that she might be able to become friends with Mazenda… But that was only until she met her…

Her eyes radiated a violent aura. They seemed to look down at everyone around her. She glared at Celis as if she were nothing but an animal waiting to be slaughtered.

Standing right near her, Celis could sense this horrible, disgusting aura.

「…Mazenda is currently serving as Narika’s attendant, acting in secret for her in many different places. Eltrinde claims that killing her would be the fastest way to end this entire conflict. She’s currently out searching for her, accompanied by intelligence agents.」

「…I see.」

「We also have another trusted group of people sent over to take down Mazenda. If she has already returned to where Narika is, we can expect them to finish her off.」

Vermudol realized immediately that she was talking about Kain. Though he hesitated at first, he decided to ask her about it.

「If you’re talking about the man named Kain, the woman accompanying him is actually a subject from the Zadark Kingdom. Though I guess she’s just following him…」

Hearing this, Celis’ ears pricked up in surprise. Reina giggled.

「…About those ears, you should probably try to make your reactions a little less obvious…」

「I, I’ll try my best…」

For a serious discussion between two kingdom leaders, their conversation ended in a very friendly way.