“…”
Fearing Castor’s wife Accela and their young, eldest son Carl would be held collectively responsible, Excel had demanded that he divorce Accela, and she was now sheltering them at the House of Walter. At the very least, they would not be caught up in the showdown between Georg and Souma that was no doubt coming. That offered Castor some small comfort, at least.
Castor rested his elbows on the desk, covering his eyes with his hands. “…I just can’t imagine that Duke Carmine would be driven mad by ambition.”
“Master…” Tolman began.
“I’m sorry, but could you leave me alone for a moment?”
“…As you wish.”
With a bow, Tolman left the office.
Left alone in the room, Castor leaned all the way back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. And then…
“Carla,” he said quietly. “You’re there, aren’t you?”
The window behind Castor opened, and a girl with red wings came in with an embarrassed look on her face. With long red hair the same color as her wings, this beautiful girl who looked to be around eighteen was Castor’s only daughter, Carla. In contrast to her pretty girl look, she had the courage and combat sense to lead an air force unit into battle.
“So you noticed me,” she said.
“You’ll need to hide your presence better than that. The sound of your wings when you landed on the balcony gave you away.”
“But that’s not sensing my presence.” Carla shrugged her shoulders. Then she pulled a bundle of letters from her pocket.
Because he was talking to his daughter, Castor was taking a less formal tone. “What are those?”
“From Liscia,” she said. “Liscia sent a number of them, asking us to make peace with King Souma.”
Carla considered Liscia a friend. They had gotten to know one another after Liscia had joined the army. Because both had serious personalities, and both had enlisted in the military despite being women of high birth, they had a lot in common, and had become fast friends.
However, because Carla was even more serious than Liscia… or, to put it in less favorable terms, she was a bit hard-headed… when Liscia had gotten engaged to King Souma, Carla had suspected coercion, and she had become hostile towards Souma. Because of that, even when her mother and brother had gone to the Walter house, she had remained here by herself with her father Castor.
However, at this point, Carla was beginning to have a change of heart. “I can feel Liscia’s passion in these letters. It’s not coming from someone who was coerced into a betrothal she doesn’t want. Also, in her letters, Liscia cautioned to ‘Beware Duke Carmine as he is now.’…We may have been the ones who were mistaken.”
“…I see,” Castor said. “So Princess Liscia feels the same way, does she?”
Castor’s shoulders slumped. Then, as if making up his mind, his head rose.
“Carla… It’s not too late. Go be with Accela. I’m the only one who needs to go along with Duke Carmine.”
As a father, he must have wanted to avoid getting her caught up in something he was doing out of friendship. However, Carla shook her head, her mind already made up.
“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to show my face to Liscia after all this,” she said. “Besides, you still believe Duke Carmine has put some thought into this, don’t you, Father? In that case, let’s see our position through to the end. Even if Duke Carmine is defeated and we become traitors, if you fall at his side, having believed in your friendship, I doubt the people would laugh at you for that.”
“But… then you’d…”
“I was born into a military family,” Carla told him. “I am prepared. Oh, don’t worry, we have Carl, so at least the house and our bloodline will remain. That’s why, as members of the House of Vargas, we will leave behind a record of distinguished military service.”
“…I see.”
Learning of Carla’s determination, Castor made his own decision. He would believe in Georg Carmine to the end, and he was ready to fall for that.
To that end, he did not call up the air force units stationed around the Vargas Duchy. This was done out of consideration, so that even if he came into conflict with the king after the ultimatum tomorrow, he would fight with only his own personal forces in Red Dragon City, and would not drag the rest of the air force into the conflict.
— At night, the same day, in a certain location.
“I see… Those two have resolved themselves to do it, then.”
When she learned of Castor and Carla’s movements from the spies she had sent to Red Dragon City, Navy Admiral Excel Walter’s beautiful face took on a look of sorrow, and she let out a sigh.
This antlered beauty who, despite having lived for five hundred years, looked no older than twenty-five, stood at the window in her dark room, staring out at the night sky. Even the clothes she wore seemed to weigh her down now.
Tonight it was cloudy, and she could barely see any stars.
“Castor is prepared to martyr himself for his friendship with Georg,” Excel said sadly. “And Carla is prepared to follow him to the end as he does it. Fools though they are, I cannot bring myself to deny the validity of their choices entirely.”
Excel closed her eyes slowly, bringing a hand to her ample bosom which was apparent even through her kimono-like outfit.
What was she to think, having learned of her son-in-law and granddaughter’s determination?
Some time passed before she opened her eyes once more, turning her back to the window and walking away.
“If anything, this only gives me more reason to do as I must.”
Even if that meant treading on their determination…
Chapter 3: Ultimatum
It happened in the Jewel Voice Room, Parnam Castle.
In this room where the two-meter diameter jewel used in the Jewel Voice Broadcast floated, there was also equipment for receiving a Jewel Voice Broadcast. The receivers in each city used equipment installed in fountains to produce mist, then used water-type magic to reproduce the recorded video, and wind-type magic to reproduce the recorded sound. The system in this room, however, projected the image on a piece of equipment that was like a thin, wide tank filled with water.
To differentiate the two, I was calling this one a “simple receiver.”
If the fountain receiver was like a theater, you could say this simple receiver was like a television. The simple receiver produced a clearer image, too. The jewels were a rare item found in dungeons, so it seemed that it wouldn’t be possible to mass-produce them, but maybe we could mass-produce these simple receivers. If that could be arranged, maybe someday families would be able to watch the Jewel Voice Broadcast in their own homes.
Anyway, let’s get back to the story. There were three of those simple receivers set up in this room.
The three receivers showed the faces of Army General Georg Carmine, who was a lion beastman, Air Force General Castor Vargas, who was a dragonewt, and Navy Admiral Excel Walter, who was a sea serpent. I was sure that, on their end, they had a projection of me and Liscia standing together, too.
“…It’s our first time meeting face-to-face like this, huh?” I said. “I am the one to whom the former King of Elfrieden, Sir Albert, entrusted with the throne, the provisional king, Souma Kazuya.”
“You’re…” After hearing me introduce myself, Castor opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“Is something the matter?” I asked.
“No, I had heard you were a hero summoned from another world, so I had expected someone more tough and rugged…”