Manowa

Intermission 5 - Queen"s Consideration

Kazane"s group had left Royal Castle Delgura, and although Queen Yuuko woke up again the next day, Cabinet Minister Boltoa and the Civil Official Faction had been doing whatever they pleased, so she had to clean up the mess and was extremely busy .

In the first place, the ringleader Boltoa had suddenly disappeared, and since they were almost completely under his control, the Civil Official Faction"s unity had disappeared at the same time without his orders . Yuuko-nee held the weaknesses of the Civil Official Faction members and was able to control them with threats, so she managed to successfully bring that issue to a close .

Also, it didn"t require much effort to bring back the expelled Royal Palace Knights . The outrageous behavior of the n.o.ble sons who belonged to the Ayato Knight Order couldn"t be concealed, and they were also in the middle of a quarrel with the soldiers who protected the maids they tried to kidnap . The Ayato Knight Order was immediately disbanded . The people who commited outrageous deeds were all n.o.ble sons, and their beheading was up to Yuuko-nee"s judgement, which served as a good check against the n.o.bility .

The problem was with General Dios .

He was imprisoned in secret from the beginning . Therefore, the situation itself wasn"t publicly known, so clearing him of all charges and reinstating him wasn"t difficult in itself . But there was another problem . The ones who had tried to secretly dispose of General Dios were a group of particularly talented members of the Civil Official Faction .

It was precisely because they were such a group that they were able to imprison General Dios . Even though they were anti-queen, they were also hard to come by talented people . As long as an eye was kept on them, they were ten times more useful than incompetent allies, but Yuuko-nee had kept a close relationship with the military since she was enthroned, so she couldn"t turn a blind eye to this, and they had to be executed .

Although it would take some time for all of those situations to be settled . The first thing Queen Yuuko had to worry about when she woke up was the report of the devil attack on the East Dragon Village that Ao had entrusted to Iria .

◎ Royal Capital Shubain, Royal Castle Delgura, Guest Room

「This is truly a peerless headache inducing matter . 」

Even though Yuuko-nee was drinking tea for the first time in a long time as she spoke, she wasn"t able to enjoy it and bitterly smiled at the situation .

「So as expected, it"s a bothersome problem?」

Iria asked with Ao"s appearance . She was currently staying at the Royal Castle Delgura as the West Dragon Village"s Ao with her transformation technique and was now having a meeting with Yuuko-nee . With her frank personality, Iria usually acted as Yuuko-nee"s confidant .

「It"s becoming so . The East Dragon Village was attacked by Gilbert of Wrath, an old elven man who called himself Zeku, the former king of the deceased Reivel Kingdom, White King Yukito, and the young boy type devil named Age, along with black monsters . 」

「Age is the child who defeated the queen . 」

「With a surprise attack . 」

Yuuko-nee replied with a frown . Yuuko-nee knew that even if it was a surprise attack, a loss was a loss . . . . but she was stubborn that way .

Advertis.e.m.e.nt「Age of Greed, Diablo of Pride, Zoaral of Sloth, Gore of Envy . With Gilbert of Wrath added, there are five Deadly Sins . The old man Zeku is one thing, but White King Yukito was called a Devil King, so it"s difficult to know if they"re included as the remaining two . 」

「What is the Seven Deadly Sins? I can tell they"re a bad group, but . . . 」

「I don"t know anything beyond the t.i.tle of the movie they got their name from . Well, devils were originally a target of vigilance, and it seems one possessed our cabinet minister this time, so we can certify them as our country"s enemy, but the old man named Zeku feels troublesome . 」

After Yuuko-nee spoke, Iria bent forward and asked .

「The most famous devil hunter? But can"t you investigate the devil hunters?」

「It’s difficult . Like the Adventurers Guild, it"s a cooperative structure across multiple countries . Their headquarters is also in the Amoria Kingdom, so I can"t interfere from here, and if it went poorly we would likely end up ostracized from the cooperative relationship . 」

「Well, those devil hunting guys are abnormally willing to risk their lives to hunt devils . 」

It was a group centered on the Cancer family with branch families composed of people with resentment and hostility against devils . Asking if they"re using devils without evidence would be difficult . Not to mention that it was Louise ’s words, who was nearly anti-Cancer . It would probably become an endless quagmire of a quarrel .

「That"s right . In that case, is there a possibility that the person named Louise is lying in this report?」

After Yuuko-nee"s question, Iria, who had been in a party with Louise, groaned . Then without mixing in her emotions, she spoke her own understanding as it was .

「It"s possible . Louise Nee-san hated her parents and might proactively try to frame them . But if she were trying to do that, it feels too half-baked . 」

「I agree . 」

「And the devil hunting group actually being the devils" underlings is unbelievable, even as a joke . Not with that group"s degree of hatred towards devils . 」

Yuuko-nee agreed with Iria"s words . Yuuko-nee had met the devil hunters, and they were practically a group of fanatics who would use any means to hunt devils .

「I"m of the same opinion . In that case, is it a few people at the top, or perhaps diversion through side channels? In the first place, the old elven man calling himself Zeku might have been a bluff . . . that"s also a problem . Devils originally haven"t been active in Minshiana, so not being able to move them is also a shortcoming . 」

「Even so, you don"t feel like giving up, right?」

「Naturally . Those guys aimed at me and Sieg . I will absolutely corner them . 」

There was a ferocious light in her eyes .

「The problem is that group"s aim . I remember hearing the name Diablo that Age mentioned . If I remember correctly, that was the devil Kazane and the others defeated that was aiming for Tsuvara"s Ruby Griffon . 」

They were in a cooperative relationship with Tsuvara regarding the Diablo incident .

The brothel that kidnapped Tiara to sell her had already been crushed . There were many problems with the status of the women who were discovered and rescued from them, and there were also various disputes .

「Considering the Diablo precedent, the true purpose of this time"s devil may have been the White Sword and its user, not taking over the country . 」

That was to say that Sieg may have been the main target .

「So you"re saying the Guardian Armament that can connect to the Naga Line was what they were after? In that case, they may have done some things in other countries . 」

「Moreover, Hagasu"s heart… it might be related to the appearance of Black Dragon Hagasu in the dungeon . 」

So what would they use it for? What was their aim? As a matter of fact, Yuuko-nee could make a guess .

(The problem is what they will use it for . . . . . no, what『opponent』they will use it for?)

The report said that Age called his group this world"s leading parts .

(From the viewpoint of a player, the repulsion of the last boss, the Devil King, was done 1000 years ago)

Guardian Armaments didn"t seem necessary if that were revived . In the first place, the average level of a player when they defeated the last boss Devil King was around 80 to 90 . At the present time, Yuuko-nee could defeat it alone .

(For an opponent above that, it would be『that』event boss; at least, there"s no record of it being defeated, and if it"s really in this world . . . )

Cooperative online play could be done in the open world RPG Zexiaharts by hiring other players through the Adventurers Guild, but the game"s selling point beyond that was large-scale event battles like siege battles and event monster battles . And there were records remaining of all but three of those event monsters being defeated in the last 1000 years .

One was the Crystal Dragon with the golden sword . In other words, G.o.d Dragon Emperor Naga . Inside the game, there was a battle with the dragon army he led, but the dragons in this world had peaceful relations with people .

One was the world"s largest golem, Giant Rock Man Kurikara . It was called the World Wandering Disaster and had transformed into a rank A dungeon .

And the last one"s whereabouts were still unknown after 1000 years . The abyssal king who tormented the most players,『Abaddon of the Abyss』 .

(There was no problem with Nagsama from the beginning . If Giant Rock Man Kurikara were exterminated, that would simply decrease the damage . But Abaddon is bad)

If the situation followed the setting, the damage would be enormous .

Yuuko-nee hoped her guess would end at being a simple guess .

Summoning『Abaddon of the Abyss』 . If the last boss Devil King wasn"t defeated by the player, that would be produced . It was a Devil G.o.d that was summoned when the entire country ruled by the Devil King was sacrificed .

Actually, Yuuko-nee didn"t see this world as the world after the game . First of all, even the land area of the continent differed from the game"s Philon continent . It might be different if this world"s villages only had 100 people, but they didn"t . The scale had magnified considerably .

Also, since 1000 years had already pa.s.sed, the countries were considerably different, but contrary to her expectations, the records from 1000 years ago revealed that the differences were already quite large even at that time, and it felt like events were forcibly inserted along the way to make the story coherent .

And even more so in the present day . There were parts that were very similar to the game and respectively properly systematized, such as magic and combat, but that was only from looking at the result, and that had also probably been kept consistent with the game over the last 1000 years . Original systematization was also occurring nowadays .

Kazane was using powerful magic by customizing the spells learned from Grimoires, but as a matter of fact, even though there were many useful ways to practically apply her magic, Kazane could only use magic in accordance with the functions of the Window . Due to her teacher Jinrai"s guidance, Yumika didn"t rely on the Window"s functions, so it seemed she properly made her Skills her own . From the perspective of mastery, Yumika"s way of training was correct . The Windows was convenient, but using it required conforming to the Window"s specifications, so there were many stiff parts when it came to practical usage .

And the biggest thing that misled players into thinking this world was a game was the Window . It was an existence that had the same function of a game"s Menu, so it made the world seem like a game .

So Yuuko-nee thought the existence of the boss named Abaddon was probably under the same category . Only the parts related to the game felt strangely artificial .

(I"ve tried asking the G.o.ds several times, but my questions were dodged, and with the hole to the original world I"ve become genuinely concerned about it)

Yuuko-nee grumbled in her mind before she remembered that she had forgotten about Iria as she was lost in her own thoughts .

「Ah, sorry . I had a little something to think about . 」

Iria replied「It"s fine」after Yuuko-nee spoke .

「You always do that, so don"t worry about it . 」

She had a subordinate relationship with the Queen, but Yuuko-nee also considered this carefree woman her friend . Naturally, she had no intention of forgiving the devils who made her suffer such an inhumane experience .

「First of all is that group"s objective . After that is how I should ma.s.sacre them?」

「Some unsettling words just came out . 」

Iria said with a slightly pulling back sensation .

「Which reminds me, it was a little bit before I was saved by Kazane-chi, but . . . 」

「What is it?」

「Outrageous killing intent pa.s.sed by and vanished as suddenly as it came . What was that? I think Kazane-chi probably did it, but . . . 」

「That was probably the『Maximum Killing Barrier』 . The power was tremendous, though . 」

「What is that?」

「A ma.s.s of the casters killing intent surrounds a s.p.a.ce and creates a barrier to prevent an enemy from escaping . Killing intent will always be directed at the enemy inside and slow their movements . It causes pain to Astral enemies, though . 」

Yuuko-nee had also only seen it in the game . It was something called『Evil G.o.d Magic』, which had disappeared from modern magic .

However, the Kanji for Kill would be scattered around when the『Maximum Killing Barrier』was created, so she thought that was probably represented by the killing intent they had sensed in the beginning .

「There"s no way Sieg could use that, so it was probably the second character that Tatsuyoshi-chan talked about . 」

As a matter of fact, Tatsuyoshi had informed Yuuko-nee about the existence of Kazane"s second character .

During her second year of middle school, Kazane was emotionally unstable . She said she was wearing an eyepatch for fashion, but she took it off when the surrounding people kept asking「Are you ok?」After that, she would go kakaka when she laughed, which worried people, and they once again asked「Are you ok?」Then she worried people when she started ending her sentences with「noja」and they asked「Are you ok? Did you hit the head?」Then she put a color contact lens in only one eye, but putting it in was bothersome, so she didn"t do it again . She would take along many old men and act like they were her harem, but the old men were conversely in too high spirits and dragged her along instead . She would say「I"m skipping my homework」and not do it, then cry when she was kept after school . She was doing whatever she pleased . It seemed it wasn"t excessive enough for someone to intervene, though . She drew a black dragon on her right hand with a permanent marker, but she lamented her own lack of artistic sense and said「It won"t come off」while crying and scrubbing her arm red in the bathroom . The next day she had teary eyes and went to school with her arm bandaged, and Yumika asked「Is KOKURYU inside?」and laughed at her, so Kazane punched her . The surrounding people may have let her do as she pleased too much . Yumika didn"t talk to her for a week after that .

With Kazane"s Chuuni in full bloom, she suddenly said「I"ll fill the world with flowers」and made another character in Zexiaharts, aiming for the peaceful route . Yuuko-nee felt suspicious in a different sense and consulted Tatsuyoshi .

Kazane had done a dogeza to him, so Tatsuyoshi knew the circ.u.mstances, and instead of purposely delving fully into her black history he explained some of the situation to Yuuko-nee, including the cheat matter, and asked her to simply watch the situation as it was . And the issue now was that Kazane seemed to be using that cheat character .

(If she can use it as is, isn"t that girl invincible?)

It was mainly hard to publicly use due to its personality, but Yuuko-nee had no way of knowing that, so she casually thought so .

And when her awareness moved to Kazane, she immediately remembered yesterday"s email affair . Then Yuuko-nee wrote and sent an email to Kazane saying「Let"s slowly discuss the email matter next time we meet face to face . 」

Yuuko-nee was thinking that as her close friend, as the mother of a child, and as a fellow mother, Kazane had to be properly taught .