Maou No Utsuwa

Western East of the continent. That area, which has land that would not be strange if there were an otherwise intense battle in the north called Nort Ende, has not been fought directly at all since the outbreak of the insurgency. That's why the Ruthua Empire hesitated to step into Northende. As long as Kamui is fighting outside the Northende, too, the brave men with different ends than the Ruthua Empire need not bother to attack the Northende, where many demons live. It is the people, not the demons, who make the mistake. I don't want anything to happen to reduce the number of Demons involved in the war. As a result, the western eastern part of the continent has never had to be involved in a war before.

But with the participation of the Union of Central States, that situation will just collapse. There is a continuous and one-touch situation between the Ruthuan imperial subordinate countries in the northeast and the Union of Central Nations to the south. Tensions were growing with Samuel Ethenberg, the brother of Hildegand, the second son of a former Eastern uncle who ruled the northern half of the former Eastern uncle's territory there, moving to intervene in the situation.

In the meantime, Maximilian Ethenberg, the head of the old Oriental Uncle main house, who can now be considered the only force that has not made the flag clear, was troubled by the two letters lined up on his desk.

One is from Claudia, King of the Kingdom of Dia. It's a letter reminding me to join the war that I don't know how many more have arrived. And another letter from King Therese, King of the Kingdom of Schutz Alten, who hasn't heard from us at all since we separated. This one's a little different than joining the war, but it's a letter about revealing the flag anyway. Both royal families of the former Schutz Alten Empire. I've been telling each of them to take their side.

Maximilian is the Oriental uncle of the former Schutz Alten Empire. He served Claudia, who was an emperor, and officially succeeded the former Empire of Schutzarten by the Kingdom of Dia. It will be a choice between betraying Claudia and attaching to the Tairaises rather than on which one. If you're going to be bound by the big name, you shouldn't have to worry about anything, but in reality, Maximilian was worried now.

Claudia is not the person who can be so loyal that she doesn't think it's okay to turn her children against her enemies. That's why the choice of betraying Claudia and switching to the Tairays is not easy either. Therese, who was the husband of his daughter, Hildegand, but that was what he advanced to strengthen his own power, and he did not give Therese so much credit for himself. Which is the other way around. You can't regain the power of the royal family if it's a Terreise that wasn't very reputable at the time. Maximilian thought so much at the time that he would be able to manipulate it as he wished. Can you survive in this war-torn world with such a person in charge? Maximilian is frightened of herself thinking this way. I don't need to survive. I gave Samuel almost half the territory to make him independent. If one survives, so does the Ethenberg family. That's what I'm thinking. Even so, Maximilian is now thinking of a way to win. I was surprised that I still had that kind of ambition for myself when I was supposed to be old.

"I haven't heard anything from the kids at heart. I know it's hard to talk about public and private bullying, but it's not going to be the same here."

Samuel or Hildegand, if either of you asked for help, that could have been the backup to your decision. But they hadn't heard from me.

Maximilian knows what they think. Samuel naturally knows Maximilian's idea of leaving the Easenberg family by splitting into separate forces. That Samuel can't be telling me to be on my side. Hildegand abandoned the Ethenberg family. I can tell that I think of the edge of my parents and children as much as I cut them off.

We both abandon our private minds and stick to our public positions. It was Maximilian himself who taught that, but now I feel lonely about it.

The cause of my heart's distress may be the sadness that old brings, not ambition. A laugh of self-derision strikes Maximilian's face at the thought of this.

"Sir. I got another letter."

A woman's voice heard from outside the door. Another report that a new letter has been received.

"... ok. Bring it to me."

I only have two children on my mind when it comes to anything other than Claudia and Therese. Maximilian wondered if what he had been waiting for had finally arrived. I get the thought that there is no distinction between public and private when it arrives at odd things.

"This way, sir."

The samurai who came into the room placed the envelope she had brought on her desk. Maximilian, who took that envelope, used a paper knife to open the seal and took out the paper that was inside.

"What?"

A surprising voice rises from Maximilian's mouth. The paper taken out is white. It didn't say anything.

"The contents are told to be spoken to."

"... whose instructions is that?

Maximilian has an uncomfortable look on the samurai's words. Even if it is something that cannot be left in the letter, it cannot be common sense to pass it on to a samurai, if it is such a thing.

"… on the instructions of Lord Alto"

"Alto?"

Don't you understand if I don't call you Lord Kamui?

"That alt..."

I know just the name of Alto, who is a loyal minister of Kamui and has made the Empire drink boiled water many times as a negotiating point for Northende. What I didn't know right away was that the lady in front of me is a good woman to say she's an old stock who's been working for the Easenberg family for years now. Because the samurai and alto were completely untied in her head.

"Since when?

Maximilian was concerned about this first and foremost over the content of the message. I see the samurai and Kamui are through. Then it will mean that since when have I been fooled?

"... I'm sorry. Actually, from the beginning."

"Holy shit!? How is that possible!?

Quite a few rigorous background checks are carried out in hiring samurai. In the Oriental House, moreover, only women with strong identities and subordinate aristocratic maids are employed as samurai. He is not a borderline lord, but a subordinate nobleman of the Oriental House. Maximilian thinks Kamui can't possibly have a chance to have a connection.

"Let me make an excuse. I had no intention of betraying the Ethenbergs. However, Kamui-kun and I were close when we were in college..."

"No way......?

"Oh, no, it's my one-sided thought. I can't believe Master Hildegand is here..."

"... well. So what were they making you do?

dating since Royal College. Nor is that understandable to Maximilians, such as the fact that he was imitating like a detective with only a one-sided love affair from a samurai. I decided to stop pursuing motives and ask what the samurai had done.

"Nothing in particular. I've just been in correspondence with Kamui for a long time. Oh, I occasionally get rare products from the region."

"What did you write in that letter?

"It's a daily occurrence. Kamui-kun writes a lot of interesting stories about going to various lands, but I haven't had much to write about because I've been in your mansion all my life."

"Weren't you leaking our confidentiality or something?

There's no way you can just keep writing for years by interacting with everyday events. Maximilian couldn't believe the samurai story.

"It doesn't! I'm not in a position to know about confidentiality!

"That's right...... are you sure it's just correspondence?

"Yes."

"Haven't you seen Kamui at all?

"Not at all. But Kamui-kun showed up once a year or not."

"... that Kamui himself, was another coming?

"Yes, Kamui-kun's samurai lady was here"

I don't deliver letters in the same city. It takes more than half a month, even from Nort Ende. There's no way a normal samurai can come to deliver that.

"Where were you meeting that samurai?

"It's your mansion, though. I'm not free to go out."

"... I see. You know what?"

It wasn't the samurai who was doing the intelligence work, but the woman who was visiting. I understood that the samurai had been used to break into the mansion with dignity from the front.

"What is she? Younger than me, she's a normal girl."

"No, fine. Now it's time for me to give you a message?

"The Crown Prince of the Ruthua Empire is in my hands. This should tell the war situation in the eastern part of the continent. Still not enough judgment material."

"You mean you captured the Crown Prince of the Empire!?

"... I'm sorry. I'm just saying what I've been told."

A samurai can't answer if she asks for more information.

"You did. But if that's true...... no, I guess it's true. Does not putting it in writing mean confidential information that has not yet been passed on to the Emperor of the Empire? If so…"

Information brought by the samurai. This also plagues Maximilian again. The eastern part of the continent, which has the home of the Ruthuan Empire, is not true, but the Kamui side is advancing the war situation in its favor. That's what it means to have captured the Crown Prince. Perhaps the Empire will not be able to fight properly until Emperor Nicolai returns. How should it work in this situation? Maximilian is worried about that.

The question in the message, "Is this still not enough judgment material?" indicates the root cause of Maximilian's inability to make decisions. Simply put, indecision. That's too much to say, but I want to get on a winning horse for sure. But there is no such thing as war. Even if Crown Prince Stefan of the Rusua Empire is captured, Emperor Nicolai is alive and well. There are more than 100,000 troops in the West of the continent.

"... sir. I am."

"... you can get in touch with Kamui?

"You can send a letter."

"Well... I'm not guilty. You may have something to ask for, so keep serving."

"... Yes. I understand that."

A samurai trying to answer and leave the room. I looked back at it in front of the door, but Maximilian was preoccupied with the idea and no longer cared about the samurai.

Gently bow your head and open the door to exit into the hallway. I sighed heavily, making sure there was no one around.

"Ah, the same indecision. Then you won't be on my side. Well, he said it was a good idea not to be an enemy, so it's a good idea."

I don't know anything. That was a samurai lie. Sure, in the beginning, it was just a degree of consciousness that I enjoyed interacting with my first lovers in college, but if that went on for years, I realize just what the Kamuis are all about. Still, I kept dating because I thought I didn't know what would help me in a world that kept getting ahead and opaque. There's also a reason because the Kamuis didn't ask me to do something that was going to be important.

"I was going to get some free time. Now, Alto's guy, you knew this was going to happen. Because if this happens, I'll definitely let you introduce me to a good man. Who would you prefer? Whatever, Mr. Mathias, right? But if you want too much... I wonder who else..."

I haven't talked at all about who I'm going to be introduced to as a future husband candidate, but a maid troubled on her own. We need a little more time for such a fluent concern to become truly forgivable. The world is still in war, her husband candidates? The battle continues.

◇ ◇ ◇

Things are moving forward regardless, even if the former Oriental Uncle Maximilian remains incapable of making a decision. Streets stretching from the eastern centre of the continent to the northwest. There was a line of carriages going on there. There were many luxurious carriages in a row, but the surroundings were surrounded by ill-patterned, despicable men who looked very much like escort knights. Where bandits attack me and take me away. Here's the thing.

The actual situation is like that. All the people in the carriage are forced to be brought. It was just that they weren't bandits.

"Stop! Stop!

At the end of the street, this one appeared a group that seemed to be knights. One of the men surrounding the carriage raised his voice when he saw it. There is no nervousness in the men's faces. The other party is one of them.

One horse came in from the knight's side. The guy, who's pretty big, is rank.

"Thank you for your hard work. Isn't it possible that you haven't imitated it at all because you've grabbed it by no means? Is there an injured person on the other side?

"I didn't bring you in, sir."

That means I left the injured.

"... ok. Well, I guess I'll say hello for once."

"Heh. This way."

The man guided us to a carriage in the middle of five of us. When I opened the carriage door...... a woman with a dagger suddenly jumped.

Though unintentional, that's not the rank to show the gap. When I tapped down the dagger, I circled behind the woman and held her back so that she could not move.

"... kill me"

"If you're going to kill me, you're going to kill me."

"I would choose death if I were to be humiliated."

"I'm not even going to humiliate you. Anyway, why don't you just relax and listen to me? Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana...... so good? I haven't seen him in a long time, so I'm not sure."

"What?"

Empress Juliana is surprised to find out that her opponent knows her face. Rank slowly moved away from Empress Juliana, thinking that he would not be rumbling any more after seeing that reaction.

"Or are you already married and not Her Royal Highness?

"You... rank"

When Empress Juliana was visiting Nort Ende, it was the rank she was dealing with. A long time ago, Empress Juliana also remembered the rank.

"We'll guide you from here. I was going to say hello, but now it is."

"You even have these people."

"You're not right. They have their Lord, and they are only listening to His command"

This isn't right either. They belong to Dark's organization, but they were originally those who followed Kamui. And many of their loyalties are still suited to Kamui, who protected their lives.

"Who is the Lord?

"That's not what I can talk about."

"Yes... are we leaving already?

"I can't help staying here."

Ruthua Imperial Army movement is not at all dull. It is not only the Empress of Juliana, but also the Empress and the Crown Princess. I wouldn't be surprised if I came to take it back with all my might if I knew it was.

"Okay. Then get in."

"Huh?"

"Talk to them because you're bored. No, I need you to explain this to me first."

I'm not a caretaker.

"Even if they are hostages to the royal family, they will be courteous."

"... it wouldn't have anything to do with riding the carriage"

What a complain, but Rank gets in the carriage. Some of the carriages were accompanied by the Empress and a maid of honor.

"Who is that person?

The empress has looked at the ranks and asked about her qualities.

"He is Kamui Kreutz's Kingsguard knight and rank. I'll be your escort to your destination."

"Yes. Was this still the work of Kamui Kreutz? Ok. Rank, please."

"... Ha"

I didn't know what it felt like to be Empress Juliana calling the kidnapper a escort, but the Empress also decided to convince me that was what it was by receiving it as it was.

"So? What happens to us beyond this?

As soon as the carriage moved out, Empress Juliana threw questions at the ranks.

"Perhaps you will stay under us until the end of the war."

"The hostages."

"If it's worth it, you'll be released without so much waiting."

There is no way Emperor Nicolai will surrender even with them as hostages. Rank thinks the fight is still going on.

"... then how did you capture us?

"The Nikolai Emperor doesn't have to surrender. What do those around him think? Will you pledge your allegiance to the Ruthuan Empire without a successor, as always?

"... to betray His Majesty?

"I don't know? I don't know that far. All we know is that we are now the only Nikolai Emperor. With the exception of Emperor Nicolai, there will be no one who can bring the Empire together."

"You think you can argue with His Majesty?

"I would... I would like to capture him if I could, but I just wouldn't be able to do that"

Emperor Nicolai is deep within his own army. It is difficult to capture so many ambushes alive without success. Unfortunately, there is no one on Emperor Nicolai's side who guides from the inside like Mia.

"Even if I could do that, I'd end up killing you. When you're free, Your Majesty will bring the Empire together again."

"Exactly. It would be difficult to keep the Nikolai Emperor alive. I'm not convinced around if Kamui wants to."

"And so do we..."

Leaving behind the blood muscles of the ruler on the losing side will later leave a source of evil. If the Ruthua Empire loses this war, they will be slaughtered, Princess Juliana believes.

"We're not going to kill a woman."

"... I wonder why?

"There are many victims in the war that succeeds the war. We are responsible for that war, but that is why we must also think about post-war reconstruction"

"What does that have to do with keeping us alive?

'Cause women have to have a lot of kids in charge of the next generation.'

"What...?

Hearing Rank's answer, Empress Juliana is slightly shaking her body. The queen sitting next to her was more reactive, holding her own body with both arms and getting smaller.

"... Oh, no! It's not!

"What's the difference?

"I don't mean forced. nature with whomever you like."

"Not now. How old do you think I am?

"I can still have children. We also have the knowledge to support it."

"... I don't know. What do you want us to do?

"That's up to you to decide. We talked about the kid, but that's why we don't enforce it. What way of life do you want to live as a single woman, not as a princess? You just have to think for yourself and live up to it."

"As a single woman..."

I've thought about such a way of life. But Empress Juliana never even thought about it when the day came when it would come.

"A world where you can be born and raised and be with whomever you want regardless of your identity or race. They say this was the common purpose of the Kamuis. I'm not interested in romance. I don't have one thing pinned down right now, but if it's you, you know what I mean?

"Right... but that's only if the Empire loses. You don't have to think about it now."

"Hmm. Sure you are"

The war is not over yet. Especially for the Kamuis, even if they were to discuss Emperor Nicolai, that's not the end of it. The true enemy is the brave men and the gods who can follow them.

The conversation is interrupted and the sound of a carriage running down the ground is ringing. The landscape seen through the small window flows back at considerable speed. We're in a pretty hurry to get to our destination.

"... you take care of me all the time?

After a while, Empress Juliana opened her mouth.

"No, I can't be with you because I have to go to battle"

"Yes... what are you going to do when the war is over?

"I haven't thought about anything yet. I've only lived thinking about getting stronger. The first thing is to fight through this war and survive it safely. I think I can finally think of the next thing."

"Then... be sure to come back alive"

"Huh?"

"... Ah, chi, because it's not! Don't get me wrong! Whether I'm an enemy or not, I don't like people dying anyway! That's what I'm saying!

Empress Liliana desperately makes excuses not to be misunderstood. You don't have to do that to misunderstand rank. Because Rank knows there was no incentive or time to favor Empress Juliana.

"... ok. I will definitely return alive. I promise."

"What... yeah"

Still, Rank returned the word of promise to Empress Juliana. Myself, who has only thought about being strong. I intend to gain strength commensurate with that effort. Except when it comes to God's use. It makes me wonder if I can't win if I come prepared to give up my life.

That's why I needed it. Whatever you want, give me something to support you. "I will return alive." Rank wanted to support this promise.