Volume 1 - CH 4

Act 1-4: Conspiracy

Silke Great Forest, deep in the mountain road.

The scenery was just like an endless sea of greenery. After cautiously walking amongst the tall trees, which blocked the moonlight, Fracton Sarmaj heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the two people waiting there.

Fracton was a bigshot public official in the Amelia kingdom, otherwise known as a civil official. Properly speaking, he was a coward afraid of battle. That was why this was his first time walking in the mountain’s forest at night.

「How’s the situation over there?」

「Perfect! Everything has been in place. Armies of ogres and black panthers summoned by thirty summoners of the empire will surround your group. If you add the two of us, not even a rat will be able to escape from our encirclement.」

The one who replied to Fracton’s question was an old man with a red cloth having the crest of a Twin-Headed Divine Bird covering the lower half of his face.

「As expected of a unit led by 【Supreme Summoner】, Enzu-dono. I’ve often heard the rumors about your deeds.」

Contrary to his nickname, the old man called Enzu had crew-cut hair. He was an extremely muscular man on top of that, which could be seen from his red robe. This man was one of the six generals, a position equivalent to the strongest men in the Glitnir empire, the summoner. He was a literal, strategic-class weapon of the Empire.

「It’s just baseless flattery. How about the Princess’s side?」

「Princess Rose was just chatting with the incompetent apostate a while ago, but she has already returned to her tent to sleep. We just need to make some disturbance later to separate the knight leader, Arnold, from her. The only thing left will be for you to finish your job.」

The reason Fracton had betrayed the royalty of his own kingdom was that as long as Princess Rose, the strongest contender to become the next ruler of this kingdom, disappeared, the chances of Prince Gilbert, the prince Fracton and co. supported, becoming the next ruler would increase.

「Hah! A bastard who sold out the royalty, the people they should serve, huh! Such an audacious idea is unthinkable for soldiers of the empire like us.」

The black-haired young man with a slightly wild appearance and a scar on his face, who was leaning on the trunk of a tall tree on his back with his arms crossed, couldn’t help but spit out disdainful remarks in response to Fracton’s words.

「Sword Emperor-dono, are trying to say that we are shameless?」

This black-haired man was the current 【Sword Emperor】―Signiel Gastrea. He was a genius who had succeeded the title of the Sword Emperor at a young age from the previous Sword Emperor, Ashburn Gastrea. Despite his title, he was known as an extremely honest, yet rude man.

「Humph, nothing good will come even if I answer your question. But well, I guess I expressed it in a bad way. My apologies!」

「You don’t even know the real situation in our kingdom, yet you dare to say those extremely rude remarks! You think an apology alone is enough for me to let go of this matter!」

Fracton felt humiliated by Signiel’s harsh remark.

Fracton felt that what he was doing was the best course of action to prevent the destruction of the order in his motherland. That was why he couldn’t allow a youngster who didn’t even know the real situation in his motherland to insult him like that.

「Hah, what are you blabbering about? It’s a fact that you guys sold your own master, right?」

「We’re not selling her! We’re marrying her off to the royalty of the empire!」

「The heck! Instead of getting married, I think that the poor princess will end up as the plaything of these gloomy and perverted summoners for her entire life.」

Rosemary’s gift was the Saint, a power that allowed her to summon the hero from another world. Her unique power was the main reason the empire wanted her.

The princess could summon a new hero, and this could lead to the deterioration of the international relationship between the Amelia kingdom and the Empire. Therefore, Gilbert’s faction had prepared a plan to marry off the princess to the royalty of the empire. Gilbert’s faction did that mainly to eliminate the woman who was the strongest contender for the throne rather than because of their fear toward the military country.

「That’s enough, Signiel! My apologies, Fracton-dono. He’s just a little excited since he has yet to become familiar with the atmosphere of a foreign country.」

Enzu straightened his posture, bowed, and apologized to Fracton. Seeing that, Signiel just smacked his lips and closed his eyes.

Fracton immediately snapped out of his rage. He realized that he had almost started a quarrel because Signiel’s remark had hurt his pride.

「Well, it doesn’t matter! I shall go back and prepare to take action. When worse comes to worst, I hope that Signiel-dono can help us to stop Arnold.」

「…」

After signaling with a light gesture using his chin, Signiel vanished in the depths of the forest. Enzu also bowed again before retreating into the forest and vanishing like Signiel.

Left alone in that place, Fracton was elated right now. His faction could finally exile the princess from her motherland.

For them, Princess Rose was a lunatic. She said that a kingdom should be governed by competent people regardless of their social status. This meant that even a commoner could enter the stage as long as they were competent. These words of hers could bring about unspeakable chaos.

In accordance with the traditional law of the Amelia kingdom, the throne should be inherited by the eldest son. However, the one who had the final say was still the king.

As if that was not enough, the political enemy of Fracton’s group was a Saint. Rose was an existence chosen by God to summon the hero. Therefore, like the priest, she was incredibly popular amongst the masses. The support for her was guaranteed. What Gilbert’s faction feared the most was that the king might appoint Rose as the next ruler to raise the morale of the army for the incoming battle against the Demon King army.

However, what would happen if Rose became the ruler of the Amelia kingdom? One thing was for certain. She’d destroy the order; she would uproot the order that these nobles had been protecting since their ancestors’ era.

That was why they had to prevent that at all costs. They had to save the noble society. Therefore, even though Fracton’s family had served the royal family for generations, he still took the trouble to betray the person he served.

（There’s no way we’d fail with this kind of line up.）

They were accompanied by two of the six generals, the strongest men in the Glitnir empire. According to Fracton’s calculation, the leader of the kingdom’s knights, Arnold, was powerful; he was at least on par with the Sword Emperor, Signiel. As long as the Sword Emperor kept Arnold in check, Fracton thought the plan would be smooth sailing. As long as the other general managed to bring the Princess to the Empire while Arnold was kept occupied, Fracton and co. would have won.

（My loyalty is only for you, Prince Gilbert!）

Fracton retraced his way back to the camp after saluting his master, who had been waiting for good news in the royal capital.