Ch.306Chapter 306. The Blind Spot of a Veteran (6)

Serpina fell into thought after hearing my words.

There’s no need to deny it now. I occasionally liked her elegant profile when she was lost in thought.

Just by slightly biting her nail and furrowing her brow a little, I could easily see a subtle beauty different from her usual self.

“Using another’s sight… to create miracles…”

“And then, self-destruction by showing miracles…”

After muttering to herself for a while, her pupils contracted slightly as if something had occurred to her.

She then turned her head and looked into my eyes.

“Could it be… are you suggesting that you will personally show them the appropriate ‘results’ with your own hands?”

“I see you’re quick-witted as expected, my lord.”

What I’m about to do.

It was to breathe ‘meaning’ into Yurie’s utterly useless action of ‘building an altar and praying to the gods.’

I don’t know what she was thinking with such behavior, but I alone was certain that the action held no meaning whatsoever.

But everyone except me was pondering and thinking about whether it had some meaning. They were trying their best to infer the true intention hidden within it.

Yes. Everyone except me naturally assumed that some result would come from all these actions!

Rather, they would find it strange if nothing came of it, so I didn’t even need to prepare ‘plausible evidence’ for this situation.

“Serpina, you naturally said it yourself. That ‘there must be some other reason.'”

“Well, that’s because I knew about your mind’s eye prediction.”

“Even without the mind’s eye prediction, now that mages have appeared on the continent, there are far fewer people who would claim that supernatural powers absolutely don’t exist compared to before. Most people will certainly believe there’s some reason behind Yurie’s—the Aeshus army’s—actions.”

Only Serpina and I knew that Yurie had committed ‘an act that a ruler should never do.’

There were rumors that she ‘sold out her subordinate general to another country,’ but rumors are just rumors. Moreover, since the counterpart in that rumor was the infamous Serpina, most people would naturally doubt the truth of such claims rather than believe them outright.

At times like this, Serpina’s infamy actually helps.

“But what if that action yields results? At least, almost no one would doubt the causal relationship. They might even deceive themselves. What about you, Serpina? Without my mind’s eye prediction, if such a thing happened—what judgment would you have made?”

“…!”

“Do you understand what I’m saying now?”

At my words, Serpina slowly nodded.

“Yes, Swen, I think I understand what you’re thinking. But even if you create a miracle, what exactly do you plan to do?”

Since meeting Serpina, I spoke with more confidence than ever before.

“My lord. Please give me full authority from now on. And keep our conversation today completely secret.”

* * *

“Are you saying… that the fortress will collapse, Counselor?”

“That’s correct.”

Ian asked in shock at Swen’s words.

“I’m truly sorry, but I don’t quite understand. We were just about to send an advance party to Balhart Castle…”

At that moment.

Swen, with his eyes closed, slowly extended his finger pointing to the sky.

“It happened a few days ago. As usual, I was observing the movements of the heavens.”

Observing the movements of the heavens.

To someone hearing this for the first time, it might sound like nonsense—but for Ian, a general in Serpina’s army, if such words came from Swen’s mouth, they carried sufficient credibility.

After all, when the northern fortress of Kelstein Castle collapsed due to a boulder falling from the sky—it was none other than Swen, who was then with the Brans army, who performed a ritual to the heavens and created a miracle.

He still vividly remembered that when Swen first arrived here, some ministers had questioned whether it was right to accept someone who had done such a thing as a subordinate.

As for which side he was on, Ian was the type to prioritize practicality.

He had argued that there was no need to discriminate against someone with such power coming to their side.

Looking back now, that decision was nothing short of excellent. After all, it was none other than Swen who had protected his family and his life.

“And I discovered that three red stars symbolizing calamity are pointing toward this place. A great accident will surely happen.”

“I… I see?”

Ian immediately asked with a very serious expression.

“Then what should we do? First, I should report to the Commander-in-Chief—”

“You don’t need to worry about that, Ian.”

With perfect timing, Irene walked toward them from the distance.

“You’ve arrived, Commander.”

“Swen never speaks nonsense. And I myself will vouch for his ability to communicate with the heavens.”

Ian also knew that Irene had been the commander of the Brans army at that scene.

With the guarantee of essentially the strongest witness plus Swen’s mysterious abilities, nothing could be more meaningless than questioning Swen’s opinion.

“I’ve already heard a brief explanation. Please prepare to withdraw the troops immediately.”

“Yes! Understood! Then, Counselor, excuse me. Don’t worry about this, prepare for evacuation!”

As Ian moved further away from the two—

* * *

‘Haa.’

I let out a short sigh.

Of course, observing the heavens was a lie.

‘I was wondering what excuse to give if he asked for specific reasons, but it seems to have resolved itself well.’

“Swen.”

Irene approached me as I sighed in relief.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m not scolding you, but… isn’t communicating with the heavens a task that puts great strain on you?”

Strain, is it?

The reason I collapsed back then was simply because I was overworked while being too tense, but Irene firmly believed that I had consumed some kind of power by communicating with the heavens.

There was no need to explain that much, but to prevent her from worrying, it wouldn’t hurt to be somewhat honest.

I lightly shared my plan with Irene.

“I see? You mean you’ll destroy the fortress yourself…?”

“Yes. As I mentioned, Yurie is expending all national power on building altars to comfort the souls of fallen comrades. If we throw a plausible result at that, the Aeshus army will mistake it for the true path and self-destruct.”

“I see… With magic being widely known and your existence, the idea of communicating with the heavens to achieve something seems quite plausible in this era. But then, why didn’t you tell Ian honestly?”

“That’s a simple matter.”

The reason I told Ian a plausible lie.

It was because if I didn’t deceive even our own side, this plan had a very high chance of falling apart from the beginning.

The worst outcome for me would be Yurie noticing something suspicious and backing out.

‘The prediction of Intelligence 100 gave the answer [It depends on the heavens]. In other words, the result varies depending on what I do.’

So now I needed to thoroughly eliminate as many variables as possible on my end.

Even so, this was Irene we’re talking about. Rather than trying to deceive her inadequately, I knew without much thought that it would be more efficient to quickly bring her in as a firm ally.

“Hmm. I understand. I was wondering if there’s anything else I can help with.”

“Just withdraw the troops quickly, please.”

“Alright. If there’s anything else you need me to do, please let me know.”

I was planning to repeatedly build and withdraw from the front lines, so I felt fortunate that Irene was the Commander-in-Chief.

Come to think of it, Irene, who came to Serpina’s army with me, has already reached the position of Commander-in-Chief.

With the thought that so much time had passed… I briefly recalled the face of my true lord that I had momentarily forgotten.

‘…No.’

Let’s deal with the immediate matters first.

I quickly escaped the fortress with Irene.

* * *

After all troops had withdrawn from the fortress.

“Miss Reika…?”

“Ah, hello…! Hehe.”

I could barely recognize Reika who was disguised as someone else.

“Wow… who did this for you?”

“I did it myself following what Lady Jenis taught me. She… she taught me a lot about how to disguise properly.”

Both Ioline and Jenis have such unique skills.

They probably both have the “espionage” skill lit up.

I quickly got to the point.

“Miss Reika. I’m going to destroy this fortress now, but you don’t need to use enough magical power to destroy it directly.”

I said this while drawing the rapier from my waist.

I had already filled up about 24 hours of meditation to properly use this object that could instantly amplify magical power received from Reika.

Reika’s magic was truly close to omnipotent, but ultimately it was a forbidden power that consumed her lifespan.

It was much better to use the magical power charged in the rapier if possible.

“Just throw a small fireball here like before. Understood?”

“Ah, about that… I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“If the purpose is to destroy the fortress, I have something better than a fireball…”

“Something better?”

As far as I knew, the magic Reika could use was healing magic, magic that makes ice pillars rise, and fireballs?

Seeing my puzzled expression, she smiled briefly, then slowly knelt down and placed her hands on the ground.

And then—

“…!!”

“Did you feel that?”

I definitely felt it. A very faint vibration.

The ground had just trembled ever so slightly.

“How was it?”

“W-when did you learn this?!”

“Just, while meditating, a new formula suddenly came to mind. I thought—what if I could move the earth this way.”

Learning earthquake magic just through meditation??

I had forgotten, but Reika was the continent’s first and greatest mage. In fact, she was a monster who could suddenly and casually realize fireball, ice magic, and healing magic out of nowhere.

“That’s great. This is enough! But… how can I amplify this magic with the rapier?”

“Oh, that! I thought about that too…”

Huh?

Suddenly Reika began to fidget awkwardly.

Then, with just her fingertips touching and slightly covering her mouth, she said:

“W-well… I was wondering if it might be… somewhat inappropriate…”

“I don’t mind.”

“…Really?”

I wondered what could possibly make her hesitate like this—

Soon, I would understand why she had been hesitating, whether I wanted to or not.

Reika gently placed both her hands over my hand holding the rapier.

It’s warm. Her hands, with blood flowing through them, were warmly caressing mine.

“Ehehe. Swen’s hands are warm…”

…It seems I wasn’t the only one thinking that way, which made me smile involuntarily.

“Like this… could you try stabbing the rapier into the ground slightly…?”

I slowly thrust the rapier into the earth as she instructed.

And shortly after—

—RUMBLE!!

Along with the earth shaking, the sound of various birds flying away.

With various “disaster sounds” passing by—the fortress where soldiers had stayed began to collapse.

Reika and I waited for the fortress to completely collapse from a distance.

As the earth’s rumbling subsided… looking at the completely destroyed and devastated fortress, I sensed it.

Success.

It was the moment when I excellently took the first step in a deception that would fool even our own side.