episode_0269

“Is that so?”

Imperial Knights Headquarters, Victoria reacted with quite serious eyes.

“Yes, Victoria. The situation is not flowing easily.”

The person she was talking to was none other than the heart of the Imperial Knights, Commander-in-Chief Kaiser Antoine des Ailes Oblean.

“Intelligence reports that the Tyrannos and Sophists, having grasped that the Empire’s forces are beginning to disperse, are preparing increasingly ominous movements.”

The story Antoine had summoned Victoria from the arena to tell was none other than the story of the anti-imperial group Tyrannos and the Sophists under their command.

About 20 days after the large-scale monster outbreak,

The number of monsters appearing, as well as the distribution of their locations, is quite vast.

As a result, the Imperial Knights tried to defend only the areas directly under the Imperial Family as much as possible, but gradually, an unavoidable drain on their forces began to occur.

Still, the number was not yet significant enough, so they were maintaining the secret that the power drain had occurred, but,

According to Antoine’s informants, they found that the Tyrannos and Sophist sides had begun to detect it to a level sufficient to devise a plan.

Based on that, the enemies entered suspicious movements.

“Movements, you say?”

Victoria showed a reaction for more definite judgment, even though Antoine’s words were interpreted to some extent.

“Signs of troop redeployment are unfolding. I think Saber Victoria can also analyze what that means.”

The anti-imperial noble alliance, Tyrannos, is redeploying its forces in accordance with the situation of the Imperial Knights.

‘They’re constantly checking the Empire’s troop deployment situation, and they plan to stab somewhere when the timing is right.’

As Antoine said, Victoria immediately caught what Tyrannos’ movements meant.

The place where the Elysium Empire concentrates the most troops is, of course, the northern region, which is keeping the demons in check.

And next is the border area with nobles belonging to Tyrannos,

Among them, the forces guarding the northern region can be seen as an absolute fixed constant that cannot be moved.

In other words, if special forces are organized to deal with the ever-increasing monsters, there is a high possibility that forces from the Tyrannos border area will be drawn out.

Tyrannos is constantly monitoring this, looking for a gap, and planning to stab somewhere.

“However, since the situation is due to the outbreak of monsters, I don’t think Tyrannos’ advance will be enough to threaten the Empire.”

However, monsters do not distinguish between the Empire and Tyrannos.

Currently, monsters are also rampant in the territories of nobles belonging to Tyrannos.

Based on that fact, Victoria conveyed the opinion that there would be room for some level of conflict, but a fatal large-scale battle that would move the entire force would not occur.

“Victoria, you are also well aware of the fact that Tyrannos has been collecting black mages and researching black magic for a long time. It is necessary to keep in mind the possibility that they have prepared some level of countermeasures related to monsters as a result.”

In response, Antoine mentioned black magic and black mages.

Black magic is magic that has accepted a significant portion of magical energy, so the Tyrannos side has been secretly researching it for a long time to counter the divine magic of the Holy See of the Church of the Radiant Goddess, which is allied with the Empire.

There are many opinions that magic for taming monsters is more developed in black magic than in general magic, so

Even if monsters appear in the territories of nobles belonging to Tyrannos, it was impossible to simply make optimistic interpretations that it would be the same situation as the Empire.

“Of course, even so, forcibly advancing a large-scale force to the core of the Imperial Family would be a big risk. But Tyrannos doesn’t have to take such a risk head-on. Because the Sophists exist for them.”

In addition, Antoine mentioned the Sophists, who are playing the role of Tyrannos’ shadow.

If Tyrannos itself were to strike the center of the Empire, it would take on the aspect of an all-out war.

And all-out war has many variables, no matter how relatively free Tyrannos is from monsters, and it can be said to be a choice that could lose everything if it fails.

Then, what is an efficient method that is also distant from responsibility?

It is none other than having the Tyrannos main force only perform the battle to open the way, and then injecting the Sophists, who have a high concentration of power, through the secured route.

This is because, officially, Tyrannos has no basis to take responsibility for the Sophists.

“In the end, it’s the Sophists.”

When the Sophists were mentioned, Victoria replied with a subtle feeling.

She herself had already emphasized the variables of the Sophists enough,

However, the established members who were the mainstream of the Imperial Knights had thoroughly ignored the influence of the Sophists.

Victoria felt a little frustrated as it seemed to be coming to the surface belatedly.

“I know, Victoria. How you feel. So, I am thinking of launching a preemptive strike against Tyrannos and the Sophists by taking advantage of this situation.”

Step, step, step,

At that moment, Antoine slowly walked out to the side of his desk.

‘Preemptive strike?’

The keyword he mentioned at the same time was something that even Victoria, who had felt frustrated just before, would find tempting.

“I can say it now. In fact, I also felt the danger of the Sophists greatly and was in a position to take measures. However, I had to remain neutral regarding the opinions within the Imperial Knights because I had to make judgments in conjunction with the political situation.”

Eventually, Antoine stood facing Victoria in front of her and continued speaking in a quite serious tone.

“So, I have been continuously accumulating information about the Sophists through unofficial methods and have been trying to secure attack routes in case of an emergency.”

Although he came from a great noble family, Antoine is a person who rose from the bottom to become Kaiser.

So, his eye for seeing the field was similar to Victoria’s.

However, he could not ignore the political aspects of his position,

Accordingly, he had been taking his own measures.

“Does that mean perhaps…?”

At that moment, Victoria, who was listening to Antoine’s words, seemed to have something in mind.

“Yes, Victoria. I want to entrust you with the urgent subjugation of the Sophists.”

Antoine nodded slowly and uttered the words Victoria had anticipated.

He is planning to entrust Victoria with an urgent and most secret operation.

“The reason why Tyrannos can show such agile behavior is nothing else. Unfortunately, it means that there are people within the Imperial Knights who are even in contact with Tyrannos or the Sophists.”

Following that, it was Kaiser Antoine of the Imperial Knights who revealed the reason for making such a decision.

“I’ve had some inklings of it before. It would be safer to organize it sufficiently and promote the project, but it doesn’t seem like the current situation will allow that. Then, in the end, it meant that we had to gather the most reliable members and successfully complete the quest, Victoria.”

It is a preemptive strike in the true sense of the word.

If they fail, it will be fatal not only in terms of actual damage but also in terms of justification.

Being aware of that, he wants to be fully prepared, but if there is a spy inside, the very act of being fully prepared could reveal the existence of the secret quest, and physical time is also hopelessly insufficient.

Therefore, the method Antoine chose was members who were entirely trustworthy and highly loyal to the Imperial Knights.

“As a result of carefully considering who would be the right person, it was you, Victoria, in the end. Your loyalty to the Imperial Knights and the Empire is beyond words, and furthermore, you are also an expert on the Sophists.”

Victoria has only been in the Imperial Knights for a year.

So, she does not belong to any camp and has not been tainted by politics.

Until now, Antoine had been unhappy and dissatisfied with Victoria’s tendencies, but

In the current secret quest, it will act as an advantage by more than 200 percent.

“…..”

Victoria, who had been quietly listening to Antoine’s words.

“I understand, Commander-in-Chief Antoine. I will take on the secret quest to subjugate the Sophists.”

She decided to accept Kaiser Antoine’s order.

“You are really amazing, Duchess! To create such an amazing thing!”

The nuns of Bahad were praising Duchess Marianne without end.

The reason is the artifact she introduced to suppress the occurrence of dimensional rifts.

It was none other than the Heart of the Sun.

“I am grateful that you all think so generously. I was quite worried that it might cause displeasure.”

Marianne responded to the nuns’ fuss with a benevolent smile.

The Heart of the Sun, strictly speaking, is the object of an apostle from the perspective of the Church of the Radiant Goddess.

Therefore, Marianne could not tell the other nuns about it as it was, except for her daughter Charlotte.

So, she put on a different skin and introduced it as a magic suppression artifact she had created.

“There is no reason to feel displeased when it was created by Duchess Marianne, who is not just anyone, for the peace of the continent! Rather, I think it is something that can enhance the reputation of the Church of the Radiant Goddess!”

Of course, that does not mean that there are no problems.

However, the reason why the nuns can show the same reaction as now is because the person in front of them is Duchess Marianne.

For nearly 60 years, she was the person closest to the saintess, and Marianne was even evaluated as it was only a matter of time before she became a saintess if she had not married.

As a result, even after becoming a duchess, she was revered like a saint and was able to wield great influence.

The Holy See also wants to continue its relationship with such Marianne, so it has a strong tendency to interpret her actions as positively as possible.

“It seems to be resolved for now, Mother.”

In that way, with the help of the nuns, Eugene and Charlotte, and Marianne placed the Heart of the Sun in important areas of Bahad.

Then, Eugene Schneider, who had finished the work, said to Marianne with a relieved expression.

“Yes. But when the Holy See starts to seriously mention dimensional rifts, the story will be different. From then on, they will start to show extreme fundamentalist tendencies to prevent the desertion of public sentiment.”

However, it was only a temporary peace that applied only to Eugene Schneider’s side.

The occurrence of dimensional rifts will become common, and in that case, the Church of the Radiant Goddess, which promotes the goddess as a symbol of judgment rather than a symbol of peace, will become dominant.

“So, this mother needs to find out for sure in advance, my son Eugene Schneider.”

Marianne, who indirectly mentioned that, looked at her adoptive son Eugene Schneider with a serious expression.

“Have you ever had any strange experiences related to Atlantis while on the Path of Pilgrimage?”

As expected, Marianne had seen Eugene Schneider sealing the dimensional gate,

And because she had been researching the dimensional gate sealing for a long time, she immediately connected it to Atlantis.