When they heard those words, an air of relief fell over the people. However, the next moment…
“But, my people. Is that alone enough?!” Souma shouted.
That air of relief was blown away as the king raised his voice.
“The Principality of Amidonia has always been targeting this country’s lands,” Souma continued. “For generations, their princes have called for the return of their lost lands, expanded their military, and kept the border in a constant state of tension. The current prince, Gaius VIII, is no different. He fanned the flames of conflict between the three dukes and myself, acting behind the scenes to further his own aims! Then, when the clash between myself and Georg became a thing of certainty, he raised his armies and trampled lands belonging to our country underfoot!”
Yes, Souma had done some maneuvering behind the scenes, issuing a quest to the adventurers’ guild in order to have them evacuate the towns and villages in the path of the armies of the Principality. However, that didn’t mean there had been no losses. There had been villages deliberately put to the torch. There had likely been plundering, too. If any people had had the misfortune of running into enemy scouts as they’d fled, there may have been lives lost, as well.
Putting his anger at all of that into his words, Souma continued.
“I ask you once more! Are you satisfied to merely chase them off?! In this era, when all mankind is trying to unite under the Gran Chaos Empire against the armies of the Demon Lord, can such backwards and barbaric behavior be tolerated?! Nay! It most certainly can not! As such, while it is unnecessary for our country to say this, having already been subject to a surprise attack, I will say it nonetheless.”
Here Souma paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, then made a clear proclamation.
“The Elfrieden Kingdom hereby declares war on the Principality of Amidonia!”
It was a declaration of war. The people tensed when they heard those words.
These were words they had never heard in the time of the former king, Albert.
The men were engulfed in a strange sense of elation, while the women were frightened, and the elders who had experienced the days of war and chaos during the reign of the king before Albert, the one called the Conqueror, worried that those days might return.
However, Souma continued without wavering in the slightest.
“I am sure that the armies of Amidonia are watching this broadcast, as well. And so, I will declare this. I am sending the forces gathered in the Carmine Duchy westward. Their goal will be to capture the capital of the Principality, Van. While you, the forces of the Principality, are wasting their time near Altomura, we will no doubt be burning your houses to the ground.”
And then Souma closed his speech with these words, which would no doubt be used to represent this whole scene when it would be dramatized in later years.
“Hear me, Gaius! Now that you have laid a hand on my house, I will see that you pay for it!”
The Forbidden Army’s palanquin-carrying wyverns for royal trips abroad (also known as the “sitting room wyverns”) were four wyverns that carried a gondola that was as luxurious as a limousine. They served a role similar to that of an airship.
It had been one of these four wyverns that I’d loaned to Poncho when he’d gone around gathering ingredients.
The inside of the gondola was spacious and luxuriously appointed. When money had been tight at the beginning, I’d considered stripping out all the decorations and selling them, but Marx, who had been Prime Minister at the time, had begged me, “These serve as the face of our kingdom to the outside world. Please don’t sell them!” So I’d given up on the idea.
I was inside that gondola, having just finished with the declaration of war against the Principality of Amidonia.
The jewel for the Jewel Voice Broadcast was sitting there right in front of me. As spacious as the gondola was, we’d still had considerable trouble loading the jewel into it. Because the jewel was just large enough that it would poke through the roof, we had been forced to cut an opening in the top and lower it in through there.
Because of that, now that we were flying, the wind blew inside the gondola and made it very cold. I just hoped my shivering legs didn’t make it into the broadcast during the declaration of war…
“You did a good job, Souma,” Liscia said. “Come on, get in here.”
Now that I had finished withstanding the cold long enough to declare war, Liscia opened up the blanket she had curled around herself and let me in.
Two people wrapped in one blanket. Oh, how warm. I finally felt like I could rest a little. I’d never been so grateful for the warmth of another person before.
“Ahh, that was so cold,” I moaned. “If I’d known it was going to be so cold, I think I’d have preferred to go by land.”
“If you were going to load the jewel into some other vehicle, a horse-drawn carriage wouldn’t cut it,” Liscia said. “And if you’d transported it by rhinosaurus, wouldn’t you have gotten motion sickness instead?”
“…They’re both equally bad, huh,” I muttered.
I had ridden with the rhinosauruses when we had gone to provide aid to the dark elf village. It had been anything but a smooth ride.
Hal and the others are probably moving around with them, I thought. I need to find a way to improve the experience, quick. They might go on strike if I don’t.
As I was sitting there, wearily thinking about such things…
“H-Hmph… A little chill like this… is nothing…” Carla said, sitting across from us and trying to put up a strong front even as she shivered.
This girl I had brought with us as a hostage against the Air Force may have been wearing armor, but she didn’t have a blanket to protect her from the cold. I had offered to lend her one, but she had refused it, trying to act tough.
I thought she’d be fine, being a dragonewt, but… now that I think about it, they’re reptilian, aren’t they?
“Do dragonewts have trouble adapting to the cold, like lizards?” I asked.
“Don’t lump us together with lizards!” she cried. “Yes, it’s true, we do have trouble with the cold, but…”
“But you must fly at rather high altitudes in the Air Force, right?” I asked. “Isn’t it cold when you do that?”
“…We take the proper measures to protect against the cold,” she said.
“Ah, yeah, I suppose you’d have to.”
This sort of chill had to be an everyday occurrence for the Air Force, so they had to have means of dealing with it.
When I put a spare blanket over her, Carla gave an awkward “…Hmph,” and wrapped it around herself as she sniffled.
Then…
“Honestly… How can you say ‘You have laid a hand on my house, and I will see that you pay for it’?” she burst out. “You were the ones who tempted the forces of Amidonia to attack in the first place, weren’t you, you bast… I mean, Your Majesty.” Carla turned and looked away.
“…You noticed that, huh.”
“Now that I know the full picture, it wasn’t hard,” she said. “You used the unrest inside the country to lure in the Amidonians, and now you’re going to strike them, right? Was Duke Carmine in on it, too?”