Episode 1336. Are there any stories left to tell?
Elio and his party moved to the stagecoach office in Harkit under the setting sun.
Although Harkit was occupied by the Imperial Army, the stagecoach continued to operate.
It is not because the Stagecoach Association did not represent the interests of either side, but rather because both the Empire and the Southern Kingdoms needed stagecoaches to operate.
Even so, in the aftermath of the war, the stagecoach was only available once for breakfast and lunch.
“...And it is only possible to operate as far as Minos, east of Peromuros. As I said beforehand, we will not enter Pheromuros.”
At the words of the stagecoach office staff, Fabian nodded.
After all, their destination is not Pheromuros, but eastern Pheromuros.
“I get it. What time can I come in the morning?”
“You must be at the waiting area by 9:00 at the latest. I can’t tell you when I’ll arrive, but I’m always on time for departure.”
“Don’t worry. We are the people who came from the North to the South by stagecoach.”
The office staff looked at the young traveler and his companions with new eyes.
However, since there was no way to know whether it was true or a bluff, I soon gave up my interest.
After a while, Elio’s party came out to the street again.
As dusk settled, the streets became depressingly quiet.
The sound of magic cannons echoed softly in the distance.
Elio, who had inadvertently listened to the gunfire, muttered to himself.
“Peromuros is half a day away... What kind of gunfire is that?”
Then Fabian spoke.
“Isn’t the southern kingdom army only in Peromuros? Did you forget that this is the kingdom of Adria?”
“Does the kingdom of Adria have potential?”
“Did you not know? The Adrian kingdom is much stronger than any duchy.”
“...”
Elio was lost in thought for a moment.
The commander of the 35th division said that if only Feromuros was captured, the southern kingdoms would surrender, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
It is true that the Steel Legion is winning one after another, but aren’t they fighting only the Steel Legion?
“Why is that?”
Fabian examined Count Elio Lagoa’s complexion with a puzzled face.
“You met the 35th division commander earlier.”
“So what?”
“The 35th division commander said that the war would end if only Feromuros was captured.”
“It must be because the war situation favors the imperial army. If the southern kingdoms don’t have weapons to deal with Excitium... it’s very likely that they will.”
“But Excitium only has the Iron Legion. Among them, only the Batalion units are armed with excitium.”
“Of course it is, but the side that occupies the strategic point wins in the end. It is not a vain delusion. isn’t it? Sir Omar?”
Fabian secretly drew in Larva Count Omar.
His insight and experience would support his words.
Count Larva Omar, who had been listening with a nod, opened his mouth.
“I think I know why Lord Lagoa said that. Fabian Your argument is a faithful answer to the academy’s teachings.”
At Count Larva Omar’s words, both Elio and Fabian raised their chins.
The Count’s words continued.
“Now that I think about it, I think my thoughts were short.”
Fabian asked at Count Omar’s sudden self-criticism in Larva.
“yes? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Was there a war between the Empire and the Southern Kingdom? So that means you have to look at both the Empire and the Southern Realms. But we were only digging on the Empire side, weren’t we?”
Count Omar of Larva then spoke to Count Elio Lagoa.
“Sir Lagoa, ‘the vanguard of chaos’ is not on the side of either the Empire or the southern kingdoms? If that’s the case, it’s possible that they’ve spread their magic to the Southern Kingdom as well. But we are dark about the situation in the Southern Kingdom.”
“ah!”
Elio realized later that he was missing something.
Ushas Undra could also play tricks on the southern kingdom, but he overlooked it.
“Lord Lagoa, look at the movement of the Imperial Army as originally planned. I will look around the southern kingdoms and see if there are any signs of trouble.”
“Aren’t you going to the eastern part of Feromuros?”
“Yes, I will go to Krasion and meet the King of Adria Kingdom. I think we should find out the situation in the southern kingdom through him.”
“It’s an overstatement.”
The corners of Fabian’s mouth went up at Duke Cillian Hale’s praise.
Fabian, who knew the subject, naturally moved in front of the door.
Duke Cillian Hale, who had his eyes on Fabian, asked Elio.
“The Grand Master wouldn’t have just come to a place like this, so what’s going on?”
Elio looked into Duke Cillian Hale’s eyes before answering.
Looking back, he was friendly with me from the first time we met.
It seemed that he could reveal his true feelings a little, not just as a high-ranking official in the empire, but like Count Larva Omar.
“Actually...”
Elio calmly said that the gods had intervened in the ‘Crack in Hirhera in the North’ and the ‘War between the Empire and the Southern Kingdom’.
The face of Duke Cillian Hale, who at first listened with an absurd face, gradually hardened.
In the Abyss, when Elio said, ‘He killed the god Antar, the right-hand man of the evil god Shaitin’, he couldn’t even breathe properly.
Elio said that Ushas Undra was ‘the vanguard of chaos’ and kept his mouth shut.
“Is that true? No, that would be true.”
Duke Cillian Hale shook his head excitedly with a bewildered face.
It was impossible for a person like a grand master to talk nonsense, so I asked but only one question.
“It is staggering that the war between the Empire and the Southern Kingdom is a conspiracy of the gods. No, more than that, if this fact gets into the Church of Mana Phras, they will send a heretic inquisitor.”
The mere fact that Manaphthras was not a creator god would make Count Elio Lagoa hear the sound of heresy.
Elio shrugged.
He thought it didn’t matter what the Manaptras Church did.
But things weren’t as simple as he thought.
“If the Heretic Inquisitor judges heresy... the pope of Manaphathras will move the emperor to judge the sutra.”
“Are you saying that the Imperial Army could be mobilized?”
“Yes.”
“Then what should I do?”
“You shouldn’t tell anyone what you just told me.”
“It would be okay to find and deal with Ushas Undra, right?”
“If Ushas Undra betrayed Mana Phthras and became attached to the evil god... wouldn’t that work? I think Mana Phthras will understand that much.”
Mana Phrass asked for the disposal of Ushas Undra, so Elio smiled.
Duke Cillian Hale continued,
“That’s why you came to check the situation. To find out who is instigating this war. Am I right?”
“yes. Perhaps he is the ‘vanguard of chaos’.”
“The person who wanted a war to break out in the empire is the crown prince.”
“....”
Elio looked at Duke Cillian Hale in surprise at the unexpected words.
“But the crown prince cannot be Ushas Undra. Isn’t it?”
“Is that right?”
Elio asked with a confident face.
Since the bodies of the gods are spirit bodies, they can take any form they want as polymorphs.
However, with high-ranking mages beside the prince, that would be difficult.
“I will secretly investigate the people around the crown prince. It’s not the only thing that’s suspicious that the excitium that was buried a long time ago suddenly pops up.”
“If you notice any strange movement, please let me know.”
“Of course it should. Isn’t there only one person who can deal with Ushas Undra? Until you find him, pretend you exist or don’t exist. I’m telling you not to collide with the Manaptras Church or the Imperial Army.”
“yes.”
Elio – with a look of trust – nodded vigorously.
Coincidentally, at that time, Knight Commander Spike Gore suddenly opened the door and came in.
“Your Excellency the Duke. The staff of the Imperial Army’s intelligence department... I would like to see you.”
“me?”
“No. I am looking for Lord Lagoa.”
Duke Cillian Hale frowned.
The division commander would have come to greet them, but the staff members of the intelligence department did not.
“Sir Lagoa? Do you have anything left to tell me?”