Chapter 208: True form of the mission

"What?!" To say that my words managed to surprise the prince would be a gross understatement. His shout of surprise was actually so loud, that even both the winged soldiers that still stood atop the ramparts and the wingless soldiers attacking said ramparts from below ceased their hostility for a moment, just to locate the source of this unexpected shout.

"Can you tune it down a little? I don't think it will do you any good if anyone in actual charge of this peasant army will learn that I told you that." I was rather quick to scold the man, yet the damage was already done.

"Wait a moment. If it's not the resurrection of the demon lord, then what…" before even he could finish his words, the prince suddenly turned silent. Then, after glancing at the banners of the northern federation fluttering on the wind, his face suddenly darkened.

"Some kind of idea?" Throwing a question without any hope of getting an actual answer, I simply wished to continue to observe the changes on the prince's face. In the end, it was a way more reliable method of learning what he was actually thinking than just asking him directly.

"If it's not the demon lord… Listen, the northern federation is a young nation. A young but powerful one. What used to be a highly autonomous kingdom where the king only had actual power over just two or three cities, now turned into a league of powerful warlords and…" Suddenly shaking his head, the prince turned silent for a moment before raising his eyes and looking squarely in my face.

"What I'm trying to say, if it's not a being that can endanger all the humans that live in this fertile world, then what else could move all those squabbling warlords to act as one? What could make them expend so many resources, so much manpower…?" This question had an obvious answer. But this obvious answer was just too simple.

The one thing that all the warlords living off the corpse of a formerly great nation would fear, would be a force capable of overthrowing their corrupted rule. As I knew from the history of my own country, once a kingdom would be split into princedoms for any given reason, it would be a long and tiring process for it to regather itself back into one piece. And what was pretty obvious, all the princes that would suddenly turn fully sovereign would fight back with everything they had against any idea of proper unification.

But that just makes too much sense. Looking down at the army of the northern federation, while it was huge as hell, it posed little challenge for any actually organized force to take down. With the natural environment playing a crucial role, just two small units of experienced warriors could bring doom to all the soldiers gathered in the valley.

Just by holding the last patch of the narrow land in the valley and stopping the army from spilling into the open plains that laid beyond this mountainous region, one could force the enemy into a much longer campaign, one that would continue to eat away at the limited resources they had to keep such a huge army standing!

From food and water, through spare clothes, medicine, materials to repair broken equipment, fodder for the horses… Every single thing that all those soldiers would normally provide for themselves on their own now had to be transported all the way from the north to this narrow passage. Even if one were to ignore the problem of disturbing everything to each and every soldier, it still remained as a task that even I wouldn't dare to take on myself.

And yet, the northern federation not only created this army, not only marched it all the way down to the southern kingdom but also actually dared to send it into a battle!

"I guess we can't fight facts." Shaking my head, I was forced to acknowledge the prince's suggestion.  But the reason for my doubt remained. If this was the entire force that those people brought, just where the hell was this super high difficulty that the system announced?

Was there some kind of hidden supervolcano underneath the ground, just waiting for the opportune moment to erupt and cover this entire planet in its ash? Or maybe there was some kind of monster that was heading to this place, aiming to destroy every last hint of human presence in this world?

As puzzling as those questions were, I was perfectly aware that I had no answers for them. On the other hand, though, the prince's suggestion would also explain the very last side-mission of mine… A mission which name started flashing as soon as the prince brought forward his suggestion.

"Are you trying to tell me that this poor girl from the ancient marriage, a girl that was destined to bring peace between winged and wingless tribes… Is the true ruler of the north?" As soon as I asked this question, the green light of the mission's name suddenly dimmed a bit.

"A ruler of the north?" Widening his eyes a bit, the prince asked before shaking his head. "If the girl you spoke of is who I think she is, then she is the rightful ruler not only of the north but all the human tribes that settle this world!"

Even though the prince's words were filled with emotions and something that felt like patriotism and nearly religious loyalty, the man was smart enough not to shout them. After all, given the current situation, not even Dearie's alleged right to the throne would stop this enormous army from cutting its way towards the core lands of the winged tribe!

"Fuck!" Now, it finally struck me. It was never stated that the difficulty of the mission would mean how dangerous it would be. And from the looks of it, this time it was all about the one thing that I wanted to avoid in every single damned world I ever visited.

It appeared that my current mission was heavily inclined towards the political struggle!

"Tell me," turning my head to the prince, I squinted my eyes a bit. "What kind of shape does the crown of your kings have?" I only realized that I made a mistake when my words already left my mouth. But from the lack of reaction on the prince's face when I accidentally used the prular form for the 'king' word managed to somehow calm my anxiety down.

"Crown?" Looking at me with a confused expression on his face, the prince leaned his head over his shoulder before answering. "It's a simple, golden ring. From what I heard, in ancient times people would make it into an intricate item, a work of art to say the least… But as the ancient civilization broke apart, it became a taboo to attempt replicating such works."  Looking at me with a weird glint in his eyes, the prince answered my question.

"So that's what it was all about…" I allowed those words to escape from my mouth along with a long breath of exhaustion.

One ring to rule them all. That was the name of the mission that continued to flash in more and more intense greed the more I asked the prince about the situation. And from how it flashed even brighter than before when I brought the topic of the shape of the crown up, it was already clear what was actually my mission.

One ring to rule them all. Or in other words, one crown to rule all the tribes of men. With this conclusion, it wasn't all that hard to figure out that the actual place of the activated sacred core which was bound to refer to Dearie girl, was actually atop the crown of united human lands!

"Teria… Prince… Right now, I finally figured out what my real mission here is." Given how I only knew those two in this world, they were also the only ones who could somehow help me right now. Because as easy as it would be to just eradicate all the opposition especially with how easy it would be to just go back to earth and bring more recurring stones, I didn't intend to partake in genocide only because it was the easier way to go around it.

What's more, I couldn't even tell if actually killing all those soldiers wouldn't invalidate my mission! After all, who did the King or Queen rules over? An inanimate piece of land, or the people that actually settled it?

"Shoot." Listening in to my exchange with the prince so far, Teria was the first one to hasten me when the topic of my mission surfaced once again.

"If my assumptions and guesses are correct…" even though I was already resolved to revealing this bit, it didn't make it any easier to actually do so. "If my thinking is correct, then I need to turn Dearie," turning my eyes towards the prince, I added for clarification, "the resurrected princess, into the Queen of this entire world."