The person trying to console her was a woman with brown hair.
While she was as beautiful as the Holy Queen, her eyes contained a cold, razor-sharp look, like the edge of a blade. She was dressed in a suit of silvery full plate armor and a surcoat. These were the traditional vestments of the Paladin Order’s Captain, an ancient article of magical masterwork. The most important thing was the sword at her waist, whose name was known to everyone in the Holy Kingdom.
It was renowned as one of the four Holy Swords, the holy sword Safalrisia.
One of the Thirteen Heroes, known as Black Knight, was said to have carried four swords — the evil blade Hyumilis, the demonic blade Kilineyram, the blade of rot Crocdabal, and the fatal blade Sfeiz. This was one of the four swords which existed as a counterpart to them. Incidentally, the other three holy swords were known as the sword of law, the sword of justice, and the sword of life.
Wielding a powerful sword often led to one becoming drunk on its power and neglecting the fundamentals of swordsmanship. Therefore, the fact that she carried that sword which she would normally never carry was a sign of her unshakable determination to join the upcoming battle, and to win it.
Her name was Remedios Custodio.
She was a close friend of Calca, and as the strongest Captain of the order in history, a feat founded upon her fighting prowess. She was “White” of the Nine Colors.
“Yup, yup. And we’ve also sent all the noncombatants off to take shelter so there won’t be casualties among them. Rather, don’t you think the more pressing problem after the war will be the expenses incurred during the fighting?”
The person going ufufufufu in an indecent way was a woman.
While the shape of her eyes and mouth varied slightly, her face still bore a close resemblance to that of Remedios. However, those faint differences were enough to change the impression others had of her. She always looked like she was plotting something — or in less polite terms, that she was surrounded by a sinister air.
She was Remedios’s sister, younger than her by two years, Queralt Custodio.
She was the high priestess of the temples, and leader of the priesthood.
It was public knowledge that she could use divine magic of the fourth tier.
However, that was but a deception; those close to her knew that she could cast fifth tier spells.
Incidentally, she was not one of the Nine Colors. While the temples were under the Holy Queen, it was government policy not to bestow a Color title on one of their number in order to avoid problems with the balance of power.
These sisters were known as the genius Custodio sisters, the twin wings of the Holy Queen.
Until now, many nobles had their doubts about Calca’s ascension to the throne as a female, and they wondered if she had done something with or to the sisters. Therefore, they often spoke ill of all three of them at the same time.
While many rumors about them had been cleared up, one particular piece of gossip remained. All three of them were unmarried — without so much as a male lover — and so it was said that their relationship was anything but ordinary. However much Calca denied it, she could not shake herself free of that rumor, and it was a major source of frustration for her.
“Just hearing that gives me a headache. It’s pretty bad that we won’t stand to gain anything even if we win.”
“Still, they say that the demihumans this time round are outfitted pretty well. Why not sell their gear?”
“That’s right — you know I can’t approve of that, nee-sama. Let’s say we wanted to sell their armor — where would we sell it? You haven’t thought about that, have you? We can only sell them overseas, but demihuman armor isn’t going to command anything but bargain basement prices. Besides, we ought to avoid strengthening other countries’ arsenals until the destroyed wall is rebuilt. In particular, I hope they don’t fall into the hands of the Sorcerous Kingdom.”
“Huh? You don’t like the Sorcerous Kingdom? I’ve never heard you say that in court, though.”
“No priest would like them. You’re the same way too, right, Calca-sama?”
Calca pondered the matter. As part of the clergy and the Holy Queen, she disliked them. However, as a head of state—
“—A king’s duty is to love his nation, love his people, and grant them peace. As long as he does that, it should be fine, right?”
The sisters looked at each other in front of Calca.
“Love? No way. Could an undead being ever think like that?”
“I agree with nee-sama. The undead — I don’t think they could love like you do, Calca-sama.”
“The two of you are harsh. Still, you can’t just badmouth people without even seeing them, right?”
The puzzled looks on their faces looked very similar. Calca mused that they were siblings after all, and after quelling the smile on her face, her voice turned serious.
“What did your adjutants say? Queralt, tell me our plan for dealing with Jaldabaoth.”
The Holy Queen did not take part in strategy meetings. Instead, she went around the soldiers to boost their morale. While the Holy Kingdom’s troops were better trained than those of other nations, they were ultimately conscripts. It was important to motivate them.
“Yes. We’re already discussing how to deal with situations where the demihumans encircle this city, bypass it, advance to the south, split up to accomplish different objectives, and so on.”
It was times like these that reaffirmed her belief that the sisters were similar, but not alike. If she had asked the elder sister that question, the answer she would get would make her want to grab her head in frustration.
“I see… then, which possibility do you think is the most likely?”
“Given the invasion path of the demihumans so far, it’s most likely that they will choose to encircle this city. However, there is a problem with that.”
“Mm, yes.”
“What do you mean?”
Remedios had not participated in the meetings either, given that she was Calca’s bodyguard. However, the fact that she had not grasped the answer which the Holy Queen had instantly realized was due to another problem.
“...Nee-sama. I’m talking about the demon who wrought havoc in the Kingdom, Jaldabaoth. While there’s no telling how smart he is, demons are skilled at schemes and trickery. He might adopt a plan we did not foresee.”
“I see… the adjutants who have to handle strategy and planning sure have it tough…”
While there was much she wanted to say to the leader of the Paladin Order, Calca resisted the urge to do so
“...This is quite vexing. Then, if the demihumans encircle this city, what will happen after that? While food supplies are ample, fighting a defensive siege is going to wreak horrors on morale. Have you considered that as well?”
“Yes. Normally, all we would have to do is wait for reinforcements from the south to arrive, but we have reports saying that Jaldabaoth used a mysterious power to destroy the wall in a single blow. As long as that tremendous factor of uncertainty in play…”
The three of them frowned as one.
Anyone would be upset when they thought of what had happened to the wall, but Calca knew what was going on.
Remedios was simply imitating what the other two had done.
Remedios did not like to think, and she was a very stubborn person. That was a flaw, but it was also the reason that she could embody absolute justice.