CH 58.1

Chaos in Ostland (4)

“Whawhawhawhawhat am I supposed to do!! Alicetia is going to die!!”

I held my head in my hands. As the king, I had no choice but to leave her alone. I had to go to the border for reinforcements. The Stampede in Ostland is a firestorm brewing that is of no business to Arland, and the Empire wouldn’t allow our involvement. The degree of relative priorities is too different. I can’t let our country fall because of one daughter.

“I can’t calm down!!”

Bam!! I slapped my cheeks.

“The only way to go about it is to destroy the Imperial army first, and then head there as quickly as possible. It will be hard on the soldiers, but we will mobilize all the airships and move the troops as quickly as possible. If she can hold out, we might make it in time. Everything depends on her efforts and my leadership. If we want to save her, we must destroy the Imperial Army immediately.”

That would be the only way. It’s not impossible that they might be under a siege and on the defensive after getting holed up thanks to Alicetia’s magic tools. It’s highly unlikely, though.

And the country only has five large airships, which are ideal for transporting soldiers. Unfortunately, one of them broke down the other day and is no longer in service. But this all happened just as I was thinking that Alicetia might be able to fix it.

Because of that, the remaining four airships are currently undergoing inspection in the Capital. At worst, there is a possibility that they would be destroyed, but that would be a cheap price compared to my daughter’s life.

Three days later, the Imperial army claimed to have seen a demon. No, a swarm of demons attacked the Imperial army and destroyed their 20,000 strong troops in just one hour. With more than usual… or rather, with an unbelievable vigor, the Arland troops broke through the vanguard of the Imperial army, swarmed the headquarters, killed all the commanders, and left. The Imperial soldiers who took part in this battle were decommissioned one after another, and the personnel in the forts along the border were nearly all replaced. It’s said that due to this, the Empire became even more wary of Arland, saying that demons of Arland rarely appeared in packs.

———-

Alicetia’s Point of View

I was astonished when I checked my condition. White feathers and a halo had appeared on my body. The magic crest has already been deactivated. And because the cost of maintaining the barrier is higher than the cost of activating it, I can’t move yet. So I’m enjoying Alicia’s lap pillow, while having the feathers growing from my waist massaged. Don’t they usually grow on the back? This is so embarrassing.

“Pfft! You have become all angelic.”

Anon was back on form, and she took this opportunity to tease me. I mean, she’s taking advantage of my inability to resist by pulling my cheeks and tugging on my wings. Isn’t that a bit rude after I’ve revealed my status to her?

“Miss Maid’s ears are so fluffy, I wonder what pair of ears hears what?”

Keena was fluffing Alicia’s fox ears. For some reason, Alicia said that her tail is off-limits, so she endured while having her ears played with. Apparently I am the only one who is allowed to touch her tail.

“Ah… you two… aren’t you two being too rude… I also want to touch them, though…”

Only Charlotte was a little distant from us. She was kneeling down in the middle of the room in awe.

“It’s fine, Alice says she doesn’t mind. Besides, I am interested in this maid, too. I’ll ruffle Alice’s feathers now, but I’ll touch her ears later. Besides, she can’t move, so we have to stimulate her, so she doesn’t fall asleep, right? See, we have no choice.”!

“Just don’t overdo it. However, this is so much like Alice to not think of the way to turn back to normal.”

Yes. My biggest miscalculation was that I had not devised a way to cancel this spirit magic equipment. The spirits are currently dormant, so I can’t ask them anything, and I can’t talk to the Spirit of Light while she’s in the spirit magic equipment state. Perhaps it will get dispelled on its own when my consciousness ceases, but if I go to sleep in this situation I will never wake up. So I have no choice but to stay quiet like this while being tortured by the people around me for some reason. No one would listen to me even if I really wanted them to quit it. Can I cry?

But there are still things to do. First, expand the barrier. There are still many people alive outside the barrier. The only way to help those people is to let them inside this barrier. Of course, I am letting people fleeing this way inside, so the number of people continues to increase. According to what I have heard, there are not that many damaged sections of the city walls. The number of monsters in the city is not that many, aside from the groups I happened to encounter on my way. But even if there are not many, there were some very strong monsters in the city, so the damage is extensive. And one more thing. His Majesty has logged in (inside the barrier). Apparently the castle has fallen completely.

“I didn’t expect you to be there. Thank you for your help. I am very grateful… but it’s a little bit dangerous to use the forbidden magic…”

“If you do something, I will remove you from the barrier. I will not let you interfere with me, okay? And if you want me to extend the barrier throughout the Capital, you’ll have to acquiesce.”

“…… I have no qualifications to pursue this matter. I cannot protect the Capital without you now. I promise not to pursue this matter in the future.”

The negotiations were concluded rather easily. The situation has deteriorated to the point where there is nothing to negotiate. The barrier can be expanded, and there is no need to worry about it getting destroyed anytime soon thanks to its strength. However, I am unable to move for a while by maintaining the barrier, so even if we survive for these three days… at worst, I will be completely useless.

And apparently, my magic power recovery that boasts an extraordinary speed by absorbing the magic power of the surroundings is completely useless now, since there is no magic power within this space to absorb anymore, so I am down to the same recovery speed as an ordinary person. If I were to deploy and maintain the barrier throughout the Capital, I will reach my limit in a week, even if I use all the potions in the treasury. And I can’t stay up all night, all day for a week.

“The situation outside is getting worse and worse.”

“Alice, take out something.”

Anon demanded from me. But I can’t use many of the magic tools because I’m out of magic power. And because the high-performance magic tools are designed to be powered by a magic furnace or myself, they can’t be used by everyone, like the ordinary magic tools of this world. Of course, there are some that they could use, but they are not good enough to overcome this situation. I have used all of the Dragon magic spheres on me and left the rest at the planned laboratory site in Arland. Recently, I was enjoying the feeling of a retreat by building a core for a magic furnace over there, and the result of doing that has now turned out to be the worst.