CH 465

Carlotta’s Intentions

――Carlotta Demeyere, Commander of the Holy Order of Faldienne.

She was Nell’s immediate superior, a woman of character.

She was a military officer, a holy knight, but she was also in a position to play a role in national politics.

However, she had been making full use of the authority she had gained in the domestic turmoil of the past few years, and she continued to demonstrate her talent to the fullest. She was one of the most powerful people in the country, second only to the cardinals in the church, and also served as an advisor to the King.

Religion and politics were intertwined.

The military was also involved in politics.

Carlotta herself thought both were bad things, but… well, she would use whatever she could get her hands on.

Her political prowess, her ability to control her troops, and her own guts.

The combination of these factors had brought her to her current position.

There were numerous issues that she had to consider, but the one that was currently bothering her the most was the treatment of Nell, the young hero.

Nell was a young girl.

At first, she was just as naive as she appeared to be, but after a certain point, she started to show her ability and courage and grew so rapidly that she reached a point that even Carlotta was no longer a match for her.

She was originally judged to have extremely high potential, and thus was chosen to be raised as the next hero, but now she had far exceeded initial expectations and became capable of competing for the top position within the human framework without a doubt.

At least, in the surrounding human nations, there was no one more capable than she was.

Even among other races that were relatively more powerful than humans, there was no one who could fight as well as Nell.

Nell, for example, would charge in by herself against a demon that would require an army to defeat, saying something like, “It’s weaker than the demons in the Demon Forest,” and slash it to pieces without any fear at all.

She would always mention that she was weak and had to fight with her full strength, resulting in a slaughter.

Incidentally, Nell was not weak at all, even by military standards.

Even if one only looked at her simple arm strength, she showed unbelievable strength despite her slender arms and won an arm-wrestling match with several holy knights, so what she was talking about was completely her own personal opinion.

She may be slim, but there was one aspect of her fighting style that was actually starting to awe people a bit these days.

At the very least, it would be safe to say that very few people would underestimate her despite her cute appearance.

That was how much more impressive Nell had become in battle.

She was already beginning to become such an out of standard existence, but there was one more very important point that must be added to her evaluation.

That point was that she was one of the wives of the Demon Lord Yuki.

Demon Lord Yuki.

No, the Great Demon Lord Yuki.

While Nell was one of the most powerful humans, the Demon Emperor Yuki was one of the most powerful beings, even among the more powerful humanoid races.

His one-hit magic in the recently concluded war was widely known, and the story of his defeat of an undead dragon, which was regarded as both a catastrophe and a disaster, was still being told.

His military prowess was unrivaled among the humanoid races, but more important was his influence.

He was called the Demon Emperor along with being a Demon Lord, and he was the reigning emperor of the Rogard Empire, which played a pivotal role in interactions among other races.

The country that was able to establish a friendship with him early on was very fortunate.

He was a man who first appeared as Nell’s follower, but he sure had come a long way.

Recalling the time when they first met, she couldn’t help but smile.

Even back then, there was an air of something out of the ordinary about him… but she had no idea that he was the man who would make it this far.

Nell must have had a better eye for people than herself, because she won him over.

With amusement, Carlotta laughed to herself, but her expression quickly tightened, and her thoughts began to wander.

Since Nell had such a connection, Carlotta decided that it would be best to have her focus on maintaining the relationship between the Demon Emperor Yuki and this country.

In concrete terms, she should be moved from Alshir, the royal capital of Allysia Kingdom, to Alfiro, a frontier town bordering the Demon Forest, and be dispatched only in case of an emergency.

Although she would lose the ability to respond more quickly than when she was working in Alshir, Carlotta wanted to make use of airships for this purpose.

The country was now beginning to expand its airship facilities at a rapid pace, and after Alshir, King Reyid wanted to improve Alfiro’s shipping routes.

It was a decision she made because the King, too, was thinking the same thing.

The only reason Nell was able to continue her work as a hero was because Yuki allowed her to do as she wished.

Nell had already started a family and should be able to leave her job, but she said, “I was brought up by this country!” so she was still working for this country as a hero because of her strong sense of responsibility, saying “I will continue to work for this country at least until it becomes stable”.

Thus, Carlotta would like to shape this idea as soon as possible so as not to interfere with Nell’s lifestyle as much as possible…

–But there were those who opposed it: a group of cardinals, the head of the Church.

They opposed Nell’s move to Alfiro, arguing that it would be “unwise to place an important force of heroes in a remote area”.

They were not convinced by Nell’s arguments that improved relations with other races would reduce external dangers and that airships would shorten the time required for travel.

Certainly, even though relations with other races had improved, the country still needed to be prepared from the standpoint of national defense, and there was no doubt that there was a danger in having Nell, the country’s top military force, leave the capital. Carlotta understood.

In short, they were unhappy and anxious about the status quo.

Other races had started to gain a strong presence, which weakened the Church.

Although not to the same extent as the human supremacists who had become a problem in recent years, they were afraid that their faith might be threatened by other races.

That was why they did not want to let go of Nell, their trump card in the Allysia Kingdom and in the Church.

She possessed that much power.

Carlotta also understood this fear.

However, at her core, she was a military leader with a code of conduct to follow.

It was a matter of course that Carlotta would start making her move when she needed to.

In the current situation, it would be cheap, for lack of a better word, to offer Nell, a hero, as a sacrifice…and get the cooperation of that Demon Lord in return.

However, the cardinals did not understand.

They did not realize it.

Whether they wanted it or not, the world was changing. Things had come to the point where they also had to adapt.

Carlotta knew that. And King Allysia had also been thinking about it these days.

“…It’s time for the church to change as well, huh?”

Carlotta hummed and then formulated a plan to push through her request to the noisy ones.

–In the end, her main reason for making a move was her sisterly concern that she could not tolerate those who stood in the way of her lovely sister’s attempts to find happiness.